Hub's birthday

Today is my hubs birthday! I'm on the other hand boarding a flight back to the fab state of Arizona. I did however bake him vanilla cupcakes with homemade buttercream frosting:-) I'll miss him and my duke angel while I'm away.


Sent from my iPod

Easy Spring Fruit Dessert

As some of you who know me know I love cheesecake. I love it so much I wanted a cheesecake wedding cake but the idea was vetoed by the hubs. If there were heaven on earth, I'd say it's puppies and cheesecake, I can't get enough of either.

In keeping with the Spring vibe I decided to make up a little concoction with some items in my pantry. When I was in St. Charles, MO my cousin's wife and I came across this super cute place selling all kinds of jellies and spices and I spotted this cheesecake/ball mix that I finally decided to make...problem was, I didn't know what exactly to do with it. The cheese ball alone was too rich but on fruit, now I'm in the money!!

• White Chocolate Cheesecake/Ball Mix by Wind and Willow (I used the cheese ball recipe on the back)
• Low-Fat Daisy Girl Scout cookies (or Teddy Grahams)
• Chopped fruit of your choice

1. Using a mini trifle bowl pile the items accordingly and you have a wonderfully yummy summer/spring dessert!

It can't get easier than this.

Easter Cookies

So sorry for being absent and not posting in forever. I've been very busy with work. Not too busy to make Easter sugar cookies though. I got the cookie recipe from Picky Palate. She has an amazing collection of recipes that are very yummy.

Soft Perfect Sugar Cookies
by Picky Palate

• 2 Cups sugar
• 1 Cup butter, softened
• 3 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 Cup sour cream
• 6 Cups flour
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt

1. In an electric or stand mixer, cream the sugar and butter. Add eggs, vanilla and sour cream until well combined. Slowly add in the flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt until well combined.

2. In 2 batches, place in plastic wrap in a disc shape and chill for at least 2 hours for best results.

3. Once chilled, roll and cut into desired shapes. Bake at 350 degrees for 9-11 minutes depending on how thick you cut your cookies. Remove and let cool. Frost and decorate as desired.

For the frosting, I used royal icing in different colors.

Grr...Blowing Off Some Steam

Me at the Chicago Auto Show in '07.

Some of you know I work for two Toyota-Scion dealerships managing their Scion departments. For those of you who are not familiar with Scion, here's a little background. Scion is Toyota's youth line. It's designed as an entry vehicle for young Generation Y individuals who Toyota corporation hopes will someday graduate to their parent line of vehicles.


Mid March we were presented with two Scion challenges by our regional office:


1. Come up with a cool grassroots marketing event promoting Scion in the community.
2. Design an accessory mailer promoting accessory sales for customers who already own a Scion.

I caught wind of the winner a little too early--before they had a chance to announce the results. A person at another dealer won BOTH of the challenges! I thought to myself "Okay that hurts, but he must have just brought his A game and blew us all away...". So not the case.

The next day I called my rep to confirm the results were true, and they were. He said the guy won both but he had some "help" and he was just using his "resources". My inquisitive mind asked what exactly does that mean? Long story short He didn't even design the mailer (challenge #2) himself, he had their dealership's marketing guy design it for him! I told my rep I thought since it was a competition, our resources were our minds and the challenge was to inspire the Scion Champions (that's what Toyota Motor Corp. calls our position) at each store to think creatively in promoting the Scion brand. It's the principal matter this guy wins the challenge and doesn't do the work!

Don't get me wrong, I'm a big fan of Toyota and the automotive industry. The company is a great company and they are usually very good to us and have the utmost respect for the corporate employees. Toyotas and Scions are the best cars out there and have great reliability. Scions are so unique and fun yet have the quality of Toyota with a more affordable price tag. It's a job I enjoy but it's discouraging when something so injust happens. I don't think I've been this hot about an issue in over a year. Okay I vented...now I can go back to liking my job again. :-)

Honest Blog Award

Beverly has awarded me with this Honest Scrap! I'm so excited to have her on my blog roll considering she lives so close (same state is good enough for me)!

Okay now on to ten honest and interesting things about me:

1. I'm an only child (That's rare here in the Midwest)
2. I used to be a TV reporter
3. I used to date a country singer
4. My feet and hands haven't grown since 5th grade! I wear a 5 for shoe and 4 for wedding ring size...I say I'm fun sized :-)
5. I love baby animals--they're the most adorable thing ever.
6. I always knew my true love wasn't going to be in AZ, that'd be too convenient.
7. My toes are ALWAYS polished
8. I believe everyone comes into your life for a reason...although you may not know why.
9. I've ridden in a Black Hawk helicopter. My dad was right, it's the funnest thing in the world to ride with the doors open and see everything...it's surreal.
10. I own a 40 cal. Smith and Wesson compact...it sits next to my box of Jimmy Choos.

I tag anyone who wants it! :-) Have a good afternoon.

Spaghetti Pie

I have been a follower of the blog, Warm Pie, Happy Home for almost a year now and simply loved it! She's such a great homemaker who's from the west (like me) who now resides in the Midwest (again like me!). Recently she gave her her blog a makeover, changing it to Sugar Pie Farmhouse. It's the absolute cutest country website ever!

Since my hubs will be home for dinner every night this week (normally he's traveling for work), I decided to make something he'd like. I found this recipe on Sugar Pie Farmhouse's Home Cookin' section...It does not disappoint. It's soo comforting, especially on a cold Nebraska day.

Ingredients:

• 1 bunch green onions, chopped
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1/2 pound extra lean ground beef (I doubled)
  
• 1/2 pound Italian sausage, 4 links (sweet or hot) casings removed (I didn't use this)
  
• 4 garlic cloves, minced
• 3 tablespoons minced fresh parsley
• 1 (28 ounce) can crushed tomatoes
• 1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes (I add two more pinches to give it a kick!)
• 1/4 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1 teaspoon salt (or to taste)
• 2 cups water
• 8 ounces spaghetti, broken into 3 inch pieces (I used half of a 16 ounce package–Thin spaghetti–not Angel Hair– but you can use regular )
• 1/4 cup heavy whipping cream
• 4 tablespoons chopped fresh basil
• 1/2 cup fresh grated Parmesan cheese
• 2 cups grated mozzarella cheese

Directions:

1. Saute green onion in 2 tablespoons olive oil, on medium heat 5 minutes.
2. Add beef and sausage, brown over medium-hi heat.
3. While almost brown, add garlic, pepper flakes, oregano, and parsley.
4. Once browned, stir in crushed tomatoes, water and salt.
5. Add broken spaghetti. Push spaghetti into liquid, and cover for 8 minutes.
6. After 8 minutes, stir pasta so the noodles won’t stick together. Reduce heat to medium low simmer for 6 more minutes until pasta is al dente (almost cooked but still a little firm).
7. Add basil, Parmesan cheese, and cream, stir well.
8. Sprinkle top with mozzarella cheese, put in oven to broil until spotty brown. (stand there and keep watch or set a timer for 3 minutes at a time until it’s ready, or else you may end up with Blackened Hillbilly Spaghetti Pie!)

Monday...Monday...

I'm trying so hard not to laugh as I head to my morning meeting at work.

I wore a summer suit today since it's supposed to snow tomorrow and I'm in denial its not summer yet. We are having a barbeque at work this afternoon so I thought this suit would be fitting. Although you can't see it, I'm wearing an aqua cami underneath.

Are you ready for summer or what? Who's with me?

Tonight I have a busy evening. I have my weight training class at the gym, followed by a meeting with my Junior League placement advisor. I'm so excited for next year, I'm the chair of the marketing and PR committtee! I also need to get new face wash, hairspray and if I'm lucky, lip gloss. I have been breaking out lately and not happy about it.