Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving from my family to yours!

Above is a picture my cousin made for our Thanksgiving last year - she's an elementary school teacher! How cute is that! Hope you all enjoy lots of turkey, mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, pie and my favorite - The Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade!!! :)

I'll be taking a break from the blog for the next few days while we are out of town and enjoying the holiday weekend! Have a great time with your family and friends!

Gobble gobble!

12 Dates of Christmas: Dates 10-12

I'm excited to wrap up my 12 Dates of Christmas series with the last 3 dates! Here we go!

On the tenth date of Christmas...

Wrapping presents can definitely be a chore, but I thought it would be fun to make it a little bit more exciting by making a date out of it! We laid out all of our presents we needed to wrap, got out the paper, scissors, tape, ribbons, bows, etc. and got to wrapping! We put on a Christmas movie and ate food while we wrapped! It was fun and made a tedious task more enjoyable!

On the eleventh date of Christmas...

Since I had been planning all of the dates so far, I wanted to let Ryan have a little bit of a say in the date we went on on December 11th! Originally, I was going to let him chose between going out to dinner, going bowling, or going to play Skee Ball (one of our favorite things we did when we first started dating!) and we decided to do both dinner AND Skee Ball! Well, that was until I got sick that day. :( Instead, we made soup and stayed at home, which wasn't ideal, but we revisted this date later on to make up for it!

This is my homemade italian beef and vegetable soup! I'll have to share the recipe soon!

On the twelfth date of Christmas...

I was really excited about this date because when Ryan and I were about 3 1/2 months into dating, we went to Bass Pro one night and had such a fun time because they had turned it into Santa's Wonderland! Bass Pro is HUGE in Springfield, Missouri where we used to live, so going to Bass Pro was like Disney World for men! Plus, they do such a spectacular job of converting it into a magical place!

Isn't that amazing? It's really cool! If you live near a Bass Pro Shop, but never go in, I recommend it at Christmas time!

And there we have it folks, the 12 Dates of Christmas! I hope you enjoyed these fun ideas to do with your someone special around the holidays! It was fun because we got to do things that only happen once a year, splurge on some dates like the Cirque Holidaze show, save on some at home dates with movie nights and games, give back to those in need with Toys For Tots, and turn some of those not-so-fun holiday tasks into something memorable and fun!

Get creative with the dates and look at your local city's events calendar to see what holiday things are taking place! Hope you enjoyed the 12 Dates of Christmas series!

Christmastime in Las Vegas!

Ryan and I are headed to Las Vegas today to spend Thanksgiving with his parents! I love going to Las Vegas especially around the holidays because there are so many fun things to see and do! Ryan and I have been out to Vegas the past two years around Christmas and they do a great job decorating in the hotels and casinos! My favorite place to visit in Las Vegas around Christmas is the Bellagio Conservatory because they do such a spectacular job!

The first year we went out there together, the Christmas tree was decorated with beautiful gold ornaments! I love gold, so I really loved this tree!

They do a beautiful job creating things out of flowers like the Happy Holidays sign above. I also love the animals they make out of flowers! Check out his polar bear!

So amazing right?

Last year when we went out there, the tree was decorated with red and green ornaments!

And yes I have the same scarf on in both pictures. Would you believe it if I told you it's my favorite scarf? LOL I loved the red and green ornaments added to the tree this year because it was very festive! They had the polar bears again and they even had these adorable penguins that skated around the "ice rink".

If you are in Las Vegas around the holidays, make sure you stop by the Bellagio Conservatory and check it out! It's gorgeous!

There are all sorts of shows and events that you can attend out in Vegas this time of year! Click here for a list of what's happening in 2013!

Some of the things on the list that seem pretty awesome to me include Ethel M Chocolates Holiday Cactus Garden, Glittering Lights at Las Vegas Motor Speadways, The Las Vegas Great Santa Run on Fremont Street, and of course, The Nutcracker is playing!

So, don't forget to take a break from gambling in the casinos to check out all the fun festive holiday activities happening in Sin City over the Christmas season!

12 Dates of Christmas: Dates 7-9

I'm back with the next set of 12 Dates of Christmas dates! These three dates included 3 of my favorite things: coffee, Christmas lights, and shopping!

On the seventh date of Christmas...

Ryan was not a coffee drinker when we first started dating over three years ago, but he has learned to love it and coffee dates became one of our favorite things to do together! He also loves board games and for Christmas in the past he started collecting the wooden vintage board games they sell at Target. They are really cool looking and it's fun to be able to collect some of the classic games like Life, Clue, Monopoly, and Scrabble!

So, for this date, we went to Starbucks and ordered our favorite coffees (mine was a Peppermint Mocha of course!) and came home and got out one of our classic board games and played a few rounds of "The Game of Life"!

On the eighth date of Christmas...

I was VERY excited about this date because I love to drive around and look at Christmas lights! I have so many fond childhood memories of piling in my parents car with my aunt and cousins and driving around looking at lights! Branson, Missouri was only about 30 minutes away from where we used to live, so last year we drove down there to do the drive through lights!

I loved driving through the lights display and listening to Christmas music! It was so much fun and got us even more excited for Christmas which by then was only a few weeks away!!

On the ninth date of Christmas...

Ryan and I still had some Christmas shopping to do for our family and friends, so I thought it would be fun to make it more exciting since shopping and fighting the crowds is not really one of his favorite things to do! So, we made a date of it and went shopping in Branson which is not really our normal shopping routine!

Branson has a fantastic outdoor shopping area called The Landing, so since we didn't go very often, it made our shopping trip a little bit more exciting! Plus, The Landing decorates for Christmas and plays Christmas music outside!

And those are dates 7-9! I'm excited to share the last 3 dates to round up the 12 Dates of Christmas series!

Sunday Love List: Desserts

With Thanksgiving coming up this week, I know a lot of people are going to be baking and making yummy, delicious goodies for their gatherings! So, today on my Sunday Love List, I thought I would share some dessert recipes that I have found that make great treats for the holidays! I'm not a very patient baker, so all of these recipes are super simple and easy to make when you need to whip up a quick treat to bring to a party or cookie exchange!

1. Chocolate Coffee Toffee Chex Mix

 I love chocolate, coffee, and toffee, so when I found this recipe on the Chex website, I knew I had to try it! It was super simple to make and was amazingly delicious! I love puppy chow, so this was a fun twist on the classic version! Recipe here!

2. Reese's Rice Krispie Treats

The first time I tasted these to-die-for treats I fell in love! I bought them at a dessert auction at a charity event and searched high and low for the recipe! I finally found it on another blog and made them myself and they were Ah-mazing! I made these and brought them to my sister's graduation party and everyone ate them up! If you like Reese's Peanut Butter Cups and rice krispie treats, then you will love them! Recipe here!

3. Jello Pretzel Salad

One of my old co-workers made this Jello Pretzel Salad for a potluck one time and I couldn't believe how yummy it was! I love strawberries, so the topping of this was delicious and then you get the gooey creamy center and a crunchy caramely bottom! It was super simple to make too and what I love about this dessert is that it's unique and not one you see all the time! Recipe here!

4. Poor Man's Turtles

Poor Man's Turtles or Pretzel Rolo Turtles are always a staple in my family's holiday treats! They are probably the easiest thing to make ever and are a huge hit! All you need are pecans, rolos, and pretzels! We have switched them up a lot before and made them with Reese's or Hershey kisses instead of rolos and added M&M's on top instead of pecans! They are the perfect salty and sweet dessert! Recipe here!

5. Fall Fruit Salad

I was hunting for a good, healthy, holiday treat a few weeks ago and stumbled across this fall fruit salad recipe! I made it and brought it for a potluck at work and it is sssoo good! It tastes like it belongs in a pie or on top of oatmeal and it's the perfect fruit dessert for anyone that wants to eat healthy or for those that are gluten free! I made mine with apples, oranges, pears, craisins, and walnuts! Yum, yum, yum! Recipe here!

And there you have it - 5 easy to make desserts for the holidays! Hope you enjoy!

Doctor Who: 50th Anniversary Special

I'm proud to admit that I'm a nerd at heart and today is a very exciting day because it is the premier of the Doctor Who 50th Anniversary Special!! Ryan and I have been waiting months for today because we love Doctor Who and he has been missing from our life since we haven't had any new episodes to watch! And I'm even more excited because this episode is the return of David Tennant as the 10th Doctor and his love Rose Tyler!

I know there are many others out there that love Doctor Who as much as I do, so for all you Whovians, I've put together a special Doctor Who themed stocking stuffer list!

Doctor Who Stocking Stuffer Ideas:

Custom Embroidered Doctor Who Dalek Christmas Towel

Build Your Own Sonic Screwdriver (Over 80 combinations!)

Whovian Pencils

Doctor Who Sticky Notes

Doctor Who Socks

2014 Planner

 

Heat Changing TARDIS Coffee mug

I found all of these products on Think Geek and Etsy - they have tons of really great items that are all perfect stocking stuffers for your friends and family that love Doctor Who!

12 Dates of Christmas: Dates 4-6

I'm excited to share the next set of my 12 Dates of Christmas! If you missed dates 1-3, you can check them out here!

On the fourth date of Christmas...

This was probably my favorite date out of all 12 because I loved the idea of giving back to others! I work for a non-profit, so it's probably just in my blood to love doing things like this! We couldn't find a local place that had an Angel Tree, so we ended up donating to Toys For Tots, which is just as wonderful!

Ryan and I had so much fun on this date because we felt like little kids again wondering through Toys R Us and finding a toy to donate! I picked out the game Cootie because it was one of my absolute favorites when I was a kid! And Ryan picked out a John Cena wrestling action figure because he loves to watch wrestling! We hope that two little kids out there enjoyed their toys last Christmas!

On the fifth date of Christmas...

I love to decorate cookies on Christmas Eve, so I thought it would be fun to make cookies together! Ryan and I went to the grocery store to pick out what we wanted and instead of cookies, Ryan wanted to make cupcakes! We found some scrumptious hot chocolate flavored cupcakes - chocolate cake with marshmallow frosting! They were delicious!

Yummy gooey deliciousness! This date was fun because we don't bake very often and it made our stay at home date enjoyable!

On the sixth date of Christmas...

When I planned out our date for December 6th, I knew I was going to have to work late that night, so I wanted to do something easy! We picked out a Christmas movie to watch together when I got home that night!

We ended up watching The Santa Clause which is probably my very favorite Christmas movie! I have a lot of favorites, but I think this one takes 1st place! It was fun getting comfy and cozy and snuggling up on the couch to watch such a funny and light-hearted movie!

Well, that rounds up the first half of the 12 Dates of Christmas! Stay tuned for the last 6 in the next few days!