December

December has been full of awesomeness. Yes, I know that is not a word but it is what I wanted to use to describe this month. This month started out with a huge Bedlam win! The next day we attended a lovely Christmas party at the Oaks Country Club where Kyle, Tyler and Austin are members. Tyler's wife Lilia and Austin's girlfriend Christy are both great golfers. I am the only non-golfer so I sip club specials and read by the pool. Although I feel that time is ending because Lilia and Christy are determined to make me into a golfer.

The weekend of the Dec 8th, we had our annual Christmas book exchange in OKC. I got The Help and plan to start reading in on the plane tomorrow. The next weekend was a Christmas party at Tyler and Lilia's and our kickball party. Both were a rockin' good time (you like that saying?).

Then came Christmas. We spent Christmas day at my brother's house. Watching the girls excitement over Santa and what he brought is one of the joys in life. I look forward to the day my children will do the same. The big girls were already awake when we got there (we left Tulsa at the crack of dawn!) and Jordyn came out looking adorable with her crazy bed head. We unloaded our presents and let the girls see what Santa brought them. Then we had breakfast and went to church for a Christmas morning service. We came home and prepared lunch and started handing out the rest of the gifts. I am so lucky to have a mom and a sister in law that give great gifts! Erin got me the cutest OSU shirt that I can wear in Pittsburgh this weekend during the bowl game! I was back home at Kyle's by dinner time and we cooked a cute little Christmas dinner and opened presents in the dining room floor by the tree. I was exhausted since I stayed up til 1 AM the night before and my alarm had gone off at 5:50 AM. 
Kyle got new carpet on Monday so we cleared out all the rooms first thing that morning and then went upstairs to the spare bedroom and watched a movie while the carpet was installed. I finished the Christmas break with dinner with Amanda. We tried to go to this new place downtown, Edward Delk's, but it was closed. Then we went to Mi Cocina, my new obsession, and they were slammed. So we walked across to White Owl, which was also packed.

Back to work yesterday, and I used a Groupon for a shellac. Let's hope it lasts longer than the last one did.

Tomorrow we board yet another plane for Pittsburgh. This long weekend in Pittsburgh will consist of massages for me and Kyle, rehearsal dinner, wedding, brunch after wedding, OSU bowl game. I have made my packing list, detailed by outfits worn for occasions. I will have to wear a coat to the airport cause there is no way 2 coats will fit in my bag. Kyle is so excited about the wedding, all of his high school and college friends will be there. I'm also excited about the wedding, but also about the food and champagne :)

Happy New Year, blog friends. See you in 2012!

Sullivan Christmas Party: the golfing ladies!

Pajama Kickball Party

Billy, Claybrook and Brandon's Christmas card photo

The mother of twins!

Scooter and leg warmers

Evil Knievil on a bike

Scooter girl

Jordyn's new backpack 

You know this won't be complete without food pics/recipes!

Hershey's Chocolate Cake

Christmas Eve dinner by Kyle: Buffalo chicken salad topped with fries!

Kyle grew up eating these every Christmas but his mom is "out of the buckeye business" so I fulfilled the request. 

I also made a breakfast casserole but was so tired by this point that I forgot to take a pic. You can find the recipe here.
Oh, and I made this dip:

Chili Cream Cheese Dip

1 can Hormel Chili with or without beans

1 block cream cheese

2 dollops of sour cream 

Fritos 

Heat everything up, mix together, serve with Fritos. So easy. It tastes a lot like the skillet queso at Chili's, if you have ever had that.

Shopping, Wrapping, Cooking, Baking

Hey everyone! 4 days until Christmas and I finally have all of my shopping finished! I need to wrap everything but I plan on doing that when I get off work on Friday. They let us know that we get to leave at 2 on Friday, which is a huge deal because most of the time they keep it secret until 30 minutes before they let us go. I greatly appreciate them telling us ahead of time that we get off early.

I have felt under the weather for the past week. I am not sure exactly what it is, but I want it to go away. I got into bed at 8:45 last night and was dead asleep when Kyle called me at 10:15, went right back to sleep and slept all night. Hopefully that great sleep will put me on the mend. Also, I would really like to visit the gym sometime soon since I will be in a strapless dress in a little over a week.

This past weekend was filled with activities including lots of food. I made cranberry cream cheese dip, spicy pretzels, corn dip, and peanut butter fudge. Everything turned out great! We attended a Christmas party at Tyler and Lilia's Friday night and played all kinds of couples games and we had enough food to eat until Spring Break of 2012. Saturday night we went to the Christmas Kickball Pajama party. I have some great pics from this but left my camera sitting on my dresser. Kyle and I both wore adult size pajama onesies and he accessorized with a terry cloth robe and slippers. Most comfortable party ever.

We are headed to my brother's house for Christmas this year. I always love spending this time with them and seeing the girls enjoy Christmas. Next week, I will only work two and a half days and then we are going to Pittsburgh to enjoy NYE at a wedding. I got some great earrings from Bauble Bar (fuchsia boho drop) for the wedding. 

I have no idea what the food plan is for Christmas day but I want to make this dip: chili cream cheese dip and serve with the always tasty Fritos. Yum.

And I just had a light bulb go off in my head for a recipe I could try. Make my super easy peanut butter fudge, and then dip into chocolate almond bark for my own twist on Reese's. Oh my...now I have to make this.

Easy Peanut Butter Fudge

1/2 cup butter

2 cups brown sugar

1/2 cup evaporated milk

1 cup peanut butter

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

3 cups confectioners' sugar

Melt butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Stir in brown sugar and milk. Bring to a boil and boil until your thermometer reaches 234 degrees Fahrenheit (approximately 4 minutes), stirring constantly. Remove from heat. Stir in peanut butter and vanilla. Pour over confectioners' sugar in a large mixing bowl. Beat until smooth. Add the rest of the 5 oz can of evaporated milk if the mixture is too dry. Scoop into 8x8 inch dish and press into form with a spatula. Chill until firm and cut into squares.

Mine actually came out a little oily, and I am not sure if it was the extra evaporated milk or what.Maybe I can try just adding a little regular milk to the mixture next time. But the mixture was definitely too dry once I mixed it with the powdered sugar. 

Spicy Pretzels

What You Need
15 oz Bag of Small Pretzels
6 oz Canola or Vegetable Oil
1 pkg Hidden Valley Ranch Dressing
2 tsp Cayenne Pepper (may use less and then add more if you want them spicier)
1 tsp Garlic Powder
1.5 tsp Lemon Pepper

Directions
Mix together seasoning and oil. Place pretzels in large ziploc bag (the gallon size works for one batch), add seasoning mix, and toss periodically for 12-24 hours before serving.

Merry Christmas!

Elf Yourself

Bored at work this morning:

Heather and Kyle as elves 

Lauren, Allison, Jordyn as elves 

 Merry Christmas!

Basketball

This past weekend we got the treat of watching my nieces play their first game of basketball. And let me tell you, it was a treat! We started off the day with lunch at Red's Southern Diner , a newly opened diner located at Danforth and Kelly and it was delish. There is nothing healthy about it, so don't go if you want to eat lightly. There are 7 menu items to choose from and it comes family style with all the sides. The food was great. I ordered the chicken pot pie and it was the best I have ever had. My favorite part was the massive amount of fried okra I shoved in my face.

After lunch, Grammy and Pappy and I  went to watch Lauren's tennis lesson. She is quite the little athlete! And she looks so cute and feminine and graceful while she does it. Below are 2 short videos I took towards the end of her lesson where she got to play a match with another girl. I didn't want to make her nervous with the camera so they are short.

Then we were off to basketball. Both of the girls were so nervous and we kept telling them they would do great! I didn't get any video of the basketball, dang it! I was busy watching and playing with Jordy. We were racing from wall to wall and she won everytime :)
Anyway, Allison had a sheer look of terror when she stepped foot on the court. She was wringing her little hands and looking back and forth to Erin and Bryan. Lauren and Allison both dribbled the ball better than all of the other girls on the court. Lauren even scored a basket! Allison did this awesome quick feet move when she went to defend her girl. It was the cutest thing ever.

This weekend I plan to make at least 5 recipes of Pinterest. I have 3 parties to attend and I need to take food to 2 of them. I am hopefully going to knock out some Christmas shopping tonight and maybe even get some wrapping complete. Seriously, where does the time go? 

Big 12 Champs

It has taken me entirely too long to post about my alma mater being Big XII Champs for the first time EVER!!!!!! This has been the best season of OSU football in the history of OSU football. And I am so so so glad that we had season tickets this year. (Thank you, Mom and Dad!)

So Bedlam was last Saturday night and the weather forecast really put a damper on any plans we had. We wanted to go up early and eat in Stilly and get the whole "game day expereince" but it was raining. So we ate in Tulsa and then went straight to the game. Side note: I wore running tights for warmth and comfort and it was the best decision of my life. I may never wear real pants to a game again.
I was nervous all week about this game. Everyone knows we have been dominated by OU for years. And while we were clearly much better this year, anything can happen when it comes to Bedlam. But not this year, folks.
Walking up to the stadium I said to Kyle, "I know this isn't gonna be a blowout, I just want to win." Man, was I wrong? I won't go over the game in detail. If you want that, you can visit Pistols Firing Blog. 
We took a fairly early lead and just kinda ran with it. I didn't relax until the 4th qtr when it was clear that we were going to win. And then the excitement set in. We had been yelling and cheering and jumping up and down all game. Students starting filing down the stadium to rush the field. And then I saw my 34yr old brother leave his wife and head towards the field. Yes, he and a friend rushed the field. Hilarious. It was an unforgettable night. Here are some pics from Kyle's iPhone:

Taking the field

Fans rushing the field

Dad, Mom, Erin, Me. Pistols Firing. Go Pokes. Bedlam victory is ours!

I have always been proud to be a Poke, but this season took it to a whole new level. 

Some say we got screwed in the BCS standings Sunday night. We ended up #2, behind Bama. Which means we don't get a shot at the national title. We will play in the Fiesta Bowl on Jan 2 against Standford. 

Best part of the Bedlam game besides winning: Not hearing Boomer Sooner 50 times. They (whoever they is) did a great job of playing speaker music or talking, or our band played, or whatever needed to happen happened the very minute they tried to play that awful song.

Cyber Monday Deals

I love online shopping. And usually the only thing keeping me from purchasing everything that I put into my bag is the shipping. But on Cyber Monday, free shipping is often offered with no minimum purchase. Here is what I scored:

ASOS Fuchsia Clutch for $16 and free shipping!

*Gap Lambswool cable sweater for $21

* I actually got the Gap sweater last night after work. They were having 50% off sweaters and I had a $10 reward that was about to expire. $59.95 sweater for $21....ahthankyou! This cable knit, jeggings, and my beloved Steve Madden boots will make the perfect outfit.

I also ordered some cheap jewelry from Forever 21 but it is all sold out now so I can't pull pics from the website. I bought bangles in all different colors (kind of like this) so I can layer them with regular bangles and a watch. I also bought these earrings and tall gray boot socks that will show out of the top of my boots.

I wanted this vest:

Cable knit vest

With a black undershirt and my black skinny belt to tie it all together. So cute. It's on sale online but not in the store so I am just gonna watch it and see if I can get a deal on it after Christmas.
Kyle and I have decided to not buy each other presents this year and save money for a trip for his 30th birthday which he will celebrate in Feb. Although the money should probably be saved for my 30th birthday in Jan of 2013 cause I plan on doing something epic. Yes, I am already thinking of my 30th birthday trip when I am still 28.