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Posts Tagged ‘fun’

Thanks to Duncan Hines for sponsoring my writing. There’s no limit to the baking possibilities, so grab your favorite Duncan Hines mix and Comstock or Wilderness fruit fillings and Bake On! www.duncanhines.com.

It’s December, so you know what that means! Before you know it, you’ll be hearing about all kinds of marathon bake-a-thons and cookie swaps and the treats will be everywhere.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not complaining. Who doesn’t love a good Christmas cookie?

The thing is, I’m not much of a baker. Yes I’ll bring the occasional baked good to a party, but chances are, it came from a box. Baking for me is always very messy and requires some ingredient that I don’t have. The other thing I struggle with while baking is taste testing. Inevitably I end up eating a good portion of cookies or brownies before I even get them anywhere.

My most recent dessert adventure is going to be a little different. Next weekend I’m having one final small baby shower at my house. This shower is mostly just my good girlfriends and is going to be very low key. Since most of them live in the Philly area, traveling to Connecticut (for my mom’s shower) or to Pittsburgh (for my mother in law’s shower), was just not happening.

Therefore, we’ll have a little laid back girly get together. For dessert and a favor, I decided to whip up some chocolate covered pretzels. It seemed like an easy enough project.

I think these pretzels are a fun and sweet treat that the ladies will enjoy. They were also so easy that I also think they may be a new holiday dessert staple. To keep in the holiday spirit (and also make dipping very easy), I used this tall holiday mug to melt the chocolate. I did my melting in the microwave in 30 second intervals on 50% power.

Once dunked, I used festive sprinkles and a white chocolate pink drizzle.

To modify them for the holidays you can totally switch up the pink drizzle for red, green, or blue and the sprinkles come in every color under the sun. Or what about rolling them in crushed candy canes?! I was also thinking that it would be yummy to add some peppermint extract to the while chocolate drizzle as well.

If you’d rather give these as gifts instead of serving them at a get together, you can actually find special bags at your local craft store. They are perfect and all you need is a cute piece of ribbon to tie at the bottom.

And finally, I’ll leave you with another recommendation…that I personally tried out this afternoon. Dip your pretzel in a mug of warm hot cocoa! I swirled mine around in this cup of almond milk cocoa and it was melty, chocolatey, heaven. A dessert and drink duo made for one another.

What holiday treats are you making this season?
Any fun get togethers on your calendar?

Remember to check out Duncan Hines’ website www.duncanhines.com to find some great recipes for your holiday get-together! I was selected for this sponsorship by the Clever Girls Collective.

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Girls Weekend!

This weekend was so much fun! I had a way overdue visit with two of my best girlfriends- Rachel and Tera.

 

Rachel and Tera and I have been friends since college. We had some of the craziest and funniest memories together.

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We also shared special moments together as bridesmaids in each other’s weddings.

 

Rachel’s Wedding- August 2008

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My wedding- June 2009

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 Tera’s wedding- March 2010

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Tera lives in Richmond, VA, Rachel lives outside D.C and I’m outside Philly. Not too far, but when you factor in work, husbands, kids, and everything else, the visits get harder and harder to arrange.

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In college we were a tight knit group of three- but this weekend our posse got a new addition when Tera brought her beautiful 9 month old daughter Katherine to our get together.

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We all met up on Friday in Dewey Beach, DE at Tera’s Dad’s beach house. Since the summer crowds are now gone, the place was quiet and relaxing.

 

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Friday night we all went out for a casual dinner and then got some amazing ice cream at Maureen’s.

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One scoop of graham cracker flavored with chocolate covered marshmallows and another scoop of chocolate brownie.

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And a big drip on the belly. Oh well.

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Saturday we went out on Tera’s dad’s boat and docked in Dewey Beach.

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We walked around and then stopped at The Starboard.

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The Starboard is famous for their "make your own" (virgin) bloody mary’s. They have a full condiment bar of hot sauce, spices, and garnish. I ended up adding lots of horseradish, old bay, red hot, and extra celery salt. SO GOOD.

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Yes, we took the baby to the bar.

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Lunch was eaten al fresco. I had a yummy salad and we all slugged ice cold water.

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After lunch we waited for the tides to rise before taking the boat back home. We stopped at the Rusty Rudder and we sipped on Pina Coladas (virgin for me!) I don’t know about you, but I prefer them without the alcohol!

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Saturday evening we stayed in and ate pizza on the balcony…oh my how things have changed. But it’s all good. I love these ladies and I can’t wait to bring my little girl to a future get together :)

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What did you do this weekend?

When was your last girls get together? What did you all do?

Do you live close or far away from your best friends?

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Cabin Fever

As you guys know from Joe’s guest post, we were headed to a weekend away in the Poconos with friends for the past few days.

Sarah and Dan (hi guys!) were nice enough to host 12 of us at Dan’s parent’s cabin. They did an awesome job of planning the weekend and we all had a blast.

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Friday Night:

We all arrived in the early evening and relaxed with some drinks and a game of LCR. Have you ever played this? It’s a really fun dice game that is great for large groups.

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Saturday Morning:

We all slept in on Saturday morning and woke up to the beautiful views of the mountains. I love the quiet calm feeling of the cabin’s location.

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Breakfast sandwiches, coffee, and juice were consumed.

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A little while later the guys headed to the slopes for some boarding and skiing on icy terrain. A few of us girls headed out for some exercise.

My friend Sue and I ran 4 miles and I kept going for another 2.5 after that. It was cold out, but I was feeling good and the scenery was beautiful.

Saturday Night:

Saturday night was the highlight of the trip for me. Sarah and Dan planned an awesome murder mystery game for all of us to play. It was called “Murder in the Snow” and we all played different characters.

I was a German speed skater with a really bad attitude.

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Halfway through the game though, the power went out! We all thought it was part of the game, but it wasn’t. The rest of the game was played by candlelight, which was actually kind of fun.

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The party raged on until about 4:30am..I lasted until around 3:30.

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Needless to say, yesterday was spent getting some rest, and using all of my effort to get some schoolwork done.

I can’t believe the weekend is over already! Back to school tomorrow!

How did you spend the long weekend?

Have you ever done a murder mystery?

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M.I.A.

The good news?? Tomorrow morning I will be in Miami!

The bad news?? I’m not going to bring my laptop.

 

As much as I wanted to blog from Florida, I just can’t make room for the computer. I am carrying on my luggage and I need as much room as possible in my secondary hand held item.

Let’s just say my laptop is on the LARGE side, and it’s not exactly lightweight either.

 

Dinner tonight was a classic "no food in the house and don’t want to buy any because we’re going away" special.

 

Cereal.

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Kashi Heart to Heart, Cinnamon Puffins, a few TJ’s high fiber twigs, and a crunched up kashi granola bar. A cut up pear and 8th continent vanilla soy milk rounded out the meal.

It was decent. Nothing to write home about.

 

Alright, got to go pack! I will talk to you guys on Sunday!

 

Until then, here’s an advanced look of my friends and I at the last wedding we attended to hold you over.

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Hmm…which one am I?

 

HAVE A GREAT WEEKEND!

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Look who I met today!!!

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I swear that’s not a cardboard cut out, it really is THE Bobby Flay! Trust me, if it was a cut out I would have taken more shots so I could fix my crazy ass hair.

It just so happened that Bobby was signing cookbooks at the greatest grocery store ever, Stew Leonard’s when we stopped by today. (I swear I didn’t know he was going to be there)IMG_3320

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I was so excited, but the line was long and we had a lot of stuff to buy so I took some stalker photos and just went shopping.

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First though, we had to do a few things.

We had to touch the big pumpkin

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Drink some juice

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Watch the milk machine

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Sneak a peek at the live broadcast from the local cow farm

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Watch the dairy dance

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And the chiquita banana show

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Check out the purple cauliflowers

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And purple eggplants

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Eat some ice cream

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(toasted coconut and pumpkin spice)

And then…only then…could we do some shopping.

SHOPPING???!! Didn’t you guys see Bobby Flay over there?

Have you ever seen a famous person before? WHO?

Are you cool about it, or a total loser like me?

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H is for Hangover

F is for friends

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P is for Penis straws

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G is for Games

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O is for old. I’m too old for this. If you need me, I’ll be on the couch. ALL DAY.

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Red or Black??

Sorry there were no food posts today. Most of it you’ve already seen since I’ve been eating a lot of the same stuff all week.

Just one new tidbit though:

SQUASH

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PLUS

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= JOY in my mouth!!

 

Anyhow, I’m off to a bachelorette party in Atlantic City. Hopefully while you are reading this, I’m winning the big bucks at the slot machines.

I heard Kitty Glitter hits big. Must be the "cuteness factor". I mean when you play at a machine like this, you’re a winner either way! Cats are the gift that keep on giving.

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I’ll  also be doing some of this (hi mom!)

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But probably with some sort of obscene straw.

Have a good night and I’ll see you in the morning afternoon.

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