Thanksgiving

I spent this Thanksgiving in Wisconsin with my Dad's family.  The tradition is we have Thanksgiving dinner then open Christmas gifts, since we don't usually see each other in December.  This year my cousin Mandy, who recently had a baby, and her husband hosted.  I finally got to meet Roman, and what a fun, happy baby he was!

Grandma and Grandpa learning the ins and out of their IPad.  This picture makes me smile :)

All the Stephens boys - been way too long since we've all been together.

Grandma, Grandpa and Roman.  Cute!

Look at all that delicious food!  

Makes me hungry!!  Everything was so tasty.

Onto presents.  I got a snow scraper for my car, which will come in handy in hot Arizona. Ha! 

Slicing into our deserts. Cheesecake was the winner this year, although I didn't have any issue tasting all of them.

It was great to see everyone, having us all together made Thanksgiving a lot of fun!

Three Things I'm Loving Right Now

In an effort to keep giving you new material to read every week, I thought every once and a while I'll post about things I'm really loving right now!  One of my favorite bloggers, Emily at Cupcakes and Cashmere, does this on Fridays, and always has very inspiring, beautiful things.  As an example, that's what I'm aspiring this to be!

1.  Fifty Shades of Grey.  Because honestly, I can't help but fall into the masses that love these books.  Don't judge me until you're through chapter 4 and can't put it down.

2.  Trail mix.  Because the bulk section at Whole Foods must be taken advantage of.

3.  Florence and the Machine.  Because I went to her concert last week, and her voice was beyond amazing.

Weekend's almost here!

My Summer Vacation Part I

More than a month ago I went to Door County, Wisconsin for a week's vacation, and still have yet to share pictures with all of you!  I'm going to do it up right though - I have a TON and plan to show you all the highlights.  I took this picture the first day we got there, once every one had unloaded their cars.  Didn't include the coolers full of beer and wine, but we were set with drinks.

Shot of the deck of our house that overlooked Lake Michigan.  At the height of the trip we had 15 people plus 2 kiddies, it was a busy house.

Loved this swing over looking the lake, so peaceful.

Hello Lake Michigan!  To those who haven't seen the great lakes, it's worth a trip.  So beautiful - all you can see when you look out is never ending water.

This is one of my favorite pictures of the whole trip.  Christin with her puppy Beans under the umbrella.  It's so colorful, and so summery.

I didn't have to cook hardly at all, which was a nice break. Tim's getting lunch ready for all of us.

First morning's breakfast waiting for me when I woke.  Strong cup of coffee and blackberry scones, started the trip out right! 

More to come...

My "To Do" List

 

A couple weeks ago, when my birthday was looming, I started a to do list specifically for my blog.  Goals I'd  like to have accomplished by my birthday the next year.  In order to stick with it I thought I would share the list with you.  This way all of you are motivating me, so thanks :)  If anyone has comments or any information that would help me with any of the goals, please post your feedback in the comments section, I'd love to hear what you think! Here we go...

1.  Make an Asian inspired meal

2.  Cook something with bison meat

3.  Have a guest post on my blog

4.  Start giving credit to the original writers on any recipes I adapt and post about

5.  Get a food photo accepted on Food Gawker and/or Tastespotting

6.  Make my own ice cream - essentially I need to buy an ice cream maker

7.  Make homemade granola

8.  Cook a whole chicken - I've been a wimp and just use chicken breasts usually

9.  Participate in a writing and photography class 

10.  Take more photos of everyday life - started already with the photos today :)

11.  Participate in other people's blogs more by commenting, following and tweeting about them

I'll update every couple of months to show my progress!  Again, if you have any feedback on any of my to do's feel free to share.

Bloggers Bake for Hope bidding starts at midnight tonight.  Please check out their website and consider donating to this great cause:  http://bloggersbakeforhope.blogspot.com/

Some of the items available for bid are bourbon pound cake, sea salt nutella fudge, lemon poppy seed cookies - and that's just to name a few!  Everything for sale looks so tasty, don't miss a great opportunity to help out.