Going Healthy

Now that Rob and I are engaged it's time to get healthy! We have about a year until the big day, but we will be taking engagement photos and I was use to look GOOD! I have started working out and cooking better last night. I am trying to go back to my Paleo Diet to cut out dairy and processed foods. Hopefully this will help my acne as well.

Here's what we had last night:
Chicken with a rub on it.. I don't know what it was lol..
Halved red potatoes, fresh green beans and carrots with olive oil drizzled all over.
I stuck this all in one pan in the oven at 350 degrees until everything was cooked
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I believe I am a month in on using my Proactiv. As you can see I still get pimples but they are no where near as bad as they were before using this. I do still get the few big pimples, but they go away within a couple days. I've also stopped using every step since it dried out my face way too much. I was itching, flaking, and just so uncomfortable with it all. Now all I use is step 1 (face wash) and Step 3 ( the leave on medicine).

I'm probably going to see a dermatologist to see if I can get antibiotics to kill all the bacteria under my skin. It seems like most of the scar looking pimples are the ones stuck under the skin.. I've have some that won't surface for about 2 weeks...

I'm Engaged!

This past week and a half has been crazy busy. Christmas was right around the corner. I was rushing to get everything ready and trying to plan whose house I was going to and when. But thankfully I got through it and had a great gift in the end.

After 4.5 years of dating, Rob finally asked me to marry him on December 20th. We shared a very private moment at home and then had an amazing dinner at The Keg.

Of course the next couple days we called all of our friends and family to announce the engagement, and everyone was very excited for us.

Decorating the Apartment!

On Black Friday, Rob and I went shopping for a new couch. I was tired of having futons just because they were cheap. Our latest one only lasted 2 years. After drunken friends sleeping over, the dog being on it, and the general wear and tear of it the couch finally gave out. Well,  it still could have lasted longer, but all I felt were the boards coming through the cushion.

I finally got Rob on the same page about buying a new one. I got my way by getting him a leather recliner that he's been dreaming of. Lucky for me and our wallet we got the recliner at a very cheap cost!

We bought them both at Ashley's Furniture. I've been dying for a charcoal couch for so long with a thick fabric on it. Ashley's had a really nice one for only $650. I originally wanted a couch from Crate & Barrell so this was a steal by far!

Of course my phone camera is terrible and never shows the true color... The blanket on the couch is actually a blue mint color

Couch - Ashley's Furniture - $650

Recliner - Ashley's - $400

Mint throw - Ross - $8

Then of course I went to Michael's to get some paint for my new DIY project and got trapped by their 70% off Christmas items. I found a gorgeous vase I wanted, and I wanted to fill it with Christmas floral that can actually be used all year around. Here what I found for my side table.
By the way, I am using a tv stand, but will updating it until we get a house and have more room for an actual end table.

Each of these insert pieces were $0.49 - $0.89.. Amazing!

Originally $30 and I got it for $8 at Michael's!

Candle's and an elephant!!

Vase - Michael's - Originally $30 - on sale for $8

Floral pieces - Michael's $0.49 - $0.89 each

Candles - Ross - $4 each

Elephant - Ross - $8.00

Of course there is still A LOT of work to do.. It's a slow work in progress and I am decorating for my new home in July, not for my apartment right now. So I will slowly be gathering pieces I know will work in my new home.

French Fry Casserole

Since we are stuck inside due to the ice storm, and we cannot leave to go to the grocery store, I decided to get creative with our dinner last night.

As most meals that I cook, I just threw some random ingredients together and hoped that it would come out tasting good. The outcome? Amazing!


French Fry Casserole
1 lb Ground Beef
1 1/2 cup Ham, chopped
2 cans Cream of Chicken
1 bag of French Fries (I used Oridela's seasoned fries)
2 cups of Cheese
Ranch (optional)


Directions:

1. Cook the ground beef in a skillet until brown. 
2. Once the ground beef is done, drain and add in your chopped ham. Ours was already cooked, so we didn't need to cook in the skillet.
3. Take a casserole pan and empty the two cans of Cream of Chicken in the pan. Add the meat and mix well.
4. Spread the mixture evenly in pan, and then top with French Fries.
5. Cook as packages directs you until your fries are brown and crispy.
6. Once the fries are done, remove from the oven and cover with cheese and ranch (optional). We used light ranch to keep it semi healthy lol!

French Fry Casserole

This is definitely a man's meal! It was definitely delicious, but I think I won't make it as often since I'm sure it's full of fat! This is definitely a quick meal for a cold night in.

iced in

The past two days Rob and I have been iced in. We're unable to drive on the roads since they are so slick with ice. To Rob, this is a dream weekend. We are locked up in our 800 sq ft apartment with only video games, netflix, and some junk food.

For me... a nightmare. If I am at home for more than three hours with nothing to do I go absolutely stir crazy!! Last night we tried to venture out to Target and slid all over the place. Today only got work with the slush icing over. We couldn't even walk to the garbage can without falling on our butts.

So what have I done on my time locked in?
I've made coffee for the maintenance guys working on the covered parking.
I've cleaned twice a day.
I've organized my pantry.
Organized my closet and dresser.
Wrapped presents.
Made crafts.
Completed marketing projects for work.

Still bored.

So Rob and I decided to make our gingerbread house...

Our Gingerbread House!

Rob wanted to put our initials on the door and icicles.. turned out beautiful.

Snow Day

People always comment about how crazy Texas weather is. Maybe most years I am not paying attention, so I don't really fully understand what they are referring to. Well I am starting to figure it out.
Dallas already has short winters, and they are more like Autumn then Winter. We only get about 3 months of cold weather.

Wednesday Dallas was in the high 70's and for a short period even 80 degrees! Then all of a sudden on Thursday it drops to the 30's and we were expecting a cold storm to come through. I work at a glass company where we have over 20 driver's that have to go replace glass for customers. So everyone at work was already on the lookout to see if we were going to face icy roads. About 4pm we started calling our guys to get them off the slick roads.

I knew Friday we weren't going to come in to work. We had an ice storm coming in Thursday night and lasting through Saturday.  Friday morning Rob and I woke up and did our normal routine, without getting ready to leave for work. I went outside to walk to dog and saw this...

Collapsed Parking

Every single covered parking had fallen down and crushed the vehicles underneath. Rob and I were one of the lucky ones though. Only our covered parking was still standing. By the time we had gotten up, most of the residents had moved their cars. We scrambled to get our warmed up and moved before ours came crashing down.
Talking to some of the neighbors, they heard the commotion all night but didn't really pay attention to the sound. I can't say we live in the quietest neighborhood out there... Our other neighbors got the short end of the stick... Their cars got stuck and damaged.

I actually work at a glass company so I went and put our business cards with a discount on the cars that had the windshields smashed in. *A little plug for my business *wink wink**


A couple hours later we started hearing this loud sound right outside our living room window. When I went to the window to look a huge chunk of tree fell. We are so blessed that our apartment didn't get damaged. I have already put in a notice to the office about cutting the tree down, but did they listen? no!

A broken limb from all the ice.

On a more humorous note.. When we went out to look at the fallen tree we went around to see the progress the maintenance people were making on our side of parking.. We definitely don't have the brightest group working at our complex. This guy thought it was a genius idea to park under the only covered area left standing...

Definitely a genius lol!

I heard them making jokes about it, so it;s okay for me to laugh.

DIY: Scuff Remover

Rob and I bought our new Camry not even 3 weeks ago and we already have a huge scuff on the back bumper! It doesn't help that the car is white.

Rob was so upset he wanted to take it to the dealership to have them remove the scuff but I am way against blowing money when we can do it ourselves. We just needed to do a little research on our own and see if we can do any at-home remedies before we give up and take it in.

I found a YouTube video that really isn't worth posting about since it was less than 2 minutes and I can write it just as well as seeing it.

Basically I got my toothpaste and my bag of cottonballs and went outside to the car. It was pretty cold outside so I am not sure if this affects anything....

Take a nickel sized amount of toothpaste on your finger and spread it over the scuff mark.

I didn't let it sit. I immediately took a cotton ball and started wiping away at the tooth paste. I did use a little elbow grease in order to really get it off and I did have to repeat the process a couple of times on some smaller areas.

Most of it came off immediately. The YouTube video suggests using a buffing machine, but I didn't have that. Elbow grease works fine ;)

Before

After

Now of course we still have some scuffs left and some of that is just dirt from driving around and not washing the car. But the 3 darker marks I wasn't able to get off. I'm sure if Rob used his man muscle it would come off..

I think that this process is amazing for not costing me a penny!!

Starting Fresh

I have been begging Rob for several months now to get a washer and dryer, a new living room set, and some other things in life just to up our comfort in our apartment. I've been wanting all of these things, but at the same time I wanted to wait until we purchased a home in July (8 months). At this point, we might have to post pone our house purchase an extra year just so we can save up quite a bit more for the down payment.

Since we discussed waiting on the home, I decided to just get a new couch. We have an ugly futon that I purchased for $100 which was just supposed to last us until we got a home. That's been 2 years now. I can tell you it just doesn't even want to last any more. After all Rob's frat buddy coming and passing out drunk on it and breaking the legs and us ghetto fixing it... and then the dog... it's just time for something new!

Of course I've done my research on Pinterest and Houzz.com but nothing has screamed out "me" yet. I did know I wanted a gray couch. The only trick now is to keep the dog off.
Rob's been dying to get his own leather furniture. He really wanted it all in leather, but that is just one fabric I hate. You stick to it in the summer, which is 9 out of 12 months here, and  then it's super cold during the other months. We agreed that I'd get a fabric couch and he could get a leather recliner. We found an amazing deal during the holiday sales and got his recliner that is typically $800 for $300 and my couch which is usually $1100 for $650. Not bad!

Our new couch!!

Random photo.

It's Beginning To Feel A Lot Like Christmas

I love love love Christmas time. The decorations and the atmosphere are so wonderful! Not to mention the much needed family time.
Last year Rob and I started a traditional for our family to buy live Christmas Trees. I grew up with the artificial ones, and I just grew tired of it. Plus, we have no where to store the tree after Christmas ends, so I'd rather just buy it new, leave it up a month and then toss it. And those of you that have live trees, nothing compares to the fresh smell!

My very first post on this blog was our first Christmas Tree. It was so sad looking and nothing went right. We bought a tree that Home Depot cut way to short, and then cut too many limbs off the bottom. It leaned and the star wouldn't stay up. Our lights only went half way up the tree, and we had no hooks for the ornaments. You could definitely say it was a learning lesson for us.

Look how wimpy it looks!!!

This year I made sure to tell the tree cutters to NOT take any extra limbs off the bottom and to make sure to cut the bottom straight! The poor guy probably hated me after.

Our 2nd Christmas Tree

This one looks sooo much better! I decided for presents and wrapping I would use kraft paper found at the Dollar Tree. I actually wrapped all this with one roll! I bought think and thin ribbon and bows from the dollar tree as well. I think I spent $7 on wrapping paper, ribbons, and bows. Not bad!! Especially since it's going to get torn up anyway.

On Thanksgiving I was lucky enough that Rob's mother gave me like 1/10 of her miniature Christmas Village (and that's not being over dramatic when I say a tenth).

I still need to purchase the cotton snow to cover up all the white fabric. But all in all, I am very ecstatic to finally have a Christmas Village!!!