Top 2 Tuesday - Things You've Learned About Friendship

Ok Im trying something new, and linking up to do Top 2 Tuesday along with many other bloggers.

This week's topic is (2) Things You've Learned About Friendship.


1. Real Friends dont have to be the ones you talk to on a weekly basis. There are a few friends I have that I can go MONTHS.. literally .. without talking to them, and when you see them, visit, talk on the phone - you jump right in where you left off and have a great great time with them.. Sound familiar to anyone else?

These friendships are timeless, and I miss those friends who I am referring to. We have great memories, but when we see each other, we make new ones.

2. True friends "get" you. These are the friends that you can vent to, ask them ANY kind of question without the fear that they will either juidge you, or run back to another "friend".. and tell them your business. True friends trust you with their secrets, fears, complaints. And after a phone call, make you feel good about yourself even though they are sometimes thousands of miles away.

My friends circle as you become older - does get smaller, and those friends who are in that circle I never take for granted, and I am so thankful for!

I love you all my dear friends, you know who you are!

Finally Friday....

So its Friday!! Yeah!
No big plans for the weekend, maybe a trip to BJ's, a Sushi Date, and hopefully church...yes I said Church

Im just glad its here!

I am working on some painting orders over the weekend for my giveaway and an order for a name canvas that Im super excited about! (I'll post BOTH finished products on
3rd Floor Art .. not to worry)

While I was sketching these two orders, I looked over and saw Miss Samantha doing the same..



Hmm, a little budding Artiste in the making?

Anyways ... Happy Weekend to you all...

What are your plans?

Pre-School Open House

Yesterday after dinner, we headed over to a pre-school open house, just to check things out. Yes I realize Samantha is only 1.5 years old, but Im a planner, so naturally between planning, being curious and just wanting to get her out for a bit since its so cold here.. away we all went.

SHE LOVED IT!!!!

The classrooms were so adorable. Art work, cubby holes, kitchen sets, tiny chairs, tiny sinks, toys, games, chalkboards.. So cute!!

She made herself right at home, and was checking things out, occasionally shouting out "WOW".. ha!

I was quick to say "I cant wait till she comes here, and brings me home all her cute artwork, etc." But I did follow up by saying "But I dont want her to grow up too fast, its just ...she's gonna be so cute at Preschool!" haha!

The school is within walking distance from our house.. how great is that!

They had a giant play area in addition to the classrooms with trikes,balls, jungle gym equipment, little houses,







and even a horsey!

We had a great time... Be back next year for registration.. ahhhh my little baby is growing up so fast!

this and that

Its been freeezing here lately.. until today. When I got in my car today it was 33! Now some of you reading this are probably thinking, "33 are you crazy!.. That IS still freezing!"...

Well compared to yesterday's whopping -1... It felt like a heat wave!

Weekend update:

We played, organized, and I caught this sweet picture while she was looking away.. I can finally put her hair in a little ponytail and I love how cute she looks!



We didnt do much of anything exciting.. since it was in the single digits all weekend, and grey and snowy... but always pretty I guess .. here's for looking on the bright side, right?

We did some grocery shopping though, and I made some meals.. Quesadillas, Chicken Soup, and A huge pot of Sauce.. MMMMM.. The house smelled so good when the sauce was cooking. I made enough to eat and freeze for later meals.

Monday, Shea, our nanny texted me a picture of Samantha during lunch.

I guess she likes her mama's sauce!

I also browsed the dollar section at Target this weekend, and found a few things that I had to have! I always get sucked in.. and then I say to myself, "geesh .. I mean for a dollar, its a steal!" Does anyone else have this problem? ha!



These shoes were too cute to pass up, and all of our floors minus the 3rd floor are hardwood, so on cold days.. we make sure she's always wearing slippers.


So that was our weekend, and look its almost Wednesday already.. hope the week goes fast! We do have some fun filled events planned for the upcoming weekend.

Buffalo Chicken Wing Dip

Seeing as I am a native Buffalonian, I should probably know how to make this recipe, right?

It was sooo good.. I made it last weekend, and wanted to share the recipe.
I've made it before, but this batch was EXTRA tasty.. and I think I know why...

*** Whipped Cream Cheese****

Here are the ingredients!

3-4 Chicken Breasts - cooked and shredded
1 bottle Ranch dressing
1 bottle Franks's Red Hot - I used Buffalo flavor
2 8oz tubs Whipped Cream Cheese.

* I cut this recipe in half, and made it in a 9x9 inch pan, for the full recipe, you will need a regular 9x12.*

Cook and shred chicken breasts



Mix the hot sauce and cream cheese in a bowl first until well blended. Then add to shredded chicken and mix well. Add the Ranch dressing to the chicken/sauce/cream cheese, and mix until thick. (*I didnt add the full amount of Ranch... I eyeballed it till it looked very thick and gooey.. you could make it a more liquid based dip though)

Spray your baking dish/pan.
Bake for 45 minutes @350 degrees.

You should have something that looks like this:




I served it with Tortillas, and Wheat Thins.
Let me know what you all think!

Open Late....

So Samantha.. (my almost 19 month old) hasnt been the best sleeper.. since birth. I guess I could have titled this post "venting". As I sit here and type, she is still not sleeping ... She just woke up after I put her down for bed.. I went up, calmed her down, and rocked her.. then put her down..

2 seconds after closing the door, she gives me the blood curdling scream that all Momma's Im assuming hate hearing. Im being strong, and letting her cry back to sleep.. thats the way my husband and I have been handling her lately...

We need sleep, and she needs sleep... end of story, right? Haha.. yea right.

I feel badly for posting and "venting" about my sweet baby girl. She really is the best part of our lives.. Its just that some days/nights are tough, and it feels better to know Im not the only Momma out there who gets a little frustrated.


I am hoping, when Im brave enough to want another baby, that the second one sleeps better than miss samantha jane! ha!

In all other ways, even the sleeping "problems" I cannot thank God enough for giving us a healthy beautiful girl.

Momma said there'd be days like this, right?


MOVING ON.. Thank you so much to Shannon over at Bless Our Nest! I am so grateful to her for hosting my first giveaway! I think it was a successful one, huh?

Now that I have some more followers Im super excited to share things with you all, craft more, blog more, vent more (ha!), cook/bake more, etc!

Hope you are all having a great weekend!

Joelle

If I Dont See It, I Dont Wear It

This sums up my accessorizing and clothes lately. If I dont see it, I dont wear it.
I am often reminded of all the cute accessories, and clothing items I have by seeing cute ideas on blogs, or in magazines..

But when it comes to getting dressed every day, sometimes on minimal sleep, I simply find it easier to throw on a pair of sweatpants, tee shirt, and zipped up sweatshirt. Does anyone else have that same thought process?

I thought to myself, It isnt hard, I just forget what I have, beginning with accessories, namely earrings.

So.... I've seen a few ideas for earring displays, and decided to make one of my own. It cost me $3.00. One dollar each for the frames.

Supplies:

- Paint - used acrylic paint that I had.
- Staple Gun
- Screen - found some in our basement and cut with scissors
- Wood Frames Unfinished - $1 each at AC Moore.

Here are the frames I used:



Then I cut and washed some screen!



I painted the frames with just one coat of blue and grey acrylic paint

I stapled the screen to the inside of the frame after I took away the back. You could add fabric over the screen to make it extra pretty, but I liked the way it looked with just screen and earrings


Now I just have to find a place in my itty bitty closet to display them so I am reminded each day to accessorize!

1st GIVEAWAY!!!

I am so excited to announce my very first giveaway!


I'd like to generate more followers, maybe even some sponsors to "joelle's journal" and "3rd floor art", so Shannon of Bless Our Nest (which I am a huge fan of her site) has graciously agreed to have my giveaway on her blog!!

Thank you so much in advance Shannon for this awesome opportunity.

Make sure to check out Shannon's Blog too! It is in my "blogs i follow" section.

PS....if any readers have any tips on uploading links, let me know.. I tried to do it with Shannon's blog, so all you were supposed to be able to do was click on her site and it would take you there.. not so much luck unfortunately.

Julie and Julia.

Recently Julie and Julia became available on one of our movie channels again, and in watching it, I became re-obsessed all over again.

So much that I researched MANY recipes from the movie ... one that I tried this evening as a side dish to our steaks.. If you've seen the movie, you know the Bruchetta scene Im talking about!.. You immediately start drooling, and for me, I jumped on the computer and started googling "julie and julia bruschetta".. which I actually think (unless this is a lie) that I found the actual recipe from the movie!


http://www.theatlantic.com/food/archive/2009/07/recipe-tomato-bruschetta/22094/#


Since my obsession, I found not only the bruschetta recipe, but Chicken with Mushrooms in Cream Sauce, Beef Borgonionne, Lobster (which Im craving now), and Im sure there are many many more.

One of my favorite parts of the movie, is when Julia's husband asks her what do you like to do.. she replies "EAT", but im so good at it" ... haha..

I also snagged myself a vintage copy of the famous and fabulous cookbook that the movie is about..




I cant wait till it comes in the mail! I've been waiting for the post man every day like a little kid on Christmas! Im sure I will find more recipe favorites in there to share.

And to curb my eating and baking love.. I did run 1 mile on the treadmill this morning! I havent ran since before Samantha was born when I was about 3 months pregnant. After that I was too scared to run, and AFTER she was born, while nursing I would have had to strap down the "girls" who doubled as a milk farm for 13 months..

So better late than never. I hope to make it a part of my weekly routine, especially when Im at my Mom's house in the morning working.

Coconut Clusters

This is for you Kristen! I tried to reply to your comment, but me not being quite as blog savvy as I attempt to be, couldnt figure out how!
So here is the recipe for Coconut Clusters.. so so good.

And only 2 ingredients:



1 bag of chocolate wafers - light cocoa flavor (from Michaels/JoAnn's)



1 bag coconut flakes



Toast coconut on parchment paper @ 225 degrees-250.. until golden .. not all needs to be toasted completely.. some flakes are white still..



Set aside and let cool.



Melt wafters in large bowl *(directions are on pkg) microwaving is the easiest!

After all melted stir in coconut.



Drop by teaspoonfuls on wax lined baking sheet..


Let harden in fridge or outside your wintry cold back porch like me.. ha!

And ....Voila...

Snow Snow and more Snow

This is the first winter where Samantha actually knows what snow is.. she says "snow" and is constantly asking "side?" which means, she wants to go outside. We are a bit stir-crazy on winter days since we spent most of spring/summer and fall going out "side" every day.. So Daddy loves shoveling, and we got a bunch of snow last week, so we bundled her up and took her out and she loved it. Of course.

Getting ready does take a process though...
Samantha was getting a little distressed... ha!


Ok Mom this better be it.. NOW can we go outside?

She found a spoon in her stroller, and started digging in the snow, she ran and played and was screaming and laughing

Here is a good shot of our "mounds" as Daddy affectionately refers to them. He is very proud of his snow mounds, and is a little sad that this week the temp is supposed to rise to 38, and we might loose a little height on his prized snow hills.





This is her favorite... walking down the sidewalk. Thank goodness in our village they have sidewalk plows so she can walk up and down over and over...


We were outside for a good 45 minutes! And even though she was cold, and so was Momma, she put up quite a fight coming inside. Well at least it eases up on the winter cabin fever. Im so glad she loves the snow!

January Weekend

This weekend we didnt have much planned which was nice. It was the first weekend, since the holidays.

We went shopping Friday night at Dash's and got lots of food, since we didnt really have too much since getting back from Ohio (New Years Weekend)

We all woke up and had warmed croissants.. and Samantha found them extra yummy..as you can see...




We hung around in our pj's and I started making a few things.. like this delicious soup with beans/kale/sausage.. it was sooo delish... and I got the recipe from a fellow blogger who got the recipe from weight watchers.. so it was goood AND healthy to boot!


These dough for these cookies was made by my mother in law, we didnt have time to make cookies before leaving cleveland, so she gave me a hunk of dough to make at home. So I rolled them out and baked them, but never frosted them, so when I was out shopping I always hit the baking aisle.. and I found this:


Now, I thought its probably gross... and Im more of a make-your-own frosting type. But I didnt really have time, and knew Samantha wouldnt let me do all this cooking-baking too.. ha!

I tried it and it was DELISH!! Great quick fix for cookie frosting, I will definately be trying it again!

And I even had time to decorate them with some piggy sprinkles I found at the Amish Country in Ohio, in Nov.

And I also made some coconut clusters. Im mailing some packages to my sis in law (late xmas gift cause we missed her in Oh), and sister (birthday).. So if you're reading this Shauna, you're getting some chocolatey yummies!!



Saturday night Samantha woke up around 2am screaming...and she didnt go back to bed till 4am.. (after many tries with rocking, sleeping...) I decided that it may have been the beans from the soup I made? Who knows.. but I did make burritos a few weeks back, and she did the SAME thing in the middle of the night... NO MORE BEANS!!!

Ugh, yesterday we were both SO tired.. she was in so much pain in the afternoon, that I gave her a yucky up her butt.. to make her go.. after that she went, and I soaked her in a long hot bath.. and she was back to her old self again... thank goodness... I felt so bad for her.

She slept the entire night last night.. and I even had to try hard to get her up! Lazy bones slept till 7:45!!...

Date Night Thursday

Yesterday Mathew and I went to Chef's Restaurant downtown. Grammy got us a gift certificate for Christmas, and we had a yummy dinner together just us.

We got hot hot hot peppers for an appetizer and a salad. I only had a few bites, But they were even a little spicy for Mathew too.

I got the Chicken Parm, and Mathew got the Veal Parm. Both came with enormous sides of pasta, and delicious bread, and we ordered a carafe of red wine, and even a cannoli for dessert.. So so good! As we sat there we watched the light HUGE flakes of snow falling, it was so pretty...the kind of snow we like!!

We had so many take home leftovers so this will probably be all of our lunches too!

They have expanded and remodeled Chefs,

This was the original door ... I remember my Grandpa Sam taking me here after he would take us cabbing with him as kids (yes my brother and I went cabbing in downtown Buffalo.. it is just one of the many great memories we have with him)Thats for another post all together..

But I remember as a kiddo this being the door, and Chefs was much smaller... NOw they are big time I guess, with a full bar, banquet rooms but it still has the small Italian restaurant atmosphere, with checkered tablecloths, brick walls, good bread and great food!

It was a great date night!
I gotta start taking more pictures of us together though!

18 Months...

18 Months
January 5, 2010

Samantha Jane you are 18 Months old today!

You have graduated to a size 4 diaper!! Momma started noticin’ a few leaking episodes … I assumed you were ready, they just looked so big on you at first, but I think you were getting a little redness around your legs.. and leakage.. never a good thing to wake up to!

I had better start lifting weights as Daddy has said.. cause you are growing so fast. Your chunker legs are almost all gone, you look like such a little girl now.
You now have eleven teeth.. woo hoo.. this last one #11 was a painful one though.. poor thing. And I know there are more to come.

At your Dr's Appt you gained 2lbs. You are 25lbs 11oz (70%).. and you grew 2 inches - you are 32 inches tall (61%)

You are wearing all 18-24 month and 2T clothes and some 2T shirts. We’re moving away from 18m sleepers and are almost ready for 24m/2T (which I haven’t figured out the difference)

You are talking soooo much these days.. There are so many new words you can say.. Here are a few that I can remember right now that you didn’t know how to say last month. Milk, Please, Blankey, Ni Ni – (night night), Bread, Side(outside) Naw (Snow), Tree, Boots, Kix, Socks, Pants, Bellybutton,
And there are random muffled words that only Daddy and I can decode of course.

You are sleeping just OK. Usually you sleep 11-12 hrs with a few screams during the night, but I never get you unless you cry for a long long time.

We’ve had a few challenging nights I will just say. Like 2 nights ago.. You were up from 3:30am-6:00am. Nothing we did would work.. rocking, in bed with us even!... But I see two teeth peeking through so maybe that is the cause. You went back to sleep from 6am-8:30am, so Momma was happy.

You understand I think almost everything we say now. You listen very well too. You understand things if I ask you to get me a diaper, a pillow, the cupcakes.. you understand and you go and do it!

You also love puzzles, and you amaze Daddy and I .. You got about 4 new puzzles for Christmas, within a few trys you knew where every shape went.

Just today, the nanny sent me a message that you color coded all your cupcakes with the correct frosting color all on your own.. I couldnt beleive it!!

I cant wait to see what the next couple months brings us.. because you are a smart little sweet pea and we love you more and more each day!

Christmas Eve 2010

By 2pm I think we had given Samantha all her presents, and Daddy and Momma had already exchanged too.. haha!



Oh well, next year we may have to play by the rules, so we figured, it was snowing and cold and we were stuck in the house anyways.. so we had a great time!

Momma made Samantha her favorite drink of choice.. Banana Shake... she looks so pooped from opening presents in these pics!


>

Our plans were dinner at my Aunt Mo and Uncle Johns house at 4:30pm. So we stayed in our jammies pretty much all day, cleaning and watching Christmas Story on repeat on TBS, and enjoying our first cozy Christmas in our house with a fire