Catching up.

Well, this past weekend Chad and I celebrated our 1 year anniversary. It was loads of fun. We had been planning on going to the UT/Florida game for awhile, but since it was such a late game we had a little time to go to Dollywood as well! It's only about 40 min from Knoxville. Chad had a work friend who works for the park so she gave us season passes. It was fun. It's very old western/country with jackets that have wolf scenes on them, an old 1851 railroad train that resulted in coal dust and cinders all over our clothes after the ride, bald eagle cages, country cookin', and of course rides! We rode one ride. It was an indoor roller coaster, so you couldn't see how high you were (worked well for Chad). There was a new ride that looked really fun, a lot like the Superman at Six Flags. But it was one of those where your feet dangle and I was afraid I'd lose my shoes if I rode it. :( Then we headed to the game, which didn't turn out so well for UT. Chad wasn't a happy camper. They really were doing well the first half, and then the 2nd was ugly.  

We celebrated our anniversary on Monday night. I made dinner: French's fried onion chicken per his request, twice baked potatoes from fresh market, corn, and rolls. It was yummy! He was searching for a pearl necklace for me, and he ended up getting me a beautiful, blue topaz necklace instead! I love it! This along with roses and a card. He's a keeper! The card said 'Way to go!' and 'You did it!' It was a congratulations card. Ha! He said the others were just too much "dribble." So he cleverly wrote something along the lines of 'congrats for making it 1 year' on the inside. :)

 

New Necklace!

 It's been a good year!

More Halloween DIY

Mummy Toilet Paper Holder!

I saw this on some blog and it had candy in it I believe, but I didn't want to go that route. So while I was brainstorming all day yesterday about pine cones or little pumpkins to put inside it, Chad walks in and says, "put toilet paper in it." And it looks good! Just take a vase, add some eyes, and wrap with gauze.

Pumpkin Spice Lattes

I think we can all agree that PSLs are good, but expensive!  Because PSLs are so dang expensive at Starbucks, I started looking on Pinterest, Blogs, etc to find a homemade one, and I found one that is actually pretty darn good! I found it on LemonDropsFoodie blog.

These were all the ingredients that I had planned to use but I ended up having to add about 1 Tablespoon of sugar and 1 teaspoon of non-dairy creamer

 

 

 

Pumpkin Spice Latte
2 cups milk or half and half  (I used skim milk, so I added 1 tsp of non-dairy creamer to add to the taste)
2 Tablespoons Pumpkin Puree
1 Splenda
1 Tablespoon of sugar
1/2 Teaspoon of Pumpkin Pie Spice
2 Tablespoons of Vanilla extract (yes, I said 2 Tablespoons)
8 Tablespoons of strong coffee (I brewed the small cup on my Keurig using the full amount of coffee  
   grounds, just make sure it's strong)

In a small saucepan, stir milk, pumpkin, pumpkin pie spice, splenda, and sugar together. Keep stirring until the pumpkin thins out and it's very hot, but not boiling.

Remove from heat, then add the vanilla. If you like frothy, then transfer it to a blender to add your froth (I skipped this step). Then add about 8 Tablespoons of the coffee (I think I added 10), but it's really to taste...depends on how much coffee you like in your PSL. You could always pour your pumpkin mixture into a single serving cup before you add your coffee. It would be more like 4-5 T then. Makes 2 servings.

Yummmmmy!

Fall has begun!

So what marks the beginning of fall??? Is the crisp, cool air? Is it college football? Pumpkins? Leaves falling? Nope it's none of those. It's...

PUMPKIN SPICE LATTES!

I really think Pumpkin Spice Lattes are my favorite Starbucks drink. I go to Starbucks more in the fall to get these tasty drinks than any other time of year. Fall has to be my favorite season. I love spring, but fall begins the holiday season. Time for family, food, fun decorations! I love it! I've always loved Halloween and I've got a couple of DIY projects I've been working on for decorations. The first is a little candy jar!

It's just a terracotta pot with a lid, a wooden ball, a glass bowl, and some paint and ribbon, and glue (I used Gorilla Glue). If you do a neutral color like black and white, you can use this year round! Just change the ribbon and candies. I got this idea off a blog, who got it off another blog, and I don't remember the addresses to either one, but it's pretty self-explanatory as to how to make it. Just paint your pot, wooden ball, and lid. Glue the pot to the bowl, and the ball to the lid, and add some ribbon and candy. Simple!

My 2nd DIY is a harvesty vase. I put some split peas, coffee beans, and corn kernals in a glass vase with some twine around it to make this a fall-ish accessory. You can add a candle, I just didn't have one. Also got this from another blog.

 

I have a couple of other DIYs I'm working on, which I'll post later.

In addition to the beginning of fall, it's also the beginning of football season. We play Clemson tonight, so it should be a good game. WAR EAGLE!!