Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving!!! Thanksgiving wouldn't be the same without The Peanuts! We had a Thanksgiving decorating contest at work. Our team chose to do A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving. It took 5 days for Melissa and I to paper mâché and decorate the character's heads. We hung up clouds, put up trees and turned our dreary office into a happy cartoon! Here are a few more pics...



I was Lucy! I turned my desk into her psychiatric booth.




Snoopy serves up their feast of popcorn, pretzels, toast, and jellybeans.



My co-worker was the best Marci! Oh and we won our little contest :)

To my American readers, I hope you and your loved ones have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

To everyone else, have a wonderful day!!!

~Hillary

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Jewel Tone Colors Are Popular For Weddings

I had a friend's wedding to attend and I was tired of all of my old dresses. While running errands this week, I popped into Target (of course) and picked up a cute jewel tone dress at 50% off. The color was gorgeous and it was a cute style on me. When I got to the wedding, I realized how popular the purple/pink jewel tones were. Here is a pic of me and my girlfriends all nice and color coordinated. I paired my dress with the navy and pink polka dotted peep-toes and a beaded bracelet. All together this whole outfit was aprox $40! As you can see, the weather is still in the upper 70's to low 80's here. I think we will finally get a little colder weather in the next few days.

So how was your weekend? Anyone do anything fun? I am excited about the upcoming holidays. Is it too early to put up my Christmas tree? I really want to start putting it up soon.

Have a fab day!

Recipe: Peachy Applesauce!

Originally I got this recipe from E, but it was for cranberry applesauce. I tweaked this a bit and used peaches instead of cranberries. Because the peaches are much sweeter than cranberries, I can leave out the added sugar the recipe originally called for. My co-workers especially love this when I bring it in to work. It taste great hot or cold. It makes your house smell warm and cozy. It also is super easy to make. So here is the recipe...

Ingredients

• 10 golden delicious apples (gala and honey crisp apples also work well)
• 2-3 fresh peaches or if not in season 1 16oz pkg of frozen peaches
• 2 cinnamon sticks

Directions:

Peel apples and peaches and cut them into cubes. If you are using frozen peaches, you can just cut the slices in half. The peaches don't need to be completely thawed before adding to the pot. Add all of the ingredients in a large pot, cover, and cook at medium to low heat. The apples will break down very quickly and may start to bubble a little bit. It's good to give it a stir from time to time so the apples don't burn at the bottom of your pot.

After 20 minutes, your pot should look a little like this...

After about 45 minutes, your pot should look like this...Cook the applesauce for about 45-55 minutes. If the peaches aren't completely broken down, you can use a masher or leave them as is. I personally like the bits of peaches so I won't mash it too much. Remove from heat and let it cool a bit. You can serve this hot or cold. See? It's super easy. Give it a try and enjoy!

Hallelujah, The Shopping Ban Has Been Lifted!

...and this hat was a must have this winter season! Actually I didn't buy it. My mom got it for me. I was helping my mom out at the house and running errands with her when I stumbled across this cute hat. Whenever I'm out shopping with my mom and I see something I like, she always wants to buy it for me. Most of the time I tell her no, but sometimes it's nice to have your mommy buy you things. Thanks mom!!!

Now on to the shopping deal of the year for me. A couple of weeks ago Oprah had Christian Siriano on her show. He was promoting his new affordable shoe line at Payless. At the end of the show, they announced there was a coupon for 50% off everything in the store for the next 2 days. Of course I had to take advantage of this opportunity. My friend, Melissa, and I hit a Payless at our lunch hour and even though the Payless we went to didn't carry Christian's line, I managed to find other shoes that were just as fab. Here is a (horrid) pic of myself under the a shopping dizzy spell. In the end I bought 7 pairs or shoes, 2 pairs of tights, and a hat all for $90!

So... here's my loot up close and personal...

The Low Boots

Black Heels

Fierce Prints!

Actually the leopard print heels were bought at Sears (yes, Sears! For $19.99). I was buying power tools for Will's birthday and just happened to look at their shoes...

The Flats

Summer Shoes

and last but not least...

The Other Hat

Okay, the shopping fun for myself is over. I need to concentrate on the holidays now. I hope you all had a great weekend!

Mobile Post

I guess it's taken me this long to figure out how to post from my iPhone. We have major firewalls at work so I can't post or comment on most days until late at night. So far this nifty little BlogPress app does the trick. So welcome to my 1st mobile post!

Outfit details:
Bright yellow top - Old Navy
Black pants - Express
Black grey white scarf - Old Navy
Silver drop earrings - Red Stitch
Patent loafer heels - Target
Mt hair is doing this messy side frech twist.

Today we are still enjoying wonderful 70 degree weather. I have been trying to take advantage of it by walking/jogging outside. Hopefully more beautiful days are ahead.

So how are my blogger friends doing? I feel so out of the loop. I plan to catch up on my fav blog reads. Comments are coming your way!

Have healthy and happy day!
Hillary

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Halloween 2009

First of all, major apologies from a long absence. I hope to be back to posting on a regular basis again.

So I thought I'd share some pictures from our big Halloween Party a couple of weeks ago. As most of you know, I got braces this past summer. I thought it would be a good idea to incorporate the braces and make them work for me. The costume I came up with was...Ugly Betty. At first I was planning to just wear mismatched clothes, but when I went to the local Goodwill, I came across a red tablecloth. I immediately remember the famous Ugly Betty episode where she come in wearing a red and blue poncho with "Guadalajara" in big yellow letters. Using my sewing and craft skills, I made my own poncho using the red tablecloth, leftover blue felt found at the local fabric shop, and yellow fabric paint. I found red reading glasses at the dollar spot at Target, and for her Ann Boleyn B necklace, I made a B out of gold scrap paper and taped it on a faux strand of pearls. I just wore crazy tights, a skirt, and a button top underneath my poncho. The total cost of the costume was a whopping $12! The best part, is that I actually won the costume contest. My inner Betty was out in full force! Will was my cute nerd boyfriend. We pieced his costume together using his own clothes (yes, he actually owned grey Velcro shoes already). He really hammed it up and played the perfect nerd! How was your Halloween? What did you dress as?

Here are our pics!