New Website!!!

Check out some of my recent pictures on my new shutterfly website!!!

www.picsbybrittany.shutterfly.com

Changes

Hello March! ???

It has def been a while my friends! So many fun and exciting things have been going on! For one,(and the biggest change) I will be moving! Not from my house, which we have had now for over a year, can you believe it! I will be moving branch locations at work. I am currently commuting from Corona to Placentia, it has not been fun. The 91 freeway in the morning it is horrible, oh and at night...it's horrible! I will be moving to our Riverside location!!! It is so much closer to my house and I will be traveling against traffic. WOO HOO!

This will do a few things for me:

1. It will reduce the amount of stress I have trying to make it to work on time
2. I will save some serious $$$ on gas
3. I will be able to make it home in time to start cooking dinner for me and my husband, who is most excited for no. 3! [We have been getting home at around 11 pm]
4. This one, not so happy about. I have been carpooling almost everyday with my husband to the O.C. so I will miss our travel time together!! =(


p.s.
My husband is still not working and this, in our first year of marriage has been trying. We have defiantly bonded and have really supported one another during this now 6 months living on one income. Please pray for him, that he finds a job soon or that unemployment will finally process and approve his request.

Thanks lovelies! Have a happy Friday tomorrow, it will be a good one. I can feel it!

Josiah

You get two in one day because it's been a while since my last post!

My best friend Leah is living in Mississippi right now. To be specific Pascagoula, Mississippi try and say that three times fast! Hopefully it will be a very temporary move because I miss her terribly! About a month and a half before she moved she gave birth to her son Josiah. I am his Nina, or what I like to say godmother. I was there for his birth and let me just say it was by far the most amazing thing I have ever witnessed in my life. God is so good! I cried and was so in awe of her strength and determination seeing that she did the whole thing without any medication! YEA! Because she lives so far we asked her to find a way to keep us updated on her and the baby and she started this website.

http://josiahp.shutterfly.com

He is getting so big but I love to see how much he has changed. From this...

To this!

How can you not just melt when you see this little guy! I can't wait to hold him again!

Kitchen Aid Mixer of my life!

Okay so the holidays are behind us and the new year is in full swing! I baked quite a bit over the holidays and put one of my wedding gifts to good use. I have a love for baking and so does my mom! She bakes a mean sour cream and coffee cake! My best friend and her family got me a red Kitchen Aid mixer for our wedding! When I brought it home of course the first thing I do is take it out of the box and set it on my counter right? WRONG! It was too tall! It would not fit! I was soooo sad! My Dad had built a box-like structure for my hubbs and I to use for our sand ceremony (again for the wedding) that I asked if I could have specifically to put in my kitchen for my mixer! What do you know, it worked perfectly! ps... I didn't even have to paint it! ha!

Here is a picture of us at the wedding pouring our sand on the "table/stand".

This machine is AMAZING! I absolutely LOVE it! It is so far and beyond a hand held mixer. I want to use it all of the time. If you are a baker and are thinking about ever purchasing one, as Nike would say, "Just do it". It is a great investment and it can be used for so many other things besides mixing!

My husband's favorite cookie is...the Sugar Cookie but I think I may have changed his mind. I ended up making some Snikerdoodles for a family gathering I was having at my house and they were a big hit! Here is the recipe if you want to try them out...

You will need:

1/2 cup of butter, softened

1 cup of Sugar

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar (which is actually a powder, not a "cream")

1 egg

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour

2 tablespoons sugar 1 teaspoon cinnamon (I use way more than this)

Beat your butter for 30 seconds then add the 1 cup sugar, baking soda and cream of tartar. Beat until combined, scraping the sides of your bowl. Beat in your egg and vanilla until those are combined. Beat in all or as much of the flour as you can with your mixer the rest stir in by hand. Cover and chill your dough for about an hour or until easy to handle.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F

Combine your sugar and cinnamon (again I use more than the 2 tablespoons and 1 tsp. cin. the recipe calls for) Shape dough into 1 inch balls and roll the balls in sugar mixture to coat. Place 2 inches apart on an ungreased (I always grease, Pam for baking is the best) cookie sheet. Bake 10-11 minutes or until edges are golden, cool and eat!

Hope you enjoy them, they are wonderful!

Christmas time is here!!!!

Oh thank you Charlie Brown for that Christmas song!

Okay so every year I would beg my parents (mostly my Mom) to put up the Christmas tree right after Thanksgiving! Sometimes we would get it done but usually not. My Dad would have to go up to the attic, with the help of my brother, and pull down all of the Christmas stuff. Needless to say it's not my Dad's favorite thing to do (it's pretty hot up there) and on top of it all we have TONS of Christmas decor!!!

Well this being the first Christmas in my own home I have my tree up two days after Thanksgiving, thank you very much! I got it on sale at the worlds best store, Target, for ...$25 and it came with the lights! Yes that's right you want to go bargain shopping, I'm your gal!

Okay so it's not the most perfect or desirable tree but it's my tree and it does it's job! It's a 6 foot "Norfolk Pine". Who knows where Norfolk is? Anyhoo, I was laughing because my hubbs is taller than our tree at 6 ft 4 in! =) My mom said, "Well at least you have someone to put the star on the tree"! So right Mom!

It's a GREAT first tree and I can't wait to decorate it and put presents under it!!! Thanks Target!!!!

Call of Duty...thorn in my side!

So I came home today to a little surprise! I walk up the stairs and was greeting by two grown men, two t.v.'s (in my living room) on my couch playing Call of Duty. My husband and his best friend (my cousin) love Call of Duty. For those of you who don't know it's basically a war game where you are the shooter trying to stay alive. They play online, competing against people all over the world. These two are obsessed. Even going as far as making each other do push-ups for however many times they died in a session!!!

I could not believe how far they took it today. Taking the tele out of our bedroom putting it on our coffee table so they could both play at the same time in the same room! These two are so funny I just couldn't resist sharing this with you!

The t.v. from my bedroom on my coffee table so they can both play!

Look at my husband! (He is closest to us) His eyes are about to pop out of his head!

Happy Tuesday! Hope yours has been as fun as mine!!!

So Thankful...

So I was having a little chat with my mother-in-law and her mom about age. I was telling them how upset I was that I am going to be 25 on my next birthday and I feel like I'm getting old! I don't know what it is with me all of a sudden being concerned with my age. I have never been that way and while we were talking about it, I somehow came to the realization that I am actually scared of turning 26! It was the age Jasmine (my cousin who passed from Lupus) died and that just really freaks me out! She died at such a young age and the closer I get to 26 the more scared I get. I just feel like I take life for granted and that I should be living each day to the fullest! I get into the groove of things and sometimes forget how precious life really is. Is that weird? (I don't know) My self marination on that thought was burst when she said, "there is nothing for you to be afraid of". You are so fortunate, and you have so much to be thankful for". How appropriate seeing that Thanksgiving is just 3 days away!

I have a new home, a new husband, a job, an unbelievable family who supports me in all that I do and true friends that I can talk to who love me. Sometimes I feel like such a spoiled brat. So many people out there are far less fortunate than I am.

Christmas is my absolute favorite holiday. The sights, the smells, that warm Christmas feeling and of course bundling up! I always want to just get through Thanksgiving so we can go full steam ahead to Christmas! This year will be a little different. (Though I am already "Kosting" on 103.5 fm cause Christmas music is already playing!) I will really take my time this year and thank my God, my creator, for all that he has given me. Even as I type this guess what!?!? I have that warm Christmas feeling... but it's too early for Christmas so it's that warm Thanksgiving feeling that I can't wait to have... year after year. I hope you find what you are truly thankful for and share it with your family on Thanksgiving, that's what I'll be doing...