Fall Desserts

Yesterday I shared some ideas for savory fall meals so today I thought I'd share some desserts that I think sound perfect for the season. Of course pumpkin is the star ingredient in all of these!

Pumpkin Spice Rice Krispie Treats

Pumpkin Fudge

Pumpkin Oatmeal Double Chocolate Chip Cookies

The Best Pumpkin Bars

Starbucks Pumpkin Pound Cake

*Photo credit goes to websites linked in titles*

I can't wait to get in the kitchen and start baking some of these yummy treats!

Fall Food

I'm so excited that fall seems to be making its appearance here in Georgia! There really isn't one thing I don't love about fall. I love the cooler weather, pumpkin flavored everything, skinny jeans, boots and scarves, dark nights, crock pot meals...the list goes on and on! This week I thought I'd share some of the things I'm most excited about and it only makes sense to start with my favorite topic, FOOD!

One of my favorite things to do in my spare time is browse Pinterest. I really don't know what anyone did before this website was invented. Here are some food ideas I've pinned recently.

Spicy Sausage Pasta

Loaded Potato & Buffalo Chicken Casserole

*would be a great meal for Football Sunday*

Crispy Cheddar Chicken

*this is a very good dish!*

Chicken Alfredo Roll Ups

*Photo credit goes to websites linked in titles*

Weekend Recap

Fall is almost here! You wouldn't know it by the weather we are currently experiencing, but I'm holding out hope that the cooler temperatures are right around the corner.

• I'm really enjoying my new job! I find it both fun and challenging to be working with 22 four year old's that are all in different developmental stages. We have some that are pretty advanced and can write/spell their names and we have others that don't know the correct way to hold a pencil or even recognize the first letter of their name. But they all have one thing in common. They are eager and excited to be learning every day! It's amazing to see how fast they pick up on something new and how excited they are to show you their progress. 

• Labor Day weekend was pretty uneventful for us. Chris has been working crazy hours and Friday was actually the first time I saw him since the Sunday before. I go to bed very early and he was coming home really late so we kept missing each other. On Friday night we went to eat at Local Republic. If you are anywhere near the Lawrenceville area, you should definitely check it out! They have great food and an awesome craft beer selection as well.

• On Sunday night we went to see The World's End. It was pretty funny!

• I never thought I'd be the person to wear Crocs, but I broke down and bought two pairs over the weekend. I have to wear closed-toe shoes for work and they have to be something I can wear for 12+ hours a day. My co-teacher swears by this pair of Crocs and the style is pretty cute so I decided to copy her. I have to admit they are super comfortable!

• Football starts this week!!!!!!

• Sorry there are no pictures to go along with this post. Boring, I know...

• Have a great 4 day week!

It's Friday!

I'm so glad it's Friday!

We are in our second week of Pre-K. It has been a pretty good week. I've noticed that the kids are settling into the routine of the day and are eager to learn, play and explore. It has been exciting to watch in just two weeks, how much more comfortable the kids have become with coming to school and leaving their parents for the day. We didn't have too many criers to begin with, but the few that did cry have mostly stopped now. I'm amazed at how quickly their little brains have grown and I really can't wait to see how much they've learned by the end of the year. 

Today is a big day for me because I'm acting as the lead teacher while our actual lead teacher is out of town. Seeing as I've never done anything like this before, I'm a little nervous. But I'm hoping that the kids and I make it through the day in one piece. 

If it gets too chaotic, I'll be chanting this in my head:

Then when the clock looks like this:

I'm going to jump up and down because:

I'm really hoping 2:15 gets here quickly!!!!

Have a GREAT weekend, friends!

August Happenings!

August has been busy, busy, busy!

We had a big party for Abbey's 1st birthday last weekend. It was pretty ridiculous! I set up a hot dog/bratwurst bar with a bunch of different toppings, puppy chow (chex mix), and toilet water punch. We served food in plastic dog bowls and I made the doggie guests special cupcakes for them to enjoy while the rest of us had cake (from Costco...the best!).

My best friend Megan had her baby last Friday. He was 8 lbs 3 oz. and 20.5 inches long. I have only seen pictures of him, but he's absolutely precious and I can't wait to meet him! My other best friend Jenny will be having her baby girl in September and we went to her baby shower a couple of weekends ago. My mom and I had fun shopping for baby girl presents.

Here's a picture of us all at my wedding!

I guess the biggest news is that I have a job and have been a working woman for about a week now. I'm working as a teacher in a Pre-K classroom. I have never done anything like this before so it's definitely been a different experience. It's been challenging already, but it's also been fun. We have four sets of twins in our class so that's been interesting trying to tell them all apart. But their little personalities are so different that it's getting easier to distinguish one from the other. 

The biggest challenge has been getting used to my new schedule. My day begins at 5:30 am and I have to be to work at 7:00 am. But I do get out at 3:30 pm so that's actually been really nice to have my afternoons free. The strangest thing has been having to go to bed at 9:30 pm. Thank goodness for Melatonin!

I hope all of you are enjoying the last little bit of summer!

And I'm Back...Winner + Updates

Hi everyone!

Well, we are officially married. Our wedding was amazing! Seriously, it felt like 1,001 things could have gone wrong (and almost did), but in the end it was a perfect day! I am still waiting for photos from our photographer, but if you want to see the preview photos she posted, you can see them here. Feel free to leave a comment on her page if you like them! She is a new photographer and I think she would definitely appreciate any feedback. Hopefully, I'll get back the photos soon and I can start sharing all of the details. I also have a few DIY ideas that I wanted to share so be on the look out for those as well.

Chris and I had a great time in Las Vegas for our honeymoon. We were there for over 2 weeks, but I think there were a few things we didn't get checked off our list. Oh well, there's always next time! It may seem weird to some of you that we chose Las Vegas as our honeymoon destination, but it really worked out well for us. We had talked about doing an all inclusive resort in the Caribbean, but it just didn't feel right to spend all that money on a trip like that. Our parents already helped us out so much with the wedding so we figured a low key trip to Vegas would be perfect. And it was! I have tons of pictures that I want to share so hopefully I'll get those up soon.

I just wanted to check in and see how everyone's summer is going! I can't believe it's almost August...time flies when you get married! Haha!

xoxo,

Angela

PS: Thank you to everyone that entered the Novica giveaway. The winner is comment #17, kellyr78. 

GIVEAWAY!

IT'S A GIVEAWAY!

Now that the wedding is over, I wanted to say a huge THANK YOU to all of my readers for your love, support, and encouragement during the last six months! This has been such a fun time in our lives and I'm so happy I was able to share it with all of you. I plan on sharing all of the details in the coming weeks so be prepared for wedding recap overload :) I hope you know how much your comments and congratulations have meant to us. 

With that said, I am teaming up once again with Novica to provide a giveaway for my wonderful readers! 

As you may recall, Novica is one of the leading fair trade artisan websites, working with National Geographic, to give talented artists around the world a place to express their artistic talents and provide access to the world market. Their website has thousands of top fair trade gifts, accessories, jewelry, and home decor items, all uniquely crafted by talented artisans around the world. 

If you haven't been to the Novica website lately, you should really check it out! I thought I'd share some of my favorite items and at the bottom of this post, you can see what we're giving away! Trust me,  I think you're all going to love it!

Some of My Favorites!

Wouldn't this beautiful blue skirt be perfect for your summer beach trip? I think it's so pretty and kind of looks like an ocean wave. You can see more skirts here.

Isn't it true that we are always searching for the perfect little black dress? I know I am. Novica has a great selection of black dresses! Here are a couple of my favorites:

Lotus Fantasy in Black

Bali Flirt

I mean really, how gorgeous are these dresses? I think they are so unique and you know that no one else will be wearing them at the next party you go to!

Now you'll need some jewelry to go with all of your new clothes. Novica has a ton of that to choose from. Check out all of their garnet chandelier earrings! The craftsmanship on the Royal Thailand style pictured below is stunning with a total of 2.5 carats of faceted garnet in the center of each earring.

GIVEAWAY DETAILS

We have chosen this beautiful Elephant Friendship Necklace that I think many of you would love to have! I know that I would!

Isn't this necklace precious?! "Locking their trunks, elephants become a symbol of true friendship in a necklace designed by Thailand's Jantana. The necklace is handcrafted of sterling silver, and elephants received a brushed-satin finish."

Here's how to enter (one or multiple comments are fine):

1. Visit the Novica website and take a look around. 
2. Come back and leave a comment with your favorite item. 
3. Leave an e-mail address where you can be reached if you are the winner!

That's it! I'll run this giveaway until next Monday, July 8th and a winner will be notified on July 10th. Again, thank you all so much for your continued support and friendship! Good luck :)

Forever & Always

I am beyond excited to marry Chris tomorrow. He is my soul mate and one true love. I know that sounds ridiculous, but I truly believe that we are meant to be together. I can't wait to walk down the aisle and become his wife! I thought today I'd share some of my favorite pictures of us and take a walk down memory lane.

4th of July, Las Vegas, 2011 

Biltmore, Asheville NC, 2012 

Rhode Island, 2012 

Maker's Mark Derby Day, Santa Ana CA, 2010 

San Francisco Beer Week, 2010 

San Francisco Golden Gate Bridge, 2010 

Malibu, 2010 

Flight to Hawaii, 2010 

Las Vegas, 2010 

Las Vegas, 2010 

Las Vegas, 2010 

Hanauma Bay in Hawaii, 2010 

Cliff Walk in Rhode Island, 2011

Disney World, 2012 

Rhode Island, 2012 

My brother's birthday, 2012 

Frogtown Winery, 2012 

Biltmore, 2012 

Our engagement party, Jan. 2013 

Our engagement party, 2013 

I hope you all enjoyed these photos.

The wedding festivities start tonight! All of our guests are coming over for the rehearsal dinner. I'm so excited to see everyone. I'm going to try to go to bed early tonight so I can be well rested for tomorrow. My day is going to start early with hair and makeup!! Thank you for all of the love and support you've shown us during this special time! I know I don't know most of you in real life, but I truly appreciate the friendships I've made in the blog world.

Next time you hear from me, I'll be a MRS. :)

HANA Air Hair Dryer: A Product Review

I was very excited when Brian from Misikko contacted me to see if I would be interested in doing a product review for their website's top selling hair dryer, the HANA Air Premiere Hair Dryer, by HANA Salon. Of course I immediately said yes! I had seen other blogger's reviews for this hair dryer and knew that I would,  not be disappointed with the quality!

What I didn't know was how much thought and detail would go into Misikko's packaging of the actual product. I received a huge box which I thought would just contain the hair dryer I would be reviewing. No, no, no...I was so wrong! When I opened the package, the inside was bursting with little surprises! There were beautifully wrapped nail files, travel hand sanitizers, a heat proof pouch, bath petals, a brush, an eyelash curler, a small box of chocolates, and an adorable little teddy bear! Oh, and the hair dryer!

I have had one other expensive hair dryer in my life. I was in college and purchased a $200 dryer from my hair stylist that promised to dry my hair in 6 minutes using ionic heat. And it did. But it broke a few years ago, and I've since been using a cheap-o hair dryer from Con-Air. I always had a feeling that it was damaging my hair every time I used it and I had a lot of hair breakage during that time.

The HANA Air Hair Dryer uses a combination of a strong AC motor along with a tourmaline lined ceramic heater that will dry your hair up to 60% faster while maintaining natural shine and promoting healthy luxurious hair. It's ion technology conditions hair and reduces static electricity.

Let's get to my review since I know all of you are dying to know what I thought :)

The dryer is heavy and the cord is extremely long, but this is because it's made for professional use. It took a little getting used to, but now I hardly notice. The handle is where you can choose the heat setting (3 choices) as well as the fan speed (2 choices). I do sometimes accidentally switch from high to low or turn it off when the handle moves around in my hand, but that doesn't happen too often. In addition, there is a "cold shot" button which you just press it once to enable it and again to disable. The hair dryer also comes with an attachable concentrator (used to concentrate the flow of air) which I just keep on at all times.

I've now been using the HANA Air Hair Dryer for a little over a month. The change in my hair's health has been dramatic. It's much softer and smoother. There is less breakage and it feels much less dry and brittle than before. In fact, I went to my hair stylist for a cut since I've been using the hair dryer and she made a comment that my hair seemed much less dry and brittle than my last visit. Yay! It takes half the time to dry as a normal hair dryer would. Seriously, I have A LOT of hair and it generally takes about 25-30 minutes to fully dry with a normal hair dryer. That's a lot of unnecessary heat which in turn causes damage. With the HANA Air Hair Dryer, my hair is dry in about 12-15 minutes.

I feel so lucky that I was chosen to review this hair dryer, especially right before my wedding. My hair is in such better shape than it was before and I know it's going to look healthy and shiny on my wedding day, thanks to this product! I would highly recommend this hair dryer to anyone and everyone! You can read dozens (and dozens!) of  other 5 star reviews here.

If you are on Facebook, you should follow Misikko and keep an eye out for their hair advice and regularly run giveaways for their most popular products (now is a great time to start following because they've just started their "Summer of Giveaways" promotion).