wanna be

tell me what you want, what you really really want. I wanta....

first bakerella style: i tired to make her cake. Peantbutter chocolate goodness.



Second Home alone, I really really wanta be Kevin McAllister. Debut viewing, I am still in love since the 5th grade!


Third chandelier. She has finally arrived. So i really really want some from work to be able to come and put it up for me soon.

Fourth my new discover card. I may or may not have lost it last night on my walk home from walgreens in the dark. Is it bad karma? because i know my mother would be oh so angry if she knew i was walking down fulton by myself late at night, BUT i am twenty six and i can do what i want!

oh if every weekend was four days

we could enjoy so many more fun things! things like:
running in the wobble gobble fun race with the bogo [took home a wonderful apple and dog poop on the shoe...]

enjoyed a lovely thanksgiving meal with the family. ate enough!



planned out the 5.20am shopping excursion. Went to Best buy, walmart, kohls, the mall [macys is where i finally turned into a big girl and bought myself an iron!] then old navy, norman camera, tj maxx and then home for a nap

until the 'big' 80th birthday party! grandma school bus turned 80 and we went to thousand oaks with her siblings to celebrate!


this a.m went to Russ' with annie and kim [annie if you are reading, you should really become a blogger!]

then the last fun thing to wrap up the LONG weekend. Decorated the house with gwen. new destinations for the lights, around the doors and watched the first of the many hallmark christmas movies. finally let the festivities begin!!

i am [insert]

blessed beyond belief

very thankful for a God that never ceases to amaze me and teaches me new things daily

very thankful for a loving family

thankful for wonderful friends

glad to have only worked three days this week

watching beauty and the beast

Smelling sugar coated pecans, that i just cooked for one of my two dishes to pass. so much more grown up this year, that i was assigned two tasks! big girl panty time!



excited to run in the gobble wobble race with my bogo in the morning, even if it is suppose to be beyond freezing
then excited to enjoy a day made for funny family and thanking and eating and hopefully not getting gut rot

actually excited to get up at 5 am for black friday and run around town like a crazy woman with my mom shopping for deals that probably aren’t that great but getting an adrenaline high non the less and hopefully eating mcdonalds breakfast and listening to christmas music

trying to plan a way to go on a trip to a warm destination and to visit a friend in the UK, I vote duo able

glad that I went to legally blonde the musical last night. ‘the bend and snap, works every time!’



excited for the countdown to continue to 9/10/11 and must brush up on my picture taking skills. bloggeross here i come!

Santa list[s]

It is that time of year again. We are almost there where it is legal to listen to Christmas music, to put up the decorations, and to spread the holiday cheer. Today I received my first email beckoning for my santa list. Now for some reason santa list[s] stress me out. Not only for what I give but also for what I receive.
Receiving end: I do not know if it is bc A. what I really want is not obtainable or B. the other thing I really want to just to expensive to even write down. So that leaves me with the bystanders of cookware, ditty bags, and running shoes! [not bad…just stating!]
Giving end: I want to give a gift that people do not tell me, but they secretly want BUT they just do not know it YET! And that is a tough act to follow year after year. So today I official have put on my thinking cap to come up with those gifts.
Summary: Cheers to the season of giving and receiving and what truly this season means!

send over your eligible candidates.

and I will try out my baking skills. Found these little gems on a blog this morning, seems legit! I will be trying them next week. Lets say Monday night between 7-9. If you need a description of my perfect ‘candidate' feel free to leave a comment. I will keep you posted on if it works or if it will just be glued to my hiney…..

Boyfriend Cookies. Yes, that's right. Why do I call them Boyfriend Cookies? Well...for several reasons,
1)They're so good, they just MIGHT land you a boyfriend 2) They're sooo good, you might trade your boyfriend for one more cookie :) 3) They're so good, you might just forget you want/need a boyfriend. But also, not to be forgotten 4)If you have a boyfriend, and he doesn't like these, it might be a good indicator that you need to kick him to the curb....because something has just got to be wrong with him!! They are that good :)


OK, seriously, these are so yummy. This was one of my own concoctions. They start with a gooey rich chocolate chip cookie. Then they are filled to the brim with peanut butter chips, white chocolate chips, Reese's pieces and M&M's. There is just enough dough to hold together all the candy. Isn't that really the way it should be! They just have so many fabulous ingredients, how could you go wrong?? You very well may go into a sugar comma with this one. But trust me, its worth it! This is certainly one of those recipes that you should just go ahead and hot glue it to your hiney. Because, as I've said before, that's where it will be residing anyways. Enjoy!

fifty eight years and one day of..

DOUGIE!!! I am very thankful for that. He is the best dad ever!! [don't judge the the mushiness, he is! If you judge you are just J!]

This is the cake I created out love for him.

happy hunting

to all the men and women that like to kill poor innocent deer [that i love so much!] i send my love out to them especially the lipinski clan: dougie, j, jr, sr. and to all the people that made today feel like a holiday and made my day at work super quiet, I accomplished a lot! In my mind they love to hunt for the big buck. I prefer to hunt for the best deal! To each their own! I also enjoy hanging out with the best hunting widow ever, my mom. Tonight sex and the city 2. Thursday mall & baby shower. Saturday movie out with the girls….fun fun fun!!

cooking in my uggs

For baby shower number one [Which was a success!]
For chili cookoff [didn’t win but it was super fun!]
Then there was baby shower number two [no cooking required there]
Ten hours of sleep last night to recover from it all!

Picture wrap of the weekend:
Friday night cooking, powder sugar everywhere.

creating cake balls, little too much frosting.

Get off the phone :)

Baby shower time

Such a cute outfit, can't wait to be auntie!


Nail prodigy in the making

Chili cookoff time! yummm


Baby shower number two. aunt pats house

oh what 7 hrs will do to you

cleaning and cooking. earning my domestic diva badge!
cleaning: on my hands on knees. whole house. spic n span.
cooking: 4 hrs with my bogos help! we made:
1. sugar cookies [from scratch]
2. cupcakes
3. cake [ball] truffles: meaning bake a cake, stir in frosting and dip in chocolate.
4. frosting for the cookies and cupcakes
5. fondant for the cookies and cupcakes
6. stuffed french toast
AND
7. chili

Tomorrow all the goodness will pay off when we celebrate at the yellow and white polka dot themed baby shower, giving by auntie kari :)
and when we take home first place prize at the johnny rogers chili cookoff!

Now time to sleep to prepare myself for all this goodness!

heavy left hand

my dear dear friend miss g unit got engaged last night!! Such a lovely couple and beautiful bling! So happy for them!!! [and their new addition: River, The puppy. I will try to learn to love him. May be hard pressed to get me to dog walk, see he is larger than purse size and that does not fit into my niche!]

Let arlington turn into a wedding planning haven. Tonight i downloaded the wedding planning app. We accomplished the first two. 1. Download wedding planning app. 2. Hire a wedding planner [thursday night group is free of charge!] only 107 more tasks to fulfill in the next 303 days!! let the fun beginning!

such a magical Monday

I just witnessed the fairy dust trail coming from the coffee kitchen. She does exist, she does exist. Tell the children; tell the adults, tell the world! Yell it from your roof tops: She does exist!!!!! Apparently someone missed the memo and had to beckon that cute little fairy by leaving the dirty dishes in the soapy water hint hint! yes soapy warm water, with such a super soft dish rag……Good thing the dish fairy is soooo happy and sooo willing and sooo kind to wash other piggys messes!!

*disclaimer: not one ounce of sarcasm was dripping while composing this post!

not typical, but typical

Not typical: Moving day. It is official 1010 ellsmere no longer is the home to Mr. Jeff, Betsy and [baby] Lipinski. I have now accepted the challenge to hold down the northeast side by myself. I can do it! They now live out in Granville, literally 5 min from the mall, my brother has referred to that being a ‘kari bonus’ numerous times [yesterday already took advantage. Stopped on my way home to pick up lay away at pottery barn!]. I am very happy for them. Their new house is beautiful and has a pool!



Typical: Bumming with the bogo. Reeds walk and the chilling on the couch while eating gummies, watching a movie we have seen 10 times, taking messed up self portraits. Giggling. Confused by the remotes. Painting nails. Fully facebooking. I love Saturday nights!!

hot commodity

I am a proud owner of a Merchandise Equipment and Supply half zip performance sportswear long sleeve purple shirt. I am sharing this because I am currently sporting it and man alive I’m getting the compliments. Who would have thought the envy would grow over something so simple? Bonus: It is warm and slightly bigger, which allows me to wear my thicker long underwear! Maybe I should stop spending money at gap, loft, banana, h&m, ect and consider getting all my work gear in bulk from the North Ends sports catalogue [and maybe not!]

there is no i in team

we are the Johnny rogers extreme team. we are the fun green team!
last night was the last night of flag football. Hard to believe we use to kinda dread going on mondays night and now we are not ready for it to end. [we i mean the bogo and i] Ok so the socializing is way more fun than the playing, at least in my mind. Last night we spent a little extra time at the cantina and probably laughed for a good two hours straight. funny funny stories. we got into the prize box and the trophy's we didn't win! No more football but we do have the chili cook off to look forward to. I wonder what we will win! [not over confident or anything] bring on gwen's white bean chicken chili recipe!

the team:
the BEAN dip:
the random gear:
the trophy that we didn't win:

serenaded

by the river 100.5 this morning.
have yourself a merry little Christmas

too early? are we jumping from Halloween straight to Christmas? no more thanksgiving. poor turkey!