Candy Corn

Happy National Candy Corn Day!! 

Did you know that candy corn has been around for more than 100 years? George Renninger, an employee of the Wunderlee Candy Company, invented the popular confection in the 1880s and Wunderlee became the first to produce the candy. The Goelitz Candy Company (now Jelly Belly Candy Company) started producing the confection in 1900 and still produces candy corn today. When candy corn first appeared, it was popular among farmers because of its agrarian look. The tri-color design was considered revolutionary and the public went crazy for it. Lack of machinery meant that candy corn was only made seasonally from March to November. Candy corn has remained unchanged for more than 100 years and is a favorite at Halloween. Read more here...


So, in the spirit of the Halloween Season {and one of my favorite candies}, I decided to celebrate with a few ideas on how to use candy corn in fun ways!

Candy Corn Cupcakes

A baby candy corn costume! {This is totally going to be my child's costume}

Candy Corn on the cob!

Candy Corn Drink!

...and last but not least, Candy Corn Oreos!  

So, for today - grab a bag of Candy Corn {or Oreos} on your way home and help us celebrate!! 

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Cheers to the Weekend!

Hooray for FRIDAY!!  Who's ready for the weekend... Me! Me! ME!

Even though my weekend is packed full... it's packed full of family, fun and memories to be made!  Here's a glimpse of what's ahead...

Tonight the hubs and I are going wine tasting at a local wine store to use a gift card from our wedding! {I am sure all of you newly-weds have plenty of those still laying around} 

Saturday morning, I'm jumping back on a place to head south... to see the folks and enjoy a baby shower and fish fry with some great friends! 

I hope my Sunday looks a lot like this... spending the day on the Key with my folks!  

Soaking up some fun in the sun. :)

The real reason for the trip to the coast is to spend some quality time with my AOII's at an extension presentation at the University of West Florida.  Go AOII!

"It's not four years, it's for life." ~unknown

 Excited to be a part of this exciting time in Alpha Omicron Pi!

Cheers to the weekend... what do you have planned?

Walk-n-Wobble!

Welcome to Walk-n-Wobble!  

A new Lexington tradition that we started last month. On Wednesday nights {sometimes every week and sometimes every other} we decided it would be fun to get a group of gals to together to walk... and then wobble!  Many thanks to a long walk with Miss Kelly J one September afternoon, we decided to start the tradition. We've had girls' nights off and on, but usually revolving around the Bachelor/Bachelorette season - which, is always highly entertaining - but kinda got old. We have a pretty active group of girls, so we wanted to incorporate some type of exercise into our night. So, the idea was born...

The group varies... we have mommas, soon-to-be mommas, babies, puppies, newly-weds and singles {or one single lady}! We meet at 6, walk for an hour... usually 3-4 miles, and then head back to someones house for snacks and wobblin', a.k.a. wine!

Yesterday, we had a small group of 5.  We had a beautiful fall walk and celebrated a birthday too!

I love getting to catch up with friends, old and new, and just have some girl time during the week!

Cheers to many more Walk-n-Wobbles!  

Islands... for your Kitchen

I would say that most people would call me an island girl. Nothing excites me more than a relaxing day on the beach with my toes in the sand and a drink in my hand. However, today... we're talking about islands in the kitchen - which {almost, just almost} gets me more excited than the real ones... especially if it means a bigger kitchen or more counter space.

Currently, we live in a tiny little cottage - BUT - I'm already brainstorming for our rental house {aka, the bachelor pad we own} upgrade or one-day a house of our own.  Either way, one thing has been decided and that is - A LARGE kitchen will be involved!

Jesse and I have both decided that an island will be necessary. We like to entertain and we like to cook - so what better way to have good, working space.

I really like the bar stools on this one, and I like that the counter top {and height} match the other counter tops. Love the chandeliers too - but Jesse is more of a baker's rack kinda guy - he would LOVE to have copper pots handing from the ceiling one day... I think maybe he picked it up from his childhood or maybe a movie, but he is looking for copper pots every time we step in the antique store.

Love these two designs as well, however - I'm not sure how much I like the different color of the cabinets. I think I also like it to be one level, not split like the second one.

Love this idea - especially the beer and wine cooler - how perfect for entertaining {and more space in the fridge}. This coming from a girl that grew up with a regular fridge and a "beer fridge" ... which is still very much in use at the parents' casa today. I wouldn't dream of not having a separate place for our beer... and extra food too, of course!

I've been making plans for the rental house {bachelor pad} renovation - which, one day - will have an island in it. Currently, we have one big open room that includes the kitchen, eating area/bar and den. Putting in an island would really make the kitchen feel like a "real" kitchen... and some new counter tops and appliances would help as well. But, for now - I'm on the search for a cool island that could be worked in... and new counter tops for the whole kitchen!

The first question we need to cover, is do we have enough room?  Kitchens.com gives us great advice on how to determine where to place an island, and if it will fit! This was my favorite tip they shared:

"Don’t block the work triangle. The work triangle is the path from the primary sink to the refrigerator to the cook top or range. According to National Kitchen & Bath Association guidelines, an island should not intersect this triangle by more than 12 inches. If you break this rule, you’re just making it awkward, inconvenient, and potentially unsafe to get around in the kitchen."

Makes total sense - I guess when it comes to designing a new kitchen, you never think about the small things.  I have learned that I need to do a great deal of reading and research before we dive right in - that's for certain! 

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle

With the hubs out of town last week, I was a busy little bee checking things off my to-do list.  I have lots of updates coming... but today I wanted to check another item off my 30before30 bucket list.

#15 Start Recycling!

Well, we finally caved and filled up our first {clear} recycling bag yesterday! We found a good spot to keep cardboard/paper in our back room, which was really the only thing holding us back. {besides just being lazy} I was excited to make an effort to help do something towards a good cause and maybe even save a few trees while we're at it!

While I as trying to figure out the best way for us to be effective, I cam across this article from Country Living. It gives easy tips and ways to start recycling.

EASY RECYCLING TIPS

1. Find a convenient place to collect recyclable items. Most things come from the kitchen, making it a good spot to set up a recycling center.

2. The great thing about recycling is that it lets you put your favorite old containers, bins, or baskets to use. Assign containers for glass, plastic, and aluminum. To avoid messes, choose solid containers for storing items such as glass jars or cans that may have a sticky residue.

3. Take leftover plastic bags back to grocery stores where they are collected and reused to make plastic lumber.

4. Check the bottom of plastic items to identify what type of plastic they are. If the type is not recycled at your local center, consider ways to reuse the container.

5. Save water and time when recycling cans and bottles. You no longer need to rinse them out or remove their labels.

6. Recycle junk mail or reuse it as scratch paper. To opt-out of certain junk-mailing lists, go to opt-out.cdt.org.

7. Newspapers, magazines, and white paper can all be recycled as long as the paper is clean and dry. Plastic wrap, stickers, or rubber bands should be removed, but staples and plastic window envelopes are OK.

8. Recycle worn-out rechargeable batteries like those used in cell phones, computers, or power tools. Go to www.rbrc.org to find a drop-off location in your area.

9. Divvy up recycling duties among family members and sort items on a daily basis.

10. Print out this list of commonly recycled materials. Post it where you recycle for easy access.

“It's not how much we give,

 but how much love we put into giving.”

~Mother Teresa

Pumpkin Poppers

Happy Fall Y'all! 

When I think of the fall, PUMPKIN is defiantly at the top of the list! 

So, today I wanted share one of my favorite pumpkin recipes... 

{Pumpkin Poppers}

Popper:

1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour 

2 teaspoons baking powder 

1/2 teaspoon light salt


1/2 teaspoons cinnamon 


1/2 teaspoons nutmeg 


1/2 teaspoon allspice 

1/3 cup vegetable oil 


1/2 cup brown sugar 


1 egg 


1 teaspoon vanilla extract 


3/4 pumpkin (fresh or canned, just not pumpkin pie filling) 


1/2 cup low-fat milk

For Coating: 

1/2 stick of unsalted butter, melted 


1/2 cup granulated sugar 


2 tablespoons cinnamon

Preheat your oven to 350 and spray your muffin pans. 

{You can use mini-muffin tins if you have them - just adjust your cooking time to 10-12 minutes}

Combine all the dry ingredients in one bowl and whisk till combined.

In another bowl, mix together the oil, brown sugar, egg, vanilla, pumpkin and milk.

Pour the dry ingredients into the wet and mix till it’s just combined.

Fill your muffin tins till almost full & Bake for 15 minutes.

Melt your butter and in a small bowl combine your sugar and cinnamon.

Let the poppers cool for a few minutes before rolling them around in the melted butter and then plunging them into their cinnamon sugar bath.

I just diped the top of the muffin into the butter & cinnamon sugar, but if you're making mini-muffins, I would do the whole thing so they look and taste like a pumpkin donut hole… delish!

What's your favorite pumpkin recipe? 

Autumn Toast!

With the crisp weather in the air... and Autumn officially here, I've decided it's probably time to get started on my "30 before 30" bucket list... before 29 hits and I'm left with only a year to do it all.

Last Friday, Jesse and I completed our first 5K together! Check,  #17!

We ran the Autumn Toast 5K at Barron Ridge Vineyards last week with some of our good friends .... and besides the torrential down-pour with 3 minutes to go, we did pretty good!  We finished in 28 minutes and in 31st place. {Jesse let me go through the shoot first, so technically he was 32nd} The course is a beautiful run through the Virginia wine country... open fields and vineyards! After we finished {and got into some partial dry clothes} we set up a small picnic inside... complete with 6 types of cheese, dips, fruit, veggies, crackers, chips, chicken salad... and 4 bottles of wine.  Yes, there were 4 of us {insert sober driver, aka preggers, Alecia} and we each polished off a bottle... and could have stayed for more if we weren't the only ones left at 9:30pm.

It was a blast, and really fun running together.  Now, that doesn't mean we'll be training for any marathons anytime soon... but maybe another 5K!

We were soaked after the race, so we didn't manage a pic... but we took a few inside! 

One down... a few more to go...