BAKING

Cake Balls

 Mrs. Qunicy at the bank always helps Charles from when he was in the fraternity to now as a NWTF finance person. She has known him since he came to school in 2007 and she now has a special attachment to us. Okay so she even is curious as to when Charles and I will get married or even engaged, along with everyone else =). She's mentioned she expects an invitation so she's a funny lady and so sweet! So for her birthday this Wednesday and Christmas I made {with some help from Charles} Red Velvet Cake Balls Inspiration. This is my first time, and they didn't come out to bad, obviously not as pretty as my inspirations, but they'll do and taste good!

No Bake Cookies

These are the easy, really delicious, horribly for you!! I got this recipe from a lady at work who makes them into bars, but I prefer cookies. I made these for Charles' co-workers and some extra for Mrs. Qunicy. Oh and best part-it's in the microwave!

Ingredients:
-2 Sticks of butter
-1 Cup Carnation Milk
-4 Cups sugar
-4 Tbsp Cocoa
-1 Cup peanut butter (I used crunch and it was just fine)
-5 to 5 1/2 Cups of quick cooking oats
-2 tsp vanilla

Directions: {all in microwave}
1. Melt 2 sticks of butter for 3 minutes
2. Microwave with stirring in between each time the following:
-1 Cup Carnation Milk
-4 Cups sugar
-4 Tbsp Cocoa
3. After you have microwaved for 3 different times at 3 mins stir & add in:
-1 Cup peanut butter
-2 tsp vanilla 
-5 to 5 1/2 Cups of oats (you want the consistency to be pretty thick-start with 5 and if you need it thicker add more, I eyeball this)
-Mix all of this really well until all oats are coated
4.You can either spread out wax paper and drop by spoonfuls or you can pour into a 9x13 greased pan and cool. If you do the cookies, it makes about 3 dozen LARGE cookies.

I hope you enjoy all of your holiday baking this year!
-Becca

Christmas Is Here

Christmas is UP!

At my house, I like to have Christmas up before I go home for Thanksgiving. I don't like having to come home and still put it up considering I like it down before I go home for Christmas. I like to come back home to the house ready for the NEW YEAR! So, here are a few snapshots of my house this year! I love Christmas and can't wait to have a huge home to decorate!!

 Homemade Christmas Tree Project

One week my mom came down for a Dr. appointment that I had and while here I wanted to do a craft! So..Here is the homemade trees from poster board and a few supplies we picked up.

I forgot to take pictures of the process but what you do is this:
1. Roll your poster board into a cone (I got a little help from a party hat and Charles)-You can make them small or big-up to you!
2. Get something that you can wrap, not recommended for anything that you glue on individually (just ask my mom!) Takes a long time and you need WAY more than you think you do!
3. Glue, glue, glue and wrap at the same time!

Super simple and easy! My trees are the black and silver because I put them in my kitchen which I tried to keep Silver, White, Black and Lime green for Christmas to match my decor.

 My trees are:
-Trim for pillow, blankets, etc. {$6 with Hobby Lobby coupon}
-Beads that I already had & bought {$2.00 w/ 50% off}
-Tinsel {$1} from Dollar Tree
Total Cost= {$9.00}-already had poster board!
You can't buy these for this price in the store and they're exactly what I pictured on each of the pedestals!

These are mom's trees-Not the best quality picture but it's from her phone

 Her trees are:
Green-Beads
Silver-Tinsel {$1} at Dollar Tree!
Duct tape!!

Christmas Shirts

Well...I originally made these shirts to wear to our friends Christmas party, however I got sick that night and we couldn't go!! I was so dissapointed that we couldn't wear them because you had to match colors, well-we were going to MATCH! Anyhoo, here is what these fabulous shirts turned out to look like! I'm sure you'll be jealous and want me to make you one!

{tip}
Buy your shirts in the craft section at wal-mart, they were several $ cheaper!

 The cut-outs I picked up at a garage sale because I knew they would come in handy one day! I remember we use to make shirts ALL the time with these when I was growing up, and they weren't for a laugh! Yikes..yea that's what I get for growing up in the 90's huh!?

Yes you are seeing that right, REAL JINGLE BELLS on Santa's bag and little gold tassel for the drawstring. What makes it better that you can't see in the picture-the PUFF PAINT on several parts of the shirt =)

While we're on the subject of Chrsitmas, Arthur Christmas is an adorable movie!! One that I would watch over and over and let me tell you I'm all about Christmas movies and music which leads me to the best surprise ever!

Trans-Siberian Orchestra

Last week Charles surprised me with tickets to Trans-Siberian in Little Rock!! He took me a few years ago and OMG it was the best thing ever but didn't even think we'd get to go this year. Here's how it happened: He told me to come into the room and look at the computer screen, I looked and just saw a bunch of ticket stuff but didn't really understand. I looked closer and realized it was OUR tickets, I said, "Are we going to that?" his reply was, "well do you want to go with me?" OMG YES!! So that Friday we went early and had Olive Garden and then went and were just as amazed as we were last time with this NEW show!! I have always LOVED them and listen to them at christmas only. =)

This is the stage spreading out over the crowd!!!

LIGHTS are AMAZING

We had amazing seats and such a great time!! Thank you Charles for such an amazing surprise!!


Oh one more, I ended this semester with a 4.0 which means I've kept my 4.0 so far for grad school!! One more semester to go and then I'll be done!!

Well that's all until Christmas I do beleive!! I hope that everyone has a wonderful Christmas and starts off the New Year great!! I'll try to remember to keep up with this!!

Merry Christmas,
Becca

Exciting Times

Weddings and Receptions

Michael and Jen's Wedding Reception

We have a very good friend, Michael that we've known for a while now. He was in Charles' fraternity, Phi Lambda Chi with him and just recently got married! They went on a destination wedding and then came back to Conway for the reception {good idea to me!!}. It was a very fun night and we wish them many years of happiness!!

Chad and Ashley's Reception

I worked for Vicky at a consignment shop my freshman year, well she's become my mom in Conway and her whole family is just so sweet! Her son Chad got married and it was a beautiful wedding and reception. The decorations at the reception were simple, festive, and very pretty!

NWTF Banquet

Charles is a member of the National Wild Turkey Federation (finance chair) and they started a chapter in Conway last year. This is the 2nd banquet and it went so much better than last year! Erica and her husband Lyndon came and of course when you have gorgeous trees arranged in a picture like setting, you jump on the opportunity!

Thanksgiving-Atlanta Texas

Well, I have to admit...I forgot to take pictures at Thanksgiving!! We did Thanksgiving on Saturday and really had a wonderful evening with the ENTIRE family!  However, we did do a little black Friday shopping and I jumped on the chance to take a picture of the crazy lady!! She was going around the entire store piling things (not even on sale) into a cart. There were employees taking everything to the front in the customer service center in order to begin the check out process. By the time we were leaving, she was up to $10,000 worth of stuff...needless to say by the time they were finished, she had over $20,000 and handed them a check, a temporary check...CRAZY so they told her they couldn't accept that and she handed them her debit card which ended up being declined. I'm not being mean, but goodness now all those workers who had been there all night had to put up ALL the crap she couldn't get. She was very entertaining but I hope she honestly has some real help, I feel sorry for her!

Wedding Shower Fun

Painted Pig-Little Rock

On November 10th, I attended the most unique little shower ever! It was at the Painted Pig in Little Rock, AR for my very good friend Leah! She'll be getting married in February to the best guy in the world for her, they're just precious and perfect for each other. It's really funny how we met actually!! On move in day at UCA, my whole family went to eat at Marketplace Grill in Conway. While there, mom went to the bathroom and Leah was in there, she needed toilet paper =) so mom got it for her. Afterwards mom was chatting with her and discovered that Leah lived in my dorm, on my hall!! So I went down and met her that evening and we've been friends ever since!! {oh and I talked her into becoming a Sigma Kappa, which I then made her my heart sis}! Anyways..back to the shower!

At the shower, we picked out Christmas ornaments and painted them while snacking and chatting. After we finished painting the ornaments, they would put them in the ceramic thing {not familiar with all that stuff} and bake them. Once they were all sealed and ready to go they get them to the bride and she'll put them on their tree and always remember our fun time at her shower, plus some adorably unique ornaments.

December 1st-Shower @ My House

On December 1st, Kait (MOH) and I (bridesmaid) decided to give Leah a small Conway shower for our sisters to come and show her some love! So we planned a few snacks and the menu included:

~Bruschetta Dip with bagel breads
~Cheesy Bacon Dip with ruffles
~Red velvet cake balls
~Pumpkin Dip with ginger snaps
~Spiced pumpkin cupcakes with Cream Cheese frosting
~Kisses,Candy Canes, M&M's
~Water, Punch, and Coffee

Plates, Napkins, & Plates

It was so much fun and we played a little game of "how well do you know the bride?" I'll attach an image of the game-it was very entertaining!!

{The small table in the corner is the recipe table}

 
At the shower, we also set up a recipe station and had everyone bring their favorite recipes, I found an adorable recipe book at TjMaxx to put them in as a gift for the bride!

Well..I'm a little behind

Where to start?

I've not completely forgotten about my blog/keeping up with my life, it's just that things have been super busy that I really haven't had time or the motivation to do it! I've been making a list so that I wouldn't leave out the important stuff when I did sit down to catch up! I won't make one HUGE post, but several small to keep track of everything. So to start off I'll go back to November..EEk, so behind!

Shrek-November 5th

Shrek the Musical came to UCA and I got tickets (because I'm a student) for $10 each! YES, so Charles agreed much to my surprise to attend with me! I loved going to Broadway when I visited New York City, and often enjoy musicals...so for this price, I didn't want to miss it! It was great, lots of comedy involved which kept Charles entertained as well!

{picture isn't that great but we had a wonderful time}

 The set for this musical was so wonderful, the huge dragon was my favorite!! I forgot to take more pictures because I was so into the show!

{such an amazing curtain and set}

Greek God-November 6th

Every year the Delta Tau chapter of Sigma Kappa puts on Greek God at UCA. It's a male pageant pretty much, but it's fun and it's for a good cause. There is letter, talent/personality, and formal round where the judges decide different winners based on appropriate categories. Last year, this was on my birthday and it was a wonderful present to know that we raised a few thousand {yes thousands} for Alzheimer's Disease Research, our philanthropy. It something that many people are effected by and as an alum of Sigma Kappa, it's important for us to continue giving to this cause. So, I attended with several other girls and it was an interesting show! I'll continue to do my own support by participating in Arkansas Alzheimer's, as well as going to Greek God for as long as it's going on! For more information on Sigma Kappa's philanthropic ambitions you can go here: http://sigmakappa.org/Philanthropies/

I'll move on to the next post now!
-Becca