Five on Friday

Happy Friday! Be sure to link up with these ladies to join in on the fun!

1. Happy Baby, Happy Mama

If you saw my previous post, you know that Miss A had a terrible virus this past week. She had a high fever for days, wasn't eating or drinking very much, and was totally not herself. We went to the ER where she had to have an IV for fluids and antibiotics in case of an infection. There were lots of tears and screams. From the three of us! But I'm happy to say that Miss A is finally feeling better as of yesterday, as you can see in this picture. Thank you to all who follow me on instagram for your well wishes.  

2. Pumpkin Mania

It seems I can't write a Five on Friday post lately without talking about pumpkin! Until I started blogging, I never really enjoyed pumpkin treats. I hated pumpkin pie. Never had a pumpkin spice donut. When I was still living in Miami, it never really feels like Fall. Ever. It's too hot to wear boots and cute comfy sweaters and scarves. When we moved to Michigan, I was amazed at the first sign of the leaves changing. Then I finally understood the Fall craze. We went apple picking for the first time and had cider and fresh donuts. I was hooked. In love with the season. I started making my own cookies and pumpkin bread and fell in love with the flavor. Now that we've moved again I'm excited to experience Fall in North Carolina! Here are some of my must-make-immediately pumpkin things I found this week.

Pumpkin Pie Steel Cut Oats

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Granola Bars

 3. Sticky Labels

I loooove labels. I love labels even more when they're customizable and come in pretty colors and with cute graphics. I ordered a set of sticky labels from Mabel's Labels last week and I'm so happy with how they turned out!

4. Toddler Fall Fashion

Forget about shopping for me this year. Okay, maybe not, I deserve a new sweater or two right? But look at all the new fall sets from Carters!! I.love.them.all. They're having a sale right now and it's taking everything in me to not buy everything. I may have created a wishlist for her. Or is it for me? ;)

One. Two. Three. Four. Five.

5. Grocery Budgets

Ugh. Let's talk about groceries. And budgets. I know, I know, this might not be a fun topic for everyone, but I'm curious- do you have a grocery budget? If so, how did you come up with that number? How do you stick to it? Do you use coupons? Shop at more than one store? I'm trying to come up with a grocery budget and it's much harder than I thought it was going to be. I'm keeping track of how much we're spending for one month to see what we're spending and I'll take it from there. This was our haul from Aldi, where I only spent $47! Teach me your ways.

Happy weekend!

I Will Be Back!

I have not abandoned ship! Forgive me for the lack of posts this week- we were out of food. Recall my idea to stretch our grocery budget? It was hard. So hard.

But yesterday was the 1st of the month.

And I did some damage...

I will be back.

Disney World for Adults

Recently the hubbs and I went on our huge grocery shopping trip. We make this "trip" at least once every two months and stock up on meats, whole wheat pasta, cheeses, olive oil, baking supplies, and snacks. We look forward to this "trip" and make a big day out of it.

Where does this "trip" take place?

Costco!

We LOVE Costco. It's like spending a day at Disney World.

There is a lot of cheese.

And a lot of chocolate.

What more could you possibly need?

Oh yes. Baking supplies.


This time around we went with a couple of friends who wanted to share in the glory of Costco land. Our cart was packed. I could barely move the thing by the end of the day.

The husband loves Costco for their free samples.

You could have a full lunch, with dessert, on a good day.

Doesn't take much to make him happy!

I love their muffins and breads. When those are out for sampling, that's where I'm at.

As much as I love Costco, we can't get everything from there. It is just the two of us. I still have to go to Meijer/Kroger and get milk, eggs, yogurt...all the things that would spoil before we have a chance to eat it. So now our fridge is stocked. As well as our freezer.

No, I didn't even bother to try. That's not my handiwork.

Mr. Freezer stared me down and gave me the cold shoulder. He wasn't about to let me mess with him. That's what the husband is for.

Sigh. Isn't it lovely?

I wish it could always look this way.

Don't look at the door though. That's as good as it's ever going to get!

Anyone else love grocery shopping as much as I do...  :)

The Evil in My Kitchen

My kitchen is small. I live in an apartment and have an apartment kitchen. Mind you, this kitchen is so much bigger than our first apartment kitchen, not because we have more cabinets or counter space, but room to breathe. Four to five people can fit in my kitchen comfortably, like this past Thanksgiving.

Any more than that and we'd be bumping heads, dropping spoons, knives, cake batter...

While I loved the kitchen in our first apartment, it could only accommodate the two of us comfortably.

Sigh. I miss you.

I picked out everything in this kitchen. The cabinets, granite, and back-splash. I loooved the granite, loooved the cabinets, loooved the fridge. The fridge. Seeing it again makes me so sad.

I ADORED that fridge. We had a lovely relationship. I loved his shelves, his capability to hold so much stuff. Especially the freezer.

Which brings me to the evil in my current kitchen....

The Freezer!!!!

I despise it.

Mr. Freezer and I fight on a daily basis. We battle over trying to take out a piece of chicken. We argue over where to put the vegetables. We yell at each other every time something crashes to the floor.

We just don't get along.

I took these pictures after coming home from grocery shopping on Saturday. I had to put the two cartons of ice cream away and Mr. Freezer just wasn't having it. He did not want one more thing stuffed into him. So we fought, he won, and I drowned my sorrows in a spoonful of Mint Chip ice cream.

The only person Mr. Freezer relinquishes control to is the husband. That's the only reason I keep him around.

Husband will take everything out of it, rearrange it, organize it, and walk away. It will look nice for two days.

Then Mr. Freezer and I squabble again.

My Three-Day Weekend

Friday night I made Rachael's Honey-Rosemary Chicken (which was not in the book, I happened to watch her make it that day on her talk show). It was good- I loved sweet, lemony sauce.

My Saturday was filled with the hustle and bustle of cleaning my apartment, making a few returns at the mall, and discovering a new Kroger. I hardly ever shop at Kroger, but I'm getting a bit bored of my Meijer runs and needed a change of scenery. I headed to Kroger after my brief trip to the mall and was shocked to find one just a few streets away, brand-spanking new (or so it appeared to be). 

I hopped out of the car and giddily walked into the store (I know, it's Kroger, not Whole Foods...it's the little changes throughout my days that excite me). I was immediately taken aback- wait, was I actually in Whole Foods?

It was so clean, organized, and had a rustic feel. There was so much fresh produce and so much cheese. I tried my best to stick to my list, but let's face it, things just happened to get into my cart.

Kroger's "light" ice cream, Mint Chocolate Chip and Death by Chocolate. One for me and one for the hubbs. He likes his chocolate. I like my mint. We were craving ice cream after all...

I got some other essentials, like two new kinds of hummus, my favorite chips, and bagels.

Healthy items did manage to hop into my cart along the way.

See?

On Sunday I spent a good chunk of the afternoon cashing in my Christmas gift cards at Old Navy and Borders. I picked up The Help by Kathryn Stockett and The Year of the Fog by Michelle Richmond.

Along with this super cute bookmark.

Love it.

I'm SO excited to start reading The Help. I've heard so many good things about it! Even the girl at the cash register was excited for me to start reading it.

After I left Borders I made a quick stop at Meijer for some store-bought pizza crust. When I got home I rolled out the dough and topped it with mozzarella, parmigiano-reggiano cheese, mushrooms, and spinach. I also made the chocolate chip cookies out of my cookie book per hubby's request.

As for today, I think I'll be eating lots of cookies and reading my new book.

I heart three-day weekends.

And guess what. I have another one this coming weekend. Perks of working at a school ;)


Were you one of the lucky ones to have a three-day weekend? How did you spend yours?