Happy Hauntings!!

I love Halloween! It doesn't matter whether we have plans, or if we are dressing up I love to decorate and make treats and wait for Trick or Treaters! This year we went to our complex Halloween party which is a first for us usually we skip those things but since we've been hanging out with Anna and Tom so often they've encouraged us to be a lot more social! We had such a nice time. We didn't stay for the whole party because they didn't have any food Mike could eat and he was hungry but we enjoyed the costume contest and just chatting with some of our neighbors. I think we are both enjoying knowing our neighbors!

On Halloween we decided to stay in and hopefully greet Trick or Treaters, sadly we only had 2 trick or treaters but that's two more then we had last year so things are looking up! We made this quick and simple chili dip as a snack and I made one of my favorites hot dogs wrapped in crescents and stuffed with cheese of course! And Mike roasted some fingerling potatoes! We hung out and ate and watched Ghost Hunters and then I watched the Yankees win! This World Series is completely stressing me out! I also made a super delicious Halloween cocktail: A Candy Corn Cordial! This was so delicious and boy did it pack a punch!



Now that Halloween is over I've been taking down the Halloween decorations and replacing them with Thanksgiving decorations. I'm going to have to see what new crafts I can whip up for Thanksgiving since I'm already missing the spooky projects I put together for Halloween!!

I painted the frames and pumpkin in a fun metallic purple and then I created the images with House of 3 Halloween goodies, embellished with a couple of cool flowers and gems and created a little scene on the counter!

I've been trying to fight the urge to get ready for Christmas but I just can't help it and I've already been buying presents and mentally decorating the apartment. This year I am hoping to win the porch decorating contest! Wish us luck!!

Living Life One Adventure at a Time!

For several weeks my dear friend Gabby has mentioning us training together to run a 5K in March, this is a idea I resisted - I have long been of the opinion that you only run when chased - but suddenly last Tuesday I woke up and decided I would indeed embark on this adventure and train for the 5K, I would give running a chance. What do I have to lose right? I could certainly use the energy boost, and I could absolutely use loosing some weight, so I woke up bright and early Wednesday morning and started my training! I'm taking it really really slow! I'm using the Couch-to-5K program, since that is exactly what I'm doing and it is basically intervals of running and walking, building up stamina and on off days from running you do some form of strength training. So I've been doing it for just under a week and I absolutely already feel the difference in my energy level!! I will keep you all posted on my progress but it's something I really want to take seriously! Wish me luck!

My lovely friend and neighbor Anna has been spoiling me by taking me on little adventures. She will call in the morning and then whisk me off to places that I've yet to explore here in the area. Last week Anna took me to Lake Alfred where we explored beautiful shops, lunched in an amazing tea room and bought goodies at a tea and bake shop. It was so nice being out, exploring a hidden gem and talking to Anna, gathering ideas, sharing thoughts and stories just an all around pleasant day and it gave me a chance to take some fun photos!

Inside the adorable Bake Shop!

Outside the tea room & bake shop

Thursday I was off on another adventure! I took Zanne to Epcot for a day enjoying the Food & Wine Festival! We took so many photos (you could tell we are both scrapbookers and crafters) we tasted yummy foods and enjoyed the fact that the park was pretty much empty. We explored nooks and crannies of the park that we hadn't thought to explore before and we laughed and enjoyed a day of girl time. The time spent with these fabulous gals and embarking on a new physical challenge has left me inspired and ready to create and to face each new adventure head on!!!



Halloween post coming soon...

More Fun Fall Festivities!

My goodness October is flying right by. We are a week away from November and I can't believe it! But even though we are already making Thanksgiving plans and I already have a couple of Christmas presents purchased we are fully enjoying the Halloween season. On October 15th my fabulous husband took me to Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween party. Now Disney is always a place where the young and young at heart can let go and be kids and just have fun and this is certainly true at Not So Scary. Because it had been so warm here in Orlando Mike and I opted to not dress in costume I just wore a Halloween t-shirt and we called it a night. It was so much fun running around the Magic Kingdom, trick or treating, watching the parade and fireworks, taking photos with characters and riding the rides. It was a great night and just nice to be silly with Mike.





Mike had to go to California but this time instead of hanging out alone my grandmother decided to pop down for a quick visit. We had such a good time, we went out to eat, we shopped, we went to Epcot for a little Food & Wine Festival Fun and I took grandma to a character breakfast and that was just the best! My grandmother is just the cutest, I love having time with her and hopefully I spoiled her just a tiny bit even though it still wouldn't come close to the way she's spoiled all of us through the years!





Now I'm happy to have Mike home and we've had a nice relaxing weekend catching up with all our TV shows and tonight I actually made a new recipe tonight - Penne a la Carbonara, it is a Giada De Laurentiis recipe and can be found here. I've always shied away from Carbonara because getting the eggs just right makes me nervous but I guess I didn't have anything to worry about because we thought it was delicious and Mike keeps looking at me and thanking me for dinner so I guess I got it right!



Now this week I'll be gearing up for Halloween and making tasty trips to give out to friends and family! Stay tuned and I'll be sure to take lots of pictures of course!

Off The Page Challenge!

I am late in posting this but I assure you Mom and I both had our challenges done on time last week and I have to get my act together and do this week's challenge which is due tomorrow!

Ok so this last challenge was to extend page elements off the page. This is something I had never done though I love the look of it I wasn't brave enough to try it on my own pages - until now! So for this challenge I opted to kill two birds with one challenge and I not only fulfilled the Off the Page elements but I completed another page for my online class that I'm determined to finish even though the class is over. You'll see that I used a Heidi Swapp tab and clocks as my off the page elements.



The funny thing about my mom's Challenge layout is that she also used clocks. We find that a lot of times we use the same theme or elements which if funny because we aren't working on things together, I guess it's true great minds do think alike haha! I love how mom stapled her tags and tickets to the top of the page I think her layout is fun and delicious!



I hope to post the next challenge in a timely fashion so stay tuned!!

What a Difference 6 Years Makes!

Six years! How on Earth did six years fly by so fast! I guess what they say is really true - time flies when you're having fun!



So here is a little walk down memory lane -

Six years ago:
- we lived in NY
- at the time of our wedding we had a roommate but that didn't last much longer after we got home.
- I weighed 60 pounds less! 60!!! My god! And Mike weighed roughly 35 pounds less!
- I was going to Pilates and Yoga multiple times a week
- Mike worked for UNICEF and I worked for McGraw-Hill
- I was 26 and Mike was 29
- We weren't thinking about having a baby
- we had 3 cats
- I was sadly not talking to my cousin Kevin or my friend Kerry

and six years ago on this very day I married my best friend - as corny as that sounds it's true. I married the person who gets me, who supports me and who knows when to push me to talk and when to just leave me alone.



Today we Taylors

- Live in Florida
- have 3 cats and a dog!
- Mike works for Disney and I sell Tupperware
- I'm 32 and Mike is 35!!
- I'm thankfully not only talking to Kevin and Kerry but they are active members of our life!
- We both have high cholesterol
- Mike sleeps with a CPAP machine
- We visit Disney on a regular basis
- we have been struggling for 5 years to have a baby
- we have a car

and today it is just as true as it was six years ago that I married my best friend. Mike has been supportive through the trials of trying to get pregnant, he's encouraged me to work on my novel, he is an active part in me building my Tupperware business and we just have fun together all the time.

Looking back over the years a lot has changed but at the root of it all we are just the same, two people in love and happy to be married!!

It's the Great Pumpkin Shortage Charlie Brown!

Last week we had a brief encounter with Fall weather here in Florida! So to honor that weather I put up all of my Fall and Halloween decorations and worked on some new craft projects and decided it was the perfect time to bust out one of my favorite Rachael Ray recipes Penne with pumpkin. So I made my grocery list, picked Mike up from work and we headed to the grocery store. What we found was a complete shock to my system after hunting aisle after aisle we could not find canned pumpkin puree so I asked an employee who told me that I was about the hundredth person to ask and that they were all out of pumpkin and that I would find most stores in the area out as well due to a pumpkin shortage!! WHAT?!

So of course I didn't take this guy's word for it I went home and did a quick online search and saw that he was right! Stores all over are low or out of canned pumpkin due to a shortage! ACK! My mind started racing with all the lovely Fall recipes that I would have to live without, no pumpkin sauce, no pumpkin pie, no pumpkin cupcakes or pumpkin blondies. I was in complete shock and the days that followed I stopped by the store and kept checking hoping against hope that I would find canned pumpkin and Sunday I was rewarded! As I walked down the canned fruits and veggies aisle there on the top shelf shining like a beacon of all things Fall were cans of Libby's Pumpkin Puree!! I quickly threw six cans into our shopping cart and was told by the store manager that once they are out of that shipment they have no idea when they will get more! I'm now wondering if I should have just bought all of the cans on the shelf but I'll have to make the six cans I bought last! So the question will be is it pumpkin worthy?

Long Overdue Challenge Update!

Me and my mom have been working through the challenges in Elsie Flannigan's book we are having a great time with it but we have fallen behind. First Mom went on vacation and then I just fell behind, I let life get in the way of my scrapbooking! But now after some time away we are getting back on track!

Ok so one of the challenges was to create a mini book about quotes and phrases you use often. This is a tough one because I communicate with a lot of people using movie quotes so I have a lot of stories I want to tell for this one and since my mom is one of the people I talk to using quotes she has a lot as well! We each did a couple of layouts in this book and will be going back to it from time to time to add to.

Here are my mom's awesome pages! These are great stories and could very easily turn into pages for my own book!



Here are my pages - they tell two stories that are special to me.



Then the next challenge was to use stitching particularly around a focal point. I missed the mark a little on this one and just used stitched flowers. Both me and mom used rubons though we would both like to do actual sewing on our pages sometime.

My mom's pages of course are awesome! Makes me really wish I was with my family that night!



My page is a story I've been wanting to tell for a few years. Our Dead Flower Anniversary may not sound very nice but it is a cute story and an anniversary I remember fondly!



Now here's hoping it doesn't take quite as long for the next challenge to be up and running! I will be talking to my mom about a due date tonight! Stay Tuned!!