Halloween Happenings

Boy do I love this time of year! I love getting the house decorated, and baking up seasonal treats. This fall season I'm addicted to pumpkin. Last week I made the pumpkin penne and this week I made pumpkin cupcakes with cream cheese frosting. I made these for our friends Mike and Wil's Halloween party which was last night and after weeks of planning our costumes at 10AM yesterday morning Mike and I were running around Target making a whole new plan. I went as a devilish type thing and Mike dressed as a tourist. Kinda scary that everything he needed for the costume we had hanging around this house!! The party was fun, I got lots of spooky decorating ideas too!!

Today I woke up and Mike couldn't wait to show me that 5 morning glories bloomed! And the weather outside was absolutely gorgeous! So we had the porch door open and I was enjoying the beautiful breeze and as I started typing this blog I was distracted by a crash and three maniac cats running from the porch through the living room and I found that they knocked over my beloved Morning Glory Plant :( I don't know i the plant will survive I tried to pick it up best I can but it will have to wait till Mike gets home to see if our plant will survive I'm so upset about it and screamed at the cats like a lunatic so they all know that I'm mad at them and Hooper is enjoying the fact that he's not in trouble!!

Today Mike is at lunch with his family meeting his half uncle for the very first time. I'm not feeling so hot today so I opted to stay home. I'm catching up on magazine reading, and food networking watching so it's nice and relaxing. I do have to consider eating something soon I haven't eaten yet and I know when Mike gets home we have to go grocery shopping and I do not want to go hungry. I will have to eat and find what I want to make for dinner. Tonight might be another new recipe!!! I should probably make it sort of healthy I've been eating crazy lately I have one good day and about 4 bad ones and then the cycle starts again.

This week I have got to get into the scraproom I did manage to finish one layout last week but I want to get a lot done this week. Wish me luck! More Soon...

Penne, Morning Glories and Fireflies

I didn't want to let too much time pass before trying my new recipe for this week so I decided to jump right in and try one today. It came in the nick of time too because we ate nothing but junk yesterday it was bad so today I made a new pasta dish, it's a Rachael Ray dish, Penne with Pumpkin Cream Sauce. It was a big hit and that's saying a lot because Mike went into it thinking he wouldn't like it, he's not a big savory pumpkin guy but we both cleaned our plate and we're both looking forward to leftovers for dinner tomorrow. I fell in love with the dish right away because it's made quick and easy in one pot!


Another exciting thing this week - our Morning Glories started to bloom! They are beautiful blue flowers! So far they are only blooming one at a time I can't wait when a bunch of them bloom at once, especially since they only bloom for the day and then they turn purple start to shrivel and close back up. But all day I kept popping out to the porch just to look at my pretty blue flower!



Another interesting thing today, Mike and I went for a long walk tonight and we noticed fireflies! I have never seen fireflies down here before and neither has Mike so we were pretty much in awe. I'm sure the people who passed us though we were out of our minds. It put a nice cap on a nice day.

More soon...

Falling in Love with Fall

Every year my love affair with the Fall starts fresh. I love the change in the weather which has been surprisingly Fall like here in Orlando and I love getting ready for Halloween and Thanksgiving it's a great time of the year. This Fall has been no exception. We kicked it off with the big anniversary celebration and continued by getting the house all decked out in Fall & Halloween attire. We are getting ready for our friends' big Halloween party so I'm getting my costume ready which is going to be so much fun, nothing like dressing up to make you feel like a kid again at Halloween!

On Wednesday Kevin and Trisha came for a visit we had a great time. Ate great meals, went to the parks and just had a great time. We spent Friday night at Halloween Horror Nights at Universal it was so much fun! Usually I'm a big chicken so I was a little nervous that I would be too afraid to have a good time but five beers later and I was feeling good and not scared one bit. We took great pictures and just laughed and had fun. Yesterday we went to Epcot for a little Food & Wine goodness it was fun. Then we dropped Kev & Trish at the airport and since then we've been home catching up on DVRed shows. The weather today is absolutely gorgeous! We have the sliding door open and there is a terrific breeze coming through, trying to figure out if today is going to be a full day of resting or if we are going to do something fun. I'm pretty sure it will just be resting, laundry and possibly grocery shopping.

Last week I didn't try any new recipes but I might try two new ones today which I will of course post :) I haven't been in the scrapbooking room lately but I'm hoping that will change this week I have lots of new pictures to work with! If anyone has any ideas of recipes I should try or projects they'd like to see me create just let me know!!

More Soon...

Five Fabulous Years

Recently I posted that Mike and I were getting ready to celebrate our 5th wedding anniversary. Not only was this our 5th anniversary but it fell just the way it did the year we actually got married which is always fun. So Mike let me know that he made reservation for dinner but would not tell me where we were going. So since we already had reservations I wanted to do something special for Mike for our actual anniversary so I found I killed two birds with one stone and I made Mike a fabulous dinner that also acted as my new recipe of the week! I made Emeril's Pasta with Vodka Sauce. Now I've made vodka sauce before but not like this. The addition of bacon and peas was outstanding and I loved using fettucine instead of the usual penne or bowties. It was a big hit with Mike too so I was very happy about that!

No idea why this picture is sideways it's not uploaded on my computer that way and I can't edit it no matter how many times I try.

Last night the night of our big anniversary date finally arrived. Until we got in the car I didn't know where we were going though I had guessed the place earlier in the week but Mike through me off the track and I was totally confused so I was still very surprised when he told me we would be dining at Il Mulino at the Swan hotel. We had eaten here in May with my parents and completely fell in love the food is outstanding, the service incredible and the restaurant itself is classy and beautiful. You will be shocked to read this but I didn't take a single picture of the food. I think we were so hungry that we forgot all about taking photos and just jumped into eating but hopefully we'll go again and I'll take some pictures then! It was a beautiful meal, nice to just be together and talk. We had rice balls and calamari to start both outstanding, for dinner I got red snapper with pancetta and a white wine garlic sauce served over a bed of broccoli rabe holy cow I could have licked the plate! Mike got his usual chicken parmagiana which I took a bite of and it was really good not your usual chicken parm. We split a tartufo for dessert also fabulous. After dinner we walked around the Swan and Boardwalk resorts it was beautiful out and we just wanted to soak in every minute of our anniversary date. I feel very lucky to have the husband I have and to enjoy the relationship we have I know not everyone gets so lucky.

Today we will be doing some cleaning and grocery shopping. Wednesday Kevin and Trisha arrive so I have to get the house in order. I'm excited we are hitting Halloween Horror Nights so I'm sure I'll have pictures and funny stories about how chicken I am to share!!

A Week in the Life - Completed Book

I am famous for starting a project and then never actually completing it. I went into my Week in the Life project figuring that I would take all the pictures and I was impressed that I posted pictures and updates here but then I figured that's where I would stop I figured I would get lazy or feel unmotivated and uncreative and I would never actually finish a Week in the Life Book. Well I'm happy to report that I did finish a book. I still want to do another page or two wrapping it up but I managed to get 98% of the book done in one day and I'm really pleased with how it turned out.

I kept the layouts simple as suggested by Ali Edwards and it was one of the smartest things I could have done. If I had decided to make this album more complicated it would still be sitting unfinished in my scrap room kinda like our wedding album! It is amazing how starting and finishing a project can really spark creativity. After spending the majority of Thursday in my scraproom you would think that once I finished this album I would call it a day but nope I started working on other layouts. I'll post pictures of that as soon as I get the finishing touches put on.

Stay tuned my next post will include anniversary pictures and the new recipe for last week!

A Week in the Life - 7th and Final Day

Yesterday was the last day of my week in the life project. We kept busy as usual. We woke up early and Mikey made breakfast though he started cooking and realized that he was missing a key ingredient -eggs! So I ran to the store got eggs and the Sunday paper and I sat on the floor with the paper ready to read and no sooner did I sit down did Hooper throw up all over the paper so the whole thing went in the garbage. Breakfast turned out delicious though! Then we went to visit Mike's mom and then hit Wal-Mart, Target, Joanns and then went to Ruby Tuesdays for dinner. When we got home we settled in and watched Iron Man and Forgetting Sarah Marshall two excellent movies that we couldn't wait to get on DVD.


Now that the week in the life photo taking project is over this week I have to focus on putting all of my photos into a scrapbook. I use Picasa for a lot of my photo needs and it lets you set up photo collages so I've done one for each day so each page will have at least 25 pictures on it but I'm pretty sure I'll be adding larger photos on the layouts as well. It was a great project and I learned a lot about our routine and our life and it's pretty darn good. Another thing I learned - I drink A LOT of coffee. I mean yeah I knew I drank a lot of coffee but you have to see the number of pictures I have each day of the coffee machine, mugs, creamers etc. I rally need to do something about that. Another thing I do a lot of - Laundry! I don't know how two people generate so much laundry but we totally do. I definitely manage to keep busy during the day and I'm happy about that.


I'm happy to report that just because I stopped taking pictures of everything doesn't mean I stopped working out! I worked out first thing this morning and it really jump started the day so I'm hoping to continue that all week.




Today is our 5th Wedding Anniversary. In so many ways it feels like it was just yesterday and then in a million ways it feels like a million years ago. Either way you slice it it's been 5 incredible years. And to celebrate tonight I'm making Mikey a special dinner and then Saturday Mike is taking me out but I have no idea where we are going yet! It will be like a week long anniversary celebration and that's ok by me!!

A Week in the Life - Day 6

As promised I'm posting today's wrap up while it's still today! Today was a great day! This morning I hung out and watched some Food Network shows, then I did my exercise ball workout and then we met some new friends for lunch which was very nice. After lunch we headed to Downtown Disney and saw the movie Eagle Eye. It wasn't bad some funny lines, some good action but it was pretty predictable - definitely not an award winner. After the movie Mikey and I enjoyed the gorgeous weather and walked around Downtown Disney. I couldn't get over how nice the weather was, it was breezy, not real humid and just so pleasant. I'm really hoping it stays this nice! After stopping a Ghiradelli's for a frozen mocha we headed home. I was so excited to find waiting for me in the mailbox the Elsie Flannigan scrapbooking kit I ordered! I have it sitting right in front of me like I don't want to let it out of my sight! I think it was just what I needed to get the creative juices flowing again and it came in the nick of time since tomorrow is the last day of my photo project.

I'm pretty sure I have the start of my Halloween costume! Tomorrow I plan on doing some shopping and gathering more Fall and Halloween decorations along with any other pieces I might need for my costume. This is definitely my favorite time of year. The weather gets nice, and it's like a big kickoff to the holiday season. Another exciting thing about the fall - our wedding anniversary. Monday will mark our 5th wedding anniversary! I am sure I will cook something special for Mikey either tomorrow or Monday and then next Saturday we are going out to dinner but I have no idea where Mikey is keeping it under wraps until I need to know. I will be sure to keep you posted!!

Well that's all for tonight! More Soon...

A Week in the Life - Day 5

I know I know I'm late posting my day 5 wrap up. I don't have a good reason I just totally forgot last night. Yesterday was one of those days that reminds me just why I love my life here in Orlando. After taking Mike to work I took Hooper out for a nice long walk, the weather was beautiful again. After the walk I got dressed and ready for the day. At 11 my friend Lisa came over and we headed out to Epcot. It was a great day full of just girl talk and fun and of course lots and lots of pictures. I think it was a day we both needed. We had a great lunch, we took pictures with characters and enjoyed a beautiful day! We picked Mike up from work an while we waited for him we jammed to New Kids on the Block. Lisa took some serious blackmail worthy video and we giggled for 45 minutes straight.

Last night after Lisa headed home me and Mikey just ran to Publix for some dinner he got fried chicken and I got some sushi. We came home and at dinner in our pjs and caught up on DVRed shows. Now that the Fall TV season has started we Taylors have a ton of TV watching to do. I am happy to say though that we have been falling behind pretty often which says to me that we actually have a life and we're not just sitting watching TV!

We don't have big plans for this weekend at least not yet. Today we are meeting some new friends for lunch but other then that we are just taking things as they come. I'll do my best to post today's events tonight. It's hard to believe that tomorrow is the last day of my photo project and then I can move on to phase 2 the creating the album. I'm looking forward to the creative process I'm just trying to find the right kin of album to house this project. I'm not sure what it is I'm looking for but I'm sure once I see it I'll know it's right. I'll let you know how that goes.

More Soon...

A Week in the Life - Day 4

So here we are winding down day 4 of my little project and I get more into it every day. Today didn't really go as planned I woke up with my sinuses completely out of control, my head was pounding my left eye was swollen shut it was not pretty. Mike, being the wonderful husband that he is, got a ride to work and let me sleep in. It was the first time I'd slept in in a while and when I woke up at 9AM I stayed in bed and watched my guilty pleasure TV show Gossip Girl! I didn't get a lot done today, some laundry, some reading and I had a nice chat on the phone with my friend Lisa. I will try to make tomorrow a little more interesting for my readers!!

This evening Mikey made me a delicious grilled cheese with bacon for dinner while he finished up the leftovers and then we took a walk. I'm proud of myself that along with sticking to the photo project I've stuck to the exercising each day as well. What I do need to do is get back to being creative. I need to spend some serious time in my scrapbooking room and work on things. I know next week I'll be putting together the album of all the pictures I am taking this week so that will be a great way to break out of my creative rut and give me a reason to use a lot of the new products I've purchased. Speaking of purchases I bought this Autumn Craft kit from Elsie Flannigan's Etsy Shop she has a lot of great stuff but I could not resist this kit. The kit was shipped out today and I can't wait to get it. Elsie is so inspiring so I'm excited to have a kit put together by her and make something fabulous with it.

Well now we are watching this week's DVRed Criminal Minds and Mikey just handed me a bowl of low fat Edy's Fudge Tracks ice cream YUM! Check back soon more to come!

A Week in the Life - Day 3

Well I'm a little late posting Day 3's thoughts and happenings sorry about that I got caught up sorting through Halloween and Thanksgiving decorations and then I just went to sleep. Yesterday was a busy day Mike had to get up early for a launch, then we stopped at Dunkin' Donuts where I got my favorite iced coffee with coconut flavoring - Yum. After dropping Mike off I went to pick up my mother-in-law and I brought her back here where we drank more coffee and just chatted. Then Mike's Aunt Sylvia came and picked us up and we went for lunch and did a little shopping it was a good day. Mike and I had leftovers for dinner, took a super long walk and then started pulling out the fall decorations!!

I love decorating for the fall and this year I feel I need more decorations. We have Kevin and Trish coming in just a couple of weeks and I want the apartment to look all Halloween-y! Then I'll switch gears in November and turn the place into a fall wonderland. The problem is I have to get everything in a hurry because even though it's just October 2nd the fall stuff is already on the way out and the Christmas stuff is starting to take over. So maybe today I'll see if I can grab Mike and drag him out shopping. I'll be sure to let you know how that goes.

Today I promise to be timely about posting today's events and photos so keep checking back!