About Us

I am the product of my parents, who are SUPER money savvy. Growing up, our house had one 25″ TV, and we thought anything bigger was just plainly excessive. I learned early on that Sears was THE place to shop for clothes, and only if Mom had coupons to lump with sales. Luckily for Mom, I hated still hate clothes shopping. I was cheap/easy to shop for…I just told her to choose whatever in a cart and we’d go on our way.

When I got older, I became the person who would water down my shampoo until the suds no longer existed. I never even thought to visit a make-up counter, because, well, Cover Girl was just as good for $5 (that has changed ever so slightly in recent years…just slightly). When it came to clothes, t-shirts and cheap jeans were the way to go. I trekked across campus in my Old Navy flip flops regularly.

I had a hard transition into the workplace. I would give serious side eye to pants that were over $30, and shirts? Why are they more than $10?!? I remember getting my first paycheck, which was leaps and bounds more than my college paycheck. I sucked it up and bought 3 pairs of work pants, and 5 shirts. It was a little over $300, and I almost choked. $300 for 8 pieces of clothes? What is going on?

I’m not what you would consider poor, but I am crazy crazy cheap when it comes to things like clothes and accessories. I can tell you I still own and wear blouses that I had for college banquets. In fact, I still own stuff from when I used to work at Lane Bryant, about 5 years ago. This is me and the LSU chancellor in my fantastic leadership days…gah I hate being at the bottom of the totem pole now!

See that shirt? I’m wearing that very shirt right now. It’s missing the top button now, and  I’m  just too lazy to care, so I wear a camisole underneath it. I can’t believe I’m admitting the extreme of my cheapness right now. That shirt was like, $30, but I needed a collared blouse for banquets and had no time to wait for sales.

I cringe at the thought of designer stuff. The thought of $80+ jeans, $300 purses, and $400 heels really frustrates me. I can’t get into it. Mainly, who the heck is staring at my shirt tags to see what I wear? I can get the good stuff at JCPenney’s for a FRACTION of the cost of something from say, the Ralph Lauren line at Dillard’s.

I can understand the women who think that it gives them a confidence boost, but honestly, I’m the klutz who spills salsa on my shirt at lunch. My Tide-To-Go stick gets more usage than my office pencil most days, so why spend excessive amounts of money on clothes that COULD get ruined and no one else knows about but me?

This weekend, I cringed when I handed over my debit card to pay for two pairs of jeans and a bra at Lane Bryant for $60. I needed jeans…my old ones wore down into making holes in the legs, but gah, I was really hurting at the thought of trying to keep up with my Drab to Fab promise this year. I’m sure this new wardrobe thing will be harder than I thought.

I’m sure I have some readers who greatly disagree with me, and that’s fine. I’d really like to hear your thoughts on why the label matters to you, though.

Also, any tips on how to get me to stop cringing at the thought of spending money on new clothes? 🙂 It’s pretty bad..

Last Saturday was supposed to be the Yelp event for the hubs and I to attend. That Wednesday, I joined the Facebook group for Yelp! BR and that’s when we first saw Amelia. Amelia was listed as a terrier/Australian Shepherd mix, and I was like huh? I didn’t see either breeds in her, but I trusted the Yelp folks. Hubs was smitten.

Friday, I found this video on the Yelp Facebook group. It was a video of a news segment publicizing adoption day for Yelp. Guess who was on there? Amelia! I immediately called the hubs and told him that I bet Amelia is already adopted. She’s FAMOUS! The hubs had already been in contact with the Yelp folks about Amelia, so he called the woman he talked to and they said 5 families wanted her! Somehow, hubs convinced the Yelp folks to allow us to pick her up that Friday and adopt her!! After talking to the Yelp folks, we found out that the Facebook person made a mistake. She is a border collie/cocker spaniel mix. Now, I can DEFINITELY see those in her!

So, we went on a whim without meeting her and told them we wanted her! We went to pick her up, and when the foster parents brought the litter in a box, Amelia’s head popped up! So cute!! She was obviously tired, though, because she let me hold her for a good while while we finalized the adoption. When we took her home, we decided to call her “Millie”, because it was close to Amelia to where it would not confuse her, and it just seemed like a better fit to me.

It’s been a week already since we’ve had her and boy, have there been some changes!!

• On Day 1, we got her toys galore. She couldn’t keep them in her mouth, because her jaw seemed pretty weak. Well, Millie can pull and tug against me now and squeak the heck out of her toys. It only took 5 minutes to wear her out during playtime. Now, it takes almost 45 minutes!
• On Day 1, she nibbled on mommy’s toes. On Day 5, she bit mommy so hard that she broke skin. Bad Millie! (Yes, I’m trying to get her out of this habit by yelping and offering her a chew toy.)
• On Day 1, we couldn’t take her outside. Something to do with her booster shots, and now she sniffs, plays and resists on her leash. She pottied for the first time outside yesterday! C’mon Millie…momma hates puppy pads!
• On Day 1, she was very stressed and whiney. She now wags her tail like crazy and BARKS!
• On Day 1, she hated her kennel. She now walks in it when we have to go to work or when it’s bedtime!
• On Day 1, she woke mommy up every 2 hours at night to use the restroom. She does it every 4 hours now.

Girlfriend is kicking butt and taking names, for sure! Watching this puppy grow has been very rewarding and fun. I can’t wait to see what Week 2 brings. We love you, Millie!

Millie saying hi to everyone! I was making kissy noises…she thought I was weird.

Why yes, Mommy. I do love Animal Planet.

The victim of her first Nylabone. Knocked out. 🙂

Last year, we went to the local animal shelter, and we were discouraged to find that most of the dogs we found on Petfinder were quickly adopted. It’s absolutely wonderful to know that these dogs quickly find homes, since our parish’s shelter is a kill shelter. However, we do want to go somewhere where we can rescue a dog, but also get to look at a good few to find the perfect fit for us. 🙂

Here is Yelp! Yelp is an organization that helps the parish shelter find homes for dogs, and is trying to make the shelter a “no kill” one. They’ve done a great job so far, helping quite a few dogs find homes for these Saturday adoption days, which is awesome! So, we’re hoping this Saturday is lucky for us to where we’ll have a nice addition to our family!

Image source

The only thing that will be hard for me, is that I’m totally in love with labs. Here’s my parent’s dog, Dixie. Isn’t she just a doll?

Hilariously, before Dixie (10 years ago), I was petrified of dogs. Dixie helped me to become comfortable around any dog, and now, I just can’t imagine my life without a dog. So, of course, I have a soft spot for labs.

We can’t get a lab, though. Our house and backyard are too small, and that would be just wrong to a large breed. I learned that lesson after Hurricane Gustav, when my family evacuated here. Dixie just wasn’t herself, and I’m sure it was because her yard went from 1/2 acre to barely any yard.

So, wish us luck on finding our first puppy together! 🙂

..because I’ve been winning a lot lately! First, I won the roses. Then, thanks to all of you, I won the Marx Foods photography contest. Now, I found out I won an etsy package from Team CAC! WOW! I’m blown away by this package…

Check this stuff out

So, I went to the convenience store today and bought lottery tickets. Heck, why not? 🙂 I’m sure my lucky streak will run out soon, but why not take advantage of it?

I’m staying home. I used to be the one drooling over deals on Thanksgiving morning, mapping out my plan of attack, only to realize that I was greedily buying all of these things for myself. It’s totally better to give than to receive, and surprisingly, this holiday season, I’m almost done with my holiday shopping! So, instead of store hopping, I’ll be happily crafting and relaxing.

I still have this to work on, which is now halfway done. Whew!

And now, I’m breaking in my sewing machine (that I got last Christmas) to make a tote bag! Very exciting stuff, folks.

Maybe one day I’ll get back into writing my Weddingbee recaps….sigh. I’m sorry for keeping you Weddingbee readers waiting, but it’s hard to finish these bad boys. 🙁

If you would have seen me two years ago, you wouldn’t recognize me. I thought taking chicken from the freezer to the skillet was ok, and putting it on high heat? All the better. Hamburger Helper and Manwich were luxuries. Pillsbury rolled cookie dough was dessert.

Yes people, I was NOT a foodie. When I got engaged to the hubs in March of 2008, I began to think about how I won’t have Mom’s baked shells every week or the luxury of having someone figure out food for the family. It was going to be just me and the hubs.

So, I ventured onto a forum called What’s Cooking and lurked around.  These ladies were about my age, and cooking AMAZING meals for their families. I had to learn. I started watching Food Network, and completely got mesmerized by Alton Brown.

Alton Brown is just awesome. I’m a huge science geek, and his show just reaches out to me, because he explains WHY? It’s so great and refreshing that Food Network has someone like him on the show. I have learned so much from him, cooking and baking wise.

Fast forward a couple of months, I started my food blog. I was proud of my cooking and baking, but I know it wasn’t exactly to par. I thought this picture looked great at the time. ::rolls eyes:: It looks like goop on top of a pathetic cupcake.

Then, something hit me. I suddenly wanted to take Wilton classes. Before that, my cakes were, well, Cake Wreck worthy, you could say.

Yeah baby. That’s high quality decorating with funfetti cake mix, canned frosting with liquid food coloring and an aerosol can of piping frosting. That’s how we do it at LSU.

Ok, maybe not. Is this better?

After taking all four classes, this was my final cake of the courses. 🙂 I think there’s a slight improvement over the Cake Wreck above. Don’t mind the cracking fondant…I didn’t give it enough kneading love. 🙁

Nowadays, I find myself finding more challenging recipes to try. One of my new goals on the baking list is french macarons. I really love how pretty they are, although I’ve never tasted them. I’m sure someone would like them though if I didn’t!

I’m also improving little by little on my photography, which I’m so happy about. I use a Canon SD1100 IS. It’s a point and shoot, but it works for me!

This picture actually got on FoodGawker! I was so happy when my blog got nearly 500 hits in 1 day!

I hope that my blog’s success keeps going up from here. I get a little giddy when I see how many people subscribe to see what’s going on in my kitchen, and even more happy when I get a comment! I love being a foodie!