Deck The Halls Post #3: College Roomie

Today we continue on in trying to catch the Christmas spirit around here with some beautiful, New Mexican Christmas décor and a newlywed's first Christmas as an official old married couple.  Take it away, College Roomie!!

 

 

Deck the halls.  Or should I say deck the walls? 

 

 

Traditional Southwest Christmas décor includes luminarias (also called farolitos by people in some regions of the Southwest), which are candles nestled in sand within a paper bag. The candles, when lit, illuminate the bag, offering a soft, cozy glow. According to Wikipedia (the most convenient source in the world), the idea originated with Spaniard merchants, who loved the concept of Chinese paper lanterns, but wanted to use more "hearty" materials. The luminarias are typically arranged in rows to create displays on and around walkways, walls, and the like. Spiritually, the idea was that the light will illuminate a path for the Christ child.

 

In my neck of the woods, luminarias are as common as any other type of outdoor Christmas light display.  There are elaborate displays each Christmas eve with the real deal candle-sand-paper bag variety, and many other people set up electric luminarias so they can enjoy the décor in the days leading up to Christmas eve.

 

We're in the former group.  Last year we set up luminarias on the sidewalk in front of our house, down our walkway, and around the front porch.  This year we're in a larger, Southwestern style home, and we're not exactly sure how many luminarias we'll need.  Hopefully 10 dozen will suffice....

 

 

Inside, we have a lovely tree - I love symmetry and I don't love sweeping up pine needles or disposing of tree corpses, so fake it is.  My mom gave me a collection of gold ornaments when I was in high school; the carousel is my favorite.  We also have snowmen coasters, complete with a real straw broom, with which, it goes without saying, the cats are obsessed. 

 

 

The normal assortment of snow globes, tins, and stuffed and painted snow beings round out the decor.

The stockings are hung by the chimney with ca-- I mean, on the stairs.  With care.  Note the two adorable little cat stockings.  Perfect for stuffing with treats. 

 

Do you have a favorite ornament?  Outdoor decorations - yes or no? 

Believe Better Things

Playing Catch Up...Homecoming at OSU

"Different faces, same tradition."  ~OSU Homecoming House Dec

I realized that I have failed to blog about some super fun events that have happened this fall, so this week, I'm playing some catch up over the next few weeks.  We'll kick things off with homecoming at OSU. 

We had big plans for a five-some of Blonde Oklahoma Girl, her boyfriend Real Cowboy, Loud Oklahoma Girl, the Boy from Texas, and me to spend the weekend in Stillwater.  Plus, BOKG and I were super excited to finally have boyfriends to hold our hands at Walkaround (it's a dream that all OSU girls have, just go with it, it's hard to explain.)  Well, as it turned out, The Boy from Texas didn't get to come---long story involving his job, a truck breaking down, and a two truck not arriving for like 6 hours---so I guess I'll have to keep him around until next year to get my Walkaround date.  Luckily, Real Cowboy filled in and took pictures with us both!

 

Walkaround was freezing, but we really enjoyed the house decs, which I am going to say were maybe the best I've seen!  We hit up the Penny but realized that we may have outgrown the loud, smokey, crowded bar scene.  Plus we saw a total of 2 people we knew, making us pretty sure we have aged out of the fun.  All of our friends were putting babies to bed.  The next day we headed to Buffalo Wild Wings to watch the game and eat a lot of completely unhealthy, but tasty food.

We finished up the weekend staying at BOKG's house and watching LOKG's brother calf rope at the Turquoise Circuit Finals.  I do love me a good rodeo, and even though he didn't catch, we were proud of him!

Headed into the box

LOKG's adorable mama

 And after the rodeo we hung out at BOKG's house and played Apples to Apples, had a huge, unhealthy breakfast the next morning, and all headed back to the real world.  I love coming home to Stillwater!

 

Deck The Halls Post #2: Blonde Oklahoma Girl

Today we're going to check out the halls that were decked out by Blonde Oklahoma Girl.  She's one of those people who is super crafty and creative all whilst having perfect, poofy, blonde hair.  Makes me kinda sick, but I love her anyway.  Here we go, take it away Blonde Oklahoma Girl!

I wanted to go all out this Christmas in the decoration department because even though last Christmas Connor and I (or you can call him in your blog "Real Cowboy" were together, we had only been dating for not even a month. This Christmas I wanted to start traditions for us, so I started by ordering these burlap Christmas stockings from Etsy. I love them, definitely gives it at rustic Christmas I was going for. {Now....all of you who used to read her blog, please tell her how much you think she needs to start back blogging so that you can hear all about this year long romance with Real Cowboy and get caught up on her life!}

Let me explain rustic. When I was telling the Real Cowboy about decorating and asked him what he wanted, he said I want a cowboy tree. Of course...a cowboy wanting a cowboy tree...go figure :) So with that I incorporated burlap in my decorating. I made this burlap garland by buying plain burlap ribbon at Hobby Lobby and then stenciling with red paint Merry Christmas. I think it turned out pretty well if I do say so myself.

 

 

So my "cowboy" decorations were spurs, boots and hats all throughout the tree.

Rooster Cogburn is an ornament that looks like our favorite little adopted rooster that we have. He is named Rooster Cogburn after John Wayne in True Grit and he has one eye. He's a funny rooster and comes to he front porch everyday for us to feed him his dog food. :)  {This doesn't do him justice....she's obsessed with this rooster.  She posts on Instagram every day, there are multiple videos on her phone of him doing funny things, and she makes Real Cowboy go out and check on him when it's cold.}

The fireplace is just a mixture of garland, lights, some pine cones from the Dollar Store and jars from goodwill for 50 cents. I printed these printables and put them in some frames and called it a day. I thought it added a little something different.

I made this "baby it's cold outside sign" by spray painting cardboard with chalkboard paint.

The entry way to the kitchen is burlap, garland like the fireplace and I made a chevron burlap bow for the middle.

The bar area I used more pine cones and jars and two more printable signs and frames.

 

I think it turned out quite well and it's a big improvement from "Real Cowboy's" palm tree Christmas tree he had last year...although I'm sure he wouldn't mind bringing that out...if only he could find it, hahaha...wink wink.

Advent Lesson: Is There Room at Your Inn?

Looking back over past blogs, I realize that each year I have posted something about Advent.  For those of you who may not observe, Advent is the period of time before Christmas in which Christians examine their lives, their hearts, their faith, in preparation to celebrate the birth of Christ--Christmas.

Each year it seems as though something that I hear or see or read during Advent speaks to me.  Last year, it was the idea of Mary being open to God's will.  This year, I have been reading a book (Flannery O'Connor's Prayer Journal) and an online Advent reading called Good News of Great Joy.  But, as I think He often does, God spoke to me in an unexpected manner.  Pinterest.  Yep.  You read that correctly.  I may have other insights to share with you from the readings or from church homilies over the next 18 days, but for now, I shall share what I found on Pinterest.

When I read these words and asked myself whether there was sufficient room at my Inn, I felt a bit like I had been punched in the stomach.  I'm full of excuses.  My life is crazy, I travel a lot, I have to spend a lot of time on the phone (thank you long distance relationship), I have to go to kickboxing, I have meetings, some nights a girl just needs some down time, I have laundry to do, I need to wash my dishes, it's college football season, I need to update my planner, it's late and if I don't go to sleep in the next 6 minutes I'll only get 5 hours of sleep......I'm here to tell you, I could go on forever.

But you know, none of that matters.  Not a single, little, tiny bit of that crap matters if there's no room in my inn for Jesus.  I've got some serious changes to make, some major re-prioritization to do, and some major prayers to say to prepare for this Christmas.

Deck The Halls Post #1: Miss Canada

Because I do love me some Christmas décor (especially Christmas lights), I thought it might be fun to do a little blog series sharing some of the decorations that my friends are putting up across the country (and the world since today's post comes from Canada!)  So for the next couple of weeks, I'll be sharing snapshots with you!

Today's photos come from Miss Canada.  You all met here on this blog post, and probably remember her and I traipsing across Eastern Europe with Cousin Swiss Mister this past Spring. 

At the Vienna Opera House

Well she's got her halls in Canada all decked out and shared some photos with us today!  To read more about the meaning of the photos, check out her blog on the decorations here.

Thoughts from an Outsider.....Being Domestic (and 7 recipes!)

Y'all.  I've been getting my domestic on.  I mean, seriously, I've been cooking up a storm.  (No oven fires, for those of you smart alecs who were wondering).  I think that it's a trifold combination of things causing this:  The Holidays, The Boy from Texas, and needing any distraction from studying for the bar exam!  It's been a while since I've done a Thoughts from an Outsider post, so I figured that this would be a good time to get back on that theme.  I'll share a few thoughts first, and then report on all the recipes I've cooked lately.

Thought #1:  Any recipe that calls for more than 10 ingredients or requires me to use something that I've either never heard of or can't pronounce is not happening in my kitchen.  Sorry Charlie.

Thought #2:  I hate washing dishes.  I really do.  Which means that any recipe in which I can get away with using less than 3 pans is one that I like.  The recipes in which I can get away with just one pan is even better!

Thought #3:  Bachelors are really appreciative of a home cooked meal.  The boy from Texas made me feel like my simple little recipes were something that Emeril came up with and slaved over all day himself!

Recipe #1:  Pumpkin Crunch Cake

 

Well, it was time for me to spend my first holiday with The Boy from Texas' family.  I'm a nice country girl and knew that meant that I had prepare something to bring.  Enter Super Mom's suggestion of Pumpkin Crunch Cake.  Not only was it super easy, it's also super good.  The Boy from Texas' sister said it was like pumpkin pie on the bottom and pecan pie on the top.  His grandpa ate 2 helpings.  When we got ready to leave, his sister ran over to the kitchen to get more before we took it away.  I was quite pleased.  (And for the record, we left the remainder of the cake with her...I don't need that thing sitting around!)  To see the recipe, click here.

 

Recipe #2:  Beef, Bean, and Green Chile Burritos

Next, I made a big batch of burritos.  These are super easy, really good, and you can just keep them in the freezer and pop them out anytime you want to eat one.  Oh, and you only dirty ONE PAN!  The Boy from Texas claims they are so good he could eat the whole freezer bag full (goodness I love that guy!) 

Here's our first recipe:

1 pound of ground beef
2 potatoes
Green chile (I prefer fresh roasted, but if you don't live in New Mexico, you can probably still buy frozen Bueno brand in a little tub in your freezer aisle)
1 can of Bush's pinto beans
1 bag of shredded cheese (any kind will do)
10 tortillas
Foil

Brown ground beef in a skillet.  Drain off the excess fat and leave the ground beef in the skillet.  At the same time you are cooking the beef, cut up two potatoes (I leave them unpeeled) and boil them in a small pot of water until they are soft.  Drain the potatoes and add them to the ground beef.  Mash up the potatoes a bit.  Add in green chile (I'm from New Mexico, so I figure the more the better, but you can add as much as you like).  Drain the can of Bush's pinto beans so that you remove the excess liquid in the can.  Pour the beans into the skillet.  Mix all of these ingredients.  Now warm up the tortillas in the microwave (you don't want to leave them for too long...maybe 20 seconds or so) just to soften them up.  Tear off 10 burrito-sized strips of foil.  Place tortilla on foil.  Add cheese (as much as you like).  Add mixture from skillet (as much as you want to fit in your burrito).  Roll it up, wrap it in the foil, and you're done! 

Recipe #3:  Green Chile Roll Ups

 

These are not a meal, just an appetizer, but we have them every year at our Family Thanksgiving and they are always a hit.  Plus, no shocker here, they're really easy!

 

1 block of cream cheese (I use reduced fat)

1/4C green chile

12 slices of thin sliced deli ham (give or take here)

6 or so flour tortillas

 

Soften the cream cheese either in the microwave or by letting it sit out for a while.  Add in green chile and mix well.  Place mixture in refrigerator to let harden.  I left it about 30 minutes.  Spread mixture on tortilla and lay two slices of ham on top of the mixture for each tortilla.  Roll the tortilla up like you would a newspaper.  Slice the tortillas into small pieces--about 1 inch thick.  All done!  (Since I feel like that explanation was kinda iffy, click here to see a photo of what you're looking for.)

Recipe #4:  Pot Roast (with New Roomie's secret ingredient!)

 

I do love me a good pot roast.  A couple of weeks ago, New Roomie made one that may have been the best roast I ever tasted in my life.  So I cornered her and made her tell me the secret.  And, so, in turn, I made one for The Boy from Texas (and may have acted like it was totally my special recipe that made it so good....)  It's seriously the easiest thing...throw a bunch of stuff in a crock pot in the morning, come home in the evening to a house smelling amazing and dinner ready to eat!

 

1 roast (you probably want rump or chuck roast)

1 packet powered pot roast seasoning

2C water

2C celery

2C carrots

2 potatoes

2 green chile (optional if you're not a New Mexican)

1 can cream of mushroom soup (the secret ingredient!)

 

Put roast in crock pot.  Mix the powdered pot roast seasoning as directed on the package and pour it over roast.  Add water.  (You have to kinda eyeball this to be sure there is enough in your crock pot so that the roast doesn't go dry...)  Add in chunked up celery, carrots and potatoes.  Chop green chile and add that to the crock pot.  Add in can of soup and mix with water.  (This secret ingredient will make the gravy super creamy and delicious.  Thank New Roomie.)  Cook on low for 8 hours.

 

Recipe #5:  Shepherd's Pie

 

This is yet another recipe ala New Roomie.  (This girl is getting her masters in engineering and can cook like this.  She's still single.  Boys....get it in gear!)  I had never had Shepherd's Pie before, but being a lover of all things Irish, I was excited to try it.  Y'all.  It was seriously SO dang good!  It's all good things piled on top of each other in one pan.  It reminded me of Joey and the trifle on Friends. 



 



Anyway, on to the recipe!

1 pound of ground beef
1 packet of powdered brown gravy mix
1 can of green beans
4 or 5 potatoes
1/2C shredded cheddar cheese (you can use more of this if you like...however much you fancy!)

Brown ground beef in skillet.  Drain off the excess fat.  Prepare packet of gravy mix as directed and add to the skillet.  While this is cooking, boil potatoes in water, drain when soft, and mash them up.  In baking dish (I actually don't know the best size for this...you want something pretty deep, so maybe the square one?), place ground beef/gravy mixture in the bottom of the pan.  Place can of green beans (drained) on top of ground beef layer.  Add mashed potato layer on top of the green beans.  Top with shredded cheese.  Bake in oven until cheese is melted and layers are warm (maybe about 20 minutes or so).  Done!

Recipe #6:  New Mexico Style Cornbread Muffins

I actually don't know the real name for these.  There was a restaurant in the same building as my old law firm and they used to make these on Wednesday mornings.  Seriously, to.die.for.  So delicious.  And, as you've come to expect from me, really easy!

1/2 roll of Jimmy Dean sausage (I use reduced fat, but any kind will work)
1 box Jiffy cornbread mix
1 egg
1/3C milk
1C shredded cheddar cheese
1/3C diced green chile (same as above, I use fresh, but frozen will be just fine and you can add more or less to your tastes)

Brown sausage and drain off excess grease.  Prepare cornbread mix as directed on box.  Add in the sausage, cheese, and green chile.  Mix well.  Put the mixture in muffin pans (I like the Texas sized pans so they're big but any size will do).  Bake as directed on cornbread box (15-20 minutes).  Easy, yet yummy breakfast!

Recipe #7:  ND Friend's Chocolate Chip Cookies

 

I have saved the best for last.  ND Friend is the sweetest person on the face of the earth.  She's always showing up with a little bag of the most amazing chocolate chip cookies for someone!  They are seriously SO freaking delicious, there are just not even words.  I begged her for the recipe and today I'm sharing it with you!

 

3/4 cup white sugar

1 cup brown sugar

2 sticks butter

2 eggs

1 Tbs. vanilla (I always use extra)

3C flour

3/4 teaspoon salt

3/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 bag white chocolate chips

1/2 bag semi sweet chocolate chips

Mix white sugar, brown sugar and butter together.  Add two lightly beaten eggs and the vanilla. 

 

In separate bowl, mix flour, salt and baking soda.

 

Combine two mixtures together.  Add white and semi-sweet chocolate chips.

 

Bake at 350 for about 14 minutes!

What I'm Loving Wednesday

I'm loving lots of things this first Wednesday in December!!


(1)  All of you who linked up with our Virtual Turkey Trot.  Here are a couple of additional reports I got in yesterday.

Texas

 

My Fellow OSU in Aggieland friend ran her 5K while she was in Canyon for the holidays.  Turns out, she ran it up and down the hills in Palo Duro Canyon, which was beautiful, but probably a major work out.  Way to go!

OSU in Aggieland and her dog Addie

 

Illinois

 

Hometown Friend was our Illinois representative and ran her 5K on Friday at the University of Illinois in Champaign.  Just looking at this picture makes me want to go put on gloves and a scarf.

 

 

Arizona

 

Mrs. Arizona did her run at the Turkey Trot held at the Phoenician in Phoenix.  A bit warmer than poor Hometown friend in Illinois.  And no, they did not run in black tie attire.  She forgot to take a picture but had this one from the weekend before.  She classes things up a bit!

Texas, Wyoming, Oklahoma, Iowa, Arkansas, Washington, Colorado, Illinois, New Mexico, Arizona, California, and Utah.  For those of you counting....that's 12 states!  WOO HOO!  The donations will be made to the Salvation Army and Toys for Tots this week.  Thank you so much for participating! 

(2)  The fact that this time next week I will be on a plane to Vegas to meet up with my parents and The Boy from Texas at the National Finals Rodeo.  My dad and I have wanted to go for years and we're making it happen!

(3)  This blog by my friend Little Miss.  She wrote about the best advice she ever received from someone that you all know well from this blog, Mrs. Hepburn.  It's worth reading and worth thinking about!

(4)  This article about the 5 most annoying ways to post you are engaged on Facebook cracked me up.  (If you read this, do not pay attention to the fact that I bragged on my boyfriend buying me flowers in #2 above, which is made fun of in #5 of the article...)  I laughed for like 10 minutes.  My favorite line was the one about it being the Jager talking.  Ha!  I was relieved, however, to know that my plan to get a billboard was not deemed annoying.  Phew.  A girl has to keep her options open.

Our Job...

Photo via Pinterest

Virtual Turkey Trot Link Up!

Okay kids.....it's time to link up and report on your Turkey Trot!  Remember, if we get participants from 10 states or more, we will be donating to the Salvation Army!  (Right now as of 7:00 am on Monday morning we're at 6....)  So head on over to Almost Gypsy Soul and link up!

Here is a report on Turkey Trot participants in Texas, Oklahoma, and Iowa!

Oklahoma

 

Loud Oklahoma Girl and ABJ's Mama participated in the Owasso Hog Jog, which is a 5k benefitting the local food bank.  They report that it was early and cold, but that they were able to finish the run in 35 minutes!  Good job, girls!!

 

Pre-Race Photo (love the OSU headband, LOKG!)

The Finish Line!!

Iowa

 

I am excited to report on a Virtual Turkey Trot participant in Iowa!  IOWA!  That's not close to me or Almost Gypsy Soul.....we've got pull in non-bordering states!  WOO HOO!  So this is KG, who I met over the summer at Chicken Plucker's wedding when she was the Maid of Honor (and got to wear the cutest dress ever!)  Anyhow....she did her Turkey Trot in the Iowa cold wearing an OSU orange hat, no less!  Go Pokes!! 

 

Before photo...excited face (loving the hat!!)

Some inappropriate Christmas décor...

Headed for home!

Finished!

 Texas

 

Well I had every intention of running on Thanksgiving with the Boy from Texas.  And the same story on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.  But ya know, I'm lazy and didn't get it done.  So I got up at the crack of dawn this morning and knocked out 3.1 miles in the cold, dark, Texas morning.  But it did reward me with a sun rise that looked like this.  Not bad!  I failed to get any pictures of myself (but trust me, you didn't want to see my crazy, sweaty hair and red cheeks anyway!)

 



 

Thank you to everyone who participated.....looking forward to seeing all the link ups!