A clean bill of health....

is what our house got yesterday!!!! Woo-hoo!! What this means is that our foundation on the house is fine and we can start the kitchen remodel!!!!! For those of you that don't know our house was built in the early 1950's and we have been remodeling it a little at a time. We were getting everything in order to start the long awaited kitchen renovation when we started to notice new cracks in the wall.  Matt was concerned that it maybe a foundation issue and so we decided to have it checked out. It turns out it's nothing major and we can make some simple changes and it should correct itself!! YAY! This means, new kitchen here we come!!! The cabinets are picked out and they are going to come measure sometime next week. Hopefully.  We bought a new sink a couple of weeks ago. Here's a pic...I never thought I'd be this excited about a sink! lol! It came with a cutting board and strainer that fits and the middle part is where the disposal will be. Pretty nifty if you ask me! ;)

Matt and I went last weekend to pick out facets, lighting and found some things we liked but we haven't decided on anything yet....maybe this weekend.....

Also, last week our buffet table we ordered arrived!!!

 We found the lamp at Crate and Barrel. FYI: everyone in the Dallas area the Crate and Barrel by the Galleria is moving locations and pretty much everything in the store is 50% off or more! Now we need to get a mirror or picture to hang over it.

It's all starting to come along!! I'll keep you updated with all the renovations as they come!

I do have to be a doting Auntie before I go and leave you with some new pictures of our nephew Paxton. He is getting bigger everyday and he is now a pro at crawling, pulling up, and his newest trick is waving! Matt and I were on skype the other day with him and my sister and Pax started waving at us! lol I love that boy!

 

Weekend at Casa de Sitser!

This past weekend is the first weekend in a long time that we didn't have anything planned. We were so excited about being able to potter around the house and sleep in and have no plans. Matt did have to end up working Friday night though unfortunately. I took the opportunity to watch Eat, Pray, Love b/c I figured Matt wouldn't enjoy it. It was really good! It surprised me b/c I had started to read the book and became bored with it and never ended up finishing. However, that doesn't mean much since I couldn't even finish any of the Twilight books!! I know what your thinking but I have an attention span of a gnat! No joke....I'm horrible! Anyway, it was really good and I would recommend it to the ladies....not so much for the fellas...it's a chick flick. 

On Saturday, I got all the laundry and house cleaned while Matt cleaned out the garage and put up all the Christmas decor in the attic. Then we set out to do some shopping. We had ordered buffet/side table earlier in the week from Crate and Barrel that I'm VERY excited about!!! It matches our dining table and side tables we already have in that room.  Here's a picture of it. Can't wait for it to arrive!!!

So, we were out shopping for a nice lamp to go on top of it since it's going to be in the entry way and we thought that would look nice. We found some we liked but nothing we were too crazy about.  Please let me know if any of you know of any good places to get a cool lamp at a reasonable price! Oh, BTW Marshall's is da bomb.com!! We didn't find a lamp there but we got 2 huge really nice cutting boards for $9 each and I got a really cute girlie apron for $8. We could have gotten alot more but Matt was getting cranky hungry and so we left. ha! They have some great deals for kitchen supplies and house decor....I was impressed! After Marshall's we decided to go to the store to get everything to make fajitas. Note: In Dallas the best place to get fajita meat is at La Michoacana Meat Market.  So, we got all the goodies and headed home for the night and had some de-lish fajitas and curled up on the couch with a glass of Merlot and watched a movie. My favorite thing to do! :)

On Sunday morning I decided to try and make some muffins for breakfast that came out of a cookbook Matt's mom had given me for Christmas. The cookbook is recipes from The Hummingbird Bakery outside of London. I decided to try and make the Ham & Mushroom Muffins. The instructions were very easy but it is in grams and so my new scale I also got for Christmas came in handy b/c I could switch it to grams. They turned out DE-LISH! It always shocks me when things turn out the way they are suppose to b/c I am fairly new to baking and so I can never tell how it's going to turn out until I taste it. Here's the recipe if you want to give it a go!

Ham & Mushroom Muffins (they turn out to be more like a biscuit)

50 g butter
1/2 small onion, finely chopped
80 g button mushrooms, chopped
360 g AP flour
2 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
250g cheddar cheese, grated (I used 1 whole packet of grated cheese you get at the grocery store)
220 ml whole milk ( you can substitute for low fat milk...I did)
1 egg
80g smoked ham, finely chopped (I used plain ol' smoked ham lunch meat)
sea salt and black pepper

Note: if you don't have a scale you can google to see what grams converts to in cups. 

MAKES 12

Preheat the oven to 325 F

Melt butter in saucepan over medium heat, then add the onion and mushroom. Once cooked season with sea salt and black pepper and set aside.

Put the flour, baking powder and cheese in a large bowl. In a separate bowl, mix the milk and egg together, then slowly pour into the flour mixture and beat until all is mixed together.

Stir in the onion, mushrooms and chopped ham until evenly dispersed.

Put baking cups down in the muffin pan and spoon mixture into the baking cups about 2/3 full and bake in oven for 30-35 minutes or until golden brown.

VOILA!!!!

New Year's Trip to Crested Butte!

This New Years we rang in the New Year in style in Crested Butte CO along with 4 other of our couple friends. We arrived from our 15 hour car ride around 1pm on the 29th. That day we all tried to get as acclimated as we could to the elevation and scope the condo and the mountain The next day, New Years Eve, we set out for our first day of skiing and it was FREEZING!!!!! It was literally -14 outside and was the same if not colder for the next day. Needless to say the ladies only made a couple runs down the mountain the first couple days and after the runs we sought it necessary to take refuge from the cold and to go into the Lodge to enjoy some beverages to warm us up! ;)

Can barely see but this is the crew before we set out on our 15 hour journey! Minus Daniel and Lindsay who chose to fly in the next day.

We made it!!! View from our condo

Ash, Lindsay, and I 

Linds, Ev, Ash and me freezing on top of the mountain!

Matt and I

REFUGE and onto the hot tub!!!

 

That night we all got dolled up and headed downtown to Maxwell's Steakhouse for a nice New Years dinner. Our reservations were at 8:30pm but being New Years we didn't sit down at our table till around 9:30pm. Once at the table we ordered drinks and some de-lish appetizers. Matt and I chose the Crispy Duck Wings which were out of this world!! For our main, Matt got the Lamb and I surprised everyone ordering the Ladies Steak Fillet!! For those that know me....I'm not much on steak or red meat for that matter but it was melt in your mouth delicious!!  Everyone enjoyed their meal and the restaurant had all the time zones on TV and so we rang in the NY multiple times! We ended up leaving around 12:30am and headed back to the condo to get some rest for another day on the slopes.

We were waiting on the shuttle to pick us up to go to dinner and it was FREEZING and so we decided to wait in the bathroom to entertain ourselves and keep warm!

On the shuttle

At dinner

Lindsay and Chris

Dustin and Evan

Lindsay and Daniel

Crispy Duck Wings!!

On the way back to the condo

The rest of the days were spent on the slopes, lodge drinking warm beverages, hot tub, shopping downtown, hanging out at night at the condo playing games, late night sledding, and a night out to one of the pubs there on the mountain. One of the days was a VERY exciting day on the slopes for Dustin and Evan b/c they got engaged on top of the mountain!!!! We had known it was going to happen....just didn't know when exactly and when Matt told me "the plan" the morning of....I think I was  more nervous than Dustin! lol ;) Although, it might have been from the fact that we were going to the very top of the mountain to "take pictures" and I was so scared on the lift up! I asked Matt on the lift "if we were going to Heaven" b/c that's what it seemed liked! The things I do for friends!! hehe! ;) It was the sweetest thing and it couldn't have been at a more awesome setting! Congrats guys!!! So very happy for you two!! 

Matt and an icicle forming from his hair!

The view from where Dustin proposed!

another view of where we were

A group pic minus Matt (he was taking the pic) before the proposal

Linds and I at the Ice Bar on the slope celebrating the proposal with Dustin and Evan

They're ENGAGED!!

Taking a break from shopping to take a picture

 Everyone made it home safety without any major injuries and so I would say it was a successful ski trip!! I think next year, the ladies are thinking somewhere a bit warmer where we can get umbrellas in our drink! Cheers to the New Year everyone!! :)

“We will open the book. Its pages are blank. We are going to put words on them ourselves. The book is called Opportunity and its first chapter is New Year's Day.”- Edith Lovejoy Pierce