Oh that...

3I'm on vacation...again...in California. Be jealous.

But I'm blogging this from home a few days before we leave and having it published today {how techie of me, I've never done that before and hope it actually works.}

But I can't let my THREE year anniversary of this blog go by without paying homage.

Here's my very first post.

When I started this blog it was ONLY for my parents. We had lived away our entire married lives and I felt like they were missing out on my kids' growing up. Then I shared it with a few of my friends. Then a few more. You know how it goes. I have a few regular commenters {love you guys so much} and a lot of non commenters but readers {love you guys too}. I love when I get an email from a non commenter about something on the blog. It makes me happy.

I also feel like I have been able to really maintain some relationships that I would not otherwise have if it weren't for the blog. Friends in CT, friends in WA, now friends in AZ, a few long lost HS and college friends, cousins who I haven't been in touch with for years. It is a blessing in a lot of ways.

My mom mentioned that I don't blog as much as I used to. It is true. I am busier. I don't do as many craft or home improvement (sob) projects but I am hoping to be better this fall. Fall always makes me want to be productive and crafty.

Since I didn't do a giveaway for my 500th post, I'll do one here. Sorry, nothing crafty or original. I'll pick 3 people to send a small gift card to 3 of my favorite places. So comment away. I'll pick next Monday!

Happy Birthday Blog! I don't see you going anywhere anytime soon!

Slump

Uh oh. I think I'm getting in a blogging slump again. Maybe I just feel overwhelmed at all the catchup I need to do on all my friends' blogs. {Sorry, I know I owe about a zillion comments}

Oh and the insane urge I have to clean, organize, decorate, freshen up, EVERYTHING in my house. {More on that later}

So anyway, nothing like a good old GIVEAWAY to try to dig me out of the slump.

Here's what I'm giving away:

1. A custom look for your blog. I'll make you a new background and header for your bloggity blog. There are two catches. {1} I only know how to do Blogger updates AND {2} I have to have the password to your account. Before you write me off because of the password thing (because seriously, who would be dumb enough to share their password?!?), I just figured out that you can temporarily change your password for the blog makeover. Literally takes about 30 seconds. So if you win, you can change it for me and then change it back. Capiche?!

2. Some kind of cute Valentine craft/package/something or other. Valentines day is my 2nd favorite holiday (after Christmas) so I've already got some grand plans up my sleeve!

Ok, you have until Friday at midnight to comment! Back to my crazy nesting party!

{Oh and a little disclaimer: if you win and DON'T want a blog makeover, I PROMISE I won't be offended. I'll still send you the Valentines fun!}

THIS JUST IN: My mom is MAKING a cute Valentines craft to be included in the giveaway. Whoever wins is in for such a treat - my mom makes amazing, beautiful things. Just in case you need more motivation to enter :)

401

A BIG congrats to Jan who got 8 of the 12 answers correct! The correct answers have been bolded. Thanks to all for playing! (Amy, Rebecca and Hilary all had 7 correct answers. My mom and sister each got 3 correct, which totally makes me laugh!)

Since I missed my 2nd blogiversary back in July, I decided I would save my contest for my 400th post. Except that I just realized that was used for my Martha Stewart lantern post. Oops. So hooray for the 401st post!

So here's the deal. Here's a little test to see how well you know us. Most of these answers will NOT be found on the blog and are fairly obscure (aren't we nice to level the playing field?) Here's the rules:

1. Answer all 12 questions in the comments section (the number and letter will suffice)

2. In your comment, also leave the name of your favorite CHAIN restaurant

3. Have your answers submitted by midnight on Wednesday

In honor of our love for eating out, the person with the most correct answers will win a $25 gift card to the restaurant of their choice (the one you left in the comments section). If there are several people with the same number of correct answers, they'll all go into a drawing for the card.

1. What is my favorite smell in the world?
a. Clean laundry
b. Gardenia's
c. baking bread
d. Russian Olive Trees

2. I love to read historical fiction, what is my favorite time period to read about?
a. LDS church history
b. English Tudor History
c. Revolutionary war history
d. African tribal history

3. Where's the next place we're planning to travel to?
a. Caribbean Cruise (Tentatively planned for our anniversary next year. However, all these places are in our travel plans for the next 2 years)
b. Disneyland
c. Italy
d. Mexico

4. What chore do I hate the most?
a. Making dinner
b. Folding laundry (followed closely by balancing the checkbook!)
c. Scrubbing toilets
d. Balancing the checkbook

5. What's Allen's favorite outdoor activity?
a. Surfing
b. Hiking
c. Snow Skiing
d. Biking

6. What was our biggest fight during our first year of marriage about?
a. A football game
b. The cleanliness of our car
c. A rotten cucumber (For real, Allen was mad that I'd let some produce go bad - specifically a cucumber. We laugh now that our biggest fight was over about 30 cents of bad produce)
d. Which family to see at Christmas

7. What is our favorite chain restaurant?
a. Red Robin
b. PF Changs
c. Carrabas
d. Chile's

8. What were Al/Monique's first jobs?
a. BYU grounds crew/paper route
b. Electricians apprentice/auto body shop receptionist
c. Paper route/babysitting
d. Road paving crew/ working at the Gap

9. Where would we love to own a vacation home?
a. Maui
b. Pacific NW beach house
c. Aspen, CO
d. Hilton Head, SC

10. If money were not a factor, what would Al love to do for work?
a. Professional musician
b. High School teacher
c. Professional chef
d. Non Profit fundraising

11. What are we planning to buy for our big Christmas gift this year (to each other)?
a. Entertainment center
b. Flat screen TV
c. Camping Equipment
d. Generator (More of that preparedness thing)

12. What are Al/Monique's dream cars?

a. Mercedes 380/Volvo SUV (this question is a little misleading because those who know us well know we really couldn't care less about the kind of cars we drive! We would much, much rather travel than have a nice car. BUT if we had all the money in the world, this is what we would drive)

b. Land Rover/Nissan Armada
c. Ford Mustang Shelby/BMW 7 series
d. None of the above - don't care about cars

{Play along even if you've never played before} Good luck and have fun! I'll post all the answers on Thursday morning along with the winner.

The winner...

Thank you so, so, so much for all the delicious recipes! I promise that I am going to make each and every one at some point (though I'm not doing too much baking while doing WW). I can't believe all the variety I got and except for one recipe did not have a single recipe anything like the ones submitted.

Also, SO fun to see some new faces commenting. Love that. Thanks for outing yourselves :0)

The winning recipe is the Delicate Pear Cake with Carmel Sauce submitted by my darling friend Margo! Congrats Margo!! (For sure my favorite part of today was having an excuse to call Margo to ask her a question about the recipe and chat for a few minutes!)

Just so you know, I actually made a list of all the recipes with a brief description and had Allen choose for me, just to remain completely unbiased!! And he actually chose the recipe I wanted to make! It was a tough choice though and he hard a very hard time choosing! So here are some pictures of the cake before I cut it and then the cake with the sauce:


I must say that the carmel sauce is TOTALLY what made this dessert sooooo delicious. It was a definite hit at the shower and I just snuck out with the remaining two pieces - one for Al and one for my kids to share.

Seriously, thanks for playing along. I will definitely do this again. Here's the recipe:

Delicate Pear Cake with Carmel Sauce – Margo Smith

CAKE
1 16oz can pear halves in extra light syrup
1 pkg. White cake mix
1/3 cup oil
3 egg whites
Heat oven to 350. Grease and flour a 10 inch spring form pan. Drain pear halves, reserving 1/3 cup liquid. Place pear halves in a blender or food processor blend until smooth. In a large bowl combine cake mix, pureed pears, 1/3 cup of reserved liquid, oil and egg whites. Mix at low speed until moistened. Pour into pan, bake at 350 for 40 to 45 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean. Let stand and cool completely.

FROSTING
1 cup whipping cream
2 Tablespoons sugar
1 Tablespoon vanilla
1 16 oz can pear halves in extra light syrup drained
½ cup finely chopped hazelnuts or walnuts (optional)
In a small bowl beat whipping cream and sugar until stiff peaks form. Fold in vanilla. Frost cooled cake. Cut pear in half lengthwise into about 32 slices. Arrange on top of the cake slightly overlapping. Press nuts into sides of the cake. Refrigerate until ready to serve.

SAUCE
1cup firmly packed brown sugar
1 cup whipping cream
½ cup butter

In a sauce pan bring all the a boil. Boil over medium heat for about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat, cool slightly. Drizzle over each piece of cake.

NOTE
You will need to get 2 16 oz cans of pears
2 pints of whipping cream to equal 2 cups

If you would like a copy of all the recipes, leave a comment (with your email addy) or email me at qballf@gmail.com and I will send them off to you!!