our entryway

We just bought this doormat at Target on Saturday and I really love it! I think that the damask pattern is adorable and I love the size. Our old one was really trashed and it's nice to have something nice and fresh cheering up our entryway.
Oh and that sad little box beside is where my herbs live in summertime. They are all dead and cut back for the winter right now but it is so nice in the summer to have fresh herbs!

Sticky Pecan cupcakes

Totally delicious version of those plain cupcakes i posted below. I don't have a picture (they were eaten too quickly both times) but they are YUMMY!
First you need extra large muffin tins for 12 cupcakes. line the bottom with a circle of parchment paper and spray the papers and the outside of the tins. ALSO make sure you have TWO cooling racks because the last step will be hard with one.

Baking 350* for about 25 minutes.
Prep time 20 minutes.

Ingredients:

1/2 c unsalted butter
5 tbsp honey
2/3 c packed light brown sugar
1 1/2 c pecans coarsely chopped (halves do not work nearly as well)

Preheat the oven to 350*

Make the topping. In a medium saucepan, combine the butter, honey, and brown sugar and cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until the butter and brown sugar melt and the mixture is smooth. Remove from heat.

Make a recipe of the easy mix yellow cupcake batter. Put 1 1/2 tbsp of the glaze in each muffin tin. Spoon 2 tbsp of pecans over the syrup in each muffin tin. Fill each with about a generous 1/3 c of batter, to just below the top of the pan.

Bake just until the tops feel firm and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 25 minutes. Cool cupcakes for 2 minutes in pan.

Place cooling rack on top of the cupcakes and carefully invert them to release the cupcakes onto the wire rack.. Remove paper circles and place any pecans that remain on paper or in tins onto cupcakes. Leave cupcakes pecan side up to cool. serve warm or at room temperature.
These cupcakes can be stored acovered at room temperature for up to two days but trust me they will not last that long. Pictures as soon as I make another batch.

Cupcakes and Christmas lights

So this is the basic recipe that i've been making all of the other cupcakes from. Including the german chocolate ones below. That recipe called for a half batch of this batter and then you add some homemade chocolate sauce into the batter. Yummy!!
I will post some of the different variations (sticky pecan, pineapple upside down etc.) but you need this basic recipe for most of the ones I have been making.

Easy-Mix Yellow Cupcake Batter

Batter for 24 regular cupcakes or 12 extra large cupcakes.
2 ½ cups white flour
1 tsp baking powder
½ tsp baking soda
½ tsp salt
3 large eggs
2 cups sugar
1 cup canola oil
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup sour cream

Sift the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt into a medium bowl and set aside.
In a large bowl (or your KitchenAid) using a mixer on medium speed, beat the eggs and sugar until thickened and lightened to a cream color, about 2 minutes. Stop the mixer and scrape the sides of the bowl as needed during mixing. On low speed, mix in the oil and vanilla until blended. Mix in the sour cream until no white streaks remain. Mix in the flour mixture until it is incorporated and the better is smooth.



Also can I just say how much I love when you unfocus on lights....it makes this really pretty image seen below. Goal for Christmas pictures is to have a picture with E and I in the foreground and lights like this in the background.

LA/Disneyland

Santa Monica Pier. So fun! We got into Anahiem and checked in to our hotel and then ran up to Santa Monica Pier before we saw Wicked that night. Super chilly (random LA cold snap) but really fun. I love the ocean and it was a really pretty day.


Wicked was great. Not such a great picture but such is life. The play was AMAZING! So much better then I could have imagined and just a great great way to spend our anniversary.

We got back to Anahiem that night and next day we hit up DISNEYLAND!!!


Disneyland was really great. Check the ears. Eldon was wearing them too I swear!
We had such a good time. It was really nice to be able to get away for our Fourth anniversary and spend some time together. It's been a few months since we've really had any time at all to just do something fun.


We saw "Enchanted" that day as well. Really adorable movie and I love Patrick Dempsey. Loved it!

We had a blast and i'll be back with another post soon!

wondertee

Ok super quick note because i've been running running as fast as I can
These shirts ROCK!
They are called wondertees and they run about $10, come in cute colours as well as your basic shades and really help with shirts where they are a little short (these come low on your hip) or are otherwise immodest. I pretty much only use these to layer because they are quite snug but I love the coverage they give me....no reaching for a high shelf and wondering who's seeing what!

And thanks for all the birthday wishes.....I turned 27 on the 27th of November here's to another great year!

grateful

We had a great time in LA and are now home dealing with all the catching up at work and at home. Our cats looked at us with the cutest looks as we laid down for bed last night...as if to say "surely you are not thinking of sleeping in OUR bed are you?". So in honour of 4 years and 5 days here are some things I'm grateful for.
~ my family
~ the husband part of my family
~ the furry part of my family
~ the friend part of my family
Seriously what else really matters? We all get so wrapped up in these first world worries for the most part and for the most part it is all so trivial.
Hope you are all having a great day...i'll be back soon with fun pics and recap from our trip!

pineapple upside down cupcakes

These are the cupcake of the week. Pineapple upside down cupcakes. So yummy! I was surprised that this recipe was so good. You put a little corn syrup in the glaze and it really helps it to be smooth and not grainy .Totally delish!


We had the good luck to babysit our little neighbors the Moody Girls this past week...their favorite thing to do at our house is play wii and they are such fun!
We spend quite a bit of time with them because I am really good friend with their mom and they live right across the street. We are lucky!

Kaity

I have been meaning to post these for ages. This is my little niece Kaity who is one of the joys of living so close to Eldon's family. We had her for an evening in September and it was so fun letting her run around on the grass and play with my sunglasses.

my water bottle

I know it seems like a little thing but living in the desert has really taught me to appreciate water! I have had this bottle for months now and I am so happy with it. It's a SIGG aluminum bottle that has a special coating on the inside that prevents any leaching of aluminum into whatever you store in the bottle and I think that's why water in this bottle always tastes SO fresh. I also bought this bottle because I am making an effort to stop buying bottled water. I fill it up before I leave home and that way I seldom have to buy a bottle and as a result throw away a bottle. I love the one I have and have been thinking about getting another.

I have the "night garden" design. and have had my eye on this other one for awhile now.
Isn't this design so pretty! It may just be my next purchase!

One week

In one week....
We will be seeing WICKED in L.A.
We will have been married 4 years.
We will go to disneyland for the first time.

Bellydancing

OK it's a little crazy to think that I have been taking belly dancing classes for almost a month now! It's super great exercise and really fun to boot! Highlight of this past Saturday's class was meeting fellow Canadian Linda...we had a total "shared Canadian heritage" moment and it was nice to meet a new friend. She thinks we should get together with the other Canadian ladies in town and form a group "The Butter Tarts". Hysterical! The picture above is a new hip scarf I ordered...my sister in law April bought me a really pretty pink one as an early birthday present and that's what I've been using, I'm excited to have an extra one to switch out with and to share with a friend if they come along to try it out.
I'll be back later with more about our long weekend!

November card class

I had tons of fun yesterday at the monthly card class I go to. We made three adorable cards and one ornament. I am really not the biggest gold fan (and the pictures of everything are not very good) but it was a really neat idea for an ornament. You take a ceramic ornament, $1 at michaels, and stamp an image with versamark. Sprinkle with embossing powder and use a heat gun to set!
later!

cupcake organization

I have a problem with collecting cupcake liners. They are so adorable and so inexpensive that I just can't help myself!
I recently even had to figure out a new storage solution because I was amassing such a collection...here are some pictures to demonstrate!




It really is a sickness but at the least they are all organized and pretty now...what more can I ask for!

shuffle

If I press shuffle on my ipod these are the first 10 songs that come up;
1. A case of You, Joni Mitchell
2. When the Heartache is Over, Tina Turner
3. There's a Girl, The Ditty Bops
4. Wake me up when September ends, Green Day
5. Knights in White Satin, The moody Blues
6. Leaving in a jet plane, John Denver
7. Running, No Doubt
8. Never Saw Blue Like That, Shawn Colvin
9. You Move Me, Garth Brooks
10. Milkshake, Kelis

Law

Today for the second time in the past week an attorney I work for is prosecuting a case in front of a jury. The last one was a homicide case that lasted three weeks and ended in an acquittal. Seriously.
Today we start again with another case.
I think the hardest part of working at the prosecutor’s office is the constant exposure to everything nasty that people do to each other. If I never have to see another beat up victim of domestic violence or look at another autopsy photograph I would be so cool with that!
On the flip side it’s totally rewarding at times to be working putting bad guys behind bars….when you have moments of feeling like you are really making a difference and helping out. I honestly don’t think I could work for the defense side of things though. Seeing what I see and knowing what I know…there is a whole lot of ugly in the world.
I went to a conference last week and some of the topics were Child prostitution, Gangs, and undercover work. Super interesting….the guy who spoke about undercover work had been undercover with the Hell’s Angels for a long time and his stories were really interesting. I also know more now about prostitution then I ever thought I would or needed to know….it’s scary the statistics that come along with stuff like that. But the only common thread with all of the girls that ended up on the streets was this. Low self esteem. Seriously….if we can give young girls nothing else lets give them the knowledge that they are powerful and wonderful and loved.
I know that this is kind of a downer post so I promise to be back with something happy soon and I will leave you with this quote.

Our Deepest Fear
by Marianne Williamson
“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”

Happy Birthday Daddy!!

I will be back later to post more but I just wanted to shout out and say happy 57th to my awesome dad!!
Love you!!

Cupcake Crazy

I am cupcake crazy! I don't know what it is about the tiny little yummy cakes that make me so happy but they do! I also have a serious problem with buying the little liners that you use to make them. They are SO stinkin' cute and I have a really hard time stopping myself when it comes to buying them which is made so much worse by the fact that they are usually less than $2 a package....seriously....how is a girl to resist! Supposedly there is a Sprinkles that has either just opened in Scottsdale or is opening soon and I do believe a pilgrimage is in order! Nicole is just the type of awesome friend to not only understand my obsession but also to encourage it on random late night Wilton online ordering. Now that's a friend! These are some adorable liners I bought at Sur La Table...again...so stinkin' cute!! Also, a cupcake book I could not resist at Williams Sonoma....that store is SO bad for my budget....so many great things including Sprinkles cupcake mixes I may add!

Quiz

Name: Amy Ferguson

Four jobs I have had in my life (other than current job):
Bakery Worker (tarts all day every day)
CCRA (processing tax returns for the Canadian government)
Nanny
Children’s Party Entertainer (painting faces, making balloon animals)

Four movies I would watch over and over:
The Notebook
Amelie
Little Mermaid
Pride & Prejudice

Four places I have lived:
Capreol, Ontario
Ottawa, Ontario
Sudbury, Ontario
Holbrook, Arizona

Four TV shows that I watch:
Jeopardy
LA Ink
GREY'S ANATOMY
Survivor

Four favorite places I have been:
CALIFORNIA
Rocky Point, MEXICO
Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Utah

People who email me (regularly):
Nicole
Angela
Kimmy

Four favorite foods :
Crab legs
Sushi
Pizza
A really good salad

Four places I would rather be right now:
Home
Movies
Canada
Sleeping

Four friends I think will respond:
Nicole
Kim
Angela

Things I am looking forward to this year:
Going to LA
Nicole coming home
Seeing Wicked
Going to Disneyland

A Quote (and other randomness)

" I must learn to love the fool in me - the one who feels too much, talks too much, takes too many chances, wins sometimes and loses often, lacks self-control, loves and hates, hurts and gets hurt, promises and breaks promises, laughs and cries. It alone protects me against that utterly self-controlled, masterful tyrant whom I also harbor and who would rob me of human alivemess, humility, and dignity but for my fool." - Theodore I. Rubin, MD





Love that quote and these are my babes. Ariel (the calico) and Abby (the Tabby). We adopted these little fuzzballs last year right around Thanksgiving now that you mention it and they are an ENDLESS source of amusement.I shall make a list of amusing facts.

Ariel:
*wants nothing to do with people food...you could lay down a steak and she won't touch it.
* adores water out of anything other then her water dish. A glass of water is not safe in the house.
*eats cat treats really slowly...Abby usually steals them before she can eat them because she's so slow.
*will sleep anywhere....including on her cat bed or right next to her empty cat bed on the dresser. Seriously.
*fetches earplugs, hair elastics, pens....almost anything.
*doesn't mind getting a bath as long as you don't ger her face wet.

Abby:
*would sell her soul for a cupcake...she wants human food...all of it....any time day or night...which is wierd because we DO NOT FEED THEM ANYTHING BUT CAT FOOD.
* is afraid of the broom.
Eats cat treats at the speed of light. She's addicted.
* Also will drink water out of anything but her bowl.
* has an un-natural fascination with cotton swabs, she will come into the bathroon and beg for one if she hears me open the glass jar where I keep them.
*farts when scared.
*hates when we try and bathe her.

It's funny because you think of cats as just being house pets and not being that intelligent or having that much personality BUT THEY DO!
My friend Jaquel thinks that we are highly intelligent people (not sure exactly where she got that from although I do have a freakish way of answering the questions on Jeopardy but i'm pretty sure I hide that pretty well) and is always telling people that we have the perfect pets for us....freakishly intelligent cats. Go fig!

Yummy Rolo pretzels!

Ok so i'm hoping I get the formatting figured out on this and am able to add all the pictures. Starting from the top. I made these YUMMY pretzel things this week to send to Eldon's school. You take a pretzel (I like the square ones) put a rollo on it and pop into a 350 degree oven for 4-5 minutes. When they are a little melty and look glossy take them out and press an M&M into them. Let them cool and enjoy. My little neighbor CeCe ate about 15 of them Friday night.



I also spent some "quality time" with my iron this week and whipped out some onesies for a friend who had a baby! So cute. Nicole helped with some of the ideas but because I couldn't open the formatting correctly I had to play around a little with the designs. So fun!




This is my neighbor CeCe. (Old picture from 2005) She's a blast. Her mom was going out of town shopping with her two sisters and she chose to stay at home and hang out with me because Eldon was away coaching. She's such a fun kid and we had a great time making Rolo Pretzels and playing Wii. I think she thought the best parts of the night were watching "Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants" and eating at Denny's. She got a rush out of ordering off the adult menu.


This is a picture of my new hair. I got it cut two weeks ago at Dolce and i'm not really sure if this is a good picture of it or not but I tried to snap one before work on Wednesday. Upon review I really don't think you can see hte style much at all. I will attempt to take better picture tomorrow after church.

Today was good. I chilled with Katie in Flagstaff while Eldon was at chess and got a bunch of errands run. After that I got to talk to Nicole for awhile and that always makes my day!

Random Differences between Canada and “The states”

• No Swiss Chalet in Arizona! I lurve this restaurant!!
• No caramilk, aero (the caramel aero especially), wunderbars, crunchie or crispy crunch in Arizona. (There are more these are just our faves)
• Total lack of good deli meat and cheese in Arizona …it’s all processed and kinda not so tasty.
• No good bread in Arizona! I’m not talking sandwich bread….i’m talking a great baguette which you can get and any independent grocer baked fresh and cheap!
• Ditto bagels!
• Thanksgiving is freakishly late in “the states”….the end of November is WAY too late…it runs right in with Christmas….and as a side note….if it’s always the third Thursday in November how come it’s the 4th this year? Think about that one for a minute!
• Due to above my birthday often falls on Thanksgiving or somewhere around there….as does our anniversary. Not ideal for planning a getaway because Eldon’s family is big on Thanksgiving.
• Arizona is much too far from Ontario….it takes ages to get there and that means no random weekends visiting friends in Ontario….you have to go and visit for two weeks and still feel like you didn’t get to see everyone you wanted to see.
• No one in Arizona has ever heard of cabbage rolls! (I’m making these for dinner and so it’s on my mind) This may be specific to the south western part of “the states” but still valid!
Ok I will think of more of these.
Commenting on my last post I think I have a plan to cook half as often. Whenever I make something for dinner that can be frozen make twice as much and throw half into the freezer. This way I spend less of my weekend cooking and still amass a nice little stockpile of stuff to cook when I don’t feel like cooking.

I’ve been super stressed lately. It seems like there is no way to get everything done that needs to get done in any given day. It's manifesting itself by freaky dreams about work (three this past week) and other random ways. At the same time I have been really trying to take time out for myself and not lose my mind.

(ok I am typing this at work and troll woman just walked up behind me REEKING of cigarette smoke. GAG!)

So this past weekend I had some fun things planned with friends, Eldon had a chess tournament out of town so I was on my own from Friday mid-day till Saturday afternoon late.
On Friday night I went to a scrapbook group that meets once a month and just chills and scrapbooks and I was out until about 3:30 am.

I woke up at about 9:30 when Eldon called and spent the rest of the morning talking to Nicole and cleaning (Hi Nicole!) her son Caleb was doing the cutest thing while we were on the phone. Nicole asked if he wanted to talk to me and put the phone up to his face and he starts repeating "ELDON" over and over. It was super cute....Eldon said that that must be his new word that he is in lurve with!

I have this obsessive thing about cleaning my house on the weekends. I have certain tasks that I just never seem to find time to do during the week and they all stack up to be done on the weekend. Which really sucks when Eldon is not around to help, I try and leave him some tasks to get done but I usually end up doing the majority.

Anyways so on Saturday after cleaning and talking to Nicole (pretty much the best time of my day) I went to this card class that I do monthly. It was really fun....we always make about 4 really cute cards and 2 of each and it's just a fun little class. I went back home and commenced cleaning and then had my first belly dancing class that night!

My sister in law and some of my friends have been going to belly dancing for a few months now and really loving it so she bought me a hip scarf as an early birthday present and I’m belly dancing now. I have to say that my muscles were really sore on Sunday so it must have been working.

Ok before this becomes a LEGENDARY EPIC post I will end with a question. Any great ideas for food that freezes well or other non freezable winter fave foods. I'm going to try to get into the habit of then Eldon is in school cooking about once a month and then having things in the freezer. Any suggestions? I did a little of this last year but I'm looking for more variety. Crock pot recipes also very much appreciated.

Ok. So it's been almost a year since i've blogged.
My friend Kimmy posted a challenge and tagged me to list 10 things I am happy about.
So here goes....

* I am happy to have Eldon in my life. He makes it better every day.
* I am happy to have so many wonderful nieces and nephews (especially Kaity) It's nice having kids around.
* I am happy that Abby and Ariel love the cat bed I made them so much. (pictures to come).
* I am happy that Nicole is my friend. She is such a good one and that has been in short supply for a few years!
* I am happy that i'm finally starting to feel like fall is here and be in the mood to make yummy treats like gingersnaps and cider.
* I am happy that Nicole should be coming home soon. I miss her!!
* I am happy that chess is almost over for the season....I have been one lonely housewife!
* I am happy I am almost done scrapbooking Eldon's mission....huge project and i'm almost done!
* I am happy that Eldon's family is getting on board for Canadian Thanksgiving....it makes being away from home a little easier.
* I am happy that Eldon and I will be going away for our FOUR YEAR anniversary and seeing WIcked/going to Disneyland....SUPER EXCITED!
* I am happy I have an ipod...otherwise known as amycrack.
* I am happy I finally got started with makig christmas gifts!!
* I am happy I am getting skinnier even though my clothes are all too big.
* I am happy that all I have to show from being sick on Sunday night are two semi-black eyes! I was mondo sick and broke some blood vessels...but it could have been worse right!

Ok so that's more than ten things....and since no one reads my blog I am going to tag
NICOLE! (Love you!)

These are some pictures of our new house.
The office, Bedroom, Kitchen and Living room.

So Kim shall be getting two signo unibal white pens in the mail asap from moi and although I will in no way hold her to it I would not mind getting some "I miss my homeland" crack cocaine in return. There are MANY thing and MANY people I miss in Canada....
See the layout below for evidence of this...note that these are THINGS I miss.....if I could pack up my family or better yet get back home more often I would be set....
In no particular order I miss
Crispy Crunch Bars,
Wunderbars,
Aero (especially carmel ones)
Crunchie bars,
ketchup and all dressed chips
crispers (all dressed)
zesty cheese doritos (and NO they do not have those here....they have 7 different flavours that we did not have in Canada but no zesty)
Mackintosh Toffee
SHREDDIES cereal
seriously the list is endless...
and I think the hardest thing is that when you are homesick....and missing somewhere so badly it makes your chest hurt....you want comfort food....it's highly disturbing when they don't have BBQ sauce at McDonalds for your chicken nuggets.....because it's just so not home.
So while I miss the people and places I used to know....I know that they can not be instlanty transported here the way that having a crispy crunch bar makes me feel at home. So when I go home I stockpile....also evidenced in the LO below. I'm so excited to go home for Christmas this year....I think we will be able to stay for almost two weeks...and I can't wait to see snow!!!

OK enough of that....I'm really not nearly as homesick as I just sounded...and Kim I really was kidding about the pens being held hostage. After all what are friends for?
Aimes