Taco Soup

Soup for the soul! This is the perfect soup for the start of winter and it is sooo yummy. One day last week, Brandon had school late one night so Eliza and I cooked up this Taco Soup! I originally got the idea from Betty Crocker but changed it up a bit. This soup is kind of a mix between tortilla soup and chili. 
Grocery List:1 lb ground beef Corn Chips Packet of Taco Sauce Progresso Hearty Tomato Sauce (19 oz)Tomato Sauce (15 oz)Monterrey Jack Cheese (1 oz)Picante Sauce (optional: for a little kick) Diced Green Chiles (4.5 oz)Corn (half a can)
First, start off by browning your meat and drain it.


In a large saucepan, combine the meat with the Progresso Heart Tomato Soup and Tomato Sauce 







I let this come to a boil and then added the taco seasoning, a can of corn (I added a whole can but it ended up having to add more tomato sauce to even it out so I suggest half a can), the diced green chiles, and picante sauce. The green chiles and picante sauce are optional. You can omit them if you are very sensitive to spicy foods but Eliza ate them and was fine, it just adds a bit of a ziiing. 









Let that simmer for about 20 minutes until it thickens a bit. Now it's time to serve it up, chili style! 



First the corn chips,

And then the cheese! We like cheese, can you tell? 



(recognize the map coaster?)

Yummmmm



Eliza "super" liked it! I apologize about the naked booty-ness. She changes clothes about 4 times a day and by dinner time, she's just running around naked! What can I say? 





It's probably for the best, because that girl sure knows how to make a mess! 
How was your week?! I don't really remember mine, it was kind of a blur. Now that it's winter, I want to start knitting/crocheting things! Hopefully tomorrow I'm going to meet up with a friend and learn to crochet. I plan on knitting myself and the fam some nice cozy hats! I sound like a grandma.... but I just love it! Hope you guys had a great friday, woopee for sleeping in! 

Time to Simplify

Please watch



Wow, wasn't that cool?! I have been kind of at a crossroads and this was kind of the last kick to push me on the path I need to be on. Lately I've really been thinking about "stuff" and how materialistic we are.(Confession time!) I am a shopper, I don't know what it is but I love to shop and it is soo bad. Brandon always gets so mad at me for buying things we don't need and then I feel guilty but it never really stops. My shop is a great outlet for that because I love a good bargain and have the ability to sell my finds on the internet. But it's a bad habit that I really need to kick, find a balance somewhere between my store and personal life. And thinking, "I need to stop buying things to save money" is just not helping. I need to stop because it's just plain unnecessary and bad. I need to be more appreciative of what I have and think of others that are not so fortunate. I've been reading Bekah's blog, My Little Loves, for a little bit and she has really inspired me to start simplifying my life. Now, everyday when I walk around my apartment, I look around and feel a mixture of appreciation, guilt, and disgust. I think I've become a bit of a hoarder? And I get that from my Dad. He never throws anything away and has so much stuff, I think I've kind of inherited that. But I'm trying to change my ways! So from now on I'm going to be appreciative. I'm going to stop buying unnecessary things. I'm going to de-clutter my house (this will make my life so much easier anyways). And I'm going to do something uncomfortable! 
Oh and most importantly, spend more time with my family and enjoy this beautiful weather while it's still here! 

Halloween

We started off our Halloween by carving pumpkins! It was a lot of fun and easier than I expected? I think Eliza had the most fun though, she was making "pie" out of the mush from inside the pumpkins. Yummmm


Then she started sticking her feet in it and it was time to go inside! The pumpkin below is mine and the weird one with all the seeds impaled in it is Brandon's. 


 We rinsed off our seeds to bake later and decided to get dressed up! We just found some things from our closet and put on some fun makeup! We put glitter on our cheeks and went crazy with some purple eyeliner. After, we visited my dad since we won't see him in a while and handed out some candy. Then I talked Eliza into going trick or treating and we went to a total of.... THREE houses! Yay! It was funny because the first house, a lady answered and Eliza did really good and even said "twick or tweat" but the last two, men answered and when I would ask her what to say, she would go "mommy!" and try to hide behind me. So I'm glad we decided against full out trick or treating. Plus, she really doesn't need all that candy. Since no one comes down my dad's street, all three houses loaded her up. After all that, we met Brandon back at the house, cooked dinner, watched Hocus Pocus, and ate some yummy popcorn balls! We even got a few trick or treaters at our apartment too! So that was our Halloween. Pretty chill but we had a good time. 




I just happened to have this dress (hand-me-down?) and the pumpkin is from her godmother, thanks Meg! How was your Halloween? Do you like to keep it chill or go all out?! 

Girlish Garb: Dressing for Comfort

A belated outfit post, I was supposed to post it Sunday but.. well you know. It just didn't happen and I just remembered today so I whipped out my camera and here you have it! 

Today, I'm dressing for comfort. I woke up early to take Eliza to mother's day out and decided to skip school. Ya, I'm a rebel hahah. So anyways, I woke up and threw on some warm, comfy clothes. No makeup,  did absolutely nothing to my hair (luckily I don't have bedhead, the braid is from yesterday). I'm pretty sure I didn't even eat breakfast.... 






These are my FAVORITE pair of leggings. I wear them all the time.Outfit Details: Jean Button Up- Thrifted Navy Striped Gap Dress- Thrifted Leggings- Wet Seal? Like years ago Suede Heart Necklace- Will be in store soon 

So Halloween was really good. We spent the day at home (mostly) and just relaxed and enjoyed each other's company. It was really, really nice. We carved pumpkins, got dressed up (just things from our closet), put on some fun makeup (which consisted of glitter and eyeliner hearts) and went trick or treating (a total of 3 houses!) which Eliza was really excited about! I didn't know trick or treating in apartments was a thing but apparently it is? I'm glad we decided not to go full on trick or treating though because I don't think Eliza was quite old enough, I'll share more on that later. We finished off our day watching Hocus Pocus and eating some popcorn balls! All-in-all, good day. It's funny, I don't even realize how red my hair is until I look at pictures of myself. Huh. So what did you guys do for Halloween?

A New Day

Soooo I had a little break down last night, sorry about that. Sometimes you just gotta let it all out, ya know?! I felt better afterwards and took some time to just breathe and relax. While doing so, I looked around my apartment and even though it was a disaster...
I spotted some things that just made me happy. So I whipped out my phone and had a little fun with my Little Photo app...







And then this little one woke up and came to snuggle with me! If you follow me on twitter, than you probably already saw this



Then I got a really good night's sleep and woke up feeling so much better! Eliza and I had some breakfast and went outside to tend our garden (or what's left of it!). So I continued my happy picture taking to show you guys around my little patio. 

We're going to carve these babies up today! Like Eliza's outfit? She picked it herself, can you tell







Today should be a fun day. I've been kind of on the fence about what we're going to do today. Brandon doesn't really believe in holidays and has been crushing my spirit a little bit. But I just kind of realized today that maybe he's right? I mean not all the way, but he has a point. It's not about spending a bunch of money and trying to have the best decor/costumes/what not (or seeing who can dress up the skanky-est for Halloween, come on ladies), it's about having fun! And giving, appreciating, loving, and our community. So today is going to be a chill day, just spending time as a family, enjoying our first (since Eliza didn't know what was going on last year) Halloween together. Right now we are watching some good ole' Spongebob- Halloween style! Then some pumpkin carving and who knows what. Follow my twitter to find out ;)
Happy Halloween everyone! I hope you have a spoOOOoooooky one! 

Joy

I'm feelin' a little... out of sorts tonight. It could be that it's late at night and I'm tired but I have some things on my mind that I want to get out sooo hope you don't mind me ranting. This weekend we went to Austin. I love Austin, it's always fun and leaves me feeling refreshed and relaxed but for some reason this time around it just.... didn't. I had some fun, don't get me wrong but it was kind of a spur of the moment thing and left me feeling a little more stressed and disappointed than refreshed and relaxed. Since it was Halloween I had to come up with some costumes for Brandon and I and somehow finish all the work and homework I needed to do, in a matter of three/four days. It was just way too much stress but Brandon really wanted to go so I made it happen. If I could do it over again, I would of just let him go alone. I'm trying to think of like the good things but it was just too much, too fast, and bad timing. I couldn't really relax all weekend and just enjoy being out of town and felt like I was at the will of others all weekend, not doing the things that I wanted to do. Plus, since it was Halloween, I had high expectations that, combined with the not being able to relax and enjoy things, didn't pan out and ended with a disappointed Sam. I also, forgot my camera and didn't even get to take pictures of the costumes I worked so hard on. I'm glad to be home but now I'm just in this funk and wish I could have my weekend back. Tomorrow is Halloween, I don't have a costume for Eliza, I don't feel like even doing Halloween and I feel bad for not being on top of everything. My house is a mess, I have a ton of work to catch up on and it's Monday already. Oh and did I mention I got a "citation" this weekend? Yeah, for jaywalking... FREAKING JAYWALKING?! Who gets those?! So that was my weekend. I didn't have time to blog about all my Halloween DIYs and for that, I'm really sorry. If you don't mind, I think I'll just forget about them and move on. I think a good night's sleep is much needed. Tomorrow, I'm going to clean up, carve some dang pumpkins, and make Eliza happy. So without further ado, here is the JOY of my weekend (trying to be positive here!): 

• I got to go thrifting and have a "coffee date" with my sister. It was so nice to spend some good ole' sister time together. 
• We checked out this thrift store called Savers that I had been hearing about and am in love! Definitely going back there again. 
• I FINALLY got to try a pumpkin spice latte and also got a salted caramel mocha (delish!) thanks to my sister. I'm officially a latter lover!
• I got to see some really awesome friends I haven't seen in a while over the weekend. I enjoyed the little time that we got to hang out and next to spending time with my sister was probably the highlight of my weekend. 
• The weather was cold and wonderful and not to mention MOSQUITO FREE! 
• I did A LOT of walking this weekend! My buns are sore but I enjoyed being able to walk to where I needed to be.
• As always, I had some pretty awesome food this weekend. If you're ever in Austin, and in the mood for sandwiches, I recommend Fricanos. 
• A test that I was anticipating all weekend, turned out to be a lot easier than I expected. 
• And last but not least, I came home to find that I sold a few things over the weekend. Pleasantly surprised and thankful.  

So that was the good parts of my weekend. How was yours? Better than mine I hope. Did you do anything fun for Halloween? 

DIY Ghost Decor

I just kind of realized that Halloween is only a few days away! So I'm going to try and get out all my halloween decor projects before we leave for the weekend. Starting with the ghosts Eliza and I made! Here's what you need: 

Glue 

Water 

Styrofoam balls (about 1.5" in diameter). 

Cheesecloth 

Googly Eyes 

Felt 

Floral wire 

Hot glue gun 

Scissors 

So, first I cut out a couple pieces of cheesecloth (square pieces). I made them different lengths (longest for daddy, middle for mommy, and short for eliza). 








Then, in a bowl, mix some glue and water together. 




Then, grab the center of your cheesecloth square and dip it into the glue/water mixture. 




Open it up and place over your styrofoam ball. 




Lay out to let dry a bit. Next, cut some 3" pieces of floral wire for each ghost (these are to hang them). 




Once they've dried a bit, your going to bend your wire in half and stick it in the top of your ghost. Kind of twist it at the bottom to make a little loop. 




Finish letting it dry. 




Now, pick out some googly eyes! We got colored ones and Eliza picked out these blue ones for the "daddy" ghost. 








The yellow ones for the "mommy" ghost and pink ones for the "Eliza" ghost. Use the hot glue gun to attach them. 




And last, cut out a piece of felt for the mouth. We used sparkly black felt. 




Then hang from wherever (we chose our DIY chandelier light thing). 



And here's a picture with all the lights off except the hanging lamp. 


 OoooooEEEeeeOOOoooooo