14 Days of Love: Days 4 and 5

Well, this is what I had planned for day 4...

I set up a 60 minute massage for the hubs and bought him a gift card {that included the tip, I'm full service}

and then this happened...

 

 

Snowmageddon 2014. 

We're supposed to get 10 inches.  Message Envy called and said they were closing at noon.

So, what do you do when life gives you lemons?  Squeeze them over some vodka soda...

do a snow day dance...

watch the snow fall...

cuddle up with your Minions...

 

and switch day 4 and 5.

Day 5 is complete with Runner Runner from the Redbox. {Duh, you cannot have any days of love without my first true love Justin Timberlake} and all our favorite movie treats.  Including a bottle of Crush, you know, because I have a "crush" on my husband. Hehehe.  I crack myself up!  And no, I didn't make that up.  Like any good blogger, I stole reused it.

  Caught a little person trying to steal the loot.

 

Here's to being snowed in with my favorite boys: Grant, Everett and of course, Justin.

14 Days of Love: Day 3

Nothing says love like Hostess Donettes.  Am I right, or am I right?  February 3rd brought a big ole' bucket of chocolate and powdered goodness.

14 Days of Love: Day 2

Heart Cinnabon Rolls

 

1 (1 pound) loaf of frozen white bread dough, thawed in the refrigerator

3/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar

1 tablespoon ground cinnamon

1 cup unsalted butter, softened and divided

1/2 cup confectioners' sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla paste

 

1. Spray baking pan (I use a small casserole dish but 9x13 will do) with nonstick cooking spray.

2. On a lightly floured surface, roll out dough into a 7x15-inch rectangle. 

 3. In a small bowl, combine brown sugar and cinnamon; set aside.  Spread 1/2 cup butter over dough, and sprinkle evenly with sugar mixture.

Roll dough from each end towards the middle making the top of a heart shape.

Cut roll into 10 slices and place the cut side up.

{If you have time, you can let your rolls rise for an hour in room temperature, but really, who has that kind of time?  Not me so just throw those babies in the oven}

If you choose to let your dough rise, you will preheat your oven in about 15 minutes.  If not, preheat your oven with step 1.

This would be Vanilla Bean Paste
I am my beloved and my beloved is mine...

4. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until lightly browned.

5. While rolls are baking, in a medium bowl, combine remaining 1/2 cup butter, confectioners' sugar, cream cheese and vanilla paste.  Beat at medium speed until icing is fluffy. 

6. Top the warm rolls with icing.  Serve warm.

How we eat every.single.meal.

Happy Day 2!

 

 



14 Days of Love: Day 1

Have you even fallen in love with a complete stranger's blog?  No, that's only me?  Oh well, I'm totally guilty of being obsessed with the Pink Pistachio and her 14 Days of Love {click here to see them}.  Her idea is to switch off days February 1-14 with her "husby" and do something sweet each day, but let's get real, Grant ain't got time (or creativity) for that, so I had to go solo on this one.

Day 1: Fondue Day

It started off a little like this...

Cheese Fondue

1 tsp. minced garlic

1/2 cup dry white wine

1 tsp. lemon juice

2 cups Swiss cheese, shredded

2 cups Gruyere cheese, shredded

1/2 tsp. dry mustard

Pinch nutmeg

 

In a saucepan over medium-high heat, simmer the garlic, wine, and lemon juice.  Reduce the heat to medium-low, add the cheeses, and blend well until melted.  Add mustard and nutmeg.  Keep warm with fondue pot.

Caution: Do not dump the extra cheese down the drain.  You will end up with your husband fishing a sponge-looking hunk of cheese out of the disposal...not romantic.

Flaming Turtle Fondue

12 ounces milk chocolate (chips or finely chopped)

2 tbsp. vegetable oil

2 tbsp. heavy cream

1/4 cup caramel ice cream topping

2 tbsp. rum

3 tbsp. pecans, chopped

 

You can either melt the chocolate, oil and heavy cream in a double boiler on top of simmering water and mix until creamy or in a microwaveable bowl cooked in 15 second intervals and stirred until melted.

Pour melted chocolate into a warm fondue pot.

Pour the caramel into the center of the chocolate mixture. Do not stir.

Add the rum to the pot and ignite carefully using a lighter. 

Allow the flame to burn out and stir gently to combine.

Sprinkle with pecans.

Keep fondue warm over low heat.

Because no celebration is complete without the champs.

Since we are veggies around here, we added green apples {not pictured}, carrots, tomatoes, broccoli and Archer Farms bread.  My favorite bread is Target bread.  No joke. 

 Time for dessert!!

 I served the chocolate with pound cake, mini brownies, pineapple and strawberries.

Extreme Desk Makeover

Meet Old Yeller.  She looks sad and lonely, huh?  It could be because she is my mom's old desk.  When I was little it had a permanent place in the corner of our basement where it sat for about 30 years.  That is until I took her in and gave her a little love.
All it took was my husband sanding off those gross brown stains, a few coats of Behr's Sliced Cucumber paint with a little primer in it and some knobs I found on sale at Hobby Lobby.  I used both a roller for the flat parts and a brush for the legs for the paint.  
Weekend Job=Complete.

Before:

 

After:

 

Disney Tips: Where to Stay

It's finally ready!  After a few months, one move and many hosted parties I am finally ready to start sharing my Disney tips.  I have LOTS to share so I think it's best to do this in several installments.  First up, where to stay.

We stayed in the Villas of Wilderness Lodge.  Let me first apologize.  Out of the almost 2,000 pictures, that's what I said, 2,000, I took TWO of the room and that includes the Mickey towel on the bed and the shampoo, conditioner and soap.  Terrible.  Anywho, I "borrowed" some pictures from the official website.  Trust, it looks just like this.

Here are my pictures.  Again, I apologize.  Ugh.

I would say my number one tip about where to stay is to save your money and STAY.ON.PROPERTY.  We had limited options because we stayed with my parents as well and wanted access to a full kitchen and a washer/drier in our room.  We wanted to stay in a villa so that we could all stay together.  Disney has one and two bedroom villas.  All the Disney two bedroom villas are pretty much like a little apartment.  The kitchen and washing machine were life-savers!  I didn't have to do any laundry when I got home!  The best part about being on property is that you can take buses and boats to all the other parks (Hollywood Studios, Epcot, Animal Kingdom). 
If you have little ones like we do, you will probably spend the majority of your time at the Magic Kingdom.  If we go back soon, we will most likely try to stay in a hotel on the monorail.  It is the quickest and most convenient way to get straight from your hotel to the Magic Kingdom.  There are three hotels on the monorail system; The Grand Floridian, The Contemporary and The Polynesian.  The monorail runs right through The Contemporary which is pretty cool.  More on that later.
I feel like Wilderness Lodge was a great fit for us because it wasn't super busy (like the Contemporary), boasts two pools (one only accessible to villa guests and one with a great waterslide for kids) and was only a short boat ride away from the Magic Kingdom.
Overall, the greatest advantage to staying on property is the transportation to the parks.  You can get to any park, anytime either by bus, boat or monorail.  We had a fairly good experience taking the boat to and from the parks from our hotel.  They stayed on schedule for the most part, meaning the boats came about every 15-20 minutes.  However, I do believe you will find more success getting to and from the Magic Kingdom on the monorail system.  However, the monorail only runs to the hotels on the line and the Magic Kingdom.  You will still have to take a bus or boat to other parks.