Friday Favorites: Kisses, Trees, Hallmark and Giveaway Thanks!

Hey Folks!
Happy Friday to you!
It's been a short, long week!
It's crazy how sometimes the short weeks feel like long ones.
I started off the week at a travel training and then headed back to school on Tuesday. On Wednesday we had a 2 hr delay due to icy roads, so that was a nice reprieve. This Sunday it's set to be 60, so I'm looking forward to hanging the outside Christmas lights and enjoying the sunshine!

I've been absent on the Friday Favorites for a while, so I have an extended version for you today!


As always, I'm linking up with Erika, Narci and Andrea. 

We're sharing our favorites from the week.

Grab their graphic and linkup with your favorites from the week, too.

Hot Chocolate Kisses

Have you all seen these?

We grabbed a package at our local Menard's. 

Nothing like going into Menard's to look for home stuff and coming out with a bunch of candy!

Alex convinced me into buying them, and they are good!

I like the cherry ones too! I only buy them at Christmas time, so I need to put them on my list for the next time I'm at Walmart.

via

Soup Mug

I grabbed this mug when Alex and I were at the outlets earlier this year. 

We were getting some more Pyrex containers, and I thought it would be beneficial to have this soup mug. 

I like to take soup to school, but typically the soup is so hot that I can barely carry it back to my room.

This has changed it!

I can now carry my soup and not get burnt!

Nikki Deloach

I've been loving all of the Hallmark movies and was so excited that my favorite gal was on the Hallmark Channel on our snow day!
Yes, we've already had a snow day and it's not even December!

This was a couple of weeks ago, but I enjoyed my day at home. 

The snow was gorgeous and I got to see Nikki Deloach!

Christmas Tree Tour

My mom and I always go to our local Christmas Tree Tour. 

Unfortunately, there have been fewer and fewer trees. 

I liked the ribbon on these trees. 

It gave me a little inspiration to fix ours up a bit this year. 

I hope to do a Christmas home tour within the next two weeks!

We went to one of our local greenhouses over the weekend. 

I really liked this wreath, which also had matching garland. 

The edges are slightly flocked and have a hint of glitter. 

The only thing is the wreaths only come in 30 inches, and I think that's too big for our windows!

Last, but certainly not least, I have to give a huge shout out to Shay and Sheaffer!

I won one of their 5 Days of Fabulous!

Imagine my surprise yesterday morning about 6 am when I was sitting at my desk in my classroom about ready to begin my day. 

I had a lot of things to do, so I was swiping kind of fast when I thought I saw MY name!

I scrolled up and yes-there it was!

I seriously couldn't even believe my eyes!

I truly enjoy the optimism that radiates from these ladies!

They are inspirational to say the least, and I cannot thank them enough for putting on this giveaway but more importantly for sharing their lives with us! 

My husband would probably also like to thank them for draining his wallet! :)

Here's hoping every day is as great as my Thursday morning!

Enjoy!

Steelers vs. Browns

Hey There!

We got an unexpected delay this morning, so I thought I would hop on the blog and share one of our trips from October!

It was a busy month, and I'm still catching up!

Last Christmas I was so pumped to gift my dad a Deebo (James Harrison) hoodie that had a ticket to the December 30 Steelers' game. 

Christmas Eve my dad texted me telling me that Harrison had been traded. 

The air went right out of my sails!

I can remember exactly where I was standing and how defeated I felt. 

I had his gift planned and bought for months. 

It was wrapped beneath the Christmas tree, and I was literally just waiting to give it to him. 

I couldn't let on about how upset I was because my dad had no idea about the gift!!!

Christmas morning came and went and everyone laughed at my almost magical gift. 

At the time my dad had a cold and unfortunately it didn't get any better. 

The projection for the game was to be in the negative digits. 

I was soooo excited to go, but we stayed home instead. 

Luckily I bought ticket insurance, so we got all of our money back. 

Fast forward to this fall, and I bought tickets for the Steelers vs. Browns game. 

We live in Ohio and always get slack for rooting for the Browns, so I was so excited to go to this rivalry game. 

I had my eye on the weather, and it was projected to RAIN!

First negative digits, now rain!

We were going, regardless!!

My favorite Steelers fans!

The other one is in Heaven!

I pretty much grew up as the only girl in my dad's family!

There were other girls, but they didn't live around us, so I grew up watching every sport there was. 

My dad's mom had three boys, so she was used to boys. 

I gained a passion for the Steelers from my grandma and my dad!

I can still remember the day that she passed. I let her know that the Steelers lost the night before and Alex was ragging on them since he's a Browns' fan!! Booo!

I thought she might open her eyes or squeeze my hand to that. 

She didn't-she had Jesus to meet!

Here we are at our seats watching our team warm up!

A little AB for ya!

Shazier!!

So good to see him out walking and on the sidelines!

The rain held off until the fourth quarter!!

JuJu!!

Leveon Who?! 

The girl above sat right beside us!

The atmosphere at the stadium is incredible!

We jumped up basically after every single play!

Everyone was cheering and rooting, and I just love that!

This was one of my absolute favorite days!

Now I want to go to a game every season!
Steelers girl for life!

Try It Thursday: Spice Bundt Cake

I'm sharing another tried and true recipe today!

This one is from a cake I made for my mom's birthday. 

We had been away for a wedding the night before, so I knew my parents wouldn't be back in town until later. 

I wanted to make something for her, so I opted for a spice cake since that's her favorite!

It's simple and easy and tastes delicious in the end!

Items Needed for Cake:

1 Box Yellow Cake Mix

Ingredients on Cake Box plus 1 Egg

1 tsp. ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp. ground nutmeg

1/2 tsp. ground allspice

Items Needed for Glaze:

1 C. Brown Sugar

1.2 C. Heavy Cream

4 Tbsp. Butter, cubed

1 C. Powdered Sugar

1.4 tsp. Vanilla Extract

1. Mix cake mix and spices together.
2. Add ingredients on the cake box plus extra egg and beat on low for 1 minute.
Change speed to medium and mix for 2 more minutes.
3. Pour batter into greased bundt cake pan.
4. Bake according to package.
5. Let cake cool for 10 minutes
6. Invert and let finish cooling.

7. In saucepan, combine brown sugar, cream and butter.
8. Stir over low heat until butter is melted.
9. Turn heat to medium and bring to a boil while stirring. Boil for 3 minutes, and then remove from heat.
10. Add in powdered sugar and vanilla.
11. Stir until smooth and drizzle over cooled cake.

*Credit to Chocolate, Chocolate and more for this awesome recipe!

This recipe was so light and sweet!
I wanted to eat it for breakfast, lunch and dinner!
Enjoy it with a nice glass of milk!

What's Been Happening

Hey There!
It's been a super busy October! 

I always feel like I'm going strong in the blog world and then one thing pops up and soon it's another thing and then it's a few weeks and I haven't made a single post!!

We started out October in NYC!

It was Fair Break, so we enjoyed an extended weekend in the Big Apple. 

A few weeks later I headed to D.C. with our 8th graders!
It always seems like it's a great idea to go as a chaperone, and then by the third day I remember why I have second thoughts every year!

This year was eventful, and not so much in a good way. 

We were busy as chaperones!

After getting back from D.C. I recovered a bit before heading off to see my favorite team play!

My dad, brother and I headed to Pittsburgh to watch our team take on the Cleveland Browns!

I was back home for a few days before heading to the amazing Business Boutique in Nashville!

What an inspiring and motivating conference!
I loved this so much!

We are back home and enjoying life in the village. 

All this being on the go, or maybe it's just life as a teacher has me down with a cold. 

I spent the weekend catching up on grading, watching Hallmark movies and more Hallmark movies and enjoying relaxing on the couch for once. 

I'm hoping to share more about our travels and some great fall recipes when I get a chance to get all caught up!

Have a great Monday!