Taco Meat Pasta

Love tacos? Love Pasta?
Then this dish is for you!
I love the simplicity of making tacos and its my "go-to" meal when I'm in a time crunch. Sometimes I get partway through making a meal and realize, "Oh my gosh, I don't have ___!!"
Once this happened to me while making tacos so I searched a way to use noodles instead.
The pin is gone from Pinterest but the recipe is from cole-world0.blogspot.com .

You need:
3/4 bag ziti noodles*
1 lb of ground beef
1 pkg taco seasoning
1cup water
1/2 pkg cream cheese
1 1/2 cup shredded cheese 


Boil pasta until just cooked. 
Brown ground beef, drain, mix in taco seasoning, and add 1 cup water to ground beef. 
Cook for 5 min.

Add cream cheese to beef mixture, stir until melted remove from heat.

Put pasta in casserole dish, mix in 1 cup cheese, top pasta/cheese with beef mixture gently mix, top with remaining cheese.

Bake at 350 uncovered.

*The store was out of Ziti noodles so I used jumbo shells in the photo below. 

Rainbows, butterflies, and lightning.

Marriage.


I'm two months in with forever to go. They said it wouldn't be easy. They said it would take work. They said it would be worth it. I talked with my 90 yr old Grandpa on the phone today who said, "When he does something that's not right, don't cook for him." 
So, tonight I didn't cook for him.

It's strange how you can go to the fuzzy love feeling, to the blood boiling hate, back to the fuzzy love feeling all within one day. 

In our pre-marriage counseling class they said sometimes you have to make the decision to love. It won't always come easy, but you have to make up your mind to love them.

Today, I may not like him, but I love him.

Bridesmaids Gifts

One of the many things I stressed over when planning my wedding was what gift can I get my ladies that truly shows how much I appreciate them. I wanted to do something original and not the typical clutch, picture frame, makeup bag, or necklace. I ended up doing three gifts.


1.
 Through my Pinterest pinning I stumbled upon Diamond Candles. In each candle is a ring ranging from $10-$5,000 in value.
If you subscribe to their emails at www.diamondcandles.com its actually pretty worth it. They have good coupons and don't spam you with random stuff. I ended up using a coupon for buy two get one free which was perfect because I had three bridesmaids!
My bridesmaids were so happy with them I decided to get myself one a couple of weeks ago.
I had a $10 off coupon and a coupon for a free candle so I got two.
I was strategic with my $10 off coupon and went straight to their clearance section. Found this beautiful black raspberry vanilla candle.
Not only are these candles fun, they also smell AMAZING.
You don't have to wait long for the candles to burn before getting the ring. They're wrapped in tin foil and inside the foil they're also protected by a baggie. The ring was a little big for me, and I'm not a fan of heart shaped things. But it was still fun to do.

With my free candle I ordered the Caramel Apple Cider. This one fills my house with a delicious caramel smell even when I'm not burning it. Again the ring was big(they're all the same size, I believe an 8) and not my style. The rings also come with a reveal code so you can type it into the website and you can see how much your ring is worth! Both of mine were just $10.

2.

My second bridesmaids' gift was slightly more traditional. A monogrammed stemless wine glass from Things Remembered. 

I apologize I don't have the exact picture but this is very close. My glasses were clear, but I did use the animal print style for each girl's initial.  One of my favorite things is leopard print so I wanted to have a touch of myself in the gift.

http://www.thingsremembered.com/product/Gift-Categories/Wine-Glasses/Burgundy-Tumbler/groupId/67/pc/122/c/0/sc/3228/167900.uts  

3.
I figured my ladies needed something to fill their glass and I also wanted a touch of something local. Duluth has a store called Duluth Kitchen Co with locally made products. One of their products is a tasty lemon drop martini mix. I know I didn't get my ladies martini glasses, but I think they'll survive drinking it from a wine glass. Again, I don't have a photo and I apologize.

Maid of Honor
I wanted to do something special and quirky for my special and quirky maid of honor. She adores Harry Potter.

"My other ride is a Firebolt" http://www.etsy.com/shop/nothinbutvinyl
"Accio Coffee" https://www.etsy.com/shop/DesignsByDoty
Snitch Necklace https://www.etsy.com/shop/SimplyHarry


Bonus
Also, my husband got his groomsmen and ushers engraved ice fishing rods. He even surprised me with my own pink rod labeled "Bride"!

Wedding DIY

Hello my readers, I'm so sorry to have left you all! I don't know how anyone can support a blog AND plan a wedding. It wasn't easy but I'm MARRIED!
For those of you who don't remember, our wedding was August 30th. It was Labor Day weekend and my husband had school first thing that Tuesday. We are doing a two week honeymoon in January! I know people who cohabitate before marriage say not much changes after, which is true, but I feel so much happier! I just feel more validated. We're doing the whole marriage thing: figuring out finances, getting our debts paid off, I cook and clean while he does car repairs, takes care of the dogs, and is getting his Mechanical Engineering degree at the University of Minnesota Duluth.

 I'm not going to say I had a DIY wedding, but I did make a my bridesmaid's shoes and my centerpieces myself. My wedding colors were punch and glitter gold. For centerpieces I ordered awesome flower petals from http://www.petalgarden.com/  and bought clear vases at the dollar store. I covered the vases in glitter using mod podge.  It didn't take very long but did make a bit of a mess. I did it all outside, and I still see pieces of glitter on the deck. I'd say it was worth it! I also placed votive candles in each vase.

It was impossible to find appropriate glitter shoes. So I decided if you can't find it, make it! We found these white shoes at Payless and my girls said they were super comfortable. Which is a huge plus!
First brush a thin layer of mod podge over the shoe. I found it easier to apply it in sections. 
Next, dumb the glitter on the shoe and tap off the extra. Continue until shoe is covered. Allow to dry and continue with a second layer if desired Seal the glitter with a layer of mod podge (see photo below)
The shoes held up pretty well except they got wet when we did photos at the shore of Lake Superior and the glitter started to peel off.

For the centerpieces its the same as the shoes! Easy as that!