My last day in Joshua was a couple of Fridays ago. It was very bittersweet. I absolutely loved loved loved the school and the teachers I worked with. There's always a chance that I could go back one day, but for the time being I'm in Keene workin with mi madre. I'm really liking my new school, and I'm LOVING first grade. They are just so sweet. This afternoon when they came in the classroom and saw me this is the first thing I heard, "Miss Patterson!!! You are so pretty!!!" Who wouldn't love hearing things like that all day??


Anywho, on my last day all the kids made me cards. This one nearly made me cry...

I got the magic in me

-This past weekend I went to Cleburne for a friend's wedding shower. I saw a lot of old high school friends, so we all went to Applebees (that's all Cleburne has to offer) for drinks afterward. We then ended up getting a little bit country and going to a bonfire outside of Cleburne on another friend's land. Beer, bonfire, and white trash jokes. I think the best nights are the ones that aren't planned out.

-I got my hair highlighted yesterday and it be lookin real good. I think these are the best highlights I have had in my entire life. Bam.

-Sarah and I bought pumpkins last night for our front door. I also bought some pumpkin butter from Central Market that is oh so yummy.

-After school today I had to run in World Market to pick up a birthday present, but I couldn't leave without something for myself because I'm a very selfish person. I got this little guy...

He's supposed to be a Halloween decoration, but me thinks he will stay out all year long. I'm in love.

-I made a Mexican Casserole for dinner tonight. It was really good, but I'll save it for when I have to feed more peeps. It would be a good meal if you had to feed a big group, or bring something to a pot luck. I got it from Sing for your Supper. A girl I went to high school with writes this blog and it's super cute. A friend told me about it and now I have it on my reader, so I never miss a meal!

-Now I'm a nervous wreck watching the Ranger game. See ya!

Amazing Pumpkin Spice Cookies

I think I found this recipe on Peanut Butter Fingers, but I can't remember...

This is the easiest cookie recipe eevverrr. You can't mess it up. Seriously.

1 package of Spice Cake mix
1 can of pumpkin, 15 oz
1 cream cheese frositing

Combine the spice cake mix with the pumpkin. Stir it up real good. Spoon out 1-2" cookies on greased baking sheet. Cook for about 7-10 minutes. I just kept checking mine until they looked good. However you put them on the pan is how they will look after they cook because they won't rise. After they cool ice them with the cream cheese frosting. I put the frosting on half of mine and kept half plain. They are sooo good both ways! I will definitely be making these several more times throughout the fall. They taste like pumpkin bread! YUMMMM!

Deep Fried Fun

Last weekend Baylor played Tech at the Cotton Bowl (I don't want to talk about the game), which was a great excuse for the Patterson clan to head on down to the State Fair and eat our weight in fried food. The day started at about 9 when my dad ordered a beer and chicken fried bacon. Thats right, 9am. My mom was so proud:) And in a great coincidence, we ended up all looking like the fried bacon at then end of the game because apparently to Patterson's we are untouchable by the sun after September. Fail. My face has never been so sunburned. After the game we walked around the fair for the next few hours losing each other, meeting up, eating something, rinse and repeat. I did eat some pretty yummy things though: Fried frito pie (Yuuummmm), REAL root beer, a Fletcher's jalepeno and cheese corny dog, nachos (which I regretted), and some other stuff I can't remember. I really really wanted the fried grilled cheese, but I finally found it when we were leaving and my stomach wouldn't allow any more. All in all great fried fun day!

Let's talk nail polish

I have become strangely obsessed with nail polish. Having to constantly look at it and be around it doesn't help my obsession either. In case you were wondering... the hot colors this fall are NUDE! NUDE! NUDE! I looooove! But my main reason for blogging about this is to tell all of my three readers about an amazing top coat. I am notorious for spending extreme amounts of time painting my nails and then screwing them up 5 min later. So...without further ado, the top coat you will never be able to live without...


CND Air Dry, it runs about $8. CND also makes some other fantastic products, like their Sticky base coat. It honestly really works. No lie, the other night I painted my nails, put on the top coat, and I was washing dishes 5 minutes later. I should work for CND. Adios!

Lately...

What have I been up to lately?


I went to the Baylor/TCU game a couple of weeks ago and saw a portion of the Sexy Six :)
I have two more BU games on my agenda which I am pumped about: next week @ the Cotton Bowl and then two weeks later Homecoming!!!

(stolen pic, thanks linds!)




Went and saw Mat Kearney last weekend at The State Fair of Texas, and it was uh-mazing. We were so close! I even got to touch him, which was more than Ames could even dream of :)




I've been doing a lot of this. Way too much of this. I've had enough of this. But...I guess it's what I signed up for so I should quit complaining.


I went to a couple of Ranger's games this weekend with some cool peeps. They may be the AL West Champs, but they lost both games we went to. Oh well, gift shops are always fun!





And in the midst of it all, I spend my spare time doing this.


So that is my life. I can't complain too much!

Sunday Fundays

I love Sundays for many reasons. First being I never have to work!! Second being the pool tradition Steph and I started this summer. We spend all day at the pool drinking big sonic drinks topped off with some rum my parents brought back from Puerto Rico, and then we watch True Blood. I don't know what I'm going to do on Sundays since pool days are winding down and True Blood ends next week :(






However, tomorrow I get to see this guy...


so that should make for a pretty good Sunday as well.

My life these days...

So I'm long term subbing 4th grade (no more PE!!!) for a couple of months, while still working at Ulta. Having two jobs is something I hope will not be a part of my life for much longer. If only I could find a sugar daddy...

5:30am wake up call
6:30am I leave my apt
7:15ish arrive at school and try to gather my thoughts
3:15 i get rid of those hooligans
4:15 leave school, head out to sell some makeup
9:30-10:00pm finally arrive back home

This schedule goes on about 2 or 3 days a week, plus a little Ulta action on the weekends. My body is already fighting back. I started getting sick last weekend, but ignored it. Then Wednesday my body said "for realz, I be supa tired" and it started crashing. I called in to work today (something I've only done once in the past year...best employee ever? yes!) bc I need to rest up for this weekend's big plans. Happy Labor Day!!!

Can we please go back to college??

Last weekend Larsy-poo came to visit, so since she was here we decided to have a little shin-dig. Sarah and I had been wanting to turn our dining table into a beer pong table so we thought this was our opportunity! We all created teams, had team names, and made a bracket. We were super serious. All this beer pong business made me want to go back to college. I didn't really play it much in college, or at all, but maybe I would if I had the chance to go back again!



The Sparkle Ponies.



The Hurricane Harbours.

My team was The TWSS's (Thats what she said's...Kyles idea). I think someone took a team pic for us when WE WON!


Niiiiice photo bomb.



Just like a nurturing mother.



All the Cleburne folk.



And then the Willy Nelson braids came out and I started actin a fool.

Recipe Time

A couple of weeks ago I made some white cheddar macaroni for Sarah, Steph, and I. I found this recipe a while back in Family Circle (my mom takes it, not me) and I've made it a few times since then. The recipe calls for peas and ham, but I like to use turkey and mushrooms instead. Enjoy!






Ingredients

* 1 pound farfalle pasta
* 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
* 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
* 2 cups milk
* 1/2 teaspoon salt
* 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
* 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
* 1 pound white cheddar cheese, shredded (about 4 cups)
* 1 package (10 ounces) frozen peas, thawed
* 1/2 pound finely diced smoked ham (such as Cumberland Gap)

Directions

1. Heat oven to 350°. Coat 13 x 9 x 2-inch baking dish with nonstick cooking spray. Cook pasta in lightly salted water following package directions, about 12 minutes. Drain.

2. While pasta is cooking, melt butter in a medium-size, heavy-bottomed saucepan (not nonstick) over medium heat. Stir in flour until well blended; cook 1 minute. Whisk in 1 cup of milk and cook, whisking continuously, until smooth. Whisk in remaining 1 cup milk and continue to cook, whisking until thickened and smooth, about 5 minutes. Remove from heat; stir in salt, pepper and nutmeg. Whisk in 2 cups of the cheese until smooth.

3. In a large bowl, mix together the pasta, cheese sauce and 1 cup of the remaining cheese. Stir in the peas and ham. Pour into prepared baking dish. Scatter remaining 1 cup cheese evenly over the top.

4. Bake at 350° for 30 minutes or until bubbly. Remove from oven; allow to cool 10 minutes. May be served warm or at room temperature.

Double Rainbow, all the way, across the sky.

On Friday night Sarah and I decided to finally use the Fort Worth Cats tickets that we bought from groupon a couple of months ago. We invited along Steph and Julie to partake in the fun with us! Before the game we were watching the double rainbow video on youtube, which then led to us watching the double rainbow song. Please watch it if you haven't, it will really change your life. We (meaning Sarah and I) became obsessed with the song and decided to sing it over and over despite many requests to stop. But we're not the only ones who like it! They played a clip of it as one of the batters walked up to the plate! I was amazed!! So there was a baseball game going on too I guess, but most of the fun came from laughing at the cougars in front of us and singing the double rainbow song.





We even had a double rainbow snocone!

this could very easily turn into a foodie blog...

It's been a while, but I'm back again! I'll post some stuff about our NYC trip tomorrow, but right now I wanted to brag about my amazing culinary skills. This post is mainly for Linds since she asked for this recipe. A couple of weeks ago I made Spinach Fettucine Alfredo with shrimp. I found the recipe from Pioneer Woman's Tasty Kitchen which I loooove. So here it is in all it's glory...

Ingredients

• 2 Tablespoons Butter

• 2 Tablespoons Extra Virgin Olive Oil

• 1 whole Onion, Chopped

• 3 cloves Garlic, Minced

• 1 bag (6 Oz. Bag) Fresh Packaged Spinach

• 1 package (16 Oz. Package) Fettucine Pasta

• ½ pints Heavy Cream

• 2 cups Grated Parmesan Cheese

• Salt

• Fresh Ground Pepper

Preparation Instructions

Put a large pot of salted water to boil.
Melt butter and olive oil in a pan.
Add onion and cook until translucent
Add garlic and cook until fragrant.
Add spinach and let it wilt, stirring occasionally.
Add pasta to boiling water.
Add heavy cream and parmesan cheese to onion, garlic, and spinach mixture; stir to combine.
Add salt to taste.
Let it simmer until heated through and pasta is done.
Drain the pasta and pour the sauce over it, mixing with tongs or pasta spoon.

Serve with fresh ground pepper!

Let me know if you (Lindsay) make it, I want to know how it turns out!

Look what I did!

A few months ago I bought this wall decal from IKEA. Originally I was going to paint my dresser a light yellow and I wanted this running up the side. I ended up painting the dresser plum, so the decal has been sitting in my room ever since. I've been trying to decide what to do with it, so this morning I got courageous and put it on my wall. I'm still not 100% sure I like the way it turned out, but I guess it's pretty cool.



While I did that, this is what my sidekick did. This is what he does best...when he's not barking.



Back in April Fort Worth had the Main Street Arts Festival. It's a big event they have every year in Sundance Square with all kinds of art vendors, food, and music. We went to the Dolan Geiman booth and fell in love. You look at their pieces and think, "Hey! I could so make that!" And then you try, and find out that you can't. Anyway they had a little drawing that you could enter to win a gift certificate. Guess who won!?!? ME! I NEVER win anything. Never! So I was super pumped about this. It was only for $50 and most of their stuff is well over $1000, but I did find something I could get! I ordered it last week and it came a couple of days ago and I looooove it. The colors are so pretty and I can't wait to find the perfect place to hang it!

Vampires and Werewolves

Yes, Eclipse came out yesterday and we were so there. It was by far the best movie out of the three (not hard to do, the first one wasn't that great). A group of us went to Movie Tavern on 7th street to see it because we figured there would be less annoying teenage girls there. They had a few drink specials too! A Team Edward which was a strawberry long island, Team Jacob was a strawberry marg, and for the lamos a non-alcoholic strawberry Twilight! Sarah, Joy, and I all enjoyed Team Edwards while Steph and Cassie had Team Jacobs. My Edward was very tasty! Haha!



Me, Sarah, and Steph in line before the movie. We got there and hour 1/2 before it started and there was already a huuuge line.


Me Team Edward drink, which turned out to actually be a Team Jacob, so I got that fixed reeaalll quick.


Kiss FM was there with all the character cutouts that you could take pics with. This is me and my main squeeze.


All of us with our Team drinks!

Almost movie time!

Me and Steph before the movie started. Steph almost got by with not paying for her food...almost!

We are bad luck.

The Rangers have been on an amazing winning streak, so we decided to go while they were doing so good! Bad idea, they lost when we went. 11 games in a row, and then they lose. Oh well, it was fun anyway. It was also fireworks Friday and the theme for the show was Michael Jackson since it was the one year anniversary. It. was. awesome. After seeing that, we didn't care about the loss.


We did a little tailgating before, even though it was raining.

The happy couple.



We only brought 2 chairs, so we had to take turns standing up. This was Sarah's turn.



Me and JuJu.


I HAD to take a pic of this. How precious is this baby?

I've got saddlebags

Lately I've been watching a little too much of Man vs. Food. Usually I get grossed out by what he's eating, but there was one thing that I just had to try. He went to a restaurant that served breakfast food and they had this dish called "Saddlebags"...and they will give you exactly that. It's basically your entire breakfast in one.



Step 1: make sausage or bacon, you decide, and cut into small pieces.


Step 2: Start making the pancakes.


Step 3: Once it has cooked a little bit, add in the meat.


Step 4: Fry an egg and place on top.


4. Smother with syrup, and enjoy! They were really really good, and I think we'll be making them again in the near future! I don't think I should be making many recipes from Man vs. Food though, it's probably not a very good idea.




Yesterday Harvey moved to Ft. Worth! He's still getting used to it and he's a little nervous, but I think he likes it!


Harv just chillin on the couch.


I downloaded a free video app on my phone, so here's Harvey with his toy and my annoying voice.