Kandice Matsler

This Was Me. Happy.

When I was cleaning out some stuff during my spring cleaning a few weeks ago, I found this old photo of me.  The quality of the photo was actually terrible- it was definitely one of those shots that was at the beginning or end of a roll, so the top third of the photo was just a rust-colored brown flash-- you know what I mean?  Because the photo was otherwise pretty darn cute, I scanned it in and and cropped it a square size.  Then I just enlarged the printout to make this page. 

This layout was done using the Polo Shirt (and Sarong) Collections from Luxe Designs.  I inked the edges of the patterned paper shapes, using both white and black ink.  The cute little flower adds a nice touch, and the rub-ons are "Whoa Nelly Medium".

I also used a few little strips of ribbon too (on the patterned paper square on the bottom left).

I love this picture because I just look so happy.  And content.  And THAT makes me feel good.

I happy for them, but really?

Yes, I was rooting for Jesse tonight on the Bachelorette (because he's got that scraggly-ragamuffin-hotness to him)... but I do feel really bad for Jason... Poor guy.  He ended up looking like an idiot and had no clue that it was coming...  But whatever, in the end, I'm happy for the couple.

Congrats Jesse and D.  May you have many children and lots of snow in your future... But really, couldn't your "big announcement" have been a little better?  The way Chris built it up, I thought Man, it might be something really cool... but then to come out and say  "We're Engaged! AND we're getting married!" doesn't really qualify as a "big surprise"... I mean, it's like saying  " I bought a house!  Can you believe it?!  AND I'm moving into it!  Yay!" 

Why couldn't it have been something more dramatic like  " I'm pregnant!  And there's a 33.3% chance that it's Jesse's!"... or "We eloped last night to Vegas and we're already married!"  or  " We found out that we're actually cousins!"... or something much more fun like that. Whatever.  I guess my idea of a "great surprise" is 10x better than the producers.  Eh, oh well.  At least she got a free trip to Greece.

A Fun Fourth

I hope everyone had a fun 4th of July Weekend!

I have to say that this was one of the best 4th of Julys I've had in a long, long time...  I got to relax,  get a little sun (maybe too much), enjoy the perfect weather, see my family, watch fireworks, play Spades, and hang out with some really fun people (despite the fact that they're Aggies- sigh).  All in all, it was a pretty perfect weekend!

Thursday night Meredith had a little cookout at her house, so we congregated there and then went to see the Addison KaBoom Town fireworks...  Oh, and Kate made the BEST margaritas with this orange-flavored tequila... really interesting.

Friday, since I had the day off, I went to my parents' house to get a little sun and let Sarah enjoy the pool.  She swam so much that it wore her OUT!  She was curled up and asleep in the car within 3 miles of leaving my parents' house on the trek home.  Pathetic.

Early Saturday morning, Kate and Paige picked me up for an outing to Cedar Creek Lake (Gun Barrel City, TX).  Kate's dad was throwing a party at the lake house, and some of her friends and I went.  The weather was great, so we just sat around in the shade playing Spades most of the day.  Then there was some really amazing food (cooked by Nate from Nate's Seafood & Steakhouse in Addison- yummy!!!), a live band (what a small world, I knew the drummer that was filling in for the gig), and dancing well into the night... Which I'm sure had NOTHING to do with the gin and tonics that Steven kept making...  Uh, right...  Fireworks over the lake topped off the evening before 10 of us crashed in the living room...  and before I knew it, I needed a nap on Sunday afternoon from my long weekend of relaxing!  But it was well worth it!

Bachelorette-Watching Party

Well, if you watched on Monday night, you already know that Jeremy went home.  If you didn't get to watch, or if you're just interested in reading about it, check out this blog.  My friend Kate sent it to me and it's pretty darn entertaining.

As for the party, we really had a great time.  (Did you miss the invitation? Check it out here.)  A little food, a little vino, and and LOTS of colorful commentary...  I made a couple easy-but-fun dishes for this party, and I said I would share my recipes so here it goes:

Stumpy Sauce Shrimp

(I know it sounds weird, but the sauce is actually a modified recipe from the Stumpy Burger restaurant in Missouri where my grandparents go fly fishing every year.  They put this sauce on their burgers and the chef actually gave my grandmother the recipe when she asked!)

- 25- 30 small shrimp, de-veined, peeled and rinsed

- Tiny Melba toasts or miniature pastry cups

- Horseradish

- Mayonnaise

- Mustard (just plain yellow Mustard)

- Chili Powder (or cayenne pepper)

- salt and pepper

In a small bowl, combine 2 parts mayo and 1 part horseradish (this way you can mix as much or as little as you want).  Add a squirt of mustard, sprinkle in Chili Powder (or cayenne pepper).  Scoop into a sandwich-sized ziploc bag and set aside.

In a skillet with a dash of olive oil, cook the shrimp, adding salt and pepper to taste.  When they are cooked through (and turn orange-pink), you can remove them from the skillet and set aside.

Cut off one small corner of the ziploc bag with the horseradish/mayo mixture and use it like an icing tube to apply a dallop of mixture on the small toast pieces (or crackers or pastry cups or whatever).  Top off each piece with a shrimp, and you're done!  Ready to serve (or make these night before and serve cold).

Pam's BBQ Meatballs

(Pam told me how to make these super easy meatball, and they're always a crowd- pleaser!)

- 1 package of frozen meatballs (I went with the bite-sized ones)

- 1 bottle of your favorite barbecue sauce

- 1 jar of whole jalepeno peppers

In a crockpot, pour the bottle of sauce over the frozen meatballs and stir.  Throw in a few jalepenos (I used 3 or 4), and add a little of the juice from the jalepeno peppers for a little extra kick.  Stir and let simmer for about 30 minutes.  These suckers are a little messy, but they were GONE in no time!

Linda's Artichoke Dip  (Linda brought this one to the party and I just about licked the bowl!)

- 2 cans artichoke hearts (finely chopped)

- 1 cup fresh-grated parmesan cheese

- 1 cup mayonaise

Combine ingredients and bake for 10 minutes at 350 degrees.  Serve warm with chips, flat bread, or wheat thins.

With these easy recipes, all you need are a few other staples- cheese, crackers, some salomi and proscuitto, chips and dip, and you're done!  I also sprinkled the table with red rose petals and added a few tea light candles for atmosphere.... Oh, and I gave out Ring Pops as party favors!  You could put them in a basket with a sign saying "If Deanna ends up with the bling, we can all enjoy having a ring!" (or something equally cheesy).

So you should be all set for your very own Bachelorette-watching party for the Season Finale next week!  Have fun and enjoy!

I was feeling productive this weekend...

So I:

- scrapped a few pages just for fun  (but I'll have to show you those later)

- prepped food for my Bachelorette- watching party tonight  (I'll share the recipes tomorrow and if you're inspired, you can copy my ideas for the final Rose Ceremony episode in a few weeks!)

-  made a custom baby onesie for my friend Kelly's baby shower (and wrapped it in this cute pink bakery box with a tag saying "For you and your little bun in the oven") that I iron-transferred "ROCKER CHICK" on the front and a cool nickname on the back (haha, Kel)

-installed a new shelf above my mantle to display new additions to my camera collection

- cleaned the house (literally scrubbed the kitchen floor with a toothbrush... I felt like Cinderella, but man it looks nice!  And I really did think that the grout was just that color... go figure!)

- made a new tv stand  (this was really fun... I found a $4 sidetable at Goodwill, bought a piece of wood to mount on top of it (because it wasn't quite wide enough for my tv base, painted the whole thing black, and presto!  a $15 tv stand!)  The pics are a little grainy because I took them with my phone, but check out the before and after:

**UPDATE** to the Poo in a Tree post...  The storm this weekend knocked the baggie out of the tree and onto the sidewalk, so I was able to dispose of it properly.  :)

CMH Doggie Day

My boss is at the beach this week, so our office has gone to the dogs!

In case you missed it, last Friday was national Bring Your Dog to Work Day.  We were too busy preparing for the summer Markets last week, so we decided that it might be fun to have the pups around for awhile at the office today instead. Therefore, today is declared the very First Annual CMH Doggie Day (well, half day technically, but that doesn't sound as glamorous in a booming voice)!

Aside from a few minor mishaps, the dogs have been pretty good, actually.  They've enjoyed making new friends, and it's been fun for us too (definitely a one of the perks of working in a casual office).

Now introducing the temporary CMH office members for the day:

The whole Mutt-ly Crew (and Sarah more interested in the treats than in the photo session)

Sarah and Sunny are fast friends

Java helps Lesa answer the phone and take orders

Minnie peruses the CMH catalog

Trina and her babies, Pebbles and Bruiser, even stopped by to say hello!

Sometimes it is pretty cool to work for a small company were you can do fun things like this!

Will you accept this rose?

Anyone else hooked on watching the Bachelorette?  My mom and I have always done the "watch and discuss" thing, but this time is a little different (and a little more interesting).  One of the guys on the show is my cousin's friend (Jeremy)... and it's always more fun to watch a game when you the players-even if it's a friend of a friend of a friend (but hey, I have at least met him).  Anyway, since I've been keeping close tabs on this season (and because Jeremy is in the Final 3), I thought it would be fun to have a Bachelorette-watching party on Monday.  I probably should wait until the Final Rose Ceremony episode to go all out with a party, but I just can't!  I was inspired to make a special invitation for this party and had to do it NOW!

So this morning at the office, I had a rose ceremony of my own.  I lined up all of my co-workers, cued up some dramatic music on my computer and called their names one by one to hand them their rose invitation...  When it was down to the final rose, I said "Ladies, this is the final rose"... You could feel the tension...  Who wouldn't be invited to my party?  Who would be humiliated in front of their peers?  You just never know until that last name is called... 

Alright, fine.  So I didn't really do that, but I should have.  It would have been pretty funny.  Oh well.  Maybe next time.  But don't you love this idea?  The only thing I purchased were the roses.  All of the rest were some scraps from a few LUXE projects I've been working on {coming soon- wink,wink}.  The front is matchbook-style and says "Will you accept this rose..."  and the inside says  "and come to a Bachelorette-watching party?"

   

Poo in a Tree

I don't vandalize.  I almost never even rolled houses in high school {there was that one time that we *minted* a yard, but that's another story. maybe later}...  The point is, that's not my thing.  I usually pick up random trash on my morning walk with Sarah just to keep the neighborhood clean.

Well, not today. Today I slung dog poo in a neighbors tree.  Accidentally.

Yes, I know how it sounds.  But you see, I was walking Miss Sarah, like I do every morning...  and we almost always walk the same mile and a half route.  I know how far I'm walking, about how long it should take, and there's generally zero traffic to worry about, so I stick with it.  It works. 

I leave my complex (Point A) and usually somewhere between Point A and Point B, Sarah does her business.  That's great for me, because it means that I can just drop it on the sidewalk, continue our walk around the block, and pick it up on the way back...  I mean, there's no reason for me to carry dog poop around if I don't have to, right?  Well today, Sarah was dead set on going JUST PAST point B.  Fine.  So I bagged the business and thought I would just "toss" it closer to the corner (Point B), just to be a little more efficient on our return trip.  I've actually done this a few times, so I didn't think much of it.  But I guess my arm's getting stronger {with all of my working out, I'm SURE}... so I was mortified to watch my plastic bag of doggie poo take a graceful arc into the neighbor's tree.  Crap.  Definitely out of my reach.  Front and center.  Of a very nice-looking house that's for sale.  And that's empty (so I can't even apologize to the people).  Nice.  Sorry folks.  Needless to say, we high-tailed it outta there STAT... and I might be taking a different path tomorrow morning.

A little jello goes a long way

I don't normally post about parties (come on, my grandma is a reader, and I don't want people to get the wrong idea about me...), but at my friend Matt's birthday party last night, I was a little taken aback when I opened the fridge.  So much so that I had to share this pic (taken with a phone).  Apparently my friends Amber and Megan are Jello Shot connoisseurs, so they filled his fridge with about 10 different varieties for this party.  Keep in mind, I DO NOT do Jello (it's a texture violation and wouldn't make it halfway down my throat), so I didn't TOUCH the things, but it was kind of funny to open the fridge expecting to pull out more cheese for the cheese tray, and instead finding 4 million tiny plastic containers of Jello Shots. 

I felt like I stepped back into some crazy college party or something...  Matt's dad says he loves Matt's birthday parties because they make him feel like he's 30 again.  He's a crack up...  Grilling up burgers and jalapeno poppers (yum!), and running around goofing off with us...  In fact, we even played a few rounds of beer pong and he was my designated drinker (since I had an hour drive home).  Even though that's kind of cheating, the girls killed the boys (for the record), and we had a lot of fun just playing around and giving them a hard time about having such lousy aim.

Even though I'm not much for a "party" these days, I'm glad I went.  It was fun seeing old friends, enjoying the nice evening weather, and laughing a lot more than I have in a long, long time.

I want to...

-travel the world and enjoy it.

- enjoy the little things in life.

- spend time with my family while I can.

- make new friends.

- find a faith that feels right.

- use my talents to express myself.

- feel comfortable in my own skin.

- be able to forgive those who have hurt me.

- take my dog to work daily.

- not be so afraid of change.

There. I said it...  Maybe by putting what I want *out there* I can actually go after it.  All of it.