Ouick Monkey Bread

This is a favorite of mine and the recipe was one my Nannie made all the time when I was a kid. The famous "Ouick Monkey Bread." It's perfect for brunch or early afternoon dessert.

The Ingredients:
~3 cans biscuits
~1/2 cup chopped nuts
~1 tsp cinnamon
~1/2 cup sugar
~1 stick butter
~1 cup brown sugar

The Prep:
~Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees.
~Grease a large bundt pan. Pour nuts evenly into the pan and set aside.
~Mix cinnamon and sugar in a bowl. Set aside.
~Measure out brown sugar
~Put butter in microwavable bowl.


The Process:
~Cut biscuits into quarters. Roll each piece in cinnamon-sugar mixture. Toss biscuits in bundt
pan evenly as you go.

~Melt butter in microwave and then add the brown sugar. Pour over sugared biscuits.

~Bake at 350 degrees 30-40 minutes until biscuits are done. The larger the biscuits the longer
it will take to cook.

~Allow to cool a bit before removing from pan (5-10 minutes). Remember this is best served warm so don't let it cool too much before removing from pan.

~Flip pan over onto serving platter. Enjoy!

Set Up Complete

Ashley's best friend Josh and his Greyhound Silvan came over on Saturday to help him set up the new entertainment center. He had some equipment and cables that he decided were no longer useful so now we don't have as many components as what we used to. The DVR decided to stop working after the digital switch over and we no longer watch VCR tapes so there was no use in having those around collecting dust!

Ashley neatly wraps each and every single cable as he pulls it out. He is such a fanatic about it too. Never mind Silvan's butt in the picture. He lays wherever he wants and where there is room. He wanted to be right in the middle of the action while he snoozes.

Before bringing in the new you must go out with the old so this picture is of Ashley cleaning off the top of the old tower that used to hold his equipment. Josh is offering him his handy helping service!

Meanwhile, Roxie decides she wants to sit on Silvan's bed. After all it is in her house. I think it's funny that she sat in the corner. Sylvan didn't know what to think about this. He didn't show much concern he just layed on the floor instead. A little later in the evening Sylvan decided he wanted to lay on the bed too so somehow they made it work even though he looks like he's not all that comfortable!Ashley is behind the tv hooking up cables. Boy there are a lot of cables back there!It only took about 4 hours to pull the old out, clean and then re assemble. In the end this is what it looks like. It's taken me several days to get used to the tv being that high up but I'm used to it now. Hopefully we will have a much bigger room soon so that will make it even better!

My New Shoes

A few weeks ago I was out shopping. I went into Macy's and decided to walk thru the shoe department. I've had my eye out for a cute pair of brown dress shoes and up until this point I hadn't found anything that I liked well enough to buy. I wanted a pair mainly for dress up occasions, like when we go to the theatre or a nice resturant. I don't usually wear dressy shoes to work because heels and pre schoolers don't really mesh very well. Not for me anyway!

So I'm walking through the huge array of women's shoes. It can easily become overwhelming because there are so many options: tall heels, medium heels, baby heels, no heels, hard sole, soft sole, sandal, wedge, open toe, closed toe, white, black, gold, blue, bronze, brown, red, green, yellow, orange...It made me feel like I do when I go to the womens shoe department at Nordstrom in the Galleria!

So once my mind processes everything I see I remind myself that I not only want something cute but something comfortable!

And so the search begins. I don't buy cheap shoes because cheap shoes hurt my feet. I have very high arches and I've learned that only certain brands of shoes best support high arches. You know, high arches deserve comfort just like low arches. But I'm not complaining, I just have to pay more for shoes that give my feet love.

It didn't take me long for my eye to catch these babies:
I had the nice sales person bring them to me in my size. I've never worn a pair of Sofft brand shoes. They are shoes like my mom would buy: very squishy when you put them on!

I tried them on and they were perfect! Brown, cute sandal with low heel. My feet were in love with the first slide in!

So the next time we go to the Hobby Center, you can bet I'll be wearing these!

I might even wear them on Monday when Ashley takes me out for my birthday dinner!

Entertainment Center Complete

Several months ago Ashley went on a mission to design a new entertainment center for our living room. It is technically more like a media center but I'd rather call it an entertainment center. The TV will sit on top with all of his high end audio equipemnt (AKA, Audio Nerd Gear) on the shelves below.

When we first decided Ashley was going to build a custom piece I wanted it all built out of a very exotic wood called cocobolo. Since this wood is rare it comes with a hefty price. In order for us to keep the piece at a reasonable price Ashley came up with an alternative option: birds eye maple with cocobolo inlay. This would mean we would end up with a stark contrast, light to dark. His plan was to design it in such a way that the cocobolo is seen on the edges of each shelf. At first I was unsure but as the project progressed I grew to like it more and more.

I'm attaching some of the final pictures below! It's been a long 2 months, with many weeknight and weekends spent in the garage. My washer and dryer are completley covered in orange cocobolo dust and even though it annoy's me, I just might be okay with it because this thing is so beautiful.

Take a look:

Inside of the house it is quite a bit darker than it was when it was outside. The birds eye maple isn't quite as bright.

Ashley is planning on setting it up this weekend. Josh is coming over to help. I'm sure that once they get it all done we'll be watching some crazy action film! I'm so excited!