Can I have fall yet?

The weather around here is FINALLY starting to change to the cooler side. I have to say, October is one of my favorite times of the year and probably my least favorite time to live in Arizona. I actually said to Todd this month "I think we should move," yeah, I know. See, the thing that stinks is all of the images of fall that start floating around this time of year. Leaves start to change, nights start to cool down and you pull out your Halloween decorations. Not in Phoenix, you still have one month left of 90 degree weather. All I want is to pull out my riding boots and sweaters and everyone else is still getting their tan on.

You really have to learn how to put that extra effort into making it feel like fall in Arizona. As soon as October first rolled around I threw up all my Halloween decorations. (This also explains the lacking blog on the home re-model. I dont' want you think that floating pumpkins are part of the new decor. I do want to show off my Halloween decor before the season is up though.) I spent most of last weekend watching all of my favorite fall movies. This included; Hocus Pocus, Practical Magic,The Skeleton Key (not really fall, but scary) and a few random ones that for some reason always make think of fall; The Stepmom and When Harry Met Sally (really I don't know why I consider these seasonal movies.)

This week I was blessed with cooler weather-77 degrees and cloudy out? Yes Please!  The stormy weather wasn't supposed to hit us until today, but I was too anxious last night and had to prepare something that was super fall-ish to me, it helps me psychologically you see.

Hence, last night's dinner was.... 

HOLY COW, was it good. I have never roasted carrots on their own before, but I think I have a new favorite way to eat this veggie. Carrots are made to me roasted, their flavor just explodes! It was really easy too!


Thyme-Roasted Carrots (from A Sweet Pea Chef via Tastespotting)
10-12 whole unpeeled carrots, split lengthwise (I only used about 5 since I was cooking for two of us)2 tbsp. fresh whole thyme leaves (no stems)
2-3 tbsp. olive oil
1 tsp. kosher salt
1/4 tsp. ground black pepper
optional: balsamic vinegar, honey, fresh rosemary sprigs (I just used thyme because it was what I had)

Directions

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
Cover a sheet pan with aluminum foil or parchment paper. Drizzle olive oil over carrots on the sheet pan. Season with kosher salt and ground black pepper. Toss carrots until evenly coated with oil and seasonings. Arrange carrots on sheet pan. Toss fresh thyme leaves over carrots.
Roast in oven for 30-35 minutes, until golden and tender.

How easy is that? These were seriously incredible. Carrots are also super cheap this time of the year, I got my bag of them for 98 cents at Fresh and Easy.These would be a great way to impress some dinner guests.

Is your mouth watering yet?

But let's get to the real reason you are here today...Loaded Baked Potato Soup.

Confession: I never follow recipes, I usually look at them as suggestions really. I like to find a few versions of what I am cooking then  take the parts I like and mix them into one. For the most part it usually works out. When I was searching a recipe for the potato soup I found this recipe from Natalie's Killer Cuisine. I wanted to try our her family's secret ingredient of Chive and Onion cream cheese, but it also was a huge batch of soup, (10 potatoes!) so I was shallow and picked a recipe from what picture I liked the best.

Baked Potato Soup (For The Love of Cooking via Tastespotting)

• 4-5 baking potatoes (about 2 1/2 pounds)
• 2/3 cup all purpose flour
• 6 cups of 2% reduced fat milk ( I actually used skim milk because I knew I was adding sour cream and cream cheese)
• 3/4 cup reduced fat extra sharp cheddar cheese, divided
• Salt and fresh cracked pepper to taste
• 1 cup reduced fat sour cream (I used non fat)
• 1/2 cup green onions, chopped

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Pierce the potatoes with a fork; bake at 400 degrees for 1 hour or until tender. Cool. Peel potatoes; coarsely mash. Discard skins
Lightly spoon the flour in a large Dutch oven; gradually add the milk, stirring with a whisk until blended. Cook over medium heat until thick and bubbly (about 8 minutes). Add mashed potatoes, cheese, salt and pepper, stirring until cheese melts. Turn the heat to low. Stir in the sour cream and the green onions. Cook for 10 minutes or until thoroughly heated - DO NOT BOIL.
Toppings:

• 6 slices of bacon, cooked and crumbled
• Green onions, chopped
• Cheddar cheese, shredded
• Sour cream with chives

Hello gorgeous, you smelled lovely last night. Also, I would like to take this moment to introduce you to my cast iron dutch oven. It rocks my world. If you don't have one, get one...like yesterday. I would have to say it is one of the best kitchen investments ever.

This recipe is really easy. You can even bake your potatoes ahead of time. I put mine in for an hour while I emptied the dishwasher and picked up the house. Then it was ready to eat when Todd got home from work. It was the perfect dinner to put me the fall mood. If I am lucky, it can be a celebration dinner for the end of triple-digit weather for this year.

Hope you are enjoying your fall weather, wherever you are.

-Mrs. J

Today, the Jaramillos and the McLartys became...

That is right. On November 1, 2010 (weather permitting) the McLarty family and the Jaramillo family will be taking off on flight with NASA on one of their last few space missions...well ok, maybe we are not physically going. Our photos are going though!

Last week I was bumming around online, shocker I know, and stumbled upon NASA's Your Face in Space program. All you have to do is go to NASA's Web site, upload your photo and then you are cleared for take off! NASA will be taking all of the photos up into outer space with them on their last two space missions. When the shuttles land you can go back online and print out your certificate of participation. How cool, right?

I tried to do photo of Todd's and my family together, but not all of us would fit so I broke us down into two. This is the photo of my family that is going:

and this is the photo of Todd's family:

I don't know if you would consider formal wear appropriate for space travel, but I just thought we should all be dressed to the nines for this once in a lifetime experience. If you can't tell, Todd's family was able to keep their composure preparing for the big space event, my family not so much.

There are only 2 flights left if you want to participate. STS-133 is the launch we are going on and is taking off November 1st. STS-134 is taking off in February. The best part, it is totally free to hitch a ride! I hope that the weather participates and we can have a safe flight.

Happy flights astronauts!

-Mrs.J

oh and PS, the girls are going to be coming too, I just need to find a good photo of both of them.

Everyday

I don't know if there words enough to explain the many ways Todd blesses my life every day. I am so thankful for everything about him, so thankful to have met him and so thankful to have married him.

This man worked hard teaching and coaching and lived at home for two years after college to put a down payment on a house for us to live in.

This man moved from California, where he grew up and loved, to be with me in Arizona.

This man sold his Volkswagen Bus, that he worked at Ihop in high school to buy, because he wanted to give me a gorgeous engagement ring.

This man drives to work an hour each way to provide for our family.

This man worked hard to understand my sensitive spirit and tries not to hurt my feelings.

This man learned to deal with the way three sisters can fight and nag at each other sometimes.

This man loves my family for everything we are, even when we are weird.

This man makes the best enchiladas I have ever had.

This man never stops thinking on how he can make our family set in the future.

This man taught me there can be pleasure in saving money.

This man enrolled in graduate school on top of working 40 hours a week.

This man will take me to baseball games and enjoy explaining the game to me.

This man waters our grass and trims our trees with such precision and care.

This man loves everything about me, even when I drive him crazy and feels like nothing he says is right.

This man will be my future children's father.

This man makes me laugh like no person I have ever met.

This man promised my father to take care of me the way a father would want a daughter taken care of.

This man is my husband and thank God every day that he brought Todd into my life.

-Mrs.J

You need to know about...

If you haven't figured it out yet, I am little obsessed with my cats. I can't help it really, ever since I was a child I have just loved cats. Nothing turns me into this little girl again:

 like seeing a little kitty running around. I seriously can't help it.

I know I talk about our little kitty Scioscia a bunch and I really think you need to know the story of Nunu because if you ever meet her, you will instantly fall in love. Even my sister Laura who has been a dog person from day one has a sweet spot for Nunu. She has the best kitty spirit I think I have ever known. I will always maintain  Nunu and I were destined to be together. I think we are kindred spirits and needed to spend some time on is earth together.

 Before I married Todd, I lived my sisters. One day the absolute worst neighbors moved into our cul-de-sac. It was a blended family of a boyfriend/girlfriend and their children from previous relationships. The kids ran around crazy and unsupervised; many a day I ran outside, broke up their fight and sent them home, I have to say it was good practice for my future mom-voice. The dad spent a lot of his time drinking beer and blaring country music in the front yard. Probably the breaking point with this new neighbor was when a man living with them came outside drunk and yelled some really racist things at our next door neighbor who we all loved. Needless to say, this family was a little bit of a rough crowd and this was the first family that Nunu ever knew. She was a gift from the biological mother of one of the children that lived in the house. They named her Angel. At first Nunu was allowed to be inside, then the dad's friend who was living with the family (Mr. Racist Pants) decided he didn't like the cat, I am guessing Nunu probably decided she didn't like him either, and she was soon kicked out of the house. They even stopped giving her food and water. I really don't know how they thought she would survive.

I remember the exact day I first met Nunu. I was walking out to get the mail when I spotted this adorable grey little fluffy things walking across the cul-de-sac. Remember that little girl you saw in the top photo? Yeah, I revert to that girl so often. I of course had to call this little kitty over, I used my loving cat calls I would use to call my sister's cat Coco, "Here kitty kitty, my little nunie-nunie head." If you have pets you understand that. Nunu looked at me and without any hesitation came trotting over. She started purring when I pet her, I was immediately smitten. Our relationship continued this way for a couple weeks. She would come over to me anytime I was outside in the front yard. Once when I was outside and she was sitting with me, the little girl from across the street came over. "Do you know whose kitty this is?" I asked her. "Oh yeah, that is our cat Angel. She can't come inside anymore because my dad's friend doesn't like her." Then without any concern for what should be her cat, she ran off and started playing. My my heart broke for Nunu. I decided I would start putting out food and water for her, but she had to stay an outside cat. She had gotten use to my cat calls and would come whenever I would call out "Nunu," so the name kind of stuck. I hadn't been looking to adopt a cat and still being on the parental unit's dime, I couldn't really just decide to take on the responsibility. After my mom came for a visit and met Nunu, we found a place in Phoenix that would spay and neuter feral cats. If you notice Nunu has the top of her right ear cut off, this what the clinic did to identify her as fixed. This way if she were to be picked up by Animal Control they would release her back into the neighborhood since she was really not a problem if she wouldn't be having any kittens. It seemed that we had a good thing going, Nunu was my happy outside kitty. Then winter came.

I could tell that Nunu was getting really lonely. She made friends with another little kitty that I was feeding and had gotten fixed, I called her Tiggs. Tiggs was very shy and never let me touch her, she would just follow Nunu around and sit near me when I was outside but was never brave enough to let me touch her. One day Tiggs disappeared. I am not sure what happened to her, she just stopped coming around. This really made Nunu sad. She started spending all of her time outside our house. I would spend as much time as I could with her. When it got cold, Todd and I bought her a kitty bed and rug that she could sleep in outside. Every night I came home she would be curled up in her bed. Then came the tipping point. One day I was home alone and felt very sorry for little Nunu. I could see her sitting outside the house looking lonely. I decided to just let her come spend a little time with me inside while I was watching TV...the next day I started to let her spend a little more time...then a few days later I brought her bed inside to sleep in during cold night. Since she had spent the start of her life as an inside kitty, it was easy for her to go back to using a litter box. Then Nunu watched our dog Emma use the doggy door, all bets were off and Nunu moved herslef in the next day. For a long time Nunu was very desperate for attention. Anytime you were sitting down she would run over and curl up in your lap, purring her heart out. Even when she was sleeping next to you she liked to put one paw on you, just to make sure you weren't leaving her. It was as if she worried you would abandon her any minute and she would be out on the street again.

That of course never happened. Nunu was such a good kitty who followed all the rules so easily that my sister never really objected to Nunu moving in. My mom was so smitten by her loving personality that we knew we just couldn't throw her back in the street. This cat really went from homeless to the lap of luxury.

I had always been a person who would adopt a rescue before anything else, but I never really felt like an advocate for it until I met Nunu. Here was this kitty who wanted nothing more than to be unconditionally loved by a family. Her little kitty spirit really inspired to me want to help out other pets. I even chose my senior PR internship with a rescue group because of Nunu. I am just so glad serendipity meant that Nunu and I would meet. She really deserves all of the love that she gets because she gives so much in return. Since Nunu didn't get the prettiest name I decided to giver her the middle name Bella because it means beautiful.

-Mrs.J

My Current Obsessions

-This Coffee

Well, really anything pumpkin-ish right now. Todd's mom bought us a Keurig coffee machine about a year ago. It is one of my favorite things in my whole house. I save so much money grabbing my own iced or hot coffee before I leave for work. Bonus, I don't waste a whole pot. I was at Kohls picking up some coffee when I saw this amazing, tasty treat. One week later and I am almost already out! I will be grabbing another box before we move on to more wintery flavors.






-This lip balm

C.O. Bigelow probably has some of the best lip balms and glosses. I like this one because as the air cools down, my lips require something a little more than just shine. This goes on like silk and leaves your lips with a yummy little lemon flavor. No chapped lips and perfect for kissing! Todd hates lip gloss with a passion. I specifically did not wear lip gloss on my wedding because otherwise he would have wiped his lips right after our big moment and totally ruined it.





-Getting Crafty

I know that it really isn't New Years Resolution time, but I am going to try and do more crafting this year instead of watching TV. This is my first attempt at headbands and it only cost me $1.29 to make. I am starting with cheap felt and when I get better at it, I am going to work with wool felt. Sometimes I just sit online and covet pictures of wool felt.

 Seriously, can't you just die looking at this? Since wool felt is more expensive, I am just going to hone my craft on regular felt for a while. Sigh, a girl can dream!







-This Pillow

As part of my new crafting hobby, I have become obsessed with craft blogs, which is where I found this happy little pillow. I am very excited to try and make this because it actually is super simple!










-My Newly Redecorated living room

Soon, I promise, I will get my house put back into order and show pictures of the whole thing. We seriously worked all the way up to Sunday night last weekend and I just have not had a chance to get my house back into order yet. The redecorating turned out incredible! With just a few changes, we were able to update the entire look of the house. It just feels so cozy. I can't wait to show it off.





-This Show

Is anyone else watching Sister Wives? Um, hello fascinating! The show is following the lives of the Browns, a family of polygamists in Utah. It is so interesting to watch the whole the family dynamic play out. The Browns are completely different from what we have seen recently in the media of polygamist families. It makes me laugh because I feel the wives actually like each other more than they do their husband! Sister Wives in on Sunday nights on TLC, if you want to check it out. I would hurry too since the Utah DA is doing an investigation of the family for felony bigamy, polygamy is illegal in Utah. There have been rumors the show might get cancelled depending on what the outcome of the investigation is. Get ya' drama while you can!

-This weather

I always feel so accomplished when I make it through another Arizona summer, almost like I am proving myself worthy to live in the gorgeous state. I guess 3 months of sweltering heat just makes it fair for how wonderful our weather is the other 9 months of the year. Todd and I slept with our windows open for the first night in probably forever and I got chilly! Luckily for me I have a built in heater that sleeps right next to me. Just a few seconds of snuggles and I am nice and warm. We are looking forward to smaller energy bills, coffee in the morning and dinner at night on our patio and just opening the windows in the evening to air out the house.



-Fall Comfort Food

 By the end of summer I am so tired of grilling that I dying to pull out some of my fall/winter recipes. Todd's favorite food I make is my chicken and dumplings, which just doesn't sound appealing in the summer. This was my first attempt at a chicken pot pie. It was super easy and super yummy!








What are some of your fall obsessions?

Until next time,

-Mrs.J



I have to tell you the story of this photo...

because it is one of my favorite memories of my wedding and I never want to forget it. It is a little embarrassing of a story, but if if you know me, I don't get embarrassed easily.

I seriously was not stressed at all in the days and nights before my wedding. I knew that things were going to go wrong, and they did like when the wrong flowers were sent three days before, and that was ok with me because I knew that at the end of the day I was marrying Todd. That was all that mattered to me. So while most brides might be losing sleep or dreaming of the horrid things that could happen, I was not. The day before my wedding I woke up from what at the time felt like the most amazing magical dream, while in real life it is kind of silly.

In my dream I was standing on this really tall building looking down into a courtyard of people. I decided in my dream that I should put on my wedding dress and show it off to everyone down below, because why not right?

Now, I loved my wedding dress. It was a dream of a wedding dress that cost $3,000 and I got it on sale for $200. I had not been looking at such big, poofy dresses because none of them were in my budget. This dress was a magical dress. When I went shopping with my mom and sisters for dresses it was the last dress from the clearance section I tried on. Nobody remembered pulling it and fit like a glove, but at 50% off, it still was not in my budget. So even though everyone thought it looked amazing on me, I didn't think too much of it. That was of course until the sales lady told us that all 50% off clearance dresses were $200 that day. I didn't want to take it off after that.

I felt like I was wearing a delicious, beautiful cupcake all day long.


So in my dream I decided that I need show this dress off. I remember so vividly  how I put my dress on and walked up to the rooftop of the tall building. I then put my arms out and started spinning around to show how gorgeous my dress was. The crowd in the courtyard down below immediately looked up. They started to gasp and all started to say "ohhh" and "ahhh" and I even heard "so lovely." I just spun and spun in my dress on the rooftop as everyone below watched. I felt so amazing and beautiful up there. It was an awesome dream to wake up to. Then I started to feel a little silly about it.

I of course had to share that story with the girls in my wedding party, we laughed about it all day while we did our pre-wedding getting prettified things. When my wedding day came and I slipped on my magical dress in unison all the girls started to go "oohhh, ahhhh, so lovely!" as I started spinning around. It was our little joke all day.

I have to say though, I felt as pretty in my dress that day as I did in my dream two nights before. It was such an incredible day, to say the least.

-Mrs.J