I wanted to share with you all my easy peasy 7 layer dip. Except today it’s more like 5ish because I don’t know if the guests at this party like olives, which is usually a layer, and I didn’t defrost ground beef in time to add that layer as well. Nonetheless, this dip is just as good as I made it today because of all the yummy layering of flavors.

First you layer some refried beans on the bottom of a casserole dish, I used my 13x9 pan by Pyrex. I just plop it onto the dish straight from the can, no need to cook the beans, or I don’t anyway. No one has died or gotten diarrhea from my dip.

That I know of.

In a separate bowl, mash up 2 large avocados or 3 average/small avocados. Season with salt, pepper and paprika. Layer on top of the beans.

Next, you need an 8 oz. container of sour cream. Any brand is cool. Make sure it gets to room temperature so its easy to spread.

Spread on top of the avocado.

Next, you need a jar of salsa. Make sure to keep in mind how hot/spicy the salsa is related to how hot/spicy your guests like their food.

You guessed it…spread on top of the sour cream.

Finally you need a bag of cheddar or taco blend cheese. I found the taco blend at Wal-Mart for $1.25

Sprinkle over salsa, you can sprinkle a little or a lot. I used about 1/2 a bag.

 

And lastly, I crushed a few tortilla chips on top of the cheese and sprinkled some salt and fresh ground pepper.

And there ya have it! An inexpensive, easy peasy dip that’ll serve a lot of people!

Other possible layers:

Olives

Jalapenos

Ground beef cooked with taco seasoning (so yummy!)

Fresh tomatoes

Lettuce

Enjoy!

Oh boo. That’s totally the song playing in the Clueless scene with Brittany Murphy. Whom I adore.

Sad. I have a ton of her movies, which I didn’t realize until I heard the bad news about her death.

Just Married? Check!

Little Black Book? Check!

Uptown Girls? Check!

King of the Hill season 1-who knows how many? Check!

Clueless? Not yet! Must buy that on DVD ASAP.

Anyway, back to my point of this post…

Thank you to all 3 of you who voted for me in The Homies. I didn’t ask for nor expect any votes, so I was so happy and surprised when I saw 3 lovely people nominated my little blog.

And it also motivated to maybe actually blog about my home and do some decor stuff soon. I should really finish the darn master bedroom.

That is totally my next project, and I can’t wait to show you what I have in store!

SMOOCHES!

-mon

My good friend Laurel (I call her a good friend because she’s someone I met online, but would totally hang out with in person. And she only lives 3.5 hours from me, so one day I hope to meet up with her for food, drinks and shopping…) asked me via Twitter if I had a 30 before 30 list or a 100 in 1001 list, and I said no. Because I don’t. I don’t like lying. Exaggerating, yes; lying, no.

Standards people, I have standards.

100 in 1001 seems daunting, so I decided to do 30 before 30, and I wanted to share with you. Those of you over 30 might be able to offer me some advice or words of wisdom (or tell me not to bother with #__ or #__) and for those of you under 30, maybe you’ll care to join me?

In no particular order, here we go.

1.) Be a single digit size. We all know I have weight issues and I have self-esteem issues, so I’d really like to get the weight off, keep it off, and be done with it.

2.) Go to Europe. London doesn’t count- I mean Italy, France, Greece or Germany.

3.) Continue this blog. I would love to have this blog forever and ever. Words cannot explain how much I love writing to you all, and at the end of the day it makes me not feel so alone.

4.) Read more books. This one caught my eye recently:

5.) Buy a house. Buy a PRETTY house with a big kitchen. Yes. Must.

6.) Pay off all my student loan debt. ALL OF IT.

7.) Take boudoir pics. This is one that I think I want more for myself than my husband wants for himself. It goes hand in hand with #1.

8.) Volunteer lots of time at the Humane Society. I always want to do this, and I do donate money every month, but I think my time is worth a lot, too.

9.) Cook more, eat out less.

10.) Stop being so cynical.

11.) Find a job I truly, truly, truly LOVE. Not like. Not can bear for awhile. LOVE.

12.) DIY more, but know when it’s better to just buy than DIY.

13.) Spend more time with my friends. I need to make time to see them.

14.) Go to NYC with the hubby.

15.) Go to Disney World and stay at a deluxe resort, perhaps the Contemporary:

16.) Go to Napa and drink wine.

17.) Buy a dSLR and learn to use it properly.

18.) See snow again. Last time I saw snow was in 2004:

19.) See more comedians live. I love to laugh, laughing burns calories, so it’s like exercise. But fun.

20.) Um…begin to look at exercise in a fun way and less in a chore way.

21.) Save more, spend less.

22.) Attend a taping of Jay Leno, Ellen or The View.

23.) Grow my Etsy store to reach more people and offer more products.

24.) Learn to swim. I don’t know how, dead serious!

25.) Look good in a bikini. See #1 and #24.

26.) Run/walk a half-marathon. 13.1 miles- I can do it!

27.) Go to a pro football, basketball and baseball game. I mean PRO, I do NOT mean the San Antonio Missions kinda pro.

28.) Pamper myself more: hair color in a salon, get manicures, pedicures, massages.

29.) Stay in a fancy hotel once a year and order breakfast in bed.

30.) Have a baby (maybe). MAYBE.

What would your list look like? For those over 30, maybe a 40 before 40 list?

Because I end up purchasing 2 DVDs that are quite cheesy, but that I hope will be fun to workout to.

Exhibit A:

Which you can buy here on Amazon.

Exhibit B:

Which you can waste your money on here on Amazon.

And with that I am off to bed.

Oh, but I wanted to answer some questions that have been left in the comments or e-mailed to me because I puffy heart you all!

Q: Monica, did you finish week 1 of C25K?

A: No, I only ended up doing 2 of the workouts, so I am redoing week 1 again this week on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. I am spreading out my days to prevent injury/soreness. I am also going to stretch a lot longer before and after.

 

Q: Why aren’t you posting much DIY/home stuff? I am going to unsubscribe!

A: Um, well 2 people did unsubscribe via Feed Burner and I cried. I have been posting home decor ideas/tips, but generally this is more of a decor/diy/health/fitness/recipes/whiny kind of blog. I am all over the place, and that’s just me. Sorry you unsubscribed! :o(

 

Q: Post a ticker so we can keep up with your weight loss!

A: Done! It’s on the sidebar. I also added a countdown to my birthday because I lurve birthdays. And countdowns. Personally, I’d like to lose 40ish pounds, but to be in my healthy weight range for my height/age, it’s more like 53ish. Even if I only lose a pound a week, that’d put me at my goal weight by this time next year!

 

Q: Do you like your new Wii Fit Plus?

A: YES! I had the original Wii Fit, and what I didn’t like has been totally resolved in this new version. Some of the games still seem really challenging, but it’s still fun to try and improve. Besides, if you could beat/master all the games on the first try, what would be the fun in that? I just played it for the first time tonight, and I plan to do an in-depth review after I try out all the cool features/functions.

 

Have questions? E-mail me at Monica20039@gmail.com

And Gwen, I would love to be your workout buddy whether it’s running or becoming a stripper Pussycat Doll. E-mail me!

Apparently, I am overly ambitious. I thought I could make cake balls, 7-layer dip, chocolate chip cookies, vodka punch, decorate, get dressed and create world peace all between the hours of 2 pm and 6:30 pm.

Didn’t happen. The first thing to go out the window were the cake balls. I know they’re easy and whatnot, but the perfectionist in me would have been so angry if they didn’t look exactly like Bakerella’s. Really happy I scrapped that idea and just made a cake. So pedestrian. I know.

The MAIN reason I didn’t get to do all the food/desserts I had planned is because of decoration. I wanted the apartment to NOT look as apartmentish and that was truly my priority. Do my guests give a crap about the decor? Probably not, but it’s always my main focus.

I wanted a grand centerpiece for the food table, but I didn’t want a grand price tag. While at the grocery store I bought a pack of $4 red carnations and I made 5 (yes, FIVE!) floral arrangements with like 16 carnations.

But back to my grand centerpiece…I wanted branches with a few crystals (AKA- clear acrylic beads) hanging from the branches and some red carnations. I went outside (literally), found 2 branches that had a good shape to them, spray painted them white, stuck the branches in a foam pomander covered with red roses and made this:

I mostly used materials I had on hand, so this centerpiece was almost free, minus the few carnations I used. The other carnations went into 4 IKEA glass jars and went on the coffee table and in the bathroom. On the bottom of the glass jar are clear acrylic diamonds that I bought for our wedding and never used.

 

Other miscellaneous decor pics (again, using stuff I had on hand):

We also have this fugly light fixture in the apartment that is right above the dining room table. Super close, almost inches above the darn table. I moved it up using a black sash I bought and never used for the wedding:

  

I didn’t want to have to wash dishes after the event, so I bought 3 packs of clear, plastic wine glasses from Dollar Tree. To make them more festive, my mom and I added a blue or teal bell to the bottom of each one complete with a cute name tag. This also helped distinguish which glass belonged to who. The damask coasters are from Hobby Lobby.

And my mom bought us some adorable monogrammed napkins for our first married party (thanks mom!), and even the box the napkins came in was used!

And of course there’s the food! Here’s what we served, and I will apologize in advance because I didn’t get to take pictures of everything. :o(

Food:

Macaroni Bites (recipe can be found here- I used regular cheddar though)

Bratwurst Sliders

Chicken wraps (chunks of chicken breast wrapped with a jalapeno and thick bacon held together with a toothpick and baked for 20-30 minutes, until bacon is crispy)

Sides:

Nacho bar complete with chips, cheese, salsa & avocado

Dessert:

Red velvet cake

Smores bars (brought by one of our guests- YUM!)

Drinks:

Vodka punch (cheap strawberry daiquiri wine bottle $2 + 1 liter of sprite + ice + vodka= vodka punch all in a 1 gallon pitcher)

Andre Pink Champagne ($4 champagne is fab!)

Beer

Sparkling apple cider punch- this one is for the kiddos. Oddly enough, the color/foam looks just like a beer. (Sparkling apple cider [non-alcoholic] + 1 liter of sprite)

And of course, pictures of our guests having fun. We played Guesstures in the dining room area once the food was finished, and in the living room area, the guests were playing Rock Band 2. Fun was had by all 17 people who attended. SEVENTEEN! Holy cow.

All in all for being a party that cost us about $100, I think we did a good job. However, I was stressed. So stressed. I became a total fart to my husband. I was mean. Mean. I want to blame it on the kitchen being small and not enough room for us to prep/bake/cook everything, but that’d be a cop out. I also want to blame it on my mom being there and I feel like she’s always judging me (for the record- she did say my branch centerpiece was heinous), but again, that’d be a cop out. Overall, I didn’t have fun because I was stressed and putting pressure on myself for everything to be perfect. PERFECT!

This is probably why I didn’t truly enjoy my wedding day- I am always, I mean always looking at the details to check if they are precise and perfect. I am anal, aren’t I?

That’s awful.

And once the party got started I was totally cool, playing the role of the nice hostess who is also nice to her husband, and it was relaxing. Until my mother-in-law got there with her 5 kids. Wait, she only has 4. Who is this extra person?

This extra person apparently is one of Daniel’s sister’s BFFs. She invited her to come to our party without telling me. I planned for “x” amount of guests, not “y” amount of guests.

Nice.

This girl also ate a ton, got a migraine, and asked to lay down in our bedroom. This is the point where someone should have taken this kid HOME. As in, away from my apartment. I don’t care if this kid lives 30 minutes away, I doubt her mom even knew she was at our party. It’s all sorts of wrong in my book.

Back to our bedroom- Which looked like a tornado had hit it because we were basically just throwing stuff into the bedroom to get the common area to look impeccable. I was NOT comfortable with this kid I didn’t even know laying down in our bedroom, so I said no. Ten minutes later, I find out the kid is in our bedroom, on our bed, and so is Daniel’s sis. Um, alright. I recall saying no.

Ten minutes after that, I see the bedroom door fling open and Victoria (D’s sis) announcing that her BFF had just thrown up on our carpet in OUR BEDROOM. THE ONE I DID NOT WANT HER IN. THE ONE WHO WAS NOT INVITED.

I know my guests probably felt like I was a total bitch, but my mother-in-law had the nerve to blame it on the food. Um, no one told the kid to eat 8 of the 40 chicken wraps we had out. And seriously, none of US are sick.

And then Daniel and his dad go clean up the kid puke.

I am LIVID. I got so hot because I was raging, fuming mad.

And I never got an apology. And Daniel never did talk to his mom about it. Daniel’s aunt (the one who didn’t bring her), ended up being the good adult in this situation and drove the girl home. She never belonged at our place to begin with, and I am still upset about all that. I wouldn’t say it ruined the party, but the puke stain is in the carpet and I have to look at it daily. Not to mention that carpet stains generally equate to not getting your deposit back.

If you think I am being a total meanie, here’s why I think this whole situation is messed up.

My MIL (mother-in-law) should have never brought her. I realize it’s her son’s party, but we were already feeding her family of 5, why make it 6? Second of all, what kind of parent let’s their daughter go to a stranger’s apartment that is 30 miles away? And where there is a TON of alcohol flowing? When you know your kid already has a headache? My MIL kept blaming it on Victoria wanting to bring her BFF to the party, but the bottom line is that MIL is the adult, not Victoria.

And I still want a damn apology.

Next time, I am ordering pizza.

This may seem silly to those who have been married awhile or to those who have never been married, but I was really, really excited about our first Christmas as a married couple. For some reason it just seemed to be more calm and relaxed than our holidays when we were dating/engaged. Which is totally ok with me because I don’t like the crazy expectations that Christmas can bring.

Daniel had to work until 1 pm or so on Christmas Eve, and I just lounged around a bit. Then when he got home, we took a nap. I LOVE naps!

Finally it was time to get ready, which for me means shower, straighten hair, put on makeup, put on 4 different outfits only to end up wearing the 1st one I put on. For him means splashing on some cologne.

Then it was time for the obligatory self-portrait shots:

And we were off to his grandma’s house at 7:30 or so for the annual let’s-fit-30-people-in-a-tiny-house-and-open-gifts thing. It’s so crowded, but there’s truly no other way to do it, and it’s always a blast!

There’s lots of uncles (Mando is below!) and lots of picture taking:

Cousins:

And more cousins:

My beautiful, gorgeous, cute-as-ever nephew:

Siblings:

TONS OF GIFTS (guess which is one of mine…come on, guess…)

Pretty tree:

Lots of staged family portraits:

And even a wedding proposal! Here, Aunt Cindy is opening up her engagement ring- you can see how excited her daughter is on the far left:

So, we had a lot of fun there, but we chose to open our gifts to each other alone at home late in the evening.

Daniel loving his new after-shave balm from Victoria’s Secret. It’s called Vertical- Pee Wee bought it for him.

Santa Paws bought me something, too:

Funniest pic EVER! Look at my son and I. Hilarious.

Daniel excited about his new thongs underwear.

And socks. Can’t forget the socks. We’re practical people.

Then I opened up my next gift:

Ummm…

Here’s what was inside the box. Sneaky hubby!

Hubby is apparently like seriously freakin’ excited about his new desk chair. He’d been sitting on my big, fluffy Home Goods Chair:

2 of my 3 fave boys:

Here’s the third:

Pee Wee getting tired.

“Dear God, Please break mom’s camera and close her Best Buy account so she CANNOT afford another. Love, PW”

And another self-portrait…

Or two…

And Christmas Eve was over!

My mom then drove down from San Antonio on Christmas Day, so here are some pictures from her visit!

My mom and my little fur bro, Elmo:

Daniel and Santa Paws:

Elmo von Yorkie:

Me!

Gotta love gift cards!

Pee Wee loving his toys:

And that’s it!

I hope you had a beautiful Christmas/holiday! What did Santa bring you? I love that Santa, Santa Paws, and friends/family all bought me stuff I needed rather than wanted! It’s so nice to have new sweatpants, new workout game, and other stuff that I would probably never buy myself because it’s simply too practical.

I feel old.

And my gorgeous nephew gave me baby rabies.

Oh my ovaries.