Happy Valentine’s Day! Smooches. Having a great day? I am still pretty sick, which makes me a not so fun Valentine. Good thing we technically celebrated on Sunday. In this household the way to start off a day on the right foot is with a good, tasty breakfast. In Texas, that means something with bacon. Yummy bacon.

When I asked Daniel what he wanted for breakfast in bed, I was pretty sure he’d reply with eggs, bacon, biscuit and gravy or something like that. I was very surprised when he said he wanted french toast. I’ve never made french toast, but I was up for the challenge…but I also wanted some ham or bacon on the plate. A girl’s gotta have her protein!

So, we went out to Walmart for our usual grocery shopping, and I picked up a few things to make french toast ham and cheese breakfast sandwiches, blood orange mimosas and some fruit on the side. Gotta be a little healthy. Simple, sweet, romantic and easy to eat in bed.

My first task was to find Petit Jean ham. This was easy to spot in the pork section of the meat market at Walmart. It’s not in the bacon section like I originally thought it’d be. Just look for the big Dallas Cowboys logo on it.

Then I grabbed a few other key ingredients, such as red orange juice, and paid for our other purchases and headed home.

On Sunday, I got up and got to work on breakfast in bed. Daniel got up to help a bit, but I tried to do most of this myself. It was pretty simple, except that I always get overwhelmed when trying to cook, take photos to show y’all, etc. I don’t know how those food bloggers do it!

The french toast part was actually very easy and requires very little cooking prowess. I used a recipe for basic french toast that I found on AllRecipes.com

French toast:

-1/4 tsp nutmeg & 1/4 tsp of cinnamon

-2 eggs

-2/3 cup milk

-4 slices of bread

-1 tsp vanilla extract (optional)

I used my Pyrex loaf pan to make the mixture for the bread and make it easy to dip it in. Worked out well.

Make sure to whisk everything together well.

Dunk the bread and cook each side until golden brown.

Once your french toast is cooked, put a slice of Petit Jean ham (I chose peppered ham) and some shredded cheese and grill like a sandwich. I know today I am focusing on breakfast, but we had some leftovers of this ham, and it is good with anything. I microwaved some to eat with mashed potatoes and it was delicious. Then I made a sandwich with the ham to go with my tomato soup. It is so much tastier and filling than the plain ole ham you find in the deli section. I recommend this ham if you want that Thanksgiving ham taste without having to cook a whole ham or without having to wait for November.

Then to make your blood orange mimosas grab a glass and fill about a little less than halfway with champagne and then fill it with juice.

And you’re done! Now it’s time to plate it up and add some fresh fruit on the side and drizzle your french toast sandwich with some maple syrup. The sweet and salty combo of french toast, ham and cheese, plus maple syrup sounds odd, but is great once it’s all together.

Then I took it over for Daniel and I to eat in bed while watching some DIY Network. Yes, we never miss an opportunity to watch a home improvement show. Ok, it’s mostly my thing, but Mr. B is a trooper and goes with it.

So that Pee Wee wouldn’t be harassing us, we tried to distract him by letting him chase squirrels. About 5 minutes in, I heard his little paws on our sliding glass door.

Let me in! – pee wee

How could I not let him in? He makes my heart melt.

I need to do this cocktails in bed thing more often.

Pee Wee is intent on getting a piece of the ham. I think he did succeed. It’s those eyes I tell ya.

Then we all finish up our amazing breakfast in bed.

And we decide it’s time to go back to bed. The dishes can wait.

This was such a fun way to do something nice for my husband. He’s amazing and puts up with all my randomness every day. Such a lucky gal I am.

What did you do to show your love to someone on this Valentine’s Day? Bake? Send a card? Give a hug? Remember to show your loved ones how much they mean to you! xoxo.

As for me, I’m still holding out for some of these today. My husband has a few more hours…I hope he reads this post. ;-)

This shop has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for Collective Bias. #CBias

It’s funny how you can love something so much that it seems like second nature. Today, that something happens to be my love of M&M’S. I love chocolate. Adore. I could eat it anytime of day or night.

But when I started to think about just how much I love M&M’S, I was kind of happy to see it’s been a habit I’ve had for years.

In 2006 we were in Las Vegas for my 21st birthday, and I made it a point to visit M&M’S World in Las Vegas. I would safely say I was in there for over an hour. I came home with personalized souvenir notepads and stickers featuring all the adorable characters. I bought myself an M&M’S keychain with my name on it that I still proudly have on my keys today.

 

In 2009 when I was in NYC for the day, as in just for a few hours, I also made it a point to visit my lovely M&M’S in Times Square. Again that’s where I bought souvenirs for my mom and Pee Wee. Pee Wee has a dog bone toy from there that he adores. And it hasn’t torn at all in over 2 years later.

And in everyday life, my favorite cookies happen to have M&M’S in them, as well as my favorite ice cream treat. At the movies I always buy pretzel M&M’S or peanut butter M&M’S. While blogging I usually have a stash of milk chocolate M&M’S to munch on. I look forward to their seasonal flavors (candy corn M&M’S…nom nom nom) and the characters are ADORBS.

The commercial with hungry eyes at the end? Cracks me up everytime. Everytime y’all. Gah, so cute.

I love M&M’S. I love that M&M’S has personalities that make you love them even more. Their branding and marketing strategies are genius, engaging and oh-so-cute. They found a way to personify chocolate and make you love it that much more. Swoon.

I stopped by Walmart to purchase more for my stash at home, and this lil guy made my heart melt. I’d totally be his Valentine, wouldn’t you?

<insert awwww sound here>

Then I noticed some of the M&M’S packaging had a $1.00 off coupon, which made me even more excited. $1.98 for a WHOLE BAG. Yay.

And so I stocked up on all my faves. Yes, those are all for me. Yes, I am still trying to lose weight.

Bliss. Pure chocolate bliss.

And guess what? There is going to be even another cute character premiering soon. As in Superbowl Sunday soon.

That’s right, you can feast your eyes on the lovely Ms. Brown in her Superbowl Sunday ad. Word on the street is that the big commercial debut will be in the first quarter of the game. I wonder what she’ll be like? If she’s anything like the other characters, she’ll likely be funny, witty and sweet.

And guess what else? I am one of 5 bloggers that gets to go to her big bash in NYC on February 7th. Me!! This lil blogger from South Texas gets to go to the big city for something she loves…M&M’S. I am truly honored. Truly. <3

I can’t wait to tweet about it and post tons of pictures to Facebook. You’ll want to follow me on either of those to feel like you’re in NYC with me next week. I am beyond excited. Thrilled. I am sure the Museum of Chocolate launch hosted by M&M’S/Mars is going to be divine.

Want to see what Ms. Brown looks like? Head on over to the M&M’S Facebook page. I love her glasses. LOVE.

Overall, M&M’S make life pretty sweet, right? So join me on Sunday and grab some M&M’S and we can all marvel at the latest, lovely M&M’S celebrity- Ms. Brown.

My question to you is: what is your favorite M&M’S flavor?

You can find M&M’S all over the web:

M&M’S Website
M&M’S on Twitter
M&M’S on Facebook

This post has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for Collective Bias.  All opinions, photos, M&M’S and ideas are all my own. #MMSMuseum #cBias

And I’m back! Sorry for the lack of posts lately…I’ve had an 18 day vacation from work, and I just returned to work from said 18 day vacation. Pooped. I am pooped. Luckily, thanks to getting Pee Wee his annual gift basket filled with LOTSA goodies from Walmart, at least I know the dog is taken care of. So, last week I showed you all the goods, and today I’m going to share with you Pee Wee’s excitement. It’s adorbs. I know some people think dogs are dogs, but Pee Wee (and all dogs) have a personality uniquely their own. Pee Wee is a diva (yes, he’s a boy, but a diva nonetheless), professional napper and the sweetest, most loving dog ever. Although if I try to clip his nails one more time, I’m sure he’d put me up on Craigslist if he could.

Glad he can’t. Might be the lack of opposable thumbs.

I went shopping for his annual gift basket, and got home and was trying to figure out a way to arrange it nicely. Now, Pee Wee doesn’t care how it looks, but since it had a place under our beautiful Christmas tree, it needed to look nice.

Lots of Milk-Bone® products along Pup-Peroni, Oster Oatmeal Natural Wipes, auto waterer, Oster Nail Trimmer, Hartz Bath Towel, American Dog Outfitters Toy, etc. If you want to see more of the goodies and why I bought them, you can view my album here.

I also bought a plastic storage container to hold all the stuff in decoratively during the holidays and functionally when I needed to put it all away.

Pup-Peroni is Pee Wee’s favorite treat. Hands down. He goes nuts for these Milk-Bone® treats, too, which is fine with me since they come with a $2 coupon you can use to buy Milo’s Treats or Pup-Peroni.

Using some tissue paper, I arrange it all in the plastic organizer bin.

I grab a sparkly bow and some dog-themed ribbon to wrap around the bin. I secure it in place with double-sided tape.

And then I place it under the tree for Pee Wee to inspect.

“This is all for me? Omg. Seriously? Thanks.” (that’s what I imagine he’s saying in the picture below)

“I’m opening this now, you know.”

“The coast is clear…”

Success!!

Those are the best pictures I got because he was moving insanely fast! His fave part of the goodie basket were the Milk-Bone® products followed by the green alien toy.

His least favorite? The bath products!

Oh well.

And, because Pee Wee is super thoughtful, he got his dad a Christmas gift, too. (Also from Walmart!)

 

A super sweet card + a framed photo of a beautiful father/son moment. I snapped this moment in time right before my husband graduated with his bachelor’s degree last month. This photo? My heart melts y’all. I love those 2 so much. So much.

Overall, I’d say Pee Wee loves the holidays and loves his goodie basket. Ain’t he a cutie? I had to get myself something, so I snapped this picture and framed it. This is Pee Wee laying on my tufted coach…ya know, the one he is not allowed on. Kids these days.

Love him. <3

Do you think your pet has quirky personality traits? What is your pet’s most favorite treat?

This shop has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for Collective Bias. #CBias #ILoveMyk9

Every year my husband and I buy Pee Wee items he’ll need in the new year. We do this because he usually gets his annual shots around December/January, so we take the opportunity to make sure Pee Wee is set for the new year with some fun stuff and some necessary stuff. And we usually buy these items and give them to Pee Wee as his Christmas gift. We like to think he appreciates the gesture and all the fabulous goodies we get for him.

We hope.

This year, I unfortunately waited until the last minute to go shopping for my baby boy. As in, I was at Walmart at 1 pm on Christmas Eve in cold rain trying to get his gift basket done. I had to have something under the tree for him! First, I went to get some liquid courage and set off to get this basket done.

Walmart has a great pet section, and although the dog-related items are only about 2 full aisles worth, I easily found everything Pee Wee could want or need to stock up on for the new year. I wanted to show you all some of the items I picked out because they would be great for you if you have a pet, or if you got a dog for Christmas or if you need to buy some gifts for someone with a dog. I will personally vouch for all the products I picked out since they’ve been used on my sweet dog Pee Wee.

Y’all ready to shop?

The first thing I always gravitate towards is fun stuff: toys, clothes and anything that squeaks.

The good thing about the fun stuff is that most dogs/owners will be able to enjoy them (without having to worry about allergies and such) so you don’t need to think about it too much. Just make sure it’s gender/breed/size appropriate, and you’ll be set. Pee Wee loves turtle neck sweaters, small toys that he can hide and I love good prices. The above gray sweater was only $5.44 and the green alien toy was only 97-cents. At Walmart, most clothes for dogs was about $5-$10 and toys were about 97-cents to $5. You get a lot for your money.

Then you also need to stock up on items to de-stinkify your pup. Therefore, my next category is bath products for the pooch. Between walks outside, peeing on trees and licking themselves silly, they will smell. Bad. But there are lots of ways to combat their stench.

This item caught my eye, though I didn’t buy it. We do have a shower wand that I can use to easily bathe Pee Wee, but if you don’t, maybe this is a good option?

My dog has sensitive skin and lots of allergies, so if at all possible I try to buy shampoo that is natural or without a lot of stuff in it that will irritate his coat/skin. This line by Oster has a ton of great scents and is made from natural ingredients. I prefer Sulfodene shampoo for Pee Wee, but I did snag the wipes for those days when he needs a refresher since I can’t just Febreze the dog, right? It was $4.97 for 80 wipes.

Another must have for any dog owner is an absorbent towel. This one was about $2 and is perfect for most small to medium sized dogs. And Pee Wee is going to hate me for saying this, but a good nail clipper is essential to maintain your dog’s nails. We’ve tried about 10 different nail clippers over the span of Pee Wee’s 6 years on earth, and these are the easiest type to use. Bonus? They have a guard to help you not cut the quick in the nail and make your dog want to put you on Craigslist. ;-)

 

Moving onto the next section: practical items for any dog.

If you ever decide to buy your dog or any dog a bed, please make sure it is washable! Why? Revisit the de-stinkify your dog section above. They smell, their bed smells= you need to wash them both regularly.

 

And to round out the practical items, I also picked up an automatic water bowl (Daniel has been wanting Pee Wee to get one of these for awhile) and a collar and leash combo. We constantly lose Pee Wee’s leashes, so to have it be an all-in-one is really neat. It’s also nice to not have to worry about neck size if you’re wanting to pick up a collar as a gift for a dog or pet owner.

 

So, we’ve done the fun stuff, the bath stuff and the practical stuff, this leaves the best and most important category for last…TREATS!

No doggy gift basket would be complete without lots and lots of treats. I love giving treats to Pee Wee to help reinforce good behavior or simply to distract him from barking at squirrels during my TV shows. Whenever I look for treats, I try to find some that seem like they’d be tasty and a good size for Pee Wee to be able to chew/eat.

My choice? Milk-Bone® small biscuits! This box was only $2.50, came with more than usual and includes a $2.00 coupon to use when you buy any Milk-Bone® product + Pup-Peroni or Milo’s Treats. My local Walmart didn’t have any Milo’s treats in stock, but I didn’t sweat it because Pee Wee adores all the varieties of Pup-Peroni.

 

With the coupon, it makes the Pup-Peroni only 48-cents! What a deal. And they even have lean varities of Pup-Peroni if your dog is trying to lose a few. Aren’t we all?

Finally, I need a basket to put all these goodies in. But I also wanted something I could use to hold all of his stuff in, so I went to the storage and organization section to choose a bin rather than a decorative basket. I’m all for functional.

 

After that marathon shopping session, I headed back out into the rain and back home to put it all together…and you’ll see how it all looked once I put it together and gave it to my sweet Pee Wee next week. But for now, what items do you consider a must have for any dog? Are there any I missed? I’m always looking for awesome products for my buddy, so please do share. If you want to see even more ideas and items to include in a dog gift basket, you can check out my Google+ album here with ideas not in this blog post. Won’t you take a look?

And now I am off to try to clip my dog’s nails. Wish me luck! Is there an easy way to trick them into loving the experience? A girl can dream!

See? He loves turtleneck sweaters.

This shop has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for Collective Bias. #CBias #ILoveMyk9