Pigskin Pick'Em Week 3 Results

The most unfortunate thing has happened.  I've lost my lead in Pigskin Pick'Em.  How is this possible you ask?  Houston, Arizona, Pittsburgh, and Tennessee - that's how.  All these teams lost this weekend, and I lost too.  Ryan's got the lead by 1 - but only time will tell who takes home the massage!

For the updates, check out the sidebar of my blog.  Back to drooling over cookie recipes now!

100 Days of Holiday Cookies

With the holidays around the corner, you may like the new widget I added to the sidebar.  Its Better Homes and Gardens 100 Days of Holiday Cookies.  I love baking and I've already started pulling out recipes from magazines that I want to try this year.  You can check back everyday for new recipes and new ideas.  Let me know which ones you try!

And yeah for a big Dallas win last night!  :)

Pigskin Pick'em: Week 3

A few days late but here they are...

Wish me luck!!

Pumpkin Power

Last night I was flipping through my Better Homes and Gardens and couldn't help but fall in love with all things fall.  I love the fall, the cooler weather, snuggling under blankets, and wearing big scarves.  I kept seeing all these great articles that involved pumpkins.  I love pumpkin.  Pumpkin pie.  Pumpkin spice lattes from Starbucks.  Pumpkin soup.  And most recently Pumpkin decor.  This year, I've made it my mission to get to the pumpkin patch and carve a few pumpkins to put on the front steps before the trick or treaters come.  I also want to get my hands on some smaller pumpkins and gourds to decorate my table and add some fall elements around the house.  I love these looks.

(pictures from better homes & gardens)

So tell me, know of any other fun ideas for pumpkins?  Or have a favorite recipe that involves pumpkin?  Do share!

NYC, yes please!

Ryan and I are planning a trip to New York City in early December this year.  December marks our 2 year anniversary and besides a trip to Charleston, SC we haven't taken any trips together.  Since I haven't been to NYC since college and Ryan has never been, any suggestions of places to eat, what to see, where to stay, are welcome.  If you have some favorites, please let me know! 

Meet my newest crush

Can you hear this boot calling my name?  We fell in love last week in the lunch room at work, when I saw it featured on the front of a Nordstrom shoe ad.  Its the Steve Madden 'Blondee' Over the Knee Boot.  I love the sweet detail glossy buttons on the back. 

This fall I'm all about the boots.  This would be my first over the knee boot.  Wouldn't they go great with some tights and a great sweater dress when the weather cools?  I'm pinching my pennies for them. 

Pigskin Pick'Em Results: Week 2

Well, Week Two of the challenge is in the books.  Ryan and I tied at 9-7, which means, I'm still holding my lead by one (knock on wood).  New picks will be posted on Thursday.  In the meantime, I'll try to talk about something other than football on my blog. 

Matching Jerseys

Ryan and I are watching the Cowboys game (let's hope they get their groove back) but I wanted to post a quick picture of us in our matching Jason Witten jerseys.  Witten plays tight end for the Dallas Cowboys, for those not in the know. 

and we got hats too!

Let's go Dallas!

ohh, and remember how I called Ryan, Mr. Football?  Well take a look at his Sunday set-up.  He's got his fantasy football team on the laptop, and the TV tuned in to the games (please ignore the fan and the empty boxes, Tuesday is recycling day).  He doesn't miss a moment.  A big thanks to my twin, Jessica, for her laptop, Ryan's Sundays will be forever changed.

updated: 9/21 - Dallas lost last night.  No need for any heckling here, Ryan and I saw the game, and we saw how Tony Choke-omo gave the game away. 

Say hello to my little weekend...

Ryan's at home visiting his parents and celebrating his grandfathers birthday, so I'm all by my lonesome.  This is what I've been up to tonight...enjoying some red wine.  Normally, I can be found drinking white wine, but tonight I ventured out of the box.

Ohh, and see that snazzy wine opener?  Its the most used gadget in my kitchen.  My dear friend, Leigh, gave it to me for a birthday back when we were in college together, and I'm still using the same one.  It is so easy to use!  Some people refer to as the "rabbit" so if you are in Williams Sonoma, Crate & Barrel, or any other home store, pick one up, you won't believe how awesome it is!

ps.  the lovely pink roses were a surprise from Ryan.  Isn't he sweet :-)

pps.  not sure what the black mark on my wall is.  landlord, if you're reading this, sorry!

Pigskin Pick'Em with Miss Prissy Paige

And I'm back with Week 2 picks.  As you will recall, I won Week 1 and I think I'm primed to win again!  Here we go....

Wish me luck!

Pigskin Pick'Em Update: Week 1

...and as expected Miss Prissy Paige takes the early lead! 
(thanks Denver for pulling off an upset over the Bengals)

Tallys for Week 1

Miss Prissy Paige 14-2

Ryan 13-3

Check back on Thursday for Week 2 picks.  You can watch the action unfold on the right hand side of my blog with the new gadget: Pigskin Pick'Em Results.   

Warning: This is a Product Endorsement

I'm obsessed with the new flavors of Dannon Light & Fit yogurts.  OBSESSED.  I eat one almost every workday morning for breakfast and just enjoyed the newly released banana flavor.  It was delicious!  The new flavors are hard to find, but if you see them, stock up and then call me so I can head over directly to where you are to buy some too.  Check out the full line of Dannon products here (and don't say I didn't warn you).


I left my camera cord at home today so a Weekend Recap post will be delayed until tonight or tomorrow.

Pigskin Pick'Em with Prissy Paige

NFL starts tonight. That means so long to errands on Sunday and hello to football! If you have never met Ryan then you wouldn't know that he is a HUGE Dallas Cowboys fan. And if you knew me prior to dating Ryan, you'd know that I didn't really follow football. Well that all changed when Ryan and I started dating. He's made me a Cowboys fan living in Redskin territory.

This year we decided to up the ante some and participate in our own Pigskin Pick'Em. Each week we will pick the winner of every NFL game and earn 1 point for each correct pick. On the line for the winner - a massage, valued up to $200!! You can bet I'm doing my research! Each week I'll post our picks and and tally our wins as the season progresses.

So here we go...wish me luck!

Let me know, who is your favorite NFL team? How do you think I'll fair against Mr. Football himself, Ryan?

Naming My Blog

Inquiring minds want to know right? At least that's what I always say when I'm digging for gossip! Well the idea for my blog title came from many sources, my childhood nickname (Miss Priss) and my middle name (Paige). Ryan was very patient with me as I threw out lots of ideas having to do with trying to match my name with an adjective that described me so well (kooky came to mind mostly). Then I channelled the in inner child in me and remembered when my parents used to call me Miss Priss. And I thought - what about Miss Prissy Paige - its got the alliteration factor going for it (who knew you'd learn a little grammar on my blog) and I liked the way it rolled off my tongue. So here we are today, Miss Prissy Paige!

Cake Pops!

If you have not seen these before, check out the baking maverick, Bakerella, for her step-by-step picture tutorials and the Pop Central on her page. Her cake pops are adorable and I am always finding inspiration in her. This past weekend the boyfriend and I had the pleasure of attending two Labor Day inspired cookouts hosted by our friends. We had just put on a Potluck Tuesday night at our house and I made some cake pops as parting gifts. Needless to say, they were a big hit and I was faced with some requests to make additional for the cookouts. Never one to say no, I spent Friday night baking the cake and 6.5 hours on Saturday molding the cake pops and dipping & decorating! I was going for a "cupcake" look of the cake pops and think I achieved it. Let me know what you think!

Here is a quick rundown of my 6.5 hours on Saturday..

After the cake cooled from Friday night, I woke up and using the food processor, chopped up the entire 13x9 yellow cake. Then 3/4 of some pre-made chocolate icing was incorporated into the mixture and into the freezer, it went. I have found from my pop experience that it is MUCH easier to work when the mixture is cold.

(Here's a picture of the ground up cake before it went into the freezer.)

After freezing for about an hour, I pulled the bowl out and started rolling into balls. One 13x9 cake can make about 50 pops (assuming you are not popping them into your mouth like I tend to do while working with them!). After rolling into balls, I put them back into the freezer for about another 1.5 hours. Then came the hard part. I reshaped each ball into an oval and inserted a small flower shaped cookie cutter about half way. This helped create definition between the top and the bottom of the soon to be cake pop! After doing this for almost all of the balls, I returned them to the freezer for another 2 hours (remember I said this was a long process). Here's a picture of the balls formed into "cupcake mounds" and a close up to really see the detail.

Back into the freezer again (last time I promise) and about 1.5 hours later, I was ready to dip. I started with the bottoms and selected a milk chocolate candy melt. Be sure to watch the microwave as you melt the candy, even a few seconds too long can be enough to warrant a re-do. In addition, be sure to avoid getting any water into the melted chocolate otherwise, you are in for a big mess. Here’s a picture of some of the half dipped pops. I stick the lollipop stick into the melted chocolate and then insert it into the cake pop to cool. For some reason I tend to think it makes the pop more stable.

Next comes my favorite part, the final dip and the decorating! I choose two colors, light pink and light green. I thought they both “POPPED” against the milk chocolate!

Here's a picture of my sprinkle station. By using a jellyroll pan and wax paper, it helps keep the sprinkles form ending up all over the counter and by default the floor.

I used M&Ms for the tops or jumbo sprinkles, and then some smaller rainbow colored ones to accent. Below you can see my handy work as I dip & decorate.

6.5 hours later, the cake pops are bagged, tied, and ready to be consumed by happy friends.

I know it’s a long process but it’s something I enjoy and I expect to continue my Christmas tradition of making Rudolph, Christmas Trees, etc.

Hello World!

Hi friends! Thanks for taking the time to visit my little blog. If you know me, then you know I spend lots of time researching craft projects, recipes, home decor, and holiday ideas on the internet, and most often I find that blogs provide the best resources (and tutorials!). With that said, I finally sat down and created this little blog to post about my adventures in the kitchen, organizational ordeals, and anything else that might be happening in my life. I hope to use this as a "digital scrapbook" so I can look back over the months (assuming I stay dedicated to posting on a frequent basis) to see what I've been up to and how life has changed.

I hope you enjoy reading this as much as I enjoy reading other people's blogs! :)