Thursday, February 27, 2014

Lip Sync Off - Jimmy Fallon and Paul Rudd

I love everything about this. Paul Rudd's last performance almost made me fall out of my chair.

Here's to falling out of your chair today.

Wednesday, February 26, 2014

Shady Cupcake Dealings

I have been making a few cupcakes lately.




As in billions. I have been making billions of cupcakes lately.






And I cannot tell you how much I love it.

My darling friends, who know how much I love my Kitchen Aid mixer and who whole-heartily support my love of cream cheese frosting, have become excellent customers. Some are even repeat buyers. And last night, two of them showed up at my door shoving wads of cash into my hands in exchange for their sugar fix.




I dig it.

I am happy to be their supplier. It could be my new calling.

Monday, February 24, 2014

The Album Release Concert of Awesomeness

You guys. It is here. The big bash, the big night, the big concert to celebrate their album release: "Shake the Shadow."





And I could not be more excited for Treehouse Sanctum.

And can I tell you something? I have heard an early release copy of their album and it is freaking great.

FUH-REAKING GREAT.

I'm not making that up. You guys know that they pay me in high-fives to promote them. Their album is beautiful and soulful and fun and creative and amazing. There's even been some buzz:

“Shake the Shadow is Colorado proud . . . Steady guitar work and soulful lyrics dominate the music and leave a pleasant taste in the ear of the listener.” Tim Wenger, Colorado Music Buzz Magazine


“The art of the song is not lost on Treehouse Sanctum, who seem to explore new and interesting ways to harness the beautifully rich vocal palette of Rymer and Prado, with each subsequent track they produce.” Markus Greybeard, Literati Records


“That girls voice is kickin’.” Trevor O’Connor, Trevor Rocks Denver

I guess they are totally legit now.

And now here is the fun part: you are invited to the party!

YES YOU ARE! You are invited to the big, honking party that will rock downtown Denver for one glorious night on March 15. You do not want to miss this.





Details:
Who: Treehouse Sanctum with awesome guests
When: March 15
Where: Marquis Theater (2009 Larimer Street, Denver)
Time: 7:00 pm
Cover: $8
**All proceeds from the Shake the Shadow album will be donated to the Denver Rescue Mission.



I will be there. Treehouse Sanctum will be there. My dad will be there. Others will be there. You should totally be there.



Thursday, February 20, 2014

Spring Fashion Fever

I don't know about you, but I am craving spring. CRAVING. I think it has something to do with the fact that it snowed again last night and the wind has been blowing so hard you would think I still live in Oklahoma.

I am tired of my sweaters. My coat is dead to me. And I am pretty sure that I have a legitimate back injury from shoveling snow.

Dramatic much?

Yes. I am dramatic much because cold weather is the opposite of everything I love. Except when it snows on Christmas. That is awesome. I love that.

Anyway...

As I think about the warmer months ahead, I have found myself gravitating towards a handful of fashion trends. This year seems to be all about feminine prints, flowy details and really colorful jewelry.

And do you know what I say to that? Step aside, turtleneck, your days are numbered.

Here are my current faves:

Maxis: Maxis are the equivalent of the ever-popular muumuu with one key difference: they actually look good. I could wear one everyday. And I adore all the patterns, styles and colors.










































Pastels: Gone are the days of thinking that pastels make you look like walking Easter eggs. These colors have been re-invented to be more vibrant and sophisticated. And there is a color for every skin tone. Bust these out.








Prints: Gotta love them. And they are everywhere right now. I somehow always gravitate towards blue tones but I wouldn't mind a printed dress in every color. Anthropologie is loaded with amazing prints right now. Uh-mazing!

Now, if I only could get someone to donate to my wardrobe fund I may be able to shop there...







Jewelry: I am nuts for accessories. One piece can totally make an outfit. My favorite places to shop for jewelry are Charming Charlie, Francesca's, Target and Banana Republic. Oh, and my sister's jewelry box.






White: classic, feminine, strong and it makes even an Irish girl look tan. Find the shade that looks best on you and you can't go wrong.


 
 











 
 
 
Isn't that hat killer?
 
So, are you craving spring like me? Are you tired of your wool socks and mittens? Or do you secretly wish you lived in the Arctic? I promise I won't judge.
 
March is only nine days away, and even though it is Colorado's snowiest month (sigh), it is also the arrival of spring. My heart, mind and wardrobe are so ready.

Tuesday, February 18, 2014

Like Stretchy Pants

I spent this past weekend in Oklahoma, the land of my birth, the home of my soul, the source of my twang.



This trip was fast but filled to the brim of everything I love. We ate a lot, we talked even more and we sat around looking at each other, soaking up all that we had missed and everything we had experienced together.

Our discussions included (but were not limited to): pizza, nude beaches, Alamosa, cupcakes, OU football, the 4th of July, my grandpa, hair, gray hair, ping pong, cheating at board games, children, church, chips and queso, sleep apnea, Sonic milkshakes, colonoscopies, chickens and pregnant cows.

You know, typical.

Oh, and we also talked about my dating life, which is always awesome.

I may even say this was my favorite trip, and that's saying a lot, especially since we have had some epic talent shows, golf tournaments and Velveeta dips. This mini-reunion was like wearing your favorite pair of stretchy pants: comforting, familiar and forgiving.

Long live stretchy pants. And long live my family.

Wednesday, February 12, 2014

How Likely You Will Die Doing an Olympic Sport

I saw this on Facebook today. I think this pretty much sums it up, especially since I can't make a complete lap around a frozen pond without breaking my elbow.

Olympians are ridiculously awesome and courageous.

And total freaks of nature.

14. Curling
Death Chance: Very Low
It’s basically bowling on ice. Don’t slip and crack your head and you should be okay. The biggest risk to your health might be getting an ultimate wedgie after telling someone you’re a curler.
Saving Grace: If you did crack your head open, the risk of infection would be low since the curling sheet is clean from being frequently and vigorously swept.

13. Cross Country Skiing
Death Chance: Very Low
It’s a flat course. There’s nothing to fall off of. Your biggest risk is probably your heart exploding from all the exercise.
Saving Grace: You’d probably start vomiting from exhaustion before having an actual heart attack. Woo-hoo!

12. Figure Skating
Death Chance: Low
If you try to do any jump, you’d fall down. Hard. And tights and bedazzled blouses don’t provide a lot of protection.

Saving Grace: You’d probably just break an ankle or a kneecap or some ribs or your skull or all of them. You probably wouldn’t die, though. Which is a relief, because it would be pretty humiliating to die while dressed like a swan.

11. Speed Skating
Death Chance: Low
It’s similar to cross country skiing, except now you’re going a lot faster, you’re attached to two giant razor blades and there’s no soft snow to cushion your fall.
Saving Grace: You have to be a special kind of uncoordinated to fall in a way that causes you to slice yourself with your own skates. You’re not that uncoordinated. Right?

10. Short Track Speed Skating
Death Chance: Low
There’s a lot more contact in short track speed skating. When you inevitably fall, there’s three other skaters nearby who could easily skate over your wrist or neck. Blood! BLOOD! BLOOD EVERYWHERE!
Saving Grace: Short track speed skaters are miniature. Their blades may not have enough force behind them to cut through your fatty flesh.

9. Biathlon
Death Chance: Moderate
An Olympic sport with guns involved. Sounds risky. You’d want to make sure that the safety on your gun is always on. When your skis get tangled and you fall down, you don’t want to take a gun blast to the face.
Saving Grace: When you need to be helped from the course due to exhaustion or heart attack, you can fire a few shots into the air to alert rescuers.

8. Bobsled
Death Chance: Moderate
You’re careening down an icy shoot at a high rate of speed and the vehicle’s roll bar is your head.
Saving Grace: Unlike most insane Olympic sports, the shell of the vehicle provides you with protection. In luge and skeleton and ski jumping and downhill skiing, the protective vehicle is your ribcage. And how deadly can bobsled really be? No Jamaicans have perished. Yet.

7. Ice Hockey
Death Chance: Moderate
Slapshot to the face, skate to the neck, getting destroyed by a bone-crushing check. The dangers are numerous. You may not die, but you would be removed from the ice on a stretcher.
Saving Grace: You’d likely skate too slow to be involved in much of the action, thereby avoiding most face slapshots, neck skates and checks.

6. Snowboarding
Death Chance: Moderate
Snowboarding is a dangerous sport. And the chances your body would be broken, gallons of Mountain Dew spilling out onto the snow, are very high.
Saving Grace: All of the (medical) marijuana in your system could heal you.

5. Alpine Skiing
Death Chance: Likely
People die all the time just skiing on family vacations. What chance do you have on a downhill course designed for the greatest skiers in the world? Your spandex uniform would serve as nothing more than a bag to keep your crushed innards contained for the coroner.
Saving Grace: Maybe you’d snap a femur early on in the run before you pick up the kind of speed that would send you cartwheeling down the course to certain death.

4. Freestyle Skiing
Death Chance: Likely
So it’s downhill skiing, but with some ramps thrown in to make sure you hit the ground harder. Ski poles sure do work well for human meat shish kabobs!
Saving Grace: The ramps maybe would slow down your out-of-control descent?

3. Luge
Death Chance: Likely
You’re sliding down an icy hill at 85 mph. You will die.
Saving Grace: It’s hard to see laying on your back. So at least you wouldn’t see your death coming. That’s sort of comforting.

2. Skeleton
Death Chance: Likely
You’re sliding down an icy hill headfirst at 85 mph. You will die.
Saving Grace: None, idiot. It’s actually called Skeleton. They’re pretty up front about the inevitable outcome of the sport. If there is any saving grace, perhaps it is that your death will be quick.

1. Ski Jumping
Death Chance: Certain
You’re flying high in the air at a high speed. That might not seem like certain death if you had a parachute on your back. But you don’t have parachute. All you have is skis. And what good are they? At best, they’re going to impale you on impact.
Saving Grace: You’re up high enough that you might get a glimpse of heaven before dying.

Tuesday, February 11, 2014

Eleven

This past weekend, the girls and I celebrated our 11th anniversary.

I am not quite sure how this happened because I still feel like I am 23 and recently recovering from my *NSYNC obsession.

(Okay, let's be honest. I never really recovered.)

(I still love them.)

(Boy bands forever.)

But eleven years with these girls is one of my most favorite accomplishments. It takes work and each of us have fought to stay together. And I am so glad we have because it is rare to find people who know you so well.

For our fun weekend on the town, we all headed downtown to our favorite hotel, sans babies, husbands and to-do lists, and spent 24 hours eating, relaxing and laughing.




Jenn, Abby, Kim, Natalie and Rachel making the lobby look beautiful.




This has become our designated hang-out spot. We take over this whole section of the lobby while we try to eat as much of the free happy hour buffet as possible.




Two of these girls are currently preggers. That makes babies #11 and #12, already loved so much!




After we eat all the free food we can, we then go up to our room, change and primp, and then go out to a fabulous dinner. My apologies to Jenn for covering up her face. Sometimes I have limited control over my limbs.


 
 
The best selfie ever. Abby took this as we were walking downtown and I love how happy we all are. It's perfect.
 

 


The girls had a belated birthday celebration for me and a flaming piece of cheesecake landed right in front of me. I love flaming cheesecake.


 
 
And I love how special these girls make you feel on your big day.
 
SIDE NOTE: a five-week birthday is highly recommended. Try to make it happen.
 
 

 
The next morning, after seven us (plus my breathing machine) piled into one hotel suite to sleep, we headed downstairs to once again tackle the buffet.
 
And here is my home-girl Rachel. She is my other sister. Claire agrees.
 
 

Eight omelets, multiple cups of coffee, muffins, bagels, fabulous conversation and a mountain of bacon later, we loaded up and headed home, refreshed, full and excited for the next year ahead.

Eleven years is a lot of life lived: joy, heartache, accomplishments, frustrations, weddings, babies, promotions, graduations, beginnings, endings, hope restored. And I am so glad I have lived it with these girls.


Thursday, February 6, 2014

Recipe Round-Up: Chocolate Chip Pecan Cookies with Sea Salt

I have finally decided that there is nothing I love more than warm cookies.

I love them.



 
 
 
 
If I had to choose one thing to eat for the rest of my life I would choose warm cookies.
 
(With a side of peanut butter.)
 
(I have to have protein, right?)
 
This cookie recipe was first tested when I was seven years-old. My best friend and I, both of whom were rocking fantastic perms, made a double batch of these cookies every weekend: half for her family, half for me mine. The page this recipe is on is smeared with drops of vanilla, bits of brown sugar and tattered with use.
 
It was the beginning of my love affair with baking.
 
When my family and I moved to Colorado from the glorious plains of Oklahoma, my mom and I quickly realized that the standard recipe would not work at this high altitude. So we experimented and changed ratios until we found the perfect high-altitude chocolate chip cookie recipe.
 
And lo, I bring it to you.
 
But not to worry, flat-landers can also bust this out with glorious results.
 
Okay, strap on the apron and let's do this.

 
 
 
Part 1: cream butter, shortening, sugar and brown sugar until light and fluffy. Then add eggs and vanilla and mix again.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Part 2: Add flour, baking soda and salt. And mix again.
 
And thus the cookie dough was born.








Next up: chocolate. Add any kind you want or add multiple kinds. It's chocolate, you can't go wrong! I chose Ghirardelli semi-sweet because THEY ARE FREAKING AMAZING.
 
 
 
 

 
 
 
Then chop some pecans (toast them for a deeper flavor) and throw them in. 





 
And there you have it: my reason for living.
 
 
 
Now, this next step is CRITICALLY IMPORTANT: refrigerate the dough.
 

I repeat: REFRIGERATE THE DOUGH.
 
 
REFRIGERATE THE DANG DOUGH!!!!!
 
(Apparently I am passionate about cold dough.)
 
 
Trust me on this, it makes all the difference in the world. And you only have to do it for 1 hour...but you could easily do it up to 72 hours.
 
 
But who in the world has time for that?!


 
 

Once your dough is chilled, roll them into balls and slightly flatten them onto a cookie sheet.


Sprinkle with sea salt. Oh, you are going to LOVE THIS.
 
 
 
 
 
Sea salt + chocolate + warm cookies + hot coffee = perfection.
 
 
 


 
 
Total, complete, warm, gooey, salty, chocolate-filled, satisfying perfection.



 
 
These cookies just might change your life. They did mine.
 
True story.
 
 
 
 
Chocolate Chip Pecan Cookies with Sea Salt (High Altitude tested)
1/2 cup butter, room temperature
1/2 cup shortening
3/4 cup brown sugar
3/4 cup sugar
3 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla
3 1/2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 cups chocolate chips
1 cup chopped pecans
 
Directions:Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees. In a large mixing bowl, cream butter, shortening, sugar and brown sugar until light and fluffly. Add eggs and vanilla and mix well, about 2 minutes. Add flour, baking soda and salt and mix thoroughly. Pour in chocolate chips and pecans and combine. REFRIGERATE THE DOUGH for at least 1 hour or up to 72 hours.
 
Using any size spoon you prefer, scoop dough into hands and roll into a ball. Place on cookie sheet and flatten slightly. Sprinkle lightly with sea salt and bake for 10-12 minutes or until lightly golden brown on top. Remove from cookie sheet and cool (or eat all at once!). Makes 3-4 dozen (using a 1 tablespoon scoop). Store in an air-tight container for up to 4 days or freeze for up to 1 month.
 
Share the love. 
 

Wednesday, February 5, 2014

Ghee Buttersnaps and Others

Psych is on of my favorite TV shows. My sister and I write lines back and forth to each other all the time. In fact, quoting that show is one of the only things that will make me smile every time, even if I am having a hair day from Hades or I have recently fallen into a fountain.

The sis posted this on Facebook today. It made me giggle. And giggling at your desk in the middle of a Wednesday is one of the ways to survive the freaking frozen frigidity that is currently called "Colorado Weather."

Enjoy, peeps.





And you can call me Sasha Twinklepants.