Happy birthday, Kitchen Queens!

One year ago, a wonderful group of girls got together to eat and chat. We didn’t all know each other, but that didn’t matter.

Kitchen Queens started when a few of us Junior League gals wanted to stay in touch after our provisional year. This is my cousin (fourth, but it still counts) Katie. She's getting married in exactly six months!

The lovely Britani hosted this month's dinner. Her house is gorgeous, and so is she!

One year later, we’re still meeting! I had dinner with a junior league VP a couple weeks ago, and she said she still has a monthly dinner with a group of girls that started meeting 13 years ago! I hope that’s us!

Lunch

I opted for a quick and easy lunch today—a Lean Cuisine. I turned it over to read the directions. I was shocked when it said to microwave for eight minutes! If you're curious, it was the chicken enchilad suiza. That can't be good for me.

So, how did I spend my time waiting? I bought a box of Krispy Kreme donuts at a company bake sale (funds go to tornado victims). I might have already eaten one.

You can't not eat one when this box is on your desk.

Mostly, I know how much the boy loves donuts, and this means he will love me even more when I come home with donuts!

We’re spending our evening getting ready for our neighborhood garage sale. How exciting! Happy Friday!

Armpit pain.

After rockin' out at body pump at 5:30 a.m. this morning, I obviously needed a shower before work.

And since I've yet to fulfill my lifelong dream of laser hair removal, I have to shave my armpits (such a gross word).

This morning, I did something I've actually never done. I cut a huge gash (yes, it's more than just a little shaving nick) in the "corner" of my armpit (again, gross word).

I took a picture with my phone, but then I decided that would be weird to post (not to mention gross). There is such a thing as sharing too much.

Instead, I will share some fabulous iPhone photos taken at last night's Kitchen Queens. The weather got pretty bad in Arkansas late last night, but we were still up for a night with the ladies.

Mary Kate is such a wonderful hostess.

Let's just call the light reflection "art." It's a great picture of Katie!

More art of Mary Kate and Britani.

Katie made this, but I'm pretty sure she said her fiance decorated it. Perfect!

Sickly Friday.

I have a head cold.

This hinders my writing/blogging capabilities. Maybe I will blog over the weekend ... although I'm pretty busy. I'm doing something ridiculous with my friend Sarah tomorrow during the day, then I'm going to Paint the Town Red tomorrow night. On Sunday, I'm attending a class at the church I plan to join (Central United Methodist). It's four hours long ...

Things I was supposed to blog about this week:

• Christmas
• My next giveway (it involves some free yogurt and other fun fitness stuff). I must do this Monday.
• Chicago

I went to Kitchen Queens last night, even though I didn't feel well. It was at my friend Sarah's house. I met Sarah through a friend I made in grad school. Now, Sarah works with on of my BFFs from high school. It's a small world after all. Because I felt yucky, I only took photos of food. I meant to take a picture with my friend Katie (Junior League friend who is my cousin) because she just got engaged over Christmas, but I didn't. Whoops.

There were a lot of girls there last night, which is fun! I'm so glad I get to see these girls each month.

And now on to the food:

Colleen's hashbrown casserole and Mary Kate's lasagna. Both were oh so delicious.

Pioneer woman's mac and cheese (two thumbs up!) and my corn and shrimp soup.

Corn and shrimp soup and tasty turkey chili (with pumpkin!).

I found this picture on my camera. The boy must have taken it.
He got this handmade Razorback for Christmas. I like it.

Merry kitchen queens.

I love Kitchen Queens. It’s such a wonderful group of girls, and we have so much fun just sitting around and chatting. And eating, of course.

Last night, we all joined at Allie’s gorgeous house for a merry celebration. The food was delicious, and I think every single one of us wished we didn’t have to work today so we could stay and continue our girl talk.

Baby Cash is a star!

Sarah with baby Cash. We love Allie's little boy!

Delicious.

Girl talk!

Someone stole my seat. Thanks, Diggy.

Alicia ran 6 miles before she arrived. She's training for the Little Rock Marathon. Go Alicia!

Allie loved the dip I brought. I can't blame her. It's delicious.

Scarlet and Diggy!



Liz is thrilled about this photo. I promise she approved the usage. :)

 We started our Kitchen Queens group in June (or July—can’t remember), and I can’t believe it’s already December!

POM-tastic.

Wednesday, Adam received a special package in the mail: a pomegranate. A few weeks ago, I signed up to send him a POM-a-gram.

Isn't this a great campaign?

Did you know pomegranates can last two months in the refrigerator? Why do I feel like (unless I do something with it) this beautiful piece a fruit will still be there when this time comes?

You even got to pick the -gram message to send!

They personalized the message, so he would know it came from me.

I personally cannot wait to eat his POM-a-gram.

Wednesday, I made a no-bake pumpkin cheesecake. I definitely added too much Cool Whip, but I want to make it again, for sure.

Recipe from Kraftrecipes.com:

1 pkg. (8 oz.) PHILADELPHIA Cream Cheese, softened
1 cup canned pumpkin
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 tsp. pumpkin pie spice
1 tub (8 oz.) COOL WHIP Whipped Topping, thawed, divided
1 HONEY MAID Graham Pie Crust (6 oz.)

Make It

BEAT cream cheese, pumpkin, sugar and pumpkin pie spice with electric mixer on medium speed until well blended. Gently stir in 2-1/2 cups of the whipped topping. Cover and refrigerate remaining whipped topping for later use.

SPOON cream cheese mixture into crust.

REFRIGERATE 3 hours or overnight. Serve topped with remaining whipped topping. Store leftover cheesecake in refrigerator.

Too much WHIP, but still tasty.

I would recommend adding more cream cheese or using less Cool Whip.

Did you know Cool Whip is in the frozen section? I’m probably the only person in the whole world who didn’t know that. As I was wondering around the canned whipped cream, a lovely woman asked me if I was looking for Cool Whip, and she directed me to the right place. Thanks! I still don’t understand why it’s frozen…

The cheesecake was pretty tasty, as was everything at our November Kitchen Queens!

Katie made chocolate chip bread, which I had for breakfast today.

Liz made delicious holiday drinks.

Colleen made turkey cranbery pinwheels. Unique and very good!

I love this picture! Who knows what all the laughing is about.



Not the best picture of me, but I had to prove I was there!

Last night also involved our Junior League Fall Social at Blakeman’s Jewelry. Um…I want everything in the store. Especially the sparkly stuff. And the food at the event was amazing.

Action shot! Of me eating...

You can see why I couldn't pass up a small plate.

Thanks, Mr. Blakeman! I'll be back!

Happy Friday!

Pumpkins and evil Accent.

We had a Halloween-themed Kitchen Queens last night at Scarlet’s lovely home. And I only got pictures of the tasty food. That’s what matters, right?

It was great to have some girl time especially since the boy is out of town. I’m having another fun time tonight.

So, I made a cheese ball and dyed it orange.

The recipe (one my mom has used for years) calls for Accent, which is a seasoning.

I didn’t have any, so I Googled “accent substitute.”

I'm so creative. I tried to find something super cute, but
all the Halloween recipes are desserts. Or too hard.

Apparently, Accent is evil. And a lot of people are allergic to it? Who knew? Good thing I only eat it on a cheese ball about twice a year. I think I’m going to be OK.

Dessert table.

Red and yellow make orange.

Breadstick fingers.

Happy Halloween!

Oh, and I just used seasoned salt, and it worked out just fine.

As always, the food was delicious and the girl time was fabulous. I can’t wait for November!

Happy Friday!

Meatballs and oreo cheesecake.

It's so hard to just eat one.

I attended the monthly Kitchen Queens last night, and man I love those girls. We even got to spend some quality time with baby Cash. A lot of girls weren’t able to make it last night. The end of the summer is a busy time. But it was still so much fun. Our theme was “I think I can.” We were supposed to make something that was “difficult” for us. We decided not to do this theme again. ☺

The only problem is that I ate a huge amount of spaghetti with a meatball. It’s the first meatball I’ve ever had. I’m 25. It was delicious! I even got the recipe from MK so I can make it for the boy. He will be super impressed with my mad cooking skills.

I met Katie in Junior League.
Apparently we're cousins.

I don't know who was hungrier.
Us or the baby.

Scarlet made creme brulee. Yum.

Biggest Loser update

Even though I ate some not-so-good-for-me food last night, my weigh-in today was great! I’m up to 3.03 percent from 1.4 percent. I attribute that to the Oreo cheesecake cupcakes I made, recipe courtesy of Julie from www.pbfingers.com. Go read her blog. It’s wonderful. I find myself eating the things she posts about. Sometimes it’s a good thing (Greek yogurt), and sometimes it’s a bad thing (Oreo cheesecake). Either way, it’s all delicious.

Mary Kate hosted. Her house is BEAUTIFUL.
This picture looks like two stuck together. It's not.

I love this baby. And he loves all of us, too!

Baby Cash and Liz hanging out.

On the exercise note, I tried to run this morning, but I just WASN’T feeling it. I blame it on the shorts that kept riding up. I keep trying to run in shorts, but they’re so uncomfortable to me. I only try when I run in the morning and no one could see me. I never wear shorts to the gym. Maybe if my thighs allowed for a little more wiggle room in the shorts…My plan is to get a running skirt this weekend and try it out. I don’t know if you’re aware, but running in cropped pants is HOT.

Do you wear shorts to the gym? Maybe I’m wearing the wrong brand.

It’s Friday, ya’ll!

Beauty pageant queen.

So, I decided to stop at McDonald’s for some coffee this morning. It’s way more convenient for me than Starbucks, and to be honest, the regular coffee is just as good. You can never take away my non-fat cinnamon dulce lattes from Starbucks, but a Mickey D’s cup of joe is quite delicious. Anyways, on to the point of my story.

I went in because the drive-thru line was ridiculous. As I’m waiting for my coffee, an older gentleman waiting for his food says to me, “You musta been in a lot of beauty pageants.” I laugh. I’m feeling great as I tell him I haven’t even finished my makeup yet. And my hair is in a ponytail. He says, “Well, you sure are a beautiful young lady.” My head is growing larger by the second.

 We chat for a minute, and walk out at the same time. As I pull into the work parking lot, I fold down my mirror to quickly finish my makeup. I have toothpaste all over my lips. As in my lips are white. The old man clearly just likes to flirt with young ladies because I looked like some sort of alien creature.

Head is back to regular size.

* Pictures are from Kitchen Queens. We laughed. We ate. We had so much fun! Allie's house is just beautiful. And I wanted to take baby Cash home with me.