Dental nightmare

About a month ago my dentist recommended I get a mouth guard because I was doing a little too much grinding...with my teeth. Haha.  I know I clinch when I'm stressed, but when I told that hubby of mine what the dentist told me he said "um yeah I knew that...I have to nudge you in the middle of the night when you are clicking your teeth to make you stop." So I came to the realization that "Oh maybe I should get the $600.00 mouth guard after all." Today I went in to get it and what was supposed to be a 30 minute appointment turned out to be a 2 HOUR appointment. Here's what went wrong.
1. The first mouth guard they molded to my teeth was too loose so they had to re-do it
2. The second mouth guard they molded to my teeth was too tight on my teeth so they had to re-do it
3. The second mouth guard would not I REPEAT would not come off my teeth
4. The dental hygienist had to politely tug on my teeth for 15 minutes while I am slobbering ALL over the place because I can't swallow or close my mouth
5. The dental hygienist has to get the dentist to come in and try his luck at getting the mold off
6. The dentist can NOT help me and informs me he must SAW THE MOLD OFF MY TEETH...I almost passed out
7. The dentist sawed and scraped my mold for 30 minutes while I sat praying that he would not hit my teeth and mess up my pearly whites for good
8. When the mold was finally yanked out of my mouth we all looked like we had major dandruff due to pieces of my mold spraying all over as he was sawing. Pretty sick right?

The good news...after the second failed attempt the dental hygienist decided to pray for us and then the third mouth guard was finally a success. Thank you Jesus! So there's my dental drama of the day.

Nutella Frosted Cupcakes

I just absolutely love Nutella! Just ask my husband. I eat at least 2 spoonfuls every day after I get home from work...just because. I eat Nutella with sliced up bananas, with animal crackers and with pretzels. I had Nutella on the brain and I thought "hey I don't just have to dip things in Nutella. I could bake with it!" Now of course my idea is not original and there are 1000's of recipes already out there. So why reinvent the wheel? These Frosted Nutella Cupcakes are so simple and yet so delicious.

Nutella Frosted Cupcakes
10 tbsp(140 grams) butter, softened
3/4 cup white sugar
3 eggs
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 3/4 cups (200 grams) sifted all purpose flour
1/4 tsp salt
2 tsp baking powder
Nutella, approx. 1/3 cup

Preheat oven to 325F. Line 12 muffin tins with paper liners.

Cream together butter and sugar until light, 2 minutes. Add in eggs one at a time, until fully incorporated. Don’t worry if the batter doesn’t look smooth. Add vanilla. Stir in flour, salt and baking powder until batter is uniform and no flour remains.

Using an ice cream scoop, fill each muffin liner with batter. They should be 3/4 full, if you’re not using a scoop. Top each cake with 1 1/2 tsp Nutella. Swirl Nutella in with a toothpick, making sure to fold a bit of batter up over the nutella.

Bake for 20 minutes.

Remove to a wire rack to cool completely.

Makes 12.

I got this recipe from here.

I'm drooling.

A lovely date to the Art Museum

Friday me and that hubby of mine had a date day. That's right a date DAY...I had the day off school so Drew took off and we enjoyed a lovely day together. We had breakfast at Panera then headed to the Cincinnati Art Museum, which is amazing and completely free! They had an exhibit centered around the circus. It had old circus posters and artifacts and it was definitely my favorite exhibit. It made me SO EXCITED for the Water for Elephants movie coming out in April. Yay! We did a little outlet shopping then ate at one of our favorite burger joints where they serve burgers with goat cheese. I'm such a fan! It was so nice spending the day with Drew and it made for an extra long weekend of bliss. If you have an Art Museum in your city they are definitely worth a visit.

Happy Toes

Yesterday my friend Bekah and I went to Mitchell's Salon to get pedicures. Being that it is now officially spring and I have to show my toes I figured they needed to be presentable, that and I had a gift card. So now my toes are happy and ready for flip flops! Bring it on Spring!

Rosettes

I am an avid scrapbooker and I found a new tool yesterday that I thought I'd share with you. Whether you are in to scrapbooking or not there are many uses for this tool.  It is a Martha Stewart Score board and I'm in love. The main reason I love it is because I can make rosettes, which I am now wanting to use everywhere. Here are a few ways you can use them:

In a wreath

Decorative flower pot

Escort cards for your wedding or event

Amazing Birthday Invitations

And here is how you make them:

Use the Score Board and score every 1/4 inch (all the black lines) on a 1 inch by 12 inch strip

Fold the paper like a fan then hot glue the ends together (make sure the ends overlap)

Scrunch the paper together to form a rosette

Use a circle punch (close to the width of your strip) and punch out a circle to go on top

Hot glue the circle to the top and you have a rosette!

The best lasagna ever

I am slowly making my way through the Pioneer Woman Cookbook. It's kind of like Julia and Julia only my name is not Ree and my adventures will be slightly less glamorous.  So far I have made the following Pioneer Woman recipes (which have all been delicious): Olive Cheese Bread, Marlboro Man's Favorite Sandwich, and Chicken Spaghetti. Last night I made the best lasagna ever for dinner and it truly lived up to it's name! My pictures don't do it justice, but for fun I like to take pictures while I cook. It passes the time. So here they are...

 Next on my list of recipes to try from Pioneer Woman: Peach Crisp with Maple Cream Sauce

Adventures in pet rescuing

My family has always attracted lost animals...I think these animals just know we can't turn them away.  The other day I was out running errands when a dog ran out in the street ahead of me.  I pulled off to the side of the road, turned on my emergency lights and got out to help the poor lost dog.  It couldn't just be a simple rescue mission...off she goes.  Being a pet owner I can't give up on a lost pet...so I began trekking through the woods and ended up hopping over a creek and crossing railroad tracks to try to help. Every time I got close the dog took off.  THANKFULLY as I emerged from the woods I saw Camp Bow Wow (a doggy daycare I had strangely never noticed before). I was feeling hopeless so I decided to walk in and recruit some help.  A few guys took off to try and round up the dog on the other side of the railroad tracks,which this dog is now trudging along.  I followed the dog for literally a mile or at least it felt that way. Call me crazy, but it was a sunny day and I don't give up easily.  I saw the dog start to slow down and saw my golden opportunity. I started sprinting down the railroad tracks and just imagined myself tripping and breaking a leg while chasing after a lost dog. Haha. I did manage to round up the dog and after giving her a treat we were best friends. Good deed of the day...CHECK.  Why do I do this??? Because as a pet owner I would want someone to be just as persistent as I was with my pet!  And you will never believe what Groupon I had in my inbox when I got home...HALF OFF CAMP BOW WOW. It was meant to be.  Moral of the story: Keep dog treats in your car in case of emergencies.

Little Black Dress

A few weeks ago my friend Andrea called and asked if I wanted to go to Cheers to Art (see THIS post about my first visit there) for a FREE night of painting.  Jill, who owns Cheers to Art with her hubby asked Andrea to get some girls together because Cincinnati Chic magazine wanted to do a write up on her business.  I gladly accepted! Last night I went to paint a brand new painting called "The Little Black Dress." What a perfect painting for a girls night out!  Andrea, myself and two of our friends from school all met there and had a lovely time. It was so fun to see every one's little black dress painting at the end of the night because they all looked so different. Some girls went with a classic Audrey Hepburn style dress while others ended up looking a little something like a dress you might find in Madonna's closet. Anyway...here are a few pictures to capture the night.

If you live around the area you should most definitely check out the new business in town!

Kindergarten quote of the week

To set up the scene for you...it was snack time in room 315 and the students were discussing things their moms liked to do. I decided to join in on the conversation.
Me: My mom likes to do that too.
Cooper: You have a mom?
Jasmyn: Your mom isn't in heaven?

I had to explain to them that adults have mom's too.  Oh to be young and clueless again.

Olive Cheese Bread

You have to try this recipe. Oh my goodness, YUM! It's another Pioneer Woman favorite although I modified the amount because her recipe makes enough to feed a small army. If you'd rather use her recipe I won't be offended. Click here for the Pioneer Woman Version

Ingredients:

• 1 Can Green Olives (stuffed with pimientos)

• 1 Can Black Olives

• 8oz. Shredded Monterrey Jack Cheese (I actually bought a block and shredded it)

• 1 green onion (I didn't have any green onions so I actually used about a tablespoon or two of regular chopped onion)

• Mayo (the real stuff)

• Half stick of butter

• 1 French Loaf (I got mine at Whole Foods and it was wonderful)

Step 1: Chop, chop, chop your little heart out. Chop all the olives and the onion into small pieces. While you are chopping go ahead and preheat the oven to 350.
Step 2: Put the chopped olives in a mixing bowl. Add mayo, butter and cheese and onions.
Step 3: Stir ingredients together until blended

Step 4: Cut your french loaf in half and place on baking sheet.
Step 5: Spoon ingredients onto each half of the french loaf. Be generous :)
Step 6: Place bread in oven and bake for 20-25 minutes
Step 7: Enjoy!
We ate our bread with pesto filled pasta covered in Vodka sauce courtesy of Trader Joe's...a delicious combination! 5 stars from me.

Another Book Club Pick

The Finer Things Club (see THIS post if you want to know what exactly that is) current book club pick is The Forgotten Garden by Kate Morton. The book is pretty thick (a whopping 548 pages), but do not be intimidated because it is amazing and you won't be able to put it down once you start! The book takes place in Australia and then shifts to London (two places I definitely want to visit someday). It is about a woman trying to discover who she is after finding out on her 21st birthday that she was not who she thought she was. She discovers she was abandoned as a child leaving her crushed and bound to find her true identity.  She only has a few clues to her past including a small suitcase and a child's book of fairy tales. If you are looking for a good book, look no further! Put on your sweatpants, nestle up and start reading! I'm off to do just that...

Side note: I bought my book used (I'm the only book club member to not have a NOOK yet) but the last person to read this book wrote a quote in the front that I love...another reason to buy "real" books. "You make a life out of what you have, not what you're missing."

Kindergarten quote of the week

I am a kindergarten teacher and proud of it. I love kids, but especially kindergartners. They are adorable, they say hilarious things, they are excited about learning and they love you no matter what. Now I have my days when I want to pull my hair out, but overall I'm blessed to have a job that I absolutely love.  Since teaching is a huge part of my life I thought I would add a new element to my blog since kids do say the funniest things.  So here is my very first Kindergarten quote of the week: Enjoy!

To set up the scene for you we are learning about our country so we are currently talking about important historical leaders. Yesterday we learned about Abraham Lincoln...
Me: Abraham Lincoln was the president during a very hard time. He was president during a war in our own country called the Civil War
Langston: I know all about that! Spoons and Forks are all "Civil war"
If you didn't catch it, he was thinking of silver ware. :) Happy Friday!

Hurry up Spring!

This week I have been working on getting out some of my Spring decorations. I frequently get my decorating inspiration from Pottery Barn Magazines. Due to our teacher salaries, our budget is limited to Pottery Barn Outlet so I have to get creative, but it is way more fun that way! Here are a few of my newest inspirations for spring...

These go perfectly with my house...can't wait for them to go on clearance!



I love birdcages...



Old watering cans and speckled eggs...more of my inspiration



 I am SO READY for warm weather! Bring on the sun dresses, flip flops, rain boots, umbrellas and budding flowers. Spring really is a splash of color and I absolutely can not wait!

Happily Ever After (Our love story part 4)

Thankfully, I didn't have to wait too long that night before Drew called me. He asked me to go out on a date that night and I was literally jumping up and down. Our first date couldn't have been more perfect. We started out with dinner then went ice skating where we first held hands. Oh high school love. (sigh). After ice skating we weren't ready to say goodnight so we ended up at our elementary school playground where we swung on the swings and talked late into the night.

7 years later Drew proposed to me on this same playground and our Happily Ever After began...

Serendipity (Our love story part 3)

Ser·en·dip·i·ty: The faculty of making fortunate discoveries by accident.  (Now I know Drew and I meeting was no accident. My mom calls our meeting Providence: divine guidance, but I like the word Serendipity better so I'm sticking to it...or maybe I should call our meeting Serendipitous providence. Hmm.)
Anyway...after the watch exchange Drew and I started seeing each other EVERYWHERE. In the hallway, at friends houses we didn't even know knew each other, at National Honors Society (yes we are those kind of people, haha), but Drew still didn't ask for my number. So our high school girls basketball team went to sectionals in Columbus and the students got a bus to take from Cincinnati to Columbus...and who did I just happen to end up sitting next to? Yes, Drew. We talked the entire bus ride and then ended up ditching our friends to sit next to each other at the game. I basically fell in love with Drew that night in the stands. I knew he was a one of a kind and I would be a lucky gal if he was mine...

BUT HE STILL DIDNT ASK FOR MY NUMBER. I was dying. Now I will give Drew this...he was on the shy side, but still I was basically begging to go on a date with him. So one Friday we were walking in the hallway together and I slyly asked him what he was doing over the weekend. He told me and then asked me my weekend plans and I said NOTHING. *hint hint* That must have done it because he asked for my number, I wrote it down on his science folder and then I went home to sit by the phone...ring ring ring

Oh young love :)

Click here for Part 4

A Dream is a wish your heart makes (Our love story part 2)

After finding Drew's watch I picked it up and took it home with me and then I immediately called my best friend, Stephanie. We of course talked about how amazingly wonderful it would be if Drew and I ended up hooking up because Drew was (and still is) just "so dreaaaaamy." I imagined how I'd give the watch to him, what I'd say...I might have even put on a little extra lip gloss incase of a Drew-encounter the next day.

Well the next day came and went and I managed to tell a friend of a friend of Drew's that I had his watch. (Notice I did not give the watch to the friend of a friend...that was all part of my strategy) A few days pass and finally Drew and I pass each other in the hallway. He said "Hey, aren't you the girl who has my watch?" I probably blushed and said "um yes that's me." Anyway we arranged to meet at the same place, same time the next day so I could give him his watch back.  So the next day I gave him his watch, he probably said thanks and then he did not ask for my number...so I thought oh well it was a fun fantasy while it lasted. Little did I know that the next few weeks would be full of Drew-encounters and maybe even an exchange of numbers...

Click here for Part 3

The Story of US (Our love story part 1)

Drew and I in our early years of dating

It was around this time 9 years ago that I met my amazing husband. I love our story and know that it is an example of God's perfect timing. Once upon a time...haha just kidding. (Although our story has been compared to a fairy tale, see if you can figure out the connection...hint below)

Drew and I met in high school so yes we are high school sweethearts *insert awwww here (only 1% of high school sweethearts actually get married or so I'm told) Anyway Drew and I both went to the same high school (and grade school actually) and knew of each other, but had never met. I was a junior and he was a big bad Senior about to graduate. I knew Drew played baseball, he knew I played volleyball etc....but one fateful day our paths actually crossed.  I was staying after school for a study session (probably in Chemistry because I hated it) and was waiting on my ride when Drew whisked by me and out the front door. He had obviously been in the weight room and must have forgotten a gym bag that day because he had an armful of clothes. I watched him walk out to his car and drop something in the parking lot.  He hopped in his tan Blazer and off he went before I had time to yell out that he had dropped something. I figured it was nothing, but went out to investigate. As I got closer I noticed the shiny round face, the sleek wristband, the numbers...it was his watch!

Click here for Part 2

Amazing Aprons!

Another buried treasure find...
Aprons inspire me to want to be more domestic. When I put on an apron I feel ready to cook something amazing. These aprons are definitely inspiring.

My inspiration for chicken spaghetti HERE

You have to have a little fun in the kitchen :)

Two more holiday themed aprons