Moving In

     I've wanted to stay regularly blogging since we moved into our new condo but it has definitely been a challenge.  We're now in the process of painting all of our walls and decorating, as well as coordinating our furniture and all of the other chores that come with a new environment.  I won't have our finished product pictures up for awhile so I figured for now I will just keep you guys up to date on our creative process.
     All of our walls were a nice calming beige color when we moved in.  My roommate, Tori, and I have painted our wall with the sliding back door leading to the porch with black Chalkboard Paint.  The three other walls in our living will be painted a soft teal color, and the door frames leading into our beige kitchen will be painted black.  Right now we have a black futon, a black leather chair, and a glass extendable coffee table with a matching glass end table in our living room.  I plan on purchasing a black futon cover and some black and white patterned throw pillows to integrate the white molding throughout our house.
     In Robbie and my bedroom we will be leaving the walls beige.  I decided on a relaxing spa-like theme with deep purple and pale forest green.  Our first project is ordering and hanging curtains and I will make sure to have pictures up as soon as we get started!  If you don't already follow me on instagram, now is definitely the time to start.  I have been posting some pictures of our home improvement journey and intend to post a lot more.  Just search for glamasaurusrex and hit "follow"!
     Other than our cosmetic improvements we're all settled into our new place, the one thing I am dying for is a nice vacuum cleaner.  So hopefully a big fancy dyson is in my future!  Everyone have a good Wednesday!  :)

BAC BAC!

Chicken with Pan Sauce for dinner tonight!  We are all moved into our new condo with our friend, Tori.  Taco is in love with the new place and things are finally starting to settle down so expect lots of updating!  If you guys want to check us out cooking dinner, come watch our stickam channel here.

YUM!

For dinner tonight I cooked some delicious salisbury steaks with brown gravy, broccoli and white rice.  :)  I love Sandra Lee for a number of reasons, so I found this recipe from Money Saving Meals.  Had an eventful day doing laundry, food shopping, and tanning with Baby Tac.  She loves riding up and down the aisles food shopping.  When someone stands on the opposite side of the aisle she'll stick her head out of her dog bag to smell them.  It has got to be the cutest thing I've ever seen.  Tomorrow is more laundry and cleaning then looking for apartments with my boo and my baby!  Can't wait to be all moved in and situated so we can create our own little sanctuary.  :)

If you want to make your own salisbury steak you can check out Sandra Lee's recipe here.

Winter Cleaning

My entire Wednesday was consumed with cleaning my boyfriend's disgusting bedroom.  I've started some intense winter cleaning so we can purge our inventories and move into our dream apartment ASAP.

Christmas was so busy and awesome from early Christmas Eve all the way until early today.  Robbie's family and I exchanged gifts christmas eve, then I attended a Christmas party with my family.  We spent Christmas morning exchanging gifts at my parent's house.  Taco got her cat pyramid with some toys and cookies from mom and dad.  Later Christmas day we went back to Robbie's for Christmas dinner.  Robbie got me a pink wahl peanut and a matching pink North Face that I am absolutely in love with.  I got tons of clothes and MAC products from my parents, and some more cool stuff from my sisters and everyone else.  I'll post more individual blogs about specific items at a later date.  Taco spent all of Christmas morning hiding in her pyramid away from all the other dogs.  After the two most draining yet wonderful days of Christmas, Robbie ended the holiday by visiting me at work and making it rain on me.

Now that the holidays are coming to an end I really need to get back on my gym grind.  Cutting season starts soon and unfortunately I have developed an intense addiction to macarons.  I hit up the bakery down the street at least three times a week and it is a habit I don't see ending anytime soon.  But even though I've picked up this vice I'm planning some big things and getting to be really busy around the house so I'll have lots to share with you guys.  I've slept most of today while Robbie went to get my car fixed, but I have tons of organizational projects and exciting things to cook coming up.  I'll keep you guys updated!  I hope everyone had a happy and healthy holiday!  :)

hello hello

Wow looks like I've attracted a lot of attention to my blog so I'm actually going to do some updating from now on. All I have to share with you right meow is some christmas shopping...I don't want to really post what I've gotten anyone so I don't spoil the surprise, but Robbie and I went shopping with Tac today to see what she wants and she absolutely loves those little cat teepees that they sell at petco. Looks like that's one of the many things santa will be leaving under the tree for her. Ill be sure to update more often because firstoff I definitely have a larger audience now, and second its been brought to my attention that I did have some loyal readers previously that I'm sure didn't appreciate my lack of activity. Ill be sure to post some awesome holiday pitures asap.

Happy Thursday!

Good afternoon everyone!  I'm working on getting my life back in order after a bunch of chaos, and I've started exploring all my new Mac's organization capabilities.  I'm so addicted to my new Recipes app it's sickening.  I've been transferring so many recipes to it, so hopefully soon I'll have a bake-a-palooza!  I'm looking for a new house/apartment currently, and I've been doing lots of shopping for my new pad.  I've been focusing mainly on kitchen gadgets and cookware, but still stocking up the rest of my house as well.  Until I have some more interesting projects to share with you, I'm going to keep you all updated on my house hauls.  I've put out a bunch of orders and am waiting for some packages still.  Once I receive some of my goodies in the mail I'll treat you all to a house haul post!  :)

New Beginnings

     After a lengthened hiatus to take care of some life issues, I am returning to blogging debt free, single, and more ambitious than ever.  I also finally got myself a Macbook Pro, so I have permanent, 24/7 internet access.  :)  I'm saving to move into a new house, and am doing loads of shopping and reorganizing that I am very excited to share with everyone.  My online shopping obsession is still running rampant, so I have plenty of new purchases to share with you guys, as well as some new things I've been purchasing for my house.  Expect lots of cool stuff; soon, and consistently!

<3 Sarah

Vegan Carrot Cake Cupcakes

     Hello hello!  Sorry for the horrible absence of posts, even after I swore to keep up with this.  I really had good intentions, I swear!  I was sick all last week with some crazy sore throat thing, so I was completely bed ridden.  :(  I was back to my old self yesterday, so I finally got around to making those Vegan Carrot Cake Cupcakes.  I took this recipe from my usual source for Vegan/Dairy Free Cupcakes, Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World.  This recipe was taken from the book as-is and was not adapted.  It says it should yield 12 cupcakes, but I only got about 9 full-sized cupcakes.  I'm not sure what I did wrong, but these cupcakes were amazing so I'm really not too concerned.

Vegan Carrot Cake Cupcakes with Vegan Cream Cheese Frosting

 

Ingredients:

          For the Cupcakes:

     2/3 cup sugar
     1/3 cup vegetable oil
     1/3 cup soy yogurt (i used vanilla, but you can use plain as well)
     1 teaspoon vanilla
     2/3 cup all-purpose flour
     3/4 teaspoon baking soda
     1/4 teaspoon baking powder
     1/4 teaspoon salt
     1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
     1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
     1 cup finely grated carrots
     1/4 cup chopped walnuts
     1/4 cup raisins
          For the Frosting:
     1/4 cup nonhydrogenated margarine, softened
     1/4 cup vegan cream cheese, softened (i used Tofutti Better Than Cream Cheese)
     2 cups confectioners' sugar
     1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions:
          Cupcakes:
     Preheat your oven to 350ºF.  Spray muffin tin with nonstick cooking spray, line with cupcake liners, then spray again.  Combine sugar, vegetable oil, yogurt, and vanilla.  Sift in the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, and ginger; and mix until smooth.  Fold in the carrots, walnuts, and raisins.  Fill cupcake liners 2/3 full and bake for 26 to 28 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean.  Cool cupcakes completely before frosting.
         Frosting:
     Cream together the margarine and cream cheese until just combined.  Use a handheld or stand mixer to whip and add confectioners sugar in 1/2 cup increments. Add vanilla and mix until smooth and creamy.  Cover and refrigerate until used.

     These cupcakes were the best I've made yet!  I'm a total sucker for anything dairy-free, so I'm a bit biased.  However, Jimmy, who is not usually a fan of my DF creations, ate 5 of these cupcakes!  He says he loved them, which means a lot coming from a total dairy-phile.  Like I said, I should have lots of good stuff to post soon, especially now that I'm not withering away in bed.  I was supposed to be meeting with a friend today to do some drafting but unfortunately those plans fell through.  Regardless of what goes on this week I will sure to leave lots of goodies :)  Everyone have a good night! 

<3 Sarah