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Tuesday, January 31, 2012

Goodreads Book Challenge


Last year I challenged myself to read 25 books and I met it (barely) so for 2012 I have set a goal of 35 books!  You can follow me and read my reviews on Goodreads and set a goal for yourself too.  I only have 3 friends on Goodreads so if you join, friend me...how desperate do I sound?

If you aren't familiar with Goodreads, it's a social networking site for book lovers.  Once you join you can track what you have read, share your reviews and find new books to read based on your interests or past book loves. 

Next up for me is Divergent by Veronica Roth.

Sunday, January 29, 2012

Sale Alert

Macy's is having a great home sale right now through February 15.  Some of the deals that caught my eye are Buy 1 5-Piece Place Setting (certain fine and casual china patterns) and Get 1 Free...plus an extra 15% off using the code BEHOME at checkout. 

This is the perfect opportunity to complete your pattern or spice up your kitchen with something new. 

Also, certain flatware sets are Buy 3, Get 1 Free and Receive a Free Flatware Storage Box too. (Valued at $85.00). 

PLUS, free standard shipping on all orders. 

And, if those deals aren't good enough for ya, Ebates offers 6% cash back on purchases from Macys.com.  I'm getting a substantial check from Ebates this month from my Macy's home purchase and all of my Christmas purchases!  Join Ebates now to earn cash back on all of your online purchases.  Deals, deals, deals. 

Wednesday, January 25, 2012

Weekend Recap

FridayThe Civil Wars with opening act, The Staves, were sooooo wonderful!  Besides just flat out being a great show, it was also nice to see them at the Wortham and be able to sit in a cozy seat with a glass of wine.  Such a great night!

Saturday
Lazy morning, lots of coffee and reading, and house hunting followed by a long dinner at Coal Vines, a new wine bar and restaurant in Sugar Land (locations also in Austin, Dallas and South Lake).  I highly recommend it and if you go, trust me and order the Seafood Risotto Cake for an appetizer. 

Sunday
Jason got up way too early, and woke me up in the process, to go duck hunting.  I spent the day with the girls visiting Sarah and Baby Owen!  Sarah missed the baby shower we threw for her and our other pregger friends because Owen decided to come early, so we brought the shower to her!  Crave Cupcakes included. 

Happy Wednesday...anyone else as excited about Wednesday nights as I am because it's, as we call it our house, "REVENGE NIGHT"!!!!

Calling all Houston-Area Residents

Jason and I are starting to look at buying a home (right now we are renting inside the loop) and would love suggestions on where to look!  We are considering Sugar Land for proximity to jobs and the city...if you know anything about this area, neighborhood suggestions or areas to avoid would be so helpful and appreciated! 
Family-friendly, good schools, and closeness to the city are all requirements.  I would love to be in a neighborhood with other people who are our age with young families. 

Any other home buying tips would be greatly appreciated too.  Stay safe today in this rain if you are getting it!

Friday, January 20, 2012

Excited


Seeing The Civil Wars Tonight at Cullen Theatre!

Tuesday, January 17, 2012

Recipe: Sea Scallops and Orzo with Cherry Tomatoes

From Peace Meals, by the Junior League of HoustonServes 4

I've made this recipe twice and it's is so good!  Jason loves it too.  Very impressive for a dinner party, but ridiculously quick and easy.

Ingredients:
-  1 cup dry orzo pasta
-  2 tablespoons olive oil, divided
-  3/4 teaspoon coarse salt, divided
-  1/4 teaspoon freshly ground pepper, divided (I used way more than that)
-  1 pound sea scallops (about 8 large scallops equals one pound).  When I made this for 4 people I bought about 1.5 pounds of scallops, but kept all other ingredients the same. 
-  1 cup chopped sweet onion
-  4 cloves garlic, minced
-  1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper
-  2 cups cherry, grape or cherub tomatoes, halved
-  2/3 cup freshly grated Pecorino Romano cheese
-  1/3 cup fresh basil chiffonade

Directions:
1.  Cook the orzo according to package directions.
2.  While the pasta cooks, heat 1 tablespoon of the olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high.
3.  Sprinkle half of the salt and half of the pepper evenly over the scallops.
4.  Add the scallops to the skillet and saute for 3 minutes each side or until done.  Remove the scallops from the pan and set aside.
5.  Drain excess liquid from the pan and add the remaining 1 tablespoon of olive oil. 
6.  Add the onions, garlic and red pepper, and cook for 2 minutes, stirring frequently.
7.  Stir in the pasta and scallops and continue to cook for 1 minute or until heated through. 
8.  Remove from heat, season with remaining salt, pepper, and stir in the tomatoes, cheese and basil. 


Perfect meal all by itself, in my opinion!

Monday, January 16, 2012

Weekend Recap

Can't believe it's already Monday again!  Why do weekends go by so fast?

Friday
After work, Jason and I met up for dinner at the Galleria.  After we ate, we stumbled upon a live auction at a furniture store that was going out of business.  It was so fun!  We bid on a few things, but didn't win.  Free open bar and lots to see.  Only about 25 people there so odds were great to get a good deal.  I'm talking couches for $100, poker tables for $200, huge rugs for $150, lamps for $25...so many good deals!  I had to sit on my hands not to bid on the life size peacocks. 



Saturday
I co-hosted a baby shower with my Junior League "Tea Room" gals.  Originally, the shower was for three of our expectant mommies, but one of them had her baby early!  We had the best time celebrating Baby Olivia and Baby Caroline.  Full post coming later this week, but here is a pic of all the hostesses!



After shower prep, showering and clean-up, I was pooped!  I came home and finally watched The Help, while Jason watched football.  One of the best movies I've seen in a very long time. 

Sunday
Jason and I geared up for the Texans game by grocery shopping early.  We ate good on Sunday and watched TV all day!  For the Texans game, Jason made Quail Nachos, which were amazing (he went quail hunting a few weeks ago) and for the Golden Globes, I made Sea Scallops and Orzo with Cherry Tomatoes.  This recipe is so yummy and very easy.  I will post this recipe later this week OR if you own Peace Meals by the Junior League Houston, it's on page 134. 

Busy week up ahead including re-introducing myself to the gym.  Hope Monday treats you well!

Chelsea

Friday, January 13, 2012

Favorite Things



Since it's a new year, I've been trying to organize everything!  My closest, my drawers, my pantry.  My bestie, Ashley gave me this CUTE Farmer's Egg Crate from Anthropologie for Christmas.  Although I think it so cute to hold eggs in your refrigerator (and may purchase another for that) I needed another organizer for my earrings, so voila...


This makes me happy every time I open my drawer and choose which earrings to wear.  Thanks Ashel!!!

Thursday, January 12, 2012

Birchbox Anyone?


Has anyone signed up for Birchbox.com yet?  For $10 a month (free shipping), Birchbox sends you 4-5 samples of various beauty products to try.  As a member you also earn points which can be used to buy these products and hundreds of others on their site.  Membership can be cancelled anytime. 

Samples in your monthly box can include nail polish, perfume, lipstick, mascara, brushes, hair products, and luxury chocolates.  I'm not a member yet so I can't say if the samples are worth $10, but how fun to anticipate a box of goodies every month!

Wednesday, January 11, 2012

Hello Dollies

Easiest recipe ever!  This is a family staple during the holidays.  Quick, easy and everyone loves it!  I made about 6 batches of these throughout December for cookie exchanges, co-worker and client gifts.  I found some cute (and VERY cheap) treat boxes from Hobby Lobby (below) that I used for delivering.  I also put some in clear bags, with an Erin Condren personalized gift label, and cute ribbon for a nice gift too.

Oh, and we have no idea where the name came from!


Ingredients:
-  1 stick of butter or margarine
-  1 cup graham cracker crumbs
-  6 oz. semi-sweet chocolate chips
-  6 oz. butterscotch chips
-  1 cup chopped pecans
-  1 cup shredded coconut
-  1 can sweetened condensed milk

Instructions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Cut up margarine in 9 x 13 baking pan and place in oven to melt (or melt butter in microwave and pour into pan).  Spread graham cracker crumbs evenly in pan.  Layer the chocolate chips, butterscotch chips, pecans and coconut.  Pour condensed milk over the top.  Not necessary to spread, it will melt all together.  Bake for 30 minutes until coconut is slightly brown.  Cool and cut into bars.



Tuesday, January 10, 2012

Meet Pete


I found Pete the Peacock at a Bucee's Stop on the way to Corsicana.  He was a must-have!  If you are a loyal blog follower, you know I am obsessed with all things peacock.  Pete now resides in my Peacock inspired office!

Monday, January 9, 2012

Giveaway Shout-Out


Whitney from The Glamorous Life of a Housewife is doing a fun giveaway on her blog!  Enter to win these super cute Anthropologie Milk Bottle Measuring Cups.  You have until Wednesday.  And if you win, you should give it to me...j/k. 

P.S.  Today was the Monday from hell.  Anyone want to try and top it?  After spending two hours waiting to film a segment for one of our companies it got rescheduled, then the Houston flooding stranded my car so I was stuck in said TV studio, Jason came to pick me up (highlight) but then when driving me back to my car that afternoon, I broke me pepper spray and it accidentally went off inside the car...burning sensation in lungs!!!

Weekend Recap

Lazy weekend...woo hoo! 
Friday night wasn't lazy for me.  I volunteered at the Children's Museum of Houston for an overnight lock-in with 4th grade girls.  Not much sleep, but lots of fun.  Go team Choo-Choo! 

Saturday morning I left the museum around 8am and headed home.  After lots of coffee, Jason and I went to the Galleria so I could buy a little splurge for myself with all of the Visa gift cards I got for Christmas.  We ate an awesome lunch at Cheesecake Factory and then headed home to get ready for the big Texans game.  I don't even like football, but this was the first time ever that the Texans were in a play-off game so I got into it.  We all wore our Texans gear, including Tucker and it worked...they won!  We stayed in that night and watched a horror movie, our fave!

Go Texans!

Sunday we slept in...my favorite thing ever!  We went to Bed, Bath and Beyond to buy new towels with the gift card my mom gave us for Christmas...much needed so thank you mommy!!!!!!!  More errands and laundry followed by an early evening movie, The Devil Inside.  If you like scary, exorcism movies, this is a good one.  It had lots of cringe-worthy scenes. 

Soapbox of the day:  Jason and I get so ANGRY when we see little kids at movies that are not kid-friendly!  Are parents that selfish?  Can they not find a different movie or pay a babysitter if they just can't wait?  Jason and I are huge horror fans, but sometimes even the movies we see are too much for us.  I can't begin to imagine, what it's like to see it through a child's eyes.  Shame on the people who think this is okay.

Sunday, January 8, 2012

Our "Family of 3" Christmas

Jason and I celebrated our Christmas with each other the afternoon of Christmas Eve, before all of the Christmas Day craziness began!  It was nice to not be rushed and actually enjoy it.  We definitely spoiled each other this year with things on our wishlist and fun little surprises!

A few of the things I got Jason:

 A new briefcase and new luggage

 Jason did so awesome on me!  He saw this blog post and got me a Tory Burch bag I wanted, but then he went creative on me and found a Coach bracelet that matched the bag.  He picked it out all on his own and I LOVE it!!!!




Tucker was a good boy too and got a Texans tee and treats:

Christmas 2011 Recap

I meant to do multiple Christmas posts chronicling all of the events that Jason and I attended during December, but since we are already into January, it's going to be one, big photo dump.  We had a wonderful December visiting all of our many families!  We are so lucky and spoiled!!!

Christmas in Arlington - 12/17/11
We traveled to Arlington for the weekend to celebrate Christmas with Jason's dad and his side of the family.  We had a great time seeing everyone, eating turkey and dressing and opening gifts!

Dinner at the Purifoys - 12/21/11
I didn't take any pics from this night, but J and I hosted my Grandma who was in from Arkansas along with my Dad, stepmom, step-sisters, brother and every one's significant others to our place for food and drinks.  It was fun and the best part was having my grandma see where we live.

Tacky Sweater & Enchilada Night - 12/23/11
My grandma is famous for her chicken enchiladas so it's a tradition that she make them for everyone each time she visits Houston.  All of us "kids" decided to turn "Enchilada Night" into "Tacky Sweater night".  Somehow we decided that next year would be Enchilada "Hawaiian" Night  Thanks to Jenn, Jason and I ran to Walmart for some tacky turtlenecks...I thought we did pretty good for having only a day's notice.  Even Tucker dressed up!

All of the "kids": Me, J, Nicole, Geoffrey, Jessica, Emory, Amanda, Carter

J, Grandma, Me and Tucker
Christmas Eve
It's become a fun tradition the past few years, to attend Christmas Eve mass with my mom and LE at their church, followed by dinner at our fave Chinese food restaurant.  It was so much fun and this year we even had a really cold Christmas! 

J, Me, Mom, LE

Christmas Day
This year Jason and I celebrated Christmas day in Houston (we rotate between families) so we had a LONG day, but who can complain, when we got to spend it visiting family, eating, and opening gifts.

Dad's House at 9am for Breakfast Pizza and gifts:

J, Me, Karin, Dad, Gradma, Carter

Jessica, Nicole, Me, Carter

Aunt Vicki & Uncle Jack's place for lunch at noon:

LE, Mom, Carter, Me, J

My Grammy, Vic and cousin Jake


Back to Mom and LE's House with LE's side of the family for dinner at 6pm.  We ran out of time that day to do gifts with my mom and LE, but no worries, we had a sleep over at their house and continued the present-fun the next morning.  I must have been worn out because I didn't take an pictures of these events.

Christmas in Corsicana - 12/31/11
We spent New Year's Eve in Jason's hometown to celebrate Christmas with his mom's side of the family. 
Me, Nannie, J, Uncle John

Saturday, January 7, 2012

Warrior Dash


Someone invaded my body in November and signed me and Jason up for Warrior Dash this upcoming March.  Warrior Dash is a "mud-crawling, fire-leaping, extreme 5k run from hell. Warriors conquer extreme obstacles, push their limits and celebrate with music, beer and Warrior helmets."




What was I thinking?  I know a 5k isn't very far, but I hate running!  All kidding aside, I'm actually looking forward it (and a little scared).  At least I will have my husband by my side to push me.  It's also given me a little extra push at the gym too!

Friday, January 6, 2012

Have I Been Living Under a Rock?

Why did I just now discover Kendra Scott?  As soon as I went to her website, I realized that I've been seeing this jewelry on everyone...friends, bloggers, celebrities.  Even some pieces that I just picked up at Francesca's seem to be Kendra Scott knockoffs!

I would have certainly added these puppies to my Christmas List...Valentine's Day/Anniversary in February, Jason?
Kendra Scott "Danielle" earrings in Turquoise

Michelle Trachtenberg sporting these earrings

Anyone else late to discover or are already on the Kendra Scott bandwagon?  If so, what's your fave piece?

Thursday, January 5, 2012

2011 in Review

Happy New Year!!!  I hope everyone had a wonderful time ringing in the new year.  Our weekend was spent in Jason's hometown so we could celebrate Christmas with his mom's side of the family.  I'm still behind on posting about our Christmas...maybe I will have all of those posts wrapped up by February. 

Last year was our year of change, this year was our year of stability.  We both felt more settled in our jobs, home, marriage and just felt happy.  Life is certainly not perfect, but 2011 was a great year.  Even in our busiest times, we tried to find time for each other and appreciate the little things in life.  Does this mean that 2012 will be another year of change???  Guess we will just have to wait and see!

2011 Recap:

# of weddings: 1
# of funerals: 0

# of baby showers: 3 (you can tell what phase of life we are in!)
Jennifer's Shower: January
Cory and Amy's Couples Shower: April
Lindsey's Shower: November

# of Trips: 5 (plus countless weekend trips to Matagorda)
New Orleans: January
Fredericksburg: July and August
Las Vegas: October
San Antonio: October

# of Concerts: 8 (9 if Kings of Leon wouldn't have cancelled!)

Best Concert of the Year:  The Avett Brothers at Verizon
Second place goes to the free Kings of Leon show in March (the non-cancelled one) at Discovery Green park for the NCAA Final Four. 

# of Books Read:  25

Best Book: The Hunger Games series

Biggest Accomplishments: Jason's two biggest accomplishments in 2011 were finishing up his term as President of MPI and winning the 2011 Sales & Marketing Award for the Travel and Lodging Association.  Several big accomplishments this year for me were losing and keeping weight off and completing my provisional year in the Junior League of Houston.  We also were able to celebrate Jason's hotel having a successful opening in the spring and a work promotion for me also this past spring.

Looking forward to...
We have tons to look forward to in 2012, but some big things that come to mind are:
-  Several baby showers in January
-  5 Year (Dating) Anniversary in February
-  Warrior Dash in March
-  Nicole's wedding in March
-  Trip to New Orleans in April

Happy New Year!!!  Thanks for still reading this little blog.  Love to everyone!

XOXO,
The Purifoys
 

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