End of Summer Shennanies

The smell of fall is in the air and to celebrate that is coming we had an End of Summer Party. 

Some people didn't like the name of it but, oh well.

It's been getting down to the 50s and 60s at night and it is the most comfortable sleeping temperature. It's also cut down on our electric bill. Thank God. 

Our weekend was pretty laid back but still busy at the same time. It only entailed one sort-of-hangover, which was nice. 

My weekend started Thursday.  We went out for Thai food and then came home.

  We set up the tent in the back yard and had a date night outside that consisted of wine, a bon-fire, Battleship and Uno. Do NOT play Uno with 2 people, it will be the longest game of your life. 

Oh and yes I did kick his ass on Battleship.

Friday night we went out with our buddy who came home from Afghanistan. We went out for dinner and then back to his house for some adult bevys.

On Saturday morning my sister surprised me with a truck full of mulch, loam, flowers and landscaping decor. I had called her prior and told her that our family's grave sites looked horrible and needed some TLC. I think she's been down there about 3 times in 18 years, it's really not her thing. 

I am so excited that she went out of her comfort zone and did this with me! 

They came out great.

     

Sunday was our "End of Summer" shebang and my Origami Owl Launch Party

The party was a huge success. There are not many Designers in this area, so hopefully I will be getting more and more busy!!! I'm also going to be hosting a give away over the next few weeks. With the holidays right around the corner, please feel free to contact me with any questions about our lockets.

We grilled, played baggo and drank the night away.

The home T and The Casey's custom t

How was your weekend????

Homemade Waffles with Strawberry Drizzle

Linking up today with Ashley and Jessica.
I'm pretty sure that after reading this post, this is what you are going to want today. Sorry not sorry.

 A few weeks ago I bought a waffle iron and I have been dying to use it. Ok, so maybe it was the Maple Pumpkin Butter, that I'd been dying to try. Sunday morning was the perfect time to try all of this deliciousness out.

I found this waffle recipe online and tweaked it myself. 

Instead of eggs, I used egg substitute. (1 egg=1/4 cup egg subs.)

Instead of whole milk, I used 1% and I substituted Truvia for the sugar.

 I also added cinnamon to my mix.

Pre heat waffle iron.

Pre heat oven to 300 degrees.

First, I got all of the dry ingredients together and set them aside. 

Then I added the eggs, milk, butter and vanilla extract to the blender.

Mix wet ingredients in blender on "Stir" setting. 

Once all of the wet ingredients are blended, you can add the dry mix.

Mix again on Stir.

Once you have this big blender of what looks like baby batter, your ready to go.

Spray the waffle iron with Pam before pouring the waffle mix on.
Pour in mix and shut the cover (don't peek, it will stick if you do).
My waffle iron has a little light to let me know when they are done.

I have a pizza stone in my oven at all times, and as these were finishing, I kept putting them in the oven on the pizza stone to keep them from getting soggy. I highly recommend this.

I also advise that you put your waffle iron on paper towels. Unless you are the waffle maker master, you will over pour and when you close the lid....spillage on the counter. 

Paper towels were removed for the purpose of this photo, believe you me it was a mess.

For the strawberry sauce I used 8 strawberries and cut them into halves.

Bring a cup of water, strawberries and 2 tablespoons of Truvia to a boil. Let simmer, slightly bubbling for 5 minutes, or until the strawberries blanch a little bit aka turn white.

Butter the waffles (we use olivio) and add your toppings!

Next, go wake up your man candy and bring him out to this. He will then offer to go shopping with you all day because of his bad ass breakfast that you slaved over. It was also "tax-free weekend". 

Fridays letters

Dear husband, I am so proud of you. I give your more credit than you know. It is coming up on a year since your back injury and I know it has been a struggle. Your positive attitude lately is becoming additing! Dear fall, I know some people are condemning you. I'm ready. I have only been able to blow dry my hair approx 6 times this summer due to the humidity. And lets not talk about how the sock bun can only be rocked for so long.  My electric bill is over $200 every month because of the AC. And when summer goes, it can take the Mosquitos and black flies with it. Dear retinol, please stop making me look like a snake shedding it's skin. Im flaky all over, even my nostrils!!! My skin is supposed to get used to this. Either a, I have a lot of old skin to shed or b, you are toxic. Dear wedding shower that is 3 1/2 hours away on Saturday,  if this wasn't for my nephew, I wouldn't be attending. I will be sitting in the car with my mom and sister for over 7 hours in one day. God bless my soul. And thank you, tiny baby Jesus for road sodas. Dear weekend, lets stay on track. Do not tempt me with your pizza, Chinese take out and strawberry daiquiris. It's not going to happen. 

TGIF!  

Office Updates, Fall Scores and a Baby Shower

Happy Monday lovelies!!! The weather has been cooling off in New England getting us me all excited for FALL!!!!

Friday I went shopping to get my upstairs office ready for business. I've always blogged from my couch with no peace and quiet which leads to numerous typos, spelling errors, wine spills etc that only result in my husband texting me or calling me to let me know, AFTER IT'S POSTED.

I've decided to move my blogging upstairs to the office.

With my new business, Origami Owl I also wanted to get more organized due to the fact that I am now managing other peoples money! Here are some pics!

I know adorable right!!!! 

Friday  night we went to one of my favorite restaurants, The Cabin. It's not much to look at but the food...oh my gah!

Sister Saturday consisted of baby shower shopping, wrapping, fall splurges and of course we squeezed in a Bloody Mary!

                           

Best shopping buddy ever!!! And 6 olives only to give me sausage fingers later that day.

 

FALL FINDS!!!   
 

 

all from Michaels

Saturday night was wine, homemade spaghetti, garlic bread and a bon fire!

Sunday was my girlfran's baby shower. Seriously though she's the prego that you want to hate. She's almost 7 months pregnant and has barely gained 10 lbs. Josh has told me that she has set the bar for all pregnancies that will take place in this house hold. HA!

My contributions to Baby E's shower

Both can be found at Babies R Us! 

And after some self crafted gift bags, purple foil wrapping paper, homemade meatballs and bows I was on my way.

And this is probably the cutest cake EVER!

You might notice someone new on my side bar! It's Ashley from Let's Get Bananas. If you don't already read her blog, do it.

How was your weekend????

Exciting Announcement with a Freebie!

I've have been patiently waiting to be able to make this announcement. And by patiently waiting, I mean anxiously excited.

A few months ago I signed up to be a Designer for Origami Owl.

Because this company has only been out for over a year and has extremely unique jewelry, it became extremely popular very quickly. 

I was put on a waiting list for a short while and on this past Monday,  I found out that they were ready for me to join the team!

Origami Owl is a jewelry company in which you can design your own jewelry and make each and every piece of their collection unique for you or someone else. These make the best gifts. Making it personal is easy but narrowing it down to which charms that you want is the difficult part ;)

How To Build

 Step 1. You can browse over 100 charms and select only the ones that you love.
Secondly, you choose a locket that suits your style. 
Next, add a chain.
4. Select your back plate (if you want one!)
 Step 5. Add your dangles!!! 

  I suggest that you stop reading this post right now and click here. Make sure that you have a few minutes to browse................
 

For those of you that aren't into the locket idea, we have a ton of different other options. The dangle collection  and tagged collection are limitless!

Tagged Expressions

Origami Owl has nailed it with being able to make you a truly personalized and one of a kind piece of bling!

To kick off my new obsession, I will be hosting an online party starting today AND for anyone who spends $50 or more I will be giving you a free charm of your choice to add to your locket! 
*$50 before taxes and S&H

*****Please make sure that upon check out, where is states "jewelry bar selection" you select "Jessica Casey's online launch party" in order to receive your free charm! 

My designer id is #32229 

**Please send me an email at JESSRDH80@GMAIL.COM  after placing your qualifying order, letting me know which charm that you want!  


  Stop on by and good luck making decisions!
My Origami Owl 

If at anytime in the future you would like to make a purchase, I have added a button to my page in the upper right corner, directly linking you to my site!

If you are interested in joining the Origami Owl family, feel free to ask me any questions!