Christmas Movie Marathon

1. Elf

2. Miracle on 34th Street (the original)
3. It's a Wonderful Life  - check
4. Meet Me in St. Louis (is this a xmas movie?)
5. Home Alone
6. The Santa Clause
7. Christmas Carol - check  (we saw the Jim Carrey version, it was a little bizarre, just warning you)
8. A Christmas Story
9. Christmas Vacation
10. Roman HOLIDAY - check (yes, I count this as a Christmas movie because "holiday" is in the title)

11. The Holiday - check
12. A Muppet's Christmas Carol
13. Narnia (lion, the witch, and the wardrobe) this has Santa in it AND it's about Christ. Great movie.


Steven and I made this list during church (shhh don't tell) so we could remember all the movies we want to watch during the holiday season. Needless to say, we aren't doing very well so far.

Aren't Christmas movies great? What are your fav Christmas movies?

I love saving money

A few weeks ago, me and Abby  went to Pottery Barn to check out the adorable holiday things that were there. We found one thing that we fell in love with:

See that cute poinsettia pillow?? With the bells? So cute, right? It was also $30... which is a bit out of our budget for a small pillow. So, we decided to make our own.

We bought linen fabric, wool felt, and embroidery thread from Joann's to create our works of art.

 Cutting out and sewing flowers together (I look a little tired in this picture...) 

 Ta da!!! Abby with her finished pillow

 And my finished pillow! 

For someone who hasn't sewed in several years, I don't think it's too shabby. 

All together, our materials ended up costing us about $32.00 for both pillows. That's $16 a pillow! But wait, it gets better. We had enough left over fabric to do 2 more pillows, which means each one only cost about $8! Take THAT Pottery Barn! 

And now I have a holiday decoration that I made myself (with a lot of help from Abby, of course). 

P.S. Rumor has it that Studio 5 also had homemade pillows like this, I just want to let you all know that I'm sure  it was our idea first

24 days of Thankfulness

Here it is: The annual thankful list, it's a little cliche, but it's just the perfect time to do it!

At the beginning of November I was going to blog about something I was thankful for everyday until Thanksgiving... which obviously didn't happen. So, to make up for it I will write a list of 24 thank you's for Thanksgiving.

THANKFULNESS LIST:

1. Living close to the mountains, going to Alaska made me appreciate this more for some reason

2. My church calling; love those young women!

3. WEIGHT WATCHERS. Thank YOU for teaching me to eat better so my stomach won't explode

4. Health Insurance

5. A warm place to go home to at night

6. Chocolate. What else needs to be said? 

7. My job, I love those little kids!

8. My country

9. Jane Austen novels and movies

10. College! I am so glad I had the opportunity to receive my degree

11. My parent's dog (who is my namesake), I'm REALLY grateful for her nowadays because she ate some rat poison just DAYS before Kat Call's wedding and almost died. :( I used to be grumpy about her name because this is often what happens at my parents house: "Annnnnnnniiiiieeee!" "What???" "Not you, the DOG!" 

I've learned to appreciate her more now. Love that little rascal. 

12. Food. Good food. I love it so much.

13. Books. Books. Books. Books. 

14. Indoor plumbing, electricity, and all that stuff that is wonderful.

15. Nature.

16. Yoga and Pilates. 

17. Pinterest (and thank you Courtney for bringing it to me)

18. My cruise to Alaska this year

19. Horses, and my cousin Nicole for teaching me how to ride

20. Good friends surrounding me (and will act like they're 12 with me)

This is what it's like when I'm with friends.

21. Family. Family, family, family! My immediate family that I grew up with, and the family the family that I married into. I love all of you SO much! 

22. Hot Chocolate. I drink this nearly everyday

23. Holidays, any of them. I love any reason to celebrate.

24. Last but not least.....

I'm thankful for this swell guy here. 

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!! 

9 1/2 months

Hi

It's me, Steven.

I think it important to tell you followers the momentous event that happened this week.  You see, for the past 9.5 months, Annie has been attending Weight Watchers meetings with a rather high goal in mind:

30 lbs!

Well on Friday she did it!

Check this!

Before...

Bam! Bam! Boom!! After!! Dang she's fine!!

I am so proud of her.  She has done such a good job working out and eating healthy; especially when I would forget she was doing Weight Watchers and offer her delicious cake. "No. I'm on Weight Watchers."

That's how Annie turned into
Annie

Isn't she great?
I sure think so.

cupcakes and cake pops

Last weekend, my mom was super busy making 2 wedding cakes, 6 dozen cupcakes and cake pops. Being the good daughter that I am, I went over to help her make the cupcakes and cake pops for her neighbor's baby shower, they turned out pretty cute!

 lemon cake pops dipped in tinted white chocolate

 Lemon cupcakes with random blue dots

The lady who was hosting the baby shower was using a "dot" theme she wanted used in the food too (and she has a super cute blog you should check out here, when I have kids i may have to steal her ideas for parties because they are adorable). I thought it turned out pretty cute! 

Wedding!!!

The big day for my sister finally came and went! Here are some pics and favorite moments from the wedding:
(some are blurry and I am so sad about it)

 150 4" applesauce spice cakes as favors

 waiting outside the temple 

 yay for marriage! 

 Goodell Girls 

 family with out of town cousins

Top moments:

1. The ceremony. Meaningful and sweet.

2. Steven's nephews being so excited to help clean up. "Annie... do you have a garbage bag? I am collecting cans for my school's recycling project."

 "(as someone takes plates of cake to the cake table) Hey! Can I take one??" I love those little boys. Wish I had pictures of that. 

3. Steven's niece dancing like crazy once dancing started. 

4. Eating cafe rio wedding style... it was sooooo good. (you DO want cafe rio to cater your wedding, I promise). 

5. The coconut lime cake was amazing (I actually didn't try this until after).

6. Walking into the Commander's House for the first time and seeing all the flowers set out 

 bad blurry photo of the Commander's House (aka the reception center) 

 GORGEOUS flowers  in mason jars done by neighbor Lexi, she also did a HUGE piece for the buffet, it was  so pretty! 

Burlap linens and vintage lace overlays are adorable. 

And of course I didn't get a picture of the cake. oh yes, there was more cake. Coconut with lime curd cake and chocolate cake with cherry filling. Joy. 

Hopefully I will have more pictures to come and more blog posts. It was a beautiful day and we are so happy for Katherine and Travis! 

Cake Experiment

A few weeks ago, I had the strangest craving for spice cake.

I really believe that spice cake is underrated and not given enough credit. Of course, chocolate is my favorite kind of cake, but spice is definitely up there as one of my favorite flavors.

To satisfy my craving, I (with the help of husband) made a spice cake for a ward potluck, but we added something different to make it ummm... different: melted white chocolate.

Oh my gosh, and it was heavenly. If white chocolate and fall spices got married, this cake would be their baby.

 It was joyous and wonderful (and the sunday after the potluck, an old man in the ward came to tell me that it tasted delicious and also asked me if I worked in Disneyland because I look so much like Snow White... ha.) 

We also added this amazing syrup to the cream cheese frosting. This, is Buttermilk Syrup, and once you try it you will never need regular syrup again. You make it with buttermilk, lots of butter, and sugar. After cooking it a while it starts to taste like caramel. It's a recipe from one of my old Young Women's leaders and it's so good! So good, I am going to share the recipe with everyone. Go home and make it, then put it on pancakes, french toast, ice cream, or just eat it plain on a spoon. 

Buttermilk Syrup

1/2 cup butter

1 cup sugar

1/2 cup buttermilk

1/2 tsp. vanilla

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. corn syrup

Combine butter, sugar, and buttermilk in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Boil 1 minute and add vanilla, soda, and corn syrup. Let it cook until it turns golden brown. Serves 4 to 5. 

Thank you Sarah for such a great recipe. Happy cooking everyone! 

Neglect (and some pretty pics)

I have been neglecting this dear little blog lately... I don't really have a good excuse (except for wedding planning, work, school, going out of town, etc.).

We went up to my Grandpa's Cabin this weekend, and despite the snow, it was still a great weekend. We made chili, biscuits, dough nuts, and we went to Park City. So much fun!

Here are some pics:

 Steven kneading dough 

 Saturday- all the snow still there!

 homemade doughnuts (To Mark, Lisa, Courtney, and Paige. I promise we didn't try to copy you! Although seeing your doughnut pics made me 10 times more excited about making them...)

pretty!

Sigh... it was a great weekend. Very relaxing. 

Coming up: White Chocolate Spice Cake (aka heaven-in-cake-form)

Let them eat cake

I just wanted to share this super cute cake my mom did for a wedding a few weeks ago.

I think it's really adorable (the stripes are edible ribbon). 

Walking on Sunshine...

The NAMIWalk on Saturday was a HIT! I had so much fun. Thanks to everyone who made it successful and came out to support me!

 Brent, the juggler. He is a part of Wasatch Youth Jugglers and didn't charge anything to come and do juggling for the kids. And they loved it! 

 Team name: Walking on Sunshine. Aren't these some great shirts?? 

 Mom and Tiff doing face painting... 

 Whole team minus Russell 

 My friends Matt and Abby came and did Leather Stamping and other fun games with the kids, thanks you guys!! 

Being on the Walk Committee was hard and time consuming, but it was so fun to see how it all turned out in the end. 

For those of you who haven't heard of NAMI, or the National Alliance on Mental Illness, let me fill you in. NAMI's mission is to reduce the stigma of mental illness in the community and to provide (free) support to those who are suffering. The Walk was to help them raise funds so they can continue to provide these services to the community. 

I loved being on the Walk Committee and supporting NAMI with their mission, I can't wait until next year! 

Thoughts in my head right now

Katherine's wedding...NAMIWalk...Jewish Wedding Project... Katherine's wedding...NAMIWalk....Jewish Wedding Project....Katherine's wedding....NAMIWalk.... and so on and so forth. My head might explode right now. It's one of those crazy weeks.

Not bad crazy, it's definitely the "fun" kind of crazy, except for the moments where I can't remember what I'm doing for which event. I have to remind myself that I don't have to pick up a chuppah (planning a Jewish wedding for school) for the NAMIWalk or that I don't need to plan potato sack races for Katherine's wedding. I'll be glad this weekend when I'll have the NAMIWalk crossed off my list.  Here are some of the thoughts going on in my head:

Jewish Wedding (this is fake, but it's for school)

Budget: $120,000 (I know right??)

I really haven't made much progress on this. I know nothing about Jewish Weddings except that there is a chuppah... which I learned from Gilmore Girls.

So, naturally, the chuppah should be made Gilmore Girls style:

 Also... I think this should be a mountain wedding. It just sounds nice, doesn't it?

NAMIWalk:

This includes:

-Leather Bracelet Stamping (thank you Matt and Abby!)
-Relay Races
-face painting
-Brautwurst (I'm not in charge of the Brauts but it sounds good right now,  so it's on my mind)
- Juggling
- Team T shirts


The NAMIWalk is this Saturday at Valley Regional Park, it will be a great time!

Katherine's Wedding:

Burlap linens (yup. burlap). Scrim, green, or muslin sashes for chairs? What to choose? 

 (I'm in love with the burlap, great for a countryish/rustic/mountain wedding)

 Is it ok not to put chair covers on old wood chairs with maroon pads? Even though your colors are orange and green and will clash badly with maroon...

 sigh...maroon. And my mom's leg right there.

Katherine has also expressed a desire to include S'mores in the wedding somehow... after all, what says mountains and rustic more than a good, old fashioned s'more?

She actually hasn't mentioned this to me in a few weeks... so I don't even know if she still wants it (by the way, do you still want it Katherine?), but that doesn't mean I can't do some poking around. 

"Poke around" is exactly what I did, and I found this:

 S'mores cake from a website called "Desserts for Breakfast "

I pretty much need to have this now. If Katherine doesn't want it, I will just make some for myself and eat it in front of all the guests at the wedding. Because, that's really good manners and stuff.  

So yeah. I hope you enjoyed that. You will probably be looking forward to the day when I won't always be blogging about weddings and things.  

Does anyone know anything about Jewish weddings? Or what kind of fabric I should get for sashes?

Wedding Idea

Now that I am taking event planning classes at SLCC, my mind is on wedding planning a lot. So, here is my latest idea:

Have you ever seen Arrested Development?


If you haven't, you should. It's hilarious.



I have a wedding reception idea that was inspired by this show.

Introducing....

 The Frozen Banana Stand.

Wouldn't this be so great?? I would totally go to a reception if I knew there was going to be a Frozen Banana Stand (especially if George Michael and Maybe were there). 

I can tell some of you are still doubting me. Here are reasons why this is such a great idea:

1. It involves fruit,  chocolate, and toppings. You're getting several of your basic food groups (my main food groups are fruit and chocolate) in one food choice.

2. It's different. There are a lot of receptions out there with gelato or ice creams stands now, and while that is delicious, it's just not as exciting as it used to be. It's good, just not as different anymore. Sorry for any ice cream/gelato stand lovers out there. 

3. They are delicious.

4. Just look at the picture:

Will someone please get married and do this for me??? I will plan your entire wedding for free, I will buy the bananas, and man the banana stand. And hug you and cry with joy.

PS - remember "There's always money in the banana stand" (for all the other arrested development fans)

NAMIWalk

Apologies now for the super long post, but please, please, PLEASE read it! I am in need of help to pull off this NAMIWalk and getting donations. NAMI (National Alliance on Mental Illness) Is such a great organization and the help they provide to the community is phenomenal.
*********************************
Dear family and friends,

I am writing you today to tell you about an upcoming event that I am participating in that is both very important and very exciting to me.  NAMIWalks, the signature walkathon event of the National Alliance on Mental Illness, is being held in  Taylorsville, UT on September 24, 2011. I am the Entertainment Chair for the NAMIWalk and it has been so fun to help put such a great event together.

I became involved with NAMI in January working as an Intern. I learned about symptoms of mental illness (i.e. depression, bipolar disorder, ADHD) in children and had the chance to present workshops to teachers about these symptoms. I also had the chance to attend some of their family support groups. I quickly fell in love with NAMI and the great services they provide to the community. As I read and learned about different symptoms of mental illness, I quickly realized how many kids I had worked with either in day care or at the school district who had been struggling with these symptoms, and I had no idea what they were or what they meant. Some were "kicked out" of school because their behavior was so unmanageable, or others continued to struggle needlessly throughout the day. Their development and learning quickly became hindered because of their struggles. No matter WHAT the other teachers and I did to try and comfort these kids or meet their needs, it was too stressful for us and the child. Granted, all kids are different and have different personalities, but there were some who we truly felt could possibly be suffering from mental illness. I also realized that some of my best friends had shown symptoms of mental illness when we were teenagers. They tried to tell me that they were deeply unhappy, but I had no idea what to do to help them.

From working with NAMI, I have realized how very real and common mental illness is. I have seen people who have never been able to find help and hope with their struggles. But, I have also seen the families who come to NAMI and find the hope and healing they are looking. I have loved working with NAMI and I have seen how their services to the community can change lives. I am now more aware of mental illness and how I can support those around me who may be suffering. My desire is to reduce the stigma of mental illness in the community so those who are suffering don't feel ashamed to find the help they need. These are just some of the reasons why I am supporting NAMI in their annual Walk.

I would like to ask you to come and walk with me or to donate to support my participation in this great event. If you would like to register to walk with me, visit http://www.nami.org/namiwalks.  OR if you just want to make a donation to sponsor me, visit http://www.nami.org/walkdonation.cfm?id=170052. Donating online is fast and secure, and I'll get immediate notification via e-mail of your donation. My goal is to personally raise $300.00 (I now have $50.00) before the day of the walk. OR I also need individuals willing to come help volunteer with the entertainment on the day of the walk. This would involve being at Valley Regional Park from about 9:00 AM - 12:30 PM. There will be lots of fun games and activities!

NAMI, the National Alliance on Mental Illness, is the largest education, support and advocacy organization that serves the needs of all whose lives are touched by these illnesses.  This includes persons with mental illness, their families, friends, employers, the law enforcement community and policy makers.  The NAMI organization is composed of approximately 1100 local affiliates, 50 state offices and a national office.

The goals of the NAMIWalks program are: to fight the stigma that surrounds mental illness, to build awareness of the fact that the mental health system in this country needs to be improved, and to raise funds for NAMI so that they can continue their mission.

 Thank you you so much for reading this (long!!!) email and for all of your support!!

Sincerely,
Annie Hamilton

It's coming...

 I plan to go to New England to see the Fall Foliage someday.

I stepped outside at 7:10 this morning to go to work and I noticed that it was a bit chillier than normal... and it felt lovely.

And then I realized that it is September 1st, which means Fall is coming.

It felt so much like fall this morning. It even smelled like fall. I love feeling like I need a sweater when I go outside!

Fall means a lot of things to me:

-Pretty leaves (I need pictures of this)
-delicious food, which includes but is not limited to:
         * pumpkin pancakes are a must have
         * I plan on making Spice Cake with Buttermilk Caramel Frosting... something that has never been attempted, but I plan on making it happen because it makes me drool and cry with joy at the thought of it. I will tell you to come over when I make it... unless I eat it all by myself, or it's a disaster.
         * Donuts. HOMEMADE donuts. Something I have never done... but want to try so bad.
         * Homemade donuts with HOMEMADE caramel apple cider. 
         * Butternut Squash Soup, and other delicious, comfort-food soups.
         * Pumpkin Steamers from Starbucks
         * Halloween candy, it really does taste different from regular candy

- umm Halloween of course. Best. Holiday. Ever.
-How about the NAMIWalk coming up in a few weeks? 
-how about general conference?!? heck yes! 
- new sweaters
-Thanksgiving
-ummm did I mention UTAH football!?!? pretty much.... it's awesome.


Now I am off to Boulder where it feels like deathly summer to help me get really excited for fall. 
        

Good-bye summer, hello fall

Ok, so I know it's been like... 10 years since I last blogged. For some reason... I really just didn't want to. Partly because I couldn't think of anything to write, and also because I didn't feel like it. Wedding planning and planning a fundraiser at the same time just takes a lot out of you (more on the fundraiser later).

BUT I am back. Not only back on the blog, but also back at work. I am at Rose Park Elementary working as a Pre-K assistant... it's pretty much awesome.

With summer coming to an ended, here are some great things that have been going on as we have ended the summer:

 How about that thunder storm a few nights ago?? That was crazy! you can't tell here, but our porch was flooding because there was so much water! Steven was shoveling it out moments before. See that bucket? That was filled just from water dripping from the porch above us within 2 or 3 minutes.

 Lots and lots of rain. Secret: I love summer thunder storms. 

Then there was "pie in the sky":

 I made this key lime pie for cousin Lara's bridal shower. I played around with a new recipe I found, so I'm glad it turned out ok (I was supposed to put zest in... but I didn't. I didn't want to bite into little green things in my pie).

 Pies at a shower? Best idea ever (thanks Lisa, Paige, and Courtney). Cupcake shops better watch out, because pies are making a comeback. There was also apple (with yummy streusel-type topping, best way to have apple pie), berry, pumpkin, heavenly coconut cream pie, two kinds of chocolate, lemon CHIFFON (love to say that) 

My mom and I did Holly's wedding cake/cupcakes/eclairs. Oh my gosh, the eclairs were so good.

We also had an ice cream party... which I have no pictures of. We just told people to bring ice cream, and it was wonderful. we made caramelized banana ice cream. and.... it was wonderful.

I was also going to blog about fall stuff I want to do, but I made mac and cheese (nope, not homemade... please don't judge) so I am going to go eat. I will try to blog more!