$400 Shoes Are Pretty

Late this morning my mom, sister and I headed to the mall to visit a boutique that was having a mother of the bride trunk show.

We parked outside of Nordstrom and as we walked through the store to get to the boutique in the mall, we got a little sidetracked by these beauties:

Stuart Weitzman Beauties

How gorgeous would these be as wedding shoes?

Shoes from the Side

I'll Just Wear These Out...

Sadly they come with a $400 price tag, so these pretty little shoes were placed right back on the stand. 😉

After the shoe fun, we headed to Cici’s Boutique to look at the mother of the bride dresses they had in stock as part of their trunk show.

Cici's Boutique

They had a lot of dresses to look at, but many looked too matronly and a little dated. I think we all envision my mom in something shorter and more fun.

My mom, sister and I all really liked this dress:

Potential Mother of the Bride Dress

The dress comes with a beautiful shawl as well.

We’re not sure if this is the dress she’ll wear, but it’s in the running!

On our way back out to our car, we made a pit stop into Victoria’s Secret for their semi-annual sale (which Ryan calls their bi-weekly sale because it seems to happen every other week).

I’m always amazed at some of the stuff they sell in there!

Ehhh, No Thanks

Large sparkly beading on the side of underwear doesn’t exactly scream comfort (or sexy) to me…

Lunch

All that shopping made us hungry!

We came home and made imitation crab meat salad sandwiches. On the side I enjoyed broccoli slaw with ginger dressing, fresh pineapple and peanuts in the shell.

Lunch

Pineapple

Jumbo Roasted Peanuts

Peanuts in the shell are such a treat! They make me feel like I’m at a baseball game or something.

I’m off to get some sun outside and read the second Percy Jackson book. Days off of work sure are niiiice. 😉

No Yeast = No Rise

I went to bed around 2 a.m. last night… and yet my body still woke me up before 7 a.m.

Ummm, I have the day off, Body! What the heck!?

Since my family was still sleeping, I figured I would spend some time in the kitchen making a yummy surprise breakfast.

When I was in high school my mom would make us surprise special breakfasts during finals week. We’d come downstairs to make our typical bowl of instant oatmeal or pop a Toasted Streudel in the toaster oven, and instead be greeted with heart-shaped pancakes, orange-glazed cinnamon rolls or a mock Egg McMuffin.

Since my mom and sister were still fast asleep, I figured I would surprise them with a fresh batch of homemade cinnamon rolls when they woke up.

I got to work in the kitchen and about half-way through the process, I realized that making homemade cinnamon rolls is no joke!

What a Mess!

I had bowls, flour and dough everywhere!

The recipe was a lil’ more involved than I anticipated.

I made a couple of substitutions as I was preparing the rolls. I used whole wheat flour instead of white and since I didn’t have any yeast on hand,  I used a substitution I found on the internet that called for equal parts baking soda and lemon juice.

After the dough for the base of the rolls was ready and rolled out, I spread a mixture of cinnamon, butter and brown sugar inside and rolled it up, before slicing the dough into individual rolls and placing them in an 8×8 glass pan to rise for 30 minutes.

Cinnamon Roll Dough

Turns out no yeast = no rise.

The recipe says the rolls are supposed to double in size when you let them rise, but that definitely didn’t happen for me.

I didn’t realize making cinnamon rolls would take so long, so I snacked on a pre-breakfast breakfast of peanut butter and jelly on toast while they were baking in the oven.

Open-Faced PB & J

Toasted PB & J

I think the smell of the cinnamon rolls served as motivation for my mom and sister to get out of bed, because they walked into the kitchen as the rolls were coming out of the oven.

Though the rolls didn’t rise, they did smell fantastic and the dough was dense and delicious.

When my sister and I smelled cinnamon rolls baking when we were younger, we would bolt downstairs to claim the roll in the middle of the pan. It was always the gooiest and most cinnamony roll of the bunch.

Fortunately there were multiple center rolls and my mom, sister and I were all able to enjoy one.

Homemade Cinnamon Rolls

Gooey

My Roll

Though this breakfast took about 10 times the effort of a typical Friday-morning breakfast, they were a yummy treat!

Today’s Plans

Today I have plans to get the oil changed in my car and get it detailed because my dad  has hammered it into my head that a car should be detailed two times a year. Gotta keep it in good condition!

Though the car stuff is necessary, I am much more excited about our plans to attend a mother-of-the-bride trunk show in Tampa to look at dresses for my mom for our wedding!

Question of the Day

What is the most complicated dish you’ve ever prepared?

Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious

Mary Poppins was wonderful!

Before the Show

All Smiles

My mom, sister and I all loved the show and left singing our way home!

Before the show began, we enjoyed chicken and turkey sandwiches from Maestro’s, a small restaurant located in the David A. Straz, Jr. Center where the musical took place.

Chicken Sandwich

Yum

For dessert we shared a churro.

Churro

I haven’t had a churro in years!

Growing up, my junior high offered churros at lunch every Friday and I used to get one every time. Oh, how I’ve missed you, you doughy sticks of cinnamon goodness!

After filling our bellies, we headed into the theater to wait for the show to begin.

My Sister & Mom

Me 'n' Mama

After these pictures we were asked to put our cameras away. Apparently pictures are a big no-no during Mary Poppins, so I couldn’t snap any photos of Mary Poppins as she flew through the sky (Seriously!).

Once the musical was over, we left singing “Jolly Holiday” and “Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious.” They were such fun and upbeat songs and will be featured on my iPod as soon as I get a chance to update it!

When we arrived at home, we snacked on homemade Chex mix and I had a cup of lemon meringue thick & creamy Yoplait yogurt.

Lemon Meringue Yogurt

This yogurt is tasty, but the ingredient list is not so great. High fructose corn syrup is the second ingredient listed. Not good, Yoplait!

I’m hoping to get to bed soon, though we’re all pretty wide awake! Whenever my mom, sister and I get together we are always up late chattin’.

I have the day off work tomorrow, so I may be seein’ you a little later in the morning that usual.

Goodnight!