Turkey Leftover Magic

I love Thanksgiving! The cooler weather, leaves falling, family, yummy smells from the kitchen, and of course- leftovers!

Before we moved back to Texas, we celebrated about 4 or 5 Thanksgivings with our dear neighbors and friends Liz and David. Liz owns Thanksgiving, and she also introduced me to the infamous "Turkey Wreath." And for that, I am eternally thankful. Now I look forward to the wreath just about as much as the actual Thanksgiving meal.

Here goes:

Ingredients

2 pkg. refrigerated crescent rolls
1/2 C. mayonnaise
2 T. honey Dijon mustard
1/2 tsp. coarsely ground pepper
2 C. cooked turkey, chopped
1/2 C. celery, sliced
3 T. fresh parsley, snipped
1/2 C. dried cranberries
4 oz. Swiss cheese, shredded (1 cup)
1 egg, separated

Preheat oven to 375.

Unroll crescent dough; separate into 16 triangles. With wide ends of triangles toward the center. arrange 8 triangles in a circle on a baking stone. Make the corners of the wide ends will touch and points will extend over the baking stone.

Measure mayonnaise, mustard and black pepper into a bowl. Grate cheese into a bowl. Mix filling. Scoop filling over seams of dough, forming a circle.

Beginning in center, lift one dough triangle across mixture. Continue alternating with outer triangle, slightly overlapping to form wreath. Tuck last end under first.

Separate egg over bowl. Beat egg white lightly; brush over dough.

Bake 25-30 minutes or until golden brown.

Viola! Turkey leftover Magic!

Gobble Gobble,

Stacey

Something Borrowed, Something Blue

Well, I had to finish out the poem, eh?

Something borrowed -- during the move we borrowed LOTS- trucks, muscles, ladders, tools, paint brushes, referrals, and ideas. To everyone who helped...THANK YOU!

Some of the referrals we got were SO helpful, so I'll pass along the love:

Shout out to: VanPoole Properties www.VanPooleProperties.com

Metroplex Property Inspections 512-791-2920

Erik the Mover (seriously the best movers I've ever used) 469-583-5484

Carnival Painters/Jeff Murrey (so clean and professional!) 817-627-8848

KHovnanian Homes - come be our neighbor!

Pottery Barn Customer Service--for replacing our bed hardware (we lost it), and our bed footboard (we scratched it) for FREE!

Something blue -- Our bedroom! So my claim to fame is picking out the worst paint colors ever. HOWEVER, this time I think we hit the nail on the head. We love it. It's called Misty Morn by Behr Ultra.

Wish I had a pic to post....hint, hint, Santa.

Stacey

Something Old

Along with all my "something news" we are enjoying at our new place, discovering our "something olds" has been surprisingly pretty fun. Minus some heavy lifting, a broken item or two, and finding a few items that I have no idea how they survived 3 moves (i.e. Jared's 2 foot tall plastic Miller Lite bottle)...the unpacking process has been pretty great. Some of our stuff has been in storage for almost a year and a half!!! So this old stuff has been fun and also hilarious to unpack.

Here are some of my faves:

1. My recipe box! Ok, let's face it -- living with mom is practically like living with a human recipe box, which was pretty awesome. Nonetheless, I am super excited to have access to my favorite recipes whenever I want!

2. My wedding album. I mean, it's not like I look at it every day or anything, but it's fun to have it there just in case I want to.

3. My bread maker. Totally and absolutely forgot I owned one. Score!

2. My Anthropologie robe. For some reason this got packed away. It's just the most perfect robe, and I actually squealed when I unpacked it. I've worn it every night. I am wearing it right now.

1. Buddy's clothes. Don't judge. He loves them.

Stacey

Something New

No, I'm not having another wedding, but I do have something old, something new, something borrowed, and something blue. Let's start with something new...because Jared and I are FINALLY in our new house! Big huge shout out to Mom and Pops for letting us crash at their place for...ummm 6 months...but we are so happy to have a brand new place of our own!

As we awaited and planned our big move (down the street), we made our list of things to buy as soon as we moved in. Here are my top 5 favorite "something news" in our home:

1. Yup, my door mat. I am such a nerd, but I couldn't wait to get our doormat, and the first thing we did when closed was put this thing down. I think it just signifies, "Hey, we live here! Come on in! And wipe your feet!" (of course, those of you who know Jared you know the wipe the feet thing is serious business!)

2. I love lamps and cringe at overhead lighting. And I'm a little obsessed with green right now. BAM! Perfect lamp. Of course, it's on sale now....

http://www.potterybarn.com/products/brookshire-ceramic-table-lamp-shade/?pkey=ctable-bedside-lamps

3. Ahhh, the Dyson. Ok people. Everyone I know with a Dyson has raged about it (OK, we're officially old), but I never really understood what the big deal was. I mean, I thought that I would rather have a cheap vacuum and buy something pretty. Like shoes. I guess I've come a long way because this thing is light as a feather, it can turn on a dime, and it even makes vacuuming fun! Ok, that's exaggerating a bit. Regardless, I'm a believer. Team Dyson!

http://www.dyson.com/store/product.asp?product=DC24-ALLFLOORS

4. Our fridge. I came by everyday in the final stages of our house being finished just to see if they had installed our fridge. I could NOT wait to see it. Again, I feel super old about how excited this made me. Who knew I would ever care about appliances? 10 years ago all I could make were chocolate chip pancakes. Well, here's the beauty:

5. During my days as a Pottery Barn associate, I spent a majority of my time shopping while I worked. I found great deals, decorated rooms for my future homes, and even helped a customer or two. I also had plenty of time to test out the most comfortable couches. This was always my fave. Years later, I am the proud owner of a PB Basic! Hooray! Come sit!

Since my camera died last week (hence the lame phone pics), hopefully my next something new will be a camera. And maybe some more cute throw pillows. And a TV. :) Suggestions??

--Stacey

Southbound 35

This week didn't turn out quite like we had planned. We were supposed to close on our home Friday and could not have been more excited! Much to our disappointment, the bank did not have their act together and had to push our closing to sometime this week. (Don't even get me started.)

After canceling the movers, painters, pottery barn delivery people and after countless tears, yelling, emails, phone calls, faxes, and signatures....Jared and I decided to get the heck out of dodge.

Instead of moving, unpacking, organizing, and cleaning our cute little Las Colinas home this weekend, we headed to Austin and did a little of this instead:

And drank some of this:

And ate some of this:

And we stayed at this adorable little B&B called Woodburn House in Hyde Park:

I guess moving can wait. What a lovely little blessing in disguise!

Stacey

The Conference Blues

Today was day one of two of a statewide literacy conference I am attending with my colleagues. I have been so excited to gain some new strategies to use with my students in the classroom. The speakers were amazing. Too amazing, in fact! Today I walked away with what I like to call the "Conference Blues."

I started off the day all fired up but about midway through started to feel, well....bluesy. I realized that I was obviously a crappy teacher because I could never find the time in a million years to do all these wonderful things with my students! They almost lost me until....

They shared a quote: "The individual relationship between the instructor and the struggling reader is crucial to the success of the reader."

If there's one thing I've got it's that my students know how much I care about their success, their learning, and their lives. I laugh with my students, I work hard for my students, I set high expectations for my students. Most of the time, they do the same for me.

Ya know, I think this can apply to a lot of things in life. Sometimes people just need to know you care. Be there. Laugh. Cry. Dream big.

Stacey

Election Day

Passing through the halls today....and saw these posters. If only elections were this easy!

Happy Election Day!

Stacey