Introducing... Our Tasty Treats!

This week has been a big week for us. It's the week that I finally got to upload our beautiful pictures of our delicious products for Bake My Day. You can view our Facebook page with some pictures here, but I'm going to post some of my favorite shots here anyway. 

Technically, they're all my favorite shots because everything came out so lovely. My brother did an amazing job and I'm so grateful and thankful that he worked so hard on this.  

Chocolate Whoopie Pies

Bacon Chocolate Chip Cookies

Snickerdoodles, S'mores, Java Chocolate Chip, and Peanut Butter

Nutella Brownies... look at how beautifully textured they look in the photo.

Red Velvet Brownies with White Chocolate Buttercream Frosting

An assortment of truffles: Oreo, Nutella, Cookie Butter, and Cookie Dough. 

Patti Cakes (or Chess Cake)

Cookie Dough Brownie Bars

Derby Pie (but, we have to change the name because that's trademarked...)

Scotch Bars (name subject to change because they're not butterscotch and not made with scotch so...??)

Whoopie Pies: Chocolate with Marshmallow, Red Velvet, Vanilla with Nutella Buttercream, and Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese

Beautiful!

Friday High 5

We had a good week around here! :D

1.) Last night my brother and I went to a Rifftrax Live event (done by the guys who did that show, Mystery Science Theater 3000, that they used to air on the Sci-Fi channel back before it was SyFy). It was hilarious, as usual. It was also interesting to see so many people turn out for the show.

2.) I finally got a Seattle mug to add to my collection. I really need to stop acquiring mugs now, I guess.

3.) Brayt and I carved pumpkins this week! He's never carved a pumpkin and we haven't done one in over ten years! He did a traditional face and I went a little more artistic and went for a Dia De Los Muertos-style sugar skull with rose. 

4.) Today I'm working on an order for Bake My Day: a fun Halloween platter for a party tomorrow! I'm making S'more cookies, pumpkin chocolate chip cookies, red velvet brownies and a few Oreo truffles. Woo hoo! :D

Just lookie at all my supplies!

5.) This week the union that I belong to at work averted a strike of 30,000 Puget Sound employees after negotiating a new contract. The union members still have to vote on the contract and even though I'm a little disappointed not to see a strike in action (is that dumb?), I'm glad a lot of employees won't have to go through hard times with their families while trying to live on strike pay. 

Have an awesome weekend, everyone! :D

Aim For The Head!

This past Sunday night we ventured out to Snohomish to finally visit Thomas Family Farm and visit all their Halloween attractions. 

The main event: 

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I remember seeing in Spring a huge sign from the main road for this very attraction and I knew I HAD to do it! After looking it up online, I discovered that you are actually shooting people with paintball guns who are dressed as heavily armored zombies. 

We got there at about 8:30 and bought our tickets for zombie paintball, the haunted slaughterhouse, and the flashlight corn maze. 

Luckily Sunday night wasn't too busy and we barely had to wait for zombie paintball. Shown below are the trailers which the paintball guns were attached to. The tractor hauled the trailers full of people around the farm to shoot the zombies. It's a nighttime attraction so the paintballs are glow-in-the-dark, how fun is that? 

I wish I had gotten some pictures of the actual ride but we all were having too much fun. Mom had so much fun that she just had to do it again! The course involved "zombies" hiding behind sheds, in vehicles, and crawling around the ground. It was decorated with glowing paint and colored lights. Very cool.

The next thing we visited was the haunted slaughterhouse. It was built into one of the barns as a maze of creepy rooms with hanging butchered meat, costumed characters, and flashing lights. The highlights of the house was: a clown jumped down from the ceiling onto my head, there was a portion where you had to walk through a vinyl partition that was filled with air that conformed to your body so closely that it felt like you would suffocate for the duration of the tunnel. I have some mild claustrophobia so I didn't enjoy that part and I just grabbed onto my brother's jacket to lead me out of the barely-able-to-breathe space. 

Another creepy part was when we opened a door and after it closed behind you you notice that you're in a small room with nothing but doors. You are stuck in there with a costumed weirdo while strobe lights are flashing and you have to frantically find the correct door. That scene could have easily originated in someone's nightmare. 

The worst part for Mom probably was the end where she was basically attacked by clowns with glowing face paint and real chainsaws (minus the chain, of course). They seemed to sense that she was clown-phobic and mostly followed her around. That was the last part of the haunted house and one clown actually followed her outside to poke at her legs with the chainsaw. 

Then, it was on to the Corn Maze which was 3.5 miles long and 1.5 miles wide. We got lost a few times, of course. Unfortunately, we didn't have enough time to complete the second half before it closed and an employee came to find us. We left the corn maze and we were the last car in the parking lot! 

I think Brayt and I will venture at an earlier time in the coming week to try the corn maze again- we're determined to finish! 

He also wants to dress up as a scarecrow and walk around in there and mess with people, haha. 

We look like red heads in this photo- I had to mess with the image because we both looked too white from the flash! 

Friday High 5

1.) Later today we're going to Zombie Paintball Hayride! I hope to take a few pictures and get to share them on here in the coming days.

2.) It's been getting cold and we finally bought a little portable heater that's quite lovely and useful.

3.) As of last night I am now caught up on this season of The Mindy Project. It's easy for me to get behind on shows.

4.) I've finally made myself start reading a book this week- it's Practical Magic by Alice Hoffman (what the movie was based on) and so far I'm completely startled by the differences between the two. 

5.) We finally have all the Bake My Day pictures taken and I can't wait to post them on our Facebook page and website! (And here, of course!) 

Have a great weekend!

Bullseye

I can't help it, I just love Target. This season they have some of the cuuuuutest stuff for home right now!

Meet some of the objects of my Target obsession affection: 

Owley, the Owl cookie jar (yes, the name is very original). 

Target.com

And, Mr. Nuts. Yes, if I bought him that would be his name. Because he's a squirrel. Not any other reason. 

Target.com

This platter would be gorgeous for serving your Thanksgiving turkey (though, I don't know if I'll ever be able to do that since Russ hates turkey with the fire of a thousand Suns). 

Target.com

I love all of the colors and designs on these dishes. 

Target.com

Want.

Target.com

If you live somewhere where it gets relatively cold this time of year, this will be the best $35 you will spend. It's warm and soft and amazing. We actually bought this one below for Russ to have on the ship because it's so cold all the time. He loves it.

Target.com

Mom actually bought these last week and has loved every minute of them. $20 isn't bad for some decent flannel sheets either. 

Target.com

Pretty much everything I've loved that is pictured here is on sale this week so it's a perfect time to run out and get some comfy bedding and blankets or some pretty serving ware for Thanksgiving!

Shopping Find: Homegoods

You know how you spot something from across the room and just know it's meant to be yours and even though there's no one around to snatch it from you, you grab it and clutch it to your chest anyway like a long lost love? 

No? Is it just me? Anyways...

I had that feeling with this beauty:

If I told you it was $50, would you believe me? I bet you would. But, no! This marvelous cake stand was but $12.99! I couldn't believe my eyes when I read the price tag. Even the cashier was envious of my purchase and was sad when I told her that, unfortunately, this very cake stand was the last one.

I love finding beautiful things for cheap. 

I Could Practically Live Here

There's this segment on a popular blog called Design Sponge that was called Living In and it was an ongoing post type that revolved around a certain style of a certain movie. It dissects the clothing and sets of a certain movie and they found coordinating products that fit in with the style of that film. Pretty cool. 

Here's some awesome ones: Living In: Cruel Intentions, Living In: That Thing You Do!, Living In: You've Got Mail, Living In: Downton Abbey, Living In: Rear Window, and this one especially Living In: The Secret Garden (I would have jumped into that movie so quickly when I was younger if I could've! Who wouldn't want to live in a huge house with a million rooms and discover strange keys that unlock new places on the grounds and turn it into the most beautiful garden ever? But, I digress.)  

If there's one film that I could jump into and just live there, I'm pretty sure Practical Magic would be at the top of the list. 

Here's one awesome thing: it was filmed on Whidbey Island which is a little ferry ride away across the water! I can go and tour Coupeville where they filmed the town scenes! 

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Why would I want to live in this film? Look at that house! The film's setting is what really made me fall in love with it. I love the story too, of course, because it's filled with witches and magic but the setting is just gorgeous. Unfortunately the house pictured above was just a shell for outdoor scenes and was torn down after filming. :( Boo. 

I want to sit at a rustic table outside in my garden in a huge hat!

I think the set designer did a beautiful job of making the interiors look antique, worn, and collected without looking too old or stuffy. It looks very lived-in and comfortable. 

This attic! How cool is this huge attic?!

The kitchen is an ideal blend of clean, white cabinets and tiles and a worn, farmhouse feel. 

I wish this were a real house! It's quite a convincing and elaborate set, isn't it? 

All photos courtesy of here. 

Friday High 5

1.) Yesterday I received two gold stars at work (which you wear on your name tag) for two separate positive secret shopper reviews. You also get a $5 gift card per positive review which is pretty cool. It's nice to be recognized. 

2.) I actually splurged and bought a cute purse. I haven't really been into purses for a while but I've been loving this Target bag for a while now and just decided to treat myself. I would probably take one in every color. 

Target $34.99

3.) Yay for finally getting the lawn mowed! It's such a weight off my shoulders to get something done I've been putting off forever!

4.) My blogiversary! It's nice to see that I've kept up with something (except as of late) consistently for over two years. 

5.) I read this quote last night and I really like it. It something that truly resonates. 

Happy Weekend, everyone! 

They. Are. Everywhere.

I distinctly remember the last time we mowed the lawn this Summer. It was July 4th and the firecrackers were louder than the lawn mower. And it's not like the lawn really has looked bad except for the past week or two because we've been receiving rain. It just hasn't grown since July because it's been dry. 

So my brother and I headed out to brave nature and tame the lawn. I also had to spread some extra mulch because there were spots where my newspaper-under-mulch had popped back through. It's probably because I spread it pretty thin. 

But, you want to know something scary about the Pacific Northwest this time of year? Well, for the last few weeks everything has been pretty much covered in spiders.

This ghastly beast was on the front of our house. 

And more...

And more...

I've driven places only to discover spiders still on my car from home. Mom has found a web in her car (AHHH!!) and one has spun a web in the space under her car's hatchback. They. Are. Everywhere. They make webs from your house to the car, in-between bushes, from the roof to the grass, all over trees, and I've even seen some make webs on the electrical wires. It's pretty terrifying. 

I guess I don't need to put any Halloween decorations up, huh?