Happy Valentine's Day! I woke up and started making breakfast. While I was waiting for some cheese to melt in the oven, I sat down at the kitchen table. To my surprise there was a long box with a beautiful diamond bracelet. I was delightfully surprised! Flowers had been delivered to work on Friday too! I am one lucky Valentine! I was also blessed with a card from my mom and phone call from my dad. My mom had sent me with a fun heart shaped shower brush and heart shaped earring set when I saw her for the holidays. I also got to text message with my sisters a little. I love my family and friends so much! Here is a picture of the Valentine I sent out to my family. I like the retro paper from Hobby Lobby. I used the same pattern as the Valentine's I posted a couple days ago.After breakfast we went grocery shopping (how romantic is that?). I knew my Pampered Chef tools would be delivered today, so I purchased a few zucchini and a pineapple. Can you guess what I bought at the last Pampered Chef party I attended? If you guessed a pineapple wedger and mandolin, you win the prize. (Don't worry the prize is so wonderful, it's of unmentionable value.) I chose the pineapple that looked the most ripe, but it is still pretty green. I will let it ripen for a couple days before cutting in. Trust me, I'll let you know how much I love my new tool. I may even try to find a couple ripening techniques online. I'm also thinking about whacking off the top (leafy part) of the pineapple and setting it upside down for a couple days. I have heard this makes it taste sweeter. I'll research and report back in a few days. The zucchini is for a vegetable chip recipe I found. I tried it a few weeks ago and failed miserably! I think my slices were too thin. I ended up with charcoal like flakes. I also WAY over salted them. Usually, I am a much better cook. With that said, I'm not ready to admit vegetable chip defeat until I try it with my new mandolin. Again, I'll report back.
After lunc
h we watched TV while I worked on the husband's gift, and hung out with a couple friends that stopped by to deliver my Pampered Chef. The gift I made for my husband is a tin filled with over 160 reasons why I love him. I recycled the tin from a Christmas gift we got. The tin had been full of a snack mix. I liked the window! I kept it really basic, because I didn't want to make the gift too feminine. I'll admit, it still ended up feminine, but there were some touches I would've added if I were giving to a female.
h we watched TV while I worked on the husband's gift, and hung out with a couple friends that stopped by to deliver my Pampered Chef. The gift I made for my husband is a tin filled with over 160 reasons why I love him. I recycled the tin from a Christmas gift we got. The tin had been full of a snack mix. I liked the window! I kept it really basic, because I didn't want to make the gift too feminine. I'll admit, it still ended up feminine, but there were some touches I would've added if I were giving to a female. We ate dinner at home. We opted to stay in for meals today and not battle with busy restaurants and tired waitstaff. Lately while following our Metabolic Research Center meal plan, we pretty much stick to grilled chicken salads when we go out for a meal. Not much sense in waiting in line for an hour for a grilled chicken salad, right? Instead we stayed in for marinated shrimp, brussel sprouts
, and cheese toast. I found a super simple shrimp marinade that I may use and crave every time I see shrimp from here out! Are you ready for this recipe? Here it is, adapted from www.allrecipes.com: 1 lime juiced, a few dashes of Cajun seasoning (we used Bayou Blend), a dash of sea salt, and a TBSP. of olive oil. That's it! Toss it in a bag with your shrimp. We marinated for four hours, dumped the bag into a pot, sauteed, and voila beautiful pink shrimp! I loved how fresh and simple our marinade was. I can see using it on chicken and other fish or vegetables.
, and cheese toast. I found a super simple shrimp marinade that I may use and crave every time I see shrimp from here out! Are you ready for this recipe? Here it is, adapted from www.allrecipes.com: 1 lime juiced, a few dashes of Cajun seasoning (we used Bayou Blend), a dash of sea salt, and a TBSP. of olive oil. That's it! Toss it in a bag with your shrimp. We marinated for four hours, dumped the bag into a pot, sauteed, and voila beautiful pink shrimp! I loved how fresh and simple our marinade was. I can see using it on chicken and other fish or vegetables.After dinner we watched Inkheart. I worked on some 3-D pop up cards while watching the movie. A few months ago while I was recovering from surgery, I ordered a new toy! I purchased the Sizzix Big Shot. While I had played with this tool a little before, I primarily purchased it for the 3-D die functionality.
Below you will see my thoughts on three of these dies.
The first die I tried was the cake. Following the directions that came in the box, I was failing miserably (but not as miserably as one of the other dies). For my second attempt, I just put the cake together completely, then used adhesive to mount the bottom to the card. After that I did my final fold. In the end I decor
ated with some Stickles. When my Stickles are dry, I will finish decorating this card. I am thinking of adding a doily type paper to the bottom and of course creating the front of the card. I am not sure I would mail 
this card to anyone. I think I will only use this die when I will be in person when the envelope is opened. The reason is, I had to pull up the middle after each opening to really get the card to perk up and not just look like three football shapes stacked. If I were grading this Bigz Die, I'd give it a B-. 
ated with some Stickles. When my Stickles are dry, I will finish decorating this card. I am thinking of adding a doily type paper to the bottom and of course creating the front of the card. I am not sure I would mail 
this card to anyone. I think I will only use this die when I will be in person when the envelope is opened. The reason is, I had to pull up the middle after each opening to really get the card to perk up and not just look like three football shapes stacked. If I were grading this Bigz Die, I'd give it a B-. 
The next die I tried was the house die. My first house sort of looked like it had been hit by a tornado. I was slightly frustrated and invited my perfectionist husband to assist me. He ended up doing sort of the same thing I did with the cake die, in that we both threw away some of the advanced steps and inserted our 
own. In this case, after getting the house folded together, he used a ruler and bone folder to pre-fold the house. The instructions suggest carefully folding the card and letting the house fold itself. This is how you end up with a tornado house like my first attempt. He also did not measure where he was putting the house down like the instructions suggest. Changing the instructions worked beautifully. The final product looks better than the final product of the cake, in my opinion. For that reason, I give this die an A-.
own. In this case, after getting the house folded together, he used a ruler and bone folder to pre-fold the house. The instructions suggest carefully folding the card and letting the house fold itself. This is how you end up with a tornado house like my first attempt. He also did not measure where he was putting the house down like the instructions suggest. Changing the instructions worked beautifully. The final product looks better than the final product of the cake, in my opinion. For that reason, I give this die an A-.Finally, I tried the pop-up circle. I have not perfected this die quite yet. I actually think it will be less difficult to perfect. One of my biggest complaints so far was that one of the die shapes when folded together has some extra paper that must be trimmed. I could be missing something, but I was a little dis
appointed. Also, I found it slightly tricky to find rubber bands to hold the middle together that were just the right size. The directions were the most confusing out of the three dies I attempted today. All three were also more difficult than the snowflake die I had used previously. While on the topic, I would rate the snowflake die the best with an A+. The pop-up circle die will probably earn an A. I suggest for all three of these dies that a person pick out some scrap paper to practice on. The snowflake die was fairly
appointed. Also, I found it slightly tricky to find rubber bands to hold the middle together that were just the right size. The directions were the most confusing out of the three dies I attempted today. All three were also more difficult than the snowflake die I had used previously. While on the topic, I would rate the snowflake die the best with an A+. The pop-up circle die will probably earn an A. I suggest for all three of these dies that a person pick out some scrap paper to practice on. The snowflake die was fairly fool proof.
A day full of time with my husband, lovely jewelery, visiting with family and friends, cooking, and creating cards...now that's what I call LOVE! Happy Valentine's Day everyone!
