EASY sweet and salty cookies.

If you're wanting to get a girl a good present for any occasion...get her a subscription to REAL SIMPLE.  Fact, it is the best thing ever.  I made one of the recipes from the December issue this week. Flourless Peanut butter cookies.  But! I added in toffee and pretzels.  YUM YUM!  This is the peanut butter cookies for dummies recipe. RS adds in instructions for parchment, to rotate the baking sheets....blah blah blah. That takes time, watching the cookies in the oven, which I am not up for this week. Or ever.  

2 cups creamy peanut butter

1 cup brown sugar (I didn't add this in the first time I made the cookies)

1 cup granulated sugar

2 large eggs

2 teaspoons baking soda

a PINCH of salt.  

a couple of heath bars

pretzels, any kind will do. I used stick thin ones.

Heat oven to 350, butter those pans (pam will do).  Put all the heath bars and about a cup of pretzels in a bowl. Mash with a potato masher- wait- don't do that. That is what I used. But, hey, it worked! So yes, use a potato masher and mash the heath bar and pretzels together.  In small pieces - these will be placed n the cookie mix. Set aside. 

In another bowl, mix together the peanut butter, sugars, eggs, baking soda, and salt until smooth.  I used a mixer, much easier.  

You will then add the pretzel and heath bars in the peanut butter mix.  Mix with a spoon, or mixer, either way is fine just so heath bars and pretzels are evenly in the mix.  Roll the dough into small balls. Put onto the pans! Put in oven! I kept the cookies in for about 15 min, but I let the cookies cool out of the oven after about 10 min. Everyone loves a soft cookie. 

The sweet and salty ingredients

Heath Toffee bars crushed.

PB MIx with the toffee and pretzels added. Looks gross, I know.

Bun in the oven. More like cookies in the oven. 

yum yums 

When the cookies start to break like this is when I pull them out to cool. 

A messy kitchen is a good kitchen.  

Finished product. 

Don't make these for diabetics...too much salt and sugar. 

Enjoy! 

Great recipe turned bad, then good, then great.

Chex mix is the perfect snack for Christmas time. I've never actually made this dish, but I hear about people making it, then giving it as gifts. I found this recipe for Chex Mix in the crockpot.  (I love this woman's blog- she did a meal a day in the crock pot for a year.)  Yet, I forgot the whole timer aspect of the recipe.  Thus, I got burnt chex mix. Which, by the way, blows.  And makes your apartment smell heinous.  

Scary stuff in the making. 

But, I kept trucking.  I knew I wanted to make some Chex Mix for my cousin, Brandon, for Christmas. He is overseas serving in the military.  Here's when he was about to go on leave last Spring. He looks sooo much like a Barker.

Ain't we cute? Maddie's eyes are sooo blue here!

Back to the terrible turnout of the Chex mix. Welp, I made it again. The regular way- with the stove and some yum yum ingredients.  

Yummmyyy!

Definitely made the apartment smell delicious. 

Wishing I had two ovens today.  

The three boxes I sent Brandon!
Fudge, Toffee and pretzel Cookies and chex mix! 

I put in about...

3 cups of rice chex cereal, 1/2 cup of salted peanuts, 1/2 not salted nuts, 1 cup of classic pretzels, 1 cup of sticks pretzels, 6 T butter, 2 T Worcestershire sauce, 1.5 t seasoned salt - I used Lawrys, 1.5 t onion powder.  

Heat oven to 250. In large bow, mix dry ingredients (nuts, cereal, peanuts). In ungreased pan, melt butter in oven.  Stir in seasonings.  Put dry mix into pan and stir all ingredients together until the pretzels, peanuts and cereal is coated.  Bake for an hour, stirring occasionally.  The chex mix recipe calls for corn and wheat chex...I chose only rice. Turned out great! 

 I will be posting the recipe for the toffe & pretzel peanut butter cookies soon.  I used the real simple recipe...

Santa House Fudge

This is a super easy and great recipe for fudge for the Christmas season! If you expect a gift from me on sweet baby Jesus' birthday...expect this along with a recipe card. You think I'm joking. Santa House was a Christmas market in Tulsa that I grew up going to as a little naked child. As we have discussed before, Mom did put clothes on me, I just didn't like them. I felt claustrophobic. Or something along those lines. Backkkkk to the original topic- Santa House was wonderful...any trinket, any ornament or food dealing with Christmas was there. It was this old house that Junior Philharmonic put up every year. Mom was part of Junior Phil and still has great friends from the group. One of which, Brooxie, gave us this picture of Madalyn, Mom and me from Santa House back in the day. Mom still has those Santa star earrings...they are great. And by great, I mean I wear them with my tacky Christmas sweater.

It's not the best picture,
because I was taking a picture of the picture....
I'll scan later.

Katie and I made this fudge along with an AWESOME red velvet brownie recipe that you can find HERE. Obviously this was post wedding....or wait. We both have weddings coming up in the spring so...I guess we start up the wedding diet once again. I feel like this will be a constant in my life for the next five years...oh, to be in your early twenties and living in the South. Santa House Fudge recipe can be found at the bottom. Much easier to print that way.

We did so much Christmas this day...which she LOVES.

Red Velvet Mix. Scrumptious.

Cream cheese icing....only thing I would change about the recipe.
Put the cream cheese in layers...
like put half the red velvet mix,
then add cream cheese,
then layer more red velvet,
then put on more cream cheese.

If you didn't notice from above...I kind of love cream cheese.
This swirling effect was super easy--and gosh darnit, I am proud of the final product.
Super easy with the tip of a knife.

Meag's little friend, Dax who she was sitting that day, helped up out in the kitchen.
Dax is precious. Quite the gentleman, too. His manners are phenomenal.

This is the sugar, butter and evaporated milk. Definitely use a big pot- a sauce pan won't do.

Something we figured out...
Not necessary to zap and melt chocolate before you add in the sugar mix.
The boiling mixture will probably melt the chocolate...

Put on a pan and freeze! It makes a TON!

I'm really proud of this wreath that I made....SO EASY. I went into Hobby Lobby with the intention of making a burlap wreath. Welp, that didn't happen. So, I just got a branch wreath, added gold wrapping, then some pinecones, and those red berries from the fake flower department. All you need is a glue gun.
Who knew that the real simple magazine would be part of my decoration? These gold stars are old old old hand me downs from my dad and stepmoms Christmas decorations.

So...we had a ton of leftover pinecones from the wedding. Thus, pinecone vases galore!

Here is the recipe for the fudge!

Mix together:

1 16 oz chocolate bar- broken into small pieces

1 pint marshmallow cream

3 cups semi sweet chocolate chips

1 tsp vanilla

1 cup chopped nuts (it's your preference)

We melted the chocolate all together in the microwave. It really doesn't matter if you do that, but it is much easier to mix if all the chocolate is melted before you mix. The mix you put on the stove will probably melt all the chocolate...either way is good.

In a big pot over medium heat, bring the following ingredients to a boil for 6 minutes.

4.5 cups of sugar (wowza)

1/3 stick of butter

1 12 oz can of evaporated milk.

Mix in with the chocolate..then put on pan. Freeze and enjoy!

caution: super personal post. no, seriously, don't read if you're not ready for a "pour your heart out" read.

If you didn't get the memo from the title, this is a personal, uber personal, post.


Don't read if you
A.) don't know me very well
B.) Don't want to get to know me very well
C.) Are a single male because this will scare you right off.
---------------------------- okay, now you can go.








but seriously....................
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welp, now you're in the deep.
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If you know me, you know that I am in a completely different situation than I was last year in regards to my love life. This time last year, I was head over heels, ready to get hitched and never look back, over the moon, catching stars, spending Christmas together, I'll have your babies kind of in love. But after Valentines Day, things changed and we went our separate ways. But not really. Because we both went to D.C., we talked constantly, we saw each other frequently, and the worst part: we still loved each other. By the worst part, I mean that it was the hardest thing to not be with someone and watch them have a life without you. Neither one of us was at fault for our relationship ending. I've said this all along. Neither one cheated or felt like we were "falling out of love," or just were sick of the other person. I feel like I need to say that because most people assume that must have been what happened to us because we were the next couple to walk down the aisle.


*sidenote: that scared (presently, scares) the heck out of me. I'm 22, can barely do my own laundry and keep my tiny apartment clean for an entire week. How was I supposed to bring someone else into this?*


But no, it was over a compromise. A religious difference. Now, I've heard a lot of responses, because I'm a people pleaser and need everyone else's opinion on my own personal life to make it seem okay. I've heard it all. "Just go to non-denominational" "Just let your kids decide" "Don't worry about it, it's just religion, you're still Christian." (Which, btw, many a people think Catholics aren't Christian so thus think if I give up my faith I will be the one not sacrificing...?) "Just go to different churches then decide what you like" "Have you read the book about Cokie Roberts and her husband? He is Jewish and she is Catholic." "Just compromise, that is what marriage is all about. Just give in." <----they must not know me very well.


But, I'm not writing to ask your opinion. Just to vent and hope that I will stop worrying for a second and let God do his thing. I am slowly (slowwwlllyyy) letting go of the idea of my fairytale relationship. It's becoming more than religion. It's that I need to go live my life and I can't do that being trapped. I am willing to compromise on a number of things, but religion is not one. Divorce is my absolute biggest fear. Absolutely BIGGEST. I saw what a difference in religion (and a lot of other things) did to my parents marriage, and I am trying to learn from it. People will say I am overt-thinking. I am stubborn. I need to not be so firm in my belief. I should compromise (damn damn damn that word has become so easy for others to say who are not in my situation). But, I guess if I am going to be called anything, those aren't so bad.


I am frustrated. annoyed. angry. resentful (wait, no. not anymore.) bewildered. shocked.
but at the same time.
soooo thankful. grateful. happy. overjoyed. laughing. enjoying life. smiling. learning. LIVING. God is laughing right now - can't you hear Him and his big, big hefty laugh? "All the days planned for me were written in your book before I was one day old." Psalm 139:16
He knows my tomorrows. My tomorrows after tomorrow and the rest of my tomorrows.


Like Zooey Deschannel says in "New Girl," 'Ain't no thing. Ain't no thing.'

The Most Beautiful Day.

I do realize I haven't blogged in a while. Life, family and school has kept me super busy. 
Madalyn's wedding was beautiful. Literally have never seen my sister so very happy! 

The happy couple. 

The rehearsal dinner had some great food...and some sweet babies! 

Remember the post about my brother, Tom?
We had the best time together.  He works for Bacardi.
Needless to say, he introduced me to so many new drinks.  

Barker family.  Shouldn't have worn a white bra with a black dress.
Thanks to my good friend, Allison for letting me borrow the LBD.  

Our good family friend, Diane Ornelas, decorated for the rehearsal dinner.
LOVE HER.

Ain't he adorable in this chocolate brown suit? 

The crew, tying the bows.  Katie, Kat, Nat and Heather came to Tulsa.  So glad they were there there to help celebrate the big day! 

The girls put all the bows on the chairs.  It took some time, but the chairs looked fabulous.
Watch out for the wedding planning company, SWAG, to come to a bridal event near you.  

Is she not so cute? 

It got hot during the rehearsal dinner, so Liv took off her clothes.   

Chloe was a great flower girl!  

Livvi. 

I love this picture.   

Seessstersss. 

Family time on the trolley. 

Rhett, Madalyn and Clem. 

My favorite picture of the night.

I love the new addition to our family. Clem is a welcome joy to our lives! 

The Girls are Back in Town

Signs of a good weekend:  Best friends come in town....check! Hogs play another top ten team? check! Hogs WIN? Yes! Interview Arkansas' athletic director, go out on dickson, gain another hour for daylight savings time....check, check, check! It was a great weekend here in Fayetteville. Natalie and Kathryn came in town for the South Carolina game.  We went to the Fayetteville Farmer's Market and then got ready for the game.  I had the opportunity to interview the UA athletic director, Jeff Long on Saturday before the game.  Some might say it was too cold this weekend but personally, I thought it beautiful.  Okay maybe it was a little chilly at the game.  I got to sit with Katie and Heather for the game! We had so much fun...this weekend was a top notch time!

A-R-K-A-N-S-A-S for Arkansas. Fight, fight, fight!!  

Found my old (not old, he just moved to Creighton)  campus minister, Jay Carney.

Sat with these two hooligans during the game...
They figured out how to make a screeching sound from the pom pom's thrown out for the game.  

Katie and her daddy have the exact same baby blue eyes! 

Kayln Williams...homecoming attendant! 

love this. 

A great interview!