Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy, happy Thanksgiving y'all! I hope you all are able to spend this day amongst family and friends. We all have so much to be thankful for!

<3 Keia

Tuesday's Top Picks

So I'm working to bring you all a more consistent blog post routine. So on Tuesdays you can expect to see, "Tuesday's Top Picks." I will share four or five of my favorite quotes, home decor and/or fashion inspirations, wishlist items, etc. Most of these will come from my Pinterest finds, of course. I hope you all enjoy!

{1} Count Your Blessings

Pinterest

During the Thanksgiving holiday, I think we are all more conscientious of our blessings. This cute printable is a nice reminder to not only count my blessing during the holiday season, but I need to count each of my blessings, everyday, one by one.

{2} Thanksgiving Outfit

Pinterest

Big R, Little R, and I will be spending Thanksgiving Day in Virginia with my family. I'm thinking I will recreate this look. I already have similar pieces in my wardrobe, but I wouldn't mind getting a new sweater though! Hehe! ; ) However, the sweater pictured, and the sweater I already have in my closet, will do a great job of hiding my post-Thanksgiving meal food baby!

{3} Sweet Potato Casserole 

Pinterest

Late last week, we had our office Thanksgiving potluck. One of my co-workers convinced me to bring yams as my dish. I have to admit I was kind of reluctant. I'm usually the person that brings chips and salsa or a store bought cake to our offices parties, but I went with it. I feel like I'm a fairly decent cook, so I don't know why I was nervous. Another co-workers shared the Ruth's Chris Sweet Potato Casserole recipe with me. I used that as my base, and I added a little extra here and there to taste. The recipe is listed below, if you're interested: 

Ruth’s Chris Sweet Potato Casserole

Prep: 10mn

Total: 55mn

Cook: 45mn

SWEET POTATO MIXTURE INGREDIENTS

•    2 and 1/2 cups cooked, mashed sweet potatoes (Cooking options listed above- either bake, microwave, or cook the potatoes on the stove)

•    2/3 cup granulated sugar

•    1/4 teaspoon salt

•    3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

•    1 egg, beaten

•    3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

CRUST INGREDIENTS

•    2/3 cup brown sugar

•    3 tablespoons all-purpose flour

•    1/2 finely chopped pecans

•    3 tablespoons butter, melted

•    1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

DIRECTIONS

1.    Pre-heat your oven to 350 degrees and prep a medium to small sized casserole dish with cooking spray. I used a 9×9 inch casserole dish.

2.    Use a mixer to whip together cooked, mashed sweet potatoes (instructions to cook, bake, or microwave sweet potatoes above), 2/3 cup granulated sugar, 1/4 teaspoon salt, 3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract, 1 egg – beaten, 3 tablespoons unsalted melted butter. Mix until the potatoes are light and fluffy.

3.    Pour the potato mixture into the prepared casserole dish and bake for 30 minutes.

4.    Meanwhile, combine the crust ingredients in a small bowl – 2/3 cup brown sugar, 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour, 1/2 cup finely chopped pecans, 3 tablespoons melted butter and 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract.

5.    Sprinkle the crust over the casserole after it has baked for 30 minutes. Bake for 10-15 minutes longer, until the pecan crust is lightly browned and crunchy.

This is what my casserole dish looked like when I picked it up: 

I think your girl did ok! Haha! Anyhoo, after sending my mom a picture of my empty casserole dish, she asked me to make it again for our family dinner. I plan to make it this time with not only the pecan crust, but with a few marshmallows in the center as well. Big R willing be smoking three turkey breasts for the dinner, so the least I can do is a sweet potato casserole, ya know?!

{4} Protective Styling

Pinterest

Cool weather can very easily mean dry, natural hair. So with that, I'm on a mission to protect my strands. I will be rocking a number of protective styles to keep my ends protected and healthy. I will definitely attempt this lovely bun with a scarf as an accessory like the lovely Meechy Monroe. If you are a natural and you don't know who Meechy Monroe is...let me put you on! She and her sister Vaughn are a dynamic, Youtube natural hair guru duo. You can find them on Youtube here and here. What protective styles do y'all plan to wear over the next few months?

{5} Christmas Sweatshirt

Ok so...not to jump ahead of myself or anything, but I HAVE to have this sweatshirt to wear for the Christmas holiday.

Pinterest

I know y'all get the reference, right?! No? Check out this short video clip:

Can we please pause for the cause, and talk about how Home Alone 2 was one of my all time favorite movies as a kid!! LoL. I had a Home Alone board game and everything! I will be placing an order for my sweatshirt ASAP. Thank you Pinterest, thank you!

And that's all folks! I hope y'all enjoyed my top picks for this lovely Tuesday! {Today is my Friday! Holla!}

Until next time...<3

Detoxify Your Life Update

Y'all, this was a big, fat flop!!! I could give you a bunch of excuses, but basically life got in the way! I plan to give this a real, true go at the beginning of 2014! I will take y'all along for the ride if (I will, darn it) I can make it happen!!! I learned a lot from the program, and I encourage you to check out Brooke Thomas' website. I plan to apply some of the things I learned to my daily routine, and of course I will share them with you all in greater detail when the time comes.

I just wanted to keep it funky with y'all, and let y'all know the deal. I'm a work in progress, ya know?! ; )

Until next time...<3

Breakfast of Champions

Yes, it was that kind of morning. As long as I have my coffee! <3 Hehe.

i LOVE friday!

Don't you? What are your plans for the weekend?! Share with me.

Slow Down, Baby Girl

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Yesterday morning, on my drive in to work, I was involved in a fender bender situation. Every morning, I am always in a rush, so much so that I am usually still multi-tasking on my drive in to work. Well, yesterday it caught up with me. I was distracted for a second too long, and I ended up rear-ending the nice lady who was making a turn off the main road in front of me. I was driving my old "Betsy," and she was already a little busted up. The collision banged the hood up pretty good, but I was not hurt and neither was the lady I hit. Thank God. The car is still drive-able, we are blessed to have another newer car, and Big R just bought a truck that is being worked on that we will have in our possession pretty soon as well.

I was a little emotionally rattled, but at the end of the day I know this was God's way of telling me to "Slow down, baby girl." Life is precious y'all, and this was a lesson learned for sure.

This morning, I took my time. I was able to think clearly, and thank God for all of my blessings. God is so good!

Until next time...<3

FREE Special Edition Keurig K60

Umm this event only happened NINE weeks ago, and I am JUST now giving y'all the scoop! Shame on me! But yes, I said FREE!!! Well in exchange for my old corded, drip coffee maker that is...but who wouldn't make that trade? If you enjoy coffee as much as I do, I am sure you can understand the excitement I felt walking away with my free Keurig coffee maker. My co-worker mentioned the event  in a Friday morning staff meeting. The Keurig company sponsored a promotion to give away FREE Special Edition Keurig machines. Mind you, the particular machine they gave away valued at almost $150! Don't believe me, you can find it here at amazon.com. {The price is now $222.35 at Amazon, doggone holiday inflation} The event manager explained that the Keurig company conducted research and found that the residents of the Piedmont Triad area of North Carolina are, and I quote, "intense lovers of coffee," (that I am!) yet, the sales of the Keurig machine and K-Cups were down in our particular area, and hence the reason why they decided to bring the event to the area to increase overall company sales as a result.

The event was scheduled to start at 10:00 am on Saturday morning at the local coliseum, so myself and two coworkers planned to arrive at 8:00 am, due to rumors of just how many people had gone out for previous events. Well, we arrived shortly after 8, and long story short we waited for 5 hours and went home without our freaking Keurigs that day.

It was all good though, we had scoped the scene and we knew what we needed to do to assure we would get our Keurigs the next day. Sunday morning, we woke up at the crack of dawn, and camped out at the next location for the promotional event. Around 11:00 am, myself and 3 of my co-workers were heading home with our new babies!

I have since set up a nice little coffee station in my dining room area.

I need a K-Cup Carousel like this one in my life:

As a side note, I wouldn't mind using my "coffee station" as a bar cart as well. I've seen a few that I like on Pinterest like this one:

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Or this one:

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But anyhoo, I love my Keurig! It was so worth the 11 hour wait in line to get it for FREE honey!


Until next time...<3

Simple, Afforable Way to a Fresh Smelling Home

I pride myself on keeping a fairly clean home. It is not always easy cleaning up after a man and six year old, but I do the best I can. To me, a clean home is not complete without the finishing touch of a nice aroma floating through the air. I mentioned several posts back that I would share with you all a Pinterest inspired "faux Scentsy" candle wax burner idea that I use in our home.

I am so happy I came across the pin for this brilliant idea. As I said before, I love for my home to smell fresh and clean. You can find an array of air fresheners around our place. I use Glade and/or Air Wick wall plug-ins. I buy the Bath and Body Works Three-Wick Candles, whenever I can catch them on sale for 2/$22 {They are currently on sale now, actually.} I will also pick up other candles here and there, but my faux Scentsy burner is tried and true.

Here's what you will need for your own:

Sorry about the poor picture quality yall. I'm working on that.

1| Candle wax burner. I purchased mine at Dollar General (DG) for $3 each.

2| Laundry Scent Boosters. Several brands make the product. I've only used Gain, but I've also seen the Tide brand in stores as well. The price ranges from $4-7 bucks.

3| Tea light candles. Again, you can find these anywhere for the low. I usually buy a bag of 50 from Walmart for around $2.50. 

With just those three items, which cost $9.50-$12.50, you have yourself an awesome candle wax burner that will last you for several weeks. 

Lately I have been burning the Glade Wax Melts in Sparlking Spruce. (Don't judge, I'm in the holiday spirit early this year!)

Now, if you want to get fancy, you could always skip the tea light candle method, and get yourself an electric wax burner like the ones here and here from a store like Yankee Candle. There is not a thing wrong with using the tea light candles though, in my opinion, and you can't beat $3 bucks for a burner like the ones I purchased from DG.

Y'all let me know if you try out this idea! You will thank me, I promise. ; )

Oh, and one last thing! The candle wax burner and accompanying wax melts would make for an awesome Christmas gift. Christmas is right around the corner peeps!

Until next time...<3

I'm Back!

What do yall know about James Brown!? That's a young James too, child! I'm using his music as a motivator. It's time for me to "get up offa this thing," and get back to blogging! I have missed blogging soooo much, and I have so much to share! Yall hold me accountable, now!!!

Until next time...<3 { I'll be back soon ; ) }