Going to the park

In the past several days Lily and I have been to a park near the house, this park is amazing. I am trying to get out more and see what is available in arlington. So the other day after work Lily and I hopped into the car and decided to head up to Veterans Park. In that the majority of the time my posts are all words... this will be mainly pics.

In the car, Lily is thinking 'Mom, let's get out there and smell stuff'

One of the paths, love the trees

From here you head into a wilderness area

Doing a little off the leash work

A man came around the corner and scared us so we got back on the leash

She looks so cranky

I really like this pic of the two of us

I love bridges 

I love the water tower in this pic

I liked this sunset at the end of our walk

At the end of our walk, so ready for cool air and water

This was a great walk and we have been there several different times and we will probably be able to go several more times. Lily seems to really like this park, it gets four paws up!! Also, there are lots of friendly puppies around and it is nice to meet other dogs.

Cookies... Oatmeal Cookies

I really love to bake and recently I have found that I really enjoy making Oatmeal Cookies. There are a few things that I really love about these cookies: 1- they are really easy to make, 2- it only makes 2 dozen so I tend to pace myself, and 3- these are super super chewy. I have made these cookies several different times and loved them every single time. I will admit that my cookies spread out a whole lot and that is a little bizarre but I am not sure how to fix that. This recipe is from MarthaStewart.com and this is the link. I am going to reproduce this recipe for you so that you can see where I think the essential parts are.

Oatmeal cookies

The most amazing oatmeal cookies, ever

Ingredients

1/2 cup butter (1 stick), room temperature

1 cup brown sugar

1/4 tsp salt

1 egg

1/4 cup water (yes water, this surprised me too)

1 tsp vanilla extract

3/4 cup flour

2 cups oatmeal (I use instant even though it says not too, it's because I am a badass..)

1 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp nutmeg (I do not use fresh, but you could)

Directions

1- Preheat oven to 350 C and line baking sheets with parchment paper (I firmly believe that the parchment paper is important and must be used for all baking)

2- Cream together the first three ingredients (butter, sugar, salt), then add the next three (egg, water, vanilla).

3- Mix all of the dried ingredients together in a different bowl

4- Slowly mix in the dry to the wet ingredients 

The batter all mixed up... yes I did use a 311 reference right there!

5- Scoop your dough onto your lined sheets

6- Bake for 20 minutes, I turn once at 10 minutes

7- rest on the sheets for 5 minutes and let cool on a baking rack.

These look good enough to eat right...

One of the things that I think makes these very good is the parchment paper, I have started to use it whenever I bake something on a cookie sheet. I find that this makes all of my cookies taste like they are from a bakery, the right amount of chewy still crunchy edges. This does mean that if you want destroyed cookies, feel free to omit the parchment paper.

I hope that you enjoy these cookies, I really really like them and my grandfather does too. Also if they crumble you can use them as an ice cream topping, to yummy.

Hurricane Issac

Over the last several days hurricane issac has ravaged much the deep southern parts of Louisiana. For me I find these events particularly heartbreaking since this is not an abstract event I know people that are effected and who could lose so much due to flooding. I have found myself searching all of the news outlets for information that could give me an accurate picture of what is going on. I realized that the weather channel was streaming all of their coverage live on the web. Needless to say I got little accomplished at work that day.

There were a few things that I found particularly amazing about this storm and the residence of Louisiana. I was floored by the everyday people that got in their own boats and pulled people out of their homes in the flood waters. These people should be honored by every single one of us, they are true heroes. Thank you for saving people you didn't even know. The second thing I was particularly proud of is how well the governor presented himself. He always seems calm and ready to tackle whatever is coming. I am a little sorry that I dont live in a state where I can vote for him. I watched his press conference and I loved that he have the information needed and didn't spend time talking about nothing. He told me what I wanted to know and exactly what was happening. Governor bobby you have the Hannah stamp of approval I am proud to say I have lived in your great state.

My family is fine and didn't get too much rain which was good. I was nervous they would flood with this storm. I have been praying for those that are flooded or that will flood, they are going to need so much grace in the face of this disaster.

Looking forward to throwing a hurricane or tropical storm party now that I live in the south. Gotta love a good reason to throw a party!!

Mini Lasagna Cups

Mini Lasagna Cups

The other day on Pinterest I saw this pin and it looked pretty good. I love lasagna, it is one of my favorite things to make once it gets cool. I am sure that once it gets cooler I will share my grandmothers recipe for lasagna, and if you try it you will love it. But this looked like a good quick way to make something yummy. Additionally, it looked like a good way to use up the last of the spaghetti sauce when there it too much left over.

I found that this was super easy to make you just plop the stuff into the cups and bake for about 20 minutes. Mine took a little longer but they may have been that everything was cold. I think when I make these again I will add a little less cheese on top and maybe mix some herbs into the cottage cheese. I am not a fan of ricotta cheese, I find it to be a little bit mushy for my personal taste. My mother has always used cottage cheese so I find that I actually enjoy it in my casseroles.

Super yummy

For dinner last night I had 4 of these so I will be having 2 of them for lunch here in a few minutes. This was a definite pinterest win so I will be making these again soon. I love that it took me about the same amount of time to put this together as it did for the oven to heat up so there wasn't too much prep for this yummy dinner. Feel free to try these they get the Hannah stamp of approval!

Craft Projects

Now that I am out of grad school I have been trying to figure out what to do with my time and one of the things that I would really like to make this fall is a game day dress for Aggie football. On Saturday I started trying to find all of the things that I wanted to use for my dress. The majority of the trips were spent without finding exactly what I was looking for. I was unable to find an aggie shirt that looked like what I had in mind for my design but I did find a plain grey shirt that will work for the top. I was looking for some maroon fabric with white polkadots, that was not to be found. I ended up with two different maroon fabrics for the skirts, one with dark flowers (very small) and the other has some light and darker maroons swirled together. At the waist band I found an adorable Aggie print, that is super cute.

This is the fabric for the first dress

The second dress will have the Aggie band and then the lower darker fabric

 I will admit that I spent a whole lot more money than I had anticipated, most of these fabrics were about 10 a yard and that was insane. I realized that I enjoy crafting and that this would be worth it. These may not be the cutest most amazing dresses ever but I am going to try and make them and then I will enjoy wearing them this season. I have high hopes for these dresses. I will be sure to update you as I go along. I am super excited about making these dresses.

I love crafting and I cannot wait to get these dresses ready for football season!!! Gig'em Aggies!

A few more photos

I took lots and lots of pics so that I could remember what I have and be able to shop for what I want to put into the apartment while I wait 8 weeks to move in.

A very large guest bathroom, I didn't mean to be in the pic but it happens. there is a cabinet above the toilet... that will be useful.

Second bedroom, this will be an office and craft room 

Master bedroom, I LOVE the huge window.

One of the things that I wanted was a bathroom in my bedroom, which I have and you might notice that the closet is through the bathroom.

Very large master closet, I am going to need more clothes! 

This is standing in the living room looking down the hall toward the bedroom. 

This apartment has a ton of windows which will be really nice and I think that the layout will be very conducive to just me and Lily living there. I like how large the master is and that it is a square room, I think rectangular rooms are a little hard to decorate. I am looking forward to finding lots of new furniture and I have already started thinking about what color pallet I want in the apartment.

I have a few awesome craft projects in mind for some of these spaces and I am looking forward to getting after it, I hope to not have to wait long for furniture once I move in... by the way if you want to be part of move in weekend let me know. Full disclosure this will require lots of work!

I am so excited about moving in... I think this is the best place for me to start in Dallas, I can't want to have tailgate parties at my house!

And the winner is...

I chose apartment 1!!!!!

When I went back to sign the paperwork I went back into the unit to make sure that I still loved the apartment and took lots and lots of pictures. I will spread the pics over today and tomorrows posts since I don't want to overwhelm my few followers. Sorry I ran out of time to post about this yesterday and Friday, it has been a good weekend. I was also so relieved to finally have a place I just went to bed early on Friday night. So onto the apartment...

The front door... cute little entryway

I like the open floor plan of this room, I love that I can have people over and be able to cook for them and still be a part of the action. Also the huge windows in this room will allow for lots of natural light which I will enjoy. I also like that this apartment has a backdoor not a sliding glass door, I hate those.

View from the front door, notice the awesome windows

The living room

Dining nook, the washer and dryer will be behind those folding doors

From the back door

 I really loved the outdoor space that is avalible from this apartment, it will be so nice to just head out the backdoor and into the green area for the dog. A small bonus is that there is a puppy poop reciprocal just to the right of this photo and my apartment will be a few doors down to the left. So that will be super close and probably very useful.

This is what you see when you open the back door, I think this view is what sold me

Patio, lots of space to enjoy an after dinner glass of wine

Since I love to cook something important in my search was a usable kitchen. This kitchen will require a little work on the front end to make it functional since there are no lower cabinets. I have been brainstorming a few ideas that I will share with you as things get a little closer. I will probably make a cabinet under the desk (the girl mentioned that some of these desks have a cabinet, I am hopeful for that). In addition I may get a buffet to put in the dining nook or living room for additional storage.

The kitchen, with lots of upper cabinets

The only lower cabinets... I am going to have to think of something

Cabinet above desk

Cute little desk, I will probably use this as a cabinet since I have a million pots and pans

 The next post will have a little more info about the rest of the apartment, but it seemed a little long for one post. I am sure that you have had enough photos for one day or reading. I am very excited about this place and I am looking forward to people being able to visit me!