These Boots are Made for Walkin'

HAPPY FRIDAY!! I can't tell you how thrilled I am that this week is {almost} over!

This is a big weekend sports-wise. BIG.

Tonight, the MLB playoffs begin! And my dear Texas Rangers are American League West Champs! They play the Tampa Bay Rays this afternoon {here in Alrington} for the first round of playoffs!! Goo Rangers!

Tomorrow Texas A&M plays Arkansas at Cowboys Stadium here in DFW. The invasion of the Aggies begins this afternoon! :) I love it!

That tiny little stadium is Cowboy's Stadium in Arlington

Now for Friday's Fancies. I'm linking up over at Long Distance Loving for this week's edition for Friday's Fancies.. Boots Edition!

I loooove boots. I have about 8 pairs in my closet ranging from rain boots to cowboygirl boots to my favorite Jessica Simpson boots! And you KNOW I've made room in the closet for new pairs! I'd wear boots everyday if I could. They go with just about everything! Love it!



I even wore boots on my wedding day!

 Here's a few pairs that I'm drooling over currently...

Anthropologie boots. With bows!

These Tory Burch boots are to.die.for.

These babies are $40 from Target

And of course, red Hunter wellies!

Gosh I love boots!! Seriously, you can wear boots with everything. Dresses, skirts, pants, jeans, leggings...  I think my favorite outfit to wear with boots is some sort of dress with tights! Here's the outfit I threw together:

Boots by liajoymayes featuring nylon stockings

**I'm loving that mustard color right now. And one day, I'll own Tory Burch boots. At the moment, that is not in our budget!

Some other outfits with boots that I like:

What do you like to pair with boots? Do you have a favorite pair of boots? That's all I've got for today! Happy Friday, ya'll!!

Pumpkin Love

Soo... It's Fall.. And today we are setting a record for high temperature in Fort Worth. September 29 with a high of 100 degrees. Sick.

Anyhoo... Since it certainly doesn't feel like fall, I have to get my fall fix elsewhere... Mostly with my love for cooking/baking with pumpkin.

So, I have a few pumpkin recipes for you!

Pumpkin Dump Cake

Ingredients:
1 15 oz can Pumpkin Puree
1 10 oz can Evaporated Milk
1 cup light brown sugar
3 eggs
3 tsp pumpkin pie spice
1 box yellow cake mix
1 cup (2 sticks) butter melted
1 cup coarsely crushed graham crackers
1/2 cup toffee bits (optional)

Instructions:
1. Preheat oven to 350. Spray a 9×13 baking pan lightly with cooking/baking spray

2. In a large bowl combine the pumpkin, evaporated milk, sugar, eggs and pumpkin pie spice. Stir to combine. Pour into your prepared pan.

3. Sprinkle your entire box of cake mix on top, followed by your graham crackers and toffee chips.

4. Pour your melted butter evenly on top.

5. Bake for 45-50 minutes until center is set and edges are lightly browned.



ignore the crappy iphone picture


Pumpkin Cookies with Caramel Frosting

Ingredients:
Cookies:
1 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 cup canned pumpkin
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 tablespoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon cloves
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon ginger
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups all-purpose flour
Frosting:
3 tablespoons butter
1/4 cup heavy cream
1 cup confectioners' sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
Pinch of salt

Instructions:1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2. In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugars. Add eggs and vanilla and mix well. Stir in pumpkin.

3. In a medium bowl, sift together the baking soda, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, ginger, salt and flour. Add to pumpkin mixture and mix well. 

4.Drop by heaping tablespoons onto a lightly greased cookie sheet. Bake for 10-12 minutes.
 
5. To make frosting: In a medium saucepan, combine butter, cream, and brown sugar over medium heat.  Cook, stirring occasionally, until mixture just begins to boil; remove from heat and stir in vanilla. Cool then stir in confectioner's sugar.  Spread frosting over cooled cookies.

Pumpkin Cinnamon Rolls

Ingredients:

Cinnamon Rolls:

1/3 cup milk

2 tablespoons butter

1/2 cup canned pumpkin

2 tablespoons sugar

1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

1 tablespoon pumpkin pie spice

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 egg, beaten

1 (1/4 ounce) package dry yeast

2 cups bread flour (you can use regular all purpose flour but bread flour makes them lighter)

1/2 cup brown sugar, packed

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

2 tablespoons melted butter

 

Caramel Frosting:

1/4 cup butter

1/2 cup brown sugar, packed

2 tablespoons milk

1/4 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice

1 dash salt

3/4 cup sifted confectioners' sugar

 

Instructions:

1. In small saucepan, heat milk and 2 tablespoons butter just until warm and butter is almost melted, stirring constantly. In large mixer bowl, combine pumpkin, sugar, nutmeg, pumpkin pie spice, and salt. Add milk mixture and beat with electric mixer until well mixed. Beat in egg and yeast.

2. Add half of the flour to pumpkin mixture. Beat mixture on low speed 5 minutes, scraping sides of bowl frequently. Add remaining flour and mix thoroughly (dough will be very soft). Turn into lightly greased bowl, then grease surface of dough lightly.

3. Cover and let rise in warm place until doubled, about 1 hour. Punch dough down. Spray a surface with cooking spray or turn onto floured surface. Knead a few turns to form a smooth dough, sprinkling with enough additional flour to make dough easy enough to handle. Roll dough into 12x10 inch rectangle.

4. In small bowl, combine brown sugar and cinnamon. Brush surface of dough with melted butter. Sprinkle with brown sugar mixture. Beginning with long side of dough, roll up jellyroll style. Pinch seam to seal. With sharp knife, cut roll into 12 1- inch slices. Place rolls, cut side up, in greased 11X17 inch square baking pan. Cover and let rise until nearly doubled, 30 to 45 minutes.

5. Bake rolls at 350 degrees about 15-20 minutes or until golden. Remove from pan to waxed paper-lined wire rack. Cool 10 to 15 minutes. Drizzle with Caramel frosting. Makes 12 rolls.

Caramel Frosting:

In small saucepan, heat butter until melted. Stir in brown sugar and milk.

Stir in brown sugar and milk. Cook over medium low heat 1 minute.

Transfer to small mixer bowl and cool mixture. Stir in vanilla, pumpkin pie spice, salt, and confectioners' sugar. Beat with electric mixer until well blended. If necessary, add more confectioners' sugar for desired consistency.

 

 

 

That's all for today! I may go into a state of depression if we don't get some cooler weather around here. Maybe I should move to a state that has four seasons. Nahh... My love for Texas trumps my hatred for the heat... I think.

 

Anyhoo... Happy Thursday! Tomorrow is Friday! YAY! :)

 

 

What I'm Loving Wednesday

Happy Wednesday, sweet friends!! Only two more days until another weekend! YAY!

Today, I'm linking up with Jamie at This Kind of Love and Michelle at The Vintage Apple! I just love Wednesdays! :)

{i'm loving} my new subscription to Cooking Light Magazine!! I love finding new and healthy recipes to try!

{i'm loving} the pumpkin butterscotch cookies I made the other night!! They are soo yummy! I'm not crazy about butterscotch, but I actually really enjoyed it in these cookies!


recipe via

 {i'm loving} that Texas A&M is officially a part of the SEC! Also loving that A&M is playing Arkansas at Cowboys Stadium on Saturday!

{i'm loving} my new obsession with Twitter!! Follow me and help me out! I'm clearly still learning...

{i'm loving} my main squeeze!

Now for my pinteresting finds of the week....

I'm obsessed with this whole look!

This is so true!

I kinda want her headband for myself :) 

I love boots. And I love bows. I need these.

I'm loving navy right now. And comined with teal? Yes, please!

Lowfat pumpkin banana bread muffins

bahaha!

That's all for today! Don't forget to link up! And you can follow me on Pinterest here.

Have a blessed day!

Promise

Today I am exhausted. Physically. Emotionally.

It's one of those days that I'm just in a funk. And it's days like these that I am constantly reminded of how faithful our God is. He reveals Himself to me through many different things. Many times through scripture, but sometimes it's through other people and circumstances. Today, He revealed Himself to me through a fellow blogger who poured out her heart about letting go of control and giving it all to God. It is so comforting to know that our God will always be there. Through the ups and downs. He has made that promise to us.

There are some things that Corby and I have been dealing with. Struggling, if you will. {Not in our relationship. We are more in love now than we've ever been.} But these "things" that we are struggling with have become an obsession of mine.

In Sunday school {two weeks ago}, we talked about how our personal wants and desires can overcome us and can become an idol. They can take away from the precious relationship we should be having with our heavenly Father. Anything that takes away our focus from our personal relationship with God can be an idol.

These struggles that we are dealing with have most definitely become an idol for me. I've started praying on a daily basis that I can put my faith in Him and that I can let go of these obsessions and idols and can bring my focus back to my relationship with God. Easier said than done. When you obsess over something for so long, it's extremely difficult to let it go.

But I'm trying. I know that He holds the perfect plan for our future. And I know that all I need to do is put my faith 110% in Him and He will make His plan for our lives known. This plan may not be the plan that I had for our lives, but it's God's plan. And afterall, He does know best. I need to put the time and energy that I spend obessing over things that I cannot control into His Word.

I know this is not an exciting blog post, but I started this blog to be an outlet for me to share my heart. And my heart is real. It's vulnerable...

Tomorrow is Wednesday.. Which means this week is half over and we are one day closer to the weekend! And I am so excited! This Saturday, some of my dear girlfriends and I are starting a new Bible study. I need this girl time. :)

Weekend Recap!

Happy Monday! I am draggingggg this morning.... Ugh. I think I could have slept all day!

Anyways.... This weekend was a blast! It is so fun to be reunited with all of my best friends and to watch some Fightin' Texas Aggie Football!!

Texas A&M lost to OSU 30-29. You may think.. A one point loss isn't bad! Well, if only you would have watched the game, you would have seen the catastrophe that was our football team. It was terrible.

BUT... I still had a blast and I'll always love my Aggies! And maybe this loss will make the team angry/determined enough to fight for a BIG win this Saturday against Arkansas! A win over Arkansas would be AMAZZINNGGG since it was announced yesterday that Texas A&M University will officially be joining Arkansas as the 13th member of the SEC effective July 1, 2012! I am sooo excited to see what is in store for A&M! Whoop!

Anyhoo... On to pictures from this weekend...

Hubs and I tailgating!

Reunited and it feels so good!!

I used to work with all these fab people!

LOVE YOU!

Kyle Field! There is nothing like it on earth!

Dying in the heat while watching our Aggies!

The Fightin' Texas Aggie Band! Best halftime show on the planet!

FINALLY got a picture under the Aggie Ring at the Association of Former Students!

It was a great weekend in Aggieland! Can't wait to go back in a few weeks! That's all I've got for today!

Friday's Fancies - Fall Edition

Happy first day of Fall!! I'm giddy with excitement that it's officially fall! This is my absolute favorite time of year!

I'm linking up over at Long Distance Loving for Friday's Fancies - Fall Edition! One of my favorite things about this time of year is the clothes and fall fashions. I love jeans, boots, sweaters, jackets, scarves, etc...

I love deep fall tones with a pop of  color {something bright or bold}! Goodness, I want to go shopping! Stat!

I'm also loving bold patterns... Stripes in particular!

Here is the outfit that I created....

Something else that I'm into this fall is nail polish. I always always always have my toenails painted. But for some reason, I've never thought color looked right on my fingernails. BUT.. I'm coming around to the idea of color on my nails. And Essie's fall collection is playing a BIG part in me liking color on my nails. How can you resist these colors?! To.Die.For.

What are your favorite fall fashion trends and styles? Do you like Essie's fall collection as much as I do??

As you know, fall also means football season. Corby and I are headed to College Station this afternoon to be reunited with some of our best friends from college and to watch the Texas A&M play OSU tomorrow! (Oklahoma State University... Sorry Katie! Wish we were playing OHIO State! How fun would that be?!) It should be an awesome game! Both teams are ranked in the top 10!

Hopefully next week, I will return with fun pictures and stories from the weekend! Have a great weekend!

I Dig Your Blog Award

Kristen at Joyful Ramblings was oooh so sweet to honor me with my FIRST ever blogging award! I am completely surprised and honored! Be sure to check out Kristen's blog! She's fabulous! :)

Here are the rules for the award:

Thank the person who gave you the award.

Thank you again, Kristen!!

Share three random facts about yourself.

1. I did ballet for 18 years. From the age of 2 until I turned 20, ballet was my life. I miss it all the time {and my miss my ballet body. ugh} My life was eat, sleep, dance. I had big dreams of joining a dance company after college. Sometimes I still catch myself standing in first position. :)

2. If you know me personally or have been reading my blog for a while, you know that I am from College Station, Texas and that I attended Texas A&M University. Well Texas A&M {and College Station} are proud to be the home of the George H. W. Bush Presidential Library. The library opened when I was 12. A few years prior to the opening, they had a contest for elementary school students to draw a picture of your vision of the world. Well I, the shy little 4th grader that I was, drew a picture of the earth with people of every race/nationality that I could draw standing holding hands with each other. My vision of the world as a 4th grader was love. That everyone could love each other and get along. Well, I won the contest and the picture that I drew is framed and is hanging in the George H. W. Bush Presidential Library. I got to go to the opening ceremony for the library and meet and have my picture taken with President Bush and the First Lady!

3. This may come as quite a surprise to some of you, but I love to hunt! My family has a 300 acre ranch in west Texas that I have been going to since I was a kid. I LOVE it out there. It's in my top 5 favorite places on earth. I started hunting when I was a sophomore in college. {disclaimer: I only deer hunt} Well the ranch is actually where Corby proposed to me on November 28, 2009. So now the ranch has even more meaning to me.



believe it or not, that's me :)



Right after Corby proposed. Yes, we got engaged wearing full camo :)



Pass it on to five other bloggers.

Meg at Henning Love

Amy at A Glimpse of the Gouglers

Hillary at A Gal and Her Dog

Chelsea at Life is a Sunset

Katie at Keep Calm & Carry On
{You should most definitely visit Katie's blog. She's having an awesome giveaway!!}


Happy Thursday! Tomorrow is Friday {YAY!} and it's the first day of Fall!!