summer goals and housewife duties of my dreams

So I can't get too much into depth about my excitement for my possible outside of work project yet because it is totally not for sure happening as of right now, but I seriously can't stop thinking about it. Today I had a brief conversation with my boss about a possible fund raiser that I could be heading up this summer.
As a "housewife" I hope to be able to work with a bunch of different charities to raise money. My ultimate goal is to start a charity of my own, but I want to be fully prepared by doing as much fundraising for other foundations first. I did a lot of event fundraising throughout high school with my philanthropy club and loved every minute of it.
This summer, if I get the opportunity to put on the amazing event I'm dreaming of I will be such a happy girl!
Can anyone say bball and bands?

Do you guys have any favorite charities or causes that you support every year? I know Penn State has THON and tons of people do Relay for Life. Leave me a comment and tell me what you think and any favorite fund raisers!

Thanks for reading,
Mrs. E =]

sensational chicken soup

So today I had a rockin' day at work and was inspired to finally tackle a homemade soup for dinner. I had lots of help from Scotty since I was so exhausted. He's such a good cook, too, so he really took the recipe from normal to awesome.

Here's what we did!
In a pot, we boiled some chicken (just a whole breast and some leftover dark meat) in chicken broth.
While it was heating up, we cut up a handful of onions (red and white), celery, and some peppers would be nice (some bell peppers would be delish but we didn't have any in our fridge!) Saute them in a pan with olive oil and spice--Oregano and generic Italian seasoning.

Once the chicken is thoroughly cooked, take it out of the broth, and rip it into small-ish bite sized pieces. 

Simultaneously, put a pot of water on the stove to boil so you can cook the noodles. 
If you don't have a ton of chicken broth, you can supplement with cream of chicken soup (campbells) like we did. (after we took out the chicken we popped a can of the soup plus a can of water into the pot with the broth.
Once the veggies are done--starting to become golden-- you can plop them into the broth with the chicken and simmer.
Now the the chicken and veggies are in the broth, you can add in a can of tomatoes (we had them skinlesss and whole in a can, which we cut up into pieces, but fresh would probably be ok too!)
Let them all be friends and cook together while you finish cooking the pasta so it's al dente (or a little bit hard). When the pasta's done, you can drain it and put it in with the soup!
Let them all swim around together for a bit and serve up with some grated cheese on top!

Next time I'll put up my awesome dessert that we made tonight! I wouldn't want to overwhelm you guys with too many recipes, even though I promise they're all easy!

PS sorry my pictures are so horrible! I told you guys my camera stinks!

Thanks for reading,
Mrs. E =]

Green

Army Green.
I am overly excited to wear my army green military style jacket. I've had it for awhile, but I always forget about it and end up not wearing it. I can only wear it with 55 degree weather because it's thin but holds in heat. Since the winter is pretty mild I could even start wearing it now! I say, this jacket is a staple item that everyone should have, and I should utilize! It goes with cute little spring or fall outfits, skirts, leggings, jeans--everything!
Do any of you have an item that you absolutely love? Anything you always under-value but always comes through?

I can't write much tonight. I was driving for work for four hours today and my brain and body is absolutely fried.

Thanks for reading =]
Mrs. E

Happy Birthday!

Today is my mom's birthday! The superbowl takes backseat to celebrating the most amazing mom on the entire planet! She is patient, loving, wise, funny, and my best friend. I could never ask for a better mom.
We celebrated by going out yesterday with the fam-Hubby, Max, dad, mom and me. We went to a cool (hipster) diner called Morning Glory in the city and enjoyed the 'quaint' and specialty food. Today, on her actual birthday, we went to a superbowl party together and she won the trivia contest!
I loved spending this weekend with her and the rest of my amazing family.

This is me and my beautiful mom right before prom one year:

I LOVE YOU, MOM!

Thanks for reading,
Mrs. E

Valentine Excitement

I'm so super excited about Valentine's day. I'm working on my homemade valentines and getting excited! Hubby and I decided to celebrate a day later because everything is always on sale (can you say twice the chocolates for the price of one?!), but I wish we could celebrate the WHOLE month--we kind of do. I've already decided the special breakfast treats I"m going to make hubby, I'm halfway finished my valentines for my friends, and I purchased the cutest little bags to put my v-day treats in for the people we love. I'm doing a pink and red theme for the treats (I know, so creative), but I still have one trial run to do =]
Well, I'll share all my yummy treats, the cute vday cards, and how Scotty and I celebrate (we aren't doing big gift or anything) after the fact, so stay tuned!

In the meantime, here's a little video of Scotty and Banana! Aren't they cute? =] (Sorry for the bad quality, it was taken from my phone)

Posters and Cravings

Today I finally took out the glue, scissors, and papers to make some posters for work! My office isn't drab, but it could definitely use some TLC. I'm hoping I can make some posters to spruce up the office with fun colors, more organized information (right now everything is posted all together which makes it hard to find what you're looking for), and just a cheery scenery. I'm also hoping to earn some Cutco bucks...=]
Can I digress for a second and just say how much I adore working with my bff, Dana?! We have been best friends since we were five! Anyone would be lucky to call her a friend. She's my best friend and an awesome co-worker.

Tonight I want a donut so badly that I just bribed Scotty with a 20 minute massage to go and get one. I know we are trying to cut down on our sugar intake, but I [am PMSing] really want to indulge.

                                             Here's a look at my awesome work posters:

                                   Haha, we had some fun playing with a giant sword at work...

                                                         This is the famous Dana!

                           Dana and I before senior prom =] Both in BCBG Max Azria dresses

  

My maid of honor giving a spectacular speech at my wedding!

Pushing 70

Yup, today it was pushing 70 degrees!! Such a pleasant surprise for the first day of February, that's for sure. Scotty is still feeling under the weather with a horrible headache and pain in his sit bones, and I was totally expecting this day to be kind of dreary and sad, but when I went out this morning to run errands I was totally surprised. The sun was so bright, and the breeze was as warm as May. I had to take off my scarf and roll up the sleeves of my shirt. I got to blast my radio with the windows down on my way to the grocery store! I LOVED every second of it.

When I got home I convinced hubby to come outside to enjoy a little fresh air. I figured it might help him feel a little better, too. While he hung around outside I cleaned out our super messy car and took out some boxes to the dumpster (the dumpster that's super far away and on a complete incline) to get my blood pumping a little. It feels so good to get stuff done in sunshine and warm air! I feel so much more productive when it's nice outside because I don't want to just hibernate and watch movies.

What did everyone else do with their day? And does anyone else feel more productive on warmer days? I even think just BEING outside makes my day "productive" because I am DOING something! As an added bonus, does anyone already have a summer to-do or to-buy list? (I'll give you a hint about mine: one of the items is on my 'things I'm obsessed with' list and the other goes on my (and my hubby's) face!)

Thanks for reading!
Mrs. E