When The Husband's Away...

The Mister went away for the weekend.  The whole weekend.  He left me.  And Pugsley.  And a Home Depot, Michaels, Art Supply Store, and Ikea accessories all within reach.  You know what that means?!  It's time to get my craft on!

After one night's work, I have my first big project complete.  I don't want to ruin the surprise quite yet so I'm going to share a teaser instead.  I bought my first tool tonight.  I'm pretty proud of myself.  Here she is:

FUN!!!

Okay, that's enough of a teaser for now.  You'll see the complete overhaul when it's finished on Sunday and I'm so excited to share the pictures. 

In the meantime, let's chat about Halloween.  Yes, we carved pumpkins - but only because we like to roast the seeds.  But now that we're in the 'burbs, I feel like we need to do a little more than "nothing" in terms of decorating.  So, during my weekly excursion to Michael's, I found a package of fake spider webs.  Done.  Easy.  Everyone has them, how hard can it be.... gulp.

How embarassing is this?

Seriously. Worst.Spiderweb.Ever.  We tried to untangle it and make it look good but just couldn't accomplish such a task.  We did use a few cute spiders though:

The spider web is now hanging on our front door lifelessly due to a recent snow store and new window operation (!!!!!!!!!!!) but I'm too scared to go outside and attempt to redo the web.  Oh well... we tried... kind of...

Tale of a Cold Puggle

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("Are you kidding me?")

It's now been 14+ hours since our little puggle wuggle has stepped outside.  That can't be good for the bladder but he has apparently taken on an aversion to snow.  Can't say I blame him...

*Recipe* Iced Pumpkin Cookies

Until I'm able to properly articulate my disappointment in our wedding photos, I'm going to stick to lighter topics... such as my favorite pumpkin cookie!  I love pumpkin.  I'll even eat it straight out of the can if you let me.  Add a little sugar and I'm even happier!  I've made these for the past several years and they're guaranteed to be a party pleaser.  This, friends, is what I'll be baking this afternoon:


Iced Pumpkin Cookies


Ingredients:

• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 1 1/2 cups white sugar
• 1 cup canned pumpkin puree
• 1 egg
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
•  
• 2 cups confectioners' sugar
• 3 tablespoons milk
• 1 tablespoon melted butter
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions: 

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, ground cloves, and salt; set aside.
2. In a medium bowl, cream together the 1/2 cup of butter and white sugar. Add pumpkin, egg, and 1 teaspoon vanilla to butter mixture, and beat until creamy. Mix in dry ingredients. Drop on cookie sheet by tablespoonfuls; flatten slightly.
3. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes in the preheated oven. Cool cookies, then drizzle glaze with fork.
4. To Make Glaze: Combine confectioners' sugar, milk, 1 tablespoon melted butter, and 1 teaspoon vanilla. Add milk as needed, to achieve drizzling consistency.

Under Construction

I decided it is time for a change so please hang on until I can catch up with technology.

Thanks!

Drumstick (? - 2011)

Meet the drumstick.

He is by far the most disgusting toy that Mr. Pugsley has ever dug up from the overgrown forest that is our backyard.  The drumstick not only has a face with a creepy grin, but a squeaker as well which means that this precious novelty quickly became Pugsley favorite trinket.  The drumstick attempted to sit on the couch with us on several occasions only to be shot down because we have no idea how many diseases this thing is carrying from being in the backyard for goodness-knows-how-long.  We let Pugsley enjoy his new friend but I am pleased to announce that drumstick has moved on to the trash can.  Finally.  You see, after Pugsley shows his love for the toy, he turns to dominant behavior and must.destroy.them.   So once the drumstick started appearing in pieces throughout the house, it was time to throw the creepy grin away.

Yes, this was blog-worthy.  I can't tell you how happy I am.

Best Bridal Deal EVERRRRRR

Seriously.  This post required 6 R's in the title, it's that big of a deal.

Unless you don't like pretty dresses, fashion or weddings, you've probably heard about Priscilla of Boston.  Growing up, I thought that this was THE place to get a wedding dress.  I remember making the long drive up from Colorado Springs to Denver to do some shopping with my mom.  We headed to the ritzy Cherry Creek neighborhood and stumbled upon a beautiful brick building on the corner with a wide, steep staircase leading up to a Priscilla of Boston store.  The store was closed, of course, so we normal folk weren't able to step in and have a look around so my mom and I peered through the windows admiring all of the white inside.  Isn't it funny the stories that we remember?

Well I hope you're sitting down... because they're going out of business.  Sad day in the world of beautiful dresses but rockin' news for all of you brides out there who haven't yet purchased your dress!  If I were still planning my wedding, I'd be down there in a heartbeat trying on this gown:

or this one:

or this one:

or perhaps this one:

PoB was actually the very first place I went when I started my dress search.  I tried on a lot of dresses (none of the above, unfortunately) and my mom and I felt like royalty the entire time we were shopping!

Run, don't walk.   And bring your friends because their bridesmaid dresses start at just $35!!!

Ahhhh the possibilities!

The Future of Cookies + Wedding Wrap Up (sort of)

This forum originally began as a way to share wedding plans with those who cared enough to read (thanks, Mom!).  However, I've come to thoroughly enjoy blogging.  I must admit that I've become a bit of a blog snob and love to read through other blogs that began with similar purposes as mine.  Just last night I stumbled across a blog by a newlywed couple who discuss their home decorating/improvement adventures.  They now make enough money off the ad revenue from their blog that they quit their jobs and are full-time bloggers.  Can you imagine?!  Oh, the possibilities...

I digress.

Now that the wedding is over, I've been struggling with the format of Cookies for Dessert.  Do I continue to post fun wedding link and ideas - since I am still passionate about wedding planning?  Or do I move toward a new direction of sharing our newlywed bliss?  I think I'm going to test a bit of both and see where the internet takes us... regardless, we'll still be eating cookies for dessert so the name isn't going to change :)

Wedding Wrap Up.

I promised two topics in an earlier post: What Went Wrong (that you didn't notice) and What We'd Do Differently.  Here you go.

What Went Wrong:  Between photos of the bridal party and the start of the ceremony, I escaped - which is hard for one wearing a big, heavy ivory gown to do - to the reception hall to take a peek at the setup.  The lights were glowing, the room was bustling with movement, the decor was placed on the tables and the scene was breathtaking.  Except that something didn't look right.  It took me a few minutes to place the miscue but there it was, on each and every table.  Ivory flowers.  Beautiful ivory flowers.  Except the flowers weren't supposed to be ivory.  In my recollection of discussions with the florist, the flowers were blush pink.  Soft, feminine, blush pink.  Oops.  In hindsight, I don't think this actually "went wrong."  The room still looked beautiful and there was a nice golden glow to everything.  Perhaps the lack of pink saved us from some over-the-top-girlyness and instead gave us classic beauty.  At least, this is what I tell myself.

What We'd Do Differently: Nothing.  Not a damn thing.  The day was perfect.  It was us.  It was exactly what we wanted. 

I'm still anxiously waiting for the full batch of the professional pictures so, even though this is the Wedding Wrap Up, expect The Real Wedding Wrap Up when I have more pictures to share!

Thanks for reading!