Wardrobe Wednesday- Leopard Scarf and Wedge Ankle Boots

Sisters are great...I have 3.  You know why they're so great?  Besides the fact that they're your built in best friends and you love them and crap....they're great for sharing clothes!

My sister Kinsey and I shared a TON of stuff going into our teenage years.  We only get to share select actual CLOTHES because she is tall and skinny and let's face it.....I am neither of those things.  We could only share some shirts because she would wear them loose and then I would wear the same shirt but tight.  For about 5 seconds before I became a huge fatty we shared some jeans because what she took up in length I took up in the butt haha.  Then....I got fat and she got skinnier and that left us only one thing to share......shoes!

And man did we ever have a collection!  We were also the same size as our other sister above us so we had a MASSIVE collection.  You almost didn't even stop to think about who actually owned and bought the shoes....they just became communal.  That's why when she moved out a few years ago the shoe situation hit me hard!  Suddenly all my shoes were gone....and my best friend!  That's a rough transition for a girl.

Now that we live apart there's a lot less sharing going on....but we still hit each other up from time to time for jewelry and certain heels for ocassions.  That is until this weekend I text her about her adorable boots she recently bought asking if I could borrow them just for this post.  Like a good big sister she obliged.

Long sleeve shirt: Target
Leopard Scarf: Kohls
Jeans: Charlotte Russe (Refuge)
Boots: Target (Merona)

Aren't they flippin adorable? And so comfy too!  I'm kinda thinking I need a pair for myself...but it might be too late.  I have them sitting out in my living room to give back to her but every single time I pass them I stop, admire, and smile.  Now that's the sign of a good shoe yo!

MoMo Monday- All Doped Up

Last March MoMo had to have surgery to remove a uteran stump.  That whole debacle is another story for another day...today is about her post surgery loopiness

When we finally found a vet willing to move forward with the surgery it was considered sort of emergency.  Not like she was going to die tomorrow emergency...but enough that they were willing to do it that day without being prescheduled.

Now because of it's "emergency" status she had her surgery very late in the day.  Like she came out of surgery around 6:30 pm and I was there to pick her up at 7:30pm.  The normal protocol for surgeries is that you drop off your pet right at opening, they generally perform all of them mid morning to early afternoon, then they hold your pet all day and you pick them up at close. 

The reason they do it this way is so that your pet has plenty of time to "come down" off their anesthesia and other meds.  They warned me that since she didn't get her time to let everything wear off that she might be kinda crazy.  I had no idea what I was in for

At first I thought it would be a good idea to just leave her in her carrier for a while and let her sleep.  After all, that's exactly how it would have gone down in the vets office.  Within in 10 minutes of being home though she got all prison inmate crazy on me.  She was banging her little head on the bars of the carrier. She even started biting the bars! I was so afraid she was going to knock herself out that I opened up the door

Here's the video of that

 As you can see, she was seeing something that the rest of us weren't lol

A few minutes later I took this video of her trying to move around a little more.  Her back legs weren't cooperating too well

 

It was after this video that things got REALLY bad.  She finally got herself up a little to walk but she would lose control but have so much momentum going that she was literally slipping and sliding all over the damn place and slamming into walls.  I couldn't even keep up with her. It was crazy how quickly she would get up and then lose control and go flying across the room before I could even get to her. Homegirl was high as a kite! I was so afraid she would break something or pop a stitch that I had to take drastic measures....a padded cell

I needed to keep her confined to a small area that she could walk around in but not hurt herself.  So I grabbed all the pillows and blankets and made her a padded cell...errrr...fort.  Yea, fort sounds better!

This was how it started out.  Just a few minutes into it though she was still trying to scale the pillow walls and get out so I had to add even more to deter her

The rest of the night was just me and her in our little fort with me pulling her down off the pillows every five seconds and petting her constantly for about 3 hours until she finally calmed down

Word to the wise....if at all possible don't ever bring your furry child home immediately after surgery.  It sucks.

My poor little doped up baby! 

Low Carb Chicken Nuggets

Me and nuggets o' chicken go way back. Served with gobs of ranch they were one of my favorite dinners as a kid. My mom would buy the good ones from Schwans.  As I got older my sister Kinsey and I loved hitting up the McDonalds drive thru late at night for some tasty boot shaped chicken and The Boy and I frequented Wendy's after school when we were dating.  Basically, I love them.  But trips to the drive thru are very rare these days as I've started focusing on my health the last 2-3 years or so.  I had a serious hankering the other day and knew I needed to make some ASAP that fit my healthier eating habits.  I actually can't believe I had not made my own low carb version before now....crazy!

Here's my thought process.  I remember my sister telling me she had made some for her kids with an almond meal breading and they loved them.  Then again I'm also in love with a parmesan cheese breading like I use for my Low Carb Mozzarella Sticks and my Eggplant Parm Stacks....so I figured combining the two couldn't be bad...right?

So here's what I did.  First I cut up four huge chicken breasts into chunks. When I say they were huge I mean they were HUGE.  Like this is totally not natural huge.  Like how much hormones did they pump into this single chicken huge.  Like no wonder little girls are getting boobs at the age of 6 from all the hormones we eat huge.....

Note to self: Make more money so I can afford to buy chicken that isn't pumped full of crap

Then I mixed up equal parts almond meal and grated parmesan cheese.  1 cup of each was enough for these 4 breasts.  Season with seasonings of your choice.  I used Garlic Herb Mrs. Dash, salt, and pepper.  I dipped my finger in the goodness to see if it was seasoned enough.  That's the beauty of this....you can do that to parmesan cheese and ground almonds.  You wouldn't be able to dip your finger in plain flour and taste if it's ready or not now would ya?  Consider that another low carb win...

Looks like I got all caught up in the process and forgot to take pictures but it's pretty simple.  Whisk a few eggs in a bowl, dip your chicken in it, and roll it in your breading.  Place on a parchment or wax paper lined baking sheet

Place the whole pan of these in the freezer.  Just like I did with my eggplant parm and mozzarella sticks the freezing helps the crust adhere better to the food.  It will also keep the cheese from melting too quickly when you go to fry it later.

I stuck them in the freezer with every intention of making them for dinner that night.  Then I took a nap and woke up too lazy to do anything...so I simply bagged them up and put them back in the freezer.  

I realized that this is awesome though!  One day you could bread up a whole bunch and freeze them in bags to pull out whenever you want.   I didn't end up pulling them out to use until over a week later but it all worked out beautifully

Just lightly pan fry them to get a golden color. It actually took very little oil for anybody who is concerned with it being fried. Make sure your oil is nice and hot or the breading will start to fall off before it can get brown and crispy. 

Then place them on your cookie sheet and bake at 350 until they reach 165 degrees. (I actually placed mine on a cooling rack and then placed the entire rack over the baking sheet. This way they get crispy all around and not soggy on the bottom) The bake time all depends on how big you cut them or how long you fried them....but mine took about 15 minutes.

They were so stinkin good! Totally satisfied my craving.  

Oh and for the record....those aren't french fries.  They're rutabaga fries.  It really completed the nostalgic childhood meal feel

*Note: I tried baking a few just to see how they would turn out.  I sprayed them with a little cooking spray and baked them at 350.  By the time they got to a point of crispiness that I liked they were sort of dry on the inside.  Frying is the way to go for me because I like my nuggets more crisp...but if you don't mind a less crunchy nugget than baking might work for you

Low Carb Chicken Nuggets

4 chicken breasts cut into chunks

2 eggs whisked in a small bowl

1 cup grated parmesan cheese

1 cup almond meal

Seasonings of choice

Oil to pan fry

Combine the cheese, almond meal, and seasonings in a bowl.  Dip the chicken chunks in egg, roll in the cheese/almond mixture, and place on a parchment or wax paper lined baking sheet.  Once they are all breaded place the whole pan in the freezer to let the breading adhere better.  Once frozen, pan fry the chicken in hot oil until golden brown.  Place on a baking sheet (or on a cooling rack placed over a baking sheet to get crispy all over) and bake at 350 until they reach 165

Wardrobe Wednesday-Stripes on Stripes

So I know....it's not Wednesday...it's Thursday.  But I am such a creature of routine and habit that having to go into work early yesterday totally throw me off my already el sucko blogger game.  But I'm here....I'm just fashionably late.  Get it?....cuz it's Wardrobe Wednesday?.....Merp!! ;)

So I think that most girls have a "thing" when it comes to their wardrobe.  Some stick to a specific color.  (We all know those girls whose whole closet is made up of black) others are "layerERs", and some girls are polka dot girls.  I would say I'm a stripes girl.  

I never even noticed until going through my clothes to donate earlier this week. And this isn't even all of it

I have a stripes addiction....but I have no intention on giving it up.  

In fact, recently I've been very intrigued by some stripes on stripes pins I've come across on Pinterest. 

Cute right?

(Sources working clockwise)http://www.iamstyle-ish.com/2011/01/lookbook-for-love-of-stripes.html

1.http://www.littlemissfearless.com/2013/01/layered-in-stripes.html 2.http://www.iamstyle-ish.com/2011/01/lookbook-for-love-of-stripes.html 3.http://instagram.com/shopdandy 4.http://bowsandsequins.com/2012/05/11/sailor-stripes/

So I dug through my pile o stripes and came up with this....also because I had been itching to wear my red jeans again

Cardigan: Forever 21
Shirt: Ross
Jeans: Ross
Flats: Gifted....not sure

Personally I love this look....about 80% of the time.  I think the 20% where I look in the mirror with a question mark is only because I feel like I'm breaking some sort of rule....which I need to get over. I'm going to keep experimenting with this look though...it will justify my mass quantity of striped clothes.

MoMo Monday- Wheezy

I always feel so guilty when MoMo gets a serious wheezy hairball.  It's sort of sad to watch but hilarious at the same time so I'm always laughing at her....bad mommy!

Her head gets all flat and smooshy, her ears go back all Yoda style and it sound like she's saying "Pooo......Poooooo"  

Poor love.  But it makes for good entertainment

DIY Arizona Cardinals Trashcan

Remember when I made the Sun Devils trash can for my broskie inlaws birthday?

Well, I made another version for my inlaws for Christmas.  They're HUGE Cardinals fans and have been season ticket holders forever and ever.  They're garage at their main house is already pretty decked out in Cardinals gear but they finished a garage up at their cabin not too long ago and I figured it needed some football lovin too.  So I made them this

I made it just how I did before.  Made my own template of the logo and cut piece by piece from craft foam and hot glued it all together.  It's that easy....and cheap!
 
I intended it to be for the garage but it would also be perfect for a man cave or themed bathroom. 

Wardrobe Wednesday- Striped Tshirt, Denim Vest, and Leggings

So I'm not sure what it's like where you live, but here in AZ we are definitely already past our "Winter" weather.  I say "Winter" because we really only have two seasons here, Summer and Spring.  Literally our Winter temps are Spring and Fall temperatures most everywhere else.  It's already back in the 70s most days here.  So needless to say my winter attire was short lived (I never even got to wear my pea coat!!) which is sad because I love winter clothes the most.  There seems to be so much you can do with all the layering and scarves and cute jackets.  Oh well....I guess there's always next year....right? So I'm moving on to Spring wear this week

This past weekend we went shopping for bridesmaids dresses for my sisters wedding.  I needed something comfortable and relatively easy to change in and out of.  Like the crazy person I am I was literally cutting this vest for myself really quick right before leaving to complete the look....but I'm glad I did because I'm loving this vest!

Vest: Thrifted

Striped T: Ross

Leggings: Ross

Sunglasses: Ross

Please excuse my rats nest hair.  I took these pictures after the shopping and my hair had its share of dresses and things being pulled over it about 100 times.  Then, when I saw it in the pics I REALLY didn't want to go back outside to take new pictures because I'm sure my neighbors already think I'm a conceited lunatic always taking my pictures of myself in the front yard.  I try to keep it to one 5 minute session a week...I feel better about it that way lol