Homemade Szechuan Chicken Stir-Fry

Last night I made this chicken stir-fry. It was delicious. It's out of the Special Edition Cooking Light Ultimate Chicken Cookbook. Boy was it delicious. I also cooked the boil in a bag jasmine rice and that was a nice added feature. It looked like the picture when I was done. Dave said he'd eat it again. So I guess that's a winner in our house. :)

Decorating the house

Well, over Memorial weekend I went shopping with some girlfriends. We hit up Burkes Outlet, Hobby Lobby and a local Antique Mall. At the first two places I found some really cool things.  I found a metal key, some keys on a ring that looked vintaged, and this really cool laundry sign from Hobby Lobby. I want to paint it so it has the crackle affect.

Don't worry. We are going to take down the wall paper

and repaint it a green.

Later that afternoon my mother-in-law asked us to go to the Woodlands mall with them. So we drove an hour out there. After dinner before we came home, we stopped at their Marshall's Home Good Store. I found this really cool clock  on three legs. David really likes clocks and so I thought it would be really neat to have this on our buffet table in the entry way. Such a conversation starter.

Birthday Sweets

Over the weekend my friends daughter had her first birthday party. She went all out for it. She had it on the North side of Houston at a park by their house.

Well, the weekend before she had asked if I would take pictures. She said she was too busy to take pictures (since she is a photographer). I gladly agreed, since I know this will give me more experience. It turned out great. I loved all the pictures. She even had a photo booth which another friend took pictures of while I shot the whole event. She did a great job. Everyone had a great time using the props and acting funny for the camera.

Here are some pictures of the birthday party .

Here is the birthday girl and her momma!! 

This is the cupcake decorating station.

The tree of cupakes to decorate.

 Birthday girl decorating her cupcakes.

 Some of our desserts. (Homemade cake balls)

 Party favors

The food table. 

Me playing in the photo booth.

Some of the kids playing in the photo booth too.

High Five Friday

Yea, it's Friday. The best day of the week. Who doesn't like Fridays? They are warm, fuzzy, and reminds you that after you get off work you have two days of fun.

Today I'm linking up with Lauren at, From My Grey Desk.

Below is my High Five for Fridays!

What are your's?

Click on the picture to enlarge it.

Coffee Mug Swap pt. 2

OK, yesterday and today I spent after work shopping for a coffee mug for my new friend Tiffany. It's kind of hard to find a cup for someone you don't really know and hope they like it. So just in case she reads this post, this is all I can say (until I know she's got it. In which case, then I'll post a picture). :)

I bought it at Vera Bradley (who I just found out is a wonderful store).
I paid less than $20.
And I have no doubt she's going to love it.

I'm looking forward to what I'm getting. I can't wait. It's so great to get a present in the mail and to see what people choose for you.

While I was buying her coffee cup, I found this cool key chain thing. Not sure exactly what you call it, but it's cool. It keeps your keys together then you can snap the pink part around the strap and then you don't have to look in the bottom of your purse to find them.

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On a different note:
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I had to go to the Apple store after work. The lens on the back of my iPhone was all scratched up. When I would take pictures, it would show up blurry and faded. So $30 later, I had a brand new back cover. While I was waiting for the guy to come back with my phone, I found this really cool cover. For those who don't know, Speck is my last name (which in Italian, means Bacon).

Master Bath Iron Piece

So yesterday I get an email back from Suzel Says saying I can particpate in the coffee mug swap. So today after work I hit all the stores on the way home looking a cute mug to give my new friend Tiffany. I found one that was cute, but it's not exactly what I'm looking for. You know when you see it and the light bulb goes of and you're like, "AH HA!!!!" Yea, I haven't gotten that yet. There still a few more stores I can go to before I go back to the one I think she'll like.  I saw a really cute one at Pier 1 that was Zebra print and in the bottom was a little zebra. They had a frog one too.

Well, while I was in Ross, I saw this really cute iron piece for under $30. It 's big and a powerful statement but in a not so loud way.

So when I got home I moved the picture that was there to the other wall and then put it over the tub. I feel like the house is finally turning into a real home.

Check it out.