Sofa King

SOOO i have a funny story...

This last weekend Curt and I drove to Dallas to spend some time with his sister and brother-in-law.  We had a good time and even got to go to a real Pumpkin Patch which i have not been to since high school and have missed them tons!


We also went and had lunch at this oh so yum-o burger joint that made homemade rootbeer and cotton candy.  I had a caramel apple shake and apple cotton candy to top off my apple burger.  Just kidding i did have a lot of apple but not that much.  It really was a green chili guacamole burger with sweet potato chips.  Curt had an even better ranch burger.


After eating i asked Curt to get some cotton candy for me and he came back not only with my cotton candy but he got us both shirts! I was excited but noticed they said "Cold Beer" at the top.  I said Curt did you know these say cold beer on them?  this was just the beginning of my realization that he CLEARLY he did not read the shirts WHATSOEVER.  I also read on the shirt that below the name of the place {which was Twisted Root} it said "Sofa King Good!"  I read it and thought,  What kind of tag line is that?  Are they saying that fat slobs, i.e sofa kings love their burgers while they sit around on their sofas? Anyway, i tossed it in my bag and didn't think twice about it.  I mean it was $7.


Later that night Curt put his shirt on and while I sat in the kitchen Summer and Ben mentioned Curt's new shirt and read out loud the tag line.  Not until i heard it out loud did the light bulb BURST and i understood the phrase! i was laughing SLASH mortified, i mean i have a shirt in my possession that not only says Sofa King but it also advertises COLD BEER which we don't even drink!  Any way, If you don't get it now, you will later and if you don't get it later, well...




then you are...




Sofa King dumb.

Here is a pic

4P (perfect poor person project) Autum and Halloween Decor

So i was in the mood to make something, i went tearing through my craft box for everything orange and black since Halloween time will be official in a few days, and Autumn has FINALLY graced us with her presence.  I found, 6 inches of green and white striped ribbon and some flaming orange yarn (for a little more classy look i'd go with a darker orange, but that was not an option for me).  The perfect makings for a disastrously tacky decoration. right? Like relief society toll painting style almost.  I used to make pom poms from the yarn to top my crochet hats so i thought maybe i could make pom pom pumkins, still tacky but entertaining for about 30 minutes.  After playing around a bit i came up with these cute little pumpkins that aren't nearly as tacky as they could have been!  How fun!  Nothing like a 4P (perfect poor person project).

Next thing i did was log onto Martha's page for some ideas and could dumb down/simplify and saw this awesome one! The link takes you right to the page that shows you how.  Just cut bats out of dark paper and tape to the inside of your shade! also i took some fishing wire and taped the top of the wire to the shade with the bat dangeling down to give it a flying feeling.  I feel like i sleep in a bat cave now! Yet another 4P.

 

Gooey Eye Balls for Dinner?

So in my fury of of holiday recipe gathering, i came across these awesome looking eyeballs on a fork recipe made out of dougnut holes stuck on a fork dipped in white choc-o.  I wanted to make them so bad! then i remembered a recipe Summer had on her blog and decided to combine the two!

These are YUMMY cake balls made into EYEBALL cake balls!

Here is how you make them:

What you do is bake a cake, let it cool.  Then you crumble the cake in a bowl and add a whole jar of cream cheese cake icing.  Mix it together, and roll into little balls.  Freeze the balls for a bit to get them hard to make for easy dipping.  Mean while you melt your chocolate.  We did both white and dark chocolates.  Dip the balls and decorate how you please! we did eyeballs and normal ones.  When we called summer to tell her we were making them she asked why the heck we were making them eyeballs...i guess we are just preparing to Halloween.

I tried to make the photo look holiday-ish with the orange fabric and purple lights, but it didn't translate too well.  They pupils are choc-o chips and the red is just icing we colored, put in a ziplock and cut the tip off!  Next time i'm going to use Red Velvet cake mix so the inside is blooody! 

Some suggestions on if you are making some of your own, freeze the balls then take them out roll tighter and freeze again before dipping.  Also, add shortening to your chocolate mix to make it smoother for dipping.  As you can see our dipping was a little messy because we figured that out a little late.  It also makes the white choc-o drizzle a whole lot better!

Here are some other variations.  Crumble  and cover in Oreo, drizzle with white choc-o, sprinkles etc.  Another cool idea is to  put something in the middle like a whopper!  These aren't very pretty, but you get the idea.  We were a little tired after all the work we did on the eyeballs we just hurried to finish these!  Another variation is a cake pop, where you push as stick into them and give them as gifts.  So fun.  The recipe is on Bakerella or on Summer's blog under desserts.

Here is the inside! It is a perfect bite of cake, frosting and chocolate!  So yumm-o and fun! We had Katie and her kids over for dinner and had these for dessert and the kids loved them.

An addition to our family

So Curt & I went on a 007 style mission, to a big ol' Mexican Tienda, looking for some of Curts favs from Brazil.   He was missing the comforts of a 3rd world country apparently, so away we went to "FIESTA" to purchase some nostalgic items including Guarana and Sangria.  We got 5 bottles of Guarana and one Sangria and cracked one open right away.  They are yummy sodas you can't get anywhere else. 

During Curt's hunt through the Mexican Walmart, i stumbled upon Gregory!!! Gregory is the new addition to our family.  For $3.99 i was able to purchase a piece of happiness that will keep on giving until i crack him open and steal my monies back. Curt thought he was the ugliest thing, and claims HE is a she, but no, Gregory is a super cute, plaster piggy bank from Mexico, who will grace the shelves of our home(s) until full of pennies and nickles.  Despite his messy paint job, uneven plastering, and dirty appearance, i love him.  I already deposited about $20 in change to his belly.  Welcome to our home Gregory.

Dreaming of Chilly Mornings...

So i have been getting a little holiday crazy recently. All the mags and decor stores are full of fall recipes and decorations so i'm getting pretty pumped.  Nothing like a blazing summer can make you long for holidays, a sweater and a foot of snow. {seriously i would be happy if we were all trapped inside our homes for a week because it snowed a foot} I can't wait for fall weather you have no idea.  I am a little worried that my expectations of Autumn will fall short since everyone i talk to here claims they don't own sweaters and still run their air conditioning in December :(  Since i have been thinking of cold things i pulled out some old photos Curt and i took right at the end of a 6 month winter in Rexburg {You can see by then we were tired of the cold and pulled out our shorts despite the below freezing temps in April}  I guess i'm never happy with the weather!  I edited them to make them nice {with a few things i recently taught myself learned in photoshop}, shed a tear or two for the chilly temperatures, and plan to frame some up in our amazing new house when we freaking get one.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Going into LABOR...Day

So it has been a while since i have posted, but it's not because nothing has happened.

I got a job...Curt did too!  We are both working at QLS.  Its a privately owned Quality Lifestyle Club and Spa {as Curt would call it} but really it is just the nicest Gym and Spa in the area.  I'm a super Cute Front Desk Girl {it's a title so i can capitalize it} and Curt is a "Membership Coordinator" {basically a sales rep}  So far it is not too bad, we love the gym and we love working out so it's a nice atmosphere.  I also am still doing my Design Business "Whitney Gillis Design" So don't forget to check out all my stuff.  I'm constantly adding to my portfolio and updating the blog.  Don't worry i update that blog on the reg unlike this one :(

This last Labor Day Curt and I actually had to labor and go to work, but Saturday and Sunday we had off so we went of Dallas to visit Summer and Ben {my sister.in.law}  Curt and the other dudes went to the BYU Oklahoma football game in the new Dallas Cowboys Stadium.  Here is a pic Curt sent from his phone.  That screen is ridiculously huge and cost $40 Million Dollars.  When The City of Dallas was planning the construction of the building, they thought, "we can either take the 40 mil and donate it to cancer research or make an enormous screen so big, that it is possible for a punter to kick the football and smash it into Bradford's face as he grins like an idiot for the camera {this is a true fact that it is low enough that footballs may possibly hit it, shame}.  Curt said that from his seat they could see what color the players braces were during replays and such.

While the boys were away, us girls made the bestest bestest craft in the WORLD.  I am so in love i am making many many more and giving them as gifts/selling them if you want to buy one.  They are so unique and fun!  What you see in this picture is a fabric bead necklace and two pairs of fabric covered earrings.  They are darling! i'm making more earrings this size and a size smaller and hope to make some bracelets with smaller beads as well.  Mary Ann wore her necklace to work and got a million compliments so i know they are awesome to more people than just me.  I recently read in a magazine that your jewelry is worthless unless it can be seen from 50 yards away, and trust me these will be seen!  love it! email me if you want one!

NEED SOMETHING DESIGNED??

OK...PLEASE visit my new blog whitneygillisdesign.blogspot.com

I am trying to get my name out there because I have been designing Announcements and Invitations and just decided to get serious with it. I can do everything from birthday to bridal shower invitations Wedding to Birth Announcements and more. Whatever you need designed I can do it! So check out my first post. There is plenty more to come! Tell all your friends who are having babies and getting married or throwing a party! I do CUSTOM everything so your colors and your theme exactly how you want it!

Just click it then add it to your page and tell everyone how wonderful i am!

p.s if you are a photographer I'll hook it up with your name and link all over my page if you tell your clients about me!

email me: whitneygillis@gmaildotcom

So my parents have these Chinese neighbors who raise Bunnies and Pigeons to EAT! what the......

Anyway the other day all the bunnies got out and into our yard and started eating all our grass and flowers! I got super close to a bunch and was able to take some fun shots. They are so Cute and furry! after their photo shoot Brandon and Mick and I chased them down. I was scared they would bite so brandon had to grab the first two before we tossed them over the fence. I got one by its hind legs and it started SCREAMING! What the.....have you heard a bunny scream? it will give you nightmares for two weeks. Anyway we stopped after that cause it freaked us out.

I went up to the neighbors to tell them their bunnies were out and no one was home. A day or two later my dad came home to find the neighbor in our backyard chasing down his bunnies with a fishing net. My dad didn't mind of course and went out to talk to him. The neighbor thought he was in trouble and started bowing down saying, "so sorry, so sorry" My dad told him it was fine and that we didn't want the bunnies eaten by the cyotes around here. haha
SOO CUTE! There were about 6 or 7 fat ones...yummy treat!

The 80's are back and they are LEGIT!

So first thing i did when we got to Seattle was find all my mom's old 1980's work out gear stuff in my dresser. Quicker than a bat out of hell we were dressed and ready for a photo shoot in the backyard. Brandon, McKenzie and I became 2009's best 80's sports-ters. My dad snapped these shots of us modeling and we pretty much just laughed the whole time while my mom kept checking to make sure we weren't just making fun of her and her old school gear.




My brother kept asking where these pics would be posted so he could try and hide evidence that we got him to actually put these shorts on...we know he secretly loved it let's be honest.

We are so RAD!Every summer we have to remind my mom that she no longer is allowed to use these fanny packs...they are so Disney Land when i was 5.

These posts are so out of order but we spend the 4th in Vegas. We went to Lake Vegas i think is the name and listened to the lives bands before the fireworks show. It was sooo much fun! It was right outside all these super nice hotels and here was our view.

Vegas...Flagstaff...Vegas...Utah....Seattle...continued

READ PREVIOUS POST this is a continuation...

I love rock climbing so i climbed some rocks too!

We had lots of fun swimming in the pool back at the house in vegas. Here is my brother tipping my sister...



Curt and i have been working on our LGN Diets just for this picture....



Of course my siblings wanted pictures of themselves jumping in the pool...


Then Curt flew to Houston and i drove with my parents to Utah for a small Pierce Family Reunion to celebrate my grandmas 81st Birhtday! i love her soooo much!

Vegas...Flagstaff...Vegas...Utah....Seattle...

So we have been traveling quite a bit! First Curt and i flew into Vegas (where my brother Brandon lives) to meet up with my parents and siblings so we all could drive to Flagstaff for the Goff Family Reunion which happens every two years. My dad has ten siblings which gives me like 60 cousins i guess....needless to say it is a competition each year to see who knows the most names. Before getting to Flagstaff we stayed one night on the strip. It was super fun to see the water shows and inside the huge casinos and hotels. McKenzie and I met Captain Jack Sparrow!


Inside the Belaggio (spelling? ) They had a living garden where everything was growing! it was aswesome. Here is Da Bear with another Bear! ) His vests and fur and hat are all made of living flowers that are growing! he was dripping in water to keep them from getting thirsty.


We then drove to flagstaff to hang with the Fam. I got a super cute picture of our family and me with my grandparents but i can't find them just yet so those will come later. The second day there we went to the Grand Canyon. It was sooo neat. When my family goes places like that we stay ALL DAY! we just love that stuff. Curt found out fast to plan on long days running round. He is more like a 20 minute and let's go person. Of course we jumped of the edge that lead into a steap fall into the canyon! my mom yelled at my dad for letting us do that. it was fun.

The reunion was a lot of fun i wish we had more time to visit with family! i love my grandparents so much.

Then my family went to Vegas and rented a house with a pool in the back and everything. It was awesome and the hot weather without the humidity of Texas was a dream come true! we went to this red rock place and took some fun pictures while climbing around. Here is the hibernating Bear...


Curt and Brandon peaking from some holes formed from an old river that hardened and carved the red rock from once being a sand dune...



I snapped this pic of brandon jumping this big old cravas! my mom would have yelled at my dad for this one too i was pretty sure he was not going to make it!



We love our jumping pics...



The boys climbed a high rock in this one...



Curt cut his leg open and was pretty proud he didn't cry...

I'm tired of draggin my pictures all the way to the bottom of this post so i will finish in the next post.

Soooo we actually went on a date! Even though i have been to Kemah before this was cheaper than our alternative (Roller Derby) which would have been amazing but a little pricey for us.


I was snappin pics the whole way with my little camera so here is the HAPPY Couple....


The farris wheel looked nifty at night


I looooovee roller coasters (Curt doesn't really) but i got him to take me on the old wooden one there. It was CRAZY and i just about dropped my camera taking this silly shot of us going WILD!


The Sunset was beautiful on our way there...like i said i was snapping shots like crazy and Curt hates posing...here is one i begged for.

Since he brought us to Texas he better be willing to stand under the lone star...i mean come on!
More dates please?

I'm happy - but....

Here is a run down of a day in our life (more or less - we each do things a little differently)

9 a.m. - wake up (at least me, curt is like 8:30 or so)

9:45 a.m. - go to YMCA for my aerobics class (weight lift with the elderly in Curt's case)

10:45 a.m. - Have a bowl of Trix Cereal w/non fat milk (Curt has a protein shake with non fat milk ::gag::)

11:15 a.m. - Get book (Confessions of a Shopaholic, very good) Radio, Sunscreen and Vitamin Water (XXX flavor of course) and sun tan in the back yard for 1 Hour. (This is where Curt goes upstairs and starts looking for jobs)

12:30 p.m. - Find anything and everything i can possibly clean in the house before i have to start my job search

1:30 p.m. - check all 3 of my email addresses bother Curt, read Ad Age Articles, bother Curt

1:45 p.m. - Get down and Dirty with Job searching

3:00 p.m. - Shower and get ready for day (late i know. my life is amazing/so not amazing all at the same time)

3:45 p.m. - Jobs

5:00 p.m. - Brad and Mary Ann get home

6:00 p.m. - dinner

7:00 p.m. - TV

9:00 p.m. - lallygagging

11:30 p.m. - bed

Lather, Rinse, Repeat - day after - day after - day after - day after - day!

On a really good day we get to go to the store and buy food in the evening.

Suggestions on how to make unemployed life bearable?

The Pros and Cons of TEXAS

So i have been here in TEXAS long enough to be able to begin my judgments on if it is a good place or not. No matter what my mother will ALWAYS tell you it is not. But i'm a big kid and can figure this out on my own, so i have started a little list to help me in my decision making. When Curt and i were dating, i made a pros and cons list about him. He later found it and read it and became a little butt hurt about a few of the cons.....so for you Texans out there, i'm already accustomed to the feelings of a bias party. Here are a few to start us out:

PRO:
You can rely that most of your neighbors go to church.

CON:
Some of your neighbors go to the one that has this sign out front(I really took this picture on my way home from the gym)

PRO:
Everything is BIGGER in Texas

CON:
It is mainly the waistlines that justify that phrase
(True story...lots of fat people)

PRO:
You don't need jackets to keep warm while camping

CON:
You need an industrial size fan to keep you cool while camping(thanks goodness for the fan)

PRO:
Brad and Mary Ann (Curt's Parents) have an amazing pool in the back yard

CON:
The home school kid next door pervs over the fence at me when i swim

PRO:
You can jet ski in good weather year around

CON:
You have to fight an endless cinco de mayo crowd to get through the boat park all year around (jk)
(This is true but doesn't bother me. This is really me voicing Curt's con about Texas (if there really is such a thing) I love ALL people!)

Have you any of your own to add to the list?

The Job Hunt

Sorry for those of you who hate feet...i am one of you...but here is the view from my webcam of me job searching! it is high 80's out, i'm in the backyard, sun shining (workin the tan i so obviously need), i have Brad's (Curt's dad) Sirius Radio playing music from the 90's, a XXX Vitamin Water and bag of Fruit snacks! Could life being unemployed get any better? oh yeah...and i am currently blogging and not job searching....don't tell Curt!

To update you a little, Curt and I have moved to Houston (with the in-laws) to begin our lives as big kids. First thing we did was go camping at Inks Lake with Curt's parents, Summer and Ben (Curt's sister's family) and their two adorable boys Caden and Noah. It was so fun to spend time with Curt's family getting to know them and familiarizing myself with the Texas Humidity and HEAT. Summer is Preggo and I'm a wimp so thank goodness she brought a gigundous fan to keep us cool.

The camp site was right on the lake and surrounded by tons of cool red rock. We hiked around and had lots of fun exploring. We also spent a day in a super cool cave! Our tour guide was "Head Biologist" and constantly offered exclusive "Personal Tours" then later bragged about how he could bench press more than any of the other tour guides. That was in a conversation Curt and i listened in on as he talked with a young girl who was a tour guide in training. in other words he was a douche...but he did create a lot of opportunities for Curt and i to Slam him under our breaths. Nice thing he did do was let Noah go number 1 in his cave when Noah was about to blow up!

Here is a pic of a formation in the cave that resembles Abe Lincoln!Can you see his nose?
Here is Curt and Caden in the cave.....So cuteHere is curt by the water...

And me...

The Squirrels got into our food like every night and even dumped over the rice crispy cake we made for Summer's B-Day :( Other than that it was super fun. I can't wait for more outings with the Gilli!

Graduate in need of work!

So two weeks ago i got my diploma! I graduated from BYU-Idaho with a B.S. in Communications emphasizing in Advertising Minoring in Business. It was so fun to have my parents come to Rexburg and hang with Curt and I. My mom also helped me clean our apartment as we moved our stuff into storage. I love her so very very much! Since Curt and i have not yet landed sweet post graduation jobs (not that i have yet put an ounce of energy into looking) we are moving to Houston until a job/plan is made! I'm sad to be so far from my family but excited for a change of state/weather! good riddance to Rexburg's winters (they will not be missed) So if anyone has any connections in the Communications/PR/Advertising/Marketing/Business/Event Planning/Nannying/ANYTHING world...HOOK IT UP! We are dieing here! (not really just yet but in a month or so will be) We will go anywhere. only requirement is that we make a lot lot of money. (money totals are debatable depending on how desperate you catch us)

It's really amazing!

I am in a visual media course right now that covered a photography section and i just had so much fun with it i was dying to get my own camera. When i found out Curt was buying me one for my birthday i started studying up on photography and have a totally fun new hobby of taking photos! My dad and sister are both awesome photographers. If you were at my wedding and stuck around for pictures at the temple you would know that my dad is a born photographer/director who needs to get into taking photos for weddings!

Anyway This is the coolest video - you have to watch the whole thing to the end to see why it is so amazing. I wish i had time to do stuff like this.

California Here We Come

February 15th was our 6 month anniversary and in deciding how to celebrate we found some super cheap tickets through Southwest Airlines to California. We packed up and flew into LAX on a Thursday to visit Curt's brother's family (Eric and Katie). I had to miss two days of class but it was totally worth it! It was so much fun to get out of town for the weekend and hang out with Eric and Katie. We were spoiled with tons of good food, went to the beach and even had a chance to visit Curt's grandparents which was so nice. I meet them at our wedding, but i was so busy i hardly got to know them. They also spoiled us with gifts for valentines day, Katie made a great dinner and everyone went home with stomach aches from the Marie Calendar's pies and 15 irresistible bowls of candy in every corner of their house. Now i know where Brad (Curt's Dad) got his goodies habit. It was just the perfect mini-vacation! We love hanging with the kids too and got to see Eric and Katie's new baby Peyton (So Cute!). We left with a totally skewed perception of life with kids because Payton never cried and Brent and Taylor never make any trouble! They are just a joy to be around so i'm thinking...parenthood...EASY! Someone better slap me. My favorite day was when we went to the beach, the sun was out and all i had to wear was a hoodie! I took some pictures at the beach on Eric's camera which was so fun we want to buy one ourselves.


After I took this photo of Brent he stood up and was spitting sand out of his mouth for 5 minutes. I didn't tell him to throw the sand, but somehow he managed to throw is directly into his own mouth...haha

I can't believe how much Brent and Eric already have the same build! Cute father son picture.


Taylor is so grown up for her age and was constantly asking to wear my lipstick..but we had a lot of fun together when i got ready each morning. Brent kept asking me if i was getting ready for school.

I love babies!!!

The sky was so blue in California and Curt looks cute here.
Thanks Katie and Eric for the best weekend ever, now you gotta bring your kids to Rexburg, we can put you up on our air mattress.