New Things Monday

Ever since my birthday gathering last August, I'd been wanting passion fruit. We had a fruit mix at the birthday gathering and an employee on the boat told us the fruit we all loved was passion fruit. I knew that I wanted to get a real whole passion fruit to try. I wasn't going to give up. I have to admit, I ended up with a passion fruit obsession. I looked at every grocery store I went to. I even asked an employee one day in produce at Wegmans. The lady showed me where passion fruits are stocked when they have them available. Every time, I went to Wegmans I would look to see if there was any passion fruit. My obsession got bad. LOL But finally........Do you recall this, this or this? :) I ended up hating the real passion fruit itself. The seeds are a turn off for me. The juice is okay when mixed with other fruits. One day, at Target I found a can of Delmonte's Tropical Fruit salad. I knew this was the fruit mix we had on the boat. It had to be and it was. :) YEY!! Turns out my obsession should have been with papaya. LOL It's so yummy! One night, Nate each had a bowl of this tropical fruit salad for dessert. It was so good. :) Now I need to get a real papaya. :)

Two Minute Mug Brownie

I wanted CHOCOLATE so I looked on my cooking and baking board of my pins on Pinterest to find something quick and easy to make. Of course, it had to be something with chocolate. I came across this Two Minute Mug Brownie. I figured this was perfect b/c it made just enough for one portion and ALL FOR ME. :P

First, I gathered all of my ingredients, measuring cup and spoon and a microwaveable mug.

1/4 cup flour

1/4 cup brown sugar (packed)

2 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder (I used dutch)

pinch of salt

2 tbsp vegetable oil (you can use canola)

2 tbsp milk (I used fat free)

Next, measure out your flour.....
Add the flour to your mug as well as your brown sugar, cocoa, and salt. Mix well.

Then add in your vegetable oil and milk. Mix until all of the wet ingredients are mixed well. Then taste it. Why not right? I loved it. I could have just eaten the batter. LOL And the best thing.....there are no eggs so I could have eaten all the batter if I had wanted to. haha :)

Microwave for 30 seconds then check it and then zap another 30 seconds and check again. I then put the brownie mug back in for another 15 seconds. Microwaves vary.

It was nice and springy with just a tiny bit of gooey. Eat warm! It was so good! :) I WILL be making more of these when I want something sweet and with chocolate. :D
And if you want....you could sprinkle in some chocolate chips or peanut butter chips etc. Have fun with it. :)

Hunger Games at CineBistro

Last night, Nate and I saw 'The Hunger Games' with Kristen and Dave at CineBistro. It was the first time we'd been there. Dave treated us to dinner. (Thanks Dave) Nate ordered the crab cake sandwich while I ordered the cheesesteak sandwich. Both sandwiches came with fries. We also split a dessert.....deconstructed peanut butter pie. It was awesome! :) We had water to drink and we split a popcorn (with FREE refills). :)

How awesome is this theater? There are little tables for your food with nice big comfy chairs.

I have all 3 books I've borrowed from Kristen. I have not read them yet though. I couldn't wait to see the movie basically to see what the hype was all about.
Katniss Everdeen is the main character. She with 23 others have to fight to the death to be the victor and win Hunger Games. For this movie this was the 74th Hunger games. The killings are very extreme and crazy. Actually, very sad. There are a few scenes that will make you cringe in your seat. Also some parts will make you cry your eyes out. :*( You might want to have a tissue in your pocket. Overall, great movie and I need to get to reading the books so I will be in the know. :)

Other characters fighting who fight to be the victor.
Without giving away any details I loved the movie. I can't wait to see the others.

Note: All pictures taken off of google images. :D

Mini Gnome Garden

Let's face it....gnomes are scary little dudes. At least, I think so. ;) A couple years ago, Kristen thought it would be funny to put a little gnome in my flower bed and see how long it took me to notice the frightening little thing. I saw him right away. I left him there b/c he didn't seem like a threat to me. He actually looked kinda cute. Not scary at all. I guess b/c he was so tiny. Tiny things are just cute right? haha

Then, I think last year Kristen surprised me with a BFF for the little guy. Now the little dude wasn't lonely anymore. He had a nice little buddy to sit there with him while he watched the flowers and did whatever it is that gnomes do. haha I moved both gnomes to a new home below a tree in my front yard. I always look over at them when I go outside. I guess just to make sure they are still there and behaving. LOL

Today, while I was out running errands I stopped into Hobby Lobby and got a new gnome. He was $2. I couldn't resist. The mini gnomes just don't scare me and I want a mini gnome garden. Not too many but just enough for a little colony of sorts. :)

The gnome in the middle is the first little guy. The sun has faded him quite a bit. The guy on the left is the one I got last year and then the one on the right bowing down to the others is the latest addition.

On Pinterest, I have come across several gnomes I would love to add to my little mini gnome garden. I love ZOMBIES and I think an outbreak is just what I need in my garden. haha

This guy is on Etsy for sale here.


Zombies being shot by papa gnome here.

How awesome are these zombies eating a yard flamingo? haha

And I really like this little door that I could attach to the tree.
Oh yeah....I also want some little garden shrooms to put out there. :D

Lunch with my BFF

Yesterday, I drove down to Richmond to meet Kristen for lunch. We met at the West End in Short Pump at Mimi's Cafe. We both ordered a water and the Roasted Turkey Club for lunch.

After lunch we went to Whole Foods Market, which is right near Mimi's Cafe. I'd never been and I wanted to check this place off my list. I love the Reality show Top Chef on Bravo. The chefs always shop there and I've always wanted to go.
We walked around.......There was a little section of bulk items you could package yourself.
They were all labeled so cute. :)
There was also labels for your containers.

I loved how the bananas are hung up. I don't think I've ever seen a store that hangs the bananas. Most places just place them on some sort of shelving.

A really good thing that we found was honey. Local honey or balsamic vinegar. You pay for the pound and there are containers for you to put them in.
Cute little honey bear jars for the honey. :)
And little jugs for other liquids. So awesome!
Kristen pointed out this bits n' pieces cheese remnants bin. She got a bunch of cheeses from here a few months back and made homemade mac n cheese with a bunch of different cheeses. What a great idea! :)

I saw these little crackers. They look like little pieces of toast. They are soooo cute. LOL
Look at all that cheese! :)

Olive bar....I'm not an olive eater but I thought this was a cool picture. :)

Whole Foods Bakery is adorable!! I've heard that they have baked goods to die for. We had to take a look. This is a huge cookie buffet. There are bags and you package the ones you want.
Yummy looking cookies! :)
Cupcakes, cakes and pies galore. So fancy and cute! :) We were good and didn't get anything. Very tempting but we were just looking.
Pretty tulips. :) Walking around the store reminded me a lot like Wegmans. It's much smaller than I pictured and lots of organic items. I'm glad I went. And we didn't buy a thing. I wanted a tote bag or something but didn't find the one I had pictured in my head.

After Whole Foods we made a quick run into Target where Kristen got a pair of hot pink flip flops for $2.50. The dress shoes she was wearing dug into the back of her heel. OUCH!!!! She had to get a different pair of shoes that didn't touch her wound. After that we made a stop at Ray's Italian Water Ice. Kristen treated me with her Gift Card she won from there last year by answering a trivia question. :) I got a peanut butter water ice and Kristen got a peanut butter and chocolate milk shake. Then we left...Kristen went back to work and I came home. Fun day!!

Master Closet Clean Out

I'm on a STAY-CATION this week. :) It's a VACATION where you don't really go anywhere. I figured today was a good day to tackle my Master Closet.

Here is the entrance to the closet. What a mess. Too many clothes that aren't worn. The basket on the floor in the back is the goodwill basket that's been sitting there for at least a year now.

My side of the closet is on the left. Can you tell I love Purple and Pink? LOL

Here's the top shelf for my sweaters, jeans and jean shorts. Kinda thrown up there.

Here's my shoes...some of which I've never worn.

Now onto the right side of the closet. This is Nate's side. Lots and lots of shirts.

So many clothes just thrown up on the top shelf. :(

Nate's shoes......Lucky for me, Nate came home from work and got ready to go on a run. Before his run he helped me out by going through his clothes and shoes so I knew what I could get rid of. :)

My awesome Vera Bradley weekender bag and duffel bag. (The pattern: Purple Punch)

Now the AFTER pictures...................................The top containers are mostly mine. My undergarments, wallets and purses, bathing suits and Nate's ties and hats. :) Looks kinda empty now. LOL

My side....

Nate's side. Still a lot of shirts but he got rid of a ton.

I put the duffel bag into the weekender bag and zipped it up.

Nate's top shelf. Shorts and Jeans nicely folded.....
My top shelf. Sweaters and jeans neatly folded....

Cleaned out my shoes and kept the ones I always wear.....

Note: My flip flops are not pictured b/c they are downstairs b/c I wear them all the time.

Nate's shoes....he let me get rid of 2 pairs. :) The dress shoes he has are kinda dusty and need to be polished.
Great success. :) I need to go through our dresser. We already cleaned that out a few months ago, but I want to go through my 2 drawers again and make it neater. The laundry basket has been put in the laundry room. I have 4 bags ready for the goodwill. I plan to drop those off later this week or have AMVETS pick it up. :)