Just a Canary Bird...

One of the best things about the United States is that we are the melting pot of the world. We aren't all the same. We have different nationalities, religions, values, skills, and outlooks.  Photo Accreditation I know that I will never justify my life and my choices to anyone else other than my significant other. Sometimes we are all guilty of judging others...take time to appreciate people's differences, not just flaws, because the flaws we see in others, might just be a flaw we see within ourselves. Until next time, Kara

I love a good, quick dessert. I am not above used box cake or brownie mixes. However, this recipe is an easy alternative to using a box mix. These brownies are chewy, soft and yummy! Homemade Double Chocolate Brownies Ingredients: 3/4 cup all-purpose flour 1/3 cup plus 3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder 1/4 teaspoon + 1/8 teaspoon baking powder  1/4 teaspoon + 1/8 teaspoon salt 3/4 cup vegetable oil 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract 3 eggs, room temperature  1 Hershey bar or your favorite chocolate bar Directions: Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (350 if you are using a metal pant). Spray your 8 x 8 pan with cooking spray, line with parchment paper, and spray with non-stick cooking spray again. In a medium sized bowl, whisk together your dry ingredients. Mix the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, and salt. Set aside. In another bowl, using an electric hand mixer, beat together oil, sugar, and vanilla until light and fluffy. Add egg

The Hubby and I have been together 8 years this month. We have been together since we were freshman in college.  The unique and fun thing about our relationship is that we have kind of grown up as adults together.  When we were in college we both were living year to year on what we earned from working in the summer months. That means we never could be extravagant with what we purchased for groceries. We learned pretty early how to budget our money to stretch it as far as we could.  Now that we both have worked full time for 5 years, times have changed, but I still love to save money. There is no better feeling than getting a great deal! Here are a few ways to save at the grocery store: Digital Coupons : These are so easy and help save big. I mainly grocery shop at Kroger. It is super easy to register your Shoppers Card to instantly download digital coupons to it. This is what I primarily do to save our family money. I try to combine the digital coupons with Kroger sale

It's easy when you come home from a long day or week at work when not a thing has gone right to be mad about everything.  Photo Accreditation   It's easy to let stress, people, worry, and bad luck eat away at what usually makes us happy. I admit that I am guilty of taking a bad day out on the person who means the most. My husband has been on the other side of my stress. I am thankful that he and I can be there for each other, but it's so easy to let that stress, anger, unease consume us in the moment. Try to remember...it's just a bad day! It's Wednesday, the work week is half over! I see the light at the end of the work week tunnel. Until next time, Kara

Every once in awhile you just get an idea in your head to make something... Well donuts just happened to be one of those things for me. Instead of driving to our local bakery shop, I decided to make them at home. Not many people have time to do the full from scratch recipes on a whim, so here is a semi-homemade way to make a sweet treat at home! Donuts Ingredients 1 can of biscuit dough Vegetable oil Powdered sugar Vanilla Granulated Sugar Cinnamon Directions Get out a pan and put a 1/2 inch oil in the bottom and put over medium heat.  While your oil is heating, pop open the can of biscuits. You could cut each biscuit into fours to do donut holes or punch a hole in the middle to make the traditional style. Use one of the little donut holes to test the oil to see if its warm enough. If not, go ahead and make the glaze and cinnamon-sugar mixture. I wanted to do half and half for the toppings, so I used about 1/4 cup sugar and a couple dashes of cinnam

While on our recent Las Vegas vacation, the Hubby and I went to watch Get Hard at The Orleans Hotel & Casino. They had a 18 screen theater there above the casino. It was so funny. I had saw the preview for this film while at the theater to watch 50 Shades of Grey.... needless to say I was embarrassing myself with how much I was laughing during the trailer! Photo Accreditation  We loved this movie. It was just so funny and Will Ferrell and Kevin Hart were a great comedy duo. Photo Accreditation  A quick synopsis  of the movie is  millionaire James King (Will Ferrell) is convicted for fraud and bound for San Quentin, he has 30 days and turns to Darnell Lewis (Kevin Hart) to prep him to go behind bars. He works to "Get Hard" in order to survive his jail time. Photo Accreditation  Photo Accreditation I will be buying this when it comes out on DVD!  I would recommend this movie to anyone who needs a good laugh. Until next time, Kara

My favorite go-to cookie is definitely chocolate chip, but every once in awhile I get a craving for something different.  This weekend I got a sweet tooth craving and I was out of chocolate chips, so I decided to make peanut butter cookies. Another deciding factor was because my lovely mother has been supplying my sister with random groceries since she came to stay with us, we have 3+ jars of peanut butter. LOVE YOU MOM!  These cookies are easy to make and you will get a soft and chewy cookie! Peanut Butter Cookies Ingredients 1/2 cup butter, 1 stick softened 1/2 cup peanut butter 1/2 cup granulated sugar 1/2 cup packed light brown sugar 1/2 teaspoon baking powder 1/2 teaspoon baking soda 1 egg 3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract 1 1/4 cup all purpose flour 1/2 granulated sugar (to roll cookies in) Directions In a large mixing bowl, cream the softened butter and peanut butter together together on medium high speed for about 30 seconds. Add in the sugar, light brown su

I know we have all been here! Sometimes it's hard to not be negative when it seems life won't give you a break.... Try to always find the positives in the situation. I know that each one of us have something we are struggling with. Sometimes those struggles are known to others, sometimes they are secret struggles.  Whatever it is, try to see the light in things! Until next time, Kara Photo Accreditation: https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/35/49/de/3549debe786ac8e7088190a059d8e491.jpg 

Sometimes we all just need a reminder! Until next time, Kara Photo accreditation: http://under30ceo.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/steve-jobs-quote.jpg 

Wow, we are back in the land of the working people! We had a great vacation... the 28 hour drive actually wasn't that bad. I won't say that we will drive each time, but I would do it again! The Hubby decided to journal some of our trip, so he will be my guest blogger for telling you about our latest Vegas vacation! After 21 hours of driving yesterday, we are back at it early Saturday morning. Yesterday's 21 hours was definitely an adventure to say the least. We left our house at 9 pm Friday night. We didn't stop driving until 6 pm. We got all the way to Grand Junction, Colorado.  Check out the trip state by state! Indiana I drove during this portion. Not much to talk about. As soon as we passed Terre Haute and entered Illinois, it was the furthest west I'd been in a car in my adult life. Illinois The excitement and the newness of the trip quickly began to wane as we drove through Illinois. It was dark and windy. After driving about 2.5 hours, I gave up and let Du

Sometimes we just need to take a step back and re-think our goals and priorities.  You don't have to live by anyone else's expectations besides your own. Whether that may be attending college, getting married, having children, buying a home or car...  I write my own story. I am not living anyone else's life besides my own. Until next time, Kara Photo accreditation: http://under30ceo.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/steve-jobs-quote.jpg 

I can honestly say my favorite food is pizza, I LOVE IT!  BBQ Chicken Pizza has become one of my staple recipes to make at home. It is simple yet delicious. The hubby really loves this one! You can use a store bought dough if you are short on time, but making homemade pizza dough at home is simple! BBQ Chicken Pizza 2 chicken breasts, chopped  1/4-3/4 cup of favorite BBQ sauce (it's your preference to how much sauce you like on your pizza) 1 small onion, diced 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese 1 cup of shredded pizza blend of cheese (it's up to you, make it more cheesy if you want!) Pizza dough Prep toppings: Preheat over to 400 degrees. Preheat a non-stick skillet of medium high heat. Add in your chopped chicken breasts and season with salt and pepper. Brown chicken on all sides, after you flip the chicken once, add in your diced onion. Cook until chicken is cooked through and onions are softened. For a thinner crust use a cookie sheet and for a thicker crust us

As a child I watched Disney's animated Cinderella over and over and over... it was my favorite princess story. I mean I literally would watch it everyday. I actually got it for Christmas this year on DVD! When I saw they were making a live-action version of the film, I was skeptical. Many times the remake isn't as good as the original, but I truly did think this movie was magical. This film was really well done. The cast, costumes, and animation were all amazing! Lily James played an excellent Cinderella. She was a natural beauty and then was transformed into the princess she was meant to be before our eyes.  Richard Madden is known for playing a fine prince. I know him from playing Robb Stark on Game of Thrones. He was a great choice for this role! I loved the costumes. They were well put together and full of color! I wish I could have wore some of the beautiful ball gowns! If you haven't ever watched Cinderella. It's a stor