Homemade Cookie Cake

I love making homemade cookie cakes! They are so easy and inexpensive. They taste just like the ones you would buy, too! The hardest part is the decorating. The more you make them the better you will get, I promise. 

If you try it out, let me know how it goes! I would love to see pictures :-)

Ingredients
Cookie cake
- tube of refrigerated cookie dough (I use Nestle)
- parchment paper
- pizza pan

Buttercream Icing
- 2 sticks (1 cup) of butter, room temperature
- 3 cups of powdered sugar
- 2 teaspoons milk
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Decorating
- ziploc bags (or icing bags)
- piping heads

Directions
Cookie Cake
1. Cover a pizza pan in parchment paper.
2. Roll the cookie dough onto the parchment paper. I normally use my hands to press it down first and then use a rolling pin. I also use my hands to shape the cookie into a circle.

3. Bake at 350 for 15(ish) minutes. Watch it. You want the edges to brown a little.

Mine was actually a little browner than I like

Buttercream Icing
1. Combine all ingredients and beat until smooth.

Decorating
1. If you are wanting different colors, separate some icing into different bowls and add food coloring. Wilson has some great colors (you can find them at Hobby Lobby).

2. If you don't have icing bags, use a ziploc bag. Cut the corner off and stick a piping head in the bag. Then load it up with icing.

3. Decorate!

I usually do one color at a time and guess on the space between. If it is a tad too much room, just squeeze a little more icing out when you are filling in the gap.

A Dream Come True

It was four years ago TODAY that Jeremy and I started dating. So crazy!

I thought it would be fun to share my very first Christmas gift to him. I was trying to think of something original and decided to make a book about how we met and started dating. I didn't want it to be too serious so my thought process was to make it so corny that it was funny. It was perfect! He opened it in front of his family and we were all laughing while he read through it. It is also a great memory book. We talk about how we'll have it 50 years from now. All I had to do was come up with the wording for each page and do some major facebook picture creeping. That's how I got all of our shots. It made a great (and cheap) gift!

I hope y'all enjoy!

Jeremy is very sarcastic so we did a lot of picking on each other at T-Camp...

This is A&M lingo. Humping it just means bending (like above) while you do yells.

We were walking around playing the question game when Jeremy asked me what my favorite number was. Once I answered, I asked him and he said 24. He used that as a lead into asking me to be his girlfriend!

Jeremy's words were, "Will you make me the happiest boy in the world and be my girlfriend?"

Our Wedding Video

Homemade Jewelry Cleaner

Jeremy bought my wedding ring through a local jeweler in College Station while we were there. At our last appointment with him, he gave me a recipe for a homemade jewelry cleaner and told me that it would make my diamonds look brand new-- and it does! I love using this cleaner because it is so easy and my rings always come out so beautiful and sparkly! Since I love it so much, I thought I would share!

**This should only be used for cleaning gold, white gold, platinum, palladium and diamond jewelry.

1. Use a plastic/microwaveable cup or bowl with a lid. You will use this only for jewelry cleaner from now on. Write "Jewelry Cleaner" on it with a permanent marker .

2. Add 1 cup water.

3. Add 1/4 cup windex.

4. Add 1 teaspoon lemon juice.

5. Microwave with lid vented until a few bubbles rise to the top and along the side of the container. You will have to watch it the first time. Do not let it boil.

6. Write the time it took on the container. This is the time you will use from now on.

You can tell that the face of my diamond is dirty. It looks a little dull.

7. Remove from microwave and add your jewelry. You can soak it for a few minutes or overnight (overnight is my favorite).

8. Rinse under running water and gently brush with a toothbrush for at least 30 seconds.

9. Pat dry with a lintless cloth. Blow against the underside of the stones. Pat dry again. 

The awesome thing is, you don't have to make this cleaner every time! You can keep it in the container and reuse it until you feel like changing it out.

I hope y'all love this just as much as I do!

No Bake Cookies

If you like chocolate and peanut butter, you have got to try these! Friends love when I make these and often request them. It is so easy and takes very little time!

Ingredients:
2 cups sugar
3/4 cup Nestle cocoa
1/2 cup milk
1 stick butter
3 cups oatmeal
1/2 cup peanut butter
1 tsp. vanilla





Directions:
1. Lay wax paper out along the counter.
2. Mix sugar, cocoa, milk and butter in a big pot. I usually mix the sugar, cocoa and milk together and then just drop the stick of butter in.

3. Put over med-high heat and stir frequently until it boils.

4. Let it boil for 1 minute. This part is important. If it boils too long or too short it can make the consistency more runny or more dry.
5. Remove from heat. Add in the oatmeal, peanut butter and vanilla. 

6. Drop by spoonfuls onto the wax paper.
7. Let it cool for at least 30 minutes.

8. Enjoy!

The Proposal

Jeremy proposed to me two years ago today, on August 22, 2012, so I figure it is the perfect time to share our proposal story.

I guess I should preface this with some background on one of Texas A&M's traditions-- The Century Tree. There is this beautiful, big tree in the middle of campus and it is said that if you walk under it with someone, you will be together forever. If you walk under it alone, you will be alone forever. Needless to say, you barely ever find people walking under it, especially alone! It's also the tree that we used to meet by in between classes while we were there. We used to always joke about walking under it, but it never happened. I mean, it was a BIG deal if you did. Here is a picture: 

So I remember that day perfectly. We moved his brother Jordan into his apartment with his mom and dad. I mentioned getting dinner later but they said that they had to head back to Tyler. I thought nothing of it. Jeremy dropped me off at my apartment to change and then I headed over to his house so we could figure out our plans. Once I got to his house, he suggested we take Maci on a walk around campus. We had been talking about doing this for awhile so I agreed and off we went.

As we were walking down Military Walk (toward the center of campus), Jeremy suggested that we walk under The Century Tree together. Knowing how serious we were, I agreed. I gave him one condition though: That we really would have to be together forever. He, of course, agreed. As we got closer to the tree I could see that something was set up on the bench under it. I started to get excited because I've always wanted to see a proposal! The thought never even crossed my mind that I would be the one getting proposed to. As we got closer, I realized it was a Benjamin Knox picture (Benjamin Knox is an awesome Aggie artist that Jeremy and I love). I started to drag Jeremy under the tree to see what it was. So romantic, right? When I got to the picture, this is what I saw:

While I was first looking at it, I STILL thought this was for someone else. It wasn't until I saw the dog in the picture, and noticed that Jeremy was no longer standing beside me, that I realized it was all for me! It took me a few seconds to turn around but when I did I saw my sweet man down on one knee holding a beautiful diamond ring. I honestly don't remember what he said. I don't even remember what I said. But after I said yes, he asked if he could pray for us. He said it was the first thing he wanted us to do as an engaged couple. He stood up and began to pray and when we were done I looked up to see this:

My family, his family and two of my best friends! What a blessing! They were hiding and watching the whole thing. Jeremy's brother was also hiding and taking pictures of it. It was amazing! We then took some more pictures and headed over to Benjamin Knox's wine gallery where we thanked him for the picture and had some champagne. I absolutely love that Jeremy had this picture done as a part of our proposal.  It is something I will cherish forever. 

Here are some more pictures of our memorable day:

Walking to the tree

Our moms hiding from us- they did not want to spoil the surprise!

The proposal

Jeremy praying while our family walked up to surprise me

Checking out the ring

Our sweet family and friends

Champagne toasts and Benjamin Knox