Poems from the Chaos.

I've been dealing with personal attacks on my character lately from people who are supposed to be their for you. It always seems I write poetry when distraught so here's a sampling of my mind this week:

Blood is thicker than water,
Atleast as some may say.
So go ahead and fill the goblet up.
It measures out the same.

You only look one sided,
Hidden by the blinders in your mind.
You make up what you want to believe,
Not caring what it does to your kind.

The choice was yours to accept,
But to attack you choose instead.
You pushed blood out of the way,
And left their thoughts for dead.

So as you learn blood means nothing,
It's only the words you say,
You're destroying the honor of your name.
It measures out the same.

So long...

It's been so long since we've updated here. Not much has changed in our lives but we certainly have many stories to tell. I would like to try to get this back to a daily or at least weekly blog. You should start seeing some major changes soon.

Love you all!
Megan Lee

2 Years Down..Eternity To Go!

I can't believe how lucky and blessed I am to have Tyler in my life as my husband. He is truly the perfect soul mate for me!

Happy 2 year anniversary babe! I love you and look forward to the many more years to eternity with you.

Always and forever,
your wifey Megan

Thankful Tuesday

Each Tuesday I plan on posting atleast 1 thing I am thankful for in my life, afterall, life is a blessing and I should be thankful for it each day.

Today I am thankful for my husband Tyler, the man of dreams. He is always supportive of me and my decisions and is always there for me during my struggles. He saved me from myself, he is the hero of my life. I love you Tyler!

P.S.
If you are an instagram user follow @vintagegingersnap (my page) and @utahgram. They are holding an awesome wedding photo contest. Go see the above picture and like it. Like it a lot!

Motivational Monday -The beginning

I plan to start capturing a motivational quote each Monday to help me stay positive throughout the week. I hope you enjoy.

Migrating away from the world of FB.

Finally starting to work on my fitness.

I know I have had a goal since the new year to lose 50 lbs. I am finally working towards this. My goal is not to get super thin. I still hope to keep my curves. I just want to be healthy and happy. This time, I will succeed.

I can do this.

I can do this.

Circus of Basset Hounds

I've been wanting a tattoo to remind me of my love of basset hounds, even though my life with them is like a circus sometimes. I found a basic circus concept that I fell in love with on Pinterest and everything went from there. I asked my friend Kim Sorensen if she would be willing to draw me up a circus basset based upon this concept and she came up with the most amazing drawing. She is absolutely amazing and so creative! I scheduled up my appointment with Cameron John at The Zen Head Shop in Clearfield UT. Yesterday my masterpiece was created! I'm so happy with it and excited to have it forever!

Resolutions.

Well here it is.

2013.

Definitely on a rush to get in here and get people to change for the better.

My new years resolution you ask? Well I'm on a mission to get healthy and be happy. I have been trying for many years to lose weight and work on being healthy, however in all my attempts I have never been able to succeed.

This year I'm going to be brutally honest and put everything out there for everyone to see. I ballooned up to 180 pounds. This has been very discouraging as I never expected to see myself in this position. My goal this year is too get down to 130 pounds by July 1st. I know it's going to be tough but I know I can succeed and I will continue until I'm there. This isn't about getting skinny for me, it's more. It's about getting healthy for my husband. It's about getting healthy for my pups. It's about getting healthy for future little Shinney babies out there waiting.  But most importantly it's about getting healthy for me.

I hope you are looking forward to joining me on this crazy roller coaster ride getting healthy and happy for myself. I'll take pictures and leave my tips with you all through this journey of mine.

Good luck all!

GingerSNAP on folks!!

National Kiss a Ginger Day!

So it's National Kiss a Ginger Day. I am only accepting kisses from my husband, however for the rest of you, you haven't lived until you kiss a ginger.. Unless you are a ginger then you live everyday! So get out there and find yourself a ginger!

Scrumptious Sundays: Chocolate and Salted Caramel Shortbread Cookies

My apologies in the sudden stop of my Scrumptious Sundays series. Life has been crazy busy but I really want to get started again.

 

I found the most delicious picture on Pinterest and wanted to create myself.

The picture from Pinterest linked to a recipe from Doughmesstic.

I didn't have heavy cream so I substituted for half and half. I also used a teaspoon of lemon juice instead of orange zest.

 

Instead of making them into bars like their picture shows, I decided I wanted to make little cups. I rolled the shortbread dough into balls and smooshed them into a cupcake pan and wrappers with a tiny cup. I only baked for 20 minutes as the edges start to turn a golden brown.

 

My only recommendations are to make sure you have a candy thermometer. My caramel didn't set up quite right and I believe it's because I did not get it to the right temperature.

 

 

I must say these turned out delicious and I will certainly make them again. 

 

What I am most thankful for...

This is what Thanksgiving is to me. A time to reflect on my life and all the blessings I have. I am grateful for the family in my life. They are always there. Always constant. Always mine. I love you guys.

What to do when sick.

So I'm going on round THREE of strep like crud in less than 2 months. I think there is a problem with this.
I came up with a brilliant idea while laying in bed all day however. I painted my nails. This will help prevent me from biting my nails which in turn spread this gunk to me.

Neglectful = Me

I am sorry I have been so neglectful on the updates of life. We've had birthdays, baking time, new stuff, along with illness and stress. I plan on going on post overload this upcoming Turkey weekend. It will certainly catch you up. Get ready my readers!

It's an anniversary!

We made it to 1 year! Just a short journey to forever! I love you Mr. Tyler Shinney! <3

The big red ball.

Bahahaha!

The greatest thing is when you are driving home at 1am and you have to slam on your breaks because there is a massive, red, exercise ball bouncing through the streets!

Silly wind!
You are having waaay too much fun!

Love my random life!
<3

Scrumptious Sundays:Lawn Mower Cupcakes, Cinnamon French Toast Bake, & Avocado Salsa

Ookay.

I hope this makes up for last weeks lack of a Scrumptious Sunday, since I have not just 1.. not just 2.. but I have 3 dishes to show ya!!

So to start off, my lovely work was having a Grass Cut Season Kickoff BBQ. I have to elaborate a little since I haven't mentioned much about my job. I work for an awesome company that works with bank owned homes helping them keep the properties kept up and clean so they can be sold. April 1st starts when we will be getting a lot, and I mean A LOT, of grass cut work orders. I have been wanting to do all I can with my lovely mixer so I decided to make Lawn Mower cupcakes.

 

I was running short on time so I used box mixes (I know, bad Megan.) I did however, attempt a new frosting from All Recipes. It was a buttercream frosting. The only thing I did different was added green food coloring. I will say this frosting is a thinner frosting so it did not work as well with my frosting grass tip as I would have liked, but I thought it was tasty. After I frosted I assembled my candy (Hersheys Nuggets, Reeses Pieces, and Twizlers) to look like little lawn mowers. Cute, aye?

Next on my list was this delightful breakfast dish I found on from Pillsbury. 

This Cinnamon French Toast Bake was absolutely amazing!! I seriously can't wait to make it again. The only thing I didn't add were the nuts and the powdered sugar.

I loved it!!

Last but not least was a last minute toss in of ingredients, which I shall call Avocado Salsa.

My phone camera does not really show the tastiness that this was (since I took a picture when my bowl was nearing empty.) I threw the following into my food processor:

3 roma tomatoes

2 avocados

2 chiles

Some green onions

Cilantro

A few cloves of garlic

And lemon juice

It certainly helped ease my late night hunger.

I hope you all enjoyed this weeks treats!!

I need a bakery..

Okay so this post is long over due.

A couple weeks ago this beauty showed up on my porch.

I'm sure Mr. UPS thought I was crazy because I seriously came running to the door and dancing on the porch as he left.

I had talked my lovely husband into making this purchase.

I told him it would count as an anniversary and birthday gift (way out yonder in the future).

And I'm posting it so I'll have to hold true to it.

It's the KitchenAid Red Professional Mixer!!

I love it!!

Take a gander at it's glory!

Step 1. Mixer.

Step 2..A Bakery??

Have fun folks!!