Tortilla soup

It's getting to be that time of year when snuggling up to a warm bowl of soup on the couch is just about all one wants to do. One of my favorite soups to make is tortilla soup; it's super easy, pretty healthy, and hits the spot every time.

Ingredients:

onion
bell pepper
corn kernels 
garlic
tomato
jalapeno
salt
pepper
chili powder
cumin
cayenne
chicken
chicken stock
cilantro
tortilla chips
cheese

Best served with a glass of wine

Chop up some onion, bell pepper, corn and garlic

Add the chopped veggies to a large pot

After the veggies are cooked down, add some chopped tomato

Next, seed a jalapeno

Dice the jalapeno and add to the pot

Add the spices to the pot to toast them for a minute before adding the stock. I add a mixture of salt, pepper, chili powder, cumin, and cayenne

Stir the contents

Add some chopped chicken and chicken stock

Boil for about 20 minutes

After you pour the tortilla soup over tortilla chips and cheese, be sure and add plenty of fresh cilantro

Enjoy!

Lexi

The walls behind Homeslice Pizza

How was everyone's Thanksgiving? Mine was pretty eventful. Every year Jim's mom has her Thanksgiving get together the Sunday before, which is nice because we never have to worry about going to our next event. 

On Thursday Jim and I took my mom with us to his dad's Thanksgiving, this was the first time that we only went to one event on Thanksgiving so it was nice to sit and relax. 

On Saturday we had a little family get together at my dad's house  where we were able to enjoy the company and sit down for one last heavy meal.

I love how each of our events were on a different day, usually on Thanksgiving we are driving from house to house and don't get to really enjoy it. 

Sadly it's Sunday evening and the Thanksgiving holiday break is almost over. This morning Jim and I decorated our house for Christmas and we're planning on making tortilla soup for a few friends tonight to enjoy next to a bon fire. 

The pics below were taken on Black Friday, and although Jim and I didn't do any Black Friday shopping, we stopped at the famous Homeslice on South Congress for a slice of pizza. It's amazing that all this artwork is on the back of the building. My favorite is the 'Don't Hate' Pee Wee Herman sign.

 Lexi

Pumpkin bread

This year for Thanksgiving Jim and I took off work Wednesday-Sunday, it's currently Friday morning and this mini staycation has been glorious so far. On Wednesday we went to the grocery store to pick up everything we would need for the next few days and I decided to get fancy and attempt to make this pumpkin bread recipe.

The instructions aren't super detailed, but thanks to Ina Garten I knew that anytime you mix wet and dry ingredients together, you have to add the dry to the wet (not the other way around) and do it in a few batches to get a batter that will come out moist and delicious. I added the dry ingredients in 3 batches, mixing in between. I also used this opportunity to break out my KitchenAid stand mixer that I rarely use.

I also made my first attempt at my aunt's famous honey butter. Her instructions weren't super helpful..."I start with 2 sticks of butter and add honey until it tastes right."..... I used 1 stick of butter since it would just be the two of us eating and added maybe 3 tbs honey. 

Grease and flour the baking dishes

Mix the wet ingredients

Mix the dry ingredients

Add the dry ingredients to the wet in 3 batches, mixing in between

Distribute the batter evenly between the 3 pans

Bake

Yum!

 Lexi

Sunday morning hair

Last Sunday morning Jim and I took a drive in his little convertible, which meant that all expectations of having a semi-presentable hair day went out the window. This little gem of a hair-do is the remnants of my bun with a scarf tied around it desperately trying to keep everything under control. Enjoy.

Also, if you don't already have some stripes in your fall wardrobe, you should add some because they are all the rage right now.

Lexi

Christmas at the Caswell House

Every year Jim's mom invites the women in her family to go to Christmas at the Caswell House. It's a charity event hosted at a local venue where dinner is served and lots of Christmas things are sold. This year the dinner included a wine tasting so I had an especially fun time.

Earrings from Claire's back in the day

My future sister-in-law Jill, Jim's Aunt Linda, Jim's mom Janet, and me.

It's such a wonderful family tradition and is so nice to have dinner with these lovely, smart, confident ladies. Looking forward to joining the family officially.

Lexi

Purple cords

Colored denim is all the rage this fall, and Old Navy actually has tons to choose from. They are super stretchy which is nice because I have a very unique shape and sometimes skinny jeans just don't work on me. These babies will hug your curves in all the right places!

Lexi

Creating shape

Learning how to work with my shape is something that I have only recently discovered and something that I'm still trying to figure out. Every girls shape is different and enhancing it can take some creativity. In my case, I can be a little top heavy and boxy. The picture below looks pretty shapeless and blah. 

Pretty shapeless

Oh there's my waist!

 Waist belts are my best friend. They turn my box shape into an hourglass and that's always a good thing. Also, check out my new booties, they are awesome.

 Try pairing a waist belt with a flowy or loose top to define your shape!

 Lexi

Make it work

Remember in this post when I talked about how to convert a not-so-workable dress into a workable skirt? Well folks, I've done it again here. 

Dress: Urban Outfitters Chambray: Nordstrom Boots: DSW

This dress is actually very workable. It's got short sleeves and a key hole back, more of a summer outfit than winter so I put a button up over it and wore it with boots to bring it into fall.

Same dress worn this summer with my bestie, Amber

I try to keep my clothing budget in check (key word here is try) so it's nice when 1 article of clothing can be worn many ways. How do you change up your pieces?

 Lexi