January in Review: 2016

Did January fly by... or did January fly by?

I cannot believe the first month of 2016 is already gone. It's going to be another one of those years, I can feel it. It'll be gone before we know it. Now, I know I was a very bad blogger and I started my monthly wrap-up's again in November. Then I skipped December. Me oh my. 

I'm just going to pick right up where I left off. Let's talk about January!

We started off the year with Oregon vs TCU in the Alamo Bowl. The hubby and I were on point with our spread-

Bread, Brie, and flavored olive oil for dipping... Chips with Mom's Famous Clam Dip... Veggies and Ranch... Salted Caramel Cheesecake... Shrimp Cocktail ring.... Oregon Jello Shots!!!... and popcorn! 

Yes, there were only 2 of us :-) Oregon might have blown the game (oh jeez) but we had a grand ol' time!

We made margaritas for the game...

My parents got us this Oregon jello shot kit for Christmas so OF COURSE we had to test it out...

The results were dee-lightful if I do say so myself!

My new camera lens I got for Christmas... I'm still loving it!

The hubby and I's Christmas gift we got with our Hobby Lobby gift card. I've been feeling some serious remorse at not putting a window in our tiny laundry room. It would have really brightened the room up. I did the next best thing and put up an old window mirror. While not a real window bringing in natural light, it does make the room appear a bit more spacious.

January brought new friends to the homestead, The Eastern Meadowlark. I greatly enjoyed these brightly colored fellas.

The hubby and I checked out a new restaurant in Ashland, the Kentucky Hall of Fame Cafe. We were pleasantly surprised with this latest restaurant addition. We split a of bottle of Cab (which was excellent, I highly recommend!), dined on Margherita Flatbread and Lettuce Wraps, and left pretty full and happy. We'll be back :-)

The hubby pulled out the papoose that Haloti so dearly loves and we put him in there for awhile. In fact, when the hubby was tired of carrying Haloti around on his chest, Haloti stayed in the papoose for, oh, another hour. He's a goof.

Mariota continues to make himself at home...

Our homestead after Winter Storm Jonas. We got 8 inches, and it really wasn't bad. This was right after the snow, and the hubby and I went to check out the roads. FYI, they were bad :-)

Critters still gotta eat in the snow!

Mariota checks out his first snow...

His final opinion of the snow? 

He hates it :-)

But I heart little doggy paws in the snow!

Remember those cupcake issues I was telling you about? How a whole batch turned out like hockey pucks and the frosting turned pink and I threw them all away and promptly threw a tempter tantrum?

Maturity at its best, I know.

Anyway, I got the cupcakes perfect. The white cake turned out moist, you could see the red crumbs in the middle, the frosting was perfectly dotted with red, the cupcakes flawlessly decorated. There I was, carefully carrying my tray of cupcakes over to my picture-taking station, when one cupcake started to slide. I lifted my arm to balance the tray, but instead, dumped all the cupcakes on my work station. 

Ooh child, the cussing. The foot stomping. The throwing of my slippers. I was maaaaaaad.

Luckily, I calmed down. As it turned out, most of the cupcakes were fine. I smoothed the frosting on the rest, and took the cupcakes out to my brother and sister-in-law's house. No one cared that the frosting wasn't perfect on some. In fact, my niece ate 5!

Sorry about that one, sister-in-law :-)

My favorite recipes that I posted this month?

No surprise here! Salted Caramel Cheesecake. 

Pomegranate Lime Cosmos

And my personal favorite that will likely be made again, and again, and again? Chopped Kale and Brussel Sprout Salad.

Other notable January events?

-The hubby's cousin got married in Cincinnati.

-I started steroid shots in my back.

And that, my friends, is January in a nutshell!

I hope everyone is having a great weekend! Happy Sunday!