Weekending in the Motherland

This weekend was a whirlwind, but a good whirlwind. I flew back to the motherland (aka Texas) to have a late little birthday celebration with my family and celebrate one of my best friends at her bachelorette party. 
Before I get to my recap, can I just reiterate for the millionth time on this blog how much I love Texas. I mean I loved it before, but if there is anything I have learned from living in Virginia, it's that I love Texas. This white stuff all over the ground has me missing that Texas sun like no other. When I got off the plane in Houston, Tim McGraw was on the radio. They were playing country music. I wanted to cry from excitement, but instead I just trolled through the airport with a big cheesy grin on my face. I also had a strong desire to shout Davy Crockett's famous words "You can all go to hell and I will go to Texas!" for the whole airport to hear. For the record, I abstained from said desire. Anyway, end of the "I love Texas" rambling. 
Another tangent, but I have a little travel routine when I fly. Okay, it's not a routine, but I always want McDonald's chicken nuggets for my travel meal. I never eat them otherwise but for some reason they are my travel food of choice, and I get straight up frustrated when my terminal doesn't have a McD's. I didn't get to have my Mcnuggets on the flight to Texas, and I was mcbummed. I treated myself to rocky road fudge as a consolation prize. 
Unfortunately Parker couldn't come with me, but all of my sisters, parents, and brother-in-law were there, and I was on cloud nine. We went to PF Changs for dinner, and I had forgotten how delicious that place was! We all ordered different entrees and shared, so I felt like I ate the menu. Literally, I waddled on out of there and was still waddling by the time I got off the plane Sunday afternoon. It was worth it though!

Celebrating 26 years of being birthday buddies (I'm on the left, Danielle is on the right)

Mom and all of her babies! So thankful for each and every one of them. 

 We went back home and had birthday cake and opened presents. I couldn't get over how pretty our cake was! I also had a nice laugh that they misspelled my twin's name. She was Daniella for the evening instead of Danielle. It's better than last year. Last year at our birthday dinner, the waiter came over to Danielle and gave her free cake and sang her happy birthday. I guess he didn't know it was my birthday too and didn't observe that we have the same face. It was hysterical and a solid birthday memory for the years to come.

Saturday morning I drove to the town of my alma mater for my little's bachelorette party. She was my little sis in my college sorority and is one of my very best friends. I loved celebrating her and cannot wait for her wedding in May. I got to see some old friends that I haven't seen in years and playing those fun little bachelorette games is always a good time. The evening was equally as fun!

I'm not usually a bar person and never really have been, but I had the best time that night. The cool thing about the bars in College Station is they are predominantly crowded with college kids. It's just a cool atmosphere, but man I felt ancient! I also decided that a college bar offers probably the greatest people watching on the planet. It just does. 

Isn't she gorgeous? I just love her. 

Sunday it was time to travel back to Antarctica... I mean Norfolk. It was a little chilly in Texas, but I'll take 50s over 30s any day of the week! Though I was greeted with all of the beautiful white stuff that has come between me and my love for the outdoors, being reunited with that husband of mine is always a treat. Until next time, sweet Texas.

Smores Cookies

This recipe happened out of laziness, but man was it delicious. I saw a recipe for smores cookies floating around on Pinterest and modified it to make it as easy and stress-free as possible. This recipe was so simple and there was no clean-up at the end. I served these for a game night with our friends, and they may or may not have helped make me feel better when I was losing. The husband was a big fan of these cookies and they did not last long!
Ingredients: Graham crackers Mini marshmallows Chocolate chip cookie dough (the refrigerated kind with pre-cut squares) Hershey chocolate bars, divided into small rectangles (I had a jumbo bar on hand and used that, but the regular sized bars will work perfectly too)
Directions:  1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees and line a baking sheet with foil for easy clean-up.  2. Place a graham cracker square (half a sheet) on the baking sheet and top with a cookie dough square. Press cookie dough down gently so it adheres to the graham cracker. Bake for 5 minutes.  3. Remove from oven after 5 minutes and top each cookie square with 5 mini marshmallows, lightly pushing them into the cookie dough. 4. Bake 5 more minutes or until cookie looks brown on the edges and marshmallows are gooey and starting to brown.  5. Remove from oven and gently press a Hershey rectangle into each smores cookie. Let cool and enjoy! 

The great thing about this recipe is you can make as many or as little as you want. Make 1 or 2 if you just want a little one-time sweet treat or 30 for a party. It's just as easy and just as yummy either way!