My Aunt Kris and I both wanted to start a Gourmet Club, like the one that my Nana is in… so I started us off with an “Ocho de Mayo” Mexican Fiesta this past Saturday! It was so much fun and already I cannot wait for the next one. Here’s the dishes that everyone brought (I linked to their recipes online if I could find them). And if you mouse over the pictures, you’ll see what other fun we enjoyed:

Erin & David – Chevy’s Mesquite-Grilled Fajitas (steak & chicken), Chipotle Lime Shrimp, Pico de Gallo, & Margaritas with a Pineapple Splash

Kris – Tortilla Soup & Sangria

Beverly – Avocado-Bean Salad

Melanie – Bean & Corn Salad and a Yellow Rice

William – Refried Bean Dip

Chris & Julie – Chile Chocolate Torte with Cinnamon Whipped Cream

Terri – she didn’t have time to make anything, but stopped and got a Mexican Pizza and Nachos to share.

I know you’re up past $20 or $30 by now. Would you die if I told you this cost me under $7.00?!

We have some friends who just bought a house and we wanted to do something nice for when they move in. I figured that cleaning supplies are pretty high up on the list of needs and sometimes you don’t know where you packed them, so I went to the store with my coupons and loaded up. It’s super doubles week at our grocery store so I really put my coupons to work.

Bounty Paper Towels: $ .50 (normally $1.99)
Joy Dish Detergent: $ .30 (normally $1.59)
Glass Plus Cleaner: $ .85 (normally $2.85)
Soft Scrub: FREE (normally $3.69)
Lysol Toilet Cleaner: $1.09 (normally $2.59)
Lysol Wipes: FREE (normally $3.19)
Air Wick Air Freshener: $ .50 (normally $1.19)
Fantastic Spray All-Purpose Cleaner: $1.75 (normally $3.35)
Air Wick Plug In Gel Freshener: $1.49 (normally $10.99)

TOTAL: $6.48 (would have been $31.43) I SAVED 80% and probably could have done better if I hadn’t bought a few things that weren’t on sale!!!

We bought a cleaning tote to put all this in today at Target for about $5, and I added a handful of garbage bags and we have a pretty great gift… at least I think so! We’ll probably get a few more items together but this just shows how you can put your coupons to work for you.

I also have a cousin that I am planning to do this for when she gets her first apartment, and I already have a stash of cleaning supplies stocked away for her in the garage. It just makes such a great gift because everyone needs cleaning supplies!

VIC Card savings: $32.28
Coupon Savings: $22.95
Total we paid for groceries: $48.59

We saved $55.23 which cut our bill just a little more than half! NOT BAD!!!

Then we went to Target and got cat food and dental products… I had a Target coupon for save $1 on Iams Cat food and a manufacturer coupon to save $1.00, and then I combined some target coupons with manufacturer’s coupons on toothpaste, floss, mouthwash, and 2 toothbrushes (which we try to keep on hand for guests)… Our final total for the bill was still about $28 but we saved $9.00 with all of our coupons.

So in one day of clipping coupons we saved $64.23!!! Not too shabby! So guess what I’m doing now? Planning my shopping trip because the sale fliers came out today and so far I have already spied where I can get free tortillas, some free yogurt, some cheap paper towels and toilet paper, breakfast bars, and frozen broccoli for 25 cents! This is worth trying, so give it a shot!

1. Get married (probably the most important).
2. Back to better health and nutrition (green smoothies/juices, more of a vegetarian/pescatarian diet).
3. Back to the gym… exercise at least 3 times a week (losing 20 pounds is ideal here since I have a wedding dress to squeeze into).
4. Learn where my food comes from and eat more local/organic (join the CSA).
5. Continue to drop the plastic and paper bags in the store and use my Baggu bags.
6. Get to bed before midnight so I can get up earlier.
7. Read one book a month (did well with this one last year).
8. Make one new recipe from my cookbooks each week.
9. Knit myself a sweater (have always wanted to and never have).

Of course the only resolution from last year I did well with was the reading. I far surpassed my goal of one book per month and read nearly 24 books! Take a look:

1. Eat, Pray, Love / Elizabeth Gilbert
2. His Dark Materials Omnibus / Philip Pullman
3. Wicked / Gregory Maguire
4. Son of a Witch / Gregory Maguire
5. Angels & Demons / Dan Brown
6. The Last Lecture / Randy Pausch
7. Sex and the City / Candace Bushnell
8. Twilight / Stephenie Meyer
9. New Moon / Stephenie Meyer
10. Eclipse / Stephenie Meyer
11. Breaking Dawn / Stephenie Meyer
12. Marley & Me: Life and Love with the World’s Worst Dog / John Gorgan
13. Three Cups of Tea / Greg Mortenson
14. The Secret Life of Bees / Sue Monk Kidd
15. The Friday Night Knitting Club / Kate Jacobs
16. Knit Two / Kate Jacobs
17. Knit the Season / Kate Jacobs
18. A Thousand Splendid Suns / Khaled Hosseini
19. The Kite Runner / Khaled Hosseini
20. Q&A / Vikas Swarup
21. Dead Until Dawn (Sookie Stackhouse 1) / Charlaine Harris
22. Living Dead in Dallas (Sookie Stackhouse 2) / Charlaine Harris
23. Green Smoothies Diet / Robyn Openshaw (only half)
24. Julie & Julia / Julie Powell (only half)

So now I have to work on my reading list for this year, and so far I have only come up with 11:

1. Julie & Julia / Julie Powell (only half – finished right after the new year)
2. My Sister’s Keeper / Jodi Picoult (already started)
3. Green for Life / Victoria Boutenko
4. Food Inc. / Karl Weber
5. In Defense of Food / Michael Pollan
6. The Lost Symbol / Dan Brown
7. Silence of the Lambs / Thomas Harris
8. Hannibal / Thomas Harris
9. Tunnels / Roderick Gordon & Brian Williams
10. Deeper / Roderick Gordon & Brian Williams
11. A Lion Among Men / Gregory Maguire

One stormy Halloween night at the Castle Von Dessis, the guests of a midnight buffet become suspects in the murder of the host, Neville Aster-Night (pictured as the burned and blood drained corpse in the middle). Also pictured from left to right are: ASTHMADEUS The Prince of Dimness (devil), ANGELA DETH DDS, BALIHI the Rogersandhammerstein Monster (Frankenstein), (below) HANNIBAL SCHECTER the Kosher Cannibal, the skele of Neville Asternight, LIZZIE BORDEAUX the dead guy’s fiance, GLUMDA THE WICKED WITCH OF DEPRESSED, THE MUMMY OF KING ALDRINKTOTAT, (below) ARETHA GARLIQUE the fortune teller.

This past weekend we had our “How to Host a Murder” and it was so much fun so I thought I would share. We chose to do “An Affair to Dismember” because it was Halloweenie in feel. We really enjoyed ourselves and the food and invitations were a big hit (everyone called and asked if the invite was a clue… it was not, but it was a rather clever kit from Martha Stewart I got at AC Moore/Micheals that I modified a little). The best food was Hannibal’s neighbor’s ribs, which our friend Billy shared with us and I will have to post the recipe because they are the best darn BBQ Ribs you’ll have (of course, the recipe is stolen from the Texas Roadhouse grill where he used to work).

After the murder, we just had some good ol’ fun, including playing Micheal Jackson’s thriller about 4 times in a row while we all tried to figure out the dance (really funny when you put about 8 people who have been drinking on this mission). Well, we made up a bunch but had a darn good time doing it. Each move had a name we came up with, like the Creep Crawl, or the broken leg, etc. We got so carried away that our friend Chris even grabbed his own shirt and sent the buttons popping all over the kitchen.

Aunt Kris joined us for a little while to witness, dressed as a very chic vampire… I wish I had gotten a picture (maybe my friend Kelle did – I have to get her pics). Originally she was going to take part but wasn’t sure if she was going to make it back from Matty’s game in time.

It was a blast and we hope to do another one soon!

Well, we’re going to have our first How to Host a Murder Party. We chose “An Affair to Dismember” since it is Halloween themed. We are so excited and have already started decorating the house for the occasion. These are the invites that I gave out… they are Martha Stewart and I added to it by printing out the info from the game invites and attaching it inside (it fans out to reveal the information about all of the guests).

We cannot wait! If it goes well we will try to make this an annual event… although next time I may pay for one online that gives you the option of more characters. I felt a little too stressed over picking just 8 people to participate and really wanted to invite more people (although we may have some spectators).

I’ll post some more on the decor and such as we progress…

David had his All-Star game this past Sunday. He thought he played horrible because of a few misses, but I am just proud of him for making the all-stars. He is pictured in the lower lefthand corner of the picture (just look for the most-handsome guy). We brought a few friends with us and we had a ball watching the game, eating the barbecue they provided, and meeting new people! And our friend Kelly even got asked to sing the National Anthem (pics to come soon). One of the most interesting things about David’s games are the people that come. It is a Spanish-American league, but there are white people, African-Americans, Mexicans, Puerto Ricans, Dominicans, Cubans, etc. It so cool to see all of these cutures come together for one of America’s greatest sports.

And this week I finally finished Marley & Me by John Grogan… AND we rented the movie. Both were fantastic, although the book is ALWAYS better (you were totally right Tracy!). I laughed through most of it and bawled when the time came… and I really mean bawled! I could totally relate to everything in the book with our little Smoochy Pooch. David and I have both been giving him a little extra attention since we watched it. I thought John Grogan was a FANTASTIC writer and the story was great too. I would definitely recommend it!

Theme: powerlessness

The dream: “I’m walking in a dark alley, and I see a man in silhouette coming toward me — I know I’m about to be in a bad situation or robbed. As his hands reach out and get close to me, I try to scream, but nothing comes out.” — Sarah Calderon, 34, New York City

Variation: You’re trying to run from something, but you can’t move.

What it means: “You may be facing a difficult decision,” says Dr. Kramer. Express your concerns to trusted confidants so they’re not bottled up, and try writing down the pros and cons of, say, changing careers.

I thought this was very interesting because as a Gemini, I’m horrible with decisions and I do get anxiety over it. For me I’m either being chased and I scream and nothing comes out, or I’m fighting someone or trying to get away and I can’t move or I’m in slow motion. I have these dreams at least once every two weeks or so, when I remember them of course. It was interesting to see what it says about it.
This is another one I found interesting because a college roommate of mine used to dream about her teeth falling out… For me, I have the variation where someone close to me dies:

The dream: “I bite into something and my teeth start to come out. I spit them out and start crying because when I try to fit them back into my gums, they won’t stay. After I wake up, I’m usually upset for hours.” — Christina Carathanassis, 33, New York City

Variation: Someone in your dream accidentally dies.

What it means: You’re likely worried about losing something, such as a job, relationship or even a personality trait (e.g., you take pride in your confidence but let your new boyfriend walk all over you). “Something like teeth are physically connected to you, so whatever they embody is of vital importance to your identity,” Kramer explains. If you dream someone close to you or someone famous dies — say, Marilyn Monroe — think about what she represents for you, suggests Patricia Garfield, Ph.D., author of “The Universal Dream Key” (HarperOne). If you’ve always admired Monroe for her beauty, you could be anxious about losing yours with age. If your fears are warranted, talk to friends about how they handled a breakup or other loss. Having confidence you can cope will help you sleep better no matter what happens.

I thought this was all fascinating… if oyu want to read the other few dreams they have, go here.