things i've learned this week...

1. we are not inside dog people and our house was way too small for a large inside dog

(blair walruff is now living with a new family with a puppy sister... i think she's happier, i'm still depressed about it though)

2. i love steam cleaning things... i just got the haan and it is just another reason why i love korean engineering. romi haan is a genius!

3. winter is definitely not over! we were tricked with a week of upper thirties and forties and we are back into the single digits (negative degree windchill)

4. the best homemade brownie recipe ever! as soon as it's light enough to take a picture i will share the recipe

5. how to make some super cute new bows. my nieces are going to be getting some pretty cute valentines this year

6. i still hate the week before test week! yikes!

in other news, i'm doing pretty good on my new years resolutions. i'm proud of myself.

newest member of the nielsen family

this little girl is a total diva already! this afternoon david and i got bored and started looking at puppies online and found this 7 week old great dane puppy and we just had to have her. we drove up to northern wisconsin and brought her home. she doesn't have a name yet... we're taking suggestions.

andie wants us to name her snookie or the situation, my mom things fiona, let us know if you think of something perfect. right now we're just calling her puppy.

this is to show you some scale... she's tiny little thing!

and she loves watching tv. she's going to fit right in.

come over and play with her sometime!

our favorite thing this weekend

cinnamon toast! did you eat this as a little kid too? i forgot completely about it until i saw a post about it on a recipe blog...

so good! it's the perfect invention for breakfast, snack, a treat, etc.

if you've never had it... you toast some bread (doesn't matter if it's wheat or white), put some softened butter on it while it is still hot and then sprinkle with cinnamon sugar (that's like 1tbs sugar to 1/2 tsp cinnamon) and use as much as you want. have some today!

favorite thing right now...

i think i'm going to start posting my favorite things more often. i think it will remind me of all of the blessings that i have and how good i have it sometimes. too bad this first post is going to be material... hahaha. oh well. right now i am loving my pixie pants from jcrew.

they are really cute on. and i got them on a great sale. so go to your nearest jcrew and buy some! i've worn them twice this week already. maybe i should get another pair?

new years resolutions...

okay, i don't ever do new years resolutions, but since everyone else who has a blog has done some... i guess i'll think of a few ways i could improve myself... but that's almost impossible because i am so awesome.

1. be nicer. this week i have been a real b. sorry everybody! blame it on allstate they are stressing me out!

2. make more interesting dinners. i cook all the time, but i wish i was more creative culinarily. so far i've made roast chicken, spaghetti and meatballs and chicken rice casserole this week... so i am not doing great at this. but, i did find a recipe for tempura that looks pretty good...

3. watch less bravo and e! (i doubt i'll be able to give this up... well, until gg is back)

4. be more social. everyone who is reading this that lives in wisconsin, come on over! i'm serious.

5. finish some of my craft projects that i started in 2009, hey, even 2008. remember the cathedral quilt? the mother's day wreath?

6. speaking of #5, decorate for more holidays than just christmas. i love decorations, i just hate cleaning up afterward.

7. read more. i want to read at least 3 real books a month. so far i'm almost done with one, so i guess i'll have to pick shorter books this month.

8. be more grateful.

9. go to the temple more.

10. don't complain so much. i know what you're thinking... what? ali? complain? i know i know. it's a bad habit. but i'm going to work on it!

11. do my hair and make-up better and more often. it's hard when you wear your hair up to work 3/5 days, you know?

anyways, that's all i can think of for now. i'm sure my husband will be able to come up with more for me. also... i want to be as skinny as i was in this picture this year. happy new year!

christmas break

one of my life goals is to never have a job where i don't get winter break... so far things have been working out. this christmas was the best! it finally felt like christmas at our house again. and i of course do not have any pictures... i asked andie to email me some to spruce up this post... but she's slacking.

so... if you never see that picture of andie wearing a santa mask standing in front of my grandma's christmas tree next to her bf or cute pictures of baby opening presents or harriet tanning or us in las vegas loving it... blame her!

moving on.

we got to california at about 5am christmas eve... due to a 6 (or was it 8?) hour delay at the milwaukee airport. it was okay... airports have...... chairs. then it was not stop partying. we had the annual christmas eve bash with the bobergs, then christmas morning with mom, hanging out, visiting grandma and grandpa nielsen, grandma alice, then christmas dinner at grandma mary's with the tobiassens. then the next day we celebrating my mom's bday a few days late by heading to crate and barrel super early to score sweet deals and ornaments... we walked out of there with a few large bags full of merch. then we bought more online. then we went out to lunch with the prescotts. too bad our waitress at luicilles was the worst! then the next day was church. then we took typod to the check on some english bullies at fashion island and do a little post-christmas shopping. we also went to the coolest pei wei there ever was! and it was free because i found an old pei wei gift card with the exact amount of money to cover mine, david's and tyler's meals. it was a christmas miracle!

this is tyler with the coolest soda machine! i felt like i was in tokyo!

it was all touch screen and you could pick any kind of soda with any kind of flavor and it mixed your drink automatically. we had to sample several concoctions... you can imaging what an 11 year would come up with--especially when his drink of choice is a suicide.

we spent a lot of time with the fam. david 1 threw an excellent taco night at mom's house and hosted one of the best new year's parties to date. we made pizza's in his pizza oven and it was warm enough to hang out outside. then we kicked the adults out and watched angels and demons, my brother and i were the only ones to stay awake during the whole movie. the next day we headed to utah with a little detour in vegas with the girlies. am i dreaming or do you have my gameboy?

we went to serrendipity and did a little shopping. then we got to provs and had the time of our lives. we got to go to jenna's sealing saturday morning. it was great and so wonderful to catch up with our favorite farrells and to see all of david's siblings. and the lotts!!

we managed to see all of our nieces and nephews this holiday season. we loved it! thanks drew, clark and ty for letting us play games with you! also thanks to the dry cleaners next to the cafe rio in provo for staying open late and cleaning my coat! i don't know how i got so much cake on it at the reception.

then sunday morning (really early) we headed back to milwaukee.

anyways, christmas was the bomb! we had so much fun with everyone in california and utah. can't wait to see everyone next christmas!!