1ooth post!

so tyler and my mom came to visit for president's day weekend and was so fun!

tyler thought it would be a good idea to play in the snow in shorts and a t-shirt.

go thome?

he always forgets how cold it is. hahaha.
and then we mostly shopped and ate.

heart shaped valentine's day breakfast pancakes!
6th jimmy johns of the weekend.
valentine themed crispy cremes.
then tyler thought he was a unicorn.
at mr. b's. so delicious!
group shot!
tyler and his crab legs. he prefers outback butter.
we also went to the outlets and the mall and tyler when iceskating and we went to an awesome chinese new year party at the yans! i'm going to need to run for the next week straight to burn the calories... but knowing me, i'll probably just eat some more. thanks for coming you guys!

i didn't mean to hurt anyone's feelings

i guess these girls felt left out of my blog, so here's a special post for some of my favorite girls.

amazing, magical, beautiful, yesful, relaxed

awesome, delightful, daring, interesting, silly, outstanding, naughty

i miss you ladies. come visit soon! or meet me in california some time.

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!