For Christmas Eve I wanted to make something fun, but easy for breakfast with minimal clean up. I have made sausage pinwheels before and it has been a long time since we had them so we decided it would be fun! It is super easy, and hardly takes any prep. The longest thing is cooking the sausage and waiting for the dough to firm up so you can cut it, which is really only about 5-10 minutes but I am impatient. I digress.

What you need:

Ground Sausage, cooked and drained

1 package of softened Cream Cheese

1 package of crescent rolls or if you are lucky enough to find them, the crescent seamless dough sheets!

What you do:

Brown your sausage and drain.

Soften your cream cheese, and roll out the crescent dough on a pan. If you have the regular rolls and not the seamless sheets, make sure you seal all the perforated lines so that it is one piece of dough and nothing will leak out.

Mix your sausage and cream cheese in a bowl, then spread over the dough evenly.

Roll the dough long way/length way, not short. It wont make as much, and they will not cook evenly if you do it the short way.

Place the dough in the freezer for a few minutes to firm up a little, otherwise cutting will be a bitch!

Cut them into 1/4 inch pieces and cook for about 13-15 minutes at the temperature of the crescent roll package, which is 375 degrees.

They taste delicious left over too! I think these would make a great snack on game day, not just breakfast food.

On my menu this week:

Lunches:

Jade and Oaks Veggie Soup (Except I used whole wheat elbow noodles instead of dumplings)

Whole Wheat Pita Bread with Hummus

Dinners:

Lighter Fettuccine Alfredo

Mexican Skillet Casserole

Chicken Burrito Bowls

What are you making this week?

Linking up with Ashley and Jessica for Taste of Tuesday.

Well hey there Blog Land! It is back to reality today, isn’t it? I signed into Bloglovin this morning and saw I have over 800 posts to read. Oops. I spent December 27 to January 4th in Gatlinburg, TN. It was a wonderful get away from work and life and I just didn’t want to come back to work today! We stayed a day longer than we planned, so I got nothing done this past weekend and feel like I should be home cleaning and de-Christmas’ing our house. It gives me anxiety seeing the Christmas tree up still!!! My lungs crapped out on me this weekend, and I found myself in the ER getting a cat scan yesterday afternoon. They thought maybe it was a blood clot in my lungs. No need to fear, my asthma is just acting up apparently. Therefore I used that as an excuse to do NOTHING yesterday evening. Someone please tell me why deductibles are so damn high at the hospital even though I have insurance and pay monthly! Sheesh!!!

Today I was going to share some of our Gatlinburg trip with you! The two pictures above were the view from our living room at the house we stayed at and the Village in Downtown Gatlinburg…my favorite area for shopping and the best hot chocolate on the planet from the Donut Friar!

Below are picture from The Island. It is a new area in Pigeon Forge that isn’t quite finished yet, but pretty awesome. There is a HUGE Ferris Wheel that had LED lights and was beautiful! There is also a large fountain area that has lights and a show that the fountain and lights go along to. So far, there is a carousal, an arcade, two stores, Mellow, Mushroom/Dude’s Daiquiri’s, another sit down restaurant, Auntie Anne’s, Cinnabon and a few vendors in the middle with carts of various foods. They are supposed to be opening a Margaritaville Hotel, a distillery and other things in the next coming year.

Chris and I stopped by Dude’s Daiquiri’s and tried a few craft beers out while our nieces and nephews hung out in the arcade and rode the Ferris Wheel. We actually stopped by The Island one night to catch some football and got to see the Ferris Wheel up close in the dark. It was beautiful.

One of our downtown visits we stopped by the aquarium. While it isn’t near as impressive as some others that I have been too, it was still fun. I am glad that I got to go once, but I probably wouldn’t go back. Atlanta and Chattanooga are MUCH better.

The penguins looked miserable in their playhouse. It wasn’t a playhouse at all. There were no toys or fun things for them to do. It really just made me sad to see them in there.

Of course, we stopped at No Way Jose’s while we were there! Twice actually. Once for lunch, and the second time to have a drink and some nachos while we were downtown. It is something we do every year.

There were free tastings at the Moonshine Distillery, as well as the Whisky Distillery. It was really cool to check them out. There are ALL KINDS of flavors of Moonshine out there, as well as whiskeys. They had me at cookies and cream whiskey. Yum!

View of downtown from a roof top bar that we stopped at to use the facilities after our tasting. So pretty!

I brought a whole new meaning to cheap drunk, as after doing free tastings at both, I was feeling a little tipsy tipsy. Oops. Hence the corn dog from Fannie Farkles! Something else we do EVERY year. We played some ski ball while we were there too, duh!

Chris and I had our date night at The Alamo, which is a tradition as well. I got the fillet and he got the NY strip. It was delicious!

One of my favorite places to go every year is the Apple Barn. We try to eat either lunch or dinner there to enjoy the Apple Julep and the apple butter appetizer they give you. I usually get the veggie plate and order dumplings, mashed potatoes, corn and pinto beans. I always get vegetable soup as well. It was delicious as usual and never disappoints! Unfortunately we went for dinner and I didn’t realize the store and bakery closed at 5:30 pm and so I didn’t get to purchase any apple butter to bring home which makes me super sad. I also didn’t get my frozen apple cider slushy which is a bummer.

Thursday evening it snowed, so this was our view Friday morning. Just wonderful!!! I love snow covered mountains!

That was when we decided to stay another day. We headed downtown with our brother in law and played more ski ball at Fannie Farkles, enjoyed another cup of hot chocolate from the Donut Friar, and got to see the fountain frozen in The Village. It was just beautiful!!!!

We also stopped by the candy store to get some Moonshine Taffy to take home with us! It was packaged in an Ole Smoky mason jar. So cute!!!

This morning I went and picked up our dogs before work. Gracie was so happy to see me she literally cried when I put her in the car. So sweet. Mac on the other hand is angry with me and glared at me and gave me the stink eye in the car the WHOLE way home. He sort of let his anger go when I opened the door to let him in the house though. Apparently he can be won over with peanut butter Pupcorn treats. I will receive the stink eye tonight too when I bathe off all the boarding filth from him, I am sure. Such is life. I am just so glad to have them back. I missed them so much while we were gone!

Blogging should be back to normal this week around these parts. It was nice to have a little break, but I missed all the interaction with you! I will try and catch up with emails and your posts over the next day or so!

Let’s do this 2014!!!

Stephanie is always making these seasonal goal lists and showing said lists who is boss. She makes me feel like a lazy slacker with no ambition! I decided to do something about that, and make a list of goals for this winter. I am putting it out in blog land so I can sort of hold myself accountable. You all are going to want an update on my goals come spring. (Just pretend like you care, ok?!)

Mind

1. Complete Harry Potter Series

2. Read at least one  non-Harry Potter book

3. Watch 3 new to me movies

Body

1. Complete all three months of Focus T25, working out 5 days per week. (allowing one week break for vacation trip that is already planned)

2. Maintain 80/20 diet for clean/healthy eating.

3. Make an eye doctor appointment to get prescription sunglasses.

4. Make appointment for dental surgery. 12/20/2013 A few days after I started this post, I ended up needing to have emergency surgery for said problem. I love already having something crossed off this list!

Home

1. Organize master bedroom closet

2. Turn the dog room into more than just the dog room/storage room. Make it functional and organized.

3. Start a list of monthly goals to decorate the house. Room by room.

4. Get rid of clothes that I have not worn in over a year.

5. Make a cleaning schedule so that I am not spending 3 hours every Saturday doing everything.

Food

1. Try a new to me restaurant.

2. Try 5 new recipes.

3. Make healthy breakfast muffins.

Money

1. Stay in more often than going out on the weekends.

2. Organize coupon holder.

3. Choose a month to try a spending freeze.

Do you have any goals for the season? These are separate from my new years goals. I am not calling them resolutions…I hate that word and I don’t know why? Maybe because most resolutions are so cliché? Get healthy. Lose weight. Stop doing something. It is so vague and hard to hold yourself accountable to.

11. When did I feel most creatively inspired?

This is a weird one for me. I don’t really get creatively inspired. I don’t know how to explain it. Sometimes I just have an idea and I run with it. This isn’t a very good answer, but its all I got.

12. What projects have I completed?

I complete a project at work every day. Outside of work? Does cleaning the house every weekend count? Haha. JK.

• We worked on getting our game room started in our house. The only thing we have left to do is purchase some additional shelving to organize the games. Plus, we just sent three more systems down there since we have upgraded to newer versions. So now the Xbox 360, the PS3 and the Wii need to find a home.
• I started organizing my recipes. But then I printed out about 100 more new ones to try. So I need to start over!
• We got our guest room together and completed in the house! Eventually we would like to add a TV and maybe a dresser in there…but for now it is suitable enough for overnight guests!
• My sister and I recently made lamps for my dad for Christmas.

13. How have I procrastinated?

I have procrastinated about decorating our house. I just have so many ideas and I am having a hard time narrowing it down to what I truly want! Plus, an unlimited supply of money would be nice to fiancé all my ideas!

14. In what ways can I restructure my time?

I have made time for working out this year so for that I am proud! Now I need to make time to decorate our house and work on some organizational projects. I would also like to make more time for crafting. I haven’t “crafted” in FOREVER!

15. How have I allowed fear of failure to hold me back?

This is  a huge can of worms that can be it’s own post. Let’s just say I am a work in progress!

16. Where has self doubt taken over?

I doubt myself often. Not necessarily because I feel I cant do something, but the fear of failure is greater. This ties in with question 15 for me. I am working on it!

17 . When have I felt most alive?

I am about to sound totally corny and cliché, but I have felt most alive on our beach trips this year. Standing next to the ocean is one of the most amazing, humbling experiences.

18. How have I taught others to respect me?

I have been working on this big time. One way was to leave a job where I wasn’t being valued and respected. I have also learned that I have to stand up to myself, and be true to myself.

19. How can I improve my relationships?

I feel like we can always improve in our relationships with people. Just by being present and in the moment when you are with someone is huge. Put down the cell phone, turn of your mind from the 134 other things you could be doing…and just be there.

20. Have I been unfair to anyone?

I don’t feel that I have been unfair to anyone. I have come to terms with the fact that some people are only meant to be in our lives for a season. If there is someone who is impacting you negatively, sometimes you just have to let go and cut them out. I am 30 years old and I don’t have time to play silly games with people anymore. If you do me wrong enough, I am done with you. Life is too short to be “fake nice.” I would never go out of my way to be rude or ugly to someone, but I don’t have to force myself to be fake nice either.

I have seen this go around blog land and had already had all my posts scheduled out. While it was too late to link up for it, I really wanted to write this post for me. I thought a lot of these questions were really good and a great way to reflect.

1. What am I most proud of this year?

This year I have taken back control of my body. I was slacking with work outs, eating right and going to the doctor when I should. I can proudly say that I have been working out consistently five days a week since July. I conquered my horrible anxiety and made an appointment to go to the dentist for the first time in years. I had my wisdom teeth taken out and a crown put on this year, and will take care of the rest next year. (Hello crappy insurance.) I also went to my general doctor and figured out that no, it isn’t normal to feel like shit and tired all the time and he figured out what was wrong with me and got me on a treatment plan!

2. How can I become a better ________ ? friend

I haven’t been to Atlanta in over two years to visit any of my friends. I miss them all terribly and have made it one of my goals to visit more often!

3. Where am I feeling stuck?

I struggle with being afraid of change and succeeding. I think I hold myself back in general. I have lots of great ideas but never follow through with them in fear that I will fail. This is something that I really plan on working on.

4. Where do I need to allow myself grace?

I am working on realizing that I cant make everyone happy. That is impossible. I cant be perfect all the time either. When I mess up or don’t get to do something, I need to remember that it is ok.

5. Am I passionate about my career?

I am very thankful for the position that I have now. It might not be exactly what I wanted to do, yet I feel that really any job is going to have its ups and downs. This position is in the field of my major, I have wonderful co-workers, a decent work schedule, a good company to work for, and I am treated like a human. I don’t drive in to work every morning hating life, and really…that is so important!

One day I would love to have my own store or design something. That doesn’t have to be today.

6. What lessons have I learned?

I have finally learned that forgiveness is not for anyone but yourself. I have been holding on to some anger and sadness for  a very long time and I realized that forgiving isn’t giving in, it is letting go and moving on. Forgiveness is closure for yourself.

7. What did my finances look like?

Another great  blessing with finding another job earlier this year, is that it was a pay increase. I am so thankful for that! We have had some set backs this year due to Chris’s car accident and the person not having insurance. Having to pay out of pocket for the deductible for our insurance, and all of the medical bills has sucked. Not to mention my dental work isn’t cheap. Remind me again why we have to pay so much even with health insurance?!  But, we have a roof over our heads, food on the table, clothes on our backs, and we still managed each month and have been able to acquire some fun new things this year. We are truly blessed.

A goal that we started a few months ago was to start going out less and spending more time at home. This will be a goal to continue into next year.

8. How did I spend my free time?

Chris and I have really enjoyed gaming again this year. We spent the first half of the year setting up our basement with all our retro systems, a projector and a new couch down there. I love it because it is something we both enjoy, and we do it together! In the last month we have gotten all the new systems that have come out and are excited to get some new games to play. I have so much fun! I love all the smack talking we do.

We also have a pretty long list of TV shows that we keep up with. I love settling in for an evening of TV and good food. I find it very relaxing!

9. How well did I take care of my body, mind and soul?

I talked about this a lot in the first question. I have gotten myself back on track with working out regularly. I have been eating about 80% clean/healthy. I cut out most alcohol, sodas and limited my eating out or bad foods. I go to the doctor if I feel something isn’t right and get it taken care of.

I have started reading again. I feel like reading is a great way to keep your mind sharp. It doesn’t have to be some deep reading, I have been reading the Harry Potter series and I really feel like it has brought some of my creativity back.

I have been working on my soul as far as learning to forgive, love deeper, and learn how to relax.

10. How have I been open minded?

I have tried some new foods this year. New drinks. Watched some new shows and read books that I might now have normally picked. Chris and I made a new friend by taking a chance and traveling up to Huntsville. Most importantly, I have really felt great about having an open mind in blogging. Coming to this space and sharing my life every day. My thoughts. Receiving comments about what I write, and having an open mind about what people say. I love reading all of your blogs too. There might be a different view on something that opens my mind to a new way of seeing something.