Random Crap I Found at My Parents

The title pretty much sums up what this post is all about but I figured I'd still give a bit of a back story: My mom wants to redo my room at their house and asked me to go through all my things and decide what to keep, donate, and toss. Anyway, 3 years later (See mom, I told you I'd do it!) and I'm finally starting to go through everything!

One of the first things I found/went through was my beautiful treasure box -- the place where I kept all things near and dear to my heart.

Wanna peek inside?

Ornament hooks, the head of a candy goose, a band-aid wrapper, and my Sam's Cookie Club card were among my most prized possessions. 

"To: Anabel Wernsman -- You're a good reader!" I'm glad I saved this heartfelt Valentine from a girl in my 3rd grade class (and for the record, I am a pretty good reader...)!  

Mom and me.. this makes sense and makes up for every other weird thing in the box.

The previous redeeming photo was just overturned by this autographed Adam Sandler picture that I obviously printed at home (seriously; what?!). 

Doesn't everyone save random, un-sharpened pencils? 

Why? 

A punchless punch card.. again, why? (I didn't even own anything from Limited Too because it was too expensive!) 

I have always been a gifted writer.
Screenplay for "Gypsies"
"The Jinken family was very poor. The mother and father were very drunk." 

Going through my treasure box was quite the walk down memory lane and brought a pretty big smile to both my face and heart. As sentimental as I am, I decided to go ahead and part with the candy goose head, kid's membership cards, and pencils, but kept my screenplays and pictures. 

Also, this wasn't in my treasure box but is still worth sharing:

The seat covers from my first car (a rusted 1994 Ford Explorer) -- I was way too cool for school. 

Please tell me that I'm not the only one who collected weird things as a child? What are some of the funny/cute/random things you've found at your parents? 

Happy Cinco de Mayo (& a Quick Update)!

From the Sandmeier family to you and yours, Happy Cinco de Mayo! We had a wonderful time celebrating and exploring the Mexican culture on Saturday in Civic Center Park -- Jackson especially loved all the fun music and colorful outfits! Today we will celebrate by making my signature Cinco de Mayo dish and maybe having a beer or two.. we shall see. 

As some of you may know, I recently started my NEW JOB and couldn't be more excited about it -- I'm the Colorado writer for an entertainment site and feel incredibly blessed to be doing what I love from home. With that being said, I'm still trying to get into the groove of balancing this new job with my current marketing job and my other two jobs (full-time mamma and wife), so I may be quiet around these parts for the next few days.. but never fear! I'll be back next week with lots of fun posts, pictures, and updates!

Have a great week! 

{this moment}

I found the prompt for this post on one of my favorite blogs (Little Miss Momma) and thought I'd give it a go!

{this moment} – A single photo – no words – capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

inspired by SouleMama  

Thrifty Thursday

A few Thrifty Thursdays ago, I spoke about the awesome DIY project my husband and I (well, mostly just my husband) worked on for my best friend's baby shower gift. The theme of the shower and little Oliver's nursery is vintage Winnie the Pooh so I was trying to think of something Pooh-related to gift Jen.

That's when I saw it..

My mom and I were thrifting around my hometown one stormy Saturday afternoon when I stumbled across a Winnie the Pooh coat rack -- I couldn't believe it! It was pretty beat up but I knew with a little elbow grease and a lot of love, I could have it fixed up in time for Jen's baby shower. 

Once my husband caught wind of what I was doing, he swooped in to help with hijack the project (actually, I'm very, very thankful that he took over -- he's a perfectionist and makes everything he touches perfect -- me on the other hand? Not so much.,.). 

Here's what it looked like before:

As you can see, it was in pretty bad shape and housed some showcased some wonky mirrors and a random pink bow. So Brandon got to work! 

Brandon worked hard on sanding, painting, detailing, and stenciling Oliver's new coat rack and it really couldn't have looked better!

Wanna see? 

Isn't that cool? Brandon resanded the whole thing, completely redid all of the paint (including on Pooh himself), and stenciled in the letters. I just love the way it turned out and am so grateful to have such a handy husband who is willing to help me with my projects! 

What cool things have you thrifted/redone lately?? I'd love to see!

Aunt Annie can't wait to meet you, Baby Brossart! 

Gourmet Pecan Sticky Rolls

Have I mentioned that Jackson is obsessed with the show Good Eats?

It's hilarious!

When Brandon and I were staying with our friends in KC last month, we were introduced to Good Eats (I watched part of an episode in one of my college video production classes but that was the extent of GE viewing) and brought it back to CO with us.. anyway, we were watching an episode one night and Jax was entranced and has been fascinated by Alton Brown's shenanigans ever since.

Where am I going with this, you ask?

A few weeks ago, we watched an episode about cinnamon rolls and I realized that I hadn't had homemade cinnamon rolls in a long, long time. So I became overly ambitious and decided to make this recipe..

..it took seriously 2 1/2 hours to prepare (including letting the dough rise in the refrigerator for an hour) but it was SO. worth. it. I will be making these again and I highly recommend you do the same.

Recipe on All Recipes

{this moment}

I found the prompt for this post on one of my favorite blogs (Little Miss Momma) and thought I'd give it a go!

{this moment} – A single photo – no words – capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

inspired by SouleMama  

Spring is Sprung

On Wednesday night, Brandon, Jackson, a friend from Kansas, and I attended our first Rockies baseball game of the season!

You know what that means..

Spring has arrived! 

The weather in these parts has been absolutely glorious and we really couldn't have asked for better baseball weather on Wednesday evening. While I'm more partial to the fall, I must admit that spring has been pretty good to us thus far! 

Speaking of spring, I have declared that spring is coconut season (fall is pumpkin, winter is peppermint). I've been enjoying coconut creamer in my coffee every morning, have been burning a coconut candle, and have been lathering my hands with a yummy coconut lotion.. it really is a refreshing scent/taste! 

In other non-spring related news, Jax is actually beginning to ear strawberries and other fruits.. this is a big deal people (he ate TWO strawberries yesterday with his veggie burger and cheese)!! 

That's about it around here-- have a great weekend!!