Boo!

Sorry for the lack of Post today! Busy as a bee!! I hope you guys are having a SPOOKY day! Get ready to see the Awesomeness (yes that is a word) that was Nick and I's Halloween costume. 

It is Beginning to Look a Lot Like...

 

...Halloween!

That is how the song goes right? No? Oh well. This time of the year means it is time to bust out all my Spooky decorations. My mom gave me a bunch of her old decorations to spook up my new apartment, as well as making some amazing things herself. Honestly, I am not sure how my apartment would look right now with out the stylistic hand that is my mother.

Here are a few things spotted around the house to get us in to the Halloween spirit.

Do we love the Witches boot? My mom found it for me on her trip to The Garment District in Los Angeles. It is pretty fab if you ask me. I had to tell her to hold back from buying everything she saw, because she sent me about fifty texts of stuff she wanted to buy me. I love this purchase though. Very Halloween Glam! The boot is accompanied by two Ceramic Pumpkins that have been in our family since I was a little one. Now they belong to me! Muahahahahahaha!

Another hand-me-down is the Monster Mash toy! All the little monsters sing and dance to the song "Monster Mash". I remember playing this thing over and over when I was a little kid! So excited my mom decided to hand it over to me. :)

It isn't halloween without carving Pumpkins! Nick's pumpkin is on the left, and mine is on the right. Nick carved an awesome Storm Trooper, and I carved one of my favorite characters from Mario Party (10 Brownie Points if you can guess the character's name!). Can you tell how nerdy and I are? Our pumpkins are based on Star Wars and video games, and I love it! Nerdy and proud!

We also have a little Witch in the kitchen that I assume is supposed to hold candy and goodies. But the problem is that if we actually kept goodies in there, we would end up eating all of said goodies. Therefore we use this little witch as a pen holder. Thanks Witchy!

And last, but certainly not least, the main attraction! My mom made me my very own Halloween Wreath!!

There aren't even words to describe how FABULOUS this is! I am so grateful my mom is crafty, and loves to make stuff for me, especially stuff as gorgeous as this wreath! I mean, there is a sparkly orange spider! What else could a girl want on Halloween?? Thanks Momma!

That was just a few touches of Halloween around my house. What decorations do you have to get you in the Halloween spirit?

A Seasonal Recipe!

As you know, I am all about checking things off my Fall Check List. So far I am doing pretty good. One of the things I was most excited about on the list was trying some new, fall inspired recipes. One of my favorite Fall ingredients is pumpkin. Through some pumpkin into the mix, and it is sure to be a delicious treat. So, you can imagine my excitement when i found this recipe...(brace yourself. It is a bit of a mouthful)

Say THAT five times fast! Last weekend I was browsing through Foodgawker (if you don't know what that is, look into it. Pictures among pictures of AMAZING recipes), to find something Fall inspired to bake. I finally stubled upon this recipe, and had to try it for myself. Here is a copy of the recipe from Just Everyday Me for you try for yourself. 

Pumpkin Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies!

Original Recipe from Kirbie's Cravings 

Ingredients:

1 cup canned pumpkin puree
1 cup white sugar
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 large egg
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon (or pumpkin pie spice)
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
1 1/2 cup oatmeal (optional)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350F and line baking sheets with parchment paper (I used aluminum foil and it worked well).
2. In a large bowl, whisk together pumpkin, sugar, vegetable oil, vanilla and egg.
3. In a medium bowl, whisk together together flour, baking powder, baking soda, ground cinnamon (pumpkin pie spice), and salt. Add the flour mixture to pumpkin mixture and stir until combined. The dough is very wet.
4. Stir in the chocolate chips and oats, if you so desire.
5. Using a medium (1 tbs) ice cream scoop, place dough onto the cookie sheet. The cookies don’t change shape much when baking. If you want prettier cookies, shape them a bit before baking them.
6. Place the cookie trays in the refrigerator for 15-30 minutes (this is optional but I like doing this because I feel like it helps the flavors meld more).
7. Bake for approximately 10 minutes or until lightly brown and firm. It’s a little hard to know when they’re done exactly but about 10 minutes does it.

These were super easy to make, and SUPER delicious! I would definitely suggest this recipe, especially if you are a Pumpkin and Chocolate fan. Let me know how it goes!

Enjoy!

The Great Pumpkin

Wait! Before you read one more thing...have you entered my giveaway yet??? If not, click on that little button to the right, and enter now! Yes. It is THAT easy!

Since last year was kind of a bust (I actually didn't do one thing for Halloween), I was determined to make this year filled with Halloween Goodness. First, and most important, thing on my list was to go to to a Pumpkin Patch. Apparently the very best one near San Diego is close to an hour away, which Nick immediately vetoed. We found one within a reasonable distance from our house, and off we went.

Now, if we had known we would get lost for an hour, then we probably would have just gone to the better patch. But that is besides the point. (But really. We went about 7 miles in the wrong direction.) We finally arrived at our Pumpkin Patch destination, and it was...hot. Did I mention that if you drive inland 15 minutes from the coast, it is like 20 degrees hotter. It is like a different climate over there. I will take my beach weather any day, thank you.

{Finally at the Pumpkin Patch!}

{I swear he was more excited then he looks in this picture.}

There was a pretty sub-par Corn Maze, that probably wasn't worth going through. But if you are at a Pumpkin Patch,  and they have a Corn Maze, I am pretty sure it is a requirement to do it. Truth be told, I actually got lost once or twice. But I credit that to my lousy sense of direction, not the difficulty of the Corn Maze.

{I actually kind of love the colors in this picture}

{Leading us to safety.}

Then it was off to choose our perfect pumpkin. But first, a little face in hole photo-opp?

{I don't know why I decided to go with the "offended cat" look?}

I decided that we must choose Pumpkins that match us. Nick's would be tall and lean. Mine would be short and stumpy. And we can't forget Hudson. His would be the littlest of them all. After walking through rows of pumpkins, we finally found the perfect match! Like choosing a Christmas tree, I believe the Pumpkin finds you, you don't find the Pumpkin. There is a cosmic synergy to the whole thing. (I think I just made up the term "Cosmic Synergy")

{Nick and I's Pumpkin Soulmates.}

Quite pleased with our selections, we hurried home to carve these babies up!

Stay tuned for my Halloween Adventure!

A Halloween Giveaway!

This week I will be going over all things Halloween! I love this time of year, and have been getting extra psyched to celebrate, and check some things off my fall check list.

Before I begin, I want to tell you guys the winner of my last Giveaway!

The Winner Is...

Congrats Jessie!!! Email me to find out how you get your free Canvas Print!

Alright back to business. Nothing gets me more excited for Fall than filling the house with Seasonal scents with an amazing candle. Luckily, my friend Staci over at Scentsy reached out to me right in time for the season. Staci is a Sales Representative for an amazing company called Scentsy, who specializes in Flameless Candles. What you do is put the Scentsy into the Scentsy Warmer, and it melts and smells better than any candle!

Since I am one lucky lady, she sent me one to test and share with all of you! Check it out!

I got to choose any design, and I chose the Casbah Full-size Scentsy Warmer with and Autumn Sunset Scentsy. 

These are SO easy to use, and so much better than an every day normal candle. No melting wax. No fire hazard. And it looks a million times more chic. With hundreds of designs to choose from , you can match a Scentsy Warmer to your own unique decor! Did I mention they have Holiday designs??? (Awesome!)

I absolutely love my Scentsy Warmer, and I know you will too. If you want to buy your own (which you should, obvi!), hop on over to the Party Staci is hosting for me. 

And if all of THAT weren't enough, Staci is offering to host a Giveaway on this little blog of mine! Here is what you can win!

A Scentsy Scent Pak of Your Choice!

These little babies are perfect to stash any place you want to keep smelling AMAZING. Keep them in your purse, your gym bag, your drawers. They will keep anything smelling spectacular!

Ways to Enter:

1) Be a Follower of this Blog, and leave a comment letting me know which Scentsy Pak Scent you would choose!

Extra Entries:

2) Follow me on Twitter (@ComplicatedKai)

3) Follow Staci on Twitter (@StaciBrener)

4) Tweet about this Giveaway:

"@ComplicatedKai and @StaciBrener are hosting a Scentsy Giveaway! I hope I win! http://tinyurl.com/4x82x4t"

5) Blog About this Giveaway

(Please leave a separate comment for each entry!)

Good luck!!!

Portland Volume 1: Breakfast Wars

I just recently went to Portland with my brother, his wife, and their beautiful baby boy Parker. We were also joined by three of their closest friends, Wiley, Tyler, and Christa. Let me tell you, they were quite the fun bunch. And if there was one thing this fun bunch loved to do, it was eat. If there was one thing we loved more than eating, it was eating breakfast. Luckily, Sarah and Christa got the inside scoop of where THE top breakfast places in Portland were. And thus began Portland Breakfast Wars 2011.

Round 1: Mother's Bistro 

{Just ignore the fact that we are basically twins. I swear it wasn't planned}

As the first stop on our 2011 Breakfast Tour, Mother's Bistro did not disappoint. Quite the opposite actually...it was friggin AWESOME. I would love to tell you what everyone else got, because I definitely had a bite of each thing, but all I can remember was the ridiculousness that was the French Toast. Observe...

I mean, c'mon. It is not even fair. My mouth is watering just looking at this picture. Because, dear friends, this was no ordinary French Toast. In fact, it was the Mother of all French Toast (Mother's Bistro...get it? ha). This French Toast was dipped in Corn Flake batter, making it the ultimate in crunchy, sweet, melt-in-your-mouth goodness. I am actually considering going up to Portland again, just for this French Toast. 

On the first leg of the tour, we were pretty impressed. Everyone loved their food, and we weren't sure how anything else would top it.

Round 2: The Original

{The Original at night, because I actually forgot to take pictures of this one. Bad blogger, bad.}

While I loved the cool Modern Extrerior/Interior, I was a bit underwhelmed with the food. I will give them credit for originality though. My brother ordered Peanut Butter and Jelly Pancakes, and some others ordered Beef Jerky Bloody Marys (which I heard were amazing). But the thing I remember the most was some form of ridiculous Cheesy Fries, which gaind the reputation of "Cheese Turd"

{Gross.}
Overall, I would say that creativity in a menu matters, but not as much as quality food. I would rather have a delicious classic dish, than a groundbreaking original dish that is so-so. 

Round 3: Kenny & Zukes

I have got to hand it to this place, they were pretty awesome. This place had more of a diner vibe, focusing on deli classics such as Pastrami. I ordered an Everything Bagel Sandwich, and it was to die for. Since we got here later, it was more of a brunch experience, so we got to order some lunch items too!

Although I didn't have a bite, because I was stuffed from my Breakfast Sandwich and Mimosa, I heard that the Mac & Cheese was amazing! Kenny & Zukes hit the nail on the head with their laid back New York Deli type menu, focusing on quality food!

The Verdict:

While most of the places we went were good, I can only choose one winner....

Mother's Bistro!!!

Clearly people. I mean, they had me at Cornflake French Toast.  Cornflake. French. Toast. I know some of you are reading this and thinking "Dang Kai and her friends ate a lot that weekend", and to that I say that you are correct sir! But it was all for the sake of the greater good (a.k.a. Breakfast Wars), and in no way had to to with the fact that we looove to eat. And if you think that's bad, remember there are two other meals in the day, which means we ate six other meals I didn't even go over....yet....

What Happens in Vegas

So last weekend was pretty ridiculous. Me and 5 of my closest girlfriends went to Vegas!

We seriously had an AMAZING time! I would love to blog about all the crazy adventures that we had. But you know the rule...

What happens in Vegas...

...Stays in Vegas.

And remember...there are consequences for breaking the code.