Well Hello Monday!
   Hope you had a great weekend! Ours was non-eventful, but I got some small things accomplished. Like the mound of laundry washed, folded, AND put away (watch for pigs flying out the window)!! Did some online Christmas shopping (SO proud of myself for starting so early). Old Navy was having amazing sales this weekend! I also got a vanity/desk from a friend so that went into my room last night. And the Hubby and I cleaned out his side of the garage so he can put his car in for the winter. The temps decided to drop below 30 last night so we decided it was time to get it cleaned out and get his car in. New England is getting cold fast and I'm not entirely sure that I love it. Today was super cold! 35 degrees on our walk to school!!! I would have drove but Hubby needed my truck and the only car seats we have for the girls went with him. So we bundled up and off we went! It was kind of refreshing, but still too cold for my liking this early on. It's suppose to be in the 60's for the rest of the week so hopefully no need for gloves like we wore this morning. I just love fall and I don't want to see it go away before it even got here! Okay, I'll stop complaining about the New England weather now. Next year at this time, we most likely wont even be living in a place that gets colder than 60 in the winters. For the record, I'm very okay with that.

   I know this is late and not my conventional subscription box post, but I got this box almost a month ago and I really wanted to share it with you. It's the Play! by Sephora monthly subscription box. If you haven't heard about it, it's okay. It is brand new and they were only testing out to a few cities. Boston was one of them and since I live just outside of Boston I got an email back in August to sign up. Click here to read more about it and enter your email address if your are interested. They will let you know when it becomes available. It's $10 (+tax) a month and I'm thinking you will get about 6 items every month. I'll have a better idea in a couple of weeks when I get my October box.

    I really enjoyed this box and I also love that its from Sephora. I'm pretty positive these are all 100 point perks, possibly 250 point perks. I read a few comments about how people weren't happy about that, but it doesn't bother me. Honestly, what exactly did they expect for $10 from Sephora? I think this box could potentially be better than so many other subscription boxes. But I say that because what I got from September is really just about everything I've ever wanted from a beauty subscription service. Watch the video to see everything and to hear my opinions on it all.


                     

    Let me know if you also got the box and what you thought about it. Also let me know if you were able to sign up and don't live in the few cities they selected. I'm still kind of confused about that. 
  
    Well, my timeout is over and now I have to go adult. Ugh.... haha! I hope you have an amazing day! Stay warm and thanks for taking a timeout with me! I'll talk to you soon!

XO,
   Nikki
   

Crockpot Tuesday: Nicole's Corn Chowder

     Hello October!! I hope your October has started out great! It's been one heck of a week and a half here. So much going on between birthdays, weddings, traveling, and a mud race (yes, you read that right- it was SO much fun!!). It's nice to know that we aren't doing any traveling for almost the whole month of October but we are going to be having some visitors. And than its Halloween! I love Halloween! It's so much fun to dress up and I love getting the girls all dressed up. Lilly wants to be Bat Girl and I think Zoeis going to be a kitty cat. Still a little on the fence with that, but I have to make up my mind very soon.

   Well, it's that time of week: Crockpot Tuesday! And today I am making 'Nicole's Corn Chowder'. Although the name is very fitting and this is one of my favorite cold weather meals, I can not take any credit for it. I found it on Pinterest (of course), but all the credit must go to The Crockin' Girls.  Click here for the actual recipe. I don't stray much from the actual recipe, but instead of using canned corn I usually use frozen corn. Today is the first time I'm using canned corn in mine. Also, this is great for left over ham. I buy the center cut ham steak, but if you just made a ham this is a great options to use up some of those left overs.

Everything you need:

• Potatoes - peeled and diced. I used 5 because mine were small. 
• 1 Can cream corn
• 1 Can whole kernel corn - drain the water out of the can
• 2 Cups chicken broth
• 1 Center Ham Steak - cut into cubes
• 1 Cup diced onions - I used one whole yellow onion
• 1/4 Cup butter
• 2 Cups half and half 

What to do:

• Add the potatoes and everything down to the onions into the crock pot. Cook on low for about 7 hours (this will actually cook for about 6 1/2 hours for me). 
• 30 minutes before serving mash up the potatoes in the crockpot and add in the butter and half and half. Crank the temp up to high for 30 minutes.

   I'm making some Pillsbury croissants  rolls to go with this. Cornbread is another great option. You don't have to make bread with it, but I like to dip it into the corn chowder.

   And that's it. This meal is perfect for cold fall and winter nights. It's hearty and will hit the spot for a warm comforting dinner. The left overs are amazing too!

   I've actually never checked out The Crockin' Girls website before, but I think I'll need to be checking them out. Let me know if you try this out and what you think. Do you have your own version of Corn Chowder that's amazing? If so share it with me!

   Thanks so much for taking a timeout with me! I'll talk to you soon!

XO,
 Nikki