A Texas Delicacy: Frito Pie

It was brought to my attention recently (by this Yankee) that ... GASP ...Frito Pie is not a staple in all of your lives!  This truly befuddles me.

I legit thought EVERYONE knew what Frito Pie was and how to wash it down with an ice cold Big Red.  If you are unfamiliar with Frito Pie, then odds are you've probably never gulped a Big Red either, which saddens me even further.  Please go here to acquaint yourself with Big Red.  It's another Texas staple that you need in your life.    

While I can't change the fact that you've been missing out of this gourmet greatness, I can introduce it to you today. Better late than never, right?  The concept is quite simple: Fritos + Chili topped w/ cheese = Frito Pie

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This, my northern neighbors, is a Frito Pie in all its yummy, high-caloric glory.  And yes, it tastes as amazing as it looks.  Some people top theirs with onions or jalapenos, but I prefer mine the old fashion way: Chips, Chili and Cheese only. Thankyouverymuch.

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You can go the civilized route and eat out of a bowl like pictured above, or if you are feeling a little cray cray; Slice open a personal sized bag of Fritos, top with chili and cheese and eat directly out of the bag.  It's illegal in Texas to eat Frito Pie this way using anything but a plastic fork. You've been warned. 

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As a Texan born & raised, I have grown up eating Frito Pie, so I just assumed every one else did too.  Clearly I was mistaken.  This Frito Pie revelation has made me wonder ... what are YOU eating that I don't know about?  I think it's only fair that you divulge some Northern delicacies with me.   Spill Yankees.


VOTING ENDS TOMORROW! Don't forget that if I win, I'm making all of you bargainistas famous:

Giveaway winner & an announcement

The winner of my 1 year blogiversary GUSSIED giveaway is ....

Which was Miss Callie!  Congratulations!  Just e-mail me and I will put you in touch with Erin @ Gussied.

Chin up & don't go pouting just yet!  Even if you didn't win, Erin is giving all of you bargainistas 30 percent off a single item on her site throughout the entire month of September!  She added tons of team cuffs and can make *almost* anything you want if you don't see it.  Check, check, check it out.

And now for the announcement.  Drum roll please Adam ...

So it's no secret that I love e.l.f., right?  Well, guess what?  I got a ton of new e.l.f. product for a Back to School post and have hand picked 7 of my favorite items out of this bag for one of you! 

I'm soooo over the "follow me" or "like me" and you'll win, so I'm going to do something a little different in order to enter this giveaway.  I'm not sure what yet, so any suggestions are welcomed!  Leave your genius ideas in the comments purdy please!

Weekend = Uneventful, but relaxing

As the title of this post states, my Labor Day weekend was pretty uneventful.   I'll recap the "highlights" for you, although I use the word "highlight" loosely.

Saturday morning was spent trying to keep up with the little munchkin below. 

Reese insisted my nails had to be pink, and he would paint my right hand for me. So sweet, you shouldn't have. No really, you shouldn't have.  I am in the beginning stages of packing for my big move on October 1, and he decided he wanted to take a nap in one of my storage tubs. This kid! He came running out of my bathroom with a leopard headband on (don't ask) and said to me, "Look Aunt Lindsey, don't I look beautiful?" My brother wasn't too happy about this when I text him the pic. Whoopies.

Saturday evening I went over to my friend's house and watched my Red Raiders beat Texas State in our first non-conference game of the season!  We did a little celebrating after the game, which resulted in a 1 a.m. In-N-Out run.  Bad idea.  My scale said "FAT" when I stepped on it this morning.  You think I'm kidding.

Sunday I FINALLY got to see The Help, which was amazing on so many levels.  I have not cried this hard in a movie since P.S. I Love You.  The part where Skeeter finally hears the truth about Constantine? Umm ... cue the water works and they didn't stop until the lights in the theater came on.   I looked a hot mess.

Celia Foote played by Jessica Chastain was my favorite character without a doubt.  I loved her bubbly personality and she made me laugh out loud on several occasions.   Her style was to die (hello hot pink benefit dress) although Skeeter played by Emma Stone was a close second.

This trick Hilly though? I wanted to punch her in the face!

And I'm still bummed about the situation with Stuart played by Chris Lowell from Private Practice. 

Last but not least, these 2 ladies made the movie. I vote Oscar.

On Labor Day I went to the grocery store, then to Target and attempted to clean the crack den.  I fixed my "Nails by Reese" with this new essie color I ordered online a few weeks ago:

I ended the night enjoying a slow cooker recipe I found via Pinterest.  Very easy to make and yummy in my tummy.  Perfect for Fall and the recipe is below:

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I hope everyone had a fantastic Labor Day weekend, I'll be revealing the giveaway winner tomorrow!  BIG thank you to every one who entered and for all your sweet comments about my 1 year blog anniversary.  "You is kind" ... name that movie.

I made it a year and lived to tell about it, so here's a giveaway!

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Let's get mushy first, and then we'll get to the fun stuff.

Today marks 365 days since I opened my first blogger post and hit publish.  That is insane to me.  INSANE.

I had zero clue what I was doing when I started this blog a year ago.  OK, that's not entirely true. I did have a name picked out for my blog.  However, I barely knew how Blogger worked and I definitely didn't know what it meant to have bloggy friends turned real life friends. 

Beth, I'm looking at you and your gorgeous ginge hair.   You're the only girl I know with the same inaprope humor as me (two words: bugle and boy) and the only person I know who hates to be touched by people as much as I do.  I'll see you in less than 35 days when we discover "our true selves" in NOLA.   Bring the chocolate whipped cream vodka.

Raven, I'm looking at you, my 50th follower, the girl who loves wine almost as much as I do and one of the few people who watches as much trash TV as I do.  You are the hottest momma I know and you are one of my biggest supporters, which I def don't take for granted.  If Rob wants to crawl into your guest bed when I visit, I'm not going to kick him out. Don't get mad.

And last but not least, Carrie Underwood's twin, PinkLouLou, I'm looking at you, the Kentucky quintessential Southern belle with magical poof skills and a huge heart who introduced me to my fellow crazy cat lady, Caroline. What would I do without all of our boy crazy Cowboy Casanova-esque conversations?  I can't wait until we take over the world!  2 blondes do make a right. Copyright that.

Sorry for the "inside jokes" above (I know that's annoying), but I talk to these 3 girls every. single. day.   My IRL friends know exactly who they are and more about them than they probably care to know.  I'm pretty certain they think I'm insane because they don't get the "blog world", and I don't expect them to. 

You can't understand this community until you are a part of it.  It's a one of kind place you can be true to yourself and develop amazing connections that will change your life.  I am just pissed it took me 26 years to discover it.  It's like a secret society no one but we know about.

I mention Beth, Raven and PLL because we talk every day, but  make no mistake ... ALL of you that read this little blog of mine are important to me.  The fact that ANY of you care anything about what I have to say still humbles me immensly and blows my mind. I definitely don't say it enough, but thank you  for all of your funny, sweet and thoughtful comments and e-mails.  Without my readers, this blog is nothing.   And even if you never comment, I thank you for secretly creeping. 

OK, so enough mush.  Here is the moment you've all been waiting for ... a giveaway made possible thanks to my talented friend Erin.  Erin and I worked together for 3 years until she decided to get hitched, pop out a gorgeous little baby girl named Eva and start an empire called Gussied. 

I personally am the the proud owner of 2 Gussied cuffs that score me tons of compliments.  This little lady named Mia:

and most recently, this gorgy Texas Tech team cuff that I can't wait to wear on Saturday for our first football game of the season!

Mine is blinged out and she can bling any cuff out for you!

When she started making collegiate and professional team cuffs, I didn't want to tell anyone because I wanted to keep them all to myself.  Then I realized that's just rude, so now is your chance to win ANY Gussied cuff you want to thank you for sticking with me through my first year of blogging.

PLUS, she's giving all of you Bargainistas 30 percent off a single item throughout the entire month of September.  Just use code BB30 at check-out. If you don't see your favorite team on her site, do NOT fret.   Erin can literally make *almost* anything you want, you just have to message her and tell her you saw her on the Bargain Blonde.

This open to U.S., Canadian and International readers! To enter to win a free GUSSIED cuff of your choice, here's all you have to do:
Follow "The Bargain Blonde" via Google Friend Connect and comment telling me you would like to be entered. [one entry]

ADDITIONAL ENTRIES:
Like The Bargain Blonde on Facebook HERE
[one entry]

Like Gussied on Facebook HERE
[one entry]

Tweet/blog/facebook the giveaway with a link to this post
[one entry]

4 possible entries! You must leave a separate comment telling me about each one you do! Giveaway ends Next Tuesday, September 6 at midnight CST. Good luck Bs and thank you so much for following! XOXO

Happy 1st Birthday Blog!
I can't wait to see what the next year brings.

Bust into the Blackberry with me, won't you?

I use my Blackberry to take pictures of literally anything and everything as you can see below.  Sometimes I take pictures of things I want to use for post ideas and then I never get around to posting about them, so I figured this would be a quick and easy way to cover a few things I have wanted to share with y'all. 

If you enjoy bustin' into my Blackberry with me, then maybe I'll do this again.  Let a girl know.


1. My first ever Bloody Mary!  I was always skeptical of this drink, but now I'm a believer.  Can't wait to sip on this during my next hangover.  BTW, is there anything worse than a hangover? No.

2. Yellow Platform Pumps from Target - $29.99.  We're wearing them with grey bridesmaid dresses in my friend Courtney's wedding this January.  Excuse that string that is wrapped around them, I need to cut it off.

3.  50% off Yankee Fall scented candles from HomeGoods. Amazing deal, I'm going back for more.

4. Fedora from Target for $14.99.  Never thought I could EVER be a fedora girl, but I love the look. I couldn't find this particular fedora online, but it's by all the hats/scarves/purses/jewelry/etc. at Target & I bought it this week.

5. Found this dish towel at Sample House & Candle Shop. My BFF works for Neiman's, so this pic was for her.

6. "Everything I know, I learned on the Street" shirt that I want to get for my neph still. Shoker, but it's from Target. I hope they still have it in stores because it's out of stock online.  Boo! I should have bought it when I had the chance.

7. This freak from TLC: My Strange Addiction. A 25-year-old man who lives it's life as a female baby. Wears diapers and everything ... the whole shebang.  Normal.

8. My collection of sunless tanners.  Working on a "how-to Mystic tan post" for you lovely ladies by the way. 

9.  Ruffle towel wrap from Bed, Bath & Beyond for only $9.99. I purchased in pink, duh.

10. Loredona Riesling wine for only $8 a bottle.  It's soooo good, so try it and thank me later. 

11. My "beach wave hair minus the beach".  Also a how-to post I was going to whip up. Would y'all still be interested even though Summer is almost over?

12. Cute pens from the Target Dollar Spot.  I have currently banned myself from stopping at the Dollar Spot. I can't control myself there.

There you have it. 12 random things from my phone because 12 is my favorite number.  I hope this didn't bore you too much.  Tomorrow is a special day for me on the blog front, so I promise something MUCH more exciting.  Can you say giveaway??? Stay tuned.



You better vote for me betoch... love ya.