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My favorite online photo-editing site is having a promotion for a free day of their premium Royale package. This is what I primarily use for editing pictures, making collages, and I even designed our save-the-date postcards on it earlier this year!

Chili Ballot. Most recently, I whipped together a little ballot for our Superbowl chili contest. Then I used a word document to print pages of them.

Save-the-Date postcards. Besides the obvious little images and fonts, I also used PicMonkey on the photo of us. I applied a filter, removed people and cars from the background - I even removed some smashed pumpkins!

Work. I also use PicMonkey to play around with ideas for events at work. Here were some quick draft logos I made for a sales contest.

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Superbowl is by far our biggest, and favorite party to host all year. Our day started at 2pm for the Puppy Bowl on Animal Planet. If you've never heard of the puppy bowl, let me sum it up for you. Puppies, kitten half-time show, and penguin cheerleaders. Throughout the day, we have anywhere from 10-20 people here watching the game, and it can get a bit crowded in our small living room and kitchen, so PLANNING IS KEY.

Now, I know this is a bit extreme, but it definitely helps maximize our seating. We try to do stadium-like seating in the living room where the big TV is. And we put all the food in the kitchen, along with a little tv, so no one misses any of the action.

I did ALL of my cooking on Saturday, because I didn't want to be trapped in the kitchen when all of our guests were here. I got all the baking out of the way first, since it is the messiest and takes the longest. I made some butterscotch cookies! And then I realized Monday morning that I never put them out. So yay for cookies in our lunches all week! In the picture above, I'm not trying to be fancy - I just don't have a cooling rack and I have to get creative. This is the best way they cool off without sticking to each other. I could go out and spend $5 for a real cooling rack, but I've been trying to hold off on any kitchen purchases so that we have things for our wedding registry.

This is one I can check off my list - my 14 Recipes for 2014 list, that is! These little guys are cheddar olives, and if you love olives like the 10% of us at the party, you will absolutely love these. I just refrigerated them in this container covered with foil, and baked them on Sunday when people started showing up. 

I prepped the veggie platter on Saturday. I didn't want to cut them up completely because I was afraid some of the veggies would loose their crispness. I peeled, washed and pre-cut everything, and Sunday morning I cut it all down to the right size pieces.

My grandma's delicious and simple macaroni salad would be perfect with chili! Unfortunately, this is another dish I forgot to put out. We didn't end up needing it with all the food that people brought, so we will have another surprise snack in our lunch all week.

Spinach. Artichoke. Dip. Our friend Jodi made this back when she lived around here. Now that she is travelling all over the country for her work, I stole her recipe and make it for pretty much every party. I'll do a post with the recipe soon!

Rob loves trivia, so he put together some game-day trivia and handed out prizes. Our neighbors Matt and Krista won! Good team work!

These skewers were my favorite things that I made for the party. They were also the most time consuming to assemble. I will definitely be making these again. 

Here are the links to the original posts where I found them. 
Caprese skewers from Pioneer Woman
Italian skewers from Very Culinary

Our tiniest and cutest party guest.

"Stadium" seating in the living room.

For the last few years that we've hosted Superbowl, we've done a chili contest, and I can't help but brag that our friends are pretty amazing cooks. This year we had a record number of entries - 10 chilis! It always surpises me how different they all are.

Before kick-off, we assign each chili a secret number, and create a key for reference. That way no one knows whose chili is whose. Then, we fill these little blue cups with a spoonful or two of chili, and everyone tries #1 at the same time. And we continue to pass out cups of chili until everyone has tasted all 10. 

Then, we hand out ballots, and each person picks their TWO favorite chili's. The double voting system help prevent against everyone voting for themselves. 

Thanks to our friend, Tim, we have one nice picture of all the crock pots lined up. In all the action, I totally forgot to take one! Our electric bill is always high in February because of this event. 

Speaking of Tim, he was our WINNER! His cheesy chili was the crowd favorite! His name is now on the Chili trophy. He will have to start thinking now about what he is going to make next year!

Thanks to everyone who came. We had a great time and we're looking forward to next year. GO PATS!

So... it was New Year's Day, and I blinked, and now it's almost February. How did that happen?!?

They say as you get older, time starts to fly by, and even though I don't consider my 27-year-old self to be "old", the time-flying-by thing is definitely happening, and I try to make sure that I really appreciate all the things I do, places I go, and people I meet.

We were lucky to ring in the new year at Adam and Sara's brand new house. They are the first in that group of friends to "settle down", and they did that settling three days - THREE - before the new year's party. We had a great time and there was plenty of food and games to keep us busy long past midnight.

At one point, things got weird...

A challenge, turned into a dare, turned into a double dare, and all the boys wanted to prove they were the best at Twister. 

Strangest part - they WERE the best at Twister. 

I also got to tag along with Rob and all of his Northeastern Alums to a hockey game at Fenway park for an event called Frozen Fenway. They actually set up a skating rink on the field. It was Northeastern vs......some other college. Most important thing, NORTHEASTERN WON! 

So nice.

GO HUSKIES!

POSTED BY: Stefanie LaSalle

Hope everyone had a wonderful holiday! I'm always sad when Christmas is over because then it's just winter, and that means cold and dark days from now until the spring. I can't complain though because our Christmas season was  jam-packed with events including two big family Christmas parties.

Rob's family party was the Saturday before Christmas. We did a Yankee swap with 27 people. TWENTY-SEVEN. It was by far the craziest swap ever. So many aunts and uncles and cousins. So much food. 

Rob's mother hosted this year. She has some special favors made...

Coozies! There was a minimum order of 90, so we'll have plenty left over for Patriot's Day. And Fourth of July. And forever.

The best Rutkauskas Christmas surprise was my very own stocking at Rob's mom's house! Rob's family always makes me feel welcome. I can't wait to be part of the family (officially)!

Meat pies, orange soda, family, and lots of laughs - Christmas eve at my Grandma and Grandad's house is always a fantastic time. The moment the Christmas festivities are over, my grandparents head down to Florida, so I hope they are all unpacked down south and nice and warm for the remainder of winter. We'll see you in the spring!!!

My auntie Christ and Uncle Dave have hosted Christmas day for my family for the last few years. It's always fun, and always delicious. This year we actually went out for dinner at Coachmen's Lodge, and we had the biggest prime ribs I've ever seen. It was also my first time having clams casino and now I want clams casino all the time.

My dad thought he was very smart putting his new rake to good use right away. Actually, it did a really good job collecting all the tiny pieces of paper and cardboard that we had flung all over the room. So, good job, dad.

My uncle with his dog, Sadie. This picture makes my heart melt.

And of course, this Christmas was very special for our family because it was the first time my dad and his three brothers were all together in a long, long time. It was really nice to have so many people home with us for the holiday.

Hope you all had a great holiday with family and friends. Have a safe and happy new year! See you in 2014!

Coffee milk is my life blood. It's Rhode Island's state drink. It's sweet and creamy and coffee-y and delicious.

My two favorite places to get coffee milk are New York Lunch in Woonsocket (coldest coffee milk and best wieners around!), and Wrights Dairy Farm in North Smithfield, RI. We were down at my parents this weekend for their annual Cocoa Party, so we just HAD to swing by Wright's to pick up some milk. Why is their milk so good? The milk comes from cows that live 100 yards from the register you buy it at. Now that's local.

They also have an amazing bakery where you can choose from a variety of  cupcakes, cookies and pastries. 

I didn't get any pictures inside the store this trip because the holiday rush is definitely in full swing and the place was PACKED. But when we return after the holidays I will take some snaps to share with you guys.

But for now, here's some cows.

Here is our new cow-friend, Yang. He was the most curious of the bunch and we got to take lots of pictures of him.

The calves were sleeping in little houses to keep them warm in the cold weather. Rob was sad. He wanted to see baby cows. 

Rob did get a picture with Yang! I couldn't get a good one at first because the fence was blocking his face. As if sensing the problem, Yang lifted his head up and held it so we could get this photo. Thanks, cow!

Cow butts and sleeping roof chickens. So nice.

Bought two half gallons of coffee milk - one for home and one for work. They also had a special going where you get a bag of chocolate chip cookies when you buy two half gallons. BONUS. The cookies did not make it very far.

Have a great afternoon!

-Stefanie