Mushroom Ravioli w/Hot Garlic Sausage

My sister and I made a trip to an Italian market in our hometown. It’s called Claros Italian Market and it was AMAZING! The food there was very authentic and I could definitely taste the difference. We ended up buying pretty much the whole store. I love mushroom ravioli so we got that with like 5lbs of hot garlic sausage. My dad grows cherry tomatoes so we didn’t have to buy any! 🙂

Mushroom Ravioli w/Hot Garlic Sausage
1lb of frozen or homemade mushroom ravioli
5 links of hot garlic sausage (I used smoked beef sausage as well as it just didn’t taste the same)
15 cherry tomatoes halved
evoo for tossing
grated parmesan cheese for garnish

– cook ravioli in a medium pan and set aside
– cook sausages and then cut into pieces
– throw ravioli back into pan and toss with evoo
– add sausage and toss again
– add tomatoes last and stir until just combined
– garnish with grated parmesan cheese

I used flavorful ingredients from the Italian market so I really didn’t have to season it at all. The ravioli was frozen and seasoned very well. The hot garlic sausage was also seasoned very well.

I highly suggest using just Italian sausage. The smoked sausage taste weird with it.

Prepping for the pasta 🙂

Blood orange gelato! It’s freakin delicious!! I LOVE blood orange so it was the perfect treat for me.

Delicious frozen mushroom ravioli

Box of deliciousness!

Slice of grand marnier cake and a bavarian creme eclair

Yummy syrups for my coffee.

We also bought spinach pasta salad, smoked gouda, jarred pesto, homemade chunky meat red sauce, amaretto syrup, 3 kinds of coffee, zabaione syrup, spaghetti pasta, angel hair pasta, a cookbook, greek cucumber salad, and I think that’s it. But seriously…we bought the whole store. Overall it was great! The workers were very friendly and helpful in helping us decide what to get. When we couldn’t decide we got everything. I know, I know, it’s horrible.

Fail Sweetly,
Justina

Pennsylvania Road Trip

Am I a weirdo for dedicating a blog post to a trip I haven’t gone on yet? If I am, yay for the weirdos! My best friend and I have been texting back and forth about our trip to Hershey, PA. I did a lot of research about flights, hotels, food, entertainment, etc. The cheapest route for us would be for me to fly to Nebraska and meet her there, drive to Pennsylvania, visit Hershey, drive back to Nebraska, and then fly home. The drive from Omaha to Hershey is approximately 17 hours long. I’m usually not a big fan of road trips BUT my bestie makes an excellent travel buddy. We have the craziest stories and the best moments happen when we’re driving so why not? 🙂 We plan on driving through Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio before we hit Pennsylvania. Being the micromanaging planner that I am, I’ve complied a list of all the places I want to go in each state. Sadly Iowa and Indiana don’t have any places that I know of. Does anyone know of any cool spots or good food in those two states? Help a sister out will ya?

I’m definitely going food crazy in Illinois and Ohio. For Illinois I want to inhale any type of Chicago style food that I can get my hands on. Portillo’s stands at #1 for me but I’m open to all suggestions. If anyone has them, let me know! We’ll be real close to the Chicago area. In Ohio, I plan on indulging any type of cassata cake as well as paying a visit to the Chocolate Bar and Lola’s. I’m really excited to visit Lola’s since it’s owned by Iron Chef Michael Symon. He is a beast..and rightly so. We’ll be close to the Cleveland area. I believe we’ll also be in Pittsburgh before we hit Hershey so a Roethlisburger is a must. I’m not a Steelers fan BUT it looked really good in the pictures. Yes, I’m super lame. I’m perfectly content with that though!

I’m still racking my brain trying to find places in Iowa and Indiana. I came up with nada. Seriously, someone help! I can’t wait for this road trip. It’s going to be awesome. We’re going to Chocolate World, Hershey Park, and the Chocolate Spa. We’re also going to inhale all the good food in between. The year needs to hurry up already cause I’m ready to go.

Fail Sweetly,
Justina

Travel List for 2015

Ever since vacationing at Catalina Island and visiting my best friend in Nebraska, I’ve been on a “travel kick.” I want to go everywhere. I keep making all these lists and plans that I’m slowly driving myself crazy. I’ve finally narrowed it down to three places. One of them is for sure and the other two are maybes. I couldn’t decided which one I want to go to more so I added both.

#1: Lake Powell, AZ – This made the list again because my sister said she wants to go. I think she’s still bummed we went to Catalina but it was fun. They have a great website for planning the trip. The only down side was I couldn’t find much about food and if anything, I always go for the food. We’re planning on taking a boat tour along with kayaking and all kinds of water stuff. If we go, we will most likely drive there. We’re not really looking forward to the drive. It’s approximately 8 hours from where we are and well…we could be in San Francisco in 8 hours. I am excited about going because it means I can check Arizona off my visit 50 states list.

#2: Morro Bay, CA – This was originally no where on the list. However, my sister went on a trip with friends and made it sound so amazing now I want to go! She was telling me about the beach sand. I know it’s strange but we typically judge a beach by the sand and cleanliness. She said the beach up there surpasses Laguna Beach which made me really curious. Laguna is my #1 down here so I knew I had to put it on the list. She kept saying soft beach sand and I was convinced. I’ve never stopped here on the way to San Fran but I heard it’s really nice. We’ll either go to Lake Powell or come here. Is it sad to say I pick here instead? 🙂 It’s closer and we’ll be going to the beach! I’m hoping we can rent a house within walking distance of the beach.

#3: Hershey, PA – My best friend and I are travel junkies. Since she moved to Nebraska, I’ve been scheming up ways for us to get together. I went to visit her in Nebraska last September and she came to California in December. However, she might be PCSing to Japan with her hubby at the end of this year. I was planning on visiting her again in Nebraska in the spring but since she might be going to Japan, I thought I’d visit her there instead. So now we’re going to Hershey, PA. Mainly for the chocolate. I’ve been dying to see Chocolate World and Hershey Park. I know, I know, I’m a 5 year old at heart. I’m not going to lie, I love me a good Kit Kat bar. Actually…come to think of it, I’ve never had a bad Kit Kat bar. Anyway, they also have a chocolate spa. We’re completely sold and definitely going after summer. Strangely enough, I heard of Hershey, PA while watching the HBO series Band of Brothers because of Major Winters. I might have to bring an extra suitcase just to fit all my goodies.

And for the honorable mentions that almost made the list..
#1: New Orleans, LA – I love NOLA’s atmosphere. I love oysters…and cajun food. I was drooling when I looked at the food scene. I wasn’t sold on the super expensive hotels. If I were to go I’d at least stay for a week and it costs about a grand just for the hotel stay. Not within my budget.
#2: Washington, DC – This has been on my travel list for a long time. I want to go see all the monuments and soak in the atmosphere of Capitol Hill. However, like NOLA it’s just way too expensive for my budget right now. It would take me at least two weeks minimum to see everything I want to see.
#3: Charleston, SC – My sister likes places that are considered “quaint” and she’s into the bed and breakfast thing. I’m not much for that because I think my taste is a little too luxurious sometimes but I humor her. She wants a bed and breakfast AND a rodeo. Do they have rodeos in Charleston? If so where are they? Help a girl out because she said it’s my job to research so I need to add it to the list. I just want the shrimp and grits.

The list for 2016? You had better believe NOLA will be on there. And in addition to NOLA, Hawaii will be on there and possibly the Cayman Islands and/or Washington, DC. I have two must haves for vacay: one is the beach, two is the food. Everything else is secondary. I’m so excited! Oh and who got hired? This girl! 🙂 I’m truly blessed with all the opportunities that I have been given. Nothing but good vibes today!

**All pictures courtesy of Yahoo! Images.

Fail Sweetly,
Justina

The Bystander Effect

The bystander effect is a pretty crazy phenomenon and stupid at the same time. For those of you not familiar with the term, the bystander effect is when people don’t offer any assistance to the victim when other people are present because they think someone else will help. The reason I think it’s stupid is because how can you walk pass someone bleeding on the sidewalk and not do anything?! AND expecting people to do something when you’re all doing the same thing?! It makes no sense to me. Why am I blogging about a psychology term you ask? Because it happened. And no I was not the victim nor was I a bystander. I was the one who called the police because it’s what I’m supposed to do! I learned all about the bystander effect in college and the most well-known case about the murder of Kitty Genovese in 1964. When she was stabbed multiple times and NONE of her neighbors called the police even though they heard her screaming. Don’t be that neighbor.

I never thought my neighborhood would fall into the category of the bystander effect but it does. Early in the morning I heard a man yelling for help and to call the police. I got out of bed and looked out the window but didn’t see anything. I decided to call anyway, just in case. I never want to be the person that doesn’t call just because they don’t see anything. The police showed up a few minutes later and searched the surrounding areas but I guess they didn’t find anything (hopefully that’s good news) so they left. The reason why I’m stating that my neighborhood falls into this category is because there’s absolutely NO way people didn’t hear this guy. I heard him loud and clear. It wasn’t a “did you hear that?” type of thing. It was a “oh shit, what the hell is going on outside?” type of thing. That and I know my neighbors. They’re always up at late hours of the night and some even throw parties into the early morning hours. Yet, NO ONE called. I spoke to an officer and I told him I know it’s not much to go on considering I didn’t see a thing but I want to make sure that if something did happen then that person got help. He assured me that I did the right thing by calling and hopefully no one got hurt.

I say hopefully as a loose term. The direction of the yelling is on the street where there are some “rotten apples.” I’ll leave it at that. The officer and I knew full well that shit could have went down because every time something happens, it’s on that street. They’ve cornered off the street to look for bad guys. They’ve had helicopters hoovering above to look for bad guys. You get my drift. I’m not the type of person who calls the police for everything. There have been times that I wanted to (noise complants) but I didn’t. I do so in emergencies such as what happened or if someone got hurt. Not that I want to discourage anyone from calling if they felt compelled to do so. It’s my general rule of thumb. My mom freaked out because there were a ton of cop cars on our street and the surrounding streets. Sorry mama!

Fail Sweetly,
Justina

TFSP: Valentine’s Day Spa Package Giveaway for MilSpouses!

I have to admit..I’ve been a pretty bad blogger in terms of reading up on blogs and writing blog posts. I saw a picture that caught my eye when I was reading Kara’s blog. It was a spouse box filled with goodies for $29.95 a month. I looked at some of the links AND I found my new obsession. Udderly Natural Handcrafted body products. As in everything I’ve wanted in a spa package. AND there are a ton of different flavors and scents to choose from.

Here are the following items included in this giveaway..
5oz sugar scrub
2oz bath bomb
2oz goat milk lotion
1 goat milk soap bar
1 lip balm

The winner of this giveaway will have the chance to choose any flavors and scents of all the items listed above. Not a bad way to pamper yourself if I do say so myself.

To enter the giveaway..
– You must be a military spouse at some point (veteran/wounded warrior spouses count)
– Write a active blog (2 blog posts per month)
– Live in the U.S. (giveaways only ship in the U.S.)
– Enter through this link,here
.

The winner will be contacted through email and through my social media accounts. Winner will have three days to respond to my email from the day the email was sent or another winner will be chosen. I hope you ladies enjoy! 🙂

And for those that are curious, I’m hosting this giveaway early because I want the winner to be able to use the items by Valentine’s Day. Sometimes things take a while. Have a good one 🙂

Fail Sweetly,
Justina

The Wrong Way

Lately I’ve been cooped up in the house and just super frustrated with everything. Job hunting, bills, grad school, and the unknown. My mom always tells me to be patient and that what I’m meant to do will come. I wish it would come already! I worked a lot the first 1 1/2 years after graduation to pay off my loans and build up savings. I quit my last job to complete a fellowship program that I felt would get my foot in the door working for an organization serving veterans. That has yet to happen. Today marks a month since I graduated and still no job offers. My savings is slowly going down because even though I’m not working, I’m still paying bills. Not to mention throwing grad school in the mix just gives me a headache. When I graduated from UCI I was hell bent to move back out there or to LA after a year or two. It’s been 2 1/2 and I’m still at home! I hate that I ended up back home. Don’t get me wrong…I love home. It’s just by now I figured I would be able to stand on my own two feet and be an independent adult. That has also yet to happen. I applied to more jobs today and just felt the wave of frustration taking over me. I was so frustrated that I cleaned my bookcase, dresser, drawers, cookbook collection, headboard, and vacuumed my room. THAT’S saying something considering the fact that I absolutely HATE cleaning.

I feel like when my path became a fork, I completely fell off the path. I’m going the wrong way and somehow I can’t seem to find a way back. In 2014, I volunteered for 7 months at the VA, worked for 5 1/2 months, and went to school for 3 months. 5 1/2 months is not adequate savings for the year. I pretty much spent all of it paying bills. I still want to run my project but I notice I’m usually sending out cards or emails of encouragement (not that there’s anything with either). I just want to do more. I keep telling my best friend I should just move to Nebraska. Maybe I could get a job over there. Life seems so much slower over there anyway. I could use the change of scenery. Yes, this is a rant post. If you’ve made it this far, thank you for reading! 🙂

In other news, because I cleaned my bookcase and got rid of all my kiddy books (Dr Suess anyone?) I treated myself to a bunch of Nicholas Spark books. I know, I know drama love stories. I think those are actually my favorite stories. I’m weird like that. I purchased Dear John, A Walk To Remember, Safe Haven, The Best of Me, The Lucky One, and The Longest Ride. Amazon Prime and free two day shipping. I’m really excited to read them all. It’ll give me a sense of peace after all the thinking about life, money, and jobs.

Fail Sweetly,
Justina

Anteater to Toro to Tar Heel?

For the past few weeks I’ve been sick with a sore throat, stuffy nose, sneezing, and etc. I thought I would make progress on my graduate school decisions while I was laying in bed. Please don’t ask why I thought it was a good idea. It could have to do with all the medication I’ve been taking. I came up with a list of four possible schools I want to apply for. #1 is USC. They have the subconcentration of working with military families and veterans services and that falls right into place with what I want to do. Down side is that tuition for a year is 91,000+. #2 is UNC Chapel Hill. They have a community and non-profit services leadership concentration which would be excellent for my goals to run a non-profit organization. The down side is that it’s on the other side of the country. Am I really THAT independent? I have no clue. #3 is UCLA. They have a non-profit sector concentration which is similar to UNC CH. They also have Operation Mend which would an amazing opportunity. Down side is it’s super hard to get in. It is UCLA after all. #4 is University of Chicago. They have a community, administrative, leadership concentration. It’s very broad which I love and hate at the same time. It’s ranked as the best program out of the four. The down side is the tuition and rent would leave me in debt forever and it’s far away from home.

I’m the type of person that would always chose to live by sand and water if I had to pick. I don’t know if I’ll survive the winters of Chicago or Chapel Hill. Right now I’m leaning towards Chapel Hill because it’ll give me an opportunity to grow as a person and be independent, learn about different cultures, and it’s way cheaper than the other three. The only dilemma I have is that there’s no specific sub concentration like SC has. Ugh! It’s driving me crazy right now. I cannot decide where to go. Oh and the anteater is the mascot from UCI (my alumni). The toro is the mascot from CSU Dominguez Hills which is also my alumni. Anyone have any input? I’ve officially declared that I am the most indecisive person ever.

Fail Sweetly,
Justina

What kind of traveler are you?

My friend and I were discussing travel plans for 2015. We both seem to have big plans in place and got to talking about the different kind of travelers there are. So my question to you is, what kind of traveler are you?

The Jet-Setter – You’re confident and poise. You take charge when needed but tend to go with the flow. You absorbed the beauty, culture, and cuisine each place has to offer.
The Shit-Talker – You hate where you’re going but you agree to go anyway (WHY?!). You constantly talk about how much you hate wherever it is you are. You nag and nag and want to go home the second you know you’re going.
The Antsy-Pantsy – You’re anxious and worried. You don’t like change and the unknown. You can’t stand not knowing what is going to happen when and it constantly bugs you. Will there be a typhoon? Hurricane? Tornado? No, thanks!

We only came up with three because those are the three that I feel best describes me. I’m great at absorbing different cultures and cuisines as well as soaking up the beauty. However, there are certain places I always tell myself I will never go (Nebraska) but end up going. It’s really not that bad! I wasn’t in town for tornado season but it was alright. I did get a lot of anxiety on the flight there because the plane was super small and there were lots of people. I was so anxious that during my visit to Nebraska, I went to get my bags after I landed in Colorado. Then a nice gentleman told me that my bags wouldn’t be there because I’m going to Nebraska. Thanks, nice guy! Has that happened to you? haha I’m genuinely curious. What kind of traveler are you?

Fail Sweetly,
Justina

Hickory Cheers

For all my readers that have been following the blog for a while, you know I’m committed to giving back to the military community. I had set out to find a website that sends goodies to deployed service members in honor of my birthday next month. As I was growing up I was taught that it’s more important to give than to receive. Last year instead of receiving gifts, I had friends and family donate to TFSP fund. It was an awesome idea and assisted with funding postage for letters and cards, care packages, and my Christmas special. I found one of my childhood favorites, Hickory Farms. As a child I used to sell gift baskets out of the HF catalog. I always begged my parents for the biggest basket because their gouda and sausage is the business. I thought it would be a sophisticated gift as well as one that would hold up for shipping. I purchased the summer sausage and cheese gift box.

The box includes..
2 10oz beef sausage
10oz smoked cheddar cheese
10oz farmhouse cheddar cheese
6oz smoked gouda
2.5oz honey & pineapple mustard
2.25oz sweet hot mustard

All that deliciousness for $40. Shipping is FREE to all military addresses! Hickory Farms is dedicated to giving back to the military as well. It’s so amazing for them to do that because shipping overseas is expensive. The website has examples of how to enter military addresses of different locations like APO, FPO, AE, AP, and AA. I thought it was super helpful because I would have been super confused. I can’t wait until the recipient receives the package. I’m looking into ones that deliver birthday cakes but haven’t found a good one yet. Anyone know of any good places?

Fail Sweetly,
Justina

Debt free is the way to be

I’ve received quite a few questions via email about how I finance The Fail Sweetly Project and I’d like to dedicate a post to those questions. I am technically debt free but I don’t think it counts for much because I don’t have house or car loans to pay right now. When I graduated from college I had accumulated $15,000 in student loans. After getting my first job post graduation, I saved EVERY PENNY. I even went as far as counting ALL the change in the various piggy banks I have and putting that into my savings account. It turned out that I had more than $100 in coins! I really wanted to live in Orange County after graduation because it was such an awesome environment. However, reality slapped me in the face and I couldn’t afford it. I ended up moving back home and I still live here now. With all the money I saved from my first job, I was able to pay off all my student loans in ONE year. I know some people don’t have the luxury of moving back home but if you can it’s a great investment. I was very focused on paying back my loans. That’s where all the money went first.

Living at home is not the ideal “cool” thing to do but it really helps you out. I was able to save some money for my emergency fund, housing fund (when I move out), car fund, retirement fund, and The Fail Sweetly Project. Every month I have an amount that goes into each of those categories once the bills are paid. I don’t pay for rent and car insurance (apparently it’s cheaper if you get a family package so my dad takes care of it). My dad made a deal with me that I don’t have to pay for car insurance as long as I can show him that I’m saving money towards buying my own car so he’ll get the one I drive now. I do pay for my own cell phone bill, health insurance, life insurance, groceries, gas, credit card bill, and any other things I want/need. My sister and I split the house phone/internet bill. With that being said, the housing fund and car fund have the most money. My emergency fund has a set amount and I already have that set aside. The retirement fund and The Fail Sweetly Project are a little slower than housing and car funds. TFSP has a set amount I can spend a month. I created a sheet on Excel of all my spendings. I might not spend the set amount every month but I won’t spend more than that amount. I only have one credit card in my name and I always pay off the full amounts each time. My dad has a credit card with all our names and that’s my back up card just in case something goes wrong with my own card. Not to toot my own horn or anything but I have excellent credit. It’s extremely important to have at least decent credit to buy cars or houses. On average I would say I pay around $600 every month for everything excluding TFSP. It’s a pretty good amount to be paying because I know some people pay WAYYYYY more than that. TFSP varies in funding. Sometimes if I get donations from friends or family then I’ll host a giveaway but usually I plan for what/how to spend the amount saved in that fund.

Right now my first goal is to buy my own car. My second goal is to move into my own apartment. Third is to go back to school for my Masters. I want to be comfortable with my finances before I go back to school because I know that will only create more stress and put a dent in my finances. Well there you have it. I hope I answered all the questions regarding my project, my savings, as well as how much I pay per month.

Fail Sweetly,
Justina