Honeymoon Part 2: Barcelona, Spain

After spending 3 days in Paris (which you can read about here) we were off to Barcelona, Spain for the second half of our honeymoon.  As most of you know, my mother-in-law had spilled the beans to me about the first part of our honeymoon trip, but I had no idea where the second part of the trip would bring us.  MD decided to reveal this to me at my bridal shower in NJ in September... about a month before our wedding.  So before heading out to lunch with my dad and AV, Mark handed me a little card which had one of those boxes that you scan with your phone on it... when I scanned the box it brought up a map with all our honeymoon destinations on it.

I can't even begin to explain how excited I was that we were going to Spain.  Those of you who know me KNOW that I am pretty much obsessed with any and everything having to do with Spain.  I did a study abroad in Granada, Spain back in the Spring of 2006 and have been pretty much obsessed ever since.  Although a part of my heart will always be in Granada as it was my FAVORITE city in Spain... Barcelona was definitely a close second.  Finding out we were going to Barcelona was amazing because I was so excited to be able to share a place that meant so much to me with MD.

We got to Barcelona fairly late as our flight was delayed due to bad weather in London so we didn't really do anything when we got there because we were tired from a long day of traveling.  We were super excited with our hotel room because it was bigger than the closet that we had for a room in Paris...in fact I think our bathroom was almost bigger than our hotel room in Paris.  We headed to bed early so that we could get an early start the next morning.

Our first morning in Barcelona we had breakfast in the hotel before heading out to explore the city.  Our first stop was heading towards Las Ramblas to check out the stalls, street artists and head towards the Mirador de Colon which is right at the port.  I was excited for this because I just remember Las Ramblas being a mess of people selling all sorts of different things... plus the street performer statutes were just incredible!  We made it to the Mirador and decided to take a cruise on Las Golondrinas of the port and beaches of Barcelona.

The cruise was so much fun... we enjoyed the sun while drinking some Spanish beer and touring the port of Barcelona.  We saw so much from the boat and I enjoyed pointing out to MD some of the sights that I remembered from the last time I was in Barcelona!

Waiting for our boat tour to start

Beer... on a boat... before noon... yay Barcelona!!

View from the cruise

After our cruise we headed back to Las Ramblas so that we could find a place for a typical Spanish lunch... and of course some sangria! We found a nice cafe and sat down to enjoy some paella and sangria!

MD's first Sangria experience

After lunch we headed up Las Ramblas because I was determined to find the flower stalls and if they still had them the bird stalls from when I had last visited.  Plus Las Ramblas goes from the port to Plaza Cataluyna so I knew there would be plenty to do up that way.  

One of the street performer statutes 

So many pretty flowers!

While on our way up Las Ramblas we took a slight detour to check out the Cathedral of Barcelona.  I hadn't gone to see the Cathedral last time I was there because at that point I think I was "Cathedral'ed" out. When traveling with Bucknell en Espana I think we saw EVERY Cathedral in EVERY city we visited, so when I only had 2 days in Barcelona, the Cathedral wasn't high on our list of priorities. The Cathedral in Barcelona is actually quite breathtaking and I was so happy that we had taken the time to walk over and see it. 

After visiting the Cathedral we continued our walk up Las Ramblas to Plaza Catalunya.  After checking out the Plaza we decided to head to Casa Batllo which was one of Gaudi's projects in Barcelona.  I was looking forward to MD getting to see some of Gaudi's architecture because I figured that as an engineer MD would appreciate the attention to detail that Gaudi paid in all of his buildings.  Sure enough, Casa Batllo did not disappoint and we had a great time on the audio tour that we went on.  I think my favorite part of the tour was going up on the roof and getting to see the mosaics up there up close and personal! 

Plaza Cataluyna

Outside of Casa Batllo

Casa Batllo at night

After Casa Batllo we decided to have dinner and call it a night because we had to be up early on Tuesday morning to go to see the most anticipated sight of the entire honeymoon.... La Sagrada Familia!!!!  I went to see La Sagrada Familia in the Spring of 2006 and I was so excited to have the opportunity to revisit  the work in progress.  What is really cool about La Sagrada Familia is that it is a Gaudi work that is still a work in progress.  The work on the church is funded by donations from the public as well as the entrance fees from people visiting the church.  I have to say... it was completely amazing to see how much had been accomplished in the 7 years since I had been there... where there was once scaffolding there was an altar... it was seriously so incredible to see the difference. 

La Sagrada Familia in 2006

Hubby & I at La Sagrada Familia

I wish we had more time at La Sagrada Familia because I would have LOVED to take the elevator up to the other levels, but unfortunately we did not have enough time to do that.  After La Sagrada Familia we headed to lunch and then off to explore La Pedrera another famous Gaudi building.  Unfortunately the best part of the building, the roof, was closed because of the weather, but we still had a good time checking out the rest of the building... plus you could get a glimpse of the roof from the windows in the attic.  

Commemorative Picture from La Pedrera

After La Pedrera the weather had cleared up a bit so we thought we would take the cable cars up to Mont Juic, but unfortunately by the time we made it to the cable car stand they were closing up for the day, even though the guide books all said that they didn't close for another few hours.  We were kind of bummed that we were unable to to make it to Mont Juic, but at least we were able to get a nice walk down to the Port in and then we took a long walk back to the hotel to kill some time.  We had a fairly early dinner on our last night because it was going to be an early morning to get to the airport to catch our flight back home to the states.  

I was so sad to have to head back to the US after an amazing honeymoon vacation in Europe.  Our time was way too short... we needed at least another week to be able to continue to explore both countries more.  All that means is that we are going to have to go back again some day!!

As always... today I am thankful for the fact that I have a wonderful hubby who was able to plan such an amazing honeymoon vacation for us.  I am thankful that we had the ability to take off from work to spend so much quality time together.  I know there are many couples who do not have the means or the time to do something like this, but thankfully we were able to.  It was so nice to be able to relax and unwind after the stress of planning our own wedding and we are so lucky we had that time to relax and have some fun after it all! 

Book Review... The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency (Books 1 & 2)

I am trying to start 2014 right with a push into getting back into my blog.  I make no promises, but I am going to try to keep writing blogs and see what happens.  I make no promises as to how this is going to go... but hey, who knows....

When I first started this blog I did so because blogging always intrigued me and I had wanted to review books on it.  That being said... I don't think I have reviewed a book on here in probably oh 2 years.  It is no secret.. I love to read.  If I wrote a blog post on every book I read I would probably be posting at least once a week... sometimes more.  Since I don't want to bore people with just writing book reviews on here, I think I am going to try to post reviews maybe once or twice a month... maybe more if I read a particularly good book.

Today I want to talk about the series The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency by Alexander McCall Smith.  I had asked for books in this series a couple of years ago for Christmas because I wanted to find some paperback books to read since I pretty much read everything on my Kindle now and I wanted to make sure that I was still reading a few things in book form.  This seemed like a good series to read because well I knew it was an HBO series and I was pretty sure that there were at least a dozen books in the series so it could keep me occupied for a bit.  So I asked for these books for Christmas 2012 and didn't actually pick one up to read until a plane ride this past weekend until Florida and once I started let me say I am hooked!  I read Book 1 on the plane ride to Florida and Book 2 on my way home.

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Book 1, The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency got off to a slow start.  I am not going to lie, for a minute when I first started reading it I wasn't sure that I was actually going to continue to read it or even ever finish it.  But I had an entire plane ride to go, so I figured I would give it a shot and see what happened.  The more I read the more I was hooked.  The book starts off with a background about Mma Ramotswe and her family and how exactly she was able to start the No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency.

Mma Ramotswe is from Botswana and after the death of her father used money from the sale of his cattle to start her own detective business.  She strives to live up to her name of the number 1 lady detective in all of Botswana and is able to do just that.  In a country where there are no female detectives she maintains that she can do what any male detective does, and can even perhaps do it better, because women are naturally more observant.

The book is set up as almost a sort of series of short stories regarding all of Mma Ramotswe's cases ranging from finding a missing husband to following the daughter of an Indian man to find out if the daughter has a secret boyfriend. Though some of the cases prove more difficult than others, Mma Ramotswe has manged to solve them all.

One of the nice things about this book is that although there are short stories regarding the various cases, the stories all seem to tie together to make for a fluid transition between chapters.  Even though the history of Mma Ramotswe and her family may have been long and tedious to read I am so glad that I stuck it out to get to her adventures as a detective because they were well worth the wait.  My advice to anyone reading this book is to give it a shot because once you get a glimpse into the life of the number 1 lady detective in Botswana each chapter will leave you wanting more and you will have a hard time putting the book down!

Book 2, Tears of the Giraffe, was much easier to get into reading than the first book.  Probably because I was already obsessed with Mma Ramotswe and her methods to solving cases for her clients.  Tears of the Giraffe, follows Mma Ramotswe through solving more cases as well as her path to marriage with Mr. J L B Matekoni.  While solving cases Mma Ramotswe and Mr. J L B Matekoni need to figure out where they will live once married, how they will raise the children that Mr. J L B Matekoni agreed to foster from the orphanage.  My favorite story in this book probably had to be how Mma Ramotswe tracked down what happened to an American boy who had been missing for almost 10 years.  It seems that there is no case that Mma Ramotswe can't solve... although some have proved to be more difficult than others, she always seems to manage to find a way to solve them.  She does receive help along the way... at times from her husband to be Mr. J L B Matekoni or at times from her newly promoted assistant detective (her former secretary) Mma Makutsi.

I am looking forward to see what unfolds for Mma Ramotswe in the next book and am especially looking forward to seeing how her business changes (maybe grows?) from marriage, the addition of two children and new assistant detective!!

Please note: all the opinions expressed in this review are my own.  I was not compensated in any way for this post... I truly did enjoy every moment of reading each of these books.

And now for another edition of what I am thankful for.  Today I am thankful for the fact that I have an amazing support system in my family and friends.  2013 was both an amazing and a terrifying year for me but through my family and friends I have managed to survive it all and definitely came out realizing who my true friends were and who they weren't.  So today I am thankful for everyone who made 2013 the terrific year that it was and I am looking forward to seeing what 2014 has to bring my way!

*2013... A Year in Review*

 Now that the first week of January is basically over, I figured it would be a good time to reflect on what went on in 2013.  2013 was a CRAZY year for me... filled with mostly good memories but also some not so good memories.  So here goes... my 2013... a year in review...

January
January marked the beginning of 2013 which I knew was going to be a very special year for me.  It was the year I was FINALLY going to marry my best friend.  I remember being so excited that MD and I were finally that much closer to tying the knot and I was full on into wedding planning at this point.  Early January was also when I said YES to the dress!! My parents came down for the day so that we could go dress shopping and with the help of my mom and one of my bridesmaids I was able to find THE perfect dress and despite being a little nervous about making such a big purchase I took a leap and bought what would end up being my dream wedding dress.

Some of the dresses that didn't make the cut... don't worry... you'll see the actual one later

February
The beginning of February marked my first ever trip to Chi Omega Headquarters in Memphis, TN and boy was I excited for it.  I went to Firesides as an advisor to two of the most amazing collegiate Chi Omegas I have ever met.  I think I can speak for all of us when I say that we had an amazing trip there and it is a trip that I will always fondly remember.

February was also a VERY busy month wedding planning wise.  In this time we managed to secure a reception venue, a block of hotel rooms for the wedding, the makeup artist and most importantly our photographer!  I remember feeling such relief checking these things off the list because I knew that it would only get harder to do these things as time went on and we got closer to our actual wedding date.

MD & I also went to a few AHL games in February while the NHL was still trying to get their act together and get back to playing after their strike.  We say the Phantoms v. Penguins at the Wells Fargo center and then traveled to Hershey, PA to see the Bears v. Phantoms.  I had forgotten how much I had missed going to hockey games until we actually went to a few AHL games.

March
March was a pretty uneventful month around these parts because it was the month that I seemed to get super sick.  I spent almost a week out of commission with a fever of over 101 and I was pretty sure that I was dying at times.  Thankfully MD took great care of me (without managing to get himself sick) and I eventually recovered.  March was also the month we headed up to NJ to pick out and order our Save the Dates for the wedding.  We had also planned to order invitations, but that didn't happen as I was still too sick to make a decision and shortly after starting to look at invites I was overwhelmed and starting to get upset.  Thankfully we managed to find save the dates, because at that point we were cutting it close to when they needed to be sent out by!

April
On probably the rainiest day in April MD and I headed out to Lewisburg to meet with our photographer to take our much anticipated dreaded engagement pictures.  I was personally NOT looking forward to these pictures and didn't even want them included in our wedding photography package.  Thankfully Virginia convinced me that they were a good idea and I am definitely thankful that she did! I discovered that I still hate having my picture taken and that I hate it even more when I am posed for the camera.  The good thing was that as the shoot went on I began to relax a little bit and decided that I would probably be ok with getting my picture taken on our big day.

For more of our engagement pictures you can check our our photographer's blog post here

The other big thing that we accomplished in April was that we set the menu for our wedding.  We always tried to accomplish a lot when we had to head out to Central PA for wedding related activities, so when we scheduled our engagement pictures we also scheduled our food tasting for the reception and scheduled a time to meet with the coordinator at the reception venue to make sure that we could set our menu.  Being the crazy bride that I was I took notes on everything that we tasted so at the end of our tasting it was pretty easy for us to be able to set the menu.

May
May was a month full of weddings for us.  In fact we had wedding back to back weekends this month.  First we had CS & KD's wedding in the Philly suburbs.  CS was one of MD's fraternity brothers at Bucknell so we were super excited to celebrate his wedding with him!  We were a little nervous about how the weather was going to cooperate because the ceremony was in a pavilion outside, but thankfully the rain held off long enough for the ceremony and for the wedding party to take some pictures outside.  We had a great time at the reception connecting with some old Bucknell friends who we hadn't seen in a while.

The following weekend we attended the wedding of MD's cousin RS to SS.  This wedding was as different as could be from the wedding the previous weekend, but it was one of the most beautiful weddings I think we have ever been to.  SS did such a fantastic job planning every last detail of what I dubbed "A Country Affair".  She seemed to pay so much attention to detail (a girl after my own heart) and did so much of the stuff for the wedding herself.  I was so impressed and loved every last minute of this wedding.

June
June started off busy as ever as the first weekend in June was MD's birthday weekend and of course it was jam packed with activities.  MD went to his first ever Phillies game... complete with tailgating!  Then the next day we headed on a bus trip to Washington DC to see the USA Men's soccer team take on Germany, a first for both of us!  The weekend left us exhausted, but we had such an amazing time it was definitely worth the exhaustion that ensued!

June was also when MD FINALLY booked a DJ for our wedding.  I will admit, I had been FREAKING out because there wasn't much that I had asked MD to do for the wedding... booking a DJ was pretty much all I asked him to do, and when by June it still wasn't done... well you could definitely say I freaked out a bit.  Thankfully the man got his act together and I was able to calm down a bit and not worry as much about what was going to happen for music at the reception!

The very last day of June I headed up to NJ for a bridal shower for one of my Jersey BFFs (we are no longer BFFs... more to come about that later on) friends.  I remember being exhausted because I had closed at work the 3 previous nights but also being so excited to see AP and to be a part of the celebrations leading up to her special day!

June also marked the fact that we hired a wedding coordinator for the rehearsal dinner and day of.  The more weddings we attended the more I realized that I did not want to have ANYTHING to worry about the day of our wedding so I began the hunt for the perfect person to help me with my wedding.  Thankfully Courtney from By Design Weddings and Events and I managed to cross paths because of another wedding coordinator that I had contacted.  We hired Courtney at the end of the month and that may have been one of the single best decisions I ever made in planning most of my own wedding!

July
July got off to a rough start as that was when we had our first major wedding SNAFU.  On my parents' wedding anniversary I hopped in the car with one of my bffs MO and we headed out to Central PA to supposedly meet with the florist for my wedding.  Well after driving 2.5 hours out there to meet with her, guess what, yup, you guessed it... SHE NEVER SHOWED UP!  Thankfully the trip didn't end up being a total waste as I got to bring MO out to Bucknell, got Mark his orange and blue bow tie for the ceremony, and managed to book a place for our rehearsal dinner.

The end of July was AMAZING as my fabulous bridesmaids planned the most awesome bachelorette weekend for me at the Jersey Shore.  On Friday night I headed out with one of my bridesmaids, SP, for a quite visit to the grents before meeting my some of my other bridesmaids and my g-little for a fancy dinner on the oceanfront.  After dinner we headed upstairs to the club for some drinks, a little dancing.. and A TON of people watching.  Saturday we headed off to the beach for a day of fun in the sun.  A bunch of my other girlfriends met us at the beach where we lay in the sun, caught up, and laughed at AV as the ocean claimed her bikini bottom and we had to help her get it back together so that she could get out of the water.  Saturday night we went to a low key dinner before heading out to a bar to drink and dance the night away.  Sunday morning most of us made it to brunch and then I headed to the beach with my Friday's ladies for a little more fun in the sun before having to head back to good old PA.

August
August was a super busy month for us as we pretty much had something going on every weekend and rarely spent any time at home.  In the little amount of time we were at home we spent the time putting together our wedding invitations and getting them ready to mail out.  Thankfully my girl, KT came over to help me finish them up or they would have taken WEEKS before I could have actually mailed them out.

Early in the month we headed up to Lake Wallenpaupak for a relaxing weekend with some of the members of our wedding party.  One of my bffs, VM, was in town so it seemed like a perfect time to head up to ML's lake house for the weekend.  We spent a couple of days going out on the boat, drinking, hanging out and overall just having a great time.  It was definitely a much needed break from reality.

The weekend after the Lake MD and I headed up to NJ for AP & CC's wedding weekend.  I was "Honor Attendant" in this wedding and I was super excited to see AP get married.  I was also excited to be back in NJ for the weekend because well who doesn't love a trip to NJ?!?!?  AP was such a gorgeous bride and we had a FANTASTIC time at her wedding.  Definitely one of the more fun weddings we have been to in our time (and that is saying a lot because we have been to a TON of weddings!)!!

The week after the wedding I thought I was going to have a panic attack as MD and I bought a new car.  Yes, you read that right, we BOUGHT a new car... a few months before getting married... cue freak out now.  Yes I love the car that we got, but it was still super stressful for me and I wasn't sure how we were going to pull it all off especially since we were getting married in a few months.  But thankfully MD managed to calm me down and I was able to sign the papers and we bought a car.

2014 Acura RDX

The end of August marked the time to break in our new Keg-O-Rater.  MD's best man, ML, bought us a keg-o-rater as a wedding gift and well we decided that in order to properly thank him for the gift, we needed to have a party to break it in!

September
September got off to a really rocky start and at one point I wasn't even excited about my wedding anymore.  And of course all of this happens 3 days before my bridal shower.  On September 11th (as if this isn't already a crummy enough day) one of my bridesmaids hurt me more than I think anyone ever has in my entire life.  She said some pretty terrible things to me and at the end of it all dropped out of my wedding and informed me that she wasn't even coming anymore.  She said some really hurtful things to me and I will definitely never forgot much of what she said.  I spent hours crying over what she said and even threatened not to attend my own bridal shower because I was upset.  No one really knew how to help me and I felt terribly about that.  But I needed to cry it out and to try to accept what had happened and move on from it.  I did accept what had happened, and I did move on... but I am not the same person I was before she said to me what she did.
Right after this bridesmaid disaster I headed up to NJ for my bridal shower.  To say I was not excited would be an understatement.  I was dreading the weekend.  How was I supposed to be happy when someone I considered to be one of my best friends, someone who was one of my bridesmaids, suddenly without warning dropped out of my wedding.  When CS picked me up on Friday to take me home to NJ I was not looking forward to the trip, although I was looking forward to spending time with her.  The bridal shower ended up being exactly what I needed to help me get out of my funk.  I was shown so much love by my bridesmaids, family and friends.  I felt amazing after being showered with so much love and support from everyone that I knew everything would be great in the end!

While I was in NJ I also met with my neighbor who had recently started a floral design business, The branch and the bloom, and who would be doing my flowers for my wedding.  I was so excited that she would be doing the flowers because not only has she known me my entire life, she would also be a guest at my wedding.  After meeting with her I was sure she was going to kill me because I couldn't tell her what I wanted with regards to flowers... all I could tell her was what I didn't want.  She assured me that by telling her what I didn't want that I let her know what I wanted, but I wasn't so sure.  What I was sure of was that she would do a fantastic job on the flowers if I just let her do her thing.

September was also the first time I participated in the Cara Box exchange run by Wifessionals.  I was so excited to participate in this exchange and I met 2 amazing women through it (one of which I still talk to all the time).  I really wasn't sure what to expect when I signed up for the Cara Box exchange... but I am so thankful that I did because through it I have continued to make new friends who I never would have made not given this opportunity!

October
October had to be probably the BIGGEST month of the year for us because well it was the month that MD and I were FINALLY married.  We had been planning for this day for 11 months and it was FINALLY here!  To say that I was excited would be an understatement... to say that I was panicked would also be an understatement.  The wedding day was more perfect than I ever could have imagined and I am so thankful to everyone who helped us celebrate and who helped us to make our wedding day a day that we will never forget!

After the wedding came our honeymoon trip to Europe.  Let me just say, the trip was INCREDIBLE!  A week was not nearly long enough to spend over there and I look forward to the day that MD and I will be able to travel back there again.  Don't worry, I will have more to say about our honeymoon soon.  I still have a Honeymoon Part 2 post in the works! You can read about Part 1 here!

November
November ended up being a pretty low key month for us.  I celebrated my 29th birthday... my first as a married woman. We also celebrated our first holiday as a married couple... Thanksgiving!  This year Thanksgiving day was spent in NJ with my family before heading out to Central PA on Saturday morning to be with MD's family for Thanksgiving part 2.

November also brought the 25th birthday of one of my bffs, MO, so of course we celebrated that in style with a night out in Philly at Xfinity!

December
December was a very busy month.... and it was our first married holiday season.  As usual we continued the tradition of going to cut down our own Christmas tree.  This was the first year that it was just MD and I going for the tree as my dad had just had foot surgery and was unable to make the trip with my mom.

ML also had a joint birthday party for MM and me in the beginning of the month.  We got together with a few of our closest friends for a low key night at ML's house.  Sometimes low key nights in with some of your favorites really are the best nights!

MM & Me with our cookie cake ML baked us

The following weekend we headed to NJ for my first grade bff, AW's, 4th Annual Christmas Party.  This was the first year that we were able to attend and of course it decides to be snowy/icy so the party apparently wasn't as good as it usually is, although we still had a fantastic time!  It was nice to see some of the old crowd from high school who I don't get to see very often and to catch up with them all.

AW's holiday party

The weekend before Christmas we were off to NJ again as the Saturday before Christmas was my dad's birthday and we wanted to be there to celebrate with the family.  After spending dad's birthday in NJ with the family we were ready to begin our traveling for the holidays.

It was a crazy holiday season this year as we spent Monday-Wed with MD's family in Central PA, left Wed afternoon to head to NJ for Christmas Part 2 with my family until Friday morning, and then Friday afternoon headed back to Philly to catch a flight to Florida for CS's bridal shower and bachelorette party.  I am not really going to elaborate on this more as I have a post in the works on this too... so stay tuned (like I said I am trying to be a better blogger in 2014!)

So there you have it folks... my 2013 in review... as you can see it was a crazy year but one that ended with me marrying my best friend.  Can't wait to see what 2014 has in store for us!

As always.... today I am thankful for my bridesmaids.  While writing this post and reflecting on the whole bridesmaid disaster of September I realize that without those girls who remained my bridesmaids I never would have survived it all.  These women have been there for me through thick and thin at all stages of my life.  Some of these women I have known since elementary school... others since college... and others since moving to the Philly suburbs.  These women are my closest friends and I love them all dearly!  So thank you to AW, CS, AV, VM, JG and SP... you women are simply amazing and I love you all!!

Easy Dinner Recipe... Pizza Bubble Ring

I am always looking for new recipes.  I spent a lot of time on Pinterest searching and also subscribe to a bunch of emails from various websites where I get weekly e-mails with recipes in them.  I originally got this recipe from Pillsbury in one of their weekly e-mails. but modified it a bit for the hubby and I.  Overall this was a really easy and tasty recipe... one we will definitely be making again!

Pizza Bubble Ring

Ingredients:
1 stick butter, melted
1 tsp Italian seasoning
1/2 tsp garlic powder
2 cans Grands original flaky biscuits
Package of small pepperoni (I used spicy pepperoni from Wegman's... about 6-7 pepperonis per ball)
8 oz (or more... I used a bit more) of mozzarella cheese, cut into pieces (I used fresh mozzarella and cut it so that I had 2 pieces per ball)
1/4 c Parmesan cheese
1 c pizza sauce

Directions:
1. Heat oven to 350.  Grease a tube pan.
2. In a small bowl mix butter, Italian seasoning and garlic powder
3. Separate one can of dough into individual biscuits.  Press or roll each biscuit into a 3" round.
4. Place one slice of mozzarella cheese on the bottom of the biscuit.  Add desired number of pepperoni pieces (I used 6-7).  Add another slice of mozzarella cheese on top of the pepperoni.
5.  Bring dough up around filling and press to seal.  Once sealed squeeze ball into desired shape.
6.  Roll balls in butter and place in pan.
7. Repeat steps 3-6 with the 2nd can of biscuits and place them in pan on top of the first layer.  (I tried to put them in between the first row instead of placing them directly on top of one another)
8. Bake for approximately 1 hour or until golden brown.  (I cooked mine for an hour because I am paranoid and wanted to make sure it was cooked all the way through... I would suggest checking it at about 45 minutes)
9. Let cool for 5-10 minutes
10.  Place heatproof plate on top of tube pan and turn over to get ring out and on a plate
11. Enjoy!!!

One completed ball and the start of another one

Pizza balls going into the pan

As always another edition of what I am thankful for.  Today I am thankful for the fact that I have a job.  I may not always like my job, but I am thankful that I at least have something that pays the bills.  It may not be glamorous and it may not be ideal... it also may  not be a job that uses my very expensive education, but it is a job to say the least.  There are so many people who are unemployed so I need to be thankful for what I have.