Cinco de Mayo Inspired: Guacamole and Cream Cheese Dip

If there is one kind of food I love, it's Mexican food! I don't really need Cinco de Mayo to tell me to eat it, but hey, whatever excuse I can get.

This weekend, I have big plans for some chicken tacos and maybe some quesadillas, too, but I thought I'd go ahead and share some of my favorite dips (besides salsa, of course) in the spirit of the holiday.

Both are SUPER simple.

Cream Cheese Dip

I thought this one sounded crazy when my friend Emily first made it for us in college, but boy was I wrong. It's one of the easiest recipes ever, especially for the wow factor it receives at parties (More bang for your buck type thing).

Ingredients:

• 1 8 oz. pkg. cream cheese
• 1 can Rotel diced chiles
• 1 can Mexicorn

To make: Just pour all ingredients in a pot on the stove, stir occasionally and eat once all the ingredients blend together and cheese melts! You can serve it hot or cold, eat with tortilla chips or use as a topping on tacos/nachos. You really can't go wrong here.

Guacamole

This recipe is a quick and simple version of guacamole. (Not that all of them aren't). Feel free to add more or less lime juice, jalapenos, cayenne pepper and garlic depending on your preferences!

Ingredients:

• 2 avacados
• 1/2 (ish) lime juice
• 1-2 diced jalapenos
• 3/4 can diced tomatoes and chiles
• 1 tsp. garlic
• 1/4 tsp. cayenne pepper

To make: Cut avocados, discard seed and scoop out insides into bowl. Mash with a fork. Mix in lime juice, jalapenos, canned tomatoes, garlic and cayenne pepper. Add more lime juice if you prefer. (My recipe doesn't have cilantro but only because I didn't have it). Serve as you wish!

Anyway, hope everyone has a nice Cinco de Mayo weekend! Will anyone be indulging in some Mexican food or fiestas to celebrate?

—Holli Anne

May Resolutions

We love Kelli's blog She Learns As She Goes and how she posts monthly resolutions, so we thought it would be a good idea for us to make some May goals for ourselves. What is easier and more tangible than a New Year's Resolution, after all? Monthly Resolutions, of course!

Holli Anne's Resolutions:

1. Run that 5K

I'll be finished with Couch to 5K at the end of the month, so I'm excited to be up to 3 mile status by June!

2. Write daily on my book

I'm the queen of procrastination. I will write and write, get stuck on something I need to research and then take my sweet time doing just that. No more! I have to write everyday this month. I'll tell you how many words I wrote at the end of the month, and by golly, it better be impressive!

3. Finish painting my house!

My goodness. It's just ridiculous that two months post marriage we still have one room left half-painted. Maybe if I put this goal here, it will get accomplished.

4. No boxes in my house

I want to do awesome things like decorate and make fun home decor, but most importantly, I need all the boxes out of my house!

Tyler Anne's Resolutions:

1. Get to that 75 percent marker of my book
As of right now I'm halfway done with the book I'm writing. Honestly, I'd love to completely finish the first draft by the end of May. Realistically, with all of my other work projects, I just don't see that happening. I'd be immensely pleased with myself if I could get to that 75 precent done marker!

2. Finish and distribute my super secret project for Almost There
Okay, so if you know me, this super secret project isn't that "secret." However, if you haven't recently talked to me and don't know what the heck is going on then I want to keep you in the dark a little while longer. All I can say is I think aspiring writers might just love it! I hope to have it finished and on Almost There's shop by the end of May!

3. Walk/jog for an hour everyday
Lately I've been getting into the habit of walking around the neighborhood for an hour during lunch. I want make this an everyday thing while transitioning from walking to jogging. My birthday was a few weeks ago and I'm pretty sure I ate my weight in sweets so I need to lose that weight pronto! Plus, it's wonderful time to brainstorm for Almost There and my book!

4. Find a place to put all of my books!!!!!
I fail this resolution EVERY MONTH but maybe I'll get lucky this time. I have hundreds of books that, since my recent move, have been in boxes! I hate, hate, HATE that! I'm the kind of person that loves to see their books and I have been known to reread some from time to time. I need to either purchase a ballin' few bookcases OR create my own! (And links or suggestions on this front would be awesome!)

Almost There Resolutions:

1. Evolve the writer side of this blog

It seems obvious that since we are both writers and since we both like chasing our dreams, that this would be a place for us to talk about writing. We've been working on incorporating this side of us into the blog with Laundromat Fiction and Writer Talk and we want to continue that!

2. Keep posting new prompts/discussions daily at Writer Talk

Writer Talk is a series on our blog, but it is also a Facebook group we started for writers to join and share in daily discussions and weekly writing prompts. It's a great place of encouragement so far and it's only just begun!

3. Bring more interviews/guest blogs to the site

What better way to inspire ourselves creatively than to read about how other creative people are chasing their dreams (or even better, living them already!) We were so excited about this interview with Josh from Blimey Cow, and we have several others in the works for this month. 

4. Work on our individual projects that we will put on Etsy

We opened our Etsy shop just this week for our first ecourse on social media. Now, we are both working on some individual projects and fun handmade things to add to the shop, so hopefully by the end of the month we'll have more to update on this!

Do you have any May resolutions? 

TO MAY! —The Annes

Kelli's May Resolutions can be found here.
Picture can be found on Holli's Instagram.

Feeding a BIG Wedding on a Small Budget

I have to start this blog off with an apology. During our #hollicon series (where we posted about my big, inexpensive, DIY, fun wedding), I neglected to answer one reader's questions about wedding food. 

I had a caterer scheduled to blog on the topic, but she was unable to last minute, and well, last minute I was all getting ready to walk down the isle and didn't get to it myself. Please forgive me, reader(s)!

Anyway, I thought now is as good as any time to talk about wedding food, first mine, then some other ideas I chose not to use for various reasons. 

First things first, our wedding ended up being about 175-200 people and our budget came in right around $3,000! The food costs were the parts we worked really hard to keep down so we could convince my parents that our guest list wasn't too ambitious. 

I didn't want a straight up potluck, but I also knew that hiring a caterer would be completely out of the question for what we were trying to achieve. We also opted to have a 4:30 p.m. wedding, putting our reception right at dinner time, so finger foods weren't really an option. 

What the heck did we eat?

• Popcorn Bar for pre-reception snack
• Make your own sandwich bar
• Soups in crockpots 
• So. Many. Cakes.

The popcorn bar: This was really pretty simple. It turned out the venue we used had a popcorn machine that we could use. (They also sell popcorn machines for about $40 at Walmart/Sams Club/Party Stores). I bought various popcorn seasonings to spice things up: Ranch, white cheddar and Tony Chachere's for the Cajun flavor. I found popcorn bags at Sam's Club for $5.72, making this total around $15.

Make your own Sandwich Bar: We really lucked out here and found a caterer who let us order quality sandwich meats and cheese at cost to her. Boy were they amazing meats, too! The meat (turkey, ham and roast beef) and cheese (provolone and cheddar) ended up costing us around $150! Then I spent about $250 at Sams Club on various rolls, plates/cups/utensils, coffee, tea, garnishes for the sandwiches and breakfast foods and snacks for our wedding party. I spent another $15 on some higher end mustards and mayonnaise at Publix. Total sandwich bar costs: $415.

Soup bar: This cost me $0. We chose to ask a few of our closest family and friends to bring a crockpot full of soup as their wedding gift to us. We ended up with around 10 different soups that were oh, so tasty! Jambalaya, Gumbo, Taco Soup, Potato Soup, oh gosh, so many kinds! We got huge compliments on the variety, and no one said anything like, "Oh, that's tacky how you potlucked that!" 

Cakes: We decided instead of one big wedding cake, we wanted a bunch of regular sized, homemade cakes. This was less out of wanting to save money and more out of, "We love so many kinds of cakes we can't decide!" Plus, we wanted our reception to have a dinner party-type feel to it. We actually had Joseph's grandma and my mom volunteer to make several; I made several (just because I like baking); and we had a couple other volunteers make some. We ended up with 13 cakes, and people ate that up (both literally and figuratively!) 

In total, it cost us under $450 to feed around 200 people. That includes drinks, utensils, plates, bowls, etc. 

This is how I managed my food costs, but I had plenty of other ideas before I settled on this one. Here are just a few tips on cutting wedding food costs that may inspire you:

1. Order food from a wholesale store

If you can get food at cost or close to at cost to you will save a lot of money. Another idea we had besides the sandwiches was to bake chicken or to make a pasta-type bar. This is all contigent on how many people you have to volunteer and what your venue space allows.

2. Seek volunteers

This was so important to us keeping our food costs down. We had a large family that volunteered to orchestrate our entire set up of the food, and they were extremely essential. Obviously us and our parents were a little occupied pre-reception. Ahead of time, the caterer we ordered food from recommended about 3-4 people helping with preparation. We also had tons of volunteers cook soups and bake cakes for us. This normally isn't too difficult because usually surrounding weddings a lot of people will come out of the woodwork and say "Is there anything I can do to help?" That's when you come in and say, "Well, actually…"

3. Consider a restaurant

To keep costs down, you could still order food from a restaurant, but you wouldn't necessarily have a caterer. For instance, you could order BBQ or a giant container of tacos from a Mexican restaurant. I don't know what all you could order, but you know what restaurants are nearby!

4. Hearty/Inexpensive meals from a caterer

Hiring a caterer isn't a terrible idea! Don't think I'm hating on the business over here. In fact, we actually didn't try this route ourselves. Though, I'm sure if you have a budget, you could take that to a caterer and say, "What can you do for this amount of money?" Large pans of pastas or salads (or pasta salads) are some dinner type foods that are pretty inexpensive. You may also opt for some finger foods/Hors d'oeuvres if you aren't having a dinner time reception. 

5. Alternate reception times

This all depends on your hopes and dreams (and venue availability) for your wedding day. While we opted for a dinner reception (because our wedding was on the bay and we really wanted to be there for sunset), you obviously don't have to do this. If you do have a different time, you can easily cut your costs. For lunch, you don't have to serve as hearty of meals as you do for dinner. If you have an afternoon reception you could just serve some finger foods (which are super easy to potluck if you choose that route) or you could even have a late night reception and just serve dessert (um, delicious!) One of my favorite things I've heard is a brunch reception, following an early morning wedding. Breakfast casserole or pancakes? Yes, please! 

6. Utilize your culture

Say you don't want to have potluck because you don't want your guests to bring food or any other reason you have. Well, there's a way to bypass the general potluck appearance and actually pull it off in classy fashion (besides my incredible soup idea!) Instead of asking everyone to potluck, maybe use just your families and serve foods based on your culture. People love cultural foods, and chances are, your families love cooking them! 

7. Potluck

I mean, I just sort of bashed potluck in the last point, but I'm not really against it. Have you ever been to a church party? I mean, that junk is amazing! People participating in your big day would be more than happy to bring a dish, most likely. You could ask everyone or you could just ask a select few. Either way, variety and homemade meals are not usually a bad combination, so don't be afraid to go this route if you want to cut costs! When I chaired a church social committee one time, our parties often consisted of us providing the meat and others bringing sides and desserts. This is another way to handle that. The partial potluck!

8. Just say no…to alcohol

This one was easy for us because we don't really drink. Also we are frugal. But the open bar can get out of control expensive, and even the just beer and wine selection (though less expensive, for certain). Even if you don't want to ban alcohol completely, you could let your guests know they can bring their own booze. That's a common thing that happens at parties, so it's no big deal if you want to do that for your wedding.

9. Don't be afraid to bend the rules

Most of all, this is YOUR day. If you want to serve cake and punch only at high noon, well, that's your prerogative. If you want to go all out at 2 p.m., you also can do just that. If you are bending tradition too much (like if you are only serving cake at lunch time) you might want to give your guests a heads up about that on the invitation, so everyone's not starving and mad. But most of all, just make this day all about what you want and don't compromise too much!

I hope some of these tips at least get your ideas flowing. If you have any other questions that are more specific, I'd be glad to discuss them with you. Comment below or e-mail us at chasingthere(at)gmail(dot)com with the subject "Wedding Food" and I'll get back to you ASAP!

—Holli Anne

Writer Talk: Mom, I promise I'm not crazy

Tyler Anne's Take
I write about death--grizzly, gritty death. Murder with all the dirty details in tow. My characters go through the ringer and, sometimes, never come back.

I write depressing, deranged, and dark things on a daily basis.

Does that make me depressed, deranged, and murderous?

This post is an intervention to all of those people who read books that aren't all puppies and butterflies and think OH MY GOD, THESE PEOPLE ARE DEMENTED. They aren't. We aren't.

You need to separate the writer from the book and realize they may write murder but they don't actually commit it. (Or at least some of them don't.) Now, I've said it before and I still stand by it--every story you write is an extension of you in some manner. However, when I'm torturing a character in a dark, damp basement I personally don't want to go out, grab a person, drag them to the basement, and water-log them.

The novel I've been working on gets pretty dicey early on. I was afraid I rushed some things so I let my mom have a few chapters to read at her connivence. A week later I got a call from her. She was unusually quiet. Finally, after a few "are you sure you're okay?" she got to what was bothering her.

"Are you okay? I mean, are you happy?"

I had no clue where she'd jumped on that line of thought...until she told me she had read those chapters.  She said that the torture scene was a little too real and the main character's seems a little unbalanced.

I'll tell you what I told her: Mom, I promise I'm not crazy. I just write crazy.

Sure, there may be some dark little jewel inside of me that is morbidly curious about the world but isn't there something like that in all of us? If I judged all of the books' plots I've read against the author, then hot damn there would be a lot of writers out there that are beyond reproach.

So next time you read a book with content that at times makes you squirm, don't jump to conclusions about the author. Instead, turn your focus to how you feel about all the murder and crass.

Holli Anne's Take
My mom is kind of a crime show/novel junky, so when she reads my dark, gritty tales, she always wants more.

My husband, is a different story. His reactions are similar to Tyler's mom: Um, why is this so dark? You aren't going to kill me, are you?

No, honey, I'm not. 

But, will my characters get raped and murdered (or murder and rape others)? Yes, without a doubt. 

Tyler pretty much covered this topic well: Writers who write dark things aren't all crazy. We're just not.

First things first, don't we all have a little darkness in us all? When I write dark twisted things, I don't do it with the intent of committing crimes or even the desire to. I take the deepest darkest part of myself, magnify it by 100 and write a damn good story about humanity.

Second of all, if people didn't enjoy these types of tales, there probably wouldn't be so many crime shows and novels out there. 

So sit back, relax and just enjoy yourself a good piece of twisted fiction!

For more Writer Talk go here.

Interview: Blimey Cow's Josh talks Kickstarter

Fun fact: I love me some Blimey Cow. Another fun fact: I've actually met and worked with Josh (though only for one day) a few years ago. I like and respect him and his wife and his family! They are all creative, hard workers and you should definitely check out Blimey Cow!

Recently, Blimey Cow launched their own Kickstarter campaign. What is Kickstarter? It's is a new way to fund creative projects! For more info. go to their About.

Here's an interview from Josh (pictured above) of Blimey Cow about their latest Kickstarter campaign!

First, for those readers who aren’t familiar with Blimey Cow, can you give us a brief summary on what it is and who you all are?
Blimey Cow is a YouTube channel that my brother, Jordan, and I started seven years ago. We have made videos on and off since then, but really only got serious about it in the fall of 2011 when we began our show “Messy Mondays.” It’s a comedy series hosted by Jordan that deals with a different random topic every Monday. In the year and a half or so that we have been doing it, we have gained about one hundred thousand subscribers and twenty million video views. Blimey Cow primarily consists of Jordan, my wife Kelli, my sister Amy, and myself.

Why did you decide to use Kickstarter and how did you even find out about it?
I don’t actually remember which was the first Kickstarter project I came across, but I am certainly glad I did. To me, the crowdfunding model is the best example of a voluntaryist, free-market system in action.
It is also a great way to gauge the enthusiasm and interest of the public concerning a specific service or product. This is why we went the Kickstarter route when we decided to get into audio production. It is a risky and time consuming venture, and we only wanted to do it if there would be people interested enough to listen. It turns out, there are!

Should people be intimidated by Kickstarter?
You shouldn’t be intimidated by Kickstarter, but you should have a healthy respect for its intricacies. It takes a lot of research and work to make a campaign successful.

Can you give us a brief step by step of how to create and run a Kickstarter campaign?
In terms of an actual “How-to” guide to launching a Kickstarter project, the Kickstarter website does a fantastic job of walking you through the process. Basically, you just sign up for a free account, and then walk through the step-by-step guide that they provide. It saves your progress, so you can always walk away from the computer and come back later to keep working. Our Kickstarter campaign was in development for weeks before we made it live.
Once you are ready to publish, you submit your project to Kickstarter. The staff looks over your campaign page to ensure that it meets their guidelines, and they get back with you in 2-3 days.

Going in, what were your feelings about your campaign and its outcome?
I was nervous about it. I had no point of reference to know 1) Whether people would be willing to give us money, and 2) If anyone would even be interested in audio productions.

What was your Kickstarter goal and what amount did you actually end with?
Our goal was $1,700 and we ended up raising almost $17,000. So, ten times our initial goal!

Were you surprised by the amount of support you received from your fans?
I was very, very surprised. Again, I had no point of reference, but never in my wildest dreams did I anticipate that level of support we received. It was very humbling and very encouraging.

Because of the support you received on Kickstarter, what will Blimey Cow be able to achieve this year?
We launched our Kickstarter in order to fund a “podcast” but because we received so much funding, we are instead launching an entire audio network called “BCAN- The Blimey Cow Audio Network.” We are hoping to launch in late June!

On a scale of 1 to 10, 10 being hardest, how difficult was it to start a Kickstarter campaign?
If 10 means it was the hardest thing ever, I would rank it at about a 5. It definitely took a ton of research and many, many days spent planning to ensure that we had thought of every potential hiccup that might occur, but once the campaign started, all of that work paid off when we hit our goal just 40 minutes after goaling live!

Would you ever use Kickstarter again to further Blimey Cow goals?
I wouldn’t be surprised if there were another Kickstarter project in our future! No official plans yet, though.

What advice would you give to those who want to start their own campaign?
1. Research, research, research.

Read as many articles as you can find written by people who have launched successful campaigns. Find some campaigns on Kickstarter that are going well and observe some of the stuff they are doing that is making their campaign compelling. Also, find some campaigns that aren’t doing well and observe what things they are or aren’t doing that is contributing to their less-than-ideal situation.

2. Set a Reasonable Goal. 

Figure out what is the cheapest way to do what you want to do with the money raise, and make that your goal (After factoring in Kickstarter’s cut, and any money you will spend to purchase rewards for backers, of course!) I have read and observed that most Kickstarter projects either fail miserably or far exceed their goal.

3. The First Day Needs to Be Huge. 

If you don’t have a good first day of pledging, it could spell doom for your campaign. Make sure you have a group of people that have promised to pledge on day one. Talk to your family, friends, and co-workers and get as many people on board and excited about your project as you can. The first day is critical.

4. Make Your Video Compelling. 

Your Kickstarter video should be short and relatable. Tell potential-backers the story of your project and why you need their help to make it a reality. Tug at their heart-strings.

5. Show Your Campaign to as Many People as Possible (Before it’s live!). 

Get as many different opinions about your campaign page as you can. Edit and adjust the look, feel, and wording of your page in accordance with the opinions of those you trust to give you good advice.

6. Thank Each Backer Personally. 

Every time your project receives a new backer, message them through Kickstarter and write a personal thank you. I have backed quite a few Kickstarter projects, and only one has ever written me a personal thank you- and you know what? I’m going to back the next project that guy does, too, because he seems like a genuinely nice guy. Little touches like that set your campaign apart from the myriad of other campaigns out there.

We love Blimey Cow! Can you give us some info. on what’s coming up and maybe some links?
Summer of Blimey Cow starts here in the next month or two, though we haven’t made any official announcements yet, and BCAN will hopefully be launching in late June!
You can keep up with us at blimeycow.com!

Thanks again, Josh and Blimey Cow! Almost There definitely supports and loves what you do! Keep it up!

-Tyler Anne (aka Chick Tyler)

Laundromat Fiction: What's with Friendship?

This weekend I did my laundry (finally), so naturally I have another Laundromat Fiction to share. If you didn't see my first post, laundromat fiction is the result of this strange urge I have to write fiction while I do my laundry (usually in a laundromat). This time was actually in a neighbors home, so that was a nice break!

Anyway, here's my unpolished, off-the-cuff story I wrote while laundry happened this week! As always, I'd love feedback and all that good stuff.

—Holli Anne

The girl wouldn't quit texting me, but hey, I didn't mind. I mean, I sort of minded, but the rest of me just enjoyed the attention.
At first anyway.
This godforsaken camp is the worst possible place I could be right now, so having a friend to distract me is pretty nice.
In a room full of peers wearing short shorts and baggy t-shirts—a trend I will never understand—this girl definitely stood out the most.
She wore these bright pink pants with strange yellow tassels that hung at the end. Describing it sounds hideous, but she actually pulled them off well. That was what I noticed more than anything, not that she had pink and yellow pants but that she was actually able to pull them off.
She wore them with a plain white shirt that was fitted. I decided to approach her because, the expression on her face looked about as excited as I felt to be here at this all girls camp my parents dragged me to.
"This should be fun. I'm Stephanie," she said as I approached her. It was sort of a backwards introduction and spoken with the utmost sarcasm. I knew I liked her.
"Brooke."
We started talking from there and decided to exchange numbers. I went to drop my things off in a room I was sharing with a really perky individual. Oh God.
My head was aching from the sound of her voice, almost before she even started really talking. And talking. And talking.
I was relieved when I saw a text from Stephanie. A distraction. An excuse.
I told my roommate I really had to take the call, even though it wasn't actually a phone call. I stepped outside and opened her message.
"My roommates killing my brain cells."
Ha, that was about right. "Same here."
"Wanna meet up by that lake outside?"
"Yeah. On the way."
We found one of those big mossy southern trees to sit in. We talked about just random things and it seemed we had a lot in common. Both our parents sent us here to get us to make more girl friends. Both of us were better at talking to guys. We hated sports. Loved books and art and other introverted things. Got by with average grades in school, less out of not knowing the subjects and more for just sheer defiance and boredom.
Nothing we said was really too deep. I didn't take this as one of those friendships that would last but it would do for the weekend. I wonder if this is what my parents had in mind when they wanted me to make more friends.
"Hey, we should tell our parents about each other so they are appeased we made a friend," I laughed. She, however, did not.
Her eyes sort of lit up in an oddly happy way and she nodded her head. At first a little slowly, but then she started picking up speed.
"I was pretty sure we could be real friends from here. Like best friends," her voice enthusiastic. It was off putting at best.
"I mean, yeah, that's what I meant. I mean, maybe not best friends yet. I don't really know you that well," I fumbled and tried to crack a smile. Is making friends really this hard for me?
She eventually told me she was joking, but there was a part of me that didn't really believe her. Once camp came to an end, my suspicions were confirmed.
Like I said, she wouldn't quit texting me. At first I was bored and so it was kind of nice and I responded. But then, geez, I had things to do, and I mean, every now and then it was fine, but she wanted to talk everyday.
I responded less and less, but she kept her speed going. She asked me to hangout with her one day, but since I wasn't really into the idea too much, I put her off another two weeks and then agreed to it.
I didn't have a half bad time either. Maybe I could be the friend making type after all. 

Announcement: Social Networking & You Ecourse

We may have mentioned before that both us Annes are social media nerds, though we prefer to say things like experts or gurus. (Self-Confidence building!)

Not only do we love spending our time social networking, but we actually are both social media managers and consultants for different small businesses. After college, the Annes bonded over this fact and decided to start putting our skills together and thus, we have this blog as it is!

We also have been working "behind the scenes," on an ecourse about using social networking for your blog (or business). 

Today, we are SO excited to announce that our Social Networking & You Ecourse is finally ready!

In this ecourse, we take the tools that we use to promote our blog (and the blogs of our freelance clients) to teach ways that you can make social media work for you.

This is a very thorough, step by step kind of program that you can use at your own pace. It is designed for both the well versed and completely clueless social media user, so you can skip around and take what you need from it.

Here's more explanation on what exactly this ecourse entails:

• -Step by Step instructions on setting up Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest
• -Tips and tricks for using the big four to get people to your blog or site
• -An overview of smaller social networking sites
• -Tools for choosing which social sites to invest your time in and exactly how to use them for best results
• -Guide for pulling all the information together into a personalized social media plan
• -A PDF you can reference anytime and use at your own pace/experience level to fit your needs
• -Real life examples of social media in action

In addition, we are making ourselves available for questions that may arise along the way while taking this ecourse. 

Interested in finding out more? Click here.

Let's get social!

—The Annes