Text From Mom

at 12:10 am:

Happy early birthday!  You're really not 22 till 4:43pm.  Love you!!!

My response:

Haha thank you!  I'll be sure to say that I don't feel older until at least 5pm then. Haha

22.

Today is my 22 birthday, and I'm trying to figure out where exactly my 21st year went. 

It started with a weekend in Philadelphia to celebrate finally being "legal."

I got to sleep with Ben Franklin.  Jealous?

In March, we had a mini vacation weekend with friends in Washington, DC, and I got to take in the beauty of the Apple Blossoms on the trees.

 Then there was Belly Boo's first Easter.

In May we got a new stove.  Major upgrade.

In June we traveled to Manchester, TN for Bonnaroo.  One of the best experiences of my life.

In July we took a trip to Longwood Gardens.  It was beautiful, and I wish that I could walk through the Orchid Room over and over again.

Took Belly Boo to the beach...

Watched the kiddo turn one.

Pick apples and pumpkins at a local orchard in the fall.

And turned into a zombie for a night.

I also:

Celebrated one year of marriage to my wonderful husband.

Learned a lot.  Cried a lot.  Laughed even more.

Missed home.

Worked on making our house a home.

Watched my baby girl go from hardly moving to not sitting still.

Made new friends.

Started my own Etsy shop.

Made more yummy treats then I ever knew was possible.

21 was a pretty awesome year.  

22 better bring it on.

I Want S'more Cupcakes

I have been asked repeatedly for this recipe (on Facebook, text messages, and on blogger) since I posted a picture last Friday night.  So here is the long/short of it:

I knew I wanted S'mores cupcakes.  So I searched for some recipes and stumbled upon this website.  "Ming" came up with the recipes (though some are pretty standard in the cooking/baking world) and I mixed and matched to get my S'mores.

However, I'm claiming the S'mores cupcakes as my own (can I do that?  Haha) and here is the recipe:

Cupcakes only:

Now, while your cupcakes are cooling you can work on your marshmallow filling.  Yes, marshmallow filling.

Are you still with me?  You are?
Okay good, here's the last step.

Two words:

chocolate ganache

There you go.  You will be slightly exhausted after making these, but the end result is totally worth it.  Have fun!

Weekend

This weekend I baked some S'mores cupcakes.  They're pretty much the most amazing thing ever and I can't wait to make them again for my birthday.

And then I baked some pumpkin chocolate chip cookies for a church gathering.

And for dinner last night I made chicken burritos with my own Mexican rice.

So basically all I did was cook, eat and sleep over the weekend.  But that's okay with me.

Easy Breezy Gift Tags - Tutorial

This afternoon I was feeling kinda crafty, so I decided to make little menu cards for my upcoming birthday party next weekend.  While I was making them, the idea struck me to make gift tags.

Easy, right?  The answer is yes.  Here's a quick tutorial with lots of pictures to show you how easy it really is to make your own cute gift tags.

You will need:
Pretty card stock and matching plain paper
Decorative paper punch or scissors
Paper Cutter (optional) or regular craft scissors
Corner Rounder
Hole Punch
Mounting Squares
Coordinating Ribbon

Here we go.....

Step 1:  Cut your paper down to your desired gift tag size.  I trimmed mine down to 2 1/2 by 3 1/2 inch pieces.  Then, take your paper punch or scissors and and carefully trim away one side of your paper.  If you want the tags to have the same look all around, then repeat the trimming until all sides are done.

Step 2:  Grab your corner rounder and snip off the two edges at the top of your tag.  Then take your hole punch and punch a hole in the corner you want to put your ribbon in.

Step 3:  Take your coordinating paper and trim it down so that is fits nicely with a boarder around the edge and it doesn't cover the hole that you've punched.  Using your corner rounder, round all the corners.  Then take your mounting squares and place 4 or 5 squares on the back of your plain paper.  Carefully place the smaller piece of paper onto the larger decorated piece.  Find a pretty ribbon, feed it through the hole and tie a knot, then you're done.  Easy breezy gift tag!

These are so darling and the best part is that you can come up with so many different kinds of tags!  I'm pretty sure that I'll be making a bunch of these the next few weeks.  I'm in love!

Happy Crafting!!

My Morning....

I took her nook and she basically told me to get the camera out of her face.

Sulking.  Oh so sad.

Then the Calliou theme song came on.  Happy baby once again.

And then I said, "Holy moly you look like your father today...but what else is new?!"

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This has basically been my morning.  Lots of pouting (from both of us) and then some happy moments thrown in.  It's a snow day....shouldn't we all be happy!?

Sick.

That has basically described this week in a nutshell.


What else happened?
We had a little bit of snow.
We took Belly Boo to the doctors for her cold.
I made some yummy chicken and pesto rice.
It's been really cold.
& I got a request for 8 custom pins.

I think that's it.  It's been rather boring. 

Currents & Music Monday Volume 3

Okay, I realize that we're only a little over a week into the new year, but I'm updating on some of my resolutions.

Reading more.
I would say that I'm off on a pretty good start with this one.  I've read the last three books from the Twilight Saga.  And I loved them.  Last night I started Dracula.  I have a bunch of other books on my list to read and I've been given some good recommendations, too.  I set a goal to read 40 books this year, and I'm thinking it won't be too hard to do that.

Exercise/eating healthy.
I was kinda not so into P90 last week.  I think I only did it 3 times.  I know, that's bad.  So this morning I got up before Belly Boo was awake and did my workout and the ab ripper and I'm going to make myself do it every day this week.  Eating healthier isn't so hard.  I've been drinking at least 64 oz of water a day, cut back on the carbs and have been eating more protein filled foods and more veggies.  It's time to buckle down.

Finding a job.
Applications are in, some follow up phone calls have been made, but no bites yet.  I'll just keep bugging, maybe something will pop up.

And now, Music Monday!  It's been a while since I last did this, but I've found some new music that I've been listening to a lot.  Here's a song that I'm totally in love with.  I heard it here, and I've been listening non-stop.  Also, if you don't follow NPR's 'All Songs Considered' podcast, you should.

Snow Bunny

It's been snowing quite a bit the past few days, and Belly Boo got to test out her new boots and see what's so cool about the white stuff.  She wasn't a very happy when we brought her inside!

Fingers crossed that we get that bigger storm later this week!  Then we can have a lot of fun playing outside!

Puddin' Pie

Belly Boo had her first (messy) experience with chocolate pudding over the weekend.  It was fun to watch her use her spoon (!!) and get the pudding all over the place.  She seriously enjoyed it, as you can tell from the pictures.

The beginning.  Checking out the pudding.

Digging in!

I'm convinced that only a kid can look cute while picking their nose.  Haha

Sharing some pudding with her daddy.

The finished product.  Soooo messy!

Just in case you're wondering, she was promptly put in the bath tub after she was finished.

Going Batty

Last night at dinner, we were enjoying some lovely conversation when all of a sudden a bat was flying around our dining room.

Seriously.  A bat.

After I hid under the dining room table and it gracefully swan-dived for my face, I grabbed Belly Boo and ran outside and watched as the hubs chased the bat around the living room and eventually lost him somewhere in the kitchen.

Yeah, lost him.

Fast forward a few hours, the hubs is in bed and I'm snuggled on the sofa with the cats reading Eclipse when the heater clicks on and the cats get all freaked out and head towards the kitchen.  I get up and follow only to hear this insanely loud clicking noise that bats make.

I run and get the hubs, and after a stressful 20 minutes the bat was safely removed from it's hiding spot (the baseboard in our kitchen, which is why he started making noises when the heat was on) and placed outside.

Oh, and we got video of it, too.  It's hysterical.  Enjoy.





Also, a special thanks to my knight in shining armor who saved us from the bat possibly flying around the house today now that he's back to work.  I <3 him.