Just Some Words

Party Planner

2012-02-12T11:33:00.000-05:00

I love to throw parties.... And I'm pretty sure it's always been this way. As a child, my birthday party was the highlight of my year. We didn't have a lot of money growing up, but my mother still indulged me in this way.... watermelon birthday theme, chuck e cheese with all my friends at the age of 15, skating rink at 16, lisa frank, sleepovers and the like....

My mother isn't much of a baker, but I remember try to figure out ways to make cookies and cakes in the microwave even when I was like 6 or 7.... if I only knew about mug cake then, mine were always rock hard.... As soon as I became a teen and started baking on my own, my love for party throwing grew all the more, because in my opinion food=love and now I had something to share....

The only thing is... rarely do people in their 20's have big birthday parties, occasionally but not on the regular and Jake loathes his birthday. So, my opportunities have been limited. I jumped at the chance several times to throw bridal showers, but I must say this baby train I jumped on, is a good one for parties...

The age I find myself at, easily lends itself to regular baby showers, and Keaton's first birthday is already gleaming in my mind.... I know party planning is not for everyone, and some people even think the types of things I do for just one day or event is ridiculous, but not me.
I find such fulfillment in making someone's day special. It's worth all the pressure, and last minute baking.

Needless to say my bf here in Jersey and I are throwing a baby shower in just a few weeks. I can't wait to share....

I'm not "Hostess with the Mostess" or anything, but we have a few fun things up our sleeves. All that to say, I like this stage of life. I know it will be short-lived and passing quickly, but for now. I'm soaking it all in. :)

Some people get paid to do this... HA

Cake Batter Chocolate Bark

2012-02-07T23:17:00.000-05:00

Here is some Valentines (or anytime deliciousness). I am actually going to try and make one more thing for Jakey-poo (I don't really call him that, but since it's nearing Valentines, it's allowed) before the holiday... I'm going to attempt a from scratch cherry pie with a little heart cut out.

But last week, I made this devilish treat, and I definitely recommend. I pinned this recipe some time ago, and just finally got around to making it....

The recipe comes from How Sweet Eats, I've made several of her recipes including her rootbeer cupcakes in the past.

She is slightly obsessed with cake batter, and I have a small affinity for it myself, so even though I'm not really into Chocolate Bark it sounded good.

Her recipe can be found here, but I did tweak it just a bit.
I put 4 heaping teaspoons of cake batter, and when I make it again. I think I will actually put 2 tablespoons for an even stronger flavor....

I saw a few copycat recipes flying around that put 1 tsp of cake batter, these people clearly do not understand the goodness of the flavor, so try as you will your own way, but definitely try. This seriously took me like 8 minutes to prepare. And was sooo good!

Hearts, chocolate and lots of love!

Blue Ombre Cake

2012-01-22T23:34:00.000-05:00

So, a few posts ago I showed a few pics of a cake I made for a baby sprinkle. Well, several people have asked me how I made it. So, I figured I'd blog about it, and then just direct them here.

Let me start off by saying this recipe is easy and not easy at the same time. It's easy because I used a box mix for my cake (which is actually my personal preference for white cake) and it's not easy because it's still a 5 layer cake, that needs to be cut and stacked efficiently to look pretty.

2 boxes of white cake mix, made to direction

I measured 1 and 1/2 cups into five separate bowls for the layers

I knew I wanted the bottom layer to be white, so I colored the four other layers with Wilton's icing gel color. I started with one toothpick of gel for the lightest and increased to my preference from there.

This is all 5 layers stacked. I cooked each layer. They cooked fairly similarly since it was the exact same amount, but I still cut the tops off with a serrated knife for a more even look. I then put a little icing between each layer, and then began my crumb coat next.

If you've never done a crumb coat, basically you cover the cake in icing and then refrigerate it for 30 minutes, all the crumbs get stuck in that coating, so you can frost again and it will be clean and smooth looking.

After that I just frosted again with a swoopy motion to get a kind of cloud effect. My scrap book sign attached to a dowel actually goes through the cake on each side to give it some support. I didn't really think it would fall over, but we were traveling in the car...

Here is the inside, so fun! I hadn't actually seen it until we cut in, so it was a surprise for me too.

I used Wilton's Buttercream Frosting as my frosting. It was actually not my first choice, it's my "go-to" buttercream because it's very easy and has a great consistency for spreading, but I actually tried to make my very first Swiss Meringue Buttercream frosting that was suggested in my model cake. She actually only made a Swiss Meringue, I got to that step perfectly and it was beautiful, but it was a little too light and sweet for my taste, so I decided to go to the next step and add butter. Needless to say, it was a disaster. I read every tip in the book to get it to come back together, keep beating, refrigerate, add more butter. I probably beat it for 30 minutes and it just kept separating. :( See pic below. So, I used my ole' trusty recipe in a pinch, but I wish the other had worked out. I will tackle it again sometime, cause now I HAVE to make it and succeed. But regardless it was LOTS of fun to make, and actually if my SMB frosting had worked out, this project probably would have seemed even easier, but making two frostings is a kick in the pants. Stink, now I'm hungry for cake!
Enjoy and lots of love for baby Caleb on the WAY!

The sad remains. :( Yes, that is supposed to be frosting. Boo.

Arugula... Let me count thy ways

2012-01-19T00:27:00.000-05:00

I know I've been going a little overboard with the Keaton posts.
So, I decided to get back to a food post, something I haven't done in awhile.
This post will be about arugula, that nutty, peppery herb lettuce that I have blogged about before and that I am semi (only semi) obsessed with. :)

Yes, arugula let me count thy ways... if you haven't tried arugula please do, and then let me know what you think.
Seriously though, when I am searching for new recipes, if it says arugula in the title it catches my eye, if I even kind of like the other ingredients then we try it.

Today, we will talk about my top 5 favorite arugula recipes.

1. Grilled arugula and proscuitto pizza. The next time you even think about grilling make this, it's fantastic!

2. Mushroom and Arugula Quesadillas I blogged about these before, as you can see from the previous recipe- I love arugula and proscuitto together, DELISH!

3. Peppery Pasta with Arugula and Shrimp

4. Grilled flank steak salad on arugula (For this one, I linked a similar recipe to the one I have. The recipe I have I snipped from a magazine some years ago, it's very similar except there are no nuts, and you serve the salad on top of garlic bread. Can you say delicious?

5. Meat boats and arugula salad I know SmittenKitchen has another name for that recipe, but that's what we've always called it, when you use a bit of the sauce to mix with lemon juice and put on the arugula, it's heaven!

I'll just finish by saying, we had an arugula salad (similar to the one in #5) when our family was in town. They all could not believe the deliciousness of arugula. So, now you must go try it yourselves and tell me what you think. :)

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Rudolph the Red Cheeked Baby

2012-01-11T00:36:00.000-05:00

I know Christmas has come and passed, but these cute little photos never got posted...
So, here's to spreading Christmas cheer all year long, even in January. :)

I can suck my thumb

I can be serious

I can lift my head

Now, enough with the pictures mom.

Pinspiration

2012-01-09T00:08:00.001-05:00

I know I mentioned pinterest awhile back...it's virtual bookmarking site, where you can pin things you want to go back to-- it's also a source of constant inspiration as you are able to view the things your friends are "pinning" as well.

I stumbled upon the most beautiful cake one day, and I knew that I just had to make it.

Here is the photo that seriously made me giddy with delight at it's colors and beauty.

It's been awhile since I've done any baking posts, but that's just because I've been too busy to blog about, not because I haven't been baking....

When one of my friends decided to throw an impromptu baby sprinkle for another friend, I asked if I could make the cake.... I decided I would try my hand at the above cake, but with blue tones instead of pink, because well, she's having a boy. :)

So, here is my rendention. What do you think? PLEASE ignore the terrible lighting and photos. (It's winter, there's no natural light and our Nikon charger is temporarily broken, so good photos weren't happening).

But you get the idea!

My pictures aren't pretty like hers, but that cake it still looking pretty good.
Full story to come soon. I love baking, and pinterest and babies (oh and cake)!

The many faces of Keaton

2012-01-06T00:31:00.000-05:00

I took these with my iphone, no editing just good natural light. Love that boy!

At 3 months

2012-01-03T00:13:00.001-05:00

You are just too cute for words.
You laugh
You smile
You melt my little heart.

You are becoming quite the chubber in the facial area, neck rolls and all, but those legs are still toothpicks.

You are more relaxed and happy than ever.

You might love your daddy, more than you love me (if he had boobs, this would be a definite yes) but since he doesn't we probably tie.

You are still a good little sleeper, I feel terrible for skipping that parental rite of passage because I haven't had insomnia since those early weeks.

You are starting to like to cuddle a bit more.

And you love it when I read to you, you seem genuinely interested in books. You stare at those pictures with much thought.

I fight you everyday to make sure you don't become an official thumb sucker. You still love your pacifier, but seeing how you can't always find it to put in your mouth, the thumb keeps creeping in...

You love your room the most, and I love this because I made it just for you...

That last pic isn't great, but he just looks like such a big boy sitting up all straight. And in his baby legs. So cute!

See last month here!

Family Photos

2011-12-26T23:41:00.000-05:00

Now, that MOST of you have probably gotten our Christmas card, I can finally post these. I was waiting, cause I didn't want it to be too repetitive. But we had some photos taken by a local photographer who I met through our church. Kim Angelo Photography.
She did a great job, and it helped me reminisce on
1. How cute Keaton is... and
2. How much he's already changed. (By that I meant how chunky he's gotten) :)
I hate getting photos taken, because I am so critical of myself and what I look like, but I do it because later on when I look back, I always love them, and love to remember that specific time in our lives.

You might be wondering why I've started posting my photos so small (actually probably not, but I'll tell you anyway) :). My blog layout was getting really messed up when I was posting them bigger and I don't know how to fix it and I'm really too lazy to figure it out. But if you click on them, you should get a better view.
I'm going to try and get in a 2011 remembrance post before the year passes. I can't believe it's 4 days away from 2012. Now, that we have Keaton the importance of photos and capturing who he is right now is so important. SO, here's to family photos, and capturing beautiful moments in time.

Baby's First...

2011-12-25T21:27:00.001-05:00

Merry Christmas from Keaton and all his toys!

Since he won't remember this year at all, it will be really great when we rewrap all of them next year and take the same photo.
Peace, Love and Christmas!

At 2 months

2011-12-15T09:30:00.000-05:00

Keaton at 2 months you have changed so much.
You don't make as many faces as you used to, but you smile all the time, so that makes up for it. Getting a picture of your smile is slightly more difficult. :)

You have gotten so big, you finally started getting a few rolls around your skinny little legs (little rolls, but they're there).

You have always been a good sleeper, but alot of nights you'll sleep from 7-4 or 5 and mommy loves this!!

You are still a grunter, but you have become much more relaxed. Mommy totes you around everywhere and you just chill and go with it.

You do cry sometimes, but mostly only when you're hungry, if it's dark in the car or really close to your bedtime. One funny time you cry is if I am feeding you and take the boobie away and wait a minute- you'll wail out very loud- as if to say, "how dare you do that to me?"

You do like to be held, but you also really like to hang out on your play gym OR your swing.

Every night before bed we listen to music, if you are upset and I put music on- you start kicking your legs all around and flapping your arms a bit, mommy thinks it's very cute.

You having been cooing for a bit, but the last week or so, you've started a few little squeals too, they aren't very loud now, so I find them endearing, but I'm sure that will change.

You still have the most sensitive skin in the world... everyone talks about babies being soft and smooth, but not you- you're a scaly little fella. I look forward to all the winter dryness passing (though this won't happen anytime soon).

You still like to give people the brows and I definitely like this about you!

You love to stare at your mommy and I love to stare back at you!

"Mom, I'm already too long for this dumb basket"

Check out the differences at 1 month here

With Thanksgiving

2011-12-13T00:14:00.002-05:00

We celebrated Thanksgiving with Jake's family. His brother (and my cousin) and their 2 kids started off our holidays with a bang. They came a few days before Thanksgiving and actually stayed until today as the brothers Christmas tree farmed together. Jake's parents also joined us for a few delightful days, and Nancy my mother in law has a few more pictures on her blog as well.
I hope to post more pics of all this craziness soon, but here are a few from Thanksgiving to jump start.

Standard Stall family photo

Table set all pretty... I somehow missed a picture of ALL the food because we scarfed it to pieces (and haven't stopped holiday scarfing since)

Little man's first turkey day... see turkey does make you sleepy. :)

Cousins: Main objective: Try to eat each other.

Baby Dedication

2011-12-04T22:08:00.000-05:00

Keaton got dedicated at church last month. It was kind of sad not to have our family there. So many friends came to stand with us and represent as witnesses the life we want to live for Keaton as parents and the path we want him to take in following God. But that also made me sad because these friends are just a stop on our journey. Even though they came to stand behind us in that moment, the truth is they won't be there forever.Those are the moments when I remember that I'm a military wife. And this is my life for now...

Regardless, in "dedicating" him- I was reminded of the high calling of Christian parenthood, the many uphill battles we will fight against this world and the even bigger battles that Keaton will face. He's such a good baby, and so sweet and perfect. I can't imagine the future like that now, but I know it will come. So, I'm reminded to pray for him and of course to ask for more patience (cause one day I know I will need it).

27

2011-12-01T22:22:00.001-05:00

So, despite my blogging absence life has continued to move forward. In fact, it's been moving quite fast.
Somehow 27 years blew by, and I have a husband, a baby and a house.
And I love all 3.

I spent the evening with my girls, which I failed to take pictures of... Sad face. But I will give you a hint of what we did.

That's right, my hubby did a little babysitting. :) And we had a wonderful time!

At 1 month

2011-11-08T23:56:00.002-05:00

Keaton this month you are funny- They say newborns don't always have a lot of personality, but I think you for sure do. Here are some of the reasons why:

-You will only take your pacifier if you can hold it in by sucking or with your own hand, if I put my finger in there- it's a sure sign you won't take it.

- You make more faces than any baby I've ever seen. You made like 30 faces in one minute after you woke up from your nap yesterday. Your favorite face however is still the scowl.

-Anytime you are going down for a nap, for the first 5 minutes or so, you literally sleep with one eye open (you don't want to miss anything)-- until you get so sleepy it closes.

-Every morning when you wake up, you want to sit up and look around. You're only 5 weeks old, but I started putting you in your Bumbo, because I'm too tired to hold you in the sitting position.

-You show lots of love to mommy, if you're upset and dad puts you in the ERGO to soothe you- you cry, if I put you in it and hold you close you quiet right down. hehe

- You do a funny throat clearing thing ALL the time.

-And you like to sleep at night, from the time you were 2 weeks old you would sleep 6 or 7 hours nurse and go right back down for another round. Now the day is a different story, apparently in the day you are constantly starving, but at night you like to sleep (that's my boy!)

Look at those legs- long like daddy!

This is such a "Keaton" face with raised eyebrows. Pretty soon your nickname will be "brows"

Picture Recap

2011-11-05T22:08:00.000-04:00

It seems I don't have quite enough time for long prosing blog posts. So, here are some pictures from our trip to TX... Enjoy.

PostDates

2011-10-17T22:37:00.000-04:00

Just to finish this thing off properly... Here were those last 2 dreaded weeks- 40 and 41.On week 41, I just look ginormous. I thought maybe I was going into labor that day because my Braxton Hicks contractions were 6 minutes apart for hours and hours, but that actually lasted for like 2 days before it meant anything. So, here we are little Keaton pre-arrival. I can't believe that baby was inside me.You can see those last two weeks, we had to switch to the good ole leggings too. :)

40 weeks- still hanging in there.

41 weeks

I think this was 41 weeks and 3 days, and I am crying, "why am I still pregnant? my stomach is a torpedo."

But it was all worth it in the end, for this little bugger who poses in his sleep.

Keaton

2011-10-10T22:22:00.000-04:00

So, here is a picture of my little man that completely sums him up.When he is awake this is the face he makes most often- and it definitely shows off his personality.

This is the face of Keaton, the face of curiousity, wonder, concentration, and of course just a little bit of a scowl.(But hey, I might be angry too after spending 2 weeks in the nicu, getting poked and prodded.)

We can't wait to see all that he brings- he's definitely rocked our world thus far. For a few more pics- check out Nani's (aka Grandma) blog about Keaton over here.P.s. I did not edit this photo and I just think it's too cute!

Little Man

2011-10-02T19:11:00.003-04:00

12 days late- Keaton Stall finally made his arrival on September 26th at 2:53 am weighing 7 lbs and 8 oz.
7 days in the hospital and just a few more to go and we can take him home.Here is my little man, my baby burrito.

More pics and birth story to come.

Nesting

2011-09-20T01:05:00.001-04:00

So, this funny thing happened. My child didn't come on his due date... last Wednesday incase you haven't heard. Or near his due date, he actually still hasn't come as of yet... it's Tuesday ( and since I pretty much have some contractions all the time, I just tell everyone I'm always in labor, though right now I'm having some pretty good ones, so you never know). :)However, the point of the story is nesting, so let me get there. See the thing is I'm a planner by nature-- I cannot always comment for the execution of my plans, but I have them. And on large issues (such as having a child, I usually finish them in a timely manner). So, as for being ready to have a baby- I was good and ready by about 39 weeks. And I can definitely now say, I am ready in areas I never even intended to be, since he's pretty much a week late.

But even though I'm good and ready, the nesting instinct will not go away... So, I've been baking (like a fat person) seriously....I was baking around 39 weeks because I was starting to run out of things to do- I had made cakes, homemade cinnamon rolls, cookies, the list goes on. But last Wed/Thursday I had light timely contractions for like 16 straight hours and thought I might be on the edge of labor... so I of course decided to bake some more to take my mind off things and because I read a few blogs that say baked goods can help make the nurses be more friendly to you. So, I made cookies with full intentions of giving them to the nurses.

Needless to say my contractions failed to bring about a child, so I had a large batch of chocolate chip cookies, and after 3 days when I had yet to go into true labor- they went into the freezer, because noone likes stale CCC. However, since the cookies weren't technically for me, I decided I needed to make a recipe I found on pinterest. Dark chocolate orange coconut haystack things minus the almonds and yes these were for me. These are so right up my ally and they were easy to make and delicious.

But then I decided Jake really needed a dessert that I could freeze that he could he eat post baby. So, last night I made the thing he's been begging me to make. Pumpkin Whoopie Pies Amish style. After we visited Amish country last month Jake has been talking about them, so I found a recipe and last night at like 9 pm I started baking them. I used a different filling recipe, one that seemed more true to the way they make them in Lancaster. And while I had a few licks last night as I made them, I did not have a whole pie. I asked Jake before he went to bed, how many he wanted me to keep out, and he said 2. So, I kept out 2 for him and 1 for me. I did not even set them all together.... and when I woke up this morning ALL 3 WERE GONE. He had taken them to work. I about freaked out, I text him right away and he just blew it off with the whole "oh I thought they were all for me routine". I somehow played it cool despite the fact that I am 10 months and 1 week pregnant and was definitely eating that for part of my breakfast (the unhealthy part), but the point of the story is not whoopie pies--- though Jake said he shared them at work and people said it was the best thing they'd ever tasted.
The point is nesting.... you can do it all or you can do nothing, and you will still HAVE to find something to do. I definitely have more things in my freezer than I've ever had before. I just think it's crazy how God made hormones and the body work to give such surges of energy to complete tasks. I just hope some of that carries over post baby.

And I hope this baby comes soon, because the last thing I need is another batch of dessert, but if he doesn't come soon- I know I'll start making something.So, here is to IMMINENT labor (please), amazing hormones, and whoopie pies.

And a tiny bit of belly, I couldn't quite get out of the photo. :)

30+

2011-09-12T23:09:00.004-04:00

I know my blog has suffered friends, but in addition to being crazy busy at work the past 2 weeks, I also have no pictures and therefore nothing to blog about... I mean not really nothing, I've been pregnant for 10 months tomorrow- I should have some things to say... but since I can't even think about what they are...
I leave you with this...
I know I look frazzled in the last photos, but I like it because it's true to my state of being... as I anxiously await the biggest change of my life ever. And yet I'm excited because these photos bring me one week closer to him.

P.S. can we talk about how huge my belly is from 38 on, seriously...
Click to enlarge the image- it's more fun that way. :)

Lancaster, PA

2011-09-01T12:13:00.006-04:00

Last weekend, Jake had several days off and I asked him to take me on a short little jaunt over to Dutch-Amish country in Lancaster, PA for a babymoon. Jake scoffed at the idea and said no. However, the next morning he woke up with a greater sense of adventure and said if we could scratch the word babymoon, he wanted to go.
So, literally we're planning a day trip in like 10 minutes before we set off to go. It ended up being a great time together, and the local countryside was one of the most beautiful things I've ever seen. I wish I had taken better pictures of their local life, but we didn't. It was so cool to see every single farm house with their laundry out drying on the line. The roads were literally filled with buggies, horse and poop along the sides, and Jake and I stopped for a few treats. Here are the few pictures I did take.

The town is very famous for Smorgasbord restaurants where you eat as much as you want, but you share it family style with people around you, maybe even people you don't know. But since it was lunch and I'm pregnant- we opted for a regular dine in, however at every table they had homemade butter and applebutter, and you can see that Jake here set no limit for his butter intake.

I ate their traditional shoofly pie, a pie that is made completely out of sugar- seriously...

And as you can see the baby and I liked it alot!

Later that day we drove by someone's farm and saw this sign... We just pulled right up to their house- I was slightly concerned about this scenario, but as we got closer to their farm- lots of other people were actually there too.

They had a little baby calf for people to pet.

And the most amazing fresh lemonade and rootbeer. The rootbeer wasn't exactly to my liking cause you could actually taste the root almost, but Jake loved it. They had their kids selling it out of the barn, and you could even buy it in half gallons, it was pretty cool.

We ate, shopped, walked, drove-- the area goes on for several towns, so you kind of have to drive to get around, but it was the best little impromtu ~~babymoon~~ day-trip we ever did have. :)

36 weeks-- 9 months-- 3/4 a year--- a Long time.

2011-08-24T00:36:00.007-04:00

So, I know I'm terribly untimely at these posts. But it's harder than you think to remember to take a picture within a specific week, (since I have to look half decent and Jake has to be home to snap the shot)-- and then upload the picture within that week and then post the picture within that week. However, I digress... this is me in all my pregnant glory. Somewhat sarcastically said. :)

Honestly, I still feel great and I know I look pretty good, but this belly is really something, much rounder from last month it's no joke
(Take a look)

... and I still have possibly 3 or more weeks to go, so we will just have to see how all this all turns out.
I am very excited, but I can't say that I am ready to be a mother either (in my heart yes, but not in the actual present). :) I am completely happy with this little booger just cookin' a way in there. He and I have spoken he knows he's not allowed to celebrate his birthday til at least September 11th and he agreed.
Isn't he sweet? I thought so too. :)
For now....

Featured- And feeling fancy!

2011-08-18T00:44:00.009-04:00

I finally got caught up in my google reader. And when I did, I realized I was featured on Just a Girl Blog. Just a Girl hosts Show and Share parties, where people can link to projects they've been working on and I linked the dresser we refinished. Sometimes 100's of people will link to what they've been working, but she featured mine. Which is pretty cool! I'll have to tell Jake since he really did all the work. I mean finding those handles was hard work, but he did sand the thing for like a week. :)

Here's to hard work!

Nursery Reveal

2011-08-16T22:39:00.003-04:00

I uploaded Keaton's nursery onto Project Nursery. A design site that I got loads of inspiration from in my early stages of planning. I was even on the front page for a wee bit when I first uploaded it.

This is a website that if the topic interests you-- you could literally waste hours clicking through each post seeing each person's own creativity. So, here is the link to "Keaton's Cool Space" and of course you don't have to vote, but you can if you wanna. :)

While, I totally love the room that I created for him, I find that it's rather simple compared to many of the other nurseries on there, and yet that's kind of what I love about it too. I don't know what toys or books or things he'll like, so why crowd his room with such things until I know. A few more things have yet to be added, but that's the jist-- Being done, reminds me how close his arrival truly is.
Enjoy and Lots of Nursery Love!

Feature Friday

2011-08-12T12:29:00.004-04:00

I know you all got a tiny nursery sneak peak in the little pregnancy shoot Jake and I did the other day, but I'm not quite ready for the final reveal.
However, one thing that has been ready for quite a while is the DIY art that Jake and I made for above the changing table.
I got the inspiration originally for a barnwood art piece from All Things Thrifty Blog and then began looking around pinterest etc for similar ideas. I asked Brooke at ATT where she got her barnwood and she let me know that someone just gave it to her.
Jake and I were not so lucky, we even went driving around asking people that had old stacks of wood on their property, but no one would donate to our little project.

I decided we would just distress some wood instead. So, we literally bought brand new wood with the intent of making it look old. Jake banged it up (his favorite part) and then we stained it.

We then had to decide what to put on it-- Jake of course wanted the Plato quote, "of all the animals, the boy is the most unmanageable", but I wasn't quite feeling that. :) So, I kept looking til we found the quote we finally chose.

However, since I don't own any type of vinyl making contraption, which is how my inspiration project made it's quote-- I had to look around on the internet for where to purchase affordable vinyl.
I seriously got several quotes over $50 dollars and then one beautiful price quote for $27 from an etsy dealer. He literally had a proof for me to look at within an hour, and I received it 2 days later.

The only thing left was to apply it. And here it is!

Photo Shoot

2011-08-11T00:51:00.001-04:00

Awhile back I blogged about how we got a new camera to take better pictures of our baby, family and the years to come.
Well, Jake totally took to the instruction booklet with more vengeance than myself. I know how to use the auto feature and that's about it. I told Jake I wanted to try and take a few "pretty pictures of me being pregnant" and he was totally up for the challenge. As mentioned in that previous post, if you spend enough $ on a purchase, it can easily cross over into the "man toy" category as this purchase did.
Anyway, after I mentioned this to Jake, he totally tried to start spotting places that would be a good backdrop for photos. I knew I wanted to take a few at home, but we ended up at the local apple orchard near our house. After asking a few local neighbors, we got the OK to shoot and had a lot of fun.

This was the day before 35 weeks, so I know I have a huge round belly, but I still have a few weeks to go.

K tutorial

2011-08-08T23:02:00.002-04:00

On Pinterest a few months back I saw this letter k, that someone had posted.

Pinterest of course let's you follow a picture to the link of where it was posted. I knew that many people have used a site craftcuts for a lot of similar projects, but when I looked in their font collection, I didn't see anything that matched this. So, I asked the author of the blog and she kindly wrote back and told me someone had made it for her several years before.

So, my next obvious choice was to go to my very own "make it" guy and see if he could do something similar.
My handy hubby had a good idea for how to make our very own k as seen below.

First find the font you want. I, of course wanted mine to be similar to the one featured.
We then printed the letter to the size of a full sheet of paper. Jake then took that sheet and had it blown up at Staples, to 2 feet tall- the size I wanted my k to be.

Next, Jake purchased some mdf board at Home Depot and "traced" the letter with an exacto knife to leave an imprint on the board.

He then cut out the letter using his jigsaw, I wasn't home when he did this, but I can imagine that it took much precision and care. He had extra mdf, just in case he messed up. He didn't need it though. :)

Here is the letter cut out.

We of course painted it, and got some hardware to hang it on the wall. Here is the final look. Pretty close to the inspiration idea, if I do say so myself.

More full room pics, (so you can see this in perspective) will be coming very soon.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Feature Friday

2011-07-29T23:02:00.005-04:00

Today, I am featuring a nursery piece. I knew all along I wanted a short chest of drawers dresser to act as my changing table and also just a statement piece in the room. I had an idea in my mind of the style and knew I was unlikely to find it in a store. So, we of course went to Craig's List. After searching for a few weeks, I finally found one that wasn't already claimed and drove immediately to get it. CraigsList is less popular in this area, so it takes longer to find a good find, and I thought this was pretty good at $90. The only hangup it was painted a hideous lavender flat paint color (in what looked like several coats).

*** WE DID NOT TAKE A BEFORE PICTURE, I don't know how we missed it, but here was another piece they "threw in" to the sale, and it was the same color. So, you get an idea.

Here is the full piece without drawers, it had actually taken weeks of work to get to this stage. The paint had several coats of lavender, then white or prime, under that part of it had red. So, Jake actually used an all natural paint melter-- it wasn't a stripper, just something that softened the paint, so you could sand and pull it off. Jake had to sand for weeks because of all of the crevices.

The drawers all had multiples holes and needed lots of puttying and mending after sanding.

And there it is in the nursery all baby blue, glossed and smooth, it looks pretty good.
I just wish I had a before pic, (I even went back and tried to find the CraigsList ad, lol)

Got these knobs at BRU on clearance, there was only one pack, the woman there helped me round up 2 more packs from other stores. She went to soo much trouble for me. So appreciate her.

And a little closer up

So, that's my feature this Friday. Much more to show from the nursery. Do you have anything you're working on?

32 weeks = 8 months!

2011-07-26T22:51:00.006-04:00

Ok, so maybe I am 33 weeks pregnant now, but I have just not been able to find the time to blog (bad Stacia). However, when I do find time blog, it will be loaded with good stuff, since I've been so busy.
Things feel like they are finally coming together as we prepare for K's arrival. And my carseat comes in the mail tomorrow, so now I know that if I went into early labor- I could at least get my kid home, and I'm sure we'd be good from there. :)
Having said that, I don't expect any early labor, I have a lot of work planned up until his arrival, so a timely arrival (not early or late would be ideal), but only time will tell.
Ok, well enough chit chat. Here's the bump, though it might have grown since then...

I actually can D-I-Myself

2011-07-02T12:12:00.001-04:00

So, nesting has pittered out on me. Now, I just feel the feelings of nesting without actually doing anything about it. It's not as successful as being motivated to work every waking moment of the day... this is why you haven't seen any more recent pics of my nursery. THIS HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH MY OBESSION WITH PINTEREST AND THE MANY HOURS I WASTE EACH DAY "PLANNING" to nest. :)

If you haven't checked out pinterest it's a wonderful virtual idea. Every single day for years I have bookmarked ideas, sites, recipes on my computer. My bookmarks were out of control, well now with pinterest you can simply "pin" the idea to their site. Which is really nice because you don't have to have YOUR COMPUTER to show it to someone else, or look it up.

Anyway, I got off on a little pinterest tangent. I actually have been doing some things around the house. I just haven't blogged about them. I have several sewing projects going, along with a few things for Keaton's room. It can become easy to start a project and harder to finish. However, I finished one, so I'm excited to share. I made a cute little envelope fold pillow cover. I won't tell you I "whipped it up in 30 minutes" like some blogs online. But I finished it in two sit down settings using this tutorial from HowDoesShe? and it really was pretty easy. I want to add a button to the envelope fold on the back, but am leaving that for the do it later pile as I've never made a button hole and find myself scared to try.

Here it is:

Me sewing it up

Front

Back- this is where I want to add my button

Here's the new addition-- I also would like another new addition in some orange fabric. I've posted my favorites and they can be seen on pinterest. :)
See, how that came full circle.

Camping- Preggo Style

2011-06-29T11:54:00.001-04:00

Jake and I have wanted to go camping as long as we've been in Jersey, but you really have to go between like May and September for the weather to be appropriate. Obviously last year we were barely getting settled in and this year I'm pregnant. However, I told Jake, "let's just do it...this weekend" cause I know I have a really busy summer until like August, and well then I may look and feel like a beached whale, so strike while the iron is hot....

So, we started calling around, found the only campsite that would take us for only one night (me working on the weekends crowds into the timing too) and booked it.
The place we camped was really nice, aside from sleeping in a tent, I wouldn't exactly say we roughed it. We have enough nice camping gear to cook and do what we want, and this place had bathrooms a jaunt away. Then down the street they had the coolest little shops, the whole place kind of looked like elf cottages, so we did that and one of my friends met up with us too.

Our little tent home

Aside from waking up to "squat pee" approximately 5 times that night- it was a nice little getaway.
Please excuse my frizzy hair, I had a hard time justifying getting "ready" to go camping, but later when I saw the camera I remembered why Southern girls are supposed to always have their "face on".

My other second home. :)

Elf Village

S'mores-ing it up. Half the reason I go camping.

The reason I might possibly look like a beached whale in August. Roasted marshmallows.
Since I gave Jake a firepit for Father's Day, I've made them at home too.
Tsk,tsk I know.

28 weeks

2011-06-25T11:43:00.003-04:00

I forgot to hold up my cute lil' 28 weeks sign, so I might have to take another to keep my flow going.
However, I did take a few photos Wednesday night that show my 7 month pregnant belly. It's funny cause most days I get "you're so tiny" still, but after someone says that inevitably someone else says something like, "wow, you've really grown" or "you're getting big" or "you're about to pop".
This simply leads me to believe that noone really knows what it looks like to be pregnant at any stage, cause every person looks different at their own stage anyway.
Though I will say I think both my sis-in-laws were tinier than this at 7 months.
Anywho.
Here's my kickin' little Keaton poking out. :)

Family Time

2011-06-16T09:19:00.000-04:00

As mentioned in my last little cupcake post we visited North Carolina for Memorial Day weekend and had a fabulous time with Jake's brother/my cousin (they are married) and their two kiddos. One of whom just graced the world with her presence on Mother's Day weekend, Ms. Ella Morgan. It was so nice to be near family and Jake and I got a little baby practicing in too. We did some serious eating, baking and hanging out.
Here are a few pics from our fun time! Love you guys.

Uncle Jake and Ella, his hand is half her body...so tiny.

Little man Aiden

Ella Pondering... Actually Jake was very proud, he propped her into this position. :)

Cute as a bow.

The only picture we took together all weekend. :)

Just the beginning of summer fun...

Rootbeer cupcakes

2011-06-13T09:19:00.001-04:00

A few months back, I saw a post on another blog for rootbeer float cupcakes. The idea got in my mind and settled there and would not leave. When I finally decided I had to have them (hmm...pregnancy craving?) I could not find root beer extract/concentrate anywhere. So, we hit up one of our local farmer's markets and I blogged about that here and luckily they had just the product. So, when some of our friends visited from Texas a few weeks back (I just now realized, I never blogged about their trip here, woops), I just had to make them. We were so impatient in wanting them, we ate them hot out of the oven with the icing practically dripping off, and they were UH-mazing.

The thing about the recipe is... it only makes 12. Which for my pre-pregnancy waistline is a good thing, but when sharing with friends they disappear like hotcakes. So, since I had to give so many away, I decided to make them again when we visited N. Carolina last week (blog to come on that soon).
So, here are just a few pics of these interesting little cakes and please use the recipe from HowSweetEats to make your own set of 12. The first time I put a little extra extract and I think it might have been better, but it depends how subtle you want the "hint of rootbeer" to be, regardless add them to your baking to do list.

I also did not add the hot fudge on top because I was too impatient, but I'm sure it was a nice addition. XO Cupcakes and Love

Feature Friday

2011-06-10T16:01:00.005-04:00

As soon as Jake and I moved in we knew we wanted to change the backyard to include a concrete slab. We both love to be outside in the summer, sit on the patio and of course grill, and it's just really hard to do all that in grass. So, after much debate as to whether we should Do It Ourselves or hire out, we hired out, because on this project the cost was only a little more, and the labor was obviously WAY easier.

Here is the before

And here is the after- soon a little firepit will be out there too (but shh don't tell cause it's Jake's "father's day present")

Look how much greener the grass is... that's all Jake, he's obsessed. :)

Early this spring we also planted some rose bush bulbs in the backyard. We did this because I LOVE roses and the ground is really acidic here, so they actually grow quite well. Three of the bushes have taken and one is still sitting angry and lonely (aka near dead). However, one of the bushes actually gave a full on huge bloom this last week (sadly, I didn't catch a photo of it). However, it was really cool for the first season of planting, cause they say you don't normally get blooms. I can't wait til next spring for some real blossoms.

24 weeks

2011-05-28T22:26:00.000-04:00

Somehow I am 6 months pregnant. Still feeling awesome, but definitely nesting and wondering where the year has gone. A small reminder of how fast life will continue to pass once little Keaton is here. Knowing that someday down the line, I will be looking at his life and wondering the same thing, where has all the time gone.
At the beginning of 2011 (before I even know I was preggers), I decided I wanted a phrase for the year, that would be my mantra, that I would try to work on all year long. I chose the phrase, "be present". And I am trying very hard to "be present" in every day, every stage, every memory along the way. Here's just a little peek at my pregnant self.

I feel pretty big for 6 months, but I've always been a curvy girl. :)

Feature Friday

2011-05-27T22:38:00.007-04:00

You thought this segment had died out, but alas you're wrong. I just have to have something to feature. And now I do, because Jake woke me up at the crack of dawn last Saturday (7:30 is the crack of dawn to me people). I have no kids remember? And for now I cherish this. Back to the point, he woke me up to do some spring landscaping. We finally finished all our beds, planted a few more trees, put in some lighting and moved all the rocks around. It looks pretty good if I do say so myself.

Our very first house photo, the day we arrived last year. There is a dandelion garden going on by the steps.

This is our front bed, before we started adding a few plants a few months back

In March after the worst of the frost, we added boxwoods to cover the foundation and azaleas in front of that (which are very hardy here) and already had a beautiful spring bloom. This was as far as we got in the front yard in March.

And here's the bed after all our hard work.

You can see we planted two trees to help frame out the door.

Here is a house shot, a lot of change for one year. The coloring is beautiful
Jake has been working hard on the grass, almost too hard in my opinion. :)

Jake took this shot of our planted annuals because he loves our camera. It does take some really nice pics.

So, there you have it. Waking up early on Saturday, can apparently be very rewarding.

We have done a WHOLE lot to the backyard as well. I will save that for my next Feature Friday, to be posted on another Friday very soon.
We are going to North Carolina for Memorial Day to Jake's brother and my cousin's new house, apparently they have been doing some yard work of their own. Gotta love summer!

Nursery Paint Reveal

2011-05-20T00:22:00.000-04:00

I know last time I left you hanging, but it's more fun that way sometimes. So, as I said we've painted our nursery. We actually had a few colors picked out and then last minute I changed my mind and decided I wanted to go lighter and I'm so glad I did, cause I think the color we picked out is dark enough.

I have on more than one occasion painted an entire room and then repainted, so I've learned the hard way to just by the $2.33 paint sample in the color you want and try it first. So, we did and I loved it.
But before we could even go back to the store to buy the whole gallon, I was inspired by something I had seen before on the Young House Love blog. A painted ceiling, you can see my inspiration here. I had obviously seen it many times in their photos, but until I was doing my own never really considered it. However, just thinking about my little guy staring up at the ceiling all the time, it seemed like a fabulous idea. And here it is...

I didn't actually test try the blue (Cool Jazz-Behr Ultra), it was so light on the can, but a little darker in person, but it's totally grown on me. And then of course, if you cheated and looked at the walls, you can see my test spots and you know we went with yellow (banana cream- Behr Ultra). So, here the whole she-bang.

These weren't taken with the greatest light, so I'll have to catch some more pics later, but that's where we are... a super fun, light and airy place. The crib is of course brown, so it's sets off these colors great, and I will post more pics of that very soon.

Painting a Nursery

2011-05-17T23:47:00.006-04:00

So, after we found out we were having a boy. I only 2 bedding options to choose from- that I had previously picked out.

And while many of you said you liked the ABC bedding, it just didn't exude the cool, neutral, "fits into the rest of my home" vibe I was going for. So, I opted for the argyle pattern that I had seen and loved.
With my nesting urges in full effect, I had to of course purchase the set since it would be the jumping off point for the rest of the room (and I'm totally ready for project nursery). However, once it came it brought the next set of questions. What color to paint. A few trips to Home Depot and Lowe's brought me these...

...a zillion color samples, and the choice of what color to paint. Light orange, yellow, green, blue, aqua, so many choices. That pic is literally only a portion of all the samples I brought home.
However, before you cast your vote the nursery is already painted. Thanks to a couple people tipping us off to this invention the painting took place in literally no time. Now, if only we'd purchased that tool 5 rooms ago. :)
Anyway, I will reveal our fun colors soon enough. For now you must wait! :0

Family addition

2011-05-16T00:11:00.004-04:00

We have a new addition to our family. Not Keaton, he's due in September. We got this baby....

The new Nikon D5100 released last month. We almost, almost went with the D90, but since it was released in 08' and despite it's stellar picture taking abilities is already much outdated in tech terms, and especially video recording abilities. We went with a slightly lesser, but much newer model.
I mean it can record in 1080p for goodness, as if we need that. So far Jake has been the mastermind behind the camera, but I can't wait to take a few pics of my own and start posting them.
Here is just one fun thing Jake did with the Nikon.

Much more Nikon love to come.

20 weeks means blue

2011-05-03T00:07:00.002-04:00

So, here are my 20 weeks (yes, that's the start of 5 months people) photos from last week.

No need to take morning and night shots any longer, cause I look preggy all the time now. :)

And of course with 20 weeks comes that glorious anatomy appointment and that is where we found out that

It's a boy. I cried in my mind a little, but then I went to BabiesRUs and registered, bought some baby shoes at Target and made blue cupcakes and felt much better.
It's not that I don't want a little boy, I do. I just wanted a little girl first, so I didn't have to worry about ever having one. I mean if you have a girl first you can have all the rest with no pressure of wanting a girl. But I digress, we are of course brilliantly happy, and know that all will be perfect in the end!

Here's to little shoes and baby blue!

Celebration

2011-04-27T00:21:00.002-04:00

So, Jake and I celebrated our official 3 year anniversary a few weeks back.

We of course had to keep up our annual tradition of cupcakes. While I wanted to go to several places, my buddah belly doesn't need any extra help growing so we just went to one local place Bake Works and everything we tried was delish.

We then went to a super old and locally famous restaurant The Knife and Fork Inn in downtown Atlantic City, it's like an old 3 story house looking place. Jake ordered a 2 lb lobster and me a steak, planning to share but when they brought it out they put the lobster in front of me.
It was so big people were staring, so I told Jake I was keeping the lobster, even though he ate most. :)

The next day we drove a few miles to hit up our local Pennsylvania Dutch Amish Farmer's Market. Jake bought a pound of candy and I bought a bookshelf, (to be seen later).
While I shopped Jake did this...

He supposedly had lost all his energy because he needed to eat. So, we ate local Amish food and the restaurant owner convinced Jake to come back for some pig roasting party??? If we attend I'll let you know about that later. Happy to enjoy some alone time, before that all dies. I'm not in denial, I know it will. So, we soak it up while we can. :)

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

HELP

2011-04-19T21:06:00.006-04:00

So, next week I will be 20 weeks (halfway) and also find out the sex of the baby. I know it's just "nesting" but I feel like I've done jack diddly...oh wait I have done jack diddly and need to get my butt in gear. Seriously though, the next few months have a lot in them, so I know I need to get moving while I can still move and bend with ease.
- What we have done:
Prime the nursery to white, so we can paint.
Buy nursery furniture (some) we have a crib and dresser.

Ok that's it. That's the end of my list. Yes, I know there's only 2 things on it. :) Which is why I need your help. I know if I choose some baby bedding, it will really spur me to get the ball moving with the rest of the room and where I want it to go. So, if you read my blog, but never comment please lend your opinion on this one.
I am going to post some girl fabrics and ideas I like and then some boy, please comment on your favorite girl and boy pattern to help me decide.

Girl: (the first 4 are fabric options if I picked my own from etsy)
Option 1- I like B,D,E

Option 2- I,J, M???

Option 3- I like A,D,E

Option 4- A,B and maybe a solid color?

Option 5

Option 6

Option 7

Option 8

Option 9

I know that's alot of options, but that's why I'm asking for your help.

Boy: I only have a few cause I kind of know what I like.

Option 1 (ABC- so cute)

Option 2 (minus the animal quilt, take the bedding and add surf theme)

16 weeks

2011-04-04T20:02:00.002-04:00

Since I live a million miles from everyone I love. Every few weeks, I'll post a picture with my growing status. Here I am today at 16 weeks (17 on Wed).

Of course my two morning shots

Little baby.

And then of course I have to post a pic after dinner, cause that's when my little friend really decides to reveal herself (himself).

Don't worry for the time being, it will go back down in the morning. Not sure how long that will last. More to come.

Feature Friday

2011-04-01T10:13:00.002-04:00

I know you all thought Feature Friday had all but died, because I didn't post anything for my entire first trimester, but it hasn't. With the return of sunshine and my energy, I want to continue showing you a few rooms. Today I'm featuring our upstairs TV/game room. The photos aren't great, cause I lost my camera charger and used my iPhone, but you get the idea.

Here's the before

And here's some of the after
Alot of the stuff is the same, but with new paint and decor, I think there is a different feel.

Our old dining table acts as a game or tv dinner table.

Jake also ripped out a bar thing the previous owners had put in, we'd like to maybe put a window seat with book shelves in that area. We will see.

Nothing special, but here is the opposite view and our game closet.

I wish the lighting were better, cause I got this lamp at Target awhile back and I just love it. It seems so shiek to me. Jake and I are going to get a nice camera this year before the baby comes and someday, I might have to update these pics.

I love this piece of art as well, also from Target.

This room aside from the kitchen is where we spend a lot of time, so I like that it's still livable.
A little paint goes a long way! :)

In Defense of Country Music

2011-03-16T17:15:00.001-04:00

I love country music. Now, I'm not a total diehard, you'll hear me listening to a bunch of other stuff too. But there is just something about country that is right with the world. I mean it talks about Jesus, forgiveness and love as much as any genre can. But it also talks about life, problems, the forgotten virtues of respect and honor. It makes room for the mistakes of youth and doesn't take life too seriously.
I know this is a funny thought, but I know when I've listened to it before I've thought, I wish the church could more like country music. Teaching love, Jesus and respect, but without so much judgement involved.
Now, obviously not every country song exemplifies this, but the spirit of country music does. You just get in your car, turn it on and forget about all your problems. And all is right in the world again.
Maybe I'm just missing the south, I've lived elsewhere too long now.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Barely there

2011-03-15T14:29:00.003-04:00

I took these photos last week, I meant to post them all week, and of course didn't. However, tomorrow I will be 14 weeks pregnant, so if I don't post them today, they won't even be valid anymore. So, here goes my "barely there" baby bump.

This is me sucking in, like I had to do for the past 3 months at work, can just barely see my little bump.

This is me (in the morning) finally just letting my little baby hang out.

And then here's the big whammy, me at 11 o'clock at night after I've eaten too much and let everything settle.

Yep there's a baby in there!
I will post some more in a few more weeks. My little journey begins.

Love and babies

2011-03-07T16:37:00.002-05:00

In my last post I mentioned how I hadn't blogged much lately and I have to admit it was partly due to this

That's right I have a little bun in the oven, for anyone who has yet to know. After I saw those two pink lines in January.

I found it so much harder to blog. Whenever I blog, I find myself in an honest place, just writing about whatever I want to, and when I had a huge secret it felt like I couldn't just be free to write and so I didn't.
But now that the news is open to the world, I actually went to my blog first (even before facebook) to let my virtual friends know.
So, while I promise this won't become a preggy blog, I'm sure it will affect my stories, cause the little thing inside me is part of the story now.... For good.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Did a month just pass?

2011-02-28T12:30:00.001-05:00

I earnestly had every intention of posting at least one single post in the month of February, but alas I have failed. Since, I started this blog in 2008, I have rarely gone one whole month without blogging. All day yesterday I kept thinking go blog real quick, so you at least have something in the month of February, but somehow I still missed it. It's not like I don't have anything to say, cause I do.
This month was Valentines, Jake and I celebrated by going back to Buddakan, I took pictures of that, but posted nothing. I have almost finished my craft room, and yet I didn't post about that. I am making a spring wreath, we started landscaping, we have done a ton of fun things with friends, I have a game night, I made valentines cupcakes, but even with all that I managed nothing. So, in the spirit of a new beginning in a new month, here's to regular blogging and lots of new exciting posts.
Did I mention I love spring and I can't wait for it to be upon us. The renewed sunshine will hopefully give me inspiration too.
For now!

(Post script the best thing just happened, when I posted this blog, I realized it's still the last day of February, I thought it was March. I snuck in a blog afterall. Woohoo!)

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Feature Friday

2011-01-21T00:23:00.003-05:00

My best friend described this space as the perfect mix between masculine and feminine. I agree. It should feel that way because Jake picked out the furniture and bedding. Soon, I will add to this post a picture of our new rocking chair. Jake picked that out too. :) If you know the story, you know why I'm laughing right now.

I picked the art, lamps and flowers, the girly stuff of course. We escape in this space and I love that.

Wall art by Vol. 25 from Etsy. Loved her stuff.

M to the A to the C

2011-01-20T12:34:00.000-05:00

Thanks to my hubby for tree farming all Christmas long cause now I have one of these shiny babies. What's really funny is 4 years ago when I used to blog on myspace, I have a post with the exact same title when I got my first mac. Here's to the first of many.

MLK

2011-01-17T23:10:00.000-05:00

It's funny because this last Saturday night at church, I was talking with some 3rd graders about the Israelites, and we were talking about how different they lived from us and one of the girls said, "I know they didn't even have cell phone then". And it's true they didn't. But it just shows how FAR they really are from understanding how different the world used to be (and can still be in other parts of the world now). I wanted to say they didn't have cell phones OR houses made from wood or bricks, or grocery stores or bathrooms or even clean water. It's very hard to communicate the past when we live so radically removed from it.

Today is Martin Luther King Jr. day and I personally have always loved MLK. I think the stand he took for racial equality, for nonviolence, for peace, for change, he was so before his time (which is why he got killed) because people weren't ready for it. But I also think it was so reminiscent of Jesus, who was also a radical for peace and justice. However, back to this weekend because that's what got me started on thinking about how the kids I work with really have no clue about where we've come from (even when they've heard stories all their lives from the Bible). So, they've heard stories all their lives about the Bible and most can't tell you who the Israelites are (the people that are the stars of the show for the entire book). How much less is the Civil Rights movement, and Martin Luther King Jr. talked about. You might think it's talked about in school, but at least when I was teaching it seemed if there wasn't a paragraph about him in some practice test, then you probably didn't learn about him, because social studies is a dying art.

This was only 50 years ago. The pain and hurt of those times linger on because a lot of the injustice continued to occur within my lifetime and in many places it still does. And yet many children/teens don't even why there was ever pain to begin with. We can only be agents of change, if we know what's happened. I know we can't teach our kids everything about everything, but knowing where we've come from, helps us know where we're going. So, if you didn't talk or read about MLK this year, do it tomorrow or this month and preserve the memory of a crusader who stood for truth, love and ultimately Christ.

Feature Friday

2011-01-14T09:00:00.000-05:00

Quite awhile back I asked what you thought of my yellow rug in this post . I told you I would give you a picture of the rest of that room soon after and in a few random posts you might have caught a glimpse, but I really never posted anything. But for the next few weeks I have decided to do something fun, I am going to do a Feature Friday and show you a few of the rooms in my house, that I have been working on. I will say, no room is done, but some are getting closer. So, here is my entry/sitting/dining room for all to see.

The room is big and my camera doesn't have a wide angle lens, so I can't catch the whole thing. But you get the idea.
It's nothing magical, but it's becoming home. See you next Feature Friday!

The Best of 2010

2011-01-12T23:37:00.006-05:00

I know 2010 is good and gone, so I wanted to remember it before it got too far away with a few of my favorite things about it.

#1 Jake and I bought our first home, and this was the first picture I took when we pulled in the driveway.

#2 Two of my best friends from Texas came to visit me. One in San Diego and one in New Jersey. That's a lot of love for a friend to come to Jersey. :)

I got an awesome job at a church, and I get to look at things like this all week long. "Let the children come to me"

We repainted our kitchen cabinets, re-tiled the floor and bought an island. My kitchen is almost pretty now.

We got to see our family and precious nephews and of course document it with a picture!

And this last photo actually took place on January 3rd, but the action happened in December, my hubby made 1st class in the Coast Guard. Good job baby!

So many more things could be mentioned, but if I mentioned them all, these wouldn't be the best now would they?
Happy 2011!

Is it really 2011?

2011-01-07T00:23:00.002-05:00

Happy New Year!
I know I'm totally lame for not posting for like a month, but I was busy people....
We visited Florida over the Christmas holidays and I will post a few pictures from that soon. We spent some time with our adorable nephews and it was a nice retreat from daily life.
Now, I am back at work and back in action. We are painting, organizing and prepping for the small group we will host for our church starting next week. And of course I've been spending LOTS of unnecessary time on my new MacBook Pro simply because it's new. Lots to post soon.
XO

Holiday Treat Tutorial.

2010-12-17T01:18:00.004-05:00

Last week I had the pleasure of having a Christmas party for all the volunteers at my job. Anyone that knows me, knows I love to throw a party and so we did. We asked everyone to bring treats (myself included) and the first thing that came to my mind was the chocolate covered pretzel rods I made for my birthday. I got SOO many comments about them, and I just knew they'd be a great treat. So, today I am showing everyone else how to make these fun creations. I will say having made them twice now, that they are easy to make, but also very time consuming if you prepare them alone, last time I had help from my friend Brandi, that was the way to go.

All my ingredients. If you notice there, these chocolate pretzels have a modification, they have a layer of caramel first... YUMMY

First prep an area to lay your rods. I used wax paper and sprayed with cooking spray, the first time I did not spray and the caramel stuck to the paper. Not fun. Once you're all ready melt your caramel

Dip your rods into the caramel as far as you can, leaving just a little stem, Let the excess drip off.

Lay them out beautifully for all to see (and of course dry).

After the caramel is firm, dip your rod into chocolate. Pictured here I used white chocolate Wilton melts, but I also did a tray of dark chocolate too.

After you have dipped in chocolate and scraped off the excess, roll in a tray of sprinkles to cover, you can also sprinkle them on, this just takes longer.

And here is the pretty finished product. Last time I had them, I thought I liked the white chocolate better, but this time dark chocolate definitely won.

Crowd pleaser for sure!

Hey Buddy!

2010-12-09T23:58:00.005-05:00

Every year the Coast Guard has a Christmas party. In San Diego Jake and I never attended because apparently the rescue swimmers were "too cool" for it, but here in NJ things are different. Not only do the swimmers attend, they apparently attend in style. By style I mean they all buy matching Buddy the Elf costumes (and one Santa) and show up in a big group like the cool kids making a late entrance. I will say it was fun though.

Jake and me

All the swimmers right after they walked in...

About 2 min. after we got there, the fire alarm went off. It was mass chaos and it persisted for at least 15 minutes. Yes, we exited the building in the freezing cold.

Hitting the dance floor. The elves were not inconspicuous as you can see.

30 something

2010-12-07T23:56:00.002-05:00

My honey doesn't like celebrating on his bday. This year I conceded, and he got the only thing he wanted ribs and a lemon meringue pie.

After getting my KitchenAid mixer this fall, I have really not enjoyed using it as much as I thought, but I will say, it does an awesome job on some meringue. Yum, Yum. Next year, I'm making a double batch.

The day before the most wonderful time of the year.

2010-12-03T12:32:00.001-05:00

Thanksgiving that is....

This year we had friends from Dallas visit and it was such a sweet time. Both clans really like to cook, so we had some seriously AWESOME Thanksgiving food.
We started off by brining the turkey, which in my opinion is the only way to go, so juicy! But our guests also did something amazing, they made green bean casserole with fresh crispy green beans. And my lovely husband Jake made our stuffing with bacon and bacon grease. To say the least it was not a light affair, it was more like gourmet, which we all know means delicious, but totally fatty. Aside from my somewhat soupy pecan pie (which I still licked to the pan) it was delicious and a true celebration of how blessed we are as Americans, but most of all Christians.

That's one pretty plate.

What did you do for Thanksgiving?

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year!

2010-12-02T00:27:00.004-05:00

Jake is working at Christmas tree farm this year, so I have the first real tree I've had in probably 10 years. It's so full and pretty, I love it. Unfortunately the cats do too and have been eating it. I will try to take a picture of that, but for now... just the tree...

Birthday Banner Tutorial

2010-11-19T12:28:00.001-05:00

I did make my own birthday banner from an idea/source I found online. It was really cool to make and probably a lot cheaper too. I got cardstock scrapbook paper on sale, and only used 6 sheets total. It was probably $3.00 or so to make.
I found this article from Martha Stewart, that gave you the font print to start.
I downloaded it and then actually veered a little from the original project, because instead of printing the entire alphabet and making copies, as suggested. I zoomed in to make the letters a little bigger and then took screen shots of the letter I needed. You can do this on a mac by holding apple+shift+4 at the same time. Then you move the arrow to take a photo of whatever you want. So, I literally took photos of the letters I wanted and then moved them into Word and printed them. After, I printed them. I cut them out. And then Jake actually made tiny slits in the top of each one with a utility knife. He placed the letters on a small piece of cardboard while he cut, so as not to bend the letters. Then I strung them on a string, and since you made double cuts in each one, they move where you want and stay there too. It was really easy and I can maybe even use this again, I will definitely save it for awhile and see if I can.

It's no..... Martha

But it's me... And I like it all the same.

26 in Twenty Ten

2010-11-18T17:54:00.003-05:00

Yes, that's me turning 26 in twenty ten. And on this 26th birthday I decided to have my first go at a dessert table. I have followed Amy Atlas for a long time and watched her put together many fabulous dessert tables. I finally decided there was no time like the present to do my own. And I had so much fun. I wish I was more of photographer to get up close shots and show you the process along the way, but I'm not... So, here's what I have. My own little version, it was lots of fun!

We had a full house, it was good to host again, now that we have a couch for people to sit on.

Blowing out those candles. Another year has come and gone.

P.S. I made all those treats myself, and you can see my crete paper streamers as well. I used this tutorial. It's nothing fancy, it just makes your streamers a little more pronounced and secure. 26, here I go.

Birthdays are sew fun

2010-11-15T23:51:00.005-05:00

I mentioned in previous posts that Jake's parents visited for a few weeks in October. While they were here, Jake's mom dropped off her amazing sewing machine to me because she says her sewing days are done. You may remember, I took a sewing class at the beginning of 2010, but I was borrowing a sewing machine from Jake's work, so I haven't had one since June. It's so good to have one around again.
I wasted no time putting it to use, though not in the way you may be thinking. I started sewing not fabric, but paper for my 26th birthday party.

You know I don't need an excuse to throw a party, decorating details to come. I love being crafty!

Muy Delicioso

2010-11-10T01:16:00.000-05:00

We went to the best dinner last week with Jake's parents. If in Atlantic City, go to...

Buddakan is a really interesting fine dining restaurant. They had AMAZING FOOD, but this blog is all about....

Their dessert. They had these cinnamon donut things with cream inside, that I've been dreaming about since, and this dessert literally called the Chocolate Box, with 6 desserts inside. We started with this...

And within minutes we had this....

Visitors beware, we need excuses to go here, so get ready. Yum, Yum!
Donut things I love you. Their pork, fish, and lobster were good too!

Tile Floor in Process

2010-11-06T00:56:00.005-04:00

Torn Down to Nothing

Backerboard and mortar

Almost Finished

Kitchen Complete

Can't Finish without a Before/After

Sooo CLOSE

2010-10-29T00:46:00.002-04:00

I will have finished tile pics soon. The guys did amazing, but now we are waiting for the sealer coat. I can't believe I've been so patient with my house is disarray. But soon, I will lots of finishing pics, as we move into a more settled stage. In other news, this fall weather in Jersey is gorgeous. And the Rangers have somehow made the World Series. Granted they are loosing, but they made it.

Project Home

2010-10-25T23:13:00.003-04:00

That's right no dishwasher, no stove and mass chaos for 7 days and counting.

However, soon enough you will see the after photo of my beautiful new ceramic tile and it will all be worth it!
Major props to my husband and father in-law!

NYC in Review

2010-10-18T09:48:00.000-04:00

my husband is officially handy people

2010-10-16T21:23:00.004-04:00

So, I know I showed all of you THIS.
This annoying, gaping ~~hole~~ cutout that appears in 4 different spots in my house.

Here it is in perspective of the room.

Well, my hubby (with lots of help from me of course), turned that ~~hole~~ cutout into this!
A beautiful bookshelf. I told you in this post that we'd be working on it and got the idea from another blog. And we are finally done. It was a lot of work and a couple hundred dollars, but TOTALLY worth it. Because we kept the cable outlets open and made a hole in the bookshelf, so if future homeowners wanted a TV there, they could put one.

Doesn't it look SO perty? Good job honey, you are SO handy.

NYC

2010-10-06T23:24:00.002-04:00

Since, I am now a Jersey girl. I only live a 100 miles from NYC. And I am making my first trip there in 10 years. My BF from Texas Brittany is already there and I will be joining her tomorrow.
You can expect lots of pics soon, as well as a pic of our finished built-in bookshelf. Jake did amazing by the way! I can't wait to show you, it should be done tomorrow. :)

iN betWeen ProJects

2010-09-29T00:28:00.003-04:00

I mentioned to you before that we have several strange cutouts in our house. Well I am turning one of them into this. Well a bookshelf, but something very similar.

This image was actually taken from Mandi who did the same to one of her own cutouts. We actually already bought the cabinets, and soon I hope to show you what ~~we've~~ Jake has been doing to turn it into a bookshelf.

We also recently went to Ikea. And came home with all this

Apparently when you buy an island at Ikea, you get 18 boxes to put it together. Look close there are a ton of boxes in that room.
So, many in between projects. I hope to show them off soon.

Holy Marshmallow

2010-09-26T00:13:00.000-04:00

Did I tell you about these??? Well, let me just say. They were Jake's idea.... Now, I will say the jumbo sized marshmallow was my addition to the plan. And while they tasted amazing... One was all I could eat a time. The jumbo sized campfire marshmallows were out of control... Take a look.

"Giant Roasters"

The size compared to Jake's ginormous hand.

First cover with chocolate. Then roll in crushed graham crackers.

Jake's monster marshmallows.

Any my pretty ones.

These were SOOO easy and fun to make. If you have kids or are throwing a party for kids. I definitely recommend!

Argonne Rug

2010-09-23T23:44:00.000-04:00

I have totally been feeling bright colors lately. Which really comes as no surprise to me, because my favorite color throughout most of my childhood was orange. I feel bright colors express happy feelings. However, as I've been decorating my first home and reading a million decorating blogs, magazines and websites. I also know that a put together home is one that exudes calming colors and color palettes that don't overwhelm. So, for every bright color I choose, I'm trying to choose a few more that are neutral.
So, I leave you with my new yellow rug and later you'll see the rest of the room somewhat covered in neutrals.

What do you think of turquoise?

2010-09-21T23:12:00.005-04:00

So, what do you think of this lovely color by Martha Stewart, Araucana Teal? I know it's bright, but I love it. I love it so much, that I painted a whole room in it.

I forgot to take a true before pic. This room was peach. But here it is with one coat of primer and some painter's tape....

And here it is with two coats of turquoise. I was half loving it/ half freaking out because it was so bold.

It actually sat in this stage for like 1 month without a mattress or anything.

So, I was thrilled to finally see it in it's completion (or near completion). I feel like all the white and grey and yellow, totally suit the walls and bring it to a much calmer place. I also feel like it looks better in person too. The color seems a little off with my camera.

And of course here's my Emmy jumping in the photo. Love that natural light?

Do you have any crazy colors your feeling right now??
P.S. After seeing the photos on my blog with the turquoise background. I'm chuckling. It definitely feels like a lot of color... tempted to change my background. Hehe

make these this weekend

2010-09-10T15:16:00.004-04:00

Oh my goodness...cinnamon bun sugar cookies. I took this recipe from Jenny at the Picky Palate. She makes up all her own recipes, which I just find amazing, because while I love to cook and bake, I'm not much of one to create.
Anyway, this was sitting on my make soon list for like 3 months, but I kept putting it off, cause it seemed to have a little bit of involved labor. And I will say after making, I still kind of agree with my original thought, but I made it MUCH easier by making the dough from scratch the first day and letting it sit and then coming back and making the buns the second day.

Beware this recipe makes 72 cookies, I still have my second "disc" in the fridge, but I'm planning to make more next week. Jake and I both took them to work, they were so good, but I was afraid of butter overload. ( And that was after I altered the recipe and used less.) Anyway, with the full butter load or not, make these soon!!!

Cabinet Reveal

2010-09-03T10:15:00.002-04:00

So, I just want to prep this post by saying. The kitchen is in no way done. I almost thought about saving a before and after til it was completely done, but I don't think I'm patient enough for that. So, in the name of not being patient here are our newly painted cabinets.

This DIY was very cheap to do, but I don't think I'll go as far as to say it was easy. We had to take the cabinets off sand them, clean them, prime them and paint them twice. And even now it's not perfect. But I do think it looks a million times better and totally exudes the look I was going for and you can't complain about that for $75 bucks.

More to come! XO

Sharing this with

toddlers and tournaments

2010-09-02T10:14:00.000-04:00

I also thought about titling this post...
Babies and Backgammon
Babies and Beanbag toss....
You get the idea right?
The summary of my vacation can be seen in the photos below, Basically... We spent one week in Iowa and played a lot of games, specifically the men played a lot of games. I somehow did not take a photo of the game that was probably played 6-8 hours a day, "CornHole" it's an Iowan version of beanbag toss. However, I did take a lot of photos of all the babies on our trip and there were a few, but overall we had a lot of fun.

I seriously only took like 20 pictures total, (I know I was slacking) and in that short collection there was horseshoes, mini golf, video games, shooting games, balls, you get the idea...
My family likes games, so I guess it's pretty good thing I like games too.

I'm back....

2010-09-01T09:42:00.003-04:00

So, apparently I take very long vacations. :)
It's just that first I went on vacation to Iowa for a week...

Then upon my arrival there was a sweet, sweet gift in the mail from the IRS

And then of course I had to go about spending that gift like crazy. :)

And then there's been work too... So, now we are back to our regularly scheduled programming and I have some exciting things to show around the house.

All in a day's work...

2010-08-14T11:32:00.002-04:00

The progression of a lamp. Well 2 actually. I somehow majorly scored yesterday at the Goodwill. I went in looking for a lamp or pair of lamps. I was aware that finding a pair I would actually like would be slim, but I need lamps all over my house, so I just started looking... I found this one and was in love and then in a totally different section I found it's brother.

The best part was the price, minus my military discount. Woohoo!

Today I got to work with some spray paint, my new best friend. From several other blogs I've read I knew priming with primer spray paint is a good idea... And for $3 bucks at Walmart, I could agree...

After priming it looked like this... I had planned to paint the lamps yellow, but had second thoughts when white was looking so good. I tried them out in the room and stuck with the original plan.

I forgot to take pretty pics in the daylight, because I was in such a rush to put it all together, but here is what we have now... You might be wondering about this room, with turquoise walls and soon enough I will show you this place too.

Kitchen Re-do

2010-08-12T23:31:00.002-04:00

I had made mention in some previous posts, that I have some projects in the works and I definitely do... The first one I will tell you about is my kitchen. Here we have a hunk of brown called cabinets....

And here we have some more.... When we first visited the house, we both agreed that the kitchen was not the highlight. The space was used poorly, the kitchen was very long, with nothing but linoleum to show for it. From first sight we knew we were putting in an island....

And now viola! Just kidding, I wish. This is my goal for end results. I actually snagged this picture from Our Humble Abode after reading one of her older posts on painting her kitchen white.

I literally, wrote to her right away to get some advice and within less than 24 hours had gone to Home Depot and gotten all the supplies needed to beautify my kitchen. I was taking off the cabinets, before I even took "before" pics.

I only asked my hubby to help paint the cabinets white, but after showing him a few pics. He was sold on changing the countertops. We had seen a cheap way doing granite pieces that fit together on a few DIY shows and decided, at some point soon. We'll do that too.

So, we've been painting in all our spare time. And we are actually done, but waiting til after our vacation next week to put the doors back on.
I will go more in depth on how we did this on a later post.
As I just mentioned, we are vacationing in Iowa next week for a family reunion, but I'll be back in action soon enough. Peace and Paint!

Where we're at continued.

2010-08-09T12:57:00.003-04:00

Upstairs media room has all our "old" furniture. By old I mean pretty much every piece of furniture from our apartment fits in here... pathetic, I know.

This room could possibly give the appearance of being done (possibly)

Until you see it from the other view... Yes, it's been like that for 2 months. :(
But we are getting a new TV and apparently a tv stand that will fit in that little cubby, soon enough. Til then we're working with this.

This is the guest bath. This bathroom was gold, so obviously we've worked alot on it so far, with our turquoise, brown and white theme. Picture doesn't do it justice...

But then there's this huge gaping white wall, I'm not sure what I want to put there. I'm thinking an ocean pic.

And last but not least our pathetic blank long upstairs hall.... I would LOVE, LOVE, LOVE something like this from one of my favorite blogs All Things Thrifty, but seeing how I have no children something like that will have to wait a few years.

In some ways I love that I have a blank canvas and in other ways I feel completely overwhelmed and inundated by ideas and things I want to make happen. I have like a million blog ideas saved. But for now we take it one project at a time... Like the one I will reveal soon that we've started on...
For Now! Au revoir

Where we're at now

2010-08-07T23:19:00.006-04:00

So, I know some of you might be thinking. Hello, you've been living in your new house for almost 2 months now, where are some photos.
And that's a good question. Up to this point, I haven't posted any because our house is nowhere near done. Part of the reason we're nowhere near done is because we went from 850 sq ft. to 2600 sq. ft and we had nothing and another reason is because it takes $$$ to create a something out of nothing.
Not that we don't have any $$$, we do and we have actually spent alot, I know we paid Home Depot's light bill last month. But as first time home buyers we qualified for the tax credit this year and we have been ~~irritably~~ patiently waiting for it to come. A package from the IRS did come... Actually 4 weeks ago. It came to tell us we didn't sign some paperwork. Not exactly the envelope I was hoping for... so we signed sent it off and started waiting again. But, we're trying to be good... So, instead of spending our savings or using credit we want to use the tax credit. However, since the waiting game seems to have no end. And even when we do have our tax credit, things won't come together over night. I've decided to show you where we're at so far. And then I will also be able to do before and afters when all is said and done. Plus, in my waiting I've started some other projects. More on that later.
So, here is our place. Our in the middle place...

Cute, but no color..

Second view...

We might be missing a rug here folks...

Attack of the color brown. The chairs are like, "can I have some pillows please?"

I think there should be a couch there. Right?

Usually people have a coffee table and side tables with a couch right?
Don't look at those books still on the floor. They are waiting for a shelf, they don't want to be judged. :P

So, that's only a few rooms, but I will post the other ones soon. Along with, a kitchen project we've started on... Stay tuned. And pray for our tax credit to come. Seriously, it couldn't hurt. :)

I made that

2010-08-03T01:23:00.001-04:00

What do you guys think? Cheesy or cute?

Incase you haven't heard...

2010-07-27T18:01:00.004-04:00

I got a job. My husband can no longer call me lazy and has to contribute to the house cleaning. Which are two of my favorite reasons to have a job, besides the rush I get when I create and take charge of things (which also mostly happens when working). I don't know what it is, but even if I spend a whole day doing important/task oriented things around the house, I never feel as productive as I do in a work environment. But that's a side rant.

As many of you in 2008 I got my teaching credential and have been doing that since and loving it... But for some reason it seems God had something else in mind for me as of late. Literally, everything possible thing that could go wrong, went wrong in the process of trying to get my credential for the state of NJ. In fact, I still don't have it and probably won't for at least another month. (I applied in March). So, obviously, I can't be a teacher without a credential and noone is going to give me a job, if I can't get one until after school starts. So, around the same time when I started realizing that things were going slightly awry, I made a contact with the church Jake and I had started attending Shore Fellowship. They had a position open for the director of their elementary grades. In the meantime I still hadn't given up on trying to be a teacher and applied at a local private/Christian school where I didn't have to have a credential. In the end both places offered me the job, but the school offered me a job not teaching elementary and by then I already felt God really leading me to the job at the church. I never really had any desire to work at a church before this, but it's been great. The last two weeks I have totally been able to exercise my creative side which is just really fun and something I felt I haven't been able to do in a while (even teaching). So, while I love teaching and do want to go back someday FOR SURE. This is where I am right now, and I'm quite content. Plus it's part-time, so I have good hours and still get to sleep in (for now anyway).
Cheers!

Orange Chocolate Cake Recipe

2010-07-23T23:58:00.004-04:00

This is my own mix and match recipe, but I don't tell your friends it's not completely made from scratch.

Cake:
One box devil's food cake
8 oz sour cream
1 pkg chocolate fudge pudding
1 C. fresh squeezed orange juice ( I usually buy the big bag of clementines or small naval orange and use a lot of them)
3 Tbs. orange zest (or more to taste if orange is not strong enough in batter)
4 eggs
1/2 C. oil
Mix all together in mixer, adding eggs last one at a time. Pour into two 8 in. rounds. Bake 30-40 @ 350 or till done.

Orange buttercream (my rendention from Wilton's)
1/2 C. Crisco
1/2 C. butter (soft)
1 tsp. vanilla
4 C. sifted powdered sugar
1 Tbs. milk
1 Tbs. fresh OJ
2-3 Tbs. orange zest

Marshmallow fondant recipe, I use from here
It's actually very easy, but you have to sift your sugar or you can see beads. And since you have to add colors before sugar, when making multiple colors, I cook marshmallows all together and then once melted move to another bowl with color. You do have to work fast, since you have multiple colors coming from one batch, but it taste way better than regular fondant.
Happy Baking!

Two for Two

2010-07-19T12:10:00.000-04:00

So, I have to admit my baking record in New Jersey, has not been great. I have slightly redeemed myself as of late, but a few weeks back I decided to make a blueberry bread pudding I found in my Taste of Home magazine. It has won a reader award for goodness sake. Here it is.... Looks pretty right?

Wrong. It was a disaster. The sauce would not completely SOAK UP for anything. I had to cook it like 30+ minutes extra just to make the sauce gel and then the bread got crunchy. Crunchy bread pudding, doesn't work. Now, I will say, the flavor was amazing, but the texture was all wrong and Jake wouldn't barely touch it. It had like 4 cups of heavy cream and I had to eat most of it, til I just threw it away, because my husband wouldn't.
Then a few days later on the 4th of July, I made these cute little cupcakes you might have seen on FB.

I used a recipe from Martha Stewart, whom I love and rarely fails me. It called for a chocolate cake recipe, that I knew was all wrong. I have baked enough times now in my life, that I know the consistency for how a good cake should be. I have found the bests cakes I have EVER made from scratch, call for almost a cup or more of liquid in some form and usually at least half a cup of oil or something like that as well. I'm not saying, there are not good cake recipes that don't, but as a rule of thumb. Even a box cake, which I hate to admit, but is ALWAYS deliciously moist, calls for a lot of liquid. Well, this recipe had eggs and sour cream and it was like dough. I knew it was wrong, so I added milk. I should have added a lot of milk, but I'm not the greatest at being brave in making my own recipes. Well, the "cupcakes" came out like brownie pucks. Ok, maybe not pucks, but brownies and not very sweet ones at that. Two hours before we were supposed to leave, I threw them in the trash and went to the store and bought a box of red velvet and started over. Jake loved that, let me tell you. :o

But since then, it's been better I made this delicious cherry pie
.
Thank you grandma's recipe site. This recipe was SO easy!

Then I made a delicious banana bread recipe from Martha, that Jake said was the best banana bread he's ever had. He was also very hungry when he said this. I had been struggling to find a good one, so I'm glad I found a keeper. There's no pic, we ate it too quick.
And the cake that is redeeming me back to my former glory was the cake I entered into the bake off at my church Saturday. The cake that took 3rd place and was delicious in my opinion.

If it looks semi familiar, that's because it was supposed to be a replica of the one I made for Jake's birthday last winter. "My best cake to date" Jake says and the dessert he thought I should enter. Proudly enough, also a cake recipe that I kind of came up with on my own after looking at some similar ones. Chocolate orange cake with orange buttercream and marshmallow fondant. If you want the recipe, just ask. The fondant of course is more for decoration than taste. I think this is actually why I didn't do better in the competition, because I usually take the fondant off when serving or just give people a little. The inside was so moist, I just wish I HAD gotten to eat more instead of everyone at the church.

LOVE AND BAKING!!!

You can take the girl out of Texas....

2010-07-18T17:56:00.005-04:00

So, I know this is going to sound ridiculous, but it's true. While living in Texas, I never went to the rodeo (that I can remember). I know I went to the Fort Worth stockyards as a child, which might have possibly included the rodeo, but I don't think so. I know I wasn't a very good Texan. :o
However, since moving to New Jersey I have now officially been to a rodeo. Cowtown, NJ hosts the worlds longest running rodeo in America. Who knew?
New Jersey has just been full of surprises.
Take a peak. I know I went all out on my getup, but I felt my inner Texan trying to prove my cowgirl worth...

Some of the Coast Guard friends we went with, Jason there is from GA he's better Southerner than myself.

I was going on wikipedia the whole time trying to figure out how the events worked, none of us really had a clue.

That's all folks, now you run along and do your thang' and check back here later, now you here.....Ya, like I said I'm not a very good Texan. Cheers!

Saying Bye to San Diego

2010-07-02T10:33:00.000-04:00

So, I know I'm going back in time here, but I never blogged about leaving San Diego. Perhaps because I didn't want too, perhaps because I was too busy, maybe a little of both.

We were actually ready to leave. I think God purposely made the weather really crap for all of 2010 to help shoo us away. It worked. :) But it was still sad, the last week was filled with saying goodbye to friends like every night of the week.

We had to say goodbye to our small group from church. It was sad cause we really had JUST started building good friendships there, but they sent us off with well wishes.

I know I barely even mentioned it to anyone, but we actually did go to the Happiest Place on Earth 2 days before we left. Unfortunately, I forgot my camera, so Woody looks less than desirable on the iphone, but we had lots of fun!

Jake got an awesome achievement award at work the day before we left. It was the last time with his shop in San Diego, but great to leave on a high!

We had to take one last pic.

After that it was road. This is Emmy in her road bed on top of all our luggage. The cats actually did awesome in the car, by awesome I mean they slept for 5 days :)

This was the first photo I took literally as soon I got out of the car, the sun was setting it was beautiful.
But since then I feel like it's been junk everywhere.

I hate to call my things junk, but seriously this pile sat on the floor for a week, until I moved it to..... another spot on the floor of course. We are actually like 80% settled in, but there are still just piles like this in a few places.

Luckily, this specific pile has now found a home. And really most everything is starting to find a home. I guess that's just what it takes... A few weeks or maybe months or maybe years to call some place home. So, with that said I say...
Goodbye San Diego, XO, it was fun, but I'm on to my next adventure...

Painting. :)

What are you eating this week?

2010-07-02T10:11:00.000-04:00

So, I know I have talked about Everyday Food before, but I have to talk about them again, because I love them. However, if I continue to give them free press, I'm going to have to write in and ask for a free subscription. Do you think that would work? Probably not, but it should.
Well, I looked at the food meal plan I made for this week and realized that 4 out of 5 meals came from this magazine. That definitely seemed like a reason to blog, so now I am going to share them with you. Lucky you!

Chicken Tostada Salad, so simple, but so good. The lime juice and red onions really add

Pulled Pork Sandwiches with Cole Slaw. The vinegar in the slaw is awesome.

We all know my love with arugula (and shallots). So, this a favorite but on this one we add Italian turkey sausage, a little parmesan and take out the olives. Flavors are amazing!
Pasta with Roasted Veggies and Arugula

Sticky Chicken Wings. These are so good, but kill your pan, cover with foil.

This is at least the 2nd time to make each of these recipes. I know I had suggested if you buy any magazine, this is the one to buy. But I recently realized they host all recipes on their site. I am not one who prefers to sift through a website to find the pearls, which is why I love the mag, but if you have the time sift away! Happy Eating

Google Reader

2010-06-28T20:21:00.000-04:00

Ok, so I know this post is really boring, but it's one I've been thinking about typing up for a while and it's much easier to type right now than to upload photos.
If you are not using a reader to follow your blogs you are missing out. I am sure some of you are, if you are please dismiss, but if not... Here goes

Before I discovered google reader I would simply go to my blog and click on each link I had attached under my friends and see if they had a new blog up and from there I would often link to other blogs I liked off of the person's blog I had just visited. Sound familiar to any of you?
Well, how google reader works is anytime you go to someone's blog you select follow in the left hand corner, at this point they will pop up in your google dashboard and in a way this feature alone kind of allows you to follow people with more organization. But because blogger is hosted through google, if you will go into their reader program it totally allows you to manage the blogs you haven't read. It puts them in order from newest to oldest and the ones you haven't read are in a darker color, so you know how many you have left to read from each person you follow.

If I'm not making perfect sense with this, then what you need to do is simply go to every blog you like to read occasionally, follow them in that left hand corner and then go to google reader and it will make sense.

Like I said in the beginning, I know this isn't the most fun blogging topic, but I am typing it out because I wish someone had told me sooner how it all worked. It makes blogging reading so much faster and productive. So, anyway try it and let me know what you think!
Muah~

Well, hello there!

2010-06-26T11:49:00.000-04:00

I'm sorry I haven't blogged as of late, but I was literally buried under boxes.

And I didn't have the internet for 3 weeks, but I have it now, so no excuse. Many blog adventures to come...
These were the light pictures, I was too busy to remember to take pics when we had the "big loads"

Sewing Fun

2010-06-04T14:24:00.001-04:00

So, I actually have sewn a few other things in the last few months. The first is a dress I had to make for my class, and while it turned out OK, I did learn I am not a fan of fashion sewing.... too much work, take me to Target with $20 bucks and I can find the same thing with peace of mind.

My personal sewing steps are pin, sew, rip, sew again. So, when Target has the equivalent for the same money it makes it hard to sew, rip, sew again.
However, this next item I feel differently about, first because it was sewn with love, second because it doesn't have to fit my body and third because it's for a baby. And sewing for baby, is so much fun. I made this shopping cart cover for my girl friend's baby shower last week. I hope this keeps her little boy Corbin completely germ free. :)

I will be without internet for a while, but check back in for life in Jersey soon!

life without things

2010-06-03T02:20:00.001-04:00

So, apparently I will be living on this for the next 9 days. Doesn't that sound like fun?

Oh, don't worry we also have an air mattress and a litter box.... We'll survive. Or will we? :0

Sangria and Sparkles Party

2010-05-23T19:43:00.000-04:00

I love how easily things can transform from mess and dishes

And some ingredients in a bowl

To Perfection...
(Props to my sis in-law Rebecca for finding this specific recipe of perfection.

The jewelry/goodbye party went great. As you can see from the pics, we played some serious dress up. Which is fun because these things happen less in your adulthood. :)

And actually, I didn't know this at first, but if any of my blogger friends are interested in ordering a piece from this fabulous collection, you actually can and it can still go to my party til Friday. So, if any of you are interested take a peek at
www.stelladot/sites/annfreeman
Then in the right corner, there is a spot to find your hostess, you input my name and your order goes to my party. There is some cute stuff, so check it out!
Actually it was interesting, cause my friend Ann kept having me try on different pieces, some that I never would have picked out myself and now they have been added to my wishlist, cause they were so amazing.

The one thing this party did that I did not like, was it forced me into the realization that the end is near. I will have to say goodbye to all my friends. I knew this, from the beginning, but the truth still hurts.
For now! XOXO

doesn't this just make you think of summer??

2010-05-23T02:03:00.000-04:00

Let the BBQ's begin!

What better reason to party

2010-05-12T14:50:00.001-04:00

Than to say goodbye. Remember when I posted my blog about the jewelry company a few blogs back. Well, I am gonna host a party. It will be a half goodbye party and a half "test party" for how I feel about Stella and Dot. I sent out the cutest evite, with this little picture in the background.

I've actually gotten a pretty good response, I'm sure partially cause all my girls want to get together one last time, but we'll see how it turns out.
I LOVE TO HOST PARTIES, in another life, my richer life, I think I might have actually gone into some kind of business where you help people do this. The thought of making punch and goodies and sangria and decorating and cleaning, well... I really just love it.
This is why I need to move into my house, because 850 square feet is not conducive for parties.

Speaking of houses.... once the people get our overnighted papers later today, we will officially own ours!!! Lots of craziness has ensued!

This is why...

2010-05-05T14:53:00.000-04:00

THIS (yes, 1st click on the article and it's somewhat graphic), but this is why I wait like 6 months to tell non-Christians how active of a Christian I really am. I live my life. I let them see how I respond to the real world. Most of the time my friends and co-workers know I go to church, but I let my testimony speak for itself. So, that they will respect and take my opinions seriously. And then if I have a more conservative opinion on something, hopefully people won't lump me in, with the above.

Honestly, I followed up on several links related. In one George says he didn't know Lucien was a prostitute til midway through his trip. In messages on facebook to the press he said he knew he was and he was actually undercover witnessing to him and how can you witness to people unless you find the "lost". And yet he doesn't deny he met him on rentboy. I just have no words, why do you cast the first stone, when you have sin among you?

Yes Please!

2010-05-05T02:16:00.000-04:00

A couple of friends of mine sell jewelry for this line called Stella and Dot. It's a new wave of a home based business that sells darling jewelry through "trunk shows" also known as home parties. I'm really not much for home parties, but I love this jewelry. And it's very different than past similar companies, cause there is NO MINIMUM BUYING. You can do it if you want or you can not. You get what you put into it. With the ease of buying online and the ability to connect through the internet, this business model allows for things that didn't exist 10 or 20 years ago, when other companies did things like this.

I have been wavering about whether I want to take part in it because the price point for me, is just a teensy bit too much and I know most people I know live in a similar economic manner. Now, I've bought pieces, so I'm not saying it's not affordable. But if you're not a mid-range price shopper, you would think it's too much. Now on the flip side if you want beautiful jewelry that won't break after a few wears, then it's worth it.
The questions bears do you buy 20 pairs of cheap $4 earrings at Charlotte Rousse, or 2 pairs that will be beautiful and last from Stella and Dot?

Well, of course some people say buy the nice ones that will last, but truth be told I have a very similar looking beautiful bracelet (to the one above) that I instead have to super glue once a week, cause a piece falls off.
Since I feel I can't completely answer that question for myself AND BECAUSE I AM MOVING AWAY from all my wonderful friends who might be interested, I'm not gonna do it right now. But I'm not saying I'm not gonna keep it in mind. The company is 4 years old and grew like 700% last year. I actually found out about the line, when I saw a piece of "to die for jewelry" in a magazine that I absolutely "had to have". But then I saw the price and realized maybe I didn't need it after all. I think it's what the company calls a "statement piece".
But my girlfriend who sells for them has a full-time job AND a kid and somehow makes $2,000 a month with this company. And she really only spends like 12 hrs a week. If that was the case, I could buy that "statement piece" after all.
But in the mean time maybe I'll just host a party for her, since I know the hostess gets free jewelry and then I won't have to spend AFTER all!

Just some words

2010-04-30T01:33:00.000-04:00

I find it interesting how every blog user uses their blog for it's own purpose. Some to showcase their kids, others their talents, some come to vent and others use it as a outlet to talk about God, life and the in between.
I sometimes wish that I used my blog for another outlet then the one I currently use it for, which in my opinion is to give life updates and showcase my talents. I don't exactly have a problem with those uses, especially because everyone loves a little pat on the back for the things we are doing, me included. However, I have often thought of long thought-provoking topics I've wanted to blog about, and yet I never do. For a couple of reasons:
1. It takes time. Time I don't necessarily want to dedicate to slaving over the computer, organizing my thoughts "just so", so that they make sense to the rest of the world. 2. Because I'm really not a great writer. I have improved for sure, but my mother tells me she still cringes when she has to read my writing, because in her words "I write like I talk" and it's not organized or proper. And it's true, I type so fast, typing ever word I'm thinking and when I go back and reread I ALWAYS leave out words. I will proofread something 2 times and still miss articles, because my mind reads them to be there when they are not. This of course leads back to point number 1, which is that I don't want to dedicate the time to having efficient, thought-provoking posts.

But then, I will find myself reading someone else's blog. Someone with toddlers and kids and busyness and they will have great, long posts about topics I enjoy reading about. So, I think to myself if they can find the time. Why can't I? Which leads me to admit something I have always known is true about myself. I AM A TIME WASTER. I am also NOT a morning person, which is when I know a lot of people are most productive. So, while I do have a job that I go to and errands I run in between and yoga or some activity that I jump to from that. I also just WASTE a lot of time. I know I'm not the only one, but I've been feeling kind of bad about it lately, because Jake and I have been talking (A LITTLE BIT) about having kids sometime in the future. And I can't help but think about how I will fit a little person in my life, when my life is so "me" consumed, and when I LOVE MY SLEEP. I know they have day care at the gym and family friendly small groups and somewhere people get together as friends and bring their kids along too. But what about everything else. The sewing and reading and cooking and baking and magazine/blog/gossip ~~stalking~~ reading I do.
So, today I have done exactly that thing I wanted to do, which was talk about something meaningful??? Not exactly, today I just wanted to ramble apparently. But really, I would like to talk about some different things that I care about on my blog, and yet with my 2 above points of why I don't and the realization that I'm a time wasting person, who will one day have a hard time managing her children, let alone her life.

I will instead most likely continue to do what I've been doing, which is procrastinate about posting photos of things I'm doing in my life and barely type words to go along, but MAYBE, just maybe... One day you might see a meaningful blog in there sometime too.

P.S. No one has to tell me that everything will work itself out in motherhood, I know that, I wasn't saying "woah is me, to get encouragement". This time waster has just been making some life observations, that's all.
XO