the Oscars

After all the events that happened this weekend, it certainly lived up to how busy I thought it would be. It was filled with hugs and celebrations, cakes and dancing, laughter and reminiscing to the old days. It was so nice to catch up with friends and relax in good company.
On Sunday, us girls {including the cake I promised I'd show you} celebrated the Oscars together, giving our opinions on who had the best dresses/make-up or who should win certain awards. I thought about sharing some of my favorite fashions of the night, but we'll leave that up to Amanda, who brought over an Oscar Bingo activity that kept us all on our toes.
Just in case you were wondering, that table cloth under the Oscar Bingo is one of my latest purchases from the after V-day discount isle at my favorite store, Target. At an amazing bargain of $1.24, I also got an adorable stripped one. Can't wait for spring when I can pull that out! Anyway, Jenny brought a lovely array of veggies and Shannon brought some of her homemade eclairs. I forgot to snap a picture, but the food was delicious, and the company even better.

just when I wanted to give up

After 5 long days of no eye make-up I am happy to say that I am back to the mixing and blending of eye shadows, the lining and smudging of my eyeliner, the curling and coating of my lashes. It's the simple pleasures of life that seem to get to you when you are denied of them from a little sickness that, lets just say it makes your eyes a pinker shade than the normal white.

I was also graced by a painful ear infection, but with some hot pink medication {prescribed by my doctor} I am on the road to recovery. These past 5 weeks have been a roller coaster filled with tissues, many naps, nightquil {the kind that makes you gag even thinking about it}, saltine crackers, and many bowls of soup.

Can you guess what I've been up to?

Yes, it's been a rough cold season for me and my weak immunity, but I hope that there will be no more false alarms. This time and I hope I am better for good. Over the past few weeks there have spurts of feeling better, but then a few days I am greeted with a new string of the cold that I thought I just said farewell to. I know I am not alone with this type of sickness though, I truly hope you have not been taken over by this aswell. This pre-spring season seem to be filled with colds that keep their victims captive for more than the normal week or so? I just hope I can be done with going to bed at 8 {feeling like I should really be adding a few decades to my age} and waking up 10 hours later still feeling exhausted. It's time to get back to my crafting corner, for it's been far too long...

this weekend

It's weekends like these that have you start preparing a few days in advanced. There's just so much to do and not enough time. Now at the risk of sounding like a certain little bunny rabbit, I'll move on to the main events coming up for this next weekend.

One of my dear friends is coming to town tomorrow and I can't wait to see her! We'll spend the earlier part of Saturday on a little road trip. Can't wait to catch up!!

Another one of my friends is celebrating the golden number of 21 and we are celebrating with a girls night. A few items on the agenda: a trip to Olive Garden all dressed up in our fancy apparel, heading back for a leisurely night of ice cream cake {which I made yesterday and is pictured above}. I'm a little nervous to bring a cake over to the celebration seeing as though the birthday girl is an expert at it. She actually is, I'm not just saying that, she does it for her job! Yikes! I hope they like it.

Sunday will start off with a baptism of a special little boy. One of my girlfriends is the godmother and couldn't be happier that this little boy decided to grace us with his presence. After that work will take up a few hours of my time, which leaves a few hours to party!

The evening of will be spent with some amazing girls celebrating an event we have waited months for! It's Oscar night and we can't wait. I made the suggestion to my older sis that we make an Oscar cake, and she gave me that responsibility. A little nervous about how that will look, but as long as it tastes good i think we'll be ok. I'll make sure I take pictures {even if it looks dismal, and it just might} and show you on Monday. I hope everyone has a good weekend and enjoys all the glitz and glamor of the red carpet!

snow day anyone?

Just when we thought spring was in sight....this happensDon't get me wrong I am the first person to tell you how happy I am that it's snowing, but when the temp for the last week has been up to the golden 50 degree marker, you might see how our city won't be the first ones to welcome our white winter friend.
While there may be many of us that are a little reluctant about this storm at least the younger generation is enjoying it. Can you say snow day?? That's what my 'lil' sis is hoping for.

the simple things in life

:hearing your favorite song on the radio + blasting it so loud you can't hear your self sing

:waking up to the birds chirping outside your window

:turning a boring breakfast into heart-day inspired treat

:rolling down the car window and letting the wind ripple through your hair

:seeing the grass for the first time, in what seems like years

:knowing that in a few weeks you will be walking on the beach squishing the sand between your toes under the hot sun

:receiving a care package

:painting your nails that bold sassy color that you always wanted to

:treating yourself to a little splurge {whether it be a special movie, a new outfit, a relaxing day all to your self}

:the smell of clean laundry

happy heart-day

It's finally here with it's happy colors and surprisingly warm weather! Now it may not be as warm as the weather was when I took the picture above {in Mexico 2 summers ago}, but with a little time it'll get there.

Yesterday the thermometer in my car got up to a surprising 47 degrees, and this morning I heard one of the best sounds one can hear at this time of year. Birds chirping. There's nothing like the hope of spring filling you from head to toes when you can hear the wonderful sounds of the birds chirping. Even with the icky colored snow we couldn't be more thankful for a change in the weather. I hope you are enjoying your love inspired day!

heart-day cards

As I promised yesterday in my ten on ten post, here is a little sample of some of the valentine cards that I made this year. To some people Valentine's day might just be a hallmark greeting card day, but I think of it as a special day where love is the main theme. This doesn't mean that people should spend lots of money on flowers or chocolate {even though that is a very sweet gesture}. This is just an extra special day that we can show our love for others.

In my opinion the less spent is better, and homemade gifts are the way to go. Now for the men that doesn't mean that they have to create a hand crafted pop-up card, but just maybe something out of the box. A dear friend shared with me her favorite Valentine gift of all times: a hand written letter from her husband of 20 years in a picture frame. Something so simple that can mean so much.

Valentine's day also gives me an excuse to decorate the house in various shades of pink and red, which I would never be able to pass up!

take a look

A few weeks ago I put up a post, babies babies everywhere, and let me tell you the baby fever hasn't let up. Two more moms that I know had their 2 adorable boys and another friend is pregnant. With the next generation growing in leaps and bounds, Bethany over at her blog is not missing a beat. So hop on over to Rinse + Repeat to see one of Bethany's friends, a truly talented artist. Her creations are made on special order, thus being one of a kind!

ten on ten {february}

Valentines day is the theme for this month's ten on ten! The house seems to be filled with a plethora of cards {which I will show you tomorrow}, decorations, and much heart-day cheer!

This morning I didn't even have to venture out into the dismal cold to capture this lovely picture of the mid-morning sun {it's taken from my bedroom window}.
One of my girlfriends has been lending me her 'Friends' seasons and today I reluctantly started the 10th and final season.It's our baby love fern.The latest addition to my closet {it's for a party}.A package arrived yesterday with a few heart-day treats from my Grandma. So that's where I get my love of this holiday from!

for the birthday boy

Has anyone out there ever tried to make a Baked Alaska? Let me say, it was not what I predicted. One of my girlfriends, Megan, had made a promise to a friend many moons ago that she would make him Baked Alaska. She made this promise not knowing exactly what the dessert was, but with a little help from the internet, we found a recipe and spent a few nights experimenting.

While there may be many different variations of this recipe this is the one we used, making a few alterations:

1 layer sponge cake {or in our case angel food cake}
1 qt. ice cream
4 egg whites
1/2 c. sugar
1 tsp. vanilla

1. Beat egg whites until nearly stiff, beat in sugar gradually, add vanilla and beat until stiff
2. Place a wood board at least 1 1/2 inches thick and cover top with waxed paper {if you use a regular baking sheet the metal will heat up too quickly, where the wood will absorb some of the heat}
3. Place round of sponge cake on board, heap ice cream quickly on top leaving a 1 inch margin of cake all around; cover thickly with the meringue
4. Brown quickly in very hot oven {450 degrees} and serve at once!

We decided to make a few mini Baked Alaska's for his roommates and making one large one for the birthday boy himself. For the main cake we used an angel food cake instead of sponge cake {which is what the recipe called for} and it turned out pretty delicious!
It was Megan's idea to add cherries {to the birthday boy's cake} before the ice cream was heaped on top. After the ice cream was added and refrozen for a few hours we added hard shell chocolate sauce {just before we added the meringue} and let me tell you, that was totally the way to go.

heart-day decor

With 2 new banners in our living room in some festive shapes and colors, it's beginning to look like February around here. There are colors of blossoms, apples, frosting, blushed cheeks, raspberries, baby girls, fresh flowers, watermelons, and lavender fill our home with the hope of spring. Daylight is holding on a little longer every day and I can almost smell the warms winds of spring. I say almost because the temperature is still hoovering in the single digits, but the hope of spring is keeping me warm.

Until those blissful days, I am keeping busy with school, of course, and my ever growing craft corner. I've been simple dizzy with all the crafting potential ideas in my head, but this week I fulfilled one of them: heart day decor. This is a peak at the banners that I made thanks to the lovely patterns from here.
While watching a few of my favorite classic movies: Persuasion and Northanger Abbey I was inspired by the old world charm to get the sewing machine out. I made a few strands of heart day inspired paper garlands to continue the festive spirit. It's the easiest decoration that a person can make, all you need is a few paper punches {at least 2 different sizes} and a sewing machine. It's as easy as it sounds!