Do-It-Yourself Cupcake Stand

Ever since I went to California in June and experienced the bliss of a Sprinkles cupcake, I've been wanting to bake some of my own. Naturally, I will also need a cupcake stand to showcase them. I didn't really like any of the ones I saw online and didn't want to fork over $20 or more, so lucky for me I found some websites that showed how to make your own for a lot cheaper. My favorite was this site that used painted terra cotta pots and platters: http://www.oncewed.com/7598/diy/diy-wedding-cupcake-stand/. Here's how mine turned out.

Under Construction

So I thought I would tinker around with my blog layout since I haven't changed it since....well, ever. I don't have a clue what I'm doing, so it might be a while before I figure out what I want the finished project to look like, especially since we're leaving on vacation tomorrow. So if it looks kind of mismatched and bizarre when you check it, just keep that in mind. The only thing I've figured out so far is how to change the background. Currently I'm trying to find cool blog fonts, since Blogger has such a limited and boring selection. If you have any tips, feel free to advise me.

Okay, so I've been meaning to do this blog post for a while, but we all know how dedicated I am to blogging, so I'll say no more on it. This year Adam gave me a book called Stoneflower for my birthday--I already have two other books by this author, and I may have hinted to him that I wanted this one as well. With shame I confess that this book falls under the LDS romance novel genre and probably will not fundamentally enrich your life, but it's a quick and enjoyable read. I was introduced to the author's first book, Summergreen, by one of my friends back in high school, and absolutely loved it. Later I discovered it's sequel, Valley of Fire, which I enjoyed equally as well. It wasn't long after that that I noticed this third book at the library. As excited as I was to read another of the author's books, I just couldn't bring myself to check it out for the sole reason that the cover was so craptastically cheesy! I was embarrassed just looking at it and would rather deny myself the pleasure of reading it than be associated with such a book. Years later, when I was in college, I discovered it again, and decided to just read it (though I'm sure I handed it to the librarian face down at checkout). It was summer and I often took a book out to the pool, but there was no way I was being seen in public with it, so I took what I thought was a precautionary measure by taping a piece of paper over the offensive cover. Thankfully, I had a very good and concerned roommate, who stopped me before leaving the apartment and informed me that it looked like I was taking something much more objectionable than a romance novel to the pool. I think she suggested that I also drink my soda out of a brown bag, if I persisted, to complete the effect. We had a good laugh, and still joke about it. Adam, who had heard this story, didn't believe the cover could be as bad as that, but sure enough, as soon as the book arrived, he was converted to my way of thinking. I thought I'd list just a few of my favorite elements: 1) the popped collar and rolled-up sleeves 2) the feathered hair (that goes for both of them), 3) the severe 80's make-up, 4) the giant sweatshirt (or whatever the heck that is she's wearing), 5) the Tom Selleck mustache, 6) the hand placement on his manly chest--this is all aside from their expressions as they gaze longingly into one another's eyes (I think I just threw up a little in my mouth). Adam also suggested I give you a flavor of the book by including a couple of lines:

(Let me know if there's something about this description that doesn't quite add up)

If her jewelry and the classy apple green jumpsuit were any indication, she was loaded.

(Classy....jumpsuit???)

(And now for my personal favorite)

Dazed, the coarse caress of a moustached mouth lingering on my lips (barf and a half!!), I pushed up on my elbows.

(No further comment needed)

So ya, let me know if you want to borrow it.

Adam's New Haircut

'nough said.

Happy Birthday, Tiffany!

This past Wednesday we celebrated Tiffany's birthday (for those of you who don't know, Tiffany is older than me; just putting it out there). We started the celebration off with dinner at one of Tiffany's favorite restaurants, Famous Dave's. Great BBQ! Lily was a little antsy at the start, but once her meal of mac & cheese and green beans got there she was all set. As you can see from the pictures, Tiffany wisely ate some of her meal and then saved the rest for another day. I, on the other hand, enjoyed decimating my meal in one sitting, but didn't get to enjoy it for lunch the next day.

After dinner we headed back home for cake, ice cream and presents. Tiff made off with some cash, gift cards and a series of books about some girl named Emily. Don't ask, I just bought them. We enjoyed the cake Tiffany pretty much made herself, although I did make a valiant effort.

All in all, it was a good day. Lily even started the day off right for Tiffany with a little present in the morning as you can see in the video below. Happy Birthday, Tiffany!

Vote For Lily!

Well, we finally entered Lily in a baby contest--the prize of a year worth of free diapers and $1000 gift card to Buy Buy Baby was a nice incentive to enter.  After much debate, Adam and I decided to enter her Team Edward picture--since every parent is going to enter a cute picture of their kid, we decided we needed a gimic--therefore we're hoping to benefit from the immense popularity of Twilight.  If you want to vote for her, follow this link and click on the Lily D. thumbnail to pull up her picture.  http://www.963wdvd.com/Article.asp?id=1245267

The contest rules allow for 1 vote per day per email address---I happen to have 5 email addresses.....I'm just saying. :)  The first round goes from today through April 3, so we'll let you know if she makes the cut!

My Fossil knock-off

One of my favorite pasttimes is online window shopping--I look all I want, but seldom do I buy.  I suppose it's a sickness, really, but I just can't help myself.  If I have one weakness, however, it's for jewelry.  Fossil is one of my favorite places to look for cool and unique jewelry, and about a month or so ago  I found a necklace that I absolutely loved.  I wasn't even remotely tempted to try to find a place I could sneak it into our budget, though, as it cost a whopping $130. (!)  As it was mostly comprised of strand beads, I thought I could attempt to do my own take on it.  I first went to a little bead shop down the road from us and causually inquired about jewelry-making classes.  I didn't want to pay the $40+ for the instruction and supplies, however (plus I'm not really into the kind of jewelry they make in those things), so I figured I'd just wing it.  First I did a little reconnaissance by visiting the Fossil store in our mall so I could see the necklace in person, then I began to collect my materials.  I had quickly scratched off the bead store as the source for my supplies as each strand of beads was around $100!!  Lucky for me, Michaels has an extensive collection of strand beads, and I had access to a bunch of 40% off coupons. :)  After about a week or so of daily trips to Michaels due to the coupon stipulation of 1 coupon per customer per day (and a succession of returns and exchanges), I had all of my stuff.  After much trial and error on the technical side of things, and making constant changes to the artistic side of things, it was done.  Is it as nice as the Fossil necklace? Certainly not--the materials are cheaper, the crafstmanship a whole lot shoddier, and I'd trade it in a heartbeat for the real thing, but it was kind of fun to make, and a heck of a lot cheaper.  It's definitely not an everyday necklace, but I think it's a fun statement piece (and yes, it's kind of heavy).

Our DIY Project

Okay, maybe assembling some nightstands from IKEA isn't the most challenging do-it-yourself project, but it's about as complicated a project as it's going to get at our house for now. After a long day of running a errands on Saturday, Adam and I went to work putting together the night stands we had purchased. They were very much needed because up until this point I had been using a couple of plastic storage bins stacked on each other as a make-shift nightstand, and poor Adam went from using an overturned diaper box to nothing. Thankfully IKEA has nice, easy-to-follow directions, for the most part. It didn't take too long to assemble them, and it made me feel pretty handy.

Me, hard at work.

Adam, hard at work.

The finished project.

As for Lily--she tried her hand at helping (translation: hindering), and gave us (translation: me) a fright when we couldn't find a screw and thought she might have swallowed it. Luckily we later found where she had stashed it in the living room where she had been playing.

Valentines Day

I was in charge this year for planning what we would do for Valentines Day. Last year was comprised of taking our 3 month old along with us to a sushi restaurant, so I wanted to try for something a little more romantic this year. We had a tight budget to work with, so I decided to surprise (or attempt to surprise) Adam with a picnic dinner at home--and since it is February and freezing outside, our picinic was held in our living room. :) It was rather difficult to keep it a surprise since Valentines was on a Saturday and he was home all day. All I told him was that we were going to have an awesome dinner at home. Our menu was comprised of a cheese fondue with a hint of apple cider to sweeten it up a bit, along with squares of french bread to dip in it, a nice green salad with candied walnuts and apple slices, a rotisserie chicken, and blueberry lemonade to drink. Now, I have never actually done a cheese fondue before, but have talked about doing one for a long time. So the day before Valentines Day Adam was like, "You're going to do a cheese fondue, aren't you?" At first I was like, "Wrong! (short pause) You suck! How did you guess that?!" Well, after that, I began to see the fruitlessness of trying to keep it all a secret, especially since he was at the grocery store with me when I bought the stuff for the remaining courses. I banished him to our room while I set everything up, since the picnic aspect was about the only "surprise" remaining. I tried doing candlelight for ambiance, but it was way too dark, so I turned the hall light on--how's that for romantic lighting? :) As you may notice, we do not own a proper picnic blanket, so an old comforter from college had to suffice. I also hope you appreciate the large mixing bowl containing the bottle of blueberry lemonade on ice. That was a last minute idea, so I worked with what I had on hand.This was our dessert--molten chocolate surprise. It was so good that I made it again the next night. My excuse was that it was Valentines weekend, so it was okay to have such a rich dessert two nights in a row. The best part was that it is so easy to make--the whole thing takes about 15 minutes from start to finish. If anyone wants the recipe, here's a link for it: http://www.kraftfoods.com/kf/recipes/molten-chocolate-surprise-74129.aspx As mentioned, we were on a tight budget this Valentines Day, so we agreed that we wouldn't get each other presents, and I made Adam swear he wouldn't get me any flowers. What a strict, romance-hating wife I am! Little did I know, however, that Adam had already bought something for me in January, the little cheater. He got me a bottle of one of my favorite perfumes--I actually already have a bottle of it, but I dropped it a few months ago and the nozzle broke, rendering it unuseable. I was so upset about it, since the bottle was still mostly full, so I was definitely surprised at his thoughtfulness. As for me, I made him a card. I would say this is an accurate comparison of Valentines gifts. It's the thought that counts, though, right?

And just because I can't have a blog post without Lily in it, here is a recent picture of her looking coy.