Nom nom cheesecake

This Thanksgiving almost didn't happen. My mom didn't want to spend all day cooking and after last Thursday, I don't blame her. Thankfully, Thanksgiving happened and I'm really glad. I offered to help cook which my mom was very happy about.

The first item I made was an apple-pecan cheesecake. I baked it Wednesday night and let it set in the fridge all night long - trust me it makes a difference. The recipe was fairly easy. I started off with cream cheese and brown sugar.

I tackled this mess with a regular baking spatula. See we don't own a pretty mixer, like those KitchenAid Stand Mixers. We have a blender and a whisk. I didn't want to use either because I was afraid the cream cheese would just get stuck in there. So after about 15 minutes of mixing and using a bigger bowl, it finally looked like this...

Sooooo much better. The next step was adding eggs, which I didn't document...nothing too exciting about that. I set the batter aside and started making the apple and pecans that would top the cheesecake. I peeled and chopped 3 red apples. Side note - these apples were the prettiest ones I've ever seen. After the apples, I chopped the pecans and mixed them in with the apples along with a little big of brown sugar.

The crust was really easy. All you have to do is crush graham crackers and mix it with melted butter. As soon as I laid the crust down, I poured the cheesecake and top it with the apples and pecans.

I baked both cheesecakes for about an hour and let it cool and set overnight. Here's the final look - please refrain from drooling on the keyboard. ;)

This was my first attempt at making cheesecake and I must say, it was a big success. Everyone loved it and I had about 6 pieces alone. I might even make it again for my office holiday party or my Secret Santa exchange.

Cheesecakes, woks, and cake stands

Last night I hit up TJMaxx after work. My intention was to find a cheesecake thingy, otherwise known as a spring form pan. I’m making an Apple-Pecan Cheesecake for Thanksgiving…from scratch. I found one but of course the bottom was missing.

I should’ve left right? Yea, no. I found a wok. Not only did I find a wok, I found one with blue handles! So random but I love blue and it just made my day. Then I kept looking and found a cake stand. These things normally run at least $30 online but I found it for $12.99. I heart TJMaxx.
So now I have a wok and a cake stand for an imaginary house D and I have. Oh well, at least I can use it at home now. Right before I left, I spotted this. I love it!

Even Vogue's Photoshop skills need improving every once in a while

I was flipping through the October issue of Vogue. Just flipping the pages and I stopped on page 252. I'm not even sure how I noticed this but do you see the two little kids? Right below the bottom kid is a gold chair shaped like a hand. If you look closely, you see this...

A foot! I guess there was a third kid who didn't make Vogue's cut. You can see his foot and a little part of his jeans. It just goes to show you that with a little Photoshop skill, you can easily manipulate anything.

Busy weekend = long post

Let's see, where do I start.

Friday night, oneshoetwo hosted a StirFriday dinner at her house. I didn't get to take pictures, but it was so much fun. I, once again, was handed the chicken to cut up. I don't mind, I've become a professional at handling chicken. I cut up six chicken breasts and hacked them into little pieces.

Then I cooked the chicken in a wok. I've never used a wok before and I have to say, I love woks! I have issues with cooking chicken. I get skirmish when frying it but using the wok was so easy. And I actually didn't burn it...woohooo!

Oneshoetwo cooked the veggies and tofu and our other friend cooked the rice. It was so stereotypical...us women in the kitchen while the men drank beers. At least one of the guys brought a big ol' platter of sushi. I'm not super into sushi but I can at least handle a California roll.

The dinner was so good. I didn't realize how easy cooking stir-fry was. I will definitely buy a wok this week and try it again.

Saturday, I went to D's sister's baby shower. Once again, I didn't take pictures with my camera. I was too busy taking pictures with my future mother-in-law's camera.

Moving on, that night I volunteered at Vizcaya for their annual silent auction. The last time I went to Vizcaya was to take photos when I turned 15. Let me tell you, if you've never been, that place is beautiful!! Even though we were volunteering, we still had a ton of fun. Below, I'm working the red carpet. And then...well, you just have to have a little fun every once in a while. :)
And then Sunday. Sunday was really un-eventful. I worked on homework for most of the day and then I went to see New Moon with my cousin and his girlfriend. I liked it. I'm not one of those obsessed Twilight-Edward fans, but I'm not embarrassed to admit that I do like the movies, lol.

I love me some Christmas

A couple days ago I ordered some gift tags and ribbon on Low Fidelity's shop on Etsy. For Christmas. I know, I know.

I just LOVE wrapping Christmas gifts. I always have a theme. Last year it was black, silver, white, and red...aka snowmen. This year I'm going with classic red and white with kraft paper. I went to Target on my lunch break and I found my wrapping paper (hallejuah!). I'm 95% in love with it. I wish it was a little more kraft-papery, but I still love it.

Excuse the bad photo - I was driving back to work in a hurry. The kit came with four different wrapping papers, assorted bows, ribbon, and matching gift tags. The two above are my favorite. The top one is my ultimate favorite - I love the brown bag look.

Now I get to wrap presents this weekend! And yes, I already have presents to wrap. :)

A story about a boy and a girl

This past Sunday, I was doodling some wedding invitation ideas on a piece of paper. Before I even get into it, I know. I don't even have a date yet but I have so many ideas in my head that I need to have PLENTY of time to figure out what I like.

Moving on, I was doodling and I thought of one particular design. I've seen all these incredible invitations online with a really pretty flower or a cool graphic design, but I haven't found something that's very 'us.' I couldn't decide on a particular flower or anything, so I came up with this. I think it's very 'us,' well, because it explains our story.

What do you think? Is it too much writing for an invitation? I don't know about the circles on top but I can always change that. D seems to like it. And mostly everyone I've showed it to likes it. The one person who wasn't crazy about is very 'traditional' and didn't really understand this very 'nontraditional' approach.

The surprise party!

Finally! D's mom's surprise party is finally done...wooohooooo! After a month of planning and DIY-ing, the SUCCESSFUL party was well worth it. Out of all the surprise parties I've attended, this one had the best reaction EVER! See for yourself...

This was the walking in the door, totally shocked face. And the emotional omg-is-this-happening face...

Every woman in D's family tends to be extremely emotional. See her face and her daughter's face behind her. Classic.

So let's start at the beginning. I woke up at 7 in the morning and went to a floral wholesaler. I got an amazing deal - all the flowers for the party cost me a grand total of $16! (They might get some wedding business in the future) Then I headed over to D's house and started setting up. I made the flower arrangements first - 6 half gallon mason jars and 12 pint mason jars all filled up with yellow and red daisies.

After the flowers, I started setting up the 90 cupcakes I had baked and frosted the day before. I had 3 flavors - chocolate and chocolate, carrot cake with cream cheese frosting, and regular vanilla with lemon frosting. I had made little flags so people could distinguish what flavors were what. Everyone loved them and I'm glad it turned out cute.

This is the entire spread of cupcakes. Then we have a closeup of the flags and a view of the entire dessert table. D's step dad bought the cake, pumpkin pie, and key lime pie from Costco.




The rest of the day consisted of hugs, talking, a delicious lunch, cake eating, opening gifts, and some balloon shots that D and I had fun with. Enjoy!




1- D and I in our western outfits. 2- D's mom and myself. 3- That's our adorable niece. D's mom had received a PJ set and Victoria thought the shirt was a dress for her. So cute! 4, 5, 6, 7- D and I having some fun with balloons and haystacks.

The power of Google

Google 'love poems" and click Images. This is the first one that comes up...

Christmas shopping = etsy

I'm making a goal this year. At least half of my Christmas purchases will be made on etsy. This site is amazing. You can personalize items and find some very unique gifts if you know how to search. If you're thinking etsy is homemade stuff that a two-year old can make...you're wrong (partially). There are definately items that a two-year old made but a lot of items are really incredible. These are some of my favorite items that I'm seriously contemplating...

These are from JewelsByNature.

I also love these necklaces...

Both are from madebymoe.

Aside from jewelry, there's also some really incredible stuff. I want a iPhone/iPod docking station made of wood. Or how about a personalized wire hanger for a special outfit (aka my future wedding dress).

Ok, I think I'm done promoting etsy. I just think it's a good place to find unique gifts while also supporting some very talented artists. Enjoy!

Blah blah blah day

Today is just blah. I don't know why but for me, it just is.

Nothing really exciting happening today. Just work and homework later tonight. Tomorrow I start my baking. D's mom is turning fifty and we're throwing her a big surprise party. And I'm making mini cupcakes. Not because I have to, but I want to. I've seen cupcakes at weddings with little cupcake flags and thought they were too cute. So I bought paper in gingham red, haystacks, and blue with stars and I made them into little mini flags stuck on toothpicks. I'm sorry if it's hard to envision - but I'll have plenty pics of my DIY projects after this weekend.

So baking tomorrow, frosting on Friday, and then flower arranging Saturday morning. I like the idea of using mason jars as centerpieces so I bought a whole bunch for the surprise party - it's country themed. I'm planning on getting the flowers early Saturday and then heading over to the house to decorate.

That's pretty much it. Oh and haystacks. I want to buy haystacks for the party too. I love me some haystacks.

The weekend of dinners

So this weekend was packed with dinners. I feel like the only thing I did was eat dinner. Friday night, D and I had a date night and went to California Pizza Kitchen. I love, love CPK. A couple months ago we went about 4 times in one month and it was overkill. But alas, I started craving my Thai Chicken pizza...I'm drooling as I type this. Excuse the dirty fork - I was inhaling the pizza when I remembered to take the pic.

Flash forward to Saturday night. We were suppose to do something with friends but the plans first called for a comedy show at the Improv and then the Hard Rock Seminole Casino in Hollywood. We just weren't feeling it. Too far a drive to have to wait at least two hours for dinner? No thank you.

So D and I went to dinner again. We wanted to try something new...I get tired of going to the same old places. Enter Sushi Maki Connection. It was new, really nice inside, and Thai. I can't say no to Thai. The food was good...my only complaint was the long wait to place our order and the long wait to get our bill. The food came in quick but I felt like I was there forever.

Speaking of food. For Thai, I always get my Cashew Chicken. But, I decided to change things up. I went with ginger dressing salad and California rolls. I'm not a big sushi person but it was good. D got a Siam roll which had fried snapper (or grouper?) and Volcano chicken. That siam roll was really good - I actually liked it more than mine.

And finally, Sunday. Long story short, we had dinner at D's house and two of our friends joined us. I wish I would've taken a picture. D's mom made this really good quiche. Sooooo good.

Time to kill

I sped read through two chapters tonight. My goal was to knock out my weekly quiz. I eventually realized I didn't have a quiz until next week. Oh well, at least I'm ahead.

While I was reading I randomly came up with a logo idea for y loves d. This was my 10-minute attempt at it. I don't think it looks too bad.

It's a very simple layout but hey, it's a start.

I'm so over...

...this semester and school in general. My classes aren't really bothering me. It's more like the 5 classes D is taking right now so that he can graduate this December. It sucks. I'm sure it sucks more for him but it sucks for me too. We barely get to spend time with each other and I hate that he's so stressed with school. Booooo.

On a happier note, I started listening to Christmas music today. That always puts me in a good mood. Apparently I used to love Mariah Carey in a past life, because that's all my iTunes is playing right now...her Christmas album.

I hate shopping regrets

Have you ever purchased something and regretted it after? Yeah, all the time. But that's not what's bothering me right now. What's bothering me is this dress I saw online about a week ago. I saw it, loved it, and of course I didn't buy it. So what happens, it gets sold out. I hesitated because it's black and light PINK. Anyone who knows me, knows that I'm not a fan of pink. At all. But the style is so freaking cute!! See...

Ughhh, I love the buttons and I love the flowiness! So what's the point of this story? Don't regret your shopping could-of-purchases! I'll just keep telling myself the $35 I saved will pay for a delicious Italian meal come March!

P.S. This dress is from Shop Ruche. This site is amazing. My other current favorite site is Lulus. I actually bought my future graduation dress from here. I wish I had a picture to show you, but I don't (at least not yet). If you're in the market for cute dresses, check these sites out.

Eyeballs + Cowboys = Halloween

Let's say this first - I'm not a big Halloween-er. I don't dislike it but it just doesn't get my super excited. I'm a more Thanksgiving/Christmas type of gal. But anyways, because I'm not the biggest fan, I didn't want to go out and buy a costume. So, I resorted to my closet. And the first thing that came to mind is cowgirl. Enter flannel shirt, cut-off shorts, cowboy boots, and pigtails.
That's me and D. He was Walker Texas Ranger...or is it Texas Walker Ranger?? Regardless, he's a Chuck Norris fan.

We went to our friend's Halloween party and it was really fun. We ate, we drank, we ate some more, and kind-of danced. Everyone had to bring food or drinks, so I made deviled eggs that looked like eyeballs. My co-worker gave me the idea (thanks!).
You can use any recipe...all you have to do is add blue or green food coloring to the filling and some black olives for the pupil part. I also put red food coloring on a toothpick and drew thin lines on the egg...it looked nice and veiny.