Looking Back...

Today I'm feeling pretty nostalgic; it was this time last year that we were on an airplane flying to Myrtle Beach (okay, well, we flew into Raleigh/Durham in North Carolina then drove to Myrtle Beach, but whatever). I remember that we were SO excited for that trip--it's all we talked about all summer leading up to it. I was so worried about flying with two toddlers, but surprisingly they did really well. Before this trip, I had only been to Arizona and Nevada--so I hadn't really traveled far from home. Joe tried to prepare me for what I was going to see, but he couldn't even come close. He told me that there are trees everywhere in South Carolina--and even that was an understatement. There are trees EVERYWHERE and its absolutely gorgeous. Although this time last year was a full day of traveling, I can't help but wish we were going back there again this year. I'd love to get some of the family together and make it a yearly thing; last summer was the best summer of my life and I think a huge part of that had to do with our Myrtle Beach trip.

We were in Myrtle Beach last year for my birthday, and although we wont be there for it this year, I'm still so excited for my birthday on Friday. Is it weird that I'm turning 25 and am still so excited about birthdays? I don't understand the people (my age) that complain about turning a year older. Are you serious? This is the best time of our lives! I think that I get excited about birthdays because 1) it means that I'm getting older, and 2) it means my kids are getting older. There's no point in being sad about the inevitable; you might as well embrace it and enjoy the ride!

Last year in Myrtle Beach my birthday was so much fun (minus getting stuck in the elevator--you can read about that here). We went bowling with all of his family, then spent the rest of the day hanging out with them. It was perfect--I love his family so much. This year for my birthday, I decided I wanted to have a big party and just be with all of my friends--so that's exactly what we're doing. I ordered a bunch of pizzas, I'm making a ton of desserts (of course), and I'm making myself a cake that'll say "Happy Birthday to Me" (who says you cant make yourself a cake on your birthday?!). My birthday is 2 days away and I already feel like a kid on Christmas. Even though I've already gotten most of my presents (I got a new car last week from Joe, I got clothes and Bath and Body Works stuff from my sister and I got a cake pan set from my parents) I'm still SO excited. I can't wait to see all of my friends! It'll be a fun night full of food, desserts, and of course: drinkinggg (hey, I NEVER drink--so one night a year is fine). ;)

I have some errands to run now (to go buy all of the ingredients to make the desserts and cake!) so I'm going to end it here. I hope you all have a terrific Wednesday! <3

Parenting At It's Finest

This whole 'parenting' thing is funny to me. I remember back when my kids were babies--back when they would just cry and cry and cry. I remember thinking "I can't wait until they are toddlers so that they can talk to me and tell me what they want." Now that they're toddlers, all they ever do is scream, yell at each other, and fight. Its great that they can communicate, but most of that "communication" is saying "no" and giving attitude. All I can think is "I can't wait until they are in school.. the terrible twos and threes will be over and they'll have mellowed out." However, in the back of my mind I know that that wont be the case.

I think of parenting like video games; you're stuck on a hard level and all you can think about is how much you want to get through that level and onto the next, even though you know the next level will be harder. Now, obviously my kids are only 4 and 2, so I'm not positive, but I feel like once they're in school it'll be a mellow couple of years until puberty hits and high school comes along. I'm dreading that time. Madison is already so dramatic about everything--it'll be so much fun once she starts puberty :/. And Maverick? It'll be so weird hearing his voice change and turn into a man. Luckily I am SO far away from that--I've got plenty of time to prepare.

I think back about how I couldn't wait for my kids to be toddlers when they were babies; and now that I'm out of it, I wish they were babies again! Those were such simpler times! This past week Maverick's attitude has gotten bad. If he isn't happy about something, he'll do a loud growl at you then scream something. Its as if he doesn't know what to do with all of his frustration, and it's very exhausting. Madison, earlier this morning, threw a 30-minute fit for I-don't-know-what. She was just screaming and crying for one thing after another. She said she wanted milk, I got her some, then she screamed at me saying she didn't want it. Uhh, okay.

I don't understand kids whatsoever. I understand that they are trying to learn the ways of the world and that everything is new to them, but I wish they understood that simply asking for something instead of throwing a huge fit would get them said-thing a lot faster. I know I shouldn't be thinking about how things will be when they are older--because there is no way for me to know for sure how they will be. I know that once I finally understand them and the things they do, they'll be onto the next stage in life where I'll have to start all over again at trying to figure them out. I guess that's what parenthood is :)

Grateful

This past weekend was such a fun, busy weekend! As you know, I spent all day Friday baking that fun sandcastle cake, I went to Lauren's bridal shower on Saturday, and yesterday we went to our friends' daughter's mermaid party. It was such a fun party! We were out by the pool and it was a blast. The best part was that they had a 1' deep pool that the kids could play in and it was perfect. I ate so much good food this weekend, and surprisingly didn't gain any weight (thank you LORD!).

This coming weekend is my birthday and we're having a party here at the house that I am so excited about. We're expecting around 30 people and I can't wait. I'm even going to make myself a birthday cake that says "Happy Birthday to Me:" 1) because its funny, and 2) because I want to eat some cake! I can't wait to make that cake :) :) :)

I'm going to make this one short today and end it on a thank you. I've had this website up and running for a little over 2 months now and its already gotten over 7,000 views; that's insane! Thank you all so much for supporting me and listening to my random ramblings. It really means a lot to me! Anyways, I just got home from the DMV (it actually wasn't too bad; I think it took longer to find parking than it took to get my license renewed) and I need to do laundry, vacuum, mop, clean the bathrooms--etc. You get the picture.

Happy Monday everyone! 

A Beautiful Bridal Shower

Yesterday I had the honor of attending my friend Lauren's bridal shower. We have been friends since elementary school and she has been at every big event in my life: baby showers, bridal showers, my wedding, etc. I was so excited to get to celebrate HER and her upcoming wedding. What makes it even better is that she is marrying my good friend Harrison. They are a terrific couple and I cant wait for their wedding at the end of September.

Yesterday was her bridal shower and I know how exciting those can be--both for the bride and for the guests. Of course the bride is excited to see all of her friends and family and get tons of presents (I've totally been there), and the guests are excited to play some games and eat food (okay.. maybe I'm the only one who is excited to eat--but parties always have great food that you don't eat on a daily basis!). The shower itself was beautiful; it was sort of a shabby-chic theme and the color scheme was so cute. The food spread was delicious too, as pictured below. The games were a blast (I even won one!), it was so much fun catching up with friends, and overall it was a great time. Here are some pictures from the fun day :)

The food was so good! There were those tortilla roll-up sandwiches (those are my FAVORITE), fruit cups, individual vegetable cups with dip, finger sandwiches, assortment of cakes, and plenty of other food. I was very satisfied at the end of the day ;)

Here's one of the games we played--that I've actually never played before! You group up into groups of 4 and everyone goes through their purse and you try to find stuff on this list. When you're done, you tally up your points and the group with the most points wins! So much fun :))

Then we played the typical toilet-paper bride game, which is always fun. Our beautiful friend Julie was our model and I think she looked stunning ;)

All of the "brides"

New panties for the bride! :)

Ms. Lauren with her bow bouquet to use at the rehearsal dinner!

If you're ever looking for a bridal shower gift, this is a go-to gift for me. Buy the bride a cute pair of panties and get their new last name embroidered on them. Brides love seeing their new last name on anything, and grooms love seeing their last name on their new bride. Its a win/win situation. 

I also made Lauren these wine bottle vases with her new last name on them. (I asked her ahead of time what accent color would go in her living room, and she said the teal/blue). 

Julie, me, Lauren W. and Lauren M. Even though "Lauren W. "will soon be "Lauren B.," she'll always be "Lauren W." to us :)

Lauren M. insisted on doing the typical "selfie" photo, so here it is <3

Yesterday was so much fun and Lauren got so many amazing gifts! Can I throw myself another bridal shower even though I'm already married? I'd love to get half of the stuff she got! ;)

How To: Make a Sandcastle Cake

Tomorrow my friends are throwing a mermaid party for their daughter's 4th birthday. To go with the theme, they asked me to make a sandcastle cake complete with chocolate sea shells. Of course I said yes, and I've looked forward to making this cake for a while now. This was my first time making a tiered cake, and it was also my biggest cake I've ever made. Thankfully everything went smoothly and turned out great. Let me just tell you this now: this cake is TIME CONSUMING! However, its well worth it :)

First, you're going to make your butter cream frosting then set aside. 

Next, grab your sea shell candy mold and whatever color chocolate candy melts you choose. For my cake, we used pink and blue candy melts. 

Don't worry about how the back of them looks; you wont see them.

Next, bake your cakes. For the bottom tier I did chocolate cake, and for the top tier I did strawberry cake. (This picture is half of the cakes; each tier had 3 layers to it). Set aside and let cool completely.

Next, while the cakes are cooling (and you need to make sure they are COMPLETELY cold to the touch before you start icing and stacking them), you'll make your "sand" --which starts with toasting your coconut. 

Nice and evenly toasted!

Once the coconut is cooled, you'll place it into your food processor (I used my magic bullet) along with the graham crackers and grind them up until it is all a sand-like texture. 

Once the coconut and graham crackers are ground, you'll toss them into a big bowl and add white and brown sugar until you reach your desired color. 

Now, I forgot to take a picture of the step before this one, so I'll just tell you what I did. Stack your cake putting a thick amount of frosting in between the layers. Once all of the layers are stacked, you're going to measure your dowels out and cut according to how tall your cake is. Pierce them through your cake so that once you put your "plate" (I have no idea what that thing is called) on top, it'll rest nicely on the dowels and hold the weight of the top tier of the cake.  

Next step: stack them up! Doing just like the step above, put a thick amount of frosting in between the layers. Its always better to have too much frosting instead of too little. Don't worry too much about how the frosting looks; it'll be covered by the sand. 

Now the fun part! Turn your cake into a sand castle! This step is MESSY--but that's okay because you can clean it up later. Be prepared to get your hands dirty. I literally felt like I was building a sand castle when I was pressing the "sand" onto the sides of the cake. Add as little or as much sand as you want, just make sure the whole cake is evenly coated. 

Add your seashells that you made earlier, and viola! You have a beautiful sand castle cake! Now go drink a margarita--you deserve it! 

BUTTER CREAM FROSTING:
Ingredients:
9 cups of powdered sugar
6 sticks of butter
1 1/2 tsp. of vanilla
water

Directions:
Mix all ingredients together. Add small amounts of water until you reach desired consistency.

"SAND" MIXTURE:
Ingredients:
Coconut
Graham crackers
Brown sugar
White sugar

Directions:
Toast your coconut by spreading out on a baking sheet and baking at 350*F for 10-12 minutes.

Once cooled, place your coconut and graham crackers in a food processor (I used my magic bullet) and pulsate until everything is evenly ground.

Place in a large bowl and add white and brown sugar until desired color is achieved.

SEA SHELL CHOCOLATES:
Ingredients:
Wilton candy melts in color of your choice
Wilton candy mold in seashell assortment

Directions:
Place candy melts into microwave-safe bowl and microwave for 1 minute. Stir, then microwave in 30-second increments until all chocolate is melted.

Spoon into candy molds being sure to reach every nook and cranny. 

Scalloped Potatoes

Today I'm going to share a recipe that I got from Joe's Aunt Karen (per usual--I love her recipes!).  She made this last weekend when we were at her house, and let me tell you: these are AMAZING. Enough of the intro; I'm going to just jump right into it!

Ingredients:
4 Tbsp. of butter
1 Tbsp. of minced onion
4 garlic cloves, pressed
2 1/2 tsp. of salt

1/2 tsp. of black pepper
5 lbs. of Russet potatoes, peeled and sliced into 1/8" slices
2 cups of chicken broth
2 cups of heavy cream (NOT half & half)
2 cups of sharp cheddar cheese

Directions:
1. Cook the butter and the onions in a large pot until soft. Add garlic, salt and pepper and cook about a minute.

2. Add potatoes, broth and cream. Cover pot and simmer until tender--about 20 minutes. Transfer to 9x13 baking pan, sprinkle with cheese, and bake at 425* F for 15 minutes.

If you are making this dish with the intention of refrigerating it and baking it later, then you'll bake it at 350* F and bake for 1 hour; sprinkle with cheese 15 minutes before its finished baking.

Enjoy! 

A Fresh Start!

Yesterday we went out and bought me a new car. I literally couldn't sleep the night before; I was like a kid on Christmas--too excited! You may remember me posting the other day that I had wanted the Nissan Cube for forever--and, well, I didn't get that. I got something BETTER! I had test driven the Cube before, and it honestly didn't drive amazingly. Don't get me wrong--it drove fine and I still wanted that car, but it was kind of whatever. The Kia Soul is the same type of car as the Cube; not a sedan, not an SUV--kind of an 'in between.' I thought that I didn't like Souls--I thought they were cute in the commercial with the hamsters, but when I saw them in person I thought they were weird looking. Until Tuesday night. I had to run to Hobby Lobby, and I ended up parking next to a Soul. Without knowing what it was, my first thought was 'whoa, that car is so cute!' ...and then I saw what it was. I laughed to myself, then called Joe and told him that I wanted to look at these cars.

I had planned on looking at the Kia Sorrento and the Kia Sportage yesterday; the Sportage was about the same size as my old car (Infiniti QX4) and the Sportage was just a little bit bigger and offered a third row. Once I went home Tuesday night and pulled up all the info on the Souls, I knew that I wanted to go full-force with this car. 

We looked at the different options each Soul offered; they have 3 different models: Basic, Plus, and Exclaim (Exclaim being the highest price Soul). After looking at all of the options, we decided that I was going to get the Exclaim (honestly, the deciding factor was the interior fabric on the seats--you'll see why). I wanted it in grey, and luckily the dealership had ONE in stock. 

So yesterday I drove up to Irvine to buy my car. You might remember me saying that Joe got a new car last Friday. Since he works up in Irvine, he bought his car from this dealership. They gave him a great price for his trade in, and offered him a CRAZY LOW APR %. When you find a great thing, you stick with it ;). (By the way, little hint here: if you're planning on trading in your car and want an accurate guesstimate on how much the dealership will give you for it, go to www.edmunds.com. Apparently that's the site the dealerships use, and it was almost dead-on accurate with what they offered us for our cars).

So I get to the dealership and the car literally is straight off of the truck; plastic all over it, everything brand new. I was in love. I've never bought a brand-new car before; I've only ever had "new used" or just used, haha. There's something special about buying a car that has 5 miles on it :)). I hopped in and took it for a test drive--and let me just say one thing: this car has some POWER!

Okay, okay--you get it: I'm obsessed with my new car. Now lets get to the pictures! She's pretty on the outside, but she's REALLY pretty on the inside <3

My new baby! Because we got the top model, this car came with rims, a sunroof, car-color door handles, bumpers and mirrors, blinkers on the mirrors, and tinted windows. 

Bluetooth with steering wheel-mounted phone controls, radio controls, and cruise control. I'm most excited about the Bluetooth.  If my phone weren't practically dead last night while I sat in traffic, I would have been calling everyone. 

I love the black-and-tan interior. It just looks fancy. Note: see that speaker in the bottom right of the picture? That, along with the one on the drivers side, lights up in tons of different colors; I can switch it from transitioning colors slowly, or have it match the music and pulsate to the beat. Party in my car!! 

This, THIS is what I'm most excited about. Look how pretty that looks! That is touch screen and I can do everything from there. I have Sirius Radio, HD Radio, and UVO. I LOVE the UVO. I can turn Pandora on on my phone, and it'll sync to my radio without any cables--so cool. I also have a jukebox feature; say Joe and I buy a CD that we want to share. I can pop it in my car and rip it to my stereo, then give him the CD. It'll save the CD in my car without it actually being in there--SO cool. Oh yeah: that screen is also a backup camera. I LOVE that. I swear I'm constantly asking Joe "do I have room?" and now I don't have to wonder; I can see it in plain view. 

And here is the deciding factor that pushed us to get the highest model of this car: the Houndstooth seats. We LOVE how this looks--I'm kinda obsessed with looking at it :)) 

My pretty baby <3. I need to get a cute license plate frame or something! And of course a Red Sox sticker, along with a New Orleans Saints sticker. Then I'll be set! 

I swear I'm fighting the urge to pack the kids up in the car and just drive around the neighborhood. I probably wont do it.. but I might. Okay, I wont. Question: how do you keep a car clean when you have kids? I know the obvious; I never let my kids eat/drink in my cars (new or not) anyways, and if any toys are brought into the car for the drive, they have to be taken out as soon as we get home. However, there are already little tiny fingerprints all over my windows. Any remedies to keep them off? Ugh, I know--probably not.

Thanks for letting me share my excitement with you--I had to show someone! <3