Friday, February 27, 2015

Fabulous Fridays : Inspiration (part one)

A couple weeks ago, I blogged about where I got my inspiration from in the blog world. Read about those HERE.

But I have plenty of resources of inspiration OUTSIDE of the blogging universe (there's a better word for that...what is it?). There's actually a long list. So I split it into three parts. Actually, I split it into three parts so that you'd come back next week (right? *hopeful face :D).
1. Books
Crazy time, yes. I'm a huge, huge fan of books. At the end of last year, I gathered all of my favorite books from the year and took a picture. I highly suggest Every. Single. one of the these books. When You Reach Me, View From Saturday, To Kill A Mocking Bird, A Year Down Yonder & A Long Way From Chicago, and Out Of The Dust. Oh, and Tom Sawyer. Those were my favorites. Okay, that's basically all of them. Forget I said anything.
2. Nature
Nothing like the great outdoors, huh? Summer, Fall, Winter, Spring - I love it all! There is nothing like a good hike, warm sunshine, crunchy leaves, moonlight, silent woods -- what ever it is, I love getting outside.
 3. The Ocean
My dream is to live on the beach. For forever. Because, seriously, I miss it so much. I'll never, ever forget the smell of the ocean, the taste of salty air, and sand in my hair. Omgosh, take. me. home.
 
 
4. Music
Make that music & a good book (did I mention I liked Enya and A View From Saturday? E.L. Konigsburg is one of my favorites!! I love My Father's Daughter!). And maybe a good cup of tea. and Lighting. Lighting is key. But come back next week to hear more on that...
 
Have an AWESOME Friday!!
 
 
 

Thursday, February 26, 2015

8/52 (part two) - February 20th : Nothing Much Going On At The Moment...


So like, yeah, my sister is graduating. Yay, congrats, Jess! She actually graduated like last semester, but we're having a party this March. Because parties are AWE-SOME!


I also have a friend who just had a birthday (yay for another year older!!) and I had like a week to wrap her present so I did a really awesome job. Like, seriously, this is the best gift wrapping I have EVER done. Happy Birthday, darling! Enjoy!! (seriously, now that I have a job I will be buying everyone gifts, just wait...)
Also, in case you missed it: I GOT GLASSES!!! Yay for me. They make me look super smart (not like in the picture were they make me look super creepy. Sorrrrry 'bout that.) I've been wearing contacts the past two years, and since my eyes aren't that bad, I just forget to put them on in the morning. Sooo, I switched to glasses. ^=^

One last thing: Shout out to Buster Posey who (should have by now) won Face Of MLB!!! You rock, dude!!

Tuesday, February 24, 2015

8/52 (part one) - February 16th : Snowing!!

 So right now we are planing a graduation party (more on that later.), which has been a lot of fun. Lots of snow last week, and everyone was at home (no school for my oldest sister, no work for my older sister, and my dad works from home.) We all just got to relax and home & guess what? We got to watch Pride & Prejudice (BBC from 1995 yay for Colin Firth!!), like straight. Gosh, I love that movie. Also, I started a job today (which is the 22nd, still, for about 16 minutes...) -- babysitting, but still -- I'm working three days a week, 2:00 - 6:30. I'm like pretty excited. Plus, the kids are super darling!! (':



Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!! But not ice. the ice sucks. I slipped twice today... :\
Hope you guys all have warm days! These below zero nights (Fahrenheit) are KILLER! Brrrrr!!!

Friday, February 20, 2015

Fabulous Friday - Quick Tip

Write it down. Write it down NOW. Or else you'll forget it, and it will be gone forever.

Have a great weekend!


Thursday, February 19, 2015

7/52 (part two) - February 14th : Ice Skating





It's been almost ten years since I was last ice skating. (to save you from doing math - heaven forbid - I was five. You read that right. I fell down in those three hours more than I have ever fallen down in my whole life put together...That is, if you count my "my whole life" as being after I learned to walk. xD) I didn't fall down once this time! We went with a couple other people ("We" being two of my younger sisters and I, "couple other people" being four teenagers, two adults.), and they were all so nice about helping us! My sisters had never been skating before and it took a while for them to get used to it. They were great once they got started, though!! Seriously, now I totally want to go back!!
Any fun winter adventures you've had lately?


Tuesday, February 17, 2015

7/52 (part one) - February 13th : You know what we say, say...

Party everyday -- P-P-P-PARTY EVERYDAY! (I got a feelin...Oooh, Oooh...)

I went to this Pair Party. It was pretty sweet. I was Taylor Sa-Wift. and I like hung out with Harry half the night & then we broke up and he called me up and he's like, "I still love you..." and I was like, This is ex-hausting, ya know? Like we are Never getting back together. Like, ever. (yeeeaaaaaaaaaaah). That just happened.
In real time. Sorry. It gets late, I get crazy. Half the time I honestly don't even know what I'm saying.
Yes, well, anyway. My friend throws a birthday party every year (she's the one in the green on the right - Peter Pan. My younger sister is the one in the red skirt - Minnie Mouse). Seriously, I look forward to her parties Every. Year. With. Out. Fail. Too many periods. I'll stop.

(Yeah, btw, today I watched wasted a long time on Pride & Prejudice 1995. Seriously, Colin Firth is so much hot it's amazing. Daaaaaaaaaaaang. I love that movie. It's seriously in my top three favorites. Along with Cary Grant & Cary Elwes Movies...I have a thing for british C people. Yes, Cary Grant was British. and no, his name was not cary grant. I also love Gregory Peck & Jimmy Stewart, though, and neither of them was a C or British. Yeah, *coughcough* P&P was good, as always.)
That's the cake. It's a pear. She's also an amazing cake decorator.
Drop everything now//meet me in the pouring rain//kiss me on the sidewalk//take away the pain//cause I see sparks fly whenever yooooou//smile//

Because I am Taylor Swift, guys. TAY IS ME!!!


Friday, February 13, 2015

Fabulous Friday - Cocoa!



Seriously, I love cocoa (or hot chocolate, if you prefer). Recently I came upon this recipe. I still think it needs a little tweaking, but here's what I've got, so far:

Starbuck's Copycat Cocoa
Adapted from: My Frugal Adventure
Makes: 1 cup 
Takes: 5 minutes

Ingredients
  • 2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa
  • 3 tablespoons sugar
  • ¼ cup water
  • 1½ cup milk (I used 2%)
  • ¼ teaspoon vanilla
  • Optional: 1/4 teaspoon instant coffee
Instructions
  1. Add water, cocoa and sugar into a microwave safe bowl and heat for approximately 40 seconds or until warm. Mix well to create the chocolate syrup.
  2. Add milk and vanilla and stir well.
  3. Heat in the microwave for about 60 seconds or until hot.
  4. Serve with whipped cream and a pinch of instant coffee to taste.
Hope you guys have a great weekend! I'm off to a party & ice skating!

Thursday, February 12, 2015

6/52 (part two) - February 6th & 7th : La Grange

(Again, sorry it's late. Crazy week. :\)

This is seriously one of the cutest down towns. Sadly, they're doing constructions on it right now. :(

So we went down town on Friday night then again on Saturday because they were doing a chocolate tasting thingy for Valentine's day. Which was a lot of fun but way to much sweet! But we did get asked to be in a photo for our local quarterly magazine thing. Awesome sauce, right?










Yay for adorable down towns. ;)

Tuesday, February 10, 2015

6/52 (part one) - February 3rd & 4th : Road Trip & Cocoa


I did such, such a good job last week of getting pictures taken. I took pictures on four (FOUR) different days! :D

...I ruined all that by not blogging yesterday. Sorrrrrry.

Anyway, I hope to have the cocoa recipe up more or less pretty soon! ;)