Birthday, Mother's Day, Anniversary

Here are some cards that I've made over the last year that I just never got around to posting.  Enjoy!

"Vegables"

Spring Break is drawing to a close now, and I'm not gonna lie... we ate a LOT of food this week.  Erik's friend Jacob and his friend Anthony were in town visiting for the week.  It was a lot of fun, but we ate so much food!  We went out to restaurants for all but one dinner, had leftovers pretty much every day for lunch (or fast food), and we introduced them to our guilty pleasures of cupcakes and frozen yogurt shops. Once they were introduced to these tasty treats, we may or may not have gone back every day.

This is pretty much what I ate this week:

Delicious? You bet (mmmm... cheese curds)!  Did I ever have the chance to get hungry? No, it just happened to be time for the next meal.  Oiy.

Our guests left town today.  While it was a lot of fun, I'm glad at the chance to get back to healthier eating.  All I want to eat today is fruits and vegetables.  Or, as I was whining today when Erik asked what I wanted for dinner... "I just want vegables.... mmm... vegables."  I'm predicting a week full of salad, fruit, and greek yogurt, and that's fine by me!

Photo credits: Cupcake images (www.thecupcakery.com), all others are the result of a super quick Google image search.

To a Better Year

Last year really sucked.  Don't get me wrong, some really great things did happen in 2010, but overall it was a tough year and it ended on a horrible note.

In short, I'd like to say here's to a better year in 2011.  And Donnie, get well soon.  Our thoughts of healing are focused on you, friend.

Photo: http://www.terrytheweaver.ie/pages/healing_tree_jpg.htm 

Happy Mother's Day!

For one of my best friends who is having a baby in December. :)

For my mom and Erik's mom. :) Hugs to you both!

"Treatsa Pizza" or Grasshopper Pie

This is probably one of my favorite desserts ever. Seriously. It's the oreo cookie crust that gets me (I always save the crust for last!)

It was Erik's 23rd birthday yesterday, and this is what he chose for his birthday dessert. I gave him a choice between my Grandma B's chocolate cake and this ice cream dessert. I love both of the choices, but he'd never had this one before.

Here's the cupcake version of the dessert (I made a pie-sized dessert too, but there were some leftover ingredients, so I made mini pies/pizzas in a muffin pan).


Oreo cookie crust. Mint chocolate chip ice cream. Homemade fudge sauce.

Delicious.

Valentine's Day

I think I got more excited for Valentine's Day when I was a little kid. You'd get to to go the store and pick out a box of little Valentine cards for all of your friends at school (favorites of mine included Powerpuff Girls, Star Wars, and Kittens), and of course some candy too (Sweethearts, anyone?). At school, you'd get to decorate a brown lunch bag which would become your desk's mailbox for candy and cards from your classmates. And no one was left out, because the rule was if you were going to bring Valentine cards or candy to school, you had to have enough for the whole class. It was always one of the best days of school, ever. I mean, who doesn't like less time for class and more time for candy and fun?

Now you just see a ton of commercials telling you to spend $60+ on long-stemmed roses (when you could just wait until summer and get 20 beautiful roses for $10 at the Farmer's Market), ridiculous jewelry that's supposed to look like it's hugging something, or having to pay an arm and a leg to go see the new romantic comedy at the movie theater. Oiy... I liked when things were simpler and only about $5 total cost for the day.

Well, given that my boyfriend and I like simple things, we're going to have a pretty laid-back day, which I am looking forward to very much.

Tentative Schedule:

• Heart-shaped pancakes for breakfast. Although, they turned out nothing like those in the photo. Mine were free-handed and ended up looking like asymmetrical blobs.
• A walk to the park (hopefully there are doggies in the dog park for us to watch!).
• Prepare the slow cooker for a tasty pork chop dinner.
• Go feed and play with Milo (a very poofy orange kitty).
• Pick up delicious cupcakes at the Cupcakery. (This is our one splurge for the day)
• Have delicious dinner, wine, and cupcakes!

Photo: http://www.more4kids.info/613/valentine-treats-for-kids/

Handmade Cards for the Holidays

This Christmas I told myself that I was not allowed to buy those super cute little boxes of cards at the store, but rather that I had to make all of my cards myself, or use leftover cards (from those cute little boxes) from years past. Well, partially because I had the urge to be crafty, and partially because I felt it was "too soon" to send out leftover cards from 1-3 years ago, I spent a few days making these. The ones above were my standard Christmas cards this season.


These two were crafted when I realized that my list of people was larger than the amount of cards I had made. So, I tried something new.


This one was for my mom's birthday, which is about a week before Christmas. She even recognized the green flower paper as wrapping paper that we used to have at the house. (There was only a little bit let, not nearly enough to wrap anything with, so I added it to my folder of pretty paper to be made into cards)


And then lastly, I made this one for a friend of the family who is getting married this week. I wanted to go with their color scheme, but had no idea what that was. I figured that blue is pretty standard, and it looks nice, so I went with it. (I have since learned that red/burgundy is the color in the wedding. I still think the blue is pretty though)

Not quite an ugly sweater, but close enough.

A few years back my residence hall had an ugly sweater holiday party. I could have easily found an ugly sweater at the "Salvo" (what UMMers call the local Salvation Army Thrift Store), but while shopping there I found this lovely piece of work. Since I was the Residence Hall Director, I figured I could get away with a hostess dress instead of a sweater (as well as those lovely red velvet pants to wear underneath!).


This year we don't have any ugly sweater parties to attend. Perhaps I'll have to organize one for next year. But I'm looking forward to the ugly-sweater-free festivities nevertheless.

I wish you all a very happy holiday season and safe travels!!

Holiday Goodies

One of my favorite ornaments.

A tasty cocoa treat.