Living Room and Blueberry muffins

Since a couple of my friends haven't been over our new house yet, they asked if I could take pictures of our house and post them up. I lost my camera charger, and my Iphone is terrible at taking decent pictures, but better than nothing I guess. I really like our house, and I wish  all of our family and friends could live closer.

We have a big window in our living room, which makes it hard to take a picture without having a little blur. You can see my unfinished balloon wreath on the couch and my obsession with blogs on the computer screen. Today I am grateful for blueberry muffins made by Jamie, one of my favorite recipe blogs. She has the best blueberry muffin recipe which I made this morning, and for a gym membership that keeps me in check. Love you guys!

Girls Night

Monday nights at our house is Boys/ Girls night. Tyler has poker with his friends and I have some of my friends come over to keep me company. It's only fair.. I wish we were better at having Family Home Evenings, but it's hard to have between just the two of us. We have to take turns praying and sometimes we joke about having a baby just so we have another person praying. I know, we really need stronger reasons. It's funny because lately we've been talking about starting a family a lot more often than usual. One our good friends is expecting their first child in June, and on Sunday I overheard the husbands sharing their concerns to each other about the cost of diaper. This friend was telling Tyler that a newborn has an average of  8 diaper changes a day for the first couple of weeks. Is that true? I still have to google this new fact, but Tyler came home saying that no way, that's way too much money going just to diapers, so instead he said we'll just get our kids a big sham-wow and have them use that. His idea not mine.  I couldn't help but laugh. It's so adorable when he starts talking about having a family, and even more adorable when he starts panicking about the diaper usage. Anyways, back to my girls night. Katie, Nina and I started to make the Balloon Wreath, from Our Best Bites but we ran out of balloons. We used a lot more than 175 as Sara used, maybe because we had smaller balloons? I'm not sure but I do know I bought all the last ones Walmart had on the rack... so instead we did this adorable tree that Nina brought us back from her spring break in Florida. She's so thoughtful! It was interesting because we each had the same tools to work with and yet we call came out with different looking crafts. The picture is blurry, I'm sorry hopefully you can kind of make out what we were trying to do.

Love with hot and light pink flowers by me; Spring with hot pink flowers done by Katie; & Easter big hot & light pink flowers by Nina. 

I love craft night and not having to be home alone. I just recently got  came home from a Relief Society activity for the birthday of R.S and even though I wasn't feeling to good, I'm glad I went. I love the women in our Relief Society. I love the messages that are taught there on Sundays, and I love the presidency. Our gorgeous Relief Society President shared a brief message on how we all need to have a little more sunshine in our life and count our blessings. I have a terrible cold, and I've been complaining about the rain this whole week. I cannot believe how selfish and ungrateful I've been considering what's been happening in Japan, and a cold? It could be so much worse. So from this day on I will write at least 2 things on my blog of what I am grateful for for that day. No repeats. Sister Benson said that "The best is yet to come," and I believe those words. We all have tomorrow. We all have at least one thing to be grateful for... And today I am grateful for the librarian who helps me every week get a new book for my book club, I am so grateful for the rain that waters my plants so that they don't end up dying because I forgot to water them. I am grateful for my blow dryer that helps keep my hair tamed, and I am so grateful for the love that Tyler has for me. I am so truly grateful for those around me who help keep me humble, and teach me every day. I hope to be better with time and be more grateful for the little things each day.

The latest

I cannot believe how fast this week went by. I had so many plans to accomplish during Spring Break, and although I didn't do it all, I'm happy with what I did do. Like on Monday I went to Lowe's with my mom and she helped me pick out some flowers for my front yard. I was only able to plant a few pansys and some tulip buds. There's still some frost in the morning here in VA, but I'm excited to start a small herb garden in our backyard.

I also got to do this craft that I've been meaning to post up for a while. Nicole from Our Cozy Nest, made these cute Easter Carrots and I loved her idea. They were so easy to make, I just wish we had a sewing machine so it could have been done quicker =). Click here for her carrot tutorial. I tried to find the same fabric that she used, but Walmart didn't have the exact one. Luckily the one I found actually did look like a carrot. I love how they look on our red door. I love Easter and although I'm still making some St. Patrick's crafts I can't wait for Easter to get here!

I found some of the cutest printables on A little Lovely blog, and decided to frame them. For the St. Patrick's day one just quick on the link.  St. Patricks day printable Isn't it cute? It looks even better in a frame! . I'm so glad that there are so many women out there who have amazing talents and share it with the world. I'm fascinated by their creativity. I hope to one day be able to come up with cute things like this on my own. This one is by far my favorite!

My amazing mother-in-law sent me the cookbook I've been trying to win from 3 different blogs. OurBestBites is one of my favorite recipe blogs and when I was telling her that I was going to go out and buy one she was like "No you really shouldn't." She had actually bought me one, trying to surprise me with it. When she told me I literally jumped up and down in my kitchen. Tyler of course ran over to check on me and he was like geez you didn't react like that when we got married. OF COURSE I DID. I was just speechless, and so happy with my new gift. Thanks again Mom. Since the day I got the book, I've made three recipes: potato broccoli soup (Tyler's new favorite), Stromboli, and I just made homemade hummus. It's so good I can't stop chowing with pita chips. Although I wasn't able to do everything on my to do list this week like painting the shed or laundry room or even going away for spring Break like some of our friends, I wouldn't have changed this week. I got to spend all week at home with Tyler. We watched movies, played games, went out on dates, went shopping, and did crafts. [Me, not him. He said it's too girly for him] So instead I had a girls night where my good friend Katie came over and crafted. I love my life, love my family, my friends, and more importantly I love my husband. For all the small things he does for me, and for our home. 

Bulletin Board

I saw this ugly bulletin board be transformed in a blog the other day and thought.. Hmm I should give mine a makeover too. So what I did this weekend? I transformed my hideous and common looking buletin board into this cuteness:  

 When Tyler and I went to Walmart again last night I stopped in the back to check some cute fabrics. I couldn't decide between a few, and then I figured, 1) I love green  2) I'm still in the st. Patrick's day mood, and 3) This is going to fit right in the guest bedroom that is ALSO this light green color. The first thing I did was paint the whole fame black. Front and back. Then I glued the fabric. The lady on the blog had actually hot glued hers, but I kept thinking about the push pins and how that might be hard for them. So I glued them with Elmer's glue. The fabric was just a tiny bit bigger than my board, so I got a butter knife and kept "tucking" the extra pieces in under the framework corners. I love my new bulletin board, and the best part? It was so cheap and super easy! I have to smile every time I glance over and see my new bulletin board. 

Chocolate Rocambole

I love Sundays. I have to admit, I'm not the biggest fan of having church at 1pm. I just feel like it cuts my day in half. Like we wake up looking forward to church, and then only get home when its already dark out. Well anyways, I woke up and started getting ready to blow dry my hair, when my blow dryer seriously fell on in the sink full of water. I've seen horrible things happen in movies where all the lights get turned off and the person dies because of the shock. You would think I learned? NOPE. I stuck my hand right in the sink to turn off the blow dryer. Tyler was still asleep so I didn't want to him wake him up, but I was shaking so bad I had to go tell him what just happened. He hugged me and kept saying " Honey, something bad good have happened" and "I'm just glad you're okay." I absolutely love my husband and I am so grateful for his love. He gets so worried about me, and is so extremely patient with me. I'm one lucky lucky girl. 

Today I made a Brazilian dessert called ROCAMBOLE. It's so delicious! 

• 6 eggs room temperature
• 7T sugar
• 5T cocoa powder
• 1/2 cup flour
• 1t baking powder

Ingredients for the filling:

• 1 can of condensed milk l
• 3T cocoa powder
• Chocolate sprinkles to decorate

In a small bowl mix the egg whites until they are peaked and then set aside. In another small bowl mix the egg yolks with the sugar until you get a creamy mixture. Then add the cocoa powder and the flour slowly. I sifted my flour so that the cake comes out soft. (My sister taught me that!) Then you want to fold in the egg whites into this mixture. Slowly with a spatula mix it in, if you mix too rough the cake will be dry instead of soft. Spray a cookie sheet with butter and bake at 350 for 20 minutes. I used the 15.25X 10.25X.75 cookie sheet.

Once it's ready you want to damp a CLEAN washcloth and flip the cake onto it. The humidity from the cloth helps the rolling of the cake without it shattering. I sprinkled sugar on my cloth so that when I rolled it the sugar would penetrate on the cake. Just a thought =)

  So it should look like this once rolled. While that's off to the side we can start our filling and topping. In a medium saucepan pour a can of condensed milk and 1/4 cup milk or heavy whipping cream. Add in the 3tablespoons of cocoa powder. You want a liquid-y substance, but not too liquid-y. I think the whole stirring process is about 5-8 minutes. Once it's done unroll your cake and pour some of that deliciousness in the cake. I only used half of mine for the middle so that I could also use it as a topping. My sister has this awesome white topping that she makes from scratch, maybe I'll try it next time. But that's it, with of course sprinkles on top. I love it*

Kitchen & Crafs

I 

I was going to show our kitchen on the last post, but I ended up dedicating the whole thing to the cat. I couldn't take a picture of the other side of the kitchen because the sunroom is keeps getting shining light and interfering with the camera. I'll show more pictures of the house later.. But I want to show you guys these two projects I worked on.

I made this Valentines day weekend. I saw it on Ourbestbites.com and the lady on there made it seem so easy. It seriously took hours to cut all of these felt circles, and then roll them up into roses. Tyler helped me and he was done at about 2 hours of cutting. I started to make one for my mom, but unfortunately I have only half done. 

This one I made this week for St. Patrick's day. I am far from being Irish, but Tyler has tiny part of Irish in him, so why not? And everyone knows I'm a huge celtics fan.. so I loved this! The lady from the blog undermyumbrella.blogspot.com  showed a tutorial for these. She wrote out LUCKY, but I decided to do LOVE and McCurdy instead. They're suppose to look like scrabble tiles, hopefully I didn't fail miserably and you guys can actually kinda tell what it is. I have spring break next week so I will for sure be posting a ton of new crafts!

Kiki & Kitchen

When Kiki gets a shower he is rewarded with a small bowl of milk. I feel bad because he cries every time he gets a shower.

 Super spoiled!! He climbs on the couch to get some loving out of us. Tyler let's him sit with him while he plays video games. I'm not too fond of having him on the couch, and when we caught him sleeping on the couch once he immediately got put in the laundry room as a punishment.

Isn't he just super cute?

I made him model for me this morning..

I know you guys probably didn't want to see this much of him, but I couldn't help not posting all of these pictures. It just shows him so well. Super lazy, and extremely spoiled. He has honestly become a part of our little family =)

A piece of our lifes.

Hours later I can say I have a blog! I've had a fotolog, myspace,orkut, facebook, you name it.. and now an official blog. A couple weeks ago I saw the cutest blog http://71toes.blogspot.com and by the time I realized, I had over 8 different craft and cooking blogs saved to my bookmarks. While my husband thinks it's cute that my friend and I now have a craft party once a week, I'm starting to think maybe I'm going a little overboard.  Is it true when they say "too much of something is bad for you?" That can't be right! I'm so excited to start blogging all the different recipes I've been trying, and the cute crafts I'm planning on finishing and starting during break. But first... Let me tell you a little more about our family. Tyler and I met about 2 years ago? Maybe more. We started dating in September of 09', got engaged during Christmas break that year,  and were married May 15th in the Boston temple. It was such a beautiful day, and such a blessing knowing I get to spend eternity with the love of my life! It's just me and the cutie-pie of a husband living in Virginia. We're here waiting for me to finish my undergrad which I'm hoping will be over in about 2 more semesters. Tyler and I have a lazy little cat we adopted when we moved into the house we're living at. His name is Alpine, but we're somehow renamed him KiKi. Like Kitty. I think one time Tyler got really mad at him and just yelled "No Kiki", and it just stuck. He's a booger sometimes, but I kinda love him now. (The cat, not Tyler)! Anyways.. that's all I could think of right now.

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