Life: Giving Back through Sewing

I know there are lots of crafty people out there that are willing to put their mad skills to good use.  Craft Hope is asking for your help in making pillowcases for terminally ill children.  I'm not very good with sewing (more like I'm not really into it) but I am going to take on the challenge either way.  Please check out their post Project 9 for more information.  The deadline for the pillowcases is September 15, 2010 so please take on this worthy challenge and spread the word to all your crafty friends.

Life: Winning Something

Please head over to Shutterfly and vote for my photo.

THANK YOU!! 

Update:

I didn't make it to the second round but I encourage you to visit the page and vote for someone else. Plus you get 20 free photos. 

Blogging: Is That Whack

My friend began her own blog this week and I wanted to share it with you guys.  The only way to really describe her blog is awkward, funny, raunchy, and definitely not for the faint of heart.  If you are ready to come out of your comfort zone you should stop by at Is That Whack and read for yourself the musings of my friend Miss Wackney Houston.


If you've ever wondering if something you or someone you know does is whack please head over and summit a question.  Don't worry you don't have to tell her your real name.


Update: She has now started a new blog meanBUTfunny where she honestly herself. If you get a chance you should check it out because its really entertaining. 

Sweets: Birthday Strawberry Cheesecake

My younger cousin turned 16 years old last month and I wanted to bake her something special.  I decided to make her cheesecake since I had previously baked one and she loved it.  I took one of my favorite cheesecake recipes and added my own touch to it.

Recipes: Glazed Brussels Sprouts

I went to do my monthly grocery shopping the other day and I found myself standing in the produce section looking at recipe cards the grocers have for customers to take.  I grabbed one that said Glazed Brussels Sprouts  and I headed on my way.  Please keep in mind that I had never purchased this vegetable or even tasted it.

Today I prepared them and to my surprise they were pretty tasty. My hubby liked them but didn't love them.  I'm trying to expand our palate and as I do that I will share with you my experiences.

Life: Mending a Broken Heart

Like I previously mentioned I began this blog when I was planning my wedding and now it has grown into my personal outlet where I share with the world my inner thoughts.  Okay, so I might be exaggerating a tad but I do like sharing with you real things that are going on in my life.


Here is my dilemma:

A close friend of mine has a broken heart (yes it is a friend and no it's not me) and I don't know how to fix it.  I feel like I might be taking a different approach than my other friends and I don't know if I'm being too insensitive.  Let's just say that the love of her life did something that he shouldn't have and they broke up as a result of it.  I love her dearly and even had her stay at our apartment for a couple of days until she finds her own place.  The problem is that a lot of our mutual friends keep texting me and asking me what they should do to cheer her up.  I believe that she should have time to "grieve" the relationship and then go out but my other friends are adamant about taking her out.  Please keep in mind that this happened a few days ago.


The questions I have for you are:

• Do you believe infamous claim once a cheater always a cheater?
• Should someone have a grieving period after a relationship ends? If so how long?
• Am I being too insensitive by not taking her out and about myself?
• If your best friend had a broken heart what would you do to cheer her up?     

I should know the questions to all these answers but I feel that it's always good to get an outsiders perspective.


I would appreciate any feed back you can give me as I attempt once more to help my friend mend her broken heart.

Rubber Ducky You're the One...

..making chocolate so much fun.  Okay so that might not be the right words but this past week they made my cupcakes absolutely adorable.  My cousin's are both pregnant and our family decided to throw them a joint baby shower two weeks ago.

I love baking so I decided to bake something special for them.  I made vanilla cupcakes with baby blue butter cream icing.

The design I was going for did not come out right since I never took into account how hot and humid it was going to be that weekend.  Let me just say that my adorable duckies that were supposed to bring the design together became nothing but pool of chocolate and icing. Complete and utter failure but still delicious.

The duckies were easy to make and if I can make them in my first attempt you can too.  You will need to purchase a candy mold, candy melts, oil base food coloring for added color, and something to stir them with. Once you have your materials then you're ready to begin.  Follow the directions on the mold.  Clean the mold. Dry it.  Melt the candy melts in the microwave (or in my case melt the chocolate in a double broiler).  Pour the melted chocolate into the molds and let it set in the refrigerator.  So those were basically the instructions that came with the mold.  What I learned along the way was that if you work with chocolate you need to have a candy thermometer handy.  It turns out that chocolate is sensitive and one needs to learn how to temper it correctly.  Since I used Ghirardelli chocolate for my duckies I found it useful to read what they had to say about melting it correctly.  Let me just tell you that I found it easier to work with white chocolate rather than milk chocolate.  To get the different colors on the duckies I mixed the colors in a separate bowl and added them first to the mold then on top of those colors I added the color yellow.  I used a long pick but you can use special brushes they have at the craft store for this specific task.  It was so easy to make especially if you have a microwave where you can melt the candy and then just pour.  I hope you guys have fun making your own designs.


I really enjoyed making these and I can't wait to try other molds.  Next time I'll make sure to check the weather report before hand.

Have you guys ever worked with chocolate before or attempted anything with candy molds? 

Happy 4th of July!!!

I just wanted to wish everyone a Happy 4th of July!! I hope everyone has a safe and fun holiday weekend.  I will have an upcoming post on these adorable duckies...

Life: Getting to Know What he Loves

Since June 11th of this year all you hear in our apartment is the loud bee like sound of the bubuzuelas or what looks like a plastic trumpet.  We are coming towards the end of the World Cup and the excitement in the air grows greater with each passing game.  I was never much of a "soccer" fan but I think that's because I was never educated on how the sport was actually played.  I realized before the World Cup actually began that either I was going to get annoyed with my hubby for constantly watching the games or I could enjoy them along with him.  I chose the latter and this year I told my hubby that if he wanted me to stay engaged in the game then he should spend the time trying to teach me about it so that I can follow along.   Since some of you might be in the same predicament that I was in I have decided to share the knowledge I have gained through watching countless games since it began this year.  I haven't learned everything by any means since this is my first time actually following the World Cup.  What I can say is that learning about the game has prevented several fights from ensuing in my household.

• The World Cup is held every 4 years and different countries host it.
• 2014 Brazil
• It is a month long event.
• There can be ties in the first round since it is based on a point system
• There is a mathematical equation that is used to determine who is the winner of the first round the amount of points that is given in ties, wins, and losses. 
• 3 points for a win
• 1 point for a tie
• 0 for a loss
•  You cannot have a tie the rest of the game.
• If a tie occurs somewhere besides the first round then they first go to overtime.
• About 30 minutes all together.
• If it's still tied after overtime then it goes to penalty. 
• In penalties each team gets five free kicks and who ever gets the best out of that wins the game.
• If they are still tied after that then each team shots one penalty until somebody wins.
• The first round has 32 teams.
• The second has 16 teams.
• The quarterfinals has 8 teams.
• The semifinals have 4 teams.
• The finals have 2 teams.
• Where it gets tricky in the manner in which teams are paired up in the second round.  Once you understand that the teams are linked up with a lesser team then the rest is clear.  What I mean is that the 32 teams were divided into 8 groups of 4 each.  
• Each of the 8 groups has a first and second place winner.
• The first place winner plays the second place winner of another group and vice versa.
• For example: Group A #1 plays Group B #2 and Group A #2 plays Group B #

That is pretty much the format of the World Cup.  I won't continue to bore you with more details since someone could easily go on speaking on the subject matter for a few more posts.  If you want more information visit here, here, here or simply Google it.

One thing that I would like to mention is that in the rest of the world "soccer" is known as futbol and it really is a huge thing unlike here in the U.S.  If you want to join the campaign to bring the world cup to the U.S. please sign the petition here.

I hope I simplified futbol enough for you to enjoy watching a game with someone you know that loves the game.  I really appreciate the hubby for teaching me about the game.  On a small side note my mommy is now a futbol convert after my hubby took the time to tell her how it works and no way in a million years would I have imagined this to be possible.

Do you have anything to add to this list?

A Pelican Hill Wedding

On my previous post I shared with my friend's candy buffet well now I would like share with you some photos I took of her special day.

Isn't the ocean beautiful from here?  The Pelican Hill has an amazing view especially on a clear day. 

My friend's wedding was outside and was fortunate that it was a lovely southern California day.  

I'm obsessed with clean bathrooms that I couldn't resist taking a photo especially since nobody was there.

I got to hold the bouquet for a tad while my friend used the restroom and I couldn't resist taking a snap of these beautiful calla lilies especially because purple is my favorite color. 

Simple but lovely.

The maid of honor and my friend's oldest daughter as her she sees her mom walk down the aisle. 

The beautiful bride and groom.

I just had to take a photo of her train.

She looked like a goddess. 

The centerpieces were just as lovely as everything else and I still can't believe that I didn't win one. 

The gold table setting matched the rest of the golden color scheme.

The only dancing at the wedding was done by these Khmer dancers as a way to honor the bride and groom.

If you've read through my blog before you must know my obsession with popcorn and I thought it was lovely that they served it on the appetizer. 

The amazing and delicious cake that they served at the wedding. Behind the cake was the candy buffet that I swear really was there but you can't see it from this photo.  

Overall the wedding was a different experience for my hubby and I since we are used to loud parties that don't end early.  I would describe the wedding as beautiful, enlightening, and lovely.  The couple did not accept gifts but instead opted to accept donations for an organization they run that provides rice to the Cambodian population.  During dinner they presented videos of the couple doing humanitarian work in Cambodia and it was refreshing to see how these two individuals in such a short time of knowing each other found harmony in helping others.  To me my friends that is something that you can't put a price on.  I wish the lovely couple a long and happy marriage and hope that they continue to do good in this world.  

Love is Sweet: Part 2

In my previous post I showed you our candy buffet and told you that I was fortunate enough do have done my friends candy buffet too.  Now I would like to show you photos from my friend's wedding.

I purchased a "photo box" at Marshall's and added some ribbon around it pretty it up.  I bought all the gold and purple ribbon at the Fabric Barn.  If you haven't had the chance to visit down town Los Angeles's Fashion District and live near Long Beach you should really check out this place.

I bought the bags at Paper Mart and decorated them with purple card stock from Michael's.  Since my friend wanted me to keep everything simple I stamped a thank you on them and added some ribbon. I think they turned out very good.

I bought some of the candy from Powell's Sweet Shoppe, Big Lots, Target, and from Costco.  I did the name tags with ivory and purple card stock and wrote the names myself.

I left a gap between the candy because they were also going to have a "kid" cake.  I purchased all the jars at the Flea Mart or Swapmeet and cleaned them up myself.  If you choose this route don't be afraid to haggle with the people.  

I bought everything for $350 and it served about 100 people.  My friend only wanted the candy buffet for the children but unfortunately the adults at the wedding didn't get the message. The candy was not enough for the 170 guest she had and since she originally told me it was for 70 people I only gave myself a small cushion.

My hubby snatched this photo to show me how successful the candy buffet was.  Next time I'll make sure to ask how many guest are actually invited to the wedding.