take it easy

Well, another week has come and gone. I hope everyone's weekend consists of all this and more:

Sadly, I will be at work. haha busy season sucks. 

warm and toasty

Starting my day off with a campfire mocha. Delicious! This cupcake doesn't look too bad either!

OMG this is adorable! I want one. 

Hungry yet?

taste the rainbow

How would you like to start your Wednesday morning off with these?!

a little birdie told me..

haha, adorable! 

two all beef patties, special sauce, lettuce, cheese..

How cool are these hamburger pillows?!

Would you like fries with that?

because sis makes dinner

Andrea used inspiration from our good friend Kelly at Because Sis Said So, and made this delicious dinner the other night. It was sooooo good!

She used Wegmans pan-searing flour and a butter sauce which made the tilapia super moist and tasty. The mac and cheese had Gruyere, Fontina and White Cheddar in it for the perfect cheesy goodness. And the cauliflower mash was creamy like mashed potatoes with a sweet/salty flavor.

Have you tried Golden Oreos?

They are delicious!! Just ask my sis.. she can't have them in the house without eating the whole package. 

rainy monday

Still raining out there, but at least it's 60! Crazy weather. Good luck surviving this Monday. 

rainy with a chance of snow

It's rainy out there today. It's snowy in Blacksburg though (apparently I still get the text updates about school closings.) Oh how I wish I was frolicking around the drillfield/503. Hope everyone has a great weekend! 

say yes to the dress

Oh hello, most gorgeous wedding dresses ever. Could you BE more me? Plain and simple with beautiful details and whimsical flowy material. This may be more appropriate for a beach wedding, but I'm flexible. 

Don't worry boyf, I don't have the wrong idea. And since my wedding is not on the horizon, I'll settle for these lovely bridesmaid dresses in the near future. 

Love them as much as I do? See them at Saja. 

don't judge a book by its movie

In addendum to my previous post read or watch first, there are 2 more movies coming out soon and I would like to finish the books before. Both are by Nicholas Sparks, most famously known for the Notebook. Now that book was a tear-jerker. I didn't cry when I saw the movie as it didn't even come close to conveying the amount of emotion I felt when reading the book a couple years earlier. I love all of his books. 

1. Dear John - comes out February 5th with Channing Tatum and Amanda Seyfriend (from Mamma Mia)

2. The Last Song- comes out April 2nd with Miley Cyrus. Apparently Nicolas Sparks wrote the book with Miley in mind. Crazy! 

Can't wait to read/see them both! 

working for the weekend

snapshots of love

How adorable?! See more here. 

sweet treats

How great do these treats look? Find more at Better Homes and Gardens. 

monday glitters

image/littlebits&blogs

jump for joy

Yup, this is how happy I am that it is Friday. Hope everyone has a great weekend! 

1/2 asian love

Oh, hello, aren't you just the cutest little thing in the whole world?! I can only hope you are a 1/2 asian baby like myself. xoxo

image/ lifelovepaper 

heart day

With Valentines Day about a month away, I'm going to be ahead of the game and post my collage from last year! Actually, if I was really ahead of the game, I would make a new one this year. But we'll see if that happens. In the meantime, enjoy!!

[click to enlarge, then set as desktop background!]

cupcakes 101

So for Christmas, the boyf got me Cupcake baking classes! (Completely his own idea, I'm so proud of him!!). We went on Sunday, and had a blast! There were 6 other people in the class, all very nice, and it was right in Pentagon City at Sur La Table. We made 5 different kinds of cupcakes, and all were delicious! We stirred, mixed, creamed, dalloped, baked, ladled, glazed, iced and filled these beautiful cupcakes. 

After a comment from the roommate that it "tastes like Christmas", we realized it actually does. The rosewater was a little strong, and not my cup of tea, but an interesting cupcake.

 These were delicious. We made our own caramel, cut a hole in the cupcake, filled it with the caramel, then plugged the hole and iced them with a dark chocolate frosting. 

I was most excited about these coming into the class. Almond flour and a blood orange puree is used to make a super moist and delicious batter. Very refreshing!

The Chipotle in these cupcakes are supposed to add a smoky flavor, but I just tasted a weird spicy aftertaste. haha, but making the sugar crowns was fun! I felt like I was on the Food Network. You just boil sugar, and run a fork back and forth over the wooden tong thingy. Then you gather the strands and ball them up into a "crown" and place on top of the cupcake! 

And our absolute favorites! Steve and I got make these (along with the Pistachio ones) and we were so proud of them. They were by far the best ones in the class. We made toffee with heavy cream, butter, brown sugar and brandy then ladled two layers of it  on the baked mini-cakes (we didn't use a cupcake liner). They were so good! The toffee was amazing. We will def make these again if any of them from the class. 

Let me know if you want any of the recipes! The class was really fun, I highly suggest taking some! We want to take Asian Noodles next! Can't wait. 

boyf

So I sent the boyf this picture because it completely reminds me of us (he is secretly a ginger). And he immediately responds with "What are you doing on my side of the bed?!?!" haha silly boy :)

brrrrr

It's cold out there, people. 

One thing to warm me up is the thought of skiing in Park City at the end of March! Just booked my flight. It's the annual ski trip to our timeshare. Everyone is welcome!! 

case of the sore throat mondays

My throat hurts. Which is the last thing I need on a

read or watch first?

So I stumbled across this picture of the main characters of Harry Potter. I was/am beyond obsessed with the books. 

My how they have grown:

haha which led me to wonder, when it comes to books made into movies, is it better to read the book first or watch the movie first? With Harry Potter and Twilight (my ultimate favs), obviously the books are WAY better than the movies. With the exception of New Moon, I have been highly dissapointed in all of the movies after I read the books. I recently saw My Sister's Keeper and loved it! I immediately bought the book. I can only imagine I'll like the book more than the movie. Mostly because I liked all of the actors, so I'm ok with having them in my imagination as the characters. 

 I also bought the book The Lovely Bones, which is to be released January 15! AH!!! I'm only about 40 pages in, should I finish the book then see the movie? or see the movie then read the book?!

twenty ten

These look like pretty good goals for the new year to me. Thanks Homegrown Hospitality!

goodbye twenty-pho

So my good friend turned 25 and instead of going out to a bar like everyone else, she had a Pho birthday! She is Vietnamese and her mom has owned multiple Pho restaurants around the area. They made amazing soup with noodles and Filet Mignon! Not to mention the egg-rolls and wontons, delicious!!

Such a great birthday idea! Good times and amazing food were had by all!