Obsessed!

I have been obsessed with cake decorating lately!  This all began with my summer vacation to a home with cable television.  I'm not privileged enough to have that at my house and I really believe it's a blessing in disguise.  All I can do is watch "we tv", I didn't even know that existed.  Amazing Wedding Cakes is the name of the show and it runs ALL day Friday.  Now I want to open a bakery and decorate cakes all day long.  I was able to decorate my little girl's princess cake and I just want to do more.  I'm just glad decorating is the only thing on my mind and not the eating part.  That might be bad!  I will post pictures soon, but, as stated previously, this computer is slower than molasses!  Until then, just look at beautiful cakes from Martha!

Macarons

This picture makes my heart sing. I would love a print to hang in my kitchen. I looooooove macarons for so many reasons. Not only are they tasty, but they are so incredibly pretty. I really want to try making my own little beauties. I'll let you know how it goes. In the meantime, don't you think I should stop by this shop while we're in Paris this Fall? If I want to be the best macaron chef, I probably need to try the best macarons. Right?

Lo Bjurulf

I am really loving the whole white on white decorating scheme.  In fact, I have transformed my bathroom into a white on white scheme and just need to add a few pops of color here and there.  When I saw these lovely pictures posted on O Happy Day I fell in love with them.  What's even better?  This is designed using all Ikea products.  Wow!  The stylist is Lo Bjurulf.  Check out all of these designs using Ikea products.  It's amazing!  Who wouldn't want to sit at this beautiful table?

Happy Father's Day!

We are making this right now for Father's Day dessert. Looks good, right? It seems like the perfect dish for the dad that doesn't like chocolate. (I know. It's ridiculous.) I'll let you know how it turns out!

Oh, I just love this so much. Those of you who know me, know that I would absolutely adore being part of something like this. You know, it goes along with the whole "wanting my life to be a musical" bit. If anyone ever wants to do a choreographed dance in a random place, count me in!

For the best viewing, click on the video to be transferred directly to You Tube. For some reason our blog cuts off half the video.

Red Velvet Cake

I know I just blogged about red velvet cake, but I tried a recipe for my little girl's birthday and it turned out delicious.  I just had to share.  Due to the fact that I'm out of town and staying in a home with TERRIBLE internet connection, I will not be posting pictures.  Also, the pictures were terrible.  Actually, the whole experience was a fiasco so I'm just really happy it tasted great. 

First off, I over-filled the cake pan and had cake ALL over the oven.  I kept having to clean the oven out during baking so my cake didn't get smoked out.  I was so impatient with the baking, because it took triple the time, so I finally just pulled it out.  Big mistake.  The cake sunk in the middle.

The next mistake was asking my brother to cut around the pan before flipping it over so the cake would fall out easily.  Never ask a man to do something, baking wise, that you really care about.  Instead of cutting straight down, he cut slanted so when the cake was flipped over it looked somewhat like a volcano.  That is when the curse word slipped out of my mouth.  Don't worry, no children were present!

Needless to say, the cake tasted great.  So...try the recipe.  I found this recipe on Spork or Foon?.  Her pictures are MUCH better than mine are!

Shabby Apple

Have you checked out Shabby Apple lately? I SERIOUSLY want one of each! Especially the ones below.

I am not kidding; I NEED to convince Andy to let me buy one. Or five.

Top it off!

While blog hopping today I, of course, first stopped at Design Mom.  AND...what did I find?  These lovely hats!  I'm a hat girl.  Mostly because I'm usually in a hurry or just plain lazy.  Probably the latter in most cases.  These beauties are from one of my favorite places...Target.  Check them out here!  I really love the striped one, but I find them all beautiful!  Which one is your favorite?

wallpaper

I really enjoy wallpaper. I came **this** close to wallpapering our master bedroom, but then I realized that the imminent arguments that would ensue between Andy and I would be more headache than the wallpaper was worth. But sometimes, when I stumble across stuff like this, it makes me want to change my mind. I'm pretty sure I could find a good wall for that beautiful stuff.

{via Anthropologie}

Oilcloth

I have been wanting to recover my chairs for a really, really, really long time. My barstools that is. They are bland, and they are really dirty. I have young children, so something wipeable is almost mandatory for me at this point. A few weeks ago I posted about Heather Bailey's new laminated fabrics. I love them. But they are expensive -- $19.99 a yard to be exact. So, in an effort to find something less expensive, I have turned to oilcloth. It's not as cute and there aren't as many options, but it costs less than half as much ($7.99 a yard). So, tell me fellow bloggers, what do you think of these options? (All can be found at Harts Fabrics.)



Or, should I stick with my original love...the Heather Bailey laminated? It is really pretty, isn't it?

I love this song...

...I think it is beautiful, both words and tune. I don't love the actual video (all the twirling), but I will definitely purchase this song off of iTunes when it comes out in August. The music is from this video, which I also highly recommend.

Soft Scrub!!!

Last night as I was trying to clean my stainless steel, which I despise, I decided to try my Soft Scrub.  Lets be honest here!  I really didn't want to walk upstairs to fetch my ordinary cleaner that I had used on my bathrooms.  I'm just lazy!  Boy am I glad I was lazy, just this once!  If you have never tried Soft Scrub on your stainless, it works wonders!  I was amazed.  It left no streaks and it shined everything right up.  I didn't even have to do a wipe down immediately following the cleanse.  I was VERY impressed!  If you have never tried this product before, try it!  It even cleaned my dishwasher, which has NEVER been clean.  It has always had these water stains that have been present, even since it came out of the package.  Not anymore.  Spic and span!!

Sweet Babies!

If you are in need of some really cute, cheap baby shower gifts head on over to Homemade by Jill!  She has posted the cutest little ruffle bottom onsie along with baby legs.  There's no way you can cover those ruffles up with a pair of shorts!

She also has the cutest tutorial for sock rattles.  I will be making these sometime in the near future!  There is nothing better than a well crafted, homemade baby gift.  I believe the receiver cherishes the gift so much more, knowing it came with a bit of creativity and work.  You know you won't show up with the same Target sale item that three other people also bought. 

Sprinkles!!

Have you ever?... Have you ever tried a Sprinkles Cupcake? If not, you are definitely missing out! Big time! Order some NOW!! Now, let me just add that I've had an expensive cupcake before and it was not all it was baked up to be. The cake was dry and the icing was triple what it should have been. I think they did that to, hopefully, cover up the awful dry crumbs in your mouth. Needless to say, I was a bit of a skeptic when a friend of mine showed up at our door with a dozen Sprinkles cupcakes. I was wrong! I am not wrong very often, but when I am, I am willing to admit it. The cupcakes were amazing!!! My favorite...the red velvet. Heavenly! I crave them on a daily basis and thank my lucky stars that the shop is a safe enough distance away that I have not, yet, made an appearance there. Maybe for my babies birthday!

I was ecstatic to find out that Sprinkles also sells their cupcake mix online so you may whip up a batch in the comfort of your own home. Even better...they had red velvet mix available. Even better than that...if someone out there had the recipe and I could just make them from scratch on my own. Please share, if you do!!!