Wish Well Tree

Its pretty obvious how easily I get inspired these days! I have such talented friends that its hard not to be crafty after I see their projects, recipes, photos, etc! My latest inspiration/project is called a Wish Well Tree. It is where the guests of the party write down on designated paper well wishes for the person who the party is for. You then take your paper and hang it on a branch of the tree for the honoree to read later! Here is an example from an amazing photographer that I follow named Christy Pelland! This is going to be my project for the next month until School starts for me! I am going to cut branches from my front and back yard and put them in a tall vase. I picked up this colorful ribbon at Michaels for only $1.50, to hang the wishes from the tree on!And for $2 I picked up 8 sheets of scrapbook paper with monkey patterns that I am going to cut into little note cards for guests to write notes to Audrey on, I will be putting white paper on top so the notes can be read!last but not least while I was at Michaels I picked up these cupcake picks that will adorn the birthday cupcakes I am making for the party!Once I am done making the tree I will post a photo!

Day at the Park

This is the park that we are having Audrey's birthday party. After her doctor appointment we decided to take advantage of the gorgeous day and go for a walk and play a little bit!

Pumpkin Pumpkin Pumpkin

I have been craving and loving everything pumpkin lately! Yesterday after I made bow tie pasta with a homemade sauce for dinnerI made these Pumpkin cupcakes cutting the recipe in half to make only 12 cupcakes with a vanilla bean buttercream drizzle!On the drizzle I substituted the vanilla extract for vanilla bean, equal parts!They are extremely moist and decadent!

Nathans Birthday!

Last night was Nathans birthday celebration with all our friends! The night started out with Dinner at Olive Garden!Next stop was Wingers for a few drinks!

Our last stop was Lady Luck where our good friend Yanni was the DJ! We had the VIP room all to ourselves and had a lot of fun dancing and laughing and acting silly!All in all it was a great night! Thank you for everyone who came out!

German Chocolate Cupcakes for my Sweetie

Thursday is Nathan birthday but we are getting together tonight with our friends for dinner at the Olive Garden and then Wingers for drinks! While Nathan was fishing today with our friend Joe I made him these German Chocolate Cupcakes. They are his favorite and since I did not have time to bake a cake these were perfect!Happy 28th Birthday baby. I love you!

Happy Valentines Day!

This past weekend was the best and exactly what we needed. We decided to have a stay cation for valentines weekend. What is a stay cation you ask? Well, it is a vacation but you stay close to home sight see in your own backyard, the whole gist is to save money and rediscover where you are from! We stayed in a local hotel about 15 minutes from home and took in the sights and eats of Seattle and Tacoma! Saturday night we headed to Seattle to join our friends Barbara and Jimmy for dinner at the new Hard Rock Cafe!

We brought Audrey with us on Saturday and dropped her back off at my Moms house on Sunday to stay overnight. She was not fond of the Hard Rock because it was just too loud and chaotic for her but she enjoyed all the food! We were at dinner for 3 hours talking and touring the memorabilia so by the time we left Seattle it was almost 10. We headed back to the hotel and watched the Olympics and Nathan and Audrey played until she finally fell asleep about midnight!Sunday Nathan and I spent the day browsing Barnes and Nobles for good reads and a cup of coffee before going to see Wolfman at the theater. It was the perfect scary movie to cuddle up to on Valentines Day! For dinner we went to Adriatic Grill and Wine Bar for a romantic candle lit dinner!Our gift to each other this year was the stay cation itself, but I did make Nathan a special V day dessert platter that he loved! I cut homemade brownies into hearts and xoxo!!The rest of the weekend we spent cuddling and watching the Olympics!It was perfect!

Sweet Treats

In the midst of Valentiens Day I wanted to bake some fun treats for my Mom! I baked her favorite, Dark Chocolate Brownies in a heart shaped pan with little candy butterflies on top.

I also made a Pumpkin Butter Pound Cake with a sugar glaze. It came out dry which means I need to not add so much flour next time. My best friend Sam came over and bought us dinner from Red Robin! I had the Whiskey River BBQ spinach wrap! Yum! Audrey had fun sitting in the kitchen watching me bake! She was dancing in her bouncy toy keeping my company!

Monkey Business

Audrey's birthday is 3 1/2 months away and its a big one, literally. She is turning 1!!!!! I can not believe how fast the time has flown by. I have loved every minute of it, more then others obviously. Our theme is Jungle buddies and I have been online surfing the sites for party supplies. Here are my ideas for the cake and cupcakes I am making! They are adorable and are going to be a ton of fun making!

I found all these great ideas on the Wilton website. They have ideas for every kind of dessert and every theme and celebration. I use their products daily! I would love comments in which ones you all love the most!Now on to decorations. I love the website Oriental Trading so that was the first place I looked for decor ideas! Here is my inspiration and that part theme we are going with. What do you think?We are having the party outdoors at Pioneer Park in downtown Puyallup! They have a new jungle gym and its in the heart of the hustle and bustle of Puyallup!I have a lot of work to do but I am excited to practice my cake and cupcake decorating skills since these designs will be going in my new baking portfolio I have started!

Family Update

As of Thursday February 4th I am a Culinary student at Clover Park Technical College! I am so excited to get back into school and actually learn and study something fun and that I am good at! Classes start March 31st. Eeek!

On another note, what is so great about this school is that they have a wonderful brand new daycare center that Audrey will be going to while I am in class. She will only be in daycare for about 3 hours a day unless I stay in the library to study and they take her insurance so it is free to us! I am actually looking forward to her being able to interact with more children her age and a little older, I am sure I will cry the first day but I am going to try my best not to.

Valentines Day is this coming weekend and Nathan and I have a little getaway planned. We are staying in a local hotel to save money but we are going to spend a lot of time in Seattle attending the Grand Opening of the Hard Rock Cafe and checking out some other local eateries! Audrey will be with us on Saturday but Sunday she will be family while Nathan and I have some alone time. We do not get much of so we are going to take this opportunity to have a romantic date night!

Audrey still is not crawling and I have a feeling that she will be walking before she even attempts to crawl. She is teething and we can feel little nobbies but no teeth yet. She has her check up with her GI doctor at Mary Bridge Children s hospital tomorrow and then her 9 month on the 22nd! She had to weigh in at the WIC office last week and she is 16 pounds! She is getting there! The doctors say she will petite her whole life but that she is healthy and looks great!

The last week has been hectic, I feel like I am never home but I have been doing some much needed catch up on little projects I have around the house so look out for those fun blogs and more photos of my little angel!!

Wii Night

Last night our good friend Joe hosted a Wii game night at his house! We had tons of pizza, chips, drinks and watched as the guys played House of Dead! It was a lot of fun with friends we do not see often enough! Here are some photos!

Mrs Cooks and Williams Sonoma LOVE

Today was one of the best days. Nathan, Audrey and I went to Seattle to the University Village. We picked up an $8 cashmere pullover sweater for Nathan at The Gap and a few things for myself! My friend Nissa is an amazing cook, she uses an ingredient called Vanilla Bean Paste that I have been wanting to try for myself and I have not been able to find it anywhere UNTIL, I stopped in at this cute little boutique called Mrs Cooks!As soon as I saw it, I had to buy!

Our next stop was lunch at Panillo an Italian bistro. On our way we saw this cute little sculpture and Audrey loved it!I have been looking for an apron for a few months now but for some reason have never bought one. While we were in Williams Sonoma, I walked by the clearance table and found this adorable apron for 75%, it was $6!After we got home I made dinner which was a Asian Mexican fusion. Turkey sausage rice wraps with garlic, onions and ginger! I added salsa as the glue. Tasty!I wanted to use the vanilla bean paste tonight for dessert so I made this delicious vanilla bean pound cake, from this recipe from this great blog that I follow called Bake at 350 ,with powdered sugar!