Blue Swirl

A friend called last week to ask if I'd do a painting for her new office! I was thrilled, as I've had an itch to paint lately but don't have room for another painting in our apartment. Here is what I came up with:

Pure Deliciousness

I came across a recipe for Red Velvet Cake Balls and just HAD to try them out!

They were pure awesomeness! It was like eating a glorified Zebra Cake.

Here's the step by step to making these little balls of yumminess:

First, you will need:

-Red Velvet cake mix (unless you want the challange of making the cake from scratch)

-16 oz whipped cream cheese frosting

-almond bark (white or chocolate, your choice)

1. Bake a red velvet cake like normal and let it cool

2. Once the cake is cooled, crumble it in to a large bowl and add 16oz whipped cream cheese frosting - mix it all up

3. Roll the cake in to small balls. I used my hands because I don't have a cookie scoop, but a scoop would work great as well.

4. Chill the balls: I put mine is the freezer for a little over an hour.

5. Melt the almond bark and dip the balls in to the almond bark. I found it easiest to use a toothpick to hold on to the ball while dipping it.

Final Product:

ENJOY! :)

Tis the Season

I can't believe Christmas is almost here! This year has somehow gone incredibly fast, yet seems like it lasted forever, at the same time! Before we left for SD for Thanksgiving, we put up the few Christmas decorations we have! I also had some time to wrap the first round of gifts last night. I'm pretty proud of myself, as my Christmas shopping is almost complete!

Here is our cute little tree - that fits perfectly in the corner. It's a little crooked and missing a tree topper - but it doesn't fail to put me in the Christmas Spirit!

Our entire apartment has white walls and white carpet. Since Dan and I tend to move a lot - I decided not to decorate our place this time around. I'm ok with this place not feeling like home, but during the Holidays, I needed a *little* something to spruce it up! The dinning room table was the lucky winner that got a decorating "make-over".

Christmas will be here in a few short weeks. Happy Holidays!

Martha Stewart

I am super excited about this! A design I did, while working at Spark Stationery in Sioux Falls, has been published in the Martha Stewart magazine! It's just a small photo - but knowing it's mine makes me excited!

photo credit of Spark Stationery

Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego?!

I can't believe Halloween has come and gone already, it means 2009 is winding down - where has time gone?! For work on Friday I dressed up as Carmen Sandiego...Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego?!?!

At this age, it seems most people's form of entertainment involves drinking or a bar scene - which is fun in most cases, but sometimes it's great to have good ole fashion sober fun! On Friday night, we did just that. We went to Valley Scare and had a blast! It was almost cinematic being outside in the cold and rainy weather, late at night and going on rides. The first ride we went on was the scrambler and I don't think we've giggled that hard in a long time. I've forgotten how fun rides can be! It was rainy and cold, but our many layers kept us warm.

I am terrified of rollercoasters, but I bundled up my fears and went on not one, but TWO rollercoasters that night. I screamed and grabbed Dan's arm so incredibly tight that I'm surprised it's still attached to his body - but I overcame my fear of rollercoaster. Well, kind of :)

Along with all the rides, they had about five haunted houses that all had differenet unique themes! The evening was fun, but by the end we couldn't wait to be warm again!

Saturday's events involved dressing up at a mobster and heading to the Subsidies last show as a cover band. It proved to be another fun night!

Retail Therapy

Findlaw doesn't seem to be following the trend of business being down this year. In fact, we're insanely busy at work! We're busy enough that for a month, they offered to pay us for working Saturdays. Along with these extra hours, came extra work and heightened goals. And with all of that, we have some fun incentive ($$$) drawings going on if we meet our goals. Five weeks passed and I had no such luck winning any of the drawings (there are 3 each week). Then, in the 6th week, I FINALLY WON! Not only did I win, but I won the drawing worth the most!

Extra cash is certainly nice right now, aferall, we are a one income household for the time being. But, the great thing about our incentive money is that it only comes in a gift card. This means this extra money could not be spent on bills....darn, huh?! After tossing around ideas of where to get my gift card to, I decided on Target. All households always need to take trips to Target, so I figured this would be the smartest way to go! Then I had the internal debate of using the card to purchase household items, groceries and other not very fun to buy things OR spoiling myself a little bit. With a little encouragement from a good friend and the ok from my husband - I compromised on a little of both and boy am I happy I did! It's always fun to walk in the door, bags in hand, after making FUN purchases!

Here's what I got: a dark teal wrap dress, a funky thick black belt, tights (never thought i'd buy those!), a cute graphic t-shirt, a vest (that Dan refers to as a cape) and a simple aqua long sleeve t-shirt. (.....and some groceries, but a list of those isn't exciting). And my checkbook is still smiling because it was all "free" to me! :)

A weekend to relax....finally

Dan and I finally have a weekend with no major plans, except for some relaxation! Since we've moved to MN, we've been busy busy busy.

Last weekend we traveled back to Mitchell for our good friends Matt & Lacey's wedding! It was a BLAST! I was especially honored to be a part of their big day. They looked overly happy! It was so great to be back and to see them, as they live in Chicago and don't get to visit very often. Cheers to Matt & Lacey and many years of love, laughter and happiness! :)