Quote of the Day

Have you read the book The Help by Kathryn Stockett?

Have you seen the movie? 

If you haven't done at least one of those you need to remedy that quickly.

And I mean this week quickly. 

The book was laugh out loud awesome, riveting, interesting, and beyond touching. 

The movie was the best thing I've watched all year. They followed the book so well. (I'm always impressed when they follow the book.) 

Have you fallen in love with this story as well? 

Homemade Malasadas

If you have never been to Hawaii, spoken to someone from Hawaii, or know very little of Hawaii and the food people in Hawaii love you have probably never heard of a malasada before. 

If you are one of those people I'm so sorry. You are missing out. 

But don't worry, I'm going to try to help you out there. 

A malasada is a portuguese doughnut that we eat in Hawaii. 

(Did you know I grew up in Hawaii? I think I've mentioned that but if you're new now you know!)  

I don't know if they eat them in Portugal, I really only know that they are AMAZING! 

I found a recipe for malasadas online a few years back but really messed up the recipe the first time I made them. (by myself, with no clue what I was doing) I learned what I did wrong when I made malasadas with my sister. We don't make them very often since the recipe we have is for 7 dozen but I wanted them on Tuesday after seeing all the fat Tuesday posts. So at 8pm we made malasadas, brilliant for my diet I know. 

The dough, it is extremely sticky. 

Frying them up.

Coating with sugar.

The finished project.

Doesn't it look delicious!

Here is the recipe and instructions. If you want more info you can always google malasada recipe and read up there. 

Ingredients:

1 (.25 ounce) package active dry east

1 teaspoon white sugar

1/4 cup warm water 

6 eggs

6 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 cup white sugar

1/4 cup butter, melted

1 cup evaporated milk

1 cup water

1 teaspoon salt

2 quarts vegetable oil for frying

2 cups white sugar

Directions: 

Dissolve yeast and 1 teaspoon sugar in 1/4 cup warm water; set aside. In small bowl, beat eggs until thick. Put flour in large bowl, making a well in the center. Into the well add yeast, eggs, 1/2 cup sugar, melted butter, milk, 1 cup water, and salt. Beat thoroughly to form a soft, smooth, dough. Cover, let dough rise until doubled. 

Heat oil to 375 degrees. Drop dough by big teaspoonfuls into oil, fry until golden brown. Drain on paper towels, shake in a bag (or bowl) of sugar to coat and serve hot. Makes 7 dozen. 

Recipe Notes (things I learned)

You have to really beat the eggs. Like whip them. When they say beat the eggs they mean double the size. I did not do this the first time. The oil can't get over 375 degrees. If it does the outside cooks too quickly and the insides are super doughy. Keep the spoonfuls you drop into the oil small at first until you know they are cooking all the way through so you don't waste lots of dough. Make sure you have plenty of people to eat them with you, they are the best hot hot hot! 

Enjoy! 

Project John Deere Baby Shower

Project John Deere Baby Shower is complete! 

It feels good. It was a crazy week/weekend getting ready.  

It was still fun planning and crafting for it though. 

Now only 2 more baby showers to go this year! (As far as I know at least)

Here is a little of what we did. 

Yarn Chandeliers 

I found the idea through Pinterest of course. You can see the tutorial I followed here. 

Because it was a John Deere theme we used yellow, green, and brown to make the chandeliers. 

It was interesting making them. We used a whole lot more paste than the tutorial talked about. And we didn't hang them since we didn't have room. 

You really should hang them to dry. We had big glue spots. 

We also made cake pops for the first time. 

As you can see in the picture we had a few mishaps. 

But they still turned out pretty darn fabulous. 

I'm not going to go into huge detail about these since there are so many tutorials out there. 

I will say take your time and be gentle. 

Now my favorite thing from this shower. 

The rice krispie treat cake. 

This was our bottom layer. We kept it smaller than the original photo I saw on pinterest. 

Then we add two more layers. To make it easier we just used the same 9x9 pan and then cut out the sizes we wanted. To hold the layers together we smoothed on some chocolate icing. 

Then add some ribbon for visual interest. Using toothpicks to hold it all together.

And we have a fun and different cake.

That is kinda like hay bales. 

Neat huh? 

I liked it and so did everyone at the shower. 

It was a little easier to make and it felt like we were trying to stick with her theme. 

Overall it was a success. 

Next is the baby girl shower. 

Fun times for everyone! 

A Weekend of Sweets

This was a very busy weekend. 

My sister and I hosted a baby shower this weekend. It involved crafting and lots of sweets. 

I'll share more about that later though. 

In general I had a lot of fabulous sweets this weekend. (seriously I had a sweet problem)

First, I had cannoli on Friday.

No I did not eat all of those. I just had one. I get my cannoli from a local italian bakery. This particular bakery makes the best cannoli I've ever tasted and the mini chocolate chips on the end just make it that much better. 

Really you should be jealous you can't eat these.....

Saturday we ate lunch at the Great Traverse Pie Company. 

This is their Strawberry Rhubarb Crumb pie. It was delicious. 

Best pie I've had in quite a while. 

I took one bite and said "this is picture worthy fantastic." My sister took one bite and said this is "Not going to share with the kids fantastic." And she didn't share with the kids...

We made cake pops for the baby shower. I broke this one. 

If you haven't ever had a cake pop you are missing something very important. 

I say this after having cake pops for the first time this weekend. 

Trust me. 

Then last night I had dark chocolate covered pretzels just because I could. 

I need to stop with the sweets. 

I mean really need to cut back. 

That probably means I should stop watching food network shows and pinning dessert recipes on pinterest. 

Hmmm....or just try to have some will power. 

Happy sweets everyone! 

Quote of the Day

This happened today and happens quite often. 

Smile and be happy no matter what. 

Tie Necklace

Do you like ties? I mean neck ties. Men's neck ties. 

Sometimes they can be very fun. (Though since I don't wear them I guess I can't make an exact opinion) Mainly I'm talking about the fabric pattern. 

When I was in high school I made a skirt out of ties. It was thrown together really. (My impatience came out since I didn't plan it well) I did love that is was so unique and kinda want to make one again. But that's not what this post is about. That skirt just made me have a soft spot for tie fashion. 

When I first got into blog stalking I saw this tutorial for a tie necklace. 

Can you scream LOVE it! 

Since right now I feel like I'm at a decorating crafting stand still I looked through old bookmarks and decided I needed to try this out today. 

I didn't document this tutorial in great detail. I followed the tutorial I shared with you and then changed it a bit when it wouldn't look the same as hers. (How does that always happen to me????)

First you need a tie. Preferably something fun and interesting. I stole one from my brother in law. 

I liked the colors and the pattern. Preppy a bit but fun for a necklace right? 

Once you have your tie start putting in your pleats. So you can figure out how you want it all to lay and how long it needs to be. (Just to put it out there I did this step but somehow still messed it up. I have no clue...)

See. Here. I pinned it and have it laying like the tutorial I followed. 

Anyways, once it is pinned you sew the pleats down in the back of the tie. 

Pretty Simple.

Then you add a button for interest. I found this button in my bag of buttons. Hopefully I don't even up really needing it for some piece of clothing later. :) 

Here is my finished product. Something about my pleats wouldn't allow my tie to lay correctly to scoop. But I decided shaping it like this was still fun. I wear more v-neck shirts anyway. 

And here it is on. I really love it! 

Not bad if I do say so myself! 

And of course the Instagram version. 

Hope this inspires you to raid someones closet or pick up a tie at the thrift store and make some tie fashion! 

 

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Get Fit Challenge Check up

Remember the post about doing 100 sit ups a day? 

No? Yes? 

If no, look here.

Are you doing this with me? Or have you started your own challenge? 

I am very very proud to say that I have kept up with my sit ups very well. 

I missed one night when I was out late but I made sure to make them up the next day. 

I haven't only been doing sit ups and I feel really good. 

I mean really good. 

I'm sleeping better, I have more energy, I don't feel like I MUST have caffeine in the mornings, I'm happy with how my body is feeling.

I want this to continue! 

I'm not going to bore you with my random work out routine, schedules, or plans. 

I'm just going to tell you my goal right now.

My biggest goal right now is to make working out and doing something everyday a habit. I want to have to this last.

This year will be the get fit year. 

I'm determined. 

Are you? 

Just Splurge a Little

I've splurged on a few things recently. 

It's been fabulous I must say. 

The first thing I splurged on was a new phone. A new iPhone to be exact. 

A new iPhone 4s. And in case you were wondering Suri is amazing. 

Even when she scolds me. 

Really, she has. I swear! 

With that I'm selling my old phone. 

It's bittersweet. I adored my first iPhone. It was amazing even as it slowed down because of how much I had on it. 

Now this next thing wasn't really a splurge in price. I just didn't technically need it and got sucked into buying it from the TV commercials.

Have you seen the commercials? If you have this is a fabulous product. I love it. Even if I am addicted to most any type of lip gloss or chapstick. 

Buy it. 

Then yesterday I splurged on a purse. I haven't purchased one in a bit so I decided I deserved it.

It also slightly helped that Anne agreed with me about buying it. 

It's always good to shop with a friend who encourages you to buy things. 

haha

I bought it at TJ Maxx. It's salmon colored and a Steve Madden purse. 

I am officially ready for spring! 

That's probably why is snowed tonight. 

Insta Weekend

Insta Weekend! 

Ya know Instagram.

Pictures that look cool from your phone. 

Okay, well really just one day. Oh and a picture from Thursday since I have to share it! 

This is my Thursday picture. It's a chocolate pastry from Panera bread. I had it for breakfast. 

I want more. I warmed it up lightly and it was oh so yummy! 

Bread and Chocolate, I love you.

This was my mood Friday. 

Feeling happy and energetic or a wood cutter. 

You decide.

This is my mismatched socks Friday night.

I had a mini HP marathon with friends and they loved my socks immensely.

Movie marathon means yummy food! We had wings and since I picked up cannoli my fabulous friend was happy to get me a jumbo cupcake from The Cupcake Station. 

If you didn't know I've been talking about a giant or jumbo cupcake for weeks. 

P.S. It isn't my birthday, it just came like that.

It was a dark chocolate cupcake with a salted caramel frosting. 

Pretty darn good I must say. 

I ate half and then decided not to go into sugar shock by eating the rest. 

I can be smart at times. 

Have a happy weekend! 

Capture those moments! 

Quote of the Day

I'm sorry this picture is small. 

I wish it was massively huge! 

This is how I feel today. 

That's really all.....