Punch and Pastries

    My fiance Joe and I are really lucky to have amazing friends. When it came time to pick the bridesmaids and groomsman for our wedding, we had a tough time narrowing it down. We didn’t want to hurt anyone’s feelings, or have one friend feel like they are less important than another friend. All of our friends mean a lot to us, but if we picked everyone we would barely have any guests lol. So eventually we choose 16 members of our bridal party; seven groomsman, seven bridesmaids, one junior bridesmaid and one adorable flower girl. Back in March my parents threw Joe and I a beautiful engagement party. Everyone had a wonderful time, but it was tough for the bridesmaids and groomsman to bond with each other with all the guests, so Joe and I decided to throw a “Punch and Pastries Party!” It was for our bridal party members to be able to get to know each other better and to discuss upcoming events. I personally love any excuse to throw a party, but this one was important to me. Some of our bridal party knew each other from over the years, but some we just meeting for the first time. We had a nice time, and the ladies and I even decided on the bachelorette party (finally lol)!

    I had the idea for the party right off the bat, but I did some research on Etsy.com and Pinterest.com to gather some more ideas. Below are pictures from the party:



Here was the setup. Visually it is important to have different heights on the table, and different stands to display your food.




I found these paper mustaches on Etsy.com. I took a gift box I had in my closet, bought a Styrofoam block at Michaels, cut it to fit in the box and then stuck the mustaches inside! I also had the box sitting on top if the lid to add height. They served a dual purpose-a centerpiece and party props. It was fun to take pictures with them!




All the pastries looked great, but these were my favorite! I got the idea from Pinterest.com. They were inexpesive and easy to make, and most importantly they tasted great! To display them I turned a basket upside down, placed it on top of a stand and stuck the pop tarts in. P.S. I didn't bake all of the pastires on the table just the poptarts, Nutella puff pastries (also from Pinterest.com) and cinnamon rolls.



This pom pom I found on Etsy.com. They have all different colors and cuts. Once I received it, I watched a YouTube video on how to fluff it up. Then we hung it under our chandelier.



And here is sweet Zeya in her party shirt! It says, "Cuter Than A Cupcake." She had fun too!



This quote is from our wedding website:

"We've shared smiles, we've wiped tears...and through the years our friendship has grown along with us. You are truly a wonderful part of my life."

Unexpected Puppy Love

     I had planned on posting a few Mother’s Day crafts before May 13th, but something kind of came up... I have been busy taking care of a new member of my family! Our new puppy Zeya! She’s a puggle, about 20 weeks old and almost 3 pounds! For those of you who don’t know, a puggle is a beagle and pug mix. It was a shock to many, and to be honest a shock to myself, when my fiancé and I brought her home! I was never really a pet person. I didn’t grow up with any pets, and my mild case of OCD always had me stressing over the idea of a pet roaming my home while chewing and peeing on things. So whenever my fiancé brought up the idea, which was ALL the time, I simply said no thanks. Plus he was not willing to compromise on which dog we got. After almost a year and a half of him practically begging me, he agreed to be open to different breads so I agreed to go LOOK (key word)! We looked the first day and agreed we both liked puggles. We did a lot of research on them that night, and the next day we happened to find a family with a litter for sale. I agreed to go look at them knowing we could go home with one, but still not thinking it would really happen. Well when we got there and saw how stinkin’ cute they were we couldn’t help but pick one to take home. I guess you could say Zeya has changed my feelings about pets…well at least for my own pet J

Introducing Zeya Thunder!

 (My fiance picked the middle name lol.)



She already learned to sit!

What is funny is we took Zeya to the vet and they call her Zeya Thunder!



 

Relaxing with her favorite stuffed duck her grandma gave her.



Of course I couldn't help myself with buying cute puppy outfits!



Please feel free to leave me any puppy advice, cute things to buy for a puppy, etc.!

My fiance sent me this quote so I had to use it:



“All you need is love…and a dog.”- anonymous

Chocolate, Chocolate and more Chocolate

    This past weekend I died and went to chocolate heaven!  My father turned the big 5-0, and a big party was thrown in honor of his birthday! Instead of the typical black over hill theme, we did a brown chocolate theme! The party was not a surprise party, and my father was very much a part of the planning. I am like him in many ways, but one major way is we like to be involved in the details of things, especially party planning! (I won’t even give up control of planning my bachelorette party to my sister because it’s too fun not too lol!)
    As a little background info; my father has had his own business in advertising, marketing and interior design so creativity runs through his blood! My mother is a psychotherapist by day and a crafty momma by night! I definitely inherited creative genes from the both of them! 
    An amazing quality about throwing a great, visually stimulating party is being able to be budget conscious. There is no reason you have to spend a ton of money just to have an incredible party. There are SO many things you can do to keep the cost down, while it looking like a million bucks! Below are pictures from the big night. I posted a lot of pictures with details so you can see what I am talking about and how it all came together. (The last picture is a cake, made by my mother, for my dad’s second 50th birthday celebration! If you like Italian Rainbow cookies you are going to LOVE this! It was better than the chocolate cake if you can believe it!)



These were some of the items on the chocolate bar, including a picture of the signature drink (designed by my dad) and clear bags for guests to fill with chocolate as they left!

 

This was the entire chocolate bar set up including the double chocolate cake made by Olympia Catering. (The string in the pictures are from the brown and cream balloons that were strung all around the room.)



Chocolate "50" lollipops were made, tied with personalized ribbon, and hung from silver trees bought at Homegoods! These were the center pieces on the main dining table. The guests took lollipops home with them.




This is a chocolate truffle candle that was from the Dollar Store believe it or not! There were a lot of them placed all along the center of the main dining table. They even smelled like chocolate!




And these were too fun! It's a plastic chocolate popsicle ( also from the Dollar Store) that has bubbles inside, and the bubbles even smelled like chocolate! These aren't just for kids people, the adults loved them! And they got to take one of these home as well.




Here is the main dining table set up with the silver trees, chocolate candles and the plastic popsicles. The brown squares along the center are scrapbook paper from Michaels craft store.





And last but definitely not least is the official birthday cake that my mom made for my dad's actual birthday! It is a spin off the traditional Italian cookies my family loves! This cake was SO good I had to share the ingrdients with you below!




Ingredients:
3 sticks of softened butter
1.5 cups granulated white sugar
6 large eggs
12 ounces of almond paste
1 tablespoon pure almond extract
3 cups all-purpose flour
3 teaspoon baking powder
red food coloring
green food coloring
yellow food coloring
1/4 seedless raspberry jam
1/4 cup apricot preserves

For the Ganache:
1 cup heavy cream
12 oz. semisweet chocolate

"Life is like a box of chocolates... you never know what you're gonna get."

Forrest Gump (Tom Hanks)



    

Butterbeers and Forbidden Journeys

    Living in Florida definitely has it's perks. Laying on the beaches, tropical scenery, flip flops year round and no snow to shovel, just to name a few. But even more exciting than that are Florida’s theme parks! I have been to most of the parks numerous times. (And yes I do have a favorite, the Magic Kingdom at Disney World!) But yesterday I got the chance to go to a land I have never been before…The Wizarding World of Harry Potter! Harry Potter is located in Islands of Adventure at Universal Studios Orlando. You might be shocked to read this, but I have never seen the Harry Potter movies nor read the books. Yes you read that correctly, NEVER. It’s just something I haven't done. When Harry Potter fanatics learn this, they instantly look at me with horror and shock, like I'm from another planet! I have thought about renting the movies, but I just never seem to get around to it. I admit though, once I heard The Wizarding World of Harry Potter was opening, my curiosity for this craze had me secretly wanting to go. The cool thing is my fiancé filmed many of the commercials for Universal and The Wizarding World of Harry Potter. (He is a freelance union camera assistant!)  I’ve gotten to hear a lot of cool things about the park from him and my sister who has been FIVE times. But it wasn’t until yesterday that I finally went to go see it for myself! I was accompanied by my mother, sister, aunt, uncle and cousin. We had a great time! Luckily it wasn’t extremely hot, and walking around the park wasn’t too hard on me! (I have some medical stuff I'll discuss another time.) Even for someone like me who is not familiar with Harry Potter, I still found it enjoyable. If you get the opportunity to go, I recommend walking in the different shops, trying the delicious butterbeer and riding the rides. But be warned, if you get motion sickness easily Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey will definitely get you feeling like your butterbeer if going to come back up the same way it went down! It did for my poor sister at least!

   

A few pictures from our day:



At the entrance of Hogsmeade you see the Hogswart Express.



The main section of Hogsmeade.





This was my favorite shop! ;)


“It does not do to dwell on dreams and forget to live.” – Albus Dumbledore in Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone

My least favorite thing...studying!

    I know there are people out there that can relate to what I’m going through, so I had to share and get your advice! When I attended college I had a hard time deciding what to major in. I loved writing and I loved children. I decided to go the writing route, and I got my B.A. in Journalism. About a year after graduation that year, I decided I needed options in life! So I decided to enroll in an online master’s program through another University to get my teaching certificate. I completed the program, got a job teaching preschool, and that eventually lead to my current position as an educational assistant at a local charter school. As educational majors know, you have to pass a few state tests to get your teaching certificate. Well, so far I have taken and passed one exam, and I have my temporary teaching certificate. I need to pass two more. Doesn’t sound too bad right? Well it is because I hate studying! I would rather write papers than study for tests! (I guess that’s the journalism in me.) I just need to buckle down and study. I have studied a little, but I just can’t get myself to do it every day. I want to pass these tests so I can complete the program, and have two amazing career options! If you can relate to my study problem, how do you get yourself to do it, and do it consistently? Help, I’ve fallen off the study band wagon and get back on!

Here are my two “frienemies” :

"It always seems impossible until it’s done."- Nelson Mandela

Strength and Love

    So I had planned on writing more blogs last week but as we all know, life takes unexpected turns sometimes. I had a family member diagnosed with breast cancer. She had to make some tough decisions quickly, and she chose to have a brave surgery performed a few days later. Needless to say it was a tough week. Her surgery went great, and she is seeing her doctor this week to determine the next step. One special thing that came out of last week was I got to watch my baby cousin! She is a year old and is absolutely adorable! My fiancé and I spent the day with her and we had a great time! She really made me want to have kids sooner than later! You know, it’s weird because when I was 16 years old I remember thinking, “I want to have kids at 24!” Well 24 seemed forever away when I was 16, but it came up fast. When I finally turned 24 I was not ready for children. Now that I am 27 and about to be married, I still feel kids are at least a year or two away. But I tell you what; my baby cousin definitely gets me excited to have my own. It gets me thinking about so many things like, how many children will I have? What will their sexes be? What will they look like? What will their personalities be?  I guess only the future will be able to answer them for me. For now I will enjoy every moment watching the little ones closest to me!

Here is a picture of my baby cousin! (I’m not a big fan of showing faces, at least right now! And I would need her mommy’s permission of course!)

I also took a picture of these Gerber puffs. For any of you who are health conscious or are trying to be, these are not only a good snack for little ones, they are also a great snack for adults! They come in all different kinds in the baby aisle, and they are very low in calories, fat and sugar! There are even ones that look and taste similar to cheese puffs! Hey, try them sometime! Keep a look out for coupons for them too ;)

  You gain strength, courage and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face.  ~Eleanor Roosevelt

     Well here it goes…my first blog! Sitting down to write this is surprisingly a little nerve racking for me. I love to write, and I went to school for writing, but blogging is so much more personal than what I’m used to doing! In my Journalism classes I was writing more news articles than anything else. Before college I loved to write poems, and I kept a journal about things I was feeling and experiencing, however no one ever read them but me and a couple friends. So this will be a new and exciting experience for me.  I have a lot of different interests and have been told I should blog about them. I brushed it off for a while, but lately I have been feeling compelled to actually do it. So there you go! That’s how “Life, Love and All Things Good” came about! Since two of my passions are writing and children, my fiancé is convinced I should write a children’s book. I’m not opposed to it, I actually think it’s a great idea (thanks babeJ), but I want to ease into blogging and see where writing takes me! I will try to blog as much as possible, especially in the upcoming weeks so you get to know more about me. I would love to read your comments, therefore feel free to post your thoughts, feelings and questions below! I would also like to get into the habit of posting inspirational quotes at the end of my blog, so look out for those and let me know which ones touch you the most! Thank you for being a part of my VERY FIRST BLOG! I’m excited and can’t wait to blog again J

“She believed she could, so she did!”- anonymous