wow...college was worth it...

Guess my CSULB education is definitely paying off...

chop chop

Unfortunately, I need to keep this short and sweet. It's super frustrating typing with only 9 fingers and without the all important left index finger. Thankfully, my finger doesn't hurt anymore, but it is wrapped with a huge bandage. Last Saturday while preparing for our AMA holiday party, I was chopping chicken and chopped off a good size sliver of my finger. After about 5 stitches, the party continued, with some help from our friends to finish the preparations.

I'll be getting the stitches out next Friday so until then, I'll be a blog lurker and an infrequent updater. I will work on posting our party and Christmas pictures. Pictures say a thousand words, right?

Warning: the following images are a bit gory...

devastated

I recently helped grant a wish for 17-year old Tianna. She passed away yesterday morning. Her frail little body couldn't fight anymore. My heart is completely breaking for her mother, who is now alone. Just 3 years ago, Tianna was on her high school soccer team. Now she's resting in peace, hopefully on her way to becoming a guardian angel to a little cancer-fighting child.

This is particularly hard for me as I've been dealing with extremely selfish and oppositional 8th grade girls who have absolutely no sense of reality, other than their little circle of disrespectful friends and their little world in Belmont Shores. I'm not sure why or specifically what yet, but I feel as though I'm being led to create some sort of community service group at this particular school in Long Beach, especially for the students {girls} who have lost all school privileges due to behavior problems. Can someone say, "Reality Check"?

Meanwhile, my thoughts and prayers are with Tianna's mom right now. I'm praying for peace and strength, especially with Christmas right around the corner. I just cannot imagine...

decadence

According to dictionary.com, the definition of decadence is:

dec·a·dence [dek-uh-duhns, di-keyd-ns] Pronunciation Key - noun

1. the act or process of falling into an inferior condition or state; deterioration; decay: Some historians hold that the fall of Rome can be attributed to internal decadence.
2. moral degeneration or decay; turpitude.
3. unrestrained or excessive self-indulgence.

Excessive self-indulgence is right!

If you are attending a holiday party and have volunteered to bring a dessert item, you must try this:


Chocolate-Pecan Pie
(serves 8-10) 1 tbsp. butter, plus 6 tbsp. melted butter, plus 5 tbsp, melted butter 1 package (7oz.) shortbread cookies 3 eggs, lightly beaten 1 cup sugar 1/4 tsp. salt 1 cup dark corn syrup 3 oz. unsweetened baking chocolate, coarsely chopped 1 cup pecan halves Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Grease a 9" pie plate with 1 tablespoon butter. Place the shortbread cookies in a food processor, and pulse until they are fine crumbs. Add 6 tablespoons melted butter, and pulse a few times to combine. Transfer mixture to the pie plate, and press firmly and evenly to form a crust. Place the plate in the freezer for 5 to 10 minutes. Meanwhile, in a large mixing bowl, combine the eggs, sugar, salt, corn syrup, chocolate, 5 tablespoons melted butter and pecans; stir until the mixture is fairly uniform. Take the pie plate out of the freezer, and place on a baking sheet. Pour the chocolate mixture into the pie plate, and put in the oven. Bake for 55 minutes, remove and let cool completely before serving.

Thank you, domino magazine, for the incredible dessert recipe. I made it for Thanksgiving as well as a recent Christmas luncheon at church. Both times, people raved about how delicious and decadent the pie was.

Bon Appétit!

diy...and lovin' it!

Well, it seems as though perhaps I've neglected my blog. Though I faithfully read my fav blogs daily, even if I don't comment, I definitely read. I've been so busy lately with handmade creations, I just haven't had the energy to update my blog in the evenings. Hopefully after the holiday festivities I can dedicate more time to more frequent updates.

Since this is our first Christmas together as husband and wifey, we decided that in addition to a real Christmas tree, we would also decorate our cozy condo. The big deal about getting a real tree is because Rob is "allegedly" allergic, though we've had the tree over a week now and he's only had one sneezing fit (and I think it was the need to dust, less the tree). Granted, our tree is only about 5 feet tall, and on the underdog side, I'm thankful we've had good luck so far with the allergy concern. Between Target, Pottery Barn, and Crate & Barrel, we've accumulated enough stuff to create a warm festive atmosphere...

Our little guy...

As we (or I) were searching for the perfect stockings, I came across an Etsy shop that made "the ones". I was looking for red and chartreuse green and if I was lucky, polka dots. Call me crazy, but I wanted everything to somehow coordinate. Can't stop a girl with a specific vision. They are literally perfect!


Next was the tree skirt mission. I just couldn't bring myself to purchase one that I wasn't in love with - they aren't cheap. So I decided that I would make one. The funny thing about this statement though is that I don't sew. Turns out I'm a really good hot glue gunner! While the circle of the final product is a bit funky, I'm really happy with my creation and proud to say that I made it. My favorite part is the chartreuse pom poms on the edge of the fabric.

A couple weekends ago I became inspired to create an Advent calendar. Again, I couldn't find the right one to purchase and I wasn't sure how to create it myself, though I knew I wanted to use some cute paper I had just purchased. In the midst of this conundrum, {living the swell life} shared her recent Advent calendar creation, and it was absolutely perfect. Personal, simple, creative, and fun...just what I wanted. Thank you, Jessica, for allowing me to borrow your idea. Rob and I love it. Inside each date, we have some sort of activity to do together to honor the season, in addition to a Bible verse from the Nativity Story. Most of December was already booked, but we managed to squeeze in a few festive events. This will hopefully become a reminder to slow down and remember what the Christmas season is really about.

Rob and I are opening up our condo in a couple weeks to my American Marketing Association (AMA) college buddies. We all continue to keep in touch with one another, which is really awesome. We've been to weddings, housewarming parties, baby showers, baptisms, and recently, first birthdays. I just couldn't send an evite, so I decided to hit up Paper-Source for some inspiration. This is what actually inspired all of the above creations.

That's it for my recent crafts, with the exception of a few handmade gifts that I'm working on, but I can't publish pics of those until after Christmas (some readers may be gift recipients). I would love to make holiday cards too, but Rob and I have been making a donation to a children's charity each year in exchange for holiday cards - I guess warm-fuzzy beats cute and personal sometimes.

This weekend, Rob and I had the pleasure to hang out with our friend Jerry (an AMAer). We saw a steel drum concert at CSULB and finished off the afternoon with Sushi Studio. It was great hanging with you, Jer! Can't wait to celebrate with you soon!

I just read a few Sushi Studio reviews on Yelp and I'm totally disappointed with the mixed reviews. The parking situation stinks and it's in a shady hotel parking lot - part of its charm if you ask us. The fish is super fresh and the rolls are incredible, if you ever get a chance to visit (I guess I should have posted this mini-review on Yelp...)