Friday Favorites

Friday's here, and next comes the weekend!  I have a habit of planning a ton of things to accomplish, and usually end up actually doing one or two of those things.  So here's to a productive, yet, relaxing, weekend :)

And, just because, here's some of my favorite things from this past week.

 - I'm loving a new-to-me blog, Sweetapolita.  This girl makes so many beautiful cakes and other treats, and her entire blog is eye candy.  I think I'm going to attempt her Strawberry Cake this weekend.

 - I'm loving this post by Kristen, a Maryland-based photographer, about her recent engagement.  I've been reading her blog for several years, and this has to be one of the sweetest engagement stories ever!

 - I'm loving the fact that spring keeps trying to come through, despite the snow we're getting today.  Spring colors are my fave!

 - I'm loving this OPI Moisturing Cream.  My hands were so dry and the skin on my knuckles was cracking (gross, I know) like it does every winter, but they've healed so well now after putting a ton of this stuff on for the last couple of days.

 - I'm loving the verses in my Bible reading this week, especially these two:

    The LORD has appeared to me of old, saying: "Yes, I have loved you with an everlasting love; Therefore with lovingkindness I have drawn You." ~ Jeremiah 31:3

    "Behold, I am the LORD, the God of all flesh.  Is there anything too hard for Me?" ~ Jeremiah 32:37

I hope you all have a wonderful Friday!

Chocolate Snack Cake

This is one of our family's favorite cake recipes, and it is so easy!  It's one of the most moist chocolate cakes ever.

Here's the ingredients you'll need:

Chocolate Snack Cake

1 yellow or chocolate cake mix (I prefer to use a chocolate mix - it makes the cake more chocolate-y, and Duncan Hines is the most moist cake mix out there)
1 3.4 oz box chocolate pudding mix
1 c. sour cream
3/4 c. oil
3/4 c. water
3 eggs
1 c. chocolate chips

Blend together the cake mix, pudding mix, sour cream, oil, water and eggs in a large bowl.  Fold in the chocolate chips.  Pour the batter into a well-greased and floured bundt pan.  Bake in a pre-heated 350F degree oven for 45 - 50 min. or until a toothpick inserted into the cake comes out clean.  Allow to cool completely before removing from the pan.  Sprinkle the top with powdered sugar and enjoy!

We've made several variations on this cake - a lemon cake with a lemon cake and pudding mix, a pistachio cake with a yellow cake mix and pistachio pudding mix, and the list could go on. 

I've also made this cake as a layer cake, and it is the BEST chocolate layer cake ever!  I doubled the recipe to get this three-layer cake.

Pinterest Weekend

I've been writing this post all week.  This should show you how long it takes me to write a blog post.  I didn't want to re-write the whole post, so I just left it alone.

So this past Saturday I was able to put four Pinterest Pins to use.  The first was painting my nails in a color from Essie's new Spring 2012 line, which I first saw on Pinterest - Ole Caliente, now a new favorite.  I don't know if it's in stores yet (it should be), but I got mine on Amazon.

My new favorite color, Essie's Ole Caliente.

We had guests over for dinner that night, and I made four desserts.  Yes, I know, sugar overload.  I got three of the recipes from Pinterest, and all of them were delicious!

{Pinterest Link}

The first recipe I made was Strawberry Heart Oreos.  The recipe only made 12 - 15 oreo cookies and I had several people to feed, so instead of making them oreos I simply frosted each individual cookie.  They were absolutely delicious.

The second project was Gooey Neopolitan Cake Bars.  These came out delicious, but not pretty, which was completely my fault.

{Pinterest Link}

These were delicious, but they didn't come out looking very good.  The main reason was that the aluminum foil I lined the pan with didn't reach all the up the sides of the pan, and the sweetened condensed milk that gets poured over the top trickled down the sides and got stuck to the sides of the pan.  When I was trying to lift the cake out of the pan with the foil it stuck and the cake cracked and broke in several places.  Again, this was totally my fault - if I make this recipe again (and I would) I would use two layers of foil and make sure they came up the sides of the pan.

The third recipe I made were Pecan Pie Bars.  These were so good, and I'll definately make them again!

{Pinterest Link}

Unlike Pecan Pie, these bars use brown sugar and honey as their sweetener.  My Dad actually said they don't really taste anything like Pecan Pie, but they were still delicious :)  The bottom is shortbread-like and the top is made on the stove. 



The fourth recipe I made was one of our family's favorite recipes, which I'll share next time.  Hope you all have a wonderful Saturday!



Way Into 2012

I had intended to write this post shortly after the New Year.  But, better late than never.

At the beginning of the year I did make a list of things that, Lordwilling, I'll accomplish this year.  I'm teased quite a bit in my family, especially by my Dad, for setting lofty goals and acting like I've accomplished them, and, of course, not following through.  It feels like I'm accomplished in my mind, though :)

Anyways, I decided to make the goals a little simpler this year.

1.  Exercise regularly and run more 5k's, the Dam to Downtown, a Duathlon and Half Marathon.  Ok, so this one isn't so simple.  My sisters and I have been running the past couple years and have really enjoyed running 5k's.  I ran three last year at the beginning of summer, before exercising got pushed to the wayside.  So this year, I'm hoping to change that.  I've started running regularly, and signed up for a local race, the Dam to Downtown (10k) at the end of April, and the Rock n' Roll Half Marathon in Chicago at the end of July.

2.  Knit, sew and craft more.  Because of school I hardly did any of this last year.  I'm not in school this year (so glad!) and I've already been doing a lot more knitting.  Now I just have to get onto the sewing part.  I have a skirt that I'm about 3/4 through but have stalled because I'm kinda scared of sewing in the zipper.

3. Don't just pin on Pinterest, do a project a week.  I actually have been doing some nail ideas I got from there, and last week I made this cake.

{Link Here}



Mine had one less layer, but it came out so well!  This is the only photo I got of it, after 99% of it was devoured:

4. Shop less.  This has actually been going quite well, thankfully.

5. Blog more :)

Well, I've got a lot for my easily distracted self to do today, including some Pinterest baking :)  Hope you all have a wonderful Saturday!

A Sweet Christmas

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas.  I had a very relaxing, fun 3-1/2 day weekend with my family.  I did a lot of baking, which is pretty much the only thing I took pictures of this weekend.

My Dad's favorite, Pecan Balls.

Chocolate Mint Dreams and Sugar Cookies.

Cheesecake!

Also, a word of advice: if you are going to the movie theather soon, do yourself a favor and watch Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol.  I think it's one of the best movies made this year. 

I'm writing this post in bed, at 12:34am.  I just got out of the shower after being on the treadmill for one hour.  No, I didn't run for an hour (wish I could say I did), but I was pretty sweaty afterwards, and that always feels good.  Sorry if that was a bit too much for any of you :)

So these past few months literally flew by.  I tried to keep doing full-time online school while working full-time and got completely overwhelmed.  So this coming semester I will be doing school part-time.  I will also not be studying accounting anymore, for which I am very grateful.  Hey, at least I know what I don't want to do.

I'm absolutely loving break and this no school/homework thing.  I kinda forgot what it was like to come home from work and just be able to relax without having homework in the back of my mind.  I really think I could get used to this.  Another good thing about break is that I've been getting back into exercising.  The eating less will come, it's so hard around the holidays!

And I'll leave you with a recent photo of me.  I was trying to take an outfit photo in the mirror, but it really didn't turn out the way I wanted it to.  How do you guys take photos of outfits during the wintertime when it's dark at night when you get home from work? 

On Self-Control

I've sat down to write this post so many times, but then I get distracted, or busy.

A few years ago, I finally got myself off the couch and started exercising regularly.  I also started eating less, especially less sugar (which was a big deal for me since I've got such a sweet tooth).  It's a little harder to be active during the wintertime in the Midwest, but thankfully, I really didn't gain anything over the last couple winters.

I started out this summer pretty well.  I was eating less, and was much more active.  My sister and I ran three 5k's from late April to early June.  My two sisters, one of my brothers and I had tickets to go to California at the end of July, and my pants were beginning to get a little big (big yay!).  I even have a stack of clothes I bought that were a bit too small, but I was anticipating fitting into them soon.

And then, I stopped exercising regularly and started eating more.  We've been doing a lot more with friends in the evenings and going out for frozen yougurt or meals.  In addition, school has started, filling up more of my time.

Part of the reason I haven't been exercising is due to lack of time.  But the larger part is due to my not disciplining myself to go for a run, or do a Jillian Michaels DVD, or go for a walk at least.  I've never liked exercise, so when I get out of the habit of exercising it becomes easier and easier for me to continue simply sitting around.  This happens quite often and when I do start exercising again, it's with the intention that it'll be permanent and I'll lose more weight than ever.

So, here's to trying again.  I'm hoping that blogging about it will help me stick to it this time.  I've been exercising this week and eating less sugar - hopefully I won't stop this time!