New Baby!

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A friend of ours just had a son, a little early and unexpected, and we decided to go see them.  I hate showing up anywhere empty handed and I knew I wanted to take something homemade, but didn't know what I could do in just a couple of hours and still have it be cute and practical.  Before leaving, I made a cute little birth announcement but didn't feel that was enough so I decided to make a diaper cake.  Since I made the cake in the car, on our way to the hospital, I didn't take pictures. But I do have the end result, which is kind of a mess but for 20 minutes of putting it together, it's not that bad! So here's a picture of the announcement and of the cake.    I made the announcement the "platter" for the cake once I framed it.  

S'mores to go!

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Every since I've been a kid, I've loved S'mores.  There's something about the dripping chocolate, fluffy marshmallow, and crunchy graham cracker that makes the whole combination heavenly.  I saw a tutorial on Tip Junkie's website and I decided to make my own.

I gathered all my materials (happened to find colored marshmallows) and used Galaxy chocolate bars for the inside of the s'mores instead of Hershey's because it's so smooth and creamy!

I warmed the squares in the microwave, didn't feel like starting up the oven for this quick dessert.  

I melted Hershey's semi-sweet chocolate chips for the dipping and set aside some sprinkles.  

And away I went! 

After everything, I had them set for 10-15 minutes and they were done...

Voila! 

I can't stop munching on these...so yum! =) 

Chocolate covered fruit!

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Since joining Pinterest, I've been seeing so many pictures of desserts that I've been craving either chocolate or fruit everyday. So tonight, I decided to put the two together!

First, I lined my cookie sheet with baking paper for ease of taking the fruit off once cooled (and easy cleanup!) I melted Hershey's semi-sweet chocolate chips with some Canola oil in a mixing bowl.  Mixing the oil helps keep all the chocolate on the fruit and not stay on the baking paper .  Then I dipped my strawberries and bananas alllllll the way around, because that's JUST how I like my fruit, ALL chocolate-ed up! 

When I went to coat the bananas, I grabbed my handy dandy cake tester from Crate & Barrel to help pick up the slices. I hate the idea of wasting toothpicks! 

After I coated my strawberries and bananas, I stuck the tray in the fridge for 5 minutes to let the chocolate cool before putting the white chocolate on it.  

I then melted some white chocolate chips with a little bit of oil but remember, white chocolate chips always take a bit longer to melt completely.  I then filled it in a plastic sandwich bag and cut a whole in the corner and went back and forth around the whole tray.  (Sorry, forgot to take a picture) I always like the "disheveled look" even though it doesn't picture well. :) 

I ran out of chocolate for some of the banana slices! If you're doing this for a party, don't stress about it, they'll be gobbled up so fast, no one will notice! 

After putting the white chocolate on, I put the tray back in the fridge for 5 minutes to let the white chocolate set.  

Then remembered I had these cute little cupcake liners from Ikea that coordinated so well with the colors~ perfect! 

Here's a side view...

and a top view! 

I completed these in a quick 15 minutes while dinner was being prepared on the stove! Any fruit you have on hand will work well, even if it's canned pineapple! You can even do pretzels, pound cake, and/or marshmallows..ooo yumm!! That just gave me a little inspiration for what I'll make tomorrow!!

Stay tuned...

xoxo, 

n

Jason Lee's Photography

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I recently came across Jason Lee, a photographer who uniquely captures his kids on camera! I could not stop giggling and aw-ing while browsing the pictures at http://kristinandkayla.blogspot.com/. You can't go wrong with ingenious ideas and wide eyed adorable girls :D Here are a few to prove my point!

SO cute right?? What are some ways you photograph your kids to really "capture the moment"??

xoxo,
n

Bathroom Overhaul, PT. 2

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But really, it's Part 1 since I did that before the counter space


I have to tell you, I don't have any extra papers, fabrics or cool machines, I don't even have a sewing machine. I moved abroad 2 years ago and everything is so expensive here, it's not worth it to buy much! All the stuff that I would need to "DIY", would cost an arm and a leg, so at the moment, I'm living vicariously through Pinterest and doing what I can without spending much.  Anyway, I hated walking in to the bathroom to see my pipes and laundry basket under the counter.  I wanted to use that space as a storage area, especially with a baby on the way, I could use it, but didnt like the idea of seeing it every morning. 

Ghastly site to walk into every morning...BLECH! 

I looked online to see what I could do without a sewing machine and I got the idea to use velcro.  So I bought some velcro, enough to go around the whole counter.  

Then, I went to a mall here called Dragon Mart which has everything under the sun from China. They also have an area where they sew/make curtains.  I was looking through their scrap box and found a perfect piece of fabric that I could use.  I asked the lovely seamstress to hem it for me.  After she did that, I quickly attached one part of the velcro strips to the fabric and had her reinforce it with some straight stitching.  

Then, I came home and attached the other part of the velcro strips to the backside of my counter and stuck it on!  That's glue there, I think the builders had some difficulty, it scared me when I first saw the back of it. hahaha

 Now, it's the perfect hidden storage space! =) The fabric cost 9 dollars and the velcro cost about 5. 

So nowww...this is what my bathroom looks like: 

YAYYY!! SO much better than THIS:

Now, I don't have to rush out of the bathroom every morning just to get out of there, I love taking my sweet time. Why not? I owe it to myself, don't I? :)


xoxo, 
n

Hello, Blogspot!

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I've finally decided to take the plunge into the world of blogging!! This blog will give you a glimpse of my "dabbles" in home organization, being a mom, cooking/baking tips and random thoughts of the day! To start off, let me say that I recently joined Pinterest and BOY did it get me motivated to do a lot!  I spent the whole day yesterday dusting, vacuuming, and scrubbing.  I went to my bathroom and it took me 10 minutes just to pick everything up and move it so I could dust the counter. If you have an anxious 6 month old wanting to be picked up, that's a long time...I could have had the whole place scrubbed down by then ;) So later that night after I was done with everything, I started thinking how I could make my life a littttlee bit easier and I looked down and it came to me! Let me show you in pictures...

Do you see how cluttered and messy it is??

This was the tray table I used for my laptop while I was pregnant...Since I didn't have any paper or photos ready to put in right away, I remembered a scarf I had. I ran to my suitcases to pull it out...

Aha! Since my bathroom is all brown and black, this was perfect.  I loved the blue/green accenting out.

I folded up the fabric since it could be used for something else later.  I didn't place it any specific way, I got lucky that the whole burst came up top!

Now all that was left was to put it all together and VOILA! I could have folded the legs of the tray , but my mom (always thinking, thanks mom!) said I'll get more storage space by leaving it up which was perfect for the baby stuff.  

A close up look of the fabric...you can't really see it, but it's SO much better than the papers that came with it. No more bending down, everything's at my level! YAY!

One more time....a Before and an After :

What are some ways you've tackled bathroom clutter? I'd love to see the changes!

xoxo, 

n