Brightly Colored Shoes

I love summer.. even when it's slacking on showing up this year due to rain and cold weather (60 degrees tomorrow)

Aside from the weather, I love the bright colors it brings.. and why not show off those colors in your shoes?

1, 2, 3, 4

Design Work: Forever 21 logo

For class we have to take a company's logo and redesign it. 

So I went with Forever 21.

Here's their current logo..

I wanted to make their logo more girly, but not too girly.. so no pink.

I'd love to hear your thoughts on the designs and colors.

I think my favorite is the top yellow design. 

Free Advertising

I just wanted to remind everyone that we're doing free advertising again!

Make sure to take advantage!

BEAUTY: Foundation

I have a extremely hard time picking out foundation. This is the first time I've ever really shopped for it so I'm not even sure what I'm looking for. 

I bought some the other day and then went outside and my face began to sweat.. the foundation started running and turned out to be not such a good look for me. 

So my question is to those of you who wear foundation..

Is there a certain foundation that you've found that works throughout the entire day and doesn't run if you sweat?

I'd love to hear what your thoughts are or if there's a trick to not having it run.

Recently Purchased

Forever 21

Kohl's

I thought since it's Friday it would be a great time to share some photos that I took earlier in the week.

It's 83 degrees here and it's finally feeling like summer! Hopefully it's going to stick around a while.

Enjoy the weekend!

Winner: Oana Befort Print {round 2}

I'm sad to announce that the previous winner did not claim their prize.. so we're going to pick a new winner!

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE contact me!

I suppose this should say.. and the NEW winner is..

Please contact me with your mailing address so I can get this passed along to Oana.

smtornow@yahoo.com

If I don't hear from you before Saturday we will draw another new winner!

Guest Post: Scribbles Smudge {Recipe}

Hello sweet Novemberites! First, I'd like to thank Sara for inviting me to be a sponsor on her suhhhhweet blog! My name is Tracy and I've been working on my blog, Scribble Smudge, for a little more than a month. You may remember me from the love story Sara posted a couple of weeks ago. I hoped it was enjoyable-ish! 

My husband and I were married last December, so I thought I'd play up the part by blogging about my adventures in the kitchen, in my new marriage, and in life. I am a triathlete, teacher and avid camper, so there's a lot of madness rolled up into one blog. Today, though, I thought you might like a sweet recipe (or three). I hope you enjoy. 

Red velvet, coconut and chocolate cake bites

Ever since Starbucks starting selling those darling little cake pops, I've been wanting to try a recipe of my own. So, I visited Bakerella's blog and found something comparable: cake balls. Essentially, cake balls are cake and icing mixed together and rolled into bite-size balls, then coated in white or milk chocolate and decorated. Y to the um.

Starbucks' Cake Pops

Bakerella's Red Velvet Cake Balls

Well, since mine didn't come out perfectly round and I didn't have enough chocolate to coat each ball entirely, I decided to rename mine cake bites. When I brought them to Easter dinner yesterday, my 7-year-old cousin shouted, "These are the most delicious chocolate dessert muffins I've ever had!" Then he ate nine of them. 

Here is the recipe, in red velvet, coconut and chocolate flavors. 

p.s. It took four hours to make three different varieties. I would suggest making one or two batches at a time (each recipe made about 40 pieces); rolling balls isn't my idea of a hip Saturday. 

p.p.s. Cake bites are highly addicting. As someone who has never tried a cigarette, I now feel like I know what tobacco addicts go through. 

p.p.p.s. I'd like to thank Doug for taking the photos for this project (my hands were covered in either icing, crumbled cake or chocolate for the better part of the day), and for always zipping into the kitchen whenever I needed a taste tester. You hard worker, you. 

Red Velvet Cake Bites

Ingredients

1 box red velvet cake mix (cook as directed)

1 package white chocolate (I used Ghiradelli)

Cream cheese frosting (see recipe below)

Red food coloring 

White sprinkles

Wax paper

Directions

1. After cake is cooked and cooled completely (about 30 minutes in the fridge - don't skip this step!), crumble into large bowl.

2. Mix thoroughly with cream cheese frosting. (It may be easier to use fingers to mix together, but be warned it will get messy.

3. Roll mixture into quarter size balls and lay on cookie sheet (should make 45-50 pieces).

4. Chill for 1-2 hours. (You can speed this up by putting in the freezer.)

5. Melt chocolate over stove, being sure not to burn. Add 7-8 drops red food coloring until pink.

6. Roll balls in chocolate and top with sprinkles; lay on wax paper until firm. (Use a spoon to dip and roll in chocolate and then tap off extra.)

Cream Cheese Frosting

Ingredients

1 pound cream cheese, softened

2 sticks butter, softened

1 tsp. vanilla extract

4 cups sifted confectioners' sugar

Directions

In a large mixing bowl, beat the cream cheese, butter and vanilla together until smooth. Add the sugar and on low speed, beat until incorporated. Increase speed to high and mix until very light and fluffy.

Chocolate Cake Bites

Ingredients

1 box chocolate cake mix (bake as directed)

1 package milk chocolate (I used Ghiradelli)

Chocolate frosting (see recipe below)

Multicolored sprinkles

Wax paper

Directions

Same as red velvet recipe

Chocolate Frosting 

Ingredients

2 3/4 cups confectioners' sugar

6 tbsp. unsweetened cocoa powder

6 tbsp. butter

5 tbsp. evaporated milk (make sure you don't get dry milk like I did! Luckily almond milk works, too)

1 tsp. vanilla extract

Directions

In a medium bowl, sift together the confectioners' sugar and cocoa; set aside. In a large bowl, cream butter until smooth, then gradually beat in sugar mixture alternately with evaporated milk. Blend in vanilla and beat until light and fluffy. If necessary, adjust consistency with more milk or sugar.

Coconut Cake Bites

Ingredients

1 package coconut cake mix (follow instructions for baking)

Vanilla frosting (see recipe below)

Coconut flakes

Wax paper

Directions

1. After cake is cooked and cooled completely, crumble into large bowl.

2. Mix thoroughly with vanilla frosting. 

Please ignore my awkward armpit sunburn. 

3. Roll mixture into quarter size balls and lay on cookie sheet (should make 45-50).

4. Chill for 1-2 hours. (You can speed this up by putting in the freezer.)

5. Bake coconut flakes on 375 for about 15 minutes; press the top of each cake bite into the coconut flakes and place on wax paper. 

Tracy's Vanilla Frosting (My FIRST original recipe!)

Ingredients

1 stick butter, softened

3 tbsp. almond milk

2 cups confectioners' sugar

1 tsp. vanilla extract

Directions

Mix all ingredients on medium speed until incorporated. 

Thanks for the guest post Tracy!

Make sure to check out Tracy's blog, Scribbles Smudge!

IT'S BACKKKKKK!!

But..

I had a major change of heart about the whole thing and I've decided to extend this.

Make sure to read through it all because some things have changed..

Winner: Oana Befort Print

Please contact me with your mailing information!

smtornow@yahoo.com

If I don't hear from you before Wednesday we will draw another winner!

Loving..

1

Bright coral colored nail polish.. like this Sinful Colors Professional Boogie Nights that I picked up yesterday while at Meijers.

2

Country songs like Brett Eldredge's Raymond, which tells it like it is.

{That song makes me want to cry}

Maybe this is why I love country music.. it seems like the only genre of music that can really lay it all out  on the line, whether it's something good or bad.

Anyone else agree about this?

3

It's week 5 of classes!!

While there's 11 total weeks for classes, it's midterm week and it means we're half way through the quarter.

Only one and a half more quarters to go :)

4

I got so many projects done this weekend and I can't wait to share them all soon!

I wish I was kidding, but Saturday I had saw dust on my jeans and grass stains on my nails.

The not so good was that the lawn mower broke, a blade came off, and we broke the jigsaw.

Luckily we went to Menards and got a new jigsaw, but have to wait to fix the mower.

Soooo.. the lawn is half cut.. Hillbilly-ish? Absolutely.

Staying that way until the mower is fixed? Yep!

5

IT'S MAY!!

Hooray!

Check back later for our winner of the Oana Befort Print!

Last day for this..