Sea Life KC

I thought I'd post some of the aquarium pictures that we took at Sea Life KC on Friday afternoon.

I am definitely not much into sea life, but Joey loves it and it was totally worth it to see him be so excited. He was like one of the kids.... and boy, were there LOTS of kids.

Kansas City Snapshots

Joey and I just got back from Kansas City! We celebrated my birthday there Thursday and Friday. We had a blast, and I wish we were still there.... but we had a jam-packed 2 days so I feel great about it.

In our two days, we checked into the hotel, shopped at Zona Rosa, ordered delectable birthday desserts from the hotel restaurant, went to the new Sea Life aquarium, ate sno cones by the fountains, went to a Kansas City Royals game with my friend Janna, watched fireworks, said goodbye to our hotel, and met with some friends for lunch.

Then we made the 3 mile trek across Missouri and here we are. :)
Time for bed!

Early birthday with the fam!

Last night after work, my family and I got together for dinner and my (pre)birthday celebrations!

My sister made my Mom's chicken salad wraps, my sister-in-law made a yummy chocolate cake with vanilla icing and caramel drizzle (honestly to die for) and I'm sure my brother did something constructive with his day. ;)

It's kind of convenient having my only living immediate family living under one roof. And to boot, they are all pretty much rockstars. Especially my niece and nephew. They made me these amazing cards!

Their ages (7 & 3) are so much fun right now and I am so happy I get to watch them grow up. I walked in the door and my nephew flung himself at me saying Happy Birthday!! I honestly could not be any happier than when I am around them.

My little sister proved to know me well by her gift. A beautiful bird candle and this bracelet she found on Etsy! I think Etsy is one of my favorite websites right now. I would rather get a thought-out gift that was hand crafted over mass produced any day!

I just love that my new little blue bird candle matches perfectly with my owl one I bought before we moved. I just may be in the makes of a bird-themed candle collection! ;)

 

My brother and sister-in-law won my heart over with Panera gift cards. There is nothing on this planet that is better than Panera. Yum. Right now I am super into their Strawberry Poppyseed salad with chicken. Go get some, if you've never been. You won't be disappointed! And you'll love me more.

Also carbs.
Yay, carbs! (translation: boo, carbs!)

This is the best. Obviously it's from How I Met Your Mother, our collective favorite TV show. The best part about this shirt is the fact that I was lactose intolerant for roughly 10 years growing up, til about 2 years ago when I outgrew it. I used to say this ALL the time when I first heard it on the show.... so this shirt is just so fitting!

Thank you guys so much for dinner, cake, presents and just being the best family a girl could ask for.

Father's Day

Happy Father's Day! I hope everyone had a fantastic Sunday, spending the day with your Dad's, Granddad's, Step-Dad's, Dad-In-Law's..... basically any ole Dad's in your life.

It was a bittersweet day for me. The first holiday without a parent is always the hardest... and it just struck me how completely unfair it is that I have past experience. Oh well, such is life I guess!

Anyway, I spent the day with Joey's family and celebrated his Dad. We ate good food, I made cupcakes, and we went out for ice cream afterwards! I had a Turtle Sundae, yum.... ;)

It was an overall good day, and while I wasn't sad for it to end, it definitely wasn't as hard as I thought it might be. You know, based on past experience.

I miss you Dad!

 

 (and then there's this)

Lawn Mower Cupcakes

So aren't these just the cutest cupcakes you ever did see? I mean, I guess I am biased since I made them, but I think they turned out quite adorable. If I do say so myself.

You can find the original recipe here, but I'm also gonna lay it out for you below. I just want to give credit where credit is due.

Ingredients:

- Frosted cupcakes (keep extra frosting on hand)
- Flaked Coconut
- Green food coloring
- Hershey's Nuggets
- M&Ms (4 brown and 1 red per cupcake)
- Licorice

Ice the cupcakes (I used a yellow box mix) with chocolate frosting. You probably could also use vanilla frosting dyed green to make the coconut blend more.

Put your flaked coconut in a ziploc bag. The bigger bag the better. Take 1 tbsp of water and add a couple drops of green food coloring, then pour over the coconut. Seal the bag, leaving air inside, and shake until the coconut is completely covered. Keep adding small amounts of water/coloring mixture until you get the color you want.

Dip your cupcake in your green coconut and patch up any missing spots.

Frost the bottom of your Hershey's bar and press it into the cupcake. Dab frosting on each M&M, 4 brown for the wheels and one red for the engine and press into place.

The handle was the hardest part to get the way I wanted. The original recipe calls for black licorice but personally, that's gross. So I went with the Pull & Peel to get a smaller handle, but it mostly was just limp. But I 'glued' them on with frosting as much as possible and used a kebab skewer to push them inside the cupcake.

So fun!! And cute. And summer-y!

Summer!

SUMMER IS HERE!!

Well, technically, it isn't summer yet and this is actually kind of a sore subject with me. (which is weird, because I brought it up...) You see, my birthday is the first day of summer, and I refuse to acknowledge the solstice until I have a tiara on my head, cake in my belly and presents in my hands.

Or you know, until I'm surrounded by my friends and family who all love me for me. Blah, bored. Whatever! ;)

This year has just been so warm right off the bat. I mean, I was wearing flip flops and my light cardigans in February. I had hot pink on my toes and the windows down in my car in March. We had the occasional cold day, sure, but really I've been feeling the summer itch for about 4 months now. So what is 4 more days, really??!

Besides I've already had like 4 snocones already. There is nothing more officially summer than that.

On a gorgeous night here recently, we played catch in my in-laws backyard. The pictures of me were waaaaaaayyy less than flattering, thankyouverymuch, but the ones of my husband and his father warm my heart. He is very fortunate to have a relationship with his father on this Father's Day weekend.

Here's to many more fun summer posts!! 

Wedding Season 2012 - Alex & Greg

This year for us is chock full of weddings. I am so happy for all of my friends that are tying the knot... welcome to the club! :)

Yesterday was our friend's Alex and Greg's wedding. It was a beautiful day filled with love, happiness and laughter. She looked radiant in her dress and the pops of red were stunning. I was so happy to be a part of their day, especially surrounded by our friends! 

Weddings are honestly so much fun to me now that I've gotten married and know just how much intensive labor goes into the process. Seeing Alex shine on her day makes me just that much happier for her.

I cannot even express how excited I am for the rest of this year!