Author: Elena

Life: Honeymooning it in style

Honeymoon, Life, Vacation

Last New Year’s Eve as the hubby and I were siting around not doing much we decided that this year  we were going to do something spectacular to bring in the New Year since we haven’t had a memorable one yet.  We thought about spending New Years in Paris after finding this tour on Contiki.  I mean imagine your husband coming up to you and asking you, “If you could go anywhere in the world where would you go?” I screamed out, “Paris!”  Well he didn’t really need to ask since he knows how obsessed I am with EVERYTHING Parisian.  Fast forward to September and we still don’t have any plans for New Years.  So, why am I bringing this up?  I’m bringing it up because as a result of that talk we had nine months ago we are finally going on our honeymoon.  We took the idea of going to Paris and ran with it and decided that if we were going to invest so much money on the trip we better make it worth while.  Our New Years idea turned into our 10 day honeymoon trip to London and Paris.

When we got married the hubby was working on so many projects that I didn’t want him to be stressed out because he had to leave them to go on our honeymoon.  Let me just say that he didn’t take any time off for our wedding unlike most of his coworkers.  Last year I was still in school and our schedules didn’t line up so we couldn’t make it happen either but this years everything worked out.  The hubby now has a new job where he works less and I finally graduated.  Things are great and I can’t imagine why people go on their honeymoon right after the wedding.  I have been planning every aspect of our honeymoon and I am ecstatic about it.  I can’t wait to share with all of you the many photos I’m planning on taking and all the bakeries we are going to visit.

If you could go any where in the world where would you go?

Baking Inspiration: Disney/Pixar Toy Story Cakes

Baking Inspiration, cake, Disney, Pixar, Sweets, Toy Story

The hubby and I were watching The Pixar Story on Netflix the other night and I began to thinker with the idea of making another Pixar inspired cake like the one I did here.  One of my favorite movies from the Disney/Pixar collaboration is Toy Story. Just in case you were wondering I love all of three movies equally.  I don't have plans on making a cake any time soon since its so hot right now but how cool would it be to make one for a little boy or girl.

Here's the list I came up with so far…

Please click {Source} to see where they originally came from!

                                                                                                         …Jessie…
{Source}

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D23: I must confess I’m a total Disney geek…

Cakes, D23, Disney, Life, Mickey Mouse, Minnie Mouse

…well let me rephrase, as my mom would discribes it I have a love affair with “the” Mouse.   I’m not exactly sure when I began to love Disney so much but somewhere along the line it happened.  I bet what you’re thinking now this girl must be one of those annual pass holders that goes into the park and spends all her day pin trading or an all around Disney freak but I’m far from that.

What I am is a Disney fan who used to be a cast member that devoted almost 10 years of her life to the Mouse (I quit to focus on my education).  I visit Disneyland about twice a year, I’ve been to Disney World once in 2006, and I’m planning on visiting Disneyland Paris next month since I’ll be in Europe.  My apartment is not decorated with Disney stuff and the only clothing I have that has a Disney logo on it are my old Disney VoluntEARS t-shirts.  As a matter of fact unless I tell people directly about my love for the Mouse they don’t have a clue.  Maybe later on I’ll share with you some of the magic that I got to create when I worked there.  Yes, you heard me right MAGIC!

So, why exactly am I telling you this?  I’m doing it because I want to be more transparent and because I wanted to share with you some photos of our visit to the D23 expo.

The hubby surprised me back in April with tickets to the event and you bet I was extremely excited.  We only got tickets for one day and after being there all day I realized why people get the weekend ones.  It really was so much fun even for non Disney fans.  There was a lot of painting, exhibits, and things to do.

Isn’t Tow Mater adorable? He’s so darn cute I couldn’t help but take a picture of him.

This was very creative.  I wonder if he’s going to be walking around with Jack on Halloween. 
How cool would it be to go on a Cruise on board the new Disney Fantasy?  I’m hoping to convince the hubby to take me on one sometime soon. 
They had a section of the expo dedicated to Disney parties and cakes.  The cakes they had came from their officially licensed partner Cakes.com.  
Isn’t this Mickey and Minnie cake adorable?
I love this Woody and Buzz cake. 
If you would like to see more of my photos from the D23 expo please visit me at Flickr!
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Blogging for Jennie (#afundforjennie)

#afundforjennie, giving back

I know I’ve been out of the blogging world for a few months now (as a matter of fact my husband just gave me a puzzled look as I left the living room and I told him I was going to write this post) but I’ve still kept up with my favorite blogs.  Last week I noticed that a lot of the food bloggers that I follow were baking peanut butter pies and I knew it couldn’t be a coincidence especially since I kept seeing #piesformikey attached to the recipes.  It turns out that a beloved food blogger named Jennifer Perrillo from In Jennie’s Kitchen suddenly became a widow and a single mom to two adorable little girls.  I cried as I read this post and was touched by how the blogging community reacted.  I said a little prayer for her and her family and kept them in my mind for the remainder of the day.  Her tragedy had an affect on many bloggers out there and a list quickly grew for Pies for Mikey.  The blogging community has taken this a tad further than simply baking pies and desserts in Mikey’s honor. Bloggers without Borders has set up a donation site where one can donate or bid on different items that are being auctioned.  I urge you to read her story and try to donate as much as you can by clicking on the banner below.

Donate to Bloggers Without Borders
Thanks in advance!! 

My attempt at a Disney/Pixar Car’s Cake

Baking, Buttercream, cake, Cars, Disney, Sweets
Without further ado here is my first attempt at a themed cake.  I am really pleased with how it turned out and more importantly the birthday boy loved it.  I completely forgot to take a better photo of the cake once it was assembled since I was rushing to make cupcakes right before we left.  Next time I'll take the time to put more effort into my photos. 

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Baking Inspiration: Disney/Pixar Car Cakes

Baking, Baking Inspiration, Cakes, Disney, Sweets

My friend recently asked me if I would make her son's 3rd birthday cake.  So, what do you think I replied? I sure would! She told me that they invited 100 people and that their theme was Disney/Pixar Cars.  Another thing she mentioned is that she would like a chocolate and Vanilla Cake.  With all this in mind my task this week is to create a fantastic cake that will get the approval of a bunch of 3 year olds.  Tonight I'm going to re watch the movie with my hubby and try to find inspiration from other sites.

Here is what I've found so far:

{Source}

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Life: Baby Shower Re-cap

Baby shower, Life, Parties

The baby shower was great this weekend and I wanted to share with you a few photos of the event.  When I was looking through the photos I realized that I forgot to take a picture of the mini cheesecakes I made for the mommy to be.  I used my go to recipe for cheesecake that I previously posted here since that was the recipe the new mommy to be requested.  I put them in a cupcake tray with baby feet cupcake liners. I used the water bath and kept the same temperature for about half and hour.  I decorated them with a bit of whipped cream and a small teddy bear pick and some confetti candy.  I hope you were able to visualize it and I promise next time I’ll make sure to take more photos.

If I hadn’t mentioned it before it’s a girl and everyone is extremely excited!
The mommy to be wanted fresh flowers on the tables. Her father-in-law bought a few bouquets at Trader Joe’s we separated them and arranged the flowers in bases they purchased at the Dollar Tree Store.  They turned out beautiful.
The mommy to be picked up these pink pacifiers for her party favors at the flea mart.  You never know where you can find a great looking party favor. 
The baby shower was held at a community center that her neighbor had access to.  The family gave a down payment which was then returned upon leaving the location spotless.  We went early in the morning to decorate the community center and transform it into a cute enough baby space. 
We set two tables as the main focal point.  One was for the parents to be and the other one for the gifts the guests brought.  All the decorations and prizes for the contestants were purchased in the Dollar Tree Store.  You don’t have to spend a lot of money to have a nice baby shower.
We played several fun games including this traditional one.  For those you that might not be familiar with it I’ll attempt to explain it.  You blind fold someone give them a big spoon and a plate.  They place the plate on their head and they attempt to pick up cotton balls with the spoon.  The contestants only have a few tries to do it.  
Another game we played was one that I had never heard of.  It mainly consisted of picking out a baby item’s name out of a bag and matching it with someone that pulled out the exact same thing.  When both people find each other they sit down. The last two people standing get kicked out.  You do this until you only have two people left. It might sound confusing but it sure was fun. Just look at people’s expressions. 
Congrats to the mommy to be and my cousin.  They make such a beautiful couple.  We are all excited and can’t wait to welcome a new baby into our family.

Life: Baby Fever (Revisited)

Life

If you remember this post you know that the hubby and I are content with not having any kids right now.  In March I had three cousins who were pregnant and now two of them gave birth and they are extremely happy.  I talked about their baby showers here.  Tomorrow is my cousin wife’s baby shower and for some reason I’m overwhelmed with baby fever.  The closer the due date gets here the more excited the whole family gets.  My cousins wife will be having a little girl and the excitement is certainly in the air but so is the pressure to have our own children.

Every time I’m at a family reunion they look at my cousin’s wife and then look at me and ask the dreaded question, “When are you guys having kid?”  I used to give every excuse in the book but no answer satisfied their question.  Nowadays, I simply reply after we purchase a house.  You would be surprised at the reaction I get from people when I utter those words.  What they don’t know is that housing is extremely high where we live and we are a few years away from taking that plunge.  This my friends has saved me many arguments with my in-laws and the rest of the family.  I mean who’s going to argue with you when you say that you want to have a house where a child could run around and play free.  Think back to Miranda and Steve from Sex and the City or Monica and Chandler from Friends both couples wanted to move out of the busy city into the suburbs to raise their families.

Going back to the whole baby fever things.  Not wanting children right now doesn’t mean that I’m not interesting at looking at baby stuff.  I mean who doesn’t love to look at rubber duckies, little pink dresses, princess everything, and so on.  It fascinates me how much stuff a baby actually needs. Seriously can someone please tell me why a little 10 pound child needs so many accessories?  I’m rambling on about the whole baby situation because I’m bombarded with it every time someone remembers that I’m married.  For the time being I hope this baby keeps me out of the lime light for awhile until we actually decide to have our own children. 
Anyone else feeling the pressure from your family to procreate? Anyone else simply enjoying their marriage without children?

Life: On Growing Up (Pt. 2)

Life

If you previously read my post you learned that I’m no longer following my childhood dreams.  As I’ve grown older I have developed other dreams that have nothing to do with what I thought I previously wanted.  Growing up I always thought having a career was far more important than having a family and settling down.  The ideas I entertained as a child revolved around being a successful attorney at a large corporation (in their pro bono division), having a fancy house, a few cars, money in the bank, and I would traveling the world.  As I’ve grown older I realized that those dreams do not coincide with the type of individual I have become.



I have finally realized I was chasing after a dream for all the wrong reasons.  I wanted to be an attorney to help people and I believed that learning law was the only way I could accomplish it.  I now realize that I can give more of myself to others by being being true to myself.  I’m glad that I figured out that I don’t want to go to law school before I went into debt for it and joined the hundreds of bitter attorneys out in the world.  The childhood ideas I entertained are now partially relevant to the goals and dreams that I have but in a smaller scale.  I no longer want a fancy house but a simple one with a back yard where I can grow a garden.  I’m perfectly content with only having one car and I’m glad that we are fortunate enough to have some money saved up.  I haven’t traveled the world yet but we are working towards that.

Now that I’m all grown up I finally know what I want to be and I couldn’t be happier.  I want to help people and I will continue to do so for as long as I can.  For those that might be curious I am not currently “working” but I do put my time to good use.  I’m a full time housewife, an entrepreneur, and a part time volunteer at a couple of worth while causes.   

What do you want to be when you grow up?


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