I’m obsessed….

Exercising, Life
I am so glad that the the Biggest Loser is back after a two week hiatus.  When this season began something clicked inside of me that I had never experienced before.  That’s right I’m admitting it here in front of all of you, “I’m not happy with my weight.”  The obvious remark that I might hear some of you say is, “Stop eating sweets and that should fix your problem.”  My aunt told my mom this week that if I keep baking cakes and eating them I’m going to gain a crazy amount of weight.  What my aunt doesn’t know is that when I bake a cake I only taste it and the rest I share with others.  Part of my problem is sweets but the biggest one is the lack of exercise.
So, what exactly clicked inside of me?

Every Tuesday as I sat in front of my t.v. seeing the contestants weight themselves in I realized that I hadn’t done that in a while.  When I finally got around to purchasing a scale I was shocked at how much I had gained since the wedding. (If you Google weight gain and marriage you’ll get a list of links that show the correlation between them.) This is when I realized that something had to change. 

Three weeks ago I didn’t begin a diet but a lifestyle change.  My hubby and I went from not working out at all to jogging 4 days a week.  
My goals:
Short term- run/walk/jog 5 days a week
Mid term- 1/2 marathon 
Long term- marathon
Other changes I have done:
Stopped eating after 8pm or at least 4 hours before we go to bed 
Added more veggies in our diet
The hubby and I have decided that we are worth the effort it takes to exercise daily and that a balanced diet is doable.  I will keep you posted on our progress through our newly adapted lifestyle change.  Weight loss is great but becoming a healthier individual is what we are striving for. 
Since your wedding or since you met your significant other have you gained weight, your partner has gained weight, or both of you have gained weight?  Are you doing anything to change it?

Key Lime Cake…(Cake 4)

Baking, Cakes, Sweets

This cake was simple but delicious.  I love lemons and limes so I thought this cake was perfect.  The only I didn’t like about this cake is that the recipe makes only a 8-inch cake.  We shared this one with my in-laws. 


Things new to me:
Key lime


What I learned from this recipe:
Pocking holes in a cake shouldn’t be done with a knife
Double check ingredients to make sure you don’t run out during baking process


I ran out of confectioners sugar and ended up using less of the glaze than it called for.

So what did everyone think about this cake…

…they thought it was perfect because it was not overwhelmingly tangy.  My hubby loved it because he prefers cakes that don’t have frosting and so does my mother-in-law.  I thought it was a delicate cake that you can have with tea.

Missy G’s Sweet Potato Pound Cake…(Cake 3)

Baking, Cakes, Sweets

I would have never thought to put sweet potato in a cake but oh man is it tasty.  I called my mom up to ask her how she cooked sweet potatoes and to my surprise it was the same way Melissa’s mom told her to.  My mom informed me that my dad loves sweet potatoes (also known as camotes) and that she makes them for him at least every other week during the winter.  Once I confirmed how to bake them I began my task.  For this recipe you need to get begin early because you need to first cook and cool the sweet potatoes before mixing it in with the rest of the ingredients.   I used the methods that Melissa previously mentioned about being patient while creaming the butter and mixing in the rest of the ingredients thoroughly.  I also made sure to center the 10-inch tube pan in the oven and not the actual rack.

Things new to me:
Sweet potatoes
Maple flavoring
Granny Smith apples

I had never used maple flavoring before or worked with apples.

What I learned from this recipe:
Patience

I was too impatient and when I attempted to flip the cake it broke.  Oops.  Since we had already called my in-laws and told we were brining cake I used confectioners sugar to cover some of my mistake. Normally I would have just baked another cake and taken that one but since I am turning over a new league and trying to be less of a perfectionist I took it anyway.

So what did my in-laws think about this cake…

..they loved it.  My hubby thought that this cake was good but not great.  I thought it was surprisingly good.

The recipe for this cake can be found here.

Grocery Shopping…

Life, Savings
I was reading a post on My Money Blog about grocery prices in different cities and it got me thinking about how couples nowadays handle this task. 
{Source}
I have appointed myself the official grocery shopper of our household.  So yesterday I did my monthly grocery shopping and I was wondering how often others go shopping and if they have a strategy to it.  

Here is what we do:

The hubby and I subscribe to the L.A. Times, which we got an awesome deal on, so that we can get the coupons.  Every Sunday morning I sit in front of the t.v. cutting my coupons and organizing them into different categories.  When I first began clipping coupons I would always forget to take them to the grocery store with me so to fix this problem I bought a small folder that I keep in my car. I also upload coupons into my grocery store club card and make a list of things I need as they run out.  I usually have an idea of what I’m going to be making throughout the month but nothing is written down, maybe one day I’ll get to that level but not now.  Before leaving to the grocery store I usually spend about 15 minutes going through my coupons and separating the ones I’m going to use from the others (remember I’ve been collecting them for a month) and looking through my pantry to see what I need to add to my list.  One thing that I always do before I leave my house to the store is EAT because going to the grocery store in an empty stomach is such a bad idea.  Once I have my tools I head over to the store where I usually start from left to right and going only through the aisles I’m getting things from. I tend to stick to my grocery list because if I stray off I end up spending more money.  If I have a coupon for something I look at how much I save compared to what the store brand cost.  I don’t use a coupon just because I have it that just doesn’t save money.  I use coupons on items I was going to purchase anyways.  Grocery shopping has became like a game to me where I try to save more money every time I go and so far I’m winning.
 
Yesterday I saved $75 on my groceries and earned more points for our rewards card. I also used my credit card to pay and earned 1% cash back.  You have to love all those savings!  Who does the grocery shopping in your household?  Do you have any tips for me that might save me more money? 

Recap: The lovely ladies…

Bridesmaids, Re-cap, Wedding

My bridesmaids were awesome and I can’t thank them enough for all the hard work they put into the wedding.  They were like the sister I always imagined would take care of me on my day.  They took care of any loose ends that arose.

From Left to Right:
A is my beautiful younger cousin.  Nobody thought she was going to agree to be part of the bridal party but when I asked she was glad to do it.
V is my best friend/maid of honor. I’ve known her for more than 10 years and we used to be roommates before I married my hubby.  
M is one of my friends that I meet when I used to work at the happiest place on earth. When I asked her to be my bridesmaid everyone believed she was going to say no because the last time she wore a dress was during prom but to everyones surprise she agreed.  She is an amazing person and she looked spectacular in that bridesmaid dress.
M was such a help because she had already gone through the planning process.  M and her hubby got married in Indonesia and had a great reception for those that couldn’t make it after they got back.  She is sweet and made sure that the flower girls were preoccupied. 
K is another friend I meet at work and that I’ve kept in touch even after she quit and became a young professional.  She is so special to the hubby and I that she actually became my hubby’s sponsor when he did his confirmation.
I love all my ladies and really appreciate all the hard work they did.  Thank you!!

I love this photo of the ladies with my hubby.  

I remember that I used to wake up in the middle of the night stressing out that the color was going to be too bright but I love how these dresses came out. 

Brown Sugar Pound Cake…(Cake 2)

Baking, cake, Sweets
So I’m sure you realize that its the 2nd pound cake that I made.  When I made this cake my hubby exclaimed this is the best cake you’ve ever made and I just smiled.  This cake I decided to make this cake for my hubby and his co-workers.  I knew it was going to be a stressful week for them and since I try to bake for them something at least once every two months I figured it was about that time. 
Things new to me:
shortening
What I learned from this recipe:
Making Cream Cheese frosting is not that difficult
My oven temperature is on target
My mom has cooked or more liked baked with shortening but since I hadn’t done that before I’ll stick it under things new to me.

Since I had previously learned that being patient is a good thing when baking I put my new skill to the test.  Since I began my little adventure I haven’t opened the oven once but I did set the timer for a shorter amount of time for some reason I thought it was faster.  This cake was a tad underdone but I’m glad that I now know the truth about my oven.

I made the Cream Cheese Frosting Melissa (okay so we are not on a first name basis but since I figure I’ll probably never meet her its cool) and I’m glad I did because it was delicious. It gave the pound cake a little something it needed. 
So what did my hubby’s co-workers think about this pound cake? Well, let’s just say that people who normally don’t have meeting around his desk were doing it that day. I personally didn’t think it was as amazing as my hubby thought but maybe that’s because I’m not really into brown sugar and he is. 

The Man Catcher…(Cake 1)

Baking, Cakes, Sweets

The name of this cake was funny to me but not so much to my hubby who said, “Why do you need to catch a man?”  To which I replied, “I don’t need to catch one I need to know how to keep one.” So I told him I would rename it if I could to the man keeper.

When I began reading through this recipe I realized that by taking the challenge on of baking all these recipes one every week I was going to find myself purchasing ingredients I had never used before.

Things new to me:
Lemon extract
Orange extract
Tube Pan

What I learned from this recipe:
Patience
How to cream/mix butter/ ingredients properly

I’m not kidding I realized that I was the type of person Melissa Gray jokes about that keeps opening the oven door thinking that is going to speed the baking process along. I also learned along with my patience that taking the time to cream the butter makes a lot of sense.  I think that if I owned a stand mixer my task would have been easier but since I’m the frugal type and I don’t have one of those fancy Kitchen Aid mixers I just used my hand held one.

Okay so I began to prepare for the big day when I was going to start baking I had to decide who my first victims (oops I meant to say tasters) were going to be. Since my hubby and I have game night with some of our friends on Wednesday nights I decided to take it along to share with them.

So after I baked my heart away what did the boys have to say…

…delicious. Well they really didn’t say anything but I didn’t have any leftovers to bring home so I’ll take that as delicious. My hubby did say that he loved how sweet and citricy (is that a word) it was.

So the verdict was that the Man Catcher-Sour Cream Pound Cake was a big hit!  I had never used sour cream in my baking experience or had ever made a pound cake but I did both and it was amazing.

You can find the recipe here

The Wedding is Over and Now What…

Baking, Cakes, Sweets

Now that I no longer have to spend my nights diy items for the wedding I seem to have more times to myself and for my hubby.  Many people told me that there was going to be avoid and I wondered to myself if this was going to be true.  I began my fall quarter shortly after the wedding and that filled up some of my time but not all of it.  One of the things that has filled up my time is baking. I love to bake! I’m not a pastry chef by any means but I love every minute of it.

On el dia de los Reyes Magos which falls on January 6th my hubby surprised me with a book I wanted.  He got me All Cakes Considered a book that one of the producers from NPR, Melissa Gray wrote.  As I began to read it I was becoming more excited about all the baking possibilities and who besides my hubby I was going to share all the deliciousness with.  Melissa Gray writes that she shared her pastries with the staff of All Things Considered I mean the hubby and I love to eat but eating everything ourselves that’s just nuts. I don’t work so I don’t have co-workers to share it with but I do have friends and family which is what I’ve been doing.  So far I have baked 5 cakes from the book and now I have decided to share them with you.

Note: I will not be posting the recipes here because I really think getting the book is worth it.

Recap: My Love was Strong for Chuck!

Re-cap, Shoes, Wedding

Remember when I was having a dilemma on what shoes I was going to wear here. 






 I really wanted to do the lady like thing and wear the heels but then I realized that it won’t be me.  My hubby and I bought chucks a couple of weeks before the wedding. I wore orange ones and he wore black ones.  I’m so glad I got to wear them too because I wasn’t tired running around all day in them. 
One person that didn’t find the idea of wearing chucks with a wedding dress very flattering was my mom of course. I love her reaction in this photo when I showed her the shoes I was wearing. 
My hubby said that his mom had the same reaction.
So what shoes did you wear on your wedding? Were they comfortable? 

Recap: Guess Who’s Back and with a New Look!!

giving back, Re-cap, Wedding, Wedding dress
I'm finally back. I hope you've missed me because I come with more wedding photos. As you can recall from this post I've already reviewed my vendor and I hadn't shown you photos of the whole thing yet.  Just one thing to point out one thing my dress hanger is not the wooden one I had bought but the plastic one they gave me at the bridal store. Oops I completely forgot to change it until it was too late.

More loveliness here »