Insomnia Baking

Since moving back to Illinois, I have taken on making dinners for me and my roommate (aka Mom) as my daily project. Since I am still on the hunt for a full-time job, I often find myself unable to force my brain to sleep at a decent hour, so I have become a frequenter of stumbleupon, after I can find no new updates on twitter or facebook. More often then not, if I am not ogling over tiny, asian hip-hop dancers or useless facts, I am finding delicious, non-nutritious treats and baking them at all hours of the night. Most recently, my victim was Toasted Marshmallow S'more bars. After being originally turned off after seeing the word 'broil' in the recipe, I was actually pleasantly surprised - they were unexpectedly easy to make. I posted a link to these a while back, and Emily snatched up this recipe, so she can also attest to the easiness of the recipe. Bon Appetite! 

XOXO

Preparing for Unemployment?

My last day at my current job is this Friday. After that, I have just under a week to pack up 6 years worth of my life and ship it all back to Illinois. I've been hitting the job search pretty hard, but tonight, I am meeting with some people from my office after work for a bon voyage happy hour. One of my co-workers sent me an email this afternoon with this picture and subject "Is it happy hour yet?"...HILARIOUS!

Hopefully, I will have some time soon to get back on the blogging horse, as I have been seriously slacking lately and I have lots to share :)

XOXO



 

Bits and Pieces

Not quite sure exactly where I’d like to start today, there are a lot of things I’d like to touch on…Let’s start with the obvious – yesterday was Mother’s Day. Didn’t get to spend it with my mommy, but I got in a nice phone call with her. I know I’ve given her props before, but she really is awesome. The little things she does, really helps me do the big things I want to. Love Love Love!

Not only is my mom awesome for driving me to early AM volleyball games and coaching all of my softball teams, after my dad died when I was in middle school, she played the role of both parents. I think she did a great job with me.  

I really love this picture for so many reasons. It is from my parent’s wedding. I love that they are both laughing and I am IN LOVE with my dad’s suit! A plaid suit for a wedding – so.amazing. Also, my mom is actually blonde in this picture, and although she tells me that she often had blonde hair when she was younger, I had never seen it. Plus, she is doing the wide open-mouthed laugh, that I am pretty notorious for doing.

*****

A few weekends ago, I took a trip down memory lane. When I was down in Tucson visiting my family for Easter, I continued my drive a few miles further down the road to quaint, little Vail, AZ where my childhood best friend, Megan and her family live. They really have been through a lot these past couple years and it was so fulfilling to spend time with Megan and catch up on what her and her siblings are doing. I love them like my own family and I was almost crying I was laughing so hard, re-living old memories. Megan and I became friends in kindergarten on day #1 while doing an activity in which our teacher dumped a bag of mismatched socks on the floor. Mrs. Holbert asked, "My socks come out of the dryer all mixed up, how can I sort these socks into pairs?" Megan raised her little hand and answered, "We can put them together." Brilliant, I know! I marched over to her right after activity time and we were fast friends. According to her parents, I walked up to her dad after the school day was over and asked if Megan could sleep over. Apparently, I never even asked Megan if she wanted to. Whatever - friends forever, you know you wanted to, Megan! She’s one of those friends you know God just meant you to have and I am so thankful to have her.

*****

And finally, my cousin Jason was in town yesterday evening playing at Martini Ranch with his band Telekinesis. I will be rocking my new tshirt every chance I get because they were PHENOMENAL! Don't judge me for being so myspace, I had to take my own pic bc m roomates were asleep. :)

XOXO

Fairytale Ending

“They used to call her Waity Katie, now she waits no longer”  

I've been meaning to start doing a Wedding Wednesday edition, so please ignore that it is technically "Thursday" because if I don't start now, I will forget all my weddings thoughts by next Wednesday. I have to admit it – leading up to the royal wedding; I could not have cared less. Yes, I am a wedding-aholic and since I work in special events, I should be interested in the ultimate special event, right? Wrong. I did not partake in the excitement over what dress Kate Middleton would wear or which carriage her and William would ride in. The most interest I had, was on the day they announced their wedding – purely because I really liked Kate’s navy blue wrap dress and Diana’s sapphire engagement ring. There are always those memories you have that no matter how long it has been, it always feels like it just happened yesterday. For me, it is a. Columbine school shooting (morbid, huh?) b. September 11^th and c. Princess Diana dying – ever since then, I have been particularly interested by all things Diana (I even have the Princess Diana beanie baby). Anyways... as the wedding grew nearer, I acquired the same excitement I would as the day approached for one of my very own friends to tie the knot. Although I couldn't convince myself to stay up until 1am to watch the coverage, I did set the DVR. The thing I really enjoy about weddings is that love is literally filling the air. The couple is joined by the ones that care about them the most and there is no substitute for the look on the groom's face the first time he sees his bride. Never fail, my tears flow every time a bride walks down the aisle, whether it is a wedding I am attending or Kurt & Finn's parents getting married on Glee. The royal wedding was no exception - I'm sure lots of you have seen it, but these were some of my favorite parts...  

I have a weird thing when it comes to men, if there is a red head in the room – I am all about it. As a result, I have always had a little bit of a thing for Prince Harry. My roommate Amy and I have always had a joke that we were going to become famous for catching Osama Bin Laden and then meet the princes as a result and marry them – she William and I Harry. We always say “roomies for life” because we picture ourselves living as fellow princesses. Seeing Prince Harry and William together at the wedding was so darling. I always think really close families are endearing. They are so chummy together and every time the saluted at the same time on the car ride over to the Abbey, I giggled like a school girl .  

I have never been one for church weddings - stuffy, long, boringggg, but OMG - was Westminster Abbey beau-ti-ful! There were organs for days, tall arches and all sorts of awesomeness. WOW. *lub blub lub blub* 

Can we be real? The queen is a BALLER – rockin that canary yellow like nobody’s business. That is all.

After all the hoopla over “Who’s dress will she wear”, all I have to say is THANK GOD! If that dress had been anything less than fabulous, I would have been the first one to crinkle my nose, but the dress was indeed, all that is fabulous and so much more. I know it has been much exclaimed how glamorous and beautiful Kate was, but I must say it once again. Although I want to make it big and become a princess, I could not be happier with this elegant, graceful, charming woman. She really hit the jackpot - talk about best day ever, becoming both a wife and a princess all in one day :) I'm sure this dress will be remembered for years to come.

Something I never knew until the royal wedding, is that “bridemaids” are more like flower girls for them. Although I could never give up my best girlfriends, the idea of just having my sister and nobody else would definitely cut down on some stress. But does anybody else find it weird that Pippa wore white? Wouldn’t that be tacky in America – talk about trying to upstage the bride, haha. I actually heard in the old days, bridesmaids all wore white to act as "distraction brides". When families would trade livestock and goods in exchange for their eldest daughter, for example, brides were a super hot commodity and people would literally try to steal the wives. The bridesmaids would all dress in white to try and confuse the thieves. Interesting, eh? Anyways, thought it was ADORABLE how Pippa walked down with the little 3 years olds – and her dress really was lovely – whiteness and all.

And finally, my main man riding in the carriage with the little flower girls. Can we say darling? He's so charming. I guess I'll just have to wait for my own fairy tale :)

PS - I hope this piture is real, because it is AWESOME.

XOXO

Family is Forever

Today was my grandma's 91st birthday! It took a lot of looking, but I finally found a pic of my grandma that I had with me in AZ - most of my memory/keepsake items are at my mom's house in IL.

My sister Beth, Grandma B and I on mother's day 2004

I am happy that I got to see my grandma a few weeks ago, and will soon be able to see her again on a more regular basis. I have spent the last 6 or so years in Arizona, where I re-located to so I could go to school. In a little over a month, I will be closing out this chapter of my life and packing up my things and moving back to Illinois. I am currently on the job hunt and would like to work for an airline, so I could be constantly traveling - I would love that. Also looking for jobs in event planning because that is what I graduated in and have enjoyed it thus far! This month I am turning 24 and lots of my friends will be coming into town to help me celebrate - more on that later, but I am SO excited. Soon after my birthday, I will pack up my things and my roommate, Jenny and I will take the road trip back from AZ to IL. It will be sad to leave my AZ family, but I hope to be back often to visit the ones I have come to love.

My roomies <3

One of my favorite nights in AZ

Back to business, in honor of Grandma B., I will also share one of her mom - my great grandma (GiGi). The picture below is from a local article that she was featured in many years back, and it all had to do with her famous kolackys. I have to admit, when my family gets together, I am usually not the biggest fan of chowing down on czech food, but I looove 2 things - potato dumplings and kolackys. I'll let you  in on her secret, all in her own words...

GiGi

• 1 package dry yeast & 1/5 cup lukewarm milk - disolve and let stand
• 1 lb. crisco & 4 cups flour - work like for pie crust and then add
• 1 cup cream or canned milk, beaten with 3 eggs yolks, mix well and add yeast mixture and beat. 
• Put in refrigerator over night. 
• Next day roll out dough on sugar and cut out with a glass. With bottom of smaller glass, make impression in center for filling. Let raise about 30 mins., bake in 350 degrees until golden brown. 
• Remove with spatula as soon as you take them from the oven, or else they will stick to cookie sheet.
• You can put dough in freezer and use a piece at a time. Makes about 100 kolacky.

Thanks to my cousin, Mel for the picture and finding me the recipe. I got to see her this past weekend in Tucson, where we both stayed with our family - Aunt Sarah, Hank and cousin, Leeann for easter. It was also Leeann's birthday - Happy 16th! Time to drive :) It was fun visiting and going through old family photos.

Cousin Leeann, Aunt Sarah, Me and Cousin Melissa

XOXO

More blogs to come:

Visit to Vail

Royal wedding

My Kind of Town

I will admit it. I am a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad blogger. I started off so well. 3 posts in 7 days - that's very respectable, right? Well, I am breaking my slump right here. I have been going through a lot lately, both good and bad, so I am ready to share. I am assuming the next couple of posts over the following days will be a little bit like the word vomit I was talking about before, but I haven't had the time to jot down and manage my thoughts. Now, let's take this back...

****

A few weekends ago, I was extremely fortunate to be able to visit my good friend Stephanie in Chicago for the weekend. As I mentioned, she is in the middle of planning her upcoming October wedding, so she had me come out so we could catch up and I could immerse myself a little in the wedding plans (plus, I had to start acquiring inside jokes with her fiance, John for my MOH speech - mission accomplished). On day 1, the 3 of us did the food tasting, which, to say the least, was DELICIOUS. The most ridiculous part for me was having my 4 glasses of wine lined in front of me, trying to pretend that I had any idea what I was talking about. As far as vino goes, me=clueless. It all reminds me of communion.

After a girls afternoon at Nordstrom, for Stephanie to get her bridal makeup consultation, strolling through the shoe department and getting caught in the rain (Yes, finally - weather! I've been in AZ too long), John, Stephanie and I had a light dinner and muy delicioso margaritas at Mercadito. We then hit some bars and were delighted to see Becca, one of our friends from high school. The blackhawks were also playing, which was refreshing to see a Chicago team play, while in Chicago, even if they did loose- RIP Blackhawks 2010/2011, see you next season :)

Saturday I was super excited for because I knew we were planning on having a bunch of our girlfriends over to Stephanie's that afternoon/evening. Ashley came first - another one of Stephanie's bridesmaids, and one of my friends from like kindergarten or something. We checked out bridesmaid dresses and decided on one that we were all very happy with :) (Then I got a latte, I was so friggin happy that it was cold enough to have a warm drink. It was like 80 or 90 degrees + from February on in AZ, I swear). Eventually Lizzy came down, just in time to lock her keys in the car - lol. I thought I had enough street cred that I could break into her car, but alas, we needed to call for help.

But the rest of the evening was lovely, aside from Stephanie's "skinny girl margaritas" aka pure alcohol, aka me and Liz effectively tipsy after 1 glass. Becca & some of Stephanie's friends from college and beyond also came over - all awesome to see. We even hit up an adorable pub with new friend and fellow bridesmaid, Natalie, to round off the night. Always nice to hang with friends - old and new :)

 

*****

 After a very successful weekend with my pals, I got to briefly meet up with my family. My awesome godfather, Uncle Frank announced that he and his girlfriend (ahem, fiance) Jennifer were engaged! AWESOME! One more wedding to add onto my list and another reason to prolong my wedding obsession - can't wait until I get my "Wedding Wednesdays" posts into routine. Fortunately, I also got to see my mommy,brother, sister+family, aunt, uncle and Grandma - Happy 91st birthday to her tomorrow!

Finally!I've previously posted pics of my youngest nephew, Travis, but this time I will give my ode to Travie's brother, and my sisters oldest son, Wyatt. He is soo cool - he does karate, is on a downhill ski team, he's an awesome snowboard companion, and is an ADORABLE actor and model. He's even the state fair corndogs hero - big time, I know! Check him out!

   

XOXO



Put a Ring on It

I am coming down with a bad case of wedding fever and the only cure is the season for love. My upcoming year is packed full with wedding invitations and it has been causing me to do lots of leisurely surfing of wedding sites, blogs and collections. By far, my fav is ruffled blog - an adorable collection of real life weddings and new, creative vendors. Here is some of the other awesome things that I have become smitten with...

My heart literally skipped a beat when I saw that Vera Wang's spring line had finally premiered at David's Bridal. I saw a blurb last summer in Brides magazine about the affordable line, and I have been looking forward to it ever since. (My mattress is even Vera Wang, and it is one of my prized possesions, so the idea of wearing her someday is really, really exciting!) I really LOVE the textures and volume of these dresses and what I LOVE LOVE is that all these dresses run around $1,500. Above are just some of my favs. *lub blub, lub blub*<~~that's my heart fluttering.

*****

I consider myself a pretty normal girl, but I have this crazy habit of looking through wedding magazines and ripping out things I love and scrapbooking them. I was smitten with the idea of a great gatsby style wedding, and when I saw these vintage wedding posters, I thought it would be darling to have these all over a venue...cute, right?



*****

This past February, as I sat waiting for a spray tan, I was pleasantly surprised that 944 Phoenix had a wedding issue. There was a handful of articles that caught my attention, including "Always a Bridesmaid" which suited my fancy because I am a walking 27 dresses in the making. It includes 3 basic tips for the bridesmaid --

1. Check your ego at the door
2. Put effort into the bridal shower
3. Be prepared
All solid tips to go by, and it also goes into useful resources. The issue also gives a nod to different styles of engagement rings, including my favorite - vintage <3!

*****

And finally, I am lucky enough to be involved in 2 of my best and truest friend's weddings - Lizzy & Stephanie. I grew up across the street from Lizzy and probably spent 80% of my chidlhood with her. This past December, she had a beautiful winter wedding that was so fun and so full of love :)

^My lovelies from high school at Liz & Carl's wedding^
Emily, Becca, Lizzy, Sam, Me and Colleen

<~Lizzy and I in Washington DC, circa 1998



Stephanie and I started off as 3rd grade frenemies because I wore leggings & keds and she corduroy shorts & knee socks. Plus she jumped off the slide during recess, which was forbideen - scandalous, I know. This October she will be getting married in downtown Chicago and we are both immersed in the planning process (Well she's doing a great job planning, I am just loving looking at bridesmaid dresses and options for bachelorette parties!).



Sophomore Year Homecoming 2002

Happy Weddings!! XOXO