French Macaroons

I keep seeing these and wondering what they taste like. They're so pretty and they look so light and fluffy! So when I came across a recipe for them in the "America's Test Kitchen" cookbook (get one - I have a 2008 one that is like magazine thickness and not one recipe has been un-amazing!) I thought I'd give it a try. So... they're really hard to make. I mean, totally doable but it's nothing like whipping up a batch of chocolate chip cookies.

And I ended up with these which,
a) are soooooo sweet that 1 is too much;
b) make you feel sick after you eat 1;
c) I should have made smaller (they're 2" wide about)
d) I needed a food processor for making the almond flour / sugar mixture more fine-ground but all I had was a handheld blender type deal - it worked but it wasn't thorough enough because they're pretty bumpy looking. Didn't effect the taste any though;
e) and I don't know what to do with them now!



I might try this again when I've got a food processor and when I have a lot of people to feed them to. The flavour is amazing I must add because of the almond flour, and they have a nice chewy consistency - not what I expected from pictures at all! But, then again, I have nothing to compare them to and I don't know what the real thing is like at all. Anybody know?

He's gonna hate me for this...

and this is what my boy looks like with long hair.

:D

Its just way too good not to share.

The Wedding

The wedding was beautiful and amazing and such a pleasure to witness.

Also, A Bear & Bison surpassed my expectations and was a luxurious stay...

I loved this detail of the tiles cut around the tub

The 3 sisters...

And the actual 3 sisters out our room's window on June 25th 2009 at 5:30am

I will share some photos of the wedding here, but not wedding-Wedding photos (Zoe's got that covered!). Wedding photos of the morning of the wedding when I woke up at 5:30 and thought wow ... the light in this room is sooo pretty right now! (don't worry, I got back to sleep after that)

The 3 of us girls slept in a roomie king size bed and, as has always happened, I got the middle. :) those 2, they just rock, they just never change, they just never fail me, they just ... are my favorite cousins ever.

Anyways I managed to find my way out of my middle spot and took pictures of them sleeping. Some people might call it a little creepy but I thought it documented a very VERY special moment for us. And I doubt Wade will let it happen again real soon. Husbands these days. Wanting to sleep with their wives. Pffft. What is that about anyways!?

The 2 sisters. The bed. The dress.

Tara and her dress, just waiting for her to wake up!

K girls, I'm sorry, but who in the world gets to look that amazingly beautiful when they are sleeping!?

Am I being creepy yet?


I love it.

These are a few of my fa-vor-rit thiiiings

My room! I cleaned it! Well, there is still a huge... copious... collosal... amount of stuff in there, but it is CLEAN! I feel like zooming through it in my fluffiest socks!



I'm the proud new owner of these brooches; they make me happy. Thrifted of course. 1 is funny, 1 is pretty (and it cleaned up much better than it is there. woops.).


AND this piece of art (print) of the 'Blue Boy' which I want to give to Ron. The reason being one day when I was doing some history homework he saw a picture of Henry the somethingth (or someone) and thought it was the "picture from the icecream". So we looked up the icecream... I guess there was a blue boy icecream brand in Manitoba when he was growing up. Either the age difference is a factor here or they didn't have it in Alberta :P

So anyways, that is him, The Blue Boy...

The frame is gross though. I need help Susie. It has the inner wood frame and then a fairly thick piece of glass that is not the right size and clunks around in there, followed by the ugly black part.

And this is the back, so I can't really do much with that, can I ?! What would you do, Susie - no, let me rephrase that - what should I do? Is there a simple fix?

And another thing I'm liking right now:

Now let me just put some fresh sheets on the bed and have a hot shower... mmmm... Goodnight.

People - behind my lens!

I am very happy; I was asked to do a little photography at the wedding of boy's brother. Boy's Mom asked me about a big blank space on the back of their house (their yard is the wedding setting and it is soooo perfect!), where it was just plain siding - no windows or trim or doors - and she thought it might look funny in photos to see such an expanse of nothingness... I noticed it also had the garden hose attached to it, so I thought yeah, it could do with a little covering (even though I really didn't think it was an eye-sore) so I snatched up the opportunity share a little idea I love!



I saw the above left image quite a while ago on a blog and ever since it has popped up over and over... Anyways, the bride and M.I.L both loved the idea and I was also asked to take care of the guestbook so I will set have them side by side and everyone who signs also gets a photo taken.
Their colours are blue and orange; I am thinking Ikea might have a bold fabric pattern that would work. Or Urban Outfitters, if they had a sheet sale; thats what the above prints are from.

AND I was thinking of maybe having a bin of optional props to make it a lil more fun, but I am not sure if that would be the best idea in the world, I will have to talk to the bride about that a little more... I am pretty sure the groom would like it.
Tell me what you think!

School Stuff...and stuff

I really wanted to blog before bed. Not just because of all the 'B's. But I couldn't think of anything that would stand out as blog-worthy. All I've been doing is school work - had a final tonight... AutoCAD, which is pritty (pritty...priiitty like Larry David says it) easy - the part I need to know, I mean- but I kept getting stuck on stupid things on the exam, although I think I got it all ironed out before I handed it in. I've been working on a presentation that I WOULD be presenting, but I'll be at a wedding that day so I am making the presentation to hand in and will loose the presentation marks :( but I will bug him again on Thursday and see if he'll give me marks for recording my voice with it because that is like presenting it, isn't it!? Anyways here is a little bit of what I've learned using 2 of the most amazing programs that I've fallen in love with this year: Sketchup and Photoshop.

So this is the floorplan of a kitchen & living area; drawn in sketchup and rendered in photoshop

A digital material board for it - so much easier to make than the real thing!
I had to create a background for the slideshow in photoshop but I just wanted it to be neutral and natural looking - I don't know what it is with me lately and the muted/neutral colours but I never used to be one to pick them!

So this is basically what Sketchup can do for me:

(and also - light pink! I love it! What is happening to me!?)

And this is what Photoshop can do with that, just with adding shadows, lighting effects and 'stamping' it onto white 'paper' for an artsier look:

Its really fun.

on a completely unrelated note:

• Yes Laura, I blog! And it only took me 5 days to know you commented. But yay!
• I found a comment the other day from a post way back by somone who's blog I read sometimes that is just a random person but she complimented me on my really cute daughter .... thank-you so much, you! Haha... I'm not sure where she got the impression I had one.
• And yeah, I have not tried to keep it a secret but, well, for a while there it was kinda a diary of secrecy that only me and 1 other person knew about. Now I am trying to not care if someone else comes and sees it. Well, I don't care, but I mean that I am trying to encourage it a little more.
• Blogging is fun. You should do it. Everyone should do it. But then I'd have another one to keep up with. newest obsession: Pioneer Woman
• no idea how the top bit got underlined or how to take it away
• Good-night!
  
  

Home-made Spa treats!

I used this home-made almond face wash this morning. YUMMY! It looks and smells like scrumptious cookie dough, and it leaves your skin feeling oh...sooo....soft.

It got me to thinking that I might put together a few things like this for the night before my cousin's wedding. Perhaps a lavender bath milk to calm the nerves and a nice massage oil for our feet and backs, cucumbers for our eyes, etc. Me and the two cousins that form the bride and maid of honour used to FILL our summers with spa days. We had face masks coming out of our ears. I remember more than a few times that they would both beg me for a foot massage promising they would give me one back. I'm still waiting... but for some reason I enjoy it anyways.

I am really excited for this wedding - small and intimate, cousins that I've been wedding planning with since we were 6, my boy will be there, in beautiful Canmore, at a bed & breakfast, Crave cupcakes will be present ... - I think a little added hotel room spa will bring it all together to perfection!

Want a dress like this??

I wore my English Rose Garden dress (that's what i JUST named it. Erg dress for short) on Sunday and got a load of compliments again, as I always do when I bother to wear it - or should i say when I bother to iron it so that I can wear it.

Sorry about the photo quality, this is a couple years old and my Auntie's photo from a cousin's wedding. Being a dork. Not much has changed.





Well check out this dress. I think it would make me look just as good. ;) great, even.
And you can win it!

I gotta go now, lookin at more amazingly covered up yet cute looking dresses at Shabby Apple; looks pretty much like my mecca!

It is midnight. It is Sunday.

PS. SO SO SO SO SOOOO elated that one of the links that I just posted about furniture re-dos had a link to THE blog that I have been looking for since the dawn of Blog Awareness! It is the first one that I stumbled upon and went wow... this is really readable... wow - she does the coolest stuff! Wow... look at what she just made! So yes I have a lot of looking and reading to catch up on. Oh yeah and she is here.
Yay!!!

Goodnight now. It is midnight. It is Sunday.

I'd call it "The Junk Room"

So it is a Saturday night, 11:00, and I need to get to bed. But first I feel like blogging!
Since I have July off, I decided (sort of, for now, until I have a better decision anyways) that I will spend it researching a career based on a store of fixed up junk; something I have always wanted to do. Well, actually, I think I thought of it in High School. I can shop thift stores for a living; how fun is that?! But no, the plan is to figure out a plan, see how much COULD potentially be made at it, maybe meet with a few owners of similar stores or even a regular small furniture store on Main or something... just to test the market, see what people want etc. I really think it could be sold; everyone is all about conservation, recycling, reusing... and this is all of those things. Wrapped up with fun designs and playful looks, I think it could really do something. People don't take the time to buy a chest of drawers that looks like its been to helk and back and give it a good coat of paint and add some nice paper lining in its drawers. Well, besides them and them and them ... but I just want to do the math and see whether it would be worthwhile to endeavour. Also I will weigh the option of an online store or in a store location. Personally I would imagine a store would be better, as then I could decorate and make the place my own and create an experience for a customer to come see, feel, smell and hear! However, even with a good business proposal, I don't know if a Bank would give me a loan to do that until I had student loan debt paid off... maybe? Maybe not? See, these are the things I just really don't know!
These are my thoughts.
Thoughts?

the fitting room:

I really really really feel like shopping. And I have ample money (yeah right) so I thought I'd concoct a little plan here...

Nothing above is under $100 though :(

That is the saddest sentence I've typed all day.

HOWEVER, Forever XXI is coming to 'a mall near ME' (MetroTown - I saw the sign when I was there that it opens this summer) and I know for a fact that they have affordable and stylish stuff! See below for what I'd be tryin' on.

Nothing is more than $30 that I've shown here. Yippee!! Might even fit my clothing budget of $0 once in a while!