Cheesecake Trees

I found this cute recipe (in Southern Living, I think) and decided to try it for my work Christmas party tomorrow.

You start with a frozen cheesecake...

Stick in some candy cane pieces for tree trunks...



Add chocolate shell topping...



And a little green icing and red M&M's...

And, voila! Cute cheesecake Christmas tree thingys! I hope they are good!

Thanks...

Turkey Day was a lot of fun...

Fried turkey - YUM!

chills

This gave me chills... the new promo video for Lost with the new song You Found Me by The Fray. Enjoy:

In honor of...

Our soon to be elected new president, I present a few cool Obama items from Etsy.

$15 print at YeeHaw



$49 necklace at VerreEncore



$14.99 t-shirt at OutsideoftheBox

YES WE CAN!

Obamarama!

Here are some pics from the Obama rally in Virginia Beach. I now realize, I need a better camera!






I wish they would have put him on the big screen. Overall, though, an awesome experience.

Need a baby name?

Try the Sarah Palin Baby Name Generator!

Mine was Cue Manhunt Palin. Glad I wasn't born into that family!

Desire of the Day

I am unsure of how warm these would be, but they are so cute!

Fleece fingerless gloves, $6.00 at Kimono's.

Desire of the Day

Forget me not Necklace:

$64.07 at Delight.com

Unreal

This is the funniest picture ever. I cannot believe that man and his facial contortions.

All he did was make it more obvious how ridiculous he is. Vote, people!

weekend at the lake

I decided to take Tim away for a weekend to celebrate his birthday. I got tickets for the Sugarland concert in Roanoke Rapids, NC, and found a little place for us to stay on Lake Gaston. Now this was a very no-frills B&B but the owners couldn't have been nicer, and the price was right. Well, apparently the man also does some taxidermy on the side... Tim actually asked him this because of the decor:

Dead animals aside, we did have a lovely time. The concert was really fun and it was such a pretty night.

We slept and relaxed a lot, which was what we needed!

bliss

In my next life, I would like to be a house cat.

Oh yeah.

fun picture thing!

Lydia taught me how to make these collage things! This one is family photos:

How cool is that!?!

I'm It

Lydia tagged me!

*If you are tagged, you must first post the rules:
*Write 7 strange characteristics about yourself. They interest us all!
*Tag 5 other people at the end of your Post.
*Visit everyone that you have tagged and leave a comment on their blog to let them know that they have been tagged.

This may be a struggle, but I'll see how many I can come up with...

1. I like my microwave popcorn slightly burnt. This could be because I get the low-fat kind which doesn't have much taste and I feel the burntness adds flavor. Maybe I should just get the buttery kind and say to hell with it!

2. I have no memory for how to play card games. People always have to reteach me the games. Sometimes I have a vague idea and just need the details filled in, but I can rarely remember all the rules on my own. I can't remember jokes either, come to think of it. Maybe there is a link there.

3. My eyes water every morning when I get in the car. I suspect it is allergy related, but it is highly annoying. I have to dab with a tissue the whole way to work!

4. Sleazy talk shows make me very uncomfortable. I can't stand people screaming at each other. The other day Maury was on at the car place when I was getting my oil changed, and I had to force myself to sit there and ignore it.

5. I feel weird working in a high school. I feel like I am still a kid and everyone is looking at me.

6. I had to stop watching CSI for a while because I would get scared at night. Is that pathetic?

7. Someday I want to have my own store, either online or an actual building. I want to sell cute unique and handmade things. It's kind of my dream.

OK, that's it for me! And I have no one else to tag!

mm me

Make yourself into an M&M character! It's kind of freaky, but fun. Here's mine:

I look kind of pissed! Oh well. :)

Make your own, at http://www.mms.com/us/becomeanmm/create/

Cake Wrecks

This is one if the funniest blogs: http://cakewrecks.blogspot.com/ It's called Cake Wrecks and they post professionally decorated cakes that are somewhat less than lovely.

Here are some of my favorites:

These are just some... there are some hideously ugly cakes out there, people!

avoid shoe entrapment

So they make these recorded announcements at the Atlanta airport warning you to be careful of your shoes on escalators so as to "avoid shoe entrapment". Repeatedly. I know this because I spent about 4 hours there Saturday night and I laughed every time I heard it. SHOE ENTRAPMENT? Seriously.

Well, we are back from our trip to Washington - Seattle and the San Juan Islands. It was truly lovely. I could spend a lot more time out there. So we went up the Space Needle:

Toured Pike Place Market:

and saw Orca whales!

For the whole set of pics, check my web album:

Washington Trip

Ch ch check it out

Urban Outfitters has 21 songs you can download for 0 dollars. Some I had heard and some are new to me, but all are rockin'. Check it out:

http://blog.urbanoutfitters.com/projects/lstn1/

Thanks, UO!

Ciao, Estelle

Estelle Getty passed away yesterday. She played Sophia on one of the funniest shows ever, Golden Girls. Enjoy some classic Sophia moments:

Hi Def

Well, we did it. We took the plunge. Tim found a deal on a big flat TV that was too good to pass up.

We don't have the HD cable service yet, but we are loving it so far! And I can't wait for football season!!!

Cupcake Deviation

This one is not in the 500 Cupcakes book, but I like it A LOT. It's super easy and was a hit with the book club!

They are no bake cheesecakes and there is an Oreo on the bottom! Need I say more?

Desire of the Day

For the herb garden of my dreams:

The Baby Grobal is a self-watering pot!

$12.75 each at Delight.com

Technical Difficulties

Well, today's cupcake recipe was the delightful sounding Mint Chocolate Chip cupcakes. Unfortch, they were somewhat better in theory than in actual execution. (At least in my opinion). The frosting turned out weird. It tasted fine, but the texture was off, I thought. Tim, of course, pronounced them delicious, God bless him, but I am not so sure.

Can anyone explain this? The frosting for this recipe called for 2/3 cup butter and 2 cups powdered sugar. The first recipe I tried used 1 cup of butter and 3 cups powdered sugar. That doesn't seem right. No wonder I liked the first one better! I also did not have the requested "Dutch process cocoa" - just plain old cocoa powder. Oh well. Tim will eat them. :)

Desire of the Day

I love orange. And bags. And sales, so this really works for me!

$55.99 at Piperlime

Desire of the Day

Today's item is this adorable set of 6 white flower hooks:

34 pounds at Rockett St. George (I think that's a lot of dollars!)

Desire of the Day

I have dreams of having a successful herb garden... or at least some herbs in pots! Right now, I do have parsley, so I guess that is a step in the right direction. If I DID have lots o' herbs, I would totally have these:

$22.50 at Spoon Sisters

My Swedish Furniture Name!

Oh, how I do love IKEA. And now I have my very own piece of furniture!

Click the pic to generate your own Swedish furniture name!

a word cloud

Check out Wordle - enter text and it creates a word cloud for you.  I did "Take me out to the Ball Game"

Doing my civic duty

Well, I finally had to go in for jury duty today. And wouldn't you know, I was one of the 5 people actually chosen for the jury. I must have a fair and impartial look about me. Of course, I cannot discuss the case until it's over, but it's been quite an interesting experience so far. And I have about 2 more days to go! Not guilty! Objection! :)

Desire of the Day

In preparation for my upcoming trip to Seattle, I have been looking for a cute travel journal. Here we go:

$8.50 at Jet Set Paper (with 4 notecards!) Other cities available!

Desire of the Day

Today's covetable object is the snazzy 6-way Opener from Crate & Barrel.

It's cute AND it opens bottles, jars, pull tabs, chip bags, and the list goes on. I may just have to order this!

$7.95 at Crate & Barrel

NEST: A good cause

I came across a great cause that, coincidentally, is called NEST! Their website describes their mission as follows:

Nest is a nonprofit organization dedicated to changing the lives of women in developing countries. The mission of Nest is to support women artists and artisans in the developing world by helping them create sustainable entrepreneurial businesses. To do this, Nest provides micro-credit loans to be used for the purchase of the supplies and materials necessary to begin and/or maintain art or craft-based businesses.

Check them out at http://shop.buildanest.com/

I love this idea! It incorporates so many things I love. They have some great things for sale that you can buy to help support the cause:








Silvergate Earrings by Bellastyle








Umbrella Print by Dallas Shaw




















Salsa bowls by Maria Belen de la Cruz









Tangerine Messenger by Henry Road






Check it out when you have a minute, and keep NEST in mind for your gift shopping!