Nail Candy

Painting my nails, although super time consuming, has become one of my favorite weekly routines.  I just love having a fun new color to try out, and life's about the small pleasures, right?  This is mine. My students have even caught on... and now will question me if I don't have a new color on at the start of the new week.  I think I have too much time on my hands... or have just found a good way of wasting it :)

I'm obsessed with Essie polish.  Although it's pricier than I would prefer to pay, I think its the easiest polish to put on yourself, and still have it come out looking decent.  It's the only poilish I've found that does not get goopy (is that a real word?) after one use.  Plus, the packaging is cute, so I fell for that.  One of my favorite things to buy is a new color, so I have TONS of this polish!  I just picked up these two new shades, and can't wait to try them out:

"Chubby Cheeks"  (not kidding. this was made for me!)

"Funny Faces"

I usually use this top coat that I found for 25 cents at a garage sale.  It is amazing, and makes the polish dry in minutes! I looked it up online, and it's avaliable at Sally Beauty Supply, and on Amazon.

Via

Hope you are enjoying the start of Spring!  Here, ours is well... cold.  So here's to Spring nails for Spring in Spirit. I'm off to bed.

-m

Rainbow Cupcakes

I made these quite a while ago for one of my co-worker's birthday's.  It was really quite simple, and super fun to do!  Nothing like a little rainbow to brighten your day at 9:30 AM in team meeting.  The mega amount of sugar never does wrong either.

Since making these, I've seen some photos around the web of other variations of entire cakes, or of 3 or 4 shades of the same color. (The greens for St. Patty's were particularly adorable...)  I think next time I try this I might stick with one color and then do up to 4 shades.  Six colors was maybe too many...

Ingredients:
1 box yellow cake mix
food coloring (I used a combo of neon and regular)
basic buttercream frosting

I apologize for the phone pics... I'm still working on my photo skills :)

Now, to the good stuff.

Divide the batter evenly, then add food coloring.

Pretty. Pretty.

I stuck with a white frosting.  Mostly because I used all of the food coloring I could scrounge up in the batter.

Yeah, they are that big.

YUM.

-m

5 "sweet" things.

1. Spring.

Love this print via

2. Spring Break at age 24. Thank you very much.

3. These shoes.

via

4. Boxed Wine. Yeah, I said it.

5. This guy.  He lives with me.  And makes me pancakes.

Tomato-Basil Pesto Grilled Panini

We recently had J's parent's over for lunch and I decided I wanted to try and make a "Panera-ish" lunch.  I love everything from Panera, soup, salad and sandwhiches.  I headed to the store to see what inspired me.  This is what I came up with.

Ingredients:
sourdough bread
sharp cheddar cheese
muenster cheese (new love!)
bacon
2 tomatoes
fresh basil
smoked deli turkey
sundried tomato basil pesto
olive oil
garlic (minced)

Guilty as charged.  That is, in fact, a paint sponge you see. I don't own a kitchen brush.  I swear to you it's brand spankin new.  I think I like it better than a brush anyway.... am I overcompesating?

I mixed a couple tablespoons of olive oil with the garlic and spread it on one side of a slice of sourdough then placed it on the skilliet.  I spread about a tablespoon of pesto on the opposite side, then topped that with either cheeses, basil, bacon, a slice of turkey and another slice of bread.

The result was a crispy, fresh twist on the classic grilled cheese!  We enjoyed this with a cup, or shall I say can :), of tomato basil bisque soup (Campbell's best.)

I'm sad that I forgot to take final photos! They were all eaten up by the time I remebered.  YUM!
-m

Ombre.

I have been considering trying something a little different with my hair.  I have worked so hard to grow it back out since I decided to chop it off 2 years ago, but I am never one who can stick with the same style for long.

I still want to keep my long hair, so I was thinking of trying out the "ombre" trend.  I get my hair done tomorrow, so we'll see if I cave.

Let's hope it doesn't end up looking like bad roots!

Inspiration pics....

Jessica Biel

Whitney Port and Rachel Bilson.

I think I like Whitney's the best...

-m

Hamburger Cupcakes.

A couple of weekends ago we celebrated my brother-in-law's birthday.  When I heard they were grilling for dinner, I knew this would be a perfect time to try out the hamburger cake I had been wanting to make.  I started thinking about how I would put a giant hamburger cake together, and opted for the smaller version, cupcakes.

Ingredients:
1 box yellow cake mix (prepared as directed)
1 box brownie mix (I added chocolate chunks)
powdered sugar
1 stick butter
milk
vanilla extract
white sprinkles

Bake the brownies and cupcakes and let cool.

Cut each cupcake in half, then place the brownie on the bottom half. My brownies were squres... Wendy's style.

Pipe the red and yellow icing on each brownie.  I made an easy icing and then used a plastic bag that was cut at the corner to pipe the "ketchup and mustard"

Ta-Da!  I brushed a small bit of water on the top of each cupcake before putting the sprinkles on to help them stick. (Don't mind the vacuum in the backgroud... hey, at least we clean!)

I also cut up some sugar cookies to make "french fries".  Can't have hamburgers without fries!

Enjoy!
-m

Inspired.

Being the avid blog follower that I am, I am continously astounded by the amount of inspiring people the blog world has to offer.  I started following blogs when I got engaged just over a year ago for wedding inspiration.  From photography, to styling and all things wedding, I became hooked!  I am now following too many blogs to count, about anything and everything.  I feel like anytime anyone asks me where I got an idea or how I found a new delicious recipe, my answer is always, "From this really neat blog..."

I had thought about starting a blog a while ago, but never really knew what I had to say. And quite frankly, I was/still am intimidated by all of the amazing people who are already blogging! I mean, what could I have to say that someone else already hasn't said, and probably said in a more funny, creative, unique... you get the idea.

Well, I was inspired.  

My BFF (the domestic wannabe) wrote a post a couple of months ago on her A-MAZING blog that changed my mind.  A blog shouldn't be only about what you think everyone wants to hear.  It should be a diary or journal of what you want to say.  Her words were much more inspiring... and well put.  

My new husband has also helped convince me to put myself out there.  He doesn't even make funny faces when I take 100 pictures as I make cinnamon rolls... that end up as sugary concrete. It happened.  He gets me.

So here I am.  

I named my blog "Savoring the Sweet Stuff" because that it what I hope to share, and remember. Sweet food, sweet fun, sweet... stuff.  

Ok, I'm excited.  Enjoy!

-m