So, I've been drooling over camera bags for some time now.... and Epiphany and Pamela Topping are doing a giveaway!! So of course I'm dying, and want to enter every chance I get...

So I have 8 chances to win

Suggest Epiphanie on Facebook to your friends - Done

Like Epiphanie on Facebook - Done

*Like* or suggest Pamela Topping Photography & Actions on Facebook - Done

Tweet about this giveaway - Done

Blog about this giveaway - Doing it as we speak!

Post about this giveaway on a forum

Make a purchase at Epiphanie

Make a purchase at Pamela Topping - Might have to look into this

I think it's between these two styles, and I would love it in turqoiuse

Cross your fingers!! I NEED a new camera bag! :)

You should check them both out, this photography industry is sucking me in.....

xoxo,

Elena

Redesigning

So, I'm not even going to make excuses why it has taken me so long to post. Not fair, for either sides. But I'm getting back into the swing of things and getting pretty excited to be honest with you!

One reason (maybe a smaller one) is that I was falling out of love with my blog. It was looking pretty boring to me. So I said I was going to switch it up, but then I would just get so overwhelmed and never finish it. But this week I did some investigating. I was going to switch my whole blog over to wordpress, but it was taking too long to get the look I wanted. So I just started tweaking with mine and am liking what I have so far.

So call it a redesign! And hopefully the start to fun things to come. I have a lot on my to do list, and I really need to start holding myself accountable! haha. Guess I've just been having too much fun, which really isn't a crime either. I just have some things I'm passionate about that deserve some attention too :)

I do want to leave you with something fun... so I am attaching something amazing to watch. This is a same day edit video that my friends from Ambient Sky made. They truly capture every wonderful moment just perfectly. And I think it's so incredible that everyone got to watch this at the reception!!! How fun to see the beautiful day come together like that. Can't wait till they can capture my special day!

View on ExposureRoom

This is one of my favorite videos! I love all the smiling :)

XOXO,

Elena

Elena went missing...

So, it's really sad it's been over 3 months since my last blog post... just when I thought I was getting better! So much has happened, so I will try and spread it out a little bit in different posts so it doesn't get overwhelming! (we can't have too much excitement at once, can we? Ok... maybe we can!)

So first off, I just sent out my invitation to my 3rd annual Jewelry party! Which I think will be pretty fabulous because I have 2 amazing friends joining me. My friend Allison is joining me again for the 2nd time. Milina Co. is the name of her business and they have the most fabulous soaps, scrubs, bath bombs and much more!! It's going to be dangerous this year... I have lots I've been wanting. Not only is it great smelling, it feel so great on your skin! And what a better time then the winter season so give your skin some pampering...

My friend Lisa will also be joining me for the first time. She has a newly launched business is called Minnie Lola. She makes baby blankets, bib, burb cloths in the most amazing prints! She also has adorable hair clips (that I secretly wish were big enough for me) I'm super excited to have amazing handmade things to give as baby gifts now.

If you are interested in coming to my jewelry open house, check out my evite:

Monili Bella Open House

Below are a couple pics from last year and some other fun stuff you can expect to see :)

I hope to see you there! If you are having trouble viewing the invitation, please contact me and I will send you details! elena@monilibella.com

More posts to come soon, I promise!

xoxo,

Elena

Lots to talk about

Hey Hey! It's been way too long (as usual) which I guess is kind of a good thing because that mean's I've been busy with lots of fun stuff (right?!)  So much has happened since my last post, where do I begin??

Well, first off... I was in Hawaii in April/May which was amazing!! I loved it there, and I actually contemplated how I could live there! But after some long (non-drinking) thinking, I realized I would probably get horrible island fever... so maybe I should keep Hawaii for a great vacation spot. Maui was incredible, more then I ever could have expected, and I swear I saw almost the whole island! (almost) We did the rode to Hana, went up to Haleakula, snorkeling at Molokini, went to a Luau in Kaanapali, went to the Tedechi Winery, breakfast in Paiia, dinner at Mama's Fish House (probably the most amazing meal I've ever had!) and on and on... Lots of hiking too! It was a very rewarded vacation.

I took SOOOOO many pictures there, I just can't wait to work on them and get them posted for people to see. But realistically, that will be a little bit due to some other priorities.

Some other things that have been happening with me include and engagement shoot for a friend of mine at work. She's getting married in July with a 20/30's theme and had her engagement photo's done by the amazing Courtney Jade with the same theme! Needless to say they turned out AMAZING!! I helped with the shoot a little for posing etc. and took some shots myself. Little I did know the beautiful girl that sits next to me at work is one of the most photogenic girls I've met!! Her wedding is going to be spectacular, which I am helping shoot with Courtney. Here is a pic from her engagement session that speaks for itself.



Next big thing happening is I'm actually helping Courtney shoot a wedding today! (yes, today!) I couldn't sleep this morning, so I thought I would get a blog post in. I am excited because I used to work with the bride, she is such a doll and I work with one of the bridesmaids as well. So it will be a fun wedding to shoot with such gorgeous girls! I am also excited because I did all the bridal jewelry which will be fun to see on and get some snap shots of! (Pics to come later)

Lastly, but probably the biggest is....... I'm bringing a new member of the family home TOMORROW!!! That is actually why I can't sleep. This has been the longest week ever of waiting... But at least I feel more prepared now, and hopefully the transition will go smoothly.

His name is Bentley William (middle name only for show) and he is a Goldendoodle. I think he's the cutest puppy i've ever seen! Take a look!

Wouldn't you be anxious to get this little guy home??

So in a nutshell, that's what's been going on with me! I am hoping to keep my blog posts flowing a little more regular. But forgive me now if Bentley shows up in a few of them.

Hawaii pics coming soon!

XOXO,
Elena

Bragging time

Hola amigos!  Tuve el tiempo más fabuloso en México! Which for all you of you going "huh?" that means, Hello Friends, I had the most fabulous time in Mexico! And no, I don't really know spanish (I had to look that up) but I came back very inspired to learn! Well, it's bragging time... First off, I have to say it was the best vacation that i've ever had!! It was absolutely perfect :)

When I arrived on Sunday 3/15, I was picked up my dad and a good family friend at the airport. The sun was shining, I think it must have been 85 degrees! When we arrived at Sunset Beach, I just about died, it was one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen! So for the next 7 days, I was in paradise. Good food, lots of drinks, lunch delivered pool side and wonderful tanning!

Oh and the pool I posted earlier the one at night ended up being my favorite pool there! There were only 5 to choose from, and I made sure I laid by every single one of them too! :)

Here are some pics from my trip:

This was what I got to wake up to for 7 days!

Relaxing in the pool, life was so rough.

This was one of my favorite things... Getting lunch delivered pool side! And the food was so delicious :) I wish I got a picture of the guacamole... that was probably the best guac I've ever had. They made is fresh behind the bar when you ordered it!

My view from breakfast one morning with my lovely Mimosa

Where we sat everyday soaking up the view!

I also took my D90 with me to shoot some scenic pics. I could have shot all day and every day. And although that is what I easily could have donw, I allowed myself plenty of time to relax by the pools and soak up some sun. Here are a few of favorites from around Cabo, Todos Santos and San Jose Del Cabo:
















So, poor me... I am off to Hawaii a week from tomorrow! And I am super excited to shoot some more pics. Actually that is what I am going to try and focus on while I am there, my photography. I have always loved it... but have let it slip away and I have gotten so inspired by such amazing people around me that it is making me want to jump back in!!

Business is still kicking. Taxes were sure fun this year, but have totally inspired me to get super organized! So when I get back from Hawaii, there is going to be some major organization going on with the business as well as throwing myself into my website to get that baby up and running! I can't stand it anymore. And I finally got a light box that should take care of some of my lighting issues with my jewelry. I look forward to working on that when I get back from my travels.

Hope everyone is doing well!
XOXO,
Elena

Miss me?

It has been way too long... wow. Over a month?! So sad. But I'm back, and I've been wanting to post things for quite sometime! But every time I log on, I end up staring at the screen. Possibly too much information and I've had a hard time filtering.

So, here's the scoop. Website is still plugging along! And trust me, it will be well worth the wait when it's out and I'm excited to have some giveaways to go along with it!! (Whoo hoo! Free jewelry!) It is looking like it will be April for the launch, possibly May. But I'm really hoping for April. These dang vacations that I wasn't expecting are taking up some of my mind space. Poor me, right?

I know I have told you about Hawaii in my previous post, but I have more to add! More vacation you say? Oh yeah! Soon after I had my Hawaii trip was planned an opportunity came up for Mexico and I had to jump on it!! So in 9 days (me squeeling here) I will be off to Cabo to relax in the sun! All I want to do is lay by the pool with a book in hand and a margarita in arms reach. Aahhhh.... Here is a pick of the pool I will be doing that by!!




Or maybe this one?
Ok, I feel a little guilty showing those... But I couldn't help it!
More big news is that there is an addition to my family! Her name is Rosalie and she is gorgeous! She is very speedy and pale white :) Here she is:

Did you think I was talking about a vampire?

I wish I looked this good from the side :)

She even has a cute little butt!

So I just had to show her off, I love her so much! I guess this is the year to spoil myself! :)

As soon as I get some pictures taken of some of my new jewelry I will post them for you. Hopefully I can find some time when I get back (all refreshed) from vacation and then I can hammer down and focus on my jewelry.

Until then, hope you are all doing well. Before I launch my website and after I will be sending out some fun updates to my mailing list, if you don't want to miss a beat...

***Sign up here!***

Updates, shupdates

Hiya!  It's been way too long since my last post.  I was all good around the holidays (when I was stuck at home of course) but, now that I am back to work... I seemed to have gotten caught up in the hussle and bussle of life!

First, I have to comment about Twilight.  If you've read my previous posts, you can tell I'm a fan of Twilight.  BUT....... little did I know HOW big of a fan I was!  Since my last post, I have continued on to read Eclipse and am about to finish Breaking Dawn tonight.  Warning... don't click on the links if you haven't read the books (and are planning to) there are spoilers.  Anyway, I have about 90 pages left tonight to read, and then my deep depression will begin.  I have enjoyed reading these books SOOO much, I can't even put into words actually how much I loved them.  I have a great group of girls at work that have also been enjoying them, so it's a blast to talk Twilight with them :)  I am counting down the days until the Movie comes out on DVD, which is March 21st by the way!  And yes, you can move me into the crazy-obsessed-Twilight-addict category now.   And by the way, I did love the movie.  Despite what some may say... It doesn't even touch the book, but I still think it was a great movie!

Website news.  I'm still working on my new website.  A little slower then I was anticipating.  I probably won't have it up by the end of the month, but I am still going to push for as close to that as possible!  I am waiting on a new flash and flash accessories for my camera, that I think will be a huge life savor for picture taking.  Oh, and I also just bought a new lens that I'm pretty stoked about.  It's a Nikon 85mm f/1.8D lens. (if you know photography) if you don't... it's a beautiful lens for portraits!  

Let's see, what else am I leaving out...  OH YES.  I can't believe I almost forgot!  I am going to Hawaii!!  I am SO ecstatic and I've never been, from what I've heard I know I will absolutely fall in love with it.  I'm really looking forward to a vacation with my mom and dad.  I realized I was 14 the last time we had an actual real family vacation (and that was half my life ago)!  We are planning on taking my grammy's ashes with us too and letting her feel the wonder of Hawaii.  She would love it there.  So my countdown begins, as of right now I have 93 days, 11 hours, 44 minutes and 32 seconds, no, 31,  30...   I'm really looking forward to getting a little sun on this skin.  Lord knows I need it!

I guess I should wrap it up, this turned into a long post and I just thought it was going to be a few sentences.  Oops.  I hope you all are having a fabulous 2009!  More to come very soon. XOXO

Irresistible!

Are you ready for something delicious?? I came across a cookie recipe yesterday (I should really say my mom found if for me) and they are THE best cookies I've ever had! We were at Crate and Barrel and wanted to buy a box of the Barefoot Contessa Chocolate Chunk Cookies in a pre-made mix... But at $9.95, I thought I would probably rather make them from scratch. So my mom found the recipe for me online!! Well, I don't think delicious or irresistible do these cookies justice. I can't believe how good they are. I should have known from the first nibble of cookie dough.

I just thought I would share the recipe with you. It is way to good to keep all to myself! You'll thank me later... (at least I hope you will)

Chocolate Chunk Cookies (Makes 36-40 cookies)

1/2 pound unsalted butter at room temperature
1 cup light brown sugar, packed
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
2 extra-large eggs at room temperature
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 1/2 cups chopped walnuts
1 1/4 pounds semisweet chocolate chunks

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Cream the butter and two sugars until light and fluffy in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Add the vanilla, then the eggs, one at a time, and mix well. Sift together the flour, baking soda, and salt and add to the butter with the mixer on low speed, mixing only until combined. Fold in the walnuts and chocolate chunks.

Drop the dough on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper, using a 1 3/4-inch-diameter ice cream scoop or a rounded tablespoon. Dampen your hands and flatten the dough slightly. Bake for exactly 15 minutes (the cookies will seem underdone). Remove from the oven and let cool slightly on the pan, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

Can you say Dee-lish?


But wait..... I must tell you what I did to the recipe. First of all I didn't have chocolate chunks, so I used chocolate chips (1.5 bags of them!) and then, in my opinion what made them so delicious was a half bag of peanut butter chips!!! Can you say YUM? If I make them again though, I would use 1 bag chocolate chips and 1 bag peanut butter chips. I just didn't have a full bag of PB chips, so I had to make due.... 

If anyone ends up making these, I would love to hear what you think about them!
Enjoy!!

Vampire Love...

So, I'm just going to come out and say it... Twilight it the best book i've read. I absolutely love it! I actually just finished it, and got a little depressed because it's done... but at least I have 3 more books to read! So now I understand what all the fuss was before the movie came out, because it truly is pretty fabulous. Literally the second I was done with Twilight I ran out telling my boyfriend we had to go buy the second one stat! Well, within the hour I was at Barnes and Noble buying "New Moon".  I started reading it late last night... and 180 pages later and 3:00 in the morning I had to pry it out of my hands so I could get some sleep!  Believe me, I didn't want to stop.  

I don't know if it's they way she writes or the story itself. But I really do think it was a beautifully written love story and had me consumed every minute of the day! When I first started reading Twilight, I was in the middle of all the hustle and bustle of the holidays with jewelry so I was really too exhausted at night to read. Well, I picked it up the other day and literally couldn't put it down. I read until the wee hours in the morning and then the next day I started it and wouldn't put it down until I read it all. I don't think my boyfriend knew what came over me!  Well, now that I've started the 2nd book, it's the same thing.  I will try to keep my reading to evening time though... so I can still get some things done around the house.

I am now dying to see the movie Twilight.  Since it's been out I've heard reviews on it, the only bad thing I've heard is that it's not as close to the book as people would have liked... which is weird because all the previews i've seen look pretty close to the movie.  I have to wait until Sunday night... and if you know me, that's really hard!  I really want to see it TODAY, actually yesterday...  But I have to wait until all the little elves have left my house.

So for those of you who like a good book (or series) you should really read the Twilight Books.  There are 4 of them.  Twilight, New Moon, Eclipse & Breaking Dawn.  Stephanie Meyer is the author and it's interesting to read her story on how Twilight came about, (read here).  She is SO talented!  I am a BIG Harry Potter fan, and I didn't think I would find something I liked better... yes I said better!!  For those of you who know me, I've been larger then a Harry Potter fan over the years.  So this is pretty big that I found something I like more and have found a love affair at the same time!  I can't even put into words how I feel about Edward, Stephanie does such a perfect job.  I can't wait to get back to my book tonight.

Did I mention how excited I am to see the movie?

Happy Christmas!

As I'm relaxing on the couch, watching a movie while our prime rib is in the oven, I thought I would take this time to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas!!  Mine has been wonderful and relaxing and very tasty :)  My mom made this fabulous egg dish this morning with rosemary bread, eggs and gruyere cheese!!  It's a Wolfgang Puck recipe and it was SOO delicious!  She also made her famous scones which are my favorite. 

I'll keep this short, especially since a brie appetizer was just put out!  I hope everyone is having a fabulous day with friends and family.  Also, here is another picture I made this week while I was stuck home in the snow!  I love all the illustrator tutorials I've found this week.  

So I got a little pre-occupied and am now just posting this... Already had a YUMMY dinner!  And am getting ready to pack up and head home in this lovely SLUSH we've been blessed with today after all this fabulous snow.

Hope everyone had a wonderful day.  Me... I'm happy to be heading home to my quiet household!

New website: Sneak Peak!

Well...  I finally broke down and took some screen shots of my new website!!  I still have a bit of work to do on it.  Mostly getting my current jewelry up on it, which entails picture taking and pricing which of course is quite time consuming.  But hopefully I can get a lot done since I'm on vacation!  

I love how it is turning out and I have a lot of super fabulous pictures to work with, courtesy of Miss Courtney Jade.  She is such a fabulous photographer and a wonderful person too!  

Ok, so here thay are.  The first time I am really showing anyone what my website will look like... Are you ready?  Are you excited?  Am I crazy?  If you said yes to any of those, here you go!


This is the home page, it will have a few different images that will change.
I love the fact that this is a flash sight, so I'm able to display multiple pictures on the home page. There are some other really great things about this sight too, including a shopping cart (my favorite part) so now, you don't have to wait to own a piece of my jewelry! Another wonderful thing is the galleries to display my jewelry. See below.

This is the jewelry gallery where I will have section for earrings, necklaces, bracelets, rings, and hopefully a bridal section soon too!

There of course is much more then I am showing you, but something has to be left a surprise, right??  I will also now have a wholesale section!  Which will allow retail stores to log in and see wholesale pricing for their product.


So, there it is!  The first sneak peak into the new Monili Bella website.  I'm hoping to have it up and running sometime in January.  I am also planning on doing a drawing with some giveaways when I launch my new sight, of course it will be some free jewelry!  If you don't want to miss this, join my mailing list to be up to date on all the latest info.  

Snow makes me smart!

So... I'm totally snowed it.  I've actually never seen so much snow in the city before!  There has been white on the ground for 7 days straight.  Craziness.  I love it though!  Especially since I am on vacation until Jan 5th now.  So I really don't have anywhere to be... except my parents on Christmas Eve of course.  So, I've been doodling on the computer all day, trying to design a little flyer for Christmas, and I stumbled across this tutorial on how to make a Christmas bulb in Illustrator...  look at what I was able to make!  I'm really proud of myself, I love the way it turned out.

Of course the color changed a little bit, going to RGB.  But I still think it looks pretty.  I think I will look for more tutorials.  Who knew the snow would make me smarter?  Man, it's really coming down out there!!

News Flash: Newsletter!!

I'm so excited about my new newsletter!! I've been snowed in all day... I got inspired, and off I went! I have been working on a newsletter for a while now and have come up with a couple different designs, but I really like the one I came up with today.

Here is a sneak peak at what they will look like! I'm not planning on sending the first one out until after new years.. This might not be the exact text I use either. Just wanted to get something written to see how it would look.

If you want to recieve my new newsletters and find out when my new website is up click here to join my mailing list!

Baby it's cold outside!

Man, it is COLD!  The snow is still here and it's very frozen outside.  And still no sign of letting up.  I had to walk across the street today to get some dishwasher detergent and I don't think all the scarves in the world would have kept me warm.  My heart was even shivering and I was bundled up pretty good.  I guess with the wind chill they say it feels like 15 degrees!  Dang that's cold for around here.  

Anyways, my friend Amanda I ended up venturing out last night for the Sarah Bareilles concert at the Crystal Ballroom.  And let me tell you it was WELL worth it!!  She's got to be one of the best (if not THE best) female vocalist I've ever heard.  You can really tell a lot seeing someone live.  Here voice was so pure and amazing.  It's really indescribable!  She even sang Silent Night and the whole ballroom was silent and she sang it slowly and with so much soul.  I would love for her to come out with a Holiday album.  That would be amazing.  In case you haven't been to the Crystal Ballroom, it's a pretty cool place to watch a concert.  The ONLY downfall is that it's standing, but some concerts you want to stand anyway. Here are some pics. It's so beautiful inside, by day and night.




What it looks like with a packed house (This is not the Sarah Bareilles Concert)


This is a little better shot so you can see the stage.

The only weird thing, was last night they had this big area gated off around the stage. I've been to a few concerts there and had never seen this before. It must have been a VIP thing or something. BUT there weren't even that many people in there and it felt like a waste of space. Still I felt like we were pretty close. There were only a couple people in front of us before the gate. Did I mention the people that were in front of us were tall with big heads? Ha ha... Or at least thats what it seemed like. Thankfully I kept finding the spots in between heads so I could see the stage.

Oh, and getting there and home was an adventure in itself. We decided to take the MAX down there so we wouldn't have to worry about driving & parking. I'm glad we did, the streets were really slick last night. So we parked at the MAX station across from my house and hopped on the train. Getting there seamed pretty easy, we got off downtown and walked about 5 blocks to Henry's where we ate dinner. Dinner was delish, we splurged. And my 2 lemon drops were quite delightful as well.

On the way home was when the fun began... We hopped on going west, not knowing that the train we got on stopped at 170th/Elmonica which was ONE stop before the one we needed (go figure). So we had to get off and wait for the next one. The trains usually come pretty fast, but it might as well have been an eternity last night! It was SOOOO COLD and WINDY! There were about 15-20 people that had to get off when we did. All of us were trying to shield ourselves behind the ticket stands... but it still didn't help that much. Amanda and I were so freezing, we started huddling together and were laughing so hard... then we couldn't stop laughing and well, it just turned into hysteria! The people around us started laughing at us too. We sounded like giddy school girls. This one guy even offered us a sweater he had in his bag to wrap around us. How sweet is that? He had less layers on then we did!

Anyway, it made for a VERY fun night. The concert was amazing and the ride home was pretty fun, despite freezing our booties off.  Here are some pics of us.  I charged up my camera for last night and then totally forgot it on the counter when I grabbed the tickets....  Lovely.  So I had to take the pics with my phone which isn't great... But it's something.

Amanda and I waiting at the MAX station on our way to the concert.

Us patiently waiting for the first act.

Speaking of the first act, I almost forgot to mention how good they were!  I was really impressed.  They were called Raining Jane.  There were 4 girls and they were all filled with so much talent!  They sounded great live and the 3 girls who sang had amazing voices.  I also loved that they had different instruments.  One girl played the Cello in a few songs and the drummer was drumming on this metal box (I don't know the technical term) but the sound was awesome!  If you want a little listen... Click here.  Enjoy!  

Craft Mania

Well well... it's been too long.  Nice to see you again! :)  It's been a busy past month.  I swear I didn't just jump from my home improvement project into the craft mania season that is... I full forced did a flying leap and I think I injured myself on the way!!  Not really, but I have been moving a million miles a minute lately!  My day job has been keeping me VERY busy, and then I get to come home and make lots of jewelry for my craft obligations.  As much as I love it, I am a little relived it's over.  I'm exhausted and my little finger tips were starting to get sore.

My first jewelry stop was an open house that my wonderful mom hosted (I think I mentioned this in an earlier post).  This is the 2nd year we've done this and it was a great success (again).  Also, my co-worker Allison joined me as well from Milina Co. and also had a successful day.  I had a lot of fun, getting to see friends and even meeting new people.  It wiped me out though... Below are a few pictures from that day.




The set up

A few of my sets on display

Bangles, bangles.  I sold a lot that day!


My adorable friend Kristen admiring some of the lovelies.  It's funny you can see my parents shrine to their only child (me) in the background!

Wonderful gift sets from Milina Co.

Yummy bars of soap, body scrub, bath gel and lotion!  Did I mention the yummy flavors I bought this year?  White Tea Ginger Bath Gel, Clementine Clove Lotion, Almond Body Scrub, Pink Grapefruit & White Tea Ginger Bath Bombs.  YUM YUM

It was a very fun successful day! A lot of work to prepare for, but well worth it. I look forward to next years! Now I have one one more craft extravaganza this week, my annual craft fair at work and then i'll be hanging up my pliers for a little bit.

To much of a good thing...

I do love my pumpkin this time of year, but I'm almost pumpkined out and it's not even Thanksgiving yet!  Tonight I have made Pumpkin Creme Brulee, Pumpkin Bread/Muffins and Pumpkin Pie which is now in the oven.  Whew...... I'm exhausted, but thoroughly looking forward to tomorrows feast, cooked by yours truly...Muah! Like I mentioned in my previous post, I'm cooking thanksgiving dinner for my parents and boyfriend tomorrow and am very excited about it.  So I thought I better get a head start on things tonight.  So at least dessert is out of the way.  I decided last minute that I wanted to try and make Pumpkin Creme Brulee...  It turned out delicious!!  I love it.  If you're interested, here is the recipe. The pumpkin pie I think is just for the sake of having pumpkin pie (and my boyfriend could live on the stuff) and the pumpkin muffins are for my stuffing tomorrow!  Yummmm....

The pumpkin bread recipe that I have is pretty fabulous.  It's the best pumpkin bread and people love it.  For all you pumpkin lovers, here it is...

3 cups flour

2 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. salt

2 cups sugar

1/2 tsp. nutmeg

1/2 tsp. cinnamon

1/2 tsp. cloves

1/2 tsp. allspice

4 eggs

1/2 cup water

1 cup vegetable oil (or substitute applesauce for lower fat)

2 cups canned pumpkin puree

(optional) 1 cup pecans

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Combine flour, baking soda, salt, sugar and spices and mix.  In separate bowl, mix eggs, water, oil and pumpkin.  Add dry mixture and stir until smooth.  Add nuts.  Pour into two (greased) 9x5 bread pans.  Bake one hour or until done (toothpick will come out clean).  Be careful not to over bake and dry out.

Enjoy!!

Excited about the Holidays

Can I just say how excited I am about the Holidays?  I love this time of year... Being thankful and thinking about all the delicious foods we get to eat on Thanksgiving... and then my favorite part, decorating for Christmas!  I just finished with my hardwood floors in my house (pics to come soon) and I can't wait to have a beautiful tree up!  

I got a little anxious today thinking about buying some new decorations for my house.  After all, a little paint and new floors and I feel like I just moved into a new place!  Which makes it that much more fun to decorate this year.

I also took it upon myself to host Thanksgiving this year!!  Wait... before you think, oh my gosh... Thats a lot of work! There will only be 4 of us.  My parents, boyfriend and myself.  I'm really excited to be able to cook for a small group (especially since this is my first thanksgiving) and be able to do something a little gourmet.  I've been having so much fun looking for good recipes this week, I can't tell you what though, because it's a surprise for my parents and my mom is an avid reader of my blog (I love her for that) I know I at least have 1 loyal reader :)

So now it's Holiday Craft Fair time... As we speak I am preparing for my 2nd annual Open House that will be on December 7th.  If you are interested in attending please email me for more info. My friend Allison will also be joining me from Milina Co. with their fabulous hand made soaps, body scrubs, lotions and more! I'm very excited to have her there with me.  The following week I also get to participate in my employers craft fair (along with Allison), which we've both been doing for the past few years and always have fun at. 

Here are some of the wonderful things that Milina Co. has to offer. (If only you had a scratch and sniff screen!)






The White Tea Ginger soap is to die for!! I can't get enough of that and the Clementine which is also my boyfriends favorite. I can't wait to try the Pink Grapefruit.

Milina Co. has more scents then what are listed above, I just wanted to show some of my favorites and one's that I've been eyeing :) You can also order directly from their website, I promise you won't be disappointed!

I guess I need to wrap this up. I hope everyone finds their perfect Turkey (or Meat of your choice) for the upcoming Holiday. Don't forget to think about what your thankful for. My list is so big, and for that I am SO thankful!