7 Links

As you may have noticed I took a bit of a blogging break for a month (or so). It wasn’t intentional, but things got crazy at work and that, combined with finals, gave very little free time and energy to blog. I have to thank Amy at The Nifty Foodie for tagging me in her 7 links post. I gave me the kick in the rump I needed to blog again.

So here are 7 links to posts I’ve done that I think you should check out…

#1 Most Beautiful - The Birdie Details

I loved the way the details came together at our wedding. When I went flipping through all my old posts, for this post, I loved looking through our wedding posts again. It reminded me how pretty, without being to bird themed, our wedding day turned out.

#2 Most Popular – Margarita Cupcakes
 
This cupcake recipe is BY FAR the best, most moist, recipe I have found. I need to spend sometime trying to make these gluten free, because they are a HUGE hit. I get a least 50 hits a week from this recipe.

#3 Most Controversial - Tricking our Wedding Guests

This is actually a post a wrote for Weddingbee. The start time on our wedding invitations was 30 mins earlier than the time our wedding was actually going to begin. Several readers were upset that we would trick our guests like that and make them wait that long considering many people arrive to weddings early. I could (and still do) see where they were coming from, but knowing our friends and family, I stick by our decision to have people arrive 30 mins early.

#4 Most Helpful - How to Make an Inspiration Board
 
Also a post I wrote for Weddingbee, but helpful none the less. When I first started wedding planning and blogging, I saw all these awesome inspiration boards and wanted to badly to make my own. I didn’t (and still don’t) own Photoshop, or anything fancy like that, so needed a way to do it with the software I already owned or downloaded for free.

#5 A Post Whose Success Inspired Me  - Reverb - Prompt 1
The comments I got from this post inspired me to fully embrace Reverb. It also gave me confidence in myself.

#6 A Post I Didn’t Feel Got the Attention is Deserved – My Christmas Green Beans


This is where I toot my own horn, because you guys has no idea how good these beans are. They take longer than cooking green beans should, but OMGoodness they are tasty!

#7 Most Proud Of – Five for Friday Series
When I started the blogging about planning our wedding, way back when, I started Five for Friday posts – posting five things I love about (or reasons I love) Hubs, every Friday. I’m proud that for the most part I’ve kept this up for the past 2 years and counting. I’m most proud that I’ve inspired other bloggers, that I love, to do Five for Friday posts as well! Other bloggers like: Jesstagirl & c'est law vie!

Have you participated in the 7 things blog post series? If so, please share your link with me in the comments, I’d love to read yours. If you haven’t, what are you waiting for? I’m tagging you!

2010 Recapped

I was MIA around the holidays. I kinda stopped posting all the Reverb10 prompts, only doing the ones that really spoke to me and wouldn't repeat something I’d already talked about. I haven’t posted the gluten free dessert I made for Christmas Eve yet… etc. I’ve decided to do a recap post for 2010 a little later than most. Let’s be honest though, it’s only the 3th, so I’m not that behind.

I really liked the way KJPugs did her 2010 review, so I’ve decided to copy her. Don’t worry, I asked… although, I didn’t really wait for her to respond and say it’s cool. Anyway, here we go…

January we upgraded our TV stand and general appearance of our  living room.   

February I discovered two of my favorite “go to” recipes: Dark Chocolate Red Wine Cupcakes with Mascarpone Icing & Enchilada Casserole.
March Hubs and I went to Vegas for meet-up with the Bees and celebrate my bestie from college’s 30th Birthday. Of course, a trip to Vegas would not be complete without eating at Battista's Hole in the Wall.

April Joy from How Joyful redesigned my blog and created those adorable little birdies.

 
May I started making recipe cards for my recipe posts. The first two I made were for the salad I recreated from a local French restaurant & Margarita Cupcakes.

June I made several desserts using fruit from our local CSA, my favorite was the fruit pizza I invented with the help of Amy from Dandelion Paperweight.

 
July I turned 30 and made a kick-ass flag cake!

 
August Hubs and I celebrated our one year Anniversary and played travel roulette with some friends and ended up in Austin, TX.

September was a pretty busy month: I hosted a Giveaway from one of my favorite artists, I discovered  my local food truck meet-up and I took an allergy test and discovered I cannot eat gluten,

 
October I did my first guest post and rattled on about the wonder that is Jazzercise.

 
November I blogged every single day… errr, posted every single day. Let’s be honest sometime we blog more than once a day but schedule those posts out. I also discovered Chipotle,

 
tried Gluten Free Bisquick,

 
hosted a beautiful necklace giveaway from Honey My Heart 

 
and finally finished my wedding recaps.


And lastly, in December, I attempted Reverb10, made Potato Latkes and guest posted for Forty Twenty Four about my on-the-cheap/modern Christmas table setting.

  
Happy New Year everyone! I hope I have even more to recap for you at the end of 2011 :)

Reverb10: Prompt 25 - Photo

I didn’t have to look back far to find this picture, it was take on Christmas Eve, the evening before I received this prompt. Jane, the lovely lady on the left, has been my bestie since 4th grade and our families have had a long tradition of spending Christmas Eve together. After college it was hard to get everyone together on Christmas Eve. This Christmas Eve was everyone was in town and our families were able to spend Christmas Eve together again. Jane’s hubby, Joe, took this picture. Lately, I’ve been feeling much more comfortable in my own skin. I remember not even trying to angle my head so I didn’t get a double chin or ask to see the picture after it was taken for deleting privileges.

I hope I can keep this feeling going in 2011.

Reverb10: Prompt 19 – Beyond Avoidance

Our storage closet! We have a fairly large closet on our balcony that we store all our crap, that doesn’t fit in our apt. This summer when we renewed our lease we told ourselves we’d go through the storage closet and throw out everything we didn’t need. Sell a few things and reorganize. It’s been months and we haven’t even attempted. Even worse, we added to the mess a few weekends ago. *hangs head in shame* We don’t have a very good reason for not doing it other than, out of sight, out of mind… and we’re lazy.

In 2011, I need to make an effort to actually get that done. All the extra crap is stressful and I really don’t want to move it when we leave.

Reverb10: Prompt 14 - Appreciate

This past year, marks the first year of my marriage to this guy. Yes, I appreciated him before we got married, but I appreciated him so much more after living with him for the past year. Hubs is my biggest cheerleader. He picks me up when I’m down, and not to sound to cliche, but he totally make me want to be a better person.

Don’t worry, I tell him all the time and bake him cookies :)

Reverb10: Prompt 13 - Action

I going to get off my butt and DO!

1, 2,3, 4 & 5

Reverb10: Prompt 11 - Things

When I first read this I thought, “ELEVEN THINGS!?! Is this guys nuts?!?” No offense Sam, but I’m sure you got the reaction from a lot of people. However, since Hubs and I were busy this weekend I gave myself the weekend to think about it. Perhaps there are 11 things I don’t need in my life, or perhaps there are a couple and I don’t need to come up with 11.

1 – Plastic bags: I have a bunch of those re-useable bags for grocery shopping, but more often than not I forget them at home. Next year, I will not go shopping unless I have the bags. This will most likely also cut down on needless grocery shopping, when we have okay food at home.

Source

2 – Buying lunch: I spend way too much money on buying lunch everyday. Next year, I will make an effort to bring leftovers or make meals for lunch… most days.

3 – Gluten: Is this a cop out because I’ve already started it? Maybe. But, I’m sticking with it in 2011

Source

4 – Impatience: I am a pretty impatient person and really it only stresses me out. I’m going to make an effort to be more patient and relaxed in 2011.

5 – Judgment – I’m going try and not be so worried about what other people think of me. I guess, I’ll do this by consciously telling myself to stop when I start worrying about what other people think.

6 – Purses – I have enough, really cute purses. In 2011, I will use the ones I have and not buy any new ones.

… I may add more at a later date :)

Reverb10: Prompt 12 – Body Integration

Dang, I wish I hadn’t posted that song on Saturday! I’d just post it now because I really don’t understand this prompt. When I first read the prompt, I thought of the morning, 3 or 5 days after I’d started “the diet”. I was blow-drying my hair and I noticed I felt really good. I wasn’t sleepy, my stomach wasn’t upset and I just felt good. I felt like me. I don’t know it that fit in the prompt, but that’s the moment I thought of.

Reverb10: Prompt 10 - Wisdom

The wisest decision I made this year was to take a food allergy test. Those of you that follow my blog know that, in hopes of ending some uncomfortable health issues, I took a food allergy blood test a couple months ago . Although not a complete shock, the biggest item I had to give up was gluten.

After 2 months on “the diet”, I posted here, on how I’m feeling now. This was the wisest decision I made in 2010 because I feel so much better. I’m healthier. And, bonus, my clothes are fitting better.

Reverb: Prompt 9 - Party

I’m feeling a little worn out (writing wise) from yesterday’s prompt. Obviously my 30th birthday rocked my socks, so I’ll leave you with a picture from another great party I attended in 2010.

Here are all my DMs (ladies in a club we made up about 4 years ago). We hadn’t all been in the same place for about a year and it was wonderful to get together and celebrate the last wedding in our group. I LOVE these ladies more than words!

Reverb10: Prompt 8 – Beautifully Different

Here’s the thing – I have fairly good self esteem. I know I’m pretty cool. Like a lot of women I know, I think I could stand to lose weight, but I think I’m pretty and attractive (on most days). I find this prompt so hard because I have I hard time being all, “I’m awesome and here’s why”.

Katie from Ruffles and Truffles, went to Twitter…
and I, being completely stumped as well, joined in. A with NodakAdemic chimed in with a great suggestion (as well as a sweet compliment).


Which got me thinking, what would someone else say are my beautiful qualities? Hubs would say it’s my positive outlook on life and attitude. I thought about it more and realized that my positive outlook is thing I get the most compliments. Like, this comment from Kelly at kjpugs I received around the time I discovered my gluten intolerance.

I was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes 2 weeks before my 16 birthday. I was really upset at first and scared, but in order to be allowed to go away to camp on Catalina the week of my birthday I had to get my self together and learn what I needed to do to take care of myself. The easiest way to do that was to have a positive outlook on the whole situation. Since then I’ve adopted the philosophy, “You may not have control over what happens to you, but you have control over your reaction”.

Yes, I still get pissed at things and overreact on occasion. But, once I’ve got that out of my system and I’m good… better.

I try to spread my positivity to others by encouraging my friends and helping them find the bright side of situations. Kate at Manhattan Actress’ tweet showed me that people do notice.
I'm happy to see I am "lighting people up".

What are your beautiful qualities?

Reverb10: Prompt 7 - Community

The obvious first community that popped into my head after reading this prompt was Weddingbee and the community of bloggers I’ve met through Twitter. You ladies rock! But the community that has really stood out in my mind lately and especially in 2010, has been one I’ve discovered. This community is one I’ve found at school. I’ve been attending idi (Interior Designer’s Institute) for almost 5 years now and it wasn’t until this year that I actually make real school friends. This may sound said, but when you only go to school part-time and at night, it’s easy to just come and go without forming a bond with the people in your class. Yes, I’ve made a few friends in each of my classes, however it wasn’t until this year that I started talking and even hanging out with friends from school, outside of school. It has been such and blessing and honestly, a lot of FUN!

Next year I hope to join a church community. With so much going on, I’ve found it way to easy to say, “I’m too busy for Church.” But, I miss the community and the connection with God. I would really like to be able to say at the end of next year the community I (re) discovered was Church :)

Reverb10: Prompt 6 - Make

I make all kinds of food all the time… well, not all the time, when I’m in school, but often. In school I also get to make boards and floor plans. I’m lucky in that get to “make” a couple times a week.

So, what is something I want to make? Something I need to clear time for? Art. The space above our sofa has been empty for over a year now. Hubs and I just can’t find (and agree) on something to hang above the sofa. It’s either the wrong color, shape or price.
 
We’ve known for awhile that we want 3 similar pieces spaced evenly apart. We know it can’t be too busy or dark because this room is really poorly lit. We also know we’re going to have to make it ourselves… or at least that’s what we’ve discovered in our search for the perfect art. We need to take the time to get the canvas and other supplies and create these pieces.

* Don’t get me started on the vulture hanging out on-top of my grandmother’s china cabinet. He went up there one Halloween and the Hubs has refused to part with him since. He thinks it’s funny… I don’t :-P

Reverb10: Prompt 5 - Let Go

I’m late posting this one because I can’t think of anything I let go… which means I let something go, but it wasn’t something (or someone) I really needed or making a huge impact on my life… I guess. Perhaps I'll come back to this one at a later date.

Edit 12.07.10: So, I thought of something on the way to work this morning. Formspring. I started Formspring around the same time as everyone else. I quite a couple months later because I found it was a source of stress and rejection. Stress because I felt I had to answer the questions as quickly as possible. And, rejection because "why is so-in-so asking her questions and not me?" Phew! I felt so much better once I quit.

Reverb10: Prompt 4 - Wonder

Why is this prompt so tough? Probably because I can't think of a way I've cultivated a sense of wonder this year.

Perhaps school. I'm always amazed at what my fellow students (and I) accomplish at the end of a class. The great ideas everyone comes up with and how we all finish above a beyond what is excepted of us, when it seems we will never get the bare minimum done.