Where the lines overlap

With senior year quickly coming to a close, my high school is putting on a senior art show, and I have been lucky enough to be invited to submit my work to the show. I have taken ceramics every semester except one in high school, so I have a huge collection of work to pick from to submit. This afternoon I started browsing my pieces in order to narrow it down to under fifteen, and in doing so, I found little things in each piece that I love. I loved to see the progession of my work and how I have changed as an artist. I literally pulled out all twenty plus pieces I have, but now I have it narrowed down to my favorites, as seen below:

Teapot

Wall Hanging

Bowl

Book Ends

Sculpture

 Wall Hanging

Sculpture

Sculpture

Candlestick

Bowl

"Fairy Pot" (Doesn't it look like fairies could live inside?)

Wall Hanging

There is more to this I know

I blogged yesterday about baking a treat for my friend's birthday, and I decided on the Pink Lady Cake, only I made them in cupcake form because of the ease of travel (bringing and slicing a three layer cake in during seminar wouldn't turn out well). They turned out wonderfully girly, although the recipe makes a ton, so I would recommend making half of the recipe if you plan on making cupcakes out of it, unless you want 40 cupcakes. Here's how they are made: 

 The dry ingrediants, butter and strawberry puree mixture ended up filling up my normal large bowl, so I later had to expand to an even larger bowl (like I said, the recipe makes a lot of batter)

 The recipe describes this mixture to be of the consistancy of ice cream, but mine didn't turn out to be that creamy, more on the dusty side.

 I had a little trouble getting the egg whites separated from the yokes, but it was worth it for the light color and flavor.

 The batter comes out a little thicker than normal cake batter, but don't be alarmed it is normal.

 Scoop into holders and bake at 350 degrees for about 25 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean from the middle.

 I used my normal frosting recipe, found here, except I added in half of a package of softened cream cheese, and of course a few drops of red food coloring to get a light pink color.

I can't wait to dig into one of these pastel treats tomorrow!

Nothing here is right without you

The weekend is here and thankfully I've been free to enjoy myself. In my life as a shopaholic, I found some wonderful deals and got to scope out the mall for spring clothes and other goodies. Here are my current favorites from my weekend:

1. I went to Birmingham today and I found that they opened another location of one of my favorite stores, Rococo. Literally every time I go in that store I buy something, and today was no exception. I got a floral dress, and I must say I am in love with the one shoulder and lightweight material. I plan on belting it and wearing it with some fun sandals for some event that will be coming up in the summer.

2. On my trip to the mall later on today, I found this (in lavender, obviously) on sale at J.Crew for a steal. To make things even better, I had a gift card from Christmas, so I didn't even have to pull out my own cash. Deals like that are always the best.

3. I was in the market for a new perfume, and at Sephora today I decided on this. The scent is very fresh, and has undertones of vanilla, which I love. It definitely will be making the change to my daily fragrance.

4. I plan on baking tomorrow for my friend's birthday celebration. I've been browsing recipes online and I have it narrowed down to Black-Bottom Cupcakes, Pink Lady Cake or Coconut Cupcakes. I am going to ponder those, along with the recipes in my cookbooks and figure something out to make tomorrow.

5. I go to the Ron Pope concert two weeks from Monday and I am so excited! I've been building up my collection of his songs, and my new favorites are "Our Song", "Virginia", "Come to California", and "Wait for You"

Have a great rest of your weekend!

Remember to breathe

It's back to being freezing and I am definitely not enjoying it. As a way to remedy the chilly weather, I made chocolate chip and heath cookies stuffed with an Oreo. Sound absolutely amazing, right? They were perfect to warm me up, especially with a tall glass of milk right out of the oven. Here's how they are made:

I made the cookie base with the recipe on the back of the chocolate chips. You can follow any recipe that you please, although they all are basically the same. I then added in 1 1/2 cups of semi-sweet chocolate chips and 1/2 cup of crushed heath.

 Next, take one Oreo (mine were spring colored) and cover it with the cookie dough

 Fill in the top, bottom and sides of the cookie.

 Even the dough out around the cookie to make into a round form.

 Since they are so large, you will need to do more batches than normal

 Bake until golden brown.

 They are best served warm, with the chocolate chips and heath melted, and the Oreo soft.

Dig in!

Who loves you more?

It's been a wonderful almost spring weekend here in Michigan and I'm loving it. Aside from the beautiful weather, I've been pondering my college decision pretty much every minute of the weekend. I have three schools on my list, and all three are dramatically different, yet they all have their pros and cons. I am having major troubles deciding where I want to go, and I need to make this life changing choice in a little over a month. Here are my three choices, and my current lists of pros and cons for each school:

Michigan State University
Pros: the best of the three for a degree in education, a Big Ten school, an hour from home, in state tuition, a decent sized city with lots of things to do
Cons: the campus is huge, snow and cold, so many people from my high school will be there, the largest number of students at the school of the three, I'm not already in the school of education, and it's not going to be a huge change from my life now.

The University of San Diego
Pros: California weather, wonderful shopping in the area, absolutely beautiful campus, middle of the road for number of students, I would be able to work on my Spanish speaking more, all the students look really normal, and did I mention that I would never need to bundle up in layers to walk to class?
Cons: out of state tuition, far from home (4 hour plane ride away), and I've never actually been to the campus

Loyola University Chicago
Pros: fairly close to home (a 5 hour train ride or car ride away), the shopping that I could do in the city of Chicago, I'm already in the school of education, there would always be something to do, they have a campus in Rome to study abroad, and it's stepping out of my box and trying something new
Cons: out of state tuition (although I did get a scholarship to bring it down a bit), cold and snow, majority of the student body is made of girls, and I haven't visited the campus

Which school will I be happiest at? Help.... please?

Days go by

Photo from This is NOT new

Today definitely felt like spring with the near sixty degree weather and the perfectly sunny sky. I took advantage of this beautiful day and spent my afternoon laying out on my front yard, even though the snow isn't completely melted, but it's nearly gone. Now that it's mid-March, I can safely say spring is on it's way. I love spring a little too much, but I can't help and not love it with all the happy moments that come from it, as follows:

1. Sunday afternoon bike rides around my neighborhood

2. Pulling on my sunglasses after the grey winter where they weren't needed

3. Grape Kool-Aid in a glass with lots of ice

4. Putting my favorite country songs back into my favorites because country music is the best when it's warm out

5. The first day of the year that is warm enough to wear a skirt or a dress without tights

6. Opening the windows in my room to air out after the long winter

7. Filling out my March Madness bracket in hopes that I will win our family competition, although I never am able to beat the basketball fan boys

8. Stopping by Starbucks on a Friday afternoon to get an iced latte and sit outside and talk with my friends

9. Trading my boots and winter coat for fun bright colored flats and a trench

10. Driving with the windows down and sunroof open

Happy (almost) Spring!

Without you things go hazy

Current song obsession: Hazy by Rosi Garden Featuring William Fitzsimmons. The music is so light, yet the lyrics are very touching. I've listened to it nonstop after I bought it yesterday (thanks to my John Mayer Pandora station). Here's clothing inspired by the song:

1. Pink One Shoulder Floaty Blouse, Topshop
2. Marc By Marc Jacobs Bianca Clutch, Barneys New York
3. Faux Marble Ring, Forever 21
4. 'Malloka' Oxford, Nordstrom
5. Crystal Corsage Lever-Back Earrings, Kate Spade
6. Stellar Wind Dress, Modcloth
7. Thin Faux-Leather Belt, Old Navy
8. Cream Crochet Panel Wrap Skirt, Topshop
9. Women for Women Beaded Bracelet, Kate Spade

Now I know, it'll be alright

My weekend has been beyond busy because my I-Search for AP English is due on Tuesday (the reason I started this blog). I have to write at least fifteen pages on the process of becoming a blogger, and what blogging has taught me. Along with that, I have a crazy week in my other classes, with too many tests and quizzes to keep straight. Friday afternoon when I was planning my weekend I felt my stress level rise a little too high. Aside from being studious all weekend, I spent my free moments babysitting and going to church, crazy weekend right? Ha, so needless to say I spent many hours furiously typing at my computer, along with a few breaks to online shop... Here's my weekend in photos:

I gave up coffee for lent, and Sundays being exempt from the sacrifice, today was my first day since last week in which I could have a cup. I never realized how much I really love and need my morning coffee until I wasn't able to have it. It definitely helped with my day of writing today. The hazelnut flavor tasted absolutely delicious.

At church today, in honor of the sacrifices people make during lent, they passed out these tokens to provide people with a reminder to people why they are making these sacrifices. I put mine on a gold chain to make a necklace out of it. Hopefully it will help me in moments when I drive by Starbucks and want to cave in and go buy a Venti latte.

To bind my I-Search, I bought lavender and darker purple scrapbook paper and Micheal's. I love the texture and shade of these two!

Weather permitting or not, I will be busting out my favorite platinum Sperry's this week. I'm ready for it to be spring, and I don't care if I might have to trudge through the snow and get my feet a little snowy, wearing my Sperry's will be worth it. Hopefully they will brighten my day while I'm struggling through the tests and quizzes that I will most definitely be unprepared for.

Have a delightful week, I hope yours will be a little less stressful than mine!

You know I'd come running

I have the winter blues today in the dreary Michigan weather. To add a little fun to my next outfit, I plan on wearing a bright colored scarf tied in my hair. I chose the one pictured above, which is borrowed from my mom's many scarves.

Start with any light weight scarf, I find that silk or chiffon scarves work the best. Lay it out flat.

Fold it diagonally, with the printed side on the outside.

Fold the point down

Continue to fold in half, making sure to keep the major part of the print visible.

Lift the scarf, keeping it folded

Place the middle on your forehead, and bring the ends to the nape of your neck.

Cross at the nape of your neck and bring the ends to your forehead and tie. If you have excess ends you can tuck them under the scarf

If you wish to wear your hair down, your look is complete, perfect for a night out or an afternoon of shopping when you want your hair out of your face.

If you wish to put your hair up with this look, tease the hair directly behind the scarf to ample volume.

Secure hair in a high ponytail.

The look is complete! The color of the scarf will brighten up your face on these last days of winter. Even better for days when you are sick of having your hair in a drab ponytail, yet you still get the functionality and ease of a regular ponytail.

Whatever it takes

Tonight, my baking excursion was quite a disaster, so these cupcakes didn't turn out as fabulous as I thought they would. I originally was going to make chocolate chip muffins, but I didn't have any milk in the fridge so I decided to make cupcakes instead. It somehow slipped my mind that I would need milk to make the frosting, so after I took a shower while my cupcakes were cooling, my mom pointed out that fact to me. Twenty minutes and an extremely foggy trip to the grocery store later, I was back to finish the problematic cupcakes, as seen below:

I used a vanilla box cake mix. I added in a generous amount of blue and red food coloring in an attempt to make my cupcakes turn out lavender, but I didn't add quite enough. Note for next time: when I think it's purple enough, add more

I ladled the mixture into the cupcake holders and baked as directed on the box.

As you can see, the lavender color didn't turn out as planned.

After my trip to the store to pick up some milk, in my fury to get the cupcakes finished I mixed up my frosting (recipe found here), and in doing so I got a massive amount of powdered sugar over my counter top when my butter wasn't softened enough to mix. A little clean up later, I got it to mix properly, and I added blue and red food coloring to add more lavender to the cupcakes.

The finished product took much longer than I anticipated, and although they aren't quite the lavender cupcakes that I would have hoped for, they still taste delicious. In the end, isn't that all that really matters anyways?