Weekend Project

My bestie Michelle and I hung out yesterday for some much needed scrapbooking and girl time! We decided to create some new recipe books using hardback she discovered at a store nearby, so we ventured over to Spoons 'n Spice to pick up a recipe "album" for the project. The idea for the book was to make it over, in a way.  We chose some cute paper (I chose some to match my red kitchen :) ) and used mod podge to recover and seal the book. Then, we recovered the inserts that came with the album (because the colors were WAYYYY off from what I wanted) and, voila! A beautiful new recipe book, ready to use! Mine had some hiccups along the way...the paper on the edges kept tearing, so I tried covering it up with a better quality of paper.  It worked pretty well, but it's not perfect....meh, oh well!  Still looks cute! So glad Michelle found these!

Here's what the book looked like originally.  It was a little over the top for me:

And, here it is, all made over and red!  I found some really cute recipe cards to go with the color scheme.  Win! I'm still not finished decorating it, but it's a work-in-progress.

Blog Background Attempt...

So, I need to stop, stop, STOP changing the background of this blog!  But there are sooooo many that I love!  I'm attempting, at the moment, to create my own background and header....we'll see how it goes.  You guys will have to let me know what you think...The background is supposed to look like this:

Like I said, we'll see how it goes... :)

Deliciousness in a glass!!

I discovered something wonderful tonight! There is a coffee shop in Fashion Place mall outside of Nordstrom. They make the most fabulous drink! I cannot for the life of me, remember the name. It's "Sun"....something. Sunkiss? Sunbeam? Something like that. But, I watched how they made it, and promptly came home to try and recreate it! I think I figured it out, and I also made a slight change for another version. It is as follows:


1 part orange juice
2 parts iced tea (regular or lemon)
A splash of raspberry flavoring (to taste)


It's a fruity summer drink...Mix and enjoy!! 


I also altered the iced tea ingredient for an "Arnold Palmer" (half ice tea and half lemonade) and, it was delectable as well! TTFN!

Wedding planning and such

The good news about dating for four years?? You kind of get an idea of what kind of wedding you want. Matt and I have talked about a lot of the details of the wedding before, and it's making this planning process awesome! Here's what's been decided:


Day: April 28, 2012
Ceremony: Snowbird, Summit Room (10th floor!!)
Reception: Snowbird, Golden Cliff
Colors: Teal and Green (still working on the shade of green, hehe) Ivory, and Black
Dress: Chosen, but shhh, can't tell!! ;)


We have a photographer lined up, the food chosen, we've registered...I think that's it so far. :) We didn't get any pictures from the engagement night (I KNOW, I know....kicking myself for that one.), but here are some from the next day.  We took the car over to my friend Michelle's house so her husband, Travis, could take it for a spin! It was so fun to watch Matt and Travis "ooo" and "ahhh" over the car, like little kids in a candy store! Michelle and I smiled and nodded. ;)

Ah, I love this guy....so much!

My beee-U-tiful ring!!

...and I said YES!

The last week of April, Matt told me I was not to make any plans for Friday night...I asked him what we were doing, and his response: "O, nothin' much. But, maybe wear something formal." Oooookkkkaay? ;)  I was excited, because, although he is very sweet and takes me on fancy dates on occasion, it's rare we dress up for something, unless we go to a show downtown...but I love them!!


So, although I have a couple formal dresses, I quickly talked myself into shopping for a new one...typical girl, right? I found one at Bridal Expressions, a store down at South Towne.  Soooooo pretty!  Thursday night, I headed over to the parents' house because my mom and I are part of the ridiculous group of Americans that stayed up to watch the royal wedding.  We woke up at two, and ate scones and tea!  Such a fun mom-daughter date!  


Now, a little sidebar/back story. Waaaaayyyy back in the day (about eight months after we started dating), Matt and I were talking hypothetically about rings, weddings, the whole shebang. He couldn't understand why EVERYONE needs to have a diamond ring (he likes to be different) :). I told him the only reason I really like diamonds over the other stones (sapphire, ruby, etc) is that it would match anything I wore. Anyway, he teased me for YEARS that if he were to give me a ring, it would have to be something he could make...the only thing he could come up with was wood! :O Sooooo, it's been a long standing joke between the two of us.


Anyway, Friday was spent altering the dress (I just had to adjust the straps) and Matt was prompt at five thirty, looking very VERY nice in a suit...and yes, I made us a little late.  We walked outside to head to, somewhere (I had no idea)...and in the driveway sat a 2011 SS Camaro!!!  Needless to say, I was a little speechless!  He had rented it for the night! And when I got in the car, on the seat was a single rose and a little box of caramel chocolates!  WOoHOo! 


We got in the car and ended up at Tuscany (it's kind of "our" place we go on special occasions).  At this point, I kind of new what this was all leading up to, so I was quite on edge through dinner! :)  After dinner, he drove me downtown and we started walking, no clue where.  We ended up at Abravanel Hall where we saw the Utah Symphony perform with "ABBA"! It was soooooo much fun! At the beginning of the performance, one of the singers said they had an announcement to make...."we have someone special with us tonight, and we need to bring her center stage for an announcement".....um, I thought I might die. I was soooooo nervous, not ready for a public proposal!  And then, it turns out, it was guitar player's bday and they sang to her.  PHEW!!!  And the funniest thing about this, I told Matt later, and he laughed and laughed!  He had NO idea I took the "announcement" that way!  He hadn't noticed how nervous I suddenly became....ah, boys!


After the performance (I was sooo nervous all night, I had no clue when or how he was going to do this), we got back in the car, and Matt told me to close my eyes. :) He drove me around awhile (obviously trying to get me lost...it worked) until he stopped somewhere and told me to wait.  He came over to my side of the car and told me we were going to have to walk a ways, to just hold onto his hands...in heels?!? Yeah, that was interesting ;). We walked and then he sat me down on a bench and (still with eyes closed) proposed...he had a whole speech prepared, it was absolutely, one-hundred percent perfect!  I was crying by the end when he asked me, "will you marry me?"  I opened my eyes and in his hand, he was holding....a wooden ring. "?!?!?" I started laughing, remembering our joke (also thinking, what did he do with the one we picked out?!...) and took it from him. As I held it, it fell open, and inside was MY ring, my beautiful ring we had picked out months before! I started crying harder and laughing, and finally, he said, "sooo?" To which, I replied, "YES! Of course, YES!"


As it turns out, he had worked for weeks with my dad trying to carve this wooden ring that was a perfect fit for mine, creating a "case" for it. The one that finally worked was, I think, the eighth or ninth attempt. As my mom put it, it was truly a labor of love.  And I love that my dad could be a part of it! It was perfect, I couldn't ask for a more wonderful and special night!  We are getting married on April 28, 2012, and I'm so excited to begin the rest of our lives together!! :)

I shall, I shall, I shall!

Okay, I believe I've fallen into the blogging trap of "I'll post often" and then the days go to weeks, months, and I haven't posted.  So, I think I shall try to start posting about the wedding (which is coming along nicely :) Love my guy soooo much!), starting with the proposal story.  Also, I think I need to start cooking more (going out to eat is expensive, and fattening.....eek!!), so I shall be posting some more recipes as they come to me. :)