RAINBOW CUPCAKES & SNOW

Before the big snow storm we had a small ammount of snow that was just enough to cover the ground late Saturday night into Sunday....I grabbed my camera Sunday morning, took a few snapshots & funked up the pics a big! ENJOY!

The view from our front door...

That Saturday night before the snow appeared we went over to Amy & Jacob's house to celebrate Amy's birthday!

I attempted to make rainbow cupcakes for her as a surprise! I found the recipe on a fellow bloggers website, although I am currently drawing a blank as to which blog I found it from on the right side of my page under "MY FAVORITE BLOGS"! If you know who you are let me know so I can give you some credit! :)

The recipe was sooo easy! The only thing that was not easy was making the layers of the rainbow look pretty...my rainbow cupcakes ended up looking a lil more marble-ized...BUT i kinda like it that way so they aren't considered "perfect"! :)....All you gotta do is make cupcakes like you normally would. After mixing the ingredients in a large bowl, separate the batter into separate bowls/mugs (whatever) depending on how many colors you want. Then in each bowl/mug add your food coloring....obviously if you want purple mix blue & red, or if you want turquoise mix blue, green & yellow. Make sure you use a separate spoon or fork for each bowl/mug when mixing so you don't mix up the wrong colors. Then start with 1 color and divide it up into your pan, use sparingly so you have enough when you get to that 24th cupcake wrapper! Then onto the next color, then the next, then the next, keep layering on top until you have gone through each color. Put it in the oven as normal & ta-da! RAINBOW CUPCAKES!!! :) Sooo easy, a lil time consuming but sooo yummy & pretty!

This first color is really turquoise as you can the shade a bit better in the 2nd photo below, it's the 1st layer I added in the wrapper. You can also see the correct shade in the finished product as well!

***A lil added bonus since several people have been asking me about the shoes I wore for New Years Eve...I purchased these babies for under $20 at this store up North here called "RAINBOW"...to my surprise they are sooo freakin comfortable!

GOING TO THE CHAPEL

OR shall I say...GOING TO THE CASINO AND THEY'RE, GONNA GET MARRRRRIED! :)

Our friends (& adorable couple) Dan & Jess are getting married @ Mohegan Sun Casino on Saturday! We can't wait to attend their wedding! Fun times ahead of us for sure! It's going to be sooo unique from what I've heard! I mean come on, getting married in a Casino---how fun & unique is that? This future Mr. & Mrs. are such wonderful people. We have had the pleasure of hanging out with them even more recently, including an "all you can eat" sushi lunch date! I can't wait to continue building my friendship w/ Jess...she is such a sweet & down to earth girl! My kind of friend that's for sure. :) Here's an early congrats to Dan & Jess! I just know that Jess will make a beautiful bride & Dan of course a handsome groom! Photos of their ceremony & reception will be up on my blog next week! PS: The hotel we are staying at is located right near Mohegan...Im pumped about this place! It's sooo beautiful & modern! Here is the link! http://www.uncasville.place.hyatt.com/hyatt/hotels/place/index.jsp

GET YOUR GROUPON ON

Get your GROUPON on here! :) http://www.groupon.com/r/uu6318335 Click on the link & then subscribe by picking the area you live in & entering in your email address! It's that simple!

GROUPON ROCKS! I signed up a few months ago & always receive majorly discounted deals for restaurants, salons, spas, movie theaters, shopping & more! There are no fees! Why wouldn't you sign up? You can get more for your money when you purchase & print off your GROUPON coupon if you are interested in that particular deal for the day! For example...the other day I received a 50% of deal from a Spa here in RI. I purchased the GROUPON for $30, but can use it towards a facial or massage that's worth $75! As soon as I purchased the deal I printed it off. I then made my appointment! $30 that's it!

20% OFF PAYLESS SHOES

ENJOY! Print this off or plug in the coupon code online!

HELLO WEEKEND

This weekend came up fast on me, thank goodness for that! We actually have low key plans for the most part...

CHRISTMAS SHOPPING
CHRISTMAS PAGEANT STARRING STEVE'S NIECE LEAH
PHOTO SHOOT FOR MR. TOM & MISS HEIDI....let's hope the rain holds off, or at least hope the weather isn't too cruel to us, these photos could turn out even more fun using an umbrella!....Speaking of weather....I just found out it's snowing @ home in VA! To all my friends & family---have fun, stay warm & be careful!

Ohhh we also plan to use (at least) one of our restaurant gift cards! We have a stack that has been piling up! YAY for free yummy food! :)

PS: Have you heard of "Pitch Slapped"??? I just heard about them on the radio the other day.... this acappella group made an appearance on the TV show "The Sing Off" recently! Check out their sweet sound!

OFFICIAL WEBSITE: http://www.pitchslappedacappella.com/

"Good Girls Gone Bad"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4RpZ7pYb9Os

"Disturbia"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iJxabbLwjOg

"Halo"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=90uEwMArpI4

NYC

This past weekend we went to NYC (Canal Street, China Town, Manhattan, Times Square, Rockefeller Center, Mulberry Street, Little Italy & more!) to celebrate Jacob's (belated) 30th birthday! What a whirlwind of a trip it was-I swear we walked all over from 9:30am-9:30pm on Saturday! Fun times for sure as expected! Of course we got to hang out w/ & stay with the fabulous Meghan & Sean as we normally do. As an extra bonus we got to visit w/ Mr. & Mrs. Andy & Ari Schuh for roughly an hour @ Justin Timberlake's bar "Southern Comfort" who were in town alllll the way from California! CRAZY timing! Thx again for the invite Amy & Jacob!.....Here are a bunch of my favorite photos from the city! I just love taking pics in NYC, everything is sooo colorful & artsy! ***According to People.com when we got home Sunday afternoon the famous Brad & Angelina (kid clan included) were in NYC on Saturday as well-Manhattan to be exact! Too bad I didn't witness this w/ my own eyes! ;)

HERE IS MY FULL FB ALBUM:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=244807&id=516028175&l=f607acda80


My vintage recreation...for FREE! ;)
BEATLES

Steve, Me, Andy & Ari (from Cali)

Justin Timberlake's bar "Southern Comfort"

CENTRAL PARKLOVE MM

Me & Amy on Canal Street as we shopped away!

Kisses on the Subway...

My initials all mixed up!

The roof top view @ Meghan & Sean's place!

***PEOPLE ARTICLE***

http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,20447309,00.html

LIFE IN PICTURES

*One of the trees fell in our back/side yard due to high winds...
*Purchased a new shower curtain from Target! I just KNOW I can find some cute decorations through ETSY to match the owl & squirrel print!

*My friend Heidi up here in CT printed out a bunch of my photos & made a collage on her family room wall! I'm famous! :) I told her that I need to do this for myself as well, I take so many photos but am so bad at printing them!

*Speaking of famous....back in September I made the paper! Steve & I were at a local craft/art fair & were stopped by the town paper's photographer! Cheesy picture & quote, I know...HA! One of the VPs in my bldg @ work that lives near us brought in a copy of it. He walked right into my NEVA mtg (yearly big event in Nov) & showed everyone! HA!

*At that local craft/art fair I purchased some fun inexpensive jewelry! SCORE!*I wore this necklace the next day @ work...

*I need to have these framed...I took this @ one of the country fairs' this year. LOVE how it turned out!

*MORE FREEBIES from www.HIP2SAVE.com

*My BFF Emily sent me a sweet care package one day...these were some of the goodies inside!

*Love my BOO! We hope to get him a female friend this weekend @ the same animal shelter we adopted him from. Whiskers Animal Shelter that is! Wish us luck!

*Last night I went to dinner w/ my sister-in-law Nichole @ a lil quaint, tucked away place called Heritage Trail Winery & Cafe! Here is the website! http://www.heritagetrail.com/Heritage_Trail_Cafe_and_Vineyard/home.html

The food & atmosphere was to die for! So adorable inside! A wife & husband own the place! The wife runs the winery & the husband is the chef. Apparently he has written a book & has been on OPRAH!...The photo below though, is the train in Plainfield, CT (where Steve grew up) that stopped in front of me on my way home. I sat there for almost 30 mins!!! THAT was an experience.

*Last weekend we went home to VA/NOVA for my 30th birthday celebration (PART 1-HA!)...my parents are living in the new town center located in Leesburg until they retire & move to NC this Spring. I spotted this decoration in one of the lil shops & had to take a quick phone pic! Notice the bottom right says "50 CENT"...HA!

*We woke up Mon morning to find snow on the ground! The date was November 8th. Now that is WAY too early for snow!

*Steve called me on his way to work Tues morning to tell me that it looked as if a movie was being filmed down the road from our house in CT. Right when you cross the line into RI. I took a detour to check it out for myself! The filming is happening on the property of a big red barn! Of course I didn't get a clear shot of it...HA! Oh well...I've tried googling this to find out what film it is! No luck yet though...You never know, it could be a big one!

*In October I bolted towards these sharp kicks @ Kohls...CUTE huh? $7 on clearance. SWEET.