Valentine For One

Valentine's Day is about love.  Well for me, once again, it's about loving myself first.  Last year I spent the day with my Spec and a few of her friends.  After ending a very complicated relationship in early January, I thought spending the day alone was fitting.  It gives me some time to do some self-reflection and focus on myself...It also gave me a chance to spoil myself.

First thing I did to spoil myself was eat a delicious cupcake from Gigi's Cupcakes.  They have cupcakes all over the the US, mostly east of the Mississippi.  I got their Kentucky Bourbon Pie cupcake from their Lexington location. It's a bourbon cake with pecans and chocolate chips inside and a cream cheese frosting.  There's also chopped pecans and chocolate chips drizzled with caramel and ganache.  It was divine!

For my film of choice I chose The Color Purple.  People say that it's an awkward movie to watch on Valentine's Day, but when you think about it, it is.  It's about self love and having the strength inside to believe that you are wroth more than how others value you.  For my it was the perfect movie.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Another Family Addition

Aeryn Emersyn Hearst

February 3, 2012

The newest addition to the Hearst clan, my beautiful niece!

Friday Night Lights for Christmas

 
 Being home for the holidays has been great. I get to partake in some great traditions with my cousin and godparents like prepping Christmas dinner, getting last minute gifts and decorating the tree.

What makes tree decorating so fun is finding out what theme my god mom picked for the year. This year we have...Mardi Gras!

Instead of a traditional topper, we have some Mardi Gras masks.

 

  Special touches are always put on the tree.  This shoe is a great example.  My god mom loves shopping and shoes are one of her favorite things to purchase.

What do you think of the tree?  What is your favorite Christmas tradition?

An Untraditional Thanksgiving

As you may have guessed from my empty Thanksgiving dinner plate, my Thanksgiving plans have not come together at all.  After being away from the internet for four days I was finally able to look up prices for plane tickets.  From Louisville to Shreveport it is going to cost me about $550!  Originally, I was going to spend Thanksgiving with Philly family, but my dad asked that I not do that because of the bad whether conditions.  So I thought about going down to Shreveport and spending the long weekend with my uncle, my brother and his family.  The price tag of $550 put a halt to that.  This means that I'll be staying in Kentucky.  Sad day.  But the silver lining...saving money and buying more presents for the nieces and nephews!

What are you doing for Thanksgiving?

I'm Officially a Godmommy!

Zekariah Saintil

November 12, 2011

2:15 a.m.

4.9 lbs, 18 inches

Roots & Heritage Festival

I am so excited for tomorrow!  I'm going to the Roots & Heritage Festival, the largest gathering of African Americans in the Commonwealth of Kentucky.  It's also my first time really going out and doing something fun in Kentucky since I've moved out here.  I'm hoping to find a few things at this festival - Shea butter & body oils, artwork to go in my new apartment & office, and the ability to network with some of the local businesses so I can get connected to my new community.

I'll have updates on Monday.  Enjoy your weekend.

Celebrate by Giving

I found an apartment! So in following my mom's advice, I decided to celebrate by treating myself to a frozen treat.  I went to Dairy Queen and got a small Nutter Butter Blizzard.  My Blizzard purchase ended up contributing a small donation to the Children's Miracle Network.

I'm so excited for my new place! As I move in and start decorating, I'll be sure to post about it.

Thanks for reading!

Party Time: Baby Shower #2

Blessings disguised as babies are falling from the sky all over the place.  In the midst of all these blessings being dropped from the heavens, I've been asked to help in planning another shower!

My friend Kriz, pictured here, has asked me to be the godmom of her bun cooking in the oven.  This will be my first godchild and I couldn't me more excited or proud!  And being a Jill of All Trades (almost all trades LOL), I jumped at the chance to help her plan this shower.


The date has been set and the other details are starting to be worked out!  I can't wait.  It'll be my first time visiting VA so you know I'll be telling you about the yummy food ;)

I'm curious, what are some of your favorite baby shower moments?

Cupcake Obession

So  this summer's cupcake obsession came with a bag of banana's that were begging to be eaten.  Although I love a good banana, there were too many for me to eat alone.  I remembered that I have this really good banana cupcake recipe.  I got lucky that this was around Father's Day.  I made the cupcakes as my gifts and to make sure that I delivered them all safely, I got these cute cupcake boxes from Michael's.

Topped them off with cream cheese frosting and chopped pecans, these were a big hit!  I got people who don't normally like banana flavored treats to fall in love with my cupcakes. 

They were enjoyed so much that I was asked to make cupcakes for a friends babyshower.

I made three flavors.  The banana of course, a lemon cupcake at the request of grandma & a chocolate cupcake with a marshmallow cream filling and butter cream frosting.  I was so proud of myself because I made them from scratch, what I think has become a lost art.  And all of the cupcakes ended up getting eaten by the time I left.  I made a total of 5.5 dozen cupcakes for the shower and whatever was left went to my Godparents and cousins. for a total of 7 dozen cupcakes!

As you can imagine it's been a busy summer in the kitchen.  This doesn't even account for the amount of cooking that I've been doing - shrimp fajitas, sausage and peppers & Dijon mustard and ranch baked chicken.  It's only July 1st.  I have plenty of damage to still conquer.  My dad volunteered my services for an office snack on Tuesday.  I'm thinking chocolate salted-caramel cupcakes!

 

Thanks for Reading!

Busy Times

Hello all!  So since getting back form Kentucky I have been very busy.  Crafting and baking has become my life!  Within the last 3 days I have made 5 dozen banana cupcakes!  I made them for Father's Day gifts for all the dads in my life...lots of friends are popping them out, l0l.  They were delicious and because they were so good, I was asked to make another couple dozen of different flavored cupcakes for a friends babyshower this Saturday.  So far I know I'm gonna make a chocolate, lemon, and vanilla cupcakes.  But they have to have a little something special going on so I have a few days to figure that out.  I'm gonna make a salted caramel cupcake tomorrow so that might end up being the chocolate cupcake.  I'll post pictures as soon as I figure out how to upload this pictures!

And for the crafts....I made a few cookbooks!  So again, when I have pictures I post them as well as step by step instructions on how you can make your very own cookbook!

Thanks for reading!

Pictures Are In

So for those of you that have been following me for a while know that I was charged with the duty of planning my line sister's baby shower.  There was a lot that went into, you can read about it hear.  I the pictures in a few weeks ago and I finally found the time to get them together to post.  So check it out.

The theme was King of the Jungle and I did my best to make sure that the theme was incorporated everywhere.  On my inspiration board I had this button made from ribbons and I was able to make one for Lauren & Derrick (the parents) and for the parting gifts I made Monkey Much (also called muddy buddies & puppy chow).  I also made the lion logo and incorporated that into other aspects of the shower.  It greeted guests on a sign instructing visitors to sign the guestbook, distinguishing where to place gifts and diapers, as well as where the bathroom was located.

I must say that it was a lot of work, but I couldn't imagine not doing it.  I love Lauren so much and both she and Derrick were so appreciative.  There were close to 40 people in attendance and they all had a wonderful time.  I especially enjoyed being with my sorors as we celebrated!

Me w/my chapter.

P.S. I Love You!

Can I just say that I was meant to live in the South...at least I think so, l0l.  After graduation, my mother provided me with an early graduation gift of paying for a plane ticket for me to go to Houston for my LS's (Line Sister) baby shower and for a graduation of a good friend.  First was the graduation. 

Congratulations to Dr. Frank North, Pharm.D. Texas Southern University class of 2011!  I am so proud of this man.  It took him quite some time, at no fault of his own, but he made that journey across the stage and I was screaming my but off!  TSU is a HBCU, so I was so proud to see so many of my brothas and sistas getting their degrees.

After the graduation, I went with Frank to his celebration lunch that his family threw for him.  We went to Wyatt's Cafeteria.  I was so excited to get some local food...I had Popeye's when I got off the plane, l0l.  The food at Wyatt's was fresh and wasn't heavy at all.  Because I'm trying to get my sexy right, I went with the healthier options of backed chicken, a whole wheat role, and a fruit salad.

After lunch was the baby shower.  Unfortunately, it wasn't what I wanted for my LS but she was happy that there were people there to support her and just love on her.  All I have to say is, don't volunteer to host a baby shower if you don't have the time or the means to do it right. 

 

Back to the regularly scheduled program.  

So because I wasn't able to make a pit stop before I got to the shower, I had to give my LS the gifts I brought when we got back to her apartment.  The next day we went on an errand run and I ended up getting her some more things that she was gonna need and more clothes...my baby has to be fitted!

The night of the shower I got my first taste of the Houston nightlife.  I must say that I was neither shocked nor disappointed.  The club was more than packed and the atmosphere was decent.  I understand that Houston is a city that puts out a lot of the music in the underground scene and that they definitely have their own swag, but the majority of the music was local artists.  I'm from Cali so some stuff I was feelin, others I could have down with out.

The next day I went out again, but that wasn't a true reflection of going out in Houston so I'm not even going to mention it.  I'll be going back so next time I'll have more to share with you.  The morning that I left my LS, her boyfriend, Frank and I went to the infamous Crack Barrel for breakfast. It was one of the best breakfast's that I've had in a long time and they give you so much food.  I think that it was the way to start my last day.  I ended it by making a pit stop at Frenchie's, a fried chicken place.

Houston keep an eye out.  I'll be back soon enough!

 

Mother's Day Present...Check!

So I don't know what you got you mom for Mother's Day, but I got my mom a Master's Degree.  That's right folks, your looking at a Master's graduate!  I earned my degree in Education Administration & Leadership with an emphasis in Student Affairs from the University of the Pacific!  I was so happy to have my parents, God-parents, aunt and an uncle were all in attendance as I walked across the stage for my hooding ceremony.

After the early morning Commencement ceremony, my family and some friends went to Papapavlo Bar & Bistro for a delicious Greek lunch.  Had some drinks, opened some presents and received some very touching toasts before I gave teary-eyed thank you speech.  Later that day, I had my Hooding Ceremony with the rest of my classmates and the entire College of Education.

My dad had the graduation from undergrad 2 years ago the day before Father's Day, and now my mom get's the Masters for Mother's Day!  I think that this is the best present I could give my mom.