Bake Your Heart Out has been revamped

My lovely friend Alli has redesigned her website.  It is so cute!  She is starting culinary school and following her dream of baking professionally.  

Fig and Almond Galette...looks yummy

She has inspired me to work on my goal of having my own business.  Stay tuned for a sneak peek of my new Etsy shops - Lucy G Paperie and Lucy G Stitcherie.

Happy Saturday!

Little Lu is turning 3!

Yes, I have an unhealthy obsession with Chihuahuas.  It's a sickness.  I had major withdrawals when I moved out of my parents' house during college and had to leave our family dog, Wanda, behind.  Sure, I got to see her whenever I wanted, but it wasn't the same as waking up with her curled up in a ball on my bed every morning.  Wanda lived to be 17, which seems very old for a dog, but Chihuahuas can live to be 25.  It was very hard for me, but my mom and I were comforted with the knowledge that Wanda was now with my dad.  Chihuahuas tend to have one favorite person and my dad was definitely that person for Wanda.  She was severely depressed after he passed away and it made me happy to know that they were reunited, especially since she lived a very long life.  Sorry - I went off on a tangent there.  My point of telling you all of this is that after my experience with Wanda, I definitely wanted a Chihuahua of my own.

For me, Chihuahuas are not trendy.  They should not be dressed in clothes, unless a sweater if it's really cold outside.  It annoys me that this particular breed of dog has become associated with rich, vapid and blonde girls.  So, I vowed that when I got my own dog, I would not treat her as a toy.  So, a little less than 3 years ago, Lucy came into my life.

Lucy at 2 weeks old (Alex used to call her "triangle ears")

Lucy is going to be 3 years old on Friday.  It makes me realize that if time went by so fast with her, it's going to go by even faster with kids.  I definitely can't wait to have children, but I know Lucy will be extremely jealous and it will be an adjustment period.  Oh well, I don't need to worry about that for a couple of years.  In the meantime, I will enjoy my time with my only "child". 

   

Lucy in 2010

Happy birthday Little Lu!

Thank you to everyone who is reading this for indulging me.  : )

Gilmore Girls...Why am I so obsessed?

Oy...I've done it again.  I've stayed in bed all day on a Saturday watching Gilmore Girls and sleeping.  I don't really consider it a waste, as I always need to catch up on sleep, but I got nothing done.

I've been obsessed with Gilmore Girls since the show started many years ago.  I stuck by it as it got cancelled several times and bounced from network to network until it finally got enough mainstream support.  I own every season on DVD and I watch them all the way through to the end and then start over. Today, I finished the 3rd season and finally decided to get up and accomplish something.  My mom called me and I sat back down on the bed...needless to say, I got sucked back in.  I really did try to watch something else.  There was some stupid new show on MTV about girls who date losers and that held my attention for about 5 seconds.  I moved on to an ANTM rerun and then stopped by to visit Stacy and Clinton on What Not to Wear.  As I scrolled through the channels, I stumbled upon...oh yes...a Gilmore Girls rerun on the Soap channel.  And now...I'm sure you all guessed it...I'm watching said rerun (first episode of season 5 - one of my favorites - the very beginning of the Luke and Lorelai relationship).  Yes, I have problems.

I recently found out the most exciting news that has come my way in quite some time (I mean besides that fabulous wedding of mine that I'm consumed with)...Lauren Graham (Lorelai) is going to be on a new show.  She went on hiatus for a couple of years after GG ended, but she's finally returned!  I am hoping that the new show, Parenthood, is going to be wonderful.  It looks like a snarkier version of GG with an ensemble cast.  Parenthood debuts on NBC on March 2nd...here's hoping for a winner.

Ok, I'm getting up now and I'm going to accomplish something (besides this blog post).

Happy Saturday!    

I'm back!

After a very long blogging hiatus, I'm happy to say that I'm back in business.  The wedding is approaching very quickly and the nightmares have begun.  All of them revolve around waking up the day of the wedding and NOTHING is done...the place cards aren't made, the cake wasn't ordered, Alex is out of town, and many other crazy things.

Luckily, I've been able to distract myself from my insane wedding fears - the rest of the engagement photos are done!  We couldn't be happier and can't wait for Mike & Dave to photograph our wedding.

There are many more and you can find them all on my FB page.

Plates and glasses and appliances...OH MY!

I've been really happy about getting married, but it didn't really hit me until just now.  Sure, trying on dresses and planning all of the details made it real for me, but it still felt so far away.  Now that my shower is just around the corner (just a little over a month away), I can barely contain my excitement.  I finished my registries at Crate & Barrel and Macy's over the weekend and it was SO much fun.  

I can't wait!!!

So You Think You Can Dance...Dance...Dance

Traci and I had a lovely evening with some dinner, bridal magazines, and SYTYCD.  Traci discovered a new dinner place via Yelp and it was amazing.  It's called Blue Rock BBQ and it's off of Meridian and Hillsdale.  So freaking good and it was not expensive.  We will DEF be adding it to the restaurant rotation.  

We hit up B&N for some bridal magazine browsing.  Trace is looking for makeup ideas and we found some great options.  I can't believe her wedding is only a few weeks away.  I need to start writing my speech!

Of course, it wouldn't be Wednesday without SYTYCD.  

Ms. Deeley looked very understated in her cute black dress and vintage styled hair.  Her outfits can sometimes be over the top, so her questionable stylist actually worked it out this week.  

Favorite couple of the night:  Jeanette and Brandon.  Their sassy tango was AMAZING.  We also LOVED the Wade Robson routine they did at the end.  

The only other routine that blew us away was Kayla and Kupono's routine from Mia.  This is the first time this season that Mia has pulled out some Emmy worthy choreography.  It made us take our feelings for Kupono down from HATE to MILD DISLIKE.  

Prediction for bottom three couples: Caitlyn & Jason, Randi & Evan, and Jeanine and Phillip (WTF was with that Russian dance?  I'm guessing Nigel fired those choreographers straight away (in his words)).  We will have to wait until tomorrow for the answer.  

Could not love that show more.  The 3rd judge definitely makes a difference, though.  Tyce makes me smile every time and his comments are always right on.  Can't wait for Adam Shankman to come back (hopefully next week) and looking forward to the group routine tomorrow night.   

My Latest Obsession

I must have this watch. I'm planning on having a garage sale to raise some money. I just don't have a few hundred extra dollars right now, especially with the wedding. However, I AM IN LOVE WITH THIS WATCH. Not many designers make watches in rose gold. Plus, I tried it on and it looks fabulous with my skin tone. : )

Anthro Addiction

We got our new batch of July Employee 60% off items at Anthro. I just about died. I restrained myself and only bought two items. I'll have to get pictures of myself wearing them and do a follow-up post. : )

Lucy!

I found this super old picture of Lucy's mom when Lucy and her siblings were born. So cute! Lucy looks just like her mom and it's amazing that she's such a chub in this picture. I can barely get her to eat her food on a daily basis.

Lucy is the fat one in the middle.

276 Days to Go!!!

I just looked at my Knot planner to check off some stuff and found that we have 276 days until the wedding. If feels like that's still so far off. However, when I started The Knot page, we had over 400 days to go. So, in comparison, that's not bad at all!

Check out these really cute guest book ideas. I'm still trying to figure out what to do with ours...

Poor Little Lucy

Doesn't she look happy? Not really. I took Lucy to get a bath and nail trim at Petsmart last night, and she wanted to kill me when I picked her up.

Most of you know Lucy and are familiar with her general disposition. She is super hyper and wants to play, lick, and chew 24 hours a day. As you can tell from this picture, she is not her normal self. The trip to Petsmart really took it out of her. I guess that I just need to bring her there in the future if I can't get her to calm down. : )

Cupcakes Galore!!!

Magnolia Bakery in New York is my all-time favorite place. I could live there and be completely happy forever. : ) The bakery is very famous and was in a Sex and the City episode, in which Carrie and Miranda were eating pink cupcakes. There is always a line out the door. I have to say that it is not over-hyped. The place lives up to every great review.

Magnolia is most famous for the vanilla cupcakes with vanilla butter cream frosting. I know they sound bland, but they are the most amazing cupcakes I've ever had. They are super cute with different pastel colors and an assortment of sprinkles. I bought the Magnolia Bakery cookbook solely for the cupcake and frosting recipes. However, it also contains many other wonderful recipes for sweet things.

So, Millie and I gave the cupcakes and frosting a go over the weekend. It was our first time making them, and they turned out perfectly. They satisfied my craving, not only for the cupcakes, but also for New York in general (I desperately want to live in New York, but it's not going to happen any time soon).

I was trying to ignore the fact that the cupcakes don't exactly fit in with my Weight Watchers lifestyle. However, many have asked me how many points the cupcakes are, so I have to face reality. The cupcakes (cake and frosting) are 11 points each - half my daily points. COMPLETELY AND TOTALLY WORTH IT. I just have to pick up my workout intensity this week. : )