Cheers to 2009!

Cheers to a fabulous 2009, and cheers to an even more fabulous 2010!

I hope you have a fierce dress, lots of bubbly, tons of pictures and amazing friends and family in your life tonight!

sneak peak:

my contributions to the par-tay:
*pb&j cupcakes
*vanilla cupcakes with lemon buttercream - and possibly nutella icing as well
*sausage dip - mmm
*puppy chow

random. i know. i'll post about those in 2010!

Happy 50th Birthday Papi!! Part II

Papi had his 50th birthday party at our house - it was unrealllll! there was more Peruvian food than I could eat! I'd name it all, but it'd be pointless, most people have no idea what I'm talking about :)

Happy Birthday, Papi!!




papi slaving away at a signature Peruvian drink called Algarrobina - a sweet drink made with carob syrup - it was definitely something new...


and finally: claire and papi relaxing once everyone left...


HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Happy 50th Birthday Papi!

guess what! Papi is 50!!

wait what? my Papi is 50? already? how?....

My Papi (dad to those who don't know him) was born on December 29, 1959. He married my momma in '83 and had me in '85, and Claire in '87. oh how time has flown since then!

My Papi is the best, anyone who knows him will agree. He is genuine, caring, hilarious, super fun, and a great friend, father, godfather, son, husband, brother, etc. He is always there for me and my sister, regardless of how much trouble we have gotten ourselves into. He always has our back when something goes wrong, even if it is our fault. We may get scolded, but we know he is doing that because he loves us.

Some people over the years have been afraid of him, understandably. He is tough. Real tough. He has pushed me and Claire to be the best since day one. We've each been grounded more times than we'd like to remember (we usually got out of it after a day or two - hah the power of tears), had our butts kicked by honors programs, and only went out once a weekend in HS if we were lucky...what nerds.

Without him and my mom, we wouldn't have been able to do so many things that we've been privileged to. Undergrad for me and both undergrad and grad for Claire (overachiever), many vacations, nice cars, ugh it's endless. Example - we have been to Cancun 25 times as a family. We bring our parents on Spring Break - HELL YEA!! Not many families have the same relationship we do. We are blessed to have a father like him
.

He always tells me that I am his best friend. And now that I am old enough to appreciate friendship in parents, I totally agree.

Happy 50th Birthday to my best friend, Papi! You deserve the very best day!

Cheers to many, many more!

*Cutie Pies*

mini pies! the perfect pop-in-your-mouth dessert!

ingredients:

pre-made refridgerated pie crust (i used pilsbury)

canned pie filling - blueberry, cherry, peach, whichever you would like!

• preheat the oven to 400 degrees (or use the original pie recipe of your choice to determine the correct temperature).
• roll out the crust, and use a rolling pin to make it a bit thinner.
• i used a wine glass as a cookie cutter because my parents are ghetto - but you can use a 1.5inch cookie cutter (3 inch diameter)
• continue to cut and roll out crust until gone
• place cut circles on a lightly greased cookie sheet - about an inch apart


• spoon a small amount of pie filling in the center of the circle
• place other half on top
• use a fork, or similar object to put ridges around the edges. doing this keeps the mini pie closed, be sure the crust is connected.


• bake for 15(ish) minutes or until pie crust is lightly browned and flaky.
• enjoy!
  
  
  

Merry Christmas to me!

warning: very *material* post.

now that i've said merry christmas to you, it's time to say merry christmas to me!!

my amazing family and best boyfriend ever seriously spoiled me this year :)

from my parents:

HP Pavilion dv6

from the boytoy:

Tory Burch flats

Nikon Coolpix s70

and i can't find a picture, but my sister got me a SUPER cute cream peacoat!!

seriously? i am a very blessed girl. I have a lot to be thankful for in my life!

Merry Christmas from the Nation's Capitol

i hope you had a very Merry Christmas with your family and friends!

i know i did :)

(pic from here)

A night out on the town

the boy's momma is in town, so we took her out in Old Town Alexandria last night! and by we took her, i mean the boys took her because I've never been before!

King St. is the main road in Old Town. It's all lit up with christmas lights and just precious!
I brought my sister along, and we all had a lot of fun!

First we went to Murphys, then to O'Connells (i think) - so much fun! the boys drank Guiness, i drank wine. the usual :)



it's so pretty!

a few pictures of the group below:






I told the boy that I'd love to go back for a few date nights - with a few "hints" of "I WANNA GO THERE!" - he should be able to figure it out!

Ornament of the day - Dec 22

today is TOTALLY DIY and super fun. once again, i am sticking with the snowflake theme after 20" fell in Washington, DC this weekend :)

how-to here - thanks to Martha Stewart!

Sienna the red-nosed reindeer

You know Dasher and Dancer

And Prancer and Vixen,
Comet and Cupid
And Donner and Blitzen.
But do you recall
The most famous reindeer of all?

Siennie the red-nosed reindeer
had a very shiny noseeee

judge me. i don't care. hahaha

Snow Day!!

Hi Hi!

We had a HUGE snowstorm in DC - biggest since the 1930's (if I am told correctly)!

My home computer crashed - so unfortunately, I couldn't post any pictures from home this weekend - or really until after Christmas - my pops got me a new HP! :) thrilled! luckily, i have some time at work for a quick update!

recipe for for the funniest weekend ever:
20+ inches of snow. 5 girls. 1 boy. + boyfriends and friends. one scraper (total). no shovel. lots of booze. 8 or so cars to dig out. no plow.....still no plow as of Tuesday afternoon.

step outside and boom:

knee deep in powdery snow

first thing i see, my car....ahem - my rearview mirrors


look back up at the cute little house we call home:


watched sienna play ALL WEEKEND LONG! she was a gem this weekend!


last but not least - roomie picture with LOTS of snow everywhere in the background:


hope you all stayed safe and warm in your little winter wonderland!

Ornament of the day - Dec 18

because they are calling for 20 or so inches a snow in Washington, DC - a beautiful snowflake ornament for today :)



this is actually DIY if you are super crafty AND have patience!
if not, you can find it here.

Ornament of the day - Dec 17

dang, i suck.

posting a day late - how could i!?



a cute little whale! i'll call him Wale, out of respek for the DC rapper, commonly called "wale" when it's really pronounced 'wall-ay'

I found him on etsy, but i cant remember where :(
good news is that with a small gourd, some paint and a piece of fishing wire or colored ribbon (for hanging) - you can make him yourself!

be sure to add a tail with some copper wire or a pipe cleaner. you don't want a bunch of little spermies with faces hanging on your tree this holiday season :)

A new friend

After two long years of knowing that my cousin from Peru lived in the DC area, I was finally able to meet him this past weekend!

I have to give credit to a friend of a friend - who happened to live with him freshman year of college at Penn State (what a small world!)

My cousin Enrique is as awesome as I thought he would be - I am really so glad that we finally got to hang out!



I always enjoy meeting a new friend, and because he is family too, it means that much more!

Ornament of the day - Dec 16 * Warning: Inappropriate

I'm sorry. I couldn't resist.

without further ado:



haha these are great!!



for the tacky, but hilarious friend of yours!

you can find these babies here

(see, i told you it was inappropriate)

Ornament of the day - Dec 14/15 combo

woops - forgot to post yesterday!

with Owls being the new "it" thing in decor, clothes, jewelry - i figured owl ornaments would be perfect :)

these are all goofy and adorable! and can be found on etsy :)


these are called "owlies" - how freaking cute! made me think of meesh - adding "ey," "ie," or "-y" to anything! so cuteeeeee

1. Snow Owl Ornament
2. Mr. and Mrs Owl
3. Mini Owlies

for a more stylish owl look:

at anthropologie for $8.40


Glitter Owl at Urban Outfitters for just $12

EPIC FAIL.

Parisian Macarons - (Wikipedia) Dating back to the 18th century, the macaron is a traditional French pastry. This sweet pastry came out of the French courts' baker's oven as round meringue-like domes with a flat base. Macarons, also anglicized "macaroons," are not to be confused with a similar pastry also called macaroons. Macarons are sandwich-like pastries made with two thin cookies and a cream or ganache between the cookies.

Parisian Macarons - (Madeleine's dictionary of culinary genius) - EPIC FAIL. Arch Nemesis. synonym: impossible. antonym: cheap.

well friends. it's happened. my first TRUE culinary failure. after spending countless amounts of time finding the "perfect" recipe and reading blogs about what to do and what not to do, and taking the time to track down almond flour/almond meal (who knew it was SO expensive!?!), i finally attempted the ever-so-difficult macarons with more confidence than i should have had.

1st batch: too much sugar, too runny. trash
2nd batch: lemon flavored - delish. 3 baking failures. trash.
3rd batch: purple (so pretty) almond flavor. 3 baking failures, browning of the pretty purple. trash.
4th batch: F*ck that.

i'd post a recipe, but that would be pointless because they all failed :( keep in mind that i have a crappy mixer, old-as-Jesus oven, only two hands, and no scale (many of the items are measured in milligrams...stupid French people)
fyi: used two recipes 1 - martha stewart 2 - Laduree

allow me to entertain you:

throw away batch 1:


i think this was batch 1: bake attempt 2...


these pics don't do the flat-ness justice:


lost count at this point:


they appear fluffy and delish - give it time, my friends. they fall.

what was a pretty purple batch:


once again they appear fluffy. and like nips:


but just wait:



flat.
lifeless.
failure.

michelle suggested i add a picture of what they should look like (for your amusement, my embarassment....)
here you go:




laugh away. i'll make mine pretty and delicious, one day!