Harry Potter Printable

I do LOVE Harry Potter and I love many of the words of wisdom found within the pages of each book. So here is a little favorite of mine that I recently put together for a Birthday gift. Enjoy!

(Just a note it is meant to print as an 8x10)

Adventures in Cake

My lovely, talented sister-in-law asked me to help her make a mini wedding cake for a church gathering of sorts. This was SO much fun. Now I have become slightly obsessed with finding the perfect tools, the perfect pans, the perfect buttercream recipe, etc. Here are a few pictures to illustrate our adventure:

 

We nick-named the above process the "Lord Crumbfrost" step (stemming from our lame Downton Abbey-ness. We tried to come up with other Downton sounding names for the other steps, but Lord Crumbfrost was the best).

I found the perfect frosting to work with! It uses a mixture of butter and shortening, so it tastes good, but is also creamy white and easy to spread.

  

 By the way, it is hard to smooth frost a cake, even with my new favorite tool - the Baker's Blade. I seriously love this tool with all of my heart ("Then why don't you marry it?" you ask. Oh, I will).

 

  I'm sad that I didn't catch Brittany doing any of her fancy piping work on the cake...

 

 

All in all it was just plain fun. It wasn't perfect by all means, (we didn't use the right sizes of pans for instance, so it was a bit top heavy), but hopefully we will have more chances to perfect our technique!

Just for kicks, here is the buttercream frosting recipe we used:

Buttercream Icing

½ c. shortening
½ c. butter
1 t. vanilla (we used almond extract)
4 c. powdered sugar (approx. 1 lb)
2 T. milk

Cream butter & shortening with mixer. Add vanilla. Gradually add sugar, one cup at a time, beating well on medium speed. Scrape sides and bottom of bowl often. When all sugar had been mixed in, icing will appear dry. Add milk and beat at medium speed until light and fluffy. Keep icing covered with a damp cloth until ready to use. For best results, keep icing bowl in refrigerator when not in use. Refrigerated in an airtight container, this icing can be stored 2 weeks. Rew-hip before using. Yield: 3 cups

For chocolate icing:
Add 6 T. unsweetened cocoa & 1 T. additional milk to each 1 ½ c. white icing. Mix until well blended.

Favorite Oscar Fashion

It's the time of year that I get a delicious dose of awards show fashion! I love me some lovely dresses! It's the time of that I expect my stars to display classic, glamorous, clean and sometimes old Hollywood fashion. It is not the time of year to look like you're wearing a plastic bag swimsuit dress (Nicole Kidman), or a halter top (which is RARELY classy in my book), or something that looks like it came from the store "Just Girl Stuff." 

Here were my favorite from last night. Which look was your fav?

1. Jennifer Garner. How can you not love her? The color is to die for, I love the fun ruffle train, and let's not forget that gorgeous hair and jewelry!

2. Reese Witherspoon. Here is some of that Old Hollywood glamor that I'm talking about! Love the blue with black accents, and the cut is so feminine. Last but not least - that hair is absolute perfection.

 

3. Naomi Watts. This is more of a modern futuristic look, but for some reason it strikes my fancy! The neckline is just so interesting! I love the way she softens the look with her sweptback up-do.

 

 4.  Alicia Vikander. I honestly don't know who she is, so I looked her up and apparently she was in Anna Karenina...so anyway...I thought her dress was absolutely lovely. I think I would have liked it better without the little yellow ribbon - it looks a little too tight. Maybe make the ribbon a little thicker? Love the Lace. Love the color.

5. Jennifer Aniston. This look is VERY simple, which can sometimes work. Although I like this dress and such, I think Jennifer Lawrence pulled it off better at the Golden Globes in a similar look. Your thoughts?

 VOTE!

Progress Report and Something Fun

Just a report on my Lent progress - this is HARD business. Obviously I miss my sweets (especially in the baked goods department), but what has surprised me the most is how hard it has been for me to give up Celebrity gossip. 24 days to go.

Now to move to something a lot more fun to talk about - something I greatly desire. Cookies! I found these lovely little cookies cutters a while ago, and since my oldest boy is obsessed with Star Wars (and lets face it, secretly, I am too), I couldn't resist.

From the Williams-Sonoma website

A sample of our cookies - pretty good eh?

They are the perfect cookie cutters. I am not joking. I wish I could explain in words how much I love them. If only I had the skills to frost them like this:

I'll keep practicing.

Lent

No, I am not suddenly Catholic, but I love me some Lent. I have a few friends who give something up every year for Lent, and I thought this year I would join them.

1. I have decided to give up treats. I know. Crazy, right? I'm not a candy person, but it's the baked goods that get me. Cookies, cakes, pastries . . . I live for them. This is one of my favorite bakeries: goodbye Gourmandise . . . see you in 40 days.

Also, I have decided to give up celebrity gossip, and I will admit, this has almost been harder for me than the sweets! It's become such a habit for me to check my email and check my Yahoo OMG.


Besides gaining more appreciation for the obvious: sacrifice and self-control, the goal is to work on having a healthier body image. So by taking away these two temptations, I hope that I can lose a little weight, and be happier about doing it. Wish me luck!

What would you give up for Lent?

And the Oscar Goes To . . .

I LOVE awards season. No, not because I have seen all, or ANY of the nominated movies, but because I love the Oscar fashion.  So without further ado, here is my best-dressed list for 2011:

1. Cate Blanchett - This was my favorite of the night. I have never seen anything like it.  Loved everything about it, plus Cate just has that classic, old Hollywood feel about her.

 

 2. Halle Berry - A very close second, could be a tie for first. I love the dreamy femininity of this dress. Basically everything about Halle is beautiful - hair, skin, make-up etc. Good one Hal.

3. Hailee Steinfeld - A surprise for me since she is just 14, but she is already showing that she has style. This seemed to be one of the favorite colors of the night, and rightfully so.

  4. Mandy Moore - Her Red Carpet dress blended into the crowd, but this blue number was stunning. Very princess-like and appropriate for the performance, and I kind of think she should have just worn this the whole night. 

  5. Michelle Williams - Some critics were underwhelmed by this dress, but I loved it. Also in the popular shade of the evening, it was simple, classic and lovely. And, lets face it, she's got some amazing hair.

Honorable Mention:  Sandra Bullock - She always looks pretty good these days, and Sandra in this delicious red dress was no exception. Side note: based on her introduction of the nominees for best actor, why was she not one of the hosts of the evening?

So that is my list for this year! There were others that I liked, but I would have changed a few things about them (fit, neckline, color, etc.)

Vote for your favorite, and/or tell me what dress you liked the best in the comments!

On Shoveling Snow

Whenever I shovel snow, I think of my dad. He used to tell us "Shoveling snow builds character," (which leads me to point out that he didn't get a snow blower until most of us had moved out of the house). But in a way, I think he was right: as I was shoveling the heaviest snow of the century last week, I had a lot of time to think about "life stuff."

My dad's Birthday was two days ago. It's a strange thing to lose someone close to you. It feels like he might just be on an extended mountain biking trip. We visited the cemetery yesterday to leave some Birthday flowers, and it almost seemed silly, because really, he isn't there. Just this shell that he used to inhabit.

"Since my dad died" - I said that phrase the other day and almost caught myself crying and laughing at the same time. It's still such a weird thing to say! Honestly, it almost seems funny. It doesn't feel like he is very far away and I believe he isn't. I had an interesting dream the week after he died. In my dream, my dad was trying to call all of these people to arrange selling our condo. I started to laugh a little bit, and said something like "Dad, you can't call all of these people - you're not here anymore!" He looked at me and replied, "Just because you can't see me, it doesn't mean I can't talk to you."

I miss my dad. Especially when I am fixing something. He really could fix anything, and I  imagine he would be proud of me whenever I am successful at being the least bit handy. It's nice, because even though I am still sad, thinking about him usually just makes me happy. I remember all of the good things about him, how hard he worked for his family, how proud he was of all of us and how much he loved us. Life is very unexpected, but it is still wonderful and I still believe that through it all, we are meant to be happy.

There are some lyrics from an Ingrid Michaelson song that I think match what I am trying to say:

"Happy is the heart that still feels pain
Darkness drains and light will come again
Swing open your chest and let it in
Just let the love, love, love begin."

Below is a different song, it's not really related to death or dads or anything like that, but for some reason it reminds me of my dad (we went to her concert shortly after he passed away).