Obsession of the Week

When's the last time I did one of these? I don't even remember but the point is that I am obsessed with two new things. Potential Mother's Day gifts? I don't know but I sure am dropping serious hints.

JJ Cole Technique Diaper Bag in Green ($79.99). Seriously, how beautiful is this? It looks like a normal bag, which is a huge upgrade from my pink bag that screams "DIAPER BAAAAAG!!!" I want it so bad and would never buy it because of the price but that's what gifts are for, right?

Available online at Buy Buy Baby and Babies R Us.

Images from BabiesRUs.com

Cupcake Chalkboard Wall Decal by Wallcandy Arts ($56). I saw this in one of the last issues of Parenting Magazine and love it. I know exactly where I would put it too: on the pantry door in our kitchen. Isn't this great?

Available at wallcandyarts.com

Images from wallcandyarts.com

Talk about love at first sight!

Obsession of the Week

Holy cow. It's been a while since I last posted my Obsession of the Week. Now that Cupcake Camp Miami is over I am getting back into my posting groove (meaning: posting A LOT in a short amount of time). At Cupcake Camp Miami I only had two cupcakes, but one of the cupcakes was heaven on earth so I don't feel too horrible about my lack of cupcake eating-ness. If you know me well enough you will know that Bubble Gum Ice Cream is my favorite, favoritist ice cream in the whole universe. The ice cream makes feel like a child all over again. It makes my heart pitter patter. It's really a treat every time I have it because Alex can't stand how I eat it. I won't go into too many details but let's just say I save all the gum balls for last. Imagine my joy when I found out one of the bakers, Sweet P Cupcakes, made a Bubble Gum Cupcake. Did you get that? Bubble. Gum. Cupcake.

Photo by Alex Pruna

 It was serendipitous that I even got to eat the cupcake because my family ended up picking the last one on the table and none of them ate the cupcake before I got to them. This cupcake and me were meant to cross paths. I was meant to eat it and it was meant to be devoured by me. The cupcake tasted just like bubble gum. The frosting, the cake, everything. Since I've eaten the cupcake I have tried to think of reasons to buy a dozen (or twenty) of the cupcakes. I'm coming up way short. There aren't any big enough events coming up and I honestly think Alex might kill me if there's another dessert in the house.

Photo by Alex Pruna

Did I mention there are chocolate chip cookies, pumpkin cookies, Cookies by Design cookies, a few Cupcake Camp cupcakes, chocolate chip cupcakes, and a cake in the oven right at this moment? Yeah, I've been on a baking crash course since the event ended. I guess for now I'll just look at these pictures and let taste bud memory hold me off.

Photo by Alex Pruna

 

Obsession of the Week

I was all about Picnik last week. This week I'm all about Befunky. Befunky is another photo editing site but it has such cool features, like turning pictures into cartoons. One of the things I want to do is frame some of the pictures I've taken and put them up around the house. I have this vision of displaying some of my food shots in our kitchen. I wanted to get them printed on canvases so that it wasn't just plain photographs on display but I haven't found a site that would print them on a canvas small enough. In comes Befunky; they have an "underpainting" photo application which I have just about applied to every picture I have. Now all I have to do is print, buy frames and mattes and my photos will look more like a piece of art than a simple photograph.

Here are a few of my food shots:

A few of my favorite flower shots (when was the last time I took a picture of flowers?!):

Even the girls got in on it:

I would love to get a painting of our house from artist Tony Mendoza, but in the meantime I think this could do:

Obsession of the Week

So it's not a secret that I am obsessed with taking pictures of Cati. At this point I'm averaging about 1000 pictures of her a month. It's a little excessive but I just can't help myself. She's too darn cute! My picture taking might just get a little more crazy because I have discovered the photo editing awesomeness of Picnik. I've used Picnik before to add texts and graphics to photos but never to actually edit the photos. Here's some of my photo editing fun:

Making part of the picture in color is so easy!

 Love the black and white. Love the grainy look.

Cati's eyes are so penetrating.

Obsession of the Week

We got a preview picture from Cati's 6 month photo shoot and I am sooo in love. I seriously cannot wait to get the rest of the pictures. Yania has me on pins and needles!

Obsession of the Week

There has been a lot of Halloween talk around here. I can't wait to dress Cati up! Alex doesn't have to work the holiday this year so I wanted to do matching costumes. My initial idea was Cati as Tinkerbell, me as Peter Pan, and Alex as Hook. He nixed the idea. He didn't want to be Peter Pan because he didn't want to wear green tights and he didn't want to be Hook because he didn't want to wear make up. Then I suggested Cati being Snow White, me being the evil witch, and Alex being Prince Charming but he didn't want me to be an evil witch. A few other suggestions were also turned down and I suggested we all just be doctors. All he has to do is wear his scrubs and Cati and me get costumes. That's the easiest costume for him. There's no way he could turn that idea down, right? Well, he did. He said the costume was too boring! Umm, ok. Everything else I have suggested was turned down for one reason or another so what am I supposed to do? I came up with one last idea and before I proposed the idea to him I told him to choose his words carefully because our marriage was on the line. I thought it would be cute for Alex and I to be bakers and Cati our little cupcake. He liked the idea!

There are no cupcakes costumes in Cati's size so I need to put the costume together myself. Luckily, I found this easy tutorial on putting together a Homemade Cupcake Costume. Cati is going to wear a big red bow as the cherry on top, a pink tutu as frosting with pastel colored cotton balls glued on as sprinkles, these ivory silk bloomers I bought before she was born as the cup, pink tights, and little shoes (still haven't decided).

I also plan on getting her a poodle costume (on eBay or somewhere really cheap) so I can get some shots of her and Perla.

Obsession of the Week

I tend to go over board. My brain literally makes leaps in thoughts. Soon after Cati was born I became sad for Alex. Not only was I experiencing the deluge of post birth hormones that made me feel extra emotional about myself and my blooming relationship with Cati, but I was also feeling sad and hurt for Alex. I would tell him (and anyone that would listen) life was incredibly unfair; he was sent a daughter, she would inevitably become a daddy's girl, and for a great part of her life Alex will be the most important man in her life. Then one day it will happen. A strange man will steal her heart (how can she honestly want to give her heart to another man when her daddy is so awesome?) and then that strange man will become the most important man in her life. Sure, Alex will still be important but her life and love will lie in that strange man. That's not fair and I felt so heartbroken for Alex. Will he be able to handle having his little girl leave him to be with another man? Will he be able to handle seeing her fall in love with another man? Will he be able to handle seeing her grow up and become a woman who doesn't need her daddy as much as she used to? Life is so unfair.

So it comes as no surprise that on the week that Cati is going to start solids (I have a countdown, yeah!) I am already thinking about how much fun she and I are going to have in the kitchen. I can picture her helping me bake desserts. I can see her little body covered in flour. I can see her little face light up when I tell her we are going to bake cookies together. I can see her and Alex fighting over who gets to lick the bowl (Alex says he will always get the bowl because he's the daddy; I'd like to think Cati will get the bowl with a single pout of the lip). I find joy in thinking of all the memories we will create together. She's going to be my little helper and when she grows up she will look back on our days in the kitchen with fondness and sweet love. We'll create a tradition that she will carry on with her kids.

With all this in mind, I have become obsessed with aprons. I have a million and three saved as favorites in my Etsy account. Etsy has become my go-to place for so many things. They have everything! I love that I am getting homemade things and I love how genuine the sellers come across. Here are some of my favorite aprons for Cati:

Funny Farm Creations


Lil Pink Chicken


Sew Sweet Peanut Boutique


Lover Dovers Clothing

Cutie Flair


The Plaid Giraffe

Like I said, Etsy has everything. As if an apron for Cati wasn't enough, there's the possibility of us having matching aprons! I'm seriously delirious with excitement over this. I can't wait for Cati to be old enough to appreciate and enjoy our time in the kitchen together. (Note: This is probably the only thing Cati and I will ever have matching anything)

Cutestitch Bowtique


Garrett Girl Creations


Tiny Green Apples

Pamwares

10 % off at Carys Kids

Back in May I posted my obsession with embroidered onesies for Cati's 3 month pictures. I reached out to the sellers letting them know that I had mentioned their onesies in my post and one of the sellers, Cary, responded and said she would give my readers 10% off their order as long as they mentioned my blog. So now I letting you guys know about this awesome offer (which I plan on taking advantage of) and encouraging you to at least have a look of all the cute stuff on Cary's Kids site. Here are some of my favorites:

Cati has a swim hat similar to this one!

This looks so elegant.

I love onesies with an initial on them. Is it insane that I've already thought
about Cati's 3rd or 5th birthday being a "C is for Cupcake" theme?

Speaking of cupcakes...

PS I get zero compensation from this, I just wanted to pass along this great offer!