Merry Christmas!

Have A Wonderful Holiday!

See the snow?!

Not Me Monday

(Not Me Monday from MckMamas)

This is not going to be my shortest Not Me Monday post ever.

Because I am not headed off to Target, on this beautiful Monday just four days before Christmas. Not Me! I do not still have two people to shop for, so you know I wont be fighting through crowds and standing in line forever. Not Me!

But if I was, would you wish me luck? Oh and if you haven't yet, would you check out the Rainbow Cake I did not make, and was not proud of. I dont do bragging or anything...No, Not Me! ;)

"Rollin With The Homies"

So sad/shocked when I heard that Brittany Murphy had passed.

I'll remember her from being in these two of my favorites, she played great roles.

I Wish I Could Bake A Cake Filled With Rainbows And Smiles And We'd All Eat And Be Happy...

"Mmmmm El! Cake! Oohh I know that is my red velvet birthday cake! Oooh with that frosting! I cant wait!"

I had the cake wrapped up in my Moms fridge waiting till after presents, but of course she had to take a look. She thought she had it all figured out too! She gave a good guess though, red is the top layer and easiest to see since I was running low on frosting. But she didn't really figure it out till she cut her piece and then it was a round of "Oh My Gosh's!"

So I knew I had regular food coloring in stock, but I went to the craft store to see what kind of dyes they had for baking. I found some icing dye and decided to try that. It made each color super brilliant and bright, but it tasted like crap. I dipped a toothpick in the dye for the purple and blue layer, a little of that stuff goes a really long way. And I also think it made the cake a little mushy, because purple and blue were the softest layers. Anyways. I had major doubts about how the colors would come out after baking, especially after I stopped using the icing dye. I was not happy with the cake mix red I came up with, it was wayyyy too pink, but it was perfect when it came out! I was so happy. I totally thought I was going to have to whip up a batch of cookies instead or something but the cake turned out to be something I was proud to serve. I kind of wanted to call it the exciting cake because that's how it made everyone feel. I was excited to bake it and see how it would come out, I was excited to see how surprised everyone would be, and they were excited to see and taste such a beautiful cake.

I don't know why but sometimes things just don't go as I think they would. I don't know what I was expecting a frosting made with 80% cream cheese to taste like. But it was just a little too cream cheesy for my taste. And then I remembered I wasn't an only child, I have a sister who hates anything cream cheese, so I had to dump it. What a waste! $10 worth of cream cheese, butter, and powdered sugar down the drain. But perfectionist wanted her mom to have a cake that tasted as good as it looked, for everyone! So I whipped up a batch of my go to cool whip frosting. Oh but of course I didn't have enough pudding, and not nearly enough cool whip, but plenty of milk. Well, I made it work, I had to. Sure the layers of frosting in between were thin and the cake wasn't heavily frosted all the way around, but I was happy with it! And I couldn't believe that. Perfectionists sometimes doesn't like their own creations you know? But I kind of even surprised myself with the cake. I got to the picture after I started eating ha!

A Beautiful Mess

I'm doing it.

It may not be easy, it may not be fun, it may not be pretty, but I am doing it.

Its for my Mom's birthday, I decided to go all out and be a brave baker.

Attempt to make that beautiful Rainbow Cake.

(I stumbled upon it at MckMama's and I've also seen it here.)

My counter top, fingertips, and sponge, are all stained a rainbow of colors thanks to ever wonderful food coloring. You know what I call that? A mess. A beautiful mess.

What a beautiful mess, what a beautiful mess I'm in, spendin all my time with youuuu theres nothing else I'd rather doooo!

Sorry I had to.

So if the cake turns out somewhat decent, I will proudly serve it to my family.

If not, we'll just say I never spent hours slaving away in the kitchen trying to mix the perfect shade of cake batter orange.

I think it will turn out looking as good as the one in the pictured at MckM's.

Haha who am I kidding! Deep down we all know my version of Rainbow Cake will come out looking if not the same, very similar to what a Rainbow Cake created by a 7 year old with one arm tied behind his back would look like! Lets hope it at least tastes good!

Not Me Monday

Christmas shopping for others, means I did not stop to look at the $5 holiday shirts Target was offering. Yes $5. But no, I did not come home with two of them, plus a sweater. I am not looking forward to wearing cute outfits for Christmas, and the days before! No, not me!

I do not have a fatty cat, nor do I have a red velvet choker with white fuzz made for cats. A cat looking like she has full blown Christmas spirit? So not me!

I did not drive all the way to the mall, only to come home with one lousy gift. One lousy coffee cup (its not really lousy, its got beautiful red roses on it and I know my grandma will love it). But still. Why would I waste the gas, time, and outfit? Exactly. It took me longer to get there and park then it did for me to pick out and pay for the mug. One store, 10 minutes, then back home. Feeling unmotivated, overwhelmed, and not in the mood to deal with the crowd of shoppers? Not me!

So the other day I met up with my Dad at Starbucks for a drink before I had to go in to work. I told him to give me a minute while I stared up at the menu. (I'm team Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf) I probably looked lost or like I was trying to read a foreign language. Well I finally decided to go for a caramel apple spice. I've always heard alot about Starbucks holiday drinks but never tried one. Not love it? Not me! It was not too sweet! I loved the taste of sweet apple juice with extra sugar mixed with milk, carmel and some more sugar topped with whipped cream. Hold the drink in my hand and pretend to sip it and then throw it away before walking in to work?

=) Not me!
One more thing, while googling carmel apple spice, I stumbled upon these.
Tell me these are not cute, I tell you your crazy! Oh and Don't forget to stop by MckMama's!

;)

I went shopping.
With no shoes on.

I wore grey sweats with holes in them.

No makeup on.

Click Cliiiiick Cliiiiiiiiiiiick Cliiiiiick...

That's the sound of me going broke finding the perfect present,

adding it to my cart, and "checking out."

Online Shopping, I love it.

Its replaced blogging! I'm finding great deals on gifts I know the recipient will adore. I feel bad for my mom who is not so computer savvy and the only thing online shopping can provide for her is frustration lol! I'm glad I'm good with computers. It makes it easy, actually almost too easy because if I keep finding such cute stuff I'm going to be in big trouble after Christmas when I realize I spent all my money on the world wide web!

(all images via google)

Your Really Lovely Underneath It All

So far, there are only two boxes under the Christmas tree.

Smart man that he is, BF recognizes a shoe box in a heart beat, which is why I came up the idea to cleverly wrap the pair of shoes I bought for him for Christmas. If you live under a rock and don't drink Dr Pepper weekly, then you probably didn't know that 12 cans of soda come in a handy rectangular shaped box. I had two of these boxes on hand. Perfect, one for each shoe. So, their wrapped and tied together with pretty ribbon and I am taking full credit on this soda shoe box idea heh! He'll never guess he's getting a pair of shoes since their wrapped separately! Good idea self!

TMI

Giving you fair warning.

I'm definitely not one that sleeps in the buff, no naked sleeping for me. However, I do keep my "pajamas" minimal. Booty shorts and ok hold on before I get started is there any other term out there better than booty shorts? Because its not really my favorite thing to say and it kinda makes me laugh when I hear myself say it because for some reason I pronounce my "o"s higher pitched than any other letter in a word. So. Please make me aware if there is a better name for that type of underwear. I could go for an increase/rearrangement in that section of vocabulary. Anyways! So that's what covers my behind every lovely night of beauty rest. I just really dont like to be super covered when I'm sleeping, it feels so constricting and I'd rather feel my blankies and BF on my skin, not socks. So top half, tank top or shirt. Everything sounds good right? Wrong! Did you forget what month and season were in? Don't worry, it took me a little while to catch on too, I was sleeping in bras and underwear only to wake up in the middle of the night to search for one of BFs hoodys and a pair of socks. That is precious sleep time wasted, which is why I plan on being one step ahead of that coldness! Sleeping in a thermal and socks but bottoms? I toss & turn a ton and like to do so freely; sweats would only prevent this, I think. Leggings may be too thin though. Hmm....Don't tell Christmas, but I really miss Summer! Well I think I'm done complaining about being frigid...still don't know how you living in colder places survive sleep through the night ha!

If Santa Claus Is Coming To Your Town

Tell him I wouldn't mind a new laptop.

Any of you out there bloggin on some terrific electronic device?

I'm not.

Maybe Santa or BF can change that! Brand, speed, portability, blah blah!

I'm not picky but not a millionaire so that's what I'm working with!

Any recommendations let me hear them!