8.30.2011

First Day PreK

We were running a bit late today but I managed to get a few quick shots at home of our eager preK-er who  talked non-stop about going "upstairs" (his new classroom is located on the second floor) and it is a big deal for him. When we got there, he literally darted to the door to see his missed friends and was happy to give mommy a hug goodbye with no drama (*sob*). sigh, they grow so fast. 



8.29.2011

Scarf Swap


Have you signed up to join yet? Details here!

Thanks for hosting meredith









8.28.2011

Angry Birds

Thought I'd share this hilarious equation on how the angry birds were brought to life. Too funny! 

And here's our little guy with his new favorite Angry Birds shirt as pasalubong by manang Bianca from the Philippines! He tries to wear it every weekend! 

How was your weekend? 


8.27.2011

Summer's Last Hurrah

It will be sad to say goodbye to lazy summers but it will be so much nicer when the cooler weather is her and fall is upon us. The past week we have been busy preparing for the beginning of a new school year and it's been exciting for the little one as he enters preK! 

We start next week so Aston has been sleeping early to get used to the schedule unlike his laid back summer days. Waking up to cartoons and getting extra hour up awake at night will be replaced with a more strict schedule of early bed and early mornings!

Sleep tight

The other day, I treated him to a cupcake and milk break over at Crave while we waited for daddy to finish his work day. Of course, I have to have my treat too. He had the red velvet, I tried the cranberry/mandarin. Yum-o!

Crave cupcakes


Crave cupcakes

Another window shopping trip the other day ended up with some major shopping spree at Williams-Sonoma where they have Marvel comic characters baking and kitchen wares. He has been obsessed with action heroes ranging from Spiderman to Incredible Hulk and he loves their display even if they're far from real toys. We ended up staying a good 45 minutes browsing and enjoying the collection. Thankfully, they still have some Star Wars collection on sale and had to get him the tin box (which can be used as lunch box) filled with Star Wars character sandwhich cutters (under $10!). Great score!

Spiderman at Williams-sonata

As a kid, I loved scribbling and doodling and I wished Aston would be too. This summer I had him practicing his letters and tracing his name. The pen grip is still awkward and the letters are far from recognizable but I'm sure he'll get the hang of it. 

Preparing for preK

Blogger friend Rebekah of A Blissful Nest shared some back-to-school free printables on her blog this week and I was dying to use them for Aston's teachers treats. I printed them on sticker paper and used them as labels for the hand sanitizers, pens/notepads and the bags of butterscotch I baked for them. 

For teachers gifts


Teachers treats


Teachers treats

This boxed butterscotch from Williams-Sonoma are soo good and I packed a few bars for the teachers to try. I hope they liked them as much as we all did at home!

Butterscotch


That's all for now. I will have full report of his first day of school next week! 

8.26.2011

Makeover

Just needed to change my whole blog look this time of the year. I am wanting a cleaner simpler overall look for the blog but i want the title banner to pop. And voila, navy and lime green does that (with a new blog title) and i LOVE it! 




thanks Danielle!


8.24.2011

Legoland in July

We have another trip planned there for next week and I realized I never shared the rest of our other photos from our visit last July. The little guy is excited to go back and this time we will try our best to visit their famous zoo as well (if we can get him to get out of Legoland). 



























8.19.2011

My Week in Instagram

I love my iphone Instagram app and have utilized it more than anything in my phone. Here are a few pictures i took when I got crazy taking shots of random things as they happen to come my way.

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Last Saturday was my niece's vintage-inspired bachelorette party. This was the pearl-clad chandelier in the kitchen!

Vintage-inspired bridal shower

Ever since I've committed to hair blow-outs twice a month at Blow Dry Bar, I significantly reduced my trip to the nail salon and try to do it myself. I've stocked up on pretty fall colors from Essie (Case Study and LadyLike) and Chanel (peridot - second picture below). They are lovely colors!

Essie's case study and ladylike


Chanel peridot

I love flipping through the pages of this book and dreaming of Paris and dress like a true Parisian :-)

Bedside reads

Still in back-to-school preparation mode, I stopped by Hobby Lobby and snatched these plain colorful tshirts and a few iron-on letters (they are on sale this week!) and completed Aston's first week of school wardrobe!

Back to school shirts

With a little fiasco on the iron and the letter T, resulted to this monogram added on the side of his green shirt! Cool!

Monogrammed

How was your week like? Enjoy the weekend, folks!

8.12.2011

Planning My Life

After much anticipation, my package from Erin Condren arrived earlier this week. The life planner is what I've expected and more. 

I've recently just used my iphone for appointment scheduling and keeping track of Aston's school schedule. Using the phone was ok but the life planner not only let's you jot down appointments ~ it let's you document notes, scribble thoughts, mark special dates, keep receipts/calling cards etc on really pretty colorful pages with coordinating stickers and hard-to-miss color coded monthly tabs! 

Life Planner

Thank you for the extra goodies too!
Now here's mine and I can't resist taking a shot with a matching colorful pen found at the dollar bins from Michael's

Life planner

Love this video from their site. You can order your's here.







Enjoy the weekend friends!


8.01.2011

Quick Easy Dulce de Leche

 So last week my sweet tooth desire got the better of me and I was googling "dulce de leche icing recipe" to try my hand in making them. My new cobalt blue standup mixer arrived and I was dying to try it out. 

I had a few baking ingredients in my pantry but most of the essentials were lacking. I tried making icing without powdered sugar and instead used cornstarch with granulated sugar and I just have to say it was a disaster! Never again! 

Cobalt blue

I had a leftover boxed cake mix of chocolate fudge cake and I wanted to try a dulce de leche icing to give it a twist. I found this recipe and gave it my spin. 

Here's my ingredients for the dulce de leche frosting : 

1 can condensed milk
1/3 cup nutella
3 cups powdered sugar 
2 sticks unsalted butter
1 tbsp vanilla



Here's a not-so-great shot of how it turned out. Its delicious nevertheless! 

Choc cake w dulce de leche frosting