Easter Feaster

Happy Easter!

If you haven't figured this out yet, I will make any excuse to bake. Today it's Easter, so why not make the mother load layered cookie bars from Picky Palate. They have been sitting on my Pinterest Recipe Board for quite some time. These Truly Ooly bars have 4 of the best cookie dough recipes jammed into one scrumptious bar, and then how about drizzling them with chocolate to top it off.

Bunny Bait

Easter is early this year, and it will be here before you know it. I have been seeing this recipe for "Bunny Bait" all over pinterest, and well, I have a weakness for sweet and salty combos.

I used Life in the Green House and Bloom Designs for my recipes. Warning before you make this: it is very addicting. I would recommend either having a place to take it or plan on eating the whole batch.

Spread popcorn, pretzels, and chex over foil covered baking sheet. Drizzle melted white chocolate over the mixture. (The other recipes said toss to coat, but I just drizzled the white chocolate and left it). Add sprinkles on top of mixture, but don't stir or you will cover the sprinkles with white chocolate and they won't be colorful anymore. Let harden on cookie sheet, and then break apart. Add M & M's or whatever festive Easter candy you want. I used mini cadbury eggs and mini whoppers because the grocery store I went to didn't have Easter M & M's. 

March Birchbox Review

My March Birchbox arrived very quickly this month! If you don't know about Birchbox yet you should check it out because you're missing out. I talk more in depth about it here or you can check out their website. Let's get right to it.

I love dry shampoo and am always excited to try new ones. I had never heard of Serge Normant Meta Revive Dry Shampoo, so I was excited to get my hands on this nice size sample. The smell was a little strong at first for me, but didn't seem to linger. The product itself is very heavy. It does the job and absorbs the oil, but makes your hair feel very "producty". It would be great to dirty up really clean hair.  

Whish Shave Crave Shaving Cream was a nice surprise. I normally receive hair, face, nail, or perfume samples so this was a nice change. (Not that I don't love the other products I normally get). I'll admit it, I'm a shaving foam kind of girl. I know that even using conditioner is great for shaving and leaves skin feeling very soft, but sometimes I can't justify wasting expensive conditioner for shaving. With that being said, I am very excited to try this shaving cream. If it performs likes it promises it will be amazing. Oh, and the blueberry smell is very yummy.

I have already received twistband hair ties in a previous Birchbox, and loved them so much I ordered more right away. I have a few of their headbands as well, but none are fancy and shimmery like this one. I am excited to have one for more than just working out.  

My beauty extra for the month was this cute emery board done by Madewell for Birchbox. Who couldn't use another nail file laying around. I swear I have 100's, but can never seem to find one when I need it. 

Lastly, I received Incoco Nail Polish Applique. I have yet to try them so I can't tell you how they work, but I have heard great things about nail appliques in general. All you do is stick them on and then file away the excess. Not sure that I would wear this pattern on every nail, but maybe a fun accent for my ring fingers.  

Cookie Sliders

Cookies are good, but cookies with frosting are even better. The only problem is if you frost a cookie on top, there is no good way to stack and store them or they get ruined. This weekend I came up with the solution for that: Cookie Sliders. If the frosting is in the middle you can stack them all you want and they will stay in mint condition. You can pack them to stay fresh and they will come out looking just as pretty as they went in. 

For the sugar sliders I used my favorite sugar cookie recipe, and for the chocolate chip sliders I used the perfect chocolate chip cookie recipe. Then I added a dollop of white frosting in the middle and stacked 2 together. For the sugar set I added sprinkles to the sides. Enjoy!

Easy Chignon Tutorial

Happy Friday! I decided to leave you this weekend with this easy chignon tutorial. It can be as fancy and polished as you want or as casual and as undone as you want.

Have a great weekend!

Maria Menounos Oscar Hair Tutorial

Monday this week I did my best and worst hair review from the Oscars. My number 1 best hair went to Maria Menounos with this stunning look.

In today's tutorial I am going to show you how to recreate this look. 

I already curled and set my hair before I started like I did in this previous tutorial. 

February Birchbox Review

It's time for my February Birchbox review. To find out more about Birchbox view my first post or their website.

At first look this month I thought  my box seemed a little on the empty side, but after digging in I realized it was packed with some quality samples. I had to remind myself, it's not about quantity but quality. 

We will start with the Ghirardelli Milk and Caramel Square because of course it caught my eye first. I mean what girl doesn't want to get chocolate as a gift. Yum!

I can't wait to treat myself with Kerastase's Chroma Riche Masque. It is a hydrating mask for highlighted or color treated hair. Being a professional hairdresser I know this is a great brand, so I have no doubt that this will be an awesome fix for my winter dull and dry strands. 

I am very excited about Jouer's Matter Moisture Tint. In my last Birchbox I received a matte moisturizer and I have been loving the tinted bb creams, so I think this combination might be the perfect all-in-one product for me. 

I have mentioned this before, but I am pretty much an all gel polish girl now. It's not to say I don't appreciate a bottle of Color Club nail polish (in mamba), but I probably won't use it. Also I am not a fan of red, so this might end up being gifted off to someone else. 

Lastly I found Vasanti Brighten Up face cleanser in my box. I always love trying new face washes, so I can't wait to give this cleanser a whirl and see how my face feels after a couple of days. 

Do you get Birchbox? What did you get this month? 

Don't forget to follow me!

Frosting A Cake With a Paper Towel

My friend's daughter is turning 2, and it's no secret I love to bake. So when she asked me to bake the cake for her Yo Gabba Gabba themed birthday party I was delighted. I realized quickly I needed to learn how to frost a cake smooth with buttercream. I've baked lots of treats, but don't normally focus on fancy cakes. I love a challenge so today I decided to practice.

After some quick research I found the Little Delights in Life blog. She had a post on frosting a cake using a paper towel. I was skeptical, but I thought I would give it a try. You have to use Viva Paper towels, but it worked perfectly. 

It's not perfect, but for my first time frosting a cake smooth with buttercream frosting I am happy with how it turned out. With a little more practice I think I can do it!

Oscar 2013 Best and Worst Hair

As you all know the 2013 Oscars were last night. I don't know if I have ever had the Oscars on for the whole time, but geez they are long. It's not that I didn't love looking at the fashion, but my goodness 4+ hours! Well of course I have an opinion on the hair. We will start with the best. 

1. Loved Maria Menounos hair. It's no secret I love volume and she nailed it. I also love that the headband was hair color with the perfect amount of bounce to the rest. 

2. Naomi Watts was beautiful from head to toe. Her soft updo was just enough undone without being to messy. I loved that it was put together with the right amount of volume in front instead of the crown.

3. I fell in love with Jessica Chastain in Zero Dark Thirty. I almost didn't recognize her all done up. Her old romantic curls looked sleek and vintage. It was very fancy red carpet, but still looked touchable.

4.  Amy Adams's classic french twist had the right amount of volume with a nice little center mini part. It was still loose enough in the front, where it didn't looked slicked back like some french twists tend to look. 

5. Stacy Keibler's faux bob was stunning. There's nothing quite like making long hair into a wavy romantic bob. 

And for the worst...There wasn't one that stuck out as a terrible failure of a hairdo, but there were a few that disappointed me. 

1. Nicole Kidman's hair fell flat for me, literally. There was too much left down in the front and it was flat in all the wrong places. I think it brought her face down and was just unflattering. 

2. Salma Hayek had it all wrong. I'm not sure what she was going for, but I wasn't digging this huge top knot bun. It seemed to big, and she could have done without the bling around it.

3. Kristen Stewart's hair never does it for me and I couldn't agree more last night. She needs to do more to it and could stand to brush it every once in a while. 

4. Jennifer Lawrence's hair wasn't awful in the back, but I thought the front was lacking. It looks like her hair was just pulled back into a loose ponytail, not red carpet worthy. 

5. There was nothing wrong with Jennifer Aniston's hair except that it looked like every other day. She always wears it down, straight, and layered. I would have like to seen a little more for the Oscars. 

What did you guys think of the hair last night?

Friday Fun

So Bill and I headed to Fort Lauderdale, Florida last weekend for a little getaway. It was some much needed time away from the cold. Also it was great excuse to play around with the camera.

 on our balcony 

sunset

everglades

dinner