Who?

All these crafty ideas that have been running through my mind this past year have finally started to make it onto canvas! This one turned out better than I had imagined it could. I'm really excited about it! I call these 'embellished art' and everything on them are original designs. I don't know what I'm going to do with them...maybe sell them or gift them. Whatever I do with them doesn't matter cause I LOVE creating them...even if they sit around for a while!!

The big E

I'm impatiently waiting for Christian to be done with his workout. To pass the time I figured I am due for another blog post...this time with pictures of the kids. I took some pictures of them last week in their Easter outfits and for a not-so-great-at-photography-person I think they turned out okay... I wish Ava would smile as easily as Spencer does. These smiles were FAKE and I only got them because I bribed her with "Princess Soup"! Comes with being three I guess!? Anyway, this was such a fun photo shoot and a good learning experience. Does anyone know of any good photo editing programs that aren't too expensive?

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Our day started with green eggs, 'rainbow' cereal, and green milk...and of course served with green dishes! Later we are off to the park for a St. Patrick's party filled with green food and a leprechaun scavenger hunt! To top it off the weather will be PERFECT! I'm excited to get our day going...OUTSIDE!

My Fitness Pal

MyFitnessPal is so simple and I can't figure out why it is so motivational...I can't put my finger on exactly why it is working for me and a lot of other people. Maybe it's the fact that my friends and family that are doing it also can see my progress...they can see if I stay below my calorie intake goal and if I am losing weight. It's so cool cause not only does it count calories but it shows you the sodium, sugars, cholesterol, vitamins, potassium, etc in the food your eating. So now I can look at a food and say, "That is really high in sodium so I'm going to pass on that" and that results in weight loss!

The point of this blog post is to invite ALL of you to join My Fitness Pal. It really works and I think it helps to have friends and family doing it with you! If you do join look for 'cocacole77' and request me as a friend!

Love,
Nichole

Sweet!

I threw a baby shower for my friend, Brittany, last Saturday and I had a lot of fun making goodies! I made Cake Pops and they turned out great! I got the recipe from Bakerella and it was so easy and fun to do!!

Red Velvet Cake Balls
1 box red velvet cake mix (cook as directed on box for 13 X 9 cake)
1 can cream cheese frosting (16 oz.)
1 package chocolate bark (regular or white chocolate)
wax paper

1. After cake is cooked and cooled completely, crumble into large bowl.
2. Mix thoroughly with 1 can cream cheese frosting. (It may be easier to use fingers to mix together, but be warned it will get messy.)
3. Roll mixture into quarter size balls and lay on cookie sheet. (Should make 45-50. You can get even more if you use a mini ice cream scooper, but I like to hand roll them.)
4. Chill for several hours. (You can speed this up by putting in the freezer.)
5. Melt chocolate in microwave per directions on package.
6. Roll balls in chocolate and lay on wax paper until firm. (Use a spoon to dip and roll in chocolate and then tap off extra.)

Only melt a few pieces of chocolate bark at a time because it starts to cool and thicken. It’s easier to work with when it’s hot.

Oh and Almond bark is the best chocolate to use! I bought the colored melting chocolate @ a craft store and it was really hard to work with. I would recommend just buying white almond chocolate and coloring it if you want color!

(For 'Cake Pops' put the stick in and freeze for a few hours before dipping in chocolate! Be careful when dipping because the cake falls off the stick easily!)

I also made these creme filled butter chocolate cupcakes! They were so tasty! I wasn't sure what to add on top until I read Erin's post and decided a chocolate star would make it PERFECT!! Thanks Erin ;)

I'm going to plan a girls night next Friday or Saturday night because Christian will be out of town and I think I will make the cake pops. If you want to try them then you oughta come hang out ;)