second to last night before my adventure....

tonight i need to finish all of my packing....yikes! while i do that collin and i will be watching mulan. i haven't seen that movie in forever and i think it might be the only movie i own that has anything to do with china. it seems perfectly appropriate for this evening. i know its not very "adult" like, but neither am i, so there.

xo cbe



nailed it.....

ever since i can remember i have been obsessed with doing my nails. i have so many different nail polishes it's a little silly. i have every color and type you can think of. i always find that doing my nails relaxes me and lets me get a little creative. however, i have no patience when it comes to letting them dry. 

 last week my friend chelsea and i had a little girls getaway in steamboat. of course i suggested doing our nails as one of the major activities for the weekend. while we were at target (my favorite place ever) we came across the sally hansen nail strips. they were sooooo easy to apply and have held up beautifully. they are my new favorite. no waiting for them to dry, you can't mess 'em up and they take all of 10 minutes to apply.

they come in a variety of colors and patterns. i recommend taking a drive to you closest target and picking some up for yourself. i promise you will fall in love.

xo cbe

http://www.sallyhansen.com/products/nails/nail-color/salon-effects-real-nail-polish-strips

one thing i don't really like.........

 laundry!

i hate it, i hate it, i hate it!

tonight when i get home from work i need to finish my last few loads of laundry. i have been dreading it all day. i don't know what it is about this household chore that i deeply despise, but i just do. its not so much the washing part. it's more the putting away part. all the folding and hanging....ick.

oh laundry, what did i ever do to you? huh?

xo cbe

learning to sew....

 a few months ago my mother brought back my grandmothers sewing machine from michigan. i have always wanted to learn to sew and i thought what better then to learn on my grandma's old machine. i have had my sewing machine collecting dust for the past few months and finally had the desire to try my hand at this whole sewing thing.

for my trip to china my parents bought me a kindle and let me tell you, i am totally obsessed! i have a bunch of fabric samples from my work and thought they might work perfect for making a kindle case. i consulted my go to source on all things, google and found a great website that had free sewing patterns (http://www.allfreesewing.com/). it was super simple and i couldn't be happier with the results! i can't wait to make another one!

almost time for an adventure......

i leave for China in 4 days!!!! I feel so overwhelmed with all of the things i need to get done before i go. i keep making list after list, double, triple and quadruple checking them. i know i am going to forget something important.......oh well, that's what makes it an adventure.

i have been googling images of all of the places we will be visiting and i am so excited!!!! i never in my life thought i would be going to China! it will be great to see Davis again and have him show us around the city. i can't believe he has been living there the past few months! he's so brave :)

                                                                                                 

tonight i am going to do laundry and begin packing. i always pack too much so i am going to try to avoid that this trip by bringing pieces that can do double duty. i recently purchased a black skirt from target that can also be worn as a dress, two outfits in one! it's light weight cotton and perfect for travel. we will be doing a lot of plane travel while in China so i want to make sure i pack items that are comfortable and don't take up much space.

red velvet bread pudding

                                       

so, i began a new diet yesterday. i was doing well about 2 hours into it and then i started craving something sweet. i stuck to my diet all day but as soon as i got home i caved!

i had never made any form of bread pudding before and didn't have any bread so i decided to improvise with what i had. i used a recipe from cooks.com and sort of just made it up as i went. the end result was just what i had hoped for; chocolaty, light and the perfect pudding holding it all together. i made sure to bring some to work to share and hopefully decrease my chances of cheating on my diet again.

my adorable dessert plates are from urban outfitters (http://www.urbanoutfitters.com/). they always have the cutest dishware with a little edge to them.

Little Cupcake, Big Adventure

i have been thinking about starting a blog for a long time now but have always found some reason to not get it up and running, well, no more excuses.

there is no time like the present, so here goes nothing.

i wanted to start a blog to share things i love, adventures i partake in and all of life's little surprises. my daily life is nothing too exciting. i am just your typical twenty-something working and trying to bring my dreams to life. i have been blessed with so many wonderful people in my life that share in my adventures, don't know what i would do without you all!

i try to make everyday an adventure.....some days are more exciting than others. i am about to embark on one of my most exciting adventures yet. on april 13th i will be travelling to china with my mom and dad to visit my little brother, davis. i want to be able to share my adventure with all my friends and family and i thought this might be the perfect place.

so, cheers to many more posts and daily adventures :) xo cbe