Busy, Busy, Busy

Wow. It's been a busy and disappointing few days around here. Not only do I get the pleasure of always having a birthday in the middle of Christmas chaos but this year I got to enjoy the worst cake I've ever tasted...

In all honesty, the cake and filling were good but the caramel icing was super gritty and tasted like a mouth full of sand. How's that for an evil play on my love of the beach. My hubby tried to surprise me by ordering this catastrophe from one of the best bakeries in town. What a waste of $34 bucks! We ended up cutting the frosting off and eating it anyway.

On the bright side, I did get this beauty for my birthday...


It reads, "IN A WORLD THAT NEEDS MORE DANCING SHE IS A HULA GIRL AT HEART". If you are a Jimmy Buffet fan then you'll probably understand and know the song by heart.



When I look at my beautiful necklace it makes me smile from the inside out. My camera doesn't play nice with shiny things, in case you haven't noticed. I tried to get a good shot of the lovely clear crystal hanging in front of the words but failed miserably. He ordered it from Queen Bee Designs and the pictures on her site are way better than mine. It's the 1.25" domed sterling silver circle on a 16" chain, in case you are wondering.

I did want to share some great Christmas "could be" ornament finds, just in case some of you haven't fully decorated yet. I found both of these at Michaels.



I really love the lanterns. They were on the wedding isle. Not long after spotting them I had to go to the mall and Pottery Barn had a tree full of little lanterns exactly like these. Well, they PB ones were black but the shape was spot on. Can you believe these were only $2 each?!?! The lovely little boats were only $.99.

I've also finished my stack of head wraps. You can get them for about a dollar and who couldn't use a head wrap and warm ears?




I did them on my embroidery machine but you could easily stitch on one of these...


As if that didn't keep me busy enough, we sent Christmas cards out and I wanted the girls to have matching headbands in the pictures. Here's what I came up with...


It's just a plain plastic headband. After I embroidered their names on ribbons, I stitched down the sides, inserted the headbands, and stitched across the bottom edges - near the ear. I'm going to do some more with foam inside so they look cushiony. I'll post pics when I get them done.

Of course, I've done a ton of baking, too. I'll be back to share a recipe for easy rolls and few topping ideas that I use to transform part of the dough into coffee cake and breakfast. ;)

Happy Holidays!