A quick catch up

It's been a while.  It fact, its been a long while.  So much has happened in the time since I took a breather from blogging.

Blogging is something that takes much more time than I originally thought. WHO KNEW? Probably every blogger out there ever.  

I will say that I am going to make a valiant effort to come back strong and better than ever!

So, let's do a quick wrap up.

My last post was in March.  Here is what happened since then.

APRIL:

One of my best friends ran the Boston Marathon! We all went and cheered her on.  It was a seriously incredible experience for all of us.  

MAY:

My best friend got engaged and my parents celebrated their 30 year wedding anniversary! Talk about one happy month just full of love.

 

JUNE:

Both of my brothers graduated in June.  John Boi (in the green below) graduated high school and is now well on his way in college.  Mike (on the far left) graduated from Duquesne University and is continuing on in Duquense Grad school to pursue his PCA.  

JULY:

July was probably the best month :) Todd proposed, and I said yes!  We have officially started planning our wedding for 2017.  We couldn't be more excited! I will OBVIOUSLY be sharing the experience here.

AUGUST:

Family trip to Stone Harbor New Jersey.  My favorite place on Earth where I got to enjoy a whole week with my favorite people on Earth.  We had an amazing trip this year, and I can't wait for so many more!

There have been so many other amazing experiences that have taken place in the time that I have been "off line".  From joining a team and participating in an Urban Mudder, to signing up for my first ever 5K, to having to say goodbye to a best friend and coworker as he launched into a new job.  Todd and I also made yet another move in the time I've been quiet.  It has been a great past few months, but I'm more excited to share the next few with all of you!

Until Tomorrow!

XXX,

Meaggles

MAC Cosmetics - Cinderella

When I saw this new make-up line announcement I knew it was something I just HAD to try. I don't think there is any girl who doesn't love Disney and especially Cinderella.  I know she may not be my favorite princess, but when I saw this make-up line I just fell in love.  Everything is so light and shimmery and neutral I just fell in love with it.

If you have EVER tried to purchase a high demand product on the MAC website, then you know how horribly annoying it is.  MAC does this horrible thing where they literally let other customers steal stuff out of your shopping card while you are trying to check out.  It is SO rude.  Either way.  After a lot of calling around and searching I got my hands on the two products I was really after.

I chose to get the Stroke of Midnight eye shadows and the Cinderella beauty powder.  The first thing I noticed was how cute the packaging is.  I just LOVE this. I do kind of wish that eye-shadow didn't have a clear front cover, but oh well!

I LOVE the eye shadows.  My favorite are the top two but I also quite like the bottom right one.  This purple is great for the crease of the eye.  I will dab just a little bit of that on and then blend with one of the top two colors.  It adds just a bit of definition with not too much.

I also chose this Cinderella Beauty Powder. This is great to put over your make-up when you are done.  I really like that this adds just a light shine to your make-up when you are finished.  It leaves you looking a little more dewy, but not sticky like a lot of foundations do. 

Overall, I highly recommend these products.  They are great if you don't wear very heavy make-up.  I just love it!

Welp! Until Tomorrow!!

XXX,
Meaggles 

Homemade S'Mores Cookie

If you ever need a quick pick me up, and a fun baking project I have officially found it. Homemade S'Mores cookies!  Let's get started!

Here are the ingredients you need to get started.  Plain gelatin, light corn syrup, both confection and granulated sugar, water, and vanilla extract.

Start with an adorable new whisk (Thanks Toddy!!). In a pot pour the granulated sugar, water, and corn syrup.  Bring to a boil and set a time for 9 minutes.  You need to wait until the candy mixture hits 238 degrees on a candy thermometer.  I don't actually have one, so I timed it to 9 minutes and it worked out perfectly. 

In the mean time pour the 4 gelatin packets and water into a mixer and let it sit until the candy mixture is finished boiling.

When the candy mixture is done boiling it should look like this.

This is honestly the only part that is a little tricky.  Slowly pour the candy mixture into the gelatin mixture.  Then you mix for 12 minutes slowly increasing the speed.  My mixer has 5 settings so I clicked my mixer up one notch ever 2 minutes and 40 seconds.  It looked a little creepy for a while, but minute 7 everything started looking better!

Yay!! Marshmallows :) It turned out perfectly! After the 12 minutes you beat in the vanilla extract for just a bit.

Next line a baking pan with parchment paper.  I didn't have any so I actually greased wax paper and used that.  This worked, but definitely make sure you grease it first! These mallows are sticky. Put these puppies in the fridge for 3 hours to let them set.

In the mean time I got some graham crackers and chocolate chips to finish the s'mores!  

 
I let the marshmallows sit, then I took them out HEAVILY powder sugared more wax paper and cut the marshmallows into strips and then squares that fit on the graham cracker. From there I melted the chocolate chips and put them in a piping bag for a little more control.  I squeezed a little bit of chocolate on each of the grahams, then put the marshmallows in the middle.

Major Success!! These were seriously amazing.  I highly recommend, and honestly they were super easy to make.

Here is the full recipe via Martha Stewart for the marshmallows :) Enjoy!!

INGREDIENTS:

Vegetable oil, for brushing

4 envelopes unflavored gelatin (3 tablespoons plus 1 1/2 teaspoons)

3 cups granulated sugar

1 1/4 cups light corn syrup

1/4 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

1 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar

DIRECTIONS:

1. Brush a 9-by-13-inch glass baking dish with oil. Line with parchment, allowing a 2-inch overhang on the long sides. Brush parchment with oil; set aside.

2. Put granulated sugar, corn syrup, salt, and 3/4 cup water into a medium saucepan. Bring to a boil over high heat, stirring to dissolve sugar. Cook, without stirring, until mixture registers 238 degrees on a candy thermometer, about 9 minutes.

3. Meanwhile, put 3/4 cup cold water into the bowl of an electric mixer; sprinkle with gelatin. Let soften 5 minutes.

4. Attach bowl with gelatin to mixer fitted with the whisk attachment. With mixer on low speed, beat hot syrup into gelatin mixture. Gradually raise speed to high; beat until mixture is very stiff, about 12 minutes. Beat in vanilla. Pour into prepared dish, and smooth with an offset spatula. Set aside, uncovered, until firm, about 3 hours.

5. Sift 1 cup confectioners' sugar onto a work surface. Unmold marshmallow onto confectioners' sugar; remove parchment. 

6. Lightly brush a sharp knife with oil, then cut marshmallow into 2-inch squares. Sift remaining 1/2 cup confectioners' sugar into a small bowl, and roll each marshmallow in the sugar to coat. Marshmallows can be stored in an airtight container up to 3 days.

Until Tomorrow!

XXX,
Meaggles

Review: Fortune Cookie Soap Box

As everyone knows, I am highly addicted to YouTube.  I just love it, and one of my favorite YouTube video styles to watch are product reviews.  A few months ago I watched a favorite YouTuber of mine do a Soap Box unboxing.  I immediately fell in love with this monthly subscription, and got right on the waiting list.  If you are interested in also becoming a subscriber, here is a link: http://www.fortunecookiesoap.com/pages/the-soap-box 

This month the theme was Wonderland (Alice in...) obviously. Perfect for springtime!  I thought it would be fun to share what was in the box this month.  I was super excited to get this box and dive in.

First up is the fan favorite.  As the name suggests, Fortune Cookie Soap sends an adorable fortune cookie shaped hand soap, including a fun little fortune.  This smell is called "Almost Alice", and is a super fun Alice in Wonderland blue dress color.  It also smells amazing.  It is a blend of fresh green snap peas and juicy pears, along with that is a bouquet of sweet pea flowers (a favorite of mine) freesia, and ripe berries.  This is such a fresh smelling soap.  

Next is all the fun bath stuff.  This is the "Twisted Tea Party" and "Off With Their Heads".  The first is a bath tea, the latter is a bath bomb.  Both of these smell so great! The tea is super light and refreshing and smells like green tea.  I don't typically like drinking green tea, but the smell of it certainly is refreshing.  Great for a rejuvenating bath!  The bathbomb is a little more florally as it is the Queen of Hearts theme.  This smells strongly of roses, violets, jasmine, and then peppered with lemon, orange, and Egyptian musk. 

This was something I had never gotten in a soap box before and I was very excited about it.  This is "Whore Are You?" incense cone. These smell SO amazing.  With pear and limes, vanilla orchid, and raw cane sugar.  These smells just like walking through a spring garden.  I actually have one lit right now!  All you have to do is place the cone on a non-flammable surface, light the tip for about 10 seconds, and then blow it out.  The incense will keep the room smelling great for a while!

Bath and body goodies! These are the "Futterwacken" body was and the "It's Only A Dream" whipped cream lotion.  This is the second whipped cream lotion I have gotten in a soap box.  I LOVED the first one.  So much so that I am actually saving this for my trip to Vail.  It is a perfect travel size, and is so moisturizing that you don't need much more than this for a few days. This smell is very fresh and clean (as everything is this time around).  It is full of verbena, lemongrass, calla lily, cirtus and leafy greens.  Ylang-Ylang, rose wood, ozone, and soft musk and roses are also in there.  In terms of the the body wash, it is very fruity.  With grapefruit and lilies, this body wash is great!

Last but not least is the "We're All Mad Here" hand sanitizer and "Eat Me" perfume oil.  The hand sanitizer is actually my favorite product in the entire box.  It smells SO great for sanitizer.  It is so clean and doesn't smell at all like alcohol which I love.  I use it every single morning after my train ride, and my hands smell great for such a long time.  Sadly the perfume oil is not for me.  It is WAY too sweet, and I just do not like it.  It is yellow cake with vanilla frosting smelling.  Maybe it's nice for some people, but not for me.

This 2015 Spring Soap Box is really great.  I love it much more than the Winter box, which is saying something because I really liked that box too!!

Welp!

Until Tomorrow :)

XXX,
Meaggles

Apartment Redo - New Vanity Light

I have always wanted to get a great vanity light.  I've wanted something that was very similar to a make up mirror.  Something like this for example: 

I have wanted a light like this for a while, and decided I had waited long enough. I grabbed my favorite handyman, and he got started.

Here is our gear.  Todd and I picked out this 3 light bulb wall mounted light.  He picked up 3 light bulbs, and a switch to make it all easier to turn on and off.

We decided that it should go right above my mirror.  I sit there every morning and do my make up, so this is really the perfect place for it.  This is the area where my vanity lives, obviously it isn't there right now haha.

This is the light all out of the box and mounted on the wall.  Todd made sure to measure everything out to make it perfectly even.

He also added this switch.  It's so perfect to be able to just click the light on and off in the morning.

The final product!  I have to say, I just LOVE this area.  It makes playing with make up, getting ready in the morning, and doing my hair every day THAT much more fun.

Welp!

Until tomorrow friends!!

XXX,

Meaggles

Bakers Blog: Valentines Cupcakes

Something that Todd just absolutely loves are sweets!  This year for Valentine's Day I decided to try something out, and make heart shaped cupcakes.  It was super easy and a really fun time.

I posted below a quick 'How To' make these adorable cupcakes. 

Ingredients first.  I used a Duncan Hines fudge marble cake mix, which made this very simple.  All I needed was 3 large eggs, 1/3 cup vegetable oil, 1 cup water, and of course the mix!

First I needed to mix everything together.  Then you just scoop out 1 cup of the mix, and add in the chocolate fudge powder that came in the package.  Again, super easy... but it does stink you have to dirty another bowl. I HATE dishes haha.

Now, I decided to do cupcakes but you can do a cake if you wan.  I chose to do a few cupcakes plain vanilla and plain chocolate and then marble the others.  All you have to do is scoop in 2 tablespoons of vanilla then 1 tablespoon of the fudge on top.  Then all you have to do is take a knife, or a toothpick, and swirl it around.

Once that is done, pop it in the oven at 350 degrees for 18-21 minutes.  While those were baking I started on the icing!

Sometimes I do make my own icing, but this time I decided to buy the funfetti vanilla icing.  I split the icing into 3 bowls and dyed each of them. I used 1 drop of blue, red, and then left one white.  To make the cupcakes have a smooth glossy finish I melted the icing and then dipped the cupcakes in.

I think these turned out adorably! I decorated them all and Todd loved them. It was a delicious easy treat that was fun to make.

I have put the ingredients and directions below for easy reading too!

INGREDIENTS:

Duncan Hines signature fudge marble cake

1 cup water

1/3 cup vegetable oil

3 eggs

DIRECTIONS:

1. PREHEAT your oven to 350°F for metal or glass pans, 325°F for dark or coated pans*. 

2.GREASE the sides and bottom of each pan with shortening. FLOUR lightly. (Use baking cups for cupcakes).

3. BLEND dry mix, water, oil and eggs in a large bowl at a low speed until moistened (about 30 seconds). BEAT at medium speed for 2 minutes. 

4.MEASURE 1 cup of batter into small bowl. POUR remaining batter in pans (or cupcake tins). BLEND cocoa from the small mix packet with the cup of batter in small bowl. 

5. SPOON the mixture onto the batter in the pans. SWIRL with knife and bake immediately.

6. BAKE for 18-21 minutes for cupcakes.  They are done when toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. 

7. COOL in pan on wire rack for 15 minutes and then decorate!

8. Enjoy!

Until Tomorrow!

XXX,

Meaggles 

Valentines Weekend

I believe I mentioned before that I am honestly not all THAT into Valentine's Day.  However I will admit that Todd makes it one exciting day.  He always makes sure he goes out of his way to showcase his love for me, and I appreciate it so much.

This year was just like every other.  A day full of fun time together and of course dinner and drinks together.  He also got me some adorable gifts, but I'll actually be posting Valentine's gifts in another post. 

 
 
Todd started off the morning by getting me THE most beautiful flowers ever.  Seriously they were amazing.  The bouquet was so big I ended up having to put them in two separate vases.  

After hanging out together in the morning, I decided to take a bath and begin getting ready for dinner.  I chose to use the Lush Northern Lights Bath Bomb. It was awesome! If you watch the amazing video to the left showing the transformation of the bath bomb in the water.  This was a halloween bath bomb with jasmine and ylang ylang perfume and a seriously incredible color show!  When I finished I felt so relaxed.

Next up was hair and makeup.  I decided to use my 3 inch curling iron on my hair.  I loved how my curls turned out.  Super big and bouncy! It was great.  As for my makeup, I focused a little on my eyes and then heavily on my lips.  Of course I didn't snap a pic at any point in the night, but I used my new NARS lip pencil in the color train bleu.  I am planning on doing a favorite lipstick blog, and I'll be sure to post this one in there. However, for now here is a picture I found:

Once Todd and I were ready we headed out to dinner and drinks around our neighborhood!

We started at a crab restaurant that I had been DYING to go to. It was amazing! 

 

Then we headed to a semi-new wine bar in our neighborhood called BLVD. I have to say, I think we have found a new favorite spot.  The atmosphere was amazing, the servers were great, and the drinks were delicious.  It was the perfect way to finish after dinner!

Lastly, we walked to our favorite bar/restaurant Woodbines and had one final Valentine's drink.  It was such a great night!

I really had a wonderful time!

Until Tomorrow!

XXX,

Meaggles