Not a Pro...yet?

I decided to join the club and purchase a digital SLR camera!

Confession - I have no clue how to really use it but I feel super cool with it! I've managed to take pictures in its auto settings but am not really using it to its full potential. I sure feel like a professional photographer when I'm holding it though! 

I'll be enrolling in classes soon so I can understand photography better, until then I'm lucky enough to have a brother who has some basic knowledge I can bug him for.

Oh so for the big reveal...I purchased a...

 

 Photo and details from Canon's website

Canon EOS Digital Rebel T2i

For what its worth, I'm in love! 

18 megapixels, full 1080 HD movies, 3" LCD monitor, wireless memory card support and a whole bunch of other stuff I have no clue about!

Here are a few pictures I took at Disneyland with it...

By the way, if you are looking for some good beginner photography tips, I highly recommend the posts Kristen Duke has been sharing at The Idea Room!

I ♥ Mom

Hope everyone had a lovely Mother's Day! 

With restaurants being so crowded on Mother's Day, I decided to plan a special luncheon for my fabulous mom and thought I would share it with you. 

My inspiration came from the printable circles that TomKat Studio provided on her blog and kindly shared with everyone.

My mom is my best friend who loves me unconditionally and supports me in all my decisions, no matter how crazy or lame my ideas may be. I'm not a mom but it looks pretty challenging to me! So to all those moms out there, I applaud you for your daily efforts :)
 

Be The Match!

I admit I'm a huge soap opera fan of All My Children...I've been watching it for YEARS...I remember coming home from kindergarden and watching it with my mom.

One of the characters, JR, needed a bone marrow transplant and most of the Pine Valley residents were tested to see if they could be a match. Turns out in a twisted soap opera plot, his crazy step mother ended up being a match (who...by the way...he is now having an affair with...uh...strange).

Anyways...back to reality....the story line did touch me and it made me think of the people in the non-soap world who were hoping for a match just like JR was...so I did a little research and found the National Marrow Donor Program's website.

Super simple to join the registry...you can find a place to register in person or all you have to do is log online, answer some basic health questions and a kit is sent to you via mail. The kit is quick and easy....I just sent mine back to them in the mail today!

Find out more information at the National Marrow Donor Program's website.

Cupcakes for a frog-tastic co-worker!

Last week was my friend/co-worker's birthday. I volunteered to make cupcakes for her special day.

Brenda has frog items on her desk so we decided it was appropriate to decorate in a green/orange frog theme! 

I was super busy the night I needed to bake and scrambled at the last minute to figure how I was going to decorate them...lucky for me I came up with a cute frog cupcake and I amazingly had everything I needed in my cupboard...if it could only always be that easy :)

Eyes were made from white candy melts with melted chocolate frosting piped on top for eyeballs...I stuck those in the freezer to harden frosting while I was frosting the cupcakes green. Mouth was piped with melted chocolate frosting!

I also threw in some orange cupcakes to tie the desk theme together. 

Sorry for the bad photo, I just ordered a new fancy camera online today so it should be here soon!

Help! Need a good potluck recipe...

Blog Friends...

I have a potluck during work on Friday and I need help finding a good easy recipe...anyone have any ideas? I've searched online but haven't found anything that really strikes my fancy. Any recommendations would be great!

My Etsy Store Grand Opening + GIVEAWAY!

Recently I opened my Etsy store - featuring fabric key chains, burp cloths, bibs, cupcake toppers and more great items will be coming soon! 

So let's celebrate with my first giveaway!

Prize: A fabric key chain of your choice from my Etsy store

If you'd like to win, please FOLLOW my blog and POST a comment telling me what your favorite item is from my Etsy store!

One Comment Entry Per Person.

Deadline to enter is: Wednesday, April 28th, 9pm PST.

DINNER: Thin Steak Marinade

What's for dinner?

I purchased flank steak last night at Ralph's and decided to marinade it and cook on the George Foreman grill tonight.

My Grandma used this super simple marinade for thin steak pieces and I LOVE it because all it is is Italian dressing and ketchup. I'm obsessed with adding garlic salt and onion powder to EVERYTHING I cook so I added that!

Recipe: Throw enough of the dressing, ketchup, garlic salt, and onion powder to cover the meat into a plastic storage bag (easy clean up) and let it marinade for several hours in fridge until you are ready to cook :)

I read on other websites you can add some Coca-Cola to help tenderize the meat and add flavor...Has anyone else tried this?