Birthday Baking

So a couple weeks ago was my birthday. I LOVE my birthday. It's the time of year that I feel like I can do almost anything I want and it be ok. :) Since I am getting a little older I don't really have birthday parties (sad I know) and no party means no cake, right? I don't think so. That means I have to make my own cake. However, this year I decided to give making 'cake pops' a try. Here's how it went:

First, the ingredients are super simple. Cake mix, icing, almond bark chocolate. (The great thing about these cake pops is that you can use any mixture that you want. I started out simple. White cake mix, vanilla icing, and white chocolate. But I think it would be awesome to make a strawberry cake pop or carrot cake pops or even german chocolate cake pops. YUM!)

Next I decided that I wanted to make the cake bright colors so I divided the batter and dyed the batter blue and yellow. :)

After baking the colors stayed pretty good! I didn't take a picture but I crumbled the cake with my hands and mixed in the icing. Then I rolled the batter into balls, dipped a stick in white chocolate and stuck it in the cake ball.

I cooled the pops in the refridgerator/freezer.

 Now it's time to be dipped in white chocolate!

After I dipped them in white chocolate, I sprinkled colorful sprinkles all over them and then stuck the stick end in styrofoam to dry. Aren't they pretty?

Then I put them in individual bags and tied curling ribbon around the bottom to keep them fresh.

Yummy and Pretty!

As for my birthday celebration, Zack and I took a weekend trip to Atlanta. Both of my favorite MLB teams (Braves and Phillies) were playing each other on my birthday (which happened to fall on a saturday this year) so we went to the game. Then to our surprise it was civil rights weekend in ATL so Ludacris performed a free (included) concert after the game. So cool! It was such a fantastic weekend. Zack and I got some good quality time in and we just had a relaxing weekend in the ATL. :)

The Start of My Jar Collection

So I want to start reusing my jars for different things around the house. And I have to perfect jar for the start of this project!

First I bought a jar candle about 6 weeks ago and have been burning it for about that long. It finally started to dwindle and I decided that I really wanted to reuse the jar (it has an awesome lid). So I lit the rest of the wick this afternoon to melt the rest of the wax.

 I dumped the wax and washed the jar.

And NOW I keep it on top of my microwave and use it to keep my granola/Larabars handy. :)

How cute is that?!? I LOVE IT. :)

Hopefully there are more fun jars to come.

Spring Rain

I love to clean when it rains. I like to open my windows and listen to the rain as I fold the laundry or wash the dishes. There is something so calming and satisfying about the sound of the rain that makes tiresome housework enjoyable. As long as it's raining outside I'll clean all day.