Birthday Craft!

I have a friend that just turned thirty.  And she's the type that's hard to get something for.

Now, thirty is a pretty significant birthday milestone and my friend was getting a little depressed.  I mean, it is the start of a new decade.  Heck, I'll probably be bawling my eyes out when I turn 3-0. 

Anyway, I saw this idea all over the internets and thought it would be perfect. 

My supplies:

-tissue box

-postage paper

-tissue paper

-Styrofoam block (cut to fit the box)

-30 Tootsie pops

-birthday message

-1 bamboo skewer

-tape

So it's pretty self-explanatory how I did this.  You're smart enough to figure it out...

And it turns out, my friend loves Tootsie Pops (well, that's what she said anyway).  So, in the end, we both win!  She gets her suckers, I get satisfaction from someone liking their gift and got my crafty urge out of my system.  Winning.

27th Birthday Recap

I think this last birthday will be one of the most memorable.  By looking at the some of the pictures, you'd think the birthday was for a 7 year old boy, but nope, it was for a 27 year old...

I have to give amazing credit to my BF.  He payed attention to things that I've talked about or showed him throughout the year and was on point.  Honey, if you're reading, I love you!

Now, before you continue on, I have to warn you, alot of the pictures were within minutes of me waking up.  That means, no makeup (I have blemishes all over my face), puffy eyes, and oily hair.  Remember, you were warned!

Anyway, this is how my birthday morning went, from as soon as I woke up.

I woke up to a note on the door for "Agent 27."  My mission, if I chose to accept, was to go through a laser security system.  Once out of that, there was another note waiting for "Agent 27" beside a "bomb disposal kit."  My next mission was to defuse a "bomb" that was attached to a box.  Once diffused, Agent 27 is free to have whatever was inside the box.

Contents included:
- a Where's Waldo card, which I completely loved and think is the best card EVER
- Hairbo Gummy Bears
- box of animal crackers
- Hershey Cookies n Cream bar
- Spam (which was pretty funny)
- Goldfish crackers
- Marvel activity book
- Korean culture book
- Korean language book
- Korean curse word book (looking forward to that)
- and the New iPad!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The iPad I was not expecting at all.  I kept saying that's what I wanted knowing I really wasn't going to get it.  I was in shock when I saw the box (as you can kinda see in the picture).  The rest of the morning involved me playing with my new toy.

Going through the lasers and the Agent 27 stuff were so much fun.  It's totally suitable for a little boy...or for a gal that's in her late twenties...

The rest of the day was spent shopping (tax free week in Maryland!), having a chill dinner at Pei Wei (which I've always wanted to go to), and cake!

And this little guy couldn't wait to get into the paper and boxes.  He also tried to take down the lasers.  We can't have anything around this place without Monkey trying to tear it up.

 

Birthday Taunts

I was the kid that just had to know what their present was...and I still am.  I can't wait.  The suspense kills me and I need to know now instead of waiting. 

And since I'm no longer living at home, I'll share a secret.  I was the kid that would carefully open some of my gifts from under the Christmas tree in the middle of the night.  Then I would tape right over the previous tape.  And then come Christmas, I'd totally act suprised.  I knew what I was doing. 

Since I've become an adult, I've actually been really good with this.  Although I threaten to peek under the wrapping, I never do.  But I do catch myself looking at my presents and use deductive reasoning to figure out what it is.  The BF says it takes the thrill out of opening presents, but I don't care.  I want to be able to prep myself with an appropriate reaction in case it's something I didn't really want.

I'm such a brat.  I'll admit it.  The first step is to admit your problem.  Then the next in Heidi's two step program, is to embrace it :)

And I'm pretty sure my kids will take after me.  But I've got a plan for them.  Double wrapping.  To open a layer of paper, they'll have to rip the top layer.  They won't be able to beat the best (aka me).

This box has been sitting here since Monday.  It's right by our front door, which is across from our couch, which I sit on every single day.  I actually came home while it was getting wrapped.  It's been tempting me ever since.

And as you can see, the BF ran out of the robot paper....and it's also the box from the computer we got the other day.  Convenient...

And I got this awesome card from my Aunt Jan.  Coolest. (HULA). Card. Ever. 

 

My Old Kentucky Home

The BF and I made a 12 hr road trip to my parents' house in Kentucky.  Since my older brother and I moved away (far away) after college, it's hard for my mom to have all of her kids under one roof.  And since the whole fam was together, we celebrated my baby brother's 16th birthday a couple of weeks early.  I also found out I'm gonna be an aunt!!!  My sister-in-law and brother showed me their sonograms.  So exciting!!  I'll finally have a reason to get the cute baby stuff I've been seeing lately.



Instead of just cash or a gift card, I found this idea online to put cash in an umbrella.  I found this Spiderman one on clearance and decided to make a theme.

The BF found this Angry Bird squeaky for the dog prior to the trip.



We finally got to see the recording of the Today Show we were on.

There's one more person in this picture!  A baby in case no one could read into that...



My cake that I messed up decorating.  I envisioned it to look so much smoother, but I got impatient and poured too hot chocolate ganache and it melted everything.  But anyway, it's a chocolate fudge cake, with buttercream icing, chocolate ganache and melted white chocolate (recipe follows).



It was still delicious though.

He also got Spiderman fruit chews, mac and cheese and band aids.  The umbrella was the last thing he opened.

Pretty mom-to-be

Our family tradition of Mexican Train Dominoes

She got tired on the way back.

So we let her drive a little.



One of the rest stops in Maryland has a pedestrian bridge that goes over the highway so we had to get a picture.

My go-to chocolate cake recipe for boxed cake mix.

Best Ever Chocolate Fudge Layer Cake

1 c semisweet chocolate chips
1 pkg fudge cake mix
1 pkg instant chocolate pudding mix
4 eggs
1 c sour cream
1/2c oil
1/2 c water

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Grease 2 cake pans.  Beat the cake mix, pudding mix, eggs, sour cream, oil and water until moistened.  stir in the chocolate chips and continue mixing for about 2 minutes.  Spoon the mixture into the pans.

Bake for 30-35 minutes.  Cool for 10 minutes.  Loosen the cake from the pans and invert them onto wire racks.  Cool completely before icing.





Stay classy,
Heidi

The Cake from the Birthday

It's amazing how fast a week can go.

The BF's birthday came and went. We went to the movies and ate Mexican food. And as I promised, here's a picture of the cake. The BF is into video games, and recently, he's been really into this game called Skyrim. Well anyway, I wanted to incorporate that into his cake. I made a homemade chocolate cake and used whipped vanilla frosting.

I made an outline of the dragon that's on the cover. I melted semi-sweet chocolate and poured it onto a wax paper that I placed on top of the outline I drew. I then put the dragon in the fridge to harden. After I frosted and topped with the dragon, I made the edges. I melted some more chocolate and smudged it on some tin foil that I cut to size to fit the edge of the cake. I put the tin foil with chocolate on the sides and put it in the fridge to harden. A couple of hours later, I took the tin foil off and the chocolate wall stayed on. The BF was impressed...and it didn't last very long.

In other news, the weather has been up and down here. It's warm one day and freezing the rest. I'm from the south and I'm just not used to this. The BF is from Michigan, so he's used to 8 month winters. Anyway, the day before his birthday, the sun was out and it was in the 50's (in February). We enjoyed the day by going for a walk/run. And we wanted to capture the fact that he's wearing shorts and a tshirt.  He doesn't recall having that many birthdays without snow.

Stay classy my friends,

Heidi