Mmmmm... bread...

The aroma of fresh baked bread might be the best smell in the world. I baked a couple of loaves today and man does my condo smell delicious.

I have been using the master bread recipe from the book "Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day" for several years now and it is the easiest recipe ever. No kneading at all and only four ingredients.

This recipe makes enough dough for three or four loaves, and extra dough can be stored in the fridge for a couple of weeks. So typically I make a batch of dough and then I have fresh bread every night for a week.

The bread turned out perfectly with a crisp crust and a chewy interior. And let me tell ya if you are making bread for a dinner or event I recommend making two loaves, that way you have one to snack on when it is fresh and warm out of the oven, and still have a perfect loaf to show off to your guests.

My next adventure will be making brioche from the recipe in this book as well.

Cute on a Stick...

Ok... so I don't actually have time to tell you all about this but I couldn't go to bed without posting this awesome overload of cuteness.

More tomorrow...

Bargains...

So I was on my way to Costco after work (cause I needed to buy gas for my car and Costco was only $2.99/gallon, whoo hoo) and on the way there I stopped in at Ulta. Stopping at Ulta can be very dangerous for my wallet.

So when I walk into Ulta I always head straight to the back of the store to the clearance section and hope that there will be some good polish deals. Well today I hit the jackpot. I bought all the above items (approximately $140 worth of stuff) for how much you ask ... it was only $30. SWEET!

So basically in one visit to Ulta I tripled my collection of Essie products.

Whoa … sparkles… *gets distracted*

So I generally stick to fairly basic crème polishes for when I am at work, but tax season is over now and life around the office is a little slower paced and definitely more laid back so I am being a little more adventurous in my polish choices.

So in the last set of polish I bought I had picked up IDK from the China Glaze OMG collection. This polish collection was released in 2008 or 2009 so you will have to do some wandering around your favorite online polish retailer to find it.

IDK is a light purple holographic polish; now indoors or in the shade it just looks like a very pretty lavender, so it is perfectly acceptable for work. (see photo on right)

But step out into the California sunshine and WHAM! this polish is all sparkle and shine. I wore this polish today at work and proceeded to hand people paperwork, etc and no one mentioned anything about the color, but we went to lunch and as soon as I got out of the car and into the sunshine one of my coworkers was like OMG that polish is amazing. So clearly this collection was aptly named.

When applying this polish I was a little worried as my first coat of polish seemed to streak and leave bare spots, the second coat covered perfectly though. I left my manicure without my trusty topcoat of Seche Vite, as I have heard that using a topcoat tends to reduce the sparkle of the holographic polishes. So one coat of Seche Restore as my base coat and two coats of China Glaze IDK, for some serious sparkle.

All in all I think this polish will be getting a lot of use this summer. *goes back to staring at the pretty sparkles*

So ... about them cupcakes...

I realize that this will be my 7th blog post on a blog titled Art and Cupcakes and THERE ARE NO CUPCAKES!

So without further ado...

Remember how much you loved having a Creamsicle on a hot summer day, that yummy orange popsicle goodness wrapped around creamy vanilla ice cream.

Well I thought that this would make a great cupcake flavor. Obviously, I am not the first person to think of this idea but I wanted to put my own spin on it. So here it is, orange cake with orange cream cheese frosting and a final dollop of vanilla whipped cream frosting.

Definitely not teal...

Since the Sharks won over Detroit on Saturday, I had time to change up the nail polish from teal and try out some of my new colors that I just got.

Since it has been unusually gray and rainy around here the last couple of days I decided to go with the brightest new color I have, China Glaze Flip Flop Fantasy.

This color makes me happy, like oh my I should be laying in a hammock on a sunny tropical beach happy. It is a neon coral and it is BRIGHT! This picture doesn't even come close to capturing this color. It definitely looks more pink in the shade or indoors but a little more orange-y in sunshine.

This is a base coat of Seche Clear, three coats of Flip Flop and a topcoat of Seche Vite (mostly cause I am impatient and screw up my manicure if I don't use a fast drying topcoat)

Ooops ... I seem to have forgotten to post...

I got kinda distracted by hockey and haven't posted in a bit. I am sure you have all missed me tons.

But PLAYOFFS... now those of you who know me, know it is all about the SHARKS! So I have been at the arena or in front of my t.v. watching them beat Detroit (or checking out the competition by watching all the other games).

This is our year! I was hoping though that Boston would win their series tonight so that we could play on Friday. But now since the Bruins and Flyers are going to game 7, the earliest we can play is Sunday.

This is problematic to me for a couple of reasons. Firstly, it negates some of our advantage to being rested, since Chicago will have 4 days to rest and practice before our series starts. And second, it pushes the series out further on the calendar meaning that the vacation I scheduled months ago, may mean I am out of town when the Sharks WIN the Stanley Cup.

How is that for irony, I haven't taken an international vacation (other than to visit family in Puerto Rico, and I am not sure that counts as international) in over 5 years and as soon I schedule a trip to London for June, the Sharks finally make it far into the post season. So I guess I will cross my fingers for the Habs and the Sharks to win their respective series in 4 or 5 games and then I should be able to go to at least the first two games. Otherwise I will have to find a pub that will air the games in the wee hours of the morning.

Pretty Pendants ...

I made a pendant today for a gift and of course now I like it so much that I am gonna have to make another one for me.

The pendant is found seaglass with sterling silver and swarovski crystals.


Oooh ... lookie here, I made one for me too. Teal seemed like an appropriate color choice since my boys in teal (Sharks) are doing so well right now.

Black and White ...

No thorns here ...

I spent part of the day today exploring my city ... and wouldn't you know it I captured what I think are some great shots.

I have walked past the Heritage Rose Garden at least twice a month for the past 3 years or so and yet I had never really taken time to stop and smell the roses.

So today I stopped and enjoyed the sunshine and the smell of hundreds of different varieties of roses and I also got to play with the digital macro settings on my camera.

An interesting beginning ...

Well what can I say ... seems like everyone has a blog these days. Figure I should jump on the bandwagon too.

So now you can see the world through my eyes... hope you enjoy the view.