Recipe // Easter Bunny Cupcakes (Happy Easter!!)

Happy Easter everyone! I hope you'll having a great day and eating lots of food. Usually I just do simple posts for holidays, but today I actually wanted to give you all a little something. Yesterday was a very rainy day, which means there will always be something baking in my house. On this occasion, it was Easter bunny cupcakes. I got my inspiration from this Taste of Home recipe I found while working. I brought it up to my momma dear and of course she helped out in creating them (mostly all of it). We didn't follow the recipe very precisely, but I loved how they turned out! 

 These little bunnies are cuteness overload! Enjoy :)

Ingredients

Cupcakes:

-spice cake box mix

-eggs

-water

-vegetable oil

Frosting:

-8 oz cream cheese 

-1 bag powdered sugar 

-4 Tbl butter, softened

-splash of milk (add as needed)

Cookie Ears:

-1 package sugar cookie mix

Face:

-Black icing gel

-Pink and red jelly beans

1. Make cupcakes according to the package and fill up your tins. Bake at 350 degrees for 18-23 minutes. When done, set aside and let cool. 

2. Time for frosting! In a bowl, beat together cream cheese, butter, and milk. Gradually add in powdered sugar until creamy and smooth. If you add to much sugar splash some more milk in there and it'll pop right back to normal. Frost cupcakes and set aside....again.

3. Make cookies according to package. My mom actually made the cookies from scratch, but to make this recipe even easier, use the tube stuff. Roll out and cut out bunny shaped ears. If you have a bunny cookie cutter, yay you! If not, it's not that difficult, no worries! Bake, set aside and let cool. Once cooled, stick the ears into the cupcakes. 

4. Make your face! You can do this anyway you like. We went through a few different looks before deciding on this one. It's all up to you! 

<3

Recipe // Green Tea and Lemon Cupcakes

It was Chris' mom's birthday the other day and I wanted to make something special for her because she's awesome and wonderful and lovely and everything a mom should be. I didn't say that just because I know she reads my blog. I love her :) Anywho I made these amazingly delicious cupcakes (from the book Chris got me for my birthday last year) for her and I'm so happy with how they turned out.

However, next time I make these I'll have to tweak the way I incorporate the green tea. I know it's not a very strong flavor but I was hoping for more. The lemon is very over powering (but in a good way) and I really want to make the green tea shine through. Cuz' you're shining star, no matter who are!!

Ingredients Needed:

Cupcakes
2 1/3 cup flour
2 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup butter, room temp
1 1/4 cups sugar
3 eggs, room temp
2 Tbl grated lemon peel
1 tsp vanilla
3/4 cup boiling water
2/3 green tea bags

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees. Boil water and steep tea for 5-6 minutes. Squeeze out extra liquid and toss those tea bags into the trash. Set aside and let cool to room temp. Throw in the fridge if you aren't patient, like me.

2. In a bowl, mix flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside. In another bowl, cream together butter and sugar until fluffy on low speed. Add eggs one at a time, mixing well each time. Beat in lemon peel, vanilla, and 2/3 cup of the tea (save the rest for later). Beat in flour mixture, making sure not to over mix! Fill up cupcake tins and bake 20-25 minutes!

Frosting:
1 8oz pack cream cheese
1/4 cup butter
2 tsp grated lemon peel
1 tsp vanilla
4 cups powdered sugar
1-2 Tbl saved green tea

1. Mix everything together to make frosting. Magical.

Toppings:
-crushed fortune cookie
-more grated lemon peel (didn't use on these ones)

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Recipe // Slow Cooker Chicken Tacos

This past week was my spring break and I spent the whole thing not in sunny Florida laying on the beach, but instead in a cold apartment with a handsome fella (and very warm which makes up for the cold apartment). We didn't do a darn thing all week and I loved it! Probably the only outing we had was when we went to go see Sliver Linings Playbook, which was surprisingly not as good as I thought it would be. It was really weird actually. I loved J-Law in though, as always (big girl crush). 

Anywho, Tuesday night I made a new recipe for dinner that I have been dying to try out! I also got to use my crock pot that I've been hoarding with all my other "one day I might move out" things. And like all the other recipes I showcase on here, it was the simplest thing I've ever made. I think crock pots have become my new favorite cooking accessory. Their genius! 

So let's stop chatting and get into it already!!

Ingredients Needed:
-about 4-6 chicken breasts
-1 taco seasoning packet
-1 jar or salsa

1. Cover the bottom of the crock pot with chicken.
2. Sprinkle the taco seasoning over the chicken.
3. Top it off by pouring the salsa over everything. Cover and cook 6 hours on low.

Shred the chicken before serving. It literally just falls apart so a few quick stirs with a fork should do it. Serve with Mexican rice and your favorite taco toppings. Oh and don't forget the Jarritos to make it a full on Mexican fiesta!

It's super yummy and so much flavor comes out of such little ingredients. Do be careful eating, because it can be quite messy. I had to sit really close to the table after dropping chicken on the floor several times. Enjoy!

The rest of the night Chris was at work and I spent the night cuddled up on the couch watching vampires and youtube videos. Typical Kelly night. The week went by way to fast and I wish I didn't have to go back to school today, but life must go on! Anyone else who had spring break this past week knows the feeling I'm having right now. Hope you all enjoyed your weekend and good luck to everything you do this week!

<3

Mr. Grumpy Pants

Kelly: "Smile!!"
....click......
Kelly (looks at picture): "wait......"

Story of the week.

<3

flowers for no occasion

I'm spending the week with the man, so It'll probably be pretty bare here until next week. I got here last night and Chris surprised me with a huge bouquet of flowers. The occasion? There is none, he's just that great. I have them sitting in the living room and even though it's a small amount of color it still seems to brighten the otherwise very dull room. 

We're driving over to Appleton today to run some errands and buy some video games to satisfy the geek inside me. The rest of the week is just going to be us relaxing and being dorks. I'm going to try and do one of those "a day in the life" type thing so hopefully I can snap some pictures throughout the week. Hope you all had a great St. Pattys and an even greater week. See you later!!

<3

let us get personal...

We're going to talk about underwear today. Panties. Undergarments. Lingerie. Intimates. We're going to talk about underpants. Not okay with it? We'll this isn't your blog.

Yesterday I had the best shopping experience ever, like it was Extreme Couponing worthy. I went to Bath and Body Works, American Eagle, and Victoria's Secret AND stayed under $40. Wam bam thank you mam! Since I mentioned Vickies, you probably guess where the underwear talk is going to come from. That's right, I bought more underwear from Vickies. Did I need it? Hell no. Did I want it? Hell yes! 

After getting home and realizing I wasn't going to do homework for another night, I decided to organize my underwear drawers to accommodate the new undie neighbors. I opened the drawers and almost fainted. Let me paint you a picture. My two very small dresser drawers have been renting their space out to my hundreds of pairs of Victoria Secret undies since I was about 15. 5 some years later, those drawers get pretty darn cramped. I opened that drawer and saw underwear that I didn't even know I had. 

So, I did the logical thing and threw it all on the floor. 

It may not seem like much, but in that picture the top drawer is full of undies and there's some piles off to the side of more than 10 pairs. It was ridiculous. I always say I have the potential to become a cat hoarder one day, but I might switch that over to underwear hoarder. 

"But how cute are they all? It's like a box of kittens." -hoarder

So I piled them all into their specific styles and separated the ones I know I wear from the ones I haven't seen in 5 years. Then I separated those ones, into the ones I would keep and the ones I would throw away. I threw away maybe 7 pairs. Which wasn't nearly as enough as I should have thrown away, but I might wear them one day.....

And I became a bit overwhelmed after a while....

ORGANIZE THAT BIZ NATCH! 

I rolled up the ones I know I don't wear often and put those towards the back of the drawers. I kept the ones I always grab for in the front. Let me tell you, rolling your underpants may seem like a waste of time, but it saves a ton of space and also looks very neat.

I understand the drawer will only look this nice for about a week, but that's not the point. The point is, it looks nice now. :)

adios amigos

<3

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P.S. Are you guys getting my emails? If I respond to one of your comments do you get it? Just wondering, because I've sent out a few emails regarding the giveaway long ago and sponsor post and no one has gotten back. Let me know!!

I've got a lot of crushes...

I follow a lot of bloggers. A lot of these bloggers I have big ol' crushes on. 

Sometimes I wish we were friends in real life, not in a creepy way. 

Today I'm linking up with the wonderful Erin over at Living in Yellow with her Blogger Crush Link Up Party. I don't know how I didn't think about this myself first, because 1. it's brilliant and 2. there are so many bloggers that I just adore that I feel they need to know daily how much I love them. Again, no creepy. 

Here we go!!

Why don't you click play while you read today's post. 

Thriftary // Two Thirds Hazel

These girls are great and always a must read for me. I love Maddie's sense of style and how she always looks fabulous in everything, definitely that fire red hair! She always has a spoonful of humor in her post and should be your new favorite. Erin is gorgeous, I mean look at her... These sharpie mugs she did? BRILLIANT! I love her sarcastic sense of humor and sometime she says everything I'm thinking. 

Kaytee Lauren

Hey Katee! So I've been stalking you for quite some time and you're amazing with the camera. I don't know how you make a single cup of cocoa look so damn good. 

The Perfect Pear // SOML // Nat The Fat Rat

I don't need to say much about these lovely ladies, because their awesomeness is just to grand. Lauren is by far one of the most creative people I've come across in blog land. Check out this gorgeous sweater she made. I've got a huge crush on her. Jenni, again, huge crush. I just can't get enough of her photos and all the cute little shops she goes to in Texas. You all probably know her, but if you don't, you're missing out. I began reading Nat's blog just a little while ago. She's quickly become one of my favorite go to reads. I love her follow me around posts and her little man is so adorable. 

Well those are a few of my biggest crushes here in bloggity land. In celebrity land, it's Johnny Depp, hands down. In real life, Chris is my biggest crush of them all and not just because I know I'll never have a chance with Johnny. A girl can dream.

Adios amigos. 

<3

Fashion Confusion- Spiked Clothing

I don't talk a lot about fashion here, probably mostly because I have no sense of fashion. But today, I wanted to address a newer fashion craze I've been seeing a lot lately: spiked clothing. I believe this craze started with people needing to stud every pair of shorts they owned, me being one of them.

Last weekend Bria and I went shopping at Forever 21 and I swear to you, EVERYTHING in that store had spikes on it. I felt like I was walking around a store made for Vikings. I just didn't understand why every sweater in that place had to have spikes on it. They were on the shoulders, the bottom of the sweater, the sleeve of the sweater and so on. I thought the small spikes, like the teensy tiny ones were semi cute, but it gets kind of ridiculous when your sweater becomes a killing machine.

x

x

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Those shoes should be illegal.

I don't know how anyone else feels about this craze, but I think it should've stopped with studs. I don't want to have to worry about stabbing my boyfriend in the shoulder because I have one inch spikes protruding out of mine.

x

I mean really. Are you trying to be a porcupine?

Your thoughts?

<3

"Blog Drought"

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Hello March. I appreciate you and all, but I'm kind of looking more towards May and June.

Last night Chris asked me how the little ol' blog was doing and I told him I've been blank all week due to stressing over classes, exams, and working myself like a cow (however they work...). He then said I was suffering from "blog drought" which indeed I am. I guess blog drought is a similar disease kind of like writer's block. Winter is never a good season my blog. I don't do a darn thing in winter, because well there's not a lot of stuff going on in my part of Wisconsin in the winter. If you look back, the only interesting things that have happened are the snowfalls and I don't know how many times I can post pictures of my porch covered in snow before people start not following me.

Chris told me to make a list of the things I'm looking forward to with this upcoming spring season, so in dedication to him, I'm making a list. And I really like lists, so it works out.

1. Not having a severe case of blog drought!

2. Starting my vegetable garden. This will be my first time attempting to garden and grow my own food and I am simply to excited for words. I cannot wait to eat food that I've grown!!

x

3. Warmer weather. Some of you bloggers are super lucky and you better really appreciate it. Spring has probably already started a month ago for most of you, but here in Wisconsin we still have at least a month left of winter, which means cold and frigid weather. Yuck.

4. Using my camera. Winter was probably a really dumb time for me to buy George. Meet George. I'm not a fan of winter, which means I'm not going to spend the time outside in the cold taking artsy fartsy pictures of snow. So George has been sitting in my closet waiting for the warmer weather like me, to get out and get used.

x

5. Being able to wear skirts and crop tops. Need I say more?

What are you all looking forward to spring?

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quick side note:

I have contacted 2 different winners for my Valentine's day giveaway and neither of the girls have contacted me back. So instead, the first person to comment on this post saying they want the prizes, get's them.  

Simple as that. 

:)

<3