♥ Happy Heart Day ♥

♥ Happy (late) Valentines Day everyone!♥

~these would be the gerber daisies i bought myself for Valentines Day... aren't they pretty!?!?~

So I am posting this a day late, but I was having too much of a great day with the love of my life... ♥

Nope! I don't have a secret boyfriend that I'm not telling anyone about (and surprisingly, I'm extremely happy and content about that... more about this some other time lol) ... So who, you ask? Well if you guessed the obvious answer which is Olvia♥ You would be CORRECT!

...as usual King Friday :P

We spent the day just having some quality Mommy&Daughter time. We woke up, took a shower, got prettiful, ate breakfast and took a few pictures of ourselves.

i am in love with this picture! X's and O's from Olivia, anyone?

Then I decided that since it was Sooo BEAUTIFUL out we would take a walk over to the playground so she could play. Olivia had a blast! 

Afterward, we rescued a friend from school lol and hung out and had lunch at her house. Olivia was so tired that she passed out while watching Toy Story 2 while at my friends house... must have been all that sun she got at the playground. 

I decided that we were going to make a "festive" dinner for Valentines Day. I mean, why not? I'm Super Mom, right?! lol So I got creative and we made some homemade heart shaped pizzas and valentines chocolate chip cookies for dinner and dessert! Don't they look delicious?! Because they were :D

We ended the night with a bath for Olivia (because even though she had one in the morning she was so dirty from playing all day lol) and a movie and Olivia got a manicure and pedicure! 

♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥

I  hope everyone had as wonderful a day as I did yesterday! 

XOXOXO's from ME! (consider yourself lucky lol)

AstroNerdTastic! ♥♥♥

WARNING: This post is full of @_@ Nerd ♥ for Astronomy and recent data that was released by NASA about the Kepler Mission.

For those of you who don't know, I am attending college again for the first time in 5 years! ♥ I am just going part time for now and taking a computer class and an astronomy class. I have always been fascinated with the stars and galaxies etc so Astronomy was the obvious choice for a science class. I couldn't be happier with my choice! My instructor is awesome and the class and the other students are awesome too (Minus "that guy" - you know the one who never shuts up and fills all the conversation pauses with random factoids that you don't give a crap about and relate nothing to the topic at hand)!

So anyways, we recently talked about Exoplanets. Exoplanets are simply planets outside out solar system. And in that lesson the Kepler Mission was brought up. The Kepler Mission, NASA Discovery mission #10, is specifically designed to survey a portion of our region of the Milky Way galaxy to discover dozens of Earth-size planets in or near the habitable zone and determine how many of the billions of stars in our galaxy have such planets. I personally think that this is fascinating. Wouldn't it be cool if there were other habitable planets orbiting other stars?!?! I think so. Not that we could inhabit them (follow that link for some Astronomy humor about why we couldn't inhabit the 54 possible habitable planets that have been discovered)

http://kepler.nasa.gov/multimedia/Interactives/HowKeplerDiscoversPlanetsElementary/flash.cfm

Anyways I just thought I would share some Kepler Love ♥... If you want to know more about it you should definitely check out the links I have included in this post. ALSO If you are interested in becoming a Planet Hunter yourself :D go HERE... This Planet Hunter website allows people like you and I to get in on the Planet hunting action.......... AstroNerdTastic!!!!!♥♥♥

Modern Patchwork Giveaway :D

Just blog surfing and rolled across this giveaway! She is giving away 3 modern patchwork e-courses! It looks super awesome and I hope i win... maybe you will too?!

GIVEAWAY

Mmm... dessert!

Tonight is Thursday Night Dinner Night @ Leticia's house. I am quite excited for this as I haven't seen her in like 2 weeks with everyone being sick and all last week. We love TNDN for a bunch of reasons, but mostly it's the one night a week we get to be in the same room and make food together and be crazy and catch up on everything that happened during the week that we forgot to mention on the phone or via text.

Usually what happens is Leticia provides the dinner food and whatever she doesn't have already for it (an ingredient or french bread for pasta) I'll pick up before I get there. But I ALWAYS bring dessert with me. I don't usually have dessert any other time during the week so TNDN is an excuse for me to bake something awesome every week. And with my awesome school schedule (3pm-7pm on Thursdays) I have the entire day to decide what to make. Last time I made Reeses Peanut Butter Blossoms (where you reeses in place of hershey kisses) and those were a hit, of course. Today, i don't know where the whim came from but I decided I wanted to make Cream Cheese filled Devils Food Cupcakes. So, that's what I did!

Voila!

♥ Cream Cheese filled Devils Food Cupcakes ♥

(I only wanted to make 12 cupcakes so I used a 9oz box of Duncan Hines Devils Food Cupcake mix but you can use a regular 18oz box of cake mix for yours just make sure you double the cream cheese filling)

1 (9oz) Box of Devils Food Cake Mix
2-3 eggs (depending on box recipe)
oil
water
1 (8oz) pkg cream cheese, softened
1/3 c. sugar
1 egg
1/8 tsp. salt
1/2 bag (6oz) chocolate chips

Preheat oven and prepare cake mix according to box directions. Grease and flour cupcake pan or use cupcake liners and and fill cups 2/3 full. Cream softened cream cheese together with sugar. Beat in egg and salt. Stir in chocolate chips. Drop one rounded teaspoon of cheese mixture into each cup. The cake will bake up around the cheese. Bake as directed for cupcakes on the cake mix box. Cool and top w/ powdered sugar. 


Enjoy! I know we will tonight :D Tacos, Rice&beans, and Cupcakes!!! ♥ 


And for those of you who don't know who Leticia is... she is my best friend here in Arizona. Here's a picture of us from last August (guess it's time for a new picture of us lol)

1 (18 ounce) package chocolate cake mix

2 -3 eggs

oil

water

1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese

1/3 cup sugar

1 egg

1/8 teaspoon salt

1 (6 ounce) package chocolate chips

Read more: http://www.food.com/recipe/cream-cheese-filled-cupcakes-353687#ixzz1Cvg9ZvuT

1 (18 ounce) package chocolate cake mix

2 -3 eggs

oil

water

1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese

1/3 cup sugar

1 egg

1/8 teaspoon salt

1 (6 ounce) package chocolate chips

Read more: http://www.food.com/recipe/cream-cheese-filled-cupcakes-353687#ixzz1Cvg9ZvuT

Joy of Love ♥ Days 1-3

So as I said in my last post, I am participating in this photo class/challenge called Joy of Love. I haven't looked for my digital camera yet, but I do have a few ideas as to where it is (yes it's been that long since I've used it) so I guess I should really start looking for it so that I can take some new photos for this challenge and not just use old ones. After all the purpose of this is not only to be fun, but a learning experience as well. ♥

I figured I'll combine a few days at a time for this since there are days that Olivia isn't with me and I will have to catch up on a couple of days as they go... so for now (and I apologize for repeated photos), here is what I have for days 1-3 of Joy of Love.

Day 1: What they do

Reading seems to be very popular in my house recently and I love it. But I love it even more when she takes it upon herself to just go sit down with some books like she was doing for this picture. Bookworm in the making ♥

Day 2: How they look

This is what Olivia looks like when you ask her to make a silly face for the camera. I think she pulled it off successfully, don't you? :D

Day 3: Then & Now

Once a Diva, Always a Diva ♥


♥ Can't wait to share more with you!

Joy of Love

So I decided that I would follow in my sister's foot steps and sign up for a photo challenge. This one in particular is called the Joy of Love and after reading about it here I am really excited to be a part of it... guess i should go dust off my digital camera lol.

Today was just another FREEZING day in Arizona. hahaha. Ok we actually did reach freezing temperatures here in the Valley which is crazy in itself. So after picking up Olivia from her dad's (and making the mistake of wearing flip flops which = numb toes) and taking her to go play at the play place I decided I would go pay my rent (as any good tenant should lol). I walk into the office at my apartments, and fill out the money order I had for the woman and then she asks me, "Did you see the fountain out front?". I asked her if it was frozen and sure enough, the fountain was covered in icicles. That's how cold it was here today. The wind chill factor was ridiculous. So here's my proof that it gets cold in Arizona... :D

Then I spent the rest of the day with Olivia reading books and playing. I decided that we were going to take some pictures of ourselves, but mostly I just wanted to take a bunch of pictures of her. These are my 5 favorites from today. I love her ♥

This last one Olivia took herself lol... 

Lastly... I got my Brand New Glasses today!!!!! I am in Love ♥! I ordered them like 2 weeks ago from Zenni Optical. Basically if you know your prescription you can order super cute glasses online for as little as like 13 bucks! It's crazy. Don't you love them??? I do. They were well worth the wait. :D

Without Olivia....

.... It is always so quiet in my house. She spends half the week w/ her dad and it still throws me off. Not that she spends half the week w/ him, but that I have half a life now lol. Silence drives me batty which usually leads me to throw on some loud music (Currently i just blast Florence + the Machine every chance I get) and get to cleaning or organizing something. That's if I'm home. Like I am tonight. It's too cold to go out. And I know what you're thinking... YOU LIVE IN ARIZONA!!!! It's not cold!!!! Well... maybe not to you, however to me 44deg feeling like 33 because of 20mph winds is COLD. :) So tonight I chose to stay in after a long day of monotony (you know... pay some bills, do some laundry, clean something, get dressed finally, go to school, get home, put laundry away, change the bed sheets, clean out olivia's closet, get thirsty, go to QT :D) haha yeah that was my day in order. So I treated myself to a nice big 24oz Vanilla Creme Cappuccino while I was there.

Anyways, usually when Olivia isn't here I try to find things to do outside the house. You know so I can re-connect with adults again. :D So I go to free poker w/ friends or I go to karaoke with friends. Or I just hang out w/ friends like Thursday Night Dinner Nights w/ Leticia. One of my favorite nights of the week. (cuz we're awesome and a force to be reckoned w/ and no one (we know) is a match for our cooking skills)...

So It's weird w/o my lil fireball. I'm still not used to it. I probably won't ever really be. But I just try to pass the time so I don't go crazy.... Now I guess it's the activity of choice is a NCIS marathon on my DVR until I pass out.

...a lil florence and the machine for you. This song makes my day every time (i swear I'm not violent). It's also my ringtone :D ♥♥♥

Pictures... as promised :D

So I'm not sure why i couldn't post these in my last post but I'll start with the most recent picture of myself.....

I got a hair cut just before Christmas and got my side swept bangs back. And while Karalyn was here we dyed the bottom layer of my hair a very dark brown and then I also got a monroe piercing while she was here too.... so this is the new me and I'm loving it ♥

Here are a few of Olivia and I ~ all taken pretty recently (within the last month) 

This picture is probably the oldest one of her out of the whole bunch and even still it's not that old because it's from after I moved to the new apartment. Crazy how much she's grown.

The pic above is Olivia currently. Took this the other day right after she finished eating an oreo. but messy face or not I love it! (plus we got rid of the pacifier!!!!! YAY! no more pictures with that facial obstruction lol)

Olivia playing hat time with her dolls ..... too cute

She actually let me braid her hair... I love it. 

Reading her princess book on her Tag Jr ( ty Grammie and Grampie)

ok this picture = ♥

crocheted olivia a hat.... She loves it

Can you say DIVA?!

 

And lastly, this one was just plain cute..... I love this little girl with all my ♥!

New Year... New Life... New Adventures...... ♥

Well the month of January has come and gone and I haven't posted my New Year post.... well actually, I haven't posted anything since Olivia turned 2 in September. A lot has happened since then and I feel terrible that I am JUST getting to it now, but bear with me.

This year is going to be awesome for many reasons.... but I guess I should start with what has happened since September...

For starters, I broke up with Chris. This was a BIG MAJOR IMPROVEMENT on my life and one that needed to happen a while ago but I had to do it on my own time and not on everyone else's time. Basically I was sick of being a zoo keeper/maid/nanny/exhausted mentally and financially/stressed out all the time..... and the list goes on. But I made the decision to be happy, as I wasn't happy with the way things were going and i do not regret this decision ONE BIT! :D

So needless to say, I got my own apartment. It's in a much better part of town and I love where I live and Olivia does too :D! We have a large 1 BR and we share a room but I'm ok w/ that. It's the perfect size for us for now. But I do not plan on moving any time soon seeing as I have moved 3 times in the last year and a half and there is no way a 4th is in my future any time soon.

The holidays were spent with friends which eased the part where I missed my family. Thanksgiving always hits me hard because it's the one holiday that we always try to make sure that we get together for. I got to spend thanksgiving with my friend Sylina and her huge Mexican family. The best mexican thanksgiving ever! Olivia had a blast with all the kids to play with and I was just happy to be a part of someone's family that day and not home making turkey sandwiches and potato salad haha... 

I decorated my front patio for Christmas and put up my tree in my living room. Christmas was awesome. The morning started out with a Skype session with mom, dad and Kate to watch Olivia open her presents and from there Olivia and I went and spent the day with Leticia and her sisters and her mom. Mexican Christmas... It was fantastic! We watched movies all day and grubbed on some delicious food and again, it made the missing my family part not so bad cuz they kind of are my family out here :D

The new year was also spent with Leticia. Olivia was at her dad's and I put on my pj's and went to Leti's and made dinner, had champagne and watched movies.... perfection.

This last month has been super busy.... starting with Karalyn coming to stay with me for a week - which was AWESOME!!!!! I love when she comes from NY to visit Olivia and I. I swear to you we laughed so hard our abs hurt for a week straight and i think we both probably lost like 10 lbs. haha
Then the week after she left, I started back to college for the first time in 5 years. This is awesome. I am soooo glad to be back in the college grind. I'm only going part time right now and just taking 2 classes, however I'm loving it. I have a computer class (lots of work but awesome) and an Astronomy class (not as much work and 2x as awesome). I was SUPER excited for my Astronomy class and have not been disappointed yet. Our second class was spent reviewing the first class, watching a pink floyd tour of the universe in the planetarium and going up to the roof to look at Jupiter and it's moons through the telescope. Yeah it was sweeeet.

So that pretty much brings you up to speed on what's gone on and how this year is going to be awesome... ♥

So here is the part where I bombard you with pictures... Olivia is getting so big (already over 3 feet tall) and she talks soooo so much and sings and dances all the time. Today she was singing along to one of the songs I was listening to and i couldn't help but grin cuz she was so darn cute! Every day is a wonderful day with her - even when she feels the need to be bossy and fresh (which is quite often). It's like that show/book Olivia about the little pig. She is a handful and at the end of the book when her mom puts her to bed she gives her a kiss and says, "You know, you really wear me out. But I love you anyway." and Olivia kisses her back and says, "I love you anyway too." ~ That's pretty much the same with Me and My Olivia.... She's a handful but I wouldn't have it any other way because she makes every day interesting and awesome. ♥ ♥ ♥

*ok apparently my image uploader doesn't want to work, so I will just post an entire post of pictures once i figure out what the heck is going on w/ it*