Niki's Neverending Adventure

Happy Friday everyone!! I am very excited to be going to dinner tonight at Old Venice for my BFF's birthday!! This is my favorite place to get pizza ever!!Four cheese pizza here I come:) I wanted to show ya'll a pic of what I got her. It was a cupcake inspired present...

It is a book called 500 cupcakes with obviously, 500 cupcake recipes, Sprinkles dark chocolate cupcake mix from William Sonoma, some fun-colored silicone cupcake liners, and some hot pink sprinkles! So fun! We have been trying to go to this cupcake shop recently, Muddy's Bake Shop for you Memphians, but everytime we go its closed! So I'm gonna go pick her up one for dessert tonight and of course I have a candle to go with it! Happy Birthday McKenleigh!!

I went to Barnes and Noble today to pick a devotional out and I got...

Sounds very fun and interesting to me! I will let ya'll know how it is once I start! There are 2 other similar books by this author called, Not So Very Bad Girls of the Bible and Real Bad Girls of the Bible! Hopefully I will get through all of them! I love learning about the women in the Bible:)

On another note, I feel like crap today:( I think it's just sinuses since the weather is crazy (70 degrees today, snowing tomorrow, LITERALLY). But add all the congestion, sore throat, and sneezing to a body that is completely sore from soccer, not fun! I really don't understand how my arms can be sore from playing soccer, but they are! Guess that couple month break between seasons can really get to ya! I hope I feel better for work tomorrow since I'm now in charge all weekend. But I'm sure the pizza tonight will make me feel all better! Hope everyone has a GREAT weekend!

Posted in: on Friday, February 27, 2009 at at 4:46 PM 11 comments    

This is just gonna be a short post for now since I'm at work! My cake turned out GREAT! I've gotten a lot of compliments on it! Ya'll should definitely try it! I had my first coed soccer game last night post ankle injury... and it went pretty well. Luckily we have girl subs this season so I don't have to play the whole game!! My ankle was hurting towards the end of the game and did feel tight when I ran but all in all it was ok. I wish it felt 100% though, because I am not playing all out like I would be if I felt 100%. Normally I am very aggressive and will fight for the ball and go up against anyone, but last night I was hesitant because I didn't want to get hurt again! I hate that I am doing that! We don't have a game next week so I will have 2 weeks to rest my ankle and rehab it more. I am just so excited that it's soccer season again! I LOVE playing! My team is SO fun! Hope ya'll have a GREAT Thursday!!

Posted in: on Thursday, February 26, 2009 at at 11:47 AM 5 comments    

I just finished making my chocolate cake with butterscotch-caramel icing! Here is the recipe:)

Chocolate Cake Batter

Ingredients:
2 cups sugar
1 cup butter, softened
3 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon almond extract
2 cups cake flour
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup buttermilk

Preparation:
1. Beat sugar and butter at medium speed with a heavy-duty electric stand mixer until creamy and fluffy (about 5 minutes). Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating until yellow disappears after each addition. Beat in vanilla and almond extracts.
2. Whisk together flour, cocoa, baking powder, and salt in a small bowl; add to sugar mixture alternately with buttermilk, beginning and ending with flour mixture. Beat at medium-low speed just until blended after each addition. Beat 1/3 cup hot water into batter just until smooth. (Batter will be thick.) Use immediately.

3. Bake at 350 for 34-38 minutes. Let cool completely before frosting (about an hour to 1 1/2 hours)

*I omitted the 1/3 cup hot water (because I forgot it) and it still turned out great!

This is the batter waiting to be cooked

After they were cooked and are cooling

Posted in: on Wednesday, February 25, 2009 at at 3:10 PM 6 comments    

I have a lot to write about today! First off, I am SO excited that I won a giveaway from Kristens Palace! So exciting because I never win anything:) I won $10 gift cards to Starbucks, Kohls, and Victoria Secret! Awesome right??

I want ya'll to check this out: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cyheJ480LYA I absolutely LOVE the band Lifehouse and didn't realize they were a Christian band! Yay for that! This had me almost in tears! God's love for us is amazing!!

So I have a funny story that happened to me today. I decided today was going to be a major cleaning day and decided to tackle my master bathroom first. Well it took me forever because I cleaned it spotless and organized everything in my cabinets and drawers. I feel really good about that! It's so organized! Then, after I scrubbed down my jacuzzi tub, I decided to fill it up and let the jets run for awhile. I was told to do this every so often by my inspector when I bought the house, especially if you don't use it for awhile. So it gets full enough and I turn the jets on. I go into the kitchen to put out the ingredients for the cake I am gonna make and I hear this really weird sound. Kind of a SWOOSH, SWOOSH sound. I step into my bedroom and water is being shot all the way out of my bathroom, all over my room! On my hardwood floors, my bed, my doors, the walls, EVERYTHING!! I run (carefully so I don't slip!) into my bathroom and the jets are shooting water all around. Well, I have to get to the button to turn it off, so I jump through the streaming shots of water and finally hit the button. I was soaked! Apparently, the stopper in the drain wasn't tight enough so as water emptied from the tub and got below the level of the jets, the jets started shooting! Ha! Wish someone was there with me because it was just SO funny! I was literally laughing out loud! Luckily I wiped up the water on my wood floors fast so there wouldn't be any damage and got everything cleaned up, but what a story to tell! Ha!

I got a wonderful cake recipe out of the most recent Southern Living and decided to try it out today(I'm taking it to work with me tomorrow so I won't eat it all myself!). It has vanilla and chocolate cake mix directions and all different types of buttercream frosting to make! I decided to make a chocolate cake with Caramel-Butterscotch Buttercream Frosting! YUM! I will post pics and the recipe after I'm finished!! Hope everyone is having a GREAT Wednesday!

Posted in: on at at 1:23 PM 5 comments    

Who doesn't LOVE cupcakes?!? Head on over to Sweet Tea Diaries and check out her awesome cupcake giveaway!

Posted in: on Tuesday, February 24, 2009 at at 5:55 PM 1 comments    

Posted in: on at at 4:36 PM 4 comments    

I found The Bachelor very uneventful tonight. The Women Tell All episodes are the same old same old. Every time it is the same so it didn't hold my attention very well. They showed that same preview of him flinging himself onto his balcony in next week's episode. I really want to know what happens! And no, I am not checking those spoiler sites! I am patiently waiting until next week! Surely he won't take DeAnna back, right?? But then, why all the drama about the After the Final Rose show? Something must have happened for them to not want to have a live audience there... hmmm. I'm still rooting for Melissa. They way he looks when he sees her and the way he talks about her is different than when he sees or talks about Molly. His look for Melissa is a "I can't believe I found you and can't live without you look" and his look for Molly is more of a " I think I love you but not sure if I'm IN love with you" look. Guess we will wait and see...

On another note, I have a little secret I want to share. I have literally been obsessed with weddings and wedding planning the last week or so. I have bought tons of magazines and have been researching constantly on the web! It hit me when Al and I were discussing when we want to get married(and no, I don't have a ring yet!). We kinda came up with the idea of next December because I will have that month off from school. Well actually I came up with the idea, he just really liked it! And he said my ring was coming soon!! So I kinda freaked out and realized I didn't know where or what I wanted my wedding to be! So I have been frantically researching things so I can be prepared to start planning whenever we do get engaged. A little psycho, I know, but I just got really excited! So Al mentioned the other day that he would like to have a beach wedding. His reasons were it would be very easy to plan, the weather would be nice in December, smaller wedding, etc. And I instantly said "no, I've always wanted a church wedding". However, I decided to do some research and discovered a place in Florida called Seaside. Anyone ever been there? Well I had a friend get married there this past December and her pics were gorgeous! So I did more and more research on Seaside and found wedding planners and this gorgeous little chapel where you could do a ceremony and then have your pics done on the beach also! So I started to get really excited about this idea! Of course, I haven't mentioned it to Al because I don't want him to know that I'm a wedding psycho just yet, but I am really digging this idea!! So I found a bunch of neat things in the most recent Elegant Bride magazine. I found a very beautiful dress, a cake design, and most importantly another engagement ring style I like! Now that leads me to another story... So Al and I have been together for almost 7 years, I know forever right? But in those 7 years, he has bought me quite a bit of jewelry, none of which I have picked out myself. And surprisingly, I have liked everything! He has great taste! Well my best friend McKenleigh and I went engagement ring shopping for the both of us and I found a ring I loved! So I told Al all about it, where it was, style, actual number so he could get that exact ring. But then, being the fickle person I am, decided that I really wanted him to pick it out. I have had the idea that he would pick it out himself for years so that's really what I want him to do. So I told him to use that ring as an idea. But now I found another one I want to show him in that magazine! This one is much more simple and I think I like it more than the other one so I will have to show him that tomorrow! Ha:) Ok, I think that's all I want to share about my wedding planning psychoness:) Didn't really plan on this post to be so long, guess I had a lot to say!

Posted in: on Monday, February 23, 2009 at at 9:41 PM 1 comments    

So I was tagged by Sweet Melissa for this. Here are the rules:
1. Go to your Picture Folder on your computer or wherever you store your pictures.
2. Go to the 6th Folder and then pick the 6th Picture.
3. Post it on your bloggy and tell the story that goes with the picture.
4. Tag 5 other glorious peoples to do the same thing and leave a comment on their bloggy tellin’ them ’bout it.

This is a picture of my puppy, Sadie, when she was playing in the snow in my backyard! She loves the snow! I tag...

Posted in: on at at 1:37 PM 0 comments    

It seems like everyone is doing giveaways! I love it:) This one is from Whitney and it's magazine subscriptions! I mean, who doesn't like magazines?!? Be sure to mention that I sent you if you enter because then we will get an extra treat!!

Posted in: on Sunday, February 22, 2009 at at 5:32 PM 1 comments    

I am looking for a women's devotional/bible study and need suggestions! Is there a specific one ya'll have really enjoyed? Also, it doesn't have to necessarily be a WOMEN'S study. Thanks ya'll!! :)

Posted in: on Saturday, February 21, 2009 at at 8:42 AM 3 comments