some letter beads.

i found a bunch of letter beads in my crafting stuff awhile ago.

i was super into making hemp necklaces and bracelets a few years ago, so i had all sorts of beads to decorate with.  i think i gave mandy the actual beads to use for hair bows or something, but i apparently stashed the letters away for myself.

last time i was at home, mandy made me a hipster string bracelet.  you know the kind.  we all made them when we were little and it was the greatest gift to get from a friend because they took so long to make, and then you tied it on and wore it till it rotted off.

(i haven't taken mine off yet.  it's still strong and it smells like my shampoo.)

so i was going to make me a cool one with a word to wear with it, it's really thin and i just like things a little more chunky.  i was going to go with my name, but i already have a necklace with my name and i don't want to broadcast myself to potential kidnappers any more than i already am.

i decided i wanted to make a pink bracelet that says 'cochina'.

i had to look it up to spell it, and oh the things i found.

my dad calls all of us cochina.  if me, mandy and bug are all in the same room and he yells 'hey, cochina!' we will all hop up to see what he wants.  and it means what i knew it meant, but i didn't know people used it so meanly!

a cochina is a pig, specifically a girl pig.  which i can see how you use it badly, and when we were old enough to ask dad what it meant, we were a little offended.  but cochina is actually a term of endearment for little girls because when they're born they're small and pink just like little piglets.  and i don't mind being called one, but then again, it's only my daddy, so it's cool.

but now i don't know if i should make it, since i do live in a largely mexican community and i don't want them to think i'm really weird!

but while i think it over, here's some cutie cochinas for you.

peace.

a meringue adventure.

after so many high calorie sweets at chris's birthday party on sunday, i decided that i needed to distract myself from the leftovers with something equally as sweet but not as horrible for my tummy.

when we joined weight watchers last year, at our first meeting in the little magazine thing was a recipe for chocolate and vanilla meringue cookies and i made them almost immediately.  they were perfect and awesome and i was very proud.

that had never happened again.

for mandy's birthday last year, she had a wonderland party and wanted meringue mushroom cookies.  those came out alright.  definitely mushroom shaped but not as good as that first batch.  also that year for chris's birthday, he made root beer cupcakes with root beer syrup that we found in the baking aisle at walmart.  so with the leftover meringue from the mushrooms, i decided to make some root beer flavored by replacing the vanilla extract with a tiny bit of root beer syrup.

that doesn't really work.

but i didn't learn my lesson.

today i though i would fix this problem by using a tiny bit of vanilla extract and a tiny bit of the remaining hazelnut syrup i use in my coffee.

first off, this recipe is supposed to make 44 adorable meringue cookies at about a half a point each.  mine made about 20 huge meringue cookies at at least one point, maybe one and a half.

they're huge.  wtf?

and when i pulled them out of the oven there were delicious crunchy bubbles all over the place that tasted exactly like my hazelnut syrup.  one of the pans was too big for one sheet of foil, so i had to overlap two.  and underneath the flap where they overlapped, guess what i found.

delicious hazelnut syrup.

the same delicious hazelnut syrup that i BEAT INTO MY MERINGUES was now crunchy bubbles and puddles under the foil rather than a flavoring in my cookies.

HOW DOES THIS HAPPEN i need some baking scientist to explain this to me.

and no, my meringues taste nothing like hazelnut.  they are still sweet and delicious from the vanilla and the sugar but with none of the tasty nuttiness that i longed for. . .

peace.

happy birthday to my love!

in case you are just joining the party:

sometimes he's a polar bear, too.

today is his 25th birthday!

and i love him!

and he's the greatest!

he's also at work.  sad face.

we had his party on sunday, so that could partake in WRESTLEMANIA (because we're cool like that).  and i got to set up a party and food and we made a cake and it was so fun!  i like to have people over and hand out drinks and be a cute little homemaker type lady.

we had a lot of fun, watched sweaty men fight each other (oh, and undertaker vs triple h?  love it.  ended like a disney movie, what more could i wish for!), and then played nerd games and hung out until the wee hours of the morning (bedtime happened at about 6:30 am).

downside is going to have to be WAY too much food.  my tummy was sore from being so stuffed. . .so it's treadmill all week for me, starting once my iPod is fully charged!

(also thinking about making one more birthday treat, only way less calories:  some tasty vanilla meringues.  om nom nom!)

some pretty fruit!

fruity pebbles treats!

cake scrap that looks like a donut.  :D

my love with his big cupcake.

all the sweets!

baby cupcakes!

your hostess.  :3

and contrary to those pictures, there was real food. but who wants to look at pictures of real food?

so yeah.  my dude.  birthday.  love him.

peace.