A Birthday Tea Family Outfit Post

We had the pleasure of attending a birthday tea for our dear friend Sarah. In the spirit of a traditional tea we all dressed up. It was so much fun, and I can't wait to do something like this again! 

Photos Above by Sarah

Mommy- Dress: homemade, Shoes: Payless, Gloves: Vintage hand-me-down, 

Pearls: from my Nanny

Daddy- Hat: Gift from his Uncle, Shirt/ Tie/ Pants: Sims, Suspenders: Vintage, Shoes: Payless 

Daughter: Dress/Onesie/ Shoes: yardsale finds, Socks:Gift, 

Pearls:Gift from her Aunt, made by my Pop pop

Cordelia and I with the Birthday Girl! (Photo snapped by my hubby). I hope she had a wonderful party, and we look forward for celebrating with her next year!  

Hazelnut, White Chocolate, and Pumpkin Cheesecake, and my note on organization

In response to a reader request, I want to share the recipe for the Hazelnut, White Chocolate, and Pumpkin Cheesecake I baked for Christmas this past year (talked about it in this post). However first I want to talk a little bit about how I organize recipes at home. 

Recipe Box

I tried, for what feels like years, to organize my recipe's in a cute, and classic, way- like in the recipe box above. I spent forever copying recipe's onto note cards like my mom and sister did, and I spent forever trying to make time to copy even more recipe's onto note cards. Whenever I used my handy little recipe cards they never did manage to make it back into their little box. One day I decided I had enough- I needed something functional! 

Enter my very functional recipe binder. 

Everything is in sheet protectors to keep them nice and clean- and I make photo copies of recipes so I can keep the pretty pictures of the food-or the handwriting of my loved one. AND it's nice and organized :)

Now from my recipe binder: Hazelnut, White Chocolate, and Pumpkin Cheesecake

I hate to admit it but I have no idea what magazine this recipe came out of- my sister cut it out for me because she knows of my love for all things cheesecake and all things pumpkin! This recipe makes one 9 inch cheesecake, but this cheesecake is so rich it can feed A LOT of people.       

Ingredients 

Crust-

3/4 cup vanilla-wafer crumbs

1/2 cup ground hazelnuts

3 tablespoons sugar

3 tablespoons melted butter 

Cheesecake filling-

3 8 ounce packages cream cheese, softened

1 cup sugar

3 tablespoons flour

1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice

1 cup canned pumpkin

4 eggs

1 cup coarsely chopped white chocolate

1/4 cup chopped hazelnuts  

1. Heat oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit 

2. Combine the crust ingredients, mix well

3. Press crust mixture into the bottom and 1/2 an inch up the sides of a springform pan

4. Bake crust for 10 minutes

5. Reduce oven temperature to 300

6. In large bowl blend cream cheese, sugar, flour, and pumpkin pie spice with an electric mixer at low speed 

7. Add the pumpkin and eggs, beat until well combined

8. Stir in white chocolate

9. Pour filling into the crust lined pan, sprinkle with chopped hazelnuts 

10. Bake (at 300) for 1 hour, then turn off the heat and leave the cheesecake in the oven with the door closed for another 30 minutes or longer until set

11. Remove the cheesecake from the oven, chill, and enjoy! 

One Month

Better late then never. .. .

Photos by Smoo

Dear Cordelia,

Baby girl it has been a very long month, it feels like you have been part of our family forever and I cannot imagine life without you. I have learned many things this month and I have been amazed by many things this month. 

I have learned how amazing life is, and how crazy it is that your father and I created life when we created you. I truly know, without a shadow of doubt that all of the time I struggled while I was pregnant was worth it, 100% worth it.   

.  

 I have learned that a person does not know, or understand fear, until they become a parent. I learned this when you were exactly a week old and we had to take you to the emergency room. Nothing can describe the feelings your father and I felt as you lay on the hospital bed, and nothing can describe the feeling of relief when we found out you were ok. 

I have learned that holding a newborn baby can help people work through great grief and sadness, it can give new hope and help people understand the circle of life. Holding you has helped me understand this too. 

I have learned that breastfeeding is hard, but I am so happy that it is something I can do for you, and I love the moments I share with you because they are unique to you and I.

 I have learned that many people feel your birth erases their own nasty behavior, but I have also learned to never let their behavior sully my time with you. 

I am so amazed by you. You have grown so much! You weigh 11 lbs now and you grew a whole inch! You are so much more awake and I can see you seeing me. At first I had no idea what we should do when you were awake, and sometimes all we do is stare at each other. 

I am amazed by the peace and love that you fill me with, even when I can't figure out why you are crying ;) I hope that you will always know how special you are, and how much your father and I love you. 

Your father explains life and his emotions with song lyrics, I conclude this post with lyrics that express his feelings now.

Thank you for the branch you grew on this tree.

Your first breath wasn't easy to find.

So you signified the mountain you climbed,

By lettin' out a warriors cry and it sounded like mine.

Now everybody hold up the family sign.

-Something So, Atmosphere

Mint-tastic Cupcakes

Andes Mint Cupcakes

While pregnant I felt a great desire to bake, but I had very little free time because I was swamped with my last semester of school, preparing for Cordelia, and being sick to my stomach- so I never managed to bake anything. When I came across this recipe I jumped at the chance to make it for the hubby for his first Father's Day (he loves Andes Mints). The recipe came from Your Cup of Cake, I stumbled across this blog and I have quickly become obsessed, I think I want to try all of her recipes. To see her post on the Andes Mint Cupcake click here    

Chocolate Cupcake:

1 cup sour cream

1/2 cup oil

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

3 eggs

1/2 cup buttermilk

1/4 cup water

1 box devils food cake mix

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line cupcake pans with liners

2. mix sour cream, oil and vanilla extract together

3. Add eggs one at a time, stirring well after each one

4. Alternate adding the cake mix and the liquids (buttermilk &water), stir well

5. Fill cupcake liners 2/3 full and bake for 14-18 minutes, or until a tooth pick inserted in the middle comes out clean.

As a note, I think I filled my cupcake liners a little too full so the tops of the cupcakes kinda spilled over when they baked- they still tasted good, but they didn't look as pretty. 

Chocolate Mint Filing:

1/3 cup chocolate chips

2 tablespoons heavy cream

1 teaspoon peppermint extract

1/4 cup powdered sugar

1. Melt chocolate chips and heavy cream together, I did this in the microwave but you can also do it on the stove-top over medium heat

2. Stir in peppermint extract and powdered sugar

3. When the cupcakes come out of the oven use a squeeze bottle to fill the cupcakes with the filling

Mint Buttercream:

8 oz cream cheese

1/2 cup butter

4 cups powdered sugar

1 tablespoon heavy cream

1 teaspoon peppermint extract

green food coloring 

1. Beat cream cheese and butter until light and fluffy

2. Add powdered sugar, heavy cream and peppermint extract- beat well

3. Add green food coloring

4. Pipe buttercream onto cooled cupcakes and top with an Andes Mint  

The hubby loved them and they were a huge success- and they are the prettiest thing I have ever baked too! I feel a new desire to cook, and bake so look forward to more food posts. 

A New Life

On April 30th 2011 my husband and I welcomed our little girl, Cordelia Ito, into this world. She was 8lbs 10 oz of beautiful joy, she is the center of our world, and we are blessed to have her. On April 30th 2011 my husband and I started the first day of the rest of our lives, It is amazing and heavy all at the same time. 

Pregnancy

Photo: Sarah Yvonne

See her post for more photos from this shoot 

I have to admit that pregnancy, for me, is not fun and it does not feel pretty. I cannot reach my feet, they are huge, swollen, painful, and ugly; they resemble the humans feet in the movie Wall-e. My shoes do not fit, and I worry they wont ever fit again. I am queasy, and for the first time in my life I truly have a week stomach. My legs hurt, I cannot sleep through the night, I am always tired, I get depressed easily, and I cry a lot.   

I have to admit that I was kind of hesitant to take maternity photos, I don't always enjoy having my picture taken on the best of days, and theses past couple of months have really not been my best days. However, Sarah really wanted to take them, and she was very encouraging (she's been amazingly encouraging about the beauty of pregnancy they whole time which I also appreciate), and I'm really glad I did it. Taking these photos reminded me, and looking at them helps me remember, the beauty behind what I am doing. They remind me that I am beautiful, and strong, and that I am growing a daughter who will be beautiful and strong just like me. 

Windy Day

Windy days can be really beautiful, they can also be a pain when you are trying to take outfit photos.

In the end Sarah was able to snap some nice ones

Photo: Sarah 

Dress, flats :Target

Leggings, t-shirt, vest: Forever 21

Sweater (in top 2 photos): Khols