winner!

Update!

I won the costume contest at work today!

Here are some pictures from my day at work...as you can probably guess, not a whole lot of actual work took place!


The treats!


Now, I've gotta figure out what I want to buy with my prize...a gift card to Target!

I hope you've enjoyed my Halloween posts, and I hope all of you eat lots and lots of candy this weekend! Mine will be pretty low key (last class starts tomorrow...at 8 am!), but I'm looking forward to hanging out with Kate!

i'm a cupcake!

Happy Halloween!

Hope it's sweet (pun intended...)!

I just wanted to share what I'll be wearing for the costume contest at work. I can't say it was fun to make, but I guess it turned out okay. Let's just say from now on, I'll stick to making bite size cupcakes! Oh, and that's a handsewn felt cherry on top of my head :)

sweet tooth

Earlier this month, I had been planning on throwing a Halloween party. Unfortunately, work was just too busy and I didn't have the time or energy to get it all together. Luckily, my work had it's first annual "Halloween Luncheon" so I was able to take some of my party ideas and use them at work instead!

I wanted to stick to super easy treats that could be done without a lot of fuss, but I jazzed everything up with the Halloween printables I purchased from Etsy seller, Shindig Parties.

Chex Mix

Marshmallows

These homemade marshmallows are so easy to make, and really taste worlds better than store bought ones. Definitely give it a try if you haven't, the recipe I posted had really clear directions and came out great.

Festive Cupcake Stand - I made the cupcakes after this post,
but they were Pumpkin with Pumpkin Spice Buttercream

The printables were super easy to use, and really made all of the treats look professional and polished...I love that!

What Halloween treats have you made?

pumpkin carving

One night after work, C and I decided to hit the pumpkin patch! It turned out to be a big bust, as there really wasn't much to do there and the pumpkins themselves were super expensive.

Instead, we picked up our pumpkins at the local Trader Joe's, where they were going for $2.99 each. Oh, how I love that store and I'm not sure how I ever lived without it!

After deciding which patterns to use, we got to work. It was dead silent as we each were sawing away at our little pumpkin designs, determined not to screw it up. Nearly 2 hours later, and we were finished!

Last step was to add a candle to each, and watch them come to life!!

[all pictures courtesy of our camera phone]

And just to clarify, I did the spider web, while C is completely responsible for the howling wolf :)

I'm Back!

I have been busy, busy, busy!

It's been mostly work, but I've had some fun here and there, too!

First off, Kate's birthday! I'm so grateful for Kate's friendship and feel so blessed that our blogs brought us together. She is seriously one of the most genuine and kind people I have met here in Los Angeles and she makes it feel more like home!


One weekend, C and I went with a couple of friends to the Outdoor Cinema Food Fest! It's an event that takes place in different parks around Los Angeles and they play a movie on a HUGE inflatable screen and they have a dozen or so various food trucks there to feed you! We went to see the screening of Back to the Future! Believe it or not, I had never seen the movie. I thought it was great though and the event is such a good idea and a lot of fun!

[picture via jd raimer]

I think I've mentioned it before, but C is really into craft beer. Los Angeles recently had LA Beer Week and the culmination of the week was a large beer fest down at Union Station. Of course we had to go :)

It was a dreary day, but we still had a good time!


I also had a cupcake order for a birthday party. I was up until 3 am, but the cupcakes turned out amazing, and I'm glad to say the clients were uber happy! I made a Snickers cupcake (recipe found here) and it was phenomenal! I highly recommend it. The only trouble I had was making the homemade caramel sauce, but after about 5 tries, I got it right and it tasted delicious!


Staying with the cupcake theme, C and I had a get together to go to and we couldn't show up empty-handed. I had leftover ingredients from the birthday order so I made the same cupcakes, but topped them with festive toppers that I made (great tutorial here)!

We were watching the Patriots play, in case you couldn't tell what the toppers were.


Thanks so much to all of you for the support and kind words during my little bloggy break. I expect to be back in full force now that work has finally slowed down (PTL!). Truth be told, I can never really stay away for very long!

Oh, and PS - It's going to be Halloween Overload here on Sweet Tea Diaries, starting tomorrow! Get excited!

love.

just because.

love is sweet :)

and ps - i'm back to regular blogging tomorrow!

lilly @ tj maxx

just wanted to pop in and share the news...at my local tj maxx store, i was pleasantly surprised to see a bunch of lilly pulitzer loot. not sure what was there in way of clothing, but the stationery department was overflowing...

[all images via google]

run to your nearest store and check it out! the cookie cutters are a steal at $9.99, especially since they're still being sold at full price on the LP website! i saw a lot of items in the master of the house print as well as the private property print (sorry, can't remember the other prints offhand).

also, if you are not already a member of rue la la, now is the time to join. all new members are receiving a $20 credit to be used anytime before december 31, 2010. hurry though, you have to sign up before october 25 (next monday). click here to join!

ok, back to my hiatus now :)

going away for a bit

Wow, I have absolutely nothing to talk about!

I am completely lacking any blog inspiration (which is surprising because this is my favorite time of year), and it's driving me crazy!

Part of the reason for this is because my brain is on work overload. It's crunch time here and we've all been struggling to keep up and actually meet our deadlines. I'll be glad when this cycle is over! The other part is all personal stuff that has me feeling anxious and worried. But, I will just keep believing that everything will work out, in ways far better than can even be imagined :)

Anywhoodle, if anyone is still reading, I'm sorry I've been so blah lately. Hoping to have this problem remedied in the near future.

Until then, have a happy October!

[all images via]

Review: Simply Bags

I was recently asked by Simply Bags to do a review of one of their products. Of course I happily agreed and was sent the Stylish Laptop Bag. Not only was the communication flawless, but my new bag was shipped very quickly and arrived on my doorstep so fast!

I currently have an HP Netbook and I don't have a bag for it so you can imagine how frustrating it can be to travel with it. While my laptop is quite small, this bag will actually fit a laptop up to 16". It's much too large for my own laptop, but I'm fine with it because I need the extra room for the battery charger. It would also easily fit a notepad or portfolio file as well.

(Note: Using C's large MacBook in the picture below...plenty of room for the laptop as well as the battery charger, a notepad, and even a pencil bag/cosmetic bag with personal items in it).

Another feature I love about the bag is the inside pocket, which has slots for business cards and a place to keep your pens or post-it notes.

The exterior is a chocolate brown with a turquoise patent leather trim and my monogram is on the front as well. I don't love the font of the monogram, but it's not really that big of a deal. I believe there is only one option for font and color of the bag.

I am very happy with my new laptop bag. If you have been searching for one, or any kind of bag for that matter, please visit Simply Bags!