B is for Boombox

^a boombox cake I made in high school for my dance team

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The weekly top 10 songs that all feature artists whose names begin with a "B" (here is "A"):

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1. Bloc Party - Signs
2. Band of Horses – No One’s Gonna Love You
3. Bon Iver - Flume
4. Beach House – Used to Be
5. Bat for Lashes - Prescilla
6. Beirut - My Night With The Prostitute From Marseille
7. Bombay Bicycle Club – Cancel on Me
8. Black Rebel Motorcycle Club – Sympathetic Noose
9. Beck – E-Pro
10. Ben Folds – Landed

I Love

April from The Right Hypotenuse tagged me to list things that I love right now:

I love this kid's drawing above, I laugh everytime I look at it!

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I love Whole Food's homemade peanut butter

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I love the view from my new room (more on that soon)

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I love Glee! All this past fall, all my friends have been telling me to watch it, so for the past few weeks I have been renting then on Netflix. It is so entertaining

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I love Vampire Weekend's new CD Contra

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I love watching Friends re-runs with my roomie

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I love daydreaming about traveling through Europe again....

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What do you love right now?

My A-List

Award season is here and while usually I am good about watching the actual shows, this year I have been so busy that I forgot they were even on until I saw the red carpet review the next morning. Then again, the red carpet is mainly all I care about. I was disappointed with the gowns from the Golden Globes, but loved a few from the SAG awards the other night!

Diane is pulling a Michelle Williams moment at the Oscars and I love it! Carey is a new face that I am excited to see, she seems like she has a fresh style. Drew looks fabulous in blue - the shape and detailing are almost oriental looking...
...Toni has a dress with a lot going on, but i love it: tulle, gold and turquoise! Plus it looks great with her hair and skin. Lea looks tres sexy in this gorgeous emerald green (also, I LOVE Glee)
All of the women of Nine looked fantabulous! I'm especially loving Nicole's dress and I think she looks great with her darker red hair back!

Last but not least, Meryl, the coolest, most talented actress ever and my husband, J.Kras look wonderful as always :)
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Who were your favorites?

Tables and Chairs

I have had a crush on these Louis XIV Ghost Chairs for a few years now. The shape looks like it should belong in Versailles but the clear acrylic modernizes it. I understand these are quite expensive, but I think they would look really great in my future dining room. I suppose I should start saving now!

to go along with this post about chairs, 10 songs referring to pieces of furniture:

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1. Tables and Chairs – Andrew Bird
2. Big Kid Table - Thao
3. Black Tables – Other Lives
4. Folding Chair – Regina Spektor
5. Bedshaped - Keane
6. Deskchairs and Cigarettes – The Thrills
7. Under My Bed - Meiko
8. Hospital Bed – Ben Kweller
9. Sofa Song – The Kooks
10. In My Bed – Amy Winehouse

You've Got The Love

I am loving this video for Florence + the Machine's song "You've Got the Love". Its such a happy, festive video for a dreary, rainy day like this. She is a rock goddess!

The XX did a cover/remix of her song and I think it might even be better than the original (don't tell Florence). RCRD has that version for free on their website....and while you're at it, sign up for their newsletter in which they give you links to 2 free songs daily :)

Ruffles

I made this cake over winter break and was inspired by fall leaves. I took my piping bag and put a dollop of yellow and orange in there at the same time and came out with this effect. It has a cool ombre effect to it. I topped the cake off with yellow and gold edible glitter (my signature touch to every cake - edible glitter!). I think the 2 color icing idea would work good on cupcakes as well, just don't do contrasting colors, like blue and orange because you will get an ugly brown color! Happy decorating: )

Summer Sun

Right now it is cold, humid and raining outside and all I am daydreaming about is summer: having the cake decorating job I love, being with my best friends and family, vacation, no school work, and warmth. I have about 4 more months till I can enjoy any of that, so now all I have is summery, happy music to help get though it, like these songs:

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1. Lights Out - Santogold
2. Beat (Health, Life and Fired) - Thao
3. Ice Cream – The Sound of Arrows
4. No One’s Better Sake – Little Joy
5. Ladies of Cambridge – Vampire Weekend
6. 1901 - Phoenix
7. 50 Lashes – Floating Action
8. Mr. Pitiful – Matt Costa
9. Poppy – Zee Avi
10. Rave On – M. Ward

^^ I took these pictures at the Atlanta Botanical Gardens back in the fall. I love capturing bumblebees!

Piggy Bank

I not really a dog or cat person. This probably has to do with the fact that I was terrified of dogs for most of my childhood and even to this day, they sense my apprehension. When I get my own apartment one day, I still do want a pet and after hearing about this breed of domesticated miniature house pigs, I was dead set on getting one. I mean just look at them....too cute, right? I did some research on them and found they aren't more than 20 lbs when full grown, use a litter box, and are relatively clean (which is not a word I usually associate with pigs...). But then I saw the price tag - $5,000!!!! Of course that killed the dream right away - 5 grand for a mini pig? Sigh. Perhaps if I win the lottery this purchase would seem a bit more reasonable. The idea of having a miniature pig that you could take for walks and name it something grand like Isabella or Frankfurt (I would love to give a pig a royal, grandiose sounding name...it would be so ironic) just sounds too fun! Oh well, when pigs fly!

Vampy

Vampire Weekend's sophomore album Contra just came out today and I'm loving what I've listened to so far. I have loved these preppy-dressing, afrobeat-making, talented guys for the past few years and have been awaiting this release for a while now (their first album is one of my all time fave albums ever - BIG statement). Above is the video for their first single "Cousins" - its festive, fast, and peppy just like it should be.

... I would purchase the album from amazon.com - its only $3.99 and it downloads right into your itunes library.

Back to the Start

^ I took this picture of a telephone wire outside my neighborhood. I like the clean crisp lines and colors...it looks fresh!

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Today I leave to go back for another semester in Charleston. I am looking forward to new classes (now they actually pertain to my major now that I'm done with gen ed), new teachers, new classmates, auditions for plays....its all very exciting! Things will be different though, as one of my close friends is transferring and another studying abroad. I still have other close friends, but it gets exhausting sometimes trying to re-adjust to changes in your friend group, just as it is trying to establish a friend group in the first place. While making friends in college, I have not only learned about my everyone's different lives and beliefs (I was in a bubble before) but I have also learned more about myself and the person I want to be. The process is ongoing, but the result is worth it in the end. Its all a part of this thing we like to call college.

And with that, I wish everyone a great semester!

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Some tunes about a fresh, new start:

1. Brand New Day – Joshua Radin
2. Brave New Girl – Britney Spears
3. Brand New Start – Little Joy
4. New Soul – Yael Naim
5. Start Today Tomorrow – Youth Group
6. A Good Start – Maria Taylor
7. Back to the Start – Lily Allen
8. I Will Buy You A New Life - Everclear
9. The Start – The Bees
10. New Shoes – Paolo Nutini

Fields of Gold

My best friends from home and I love to have picture fests! We coordinate outfits, scout the location, then meet up with all our cameras in tow. Last week, we met up on someones private property (it didn't say no trespassing and there isn't a house on it hehe) across from my neighborhood. In the summer, its a lush green field of tall grass, but in the winter, its dead and "yellow." However, I like to think of it as "gold" and if you squint your eyes and look real fast it looks like wheat! Anyways, it was a beautiful, windy, crisp day and fun had by all :)

I'm wearing a flowy knit dress from LOFT, mustard yellow cardigan, cowboy boots and tights from Target, and a cool tshirt scarf from some boutique near where I live...

...and as you can see I am using my Diana F+ Camera for the first time :D i still need to take some more pictures to complete the roll, but will get them devloped asap and post

Sparkly

We had fun with my camera New Years Eve by making these exposures with sparklers:)
^ the last one is peace, love and understanding

2010>2009

^^these are pictures from last year's New Years Eve cake and cookies I made (the marshmallows are supposed to look like bubbles in champagne)
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Let's just say 2009 was NOT my fave and it didn't like me so much either. But instead of dwelling on the past (I am a big dweller), I am looking forward to 2010 - a lot. The most important resolution I am going to try and keep this year (and hopefully the rest of my life) is to be more positive. I am a happy, energetic person, but I am also paranoid and think the worst of most situations. Being positive is the root of so many other resolutions as well, like not being judgemental, not worrying and being stressed all the time, etc etc. I realize that when I'm not being positive, it affects not only me but others too. So starting now my resolution (for life, because these resolutions should really be life changes, not changes for a year) is to always look at the glass half full, even if it a half full glass of yucky grapefruit juice.
Cheers to a wonderful and positive 2010!

What are your New Years resolutions?