photo of the week 19

Something about running water.... its so relaxing.

Cowgirl Photoshoot

Remember this photo of the week? I told you it was a preview of the photo shoot. Well, I am now posting the photo's. It is a little funny because I am not a cowgirl at all. I don't even really like country music, but its always fun to dress up all the same.

This time we had a smaller group. Just two cameras and 3 people this time. I was excited to try out my new 50mm lens. Love it, I see a huge difference in my pictures... and I even got the cheaper 50mm. I will have to save up to get the fancy lens's later. For now I am having fun with this one.
P.S. All of these and more are posted on facebook if you have not already seen them.

The Cowgirl Models / Photographers

Tracy

Lorelie

Sarah

Pictures taken of me by Sarah Hall

Some of the pictures that I took that I think turned out awesome

Until the next photo shoot....

B-Rad's B-Day

Happy Birthday Brad!!!!

This is the first year of our six years of being friends that we have all been together for Brad's birthday. Never happened because its in the summer when everyone was gone and the day after Independence Day when people normally have plans. We have all celebrated everyone else's birthday together. Hooray for all being together!

Since I love to decorate cakes... Lauren and I made & decorated a cake for Brad. Brad loves Domo Kun, so we gave him a Domo Kun cake. I am not experienced at drawing Domo Kun, so its not the best, but he loved it and that is all that matters.  We celebrated with the cake the night before.

Day of his birthday he went and played Frisbee golf with Steve while the rest of us slept in.

We then went to the beach one last time before Nate and I got on the road to head back home. It was overcast, but I still love being at the beach regardless. It was nice to be able to say goodbye. Also... there were tons of people were there watching because there were 15 ft waves and people trying to body surf them. We watched for a little while and then I hit the road back to UT. Traffic was worse coming back.... but I still made pretty good time. I miss everyone already... but it is going to be great to sleep in my own bed again.

B-Rad, I hope you had a great birthday. Glad I could finally be there to celebrate. You and Lauren are a blast and I love hanging out with you guys. It was a great weekend, thanks for hosting and letting us invade your place. We will have to do it again sometime.

Nate, Steve, Brad & Lauren - SO good to see you! Thanks for a great weekend. Love you all.

Happy Independence Day!

This morning I was woken up by the boys making waffles. We used to cook all the time when we all lived in the same apartment complex, so this weekend has been good times. It is just like we are all roommates again, except that I have not been getting kicked out at midnight (for honor code). Since it is Independence Day, Lauren made sure we had a festive center piece and I made sure that we had festive toppings for our waffles.
*Side Note* We all totally forgot it was fast Sunday (except for Nate who just didn't say anything) until on our way to church. Oopps

Steve, Nate and I were going to go to the singles ward, but when we got there we saw a sign that they had moved to a different building. We ended up going to this random ward.  I always love singing the patriotic songs in sacrament meeting though.

When we got back, B-Rad helped me make my yummy homemade pizza which I have blogged about and made several times because it is so amazing. We also played Wii.... so we all now have characters on Brad's game. Below you will see.... Lauren, Brad, Nate (with sunburn), Steve and me.

We hung out and played card games (I would like to point out that I have won 3 different games that we have played so far- #1- "Things" #2- Phase 10 and #3- What time Steve was going to get in last night form making out with his Ex girlfriend who "just happens" to be in town the same time he is).

Then we went to see the fireworks. I LOVE to watch fireworks. I love being in California for this holiday and I love even more that I am spending it with some of my bestest friends!

It has been a great time being with the boys again. I was already friends with Lauren, but I like that we have become even better friends. She is awesome and so much fun. The only thing that would have made this weekend better is if Steve's ex girlfriend DID NOT come into town and steel our time away from Steve. Boooo..... she is a nice girl and everything, but doesn't like hanging out with us and makes it so Steve goes with her instead of us. But putting that aside, it has been an awesome weekend. Who knows when we will all be able to hang out all together again. I am actually surprised we have been able to do it so much thus far, but soon it will be a lot harder. Nate is getting married and Brad & Lauren will move back to the East Coast. So I gotta love the time that we get together. I do love these boys & Lauren.

Amazingly we have gotten pictures together every year for the past 6 years. Here is my post dedicated to them from last year. Changes since that post: Brad & Lauren got married and moved from NY to Newport Beach (which is where we are visiting) & Nate moved to AZ for law school.

Happy Independence Day everyone! Hope you had as marvelous of a day as I did!

Newport Beach

Yesterday I worked a half day and then hit the road. Lately, I have been flying to my travel destinations... but I didn't arrange it far enough in advance so I ended up driving to Newport Beach this weekend. I was dreading the drive, but it really wasn't that bad. I had some good tunes, had a few phone calls, and sang my heart out. Because I have been flying lately.... I forgot about road flirting(not really me, but other people with me). Right after I filled up on gas in Barstow I am driving along and all the sudden there were these two guys on bullet bikes. They look over and see in my car and speed ahead... they then get on either side of the car. Then they go ahead of me and then behind me continuing to look in my car. Then one of them gets next to me and starts showing off on his bike by standing up while zooming by. Then later one of them lined up with my car and looked in and motioned for me to follow them or check them out or something. I just smiled at him and drove on. It made my drive more interesting (which I really needed at that point of the trip) that is for sure.

I then arrived at Brad & Lauren's house in Newport Beach California. Nate arrived shortly after me. The rest of the night we spent hanging out and talking. 

Today we went to a pancake breakfast with Brad and Lauren's ward. Across from their ward building is the Newport Beach temple, which I had not yet seen in person, so Nate and I went to go walk around the grounds. It is a beautiful temple. 

After that we hung out on the beach all morning and into the afternoon. It was a bit overcast and windy.... so I didn't think to put sunscreen on right away. I am certainly paying for that now! PAIN!!!! It has been a while since I have had a bad sunburn. The open windows and fan are feeling really good right now. I am loving being back in Cali right now. Even though I am not home, I feel like I am at home. I love it here. 

We then met up with Steve and went to town to go out to dinner. We went out for Sushi and I think it was THE BEST sushi I have EVER had! Seriously. And we got a discount. Yum! 

We walked around a bit more and then came back to the house and played games and put tons of alovera on our sunburns. I wasn't the only one that got burnt.....

Chocolate Mousse Crunch Cake

Remember Jessica's birthday party? Remember that awesome cake? It tasted really great too! Everyone kept saying how yummy it was. Well, you should try it too (if you love chocolate like me). Jessica doesn't even like chocolate that much and she loved this cake. So there you go... Here is the recipe.

Chocolate Mousse Crunch Cake
Recipe by Our Best Bites

1 package Duncan Hines Devil's Food Cake

1 recipe (give or take a little) Chocolate Ganache

Crushed Heath bars or a bag of chocolate-covered Heath bits

1 tsp. unflavored gelatin

1 Tbsp. cold water

2 Tbsp. boiling water (just heat it in a small bowl in your microwave)

1/2 c. sugar

1/4 c. unsweetened cocoa powder

1 c. whipping cream

1 tsp. vanilla

Bake cake according to cake mix instructions in 2 8" round pans. Allow to cool and set aside. This can be done several days in advance; just freeze the cakes when you're done.

In a small bowl, combine gelatin and cold water and allow to stand for about 1 minute. While gelatin is softening, bring 2 Tbsp. water to a boil in the microwave. Whisk into the softened gelatin and allow to cool slightly.

In a medium mixing bowl, combine sugar, cocoa powder, whipping cream, and vanilla. Beat with an electric mixer until medium-stiff peaks form. Mix in gelatin mixture and refrigerate for 30 minutes.

Prepare ganache (if you haven't already) according to directions.

With a serrated knife, carefully slice the dome-iest part of each cake layer off so the layers are level. Place one layer on the serving plate and spread about 1/2 of the chocolate mousse over the cake. Sprinkle with Heath bits.

Place second layer on top of Heath bits.


Spoon ganache over the top layer, allowing it to drip down the sides.  Sprinkle with additional Heath bits and refrigerate until ready to serve.

(P.S. I didn't do this on the top because I knew I was going to be decorating with "The Who" for her birthday)

Confessions of a Brunette on the Internet 20

I'm so tired that I can't think anymore. I have been so busy! I mean... I didn't even try to do a post everyday this month like I did in March, but I posted even more. 32 posts in one month! Crazy. Anyway... I'm so tired I forgot what I was going to write about today. Normally I do my confessions post during my free time at work, but it has been busy lately and I have been tired. So I am going to try and remember what I was going to write about.

You know what is funny? When you are at a really happening party, there are tons of people there... so many in fact that it is really loud and the neighbors complain about the noise. So the cops show up to tell you to quite down. The funny part is when you look to see the cops and you know one of them because he used to be in your ward before he got married. He is on duty so I can't talk.... so he gives a nod to say hi. Must be so awkward for him. I thought it was pretty funny though. We had a couple of cops in our ward. You always hope if you are going to get pulled over, that it will be by one of those guys.

I saw that someone deleted me as a friend on facebook. I shouldn't care, but it kind of hurts my feelings.... only because this person is someone I spent a lot of time with and thought we were for reals friends and not just facebook friends. I called them out on it and added them back as a friend again with a message that said "Why did you delete me? I thought we were friends". I wanted to make sure they felt bad. So next time I saw this person they came up to me and said sorry for deleting me, it was stupid and thanks for calling them out on it. I felt better.... but then they never confirmed my friendship. I saw this person again at a party and they wanted to be all friendly with me. WHY? If you don't think I am a good enough friend to have on facebook, then why pretend in person. I dislike fake people. And why even bring it up to me in the first place if your not even going to do anything about it.

I just found out this week that there are two guys that I know that are over 31 and have NEVER kissed a girl. Does that concern anyone else? I understand that some guys are shy and awkward, but come on.... I understand if girls get to that point, they don't have as much control as guys do. These guys are normal, good looking, social, friendly... there is not one good reason that I can think that they have not kissed a girl. Seriously.... where is the drive? I question if they are attracted to women, but it seems like they are. I just don't get it. I feel like I should help them out.... but I won't.

I have met a lot of REALLY friendly guys this week. The party I was talking about earlier... so many people were there that it was super hot, I tried to get more water but there were so many people that I was blocked in every direction.  A guy overheard me say this and says "Here, you can have some of mine" I thought he was just joking, but then he hands over his glass. So I say "Um, whats your name?" He answers "Oh, it doesn't matter, just have some of my drink".  Me- "Well, I feel like I should at least know your name before we share germs". I think his name was Andrew. I don't remember. Then some other guy wanted to use my cup to get some water that I didn't know....
Then, tonight, I was with my friend Jeanna. She saw the amazing Lemon Cake on my blog and wanted to make it... so I told her I would help her out because it was amazing. I was excited to be able to try it with Lavender this time, so we went for a little walk in the dark with flashlights to go find and pick lavender.

Turns out what we found and picked was NOT lavender, so I still don't get to try the cake with lavender... BUT... on our way back from picking random purple flowers that was not lavender, there was a car with a couple of guys that drove by with their window down and said hi as they drove by. Being the friendly person that I am, I said hi back. We continued to walk on and all the sudden the car turned around and they stopped by us. I didn't know if we should be frightened or not, but we stopped. They asked us if we wanted to have their glow stick bracelets. So we took them. They introduced themselves to us and we made small talk, turns out they are new in our ward. We just didn't know what to expect, but they were nice friendly guys that just wanted to give their glow stick bracelets to two friendly girls. We thought it was awesome and we wore them the rest of the night.
I need more sleep.
The End.