So Thankful For Saturdays.

I am so happy it is Saturday. This week was pretty busy and hectic, it is so nice to take a break from the hustle and bustle.
What are your plans for the weekend? Anything exciting? It is going to be a simple one for me, but it will be good. I have a little bit of homework to do and I am hoping to watch Pride and Prejudice today.
Since it is raining outside it is the perfect day to watch this movie.

Whatever you may be doing-have an awesome weekend!!

(Above is what I call "The Tree of Shoes." In San Fransisco, we were at a stop and thankfully I got a snapshot of this wonderful tree! :)

San Fransisco!

This Italian delicatessen was so awesome! I was literally in awe when we entered this shop.

The amount of Italian goodies in there were absolutely outrageous!

The atmosphere was so neat and so authentic.

Stella Pastry...

After my family ate lunch, we headed to Stella Pastry.

This was for sure one of my favorite places out of all our visits.

The bakery items were so wonderful, and all of them looked like little works of art.

The picture above is the cashier who was so kind to let me take a picture of her wrapping our order, which was a slice of chocolate mouse and a piece of Italian rum cake.

These are their beautiful chocolates...don't they look amazing!?I miss Stella Pastry.

One other stop: A unique jewelry store with really neat trinkets and all.
I would love to go back when we visit again.

The owner was very sweet!

When we first got out of the car, we went into this adorable French cafe. Oh my. I do not think I have ever

What a Wonderful Valentines Day!

My new favorite chocolate bar. Ritter Sport's Dark Chocolate with Marzipan. 2 of my favorite things put together! Elizabeth and I swapped gifts. We couldn't believe how much our gifts looked alike! She got me a bubble umbrella that I have been wanting for so long! And she got me candy. :)

The table was pretty and so valentines!

Swedish meatballs with spaghetti...so good! We used her great grandmothers pink depression glass dishes. :) They are too perfect for valentines day and any girly get together.

The Hostess with the mostess. Thanks Elizabeth!

We had tasty macarons that were delicious with tea!

We had apple pear cobbler with vanilla ice cream!

Yesterday was a great Valentine's Day.

Before church, my family went out to breakfast and I stuffed myself with chocolate chip pancakes. They were so good. It was missions Sunday at my church yesterday, so we had a man talk about his mission in Africa with his family and how God is at work. It was just wonderful and truly amazing to hear his testimony and also the testimony of so many others who have gotten saved. It was really encouraging to hear and convicting also.

After, my mom and I ran some errands to make cobbler. Along the way, we stopped into Target and picked something chocolate for my sister, who wasn't feeling very good at home with a cold. I got some chocolate too and I think it just might be my new favorite chocolate bar. too good.

I made some cobbler to take over to my friend Elizabeth for our Valentine's dinner and tea at her home. It was so much fun!!

Warm Cobbler and a Cup of Tea.

So, yesterday was Presidents day, although it didn't feel like a holiday to me.
Do you ever have those Mondays where you do not want to do ANYTHING- whatsoever?
That was my Monday yesterday. And I am trying to overcome that laziness of mine...and become much more motivated.
After I did a little work yesterday, I decided to bake something yummy. I didn't know what I could make, until I remembered that we had pears in the fridge. So I thought, okay- I can make something with pears and I was thinking something like a tart.
I couldn't find a good recipe for a pear tart so I searched for just anything baked made with pears. I found this interesting cobbler recipe from one of my favorite cook's, Ina Garten (Barefoot Contessa) and decided I would give it a try and make it in a small batch.
Oh my goodness, it was amazing! I have always loved apple cobbler but there was just something special added with the pear taste. And this recipe is extremely easy. I loved the smell of warm cinnamon, sugar, and nutmeg. It's recipes like this that remind me of Autumn. I think that is just one major reason why it is my favorite time of the year. :)
I hope you guys had a good holiday/day off!! Mine was pretty relaxing, which was nice.
I'm excited also to see that it is raining outside. I really can not believe how much rain we have been getting this winter, in only the past few weeks. Well, I am off to help my sister pick out a cute outfit for the concert she is going to tonight with friends. She is super excited and I know she will have a fun time :)

Monday

Last night, my family and I had a great time at Robby's and Debby's place. The Truth Project is always wonderful.
For deserts, we had these amazing Persian things with cardamon.
Lemon bars that I made....they turned out even better than the last time! (Good Housekeeping recipe)
Lastly- chocolate chip cookies. You can never eat too many of those things!
And the conversation was wonderful. I also got to try blood orange Italian soda- which I had never tried before. :) I usually have earl grey tea, but I decided to branch out a bit.

So, I now have to do school work, sadly. :( These are the times you wish that fun times with friends and family could last forever and you wouldn't have the daily/weekly stress of life.
Then again, these things just help us to grow, and develop patience and the fruits of the Spirit.
I will try my best to be optimistic!

Weekend Fun!

This weekend has been really fun.
I was a bit crazy when I last blogged because the birthday party was actually last night (Saturday) and not Friday!
It was a lot of fun and I had the privilege of meeting a few really nice girls. They were all so sweet and energetic, I loved it! So we went to BJ's and I had honestly forgotten just how tasty their pizza is! My goodness! Deep dish cheese pizza. And you know something, I prefer NY style over thick, Chicago-like pizza usually, but this pizza was to die for. Then Brittani opened her presents and we sang happy birthday when they brought her adorable mini pazookie with a candle! :)
Dear John was such an AMAZING movie. I feel as though my eye balls are still recovering from all the crying that took place. I always love a good romantic, girly movie. This was especially good though because It really made me think of how amazing our soldiers are. I thought of how I really should thank them and appreciate them more. They do so much and where would we be as a nation without them!?
When the movie was over, we went outside and talked with one another. It was the best when it started to rain! I never knew how fun running in the rain could be! :)
So it was a wonderful night! And although I DID have my camera on me, I DID NOT take pictures! Can you believe that!? I wait and save up for it, and then I forget to use it on special and fun events. Oh well, I know there are more to come! And I promise to do better in the future.
Well...I'm off to make lemon bars for our weekly Truth project with friends. Sweets and friends make a fun-filled experience!
I hope you had a beautiful weekend! :) It flew by too fast!

A Little Bit of Everything.

It is pretty late right now, but this has been my only time I could really blog since my last post.

I had to blog for one reason in particular. On Tuesday night, I got a digital camera!! I am so excited beyond words. I have been taking pictures of the most random things, but I just love it so much. Thanks to my family for Christmas money(and a little help from my mother) I was able to purchase an awesome camera. :) Would'nt you agree that pictures of daily adventures, family, and friends are just to important not to treasure?

Today I made valentine brownies. They were delicious. And they were also sprinkled with candy coated chips. mmmm. To add another valentine touch, I cut them into heart shapes. (inspiration from Bakerella.com - the cutest site for baking! Thanks Elizabeth!) And they turned out cute. A little mangled by using a heart cookie cutter, but it worked well all in all.

I have been on this sugar rush lately, and it has to stop! Coldstone yesturday, vanilla shake today, brownies today. Eeek!

Anyways, tomorrow is Friday! I am super excited to finally be done with all my work for the week. Tomorrow I am going to a birthday party at BJ's and I need to get her gift tomorrow. We will be eating and then heading over to the movies to see "Dear John." It will be a smash!

Happy Friday! Almost the weekend!

February

I can not believe that it is already February! That means that school is out in 4 months, and my freshmen year of high school will be accomplished. February means that Valentines Day is just around the corner. February means that I may possibly be one month away from visiting my family in Upstate New York/Vermont. I have not been back there since last Spring, but that is still too long to wait.
I wish I could have blogged yesterday since it was the first of February, but I had no time between school and getting together with friends for a movie and dinner. We went to see Avatar in 3d and IMAX. It was a very interesting movie. My family and I really enjoyed it in IMAX. After, we decided that The Cheesecake Factory would be the perfect place to eat. We had a real fun night with our family friends and my sister and I split a piece of cheesecake. (Godiva Chocolate Cheesecake, soooo goood!)
Now, it is Tuesday morning and I gotta get going on my school work. I have a busy school week ahead actually.

Happy February!