Weekly Wrap Up

IT'S FRIDAY!

High five ladies, we have conquered another week!  I hope that your week was lovely, things have been a bit crazy here in my neck of the woods.  Have you ever made 120 cupcakes in 48 hours?  It's pretty intense, but quite fun!  I really enjoyed doing it! (And of course it helped that I was getting paid for it).

So today I'm doing my wrap up a bit different.  I decide to go all collage on us because there were only 6 photos from my week. 

I got the August It's Paper Dear box, I love it!  There are always the cutest things!

Other than that, I spend a lot of time waiting for my Capoeira classes to start, I have just enough free time before class starts to make it awkward, so I end up sitting around, but it's totally worth it!

I've decided I need to make some changes to my photos around here, especially the cupcake ones, they all look the same! HAHA

In other cupcake news, I had my first BIG order!  It was a pretty insane couple of days making 120 cupcakes, but it was much better than I expect.

And then there's that photo in the bottom right corner.  I love the view of my apartment from my couch, the embroidery forms, the new barstools, the awesome bookshelf, the pieces on top of the kitchen.

I'm in love with my apartment, more and more each day, it's so fun!

Have a great weekend!

Love, 

Keely

If You Really Knew Me

If you browse blog-land at all then I'm sure you've seen this trend of these "if you really knew me posts."

It's fun to see some real life stuff about people, and it got me thinking, I don't share that much about myself with all you lovlies.

So, I'm going to go ahead and join the madness!  I think it's important that all of you get a little bit more about me, not always just the formulated, planned posts :)

If you really knew me you would know that...
I always start projects when I don't really have enough time accomplish them, or when it's just silly.  For instance, I got risers for me bed and was trying to set them up on my own at 12:30 AM (sorry downstairs neighbors).  This was of course after showering and putting my close away, after making 60 cupcakes, I should have been sleeping, but the motivation hits at really weird times in my life.

I sometimes act way more confident then I actually am, I second guess a lot of what I say when I get home.

I LOVE thrift stores.  When I "need" new clothes, thrift stores are my first stop.

I love to bake for people, I don't love when people expect me to bake for them.

Along with the above statement, I LOVE baking, but I'm not really sure I would actually want to open a bakery, I like to do what I love simply because I love it.

Someday I would love to produce documentaries all over the world, telling stories of people who's stories never get told.

I'm really good at being friendly, and I love to hang out with people, I have a really hard time building deep relationships with people.

I found my current career on accident, and I love it.  I was browsing through degree programs at my school when I got fed up with mine and found Broadcast Production, haven't looked back since (I have no idea what I would be doing outside of this!)

I am incredibly forgetful.  I usually know where my keys are but I always forget to bring things with me, put things away, etc.

I don't usually believe that my cupcakes are delicious.  More often than not I don't even have one cause I know I'll just be disappointed.  I guess I just feel like I could have always done better.

So there you have it!  What are some things that I don't know about you?

Love,

Keely

Budget With Me Wednesday-Week 5

Wow it has been quite the day!  Thus why I am coming to you a bit later than usual.

Things have been pretty busy around my house lately!  Aside from baking 120! cupcakes this week I've also been working out, working, going to church and trying to remain sane!  It's crazy, but this is when I really shine.

Turns out I'm incredibly good at keeping a million balls in the air.  My life tends to fall apart when I am only juggling one thing, I get bored and lose my focus!

Anyway, that has nothing to do with this silly budget of mine.

Things have been trucking along recently.  I actually cut down my cash money (sigh) in order to pay for my new workout studio fee, it's worth it but it's hard.  On the bright side, having less cash more or less REQUIRES me to bring my lunch now, so that's not such a bad thing.

I have to be really intentional about things.  I have to remember that I WILL be going out to dinner on Tuesday nights after church, so I can't spend all my money on Monday.  It's all about keeping things straight and thinking things through.

Overall things are at lot better money wise.  I feel much more secure in my finances even though there is still a lot of catching up to do!  Who knew this could make such a change in just 5 weeks!  Love it!

How have you been?

Love,

Keely

Cupcake Tuesday-Cinnamon Peach and the Tuesday Tango!

Peaches are in season right now in Colorado, and that means we have AMAZING peaches!  They are so juicy and delicious, I love them!

These fresh peaches inspired me to make some delicious cupcakes!

These have fresh peach puree in them and then are topped with some cinnamon cream cheese frosting, yum!  To add to the delicious peachy-ness I took some of that puree and mixed it with some powdered sugar and drizzled it on top!  So delicious!

I'm also hosting the Tuesday Tango today from After Nine To Five!  It's a really fun way to meet new bloggers!  Check it out at the bottom!

Let's get this going because these cupcakes are just too good to wait!

Peach Cupcakes
makes 24 cupcakes
2 sticks butter
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
vanilla
salt
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powdered
puree of one peach (about 1/2 cup)
1/2 cup sour cream
2 1/2 cups flour

Preheat the oven to 350 and line two cupcake pans.

In a large bowl blend together the butter and sugar with an electric mixer for about two minutes, until it gets slightly fluffy.  Add two eggs, one at a time, making sure to mix well after each addition.  Next, add the vanilla, salt, baking soda and baking powdered.

Measure out your flour.  With the mixer running, adding about 1/3 of the flour.  Follow this with the peach puree and mix until just incorporated.  Then add another 1/3 of the flour followed by the sour cream.  Last, add the remaining flour and mix well.

Scrape the sides of the bowl and mix one last time, making sure everything is incorporated.

Scoop the mixture into the cupcake pans, filling them about 2/3 of the way full.  I do this using an ice cream scoop, but you can also use two spoons.

Bake for 18-20 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

Let cool

Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting
2 blocks cream cheese
1 stick butter
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
2-3 cups powdered sugar

In a medium sized bowl mix together the cream cheese and butter until smooth.  Add in the cinnamon and continue to mix.

While the mixer is running slowly add in the powdered sugar, about 1/2 cup at a time, mixing completely after each addition.

Once the correct consistency is reached, scrape the sides of the bowl and mix one last time.

Pipe or frost on top of the cooled cupcakes.

Peach Glaze
1/2 cup peach puree
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar

In a small bowl mix the puree and powdered sugar together with a whisk.  Pour into a squeeze bottle or use a spoon to drizzle over the frosted cupcakes.

Enjoy!

The Tuesday Tango is a multiple link-up post for everyone to meet new people and grow your audience. There will be eight link-ups that you can add your link to - Twitter, Facebook, Hello Cotton, Bloglovin, Instagram, Pinterest, Better Blogger Network, and RevolutionizeHer.

All you have to do is follow the host(s) for that week and then add whoever else you'd like to!

Permanent Hosts:

After Nine To Five | Big Apple Mami

This Week's Rotating Hosts:

Hairbows and Butter | Metropolitan Money Pit | Little Mudpies

Directions:

Follow the host(s)

Add your links to any/all of the link-ups

Add at least 5 people from the link-ups

- - -

Want to host one of the weeks? Let us know!

Love,

Keely

Sunday School-Lemon Honey Strawberries

Sorry this is so late! I've been such a slacker recently!  I really enjoy being here and sharing recipes with you, so I made sure to get on here today, and share this little snack with you!

This recipe is great on ice cream, or plain, and it takes simply minutes to make!  It's so fabulous! 

The only time consuming part is just cutting up all the strawberries and squeezing the lemons, but that's just fun!

So here we go!

Lemon Honey Strawberries

Juice from 5 lemons

1/4 cup honey

16 oz strawberries

(Yes, that's it).  Juice the five lemons into a medium sauce pan and add the honey.  Bring it a boil and allow to boil for about 2 minutes.

Pour the syrup over the strawberries and refrigerate for about an hour.

Scoop the strawberries over the top ice cream, or just eat with a spoon!  

Enjoy!

Love, 

Keely

Weekly Wrap Up

Happy Friday Lovelies!

What a wonderful week it has been!  It was nice and relaxing and lovely and great.  There was family, roommate time and friend time, all great things!

I've done plenty of baking, watched a lot of How I Met Your Mother (I have a problem).

It's been fun, back to real life and FINALLY not housesitting for an extended period of time!

I started doing Capoeira.  This is my fancy shirt (aka not fancy shirt).  I'm having so much fun and actually making it to classes!  Total win!

IKEA chocolate cake, yum!

The roomie and I assembled some barstools!  Our apartment feels complete!

Swing dancing!  I love swing dancing!  Isn't it such a fun room!

My friend and I decided to make a little sign for our treats that we bring to church.  Nothing fancy but it totally help!

My uncle's beer, best beer EVER!

OH MY GOSH the weather is finally cooling down a bit!

Chocolate peanut butter cupcakes, recipe later!

Rehung some decorations!  Loving it!

Have a great weekend!

Love, 

Keely

Budget With Me Wednesday-Week 4

Happy Wednesday Lovelies!

This week has been an interesting one, not in a bad way per-say but not in a good way either.  I haven't been splurging, but I haven't been saving.  I've been sticking with my 10 dollars a day, but not doing as well with my other rules.

For instance...

-I ordered two subscription boxes this month
-I bought some adorable accessories during some sales
-I took out cash for groceries but still put some stuff on my debit card
-I stopped emailing TheBirdy

Sigh.  Baby steps right?  I'm doing A LOT better than I used to be, but still not perfect, but who needs perfection!  (When it comes to money it would be a VERY good thing).

The end of the story is that I still have money left in my account and I'm two days away from payday.  Usually at this point I'm stuck in a "a crap I have no money for the next two days so I won't buy anything, until I decide to buy everything on pay day" mode, but I'm not doing that.  I went and made my car payment and didn't freak out and keep my fingers crossed that the money was there, because I KNEW the money was there.

It's great.  It's a lot better.  That's why the cash aspect of this is SO important to my plan, I can cheat a little bit with cash, but it's a lot harder to spend cash you don't have than to make purchases on your debit card with money that you don't have (or replace debit card with credit card...now that's bad!).

In other news, am I missing a secret to budgeting for gas, or is it just not possible?

Love,

Keely