Penguins!

I love penguins, loved them since I was a kid. In the past 6 months I've received lovely gifts which just so happen to be penguin themed! I think people know I love penguins.

I got this one for my 17th birthday from my boyfriend. The writing says, "Dear Alysha, I hope everyday feels like your birthday." It was a sweet gift, besides the fact that I told him to get me a snow globe :p It plays music too!  Which is great!  I'd post a video, but I'm too lazy to email myself the video and then blog about it. For some strange reason the blogger app does not allow me to post videos. The snow globe's music relaxes me quite a bit though.

Next I got this!

Another snow globe!  Did I mention that I also love snow globes? And there's a snowman with a penguin!  How cute! I got this from my friend Jenna for my birthday.

Lastly, I got this for the secret Santa my friends and I had planned for Christmas 2013

Isn't it adorable? And for some reason there's a spare penguin inside it. For what reason, I don't know, but cute, nonetheless!

Sometimes it's just the little things in life that make life so special.

Shoes, Games, Octodad

So the other day I went to polo park. All I did was browse, but I was hoping to buy something! Anyways, I stopped by Payless because they're one of the only stores that'll carry my shoe size with shoes that look somewhat age appropriate.

It can get a little embarrassing when the workers ask if I need any help as I make my way down to this section. Got to love having baby feet! Oh well. Anyways, there was nothing there that interested me so I walked out.

After, I went to EB games and they had Octodad set up for people to play on the PS4. I watched this 6 year old kid playing it, then once he left I played. I think this game is one of my new favourites! It's simple, yet challenging, and adorable!  My boyfriend was with me at that time so today he surprised me and bought the PC version of the game for me, on his computer though. Better than nothing! Octodad: Dadliest Catch, get it, you won't be sorry ;)

Quick Write- Table to Desk

http://www.handmadecharlotte.com/amazing-furniture-made-from-found-objects

I guess it's true when they say, "one man's trash is another man's treasure." This piece above was apparently made from found objects. I find it amazing how people can look at what seems like nothing and make something exceptional from it. It amazes me how someone would even think of making such a piece by simply looking at a few pieces of scraps. What I love about the piece in the photo would be the different functions of it, but it doesn't take up any extra space. One second it's a regular table with no "wow" factor, and the next it's transformed into a cute little desk used to study and create wonderful things. I can imagine this desk in the basement of an old man's house. It reminds me of those old men who "waste" their lives creating all sorts of things. Hunched over at the desk, equipment all sprawled out, just inventing until he gets it right. This is a piece of furniture I would love to recreate one day. 

Quick Write- What Colour Are You?

Within the colours that are shown above in the picture, I believe I am a mix of carnation, lavender, and clover. I think that I am carnation because all the topics relate to being creative and selfdependant. I love crafting and inventing things. For example, I love to bake, make jewelry/metal smith, sew, and all sorts of other things. I believe that I have a somewhat clear vision of self knowledge.  I enjoy designing original things. Inspiration is all around us. Next is lavender.  I have a wide imagination where I think if I can dream it, I can do it. The only problem would be I don't have enough ambition to go out and do the things I would wish to do. Music is something I love. I listen to music almost all the time. I enjoy the messages conveyed in each song. Lastly, clover. The topics in clover remind me of a lot of a mother. They always say that when a women becomes pregnant she receives those "motherly instincts" and I believe that clover explains those. I find myself to be somewhat of a motherly person. I always want to keep everyone safe and I love children. There's also the topic of good fortune in there. My mother said that I was born as a lucky child because the year I was born, my dad was finally able to find a job and quite a few other good things happened. I find that at time I feel too old or too young for my age, but that's the process of growth. You never want to feel your age, even though you should. Colours can say a lot about a person, what colour are you?

Quick Write- Which Door?

I would choose to go through the Bag End door because I enjoyed watching The Lord of the Rings movies and reading The Hobbit wasn't too bad. I also think that with my height I'd fit perfectly fine in there, no one would even know I wasn't a hobbit. I enjoy how it's in the side of a hill, so you're surrounded by nature. It looks like a cozy little place to just relax and mingle with hobbits. Also, I enjoy how the door is round compared to the traditional rectangular door, giving it a unique quality. It looks like a charming little place to step into. The colours are also quite vibrant and lively, giving it an exciting, but friendly, factor.  It reminds me of a little cottage a little, old lady would live in. 

Every Day's a Baking Day

It seems as though I've been in the baking mood lately. Well, that and also we have too much ripe fruit laying around that my mom wants me to bake. I think I just have too much spare time right now since I don't have any homework to do, but I'm not complaining. About 30 minutes after I woke up, my mom asked me to do something with the bananas we had. They were so ripe they were almost all black, but that makes for a very sweet banana and perfect for baking. I had decided that I would just bake banana bread, but my mom thought differently.

My mom had rather I'd make banana muffins, so I just did as she told. Life's always simpler when you just go with the flow sometimes. These turned out quite great though! Out of the 16 I made this morning we only have 4 left! Banana bread or banana muffins are something that're constantly baked around this household because we tend to leave bananas a little too long and they get too ripe to eat raw.

The day before, my mom and I had gone shopping and bought these tangelos. My mom once tasted this sweet fruit that was a mix between an orange and a grapefruit and tangelos are a mix between tangerines and grapefruit so we had thought we bought the right fruit. We were wrong. These tangelos were so sour my mom and I could only eat about one or two segments before we gave up on them. Not wanting to waste them, of course, I looked up a few recipes for tangelos and came across tangelo muffins.  I decided that I'd bake them the same night as the banana muffins. 

I think tangelo muffins are my new favourite! They had this light orange flavour to them, although they only smelt of muffin mix. The fragrance is more in the taste than the scent. They were lovely though!  A very light muffin, almost like a pallet cleanser. These muffins were light, airy, and somewhat floral tasting. My mom and I definitely prefer these tangelo muffins over the actual tangelos.

After baking the muffins I went to shower. Once I finished my shower I sat around waiting for my hair to dry and realized that I have a lot of strawberries left over from the strawberry short cake I made the other day. Not wanting to waste it, I decided to make chocolate covered strawberries!

My sister loves anything that's sweet and a snack, actually she just loves anything that's food. I made a few more than the ones in the picture, but those didn't turn out as pretty so I kept those out. I prefer to use dark chocolate over milk chocolate for chocolate covered strawberries, that way the strawberries can use their own sweetness. Too sweet is sometimes too much!  These turned out well though.

So, in the end my day of baking consisted of banana muffins in the morning (aka 1pm), tangelo muffins in the evening at 9pm, and chocolate covered strawberries at night at 11pm. I have too much time on my hands, yet there's not enough hours in the day it seems.  

Busy Day

Well, today was a busy Sunday!  I woke up at around 11:30am, went shopping with my mom, then I baked a cake. I went out and shoveled the drive way with my mom, then came in and made popcorn, twice. After that I made myself some dinner, bow tie bolonese. I ate that, then finished my strawberry short cake!

Here's the cake baking away. Took 55 minutes to bake at 350 degrees F.

Here's the cake after it's been baked.

My 15 minute dinner I put together! It was quite tasty and filling!

The final results of my strawberry short cake!  I say it was a success!  A great and yummy first attempt at making this cake!

Well, that was my busy day.  Long, tiring, but fun. I got to spend time with my mom, and I got to try something new!  It was a good day, and as a bonus, there's no school tomorrow!

Valentine's Day

Well, yesterday was Valentine's Day. It was quite an interesting day. My friend loved her cupcake bouquet, she said is was the highlight of her day, which is great!  After school I went to the boyfriend's place and cooked him a steak and potato dinner.  I learned that you have to cook a steak for quite some time!  The steaks ended up being quite rare, almost blue; oops!  Anyways, after that we went out and played pool at Academy Lanes West, which is always fun. I love playing pool, although I won't say that I'm any good at it. All in all, it was a good day. 

This is the helium filled balloon I got from Kyle. Is it bad that the balloon is taller than me?

I was also given a dozen lovely roses, though I don't think I arranged them very well.

Two Birds, One Stone, and Cupcakes!

So after 3 long hours, I finally finished decorating my friend's birthday present, and my boyfriend's Valentine's Day gift. I simply just killed two birds with one stone though, considering I just baked them both cupcakes. 

I baked these yesterday.

One cupcake flower bouquet for my friend, and 6 cupcakes, like the ones in the pictures but with chocolate drizzled, for the boyfriend!  And there's chocolate covered strawberries too!

I had some fun with the strawberries and cut them into roses.  How pretty and yummy!

Reading Survey

Three pages long, lots of writing. I hope you can read this if you zoom in!

    

Pinterest

Here's a little preview of my Pinterest account.

As you can see I started off organizing things in boards, but over time I got lazy and just liked everything. I plan on organizing them, but that plan probably won't take any action for quite some time. 

My Digital Footprint

The lighting's a little bright because I took this picture while sitting beside a window.