12 Month’s of Holiday Décor: November

Posted in Decorations, DIY, Thanksgiving by beckyjael

I can’t believe it is already November. October went by so fast. I had most of the November decorations done last year, and a lot of them I have had for years. I didn’t end up putting them out very early though, because I was in Boston visiting my sister until the end of October, and I wanted to enjoy the October decorations for a little while longer since I was gone for so much of the month. And then I got sick when I was planning on changing them.

I only had 3 things that I actually made this month, the Thankful sign, the Thanksgiving banner and the ornament pumpkin. I also bought a few things, like the wreath (from Home Goods) and the table runner (from a party store). It was a good thing I didn’t have too much to do since I was gone for half of October. I never would have gotten it done.

The Thankful sign was actually a project that I started a year and a half ago and it was supposed to be for the master bedroom. I cut, nailed together and white washed the sign, and was all ready to paint the quote on. But the problem was I couldn’t decide what quote to use. (I wanted something from Pride and Prejudice and Vu wanted Star Wars) So it sat in our garage for a year and a half, waiting for me to decide. Then this year as I have been planning out the decorations for each month I knew that for the Thanksgiving decorations I wanted to use this quote. I love it so much, and I think there is so much truth in this statement. Plus it has been especially poignant for me this past year. I have been thinking a lot about how there seems to always be something in life that is difficult. I think there is only one time in my life where I felt like every single aspect of my life was exactly how I wanted it to be (what a great year that was!). So this past year I have been thinking about life’s difficulties a lot and how most likely there will always be something that can be a source of unhappiness. But that doesn’t mean I have to always be unhappy. Happiness is something that comes from focusing on the things in life that I do have, that I do love, and being grateful for those. Because I am a firm believer that there is always something beautiful if life, if you just learn to always look for it. I just want to remember that more often. I have also been reading this talk a lot this year, which I love and has been a great reminder as well.

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23Oct2015

Pumpkin Bars with Cream Cheese Frosting

Posted in Food by beckyjael

This is a huge moment. I am about to make you very, very happy. Because I am sharing with you something that is truly amazing. This could be a life changer.

Many, many years ago a coworker gave me this recipe. For pumpkin bars with a cream cheese frosting. And let me tell you, they are so good. Every year since then, the holiday season beginning for me on October 1st, that I love so much, is not complete without making these at least once. I don’t even really like very many foods with pumpkin. But I love these so much. And now I am sharing this source of joy with you. I hope you enjoy them as much as I do.

Pumpkin Bars

4 eggs
2 cups sugar
1 cup oil
1 tsp vanilla
2 cups pumpkin
2 cups flour
½ tsp salt
2 tsp baking soda
2 tsp cinnamon

Beat eggs and sugar well. Add oil, vanilla, and pumpkin. Mix well. Add flour, salt, and cinnamon. Grease and flour or spray cookie sheet or bundt pan. Bake at 350 25-30 minutes for sheet pan, or 45-50 minutes for bundt pan. (I have only ever used the sheet pan).

Cream Cheese Frosting

3 oz. cream cheese
2 T. Milk
½ cup butter softened, not melted
1 tsp vanilla
2 cups powdered sugar

Beat well with a mixer until fluffy then spread over warm cake or cooled squares.

I like them best if the bars are refrigerated before eating and served with a glass of cold milk.

14Oct2015

Witches Girls Night Party

Posted in DIY, Halloween, Holiday, Party by beckyjael

I have been wanting to host a girls night witch party for years, and I finally got around to doing it last Saturday. In my opinion it was the perfect day for it, super rainy and windy and stormy all day! I loved it! I had a lot of plans that I didn’t get around to because for some reason after I got back from Hawaii and finished all the Halloween decorations, I just didn’t feel like doing any party prep. Fortunately though, I was planning on keeping up the Halloween decorations for the party, so there were a lot less party decorations I had planned. It was a really fun night!

I found these tiny felt witch hats at Hobby Lobby and placed them around the house.

And I got some orange and black balloons as well.

The table was what I worked on the most, and I was really happy with the results. I pulled out the white branches and put them in a vase with some mini pumpkins and then had a couple crows and an owl perched in the branches. Then I added some pumpkins, some black netting, a black lantern and the candelabra and table runner from the October décor.

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8Oct2015

12 Month’s of Holiday Décor: October

Posted in Decorations, DIY, Halloween by beckyjael

The October/Halloween decorations is the one month out of the whole year that I have been looking forward to the most, and I am so excited that it is finally here.

I have always enjoyed crafting and creating, and all growing up I did small random projects. However I didn’t really get into it “full time” or to the extent that it is today until the fall of 2009. I was just made the co-leader for our church activity’s committee and we were in charge of an appreciation dinner for the women in our ward and I was tasked with the responsibility of coming up with centerpieces for 8 or 9 tables. That was really the catalyst for a chain reaction that made me realize how much I loved decorating. Even though now I cringe a little bit when I see pictures of those centerpieces, at the time I was really happy with what I came up with and still love a few of those items. The next year I made my first full on DIY project and it was this orange wreath. I am pretty sure that when I finished it I sent a picture of it to everyone I knew, I was so proud of myself. And I still love it so much.

Then last year when I pulled out the Halloween decorations I realized that I HATED how the whole thing looked together. It didn’t feel at all cohesive to me, and it didn’t fit in the space we had at all. So throughout the whole month of October I worked on many projects, and by the end of the month it was at a place that I was ok with (you can see it in this post), but I still had a lot of things I wanted to do that I just didn’t have time to get to. I didn’t hate it any more, but I still had so much I wanted to add and change. So even though October was counted as “done” for my monthly goal last year, I still had a ton of things I was working on this year. And I now love it, and it makes me so happy. Along with the fact that I can see an orange/red tree from every single window on the main floor. I love the street we live, we have the best trees all along it. I mean this time of year, it is seriously the best!

I wanted a Harry Potter spell book, so I found a black hard cover book at Goodwill, and made 2 potion pages in Illustrator and printed and cut them out on cardstock that matched the color of the pages and glued the edges into the middle of the book. I used this site for the potion “recipes” and then changed and added things a little bit.

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2Oct2015

Kauai, Hawaii – All 50 States!

Posted in Travel by beckyjael

Vu and I went to Kauai, Hawaii last week. It was my first time to Hawaii, and just so happened to be the last state that I haven’t been too yet. So I have finally been to all 50 states in the U.S.! I am so happy that Kauai was the island that we went to first (because yes I plan on going to the others some day). I loved it! I love all the mountains and vegetation and waterfalls and how remote everything was. Vu didn’t quite love the remoteness of is. I promised him next time we could do the whole resort thing. We stayed in the town of Waimea, on the south side, in these cute little old cottages that used to be on a sugar plantation.

They had all of these trees with these beautiful white and yellow flowers, that was exactly how I imagined Hawaii to be.

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22Sep2015

5 of my Favorite Fictional Books

Posted in Books by beckyjael

I love reading and I am always in the middle of at least 1 book (usually 3 or 4) and I have a forever long list of books that I am waiting to read. I just can’t seem to get through them fast enough. Lately a few people have asked me for some recommendations, so I thought I would I share just a few of my favorites. Of course all 7 Harry Potter’s and Pride and Prejudice are always at the top of this list, but who hasn’t read them.

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows – Ok the title is a mouthful, but this book is seriously great. I read it for a book club a few years ago and we all loved it. Set just after World War II and comprised of letters written back and forth between a London novelist and the resident’s of the tiny island of Guernsey. It was absolutely delightful! Just kidding, that didn’t really sound like me. But really, it was fun to fall in love with these “Islanders” along with Juliet and learn more about them and their island and how they were affected by the German occupation.
The Forgotten Garden by Kate Morton – I seriously love all Kate Morton books, but this one is my favorite (followed closely by The Secret Keeper). It pulled me in right away, and I loved how each chapter switched around to different times and places as the story unfolded. I loved the characters, I cared about them and felt for them. I loved unraveling the mystery. I just really loved this book. I also can’t wait for her next book to come out in October.
Edenbrooke by Julianne Donaldson – I could not put this book down from the moment I started it. This is similar to Jane Austen, in that is a Regency England love story, but kind of simpler and more modern. There are of course a few cheesy parts, as I have found is very common for this genre, and it wasn’t the most realistic, but still very enjoyable. Definitely one of my favorites for this genre.
The Scarlet Pimpernel by Baroness Emmuska Orczy – Takes place in England and Paris during the French Revolution about a man who risks his life to save those destined for the guillotine. But also light hearted and endearing, as London and Paris try and figure out just who the elusive Scarlet Pimpernel is. I also really love the movie version, even though it combines the plot from 3 different Pimpernel books. “Sink me”
Sorcery & Cecelia or The Enchanted Chocolate Pot by Patricia C. Wrede and Caroline Stevermer – Sort of a combination of Jane Austen and Harry Potter. In that it takes place in Regency England and has magic. So how could I not love it. I think the first time I read it I was a little bit confused over a few of the magic parts of it, not being familiar with the world she created. Also another one with letters, because I do tend to enjoy books written in letter format. And it’s a YA, so a bit lighter.

After making this list I want to go and reread all of these books right now. And after writing this post I realized that I obviously love English historical chick lit. And I know that I am pretty much the only person on the planet who feels this way… that is why it is such a very small market with very few options to choose from…

18Sep2015

North Carolina Part 2: Biltmore

Posted in Travel by beckyjael

On Saturday morning, September 5th, we got up and saw the last sunrise before loading up the car and heading out of the Outer Banks. The waves were really big still from the wind.

We headed west and stopped in Raleigh for some lunch and then went to the Raleigh LDS temple. Here is another “list” Rachel and I are working on, to go to every temple. It was my 25th. We drove the rest of the way to Asheville that night and stayed in a hotel there.

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8Sep2015

North Carolina Part 1: Outer Banks

Posted in Travel by beckyjael

During Christmas of 2008 I was with my family and we were talking about past vacations and realized that we had been to most of the states in the US. We each counted them up and I had been to 43 of 50. I decided I wanted to try and get to all 50 before my 31st birthday in August of 2012. I went to South Carolina in April of 2009, (used my vacation time in 2010 to go to China, Australia and New Zealand instead…) Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana in March of 2011, and Vermont in May of 2011, putting me at 48. I only had North Carolina and Hawaii left (yes it is very sad that Hawaii is 1 of the last 2). I went to Peru and got married in 2012, which both ended up pushing back my goal. Both of which I felt were very good reasons :). Vu and I had airplane tickets to go to North Carolina the first year we were married, but we ended up having to cancel that trip and after that we bought the house and then Vu started grad school, so vacation plans got put on hold.

At the end of August, the day after my 34th birthday, I flew to my parents home in Atlanta, Georgia, along with my twin sister Rachel, and the 4 of us spent the week in North Carolina, finally checking off number 49! Yay!!!

I flew in a day earlier than Rachel and went to a Brave’s baseball game with my dad. Because if you can’t tell… I like lists… especially travel lists… and goals… so Rachel and I also happen to have a goal to attend a baseball game at every stadium. However, we aren’t doing very good at this goal. This was just my 4th one (there are 30 in case you don’t know).

We packed up and drove to the Outer Banks on Saturday, August 29th. We were able to stop in Charlotte and visit an old friend, MelBelle, and her family. It was so good to see them, it has been a long time. We rented a house in Kill Devil Kills that was right across the street from the beach, with a deck and chairs overlooking the beach. It was really nice. And of course we played games every night, which was fun. Vu doesn’t really like games so we hardly ever play, but my family loves them.

Day 1

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1Sep2015

12 Month’s of Holiday Décor: September

Posted in Decorations, DIY by beckyjael

For September I decided I wanted the theme to be apples/orchard. It is a beginning of fall-ish theme, and in Washington school always starts in September so if I decide I want to do a school theme when we have kids, then apples go along great with that.

The first thing I decided to make was what I like to call a puzzle tree. I had the idea for the master bedroom and wanted to make a tiny one for the shadowbox over the bookcases, but I still haven’t gotten around to it. I wanted to take multiple pieces of wood and cut just a couple of big branches out of each one, so when you put them all together they make the whole tree with a little bit of 3D added in.

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22Aug2015

Annual Juanita Bay Park Pics

Posted in Juanita Bay Park Pictures, Life by beckyjael

Around the time we got married, I saw pictures of a couple who took pictures every year around their anniversary at the same location. I loved this idea and wanted to do it too. We got our engagement pictures taken at Juanita Bay Park and I loved this park so much. It is next to the water with lots of trees and boardwalks over the water, all some of my favorite things. I decided this is where I wanted to take our annual pictures, especially since we already had our first ones.

My dad was visiting a few weeks before our first anniversary and took the pictures for us. The second year we planned to go and take them about 5 separate times, but it was a bad time with Vu being really busy with school and work and having some really difficult problems with sleep, so we kept canceling each scheduled time and never did made it out to take them. However, I have come to the conclusion that whenever I make these kinds of goals and I miss one of the selected times, I don’t want to give up on the goal afterwards. I just accept that I missed one and move on to the next.

My dad was in town for work this past week and he kindly took some to commemorate our third year of marriage.

And here are a few of the ones from our first anniversary and engagement as well. Continue reading →