cakes, a baby shower, and nails

My friend, Aissa, is going to have a baby boy in less than a month! I can't wait to meet him...I'm sure he's going to be one super cute baby!

Last weekend was her baby shower and I made her this cake.

It was a blue velvet cake with cream cheese icing and marshmallow fondant. Since the shower theme was kind of swampy, Aissa's sister, Karina, found these perfect cute little toys for the cake, which was awesome since I'm not very good at sculpting figures out of gumpaste or fondant.

I had come to the realization that I have made cakes for all of Aissa's big life events.

Surprise 25th Birthday

Wedding cake & Groom's cake

Surprise going away cake for her sister

I'm so happy to have been included in those moments and so lucky to have such a great friendship with her.

Back to the baby shower, which was very cute and put together nicely by my friend Karina (Aissa's sister), Good job, KFlo! I had to have blue mani for this event.

This is Orly Sapphire Silk with American Apparel Meteor Shower as an accent.

I just found this alligator at my work. He would have fit in perfectly at the baby shower!

happy thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving! I hope you are surrounded by loved ones and lots of food!

I really wasn't planning on doing a mani for Thanksgiving but my Mom had the perfect colors for an autumn dotticure and I could no longer resist.

I used these:

I used Spoiled Pumping Gas as my base and OPI Chopsticking to My Story, Zoya Pippa, and Spoiled I Don't Drink Cheap Wine for the dots.

I also made some pumpkin muffins with chopped walnuts and white chocolate chunks. Super yummy! I must have ate 3 back-to-back...oops! haha

in the shade

As per usual, my Mom wanted me to do her nails too, exactly like mine...Twinsies!

comparison blues

Last week I wore Sephora by OPI's Cartwheels on the the Catwalk. I was pretty sure I had some other bottles that were similar but turns out I only had one. I guess that's kinda good, right?

Here I compared $OPI [<-- because the Sephora by OPI is more expensive than the original OPI] with Essie's Who is the Boss, from their 2012 Wedding Collection.

The $OPI has a sea greenish hue while Essie is more of a grayish baby blue.

Both 3 coats with Seche Vite.

I don't know Jacques anymore

I used to wear OPI's You Don't Know Jacques all the time. It was my go-to nail polish. I would wear it week after week after week! It's the perfect taupe. I reccommended this color to everyone I knew. I made people want this color! I was completely in love with Jacques!

But that was last year...I really haven't worn YDKJ in about a year and I finally put it on my nails.

As my much as I hate to admit, the color didn't feel the same. I wasn't as excited to see it on my nails like I had been before. I still like the color but I guess I'm no lnger in love with it...what happened?! Did I just break up with Jacques?!

Do you have a nail color that you used to love?

sephora by opi - cartwheels on the catwalk

I'm currently wearing this on my nails, Cartwheels on the Catwalk from Sephora by OPI.

artificial light shots

I've had this for a while and I don't know why the heck I've waited this long to try it because I love this color! I do have some similar colors already, so maybe that's why. I need to do a comparison among them.

natural light shots

This was from the Betsey Johnson 2012 Spring Collection and I got it from Sephora for only $5 (regular $9.50)! It does look like a springy color but I think it could also pass for a winter color too.

It's a sea green cream that has nice coverage in 2 coats, but I did 3 coats here. This was also my first time to try a Sephora by OPI and so far I'm impressed. The brush is not as wide as a traditional OPI, which is good because sometimes that brush is just do darn wide and a little hard to control.

The name is fun too. If you are not familiar with Betsey Johnson, she's a bold and quirky fashion designer who just turned 70 that does cartwheels down the runway after all her fashions shows. I hope I can move like that at her age!

outside in the cold shot

I went camping...sort of

This past weekend, Calat and I went camping with his friends at Beavers Bend in Broken Bow, Oklahoma, which is a 3 hour drive from Dallas, TX. We had been planning it for the past couple of months.

Camping is on my 30-before-30 list, but I'm not sure if I can cross it off. My vision of camping is being out in the wilderness with a tent with limited modern amenities. This camping trip was far from that. We stayed at the Leaping Lizard Lodge that comfortably accommodated our 20+ group. Yes, the cabin was huge! It had 4 bedrooms, giant kitchen, a game room, which was a total man cave, a hot tub, a couple of hammocks and a pavilion. The cabin was so nice. I wish I took more pictures! Since the lodge was called Leaping Lizard, there were cute lizard things everywhere, even in the brick outside!

Check out that fall foliage

Calat and I arrived later than everyone else on Friday night. Once we got there, we just jumped right in to party mode to celebrate our friends' birthdays. Happy Birthday, Kavin and Phuong! There was lots of food, drinks and laughs. 

All they got for their birthday was a big booty cake!

Saturday morning, a few of us headed over to Broken Bow Lake to check it out. It was beautiful. I probably could have stayed there the whole day.

Panoramic view of Broken Bow Lake from Calat

After the lake, we headed back to the cabin to get our grub on. We had all sorts of grilled and smoked meats: brisket, ribs, fajitas, burgers, etc. I think I overdosed on meat. 

My highlight of the weekend was when it was time to make 'smores...This was my first time to have a real 'smores experience! Calat and I brought all of the 'smores essentials, including different kinds of chocolates, cinnamon and regular graham crackers, and giant marshmallows!

I made my 'smores with a Reese's Peanut Butter Cup and Hershey's Cookies 'n Cream! I ate 3! I probably could have eaten more, if the marshmallows weren't so big, it made it kind of hard to eat. 


Reeses 'smores

Cookies 'n Cream 'smores

Calat and I had to leave earlier than everyone else too. We were already trying to plan our next camping camping trip before we left!

Next time, I hope to stay a little longer and explore the area more, whether it be going on a hike, fishing or just checking out the local shops and restaurants.