I smell a wedding!!!

Exciting news everyone...I'm ENGAGED!!! Crazy stuff, right? It happened the same day I last blogged- and I figured I'd post on here what I've accomplished so far & share the ring for those of you who may not see it on facebook!  I'm such a lucky girl- Curt designed the ring himself- the one I had wanted wasn't available anymore, and he didn't really like similar ones, so he designed the setting & picked out each diamond- so I have a one-of-a-kind ring, which makes it even more special!

Wow! It's hard to take a good picture of a ring!!!

And for months now I've had a vision of creating a little surprise to ask my friends if they'd be a bridesmaid in my wedding.  I got the idea from pinterest, not going to lie- but I only saw one pin, and whoever had put the present together was much more crafty & had more money to work with than I.  But I still wanted something fun- you only get to do this once!  So I bought some cheap, fun, colorful leis, mini plastic martini glasses, and then a bag to put them in....and below are the results!  I wrote the bridesmaid's name on the "glass" and thought we could wear them for the bachelorette party-hows that for thinking ahead ;)

the "goods" -plastic martini glasses, sparkly leis, craft paper bags, scrapbook paper, lacy ribbon

all sealed up- nothing fancy, but I thought they were cute!

The finished product- showcasing what was inside!

This whole project cost maybe $15, then the money to mail them to 4 different states-luckily they are light!

And I couldn't leave the flower girl out, so I improvised hers a little bit, and to personalize hers cost an additional $1- TOTAL for 6 bridesmaids & 1 flower girl, plus postage- LESS than $25!!!

Perfect for a 4 year old girl, right?

Bought a flower-mirror party favor for 25 cents & added her name to it- a flower for the flower girl!!!

Now here's hoping I can continue on my creative ways to help keep costs contained...but I'm soooo excited to do more crafty things!

I tried 3 new recipes this past week too, so I will promise to try and post those on here soon!  If I don't before the weekend, hope you all enjoy the long weekend with Memorial Day & kick off summer on a great note :)

Cheesecake Bars!

Holy man...it's been WAY too long since I've had time to post on this blog.  I am FINALLY done with rotations...this last one was brutal. I've barely had time to cook, barely had time to pinterest & get ideas! But don't worry people, now that it's time to start studying for boards, I'll be looking for procrastination ideas-such as cooking & sharing my recipes with you all! yay!

So for my last day on rotation I wanted to try something super easy to bring in-and have leftovers that Curt could take to work.  Found this EASY recipe for cheesecake bars.  It was based on a box of chocolate cake mix, but made a second batch with funfetti cake mix & they were even better.mmmm.

Cheesecake Bars

Ingredients:
 (for base)-
1 box cake mix (I used chocolate fudge & a funfetti cake mix-two separate pans, not together!)
1 egg
1 stick butter, soft

(for cheesecake)-
 2 (8oz) cream cheese, soft
1/2 c sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla

Directions:
-Preheat oven to 350 degrees
-Beat cake mix, egg, and butter until it turns into a thick dough, & press in a greased 13x9 pan
-In a medium bowl, beat cream cheese until smooth, add sugar, eggs, & vanilla & beat until smooth
-Pour cheesecake layer over cake mix base
-Bake for 30-35 minutes or until edges start pulling away from the edge of the pans
-Cool completely

Other- With the chocolate cake mix, I threw in some mini chocolate chips in the cheesecake layer, and with the funfetti cake base I added sprinkles into the cheesecake layer.  Feel free to add any toppings as well- frosting, chopped candy bars perhaps, chocolate shavings, even fruit!  I'm super excited to try these with a red velvet cake mix base. mmm.  Enjoy everyone, and check back soon for more recipes!!!

cake mix base, cheesecake top

Funfetti on the left, chocolate fudge on the right...mmm