6 Pins in 6 Weeks

Well..that 6 pins in 6 weeks thing was worth a shot...Okay, actually I really enjoyed it, even if I didn't do very well at it. So here were my 6 pins that I planned to do:

1. Learn to accessorize: I don't have any pictures to prove that I accomplished this, but it's really more of a work in progress anyway. I did wear a lot more jewelry- I even got back into wearing earrings sometimes! Most importantly to me, I cleaned out a lot of my old jewelry and kind of took stock of what I have. Now I'm ready to start shopping for more updated jewelry so I can wear it on a regular basis!

2. The waterfall braid: done! I've done my hair like this so often now, and I love it each time.

3. Homemade granola bars: I planned to make a granola bar similar to the chewy bars, that are...well...chewy! But I also had a goal not to spend any money doing this pinterest challenge, and so I could only use what I had at home. I didn't have rice krispie cereal or quick oats, so I found a different recipe I'd pinned long ago to try! It was more like those crunchy granola bars, and while it was still pretty good....I won't be making them again. I don't care as much for the crunchy granola bars, but it was sure fun to try! So I'll get rice krispie cereal someday and make some delicious bars. :)

4. Make a yarn wrapped vase out of a Martinelli jar: done! It's still on my table and makes me happy every day.

5. Make a cleaning schedule: Done! I almost didn't finish this project, because it turned into a giant project where I wanted to make an entire house planning binder and all sorts of organizational things...but I calmed down and finished at least the cleaning schedule! Again, I just used what I had on hand, so some old scrapbook paper (not my favorite...but I need to use it all up before I can justify buying any more!)

6. Make overnight oatmeal: Total. Fail. Actually, I knew it would be a fail considering I didn't buy any of the ingredients! With March being my birthday, my husband's birthday, Easter, and all sorts of other things, I felt so overloaded with food that even the thought of this oatmeal made me a little sick. I try to have a small breakfast of cereal and banana slices, so a jar of oatmeal with yogurt and fruit/mix-ins just seemed too much during this gigantic month of food. But I looked at the recipes for the oatmeal again last weekend, and they looked really really good, so I think I'm over my perpetual fullness and I can try to make these soon! I'll let you know how they go, because I really can't wait to try all the flavor combinations.

March: The Month of Birthdays

March is a pretty fun month, if I do say so myself. The weather is officially getting warmer, and the world is once again a happy, not dead wintry place. We have my birthday, my husband's birthday, Easter, St. Patrick's day, and probably a few more excuses to eat as many treats as possible. I just really love March! Last year, our birthday cakes were both disasters. Since last year, I've found my absolute favorite chocolate cake recipe, and these cakes were much better because of it!

My cake was an almond joy cake, inspired by these beautiful cupcakes by Confessions of a Cookbook Queen. If I had it to do again, I might just make her exact cupcakes, complete with the gigantic dollop of almond frosting. I didn't want to make a huge cake, since it was just the two of us (and we'd have more cake in just two weeks for my husband's birthday!), so I just made one layer, which the almond frosting and chocolate ganache. I thought it was very very good- but again, I'd have at least twice as much almond frosting next time!

I've been showing everyone I know the recipe I used for my husband's birthday cake- the recipe is for peanut butter cup brownie cake from Sprinkle Bakes. Even just looking at her pictures of that amazing cake make me want to make it again! And we still have half of ours left. :) I didn't make the brownie layers (because I'm a wimp and didn't want to use 5 eggs!) and so I made two layers of my very favorite cake recipe and one layer of the peanut butter filling. I had to adjust the chocolate frosting quite a bit- when I followed the original recipe, it was not very sweet, and very very dark. So I made it a light, whippy frosting instead, and I loved it all! It was actually very easy to make the peanut butter layer, and the whole cake stayed together, so I'd call it a birthday success!