Mama's baking!....what what?!

So tonight around 10:00 pm I decided that I was feeling DTB...."down to bake."  And that's exactly what I did, if you call throwing a few super simple ingredients together to create pure awesomeness! I won't pretend that I even like to bake, it's way too precise and I don't even have a sweet tooth. But, I am a huge fan for anything with cinnamon, spice, cloves, nutmeg, etc, and this recipe has a big bunch of pumpkin puree in it. No, believe me, it's pure awesome.  Allow me to share this little bit of yumminess with y'all...

"Easy Pumpkin Spice Muffins"

Ingredients

• 1 (18.25 ounce) package yellow cake mix
• 1 (15 ounce) can pumpkin puree
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease a 12 cup muffin pan or line with paper liners.
2. In a large bowl, mix together the cake mix, pumpkin puree, cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves until smooth. Spoon equal amounts of batter into the prepared muffin cups.
3. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes in the preheated oven, until a toothpick inserted in the center of one comes out clean.

And that's all she wrote! Yup, it couldn't be easier. Try these, they don't disappoint!

you can find this recipe here...

Dancing Greeks and a Halloween Birthday...

Well hello there! It's been a few days since I've posted but in my defence it's because things have been busy-busy lately. LET me reiterate my love for this time of year...so many parties, events and things to get all involved in! We were invited to possibly the cutest ever birthday/Halloween party for a 2 year old. Her mama went all out to create a fun, kid friendly party with a Harry Potter wizard and witches theme. 

{there's a spider in the house...}

{these wizards and witches came to party...}

{ I die! This birthday girl was rocking her pearls, tutu and a sassy hat}

{Cheesecake "shots", mini-donut witch booms and custom cookies. Her mama has skillz!}

__________________________________________________________________________________________

Last Saturday night Husband and I joined up with 300 of our closest Greek friends to dance the night away in  honour of St. Demetrios. (A great saint if there ever was one!)  As always the wine brought on the dancing and the band played till 4:00 am- no big deal.

{self portrait time...why does drinking always make it seem like a great idea?}

{These Greeks got down to business,,,dancing, drinking, singing, drinking. Repeat.}

Alright all you witches and wizards, Halloween is only 3 days away. The count down is on and tomorrow night Mama is going out for drinks with the girls in full costume. Are you gonna get your BOO-on and go out this year? Don't tell me you're too old...you're never too old! 

Baby shower of the century!

Yup, in my humble opinion this weekend Mama pulled together the most amazing baby shower ever. The party was thrown in honour of my girlfriend Rolanda and her baby London (and that little girl most definitely came out to party...as much as a 2 month old can rock it out!)

My theme was a pink and green candy shoppe...super sweet fun for an even sweeter little girl.

The weather was hot and gorgeous outside and the white peach sangria was cold and delicious!

{The baby of the day, Miss London with a giant pink flower}

{Dessert anyone? Macaroons, chocolate chip stuffed raspberries, red velvet cupcakes and fruit kabobs}

{White Sangria with fresh peaches, strawberries and green apples- and a whole lot of Sauvignon Blanc and peach schnapps...Yum!}

{Mommy Rolanda opening her gifts and it wouldn't be a shower without at least a few cheesy shower games...}

{Lots of sweet treats to take home}

{Party blooms (pompoms) for a pop of fun and color}

{I'd rock a tutu too...if I could}

 {fresh flowers make Mama happy}

It was beyond fun putting this shower together...and even more fun getting together with all of Rolanda's best girlfriends. 

Babies are so special and they deserve to be celebrated as much as possible!

Planning only the most amazing baby shower ever...

So my best girlfriend in the whole wide world surprisingly found herself preggers last October and after 9 quick months (I can say that because I wasn't the pregnant one), her precious little girl "Miss" London arrived this past July. I had the honor of acting as her birthing partner/coach and you better believe I sweet talked that little girl out into this world. What an experience...but that's a story for another time!

It's only logical that since I cut the umbilical cord I should also be the one to throw her a fabulous "welcome to this world" celebration in the form of a baby shower.  

{Custom Pink Lollipop Invitation from Red Letter Design}

I'm beyond excited and have a million party ideas. The theme is a pink and green candy shop full of lollipops, gum-balls, sweethearts, cotton candy, macaroons and cupcakes. Considering that my own sweet tooth is absolutely non-existent I think I'm being mighty creative!  

But of course because Mama is hosting this party there will be plenty of fruity sangria, sparkling pink champagne and boat-loads of spiked punch.

Here's what I've pulled together/plan on having so far...

{Custom Party Blooms from whimsypie}

{Via Hostess with the Mostess}

{party accessories via letsPARTYon}

Good Lord how cute is this stuff!? I can barely handle it. I'm so impressed by the creativity of these ladies...and myself -what what!

It's going to be challenging pulling it all together and I'll have to channel my inner Colin Cowie, Mindy Weiss and Martha Stewart - but I'm up for it.
I'm so excited to shower this sweet little girl with all the love, attention and gifts that she and her mommy deserve. It's not taking place till the last week of September but I'll be sure to update you with mountains of pics. 
Can't hardly wait y'all! 

So what else should I do to make this party special, throw me some more ideas girls!
What would you do to make a baby shower fun or original?

Par-tay!

It was Kid #1's 5th Birthday on Saturday and I decided a while back that it would be a good idea to have a simple, old school style birthday party at our house and invite all his friends from school.  (Does no one have simple kids birthday parties anymore??, there's always clowns, magicians, exotic or expensive locations and apparently you have to drop at least $500 bucks. I say no, this kid is ONLY 5.)  If I'm going to pay through the nose for a party I'll at least do it when he's old enough to remember it!!

We I chose to invite boys only to keep the numbers down...it's not like I'm encouraging gender segregation at an early age, just trying to make things manageable. And believe me 12  five year old boys was MORE then enough for Mama to handle. Fortunately my two besties were able to help out with the pandemonium party fun!

{Kid #1 is five today, whaaat!?!?!)

We had a Sponge Bob/Hawaiian party theme (since Kid is still in love with Hawaii after our holiday in Oahu this winter). The kids ate pizza, plenty of candy and chips, we had a limbo-stick game and a pinata to attack for prizes inside. Good times right?,,,if you're five I guess!

Later that night since my friends were in town to celebrate my birthday too and we really needed to drink have some fun, we went out for dinner to a cute little Italian place downtown, had a couple bottles of red and continued on for drinks at a place called Mercury. 

How do you spell post kids-party relief?!  W-i-n-e.

{Wine = self portrait time}

{ Toothy-grin shot} 

The nice "gentlemen" behind us were kind enough to buy a round of vino...thanks boys, laterz!  Use them then lose them I say!!

Reunion rewind

We made it back from our long-weekend family Wine-Reunion 2010 and it actually turned out to be a pretty decent time. It was great spending time with family that travelled from all across the country to be together. (Canada is tres large.)
On Friday night Kid #2 ran laps around my aunt's home until I was sweating like a buffalo feeling a bit warm from chasing him. But fortunately one of my BFF's that lives in the city was able to take him away babysit the remaining evenings so I could at least spend a bit of time catching up with my relatives.
Mama may have gained 5 lbs in BBQ/Italian/Ukrainian food and wine but I'm pretty sure it was worth it!  All of the 3 days of family activities revolved around food and drinks. Is that normal?...

{Note serious focus by diners on dinner plates...that's how my family rolls. It's all about the food (and booze judging by the table of assorted liquor.)}

{ Dinner at my aunt's home, food,  food and more food....}

{My lovely cousin and me looking a little deer in the headlights-y}

{Our hotel room was actually 2 attached rooms that included a kids themed room. Of all the pictures from Finding Nemo they had to pick the one with angry sharks??!  Needless to say Kid #1 had some concerns about sleeping with the fishes that night.....}

Mmmm getting sick perhaps?

Nope, not liking this at ALL, it feels like I'm getting sick....hot, achy, sore throat, etc.

H1N1 you Mother Beeeeotch! I'm not going down without a fight!!!  Maybe this isn't H1N1...but it's the beginning of something. I'm a whiney moaner when I'm sick, so for the sake of my family I hope this isn't anything that a little Cold FX couldn't handle! Cold FX is the Canadian wunder drug for all flus/colds and whatevah ails you!  (and of course I don't have any of it right now...)

And even though I'm starting to feel crappy, amazingly enough I can't get the thought of ordering Chinese food out of my mind. Who does that? Is 'almost' sick and is still day-dreaming about the fattening, delicious Chinoise that  I have no business eating, EVER!!!? 

P.S.  I'm the worst speller in the world....