Birthday Thanks.

Six Things I'm Thankful For On My Birthday:

1) My family. They're my rock, my support system, and the greatest, most selfless people in the world. I don't know what I would be without them. I couldn't have asked for a better, more caring family. Thanks, parentals and sister! <3

2) My friends. They're the bomb dot com. Seriously.

3) My job. I love being a Resident Assistant and I honestly believe that it completely changed not only my TCU experience, but it also changed me as a person. I have absolutely become the person I always wanted to be through this job.

4) My school. Even though Texas Tech beat us yesterday (still can't believe that we went into triple overtime), we still have incredible amounts of school pride. It's so important to me to go to a school where school pride is a big deal. Going to Texas Christian University is one of the best decisions I ever made. Give 'em Hell, TCU!

5) Photography & Blogging. I always needed a creative outlet and I always thought that I wouldn't be able to do something creative for a living. Boy was I wrong. I am grateful everyday for being able to call photography not just a hobby, but my job. I have already met such wonderful people through being a blogger and a photographer and I can't express how much it means to me. I always heard that whatever you do in your free time is probably what you should be doing for a living. Thankfully, I can say that I do just that.

6) Today. I am thankful that I have lived to see another day and celebrate another year of existence. So many adventures are still waiting for me and I'm always ready for them. Through ups and downs and rollercoasters of life, I end each day by being thankful that I lived through it. I love my life, I love the people in it, and I love being able to share it with each and every single one of you.

Happy Birthday to Me & Happy Sunday to You!

:)

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Pink Champagne Cake

Vanilla cake. Chocolate cake. Strawberry cake. Blah cake.

I'm quite the cake fanatic and I realized that I was starting to get bored with the usual flavors of cake. I was browsing on Pinterest when I got the idea to bake a cake that I had never tried before. A champagne cake is a nice flavor to use for a more sophisticated party and a cake for adults to celebrate with. So here it is: How I made my Pink Champagne Cake plus a decorating tip that will make everyone think you've been decorating cakes your whole life and that you slaved away at this for hours!

Step 1) I used this recipe to make this cake. The Andre champagne I used was the absolute cheapest one I found (#privatecollegekidproblems) and it was $4.47 at Walmart!

Step 2) Mix up all the ingredients. I tasted the batter after I mixed it up and I didn't feel like there was enough champagne in it so I added an extra 1/4 of a cup in and mixed it in.

Step 3) Pour the batter into round cake pans. Mine were 8x8.

Step 4) After taking them out of the oven, let them cool and then level them off for a nice even cake.

Step 5) While the cake was cooling, I mixed up the icing. I added a little extra champagne for more flavor. I realized that right after I mixed it in, it was REALLY strong, but after it had been sitting around for an hour or so, the champagne taste was not as strong and tasted really good. Also, this is a VERY sweet icing, so I didn't use too much of between the layers and on the cake.

Step 6) DECORATING TIP: Use a napkin to decorate your cake! There are usually two sides to a napkin: There's the smooth side and the patterned side. First, I used the smooth side to even out the final layer of icing on top of my crumb coat. Then I used a new napkin, patterned side down, and smoothed it out while pressing down ever so lightly. This seriously took me less than TEN SECONDS and then I was done! Looks pretty professional, right?

Step 7) While the cake was chilling in the fridge, I had to clean up the HUGE mess I made making the icing! Note: make sure the butter is completely softened before mixing.... Or else you'll get a huge mess too.

Step 8) Take pretty pictures of your fancy cake and share it with loved ones! Perhaps a nice glass of champagne would be nice to drink with this cake. :)

If you make this or have any quick decorating tips, let me know in a comment! Hope y'all like this and use this technique! I'd love to see pictures if you do!

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Cold Front

Shut the (Cold) Front Door!

The temperature went from being cozy, warm, and perfect, to this chilly, fifty-something degree weather overnight.... literally. Welcome to Texas, y'all. I've spent my down time curled up under my favorite fuzzy blanket.

Pink Champagne Cake. I found this recipe online and decided to make it. I tried out a new frosting technique and that pretty design took me less than TEN SECONDS! Interested in seeing how I did that? Stay tuned for pictures and tips once I get back to the beautiful, humungo Mac desktops at school!

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Pinterest Craft/Fall Break

FINALLY! Fall break! I'm off of school through Tuesday which means that I can finally take a break! Much needed with the balancing act of a 21 hour semester and my wonderful RA job. My first day of break and I've already done a craft! Here's my insta pic of it:

Cute, right?! I'm going to make another one, but with much better quality. Comment and let me know if y'all would like a tutorial on how I did this! (inspiration taken from For Chic Sake)

My goals for this break are to do some crafts (all of which I will be instagramming), do more food photography, run everyday (which is what I'm about to do after I post this), blog more, and relax. Two seriously stressful weeks and a lot of junk food later, I'm ready to take a break from my responsibilities and focus on my blog! I miss posting on here and reading other blogs and all the love and support from y'all!

That being said, I'm going to go for a short run, catch up on Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders: Making the Team 7, and get pumped up for watching my Horned Frogs play against Iowa tomorrow! GO TCU! Riff Ram Bah Zoo! :)

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