happy halloween!

happy halloween!  behold this ancient photo of me dressed as a bunny for one of my first halloweens.  that's right, leave it to my parents to confuse a kid as to whether or not it was easter or halloween and whether or not the easter bunny or the great pumpkin was coming that night!  every time we see this picture we all get a good laugh.

fast forward 30-some years later and i'm looking forward to spending quality father-daughter halloween time with my dad again who is coming up to do trick-or-treat at my house tonight because ryan has to work.

i can't wait for work to be over so that i can head home, get in costume, and enjoy trick-or-treat time.  our house is decorated and my costume is ready to go.  (just like last year, my costume didn't cost a dime because i used things that i already had.)

every year we get a ton of trick-or-treaters at our house.  we bought a bunch of candy, so let the fun commence!  i always love seeing what everyone dresses up as for halloween!

happy halloween!

love, laurie

pumpkin carving and painting 2017

i can't believe that halloween is tomorrow!  before work on sunday morning, ryan and i got our pumpkins ready for halloween.  we carved our big pumpkin with a goofy face and used some puffy paint to decorate leko's small pumpkin.

we roasted the pumpkin seeds and have been snacking on them too!  i'm looking forward to seeing our pumpkin lit up tomorrow night for trick-or-treaters!

love, laurie

. . .

previous pumpkin carving: 2012, 2013, 2014

frosty friday

we woke up to 33 degrees this morning!  boy was it cold!  leko was cuddling in bed to stay warm and he didn't want to get up when my alarm clock went off . . . i don't blame him!  when i walked outside the roof and grass were all frosted.  i thought i was so funny to see our few little red roses still blooming right next to the white frosty grass. 

have a great weekend!

love, laurie

snapshots of life lately . . .

a few photos of . . . behind the scenes of a gentleman's guide to love and murder, a rare breakfast date on a sunday morning, rows and rows of pumpkins for sale, my cute lap kitten, dark chocolate nonpareils from the candy store, kitten in the sink colander as usual, and a rare lunch date.

love, laurie

simple cake decorating with stencils

i'm always on the look out for fun new creative ideas.  so, when stencil revolution reached out to me about trying their stencils, i was on board right away.  what you can do creatively with stencils is endless!

since i love baking and cake decorating, my mind immediately went to the idea of using a stencil to decorate the top of a cake.  ryan and i love to decorate cakes elaborately with hand-piped designs and fondant.  however, the reality is that sometimes you need to decorate a cake in a pinch and you simply don't have the time to spend hours decorating in the kitchen.  stencils are the perfect solution!

over the weekend i made a simple one-tiered cinnamon walnut cake and i covered it in basic vanilla buttercream.  all i did was place a stencil on top and dust ground cinnamon over the stencil.  i gently lifted the stencil off the cake and the result was a cute image that only took me seconds to make.  so easy!  for this cake, i chose to dust the stencil with ground cinnamon to play off the cinnamon-walnut flavor of my cake.  however, you could also use cocoa powder or powered sugar too.

stencil revolution offers so many different stencil patterns.  my favorites are the bicycle, compass, world map, and nyc skyline.  their company is based out of florida and their community of expert artists offers the very best in laser-cut stencils.

one of my favorite things about these stencils is that they are reusable!  they are very durable and can be washed easily.  as soon as i was done decorating my cake, my bicycle stencil washed off easily with soap and water.

i can't wait to use my compass, world map, and nyc skyline stencils on my next projects!  in addition to using them on cakes, i look forward to decorating gift bags, wrapping paper, and t-shirts with them with some paint!

love, laurie

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*please note: this is a sponsored post, however, the content of this post is based solely on my own personal opinion and experience.

holy brussels sprouts!

after visiting ritter's cider mill on saturday, we stopped by ritter's farm store to pick up a few fresh veggies before heading home.  while we were there, we found this enormous stalk with 74 brussels sprouts on it!  we couldn't resist bringing it home because it was only $4.99!  we'll be enjoying brussels sprouts for awhile!

love, laurie

ritter's cider mill

saturday was an absolutely picturesque fall day.  we had a few hours free in the morning before ryan had to go to work, so we took a little trip up to ritter's cider mill.  it's an annual tradition to make at least one trip up to ritter's every fall and we were craving some cider and apples.

we walked around to visit the animals, admired the pumpkins, picked out some apples, and got some cider to take home.  a few pictures that i snapped on my phone . . .

love, laurie

. . .

previous trips to ritter's cider mill: 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2016

fun links

okay, we made it to friday.  let's just step back and take a deep breath . . . we survived the week, one that was challenging for many reasons.  since it's friday, here are a few fun links that i found around the internet recently . . .

1. this creative cake brings back fond memories of doing sand art as a kid

2. an interesting look beyond the quick change

3. i've had chicago-style pizza, but never detroit-style pizza . . . i'm always in the mood for pizza

4. i love pumpkin and i love rosemary but i've never thought of combining them

5. speaking of pumpkin, pumpkin churros that are baked not fried

6. this list is all too real

7. a unique and pretty way to decorate your pumpkins

8. a good way to use up your fall apples

9. and, if you are in need of new glasses love, laurie readers can enjoy 50% frames at firmoo.com with code "Laurie1017" (offer ends november 30, 2017)

have a great weekend!

love, laurie

sleepy kitten

my goodness, the weather got cold this week, especially in the early mornings and late at night.  in response to the drastic temperature change (hello, 32 degrees!) leko has been cuddling up and taking a nap everywhere to stay warm.  all four of these pictures are just from this week and it's only thursday!  this cold weather sounds like a good excuse to stay home under the covers, with a kitten, and a cup of hot cocoa to me!

love, laurie

happy anniversary, mom and dad!

happy 37th anniversary today to my parents!

love, laurie

ryan's view . . .

. . . from behind the light board on saturday night while working an event.  (he texted me this picture because it was a rare occasion when someone from the event was nice enough to feed the light designer/board operator!)

love, laurie

a gentleman's guide to love and murder

we kicked off the broadway tour season this weekend by working the national tour of a gentleman's guide to love and murder.  ryan and i were excited when we learned that the tour of this show was coming to our venue because we saw it on broadway for our anniversary in 2015 and absolutely loved it!

we worked the (very long) load in and load out of the show.  even though we weren't on the same crew (i was on carpentry and ryan was on electrics) we did get to work together a little and got to have our lunch and dinner breaks together.  we also got a chance to see one of the performances on friday night, which is pretty rare!  even though it was an exhausting weekend, we had fun doing it.

love, laurie

friday the 13th

today is friday the 13th (and it's actually the second friday the 13th we've had in 2017 - the last was in january).  can you believe that approximately $800 to $900 million is lost in business in the u.s. on this day because people are afraid to fly or do business as they normally would!

i'm keeping my fingers crossed for a peaceful friday the 13th today as we load on our first broadway tour of the season in the theatre!

have a great weekend!
love, laurie

love bug

it's impossible to resist this adorable kitten, especially when he curls up in a ball on his favorite fleece blankets to stay warm.  i told him last night that the highlight of my night is coming home to him after a very long day and curling up with him in the evening.  of course he ate that up and was acting extra cute last night!

have a great thursday

love, laurie

snapshots of life lately . . .

a few photos of . . . a pretty view from a restaurant patio on a fall night overlooking a baseball field, kitten cuddles in bed, a broccoli and mushroom pizza for two, a chipotle lunch date, and a quaint front door decorated for fall.

love, laurie

the paper caves

i have been wanting to visit "the paper caves" ever since i saw this segment on the news back in august.  local artist samuelle greene turned an art gallery into an elaborate cave made of one million pages from old books, all of which were hand rolled and glued into place.  it's an art installation that you can walk through with amazing details at every twist and turn, and the gigantic sculpture is truly breathtaking in person. 

the exhibit is only open on saturdays for a few hours, so i was excited when we finally got the chance to see it this past weekend.  here is a neat video showing how the paper caves were created with a chicken wire base.  below are some pictures i snapped on my phone while we were there . . .

love, laurie

cuddle kitten

the weather has been alternating back and forth between hot and cool.  leko doesn't seem to mind what the temperature is, he is always up for cuddling on one of our laps!  tonight is his favorite night of the week because it's monday and dancing with the stars is on (his favorite show)!

happy monday!
love, laurie