Baby Lee

Bria don't hate me for posting these already...but I finally got to see Bria again after not seeing her for MONTHS! She wanted some pictures taken, so we went and snapped some shots around her house during our short little visit. I haven't even met this cute baby boy already and I love him! Check out how cute preggers Bria is!

Told ya so!

So you know a few posts ago where I mentioned my favorite local band "Imagine Dragons?" Well, it took them way less than the year I anticipated and they've now been signed to Interscope Records. Congrats Fellas! (and lady). Velour is hoping for one last farewell performance in Provo before they are summoned by the great land of Hollywood, and asked to tour with much bigger names.

As for the rest of my playlist on my iPod, I figured I'd share...

1. Young the Giant-My Body

2. Imagine Dragons-All Eyes

3. Needtobreathe- Oohs and Ahhs

4. Mumford and Sons- Winter Winds

5. The Civil Wars- Barton Hollow

6. Sleeping at Last- Turning Page

7. The Features- Lions

8. Alexander Rybak- Funny Little World

9. The Black Keys-Tighten Up

10. The Neighbors- Risk of Disaster

Twitter

I know I am probably just about the last person on this planet to hop on the twitter bandwagon, but I finally did it...Truthfully, I made an account about 3 years ago and it sat idly with one measly post until this month. I believe I have 21 tweets so far...why anyone would want to know the details of my day are beyond me. I get bored living them, for you to read them would be doubly boring! Haha, but anyways, my twitter is HERE. You should follow me, so I can follow you. Then I can entertain myself at work by reading about your day!

The COOLEST story ever told!!!

Okay, I don't want to let any of you down with the title of this post, so I assure you the story is pretty slick. When I was about 8 years old, my dad built this huge elaborate doll house for me and my sister. It was 3 stories tall, carpeted, wall paper, elevator, garage, etc. Seriously way cool, and I didn't even like barbies. Anyways, when I was around 13 years old, we moved out of my childhood home, and into a much smaller place. We didn't have room to store the giant doll house in our tiny home. Sadly without asking anyone for permission, my dad took the doll house to D.I.

11 years later...My family decides to go shopping at DI to help my little brother find a Halloween costume. To much of their dismay, DI was already closed for the evening and they thought they were out of luck. Driving through Salt Lake, they noticed a new Savers store on the road. My brother was successful in finding his incredibly awesome Doctor Who costume. While browsing around, Trevor noticed a gigantic doll house in the kids section. It was painted an ugly blue and pink color, but upon further inspection realized that it was in fact, our family's doll house!

$12 dollars later, my dad loaded our childhood dollhouse into the bed of his truck and took it home. It is now perched in our garage while it awaits a new paint job :)

Hows that for a story? What are the odds?

Survey

Ok that's it. I think that post first dates, the best way to determine how you did is to give the boy a survey. Just think about it, if every date was a learning experience and gave you an opportunity to improve for the next guy, us ladies would all be on top of the dating scene! Just a small slip of paper that asked on a scale of 1-10 how the date went, the likelihood of a second date, room for improvement, and additional comments. Umm genius much? I think this should have been required from the get go. Think of how much drama would be spared. If I ever run for President, I'm mentioning it in my campaign. It would be a huge contribution to world peace I think...

Why do we torture ourselves with the cruel game called dating?

Seriously, that's all it is! You meet someone, you go out with them, then you either like them or you don't...But what if you like them? And what if you're a girl? Then you have to patiently wait a normal amount of time before you contact the guy or wait for him to call...or in this day and age, text. It is excruciatingly painful! Cause I haven't dated a lot recently. And I just went out on a hot date...and I like him lots. But then I started thinking afterwords last night that maybe I'm a little too weird...maybe.

Searching for Armadillos

Harry Potter midnight Premier

Accessorizing with live lizards

Britney Spears Impersonator

Favorite Band

I've blogged about them before, but really guys if you have the opportunity to see these guys in concert, you should probably do it. I personally think it'll take less than a year before they are discovered and signed to a label. If you like good music and you like to dance, please give them a listen.

A Fall Must Have

Ok, I am a bit addicted to Starbucks Salted Chocolate Hot Chocolate. I was forced to try it last year after spending about 8 hours at a Barnes and Noble drinking several hot chocolates. The barista finally convinced me to try their Holiday drink. SOOOOO GOOOOOOD. I was hooked on the first cup. We have a starbucks next to my work so once a week the other assistants and I treat ourselves. This drink is seasonal and only here for the Holiday season, so make sure you try it before it's gone!!!

Dear Forest Gump

Dear Forest Gump,

I hate running. In fact, I don't think hate is a strong enough word for my feelings towards it. You see, I have a desk job. A very good one in fact where they feed me several times a day, take me to fancy restaurants, hold weekly events catered with delicious food. You see Forest, I love food. I don't care what kind of chocolate I pull from a box as long as it's chocolate. However, this has become a problem...I'm going on a cruise this weekend. A week long getaway to Jamaica where I will be wearing a swimsuit in front of possibly several cute boys.

So, last week upon my return from California, I decided to eat healthy for my two weeks home, while exercising frequently to lose a few pounds. Then I talked to my cousin on Saturday at my family reunion. She just had a baby...and she's tiny! I asked her, "how do you do it???" Her reply was an 8 mile run every morning?!?!?! That's fantastic? But what if I hate running? I don't mind the part of getting all ready to work out. I don't even mind the gym. However, whenever I approach running, I have this mentality every time that I will succeed in running the entire distance that I plan on covering. How hard could it be?

Let me tell you, it sucks. After about my first two minutes on the road, the only thing I can think about is how much I hate it, and want to stop. I keep trying to convince myself that if I do it every day, I will eventually like it. Well, it's been two weeks and I still hate it. I know that your way of coping with a break up results in you running across the country. Props to you for that. However, if it were me, I'd stick to a pint of ice cream and a chick flick.

Sincerely,

Jenica

Puppy in the Park

Every day I take Rufio to the park...he likes it very much.

A new love affair...

With cupcakes...I have never been much of a cake person...and sorry for those of you who do read my blog, but this week is like a Harry Potter special. I came across a butterbeer cupcake recipe (for those of you not familiar with Harry Potter, it basically consists of butter flavoring, cream soda, and lots of sugar). So while we are watching all seven movies before the last and final one this Thursday, we decided we needed an awesome refreshment to satisfy us while we watched our favorite silver screen hero. Also, here are the other pictures of us making our shirts...and Rufio while he sat neglected as we ate our cupcakes...

For those of you interested in the recipe, here it is:

Butterbeer Cupcakes
Recipe adapted from Amy Bites

For the cupcakes:

2 cups flour
1-1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup dark brown sugar
3 large eggs
1-1/2 tsp vanilla
1 tsp butter flavoring
1/2 cup buttermilk
1/2 cup cream soda

For the butterscotch ganache:
1 11-oz package butterscotch chips
3/4 cup heavy cream

For the buttercream frosting:

1/2 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/3 cup butterscotch ganache
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp butter flavoring
1/8 tsp salt
1 lb powdered sugar
Splash of cream (as needed)

- Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line cupcake tins with paper liners.
- In a large bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt.
- In the bowl of an electric mixer, cream together butter and sugars until light and fluffly, about 2-3 minutes.
- Beat in eggs one at a time, scraping down the sides of the bowl between each.
- Add in vanilla and butter flavoring.
- Combine buttermilk and cream soda in a small bowl and alternate adding that combination with the flour mixture with the mixer on low, starting and ending with the flour.
- Fill cupcake liners 3/4 full and bake for 15-17 minutes, or until cake tester comes out clean. Cool completely on wire racks.

- For the butterscotch ganache, melt butterscotch chips and heavy cream together using a double boiler until completely smooth. Cool to room temperature to allow the ganache to slightly thicken.
- Fill a plastic squeeze bottle with the ganache, and insert tip into each cupcake, filling until the ganache starts to slightly overflow.

- For the frosting, cream butter in the bowl of an electric mixer until light and fluffy. Add ganache, vanilla, butter flavoring, and salt and mix until well combined. Beat in powdered sugar and allow it to come together for about 2 minutes. Add cream a tablespoon at a time until desired consistency is reached.
- Pipe frosting onto cupcakes with a large tip and drizzle leftover butterscotch ganache over each.

Recipe yields 18 cupcakes.

Preparing for the Premiere!

So instead of dressing up for this weeks movie, Cassidy, Whitney, Cierra and I decided to make shirts instead...I personally think they turned out amazingly...and they took forever! However, well worth the effort!

WHEN I SAY HARRY YOU SAY POTTER!

I am the biggest Harry Potter nerd in this country. I wont say world, because I'm pretty sure JK Rowling would trump me. She did after all create him. I have this not unusual, but crazy ritual that when any Harry Potter movie comes out, I re-read all seven books. That's right folks. Over 168 hours, I cover 3,407 blissful pages of magical goodness. So if you try and get a hold of me this next week, I'll either be doing this:

Or watching the awesome series. Some of you may wonder, who would win in a fight. Harry Potter, or Edward Cullen. Or, maybe you don't care. Either way, I don't have the answer to this question, but I have the answer to who would win in a fight against Ginny and Bella.

Baked Goods

Today I sat in a really important, highly top secret adult meeting about the new upcoming City Creek project in Salt Lake City, Downtown. I don't particularly like meetings. They make me sleepy. Then after I get sleepy I have to stiffle yawns for an hour and force my eyes to not only stay open, but to appear interested on the topic. Today was not necessarily different, however occasionally we will order in lunch to eat while we listen to boring things.

We ordered from Jimmy Johns. It was truly remarkable. Just like the commercial in fact! We called them, and before we could hang up the phone, our sandwiches were being delivered! Chips and cookies were also involved (I like cookies). After eating my scrumptious sandwich, a handful of plastic wrapped chocolate-chippy goodness sat in the middle of the table while this important guy talked about buildings and stuff. Why was no one else reaching for one of these delectable delights to satisfy their sweet tooth cravings? I didn't want to be the first one to reach for a cookie, so I just sat there with my "interested" face listening to the meeting. However, while the meeting continued on, I was battling my thoughts that sounded a little bit like this:

"So next year exactly 322 days away, we will be opening..."

"COOKIES. I want one."

"What can we do for your company to best impliment..."

"I want a cookie. MMMM cookies."

"We will be expecting to focus on international sales..."

"Freakin cookie. I want a cookie. Cookies are soooo good."

For over 45 minutes, I stared at that taunting little baked, plastic wrapped cookie, dreaming of what it would taste like in my mouth. The moist, sweet dough filling my longing belly. I knew that I would not be able to concentrate on anything else that day until I had a taste. After an hour, I could no longer take it. I grabbed that mocking little wrapper and opened my cookie...And do you know what? It was disgusting. Biggest let down of my life.

MAKE IT WORK!!!

I don't know how many of you watch Project Runway, but I am an absolute fan. This weekend, the host of the show flew from (no joke) the Royal Wedding straight to good ol' Salt Lake. And what a better way to welcome him than the traditional Utah weather forecast. I woke up bright and early Saturday morning with the sun shining, the birds chirping, and pleasantly blue skies. By the time I arrived at gateway to meet Jocelyn, we were standing in the middle of a December snowstorm. Luckily for Tim, upon his arrival the sun shined again and continued to shine until his departure.

Lucky Brand Jeans put on a fashion show at the Gateway where Tim commentated on the event. Afterwards, we were able to meet him and he is now on my favorite people's list! If you have ever seen the show, he is just as animated and lovely in person as he is on TV. He also called Gretchen the villain...Awesome. Jocelyn is mad at herself for not networking her new talents as an interior designer, so is now determined to meet him again! Here is a picture. Tim Gunn is awesome. Make it work!