Happy Spring and some fun news!

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Hi all! Happy Spring! 

I'm back to share some great news! My friend and fellow blogger Tracey from Notes from a Cottage Industry is starting a new monthly feature called Humble Abode of the Month on her blog! My little apartment is the first to be featured. What an honor! Stop by and check it out!

I know I will be looking forward to seeing this every month on her blog now!

Cindy

Our home at Christmas

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Hi! It's been awhile since I've updated my blog! I thought I would check in and let everyone know I'm okay and also share some of my Christmas decor.  

Not much has changed in my world. I'm still living in my same apartment and still working at my same job!  I'm now supporting two VPs at work rather than just one and I got to go to Houston on a business trip last month with my new VP. That was my big excitement for the year!  I may be going back in March too!

Above is my yearly Christmas tree in the mirror photo!  My dad made this mirror for me in the early 90s and then years ago I added the shutters to the sides. Some of you may remember I found those shutters on the curb with a "free" sign on them!  Just a little paint is all they needed!

And this is the mirror in the mirror photo! haha! I'm still obsessed with mirrors! They bring so much more light into a space and make it feel so much bigger! 

I put up my artificial tree again this year but I think next year I'll use a real one. This is just a little too slim and I miss having a big full Christmas tree!  I might put this one up in my bedroom next year!

I hope to be back with some more Christmas decor photos soon! 

Happy Spring!

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Hi friends!  Since my last post was during the Christmas holiday season I thought I would check back in with you all!  I didn't intend to stay away so long. 

I just decorated for Easter/Spring about a week ago and I still haven't taken any photos so I thought I would share some from archives!   These were taken many years ago in my old apartment.

Not much is new in my life. Just busy working full time and driving for Uber part time and trying to fit some fun in there too!

I'm still living in the apartment that I'm not too fond of and still missing this old place I rented.

I hope for those that celebrate Easter that you have a wonderful one! 

My first croquembouche

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Every Christmas I make my snowflake cookies (pictured below). They have become a ritual during the holiday season but this year I decided to make a Croquembouche instead which is something I've always wanted to make ever since Martha Stewart's first book "Entertaining" came out in 1982.  I think that was the very first time I had seen or heard of Croquembouche! 

I made this one to take to a family Christmas Eve party and I tried to time it so I could finish it just before we left.  Each cream puff is filled with a vanilla custardy goodness and I didn't have room in my refrigerator to store this.  Well, it ended up taking me a little longer than I expected so I was rushing at the end and didn't have time to add the spun sugar that gets draped around it. That's the part I was really excited to do too...oh well!  I had to still get showered and ready to go so I told my daughter to just make a star with the sugar syrup on parchment paper so we could attach it to the top.  This was a group effort here. 

I had envisioned taking a beautiful photo of this on my dining room table with the lights from my Christmas tree in the background. We had no time for that we were already late so we snapped this iPhone photo after we arrived at the family gathering.

I was happy with how it came out for our first try but I was especially happy with how great it tasted!  The creamy filling and the crunchy caramelized sugar reminded me a lot of creme brulee.  I would definitely make this again.  There are lots of recipes and even tutorial videos out there but I used this Food Network Croquembouche Recipe

Now that I've tackled this, next year I plan to make something else I've always wanted to make. A Buche de Noel! I can't wait!

My snowflake cookies that I make every year!

Happy New Year! ...and yes! I'm back!

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 Hi again! Remember me?  It's been almost a year since I posted anything here!  I hope you all had a wonderful holiday season!

I never intended to take this long of a break, I guess life just got busy!  That, and after 10 years of blogging I really didn't have much to share. After years of buying stuff for my home I realized it was bursting at the seams and when you aren't constantly buying new stuff there isn't much to share.

 I'm still living in the same place, not by choice but the rent prices continue to climb here and as much as I would like to move I haven't been able to find anything better for a price that is affordable. So I'm making the best of it for now.  I still miss my old place so much but I'm not going to live in the past but make the best with what I have.

 So, this is my mantle for the New Year.  I took my Christmas decor down and stumbled upon these glittered letters in my closet and they inspired me to decorate for the New Year which is something I've never done in the past.  I've since added a white feather wreath to the mirror that I found on 80% clearance at Michaels. 

The martini glass was part of a set I gave to my daughter for Christmas.  For those of you that have been around a long time you may be shocked to hear my daughter is now 24 years old!  And my son, who is now working on his PhD is 30!  Time flies! I'm still not a grandmother though. My son has been in a long-term relationship with his girlfriend and my daughter is still trying to find a good guy. As for me, I'm still single and happy.  

I would like to thank all of you that emailed me out of concern. I think I told everyone that emailed me over the last year that I would post soon.... I finally did it!  I don't think I will be posting as often as I used to but I don't think I will be gone as long in the future! I promise!!!