Halloween Inspiration

Carving one of these little guys today.

These spiderweb cookies and this cookie decorating tutorial.

Can't decide if I should carve some of these or

these.

Should I be Lydia Deetz or

Wednesday Addams ?

I know it's still early but tomorrow will be the first day of October

and I'm decorating my house today so I wanted to share some things

that are currently inspiring me and hopefully you will be inspired too.

I would also love to know what's inspiring you!

XOXO

Lidia

farewell summer, hello fall

Today was the first day of fall and I'm excited for all the things that come with it.

Halloween, horror films every night, pumpkin carving with the misfits soundtrack

(new yearly tradition), blankets on the couch, cool walks around the neighborhood, 

hot chocolate, sweaters, boots and socks.  

Here I leave you some pictures of a summer picnic we had back in July.

                                      

1./2. Trader Joe's cheese tortellini in vodka sauce + sourdough.

3./4./5. Maximiliano loving that sourdough.

6. Playing with his soccer ball.

7./8. Swings aren't his favorite but he was having a blast.

What are your favorite things about fall?

Do you have any fall traditions?

I would love to hear all about them!

xoxo

Healthy Reese's Peanut Butter Cups

Hi guys. Let me tell you about these AMAZING healthy chocolate snacks.

All you need are 5 simple ingredients and you will be in healthy Reese's heaven.

I incorporated these into my diet as a snack when I started clean eating back 

in March, I believe. Chocolate being one of my absolute favorite things (especially

Reese's peanut butter cups), well I just couldn't live without it so I decided to make

my own, I was so impressed on how good they were! 

P.S. those little cute chocolate liners are from my local Japanese market.

Healthy Reese's

Ingredients:

- 1/2 c. coconut oil (slightly melted)

- 1/2 c. cocoa powder

- 1/2 c. smooth peanut butter (or any other nut butter)

- 1/4 c. raw honey

- 1/2 t. vanilla

Blend all ingredients together, food processor or whisk both work just fine.

Pour into your candy cups. Freeze for about 30 minutes until firm then

remove, place in sealed container and store in freezer. Whenever you have

a chocolate craving pop one out of the freezer and in to your mouth! 

These are also great for children.

Enjoy

xoxo

Maximiliano's First Birthday

 June 27th 2013

The pizza of my eye. 

Life's greatest gift to me.

The reason my life is one continuous happy day,

on his very first birthday, eating his very own cake.

                             

1.Happy as can be, mounted on his piñata at his first birthday party!

2. Not wanting to sit still with his uncle (one of my best friends).

3. Hitting the piñata with his cousin. (He wanted to be barefoot the whole time.)

4. Eating some pasta bows, this boy can eat like nobody's business!

5. Posing with his Aunt, looking very serious.

6. Riding a penny with the help of mom.

7. Party invitations.

8/9. Goody Bags.

Maximiliano's first birthday was a few months ago, on the month of June.

His actual birthday was the 27th which was also my little sisters graduation from

middle school. His Dad and I woke him up by singing happy birthday to him

then proceeded to take him out of his crib and cuddle with him while we sang

happy birthday again, he was half asleep and smiling and loving it anyway.

 We celebrated both Maximiliano and my sister by going out for sushi. It was lots

of fun spending time with my mom and all my sisters and Maximiliano got his very

own green tea ice cream when they found out it was his first birthday, you should

have seen the smile on his face when he saw his sundae sitting in front of him.

He didn't know what to do, he couldn't believe it was actually happening haha.

After that we went home sang happy birthday again and he had a blast diving head 

first into his cake. I think I sang him Happy Birthday like a thousand times that day.

His birthday party was on the 29th of June, so we could all celebrate together,

on the weekend. It was lots of fun and also a little stressful although I tried to prep

as much as I could the days before. Yes I was late to my very own party or

Maximiliano's party that is, but I did learn a lot from it to make next years birthday

less stressful and more organized! So that's good, right?

I made it a simple neon bow tie party at the park. Made bow-ties for the kids to wear

and stuck them on the invitation. Boys wore them around the neck and girls in their hair.

Made the cake myself, it was just a simple vanilla tier cake with cream cheese frosting, 

neon sprinkles and a neon green fondant bow-tie that I made myself. I was not even able

 to get a picture of it, Baby turned out to be too tired and took a big nap so I don't even have

 a picture of him with the cake, it was getting late and I ended up cutting the cake

 and handing it out to guest as they left. I think the highlight of the party was the piñata.

The kids had a blast hitting it and picking up candy, I even joined them!

Food consisted of burgers and hot dogs, bow pasta salad and there was also soyviche.

(Which is just ceviche made with soy meat instead of shrimp, if you are wondering.)

The goody bags were just neon green paper lunch bags that I filled with a notepad,

bunch of crayons tied with yarn, neon play dough, a cute toy story clicking camera and

a few pieces of candy such as cry babies, starbursts, jolly ranchers, fun dips and 

blow pops which aren't pictured. 

I feel like I didn't take enough pictures (I took more than the ones you see here),

also I was kinda' bummed out I didn't get to take a picture with the baby and cake but

other than that I was super happy that everyone came to celebrate with us and helped

my baby have a happy first birthday which is what counts!

xoxo