2013 Mission: Organization

I'm very excited to share my new daily planner for 2013. I've always loved organizers and color coding events (which is becoming a necessity with our growing family), but it's been difficult for me to find a planner that works well for us. So this year, instead of searching high and low only to finally settle on something mediocre, I decided to just design one myself that will perfectly suit our needs.

(If you'd like your own personalized version visit my new etsy site. The link is on the right side bar.)

The cover:

My Weekly Pages

I wanted to make sure I had enough room for our various daily activities, notes, and a to-do list. 

I included the meal planning portion of the page because it's something I'm currently horrible about tracking. Every once in a while I do a good job planning out meals for the week, but we spend way too much on restaurants because of the convenience and usually poor planning on my part.

I also made a page for special dates so I can easily track birthdays, anniversaries, 

and other important events.

I'm also thinking about printing out a separate copy for family activities.

 I also made pages for contacts, notes, and a calendar for each month.

 

I also love that if something happens to the pages I can print more. Here's to a more organized 2013!

Hello Smiles

With the new year comes the exciting task of planning, organizing, and baking for the various upcoming birthdays we will soon be celebrating. Within the span of three weeks we celebrate three birthdays, and now with our newest little addition on his way that number will increase to four. So if you want cake this spring now you know where to go.

Last year, my daughter requested a Hello Kitty cake. I also made Hello Kitty cake pops inspired by those I found on Bakerella's site. (Click here to visit her site. Just prepare to be amazed, inspired, and create a fun mess in the kitchen.)

These were my first attempt at cake pops, and while the first couple looked a little gruesome Grace didn't seem to mind at all.

After a little tweaking they got better.

As for the cake, I started by making my own fondant. I've used store bought fondant before, and I found it hard to color and difficult to work with so making my own seemed to be the only way to go.

 I added pink food coloring to create a pink ombre surprise for when the cake was cut.

And here's the final result.

 Grace now refers to her third birthday as her "Hello Kitty birthday" so I'll mark this one as a success. This year she wants to have a Tinkerbell birthday... let the planning begin!