chevron nails

I finally caved and ordered a Konad Nail Stamper in order to help me with my nail art obsession. I ordered the Bundle Monster nail plate set from Amazon and am kind of obsessed with the results. For this mani, I used Essie Cute as a Button on my regular nails, Essie Splash of Grenadine as the base of my accent nail, and Essie Big Spender as the chevron print. I used the BM 201 plate for my chevron print. And here are the results! I love the accent nail trend and think it's more fun with a contrasting color chevron! Expect more of these bundle monster/konad nails in the near future! Happy Easter and happy Spring!

Laura

Easter Cupcakes

So I decided to make some fancy cupcakes for Easter. After going through tons of recipes online, I decided to go with chocolate raspberry cupcakes! I cheated and bought some Devil's Food cake mix from a box as well as some pre-made Fluffy White frosting so they're not from scratch, but they are super delicious!

What you'll need:
-Devil's Food cake mix
-Fluffy White Frosting
-Seedless Raspberry Jam
-Frozen Raspberries
-Two Ziploc bags (for jam filling and frosting)
-Blender
-Wooden Spoon

Basically, what you'll do is follow the directions on the cake mix and wait for them to cool. When they are cooled, take the end of a wooden spoon and insert into the center of the cupcake. You can push the spoon in deep but make sure not to push it all the way down to the bottom of the cupcake (or else the jam may fall out the bottom).

making the hole

 

my donut looking cupcakes

When you have all of the holes in the cupcakes, fill a ziploc bag with seedless raspberry jam and cut a hole in the corner. You can put the tip of the bag in the hole and push the jam out until it starts to overfill. Here's what they look like when that's happening and when they're done!

When this is done, you're going to defrost the raspberries (you can also use fresh) and put them in the blender until they are fully ground. You can mix this into the frosting bit my bit until you get your desired flavor and color of frosting. I put the mix in the blender to make a smoother and less funky looking frosting. Note: the frosting will be more liquified than regular frosting, so it may drip off the cupcake when you frost them. You can put the frosting mixture in the ziploc bag, cut a hole and push the frosting through. And voila! Refrigerate and eat within an hour! These are so good--but you have to love raspberry to enjoy these cupcakes. Hope you like them, my family and I sure do!



Laura

 

 

spring has SPRUNG in the Bronx

After 4 years of going to the Bronx multiple times (to visit my sister at Fordham) and 4 years of living in the Bronx (my time at Fordham), I never once made it to the Orchid Show at the New York Botanical Gardens. Although it was about a one minute walk from the entrance of campus, my empty college student pockets never allowed me to go to the show. So this year I was determined to make it happen! And what a joy it was! Will and I went to Orchid Evenings where a DJ was spinning some fancy French pop music and we perused the show with a complimentary cocktail in hand. The flowers were gorgeous and I loved going at night when they light up in the inside of the conservatory. Here are some pictures of my favorite orchids from the night!

 Laura

Happy Easter!

In my family, it is a tradition to dye Easter eggs every year. Even though this has been going on for 23 years strong, it's still a tradition I love and will probably do every year. This year we used the PAAS (same as every year) deluxe pack with 9 colors. Put the tablets in water and the colors weren't coming out bright, so I added about a tbsp of lemon juice to each cup. Have a happy Easter!