California Love

 Hey everyone, so it's kind of been a while since I've been here. We recently went on a trip to California and I'm just now getting back into the swing of things around here. I hadn't been to California in 7 years! I don't know how I stayed away for so long, but somehow it happened. We actually went to Los Angeles to see a concert. On our honeymoon, Chris told me that one of his favorite bands from overseas, Within Temptation was coming on tour. Of course they weren't headed to Texas and I jumped at the chance when he asked if we should fly out to Los Angeles to see them. Yes, yes, yes!!! And so I kept up with when tickets went on sale and made sure that we bought them to seal the deal that California was in our future. It was a short trip but I soaked up every minute of it. I woke up every morning, walked to Starbucks, and then spent about two hours in the pool...it was sooooo nice. We were also able to squeeze in Universal studios (we got on a subway for the first time!), do some shopping and good eating, see an amazing concert, and spend a whole day and night at the beach. I made Chris and his brother get on the ferris wheel on the Santa Monica Pier despite the cold winds and their fear of heights. lol sometimes I can be a bit pushy. Me and Chris went down to the beach that evening and I didn't care how cold the water was, I stripped down to my two piece and threw myself into the ocean. Chris thought I was crazy...oh well thankfully he gets me and my love for the beach. The last time I went to California, it was all dance related so it was nice to be a tourist for a few days. I'm already planning for our next trip back!
xoxo erica

DIY Instagram Photo Garland

 I'm known for keeping photos on my phone and never printing them...I think maybe we're all a little guilty of that right? I used to scrapbook all the time about two years ago and decided to pick it up again so I've been printing out photos for that lately, but I knew that it was time to print out some insta photos! I actually made a collage from the A Beautiful Mess App, putting 4 insta photos in one 4x6 to create the perfect mini instas for a photo garland. This is a pretty quick project to whip out, seriously the hardest part is trying to decide which photos to print!
Supplies: Insta photos, glue gun, and any kind of string
Place photos in an order of your liking, flip photo over, add some glue, and attach string. Easy peasy!
If you want to do a double strand, make two separate strands and then attach together or just make one really long strand and hang everywhere!
xoxo erica

A Month of Cake // Homemade Cream Cheese Frosting

 Last week was my mother's birthday and I had said I would bake the cake for her. She requested a cake with cream cheese frosting and I decided I would go ahead and make the frosting myself. I had always heard it was easy but I hadn't imagined it would be as easy as it was...and it really does taste so much better than the store bought stuff. The cake went fast and everyone was asking for seconds...I have to say I was pretty impressed with myself. 
Mix all the ingredients together...I recommend using a mixer but if you're old school like me go ahead and give yourself a good arm workout and mix it by hand lol. I topped off the cake with sprinkles of crushed m&m minis...so good girls.
xoxo erica