Risque ceiling attire

I apologize for yesterday's absence, but between house happenings and job searches I was a busy lass.  Things are moving along on a certain house, but I'm keeping the details quiet until everything is certain, otherwise we run the risk of getting really excited and then way too bummed if the deal falls through. 

But I will share something with you.  The house is chock full of the cheapest light fixtures you can find, and when put up against beautiful natural woodwork it just aggravates the situation.  So I've been stuck on looking at new light fixtures that can stand on their own in the lighting vs. woodwork main event.

West Elm Capiz Shell Chandelier

Shades of Light Burlap Chandelier

Ok, clearly I have a thing for big rectangular chandeliers that are mostly out of my price range.  So maybe those will have to wait.  But, one thing that will not wait is correcting the oh so common Boob Light extravaganza that has over taken homes across America.

Image from www.modnest.ca

They're everywhere.  For a long time, I thought it was a weird issue that only I had, but then when watching Sarah's House on HGTV (Seriously, the show is addictive and Sarah is a genius), her super fantastic sidekick Tommy Smythe looked up at the ceilings in a house they were redoing, and upon seeing the light fixtures exclaimed, "Boobs belong on babes, not on ceilings!"  I squealed in joy that I wasn't alone and immediately adopted that as a mantra.

The man behind the mantra

There should hopefully be some moving and shaking with the house happenings this evening, so maybe there will be news tomorrow? 

Weekend Homework

image from here

Job interviews scheduled for this afternoon and Monday morning, keeping the fingers crossed!  We're also checking out a couple of houses tomorrow afternoon, which I'm sure you'll see pictures of if anything ridiculous appears.  The sun has been struggling to stay out, so make sure when he appears you make your way outside and enjoy it!

• Its always fascinating to find out what you can't do in other countries.
• Obsessed with Sophie Calle
• Can anyone resist the DIY charm of Young House Love?
• Princess Bride + Pineapple Express? Either way I can't wait for this

Birthday Gifts: Beautifully creepy edition

One of my best friend's birthdays is coming up in the beginning of April, and she's not always the easiest to shop for.  But one thing is certain, she likes pretty, unique jewelry and she digs creepy, weird stuff.  Best of both world?

No, not the disembodied hand statue, but the moth wing necklace.  Purchased on Etsy (of course), at the HouseThatCrowBuilt shop.  She has a variety of lovely other pieces as well, but I think Kristina will fall in love with this necklace, and will certainly be the only one we know at least that has it.  So excited to give it to her!

As Irish as I get

Cold beginning of Spring weather and Buffalo's upcoming St. Patrick's Day parade this Sunday have put me in the mood for one thing.

www.irishcoffeerecipe.com

Mmm. Sweet Irish Coffee, how I've missed you.  Will you be celebrating this weekend?

Dessert a la South Park

We had my mother, sister, brother-in-law, and of course baby Jake, over for dinner last night.  My sister has never seen the place so we used that as an excuse, but truthfully I just wanted Aaron to make homemade gnocchi again.  Although this time, I skipped the eggplant meatballs, opting for a Beet Salad instead. 

But, apparently I have an obsession with circular food and instead of main coursing it, I volunteered to prepare dessert after stumbling across Cake Balls from the website Bakerella.  And yes, I did spend the entire prep time thinking about this guy:

www.southparkstudios.com

Anyway, I chose not to go with red velvet, but to do chocolate cake with cream cheese frosting and dark chocolate chips for the shell.

 

It's pretty easy actually.  You just bake the cake according to the box instructions.  After letting it cool for a bit, just use a fork to get it all out of the pan (it's all going to get crumbled up anyway)

 

Once it's all in the bowl, crumble the heck out if it.

 Then mix in the entire can of frosting.

"Clean off spatula and remainder of carton with tongue" was not an official step in the recipe, but I believe in improvising so go ahead.

Mmm, now it resembles sickly ground beef.  Which I'm sure wouldn't have been the case had I actually used Red Velvet cake mix and not chocolate.  But, I digress.  Now, I should have let this cool down much more before attempting to roll this stuff into balls, but I was running short on time so after failing at using my hands (it was way too sticky, it looked like I had cake gloves on....mmm....cake gloves), I decided an ice cream scooper was the way to go and ended up with various rock shaped blobs.

I popped them in the freezer at this point while Aaron made the gnocchi, bringing them out about 20 minutes later while they were still soft enough to form them into a more recognizable ball shape.

I then melted the chips in a small pan over low flame.  The initial plan of attack was going to be to dunk them.  But, it turns out that one bag of those chips is not quite enough to get the job done (definitely pick up 2 if you're going to be doing this to get the proper fully encased outer shell).  So instead Aaron improvised a drizzle technique for me:

My first instinct when we decided drizzling was the way to go was to just grab the spoon out of the pan and bring it over to the cakes.  This resulting in me decorating the counters and stove and Aaron laughing and pointing.  At that point, drizzling duties were turned over to Smarty Pants and we were on our way.

Now be forewarned, I intentionally tried to cut back on sweetness of these because I'm not a big fan of overly sweet.  However the 'sweet' factor was unintentionally replaced with the 'rich' factor.  Seriously, these are about one per person.  Ok, maybe two after taking a breather.

Definitely a fun recipe with a ton of options, just give yourself enough time to prepare them and make sure you have more than 5 people prepared to eat an entire cake.  Now, just for good measure, let's take a look at Jake and Ric spending quality time together at the table:

What Should I Read Next?

Have you seen this nifty little website by the way?  I love reading, but sometimes titles and ideas escape me when I'm looking for something new to get my paws on.  Sure, the Amazon.com recommendations will sometimes help out, but usually ends up just being every book by the same author.  Next time you're in a bind (Get it?  Book binding, har har) try out What Should I Read Next?

 

Just pop in your favorite author or book's name and be treated to a list of suggestions that so far have served me well.  

Job Searches, cont.

Now that the rush of 1st Quarter hiring is over with most companies, the amount of positions available for me to apply to has dropped considerably.  I did, however, find a couple last week to apply to and today comes another first in job interview methods.  The pre-screen e-mail.  Now, screen phone interviews and screen live interviews I've experienced.  But this is definitely my first pre-screen e-mail attachment:

So, I filled it out and sent it back over, hopefully resulting a real life interview.  Although, I have to say, I didn't really mind the e-mail screen.  I feel more relaxed writing and I prefer not having to get all gussied up and drive out somewhere if they're just not going to hire me anyway.  I imagine they feel the same.