Friday, August 9, 2013

leaving the nest


tomorrow we are moving into our first home as a married couple.

the apartment's painted white, scrubbed clean, its cabinets & drawers lined and floors pine-sol'd.

having this little apartment would mean:
- homecooked meals
- less time commuting, which means
- more j&m time
- more crafting
- more entertaining with friends
- exploring toronto without the hassle of taking the 404 + DVP (booyah). looking forward to using this guide!
- being able to use our wedding presents


can't wait to build new memories here. one more sleep.

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Tuesday, July 9, 2013

happy birthday, johnny!



This post is a few weeks late but I wanted to share the cake that I made for John.

John's 28th birthday was a bigger deal than normal because it was the first birthday that we got to celebrate physically together as a married couple AND since we started dating 6 years ago.

I am more of a cupcake person, so when I decided to bake a three-layered red velvet cake I was a little nervous. I went through several blogs and found the best one, which I have shared below. Baking the cake was actually really enjoyable. I baked, assembled and iced the cake in three days. Hiding the cake from him was the more difficult task.

What did I learn from all this?
- mise en place is really important, especially if you're doubling the recipe
- take out the butter first thing in the morning or the night before!
- not to be too bent on getting the icing really smooth because I made a bigger mess of it. I had to re-ice the cake until it finally came out like this.

If this is your first foray into cake layering and icing, you might find the following resources really helpful:

Hummingbird High
Michelle's Red Velvet Recipe
she shares tips on how to make red velvet really red

Completely Delicious
How to Build a Layered Cake
making a layered cake without leveling

A Pair of Pears
Bunting Cake Topper

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Monday, June 3, 2013

(re) united and it feels so good.

it's been more than a year since i updated this poor little blog. last time i updated it was still in the middle of wedding planning!

photo courtesy of the amazing Jeff & Lisa
head on over to Jeff & Lisa's blog for more pics
here's our wedding video by the talented Bob Nicolas

planning a wedding in manila was pretty tough. it involved sewing up a hundred ribbon wands, sleepless nights, coordinating mockups via skype and numerous emails back and forth (i have to admit though that i miss waking up to emails about the wedding!) but despite the little stresses it all came together beautifully. walking down the aisle was pretty nervewracking but seeing john at the end of the aisle steadied me and i just wanted to run to him and give him a hug.

we have been married for 6 months now and am learning so much about john and being his wife and am loving every. single. second. of it.

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