My First Baking Photo Tutorial!

As some of you may know I LOVE baking and I LOVE baking blogs!! Some of my favorites are Bake @ 350, Bakerella and I am baker. These women are incredible and do these awesome photo tutorials that are so helpful and have taught me so much!! So I decided to do one of my own! I made these super cute Cake Pop Chicks for Easter, Bakerella's are way cuter than mine but practice makes perfect! And they got rave reviews from those that ate them! So here it goes!

Ingredients:

1 box cake mix (cook as directed on box for 13 X 9 cake)

1 can frosting (16 oz.)

Wax paper

Yellow candy melts (1 lb. pkg.)

Lollipop sticks

Edible ink pens (Americolor pens are recommended, I used the Betty Croker version and now I know why)

Candy decorations (will discuss this later on down the blog)

I chose to use a Rainbow Chips cake and frosting but these can be made with any cake/frosting combo!

Bake the cake as directed on the box and let it cool.

Destroy it! LOL Crumble it up into a bowl.

Add about 3/4 of the jar of frosting and mix together. It will be a gooey ball of yumminess!

Roll the gooiness into quarter size balls and put on a wax paper covered cookie sheet. Freeze them for at least an hour, I did mine overnight.

Melt a small amount of the chocolate to use as glue for the sticks, dip them in the chocolate and then insert them into the cake pops about 1/2 way.

Melt the candy coating

Dip each cake pop into the candy coating and stick into styrofoam blocks to hold them up. You can also make them upside down, just place them on a sheet of wax paper.

FYI....Putting them in glasses DOES NOT WORK! LOL

Let them harden and now its time to decorate! Bakerella uses rainbow candy coated chips for her beaks and wings. And Little flowers for their feet. I didn't have those so I improvised. Hers are way cuter than mine!! We called them little nerdy chicks with their big noses!

I then put them in a basket with some Easter grass and was ready to go!!

Enjoy making them and let me know if you do and how they came out!

~Nicole

Vacation, Wedding planning, Gym, Reviews, Dad etc..

So much has happened since our last post, but I'm going to try and catch up here.

In February we went on an AMAZING cruise! What a vacation!! I'm a cruiser for life that's for sure! We enjoyed all the time with Nicole's family and all the fun we had together. SOOO many memories! The food (to be expected) was wonderful and there was plenty! We did an ATV excursion in Puerto Vallarta - A BLAST. Nicole will have to tell you about her rolling her QUAD IN THE WATER!!! LOL We visited the Golden Zone in Mazatlan - not the best experience. On my ACTUAL birthday, we did a City Tour and Beach excursion in CABO!! Some of us smoked cigars and drank Dos Equis on the beach and others snorkeled, it was the most beautiful day and none of us wanted to leave!! I'm sure we'll all be back to Cabo one day!

The day we got off the ship was my wonderful sister Lisa's wedding! It was so beautiful and we're so happy for her and Chad! The way she looked, glowed and the way she wore her dress was very inspiring to me. I wasn't going to wear a dress, but because of her I went and tried them on, and fell in love with one! Thanks to Kara for all of your help and thanks Lisa for truly inspiring me with how beautiful you looked! I can only hope I look & feel half as beautiful as you on my wedding day!~

After we got back, literally on the flight home Nicole said "Are you ready?", WEDDING planning has been non-stop! We're loving every minute of it, except the tense and stressful times of course, but we're making such good progress:

• We've met with our Coordinator @ the Hyatt. Finalized room layout and some other things like the Cigar LOUNGE!! Timing, Chairs, Ceremony set up etc..
• We also got the Save the Dates out, what a chore and thanks to everyone involved & we are SO happy with them!
• We just got our Dance Floor mat thingy - SO cute.
• Both wedding dresses are purchased on on their way! (TOO EXCITING)
• Our girls dresses are all picked out and most if not everyone has theirs! Great job girls!!
• We're meeting with Bartlett's Flowers on Saturday, it would have been last Saturday, but Ms. Nicole had QUITE the hangover to say the least. LOL This is exciting especially for me because this is where if anywhere, I'm willing to SPLURGE!! Budget what? JK! I like the amount we have budgeted for flowers, it will be neat to see what they can do for us!

Work has been extremely wonderful for me lately. After our cruise I had an annual review. It was a great review for sure. I received a generous raise and in this economy I'm seriously extremely grateful. It's really nice when hard work pays off, but I didn't really expect anything given the times we're in. Also, this morning I was just nominated for the Q4 IT Catch The Spirit award - SO awesome and again very humbling to hear what people think of my work ethic. My company is great and I'm very happy here; Looking forward to the future @ WSI! Work for Nicole from what I know is just insanely busy! She never has a spare moment right now and it's keeping her on her toes!

Another thing, we got GYM MEMBERSHIPS! This was a first for me and so far I'm really liking it. It's been great and once I get some of this weight off I'm sure I'll use more of the machines. Nicole really enjoys the classes! We're eating healthy and really close to having our cruise weight off. Believe it or not I only gained 4.5lbs and Nicole 4 on the cruise. She is only .5lbs away from hers and I'm 2.5 - we're doing good with it though!

Finally, about my Dad.. he is doing phenomenal!! He has checked into rehab for the first time in his life. It's a Faith based rehab and it has so far changed him for the better. It's only been 1 week, but I've never experienced him with the state of mind he's in right now. It's just amazing!! They have him on the right medicine, the right track and sober! He's been sober since February and he was just barely hanging on so he decided after almost 6 weeks of sobriety that he needed more and good for him because he is doing great! SO proud of him and so happy!! For those of you reading this, I ask that you say a prayer for him, it can only help! He needs strength and courage to continue on with this! We've talked a couple times now and it's so nice to hear him say things like.. "Your Dad is coming out of this thing a winner!" and "I never want to miss another thing in my life. I will be at your wedding and the birth of Bub's child SOBER" - he's never talked this way before - always flown by the seat of his pants, but this time something has definitely clicked!!

That's all for now - check out our Facebook page (JenandNic Sheldon) for Pics from the Cruise if you haven't already and also be sure to visit our knot.com page & sign the guestbook too!

http://weddings.theknot.com/pwp/pwp2/view/MemberPage.aspx?coupleid=9509411201838281&pid=1908381&MsdVisit=1

Happy St. Paddy's Day!

On a roll like butta'

We're on a roll like butta' baby! PSO!! We officially paid off the 3rd credit card and tonight will schedule the final payment for Nicole's ring! This is huge. This will really help us in so many ways as we prepare to buy a 2nd home!

We're stoked for our cruise which is 4 days away! Looking forward to 11 days off of work, cannot wait!!! We did some shopping this last week and pretty much have everything we need to pack for it. It's gonna be fun. Plus, the visit to So Cal to see my sister get married and to visit with friends and family will be an added bonus at the end of our vacation.

Dieting? Umm not so much, last week we were SO bad practically all week. We ate out all week long because we didn't go to the grocery store! Plus, I decided Monday of last week that I wasn't going to weigh until each Monday, BAD BAD BAD idea for me (us). Weighing each and every day really helps us, it's a great reminder and we're going to get back to that. It's funny how we stopped right before the cruise, when we should have amplified it, but it's hard already knowing you're going to gain 5lbs or more on the cruise! It will be on after our cruise. I have some great things in mind.

Today I received a wonderful compliment from a Store Associate and I'd like to share it with you, it definitely started my day off right and really humbled me to know that this is what he felt!

From my Manager - Congratulations are in Order
All,

Please join me in congratulating Jen Sheldon on the rave review she just received from Robert in store 711.
Robert took time out of his busy day to let me know that Jen is:
Phenomenally Supportive
Professional
Sensitive
Treats us like we know our systems
Carries through quickly and professionally

Thank you Jen for your representation of what Store Support aspires every day to be!

In response from my Supervisor -
Jen,

This is great, but I can’t say I’m surprised. This is the type of service that you deliver on each and every call. You continue to be the model of customer service for the Service Desk.

It's nice to receive praise like this every once in awhile. I'm truly grateful for my job and I love what I do and I think it shows!

Pay off time!

All tax returns received and by April Nicole just needs to send off her $45 to State!
We're right on track with everything I mentioned in the last post and it feels great. Paying a year of HOA was a little painful (2400 almost), but worth it when we don't have to send that stupid 200 check every month I suppose. We also paid off credit cards the Dave Ramsey way! Start with the smallest and we've done 2 already. 1 more is scheduled and the other is Nicole's ring which will be paid off before our cruise around it's due date. What a relief! We should (key word lol) be able to pay off our bigger ones with ease after not having to make payments on all that crap listed above!

Tonight is the Full Circle Gala and we're really looking forward to it! Nicole has worked her tail off on it and it will be so nice to see it all come together. I really think the Silent Auction will be a success! We're going to look so cute tonight; Nicole will look STUNNING I just know it! We've never really been to a formal event together I don't think... :)

Cruisin' soon!

Where to start, where to start?!

Welp, first things first, Nicole and I are TOTALLY looking forward to our cruise. I've come a long way with the excitement, but I'm truly excited and cannot wait for it! I'm in need of some serious chill and relaxation time and I'm determined to get it while to go on our Mexican Riviera Voyage!! Looking forward to Feb 13th, that's departure date!

Secondly, we had a nice 3 day weekend @ the Marina household! Their house is beautiful and everyone should see it!! Christie's little belly is so cute! We really enjoyed our time especially "Put your hands in the air!" or "Can I move the car a little closer?" LOL ;) Ruth's Chris has amazing food, but they will definitely need to redeem themselves in the service department! Can't wait to see them again (Thanks again you guys)

Things in the Kimpel-Sheldon household are just humming along. Our taxes are done and now it's time to PSO (Pay shit off!!) I got both my Federal and State return deposited today and Nicole's should be coming any time now. We are excited to pay off 3 credit cards, plus Nicole's engagement ring along with a full year of HOA! This will be a huge monthly savings and we'll be able to tackle our last 2 and biggest credit cards within the next 6 months to be all done before our wedding! The fun part will be redoing our bedroom. We're going to do it on about a 500 budget and we just need bedding and paint! Yay for blue\gray and white! :) We're very grateful for our large return and we feel very fortunate to be able to take care of business with it. Hope everyone was as lucky as us with their return and if not, hope the hit wasn't too big!

After our cruise we have my sister and Chad's wedding, the timing couldn't have worked out any better! It's literally the day we get off the ship in LA! We can't wait! It's going to be gorgeous! ;)

No big updates on the wedding plans really. Stay tuned! I'm sure this will all change soon and especially after our cruise! (from what I'm being told any way LOL)

There's a potential puppy in the works for after our cruise too... we love Janae too much to give her a 7th dog\2nd puppy to care for while we cruise!! ;)

Here's to big things in February!!