birthday and bachelorette festivities

this past weekend was one of my good friend, lauren's bachelorette/birthday party in austin. the days prior to this past weekend were filled with lots of crafty surprises and presents for the guest of honor.


part of the night of the bachelorette, i wanted to do a "toast" drink before we went out. since it was such a special occasion, i wanted to do some sort of champagne toast. i had been eyeing a pinterest craft with painted bottles with writing on them (the tutorial had the bottles in black though) and i thought the white and gold was more fun. i will definitely say that it was spot on in the tutorial was to not take the cork closure off (the part with the wiring). why? let's just say the first bottle doesn't have a top on it anymore and i definitely thought a gun went off in my garage when it randomly decided to "pop off"

(tutorial)

as i mentioned not only was it lauren's bachelorette, it was also her birthday too. not wanting to shadow her birthday by her bachelorette, i wanted to also have something for her birthday as well. i had seen a pinterest (surprise, surprise) tutorial on ombre sugar hearts that i had wanted to try as well. lauren's birthday was definitely a perfect excuse to try it out! it was super easy and fun! loved how they came out. (can't wait to do different shapes and colors!)

(tutorial)

trying to be secreative, i asked lauren what her favorite colors were and she said blue or pink. i decided the birthday girl should have it all so i made bright blue frosting along with the pink ombre hearts. also, saw some blinged our candles on pinterest too and thought it was definitely something i wanted to add to make it as girly as possible!

(pinterest pin for the candles)

here is what the cake looked like in the center (three pink ombre cake layers)

the other craft i made or DIY was her bachelorette scavenger hunt. i designed the inside with photo shop and googled the "to-do" list from various websites. after i printed it off on some card stock i felt like it need it little more bling so i taped this white glittery card stock to the back and wrapped a single ribbon around it for the "closure"

i also made some wedding cake pops but forgot to take a picture of them :(

on a side note: i made a few other things as well since my last post (almost all baking)

this was for valentine's day. 

red velvet heart shaped cake made from scratch. too bad i already had everything to buy it before josh and i went paleo. but at least lauren's fiance, zach got to enjoy it :)

(recipe from bakerella)

needing some sweets around the house after going paleo. i made these DELICIOUS paleo chocolate chip cookies!  

paleo chocolate chip cookies recipe:

ingredients:

3 cups almond flour

.5 c coconut oil

.5 c pure maple syrup

2 eggs

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

1 tsp vanilla extract

1.5 c semi-sweet chocolate chips

directions:

preheat oven to 375 degrees

in a medium mixing bowl combine dry ingredients

in a small mixing bowl beat eggs, maple syrup, and vanilla extract with a hand mixer

pour wet ingredients into dry and beat with a hand mixer until combined

melt coconut oil, pour into batter, and continue to blend until combined

stir in chocolate chips

on a parchment lined baking sheet, drop balls of dough about a tblspn in size

bake for 15 mins and wahla!

oh yea, and one of my recent shoots was featured on The Wedding Chick's sister blog: OnToBaby.com

(happy dance!) 

paleo

i'm not typically the kind of person that gets on "bandwagons" per se, so when i had heard about paleo for the first time, i thought it was just another south beach diet, atkins, etc. 

a few months later, my husband decided to join washington gym to get in shape. well, it ended up being more than just a gym where you pay a monthly due and just show up as you can. its a whole lifestyle and regime  change. its not where you go to a class or workout session. each day is focused on a different body area and its organized so that in order to get the best results, you should be going four or five times a week so that you receive a full body work-out by the time the week is over. 

the other requirement is that you eat paleo. 

what's paleo? paleo is short for paleolithic, and the whole idea is that you eat like a caveman aka the way our ancestors ate prior to the transition to an agriculture society, back when we were hunters and gatherers. meaning, eating only meats, fruits, veggies, and healthy fats. 

when i first heard that, i was thinking...oh great another trendy diet. which was fine for josh if it helped him get to his target weight, but oh, not me...i don't need to lose weight and after all thats the only point of these trends.......right?

the other reason why i just wasn't so sure about it is because on the paleo diet you cannot eat my two most favorite foods in the whole wide world:

dairy and grains

but, being a supportive wife, i decided to at least help make lunches and cook dinner that were paleo, but i was still going to eat my two favorite foods on the side. but then, being the "googler" i am, i started to look at this whole paleo lifestyle and ultimately decided to get a book on it.

literally, only about two chapters into the booked i was hooked. why? usually when someone is trying to convince you to try a diet, its all about weight loss, weight loss, weight loss. but this was different, every "life-changing" story was about a disease reversal, or someone getting off of medications that they had been on for years, or an increase in energy...and oh yea - by the way it happened in sixty days or less and oh yea...they lost 30 lbs....and hadn't even gone to the gym.

every chapter made me hungry to read the next. and finally i got to the science behind it, bc i was just so curious as to why the heck this diet prohibited me from my favorite foods.

the net-net without overwhelming you is that dairy and grains (legumes included aka beans) are bad for you because all of those sugars and the way your body breaks them down. causing your body to be inflammed. did you know that inflammation in your body causes the following:

heart disease

cancer

celiac

alzheimer's

diabetes

acne

ibs

heartburn

infertility

depression

osteoporosis

arthritis

acid reflux

kidney disease

and pretty much any auto-immune disease

still not convinced?

not have any of those problems? me neither nor most people i know. but let me tell you how much its made a difference in josh and i's life in the past TEN days. yep. TEN.

i'm not going to bore you with the specific situations and long stories but i will list to you the benefits that we have experienced:

INCREASED ENERGY: 

josh used to come home every day from work ready to sleep at 7pm - now he helps cook dinner, cleans, and is happier than i have seen him in years

WEIGHT LOSS:

josh has gone down about 3 belt loops

josh's mother is wearing pants she hasn't been able to wear in five years

josh's dad has lost an additional 3 inches after plateauing in weight loss on another diet

HEARTBURN AND IBS:

i have been suffering from IBS since i graduated college and i haven't had one symptom

i was also on medication for heartburn and its gone and i am off of my medicine

STOMACH BLOATING AND DIGESTIVE HEALTH:

both josh and i have issues within this section and have not had a single issue

LITTLE TO NO HANGOVER:

i went a good friend's bachelorette party this weekend, i am sure i don't have to get into any details if you have ever been to one. and guess what? i woke up early and was full of energy each morning i woke up. can't say that was the case before. i am not saying you should eat paleo so you can drink whatever you want and have no hangover. my point is your body recovers alot faster that it would before.

this is just 10 days into the diet. both josh and i have horrible cholesterol and in 60 days we will be going in to see our blood work. did i mention the average points in cholesterol that people drop in just 45 days is 30 points?

ok, i promise i am almost off my soap box.

just want to touch on one more subject that i get the most questions about..."but my life is so busy, i don't have time to cook every meal and it sounds hard to find paleo" OR "but i just love grains and dairy"

trust me: i felt the same way but i am going to give you some examples where you can make it work or to show it that paleo isn't all that hard.

breakfast example:

doesn't this look like a average breakfast? i mean come on - you can still have BACON. the only thing missing here is toast. not too shabby if you ask me.

dinner:

top left: crock pot beef stew

top right: butternut squash soup

bottom left: sweet potato casserole

bottom right: mashed cauliflower

did i mention that all of these have about 5 ingredients or less and super fast and easy?

lunch: pei wei

its an almond chicken salad and honestly i enjoyed this more than dishes i have had with rice.

lastly, i am going to leave you with some great resources fro recipes just so you can see what kind of foods you are still able to eat. 

http://paleopot.com/

http://nomnompaleo.com/recipeindex

oh and are thinking about having kids soon? if so, even if you aren't interested in it for yourself - just check out this woman's experience with a "paleo pregnancy" - its down right ridiculous.

http://theprimalparent.com/2011/03/31/paleo-from-pregnancy/

if you have any questions i would love to help out in any way

dana.h.fernandez@gmail.com

half century

this past weekend, was our brother-in-laws' (steve) "half century" birthday celebration. josh's sister threw him a fantastic birthday bash at the corithian, one sure to never forget. we were honored to help celebrate such a great man, father, brother, son, and friend. happy 50th steve!

this was the super cute and creative design that leti used on the invites and napkins

if you know steve, this was a perfect birthday cake! (rice basketball)

the AMAZING band

and of course! the man of the hour! :)

to top it off, this past saturday, i was so lucky to be able to shoot this sweet six month session of catherine (to see more visit danafernandezphotography.com)

and lastly, i have been forgetting to add this crafty project. its a $8 wall wine holder from ikea! but it came in silver so i spray-painted it gold and i love it! after all, you should always pick the piece because you can always change the color :)

twenty-six

this past tuesday was the big two-six and it was great! at first i was disappointed with the timing of my birthday and having to "work" and be out of town away from family. i was annoyed (originally) because i was having to go to nyc (for work) at 8am on a sunday, work on mlk (holiday) AND be on travel for my birthday. BUT, being so lucky to have such a wonderful husband, he surprised me with a birthday dinner with family and friends the friday before i left. it was at our favorite italian restaurant called d'amicos (if you haven't been and live in houston....go!) and he surprised me with some of the most thoughtful gifts. first of all, he went clothes shopping for me. this is fantastic because in my experience with people buying me clothes, whether its a man or woman - i am very picky in what i like. and he did PERFECT.

he got me a mustard yellow blazer/jacket (and matching tank top), an amazingly comfortable cowl neck sweatshirt, lined rainboots, two of my favorite movies, and a ipod speaker for my new nightstand from xmas! the best part of it all was just that he really thought about me and what i would like and i couldn't ask for anything sweeter :)

(us at dinner)

afterwards we went to our favorite hangout called cedar creek

and i was so excited for my other bday presents.

the one to myself was a crossbody that had been sold out everywhere but out of no where showed up online. i felt like it was extra special since it was one of the last ones in the country :)

and then from my amazing godfather, i got the final piece to my camera collection - which is absolutely amazing! how did i go so long with a flash?!

and my grandmother (after sending her a link) got me this watch that i stumbled upon on the internet and absolutely loved! thought i would share since i had never seen these before! its called "la mer" in case you want to see more!

so anyways, on to nyc. so after everything was said and done i realized that being in nyc wasn't too shabby. afterall, i could have had a business trip that was in the middle of no where right? even though i didn't get to sight-see, my hotel was smack dab in the middle of times sqaure. below are some pics from my week. i wish i would have brought my nice camera, but you know what they say, "the best camera is the one that you have on you"

this was the view from my room

on monday morning, someone famous must have been at good morning america bc i definitely couldn't sleep in with all of the screaming (not a bad way to wake up)

not only was i right off of times square, but broadway as well. not very familiar with the theatres, but this one looked cool so i took a pic

the second night i was there, some of my co-workers and myself wanted to go to little italy. which was amazing, especially the "off the menu" lobster tortellini. also go to stock up on my "pashminas" 5 for $20!

when we got back to the hotel it was snowing! 

for my birthday, i met up with one of friends (susan) at this super cute place called grey dog over in the younger (hipper part of new york) and she was so sweet to bring me a birthday cupcake with a candle and singing to top it off.

so when all was said and done, no complaints. absolutely perfect!

so, i haven't had time to craft lately - but this is my next project!

and just because...how cute is she?!

the holidays

i have been meaning to write for awhile but with all of the christmas orders for Bracelets For A Cause and getting everything in order for the holidays, i hadn't been able to. but now that everything is settling back down i can share with you some of the things i have made and done!

so lets start with the craftiness :)

remember the lyric art from the last post? well i decided to also make coasters out of them...and just for kicks i decided to put them for sell on my etsy shop ...and who would've thought, they are my #1 seller! 

for christmas this year, us and our three closest couple friends decided to do a christmas dinner and secret santa. josh got ashley zacharias and i was super excited bc i have been wanted to make chalk paint wine glasses. unfortunately, the first couple of tries went badly. the tutorial i found off of pinterest was terrible. the blogger said to dip the bases in a paint can of chalk paint. 1st try looked like it was going to work, but after it dried it was so thick that it just peeled off. 2nd try was a little better (i decided to hand paint on) but again it just wanted to peel off. so i decided that the whole chalk paint that comes in a can was just too thick. so, i used some leftover chalk spray paint and it worked fabulously! i also have these in my etsy shop :)

i also made these magnets over the holidays with natalie. i had been wanting to make magnets for a while since i wanted ones that were bright, but i couldn't ever find any that didn't look too "officey" - so we got the magnets from hobby lobby and then got to pick out super cute paper from paper source, used a little modge podge and wahla! (also gave these as a secret santa gift as well)

browsing through pinterest during the holidays made me really want to do a super cute wreath for the door. so stacey came over and we had a craft day and made these. (hers was the same but her monogram was a "c") was super happy on how these came out since it was my first craft that i only had a picture to go off of and no tutorial!

a couple of years back, an ad agency i worked with gave all of their clients (one of which, being me) the williams sonoma peppermint bark. normally, i am not a huge fan of mint and chocolate. but for some reason when you add on those peppermint pieces it makes all the difference. well i had wanted to give a "party favor" for our couple's secret santa party but wanting to make something and not buy it (surprise. surprise), i decided to make these. the most awesome thing is that when i went to go buy the molds at hobby lobby they had a whole kit ready to go with everything you needed!

ok so now on to the house and holidays:

ok so this is really about the holidays, but i am obsessed with our mailbox. the cool thing is that in the heights almost all of the mailboxes look like this and i love it! (and even more happy it came with the house and we didn't have to buy one)

josh's sister, leti, has a tradition where every year her and and her husband have shared a christmas, she buys a santa clause (they have at least 25!). josh and i though that that was a great tradition, so we wanted to start our own. we decided not to santa bc those can get super huge and after awhile it could become overwhelming, so we decided to go with nutcrackers. this was the 2011 edition. :)

our little tree house all lit up :)

our christmas card! :) (we finally got it out this year!)

josh and i definitely got in our aggie games this year! to the left is the a&m vs ut game. and to the right is the aggie bowl game :)

so for christmas i didn't ask for a lot since josh is amazing and pretty much lets me get whatever i want throughout the year. so the only two things i asked for christmas was a cover for my kindle (in my favorite color i might add) and i love the monogram!

and to most of you, you are probably wondering why i asked for a nightstand, but i am so excited! after almost four years of living together i finally have one! (at the old house one of the dogs' kennels was right next to my side of the bed, but now they sleep in the mud room) yay!

ok and now randomness...

 how super cute is this to-do list that goes on your fridge from paper source? love. love. love. (i spend way too much here, i wish i could buy stock or at least get a frequent buyers card)

and just bc, he brings me flowers :)

have a great weekend!