Work In Progress!

I have a new project on my hands...smack down in the midst of exam time. I honestly feel like I do this to myself not to fall into depression during burry yourself in boring textbooks time. I have offered to plan my cousins Baby Shower and it is looking pretty god damn cute! I went to pick up some supplies and things I need to make for this event come to life. HOWEVER, as of today I am now putting myself on a time-out ( or a lock-down, sounds more badass). The deal is I can only continue planning once I write my last exam on the 27th. Honestly, I hate prioritizing!! Please find me one single person who enjoys being responsible. They are probably as common as children that hate candy. So, if I had to take a guesstimate I would put that number anywhere between 0 and NO ONE.


I have set up a little station in my basement where I can work on everything I need for this shower and I have this very strong feeling that I will end up down there some nights. Don't worry, I will make sure to bring my study notes down with me so that they don't feel neglected.  My new little station is so cute and cozy and clean (for now)...kind of makes me feel like an elf.


We are still working on securing the location. It will most likely be a party room in a condo. Since I am on a tight budget, I'll be doing a lot of the decorations myself which I actually love doing. I have watched a disgusting amount of youtube videos, spent countless hours on Pinterest and read so many blogs that I feel like I can master this thing no.problem.


The menu is still in the making but will consist mostly of light appetizers and yummy desserts! I will attempt to make lollipop cakes for the first time which I'm really excited about. However, the last time I made a dessert that required me to dip it into melted chocolate I managed to have the chocolate explode ALL over the kitchen. Mom loved that. This time, I'll be a little more careful. Whatever, it's part of the process. What's a kitchen if not messy?  

Ps. I haven't been baking because of Passover. The next time I will bake will probably be for the Baby Shower so stay tuned. Should be some cute stuff (given I don't blow up the kitchen).


Don't forget to check out Pinterest for cute ideas! http://pinterest.com/raisanakhimova/

You can also subscribe to get e-mail notifications every time I blog (which will be on the regular now...If it's not we'll just blame it on school). Just enter your e-mail address in the tab found on the right side toolbar.

Ciao for now.

In The Blink Of An Eye

...that is how fast things change.

Actually, that is how fast things change when you least expect them to. Thankfully, everything is changing for the best at the time being!

This past Wednesday, I arrived back home (via bus) from my favourite city. Ok, fine...second favourite city. There is just something special about New York. I realize that sounds like an incredibly cheesy line from an awful romantic movie but it's true! There are people who hate the noise, the constant flow of people, the line-ups, the mess, and so on. Granted, all of those things are indeed a staple of New York city but that is exactly why it's so amazing. It's unique and it has character. Something that cannot be said about many things in this world. Anyways, moving on...

The reason why my mother and I decided to hop on a bus and take the ten hour trip down to Brooklyn is because we had a few things to celebrate. Plus, the timing could not have been any better. I had just handed in a major event proposal for my event management class and was dreaming of a little getaway. 

As for the celebrations...

First of all, my auntie got a job offering at a hospital in Manhattan as a psychiatrist set to commence the day her med school residency. Secondly, my younger cousin (who was literally on the brink of becoming his mother's very own psychiatric patient) finally received his college acceptance letters to schools including but not limited to Harvard, Princeton, Brown, Dartmouth and Williams. I think everyone is still a little shocked (including the little brainiac himself) but indescribably proud! Lastly, it was my grandma's 72nd birthday. Needless to say, it was definitely an amazing trip. We'll leave out the part where I got the sniffles because someone likes to keep the apartment temperature slightly below that of a fridge. 

(My photography skills are improving, if I can say so myself. And when I say photography skills, I mean my ability to snap photos that don't look like utter garbage)

Ok, I'm leaving you guys with a quote I found by our dear friend Buddha. 

The problem is, we think we have time.

I swear to god, this quote should be the sole sentence members of a procrastinators help group should chant. But there can never be such a group because they'd probably put it off until tomorrow! Get it? Because that's what procrastinators do..they put things...oh forget it.

Happy Passover and Happy Easter Everyone!!

A Bunch of Sweeties

LET'S pretend I didn't fall of the face of the earth...and get right back into it. Shall we? Mhm.

I am slightly ashamed that I have totally neglected my blog. I have actually been doing things that I have wanted to blog about however, I just never got myself to sit down and do it. Apologies.

I can't even trace back to all of the things I've done BUT I do have a few pictures I can share with you.

It was my sister's 24th birthday February 14 and I made her a fruity cheesecake. I have never, ever been the person to make a homemade birthday cake. I just eat them like a little chunk that I am. Ever since I was a little girl, I gave so much credit to those who brought over homemade cakes. I mean it. I always think of the task as impossible. I honestly have no idea why I would ever think that about baking a cake...but I did. Anyways, I was quite proud of myself when I put the finishing touches on this fruity little thing. FYI, every piece was devoured so needless to say I gave myself a nice pat of the back. I also made dark chocolate strawberries! I love those, especially if they are made with good quality chocolate. You won't be able to see it in this picture but I also drizzled some white chocolate on another batch and they looked adorable! That's half of the baking experience. Sure they taste good, but do they look cute? 

TODAY, I made cranberry and dark chocolate biscotti cookies with almonds. Biscottis are by far my favourite cookie. Ever. I love the irresistible crunch and the rich almondy flavour. If you know me, you know the chocolate bit doesn't hurt either! Mine turned out to be miniature biscottis but nevertheless, still a success story! * Please excuse the bold product placement...I'm quite a Starbucks fan.

Ladies and gents, I have come to a conclusion. I think one of the main reasons I love to bake is because I never grew up in a house of bakers. My mother is a god in the kitchen but she never enjoyed baking.  Baked goods usually came into our house in a little white box. I always assumed that it wasn't something you can just make at home. For some reason, I always thought you needed some special talent or equipment. Turns out you don't. You just need to have the desire to make it happen. When ever I successfully execute a new recipe and the sweets look store-bought, I'm like "Hell yeah, I did that!"

ON another note...I have gone from stumbling to pinning like a sick mad woman. I should be able to put pinning as a skill on my resume. Perhaps even a talent. I understand those just sound like adjectives to some people but I'm sure some of you can relate. Pinterest is a website that is essentially a big pin board. IN fact, you can have as many virtual pin boards as your heart desires. Each pin board allows you to pin pictures from anywhere on the web directly to your boards. This way you get to have a collection of all of your favourite pictures in one place. Brilliant ...and addictive. You can check out my boards here! http://pinterest.com/raisanakhimova/ 

Enjoy! 

Bye for now! <3

Eat me.

SO I kept my word. Not actually..but kind of.

I stalked up on salad ingredients and I am in the process of consuming a fairly serious little number. I literally threw everything in; spinach, lettuce, chick peas, dried cranberries, cherry tomatoes, cucumbers, blueberries, green peas, mushrooms, avocados, bocconcini cheese, barely, drizzled with aged balsamic vinegar and olive oil. 

NOW, here is my confession. In celebration of another pregnancy in the family, I made cookies last night. I now have two cousins expecting, only 4 months apart, and I had to do something! It's a perfect opportunity to bake! I couldn't even go all out and make anything cute because..wait for it...school ruins everything. Who would have thought!? Everyone. So we all had to settle for chocolate chip sprinkled cookies. Sad, I know. But, I guess it's okay since I'm not supposed to be baking to begin with. 


IT'S okay, you just wait for the baby showers.
OH, I have another confession (unfortunetly) I made adorable baby shower invites during class. I'm slightly ashamed. But, amazingly enough..I don't give a shit :)

BACK to the books peoples, it's accounting time (wooh!). Lots of love!

Quickie

I have a midterm at 3, so naturally I ended up on my blog...
I'm not staying, don't worry.


I just wanted to announce that I have been ordered to stop baking!!! At least until May. My brother is training for a Marathon and has informed me that my baking will throw him off from his "healthy" eating routine and training (blah blah blah). Since I am a nice person (I have a few people who will confirm that statement) I have agreed help a brotha out (no pun intended) and resist the urge to bake . SO sad.

BUT, on the bright healthy side, I have been indulging in fancy salads from the Eatons Centre Food Court. These babies are loaded with couscous, chick peas, corn, beets, cranberries, and such. So, instead of baking, we will now be devouring salad (yay?). At least our waistlines will thank us.

Whatever. I have no choice. May as well act excited about it. 


Ok, I'm off to write (hopefully smash) my Business Law exam. Tooda-loo lovelies!!

Stumbling

I have a new addiction. Thankfully it's a fairly safe addiction unless, of course it's exam time, in which case I'm miserable regardless. 

StumbleUpon. People are absolutely genius. There are so many arguments you can make for and against the rise of social media websites. Although, one can argue that their sudden immense popularity has significantly pooped on stagnated human interaction, it has also connected us on a different level. If you haven't visited StumbleUpon yet, you most definitely should give it a try. Don't have time? Try doing it right before you check your Facebook for the 5th time that day...chances are Sam is out of the shower an Kelly's dog is feeling better. Totally separate issue, but what is it about putting your WHOLE life in your Facebook status? Please, tell me. Is the way you wake up or eat breakfast significantly different from everyone else that you feel the urge to notify us? God forbid I've been doing it wrong this whole time.  No one and I really mean NO ONE wants to know. Infact, my life would significantly improve if I knew less about your personal life. Oh! You also do not have haters...people probably just don't like you and that's probably  directly connected with the stupid pictures you post along with the offensive/stupid captions. You are single handedly polluting Facebook, STOP IT!

Anyways, back to the interesting people around the world. Once you select your "interests" all you have to do is Stumble. The site will dig up websites that fit your interests. I now have a shit load of Bookmarks of things I have stumbled upon. I have become that annoying girl who walks around constantly showing everyone interesting links, paintings, places around the world, interesting food, etc. That's better than updating my status about how much I love my turtle (I have no idea why I just picked that but it seems random enough). 

Give it a shot. You won't regret it.

 http://www.stumbleupon.com/home

In other news, I'm taking my ass back to art class on Friday. I've been dying to go back. Plus, I hate going out in the winter time. Getting gall dressed up, taking a 60 dollar cab downtown, waiting in the line...in the cold, paying cover, paying for bottles, paying to get home and being exhausted the next day? Noooooo, thanks. I should probably add the inevitable event where a friend drinks too much and your night out turns into a mission of getting them home. Did I already say no thanks? So art class Fridays it is. I need to figure out what I want to paint though which is always such a difficulty since I am the world's most undeceive person. I may end up painting one of the ones below...or a picture from my recent vacation. Decisions, decisions, decisions. 

Okay, times up! I have class starting in exactly 12 minutes and I am still sipping on my coffee at Starbucks. In all honesty, I'll probably end up reading the Hunger Games which I am not really a fan of. It's definitely aimed at young teens which translates into being slightly boring and PG. But I'm on the third book and the idea of not finishing the series bothers me more than finishing it. Weird, I know.

Ciao for now! 

Good Morning!

I've been MIA and if we're being honest, I don't even have a legitimate reason. 

I haven't been cooking, or doing anything of any excitement recently so this post will be one of those posts where I just vent about everything. Let's get started, shall we?

After returning from Punta Canada, I got sick. Sick from facing the fact that I am now forced to wear boots and jackets as opposed to bathing suits and flip flops. But also in the literal sense as in I had a fever. During this lovely time of feeling like shit, I watched a total of 5 movies. FIVE. Wedding Crashers, Goldmember, Devil Wears Prada, Sex and the City and one more...damn it, I forget. Anyways, that's not important. What is important, however; is that I stayed in my room the whole weekend NOT to pass on my nasty germs onto the rest of the family and what ended up happening? EVERYONE in my family is now sick. I take no responsibility. 

I am now back to school which is....great (not). Not only did I miss an entire week due to the wedding vacation BUT I also came home to a half completed schedule. Therefore, instead of being enrolled in 4 courses for the semester like a normal student, I was only enrolled in 2. Welcome anxiety. The first class I attended was my Business Statistics class which, I immediately dropped while physically sitting in the lecture. The professor was an EXACT copy of the little gay Asian mafiosi from The Hangover but with a much heavier accent. I mean that in the least offensive way possible. I couldn't even get mad at him because he was so cute but completely unbearable...especially for a class like Statistics (snooooze). Whatever, one thing led to another and VOILA! I am not a full-time student, minus the anxiety and stress and special profs. 

OH! I forgot to mention that one of my best friends is leaving me for Australia for six months on Tuesday. How fabulous?! Stupid, stupid, stupid Kangaroos.

What else, what else...I have a few complaints about these idiotic human beings that surround me on a daily basis but that'll spiral into a fairly long post and I have a Event Management class starting in 5 minutes so that will not be happening (today). 

So in conclusion...I want to be back on the beach with zero worries...but I am not. I am in class.

Ciao for now.