Chit Chat: Birthdays

Do you look forward to your birthday?

As I have stated before on this blog I have never really been someone who celebrated my birthday at least not since my days of Strawberry Shortcake themed birthday cakes and receiving big wheels as presents. It is not that I have ever dreaded my birthday but they have generally become very bittersweet to me. Particularly in the last few years they have served as benchmarks and reminders that my life has not been working out as I once thought it would. With each birthday I have been feeling further and further behind.

Despite my feelings about my birthday, this year I feel like I had a wonderful birthday that felt truly celebratory. It started with a arriving home from work Friday and finding piñata waiting for me (maybe next year I will receive a disco ball!). The weekend continued with waking up to balloons decorating my doorway and fresh baked homemade donuts, not one but two absolutely delicious cakes, and a great dinner with some of my favorite summer foods. I also received some very sweet, thoughtful gifts.

This birthday felt special and now I am kind of looking forward to my next one. How do you usually celebrate your birthdays? Has your birthday always felt like a special day to you?

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Stylish For Less: Gifts For $20 Or Less

Clear Clutch / How The Devil Are You Card Set / Giraffe and Zebra Shakers / Home Is Where The Cat Is Tee / Scallop Luggage Tag (scallops!) / Necklace (some sparkle) / Coffee Mug / Pom Pom Flower / Essie Butler Please / Essie Too Taboo / Eiffel Tower Jewelry Dish / Skull Key Chain / Matches In A Bottle / Twist Scarf / The Southern Cake Book / Butterfly Pushpins / Gold Earbuds (so chic) / Yummy Journal (for note taking) / Arrow Trinket Tray (perfect for gathering everyday jewelry) / Floral Napkins
Today is my birthday so for this Stylish For Less post I rounded up some great gifts for $20 and under. There are always occasions that pop up where we would love to get a gift for an important person in our lives such as friends birthdays, dinner parties, or sometimes just a thinking of you present. If you are like me you are also watching your budget so finding great presents at a price friendly point is important. The presents I have rounded up include these adorable salt and pepper shakers, a sparkly statement necklace, a beautiful cookbook with pictures of stunning cakes, and a graphic tee perfect for anyone who loves their cat as much as I love my Tiger

Winter White Cake

If you are looking for a white cake and frosting recipe this is it. I searched forever to find the perfect white frosting recipe so I almost rejoiced when I discovered this recipe a couple years ago. After I first made this cake for Christmas dinner it became our mom's favorite cake so we made it for her birthday this year and I decided it deserved a repost to show you how pretty it could be with tiny sprinkles and some gel food coloring. Oh and just look at that thick layer for frosting!

Ingredients for Cake:
1 cup milk
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
1 cup butter, softened
2 cups sugar
3 cups cake flour
1 Tbsp. baking powder
5 egg whites

Ingredients for Frosting:
2 cups shortening
1/2 cup non-dairy powdered coffee creamer
1/2 tsp. almond extract
1/4 - 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
1 (32 ounce) packages confectioners' sugar, sifted
1/2 - 3/4 cup water

Directions for Cake:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease 3 (8-inch) round cake pans; line bottoms with parchment paper, and grease and flour paper. We only made a two layer cake.
2. Stir together milk and vanilla.
3. Beat butter at medium speed with a heavy-duty electric stand mixer until creamy; gradually add sugar, beating until light and fluffy. Sift together flour and baking powder; add to butter mixture alternately with milk mixture, beginning and ending with flour mixture. Beat at low speed just until blended after each addition.
4. Beat egg whites at medium speed until stiff peaks form; gently fold into batter. Pour batter into prepared pans.
5. Bake at 350 degrees F for 20 to 23 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in pans on wire racks 10 minutes. Remove from pans to wire racks; discard parchment paper. Cool completely (about 40 minutes).

Directions for Frosting:
1. In a large mixing bowl beat the shortening creamer and extracts.
2. Gradually beat in the confectioners sugar.
3. Add in enough water (starting with almost 1/2 cup) until frosting reaches desired consistency.
4. Optional add in food coloring until the desired shade is achieved.

It's My Birthday

Since it is my day I am taking the day off to focus on myself. Make sure you check back later today for Jessica's post.

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Chit Chat

My birthday is in two days and I would be lying if I said I was not dreading its arrival. I have never really given much thought to celebrating birthdays or for that matter considered them special events. It has always seemed to me that having such grand expectations for a single day is setting yourself up for disappointment.

While I cannot classify myself as a fan of birthdays it is not because I fear getting older. Instead it is because birthdays have always a time of huge reflection for me. I can be very hard on myself. It is how I have always been. My expectations for myself are high and I am dissatisfied with many aspects of my life right now. The last few years have not been what I had hoped for or what I had planned on.

I am just not anywhere near where I want to be in life and I am really unhappy about it. I have always been a bit of a naïve dreamer. As a result right now I am a little confused on what expectations I should have for life and I am upset with myself for failing to forge forward with a plan on how to get there.

With that being said I realize that changes are not going to happen without some hustle and sacrifice on my part. I hope that this new year of my life leads to me making some decisions, to figuring out who I am, to perhaps more importantly figuring out who I am not, and to me finding ways to make the best of my personality and skills.

To start the year off right I think it is only fitting that I be a little more optimistic about my birthday. Please share with me your thoughts on birthdays and what you do to celebrate or to make yours a little more special.

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Independence Day

Happy Independence Day! I hope everyone gets to have fun and celebrate this 4th of July! Enjoy that backyard barbecue or dinner with friends. Then you should definitely watch a fireworks show. This evening I will get to have my birthday dinner with the family and then watch some fireworks! What will you be doing to celebrate?

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Chit Chat

Today, I want to talk about birthdays. In our family we have our birthday traditions. We always have a homemade family dinner. The dinner consists of favorite foods of the birthday girl or boy. When we were little Mom would always make the birthday dinners but now that my sisters and I are older we help with the dinner or completely make the dinner if it is Mom's birthday. For dessert we always have a store bought birthday cake because it is Dad's favorite. No matter whose birthday it is we buy a cake because Dad has a real sweet-tooth for those sugary icings. We, usually, almost always make a dessert too for the birthday girl or boy too. So in our family when it is your birthday not only do you receive presents, but you get to enjoy delicious homemade food and you don't have to lift a finger to make the meal or clean up. YAY!
You might be wondering why today of all days am I talking about birthday traditions? It's because my birthday is this week! I'm an Independence baby born on the 4th of July. While I'm not big on birthdays I do enjoy our birthday dinners and the fact that I won't have to help clean up this time! Since I am a July 4th baby, I tell everyone that the whole US celebrates my birthday, because why else do we have all those fireworks on the 4th of July?
How do you feel about birthdays and when is yours? Do you have any birthday traditions that you love?

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iPad Giveaway!

Today is our blog's third birthday. Happy Birthday Blog! We have worked very hard on our blog over these few years and are very happy with the direction it is going in. In the upcoming weeks you will see several changes on our blog, that we hope you will love.
While we are celebrating our blog's birthday we wanted to reward one of our loyal readers with an amazing giveaway. After putting some thought into it we finally decided on what to have for our giveaway. That is why we are having a giveaway for an iPad! The winner of this giveaway will win a brand new white, 16GB iPad 2 and a Lilly Pulitzer iPad case with stand! This giveaway is open internationally. To enter this giveaway complete the following steps!
Madatory
Follow our blog on GFC and Bloglovin'. Leave a comment with your usernames and email.
Extra Entries
1. Follow us on Facebook. Leave a comment with your Facebook username.
2. Follow us on Pinterest. Leave a comment with your username.
3. Follow us on Twitter. Leave a comment with your username.
4. Follow us on Instagram. Leave a comment with your username.
5. Facebook, blog, or tweet about the giveaway with a link to this page. Leave a comment with the link to your facebook comment, blog post, or tweet.
So that is a total of 6 entries that you can have for this giveaway. Make sure you leave a comment for each step you complete, as a number will randomly be chosen and then that comment number will be the winner. The winner will be chosen at random on April 10, 2013 at 6pm Eastern Time. The winner will be contacted by email and will have 48 hours to respond. This iPad is purchased by us for this giveaway.

Updated: The winner of this giveaway is Sophie Chandler!



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Birthday Wishlist

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I'm off to enjoy my day but first I thought since my birthday is today I thought I would create a wishlist of items I would love to own. What items are you currently lusting over?

Madewell Peep Toe Flats/ Anthropologie Bedding/ Anthropologie Fairytale Book/J. Crew Flower Necklace/ Diptyque Baises Candle/ Anthropologie Hair Ties/ Kate Spade Cobble Hill Leslie Handbag

You Say It's Your Birthday

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My birthday is just 3 days away. I have never been a fan of birthdays but this year I am going to try to appreciate my day a little more.

With my birthday being so close I couldn't resist putting together a little dream wishlist.

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I received a black briefcase as a gift when I graduated law school but I have been wanting a brown one for a while now.

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I need a new mixer so I can start baking again, so I thought I would choose a stylish pink one.

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I'm a sucker for pretty cookbooks. They are great for displaying and this cookbook is as pretty as they get.

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I need a space at home to do work and it would be nice to not have to sit on my living room sofa when blogging.

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I love cocktail rings and always consider them appropriate whether I am wearing one of my favorite dresses or looking for a way to dress up jeans.

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Anything Chanel. I love it all.

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I have had my eye on these slippers for over a year. With Fall getting closer maybe it is finally time for these to come home to me.

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I love cute trinkets like this tiny Eiffel Tower.

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This is my dream car.

♥ Sunny

Happy Birthday...

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Happy 4th of July to everyone! Today is Indepence Day, the day when America adopted the Declaration of Independence. Not only is July 4th Independence Day, but it is my birthday too! So Happy Birthday to Me! We actually celebrated my birthday during the weekend and how did I celebrate you ask?

I had a delicious dinner with the family follwed by chocolate cake! YUM!

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I received some fabulous gifts from my family and friends including a 32gb ipod touch, gift cards (itunes and barnes and noble), and scrapbooking materials.

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We had sparklers

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and fireworks (although my teenage brother didn't get this extravagant with them).

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I had a great birthday this year and I hope all of you do too.

Star

A Birthday Giveaway

Our blog turned 1 earlier this week and what better way to celebrate our blog's first birthday than to have a giveaway. The winner will receive:
Lush Lip Balm
Bath & Body Works Pink Grapefruit Lotion
Black Headband
Floral Headband
Maggie B Coinpurse
White Earrings
Gold and Beaded Earrings
Notebook with Matching Pen
Wall Decals
Cell Charm
Pink Belt
Michele Obama First Lady of Fashion and Style Book
Notepad
Small Pencil Set
Sally Hansen Lipstick
Western Charm Bracelet
Olay Giftset (which includes body wash, moisture bar, body lotion, puff, and Venus razor)

The Rules
1. For one entry simply be a follower and leave us a comment on this post letting us know that you want to be entered.
2. For a second entry you can post about our giveaway on your blog, linking back to us, and let us know in a comment that you have done this.

This contest is open to all of our followers. A winner will be chosen at random at 5:00PM Eastern Time on Monday, April 18th. All prizes awarded in this contest were purchased by us.

The winner will have 48 hours to respond with an email containing their address before an alternate winner is chosen at random.

Sunny & Star

Happy Birthday

We can't believe that we have been so busy that we missed our blog's first birthday. Our blog celebrated its first birthday 2 days ago. We can't believe that a year has passed so quickly. We are thankful for all of our wonderful followers. We also love following all of your blogs and getting to know you. You provide us with amazing inspiration and you are one stylish group. We hope that our blog continues to grow and improve. And if anyone has any advice on how we can approve please let us know. Thank all of you for your support and kind words this last year.

♥ Sunny & Star

Happy Birthday To Me

This past Saturday was my birthday. I always feel conflicted when it comes to my birthday. I like receiving presents and being taken out to dinner. But I've never been a fan of getting older. Although I usually get mistaken for younger than I actually, thinking about where I am in my life and what I had hoped to have accomplished at this point and what I still would like to do overwhelms me. I had a good birthday this year. It was a quiet day. I started the day by sleeping in. I received some very nice presents. I baked some delicious chocolate cupcakes. My sisters got me dinner at from one of my favorite restaurants and got me some chocolate ice cream. We had other family events, aside from my birthday, happening this weekend so there was a lot of visitors from out of town. Over all I had a good day. Maybe next year will be even better. How do you usually spend your birthday? Do you have any big plans for your upcoming birthday or did you just celebrate?

♥ Sunny

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