chocolate hazelnut butter and the sweetest mail

hello hello dolls!

oh i just have to start by saying i am so happy today. i am bursting with it. good music, good weather and good company have all contributed to this day, and i am absolutely loving it. 

i went on a little thrifting adventure, walked all around the city by myself and then hiked signal hill with my brother. it was wonderful.

this little post is to share with you a recipe for chocolate hazelnut butter and a gorgeous package i received a few weeks ago that i've yet to share!

for the chocolate hazelnut butter i followed this recipe. it was super simple.

you basically toast hazelnuts for a few minutes until they smell amazing, then whir them away in the food processor until they're nut-buttery.

then you add some cocoa powder, a bit of oil and a bit of honey and whir a bit more and voila! delicious chocolate hazelnut butter. my only complaint about this recipe is it didn't make enough! i will definitely be doubling it next time.

i pretty much ate most of it straight from the little jar with a spoon. but some of it made it on top of my oats a few mornings, and i did microwave a wrap with peanut butter and the chocolate hazelnut butter which, needless to say, was unreal.

now onto my package! the ever so lovely sarah sent me this a few weeks ago and i can't say i wasn't like a kid at christmas when i got the postal slip in my mailbox to go pick it up.

i was at a coffee shop right after i went to the post office and picked it up and was going to wait until i got home to open it but i literally could not, haha. so i opened it while sipping a caramel macchiato and every time i pulled something new out i was happier and happier!

sarah sent me a lovely card, a little notebook (which i'm still trying to decide what to use it for! i'm so fussy about new notebooks), a tiny polaroid of her hanging paper cranes, a lovely notecard and envelope and a bunch of paper cranes for myself! they're on all different patterned paper and i can't wait to hang them in my room like she has done in the little polaroid.

i have to take a minute here and thank sarah for this beautiful package. over the past few months she has become one of my closest blog friends and i absolutely adore reading her blog whenever she updates. we also follow one another on twitter now, and i have to thank modern technology's brilliance for allowing two people who live so far apart to be able to connect like we have! it's magical. so thank you a million times sarah for being such a great friend and loyal reader. 

and i have to say thank you to everyone else who shows up here too. it blows my mind that people read this, it really does! i get so excited to discover new blogs and meet new people. 

my happy day has turned me into a sap, it would seem.

i hope you are all having as amazing a day as i have, and that you are full of love and light.

love, love, love xx

summer reads so far

1. sophie kinsella can you keep a secret

i've read this book every summer for the past few years. it's light and funny and i love sophie kinsella's writing, her character's are charming and endearing albeit slightly dimwitted at times. but that only makes them more loveable!

2. gretchen rubin the happiness project

i picked this up on a whim one day and read it in one sitting. i. loved. it. everything about it. it made me want to better myself, in the same way eat, pray, love did when i first read it, which is always a good thing.

3. elizabeth hay a student of weather

this book took me a while to get into. her writing is lovely but i found it a bit slow at times. it was a lovely story in the end, i never knew what to expect at all as it was recommended to me by a friend but i didn't have much of an idea what it was about. the story of the sisters is kind of a sad one. maybe sad isn't the right word. i'm not sure. i did like this book quite a bit though. it left me with a feeling. i don't know what feeling exactly. okay i'm making no sense now. i did try to read another of her books, garbo laughs, and just could not get into it.

4. lauren conrad sweet little lies

oh my. we all know this is fluff. but i wanted a quick, girly summer read so i borrowed this one from the library and sat out front tanning my legs and read it. it is basically exactly like the hills, mindless entertainment.  that doesn't meant i didn't like it though! 

5. kathryn stockett the help

i cannot say enough good things about this book, although i'm sure you've all probably heard plenty by now. it was wonderful. the story is amazing. if you read one book this summer it should be this one! (i realize it says something similar on the cover of the book, but it is very very true.)

6. beth harbison thin rich pretty

i picked this one up because it was $4.99 on the sale table at chapters. it was a cute little story! sort of predictable but a light summer read. you can probably tell by now that is mostly what i read during the summer - girly, easy to read novels.

7. sara gruen water for elephants

this was wonderful. oh my gosh. i wasn't sure what to expect from it, exactly. but what i got was surprising. i loved jacob. he was an amazing character. i was going to see this movie when it came out just for something to see, and i ended up not going for some reason. i am so, so glad i didn't go and read the book first! now i can't wait to see the movie even more.

8. hilary kerr & katherine power what to wear, where

i was browsing the fashion section at the bookstore and saw this and it caught my eye. the clothes are so cute! and i love the reasoning behind each outfit they chose and the accessories and everything. there really is a guide for every occasion you can think of in there! 

at the moment i'm reading identical strangers by elyse schein and payla bernstein. it's so interesting! it's about twins who were put up for adoption at birth and then were adopted into different families. there's so many interesting twin facts in here which is totally fascinating to me - probably because of my obsession with the olsens as a kid and wanting to have a twin of my own. 

what have you been reading this summer?

are there any books you find yourself reading every summer or in a particular season?

xx

sunday summary

now, these pictures have nothing to do with sunday (they're the cupcakes from the previous post dressed up all pretty!) but i actually didn't take any photos on sunday (only with my disposable camera) and wanted to do a summary of my day anyways. so here goes! and prepare for cupcake overload!

woke up super super early with quite a bad headache :(

had a delish bowl of oats with tons of cinnamon and banana

worked until five

attempted to go minigolfing with pat, but neither of us had cash and his bank card wouldn't work because he was playing with magnets earlier (seriously, who plays with magnets?)

ended up renting the king's speech and watching it at his house. well, i watched half and then fell asleep.

came home, chatted to samantha, read a bit of identical strangers and then went to bed! 

it was a good day.

how was your sunday?

tonight i'm going to see super 8 after work! i've heard good things, i'm pretty excited.

xx

early morning baking

hi loves!

just wanted to pop in and share some pictures of my little baking adventure this morning. 

my friend emma's birthday is today so i baked some cupcakes for her party tomorrow night. 

(of course i had to taste test one, you know, to make sure they tasted fine!)

they're not frosted yet, but i'm thinking pink buttercream is in their future.

have a lovely weekend dolls! 

ps. i completely missed celebrating my 100th post! a little giveaway is most certainly in order. soon! 

cast photos and a graduation

ahhhhh!! i'm so sorry i've been away for so long again! i started a second job and have met so many new people so between work and going out (in addition to losing my internet for two weeks) i haven't been on the computer much. and sadly i haven't been taking many photos lately either. 

ismene was a success! we had a great turnout for the shows and every night was flawless. it was an amazing experience, the people i worked with were all unbelievable actors. (yes, i was in pajamas for 99% of the show. and yes, it was as awesome as it sounds).

mike, the only guy in the show, had the second largest role - and it was only his second play ever! he was also in the fights with me, and he had only three lines in that play in january. to say he is talented is an understatement!

we had a pretty low-key cast party involving chips, salsa, skittles and of course some celebration champagne. i'm always sad to stop working with people at the end of a show's run, but at the same time i am grateful for all that i learned from them and start to look forward to new auditions and new plays in the future. 

i recently sent in my resume and head shot to a company filming in newfoundland in the fall, so i'm hoping to hear back within the next few days whether or not i'll get an audition! fingers crossed!

in addition to the play, another exciting thing happened recently - my brother graduated from medical school and is now officially a doctor! i'm so proud of him it's ridiculous. he is the most well adapted guy i know, he is an amazing student and hard worker but also knows how to have a really good time. he's currently in nashville for bonnaroo.. receiving his texts about the country music award red carpet (which he was across the street from) and knowing he's seen amazing performers like florence and the machine, mumford and sons, arcade fire, robyn, eminem.. (the list goes on and on forever) makes me incredibly jealous. but of course i'm happy for him, he really has his life on track and i can only hope someday i'm as well traveled and set as he is!

my family all came in for the graduation and we had several nights and days of fun together. it was the longest my parents have visited in quite a while so i really loved it. 

(sorry for the photos with the little yellow date - i didn't have my camera with me and borrowed my aunt's pictures from facebook! but it was too important an event not to share :) 

i'm going to stop here because this post is getting a bit long! 

i do have another post planned for as soon as possible - the lovely sarah sent me the most beautiful package and i can't wait to show it to you! it made my day, so i'll be back soon with that.

i hope you're all well and fine - i'll try to catch up on blog reading this week when i get a few spare minutes!

love love love

ps - if you want to keep up with me when i'm away from the blog, feel free to follow me on twitter!