Whats a STEAMPUNK?

So after much debate...we tossed out the idea of going with an old world/tuscan feel with our home decore and decided to go more towards steam punk...as it incorporate the old school traditional stuff that I like, and the funky modern stuff that micah likes.

Thankfully all the colors that we had already picked out and started putting onthe walls goes with this new scheme.

I put a couple inspiration boards together, its more fun and creative (Which is SO us) The funny thing is, we already had some of these elements in our house...now we just need to pull it together for an over all feel/look :)

I Can Haz Wedding Porn Now?

Here are a few little "boards" I whiped up of some of our wedding photos!

O is for Olivia!

I saw this cute felt book online a few months ago and decided that I wanted to take a crack at it for my niece Olivia and spell out her name in pictures. I have never really done any hand sewing (Just stitching up a hole in clothes, nothing crazy) And I have never done any felting...so I went into this project pretty much blind and hoping that it would turn out half as cute as the one I saw online.

I started it in March, I worked on it just about every night after work, sewing for about 2-3 hours a night. And I spent one whole weekend sewing for about 6 hours a day! I finished it sometime around the end of April, just after Olivia was born :) I estimates that I put about 50-60 hours into this book.

Sooo here it is. Be kind, it was my first time.

O is for Octopus
L is for Lion I is for Insect

V is for Vegetables

I is for Ice Cream Cone

A is for Alligator (Micah drew this one for me, and then I cut it out!)The End...I just realized this is a boring page, it needs some bling :(

House Updates Part Deux

Man! Being a home owner sure isn't easy! Ever since we got the keys to our house on May 8th Micah and I have been over there every day doing something to the house to get it ready for us to move in!

The first project was getting the popcorn ceilings out of there! They are soooo gross and not very pleasing to the eye. We called around to see what it would cost to have a professional do them. The quotes were between $3,000 and $4,000!!! Even if we HAD that kind of money I don't think we would spend it that way. So Saturday the 16th, Micah, his good friend Felix and my brother Tallen were assigned to the task. If you wanna see how its done, here is a link to a video. It cost us $700 in supplies and they had the whole ceiling scraped down in one day!

Project number two goes hand in hand with project number one. We then had to retexturize the ceilings. We started it on the 20th and finished on the 25th. We are going for an old world/Tuscan sort of look in the house, so I wanted a really rustic looking ceiling, a flat boring ceilings just wouldn't do. So we bought some sort of joint compound stuff for dry wall mixed it up and slowly by hand spackled all the ceilings. That was some serious labor! But OMG is it the coolest prettiest ceiling ever! We painted them Behr Swiss Coffee. We had a TON of help on this project from Josh, Tallen, Muriel, Becca, Chet and Kris. With out the help from them, Micah and I would still be standing on chairs spackeling.

This isn't the best picture, but you can see the ceilings are finished, the new fans (3 total) have been hung...and those grandma drapes in the background are gone as of last night!!!

We will call project number four the sanding of the kitchen cabinets. The previous owners fancied the 1980's bone white wash method....

This does not suit our tastes or go with the over all theme. So these are being redone. I took all the doors off and labeled them so they can go back in the right spots. Muriel got all the cabinet bases sanded and now we have a pile of doors waiting to be sanded. Then we can start the staining. We picked out Bombay Mahogany. I cant even wait to see the out come!

Project number five is painting the walls. Its been a fun looong process. Picking out the colors was a process all in its self. My friend Brittany who is getting her degree in interior design came and sat with us one Sunday afternoon and helped us pick out colors and how to use them. Micah and I grew up in houses that always had white walls, so now that we can paint colors we had no idea where to start. Here is our swatch wall...the FC and AW are out of the running. My friend Ashley came over and pitched in on the entry way wall, which we are painting in Behr Sly Fox (Its the SF color in the picture above). The dining room is being done in Behr Wild Porcini

We have ideas for the bedroom and our offices, but no paint swatches on the walls to show for that. Things are coming along nicely. We wouldn't be nearly this far along with out all the help we have received. Which we are so so thankful for! Stay tuned, more updates to come!

The newest member of the Munger Family!

WELCOME BABY OLIVIA!!!!

My sister Angelika gave birth to Olivia Ella on 4/20 at 9:25 p.m. weighing in at 7 lbs 1 oz!

My sister wanted me in the delivery room with her and I was totally good with that, I had never witnessed a birth before. I thought I was going to go in and hold her hand...you know like they show in the movies...Instead her hubby and I each had to hold a leg and help her push...I almost passed out twice! haha, had to sit down and take some deep breaths and drink some water.

They are still in the hospital because Ang is having some blood pressure issues, hopefully she gets out today! Olivia is doing amazing and was discharged a few days ago, but they are all staying in the same hospital room together until momma can go home.

Ive been sneaking pics of her on my cell phone every chance I get! I love this little girl!

Here she is about 30 minutes old

10 Hours old! Look at those chubby cheeks and mini-mouth! Just like her mommy!Olivia and her passyThis is her being very very concerned about something very interesting...This next one is to to funny...Ang had just got done feeding little Livy-lou and was burping her. Olivia picked her head up turned it and started sucking on Ang's face!

The last one is one i took of little Livy cuddling with her Auntie Kiki :)

Muriels Mother In Law Cake

Muriel's Sister and niece came for a visit from indiana this past week!

We had a family dinner on Saturday night and I told Muriel I'd bring the cake.

I made a Yellow Cake (man do I love yellow cake) With Chocolate Butter Cream frosting. Then I made a chocolate ganache (I like to use Gihradeli 60% Cocoa choco chips), I poured that on top and just let the chocolate slide down the sides.

I topped it up with fresh cut strawberries and whipped up some fresh whipped cream as an accompanyment :) Sooooooo tastey!

Peanut Butter Jelly Time! ...Cupcakes that is...

So I have been taking a crack at cupcakery...trying to make some really awesome tastests and looks.
Here is my rendition of Peanut Butter and Jelly Cupcakes with a peanut butter, butter cream frosting topped with chocolate ganache and chopped peanuts! YUM!

Peanut Butter Cake
2 cups All Purpose flour
1.5 cups granulated sugar
2 large white eggs
3/4 cup Pure Olive Oil
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup buttermilk
3/4 cup hot water
1 cup Jif creamy peanut butter


Combine all the wet ingredients and mix well




























Sift all the dry ingredients together in a separate bowl
Then slowly add dry to wet while beating to incorporate
Once its all mixed, pour into cupcake papers about 1/4 of the way full
Then give each awaiting little cake a squeeze of jam, I used strawberry...

Filling
½ cup Smuckers Squeezeable Strawberry Fruit Spread divided among cupcakes.










Top each one off with a little bit more batter and then toss in the oven at 350 for 30-40 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean
























Let them cool on the rack in the muffin tin for 10 minutes, then turn them out and let them cool on rack, I am impatient and tossed them in the freezer for a bit...

Next up the Peanut Butter Butter Cream!!! Soooooo good, I could eat this all by itself!

Peanut Butter Butter Cream
4 cups powder sugar
2-3 stick margarine softened
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 cup milk (or less, depending on desired consistency)
3/4 cup creamy peanut butter

Beat Butter, Peanut butter and Vanilla together....Then slowly add your powdered sugar a cup at a time.
Add milk a Tbs at a time until you reach the desired spreading consistency, I didnt need the whole 1/4 cup of milk.













Frost those tasty cakes!
Next up the Ganache!!! DROOOOOL!

Ganache
1 Bag Chocolate Chips (I really like the Gihradeli 60% cocoa chips, they are a bit bitter, which sets off the sweet)
1 Cup Heavy Cream

Heat Cream to slow boil.
Dump over Chocolate Chips and stir until chips and cream become one
Its seriously as simple as that!

Toppings
¼ Cup Peanuts Chopped
4 Reeses Peanut butter cups halved


Here is one of the ooooh so gooey and so very yummy cupcakes all finished

And the sneak peak inside!