tamagotchi lovin'

Did you ever rock a Tamagotchi? I most definitely had one, like most of my middle school friends at the time. While reminiscing about those great time-consuming toys, a friend suggested that he wanted one for his birthday.



Well, they are not the cheapest thing for a joke gift. And who has time to take care of a vitual pet, anyways?

Inspired by Allison Beilke's felted cats, I decided to create my own Tamagotchi! Way cuter than the original if you ask me...

a sweet treat and a not-so-sweet diagnosis

Just call me the cupcake queen. I love making them! Last week, my friend Steven has a little birthday/ Valentine's Day shindig at the "ToHo" (also known as his town home.) I offered to bring cupcakes. His request: strawberry! They turned out so delightfully pink and so delightfully delicious. They were such a hit at the party!



Now on to the not-so-sweet part....

While I don't really see a need for me to broadcast health concerns, I've learned that all my friends that read my blog would like to know. And blogging may be the easiest way to share.

For the past couple of months I have noticed that my heart will start racing at random times. Driving. Watching TV. Laying in bed reading a book. Cooking. Mostly doing things that cause absolutely very little to no physical actions. After about a month of this, I decide to go to the doctor. I also find out from my mother that this runs in my family.

So, I go to the doctor, and of course, my heart rate is totally normal. Now to find out what is really wrong. They do an EKG. All results are normal.

I go back later that day for an echocardiogram. For those of you that don't know what this is (because I had no idea!) it is an ultrasound of your heart. I thought it was actually pretty neat to get to see my heart on a monitor. Watching it beat. Pretty neat-o stuff. They send the results off to specialist to review.

The doctor's office calls back a week later. All results are normal.

Next step was for me to wear a heart monitor for 24 hours. Seriously?! I'm only 23, I really should have to wear a heart monitor!! But I needed to get to the bottom of this. So I suffered through wearing that obnoxious thing and wore it for the complete 24 hours. They sent the monitor back to a specialist.

While waiting for the results, my heart was going nuts! I could hardly stand it. I ended up skipping out on another birthday party, because I just couldn't get control of my heart. (And drinking would have so not helped the situation!) I went back to the docs just in time for my results from the heart monitor to come back! Hallelujah! The doc told me that my resting heart rate would go anywhere from 60 to 160 (normal is 60 to 80.)

And so, I now have something called Supraventricular Tachycardia. Sounds scary, right? It's apparently not so bad. There is nothing that I need to worry about. Nothing too major that I need to do. I now take a pill to regulate my heart rate and have to cut out caffeine. Not too bad in the big scheme of things.

And that's that. Oh what a fun journey this has been.

a monster party

A couple of weeks ago, a coworker invited us to her son’s 3rd birthday. It was a Monsters Inc. themed party. Her adorable Garden Oaks house was a little more exciting to me than the party and I was afraid I was going to take off with these amazing yellow chairs! They belonged to her aunt, I believe, but I loved them.

And I thoroughly appreciated that my friend Steven and I were the only “adults” that donned party hats. It was quite a shin dig!

in the kitchen with Emily

I absolutely love cooking…and baking even more! I was on a super cooking spree this weekend and thought I would share my recipes!

For breakfast, I cracked open the Joy of Cooking that my parents got me for Christmas and made the Classic Scones. The scones turned out great and I love any excuse to use my vintage kitchen canisters (also a Christmas gift from the ‘rents…they did great this year!)





My friend, Katie, made me Tomato Basil soup and was kind enough to share her recipe with me so that I could recreate its goodness! I made a couple of changes/additions and ended up making the best Tomato Basil soup ever! And, my favorite part is that it makes a TON (expect to freeze your left-overs or share with friends) all for under $10!



1 large can of diced tomatoes (24 ounces)
1 can of tomato juice (74 ounces)
5 stems of fresh basil (more or less to taste)
1 clove garlic
2 cups of fat free half & half
Salt and pepper to taste

Pour diced tomatoes, garlic, and basil into a food processor and blend until well pureed. Pour puree into a large pot with tomato juice and half and half and heat. Add salt and pepper to taste.
Super easy, super yummy, and healthy!