I haven’t quite celebrated St Patrick’s Day the same way since college – Lucky Charm cupcakes are a long way from my days of kegs and eggs and shamrock stickers on my cheeks. But one thing hasn’t changed, my penchant for playing with my food! Making these ‘lucky’ rainbow St Patrick’s Day cupcakes was a treat for my color-coordination obsessed tendencies, it felt like a nice therapy session sorting through the marshmallows and dropping them into like-colored piles.
read more
I’m long overdue in recapping the baby shower I helped throw for my darling cousin Jana a few weeks ago. She had a dream team of friends and relatives that jumped in to help throw her a shower, so I volunteered to tackle what I do best — decorations. When I was visiting her a few months back she showed me an amazing DIY mobile she was going to hang over the baby’s crib, a festive little thing full of pink and mint tassels and pom-poms — the perfect inspiration piece for the baby shower. 
read more
Ready for this little sweet-treat mash-up? I was scheming up something to bring to a birthday party this weekend and saw The Faux Martha’s recipe for apple cider baked donuts. I wanted to try the recipe out so I decided to make a batch of mini-donuts and pop them on top of classic vanilla cupcakes (I used a box mix for those, no judging!). In case you were curious if topping cupcakes with donuts was a good idea, let me tell you: it was a great idea. And a few leftover donuts for breakfast the day after weren’t too bad either. 
A few weeks ago, someone asked me how long I had been blogging. I had to think about it for a second, part of me thought “gosh, forever?” — I can barely remember a time when this site wasn’t part of my daily routine. At the same time, there are days when I open up a new blog post and I feel like it’s the first time I’ve ever started writing. So when I got home after that conversation I looked up my very first blog post and realized it was actually 5 years ago on that very day that I had started writing. Five years! That’s half a decade! I’ve been thinking about this ol’ blog quite a bit after that realization, and like any good blogger, thought I’d share a few of those thoughts with my readers. In those past 5 years I’ve written over 1,000 posts, and those posts all grouped together have given me more than I could have ever bargained for.
One of the very best parts of this blog has been the people I’ve met along the way. I’ve gotten to be part of a rich community of creatives online; people I’ve only known through blog comments and tweets have become friends in real life that I meet up with when traveling to other cities. I’ve been so lucky to have developed relationships with tons of sweet, supportive local bloggers through the Boston Bloggers group that I run with Alison, and feel like I’m always exploring my city and doing fun new things with these inspiring women. In fact, I’ve become such good friends with some of them that I don’t even call them my “blogger friends” any more! 
This site has also brought me amazing opportunities. If you told me 5 years ago, when I closed my eyes, terrified to hit publish on that very first post, that I would end up working with brands and bloggers I idolize, and would have my work featured in magazines and some of my favorite online publications, I would have laughed (and knowing me, probably rolled my eyes). I’ve also learned so much about social media from working in the blogging community and I honestly don’t think I’d be where I am in my career today if this blog hadn’t existed. And gosh this blog has brought me a lot of adventures too; from getting to visit Martha Stewart headquarters, to little weekend inspiration excursions, I’ve consistently used this site as an excuse to explore and have fun.
More than anything, this blog has been an amazing journey of finding my passions and getting to look back at how they’ve evolved. When I first started posting I was toying around with the idea of going back to school for interior design, I was design-crazy and remember reading blogs like Apartment Therapy and Making it Lovely and obsessing over fixing up my first post-college apartment. As my interests evolved, this blog evolved alongside with them. I love looking back at old posts now and seeing the trends and style and ideas I was drawn to at a particular moment in time. Five years, 3 apartments, 3 jobs, a wedding, and 1,000 posts later I feel like it’s a reflection of me more than ever before. 
So! Thank you for reading along with me, whether it’s just been the last few weeks, or since the beginning (in the beginning it was pretty much just my family and my girlfriends– so an extra special thanks to you!). It’s been a lovely ride — and here’s to another 5 more years!
Now, I’m done with my mushy, emotional blubbering and onto the important stuff — check back tomorrow for a fun giveaway to keep the celebration going!)
Sources: Sparklers | Matches | Confetti Wands
I’ve been off-line for a few days doing something very important: celebrating my birthday! I’m a very lucky girl and came home to freshly baked funfetti cupcakes by my fiancé and opened some amazing presents (hello, how gorgeous is that pink zebra wrapper paper?) My favorite gift? A new instax mini camera! It was a hit at the bar; I snapped some instant photos and handed them out to friends as ‘party favors.’ Here’s hoping the rest of year 28 is as fun as this weekend was!
It’s one of my favorite nights of the year: the Academy Awards! I am settling in for the night with some champagne, popcorn,and movie theater candy to get my celebrity viewing on. I even got some ‘red carpet’ red velvet cupcakes for the occasion. Watching the coverage of all of the ball gowns strutting into the theater is like my version of the Super Bowl, I’ll be sure to post all of my best-dressed picks tomorrow! Are you excited for the Oscars tonight?
PS: My blog is up for a Homie award on Apartment Therapy for Best Home Design Blog! Won’t you go and cast your vote for DomestiKatedLife?
Earlier this week I took a cupcake decorating class with my friend at Isabelle’s CurlyCakes in Beacon Hill. I learned invaluable skills like how to fill cupcakes with mousse, how to pipe icing, and how to speed eat cupcake scraps left on the counter.
We made Oreo cupcakes (with Oreo bits baked into the cake! and Oreo icing!), red velvet cupcakes, peanut butter cupcakes, oh and triple chocolate cupcakes that were filled with chocolate mousse, iced with chocolate frosting, drizzled with chocolate ganache, and dipped in cocoa puffs. Hungry yet? You will be after you see how decadent they look:
And if you’re not in sugar shock yet, click over to 101 Things I Love and read my guest post about baking Oreo treats!
PPS: Have you entered the Coral and Pearl earring giveaway? Click here to enter.
Today seems like an appropriate day to share all of my Valentine’s Day girl’s night pictures. We had tons of fun, but then again, how can you not when the champagne is flowing and the cupcakes are stacked high? I’m still recovering from my sugar-high, I think Valentine’s Day dinner tonight will have to be something savory to balance my icing intake from the past few days. What are you doing for Valentine’s Day?
I had an amazing birthday weekend. My friend threw me a fabulous cocktail party on Saturday night, I had a relaxing Sunday, and then I took Monday off for my actual birthday and had a long lunch that turned into cupcakes that then turned into more cocktails. See that cupcake below? It’s a cinnamon chai cupcake with sticky caramel and pecans. Yup. Be jealous.
Plus I got some awesome gifts, like all new bathroom linens and Kate Spade’s Twirl perfume from my family, a chevron bag that has my name written all over it, and an adorable print of stacked suitcases from a friend’s etsy shop. I’m still playing around with hanging up my new print in different spots in the apartment, I can’t make a choice because I want one in every room.
The present that takes the cake is my new Dwell Studio Draper bedding from my boyfriend, I’ve been talking about that set for months and am SO excited to wash them tonight so I can get them on my bed and take some pictures to share!
Thanks to everyone for all of the sweet comments here and on Twitter, it was a spectacular birthday!
