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2012/08/30

Passion Parade Friday Link Soiree

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Days gone by so fast! Before I know it, its Friday once again, time for Passion Parade!

I am very excited to present our talented new linkers.
 
The end of summer is getting near but there is always a time for a nice tropical treat like this Tropical Smoothie from Jodie of JodieFitz. Whatever season it is, coconut and mango holds a special place in my heart.
 
 
There is nothing more fun than edible art. This is a cute activity to do with your kids! I could imagine Crystelle of  CrystelleBoutique  having so much fun with her kiddo painting their after school snack!
 
 
This gorgeous wreath seemed to look hard to make, but
 Kathy of Life On Lakeshore Drive said it was pretty simple! I like how she incorporate the materials and colors and made a festive wreath!
 
 
I like stories of great deals and make-overs. Thumbs up for ShabbyGals for the transformation of a mirror from a garage sale and turning it into this lovely chalkboard!
 
 
 
 
 
 
Thank you all so much for sharing your talents at my parade. You are all so wonderful! Please feel free to grab this button if you have been featured.
I am so excited on what you are about to share this week!
So let's get this parade going but first... just a quick reminder before linking up.
1. Be a follower of Petites Passions. This way I could keep in touch with you.
2. Link the specific post of your entry, and not just your blog link.
3. Please kindly link back by posting Passion Parade button so others could join the parade too!
4. This party can also be a treasure hunt, so visit others. Share your passion and win a friend!

If you are a new linker and or a follower, just leave a comment so that I could welcome you and be featured!
If you have a link party, please feel free to pin it on my "Pin your party"


So let's start this parade!
 
 
Posted by at 9:46 PM 5 comments

2012/08/27

Shabby Candle Lantern Revamp

Hi everyone! I apologize if I scared you with my last post. Let me make it up to you by sharing a project I just finished.
Golden Goose thrift store has a sale held at every 3rd Friday of the month from 4:00pm to 7:00 pm. Me and a family from our church came by to check that out! Almost everything is half off. I got some nice deals along with this candle hang lantern.


My friend almost bought this one but decided not to get it. Without hesitation, I ran over to get it where she had left it before someone else could!

I forgot to take a picture before the revamp. It had a little color which I didn't like, so I painted it white and decorated it with  detachable a lace and ruffles.

Et Voila! Great for indoors and outdoors!
I will be adding this at my Etsy store, ready to find a new home.

What's your latest creation? Don't forget to link up at Passion Parade every Friday here Petites Passions!
Linking to:
Posted by at 7:59 PM 17 comments

2012/08/26

It's a Jungle in the Desert

Fear or Fascination?

  I didn't know which one I felt when I saw these in one day.

This tiny snake caught in a sticky trap.

 I've seen stripe lizards in sticky trap before, but when I saw this, I thought it was big to be just a lizard like I am used to. I looked closer. I was wrong. It seemed I encountered a kind of Kings snake. Interesting to know that common kingsnakes are not venomous but they are immune some other snake's venom and feed on them such as rattlesnakes.

baby diamondback rattlesnake.

Found this dead that afternoon when I opened the double door going outside. It was lying on it's back just inches away from my feet. The poor thing probably ate a poison or something. It was not fun seeing it next to me.


Still freaking out at the sight of baby rattlesnake I looked to my right and found this. I felt surrounded. Those white granules are poison that exterminators scatter all over the place.

 Though dead and small, these desert babies freaked me out big time when i saw them inches away from my feet in one day. I guess i cant truly experience AZ without them. Summer and monsoon season is when these creepy crawlers most are most active. They would come out at night, specially the scorpions to hunt for food. More bugs means, there are scorpions. More scorpions could mean there could be snakes. Small snakes could mean there might be a bigger snake! Snakes could draw birds like hawk. 

This is the desert life I am not used to  yet. Though this experience made me a little paranoid, I learned something about myself. 

I don't shriek like a girl. 

Top of it all, I am thankful God kept me safe.



Posted by at 5:17 PM 5 comments

2012/08/23

Passion Parade Friday

Happy Passion Parade everyone!


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Two weeks of break from blogging felt like I've been missing a lot! It was a busy couple of weeks. We went to LA on the day our in laws had about to head home.
It was a tiring drive but at least I had my passport taken care and renewed. For some reason, for a Philippine passport, I had to show-up in person a wear a proper attire (for passport picture) instead of processing it through mail like my husband's. Oh well, at least it was a nice excuse to see my fellow Filipino friends that's so dear to our hearts.

This is for mumsy
Since we were there, we took the chance to use of our little time to visit the Hollywood walk of fame

Big Fan
We had to take a quick shots of some of our favorite celebrities since the sidewalk was crowded.

He likes jazz

We had so much fun, but I will tell you more about it later, but for now, I'd like to share a couple of new awesome linkers from last week.

Shannon of Shannon Sews shared a helpful DIY on how to lengthen an elastic belt. I sometimes see cute belts that are too small for me. Now I don't have to worry about that! Visit her blog for some more cool tips and tutorials.



Frances of My Laughing Lion shared how to make these gorgeous tiny trees!





Thank you all so much for sharing your talents at my parade. You are all so wonderful! Please feel free to grab this button if you have been featured.
I am so excited on what you are about to share this week! 


So let's get this parade going but first... just a quick reminder before linking up.

1. Be a follower of Petites Passions. This way I could keep in touch with you.
2. Link the specific post of your entry, and not just your blog link.
3. Please kindly link back by posting Passion Parade button  so others could join the parade too!

4. This party can also be a treasure hunt, so visit others. Share your passion and win a friend!

If you are a new linker and or a follower, just leave a comment so that I could welcome you and be featured!
  
If you have a link party, please feel free to pin it on my "Pin your party"

So let's start this parade!

Posted by at 11:01 PM 13 comments

2012/08/22

Turtle Candy Tart




 
Here is a recipe that my darling mumsy and I tried when they visited. She got the recipe from Country Living magazine which she brought with her all the way to AZ. Working at the kitchen is so much fun with her than doing it all by myself. Together, we did pretty good.


It tasted so good that I spoiled myself with it for breakfast, lunch and dinner! mumsy told me to stop when she found what her naughty little girl did.
But then I guess you don't have to worry about eating too much of it because one tiny sliver is vey filling!
So if you are a chocolate, pecan and caramel lover, this one is perfect! 
The recipe would require candy thermometer, but if you don't have it, that's fine. I didn't use one anyway.


Turtle-Candy Tart

2 Salted unsalted butter
14 chocolate graham crackers crushed (about 1/2 cups)
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1 cup light-brown sugar
1 cup sweetened condensed milk
1/2 cup light corn syrup
6 ounces pecan halves, toastes (about 1 1/2 cups)
3/4 teaspoon vanilla
8 ounces bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped
2 1/2 cups heavy cream

1. Preheat oven to 375 F. Meanwhile, in a small pot over medium-low heat, melt 1 stick butter. Transfer to a medium bowl. Add graham crackers, granulated sugar, and 1/2 teaspoon sea salt and combine. Press mixture into the bottom and along the sides of an 11 inch tart pan with a removable bottom. Bake crust for 10 minutes. Transfer pan to a wire rack and cool, about 20 minutes.

2. Meanwhile, make caramel: In a medium pot fitted with a candy thermometer, melt remaining butter over medium heat. Add brown sugar, condensed milk, corn syrup and 1/2 teaspoon seasalt and stir to combine. Allow caramel to come to a boil: maintain gentle boil, stirring constantly until mixture reaches 240 F, about 10 minutes. Stir in pecans and vanilla. Pour caramel into tart crust and spread evenly. Set aside to cool, about 30 minutes.

3. Meanwhile, make ganache: Place chocolate in a medium bowl. In a small pot, bring I cup heavy cream to a boil and pour over chocolate. Let sit for 30 seconds then stir until melted. Pour over caramel and spread ganache into a smooth, even layer with a spatula.. Refrigerate tart until set, about 1 hour.

4. Meanwhile, in a medium bowl and using an electric mixer, beat remaining heavy cream until soft peaks form. Refrigerate until ready to serve. Once tart is set, remove outer ring of pan. Let sit at room temperature for 20 minutes before serving. Serve with dollops of whipped cream.
per slice, protein 5g; fat 41 g; carbohydrate;49g; fiber 2g; sodium; 72 mg; cholesterol 89 mg; calories 551

Linking to:

Make a Scene Monday

Show and Share
White Wednesday

Blog Stalking Thursday
Throwback Thursday
Transformation Thursday
Time Travel Thursday

Show and Tell Friday
I ♥ Fridays
Potpourri Friday
Feathered Nest Friday
Inspiration Friday
Stuff and Nonsense
Anything Goes Linky Party

Funky Junk's Saturday Nite Special

Mom's Library Link-up
Posted by at 9:34 PM 7 comments

Sedona Trip

Good rainy morning everyone! I am surely enjoying my current weather temperature right now. The rain is giving me a feel of my tropical home. It is great to escape the heat a little. Oh thank you Lord.!

Today I just want to share the photos I took driving through Sedona. The original photos were dark. It was getting dark when we drove through there so I had to adjust it a little to see some of the details.


 I didn't know about Sedona until my in-laws said something about driving there after we saw Grand Canyon. When I saw these views, it took my breath away. The mountains really turn red!


Photos could not give justice to this breathtaking scenery. It was really different seeing it in person. I am so glad I was with my shutterbug-buddy (dadzy) who would pull-over the car to take pictures with me. He had mostly incredible pictures of our trip. He is my mentor in photography.



How I wished we had enough time to savor everything but we were such in a hurry because it was getting late. Oh well. There's always next time.

Have you been to Sedona?  If you were, do you have any suggestions how to enjoy it more?
Posted by at 9:18 AM 5 comments

2012/08/20

Grand Trip to Grand Canyon

Hi everyone! I hope you all had a great week. It was a pretty busy and interesting week for us, with unexpected vacation and visit to Grand Canyon with my in-laws. It was pretty exciting. We had a spontaneous adventure and we had so much fun! Eventhough the temperature was high as over 100 and my mumsy's constant complaint about the heat, she had survived the heat of AZ. We actually came up with a T-shirt quote for her that says "This Upper Survived Arizona" lol!

But in spite of her discomfort, she fell in love with the beauty of the desert.

Hoover dam view


We weren't really planning on going to Hoover Dam. Our trusty GPS took us to a different route. Then we saw the Hoover Dam and thought, hey! might as well see it right?
Until then finally we found our way to Grand Canyon.  We first planned to see the skywalk only to find ourselves with wasted 20 miles of unpaved road and a dissapointing extra expensive fees! And we couldn't even take photos! We called it, "The Indian's Revenge".

I had no clue that I would ever see Grand Canyon that week. 


It took my breath away. It was more than I expected from I've seen from videos. I got goosebumps.


There were a lot of tourists but wasn't too crowded. I mean come on! It's the grand canyon. I don't think tourists could fill it.

Some people just couldn't help themselves be extremely curious.

like this daredevil.

And of course, mumsy was a big fan and we just had to take their picture with us!
Each visitors summoned their courage to pose on a ledge.

Even Dadzy wasn't afraid to do it.


For us two, our photo would remind us that sometimes Love has no boundaries....or fence.

Though our fun vacation was over, I am so glad to be back home, reunited with my computer again. Finally, no more inconsistent signals and I am back doing what I love. Read your blogs :)

Have a wonderful week ahead!

Posted by at 1:15 PM 6 comments

2012/08/16

Passion Parade Friday Link Soiree

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 Passion Parade will be a little bit early this week because we will be away from tomorrow until Sunday. We will be heading to Los Angeles! 

It has been a very busy past week. We spent more nights in hotels more than we had slept in our apartment.


We were truly taking advantage of my in-law's visit since they came a long way from IL and I am enjoying it immensely!


We finally went to see Grand Canyon. I have to say it did not disappoint us. We all had so much fun! We've created so much memories of laughter.

 
It was breathtaking. Incomparable to photos I have seen.
...and romantic as well.

The best part of this vacation was we were able to spend time with our awesome mom and dad. Dad and I have always been shutter-buddies. We went crazy taking photos of the scenic beauty of The Grand Canyon. The breathtaking sights at least made me forget the hassle of not having a signal in the middle of nowhere!

 Today was their last day. They would be heading back to IL. Though it would be sad to see my mommy and daddy go, but spending time with our dear friends is something to look forward to. It's going to be a great week afterall. 

For now, I need to have some rest. Hubby is determined to let me drive tomorrow. It's gonna be an interesting day.


Thank you all so much for sharing your talents at the parade. You are all so wonderful!
I am so excited on what you are about to share.


So let's get this parade going but first... just a quick reminder before linking up.

1. Be a follower of Petites Passions. This way I could keep in touch with you.
2. Link the specific post of your entry, and not just your blog link.
3. Please kindly link back by posting Passion Parade button  so others could join the parade too!

4. This party can also be a treasure hunt, so visit others. Share your passion and win a friend!


If you are a new linker and or a follower, just leave a comment so that I could welcome you and be featured!

So let's start this parade!
















Posted by at 12:15 AM 5 comments
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