The Coffee: Psychology of Color The Cream/Sugar: Popcorn Cake!

The Coffee: Who knew that red encourages appetite? I always assumed colors were associated with emotions, but this infographic takes it another step by describing the Psychology of Color – what you should paint a room, how brands use colors and even that yellow makes babies cry.

If you are ready for a fix-er-upper for your apartment, home, or office decor here are some tips they suggest:

• Paint your kitchen yellow becomes it evokes your metabolism
• Blue for an office space because people are more productive
• Paint a dining area red because it encourages appetite, but not a classroom because it is associated with poor achievement
• Green environment  if you want to induce fewer stomach aches (not sure I agree with this one)

The Cream & Sugar: Last weekend/week I celebrated my lovely friend and roommate’s birthday with a few surprises. There is no shame in my apartment admitting we are popcorn addicts – we own a Whirley Pop, cheese spices and large popcorn bowls to prove it. Her favorite food, any day = popcorn.

SO I underwent the project of making a popcorn CAKE. The recipe was developed by Cookies And Cups, a fav food blog of mine, and I just HAD to try it.

The ingredients are simply:

• (2) 12 oz bags of baking marshmellows (regular ones are fine, but they don’t melt as well)
• 1 stick of butter (unless you are using bagged popcorn with butter on it)
• 2 Large bags of popcorn or 4 handfuls is what I put in the Whirley Pop
• One large bag of M&Ms -2 cups
• One bag of stick pretzels, crushed – 1 1/2 cups

1. Pop your corn, put in a bowl making sure to pick out all of the kernels
2. Toss in M&Ms and Pretzels
3. Melt butter/marshmallow in pot until smooth, let cool for a few seconds
4. Pour over popcorn while mixing. This was REALLY hard, it was a gooey sticky mess and using my hands made my new name Popcorn Fingers.
5. Spray your pan with Pam, literally, squish and stuff into cake pan ( I used a round bundt).
6. Let cool for one hour and flip it onto a plate, BAM it slides right out into a beautiful cake!

 Then I proceeded to drizzle chocolate all over it because why not?

Cheers!

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The Coffee: Grad Advice Cream/Sugar: Grad Memories

The Coffee: With the bombardment of sentimental Graduation thoughts on my Facebook today from all my friends at commencement for NU 2012, I have mixed emotions. Sad, proud, scared, happy, excited. Even though I rushed to complete my degree in 4 years rather than 5, I don’t regret the decisions I made. I still feel a bit envious of my friends though. What I would give to feel the exhilarating high again that the world was in the palm of my hand!

Let me tell you, a year has flown by. It seems like yesterday I was moving my tassel, on the verge of tears, excited for the real world! I can’t wait for my friends to join me here on this side of the fence, and here are some words of advice:

•  Don’t stress about finding the perfect job, your 20′s are about making mistakes and taking risks so even if your first job isn’t ideal, it will still be worth it!
• Grad school doesn’t have to happen right away. Take time to explore, travel, visit friends in the cities they move to.
• Be careful with debt, with graduation comes loan payments and new expenses so be smart!
• Don’t take NO for an answer – if something doesn’t work out, ask WHY
• Cherish your college friends, they will always support you through your adult life

The Cream and Sugar: Since I am being all sentimental now, here is where I was a year ago today!

My proud parents and I:

My best friend Saskia and (now boyfriend) Jon:

Saskia and I

Cheers!

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Coffee: Let Go to Get Happy Cream&Sugar: Inspiring Bloggers

The Coffee: I read this inspiring article the other day. Instead of recommending what to add to your life to be happy, it suggested items to give up!

1. Giving up the need to always be right
2. Give up your need for control
3. Give up on blame
4. Give up on your self-defeating self-talk
5. Give up your limiting beliefs
6. Give up complaining
7. Give up the luxury of criticism
8. Give up your need to impress others
9. Give up your resistance to change
10. Give up labels
11. Give up your excuses
12. Give up on the past
13. Give up attachment
14. Give up your fears
15. Give up living your life to other people’s expectations

Okay, you can’t do this all at once. Here is a baby step: When you are about to complain about something little, think about it for 10 more seconds. If it still seems worth complaining about after that, I’d be surprised. Don’t forget what makes you, you. 

The Cream and Sugar: Speaking of inspiring things, I mostly certainly would never be inspired to blog unless I read about these pretty bloggers. The following sparkly ladies write about anything under the sun and I always look forward to their next post! Don’t fear (see above) writing about what you love, others might love it too.

Jordan – Oh Happy Day – “featuring DIY party projects, party planning ideas, interior design, weddings, letterpress and invitations, design, photography, an occasional kid product and anything “pretty”.”

Joanna – Cup of Joe – Joanna writes about everything, but what is really inspiring is her ability to open up to her readers,  share intiment stories of her life, and most importantly, blog about her adorable baby Toby.

Emily – Cupcakes and Cashmere – Emily is simply fabulous and so is her life.

Erin – Apartment34 - “celebrates curating a styled life featuring all things fabulous in fashion, decor, weddings, interiors, food, photography and whatever else happens to capture my eye.” Erin always posts the more intriguing internet tidbits!

Molly – Smart Pretty & Awkward - Molly inspired my blog layout, since I can never coherently post about one thing, I separated it into two.

Aarean – The Color Issue - As her tag lines indicate, everything she posts make my eyes sing!

Carolyn – Sparkle, Glitter & Shine – A friend near and dear to me, Carolyn puts sparkle into every step of her day.

Bree – Baked Bree - Bree’s food and recipes simply look amazing. the end.

Irish cupcakes with Bailey’s. Get at me.

Cheers!

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