Fantastic Friday: Design Blogs Galore!

Fridays are so much fun! Alyssa, Gianna and I had a very good morning today. We were able to talk to my Mom (their Abuela) on skype which was fun! It's always fun, especially when I get to see my four day old nephew! He's such a cutie! Anyway, the sun was out and shining through the window (though it was freezing outside) and reminded me of Spring to come! I am longing for Spring, for colors to return! I love Winter but one can only take so much white before one starts to dream of color and warmth!

So, today I was thinking about design! I follow a ton of design blogs and it's about time I started sharing them! I've already written about {frolic} which is truly one of my favorite blogs. I cannot impress it enough upon you how absolutely inspiring Chelsea Fuss' blog is. Her images will wow you and her polaroids will astound you! Another blog you will remember having read about before on here is A CUP OF JO, though it is not strictly a design blog, Joanna Goddard often posts about design and oh how lovely are the things she posts! I especially love her fairly recent Home Inspiration: Flowers post. The photos of Juliet Toten's New York Apartment are spectacular!

Another site I am now following courtesy of Joanna Goddard's blog is Design*Sponge. Their site's layout is just fun to look at! It's gorgeous and the images that go with the posts are breath-takingly beautiful! There is nothing better than looking through a great design blog! The ideas you can get are amazing! There are many contributors to that site and as I always say, the more the merrier! Now if clean cut design images and beautiful vistas are your thing then you will love escapade. The blogs complete name is In Search of a Life More Fabulous: Escapade, and it truly is quite an escapade! I love it! Their is so much for one to feast the eyes on! I think this is just one of my many favorite images from this blog:

{photo by: Alicia Bock Photography: I love Paris in the Springtime via Escapade}

Can you see why I love all these design blogs??? Another favorite: Abbey Goes Design Scouting, which I have already mentioned as well. As for art and design: Jill Bliss has a little bit of everything! Just check out her new journal design:

{photo by Jill Bliss}

I cannot wait to get my hands on one of those full color journals! It's going to be a long wait as they do not come on the market until September but it is worth going to Jill's blog just to look at the above photo and all the other wonderful things she's posted about! Last but certainly not least, I will mention my friend Kiki Smith's blog: Kiki Nakita. Kiki is an up and coming designer studying in Oregon. Her blog has beautiful images, beautiful music and inspiring stories. You really need to check it out as well! There are so many more design blogs I follow but not enough time in the day to write them all up! I will have to do another Fantastic Friday post about more blogs!

Have a wonderful weekend and have fun perusing these great blogs!

Cheers!

Sunday Special: Carrot Cake Whoopie Pies and The Family Stone

A few days ago, while I was blog surfing, I came across Joanna Goddard's post Carrot Cake Whoopie Pies on her wonderful blog : A CUP OF JO. The recipe she referenced is from another blog called Abbey Goes Design Scouting, another great read! Abbey's recipe was adapted from a recipe originally found in Gourmet (sadly, the magazine is no longer in print) and her pies look fantastic! Here are Abbey's pies:

Don't those look delicious?

Being inspired by the photo above, which Joanna also posted to her blog, I made a few whoopie pies of my own! Mine were made using this recipe: Carrot Cake Cookies, which are made with carrot cake mix. My sister-in-law had a box of the mix lying around, we did not really have enough carrots to make the ones from scratch and we both had a craving for the whoopie pies after seeing that photo on Joanna's blog! So, here are my little pies:

My attempt at being decorative...

All that yummy filling!

A closer look at my culinary skills!

I love photographing baked goods! As I was making these I was watching/listening to the movie The Family Stone. Sarah Jessica Parker did an awesome job being uptight and obnoxious but becomes endearing in the end. It is a sad movie which teaches a valuable lesson, it teaches love and acceptance no matter what a person is like. I think that in order to really appreciate it you have to view it at least twice, it is a real tear-jerker. Here is one of my favorite scenes from the movie:

             

Rachel McAdams, Diane Keaton and Sarah Jessica Parker

To top everything off, I received a box of Valentine chocolates from my sister-in-law, a nice surprise! So, don't waste another minute, make those whoopie pies and rent the movie! You'll love them both, I guarantee it! Happy Valentine's Day and have a wonderful week!

Cheers ♥