Okuma Paradise

Last weekend Brian and I and a few friends of ours stayed in cute little cabins at the gorgeous Okuma Beach and Resort. It was us two and about 12 other people from Brians shop. They have had a pretty rough 3 weeks before and needed a well deserved break. So that was the plan for the weekend. lol 

It was a great weekend overall. The sun was shining everyday, and in between the scorching heat, there would be a drizzle from a mysterious rain cloud. It really helped when you wanted to be cooled off. the first night we caught the sunset and even a small showing of fireworks. The next day Brian and I spent a good part of the day to ourselves. We stretched out on our beach towels to catch a tan. (ok I needed the tan, Brian was just "evening" out.)

After we went for a swim, and I loved it. Im usually very iffy with the ocean. Very paranoid about jellyfish. lol But I enjoyed it very much. 

We had enough salty goodness for the day so we decided to explore. Where we found a neat path leading up a hill surrounded by jungleness. Once at the top, A breath-taking view presented itself. Photo op! 

Walking all the way back up to the cabins and were completely pooped. With hours in the sun, a quick swim in the ocean, AND exploring, what better to do than nap. Something about the heat that makes me extremely tired. lol

The night ended with a shower of rain. Bringing an end to our beer pong and s'more making. Instead, we got huddled under a tent, singing along to Gotye. Haha awesome. 

Time for you to see the photos! Favorite part yes?

[Our cabin we stayed in. Air conditioned too!]

[All of our cars circled around our 3 cabins. Trying to make a sound barrier. Haha]

 [Amazing]

 [TEAL WATERS!]

[Our new kick-ass hats!] 

[I loved my hat!]

 [The start of our exploration]

 [Our view]

 [Sunset]

 [Our friend Brandy and her son Mason]

 [Me making an elephant in the sand.]

 [Breath-taking]

 [The sun disappearing] 

 [Insanely sun burnt cheeks...and shoulders]

[Elephant!]

[The on-lookers]

Here is a small video of what we saw on our expedition.

I hope you all had just as wonderful a weekend! 

XOXO

Nikki P

String States

Another great project I found on Pinterest. I've seen these before and always wanted one for myself but never really got to it. Till my husband pushed me in that direction. We went to the craft store and ordered a few pieces of wood and we went from there. How about I show you how huh?

What you'll need...

          *As many boards as you want to make. 12x12 is a good size. about 3/4 in. thick.

*Whatever color paint/spray paint you want your board to be.

*1 inch to 1 1/2 inch Nails

*Whatever color string you want. (i dont know exactly what kind)(the kind pictured.)

*A printout of whatever state your gonna do. Sized to fit.

*And of course a hammer.

Now here come the instructions. Dont worry there are pictures. :)

Once you have your board, grab whatever you are using to paint this bad boy and get to it. 

I had some handy help from my lovely husband. Let it dry overnight.

Here they are all primed up for me. With spray paint, it didnt cover the wood as perfectly as i hoped. It was a difficult kind of wood. lol

After you get your desired color, get that printout of your state. 

Make sure it fits nicely with room on all sides.

 Here I did Wisconsin and Florida. 

Also cut out a shape for a focus point. Like a heart, star, circle...etc.

I added a heart for where Brian and I grew up.

Now the fun part! Hammering in the hundreds of nails! Yay...

So just nail in around the state to make an outline. (I had to do it inside of the state for size reasons)

WARNING:

 *It does get messy with the nail rubbing off onto your hands and the board.(You'll see what I mean later)

*If you are going to be nailing on the floor, like I did, you may want to take breaks. I hurt my back just from being in the sitting position for so long. (Icy Hot helped a ton!)

Here is what it looks like after your all done adding the nails and you tear off the paper. 

See I told you it was messy. Stupid nails. lol

I was going to paint it again anyway.

I painted them again to get rid of the ugly marks and set them on our patio to dry overnight.

Guess what I woke up to...

RAIN. 

I thought to myself, "Are you fracking kidding me?!"

So I rushed to go get them. Nothing happened to them. 

The tops of the nails had rusted due to the H2O...

But I think it made it look even more awesome in the end!

 The rusted nails! lol Cool huh? Well anywho, after you I let them dry, I grabbed my string.

I picked a starting point and tied a knot to that one nail. I then just connected them to the heart by looping the string around individual nails. Some were used many many times again. Thats what caused the more dense areas. But keep doing that till you are satisfied with how it looks and tie it off on the last nail like in the beginning. Now, this part could get tricky. You may need to start over once in awhile but its quite easy. 

You get the hang of it pretty quickly.

Here are my finished products. Great right!

The next thing I gotta do is find some hinge thing to hang it up. You know the teeth like things that are on the backs of frames. lol Gotta search for those out here in Japan. haha 

And then find the perfect spot to hang these beauties. Hmm,...

And so that was my favorite project (so far) that I found on Pinterest. I will definitely search and complete more of course! But until then, im just going to go pin crazy! 

Have a great day everyone! 

Nikki P

Pizza Rolls

This recipe I found a while ago is amazing! At first, my husband made these for a going away party and i was  skeptical at first. But as they were baking, Ohmygod! The smell was intoxicating! I tried it right away. Wow it was DELICIOUS! Im telling you. Make these homemade pizza rolls. You wont be sorry.

Here is the recipe. :)

What you'll need:

• Pillsbury crescent rolls 
• 4 string cheese
• 40 slices pepperoni
• Garlic powder 
• Marinara for dipping

So you got your ingredients. You are preheating your oven at 375.  Now what?

Roll out your triangles and add 5 slices of pepperoni to each. 

Add half a string cheese.

  Roll em up!!

Pinch in the ends like this so the cheese doesn't come completely out!
I then sprinkled garlic powder on them just for some kick. ;)

Now stick em in the oven for the required time for regular crescent rolls. (10-12 min)  
After the smell gets to you, they should be just about done.

This is how it should look when they are out.. YUM! lightly golden. Mmmm

Slap the babies on a plate with some warm marinara and you got a delicious lunch. 

I had them just today. YUMMM. 

Its one of my all time favorites. And you know, I bet instead of pizza ingredients, you can add ham and cheese or make it a philly cheese steak. Hmm the possibilities. :)

Go ahead and try them. In fact, I dare ya. You wont be disappointed. 

Have a wonderful day!! 

Nikki P

Cookie in a Cup

You ever want cookies but don't really want to take all the time to make a whole batch? The mixing, the waiting...time consuming. I've found a solution! I'll show you how to make a Cookie in a Cup just for you.


The Ingredients.
-1 Tbsp melted butter
-1 Tbsp sugar
-1 Tbsp brown sugar
-3 drops vanilla
-1 egg yolk
-pinch of salt
-1/4 cup flour
-2 Tbsp chocolate chips
-Oh and of course a microwave safe mug. :)

You add them all together in the mug and it should look like same ol' cookie dough. Yum right? 

Microwave for 40 to 60 seconds.

Yes, I meant to say seconds. It only takes that long. Crazy I know. 

In the end it looks like this. Delicious!

Now, its SUPPOSED to have chocolate chips...but I didnt have any on hand. lol

I believe it would have looks tons better. (and tasted even sweeter!)

Now grab a glass of milk and watch The Vow with you very own deep dish cookie for one. 

Enjoy!

;)

Nikki P

Current Obsession!

[Such a GREAT site! Am I right?!]

I have been part of the Pinterest world for awhile. I mean who isn't?! And if you AREN'T apart of it, i highly recommend it. :) I even got my husband to get an account. Haha Until currently I use to just "like" everything. Actually, I think I currently have about 600+ "likes". lol I think thats insane. At least for me. Quite frankly, im addicted. I dont have many boards but two of my favorites, are my Future Projects and The Fatty in me. *Go ahead and check 'em out along with the other boards. :)


My project board is for all the spectacular arts and crafts that are out in the world. And I pin tons of ideas that I hope to actually do. If only I had the money and talent to do all of these, I totally would. Lol  But...BUT, I have been picking the ones that are a bit more cheaper. So excited to start all of them! I have such high expectations. I just hope it all goes how I want it. One thing that I am finding that is gonna be a necessity, and which is now on my Christmas list; A sewing machine. A lot of things I wanna make involves it. And im one short. :/

Projects I've done...

1. Memory Jar- Write down a memory and put in the jar. New Years Eve read all of them and reminisce about all the great times you had.

2. DIY Pore Strips-Mix Gelatin and milk, heat up 10 seconds, put on face RIGHT AWAY. Let it dry, peel off. *Smells absolutely horrible!!! Just a warning*

3. Hand Scrub- Fill a small jar 3/4 full of sugar. Add desired amount of pink dawn dish soap. Smells amazing and Hands so soft!

4. String States- My Favorite* Nail outline of state on a 12x12 board. Nail a center point wherever you like. Connect the nails with string. Beautiful! Im making tons of these!!

My Food board, or as I call it, The Fatty in Me, is full of recipes I wish I could make or attempt to make. Things that look positively delicious and that make my mouth water at the sight. Things like Death by Chocolate. Ugh! So many sweets!! I've made some of the recipes on there, and surprisingly they have turned out great. For the most part. Lol

Ones I've tried out...

1. Homemade Pizza Rolls! Just crescent rolls, pepperoni, and string cheese. A delicious choice for lunch.

2. Donuts. Need I say more? Lol Pillsbury Grands. Simple and YUMMY!

3. Cookie for one in a cup. You only Microwave all ingredients for a minute. Awesome right!?!

4. Mini Cinnamon Rolls. Yummy! Crescent rolls. So easy. :)

*Help...*

Over the week I will show you how some of these creations went. Im so excited! :D

What are some of your favorite Pinterest Projects/Recipes?

Stay Tuned!!

Nikki P 

30 Day Nail Challenge. Day 30: Inspired by a tutorial

I know I know VERY late. 

But nonetheless, Here is my tutorial nails. :)

This is the tutorial I used.

really long I know. lol

And here are my results...

Awesome right!?! 

Love it!

And so that concludes my month long nail challenge. 

Im kinda happy though. I can always do my nails, but now I have

time to do other blogs and I dont have to worry about getting the nails in 

for that certain day. I'll pop in with new nails and tutorials now and then dont worry. :)

Until next time, Thanks for Reading,

Nikki P

30 Day Nail Challenge. Day 29: Inspired by Supernatural

This one i really wanted to do a Sam and Dean kinda thing...but instead I went "cute"

Between Unicorns and Dragons.

Looking up pictures of each. 

Which. To. Do.

Heres what I chose. 

(I think you'll Like)

UNICORNS!

Tomorrow i'll find a tutorial to follow. ;)

Nikki P

30 Day Nail Challenge. Day 28: Inspired by a Flag

So seeing as it is oh so close to the 4th of July, I felt it fit to use our flag.

It was many designs with that, or the easier Japanese flag. 

Since im here n all. :)

And so, Here is my USA flag Nails!

I Think they turned out pretty nice. Thinking of doing it again for the actual 4th of July. :)

Yeah im pretty sure. 

:)

Thanks for poppin in,

Nikki P