Highlight of the Holidays!!!

One BIG highlight over the holidays was that I won the BEST TASTING contest and BEST PRESENTATION award at the office Christmas party. This can get pretty competitive. A lot of people enter the best tasting contest, but not many enter best presentation....so I knew I had a shot.

Everyone in the office loves my cake balls...they are always a crowd pleaser, and I've probably emailed the recipe out at least 20 times. It's just so easy! SO....for best presentation, I decided to try and do Bakerella's Christmas Cake Pops! I was a little nervous about the assembly. A few people thought I was crazy and in over my head. (ie. GlamandFab) But with the help of a crafty neighbor...and with Chops being out of town (so no one to comment on the messy kitchen)...I knew we could take on this challenge!

And....I think we did a PRETTY GOOD JOB!!! It wasn't even that hard!

The display!

Christmas Trees! (notice prenatal vitamins in background! haha)

Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer in the front!

Santa Hats!

Unfortunately, I didn't get too many pictures of my competition. BUT...the both prizes were gift certificates to Central Market. YUM!!! Anyone up for a cooking class?

Reasons why I haven't posted for the past 4 months and 19 days....

1. Work has been crazy. I have seriously had a work trip almost every other week. When I was actually in the office, my little ‘ol blog became the “water cooler talk” for a few days, which made me want to lay low for a while.

2. Weekends have been filled with weddings, birthdays, family vacations, and out-of-town visitors. I couldn’t be more thankful for such a wonderful group of friends and family. I promise to post pictures of these events and celebrations soon!

3. LAST BUT NOT LEAST, Chopsticks and Pearls has a BIG ANNOUNCEMENT!!!!

BABY CHOPS IS DUE JULY 4, 2010!!!!
Note: This picture was taken at Thanksgiving after we told our parents. We gave them a frame that said "Reserved for Baby - Coming July 4, 2010".

We are so excited and I am ready to start documenting the stories. I don’t think it’s truly hit us yet that we are about to be parents. I never had much of the “first trimester” side effects, which has been awesome. I DO have to eat more regularly or I get dizzy and get headaches. I have also been more tired after work and on the weekends. It just seems to take longer to recover from a big weekend. This could also contribute to the fact that I’m rapidly approaching 30. Yikes!

I just started showing about two weeks ago. It was pretty subtle until this week. I now officially have to wear my pants unbuttoned. T-shirts are also starting to become tighter and shorter. All I have to say is that my coworkers better start getting used to this one pair of black pants that still fit! I have a feeling I will be wearing them frequently…and by that, I mean every day.

The most stressful part about being pregnant thus far has been letting people know. It was SO hard to keep it from our friends and family for so long. We basically fell off the face of the earth for a few weeks. There are so many people you want to tell in person…but you also want your family to be the first to know….and when you tell one person, you have to tell everyone else pretty quickly or the word will get out….and because we were in the middle of the holiday season, it was just one big headache trying coordinate schedules with people! Anyways, the day that I sent out a mass email with the announcement…I had a huge weight lifted off my shoulders…and everything just got easier!

It still doesn’t feel real that I have an actually human being living inside me…or that I will be responsible for keeping someone else alive… feeding them..dressing them…changing them..etc. I can barely put myself together in the morning, let alone someone else. Surely, changing a diaper comes naturally, right?…because I’ve never really done that before! Chops REALLY has no clue. In fact, I’ll give you an example.

Our conversation last night:

Pearls: “Hey Babe, you know that when Baby Chops comes, we are going to have to secure those bookshelves to the wall” – referring to our tall narrow bookshelves in the living room that teeter a little bit if you touch them.

Chops: “Why would the baby be in this room?”

Pearls: “Are you asking me why the baby would be in the main living room of the house? The room we spend the majority of our time in?”

Chops: “Well, why would the baby be in this room unsupervised?”

WHAT?? CLEARLY, he has no clue as to how quickly babies move and how easy something could happen if you turned your head for one second. This conversation also convinced me that I will be hiring a professional to come “baby proof” the house.

We have a lot to learn in the next 5 months.

Disclaimer: I promise this blog will not strictly become a “baby blog”. I will continue to post recipes, product reviews, and make fun of chops! 

Product Review!

I've done a few product reviews before, so I thought I would go ahead and add some to my list!

In my attempt to save money this summer, I decided to cut back on my make-up expense. I am embarrassed to admit this, but I've only really worn Laura Mercier make-up. I LOVE all their colors and the way it feels on my skin. But it's EXPENSIVE! You have to go to Neimans, Saks or Nordstrom to get it. I stocked up a few years ago (yes, years) when I was in a bunch of weddings and kept getting my make-up done for free at their counter.

Well..the time came where I needed some new foundation. I decided I would try something I could buy at Walgreens for under $10. I also decided that I would give it two tries....if the first one made my skin break out, I would try one more brand before going back to the ol tride and true.

Well....I have a new favorite foundation! Cover Girl - TRU BLEND! It's so soft on my face and I feel that it has good coverage. I still use my LM transparent powder over it.

My next product review is the Curvy Jeans at Gap. I did a quick walk-through this weekend and decided I would try on a pair because they were all $20 off. These jeans are already washed and SUPER soft. If you have some curves like me, these are very flattering, and they don't pucker in the back. Of course, I WILL take them to get altered so they fit just right...and yes, I will go ahead and admit that I will pay $5 extra to get the "jeans hem". Now if the weather would ever drop below 100 degrees!!!

Note: WHY would they pick a model to try on the CURVY jeans...when SHE HAS NO CURVES!!!!??? Seriously!!!! Come on, Gap! I thought you were all about the modern day woman!

Finally, I don't have to explain too much about this next product. The label speaks for itself. I LOVE Clorox Spray with Bleach. We have white counter tops and I seriously don't know what I would do without it. I am such a mess in the kitchen that I probably use it AT LEAST 2-3 times over the course of the evening....spill a bit of red wine? No problem! Splatter some sauce over the white back splash? Let me get that! Minor explosion in the microwave? Bring it on!

Honestly...if I managed the Chopsticks and Pearls money market accounts, I would probably go ahead and buy a bunch of their stock........which is maybe why I'm not in charge. :)

ON A SIDE NOTE:

I'm about to updated my "blog list" in my sidebar. I haven't added anything since I start my blog last year. SO....If you read my blog, I would love to link to you! Leave me a comment or shoot me an email and I'll add you! Also, I just posted the "follow" feature. I'm not 100% sure that that means, but I'm more than happy to follow you too!

Random thoughts from people 25 - 35 years old...

I saw this post on someone else's blog and thought it was funny and SO TRUE! I took out a few because I like to think Chopsticks and Pearls is a "family friendly" blog. I bolded some of my favorites.

I wish Google Maps had an "Avoid Ghetto" routing option.

More often than not, when someone is telling me a story all I can think about is that I can't wait for them to finish so that I can tell my own story that's not only better, but also more directly involves me.

Nothing sucks more than that moment during an argument when you realize you're wrong.

I don't understand the purpose of the line, "I don't need to drink to have fun." Great, no one does. But why start a fire with flint and sticks when they've invented the lighter?

Have you ever been walking down the street and realized that you're going in the complete opposite direction of where you are supposed to be going? But instead of just turning a 180 and walking back in the direction from which you came, you have to first do something like check your watch or phone or make a grand arm gesture and mutter to yourself to ensure that no one in the surrounding area thinks you're crazy by randomly switching directions on the sidewalk.

That's enough, Nickelback.

I totally take back all those times I didn't want to nap when I was younger.

Is it just me, or are 80% of the people in the "people you may know" feature on Facebook people that I do know, but I deliberately choose not to be friends with?

Do you remember when you were a kid, playing Nintendo and it wouldn't work? You take the cartridge out, blow in it and that would magically fix the problem. Every kid in America did that, but how did we all know how to fix the problem? There was no internet or message boards or FAQ's. We just figured it out. Today's kids are soft.

There is a great need for sarcasm font.

Sometimes, I'll watch a movie that I watched when I was younger and suddenly realize I had no idea what the f was going on when I first saw it.

I think everyone has a movie that they love so much, it actually becomes stressful to watch it with other people. I'll end up wasting 90 minutes shiftily glancing around to confirm that everyone's laughing at the right parts, then making sure I laugh just a little bit harder (and a millisecond earlier) to prove that I'm still the only one who really, really gets it.

How the hell are you supposed to fold a fitted sheet?

I would rather try to carry 10 plastic grocery bags in each hand than take 2 trips to bring my groceries in.

I think part of a best friend's job should be to immediately clear your computer history if you die.

The only time I look forward to a red light is when I’m trying to finish a text.

A recent study has shown that playing beer pong contributes to the spread of mono and the flu. Yeah, if you suck at it.

LOL has gone from meaning, "laugh out loud" to "I have nothing else to say".

I have a hard time deciphering the fine line between boredom and hunger.

Answering the same letter three times or more in a row on a Scantron test is absolutely petrifying.

Whenever someone says "I'm not book smart, but I'm street smart", all I hear is "I'm not real smart, but I'm imaginary smart".

Every time I have to spell a word over the phone using 'as in' examples, I will undoubtedly draw a blank and sound like a complete idiot. Today I had to spell my boss's last name to an attorney and said "Yes that's G as in...(10 second lapse)..ummm...Goonies"

While driving yesterday I saw a banana peel in the road and instinctively swerved to avoid it...thanks Mario Kart.

MapQuest really needs to start their directions on #5. Pretty sure I know how to get out of my neighborhood.

I find it hard to believe there are actually people who get in the shower first and THEN turn on the water.

Shirts get dirty. Underwear gets dirty. Pants? Pants never get dirty, and you can wear them forever.

I can't remember the last time I wasn't at least kind of tired.

Whenever I'm Facebook stalking someone and I find out that their profile is public I feel like a kid on Christmas morning who just got the Red Ryder BB gun that I always wanted. 546 pictures? Don't mind if I do!

Is it just me or do high school girls get sluttier & sluttier every year?

If Carmen San Diego and Waldo ever got together, their offspring would probably just be completely invisible.

Why is it that during an ice-breaker, when the whole room has to go around and say their name and where they are from, I get so incredibly nervous? Like I know my name, I know where I'm from, this shouldn't be a problem....

You never know when it will strike, but there comes a moment at work when you've made up your mind that you just aren't doing anything productive for the rest of the day.

Can we all just agree to ignore whatever comes after DVDs? I don't want to have to restart my collection.

There's no worse feeling than that millisecond you're sure you are going to die after leaning your chair back a little too far.

I'm always slightly terrified when I exit out of Word and it asks me if I want to save any changes to my ten page research paper that I swear I did not make any changes to.

"Do not machine wash or tumble dry" means I will never wash this ever.

I hate being the one with the remote in a room full of people watching TV. There's so much pressure. 'I love this show, but will they judge me if I keep it on? I bet everyone is wishing we weren't watching this. It's only a matter of time before they all get up and leave the room. Will we still be friends after this?'

I hate when I just miss a call by the last ring (Hello? Hello? Dammit!), but when I immediately call back, it rings nine times and goes to voicemail. What'd you do after I didn't answer? Drop the phone and run away?

I hate leaving my house confident and looking good and then not seeing anyone of importance the entire day. What a waste.

When I meet a new girl, I'm terrified of mentioning something she hasn't already told me but that I have learned from some light internet stalking.

I like all of the music in my iTunes, except when it's on shuffle, then I like about one in every fifteen songs in my iTunes.

As a driver I hate pedestrians, and as a pedestrian I hate drivers, but no matter what the mode of transportation, I always hate cyclists.

Sometimes I'll look down at my watch 3 consecutive times and still not know what time it is.-Even if I knew your social security number, I wouldn't know what do to with it.

It really pisses me off when I want to read a story on CNN.com and the link takes me to a video instead of text.

I wonder if cops ever get pissed off at the fact that everyone they drive behind obeys the speed limit.

I think the freezer deserves a light as well.

I disagree with Kay Jewelers. I would bet on any given Friday or Saturday night more kisses begin with MillerLites than Kay.

Show Us Your Life - Baby Showers

One of my favorite blogs to read is Kelly's Korner. Every Friday, she picks a theme or topic and asks all of her readers to show pictures of their life. I love going through some of the responses. They've done a home tour (which I vowed not to show too many pictures of our home)..and they've done wedding pictures (which I've already posted about)....so I've never participated.

This week's theme is baby showers. I've "co-hosted" several, but have only hosted one at my house, where I got to do all the decorations etc. I AM hosting another shower this fall and I can't wait! It's a co-ed shower and I've already got visions in my head on themes and table settings. I also think I'm going to use my new cake skills to make the cake myself! :)

Two years ago, I hosted a shower for my neighbor, (and good friend) Courtney who was having a boy. This was her second child and the shower was a total surprise!

The Diaper Cake

The Teddy Bear Display

The Cookies

The Tablescape

The Sign-In Table
I framed her invitation, had envelopes for the guests self-address their thank you cards, and then asks guests to write "tips" for the new mom of two!

Mimosa's and Champagne

I can't wait to host another this fall!

Most Annoying Types of Facebookers

Straight from CNN.com

1. The Let-Me-Tell-You-Every-Detail-of-My-Day Bore.
   "I'm waking up." "I had Wheaties for breakfast." "I'm bored at work." "I'm stuck in traffic." You're kidding! How fascinating! No moment is too mundane for some people to broadcast unsolicited to the world. Just because you have 432 Facebook friends doesn't mean we all want to know when you're waiting for the bus.
   
2. The Self-Promoter.
   OK, so we've probably all posted at least once about some achievement. And sure, maybe your friends really do want to read the fascinating article you wrote about beet farming. But when almost EVERY update is a link to your blog, your poetry reading, your 10k results or your art show, you sound like a bragger or a self-centered careerist.
   
3. The Town Crier.
   "Michael Jackson is dead!!!" You heard it from me first! Me, and the 213,000 other people who all saw it on TMZ. These Matt Drudge wannabes are the reason many of us learn of breaking news not from TV or news sites but from online social networks. In their rush to trumpet the news, these people also spread rumors, half-truths and innuendo. No, Jeff Goldblum did not plunge to his death from a New Zealand cliff.
   
4. The TMIer.
   "Brad is heading to Walgreens to buy something for these pesky hemorrhoids." Boundaries of privacy and decorum don't seem to exist for these too-much-information updaters, who unabashedly offer up details about their sex lives, marital troubles and bodily functions. Thanks for sharing.
   
5. The Bad Grammarian.
   "So sad about Fara Fauset but Im so gladd its friday yippe". Yes, I know the punctuation rules are different in the digital world. And, no, no one likes a spelling-Nazi schoolmarm. But you sound like a moron.
   
6. The Sympathy-Baiter.
   "Barbara is feeling sad today." "Man, am I glad that's over." "Jim could really use some good news about now." Like anglers hunting for fish, these sad sacks cast out their hooks -- baited with vague tales of woe -- in the hopes of landing concerned responses. Genuine bad news is one thing, but these manipulative posts are just pleas for attention.
   
7. The Lurker.
   The Peeping Toms of Facebook, these voyeurs are too cautious, or maybe too lazy, to update their status or write on your wall. But once in a while, you'll be talking to them and they'll mention something you posted, so you know they're on your page, hiding in the shadows. It's just a little creepy.
   
8. The Crank.
   These curmudgeons, like the trolls who spew hate in blog comments, never met something they couldn't complain about. "Carl isn't really that impressed with idiots who don't realize how idiotic they are." [Actual status update.] Keep spreading the love.
   
9. The Paparazzo.
   Ever visit your Facebook page and discover that someone's posted a photo of you from last weekend's party -- a photo you didn't authorize and haven't even seen? You'd really rather not have to explain to your mom why you were leering like a drunken hyena and French-kissing a bottle of Jagermeister.
   
10. The Maddening Obscurist.
    "If not now then when?" "You'll see..." "Grist for the mill." "John is, small world." "Dave thought he was immune, but no. No, he is not." [Actual status updates, all.] Sorry, but you're not being mysterious -- just nonsensical.
    
11. The Chronic Inviter.
    "Support my cause. Sign my petition. Play Mafia Wars with me. Which 'Star Trek' character are you? Here are the 'Top 5 cars I have personally owned.' Here are '25 Things About Me.' Here's a drink. What drink are you? We're related! I took the 'What President Are You?' quiz and found out I'm Millard Fillmore! What president are you?"

After reading these, I'm PRETTY sure I'm THE LURKER!! At my 10 year high school reunion, I could not stop myself from telling people that I've seen pictures of their families on facebook. HELLO, I haven't seen these people in 10 YEARS...WHY am I openly admiting that I've stalked them on facebook? I think most people have some of "the lurker" in them....so hopefully, I didn't freak some people out! :)

Who would you be??

Sidenote:

I'm pretty sure that I'm going to put Life with Liz in category #1 - Status update from early today said "Organizing bookshelves, doing dishes, doing laundry, then finishing my book!". haha.

Cake Decoration Class - Round Two

This week, we learned borders and clowns. I was a little weary about the the whole clown lesson, but they turned out to be really cute. In the class, you spend the whole time practicing yours skills on a board...and you literally have 10 minutes to decorate the actual cake. The majority of those ten minutes, you are trying to mix colors and fill your bag with icing....so you have about 4 minutes to decorate the actual cake. It's a total bummer because you really can't take your time to make a masterpiece and show off your skills.

Tiffany and I have been the last to leave both times. Michael's pretty much has the lights turned off in the store as we are walking out with our cakes. For a play by play recap, visit Life is Glam & Fab.

I dedicated this week's cake to my blog and it's avid followers.

Next week....roses and rainbows!