Summa time!

In June, I'm hosting a garden party for my girl friends to come over and hang out. It's a Mad Hatter Tea Party theme and it's been several months in the making. I can't wait! I'm a girl on a budget, but I'm gonna make this work!

Isn't this a cute vintage wonderland?Been a Baking Betty today

(any excuse to wear one of my sassy kitchen aprons)

making Lemon Squares & Pecan Tarts, and testing out a few different finger sandwich recipes.

The girls all have their invites,

and everyone seems pretty excited about it.

[ Posting a picture of the invitations I made soon ]

They're texting me about finding new dresses, or digging thru closets and getting their favorite sundresses out, or what foods they're going to bring. I'm still trying to find/make a croquet set.

A true Alice in Wonderland fan.

Trying to turn my backyard into a little Wonderland. But I rent a house in a relatively new neighborhood where every house looks the same and no tree is above 6ft., so I'm going to have to be creative with decorations and shade from the June summer heat. I definitely have a blank canvas. I'm on a constant hunt for baskets, and tea cups, and cute country fabrics/tablecloths.

I found a great little hutch someone was tossing out :)

and yeah... I took it.

[Post a picture of it soon too]

It was a bright orange coral color when I found it,

but plan to paint it either

A) Medium Purple

B) Pretty Dark Turquoise

C) Apple/Lime Green

(a small part of me wants to paint it a hot pink, because never again would I ever have a pink hutch if i had to purchase it)

That's all for now... don't wanna give away too many surprises with some of the girls peeking on my blog ;)

images via Google

It's almost TIME!!!!!

Do you smell World Cup in the air?!?!?

WOOO WOOO!!!!!!!!!!

I've waited 4 long years and

I

am

ready!
It's the ultimate football season!

I wish I were in Malaysia for this so I could watch the games with my family and friends, among crowds full of dedicated football fans! Last World Cup was in Germany 2006, and I was in M'sia loving it! Coffee shops, pubs, and street cafes stay open allll night with big screens showing the games, and hundreds of chairs filled with all eyes on the tvs! I LOVE IT! Hopped up on caffeine, we had games on at 2:00am with the time difference, and everyone was screaming and jumping. I was at Coffee Bean a lot! I liked going to the mamak stalls (street cafes) the most though. It's comfortable there. Where your uncles have known the owners for decades.

All in all

World Cup = so much fun.

Fifty times better than the Super bowl!

Being in the states, we have fans, but I don't think you can quite understand the excitement. It's EVERYWHERE. Walking down any street you can see like 15 screens showing the latest game, or a replay. It's intense. People in the US are asking me "whats the world cup? oh, it's like a soccer game?" Umm no. You see everyone representing their own countries or their favorite teams alike, it's like The international event that's fun and exciting and puts people across the world on the same wavelength. Eveywhere people are watching the same games, and checking in on the scores. Here in the states, people say they're rooting for team USA, and want a USA Bid for the next game. And I'm like, 30 seconds ago you just heard about the world cup for the first time. I think we need to respect the sport a little more, learn about the game a little more, and maybe recognize a few of our own players before we start barking orders for an American Bid on future World Cups.