One Reason I Don't Blog

One Reason I Don't Blog:
I'm too busy doing more important things like making this Spiced Chocolate Torte Wrapped in Chocolate Ribbons (from Bon Appetit's December 2010 issue).

*I knew it wouldn't turn out like the picture.
*I was still pleased with how it turned out.

Hours spent in construction: approximately 7 (over 4 days)
Money spent: not sure but it's pricey (2 lbs butter, 2 lbs chocolate, etc)
Calories per piece: You don't want to know. Guess your highest guess, add half of that and the total might be in the ballpark or still may not even be close.

I used my mother-in-law's birthday as the excuse to make it. She thought it was absolutely fantastic, beautiful, and delicious, which made it all worth it.

The crazy part is: now that I've made it and know a few secrets to the whole making-process (there are four {five}: cake, cream, glaze, ribbons, {assembly}) I think I'll probably make it again to see if I can do it better. ;-)

Yep. Why I don't blog (much, anyway).


My birthday and my mother-in-laws birthdays are only 4 days apart, so we celebrate them together. My sister-in-law made this coconut cream pie because she knows I love ccp. It was delish.

The inside. Not as pretty as I had hoped, but quite tasty.

How the cake is supposed to look.

Holiday Newsletter 2010

So much for my 2010 resolution to blog every month.

Not going to say any more about that.
Not even going to speculate about blogging during 2011.

Anyone have any shortcuts for blogging they'd like to share?
I'm hoping if you click on the images above you will be able to read it in a bigger box.

"37"-Mid or Late Thirties?

So I turned 37 last week. I told someone I had hit my "late" thirties. This person told me that 37 is not "late" thirties, but still "mid" thirties. Hmmm...

I still feel old.

Well, I don't. I feel young--until I look in a mirror and think "Who in the world are you and what have you done with Mari?".

Thank goodness I have Eliza to help me feel young.

I threw a party for myself and invited our siblings and spouses. We got Thai takeout and ate at Josh's parents house. I was going to take a picture of the food and the party and can't believe I forgot! Dumb. But the food was yummy, the company was great, and I've decided I'm going to try to do something like that each year. There's nothing wrong with throwing yourself a party at someone else's house, right?

More posts on Eliza's site...

Miracles Do Happen

It's true, miracles do happen.
Blogs do get updated.
elizanicole.blogspot.com is now starting to get updated.

My Pre-New Years Resolution is to post at least once a month.

Together Forever

On November 10, 2000, Josh and Mari were married on a snowy day. Little did they know that they were setting a tradition of snowy weather for sealings in their family...

On February 14, 2009, Josh, Mari, and Eliza were sealed together on a snowy and very windy day. Despite the cold weather (which Mari HATES), it was a perfect day.

elizanicole.blogspot.com

There is a blog I created back in August just for Eliza's birth-mother so that she could see pictures of Eliza whenever she wanted. I finally realized that it has been too overwhelming and time consuming to keep up two blogs with basically the same stuff (since the joshmari blog has all been about Eliza as well).

From now on, most all of the "Eliza" stuff is going to be on her blog: elizanicole.blogspot.com. I will continue to keep the joshmari blog to post other non-Eliza stuff that I've been meaning to do but haven't gotten around to yet. It will have stuff about our family, but not the millions of Eliza pictures like it has so far. For those of you that think I'm a bit excessive posting SO MANY pictures of Eliza, please realize that these are mostly for the benefit of Lauren (birth-mother) and out-of-town family members that don't get to see Eliza as often as they'd like to.

Merry Christmas