I'm A Little Obsessed - A Random Ramble

Yup, I'm obsessed with the Hunger Games trilogy. My obsession has recently been rekindled because I watched Mockingjay Part 2 just the other day for the first time. THEY DID SO WELL converting the book to the movie!! I was amazed. It made me want to re-read all the books, and in the span of just under 2 weeks I read all 3 books. Haha!

 Here's a few of my thoughts on both the books and the movies *spoilers*:

Hunger Games

I enjoy the book quite a bit. I have read it so many times! And I still cry when Rue dies, still get squirmish at the part with the tracker jackers (because I HATE wasps!!), and still feel a bit bad for Peeta because Katniss is misleading him. Course she thinks he is acting too, but still. Peeta is probably one of my 2 favorite characters, and not just because he decorates cakes. ;) He is a genuinely good person. It's interesting because I don't particularly like Katniss, but the books are all in her perspective and I still really like reading them. Ha! What I would be interested in is a version of the first book from Peeta's perspective! I don't care about the other 2 books being in his mind, but the first one would definitely be a cool thing to read! 

How was the movie?

I enjoy the movie, just not as much as the book. Obviously it's hard to recreate a book accurately enough to satisfy die hard fans. Most of my issues with the movie are just knit-picky. Like the costumes for the chariot ride, I think they were silly. I found some fan art that looks pretty cool and is basically what it was in the book.

 If only they could have done a little better in the movie. But really I think everything else was done as well as it could have been. The acting was all very good, I like Jennifer Lawrence and Josh Hutcherson as actors but they are not what I pictured I suppose. Well, you can't satisfy everyone. But it is definitely a good start to a great movie series!

Catching Fire

This is my FAVORITE book of the series! I can't really think exactly why this is my favorite, I think it may be because there is so much that happens in it and you don't focus too much on back story or anything. And you get introduced to all these awesome new charactes, LIKE FINNICK! He is my 2nd favorite character :) He is so fun! I like the arena for the quarter quell also, I think it's very clever even though its quite brutal. I mean almost everyone dies by the 2nd day! And I remember I was quite surprised the first time I read it that it was all planned and the rebels were going to get them all out in the end. It's just a good story, it really keeps you reading! Which explains why I finished reading it in 3 days, cuz you just couldn't put it down!

How was the movie?

I REALLY LIKE the movie!! It was a very good re imagining! I was very very impressed. It's possible that it's my favorite movie of the series too. Can't decide tho cuz I've only seen Mockingjay Part 2 once. All the new actors they had to bring in fit the characters very well. Of course, Finnick being my favorite character, I was a bit worried about their choice of Sam Claflin. But he did wonderfully! Buuut, I pictured him a bit different.

 This is Armie Hammer. He is basically exactly what I pictured while reading the book. I had never seen him before until I watched Mirror Mirror, which was after I read Catching Fire, and I was like HOLY CRAP!!! THAT'S FINNICK!! A lot of people actually thought of him, but as it happens so often they didn't cast any fan picks. Back to the movie, all the outfits for Katniss were really great! I loved her wedding dress that turned into the mockingjay. It was gorgeous! And the chariot costumes were excellent, not quite like the book but really cool all the same! All the arena scenes were fun to watch, cuz that was my favorite part of the book, even tho some of my favorite scenes weren't in it, what can you do. It was ALL GREAT!

Mockingjay

This book... this book is heartbreaking... I don't enjoy it very much. Haha! While Peeta is being destroyed by the capital, everyone else is left going mad in the stinking hole of District 13. And just when you think you get Peeta back, THEY CHANGED HIM!! Exactly what he said in the first book that he didn't want to have happen, and it happens... :( I was sooo so mad. And then EVERYONE DIES!!! And if they aren't dead, they are ridiculously damaged. It's basically a war book, and I don't like war. But, it gets somewhat better at the end so it has a somewhat happy ending. It's hard to read, I've only read it a couple times. 

How were the movies?

The movies were done really really well! I find it much easier to watch them than reading the book. I ship Katniss and Peeta, so Part 2 made me very happy when he started coming out of his tracker jacker induced attitude towards Katniss. 

I like Part 2 better than Part 1 I think. There are some parts of the first movie that I like, but it's mostly just kinda slow to me. But when you hit the 2nd part, it really takes off! There's so much action you can't hardly keep up, but it's super good. It's still depressing when you get to know and like all these great characters only to watch them get killed tho... I was very put out, but it's what was in the book so at least they stayed true to it. That's the big thing with the movies; they stayed extremely, brutally, and agonizingly accurate to the book.

 Haha! Katniss and Peeta's relationship name. This is basically your emotions through the entire Mockingjay book and movies if you ship them. I know it was me for sure. Haha! But it gets better by the end, I swear! 

Anyways, it is one of my favorite book series and has become a favorite movie series as well! I am happy tho that when I read the books I still picture all the characters as I pictured them before the movies came out :) That's one reason I'm glad I read them before I saw the movies. 

Well, I'm done ranting and raving now. I will probably read a few chapters of Mockingjay before I go to bed. Hope you have a wonderful evening, whatevers left of it! :)

Taylor Kay

 

Holy Chocolate Cake Pops, Batman!!

Good Afternoon! 

So yesterday I went over to Bri's and we worked on cake stuff ALL DAY! 

But this post will focus on the cake pops we made.

 We had extra chocolate cake from one Bri made a while ago, and if you read my last blog post you would know I had extra chocolate buttercream :) 

So, no joke, we made TRIPLE CHOCOLATE CAKE POPS!! Bri is calling them our Mudslide Cake Pops. 

Bri is an absolute PRO at making cake pops. All I really did was document the experience. Ha! 

I have no patience for this ;)

But we have discovered the secret to making sure the chocolate coating doesn't crack once its hardened! That was a pet peeve of ours when we make these, cuz for some reason they were always CRACKING! It was annoying... 

BUT NO MORE!! 

Check them out! :) So you've got a chocolate cake with chocolate buttercream, coated with chocolate and rolled in crushed oreos and mini chocolate chips! YUUUUUM!!!

Not even kidding you, Bri and I had a Frozen Moment ;) We literally did this

Aaand I feel I connect well with Anna, cuuuz this is basically me... stuffing my face with these cake pops... ;)

I tell you what tho, these are my FAVORITE cake pops that we have made so far! THEY ARE AMAZING!!! If you are a chocolate lover, like me, you will fall out of whatever chair you are sitting in when you try these! ;) Haha!

 Now we will eat them tonight to celebrate Mom's last day of work! And we will all be in a wonderful chocolate coma by the time the night is thru. 

Well, hope you enjoy your evening! I know I will ;) 

Taylor Kay

Delicious Things Come In Small Cakes!

Good Evening All!

Tonight I made my chocolate buttercream frosting to ice a small cake. I don't make it very often, but it's DELICIOUS!!!

If you have ever tried one of those wafer cookies, the ones that come with 3 flavors (chocolate, vanilla, and strawberry), my chocolate buttercream tastes exactly like the cream in those chocolate wafer cookies! YUM!! They happen to be my favorite cookies, so the fact that I make a frosting that tastes just like it is AMAZING! :)

 That's right, I cleaned off both of the beaters when I was done making it. Haha! One time I made little frozen sandwich cookies by frosting graham crackers and freezing them. They were Awesome! But I have other plans for the leftover frosting from tonight, you will have to wait and see

 Here is the finished cake

It is a little 6" cake, Brianna's yummy chocolate cake! Nothing too fancy really. Excited to eat it!! But not yet :)

 While I was making the frosting and decorating the cake the kitties would not leave me alone. Haha! 

They are such silly babies

 Well, now that I'm in a sugar coma, I will lie back and finish watching Game of Thrones. 

Hope you enjoy the rest of your night! :)

Taylor Kay

Birthday Cakes and Game of Thrones

Well, there's not much like getting pelted in the face with snow and ice. We are getting hit by a snow storm, though who knows how bad it's actually going to be. I'm hoping its not going to be as terrible as everyone thinks. But we'll see.

Anyways, yesterday I actually got internet in my apartment! I am all moved in to my new place in Marshfield, and I knew once I was here I would definitely want internet. So, here I sit comfortably on my own couch posting on my own laptop! Feels good. ;)

Now, to the point of my post, it was recently Bri's 25th birthday! The family put together a nice little get together party for her. And, of course, I made a cake!

I practiced how to make hibiscus flowers, because Bri likes Hawaiian flowers so I felt it fitting to put them on a cake! :) I was very happy with how it turned out! The cake flavor is special too! It's a tropical mango cake with tropical mango frosting filling, frosted with my buttercream. Well, the whole family thought it was delicious! There was a lot of people, and had I known so many would be there I would have made it bigger. Haha! But it was a good size, just no leftovers ;)

So, now to decide what to do with the rest of my evening while I'm snowed in. Honestly what I should do is start one of my knitting projects, cuz I'm super far behind. With that in mind, I put in a TV show that I've already seen a bunch so there's some background noise. GAME OF THRONES SEASON 1! I recently finished re-watching season 5 in preparation for season 6 start. 

*CAUTION COULD BE SPOILERS!!*

It's so interesting going back to watching season 1 after just finishing season 5... cuz everyone I like is ALIVE! It's refreshing!.. And kind of sad... cuz I know what's going to happen.. :( And then there's the characters who are rather unpleasant who have died but they are alive right now and you are reminded of just how much you really don't like them and are glad they died. HAHA! Hmm, yeah. And for the characters who are alive thru the whole thing, it's interesting to see how they've changed. For example, some of them started out a bit unlikable but now they are cool. 

Or vice versa

Game of Thrones has become one of my favorite TV shows. It is a very unique story. And the show is only 10 episodes per season, which is nice because they don't overkill. It's not a show for the faint of heart tho. There's quite a few "adult" scenes, especially in the first few seasons, and there's gore and violence. Watch at your own risk.

Anyways, this post wasn't supposed to turn into a Random Ramble about a TV show. Haha! Just kinda happened that way. But now I will actually go pick up my knitting bag and try to start that project now. 

Enjoy the rest of your evening!

Taylor Kay

Random Ramblings of a Movie Lover - Reign

Hello All!

So, I've caught the sickness that has been going around. I've been not feeling well for about a week now... I'm ready to be healthy again... 

But anyways, for today I wanted to talk about a "new-to-me" show that I've started watching. I'm sure plenty have heard of it, it's called Reign

I will try not to give any spoilers in this post in case you decide you want to watch it. But basically its about Mary Queen of Scotland, and all the politics of royalty such as being engaged to the future king of France, Francis, and all that drama. Usually I don't like drama shows, but I really do enjoy this one! I am only about half way thru the first season, there are 2 on Netflix and season 3 I believe is on TV right now.

Funny thing, I was trying to figure out why I recognized Queen Catherine (the lady on the right), turns out she is the actress who played Anne of Green Gables in those movies made in the 90's-ish. I LOVED THOSE MOVIES!!! :)

Anyways, I think another reason I like the show is cuz of all the neat dresses they wear and stuff. It's set in the 1800s I believe.

I am totally #Team Frary!

Of course, being a drama, there are 2 guys for the girl to choose (so far, who knows, there could be more). But I totally ship Mary and Francis!! :) It's not going to be much of a spoiler saying she spent some time with another person cuz honestly it's to be expected. And he was nice, I like him as a character, but not for her. 

So yes, there's the show I'm watching! Caution, there are some scenes that are not suitable for children. It takes place in France, so keep that in mind. Haha! They all love each other. ;) Give the show a try if you would like! I give it about 3.5 stars :)

Well, enjoy the rest of your evening!

Taylor Kay

Oliver James Has Arrived!

HE'S HERE!!!

That's right, Oliver James Nikolai has been born!

He was born at 12:32AM on February 19th, 7lb15oz 21inches long. He is actually a couple weeks early, but perfectly healthy! If he had gone full term, he would have been a 9lb baby or even bigger!

 Bri is doing very well, quite happy that he is born. Not sure she wanted to wait any longer. Haha! :)

None of us did

Lots of visitors this morning. My Gramma, Mom, Dad, and my Aunt Laura visited this morning. Then later in the evening Ben's Mom and sister Rachael and her daughter Scarlett visited.

Here is Oliver with Aunt Rachael and Cousin Scarlett. Scarlett was definitely curious about him :) Sorry, I didn't get any good pictures of Leila with him yet, hopefully I can get some and I will post them soon 

But we are all super excited to welcome little Oliver into the world! He is a little monkey boy too, lots and lots of hair. And it's not just on his head, it's on his back and shoulders and arms! He is covered in dark brown hair. Haha! We shall see if he keeps all of it

Anyways, I hope you all enjoy the rest of your evening! I am looking forward to a good nights sleep. Didn't leave the hospital until 3:00 this morning sooo I'm ready for some decent sleep :)

Taylor Kay

A Valentine's Card

Good Evening All!

I don't have too much to say in this post, except that I started and finished a super small project tonight in a matter of about 10 minutes! Frankly, I think that calls for celebration because it rarely takes such a short amount of time for any of my projects. Haha!

Anyways, it's getting close to Valentine's Day and I have a gift for Leila but I needed a card

 So, I made one! Now when I say a super small project, I mean a super small project! This little card is only 3"x3". I figure she's a tiny girl, so she should get a tiny card. Ha!

It took me a while to decide on what punch to use for the bottom of the red piece. Narrowed it down to 3 different punches and finally chose this one! I am very happy with how it turned out! Super Cute! :)

Of course I gotta get her a little stuffed animal too. Found this bear at Hobby Lobby and thought it was perfect!
So yeah, there's my super small post about a 

super small project!

In other news, I am VERY excited that the Broncos won the Super Bowl yesterday!!! YAAAAAAAY!!!!! I was worried, but the defense was AMAZING! I am happy Manning won another championship :) Anyways, hope you have a lovely rest of your evening!

 Taylor Kay

A Couple Old Projects

Hey Everybody!

So, for the last few days I had been stuck at my apartment because there was supposed to be an apocalyptic snow storm on Tuesday. The news was talking about it non stop and we were all expecting to be buried in snow for days and days. They even shut down schools by 6pm on Monday night. Well, the day arrived... and it was actually pretty nice out for most of the morning. Haha! It didn't even start snowing until after 12. Course it was coming down pretty hard and I still had to work until 2, but thruthfully it was not bad at all. It even stopped snowing by about 6pm. My street, which I'll add is a back road side street and doesn't get plowed until all the other streets are done, was plowed by 9pm. Basically, it was a HUGE disappointment. We only got maybe 5" of snow... Ha! Thank you weather channels for overreacting tremendously.

Anyways, now that I've explained why I haven't written a post in a while, I have a couple of projects to show you!

Up first is a COW HAT that I knit about 2 years ago

I bought a knitting book that has about 15 different animal hat patterns in it. I LOVE COWS, so that's pretty much the whole reason why I bought the book. 

 It was fun to make! There is a lining inside to make it extra warm. It really didn't even take that long to knit up either. Tho, there were lots of little parts that I had to sew on after they were all knit. That probably took the longest.

 The reason I am posting about this hat is because I have a plan to make some more of the patterns as gifts for a few people. I won't talk about the specifics so as not to give anything away. But yeah! You will see those projects once they are finished :)

Next I wanted to show you something I made 

for my niece, Leila. 

It is a personalized hook board! (I don't know if that's the official name, but I couldn't think of how else to say it.)

Sorry, the picture is not the best quality... but each letter has a different paper covering it! They all match in a cool way. Bri and Ben decorated her room in the tealy blues and oranges, so I designed accordingly.

All the letter are wood and painted in blue to match the hooks and then I glued patterned paper to them. Its a fun project! I'd done it a few times before for my friends' children and Bri liked it, so I had to be sure to make her one! :) 

As you might have guessed, I posted about this project because I will be making another one! I bought all the letters the other day and now I just have to find all the paper to cover them with. Better get cracking too, because little Oliver will be here before we know it! WOOT WOOT!!!

Well, I hope you enjoy the rest of your day! I will continue to watch some Oldy Von Moldy movies with my Dad! :)

 Taylor Kay

Knitting Showers of Cake!

Hello Everyone!

So, I've got a few things to post about today but they all pertain to the same thing! And that's Oliver James!

Yesterday was the baby shower for him. Luckily I managed to finish the blanket I was knitting for him in time to give it as a gift. :)

 Here it is! I actually really liked this pattern. It was quite simple and it knit up pretty quickly, which is definitely nice. I like quick knits. Haha! 

Speaking of quick knits, I also made this little hat! :)

 So, for the baby shower, I made the cake! It's a cake made by carving 2 10" round cakes and shaping them to look like a dinosaur! It is chocolate flavored and frosted with my homemade buttercream.

This cake was probably the most fun I've had making a cake in a while. It is definitely one of my favorites! :)

The shower went very smoothly and everyone 

had a good time

There were a few unique games that mom found and they were fun!

 

So, I bought a different brand of cake boards and I really don't know why this happened to my cake and I was very unhappy about it...

The board itself was not wet, but it looks like it soaked in a whole bunch of moisture from somewhere and it made it look super gross. I will not be buying this brand again... >:( But other than that, everything was great!

Leila was having some fun with her cousin Scarlett

Anyways, good times were had by all! Brianna can't wait for Oliver to be born, and neither can the rest of us! :D 

So, time to watch the rest of the Broncos game. GO BRONCOS! Since the Packers are out, I really want the Broncos to go to the Super Bowl! WOO PEYTON MANNING! 

Taylor Kay