Simple Joys: Rearranging Furniture

Sometimes, it's the simple things that put a smile on your face and give you that extra kick in your step.

The other day when we cleaned our master bedroom, we did a little furniture rearranging, too!

It was a very easy and seemingly minor change - we moved our bed from one side of the room to the other.

No biggie, right?

Well, that's what I thought, too... but for some reason, I was really excited to go to bed that night. I love sleep and always looked forward to getting some shut eye, but I felt inexplicably extra giddy jumping into bed. It kind of felt like I was on vacation and had something super exciting to look forward to the next day (I didn't - I just had work).

I got up waaay earlier than usual the following morning - I only had to snooze my alarm clock ONCE. Matthew didn't have to push me off the bed to get me up. I felt great and the thought of having to commute 62 miles to get to work didn't give me the feeling of dread it usually does on a Monday morning.

Our private space felt brand new but at the same time familiar. It was nice.

Who knew simple things like moving your bed could make your day that much brighter?

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On a separate note, this week's theme on the iheartfaces photo challenge is "pets". Unfortunately, I do not currently (this is a hint for the hubs) have a fancy camera, so my picture was taken using my iPhone. I didn't put much thought in taking the picture, so the lighting is awful and the composition is whack. I'm 100% positive I won't win, but I just had to post a picture of the cutest bulldog brothers in the world :)

Stay-in Sundays

Yesterday was Sunday and it was the only Sunday this month that we got to stay at home and relax...


Wait, no we didn't.


Rewind.

I knew June was going to be a busy month filled with a wedding, father's day, recital, graduations, and birthdays. I love busy months - don't get me wrong. Having something to look forward to on the weekends made for fast work weeks, and who doesn't love the company of great family and friends?

However, having busy weekends, also meant that we didn't have too much free time to enjoy the quiet moments with each other. I savor the Saturday mornings where we wake up at ten, stay in bed for an hour longer mapping out the day's plans, then enjoy a nice homemade brunch in the quiet of our kitchen nook. The rest of those days are usually spent lounging with our babies and catching up on our guilty pleasure shows that have been piling up on the DVR... I love those simple stay-in days... and I was hoping we'd have that yesterday since we finally had a day free of outings.

Then, I opened my mouth and asked my husband what he wanted for his birthday. I thought he was going to answer with the standard, "Oh! I want [insert new collection obsession here]!" or "Let's go on a trip to [insert any of the many places I've been hinting him to take me -- oh wait, it's not my birthday?]!"

Instead, he said this:

"For my birthday, I want a clean house."

For those of you who know me, you know I'm not the tidiest person in the world... yeah, I am not known to clean up after myself very often (I'm the baby of the family, so I guess I was a little spoiled in that department)... but I'm not completely disgusting... right? I do the dishes.... sometimes... and I think I vacuumed the house last week.... OK, fine! I'm kind of a slob. There. I said it.

I'm not perfect and I am the first to admit that, but disclosing that I am too lazy to pick up after myself for all of the interwebs to see, is pretty darn embarrassing. (I'm not 100% a slob... just 85%)

Matthew is no neat freak himself, but he is definitely better at it than I am... I would say 80% of the mess is my doing, so it's only fair that I take responsibility for cleaning it up.

I like being organized and having a neatly kept house... When we know we are having people over, I will definitely make sure that the blinds are dusted, the floors are mopped, dishes are done, books in bookshelf alphabetized, and no dirty undergarments are left out in the open. So, for those of you who come over to our house once or twice a year, you would think I was Mrs. Clean (sorry if I've shattered your illusion of me).

Well, we haven't had a party at the house since... oh, Thanksgiving, I think... so.... you can say we had a lot of catching up to do.

Our main problem area is the master bathroom. The master bath is the last room we clean/organize because no one sees it but us. I told you all about the tub situation, but I also failed to mention that our walk-in closet is the most unorganized it's ever been! 90% of my clothes were all over the floor. Matthew has had to climb over the different piles I created just to get to his side of the closet (poor guy). I only lived off of whatever came out of the dryer, so there were lots of outfit pieces I hadn't seen in months.

OK, back to the present. Matthew wanted a clean house for his birthday present, so that's what I gave him.

I woke up bright and early-ish (hey, 9:30 is early for me on a Sunday!) and got started. I knew the closet was going to take the longest, so I dove into my clothes pile and started organizing. I will spare you the details of how I organized everything, but just know that it took 5 hours to finish... Matthew and I did a million loads of laundry in between the organizing and eventually emptied the tub-o-clothes.

Then, I worked on our grimy shower. Let me tell you... My parents never made me do chores - let alone clean the shower - and I guess I never understood (until now) how hard and gross it really is! YUCK! Since we've never it's been a while since the shower was cleaned, it took for-eh-vah to complete. I have never felt so dirty coming out of a shower in my entire life.

I cleaned the rest of the bathroom, including the tub (which I'm super excited to use now!) and moved on to the kitchen and dining room. I think Matthew saw the sweat rings on my shirt (I never sweat) and the tub grime in my hair, so he gave pity on me and we tag-teamed the kitchen/dining room duties.

It took a really long time, but I am happy to report that we have a very clean house upstairs! Yeah... I didn't really have time to finish the 2nd half of the house - darn closet took forever! However, I will work on finishing the rest of the house sometime this week. Hopefully in time for the weekend, in case we have any last minute 4th of July shindigs at the house.

So, yeah... we had a Stay-in Sunday... but not quite the relaxing one I had in mind.

It would have been waaay easier if he'd just ask for that darn soda dispenser system!!! (His new hobby)

Happy Birthday, love!

Twenty-seven

It's hard to believe that my now 27 year old husband was once a cute little boy with the most charming smile:



Happy birthday, honey.

Thanks for daily the laughs, kisses, and joy you provide me. You seriously make me one happy lady.

Hope your day is full of sunshine and all things pretty.

early birthday dinner @ ruth's chris last week

Friday Foto: Disneyland Half-Marathon

I realize that yesterday's "Thursday Mashup" is not an alliteration and most bloggers who have themed days make cute, witty, titles for them (i.e. Tuesday Target Finds, Would you Rather Wednesdays, etc). I failed. Oops.

So, I'm going to try again with Friday Foto. If I don't have anything to write about (like today), I am going to just post a random picture on my hard drive.

This is what you get today:

This picture was taken in 2007 at the Disneyland Half-marathon weekend... I thought I would post this to re-motivate myself to get my butt off of my couch and stop watching Weeds (current obsession.. it's soooo good!) That's the hubs, partially at least, to my right with the grey shirt and red laces. He stayed with me the whole time, even though I cried at mile 8 and wanted to give up at mile 11....

Thursday Mashup!

If you could see all the blogs I subscribe to on my Google Reader, you would probably think I was crazy. I have blog feeds ranging from funny animal pictures (ihasahotdog.com) to news about the latest in speech therapy (there was a time in my life when I wanted to be a speech therapist... still kinda do). I always have 1000+ unread items (which tends to stress me out) but I can't bear to unsubscribe to any of them.

Anyway, when I come across any posts that I find amusing/cool/weird/awesome, I usually email them to Matthew... but I thought, hey, maybe I should post some of my finds here.

Introducing: Thursday Mashup!

Every week, I will share a few posts about food, shopping, celebrities, babies, parties, crafts, or random news, that I find noteworthy. It's a mashup of all things I love.


Food:

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This grilled banana sandwich looks absolutely mouth watering! Caitlin, from Healthy Tipping Point, always has great recipes to share. Seeing her posts definitely inspire me to be healthier (I'm eating a salad as we speak - go me!). She shows you how you can be healthy but still eat delicious food!

Shopping:

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I know it's summer, but check out this cute umbrella necklace from Etsy seller pear22! I likey! I usually hate it when it rains (rain = bad traffic and wet toes), but the one silver lining when it pours is the opportunity to bring out cute umbrellas! With this umbrella, however, you can use it rain or shine!

Celebrities:

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Well, my favorite celebrity gossip, Perez Hilton, usually breaks the news first, but I heard this one last week! My hubs loves Kim Kardashian (yeah, I don't get it either - she's hideous right? just kidding. She's absolutely gorg!) and was happy when she broke up with Reggie Bush. Rumor has it she has a new athlete beau - Miles Austin from the Dallas Cowboys. He's cute... but I think I like Reggie better. Either way, wonder if Miles will be making a cameo on the upcoming season of Keeping Up with the Kardashians (one of my many TV guilty pleasures)??

Parties:

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Ummmm... I think my head exploded when I saw this uber cute nautical themed baby shower on The Celebration Shoppe. I love everything from the red and blue color palette to the mini banner decorating the cupcake stand! It really is the little details that can turn a party into a real celebration.

Random News:

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Has anyone ever heard of or participated in baby races?! I have never heard such of a thing until a few days ago... but what the heck?! I mean, it is pretty darn cute to see babies crawling... but I didn't think anyone would turn it into a competition! Here's a video of adorable babies from Russia racing:

That's all for this week... do you have any cool posts you want to share? I'd love to learn about new blogs!

I *microphone* Dad

I like to sing and have been doing so since I was five years old when my dad bought me the karaoke version of "The Greatest Love of All" by the Whitney Houston on cassette tape. He taught me how to add vibrato to my voice and emotion to the song. I rewound and practiced that song so many times that the tape eventually wore out and we had to get another one.

Since then, I've sung at church, school, concerts, weddings, and every family party I've ever attended, much to my chagrin. You see, I really like to sing and am fairly competent at it, but never really liked to do it often... but boy, did my family make me! I'm Filipino and for those who don't know, 98%* of Filipinos like to sing, whether they are good at it or not. If you know someone that is Filipino, they probably have some sort of karaoke machine/magic microphone at their house and bust it out at every family function.

My family is no different. After everyone is done eating, everyone gathers in the living room for endless rounds of karaoke. I can probably go on and on about this topic (which I will probably in a future post), but I digress...

Somehow, many years ago when I was bored one summer, I decided to record myself singing karaoke and compiled them all in a CD to give my dad for his birthday - complete with a "professional" looking CD jacket and label. The quality of the recordings were just a'ite, but I thought the idea of having a CD with me singing on it was cool... and apparently so did my parents - especially, my dad.

My brother ended up having to burn probably 100 (I'm not even lying) of those CDs for my parents to give out to ALL of their friends and family... I was mortified. I remember walking back to my car from church one day and hearing my CD on full blast in another church member's minivan!

I *hate* listening to myself on playback - whether singing or even just talking. It sounds disgusting to me... but I did it for my parents. They were proud of their little daughter. Anyway, they asked me to record more and that's what I did. I was young and did what my parents told me to do, so throughout those next few years, I recorded 6 different albums using our karaoke machine and some computer program my brother knew how to use.

Once I went off to college, I told my parents I wouldn't record any more songs. I was tired of doing it. I was an adult and they couldn't tell me what to do anymore. I still sang at parties, but never recorded anything again. From time to time, other family members would ask me to record more, but I would politely turn them down, saying I didn't have the free time to do that anymore.

One day last month, my dad called me while at work. He said he was listening to the very first CD I made him and was feeling very nostalgic. I heard his voice crack and I knew he was crying. He missed his little girl.

I realized then how selfish I was being for the past 8 years, and decided to suck it up and record him at least a few tracks for Father's Day... so that's what I did!

I recorded four tracks for him. The first one being a song he's been requesting me to sing for a couple years now, "Someone to Watch Over Me" by Linda Ronstadt. The other three songs were songs I liked and thought would be easy enough for me to learn: "The Climb" by Miley Cyrus (hey - don't hate, it's actually a good song), "God Bless the Broken Road" by Rascal Flatts (I was going to sing this to Matthew on our wedding, but changed my mind the last minute), and "Chasing Pavements" by Adele (her voice is the bomb!).

I didn't have any CD cases lying around at home, so I decided to make my own paper sleeve. I created a template on Photoshop and designed it accordingly. Using a paper cutter, corner rounded, scissors, and paper creaser, it took 3 minutes to print and assemble the sleeve. In case any of you out there want to make your own paper sleeve, I've attached a template in Word below.

My dad was super surprised with the CD and told me he's been playing it non-stop since.

Some of you may be curious to here what the recordings sound like, but I don't think I'll be posting the full versions any time soon... I did them last minute and the mixing is not the best, so I'm not exactly proud enough to add them here...

However, I will add a tiny snippet of "Chasing Pavements" (I know I'm not nearly as good as Adele - her voice is pretty heavenly, but I just really like the song) (Google Readers will need to click through to see the player)

CD Sleeve Template (for Microsoft Word 2007)

P.S. If you want the template in .PSD, please let me know!

*I don't know where I came up with 98%, but in my experience, if you're Filipino, you're either a singer or a dancer.. major points if you're both! Obv, this is an over generalization... but it certainly holds true in my family.

Top 3 Ways Our Bathtub is Used

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I wished we used our bathtub to bathe. It is pretty, nicely decorated with candles and frames, and has a nice view of the hills... but we don't. I think I've only bathed in it once since we've bought our house... that was almost 3 years ago. Instead, we use our shower since it's more convenient and a lot quicker to get in and out of during our morning routine rush.

One day, we will use the tub the way it's meant to be used, but for now, here is a list of how our beloved tub is being utilized:

snippet of our master bathroom floor plan

1. Extended Hamper: I'm a little embarrassed to admit this, but our tub is used as a hamper more than anything else. Currently, there is a GINORMOUS pile of dirty clothes in it, waiting to be washed. We try to do laundry everyday, but somehow, life happens and days go by before we put another load into our washer. I probably have clothes that I haven't seen since winter in there. No, really... it's sad, but true. The good thing is, we have a solid plan on how to conquer the giant monster tub of clothes, and I can see an improvement already. Yay, us!

2. Chair/Stool: I like to be seated when I put on my make-up or fix my hair, but we don't have a chair in the bathroom. The tub has turned out to be the perfect solution. It's nicely situated in front of the mirror over the double sinks, so I can finish getting ready without any difficulty. Also, because of the stack of clothes in the tub, it is super easy to stand on the pile and use it as a stool if I need to cut Matthew's hair (rarely do I do this, but sometimes I help buzz his head).

3. Dining Table:

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Ha, just kidding... though that pasta does look pretty delicious.

I can't think of another way we use our tub and a list isn't a real list with only 2 entries.... so I decided to throw that picture in.

Anyway, the point I am trying to make is, our tub is not being used and I am not happy about that. Especially since it is now officially summer, I would love to draw myself a nice cool bath with fun summery scented bath salts and stew in it all day.

Matthew's not big into baths, but maybe I can convince him by getting a fun, manly, toy ship he can play with (Friends reference, anyone?).

I'll keep you posted on the progress of our tub... Maybe I'll even be able to show you some before and after pictures soon :)

Happy Monday - H&M Moment

Harry and Marv love watching Dog Whisperer.

When they are being overly playful or loud and we want them to calm down just for a few minutes we can do one of two things:

- Give them a rawhide bone... This will keep them busy for at least 30 minutes

- Turn on the Dog Whisperer.

One time, Matthew teasingly went up to the TV and pretended to pet the dog on the screen. H&M were jealous of the attention they weren't getting from their papa, so they ran up to the TV to barked at the dog - hahahhaaha! It was too cute. Too bad I didn't get footage of that...

My Daddy

Sneak peak of my Father's Day present.

Hope I can find the time tonight and tomorrow to finish -- I waited until the last minute to start working on it (bad daughter).

For now, here are just a few words about how much my dad means to me:

He was my first word.

my first coach.

my first duet.

...my first love.

He is my number one fan.

my source for good advice.

my favorite home cooked meal.

my favorite duet.

I have his eyes and his heart.

His humility and his stubbornness.

His creativity and his wit.

I admire his strength and loyalty.

His patience and spirituality.

His ability to truly forgive and forget so effortlessly.

I miss laying on his lap watching late night shows.
Ballroom dancing in our living room.
Hearing him recount stories of the good ol' days before bed.
And kissing him goodnight.

I love how he always looks at me with proud eyes.
Never judging, always kind.

He'll be "daddy' forever and I will love him until the end of time.

at a gig with my dad sometime in 2005 (please don't judge my "stage" make-up)

Captured Moments

I think this is one of my favorite pictures from last weekend.*

It's definitely not the most flattering picture of me, but I think it captures the dynamic of our relationship really well.

Matthew is the joker. He likes to play pranks on people and will always come back at you with a funny one-liner. Oh, and he likes beer. Lots of it, too (though he can't chug for the life of him). Look at that sneaky smile on his face... gotta love him.

I'm more serious and definitely am not as quick to the draw when it comes to saying something funny -- but check out that sexy pout! I tend to make bitchy faces, but really I'm just shy. You would never know from meeting me that I am a performer.

*Sorry I've written about a lot about the past weekend, but pictures are still trickling in and I had to include this one.

Date Night

As you might remember, last week was one of those weeks where I did not have time to do anything I needed to get done. Thankfully, life has slowed down just a little, and I've been able to slowly check off my tasks.

Last Friday, I wanted to have a nice, romantic evening with the hubs. I was thinking dinner at a fancy-ish restaurant and perhaps a movie and ice cream afterwards. We drive through San Francisco everyday, so it's not uncommon for us to just stop there for a little when we don't want to sit in bumper-to-bumper traffic or when we're just in the mood to enjoy the sites of one of biggest tourism capitals in the world.

Things didn't really go as planned.

We were leaving for Forest Hill early Saturday morning and I had NOTHING to wear to the wedding or the rehearsal dinner, PLUS Matthew was in dire need of a haircut.

Please believe me when I tell you that I really had nothing to wear. It was an outdoor, daytime wedding, and all the dresses I had in my closet where either too casual for a wedding, too formal for a day event or in the color white! I know some brides are cool with other people wearing white on their day, but I sure wasn't -- and I didn't want to risk getting any backlash for it. Also, I'd like to note that prior to the last couple of weeks, I had not gone shopping for myself in a very long time. So, I thought I was due a few hours of indulgence.

Anyway, traffic was ridiculous Friday evening, but I did not want to spend $30 on parking in San Francisco only to spend more money shopping for clothes (for some reason I can justify parking fees for food or attractions but not personal shopping), so instead we went to Walnut Creek. Matthew dropped me off so I can shop, while he got his ears lowered.

It was already 6:45 by the time I went into the first store - BCBC Max Azria. Lots of beautiful dresses, but none that fit the bill for the event. I did, however, come across a dress I wish I'd seen last year around this time:

**Swooooon** It's white, so I knew I couldn't wear it to the wedding, but how awesome would this dress have been for OUR rehearsal dinner last year?! For some reason, it was very difficult to find cute white dresses around this time in 2009, but there were lots of ivory options. I ended up going with the dress below (don't judge my cross-eyed, weird face -- the backstory to the picture is pretty funny but most likely inappropriate to share here). I had to get that dress TWICE because I had my seamstress hem it waaaaay too short the first time (it looked like a shirt!). Anyway, we got the length right the second time around and overall I was happy with it.

photo by ccchristineeee

Back to the story, I ended up finding a dress for the wedding ON SALE at Macy's (score!) and already had shoes and accessories to match at home (double score!).

Matthew picked me up after he got his haircut and we went to have dinner at a non-fancy restaurant, but I had never been there before, so it was still fun. We shared lots of laughs reminiscing about our wedding and talking about what we looked forward to that weekend.

We got home at around 10PM*, but still needed to do some laundry (can't go on a trip without clean undies!) and pack! We were feeling a little goofy that night, so we also practiced some of the dance moves we'd show everyone at the wedding and didn't get to the laundry until a little later.

Sleep didn't commence until 2 in the morning but boy did we sleep hard that night!

Though it wasn't the Friday I was looking forward to, I had a really fun night with the hubs. Sometimes it's the unplanned moments that truly are the ones you treasure most.

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Ed note: I came across this pic of America Ferrera at some film premiere and am loving the dress by Alicia & Olivia. Looks similar to the BCBG dress, but I love even it more since it's black! She is so cute!

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*Note: Don't worry, we didn't leave our puppies at home by themselves without dinner like bad parents... SIL M picked them up earlier that day to stay at her house, so they were having lots of fun visiting with their aunts and grandparents

Beautiful Forest Hill Wedding

This past weekend, Matthew and I traveled 100 miles North of our home to Forest Hill, CA to attend our good friends' wedding. Mike - the groom - went to college with Matthew and shared many wild, goofy, and fun memories together throughout those four years. In that time, Mike met and fell in love with Anna - the bride - and she fit along well and very easily with the guys. Mike and Anna are super cute together - always laughing and never a dull moment. Their wedding was perfect and had so many cute personal touches (I need a Cricut and I need it now!). The love was felt throughout the whole weekend and I am so glad to have been there to witness two friends profess their love for each other.

Husband and Wife


Matthew was a groomsmen and quite a dapper one, if I may so myself.

Matthew is third from the Right

Did I mention that Mike and Anna are parents to two adorable French Bulldogs named Daisy and Dillon who were also in the wedding as their flowergirl and ring bearer?!?! Anna made both of their outfits - so cute!






While Matthew was off doing groomsmen stuff, I hung out with other +1s. Jen, Andrea and Amanda were all really sweet and we had some good times that weekend.

(L to R) Jen, Me, Andrea & Amanda

The venue was gorgeous and I couldn't resist taking pictures of all the details:

The ceremony area (sorry for the bad lighting) but thank goodness for all that shade! It was 95 degrees that day!

Close-up of the flowers on the canopy

Unity candle

Guestbook table

Program Fans! I showed Anna the link with instructions on how to make those silhouettes (*toot toot*), and didn't they turn out great?!

Cake Table

For place cards, they used postcards from the area the guests were from, with our names and table numbers on the back.

Anna made these napkin rings herself! Also, I loved the gold chargers!

Oh wait, how'd this picture sneak in here?

We capped off the evening with one final round of In & Out Burger. The restaurant is connected to the hotel we were all staying at, so we literally had In & Out three times that weekend (hence the reason I am wearing stretchy pants today!). If you're not from California, you may not be familiar with these mouth-watering, party-in-your-mouth, burgers -- but trust me when I tell you that they are everything you hear about and more. Most people I know don't think they're the BEST burgers in the world, but I would definitely put In & Out in my Top 3.

The bride and groom enjoying their first burger together as a married couple

It was a beautiful weekend with beautiful people. Congratulations, Mike and Anna!

Graduation Pops

This is a story about my first attempt at trying to be Bakerella.

SIL M2 (not to be mistaken for SIL M) recently entered the next stage of adulthood by graduating high school. Not only did she receive her diploma, but she also obtained a Lifetime Member of the California Scholarship Federation award for her academic success. We were all very proud of her accomplishments and honored her achievements with a super fun graduation party.

I was in charge of the favors and centerpieces, so I took to the internet to copy other more creative people's ideas so I can look crafty find inspiration.

Enter Bakerella.

She is the queen of easy and creative baking! Her tutorials make baking amateurs like me hopeful to complete a project with minimal aggravation.

I happened upon these babies many moons ago and saved the post on my Google Reader. I knew I would make these someday, and that day had finally come:

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Cute, right?! And seemingly easy to make! I had to make 60 of them and was ready to take on the challenge.

Note: the following tutorial is available on Bakerella's site with prettier pictures, but here's my attempt at it.

What you need:

- Mini Reese's cups (each bag comes with about 40 mini cups)

- Ghirardella squares in any flavor besides dark chocolate to match the peanut butter cups (Bakerella used Godiva chocolates, but I had a hard time finding the right kind.. Ghirardelli worked just fine for me)

- Xtreme Air Heads (these are hard to find. I had to get mine from a gas station)

- Chocolate Melts

- Lollipop sticks

1. Put your bags of mini Reese's cups in the freezer for a few minutes to cool. This will make it easier for you to remove the wrapper without causing damage to the chocolate.

2. Take the Reese's cups out of the freezer and start unwrapping! Place them on wax paper (or sealable plastic wrap, like I did) and allow them to get back to room temperature. Don't be discouraged if freezing the cups didn't help that much and you end up with cups that have peanut butter showing. Now, Bakerella suggests tossing or eating any messed-up cups (like the ones below), but I ended up messing up too many, so I used them anyway. No one will notice the difference, right?

3. While you're waiting for the cups to reach room temperature, heat up some chocolates melts according to the instructions on the bag. You will use this as your "glue".

4. Once the cups are about room temperate, dip your lollipop stick in the melted chocolate and insert the stick into the cup. Repeat until you have something like this:

5. While you're waiting for the cups with sticks to dry, you can start working on the top part of the graduation cap. Unwrap all the Ghirardelli squares and lay them on wax paper.

6. Cut apart the Xtreme Air Heads (I found scissors very helpful for this part) to your desired color for the tassel. SIL M2's school colors were orange and black, so I used the orange part of the candy. (Matthew and I enjoyed eating the scraps) Divide the single-colored strips to your desired length (I divided them in thirds). These strips will be used as the cap's tassel.

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7. Take a tooth pick and apply a thin strip of your melted chocolate glue on a Ghiradelli squares in the area you want your tassel to go. Carefully place your tassel on the melted chocolate and allow it to cool. I folded the tassel underneath the square to create a bend.

8. Add a tiny drop of melted chocolate in the middle of the cap and allow it to cool

9. Once the caps and cups have cooled, use the melted chocolate to glue the two together!

The lollipops should be done within the next few minutes. Since I was giving these out as favors, I wrapped them with a favor bag and tied a matching ribbon around the lollipops. I also created labels, printed them out on cardstock and used a 2" circle puncher to cut them out.

Here's a picture of the final product:

Note: This lollipop is about 3 weeks old and the picture was just taken yesterday, but I realized I never took a picture of the final product! Trust me when I say they looked waaaay better the day of the party.

All crappy pictures were taken by me unless noted otherwise