Russian Tea Cakes for Christmas

Today my children and I were making Russian Tea Cakes cookies. They were easy to make, didn’t take long, and kids had a lot of fun too!

The recipe is from my most favorite website allrecipes.com. It makes 36 cookies.

Ingredients:

  • 1 cup butter
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 6 tablespoons confectioners’ sugar
  • 2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 cup chopped walnuts
  • 1/3 cup confectioners’ sugar for decoration
  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
  2. In a medium bowl, cream butter and vanilla until smooth.

3.  Combine the 6 tablespoons confectioners’ sugar and flour; stir into the butter mixture until just blended.

4. Mix in the chopped walnuts.

5. Roll dough into 1 inch balls, and place them 2 inches apart on an ungreased cookie sheet.

6. Bake for 12 minutes in the preheated oven. When cool, roll in remaining confectioners’ sugar.

…and relax 🙂

Merry Christmas Eve Everyone!!!

I am on Instagram Now

I have joined Instagram a month or so ago, and really love it! Today I would like to share with you a few photos from there, but feel free to Follow me (olyacreative) there to see these and many other photos in real time! 🙂

1. Decorating Our Christmas Tree!

2. Baking Christmas Cookies!…fun for children, not so fun for mommy 🙂

3. Going to a Christmas Party… with sparkles!

4. Back in Florida! We almost missed the sunset. It was beautiful!

5. …and there is the Sunset!

6. Cute little birds were in our way, as we were house hunting in Florida! I don’t mind neighbors like that, as long as they don’t make too much noise! 🙂

Date Night

Yesterday was another great date night with my wonderful husband. I always enjoy those alone times with him, but yesterday was a little more entertaining. We went to Stars Theatre Restaurant to watch the silly comedy “Spamalot”. Since my husband had on dressy attire, I decided to wear a little black dress. You can’t go wrong with a little black dress that fits you well. 🙂

Our godparents, Bob and Kandi, invited us to the play, as Bob is playing the staring role of King Arthur. This couple is like our second parents, at least that’s how I feel about them. As for the theatre, their food was good, and the Irish flavored coffee with a hint of cinnamon was some of the best I’ve ever had.

Monty Python’s Spamalot is a musical comedy “lovingly ripped off from” the 1975 film Monty Python and the Holy Grail.   The comedy will be played until July 27.  Like the film, it is a highly irreverent parody of the Arthurian Legend, but it differs from the film in many ways.” (Wikipedia) “Telling the legendary tale of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table, and their quest for the Holy Grail, Monty Python’s SPAMALOT features a chorus line of dancing divas and knights, flatulent Frenchmen, killer rabbits and one legless knight. (Stars Theatre Restaurant)  The comedy is very silly. I knew I wouldn’t get most of the jokes, but we all had a great time, good food, wonderful coffee, and a good laugh. Bob Anderson did an awesome job playing King Arthur!

Highlights from Disneyland trip

It’s been a week since my last post, and here is a good reason why I didn’t post more often. My little family and I went to Disneyland. It was such a precious family time. We all had so much fun. My children enjoyed every little thing there…rides, sweets, princesses, cars. Another highlight of theirs was that they got to stay at a hotel. It is always such a treat for them to stay at a hotel. It definitely doesn’t take much to make your children happy. 🙂

Enjoy some of the highlights from the Disneyland trip:

Liebster Award

A beautiful blogger Rachel  from Fashionably Living  has nominated me for Liebster Award, and I want to sincerely thank her for that! I am very flattered! It’s such a great feeling to know that someone on the other side of the computer likes my style, enjoys my posts, and gets inspired by my outfits!

 For those who wonder what a Liebster Award is, I will cite Rachel’s perfect description of it …”It is an award given to inspiring bloggers that have less than 200 or 300 followers to help spread the word of their inspiring sites.”… and so, Rachel, it is very sweet of you to think of my blog as an inspiration. What a compliment!

First off, I will answer the questions Rachel asked me:

  1.   What is it about fashion and/or design that attracts you?

I love how fashion, style, clothing, and accessories reveal and express my personality and mood.

  1. What is your goal with your blog?

Developing my creative side of styling, cooking, socializing, and I am open to sponsorship too.

  1. If you could trade closets with a celebrity, who would it be?

It would be Jessica Alba. I love her street-style looks.

  1. Coffee or tea?

Five years ago it was hot tea, now it’s coffee.

  1. Imagine someone describing you to a stranger- what would they say?

I think they will say that I am very optimistic and always have a smile on my face.

  1. Why did you start blogging?

I prefer to stay at home to raise and educate my children, and doing the things I love. Blogging happen to be one of them.

  1. Where do you find inspiration?

I find my inspiration from my family who I love dearly. They inspire me every day of my life.

  1. Do your prefer books or magazines?

Books.

  1. What do you think is the perfect recipe to run a fashion/lifestyle blog?

Love what you are doing, be creative, be open to criticism, and keep it interesting.

  1. How would you describe your personal and home decor style? Do you think they reveal part of your personality?

Modern, minimal, spatial, naturalistic, organic…yes they do.

  1. Can you divulge any beauty secrets? A make-up must-have you couldn’t live without?

If you are in a hurry, and have no time to put make-up on, put some mascara on your eye lashes and you are good to go…or run if you have to. Do not leave your house without mascara.

Please check out my favorite fellow bloggers, who keep inspiring me…

  1. www.thehautecookie.com
  2. http://lovestylehappiness.blogspot.com/
  3. www.lovezahra.com
  4. www.kissandmakeupsbeautyblog.wordpress.com
  5. www.thedocndiva.com
  6. www.roxthefox.com
  7. www.labydiana.com
  8. www.understatedclassics.com

I would like to ask my nominees some questions. It will be very interesting to read their answers

  1. Why do you blog?
  2. Do you enjoy writing?
  3. What do you think you are better at writing or speaking?
  4. Do you consider yourself a creative person?
  5. Do you enjoy reading?
  6. What is your favorite book?
  7. Do you consider yourself an organized person?
  8. Did you ever meet one of your virtual blogger-friends in real life?
  9. What is the one thing you’d most like to change about the world?
  10. Is there anything you’d like to change about yourself?
  11. What are you most grateful for?

Please remember to leave me a comment after you have answered the questions and passed on the award. I would love to hear from all of you!

Congratulations! 🙂

Getting Ready For Puerto Rico Vacation!

In just a week my husband and I are going to enjoy our wonderful vacation in Puerto Rico.  Here, in California, we have many beautiful beaches, but what really makes me enjoy the beaches on the Atlantic ocean is the warm water and very pleasant breeze. Last year, when we going on a different vacation, I was excited, but also worried how my little children will be without me, and how I would cope with being so far away from them. They were in very good hands with our family, but they are such a close part of me, that it was hard to leave them for a week. That being said, I had the Best time I could’ve imagined. I now realize why so many people want to vacation in the Carribean islands. It truly is a Paradize! 

Here are some photos of our last year trip…

This year I am more excited than ever. I love having my children around me all the time, and having our everyday life. But this vacation time is something very special. I get to be with my husband only, and we get to enjoy each other and everything that’s around us. It is a beautiful time and wonderful opportunity for us to remember why we are so in love with each other! 🙂

Back to my preparation for vacation…In the trip, I would like to have some cute and casual gray shorts. A few simple and pretty tops, beach dress, and a that perfect little black dress for the evening. I am currently shopping for these items.

Here is a selection of clothes that I narrowed my choices down to:

 Shorts…

       Victoria’s Secret                        Victoria’s Secret                          Victoria’s Secret

 

Tops…

 

       Victoria’s Secret                          Forever21                              Victoria’s Secret

 

 Beach Dresses…

                      6pm                                   Macy’s                             Victoria’s Secret

 I am still looking for that perfect evening dress, not necessary black. I will be posting in my next post a little more finds and choices for evening dresses and shoes. 🙂

 

Highlights from My Christmas…and Happy New Year!!!

We celebrated our Christmas dinner with my husband’s cousins in the mountains in Southern California. Their house was decorated in such a wonderful way, that as soon as I walked in, I felt like I was in Santa’s cottage. There was a warm, cozy, and Christmassy feeling…and the food was very delicious! Thank you Suzanne and Rick for such a wonderful Christmas evening! 🙂

See some of the highlights of our Christmass below, and feel free to share some of your holiday experiences!

…the true reason to celebrate…

…gifts and happy faces…

Christmas is a holiday for everyone!…

…and all that guilt-free sweet dessert…

…and here is one of my decoration idea…

I hope everyone had a wonderul Christmas!

Happy New Year! 2013!!!

Highlights From My Thanksgiving!!! How was yours?

Like so many families today, we celebrated Thanksgiving at our home. It’s always a special day when family and friends from so far away can join us for good food and tradition. My grandma brightened our day even more trying to look cute and funny! 🙂

Happy Thanksgiving!

   

  

I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving too! 🙂

…and here we go!

Today is Friday, June 22, and I am excited to start my very own blog! I’ve been dreaming of blogging for a while, and now I feel like I am ready to start. English is not my first language (it is Russian), so please bear with me. 🙂

I came to the United States seven years ago. And I must say that it took me a while to get used to everything here. By “everything” I mean Everything: people, weather, food, money, measurements, etc. In fact, I still change thermometer in my car to Celsius degrees sometimes. I was born and raised in Moldova. It’s a small country between Romania and Ukraine. I have nothing against people in Moldova, but I have to say that only here, in the United States, I’ve learned that it is okay to smile to people and just be nice. In the States, it is not a luxury to have your own car, and it’s not normal to be without hot water at home… I could give more examples about the differences between here and there, and I probably will in the future. But for now, let me tell you the purpose of this blog.

I am a stay at home mommy to two cute children, and a wife to a wonderful husband. I consider myself a creative person, and there are many things I enjoy doing. I love fashion, shopping, photography, cooking, decorating, drawing, scrapbooking, and creating new things. So I believe that having this blog will help keep the creative side of me going. In addition to that, a year or so ago I got into couponing, and learned that it can be fun to save money, not only to spend.

I will be homeschooling my 5 year-old daughter in just a few months, so we will have many interesting projects to post too.  All of this and even more I would like to include on this website.

Who knows, this blog may become our family treasure chest for many years to enjoy and more…

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