This year, on February 13, I turned 16 years old. While I can't really understand the hype of this age, I still wanted my sixteenth birthday to be special. I held my birthday on February 17 in my family's recreation room with my close friends.

Nodding towards the title "Sweet Sixteen," I created a dessert bar, in addition to appetizers and pizza. For appetizers I made mini quiches, caprese bites, and ham and swiss rolls. Other goodies included Reeses, White Cheddar Cheez-Itz, Gardettos, frosted animal cookies, KitKats, Lindor truffles, Starbust, Dove chocolates, brownie bites, M & Ms, popcorn, and a Funfetti cake as the focal point.

For beverages, I filled two glass drink coolers with pour spouts with sparkling lemonade and homemade raspberry-pineapple punch. I also provided water in decanters. Guests could drink out of mason jars, in which sharpies were used to label the lids, and gold and white striped paper straws.

For decorations, I followed a color palette of blush pink, gold, and white. I went for a simple, rustic chic aesthetic because my venue had wood counters. There were gold star balloons on each chair, a chalkboard sign, tassel garlands, a photo string with pictures from my childhood, flowers in vases of various shapes and sizes, a white and brushed gold wooden C, and a photo wall complete with gold 1 and 6 balloons, a pink backdrop, and another white tassel banner where we took a multitude of Polaroid pictures.

Throughout the night, besides pigging out on snacks, we played Apples to Apples and Headbands. We also pampered our skin with black mud face masks.

Overall, it was an incredibly fun night and I am so thankful for all of my family and friends that made my sixteenth birthday amazing!

Also, if you would like to watch the video that I made about my birthday here is the link.

Açaí Addiction

Lately, I have been borderline obsessed with acai bowls. As we enter into July, (I swear June lasted 10 seconds) they have been a refreshing and somewhat healthy way to start off my morning. I thought it would be fun to write a little post with some photos and include my personal recipe!

It all started at the Three Blind Refs Tournament in Kalispell, Montana. My first bowl was from the Mountain Berry Bowls and it was heaven in the blazing heat. 

Here is a side view of the same bowl featuring my one nub thumb and reflection in the background. 

This was my second homemade bowl with another shoutout to my little cacti garden. Talk about aesthetically pleasing.

Cienna's Famous Acai Bowl

Yield: 1 smoothie bowl
Time: 5-10 minutes, depending on level of perfectionism

Ingredients:
1/4 cup frozen raspberries
1/4 cup frozen blueberries
4-5 frozen strawberries
1 packet of frozen acai (I found mine at Safeway)
1/2 cup of Trop 50 Orange Juice or your desired liquid
granola (mine is a gluten free brand called Pure Addiction)
nut butter (I used almond)
honey
fresh blueberries (optional)
1/2 of a banana (optional)

1. Combine frozen fruit and liquid in blender and blend until smooth.
2. Spoon smoothie into bowl, flatten surface with a spoon.
3. Top with desired toppings. It can be as messy or Instagram-worthy as you would like.
4. Take a picture because you made yourself a bomb breakfast that is healthy and delicious and need to document the moment.
5. Enjoy, you deserve it!

January Birthdays

January has been a month full of birthdays for my family and friends. I wanted to dedicate this post to celebrate all of the amazing people in my life living another year!

January 12: Grandma Kim
My beautiful grandma, she's been there my whole life.
 She is an avid Candy Crush player, lover of Diet Pepsi, and frequents garage sales.

January 15: Sarah
my best friend, my partner in crime, beautiful person inside and out, amazing artist and friend

January 21: Stirling
My not so little brother, turning 11!

January 27: Julia
One of my oldest friends, although she moved, I hope she has an amazing 16th!

Spring Break Adventures 2015

Of course I had to get my Starbucks fix on the 8 hour road trip there. The birthday cake frappuccino was literally heaven.  

These were taken on the beach right next to our hotel in Seaside.

This is a picture of Haystack Rock, a famous rock in the movie, The Goonies. Canon Beach was where the movie was filmed.

We had an amazing dinner at The Wayfarer in Canon Beach that night. This was my dessert, a chocolate soufflé al a mode.

Our last day we went and hiked alone the coast on Indian Beach. It was super fun but I was sad to go back to school.

Starbucks and My First Post!

Blended green teas and rainy days make a good combination.