Baby Shower Bliss

A couple weeks ago I was fortunate enough to spend a great weekend with some of my best friends throwing a baby shower for our best friend Jamey. The shower was a great success and proof that these 5 girls can still throw an awesome party... even if it is filled with diapers, pastels and baby things. By the time Tim and I are ready for a little one, my friends will have this cute baby shower thing down pat!

Decor

(and Champagne Punch of course)

 

 Games

 

and Besties

Oh how I miss these ladies... who's next???

DIY

You've Got Mail

I love love love love cards. Did I mention that I LOVE cards? Sending thank you cards is a lost art form that seriously needs to be found again. I get more joy from picking out the perfect birthday, baby shower, or wedding card than I do from actually buying the presents. It has always been a dream of mine to create my own greeting cards. Since this year I am working on expressing my creative side, I decided to put this passion to work. I have a wedding, a baby shower, and Adam's birthday coming up, so this was the perfect time to put my DIY card making skills to the test. All I needed was a lazy Sunday, a jammin' Pandora station, and some inspiration. 

I picked up some supplies at Michael's Craft Store. Yikes... I could get into trouble in there. 

I wrote the cards in pencil first and traced the letters in glue. Then sprinkled one of the best inventions ever on the top... glittaaaa.

*Tip - I used an old makeup brush (clean it first) to brush away the excess glitter. 

Front View.

The final product of my "LOVE" wedding card.

Save the extra glitter for the inside.

Inside View.

I used the glitter scraps for the heart exclamation point. 

First comes love, then comes marriage, then comes a...

Outside View.

"Sweet Memories" baby shower card.

Inside View.

And after love, marriage, and babies I transitioned to the world of hunting, fishing, and surfing...

(young buck)
Adam's birthday card. The inside is a secret.

 I can't wait to make my "thank you" and "just because" cards next!

I hope this inspires you to kick your passion into high gear or maybe it inspires you to just send someone a thank you card.

Happy Weekend!

NY Style Pizza at Home

It's no secret that I am a fan of pizza... Tim and I used to make them them pretty often but, it had been a while since we made one at home. So I googled for some new tips on making the perfect pizza when I came across this great clip from America's Test Kitchen:

click here to view the site and the video:
http://www.americastestkitchen.com/episodes/detail.php?docid=35172

I had always baked pizza on a stone but I had never tried pre-heating the stone or setting the oven so hot (500*). It was time to try it out...

I went to Publix and picked up some dough they make in the bakery (gotta love Publix - they have everything!) as well as pizza sauce, toppings and some vino of course. I fixed the dough according to the America's Test Kitchen recipe and as you might have guessed it came out perfectly. If you're a pizza lover, you have to try this! It far beats any of the Domino's, Papa John's and frozen pizzas of the world.

"Traditional/Everything" on the left and "Margherita" on the right

Thin Crust!

Happy Sunday! and lucky us we get tomorrow off - so Happy President's Day everyone :)

Crave

The Bachelor Bowl

Every Monday night I make sure to watch one of my favorite guilty pleasures, The Bachelor! It's no fun watching it alone, so I have to coax my own bachelor into enduring two hours of catty girls and lovey dovey mush gush. Yes, I am googly-eyed and get wrapped up in this fantasy love story. Enter the Bachelor Bowl... one of my own bachelor's favorite meals is black beans and rice. I jazzed it up for the special occasion - The Bachelor viewing, of course.

* Please excuse the non-professional food shots. This is what it looks like when I cook... no professional camera, no food staging, no fancy cookware... just Adam and I making a meal, a mess, and memories.

Ingredients:

Black Beans, low sodium (I ended up using 2 cans)

Rice (for Adam)

Quinoa (for me)

Cilantro

Tomatoes (from local farmers)

Avocado

Onion

Chicken 

Garlic

Blackening Spices

Olive Oil

Blackened and ready for the oven. 

Pour the black beans (with juice and all) into the pot. Add these tasty treats and let it simmer.

Who likes to wash a bunch of dishes? This girl (insert an eye roll). Yes, a pescatarian and a meat lover tend to have an above average amount of dishes at night. This is typical.  Black bean mix, rice in the back, quinoa in the front, and chicken in the oven.

Slice up a perfect avo and chop some cilantro for the topping.

Adam's final dish. The Bachelor Bowl! hahaha creative I know. :)

 My bowl... The Bachelorette Bowl! Oh this is just too much. I am getting carried away. 

Happy Bachelor/Bachelorette Night! Oh and if you are into as much as I am I would love to know your top three ladies. Mine are Desiree, AshLee, and Lesley - the last blonde standing. 

Bacon Pancakes?

So last weekend I decided to go a little crazy and make something new for breakfast. Sometimes Tim and I go big on the weekends and make a fancy breakfast. Last weekend was my turn. Lately I've seen bacon (Tim's favorite) added to sweet treats (my favorite). So I made my husband happy and myself happy and melded our two favorites into one - Bacon Pancakes. Warning - I'm not claiming they are at all healthy, fat free, carb free, etc. but they are definitely delicious!

Want to try? Here's what I did:

1. Looked up my favorite Pancake recipe: http://allrecipes.com/recipe/todds-famous-blueberry-pancakes/

Todd's Famous Blueberry Pancakes
Rated: Prep Time: 10 Minutes Ready In: 1 Hour 15 Minutes

INGREDIENTS:
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour 1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon baking powder 1 1/4 teaspoons white sugar

1 egg
1 cup milk
1/2 tablespoon butter, melted
1/2 cup frozen blueberries, thawed 

DIRECTIONS: 

1. In a large bowl, sift together flour, salt, baking powder and sugar. In a small bowl, beat together egg and milk. Stir milk and egg into flour mixture. Mix in the butter and fold in the blueberries. Set aside for 1 hour. 

 

2. Heat a lightly oiled griddle or frying pan over medium high heat. Pour or scoop the batter onto the griddle, using approximately 1/4 cup for each pancake. Brown on both sides and serve hot.

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED © 2013 Allrecipes.com Printed from Allrecipes.com 2/8/2013

2. Pulled out my ingredients and my utensils. Decided to make some strawberry pancakes too. Good back-up in case the bacon pancakes were a flop (no pun intended).

3. Realized I didn't need baking powder and I had forgot to pull out the sugar :)

4. Sifted the dry ingredients together. Makes the prettiest mound of flour :) I love doing this and I just use a mesh strainer instead of a sifter.

5. Melted the butter, set it aside, and then mixed the eggs and milk

6. Mixed the milk and eggs into the flour mixture. Then poured in the butter last and set the batter aside for as long as possible up to an hour.

7. Cooked the bacon - and don't get the cheap stuff. Good, quality bacon is a must in our house!

8. Cut the bacon pieces in half and covered them with batter - flipped when they were ready and viola! 1st batch of bacon pancakes done.

9. Second batch of strawberry pancakes are next... I actually liked these more than the bacon ones - really delicious!

10. And we're ready to eat!

Hope you have a wonderful weekend!

Now it's off to a baby shower in Tallahassee :) 

Here's a little teaser of the the design for our popcorn box favors... 

Weekend Recap

Time Flies When You're Having Fun

This weekend brought cool weather, superheroes, happy hours, a birthday party, weekly menu planning, a visit to the farmer's market, an amazing church service, running outdoors, relaxing with my love and a Tiki party with good friends for the Super Bowl.  I hope you had a lovely weekend with friends and family.

My teaching superhero "Super Heather" - Teacher of the Year celebration on Friday night with some amazing teachers... so inspiring! 

Happy Hour Brunching.

 A Mimosa for me and a Bloody Mary for Adam on Saturday... enjoying the beautiful weather on Crawdaddy's patio. 

Sunday menu planning. Lately, my inspiration comes from Whole Living Magazine.

Farm Fresh - I love visiting my area farmer's markets! 

Looking forward to the Tiki Superbowl party with some of my favorite friends. My art skills are lacking... 49 for 49ers and R for Ravens. 

Go Ravens!

Have a blessed week!