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A Few of My Favorite Things For Summer

May 17, 2012 by Carrie · Leave a Comment

Even though summer won’t officially be here for more than a month, we’re in full on summer mode in our house…and I’ve got a few things that are making me soooooo thankful that summer is here!

First of all, I love, love, LOVE this gorgeous bee brooch that my dear, dear friend Melissa sent me. I absolutely adore the colors and it definitely feels like summer…such a great piece!

Do you like this brooch?? If you want to order it, you’re in luck…it’s on sale right now! Click here to find out more.

Next up…this bread rocks. my. world.

It’s focaccia bread topped with fruity goodness…cherries, blackberries, and more! On top of that, a dutch crumb topping and a healthy dose of powdered sugar. This is made by a local bakery and sadly, it’s only seasonal. It’s truly earth shattering. I may or may not have made it into french toast one time for dinner…and I may have eaten waaaaay too much of it.

Now, onto what may be my new favorite drink for summertime…at least one that’s good for the whole family…

This drink is super easy to make and is definitely very light and refreshing on a hot summer afternoon. It’s super simple, just fill a glass with ice, fill it halfway with your favorite lemon-lime soda (I used Sprite Zero because I’m watching my calories.) and fill the other half with Crystal Light’s Pomtini drink.

It’s cool, refreshing, bubbly…but not too bubbly… a great drink to enjoy outside in the summer sunshine!

I’m sure I’ll have lots of more summer things I love that I’ll be sharing with you all soon…I love this time of year!!

Filed Under: Around the House Tagged With: around the house, bee brooch, crystal light, focaccia bread, pomtini, sprite zero, stella and dot, summertime, summertime drinks

Cookies & Cream Buttercream…My New Favorite Frosting

May 9, 2012 by Carrie · 2 Comments

I lost my camera cord this weekend. You’d have thought I lost my child, I was so upset. I had so many important pictures that I was anxious to upload, but alas, they were prisoners trapped inside of my camera until I was able to free them.

I searched high and low, underneath furniture, all the bedrooms, every nook and cranny….only to discover that it had merely fallen off a tabletop onto the floor. It was in plain sight the whole time…I felt foolish.

But, now it’s back, and my sanity is once again in check…for now.

This weekend, I was baking cupcakes and decided to try my hand at Cookies & Cream frosting.

Why did I wait so long to try this?? I know the rest of the world has been enjoying this treat for years and years, but for some reason, I never jumped on the bandwagon.

I’m now firmly on the bandwagon and I’m riding along with a bowl of Cookies & Cream frosting and a spoon.

Yum.

My kids loved crushing up the Oreos with a rolling pin, and I just dumped them into my regular buttercream icing, and let my Kitchen Aid do the rest.

I liked having bigger pieces of Oreos in the frosting, so piping this wasn’t really an option for me…and it was a little trickier than normal to ice the cupcakes, but definitely not a hassle at all.

For me, it was a total win/win. I tried a new recipe, I liked the recipe, and I used up some of the Oreos in my pantry that I would have most likely eaten on my own. See….a win/win.

Happy Wednesday!!

Filed Under: Baking Tagged With: baking, cookies and cream, cupcakes, frosting, Oreos

Gardening Season Has Returned

May 3, 2012 by Carrie · Leave a Comment

This morning, my husband and I went on a morning date…to the DMV. Nothing says “I love you” like a trip to that place.

Luckily, after that, it got better. We went and bought plants for our garden this year.

I love when May rolls around and the threat of a freeze has passed. I love shopping for what I want to put in my garden. I love planting the plants and watching them grow. I do NOT however, love watering plants…particularly in the middle of the summer when it’s 100 degrees with 99% humidity. Inevitably, every year I get to a point where I say, “forget it” and seriously start skimping on my watering duties.

And then the next May rolls around and I tell myself that I’m NOT going to skimp on the watering once July rolls around. I tell myself that I’m going to have the best garden ever, and we will eat for months and months from all the amazing things I’m going to grow.

And then it gets hot…..

I’m crossing my fingers for more dedication out of me this year. I will persevere…I’ve got some great new plants to try out!

I had no idea that we could grow blueberries here…I thought my blueberries always came from Michigan… But certainly, they wouldn’t sell anything that couldn’t grow here, right? Although, I saw they were selling grapes, and outside of the local wineries, I’ve never actually strolled through someone’s garden for them to show my their fine crop of grapes.

Sure enough, there they are! In a while, I’m hoping you’ll be ready to go into my cereal, little blueberries!

Yikes…these are NOT mine. A little something for my husband, cause I’m not a fan of the spicy stuff!

Ummmmm, what??? Excuse my ignorance, but I was unaware that the home gardener could grow peanuts in their garden. We were both a little shocked when we saw these, but knew we had to have them. For $2.49, I’ll stick them in my garden and see what grows…if anything…

I’m so excited to see these grow during the summer, but I’m afraid I may have to change my name to Farmer McGregor, because I have a feeling I’m going to be contending with this little guy and his little friend…

I love you little bunnies, but please, please, PLEASE stay out of my garden.

Filed Under: Gardening Tagged With: Blueberries, gardening, Peanuts, Peppers, springtime

What I’m Reading: Fifty Shades of Grey

May 1, 2012 by Carrie · 1 Comment

OK, I admit it…I did it…I read Fifty Shades of Grey.

I held off as long as I could, but the buzz surrounding this book finally got the best of me and I caved. (As an avid reader, I HATE when a book is popular and I’ve not read it…I feel so out of it!) Now, since my site is a family friendly site, I’m certainly not going to go into any details in this book, but I’ll sum up my thoughts on the book briefly and with a PG rating.

Basically, I read, I blushed. I read some more, I blushed some more. I read even more, my jaw hit the ground. And then I kept reading.

Here’s my two cents…

Good Storyline WAY Down Deep. You’ve got to look for it, but if you dig around a little, I promise, you’ll find it. The concept is good, but all the “extra” details seemed a bit of a distraction and unnecessary. If Christian had simply been a man who had an inappropriate relationship with an older woman that left him scarred, there still would have been a great story there…even without his, shall we say, unorthodox preferences. And I was a bit put off when I counted three instances where they so clearly took from the Bella/Edward storyline…I understand it was written as a Twilight fan fiction, but it went a bit far.

Unusual Writing Style. Ideally, I would have loved to have seen this book, that came from EL James idea, written by perhaps a more experienced writer, that could take her concept and expand upon it to make it more appealing to everyone. Because most of the criticisms I’ve read have come from people who were disliked her writing style, an author with a few books under their belt may have alleviated some of the dissatisfaction.

I’m glad I read it so I don’t feel so out of the loop. It was a quick read and the first book left me hanging enough to check out the second book, but I’m certainly not tearing through it like I did the first.

Now….how on EARTH are they going to make this into a movie???

If you’ve read the book, leave me a comment and let me know how you felt about it, but PLEASE keep your comments vague and rated PG!

Image source

Filed Under: Books, Uncategorized Tagged With: books, Fifty Shades of Grey, popular books, What I'm Reading

A Craspedia Post from Melissa

April 30, 2012 by Carrie · 2 Comments

I am absolutely loving this gorgeous post from Melissa about Craspedia. What a perfect idea for decorating weddings and parties!

Via Weddings by Lilly

I’m a flowers kinda gal and currently have a little crush on Billy Balls, aka craspedia. They have such a cheerful disposition (insert a Mary Poppins smile). Yellow is one of my favorite colors and Billy Balls are perfect for Spring and Summer festivities… Weddings, Events, Bouquets, Home Decor, Dinner Parties, and so much more. They are so versatile and that’s why I love them. Here is a small collection of Billy Balls from around the web looking their best.