Adieu!

Well, this is it ladies!  I’m off of work tomorrow to pack and get ready for everything.  Saturday we are rising early and making the trip to pick up our furry baby!  Waahooo!  Then on Sunday, bright and early once again, I’m leaving on a plane for Bar Harbor, Me.  So many fun things happening!  I will be without a computer all next week (holy cow! whatever will I do?! ;o) and unable to post, so please expect me the following week with TONS of pictures and fun stuff to share.  I am THRILLED to finally introduce ya’ll to the little guy (and tell you his name)!  And of course share photos, stories and memories from my amazing trip with my fabulous friends.  I hope everyone has an amazing and blessed weekend and week ahead.  I can’t wait to come back and catch up with everyone!

Blessings/XOXO

Health Nut

Are you a health nut?  I’m trying to be!  I truly am dedicated to feeding my sweet husband and myself the healthy goods.  There is just something about KNOWING you are giving your body the fuel that it needs.  Oh yes, we splurge often on tasty treats (like this post when I made a pie AND a cake for the 4th), but I would like to think we keep it to a minimum.  My hubsy craves sweets but I have no problem turning down dessert.  I crave the chips and guacamole, macaroni and cheese, pasta with bolognese sauce, baked potatoes…yum…I need to stop typing these so my mouth can stop watering.  I am a total foodie and look forward to the nights we eat out at delicious restaurants.  BUT, on the nights that we are home, I am all about making sure we’re grilling the fresh meats and veggies.  Well, I’m trying.  I’ve shared quite a few recipes with you but hopefully you will start to see a trend of even healthier and more delicious recipes.  It’s my goal!  I am so excited to try and make my own baby food when we have little ones (of course if God blesses us with little ones!) and I think I should start with adult sized concoctions now.  I don’t mean just baking, grilling and sautéing, but whole wheat breads from scratch, granolas fresh from the oven, vegetables from my own garden out back (which we are currently in the process of setting up) and the list goes on.  Granted, once we actually do start to have babies, I know the task of creating baby food from scratch may be quite daunting.  But, it is a desire dear to me heart, nonetheless.

I am leaving this Sunday for beautiful Maine, leaving my husband all alone for the week, poor thing.  I have grown up going to Maine every summer and several winters.  There are certain foods that make me extremely nostalgic for my second home there: blueberries, lobster, popovers, and of course granola.  Granola and Maine go together so perfectly.  My mom has the BEST granola recipe given to her by my grandfather that I will have to share some time.  My husband is now just as in love with granola as I am; it’s such a perfect snack and easy meal for breakfast.  I’m going to make Alton Brown’s granola recipe for him to munch on while I’m gone.  If he can’t be feasting on lobster with me at least he can be feasting on granola.  This one has some coconut, which sounds yummy to me, but for those who dislike it – leave it out - I don’t think Alton will mind. 

Ingredients

3 cups rolled oats

1 cup slivered almonds

1 cup cashews

3/4 cup shredded sweet coconut

1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons dark brown sugar

1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons maple syrup

1/4 cup vegetable oil

3/4 teaspoon salt

1 cup raisins (or dried cranberries)

1. Preheat oven to 250 degrees F

2. In a large bowl, combine the oats, nuts, coconut and brown sugar.

3. In a separate bowl, combine maple syrup, oil, and salt. Combine both mixtures and pour onto 2 sheet pans.  Cook for 1 hour and 15 minutes, stirring every 15 minutes to achieve an even color.

4. Remove from oven and transfer into a large bowl.  Add raisins and mix until evenly distributed.  Voila!  Enjoy!

Happy munching!  What is your take on eating organic?  Do you eat EVERYTHING organic? Only splurge on organic fruits and meats?  Organic dairy products?  I’d love to hear! 

Happy Wednesday!

Blessings/XOXO

Homemade & Festive

Happy Tuesday! I can’t believe we are almost in August. Where has this summer gone?! While some may be saddened that their sun kissed days are nearing an end, I rejoice in the seasons that are upon us. This time of year starts the beginning of several celebrations over the next few months: both of my nieces’ birthdays, my husband’s birthday, our wedding anniversary (yay!), my mom’s birthday, my mom and dad’s wedding anniversary – and the HOLIDAYS! I am in the process of starting to plan quite a few little shindigs and I am having so much fun researching and compiling ideas for the occasions. I’ll post about the fun things that trigger my creative juices; it’s so much fun always hearing everyone else’s. A fellow blogger who has some great ideas is Meredith and she recently asked if anyone knew where to buy decorative pom poms. Now a days, pom poms are a must-have at every shower and party I have attended. They were even a huge hit at my own bridal shower! My sisters made them without a kit and I think they turned out just as fabulous as Martha’s creations. Below are the steps to make your own using your own materials. The directions and photos are taken directly from the domestic diva’s website herself, found on this page. I take no credit! Check out the site for a version on how to make matching napkin rings. So cute!

Materials

tissue paper

24-guage white cloth-covered floral wire

Directions

1.Stack eight 20 by 30 inch sheets of tissue. Make 1 1/2 inch wide accordion folds, creasing with each fold.

2. Fold an 18 inch piece of floral wire in half, and slip over center of folded tissue; twist. With scissors, trim ends of tissue into rounded or pointy shapes.

3. Separate layers, pulling away from the center one at a time.

4. Tie a length of monofilament (fishing line) to floral wire for hanging.

Voila! Enjoy! I’ll have to do a post soon on my bridal shower. It was gorgeous and all done by my talented mom and sisters. So impressive! September is our wedding month so I will hold out until then. Can’t wait to share everything!

Some of you may remember the post I did back in March when my family celebrated my dad’s 60th birthday. It was such a special time. This December is my mom’s turn!! I am so excited for us to plan her celebration. I’ll be sure to keep you posted as the planning evolves and any tips or tricks I learn along the way.

I hope you enjoy your day! Thank you for your sweet comments below on my precious little nieces and nephew. They are my world!

XOXO/Blessings

Pure Bliss

Whenever I’m with my WHOLE family, it is the most amazing thing in the world!  Truly, pure bliss.  I was blessed to have the opportunity to spend the entire weekend with my precious husband, my amazing parents, both of my incredible sisters and all of my nieces and nephew under one roof.  AMAZING!  My family in Houston only makes it up a few times a year, so the time I get to spend with them is soooo treasured!!  We had a BLAST!  I love my nieces and nephew SO much and am so thankful to be their aunt.  Here’s some pictures of my little loves from the weekend!

 

 We took them to see the puppies! 

  

My big love and my little loves.  Perfect.

I hope you all had a wonderful weekend!  Happy Monday!

Blessings/XOXO

Bringing home {furry} baby!

The video above is the most recent one sent to us by our breeders!  We have been receiving videos every week since they have been born.  It is so much fun watching them grow!  Did I mention that the breeders are a husband and wife team who are BOTH veterinarians?  How cool is that?!  Needless to say, we felt pretty good about the litter and the conditions in which they would be kept.  This video cracks me up!  I love the two little guys who seem confused about whether or not to join the others.  The litter has eleven puppies and seven of them are males.  That is by far the largest number of males we have seen in a litter so far!  This makes it nice for us considering we want a male.  No one actually picks their puppy out until next Saturday, so it’s kind of neat watching this and realizing that ONE of these puppies will be ours!  Oh my goodness, are they not the cutest?!

You may remember this post when I asked for huge prayers about the breeders changing the ‘bring home’ date. I knew it was extremely unlikely, considering the puppies have to be 8 weeks old before they can leave their mom.  I was desperate though, because I have a flight booked to leave the DAY BEFORE for Maine.  My girlfriends and my mom and I are all spending a week there.  I’m super excited about the trip, but I couldn’t help be sad that not only would I not be able to help pick which puppy will be ours, but I will miss seeing what he looks like at the smallest he will ever be.  At this rate, even after one week he will be so much bigger. Well, to make a long story short, hubsy told me this is an important enough event that I should go ahead and change my plane ticket.  This is HUGE.  It’s such a blessing to have an understanding husband, and such an amazing mom and amazing best friends who are 100% supportive (they will now all be in Maine the first night without me).  I am so excited.  For the past six weeks I have been under the understanding that it just isn’t possible for me to be there on the big day.  But now, I can.  This day is a whole photo album in our puppy’s, and our, life!  Haha.  SO EXCITED I GET TO BE THERE!  We pick him up a week from this Saturday; I’ll have the whole day and night with our new little family, and then on Sunday I am off to Maine!  Oh, and more about Maine in another post to come; I have grown up going to Maine my whole life – LOVE it!

So, God answered my prayers in a different way than I had asked.  He is full of surprises, I just love it.  We are still in the final decision process for picking out his name.  Can’t wait to share!  Some of you may think I am ridiculous, talking about this and making decisions like we are bringing home an actual baby, haha.  But for now, this little guy WILL be our baby!  And it’s a big thing for us because we haven’t owned a pet together, ever.   Okay, I don’t want to make this a novel.  Thanks for reading!

I hope everyone has an amazing weekend! We’re leaving tonight to go home to my parent’s house.  My sister from Houston and my niece and nephew are in town!  This means my WHOLE family will be together this weekend; my other sister and niece already live here.  This only happens about twice a year!  Can’t wait to share pictures!

Blessings/XOXO

Peanut Butter Cup Pie Recipe

Hello B-Loves!  Thank you so so much for your encouraging comments about the new layout.  I am so glad you like it!  It honestly is a little bit of a relief.

My goodness, so much to catch up on.  The U.S. Women’s Open was a blast!  Unfortunately, I have absolutely NO pictures to show for it.  They check your bags and make you turn in your cameras and phones at the door.  It’s understandable, but was a bummer.  It was so neat being a part of the big day.  I love the movie The Greatest Game Ever Played; it’s based on the true story of the 1913 Open when a 20 year old defeats his idol and wins the whole tournament.  That is honestly the closest I have come to watching golf, by watching that movie, and it was neat to see how the tournament was in the movie and then see one in real life.  Everyone is SO quiet!  And everyone follows the players around just like in the movie, haha.  A lot of fun!

The 4th?  Also a blast!  We actually spent the weekend at home and went to a neighborhood cook-out.  It was so nice staying home for the weekend!  I wanted to share the pie recipe I told you about.  My husband’s favorite dessert combination is chocolate and peanut butter.  I have a vase that I keep on our coffee table filled with different candies for the seasons.  Whenever I have Peanut Butter Cups in there, they last about a day.  He is obsessed!  I found this pie recipe and thought I would give it a shot.  He loved it!!  And, so did everyone else.  It’s also easy to make.  Here it is.

Peanut Butter Cup Pie

20 milk chocolate kisses

2 tablespoons heavy whipping cream

1/2 cup peanut butter

1 (5 oz) package instant vanilla pudding mix

1 3/4 cups milk

1 (9 inch) pie shell, baked

1. Melt chocolate with the whipping cream over the stove. Stir until smooth and spread evenly over the bottom of the pie shell. Refrigerate until ready to fill; chocolate should be firm before filling.

2. Put dry pudding mix and peanut butter in heavy saucepan. Over low heat, gradually stir in the milk using a wire whisk. Stir constantly  until mixture thickens and comes to a boil. Cool for 15 minutes, stirring often.  Pour peanut butter filling into crust.  Chill several hours.

3. Top with whipped topping and crushed peanut butter cups or, like I did, Reese’s Pieces.  Voila!  Enjoy!

And, of course, I had to find a reason to make a funfetti cake, my absolute favorite.  So, I decided to make one and call it a “fireworks cake”.  You cut it open and see a burst of colors.  That works, right?  Maybe it’s a stretch.  I painted blue stars on top and used red sprinkles to fill in the gaps.  Here is a side shot.  At least I was able to get in my fix of funfetti!

Next post, update on our furry baby!!  I mentioned in a previous post how I will be out of town when we can pick him up, which is a week from this Saturday!!  Eeek!  Well, God is good.  Update to come!

Happy Wednesday!

Blessings/XOXO

Big Change!

Ahhh, such a big change!  What do you think?  I'm still playing around with everything.  Even my sidebar is on the left now, whoa!  It takes some getting used to, but I was so desperate for a change that I thought I should go all out.  Please let me know what you think!  I'm still spending some time putting everything back together on here, but I wanted to at least upload the big stuff.  I made three different layouts before finally deciding to stick to this one, it’s been a little bit overwhelming!  This pink is much more “me” though.  I like the vibrant fuchsia shades more than the pastel ones.  :o)  My next post will FINALLY be about everything I mentioned below; so many fun things to share!  I hope and pray everyone is doing amazingly well.  I'm excited to get caught up with everyone!

Blessings!/XOXO

Lil' Tease

Happy Tuesday, blogging lovies! How was your 4th of July? I am so excited to post pictures from the weekend and share a pie recipe that was a huge hit...but, please bare with me, everything will come in the next posts! Today, I'm using every break I have to work on a new layout. I'm desperate for a change! So this post is really just a tease. OH, and I have an update about our furry son coming home on the 25th (YAY!), and also a "making progress" picture with the rug in the living room. Whew, lots to talk about! OH WAIT, I also almost completely forgot; hubsy and I are taking off this Thursday and Friday to attend the U.S. Women's Open! I'm so excited to be going, even though I have never been one to play or even watch golf. One of my husband's clients has given us a VIP tent pass, so I am thrilled to experience everything. SO much to talk about next week! Expect double the fun to make up for my lack in posting this week. :o) In the mean time, please tell me how your weekend was! I hope it was full of amazing food, fun and memories!

Here's a shot of hubsy and I enjoying the beautiful day.

Blessings!/XOXO,