Catch Up

Here's a little catch-up for life lately.  Sorry for the lack of blogging, between working, the holiday weekend, and everything in between I feel like we have been nothing but busy lately!!  Let's catch up quick with photos...

One of my best friends got married on June 29th, and I was her Matron of Honor :)

We've gotten hooked on this show.  Anybody else? 
It's so intense, has a great cast, and keeps you interested every episode from start to finish. 

We spent July 4th out on the lake with some friends.  Sadly I didn't get any pictures because all the phones got put away into the Pelican during the short little stint of rain that we encountered.  Thankfully, that only lasted about 2-3 minutes before it was nice out again and we enjoyed the rest of the day in the water and grilling out burgers & brats at Goat Island!

  

We had a little impromptu date-night-in with some OG To-Go [so delicious, it had been too long]



and some Sonic Blasts for dessert...perfect!

 

There have been some lazy Saturday mornings involving lots snuggling with these two silly boys...

Reece

Kona Monster



& last but not least, yesterday I went to supper club with some couples from our church and their kiddos.  Always a fun time! The host family has a good bit of land and they have an uber-fun backyard complete with pool, fancy patio area, and a zipline that goes over a pond.  Great for entertainment!  It was also sort of a potluck where we each brought sides or desserts to accompany the main dish [burgers on the grill] and it was funny to see how everyone got their recipes off of....you guessed it  >> Pinterest.

 

Here is my Cinnamon Apple Strudel recipe that turned out pretty fabulous: 

 

 

I also added some Hershey's White Chips to the recipe:

These are sooo good and perfect for the person who is not the biggest
White Chocolate fan since they are Vanilla flavored.

 

 

I'm searching for some of the other recipes and I'll share them as well

once I have a chance to test them out myself!

 

 

 

Bridal Shower Bits & Bites :)

As you might know, I'm the Matron of Honor for my friend Eden's wedding coming up at the end of June. We had her Bridal shower & Bachelorette festivities this past weekend. Here's a little bit from the shower:

I grabbed some golf tees out of my bag before I headed out of town so that I could remember to do this Pinterest-inspired balloon welcome path.  Tie the ribbons to the tees and then push into the grass...quick and easy! 

 

Countrytime Punch | Lemon Slice Flowers

 

Grow Seed Kits

 

 

And to share a couple of the hit recipes, although everything turned out pretty darn good...

 

Fruit Salsa with Cinnamon-Sugar Pita Chips

 Ingredients:
2 kiwis, peeled and diced
1 large mango
8 oz blueberries
1 (16 oz) carton of strawberries, diced
1 Tbs white sugar
2 Tbs brown sugar
3 Tbs fruit preserves
10 (10 in) flour tortillas
Cinnamon Sugar:

1 cup sugar

2 Tbs cinnamon

Mix in a small bowl or shaker and set aside

Directions:

Place all of your fruit into a large mixing bowl. Sprinkle with both white and brown sugars. Give it a few good stirs to make sure that fruit is evenly coated. Stir in fruit preserves and chill in fridge while you make your tortilla chips.

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees. Brush each side of tortilla with melted butter. Cut into triangles and place in a large bowl. Sprinkle generously with cinnamon sugar mixture. I kind of toss them around as I'm doing this to make sure everyone gets coated. Arrange in a single layer on a large baking sheet.

Bake for 10 to 12 minutes. (You most likely will need to do this in batches.) Put chips in a nice size bowl so they stay airy. Serve with chilled salsa. *Fruit salsa is best served the same day you make it. It becomes very syrupy the longer it sits.

 and the cupcakes...

Pink Lemonade Cupcakes | Pearl Sprinkles, similar here | Cupcake Pennants, similar here or here

Cupcakes

1 box Betty Crocker® SuperMoist® natural vanilla cake mix

3/4 cup frozen (thawed) pink lemonade concentrate

 

1/2 cup vegetable oil

 

1/4 cup water

3eggs

 

Red food color, if desired

Frosting and Garnish

1 container Betty Crocker® Whipped fluffy white frosting

6 tablespoons frozen (thawed) pink lemonade concentrate

 

Candy sprinkles, if desired

Directions 

1. Heat oven to 350°F. Place paper baking cup in each of 24 regular-size muffin cups. Make cake batter as directed on box, using cake mix, 3/4 cup lemonade concentrate, 1/2 cup oil, the water, eggs and food color. Divide batter evenly among muffin cups.
2. Bake 20 to 22 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in pans 10 minutes; remove from pans to cooling rack. Cool completely, about 30 minutes.
3. In large bowl, beat frosting, 6 tablespoons lemonade concentrate and the food color with electric mixer on low speed until blended. Frost cooled cupcakes. Garnish tops with candy sprinkles.

Makes approx. 24 cupcakes

 

 

 

Looking forward to this long, holiday weekend!  Don't forget the true reason for Memorial day--not lake days and barbeques but supporting our military and remembering our fallen soldiers and veterans.  If you're looking to get festive with decorations, check out my Land of the Free chalkboard printable :)

 

 

 

These are the special times, the times we'll remember...

Probably my absolute favorite Christmas song...Girl's got issues but you can't deny her voice.  Celine Dion sang the original but I love this version. 


Speaking of special times, I just need to take a minute to say that I am really loving this time in our lives.  People always say that high school was the glory days, or college was the best time of your life.  I have to disagree.  I am loving this new stage of life, shall I call it the "Wedding and Baby Boom".  That time when you've graduated college and all of a sudden everyone you know is gettin' hitched and having babies.  Let me clarify very quickly that we are not but I have been helping a few friends with wedding planning and gotten some save the dates in the mail, Jake's cousin and one of my best friends are both due with their second children very soon, and also finding out earlier this week that two of my very best friends from high school are pregnant with their first child!  I feel like I am surrounded by so many fun and exciting events for people that I know and love, and how could that not be the best time of your life?  Even with buying cars and houses, there are so many of those "leaps of faith" and jumping into big decisions.  We used to look so forward to Spring Break and those crazy weeks at the beach, now we're planning anniversary trips and summer vacations that are not even comparable to a week in the Dirty Myrtle.  As we are getting so close to the end of 2012, I am eagerly looking forward to the 4 weddings, countless showers, and sweet little babies of 2013 :)

  

Newest Project

Ohhh my list of many projects and crafty things to accomplish.  I constantly find new ideas.

Well, one of those ideas that I've had for a long time is to make a t-shirt quilt out of mine and Jake's ADPi & Kappa Sigma shirts.  1) It will keep me warm because Jake likes to keep our house at near-freezing temperatures--something is seriously not normal about his internal body temp.  2) It will bring back fun memories everytime we see it.  and mainly 3) At least one of our future children is bound to get into Greek life and it will make an amazing pass-down for them!  So, originally I had wanted to send it off to get done, but they are SOOOOO pricy.  And I mean ridiculously.  So, being possibly overly ambitious, I am going to take it on myself.  I need to get some good use out of my sewing machine anyway, right?  Here's the inspiration [side note: mine will look way cuter :) The colors on this are a bit much for me]:

 

I went with Shanti and Karen to Mary Jo's fabric store in Gastonia yesterday and got some good background and border fabric. Pictures to come! Although those pictures may take a while...

 I had a fun weekend!  Experienced the Long Branch for the first time and was pleasantly surprised.  Although, I do feel like I need to learn how to line dance if I'm going to go back haha.  The "regulars" as I shall call them were quite intense.  I had no idea there were so many different line dances!

Then, last night I made dinner and then we went over to April & Jeremy's for the LSU v. S.Carolina game.  It was a lot of fun and I do have to say, South Carolina's team is fierce this year.  Even though it was a loss for them, they are still pretty impressive.  [Sorry Jake--let me insert my "GO DAWGS!" here]

Today, church and Sunday school...Jake and I are teaching the Preschool class again this year and the kids are so much fun.  We have our curriculum book that we use, but I also found a really cute Pumpkin Prayer Book that I printed out and let each of them color.  It goes through each step of the pumpkin carving process, and with each step it relates it back to God and has a little prayer.  At the end it compares the candle that you place inside the pumpkin to the light of God in each of us.

Also, Eden gets to try on wedding dresses today!!! Can't wait to see her in them and get to see cute little Ryder :)  I can't believe how big he is getting...almost a year old!

 

Apple Cider, Caramel....YUM

So, my phone case came in and I love it!  The prettiest shade of turquoise.  I wasn't sure if the picture was going to be the same as in person, but it was.  I'm thinking about getting a monogrammed sticker to put on the back of it, but I'm not sure if it would stick well to the rubberized texture of the case--anyone tried that before?  Believe it or not, the only thing I got after our wedding with my monogram on it was a purse that was a gift from my parents, but since I tend to wear out purses that one is no longer around :(  I need to get some more stuff!  I have really been wanting a small monogrammed gold pendant necklace, but finding one with a monogram as small as I want is proving hard (or at least, without paying out the wazoo for it).


My parents are up in Cape Cod on their anniversary trip this week and seem to be having the best time!  They have been texting me pictures and it looks like such a beautiful place.  They woke up early at the B&B to get on the morning ferry and they are spending the day on Martha's Vineyard today.  I will try to load some pictures and post on here.
 

I had a really fun weekend...I went to a Bridal show in Columbia with my friend Eden.  It was a lot of fun! I never went to any when Jake and I were engaged.  It was neat to see all the different vendors and all of the raffles/contests, etc.  We registered for a ton of free things so hopefully Eden will get a call this week that she won something!  They were giving away everything from $200 gift cards to full honeymoons. 

Before that, on Friday night I went over to my friend Shanti's and we baked some cookies and snacks for a girl's night in with our interior design friends on Saturday.  The cookies we baked were called Apple Cider Caramel Cookies and boy were they good!!  I love anything involving cider, and these were so easy to make too!  I thought I would share the recipe so that yall can try it out too...

Ingredients

1 cup unsalted butter, nearly melted
1 cup granulated sugar

1/2 teaspoon salt
1 (7.4 ounce) box Alpine Spiced Apple Cider Instant Original Drink Mix *Not sugar free*
2 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 (14 ounce) bag Kraft Caramels

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (190 degrees C). Line cookie sheets with parchment paper. It has to be parchment this time.

2. In a stand mixer, cream together butter, sugar, salt, and all 10 packets of apple cider mix until smooth and fluffy. Beat in eggs and vanilla extract, then mix in the baking soda and baking powder. Add the flour and mix until just combined.

3. With a standard (size 50) cookie scoop, scoop the dough scrapping off the excess as you go up the bowl. Flatten the dough slightly in your hand and place a caramel in the center. Work the dough around the caramel sealing well. Place the cookies two inches apart on the sheets.

4. Bake 12 to 14 minutes or until golden brown around the edges. After baking, carefully slide the parchment with the cookies onto the counter. Let cool until they are no longer soft but still slightly warm. Twist gently to remove, and cool the rest of the way upside down on the parchment or on a cooling rack.

 

 

Seriously, amazing.  I ate like a fatty king on Saturday because before Girl's Night I went up to the Yiasou Greek Festival with Iris and got a gyro & the American version of a  greek salad.  ALWAYS a winner in my book.  

 

That's all for now.  My hubby is finally back in town from his working out of town and softball tournament this past weekend (They got 5th overall :/ ) so we can finally relax and enjoy each other!!  The doggies and I have missed him a bunch...although Kona has been loving sleeping up on our bed:)  He was mad at Jake last night because he wasn't allowed up, haha.  

Oh, Pinterest...

...how I love you, Pinterest...but how I dislike you.  Why do I dislike you?  Because you suck me in!!  I see one cute pin that I like and I end up looking at that topic for what seems like forever!  I swear the world can tell what mood I'm in based upon my pins that particular day, haha...there are the days where I'm into design, "baby fever", hungry, party planning, yearning for the holidays, etc.


The wedding this past weekend was a wonderful success and we had such an great time with everyone!


In other [extremely!!] exciting news---one of my best friends from high school, Eden, asked me to be her Matron of Honor today for her wedding (in June).  We have been best friends since we met in 8th grade at volleyball spring training for West Florence High School.  Eden was my Maid of Honor at our wedding.  I can't wait for all of the fun to begin with showers and planning :)