A Little Sweetness For The Soul

Hop, Skip, Jump & Some Major Link Love

2011-07-09T12:07:00.018-06:00

When I first discovered blogs several years ago, I had stumbled upon Simple Lovely. I had searched Google for something and somehow ended up on her blog. I fell in love. I began reading and following the links that she had posted to other blogs and websites and I started to realize that a whole new world had opened up. I had always loved design, I had studied interior design at Colorado State University, but I didn't realize that design was as easily accessible as reading a blog and finding people who loved the same things that you did. I also don't think that I realized then that I have an eye for design that not everyone has. I have always been this way and I see it in my daughter, too. It was refreshing to see and read about other people who were interested in the same things that I am. I think that is why blogs and blogging have become as popular as they are now, people want other ways to connect. I have learned things about myself that I didn't even know I would be interested in by reading blogs. I planned my wedding by reading blogs, not by checking out bridal websites. I have been inspired by countless blogs, but I will be focusing on a couple of my favorites here.

I think that what I love the most about blogs are the links to other blogs...I am always amazed when I end up on a blog and I wonder how I got there in the first place. Then I realize that I have hopped, skipped and jumped around the blogosphere and ended up there. Simple Lovely led me to another lovely blog, Domestic Reflections, which eventually led me to Enjoying The Small Things (via her birth story about her beautiful daughter, Nella- one of the most beautiful things I have ever read). This is a small example of how we can skip around the world of blogs and find things we love, learn things about how other people see life & see new ways of doing things. (I do realize that there is a dark side to blogs/blogging, but I am simply speaking of the blogs that have changed my life for the better). I read Perilously Precocious, written by a woman that I went to high school with. She is a gutsy & wonderfully talented writer (as seen here) and I thoroughly enjoy reading her blog. We saw each other at a function at our old high school recently and although we had not seen each other in years, it did not feel that way at all. I think we realize that we have more in common than we thought, but we would have never known if we hadn't reconnected via blogging.

Yesterday, I went to Simple Lovely, were a guest blogger, Ana of the dreamy blog Live & Enliven, had written a guest post about some of her favorite things...talk about a Hop, Skip & Jump-fest. I think I clicked on every link that she posted...I especially liked the jam and the delicious cologne. I love Jo Malone! I also loved the Simon & Garfunkel mention. I love them too. I just enjoyed all of the beautiful things that she posted...some of them I was already aware of, but a few of them have been bookmarked in my Delicious account for future reference. Here are a couple of the lovely things that she posted about yesterday:

1. Bonnie's Black & Blue Jam: It sounds delicious, but it it the label that sold me. LOVE IT.

2. Gwyneth Paltrow's cookbook, My Father's Daughter: I had already wanted to buy this, but then I read the review that Ana had posted from The Kitchn website & now it is on my wishlist. I love Gwyneth Paltrow, but what made me love her forever was when she was asked on Regis & Kelly, "what is something that you are bad at?" Without a moment's hesitation she replied, "Math." I am terrible at math, specifically algebra. Math and I are not friends, but I am okay with that now. It was nice to hear someone else admit it. Check out Gwyneth's blog, GOOP

3. Jo Malone: I found out about Jo Malone while freelancing as a make up artist at Saks Fifth Avenue. I fell in love with the Nectarine Blossom & Honey cologne:

"A youthful and fruity fragrance, inspired by the delicious scent of just-ripening nectarines and a taste of refreshing peach sorbet. Mouthwatering nectarine and peach with hints of plum, blackcurrant and vetiver are combined with the sweet warmth of acacia honey in this truly seductive combination." Sold. it smells divine.

4. Paris: my 7 year old daughter loves ANYTHING to do with Paris, so I had to include the picture of this beautiful Parisian home. I followed the link (sensing a theme here?!?) to The Designer Pad, which is a fantastic design blog. LOVE IT. Isn't this just a pretty home?

So, there you have it. A small example of the interconnected world of blogging. I never knew the design world was literally at my fingertips, full of beauty & inspiration, from all over the world. I have learned how to cook better food, I have learned to sew, I have found out about fantastic designers in all areas of design: interior, industrial, textiles, graphic. I have learned more about what I am really passionate about in life. I am constantly inspired and I have the bookmarks in Delicious to prove it! I see the competitive nature heating up in the blogging world, but I don't pay much attention to that. I blog because I enjoy it, I try not to feel guilty when time has passed without a post from me. This is more about putting what I love, what I struggle with and what inspires me out there. I hope that you all have a wonderful weekend! Thanks for reading!

{P.S. You have to check out the home tours of Joslyn Taylor from Simple Lovely (via Design*Sponge-another one of my favorite sites) & Jora, from Domestic Reflections (via Apartment Therapy- another one of my faves!)...They both have amazing homes!}

Anthropologie Love

2011-06-11T10:29:00.000-06:00

I love Anthropologie....too bad my budget doesn't! *siiiiiggghhhhhh* Here are a few things that I found on Anthropologie.com over the past few days. A girl can dream right?

Me Likey: A Few Pregnancy Cravings

2011-05-17T23:04:00.001-06:00

So, with pregnancy comes the usual food cravings...no pickles or ice cream for me, but I have had a few things that I am digging these days. I have tried to keep it au natural, but I have indulged in a few not-so-natural things. With my first pregnancy, I had quite a few more food aversions, namely to chicken (raw, grilled, fried-it didn't matter), but this time around I haven't really had any aversions (yet!)

1: My current Favorite Beverage: CLEMENTINE IZZE. I don't have one very often, but I love this drink. I love anything orange, but I think that it is the fizz that I love the most (maybe it has something to do with being sick of drinking water!)

{image from a really cool blog I stumbled upon, pixiespace}

2: An indulgence: Gummy Bears...but not just any old gummy bears. Haribo Gold Bears to be exact. I actually asked Josh to go to the store one friday night to get me some. He did. He is the best husband ever! This is my artificial indulgence:)

{image from here}

3: Just something yummy from Finland: Panda Cherry Licorice. Now, I am not biased, but I do have a fantastic Brother-in-Law who happens to be from Finland & who also happens to bring us Panda Black Licorice on occasion, but this Cherry Licorice is deelicious...I have to ration it out or I could easily eat the entire little box in one afternoon! Sooo good! What I really like about it is that it really is all-natural. No creepy artificial colors or flavors or weird ingredients.

{image from here}

4: The Weirdest One yet: Deviled Eggs. I have never been a fan of deviled eggs. I love eggs, but not deviled ones! This craving was the first one that I had, and it was also the first day that I had really felt this little baby move. I had gone to a paint-your-own-pottery place with my daughter's Daisy troop and saw a deviled egg platter that you could paint & I honestly felt my mouth water. WEIRD. I went home that night, boiled some eggs and made my first deviled eggs. I haven't craved them since, but it one of those things that I had to have...actually now that I posted a picture of them, I kind of want one...

{image from here}

5: Okay. I lied. I am liking pickles. My daughter has a good friend whose momma has become my good friend. She works for a man who always made these delicious pickles. So many people kept telling him that he needed to start selling them, so he did. They are delicious. Spicy, all natural and soooo good . I almost had to fight my husband for the last one! They are called Tru Pickles & are sold at Tony's Markets here in Denver and in the surrounding metro areas. I need to buy another jar!

{Here is the website: Tru Pickles}

Tomorrow is my wonderful husband's birthday, so I stayed up late to make him a delicious Hazelnut Chocolate Coffee Cake...I was going to clean up my mess while it was in the oven, but I decided to blog instead...I am so glad that I did. The kitchen can wait! I will let you know how the coffee cake turns out tomorrow...

Hellloooooo

2011-05-07T13:07:00.003-06:00

I know, I know....it has been a long time! What can I say? I have been busy growing one of these:

{17 weeks- not our baby, I think he/she is still a little young to be posted on the internet!}

I know, right?!? I am feeling better, now that I am out of the emotional roller-coaster first trimester. No morning sickness for me, but a lot of nauseated moments and extreme fatigue. I am excited to be pregnant & have been enjoying this pregnancy! We have made the decision to find out what we are expecting, we didn't with our first, but this time I am looking forward to finding out. So, needless to say, I haven't felt much like blogging, but I didn't realize how much I missed it until I started writing today & catching up on some of my favorite blogs.

In other news, I have also recently opened up a shop on Etsy.com: Grey Street Handmade. I named after one of my favorite Dave Matthews Band songs, Grey Street. I am still working on compiling an inventory. Right now, I have mostly baby items, but I will be adding more things for kids this summer. I am working at becoming a Craft-At-Home Momma. I really don't want to have to go back to work after I have this little one and I know that this will be something that I can do while taking care of our new baby.

So, there you have it!

A Thanksgiving Recipe

2010-11-25T13:03:00.003-07:00

Five years ago, someone left this magazine at the Starbucks that I was working at. It was on its way to the circular file when I rescued it. With a cake like that on the cover, who wouldn't want to rescue it??? (Actually, the question should be: who would want to leave it behind at a Starbucks??) I have had it ever since in my Dream Recipe File. There are several recipes in it (totally including the cake recipe) that I really want to make. Last year, I finally had the chance to make a stuffing recipe for Thanksgiving. The recipe was created by Suzanne Goin, who created a holiday menu for Julie Powell, the author of Julie & Julia: 365 days, 524 recipes and 1 tiny apartment kitchen. This was before the book came out and the movie. The stuffing that she made is one that I always thought sounded challenging, but fun to make.

This is the second year that I have made it and I think that I like the process of making it as much as I do eating it. It is challenging because there are ingredients that I don't use very often and there are a lot of steps, but it is just fun to make. The key is to buy good food. I bought a really good bread from Whole Foods, the French Boule, and I used chicken broth that I made. You know what the most important thing that you can do? It is actually 2 things: 1. SHOP AT NIGHT. Not so late that you risk being the last one in the store, but late enough to beat the after work rush. Whole Foods was busy on Tuesday night, but nothing like the frantic, nerve-fraying experience I had at another grocery store earlier that day, just to pick up a gallon of milk. 2. Cook with love. It will infuse the food with love and good vibes.

{Chestnut Stuffing with Fennel}:

Ingredients

1 1/2 pounds country bread, crusts removed, torn into 1-inch pieces
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 1/2 tablespoons fennel seeds
4 ounces pancetta, sliced 1/8 inch thick and diced
1 small rosemary sprig
1 dried chile de árbol or other dried red chile, stemmed and broken in half
1 small onion, finely chopped
1 small fennel bulb, halved lengthwise and finely diced
1 1/2 teaspoons thyme leaves
Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper
1 tablespoon finely grated lemon zest
3/4 cup dry white wine
2 1/4 cups chicken stock or low-sodium broth
6 tablespoons unsalted butter
One 10-ounce vacuum-packed jar of chestnuts, very coarsely crumbled
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
3 tablespoons chopped flat-leaf parsley

  Directions   Preheat the oven to 400°. On a baking sheet, toss the bread with 1/2 cup  of the olive oil. Spread the bread in a single layer and toast in the  oven for 15 minutes, stirring once, until golden brown. Let the croutons  cool, then transfer to a bowl. Leave the oven on. 
  In a small skillet, toast the fennel seeds over moderate heat until  fragrant and lightly golden, about 2 minutes. Transfer to a mortar or  spice grinder; coarsely grind. 
  In a large skillet, heat the remaining 2 tablespoons of olive oil. Add  the pancetta and cook over high heat, stirring, until crisp, about 3  minutes. Lower the heat to moderate, add the rosemary and chile and cook  for 1 minute. Add the onion, fennel, fennel seeds and thyme and season  with salt and pepper. Cook, stirring, until the vegetables are lightly  caramelized, about 8 minutes; discard the rosemary and chile. Stir in  the lemon zest and add to the croutons. 
  Set the skillet over high heat. Add the wine and bring to a boil,  scraping up the browned bits. Boil until reduced to 1/3 cup, about 4  minutes. Add the chicken stock and bring to a boil. Pour the hot stock  mixture over the croutons and toss well. 
  Wipe out the skillet. Add 3 tablespoons of the butter and the chestnuts  and cook over moderately high heat, stirring, until lightly browned,  about 5 minutes. Add the chestnuts to the stuffing, season with salt and  pepper and let cool completely. Add the eggs and parsley and toss well. 
  Transfer the stuffing to a 9-by-13-inch baking dish. Cover with foil and  bake for 30 minutes. Remove the foil and dot the stuffing with the  remaining 3 tablespoons of butter. Bake for about 20 minutes, or until  crisp on top. Serve hot. 

 Make Ahead Bake the stuffing, covered with foil, for 30 minutes then refrigerate  overnight. Heat covered until cooked through, about 20 minutes, then  uncover and bake for 20 minutes longer. 

I took the red chile out, as I couldn't find one anywhere and definitely use the jarred chestnuts. They are pricey, but much easier than steaming and peeling and roasting them on your own. Enjoy the fennel and the fennel seeds, they smell divine!

Today is the day to be grateful. Grateful for those we love, for those who love us. Happy Thanksgiving!

Pumpkin Pancake Recipe

2010-11-23T23:43:00.005-07:00

This really is my favorite time of the year. I love the cold weather & staying inside more, which makes me want to make things & bake things. I also think that the abundance of pumpkin and pumpkin-related deliciousness that seems to be everywhere helps me really love Late Fall/Early Winter.

One of my favorite things to make for my little family is pancakes. I have a favorite recipe that I usually use, but I recently came across a new one, changed it to make it a little better for you & totally fell in love with it. It makes quite a few pancakes, but I recommend doubling it, cooking all of the pancakes and freezing the leftovers. Take them out, put them in the toaster and you have a quick breakfast!

Also, use Whole Wheat PASTRY Flour when you make these. It will provide minerals and fiber and is unrefined, unlike white flour. My family loved these!

{This photo is from Sunset, the recipe is not}

Ingredients

2 cups Whole Wheat Pastry flour
3 tablespoons brown sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon ground allspice
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups organic milk
1 cup pumpkin puree
1 egg
2 tablespoons olive or grape seed oil
2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar(white vinegar will work too!)

Directions

In a separate bowl, mix together the milk, pumpkin, egg, oil and vinegar. Combine the flour, brown sugar, baking powder, baking soda, allspice, cinnamon, ginger and salt, stir into the pumpkin mixture just enough to combine.
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.

Light as a Feather and as Free as a Bird....

2010-11-22T23:31:00.126-07:00

{image from h ere}

I have been wanting to wrap up this post for a while now...in fact, I have been wanting to write this post for a very, very long time. You see, I had a major life change back on July 15th. I was released from my job of 3 1/2 years (I will be leaving out the details-out of respect and let's face it, this is the Internet, you never know who reads what!) As I mentioned (many, many) times before, I was not happy at my job, it was the classic Round Peg, Square Hole phenomenon... but I liked the people that I worked with, making it difficult to leave. Looking back at it now, I realize that what made it difficult to leave was that I was burned out, unsure what I wanted to do or where I wanted to go...I was tired of getting up, getting everyone off to work or school, rushing to work, struggling all day at a job that I pretty much sucked at, rushing to daycare, picking up my child, going home, making dinner, then to bath time, book and bedtime for Reese, a few hours of time with my husband or by myself, then to going to bed, only to start the whole process all over again the next day. Sound familiar to anyone out there? Most of you know what I am talking about, I am not trying to sound like I was the only one that felt this way because I know that I am not alone here. I think what I needed was chance to catch my breath and that is what I got on the beautiful afternoon of July 15th. As I walked through the lobby for the last time with my box of belongings, smiling the biggest smile ever, I felt Light as a Feather and as Free as a Bird.... I don't think I will ever forget the feeling that I had that day...it is forever seared in my memory as a moment in which my life changed instantly and for the better...I could feel the adventure that was starting in my life as I walked out of the office building where I had spent approximately 6,000 hours of my life. I got in my car and drove away, never feeling a moment of sadness or regret, only being aware of my new freedom. The only way that I can begin to describe how I felt is this...

Take it away, Tom...

{Tom Cruise as Jerry McGuire via YouTube.com}

Tom Petty probably knew that he had written a good song with Free Fallin' but I wonder if he ever knew what a fucking great song it really is...

Anyway, I went out for wine with a friend that night and we toasted to a new beginning...there really is nothing like a good girl friend, good wine and good conversation. I left Kate's Wine Bar that night feeling more hope and excitement about the future than I had in a long time.

I woke up the next morning and realized that I was going to be able to spend the entire day with my daughter during her summer vacation...just the day before, I had dropped her off with my friend and her 5 year old daughter to go on an adventure to the zoo together. I had felt sad that I wasn't able to go with them that day. We ate breakfast and made plans for the day. Reese really wanted to go to the pool up the street that has a huge water slide. So, we packed a lunch and walked to the pool. I am not a huge fan of the swimsuit, especially after sitting on my ass at a desk for 3.5 years, but that day there was nothing that was going to hold me back. We slathered on the sunscreen, ate our little lunch and got in the pool. Reese was hesitant about going down the slide- at first. Once we started climbing up the stairs to get to the top, she started to get excited. While we waited at the top for the other people to go, I realized that I could see for miles around being up on top of the slide...in fact, I could even see my old office building, way out in the distance. It was at that exact moment that I realized that I never had to go back there ever (ever) again...

Reese and I went down that slide at least 30 times. I loved every.single.minute of it!

Before & After

2010-11-21T23:46:00.008-07:00

These pictures are some of the things that I refinished this summer. The picture of the ship below was left in our garage by the former owners and was covered in about 2 inches of dust. Nothing that a little cleaning and a fresh coat of spray paint won't fix! The mat that I used is too small, but it was the only one that I had at the time, so I just used it. I plan on having one made that is bigger, but for now it will have to do.

{Before}

{After}

This is my school chair. I bought it at a second hand shop for $3.99 and we use it for our desk chair. It was actually made here in Denver by the Majestic Furniture Company- I took a picture of the label, but I can't get the picture to rotate...my bad. Anyway, I love this chair, especially the red paint. I went through my fabric stash and finally decided to use this brown & cream hounds tooth, which looks good with the red. This was super easy and took me about 30 minutes to finish. I did use cotton batting over the original black vinyl to make it look a little more smooth.

{Before}

{Notice the little black cat...inspecting the situation}

{After}

Love it! I also love that I can change it so easily...but for now, I love the hounds tooth:)

I Built a Bridge and Got Over It...

2010-11-18T23:28:00.006-07:00

All I really want to know is this: Why did I make a List o' Things To Blog About and then I haven't been able to blog about a single one? It's like the list was made and then my non-Internet life took over, leaving my little blog with no new updates...I have to admit that this isn't a "life is so busy, I just don't have the time to blog" issue...it is more of a "life is challenging me right now and I need to take some time to breathe" issue. I am trying to figure out quite a few things right now and the last few days I have simply felt overwhelmed. So, I felt sorry for myself for about 10 minutes (okay, 15 or 20), shed a few tears of confusion & frustration (okay, I cried like a baby) and said some prayers...and then I built a bridge and got over it.

I am not facing anything that is permanent, terrible or hopeless...just some uncomfortable feelings, which I see now as my life making some changes and getting rid of some old, tired habits. It is this distress of changing that often is more uncomfortable than the changes themselves, you know? Sometimes it is realizing that you can't do it all, {REALLY, YOU CAN'T}and this means re-thinking the way that you do things...which sometimes just sucks. But it ultimately feels good because you know that you are doing the right thing by making the changes that you know you need to make, even when it is hard.

I couldn't let today's post pass without this: I have to give a shout out to my Momma...

Happy Birthday Mom!  

You are a wonderful Mom and you inspire me everyday...I love your sense of adventure, your sense of humor, for the funny things that you always say {like when I was working at Starbucks and this Creeper Business Man in his Creeper Suit used to always ask me to write my number on his Starbucks cup and you told me that I should write: 303-Eat-Shit on his cup instead- I totally should have, that guy was a jackass!} and I love that you are such a fabulous Nana to our sweet little Reese. I Love You!

List o' things to blog about

2010-11-14T23:19:00.004-07:00

Weeellll....it is Sunday night, child and husband are sleeping and I am watching the movie 27 Dresses for the first time...I know, I know, I am way behind in my movie watching. I love watching girlie movies alone, because it is just more fun that way. It is just what I needed...a movie, my laptop and a list of things in my head that I need to write down:

Write about the show that I recently won tickets to
~~Part II of the A Little Inspiration post: this post really needs to be wrapped up~~
My Wedding: This is something that I need/want/can't wait to write about
The Formula: 40-30-30: an eating plan that I have been following and love with a capital L
~~My long list of Before & Afters: I have a ton that I have never posted~~
Some of the pictures that I have taken over the last couple of years
Projects & Dream Projects
Some Product Reviews

There. Now I feel better :)

Wordless Saturday

2010-11-13T23:54:00.001-07:00

Say What?? Homemade Pumpkin Pie Pop Tarts...

2010-11-11T23:18:00.002-07:00

This late night posting really has to stop...by the time I start writing, it is late and I am just not feelin' it, you know??

Anyway, I just found this amazing blog, Joy The Baker...seriously, I am loving it. Joy Wilson is beautiful, witty and the girl can bake. I think that I bookmarked about 18 recipes, but when I saw this one, I had to share the goodness:

{Pumpkin Pie Pop Tarts with maple glaze}

The recipe is quite lengthy, you can find it in its entirety here. I think that this time of year, anything pumpkin pretty much rocks my world...

I'm a winner

2010-11-10T23:24:00.007-07:00

I won tickets to see a concert in Denver tonight from a local TV station...it was awesome! I will post more tomorrow...

Snow!

2010-11-09T23:36:00.000-07:00

Welcome back Winter! Today it snowed...not even an inch, but enough to make me happy. I love the snow, especially when I am at home and especially at this time of year. It was hard to remember that it is November when it is almost 80 degrees out.

I am having one of those ~~days~~ weeks where I feel like I have so many things to figure out that even when I sit down to try and figure them out, I get distracted and end up doing something that needs to be done, but it isn't something that HAS to be done. A trouble with prioritizing, that is for sure. I think that it might be because I have our laptop on the coffee table, which is conveniently located in close proximity to the television. I don't really watch it, I have it turned on for background noise, but I think that it is still distracting me....Jerseylicious reruns aren't helping either!

Which might explain why I am posting at 11:36pm and I still have lunches to make for tomorrow. Sooooo, tomorrow is a new day and I am going to start it off right by going to bed (after I make pb&j with my homemade bread!)

Here is a little snowman humor from Calvin and Hobbes:

{image from here}

{here}

A Night Owl

2010-11-08T22:07:00.002-07:00

{ Ben Adams- image is here}

I have always been a Night Owl...It really started at the end of high school and into college. I majored in Interior Design {and partying! lol} and I had a ton of projects and nighttime seemed to be when I did my best work. Looking back now, I think that the bad combination of Perfectionism and Procrastination was the major factor in my Night Owlism. I also think that another major reason was that I seem to come alive around 10 pm and I love being awake and working on creative things, without the distractions of daytime life. No phone calls or interruptions from other people, it was time for just me to work on things.

However, I have recently made it a point to get more than the 5 hours a night that I was averaging every night. I could just tell that I wasn't letting my body get enough rest, so I decided to force myself to go to bed earlier every night...well at least Sunday - Thursday nights. It was hard at first, but I soon realized that I was feeling so much better and not as crabby...what a shock! I have been blogging after I put Reese to bed at night and tonight I am really dragging. I couldn't fall asleep last night and I can totally tell that I need to get some sleep...

But don't worry...I will never go to bed at the same time as my kid...you can make the Night Owl go to bed earlier, but you can't make it an Early Bird!

Good Night!

29 ingredients? No, thank you!

2010-11-07T23:42:00.004-07:00

In the spirit of saving some dough {pun intended}, I recently bought a bread machine off of craigslist for $25. It was only used a couple of times and it included The Bread Lover's Bread Machine Cookbook {side note: when I was emailing back and forth about where to meet, etc., I thought that I was conversing with a man named Jay...we met in front of a store and it turned out to be a woman named Jay...you never can tell can you? Truth be told, I was relieved to be dealing with a woman & not some creeper...}

I then bought some really good bread flour and a jumbo jar of bread machine yeast. I highly recommend King Arthur Flours (I use their bread flour and whole wheat flour)

{This is not a quote from me, but it should be!}

I read the instruction manual, read through the book and got ready to bake my first loaf of bread machine bread. I put water, olive oil, sugar, salt, bread flour and yeast into the bread pan, put the pan into the machine, shut the lid, set the settings to a basic, medium crust, 1 pound loaf (2 hrs, 50 min) and that was it. I watched it knead and mix the dough through the little peep window and realized that I had made the right decision. An hour later, it was the heavenly aroma of fresh baked bread that totally sold me. While it cooled, I looked at the bag of store bought bread that was already opened...it was a double-fiber conventional loaf of whole wheat bread that my husband had bought a couple of days earlier. I read the ingredient list and couldn't believe what I was reading...29 ingredients & totally ridiculous. I usually buy an organic loaf of bread, but at $4 a loaf and we go through 2 loaves a week, it is sometimes just was just better to buy whatever was healthy & on sale.

I sliced up the bread for dinner {good timing on my part because the very next day I was starting a new eating plan, which includes no bread} and the 2 bread lovers in the house were in heaven. I think that my husband understood why I bought the machine and that it really would be a good way to save money after he tasted the deliciousness of the bread.

If you are thinking about getting a bread machine and especially if you have kids or go through more than 1 loaf of bread a week, you should just do it. Peruse craigslist or amazon for a good one, mine is a Welbilt and there are several reputable brands. You will be amazed at how easy it is to use and really, there is nothing like the smell of freshly baked bread!

It's Movie Night...

2010-11-06T23:32:00.001-06:00

Tonight my love and I are going to watch one of the movies that I checked out from the library...I was going to blog while we watched, but you know what? I am actually going to watch the movie and not work on any projects...

We are going to watch this movie:

and eat popcorn. He made it this time, because I always burn it.

Girls Night, a Fort-Building necessity & a Moscow Mule

2010-11-05T23:55:00.002-06:00

It was Girls Night in our house tonight. Reese and I went to a new library near our house. The library is part of The Streets at SouthGlenn, a new shopping area that once was a small mall. It is now a beautiful outdoor shopping and dining district. We were there in the late afternoon and there were tons of people sitting outside, eating and drinking, walking around and enjoying the beautiful weather here in Colorado. It is supposed be 78 degrees tomorrow and Sunday we could break a record...I love it, but I am ready for a cold & snowy day!

We checked out some movies and some books from the library, enjoyed some frozen yogurt (pumpkin spice for me & chocolate for Miss Reese) and walked down to Whole Foods to buy some popcorn, macaroni & cheese (Reese) and Reed's Ginger Beer & some limes for me. I wanted to try Oprah's favorite drink, a Moscow Mule. She made them on a recent show and I thought that they sounded delicious.

After dinner, Reese and I built a fort in her room and if I must say, it was the best one yet. Why? We used a bunch of these:

{an old-school wonder}

Why I haven't thought about using them before is a good question. They really are a fort-building necessity! Fort-building with kids is something that you should do & often. (My friend Maria & her husband are Pro Fort Builders & build them frequently). We put our portable DVD player in the fort and watched The Black Cauldron while we ate Newman's Own popcorn and I enjoyed a Moscow Mule...we had a great time & it was fun to spend some special time with just me & my little girl.

As if I needed another reason to totally love Oprah, she now has me digging a new drink. I recommend pouring it all over ice, adding the ginger beer last. Also, I didn't have any simple syrup, so I didn't use any. Here is the recipe:

Moscow Mule Recipe

Servings: Serves 1

1 ounce vodka

1 tsp. sugar syrup
Fresh lime juice
1/2 cup ginger beer
1 sprig fresh mint
1 slice of lime

Directions:

In a copper mug, pour vodka over ice. Add sugar syrup and lime juice. Top with ginger beer and stir. Garnish with mint sprig and lime slice.

{image from here}