cupcakes

 


  

Why yes, let's spend 3 hours in a cupcake shop! Chatter, people watching and eating some delicious cupcakes were all on the agenda.

life lately

... easy dinners on my lap after work

... i spy with my little eye

 ... a little treat {cake batter dip}

... a dirty stovetop {to be cleaned this weekend}

... afternoon naptime

 ... enjoying soup season {chicken corn chowder}

... and best of all, lots of time spent lounging on the couch, watching bball and sharing a bowl of banana ice cream

Roasted Vegetable Soup

ingredients

• 4 cloves of garlic, in the skin
• 5 carrots, cut into pieces
• 2 sweet potatoes, cut into pieces
• acorn squash, peeled and cut into pieces
• 4-6 tbsp olive oil
• 3 cups of chicken stock
• 1 stick of butter
• 8 tbsp of flour
• 3-4 cups skim milk/half and half mix
• salt and pepper

1. preheat oven to 425 degrees. 
2. toss all vegetables, garlic and salt in a plastic bag with the olive oil until well coated 
3. spread out on two cookie sheets, sprinkle with salt and pepper
4. roast about 18-25 minutes, toss occasionally
5. while the veggies are roasting, heat up the chicken stock in a microwave
6. when veggies are finished roasting, place 1/3 of the vegetables in a blender along with some warm chicken stock.
7. blend until vegetables are well chopped but not pureed.
8. pour vegetable blend into a separate bowl and repeat until all the vegetables have been blended.
9. in a dutch oven over medium heat melt the butter, add flour and make a roux.
10. to the roux, slowly add milk, stirring constantly.


11. reduce the heat and add the vegetable blend. adjust thickness of the soup by adding more milk or chicken broth.

--

last Friday, Shelby came over and we made this delicious soup for dinner. it was slightly sweet and a perfect way to warm up from the MN winter. it was also a terrific leftover.

three years

today Joe and I celebrate three years as a couple.
what a wonderful three years it has been.
and its weeks like this that remind me how lucky i am to have him by my side.

so so so lucky.

martini glass

so a few weeks ago this happened...

i got these martini glasses from my best friend annie almost 5 years ago. so i was pretty bummed when a piece of it broke off. it didn't shatter, smash on the ground or anything like that... it just broke off!

instead of throwing it out, i decided to turn it into a jewelry holder. it actually worked out really well and all my dangly earring fit on the rim.

you’ll need:

martini, wine or champagne glass
frosted glass spray paint
blue tape
outdoor area

1. using the blue tape, tape off parts that you don't want frosted (i taped the stem) 2. go outside and spray the first layer onto the glass, let dry 3. repeat 3-4 times until it looks the way you'd like. 4. let dry completely before using.

*i had to super glue the broken piece back into the glass. you can see the edge of the break below

the piece actually looks really nice on our dresser & i can stick rings/bracelets into the glass itself.

last week

 

 

1. ...was crazy busy but seeing everything come together on Sunday really put a smile on my face.
2. if someone stole my car, they would have found: 200 bananas, 7 hula hoops, 300 apples, 2 scales and 10 purple windbreaker jackets. yes, these were all for the event.
3. afterwards, i didnt get my margarita but beer+pizza+football are a pretty good second.
4. J and I even got to spend some time with his buddies before they all left to go back to school. maybe we spent a handful of extra late nights out but i've been workin hard, rrright?
5. we even faced the cold, surrounded ourselves with 80k people & witnessed this event in St. Paul.
6. on Saturday, i had a much needed coffee date with this gal.
7. and i didn't have any time to go grocery shopping but that can be all done tonight.

 

happy happy Monday lets hope your week is as calm as mine will be (or at least I hope mine will be!)

stress

this week has/continues to be really stressful. work-related, of course.

and yesterday, i found myself in the gym shower without a towel. of course i would forget that. so awkward. and when i returned to my locker, i found myself locked out.  even more awkward.

plus, i dropped my breakfast on the floor when i was pulling it out of the microwave. awesome.

hmph.

on the bright side, i started reading the hunger games and cannot put it down. and i make some delicious meals for the boyfriend (lobster mac n cheeeese anyone?)

after this event is over on Sunday, i plan on getting a very large margarita.

image via 

happy weekend

this weekend, i'm going to spend some time baking blueberry scones, enjoying the unusually amazing MN winter weather, buying new socks, wandering a bookstore and cleaning out my car. but first, some drinks with the boyfriend and cheers to the weekend!

hope you enjoy yours too.

love letters

dear boyfriend,

somewhere around 4AM you woke me up when you crawled into bed (wiz in your arms) after staying up with your buddies. you even tucked Wiz into bed and wouldn't let me move because she was snuggled in. and when my alarm went off at 5AM, i was pretty sleepy+grumpy. but that all changed when i got into work and was looking through my old emails for a file and stumbled upon that graduation letter you wrote me back in 2010. i definitely didn't remember what i was reading -- i almost thought it was something i had secretly written for you. but then i remembered and could only smile. and to think, at that point we'd only been together for a little over a year. and now its almost three. and some of the things you talked about still ring true.

so thank you for that 7AM surprise. though i bet you are still sleeping right now.

i love you.

the little things

1. stopping to take a breath. after a couple weeks of celebrations (birthday, christmas, new years eve, birthdays, yeesh), we are exhausted. so last night, instead of going out (for another friends birthday celebration), we opted to stay in, catch up on some TV and hang out just us.
2. conquering weekend baking projects - i made my first cheesecake (will post pics soon)
3. getting the underground parking spot.
4. having staring contests with my kitty. i always win.
5. joe becoming a coffee drinker. maybe we can upgrade from instant coffee to a coffeemaker.
6. free pizza. and waiting in line outside for it.
7. seeing my basil plant start to grow! all i need are some pine nuts and we've got pesto
8. even though we only completed eight dates of christmas, J and I agreed that our trip to Des Moines basically counted as three dates.


here's to the little things that make you smile.

a wonderful little quiet morning

on new years day, boyfriend and i shared a sweet quiet moment at 7 am. we both woke up unexpectedly and instead of falling back asleep, we cuddled up and chatted for a few minutes. we laughed, reminisced about the night before, and maybe even had a tickle fight. i dont think i can remember everything we said because we eventually fell asleep curled together but all i know is that it was lovely.

it was a great start to a new year.

image via

welcome welcome 2012

we rang in 2012 down in Des Moines, IA with endless drinks, noisemakers & plenty of shenanigans!

Soooo... i'm less of a resolutions type of girl and more of a hopes/plans/wishes kinda girl. so here's my hopes/plans/wishes for twenty twelve:

• be more ambitious. focus on studying with the goal in mind: grad school
• drink more water
• explore more. whether it be through travel or just time outdoors
• start yoga
• run more, run often
• keep my car clean (inside and out)
• more and more lovely dates with J. keep them regular.
• organize my work computer desktop/files
• take more photos + update the blog more
• start living within my means
• be a more thoughtful friend, sister and daughter.
• plenty of love, smiles, laughter and silliness.

cheers!!