Little Brother's Senior Ball

My brother, Brad and his adorable girlfriend, Maddy, went to her Senior Ball this past weekend. They looked like models! I wasn't there to witness photoshoot, but thanks to Melissa, I was still able to oooh and ahhh over each shot. I loved her dress and the flower in her hair!

My sweet brothers :)

House Hunting

Some people have babies on the brain. Or weddings. Or shoes. Or the next chore on the list. All that is on my mind lately are houses! I seem to be drawn to the old charmers...I mean OLD. Like built in 1900-1924 old. I know, I know....outdated plumbing, wiring, etc... but there is just something about a house with personality, right? This is the one I can't keep out of my head....

Isn't she sweet?

Barnwood Beauties

For Mother's Day, I arranged a photo collage on one of my Mom's entryway walls. One of my favorite finds were the barnwood frames I found online. They added a lot of texture and fit well with our family beach photos - not to mention they were very cheap (each was under $10!)

Pretty Enameled Bottles

I wonder how hard this would be?

Find instructions here. Then let me know how it goes.

:) just kidding. I'm adding it to my do to list and will keep you posted. 

Photo: Women's Day

chocolate cake...

with a few {or maybe an entire box} of candles.

Perfect for Mom's birthday celebration earlier this week. Isn't she cute?!

Dinner, tissue paper flowers, streamers, balloons and close family...

I took on the responsibility of making dinner and about an hour before everyone was about to arrive, I was crossing my fingers everything turned out - since there were hardly any left overs, I think it was a hit!

Summer Corn Soup

with Cremè Fraîche and Crostini

In my mind, I imagined using sweet corn straight from the cob, but since we aren't quite into corn season, I used the frozen variety for now.

1 bag frozen corn

1 can creamed corn

3 cups chicken or vegetable stock

1 quarter sized drizzle of olive oil

1/4 c. carrots, chopped

2 small shallots, chopped

2 teaspoons garlic, chopped

1 cup milk or cream

generous salt and pepper

Combine frozen corn, creamed corn and stock in a Crock Pot on LOW (I'm sure you can use a pot on the stove, but Mom has all these fun things I haven't had the honor of owning quite yet!).

Heat oil. Add shallots and stir gently until translucent. Add carrots and garlic for a minute or two. At this point, I pureéd the shallot, carrot and garlic mixture with about a cup of the corn mixture. It made it a bit thicker and creamier, although I don't think it's necessary. From there, I added a bit of cream to make it silky (it was a party after all!).

Finished with a dallop of Cremè Fraîche and drizzle of basil infused olive oil. To make Crostini, you can use any kind of baguette, thinly sliced, brushed with olive oil and lightly toasted. I served mine in stemless martini glasses....because I felt like it!

Mixed Greens with Roasted Apple Balsamic Vinaigrette

with Pears, Candied Pecans & Crumbled Goat Cheese

Okay, so I lied.

I didn't use "mixed greens", but it sounded romantic, didn't it? I used what I had, which was a head of Romaine, and it worked well too.

Roasted Apple Balsamic Vinaigrette

This recipe was adapted from a salad I loved very much from The Plantation House - I never officially learned how to make the dressing, but this is how I imagined it to be and was happy with the result.

1 medium apple, any variety, peeled, cored and thinly sliced

1/2 c. balsamic vinegar

1 tablespoon honey

1 teaspoon dijon mustard

salt & pepper

1/2 c. olive oil

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Bake apples until soft all the way through and slightly golden brown. Set aside.

In a blender (or food processor) blend vinegar, honey, mustard, salt and pepper. Slowly drizzle the olive oil in blender (I drizzled about a quarter of the amount at a time and blended really well in between each addition). Add baked apples. Blend until smooth. Toss with greens, top with pears (or apples), goat cheese (or blue) and candied pecans.

I'll be back soon with recipe for Roasted Artichoke, Garlic & Ricotta Ravioli and Portabella, Prosciutto & Parmesan Ravioli in a light cream sauce with fried sage...

oh yes, and the most important part....

the recipe for this beauty (not a beauty because I made it, but because it's chocolate and anything chocolate is beautiful!!) will be on it's way shortly!

Logic of a 4 year old

Thanks, Mel for the recounting of this funny conversation from the other day...

Connor was deciding who would be invited to his birthday party (6 months away mind you) and wasn't being very kind "I don't like her....she won't be invited to my birthday!"

Mike, trying to help, responded “Remember who’s watching! Do you know who’s watching all the time?”

Connor replied, “God” with a roll of his eyes.

We chuckled impressed that this was Connor’s first response.

“Who else is watching?” Mike asked again.

“Jesus” said Connor with a slighter eye roll.

Getting a little frustrated that this wasn’t going where he intended Mike pressed on “There’s one more person…”

to which Connor hesitated and then proudly exclaimed “Moses!”

We all laughed and left it at that...

Name changing....

For awhile, this blog was intended to keep family and friends informed on the happenings of out lives in Maui since the distance made it difficult to keep everyone in the loop. The other purpose was a bit of an online journal since my black leather book was lost somewhere in the shuffle and I never seem to find the time to label all of my photos with the appropriate captions/stories.

Now...since we have made the move back to Washington and have our friends and family integrated back into our lives, this blog becomes...well, a little pointless.

I have decided to keep it to share the things I would with a friend over a cup of coffee...dreams, inspirations, amazing people, things that make me laugh, the recipe that was a complete hit at the girl's get together last weekend.

I invite you to come on in, warm your tootsies by the fire and enjoy, my friend.