The Adorable Gosling Invasion of 2011

Mister and I somehow ended up at the Salato Wildlife Center today. We were cruising around drinking our Starbucks and watching people fish when we stumbled across all these little guys!

My camera seriously ran out of batteries after snapping only about six pictures - how does that almost always happen? :) I need to get me one of those nifty camera bags that are all over the blogosphere right now, maybe carry some extra batteries. Then again, that might make too much sense for me.

The pictures don't give you a real idea of how many there were. I saw at least 5 different mother/father combos with their little trails of goslings behind them. Maybe 30 little ones all together in just one little portion of the lake. It was almost too much cute for me.

I think we might head out there tommorow morning to see what wildlife we can stir up.

'til next time... ♥

Vacation days pretty much rock

Hooray for husbands that have ten days off! Mister is off work until next Monday so I'm very excited. We don't have any major plans because we have to stick around since he is on-call for emergencies, but we may head up to the farm for several days later this week.  I can tell you that a lot of sleeping in, relaxing, cuddling, playing with dogs, exploring, staying up late watching bad movies and playing video games, etc. will be done.

Yesterday (Vaction Day One) was the relaxing sort... We did manage to drive into Lexington for some much needed cupcake and book shopping.

We hit up Gigi's cupcakes first and nommed on S'mores, Mellow Cream, and Midnight Magic cupcakes (we're big fatties, I swear)...

then off to Barnes and Noble (a real book store!!!! yay!!!!) to plump up our stash of books...

and last off to Target. Where I wandered up and down the ailes for about an hour with no purpose - I just miss Target...and their sinfully delicious pretzels that they serve.

I did score on some 75% off Easter candy and $0.50 Strawberry Shortcake band-aids. How can you go wrong there?

I'm just glad that Mister has some time off. The poor guys has been working himself to the bone. He needs some fun and relaxation. So we'll see what we can do about that ;)

'til next time... ♥

Chocolate Overload!

Having a chocolate craving is simply no laughing matter. When one occurs it must be addressed immediately. Which is why I am so in love with S'mores Bites! Anyone notice I've got kind of a thing with S'mores lately? They are so quick and easy to throw together, and the result is just chocolaty, gooey goodness. So of course when this latest chocolate craving hit me last night, I whipped up a wee batch of S'mores Bites!

  

and then since I already had the chocolate melted, and since I already had some strawberries on hand, I went ahead and dipped some of those...

and then again the chocolate was already melted, and since the marshmallows were already sitting out on the counter, I went ahead and dipped some of those...

and then I sat and worked on not being able to fit into my jeans for awhile. Seriously, it wasn't pretty. Mister was scared.

'til next time... ♥

All the colors of the rainbow

I know that I'm still a giddy, sappy newly-wed, and I'm tending to find the good in pretty much everything lately... But is it completely ridiculous that looking at this makes me happy?

Like really, toe-wiggling, ridiculously silly happy.

I took the time this morning to organize my embroidery floss and put my thread on my new thread holder. Maybe it's just the OCD kicking in, but I love it! Ahhhh...it's the littlest things sometimes! :)

'til next time... ♥

Maple French Toast and Bacon Cupcakes

There was a wonderful little cupcake shop by my house in California that served the most delicious cupcake called The Breakfast Cake. It was a light and fluffy buttermilk cupcake loaded with bits of applewood smoked bacon, iced with a light, buttery maple frosting and topped with freshly crumbled bacon bits. Yum. I loved them even though some people cringed at the flavor mix.

Well, I'm in Kentucky now, and there isn't a Breakfast Cake anywhere to be found. So I must resort to the next best thing - trying it myself.

 The recipe I used was from Perry's Plate and can be found here. I followed Natalie's suggestion and used used two whole eggs instead of four egg whites. I also substituted corn starch for potoato starch. The smell coming out of that oven was heavenly. My entire house smelled like french toast - delicious!

The actual cupcake however...not my favorite. It was incredibly dense and a little dry, even though I cooked it for only 30 minutes instead of the 40  minutes that all the recipes called for. Maybe it was the two whole eggs? In any event, I'm not giving up. There has to be a recipe that I can smash together to make the perfect combo.

If anyone ends up trying the recipe and it comes out, please let me know! I'm still trying to figure out what I did wrong.

'til next time... ♥

Peanut Butter and Jelly

A while back (just over two months to be exact) I had this great idea to do a little embroidery panel series with a 'We Go Together' theme for Valentines Day. There were five panels, and I managed to finish two before I got really sick, and then had to go to California. So I am really, really...really happy to finally be able to post the third panel! Here is Peanut Butter and Jelly!

It's ridiculous how long it took me to get motivated to finish this. It sat 90% finished for the last two months, but ugh. I was in a slump. And seriously, it must be something going around, because I'm reading about slumps all across the blogosphere. A lot of people seem to be in one.

*Pattern can be found here. 

Here are the three that I've finished so far, Bacon and Eggs, and Macaroni and Cheese.

 I've glued them in thier hoops and then wrapped the hoops in 3/8" crossgrain ribbon.

 

I'll be starting the next one tommorow, but seriously, who knows how long it will take me to finish that one. :)

'til next time... ♥

A storm in honor of you

The weekend before last we drove up to the farm in Indiana for Mister's birthday. We had a wonderful, fun and relaxing weekend! I'm sure Mister enjoyed himself since he woke up a wee bit worse for the wear the next day. Really you can do worse than BBQ, beer, fireworks, strawberry shortcake and great company for your birthday.

But things weren't all rosy when we first woke up that Saturday. It looked like Mother Nature was throwing a storm in honor of Mister and his impending age. We woke up to this...

I was impressed. I think there's gonna be that 'wow' factor to Spring out on this side of the country. Thunder and lightening, oh my! This particular storm blew over in about two hours, and by early afternoon we were flying kites.

Seriously. Flying kites.

Like I said, it was a good day! Such a good day that I forgot to take pictures of most of it. Boo.

Cousin Ronnie, who is famous for finding four leaf clovers, presented me with this little gem. I was so excited! I've wanted one since their fabled tales on the first grade playground.

We're supposed to be going to the farm for a week the beginning of May. I can't wait.

'til next time....♥

Let's see what we can grow

Mister and I were marveling at the amount of seed pods blowing around in the wind over the weekend. We talked about how anything seems to be able to grow in Kentucky, and decided to see what we'd be able to grow around our little plot of the world. So to Walmart we went, and for the next hour and a half I browsed seed packets. There were so many, and this is some serious, serious business - not to be taken lightly. I came home with enough seeds to start several gardens if I do this correctly (we all know I won't).

I concentrated on flowers. I'm excited about the variety of flowers that have become available to me on this side of the country. Mister on the other hand, is very excited about his bell peppers, tomatos, banana peppers and okra.

 
I spent the evening planting half the seeds in little starter pods. I'm saving the other half to sow directly into the ground. Not too sure which will do better. We have so many squirrels and birds around, that the likelihood the seed will stay in the ground is slim.

I actually remembered to lable the pods this time, so I'll have an idea of what I'm planting where. I won't make that mistake again :)

We'll start seeing in about a week if anything is going to grow. Of course that doesn't stop me from checking on them every half hour like a complete nerd.

'til next time... ♥

Banana Walnut Chocolate Chunk Cookies

It's been a little dreary out the last couple of days. Dark clouds and thunderstorms. In desperate need of some comfort food, I reached for my bananas. Had to have me some of my yummy Banana Chocolate Chunk Cookies!

They were moist, and delicious with just the right amount of banana. This is my fall back recipe when I suddenly want homemade cookies.

Recipe can be found here.

I've been feeling like quite the little domestic lately. Me! Who'd have ever thought? But my sudden prowess in the kitchen and craft room has been SO encouraging!!!! And even though I've been in a slump, I'm starting to feel the creative juices flowing again...

'til next time... ♥

Groundhogs Galore!!

Imagine my complete and utter delight when I opened my bedroom window this morning and saw this!!!!

A new groundhog has decided to take up residence under my neighbors kitchen stairs. So adorable! She (or he???) was out collecting grass for her nest.

I don't think I'm going to say anything to my neighbor about it... Of course, I'll feel terrible if the floor under her kitchen caves in...

'til next time... ♥

 

Chocolate Suprise Looooove Muffins

I'm pretty sure I made it known that I was feeling extremely under the weather around Valentine's Day. Turns out even the most romantic of intentions fly out the window when you have your head hung in a toilet for three days straight. So I thought I would make a tiny portion of it up to my Mister by whipping him up a batch of yummy Chocolate Surprise Muffins (or Loooooove Muffins, as I like to call them).

The delicious surprise inside is a yummy cream cheese mixture with chocolate chips.

The results were moist and delicious! I'd recommend heating them for a few seconds before eating to soften the chocolate chips up a bit. It only took us a couple days to demolish the entire batch, just the two of us. If we keep this up, we are going to need to start becoming much, much, much more active.

'til next time... ♥

Recipe listed below (adapted from Favorite Brand Name Bake Sale Cookbook)