ice cream, baby shoes & books

All unrelated topics/ramblings consuming life lately..

Last night I met my dad for dinner at Clyde's (an institution here in the area).  It's so nice to catch up and spend time with him since most times I visit I have Ms Peanut in tow and my mom and I are usually headed shopping! In high school the father daughter dance was my favorite of the entire year so we try to get together for dinner or movies as often as time allows. So my dad and I both have the sweet tooth gene... I've never met a piece of chocolate I didn't like... Obviously we both got dessert. I had a brownie Sundae with ice cream that was amazing and after prying the waitress for information she confessed it was Hagen daz!!!! Most people would be disappointed that it wasn't house made or gourmet, I was elated because I knew that meant I could get my hands on it haha! Salted caramel truffle... Woop Woop!! It was amazing and if you have a sweet tooth get your hands on some ASAP!!

My little girl has an incredibly small foot-being a size 6 myself I'm not sure why I never anticipated this but I digress. Finding actual shoes in her size requires lots of printing out paper size charts, trying to get a wiggly toddler to "place her heel on the line" and obviously returns and exchanges. Most shoes that fit her feet are crib shoes with no real soles which would be a disaster seeing as though she walks runs everywhere.I found a few pairs she wore all winter and I just scooped up a few for spring summer

I ordered these and sadly they are too big:( 

so these are on the way and I will just have to hope her little tootsies are big enough for the cut out hearts next year

Toms finally made a pair smaller than a size 4! They are cute for spring and into early summer with jeans and a white tee(onesie) haha!

See Kai run has sort of turned into my go to in order to find her shoes. These fishermans are in transit and I think they will be a traditional staple with little bubbles all summer

I found this series totally by accident on amazon and they are fun, mindless reads cute and fast. Pick them up if you are in search of a new book... Bonus I think I paid around 3 bucks for the first two. 

I have a photographer coming today to meet Ms. Peanut (hopefully she won't be terrified when we actually take the pictures) and a tastefully simple (it's food) party to take her to after her bedtime this evening while hubs is in class! Wish me luck this mommy is going to need a serious cocktail soon:)

Bachelor Aladdin, whenever you are ready

It was a fun filled weekend around here, and then sun even came out for a little bit yesterday. The weather has been soooo miserable, rainy, foggy and cold and I speak for my entire family when I say Bring on Spring! Between Zulily, Smocked Auctions and a massive sale at a little boutique here in Alexandria, mom and I have racked up some fabulous sale items for my little lady. Some stuff for now, this summer and even next Christmas. I mean an outfit for $15, you cannot say no!

Cleaning up before she goes to bed is a total waste of time, she is CONSTANTLY on the move and loves to play with everything! I am really enjoying this stage, but it is exhausting:)

Friday hubs and I had our movie date, on the couch. With his busy work and school schedule I live for Friday nights of just spending time together. We rented Argo and it was AMAZING I am soo happy it won last night because it totally deserved to.

Saturday while hubs was studying Ms. Peanut and I ran a million errands in the rainy fog. Some JLW rummage drop off, some birthday present shopping for hubs, and some "targeting" naturally. We made Whoopie Pies for the first time. I used this recipe. Meh, I would give them about a C+. They were good don't get me wrong but I grew up working in the bakery of an Amish Market so I am pretty spoiled (and obviously consider myself a connoisseur of all things whoopie pie), and they weren't even close to proper Amish whoopies.

Saturday night hubs watched baby girl while I went out with a girlfriend to see Safe Haven. It was pretty good, what to be expected I would say. My girlfriend hadn't read the book so she was totally surprised by the ending. Julianne Hough was cute enough but I feel like the book was better.

One of the million reasons I adore hubs so much is the fact that he really plays with Ms.Peanut. I have come home to "cookie monster in jail", "cabbage patch parties" and  "elmo in a shopping cart" but the picture i received while out on Saturday takes the cake.........

"Bachelor Aladdin, whenever you are ready" A rose ceremony with the princesses...best dad ever.
Sunday was church, gym and spending time celebrating my Dads birthday out at my parents home. All the cousins ran around and had a blast. I caught some of the Oscars last night and cannot wait to review all the dresses again today:) How was your weekend?

Almond Joy

 Being the ultimate "overfunctioner" I decided I needed mini cupcakes because we are hosting playgroup. I'm out of vanilla and that's the worst - any baker or non baker knows vanilla goes in pretty much everything even chocolate cakes which still seems like an oxymoron to me but OK. I only had almond extract which is much stronger than vanilla but I said why not. I subbed a little less than half the amount of vanilla with the almond extract in both my cupcake and frosting ... WOW I'm not sure I will ever use vanilla again. The cake was delicate in flavor making the standard vanilla seem overwhelming and the frosting was also more pleasant. You know that feeling vanilla frosting sometimes give you (or maybe just me as I pipe it directly into my mouth in massive gobs - after I've finished frosting) where your teeth are going to fall out and your tongue is fuzzy?? The almond frosting doesn't do that... Amazing right? Give it a whirl, you may never look back to that sad old bottle of vanilla:)

I rarely make a full batch, unless its for a party so here is my Mini Recipe approx 24 mini or 12 standard
Cake
1 stick of butter (room temp) 1 cup of sugar 2 eggs separated 1/4-1/2 tsp almond extract 1 1/2 cups flour 2 teaspoons baking powder 1/4 teaspoon salt 1/2 cup milk
Oven to 350 degrees. Beat butter and sugar, add egg yolks and almond extract. Mix all dry ingredients, alternate adding dry ingredients and milk to butter mixture. With clean beaters, beat egg whites until stiff peaks form -I actually take a separate bowl and just hold it under my kitchen aid so I don't have to pull out a hand mixer - fold into batter. Spoon (ice cream scoopers with springs work perfectly!) into lined cupcake pans. Bake approximately 20 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean.
Frosting
1 1/2 cups confectioners sugar 1/2 stick of butter 1/4 - 1/2 tsp almond extract milk ( 1 tablespoon +) Beat it all together, and add milk as needed until desired consistency is reached:)
Enjoy!!

Anthro Love

Maybe its just that time of the year, but I am craving spring!! It feels like the winter has been here forever, and despite what that little groundhog said it is FREEZING!

I love all things Anthro, who doesn't really? A few of these casual, and totally reasonably priced, tops would be so sweet to transition into a "warmer" state of mind.

Here's to hoping that spring is on its way!

Monday Schmonday

We had a great weekend, with two birthday celebrations, church and a Sunday full of baking (although I wish it was filled with bacon!)

Saturday we attended a "first fiesta" for a sweet little friend who we met through moms club, and whose mom is  also in the JLW (so funny what a small world the league can be)! They are from San Antonio and the decor was adorable, the birthday girl even had a proper "fiesta dress" on. I wish I had taken pictures of the decor, my girlfriend had custom papel picado banners made with the birthday girls name in them, and the vibrant colors were so pretty!

After the fiesta we headed straight out to my besties house to celebrate her 30th. I made some of my favorite golden cupcakes and got her a pair of earrings from Fornash that i knew she had been eyeing for some time. Her son (my godson) is 2 and as busy moms we couldn't think of a better way to celebrate than in yoga pants and slippers with mimosas and cheap wine, ha! Hubs was our dd and we made it home for an early bedtime.

Ms Peanut and her godmommy, can you believe she doesn't highlight her hair!!! God given natural blonde, love to hate her for this:)

Yesterday after mass hubs spent the entire day studying on campus so we baked him some yummy chocolate chip cookies , not before we sampled 10 a few. Ms Peanut is a cookie monster! She seems to have my sweet tooth which hubs is far from pleased about (we try to keep it healthy). His group mates were all happy to accept the sweets and he came home with an empty container (good thing we ate some before!)

Baby girl made cupcakes in her kitchen for "dada"

The weekends always fly by in a blink. Hope you and yours had a great one!

    

Nature & Science

I try to find balance with health/wellness and beauty products. I've never not gone to a doctor in favor of a homeopathic treatment but I think that adding something natural or homeopathic is often helpful. I take advil but also have acupuncture and use arnica, it's all about balance. This is the approach I am trying to take toward skincare.

Nature

Do any of you take prim rose oil capsules? I have been reading a lot about anti aging benefits taking these can have so I am hoping to adding them to my regime!

   

Science

 

I started using Retin A two weeks ago and I kid you not I can already see a difference! It's pretty harsh at first and a bit drying until you figure out exactly the right "pearl size" for your skin but my skin is already smoother and I am hoping it helps with my crows feet (recovering tanorexic here). It helps with acne, acne scars, hypo pigmentation and wrinkles!! You need a prescription but I am just not ready to start fillers and this seems like a great place to start. Be careful in the sun if you are using it and stick to threading or plucking since your skin is a bit thinner, but if you are looking to start with some anti aging prescription products I would absolutely recommend this!

What kind of skincare approach do you have??

   

Working on my fitness

So I made my triumphant return to the gym last week for 5 am sessions and after a year of being on a nursing schedule (seriously infrequent gym sessions), I feel Iike I want to die great!

I'm lifting three days a weeks and trying to manage three days of cardio. I have some pretty bizarre cardio habits which help me completely tune out exactly what I am doing. I think if I actually realized I was running/"elliptical ing" in place for an hour I would jump off the machine and run screaming from the gym.

It takes me a few minutes to unload my cardio gear and people usually give me strange looks. So my gym essentials include, my monogrammed Tervis water bottle, kindle, iPod (duh) huge wad of Gum in my mouth ( i am not an obnoxious gum chewer) and washcloth for the sweaty face!

I actually heard about this study and found it so interesting and why it may help in boosting blood flow to the brain and in turn performance at the gym! (it said it may mess with short term memory but hey If I can forget I am at the gym, all the better!)

Finally its go time! I read, chew gum, jam out to bieber, chug water and occasionally check email/text write blog posts at the same time- how's that for Multitasking! I may look like "that girl" at the gym but I can hang with the best of them, especially in the weight room, which I used to be so intimidated by!

Whats in your gym bag??

Super Bowl Bites

Hubs has been talking all week about what we should have on Sunday for the game. This year we are going to lay low and stay in to put the baby to bed and park it on the couch, in sweatpants with some yummy snacks!

A few ideas for my delicious ( and calorie filled) favorite snacks:)

Blue cheese dip

1 cup of mayo

1cup sour cream

1 container of blue cheese crumbles

Bit of garlic salt

Dash of vinegar to thin it out a bit

Mix & chill

Serve with frito scoops or veggies

Grant Noel Dip ( aka ro*tel queso)

1 can rotel
1 block of velveta
Combine, heat and serve with tortilla chips- I dare you not to eat the whole thing!

Crabbies 

"Crab cakes and football that's what Maryland does"

8 ounces crab meat

1 (5-ounce) Old English Cheese 

1 scoop of mayo

1 teaspoon garlic powder

1 stick of butter (softened)

a “shake shake” of cayenne

4 English muffins split

Combine all ingredients and spoon over english muffins, bake in preheated oven at 425degrees for 15 minutes or so

It's been a while since I made these bit boy are they delicious

Natty Boh Hon

While visiting my mom the other day we had to pick up a commemorative 6 pack of Ravens Natty Boh to toast the occasion " brewed on the shores of the Chesapeake bay!"

Born in DC, raised in Maryland, residing in Va we are a redskins household but the Maryland in me will be pulling for the Ravens this weekend!