favorite thing friday

My house has (what feels like) acres of hardwood flooring.

I can't believe they used this as a selling point and a reason to make us pay more for the home.

As far as I can tell, hardwood floors are:

1) slippery in socks (read: dangerous)

2) much too hard to sit on without a cushion

3) really cold in the winter

4) in need of vacuuming AND mopping to keep clean

5) a little attractive, I guess

So, to summarize, my floors are too cold to walk on without socks, but too slippery to survive on for long while wearing socks.

Enter, the best slippers ever.

Thank you, LL Bean.

Oh, I've had slippers before. In fact, slippers and I have a long, pleasurable history together. The problem is that most slippers don't have the main thing my floors require.

They are typically not skid-proof on the bottom and tend to send me flying (into counter tops, down steps, etc -- nothing major).

I first met these friends at my sister-in-law's house. Raegan received a pair from her sister, so she wouldn't kill herself (or her newborn sons) carrying them around her house full of hardwood floors.

I figured if they worked for her, then I needed to give them try. These slippers are lined with the softest, warmest fleece LL could find. But, the most important part (to me) is their flexible, rubber sole that's thin, but provides awesome traction.

I never slip in these.

In fact, they're so great and I talked them up so much over the past year, that both of my sisters asked for a pair for Christmas this year.

And I got Drew the 'man version' of them.

It's been a great winter so far. Nice warm pigs, no falls.

wearing pink

I'm relatively new to this blogging thing, but I am amazed at how many people I've come across who have stories and situations that touch my heart. I don't know most of these folks personally, but I feel for them and want to support them in the only way that I can -- through my blog!

It was through Heather at Three Under 3 that I first learned about Sydney and Carynne. These 2 sweet girls were born on August 27, 2008 with a congenital disease called Werdnig-Hoffman. This rare disease is a form of spinal muscular atrophy which ultimately leads to the inability to breath on your own. Just last week these 2 precious babies passed away, within a day of each other.

Today, on what would have been their 6 month birthday, they are being put to rest. Please pray for their parents -- I can't imagine what grief they must be feeling at this time. If you'd like to leave them some words of encouragement, you can do so here.

Many of us are wearing pink today to celebrate their lives and to show our support for finding a cure for SMA disease. SMA is the #1 genetic killer of children under 2. If you would also like to show your support in finding a cure for this disease, please sign the petition by following this link.

Petition to Cure SMA

In the meantime, say a prayer for this family and all of the families out there who are fighting this disease.

And wear pink.

idol chatter - the results are in

Well, 2 out of 3 isn't bad.

The show started out well for me -- Allison made it in to the Top 12 in the first round of elimination!

Then things started to fall apart...

I was pretty surprised when Kris made it into the Top 12 instead of Megan. I wasn't very impressed with his "Man in the Middle" routine. But...

...Kris was pretty great during Hollywood week so I'll give him another chance.

Or, I guess America will.

I also (secretly) think that we'll see Megan again as a wild card contestant.

So it's cool.

They left the big final decision between Adam and Nick.

Really, NICK, really?

I mean the guy was pretty funny, but was he seriously a threat to the real singers?

Of course Adam made it. The 12 year old girls needed someone to drain their cell phone batteries voting for.

I can't wait to see the 3rd group next week!

idol chatter

I'm so glad that American Idol is back on! I've been watching for the past few weeks, patiently waiting to get through the auditions (which I like in small doses, but can't take for weeks at a time) until we started hearing from the real singers.

All of Tatiana's drama aside (I don't even want to go there)...I think we're getting down to some great talent.

Or I should say, I thought that we were getting down to some great talent.

Until I saw last night's show.

And had to fast forward on my DVR through some of the more painful performances.

What's going on this season??

The show was painfully kind of boring and the singing (with 1 or 2 exceptions) was TERRIBLE.

In my humble opinion.

I mean, who's helping these kids pick their songs? It sounds like they're getting suggestions from a Cracker Jack box, instead of from the music professionals who claim to run this show.

All frustrations aside, there were some good points!

Here are my predictions for who gets into the Top 12 tonight:

Megan Joy Corkrey

I loved her! She was so different and confident. I'm excited to see what else she brings to the show.

Adam Lambert

I wasn't necessarily impressed with what he did last night, but I know (from Hollywood week) that he has potential. He's also ok to look at, which the young girls (read: voters) will love.

One problem I have with him is his identity crisis. He's somewhere between Pete Wentz (rocker) and Nick Jonas (teeny-bopper). I'm not exactly sure what falls between these 2 extremes...and I'm not sure that Adam does either. That could become a problem.

Allison Iraheta



I also loved her! She's got a unique sound and isn't afraid to just be herself. I'm concerned she might go the way of Amanda Overmeyer (from Season 7). We'll see.

These are my predictions -- watch with me tonight and see who makes it!

Who do YOU like?

hoff-tastic

I first saw this video posted by Jen at Amazing Trips.

It's pretty ridiculous and funny.

And confusing...

I'm not sure what else to say.

Gotta love the Hoff. :o)

wordless wednesday

Golden Pavilion

Kyoto, Japan
August 2006

oscar, oscar

Drew and I watched the Academy Awards on Sunday. We had mixed feelings.

By far our strongest sentiment was...

...how do they make it so LONG?!

After awhile Drew and I took a break to do something else and came back to watch the recorded version and fast forward through the commercials and boring speeches. Excellent plan.

One fun thing about the Oscars is seeing what everyone is wearing. I'm always surprised at how tacky some of the designer gowns are! Don't the stars have stylists to advise them?

If I paid someone $1000s to advise me on what to wear, then I became a Fashion Don't, I'd have a fit.

Let me know if you don't agree, but I think it is ridiculous.

And this.

And this. Oh my.


There were some winners, though!


I think this might be the first year that I have actually seen several of the most talked about movies. It's a lot more fun to watch the awards when you know a little bit about the movies that everyone is talking about.

All in all, it's fun to watch, but the next time I have the choice between 'Oscars' I'm going with this one

Or maybe even this one

dogbert's tech support

I think I was the one on the other end of this call last week.

Have you ever spent more time on hold with "support" than actually being supported?

Ah, life's little pleasures. :o)

makin' whoopie

...pies, that is.

I love Whoopie Pies! In honor of Drew's birthday, they are today's Favorite Thing Friday.

Drew loves whoopie pies too and requested them for "the rest of his birthdays."

For those of you who aren't familiar with this delicious treat, whoopie pies are a dessert that originated in the northeast with the Amish.

Physically, a whoopie pie is 2 chocolate cookie/cakes with fluffy vanilla frosting in between them.

Spiritually, it's heaven on earth. With just enough sugar sin to make it feel good.

When in Maine, you'll find awesome whoopie pies at Wicked Whoopies. I've had them and if you're ever in Maine, you need to get one. The memory of them makes me smile.

Everyone who's not lucky enough to live near either Wicked Whoopies or an Amish bakery, fear not...you can make them at home!

This recipe was taken from a combination of those found at I Dream of Dessert and Epicurious. I made a few changes and it worked out really well!

First, you make the cakes.

Cake:



2C flour
1/2 C cocoa
1 + 1/4 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1T white vinegar + 1C whole milk*
1 tsp vanilla
1 stick butter at room temperature
1C packed brown sugar
1 egg

*Combine the vinegar and milk to make buttermilk. It will curdle -- this is gross, but it tastes great ultimately

1) Preheat oven to 350ºF

2) In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa, baking soda, + salt

3) In the bowl of your mixer, beat butter + brown sugar until fluffy (about 3 mins)




4) Add the egg + beat to combine

5) Add the flour mixture + milk in small batches,
*begin + end with the flour!

6) Beat to combine, scrape down the walls often



7) Prepare your baking sheets by lining with Parchment Paper



8) Spoon batter onto sheets. You can make them as big or small as you like. I like mine to be 1 pie = 1 serving, so they are about 2" diameter

The cake will puff, but won't spread too much, so you may want to press down (lightly!) and spread them a little with the back of the spoon before baking.

9) Bake at 350ºF for 8-10 mins.

Bake in the lower + upper 1/3s of the oven, switching spots halfway through baking.



The cakes are done when they have puffed slightly and spring back with some pressure



10) Remove from baking sheets to cool on racks.

While the cakes are cooling, start making the filling.

Filling:



1/2C whole milk
2T flour
1 stick butter at room temperature
pinch of salt
2C powdered sugar
1 + 1/4 tsp vanilla


1) Heat milk (gently) in a small saucepan

2) Sift in flour, stir to combine



3) Heat over med heat until thick, about 3 mins.

4) Remove from heat + place in another bowl to cool more quickly



5) In mixer bowl, beat butter with the paddle attachment until creamy

6) Sift in salt + powdered sugar, beat until creamy

7) Add vanilla, beat to mix

8) On slow speed, add cooled flour mixture, 1T at a time

9) Beat on medium speed, 3-4 minutes, until fluffy

At this point, Drew requested his filling be orange, so I added some color. You don't have to do this step and it will be white.



Once the cakes are completely cool (wait at least 1 hour), smear some filling on the flat side of 1 cake, then top with another cake.



I like to wrap them in plastic wrap, then put in a sealed container (a cake pan + lid here) to keep them fresh for a few days.



Grab a cold glass of milk and enjoy!

personal makeover

Ok, it's just a haircut, not a makeover.

But I really needed one.

It also cost more than $5, but was still a bargain (in my opinion).

I've lived in Shaker Heights for 18 months now and still have not found a salon that I love.

Until last week.

My criteria for a great salon are pretty basic, I think.

Let's see:

1) It absolutely cannot cost more than $50 for a haircut

2) I don't want to drive hours out of my way

3) There need to be available appointments that are convenient for me

4) They must do a good eyebrow wax at the same appointment. I don't have the time or inclination to have beauty treatments scheduled all over town.

I thought these were reasonable requests until I tried meeting them.

The first place I tried had mailed me a coupon for a free(!) haircut, so of course I made an appointment. They were wonderful!

And prohibitively expensive (glad I asked what the price would have been!) Boo.

The second place I tried met my first 3 criteria, but couldn't do a brow wax to save themselves. Who has the client sit straight up while they're being waxed?! Double boo.

I went there for several haircuts and elsewhere for my brows, but this wasn't a reasonable long-term solution.

Last Friday I had off from work and decided to try a new place. I called and they got me in right away (score!) and, based on their website, the price was right.

I went and met with Kaitlyn -- who was very nice -- and she started my appointment with the most thorough brow wax I've ever had! She waxed and plucked and trimmed, repeat.

She had me at hello.

It only got better from there when we went to the shampoo and cut. She did a great job!

So great, in fact, that I did something I never do and made an appointment for another cut in 8 weeks.

If you're ever in the Cleveland area and need a haircut (or really great brow wax), Kaitlyn at Laus Deo Salon is your girl!

Oh, yeah, the haircut. Here it is. My hair was below my shoulders and all one length before.

What do you think?

blog makeover

I got a blog makeover!

It took me awhile, hopping from site-to-site, but I finally found a blog template that I love which wasn't too expensive. There are lots of people who offer custom blog design, but those can be really pricey and with our current job situation I didn't want to spend a lot.

After much searching I came across Smitten Blog Design, which offers lots of free and $5 pre-made templates. A lot of their free ones are great, but I found this this template in the iSmitten collection and decided it was worth the $5!

I also put in some elements from the Corina Nielsen "Sweet September" digital kit to add a little something unique.

What do you think?!

I love it!

happy birthday Drew!

Today my wonderful husband celebrates his birthday. We love birthdays in our family and celebrate for days at a time. We should really call it "birth-week" instead of "birth-day."


It all started yesterday with cake. Yum...




With only 2 people in our little family we need to spread the cake-eating out over a few days!


Tonight we'll eat more cake and open presents. We always save presents for the actual birthday.


Then, this weekend we're planning a fun dinner out -- sushi, here we come!


Drew, this is only the 4th birthday of yours that we've celebrated together, but I really can't remember what my life was like without you.







Happy 29th birthday, Andrew.

I love you!

staking a claim

I love to bake. Especially cupcakes.

In fact, one of my favorite websites is the Cupcake Blog, which, sadly, is no longer being updated. You can still check it out for some great recipes! The author has a new website that features all kinds of dessert recipes, check it out here.

Baking is fun for me (and I love eating sweets).

See, I've always loved cupcakes.

Drew likes him some cupcakes too (with milk).

I also like bringing baked goods with me when I visit people. It makes them happy and they tend to invite me back.

However, since Drew and I decided to take it easy on the processed sugar I've scaled back on my baking significantly.

This weekend I decided to break out the Kitchen-Aid mixer again to make some cupcakes to share with my co-workers and bible study group. It seemed like torture to fill the house with delicious cupcake smells and then not let Drew have any, so I told him that he could keep one for himself and I'd take the rest with me.

Apparently he thought I was going to rescind my cupcake offer, so he took the necessary precautions.

I'm not exactly sure who he was concerned would eat his cupcake, considering it's just the 2 of us here, but it worked.

24 hours later:

Cupcake safe, mission accomplished.

Enjoy a cupcake with your sweetie today!

some good music

Tired of the same old playlist on your iPod?

Looking for some great new music?

Give this a try.

It's a new album by Wendell Kimbrough and you can find it on iTunes or through his website. Wendell is an awesome Christian man who speaks volumes through his music. If you like acoustic singer/songwriter style music, he's perfect for you. You can hear all of his songs through his public Facebook page.

He also just happens to be my girl Lara's boyfriend. :o)

Give his music a try and support my friends!

body double sunday

Today I saw my sister, Erin, in church.

The reason this is a blog-worthy event is because Erin (and her husband, Ryan) live in Harrisburg, PA

and I live in Cleveland, OH



For those of you not up on northern geography, that's 340 miles apart.

We don't often attend the same church.

There's a woman in my church who looks exactly like her! (from a distance) I changed my exit path today to walk past her and realized that the resemblance doesn't hold up at close range. Still, it was comforting to feel like my sister was close by, even if it wasn't really her. :o)

I wish I had a photo of this beautiful stranger, but it seemed a little 'stalker-ish' to snap a picture of her in the middle of service.

In lieu of that, enjoy this photo of my sister. Insert "Erin double" stranger next to her.