The perfect breakfast

I love that berries are in season right now. Not in season in Florida, but in other parts of the country so they are on sale for me.

Raspberries are definitely a treat I don't normally buy, but with raspberries, strawberries, and blueberries all on sale at once I'm in snacking/breakfast heaven. They just look so pretty together.

When I was younger sometimes I would eat a breakfast of a bowl of blueberries with a little milk. The new improved version is simple a mix of delicious berries with a couple splashes of milk and about a teaspoon of sugar on top.

Simple. Pretty. Healthy. 

Breakfasts that are easy (my definition being less than 1 minute prep time) but are semi-elegant and make you feel pampered are the best. Perfect start to any morning. 

Yummy Scones

This recipe came from Melissa d'Arabian's cookbook $10 Dinners. No complaints about any of her recipes so far.

I could not find the exact recipe online but here is one that is pretty close. 

I'm still enjoying the cake stand!

One of the best parts of Melissa's book is all of the tips and cooking advice she offers. She has advice for shopping on a budget, good sale prices for items, and how to make your ingredients last longer. For several of her recipes Melissa gives examples of how to change up little aspects of the recipe to make it 10 different ways. 

For these scones I chose to mix in some white chocolate chips and shredded coconut I had on hand. But mix in whatever you want. They ended up quite tasty (and David approved). 

This recipe made 16 medium sized scones. My favorite tip that was offered in the cookbook was to freeze some of the pre-cut but uncooked scones. Since I live by myself, 16 scones isn't really necessary in my life. I baked half and had nice breakfasts and snacks throughout the week. The directions Melissa gave were to freeze the scones and just add 5 minutes to the baking time when you finish off the batch. When freezing these, put them in the freezer on a baking sheet and then once they have hardened you can just throw them in a ziploc bag together. When items freeze separately they won't freeze together in a huge clump. 

Mini Book Reviews Part 2

The Happiness Project Gretchen Rubin- I can't say enough good things about Gretchen Rubin. Again, I loved reading about her little projects and acts that brought more happiness in her life. Sometimes reading this book all the focusing on her own happiness could sound selfish, but she noted many times how a happier Gretchen brought about a happier family. And so many of the things that she worked on to improve her own happiness were specific ways to be nicer or to do special things for her family. Overall, I enjoy any books that are about people's different personal projects that bring changes into their lives. I loved her other book: Happier at Home and I still can't get over 7 by Jen Hatmaker. Check these out if you get a chance.

The Elite Kiera Cass- This is book two is what I think is going to be a trilogy of The Selection Series. I enjoyed this book more than the first because the background and story set-up time was not needed, and you already started in the thick of the action. Aside from a love triangle that I found frustrating (I always hate love triangle story lines) I enjoyed this book.

Handle With Care Jodi Picoult- There is always something enjoyable about picking up a Jodi Picoult novel. You know what you are getting into and you know that your mind will be challenged to think on all sides of a complicated issue. A couple of her books I haven't enjoyed as much as others but this one probably ranks third for me in terms of favorites (behind My Sister's Keeper and Plain Truth). The detailed research that she puts into her books is pretty amazing, and I always come away feeling as if I learned something.

Sisterhood Everlasting Ann Brashares- This is the 5th book in The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants series. The book picks up 10 years after the last one left off. I read this series in high school and I believe the 4th book came out when I was a senior. After discovering there was another book in the series I had to find out what the characters were up to. And just like the other books in the series, it was easy to read, impossible to put down, frustrating at times, but overall had a satisfying ending.

That is all the reading I have been doing the past couple of months. I'm still sort of in the middle of a book break, and I'm hoping to power through some fiction that has been sitting on my bookshelves forever. But I love new suggestions, what should I read next?

My Mini Book Reviews Part 1

Here is a peek at what I have been reading lately:

The Selection Kiera Cass- This is a young adult novel written by a woman who went to the same church as me at Virginia Tech. Pretty cool! It is kind of a combination of The Bachelor and The Hunger Games. I think its the kind of book middle school girls might enjoy, but definitely a fun read if you want something light and quick. I enjoyed this one more as the book went on.

The Prince Kiera Cass- A novella accompanying The Selection. The overall premise of these books is basically a prince selecting his future queen. This novella is a peek into the prince's point of view.

Lighting Dean Koontz- Another quick read. It was filled with mysteries that kept me turning pages to the end. This kind of reminded me of a Stephen King book, but still different. There were a few creepy characters that caused me to sleep with the light on for a night or two.

Love and War John and Stasi Eldredge- A marriage book I got from the library. After pre-marital counseling and reading other books, articles, anything about marriage it all starts to sound about the same. I did like this book better than Captivating (written by these two) which I read a couple years ago. My main problem with their books is that they generalize so much to all men and women. Like, every woman will feel a certain way or react a certain way about something. After I ignored their generalizations I started just reading it as their experiences have shown them that they react to things in a certain way. I wasn't blown away by this book, but it certainly contained some good nuggets of wisdom.

Another Painting Project Revealed

My last project of the peach table was definitely a success. The table only took a couple hours to paint one evening and I have no regrets about the color.

The same cannot quite be said about my other painting project of a dresser and chest of drawers. Here are the items to be painted:

As I mentioned before, and as you can see, there is a lot of neutral color going on and I had to do something about it. I'm attempting to go with a blue/green color scheme for the bedroom, and with consultation I ended up deciding on a green for these pieces of furniture. When the first stroke went on it wasn't quite as empowering as painting the peach table. My reaction was more like, "This is either something great, or I'm making a huge mistake."

Now that my room is back in order (no more drop cloth over the floor and the contents of these drawers sitting in the living room) I'm starting to mull over the painting. I do not dislike it, but I'm trying to determine if I actually like the green dressers I painted. 

I also think I should tell the world that new drawer handles are not super cheap. Pinterest makes it look like you can re-do anything for $5. The paint to re-do these dressers/drawers was only about $6, but to get new handles for both of these pieces could have cost up to $40. Something I may try to do later, but that kind of takes away the cheap furniture re-do idea. 

And the other one. 

I did two coats of paint on each of these and they definitely could have used a third since it was such a dark color going on light. But I didn't want to buy another paint sample, so I'll just say that I was going for an "antiqued" look. 

One last mini craft/organization that I want to bring to your attention:

My little shoe box lid belt holder. 

For the last 5 months I have had this shoe box lid sitting on my dresser holding my belts but it hasn't been decorated in any attractive way. Just a shoe box lid. I was trying to decide what to do with it (what color to paint it, since I'm on a painting kick) and David suggested that brown spray paint that I used for a picture frame project a few months ago would be perfect. I hadn't even remembered I had it. David was right, it was the perfect color to go with the green. 

Then, I just put a pretty piece of scrapbook paper on the bottom and called it a day. So easy.

Are there any projects you have been working on lately? Anything that you've been meaning to do forever? 

Any guesses?

What color will this piece of furniture be?

June Goal #3

June Goal 3 of home decorating has been completed. Well I wouldn't say complete but at least one project is under my belt and anything else is icing on the cake.

All the walls in my apartment are white. The carpet is a creamy tan. My book shelves are white. And my table WAS white. Obviously something had to be done about all this bland whiteness. My apartment gets major points for brightness and sunny-ness. But I needed a little contrast in my life. Since painting the walls seems like a bit too much of a project I'm just going with the furniture.

Here is my canvas:

Please note the big sunflower that David picked for me :) And the orchid that is still flowering after 4 months. 

Don't worry, I spread out the drop cloth to cover more area after noting that this would be way too small in case of splatter. 

Give me a moment to sing the praises of paint samples. For this table obviously not a whole lot of paint was needed. I asked what sizes there were that were smaller than a quart of paint and the woman suggested paint samples. As you can see I bought two, but I only ended up using one. Each sample was $2.98. So that means the table re-do only cost me $2.98. If things in my dining room/office/library/kitchen storage room need to be shaken up I only need to spend $2.98. Win. 

The color looks great and I LOVE my new table:

The room is still very bright and cheery

Looks nice with the place mats

And the table provides a beautiful setting for a Sunday morning breakfast of white chocolate coconut scones. (Maybe a post on those later)

Not the world's best muffins

But they still are pretty tasty!

The first time I made these applesauce oatmeal muffins was when my parents came for a visit. I specifically was seeking out a "healthy" recipe because I figured we would be eating out more than usual so at least breakfast could be healthy. The original time I made these muffins, after they were baked I took a big sniff and stated that they smelled, "Too healthy." By too healthy I mean that they smelled like something that would be dry and grainy.

Upon sampling these muffins I was pleasantly surprised. I won't say these are as good as a muffin you would buy at a cafe that is moist and very sweet, but pretty delicious for a healthy recipe.

The recipe lists raisins as optional but I'd say that they are a must. It is the raisins that kept the overall muffin from being too dry. Also, where it says to use 2 egg whites, just go ahead and use 1 egg instead. I'm really opinionated about the great nutrition that is packed in an egg yolk.

Last week when I made these for myself I discovered that you can use a cake stand for more than just cake. It is such a pretty way to display any baked goods and now I can use a cake stand more than twice a year.

Probably what made my mornings last week was walking into the kitchen and seeing this.

The pretty cake stand makes me feel like I'm being served a fancy breakfast. I'd say its the perfect way to wake up on a week day morning. Go, dust off your cake stand and bake yourself some muffins. 

Goals for June

Last month I made a personal list of different goals I wanted to accomplish before June. Mostly they were pesky errands that had been hanging over my head, but I got most of these mini goals accomplished. Around the same time I wrote a list for June goals. The May list was pretty mundane and not worth sharing but I decided to have some more fun goals for the next month.

Goals:

Finish a book- I wrote this goal for June probably back in April. Sine then I've read about 9 books. And I've already accomplished finishing a book twice this month. So goal 1, complete. Now I'm actually trying to not grab a new book right away because that's ALL I want to do lately. I completely advocate shameless bookworms but my reading obsession has led to a lack of cooking, not as clean apartment, and lack of communication with friends. So I need to get my priorities re-aligned for a few days/a week or two and then I'll be back on the reading train. 

Finish a knitting project- Another hobby of mine that has fallen prey to my reading binge. I haven't been knitting as much as I used to and I think this has been a trend since I first moved to Texas and has continued into Florida life. There is something not quite as appealing about knitting when it is always warm outside. Not quite sure what the knitting project will be, but I'll show you soon. 

Home Decorating- I've found myself on pinterest more and more looking for fun and creative decorating ideas. And I think I'm about to go into decorating overload. I've already made 2 trips to Home Depot for paint and the people who work in the paint department there already know me. Keep an eye out for the results of my mysterious projects. 

One June goal down, Two-ish to go. 

Canning

For my birthday I got all the supplies for canning at home. My original goal was to start with strawberry jam but they went out of season right when I got my stuff. All the tomatoes are coming out of our garden right about now so I started my canning life with salsa.

Supplies

Cooking

And Sterilizing

More sterilizing

Getting ready to can with my nice clean jar

Filling Jars

My finished salsa after processing. The top popped in and everything!

Squash

The last things from the garden we are harvesting are hubbard squash and cheese pumpkins. We'll roast these up and freeze them for later use in pumpkin pies, pumpkin bread, everything pumpkin for fall.

Hubbard Squash

Cheese Pumpkin

That evening we had dinner with the other grad students and David cooked up ribs for the first time. Delicious. 

1000 Paper Cranes

So this one of my favorite parts of the wedding. Jesse (maid of honor) came up with this idea to fold 1000 paper cranes to give to Jess and Nathan. They like to do origami together and if you fold 1000 paper cranes you get a wish.

Well, I folded somewhere between 30-50 paper cranes, Jesse folded about 50, and Koren's husband Devin folded 1000! How awesome is he!? Koren and Devin noted that they made it through several seasons of TV shows in order to finish the task.

Instead of a crazy car decoration with paint on the windows we filled the car with the thousand paper cranes and transferred the wish to Nathan and Jess. We don't know if wish transferring is technically allowed, but we did it anyway. Take that origami rule makers!

It begins.

My task was pulling the cranes out of the box

Definitely took some maneuvering 

Thats 1000

I folded that little bitty one

Devin: paper crane folder extraordinaire

And just one more for good measure

Jess and Nathan have been married for exactly 1 week now. Happy 1st week of marriage!

Outtakes

So here are some of the funny pictures from the day and bridesmaids just being goofy.

Koren and Me

Blurry, but it looks like I'm making a really strange face

The strange faces continue

Dorks

Bridesmaids!!!

Don't ask

What is going on here?

Just a little last minute labeling at the reception