happy weekend!

Today was a rather girly day - shopping with a friend in the morning, lunch out, and a bridal shower in the afternoon. When I got home at 6, I was exhausted! Here's the snuggly face I came home to, though the picture is from a different day:

my cute Oscar cat sleeping under his knit cat-mat.

My husband got home early today, which ended up being about 15 minutes after me. Happy!

He was also exhausted, so we canceled our plans to attend a concert together in favor of a home-date night.

We snuggled up on the couch, grabbed our kettle corn supply, and watched a movie together: good old Aladdin. It was sweet and fun to remember our different childhood experiences of that movie and to marvel at how far CG has come since it first was used in film making.

Later, we opened up the Keith & Kristyn Getty songbook and spent some time playing and singing together. It means so much to me that my husband shares my faith, and that we also share a love for music. It's just wonderful to be able to make music together and to do it in a way that honors God.

To top off all the happiness, I found an adorable skirt (for $3.99!) in this morning's thrifting. It's a nearly new (?) Banana Republic skirt in a pretty, light lime green cotton, with the perfect amount of sheen. It's a fitted A-line, and I'm excited to wear it! I think it might be the beginning of an Easter outfit - perhaps with a crisp white shirt and a light pink cardigan? Pearls and white strappy-sandal heels? Curly hair? It has potential, which this picture does not do justice to. Some ironing is also in order...


I had some time yesterday to make dinner - we had Italian sausage, cornbread muffins, and peas. I also whipped up some Devil's Food chocolate cupcakes and an 8"x8" cake for dessert, but the cupcakes have already made it to the freezer for safekeeping. I'm hoping to decorate the cake tomorrow! Maybe Nutella icing? Maybe peanut butter icing?

I got a bit adventurous with the muffins, and used up the last of my raspberry jam (thanks, Mommy! it was delicious!) to put surprise filling in them. Mmm! Here are the only three I have left:

I love the way the bit of raspberry jam kept the muffins so moist, and I like the bit of red peeking out of the muffin tops. I'm planning to try this again with other fillings...

Happy weekend!

the pleasures of home

DH and I went home for my grandfather's 80th birthday, and incidentally, my sister's 19th. It was a fabulous weekend - temps in the 70's, sunshine, lots of family, lots of pie.
We are a pie-eating family. Birthday pie is a tradition. Grandpa's brother, Unc, used to tell us of the days when his mother would make a pie each day for dessert after supper. All kinds of pie - from classic apple to elderberry to mincemeat. Unc insisted that, since pie slices are wedge-shaped, there's always room for dessert. He never passed up a slice of pie! And always had stories to tell as he lingered over the accompanying cup of strong coffee (with a bit of cream, no sugar).


This birthday party for Grandpa reminded me of Unc (who passed away in 2008) because of the many pie choices there were! Peach, key lime, cherry, pecan, concord grape...and then there was cake and ice cream besides. My mom decorated both cakes - a white, Swedish themed cake for Grandpa, and a chocolate one with vibrant orange and yellow flowers for my sister. These were completed with the exact number of candles for both my sister and my grandfather. Yes, there were eighty candles on that cake...

Earlier that afternoon, my siblings, husband, and I enjoyed the outdoors. Frisbee, feeding the cows and horses, petting the cats, taking pictures of flowers, hitting some golf balls, shooting a few hoops...


It was a beautiful weekend, completed by horseback riding, hiking, painting toenails with my mom, picking wildflowers, and taking pictures.
yellow violets (a study in opposites, no?)

a rare red trillium

pumpkin carving party

this afternoon we had a pumpkin carving party at our friend, Sarah's house. here's how mine turned out:
to make the leaf cutouts, i traced a real maple leaf onto the pumpkin with a sharpie. it could also be scored into the pumpkin with a pencil, i suppose. i then cut out the bottom of the pumpkin to get rid of all the seeds and gunk. this makes it easier to light a candle inside - no reaching deep into the pumpkin. i made a little votive-sized indentation in the bottom part so that the candle would be more stable. finally, i cut out the leaf shapes, wiped the outside of the pumpkin clean, and put a candle in. ta-da!


for the little "happy fall" pumpkin, i used watercolor paint, and it's beginning to chip already. that's just all the paint we had there - should've used acrylic, i know. it still looks cute, and it's temporary. hooray for fall decorating!