Things I Love: Little Donuts

We're a little late in our discovery, but there's a new donut shop just outside of Grove City--Peace, Love and Little Donuts.  Despite my indiscriminate love for sugar and all things sweet, I'm not a fan of donuts. But these miniature treats are surprisingly delicious.  If you're near the outlets, check them out! 

Things I love: Caprese Salad

I must, once again, apologize for my lack of blogging. We've had a busy, but wonderfully full last couple weeks. My dear friend Chelsey visited us from California. There is just nothing like an old friend who is so effortless to be around and knows you so well.  We had a wonderful time--I'll be sharing pictures soon, I'm sure.  For now, here's some summer cooking inspiration.  I love summer tomatoes.  But I love them even more when paired with fresh mozzarella, basil, and balsamic vinaigrette. Have a wonderful day! 

Things I love: Succulents!

We took our monthly family trip to Home Depot this past weekend.  J and I share a love for home projects, so Home Depot is a favorite destination around here. Like always, our trip was an adventure and, like always, our trip ended with a meltdown. There's just something about the wide aisles filled with home improvement products that drives our little L to bad decisions. It happened in the plant section on Saturday when L decided to grab a little cactus by its bulb. Poor little thing--she got quite a few stickers in her fingers. But it was nothing a few sweet succulents couldn't resolve!  When L saw the little Baby Toes and Painted Lady succulents, her tears quickly subsided. I've been wanting to place a few in our kitchen, so we purchased three little ones (for a grand total of $8).  We planted them in a red little planter (thanks, Winnie!) that used to house wheatgrass and put them near our kitchen window. A few times a day, L meanders over to the counter and requests to see the "sucawents." Have a wonderful Tuesday! 

Things I love: Letters!

One of my favorite times of the day is 2pm. It's when the mailman comes. I rarely get anything more than credit card offers, bills, and newspapers, but there's always the possibility that something a bit more exciting will land in our mailbox. Something like a hand-written card.  My friend Lizzy sent me a beautiful one last week. She's what you'd call a prolific letter writer, which is pretty rare these days. Honestly though, she is really incredible at writing lovely little notes and popping them in the mail.  It may seem like a simple gesture, but a hand-written letter is like a warm hand of friendship amidst all of the emails, tweets, and status updates in our technology-crazed days. So here's to my sweet friend Lizzy and letters:)! 

Things I love: Ice Cream Sandwiches

Last June after W was born, families from our community showered us with amazing meals practically every night for an entire month. It was incredible, and a true blessing to our family. All of the meals were terrific, but one sticks out in my mind because of the dessert.  Along with the meal, my friend Tricia brought us homemade ice cream sandwiches. A large scoop of vanilla ice cream tucked between two homemade chocolate chip cookies...doesn't get much better than that on a hot summer day. These things were delicious!  I think I ate half of them.  Give me some grace--I was nursing a very hungry newborn and had a huge appetite myself:).  Well this summery snack has since become a favorite on warm days around our house. And since we've been having the most glorious Spring weather, I made up a fresh batch yesterday and stuffed our freezer full.  Anyhow, it's FRIDAY! Have a wonderful weekend, everybody. 

Things I love: Chocolate Pretzel Bites

Ok, so these are the easiest treat in the world!  I saw them on Pinterest last month and decided to try them out with L.  On a side note, Pinterest is a disaster zone if you like sugar a little too much, strive for perfection in the home, or are prone to envy. Use it with caution, realizing that not one of us has it all together! Anyhow, we used Easter candy with these pretzel bites for a Spring look. And the best part?  L could participate in every step and loved it. They're great if you're looking for an easy treat for kids or even something simple to add to your wedding dessert table. Hope you're enjoying the sunshine! 

Things I love: Tokyo Milk

I got this really neat perfume as a stocking stuffer from my parents this past summer. It's solid perfume by Tokyo Milk.  I had never heard of such a thing, but it's now my daily go-to perfume. This stuff is so cool!  It's about the circumference of a half-dollar and is great to toss in a purse. My mom got me Sencha Bleu, which the site describes as "Hints of Spring: Violet, Jasmine, Gardenia, Lavender, Amber, Sweet Musk, and Sandalwood." Appropriate for this season, huh? Brides, these would be great for bridesmaid gifts! As an added bonus, the perfume comes with a small selection of mini greeting cards. Happy Wednesday! 

Things I love: Strawberry Tart

This was one of the first desserts I made the summer Jake and I were married--almost seven years ago! It's fast, easy, and delicious. I occasionally make it just for our family, but it's perfect for showers and evening dinner parties. And there's nothing like strawberries to get you in the mood for the coming warmer months:).

Strawberry Tart (From Everyday Food)

• 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour (spooned and leveled), plus more for handling dough
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 bar (8 ounces) cream cheese, softened
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1 1/2 to 2 pounds strawberries, hulled and halved
• 1/4 cup seedless red currant jelly
• 
  
• Make the crust: Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a food processor, blend flour, butter, 1/3 cup sugar, and salt until moist crumbs form (this may take up to 1 minute). Transfer dough to a 9-inch round tart pan with a removable bottom.  With floured fingers, press dough evenly into pan and up sides. Dip a dry-measuring cup in flour, and use it to press dough firmly into bottom and against sides of pan. Freeze crust until firm, 10 to 15 minutes.  Using a fork, prick crust all over. Bake until golden, 25 to 30 minutes, pressing down gently once or twice with a spoon during baking if crust puffs up. Cool completely in pan.  Make the filling: In a medium bowl, mix cream cheese and remaining 1/4 cup sugar until smooth; spread mixture evenly in bottom of baked crust (still in tart pan).  Starting from outside edge, arrange strawberry halves, stemmed side down, in tight concentric circles on cream cheese.  In a small saucepan, heat jelly on medium-low until liquefied. Gently brush strawberries with jelly; let set at least 20 minutes. Chill in pan at least 1 hour (and up to 6 hours); remove from pan just before serving.

Things I love: A Good Deal

I'm sorry things have been a bit slow around here!  But as I look ahead to a busy wedding season starting next month, I must confess that I'm cherishing this slow season.  I've had plenty of time to catch up on baby books, try new recipes, and complete some home projects. And speaking of home projects, we finally found a new rug for our backdoor. At $7.50 for this wool rug, we were thrilled! Happy Monday, everyone. You'll be seeing more of me this week:). 

Things I love: Ms Food Face

We picked up this wonderful Ms Food Face plate for L today on our afternoon walk. She loves it! We found the plate at the new B'gifted shop in town.  If you're in the Grove City area, definitely check that place out! It's full of great gifts, jewelry, scarves, art, and lots more.  Have a wonderful evening! 

Things I love: Pinterest!

I am beginning a new little blog series today called Things I love. I know, painfully original:).  But as much as I love creating Grateful posts, I sometimes refrain from writing them for fear that my gratitude will appear disingenuous or trite. After all, it feels a little silly to declare that I'm grateful for a new pillow. Sure, I could conjure up some little anecdote about the pillow that will lead into my gratitude about rest or sleep. But I'm a full-time mom doing photography part-time and my time for blogging is limited. SO, cue these new Things I love posts. No great depth or long explanations here...just simple things I love. Today, I'm kicking it off with Pinterest. Once you get past the initial honeymoon stage, Pinterest becomes a fantastic source of inspiration and a terrific tool for storing great ideas and images you find on the web.  My husband's also a fan because of my little wishlist board--it's now his go-to resource for gifts.  So if you haven't yet jumped on the Pinterest wagon, I highly recommend trying it out.  Especially you brides--it's full of great wedding ideas. Enjoy your weekend, everyone!