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Rubber stamps

871484thI’m usually not the kind of girl who gets into stamping, but these beauties may just change my ways. Aren’t they pretty? I can totally see them on a card or envelope. I’m also CRAVING spring, so anything cheery makes me smile these days. I will say, that the sun was shining onto my desk this afternoon and as long as I didn’t have to be outside, it felt warm.  871485th

Find these and many more from Paper Source (one of my favorite places for crafty inspiration). If you’re ever in a city with one of their stores I highly recommend stopping by!

Warm memories

In the midst of moving Adam and I snuck away to Florida for a long weekend with family and some much needed sunshine. It’s hard to believe a mere 48 hours ago we were walking in flip flops and t-shirts when now we are literally ice skating across parking lots and last night we were without power for over 2 hours after an ice storm. Oh well. At least we have pictures to keep us warm.

img_1012It was chilly for the beach, even by Iowa standards, but when you’re within 60 miles of the Gulf it’s hard to resist. Caladesi Island (voted best beach in America in 2008) was our beach of choice. It was fairly deserted, but that meant more sand for us and more sand dollars! If you’re ever in Tampa or Orlando, we highly recommend taking the ferry over to this gem of a beach. You won’t regret it!
img_1018Love this boardwalk view. The sand is so close I can almost feel it between my toes.

A shell tree on the beach

A shell tree on the beach

The original beach bum

The original beach bum

I insisted on crossing the street to pick some oranges!

I insisted on crossing the street to pick some oranges! Adam wouldn't let me keep any.

img_1044Watching the sun set from above the clouds is an amazing site

We had a wonderful visit with cousins, aunts, uncles and grandma. It doesn’t take long for me to get used to ordering sweet tea, speaking a little slower and slipping ya’ll into conversation. We’ll be back for sure!

A house!

358047_101_12After more than a year of trying to sell our condo, we got a call from our realtor the week before Christmas, that we had a buyer. Not only did we have a buyer, he wanted to close on February 1! When we first put the condo on the market in October of 2008 we had an offer on a house we loved. But we couldn’t sell the condo and someone else got that house in February of 2009. It was heartbreaking to feel like we “lost” the house we wanted, but deep down we knew God had a plan (even though many times we didn’t understand what that was).

All spring, summer and fall we looked at houses off and on, but were careful not to get too attached to anything before we sold the condo. There were many times we felt we would never sell the condo, but we kept praying and trusting that God would provide a buyer and a new house when the time was right. By November we decided we would take a break from looking until after the holidays. Then on Dec 16 everything changed. We had a buyer, now it was time to find a house!

We looked at 3 houses on a Thursday night (one being the brick above). Sunday we spent the afternoon looking at 4 more houses, ending at the one above. When we walked back into the little brick in Beaverdale it just felt right. We made an offer that night, and it was accepted the next day! We didn’t even have to counter! Then we scheduled the inspection the next day and are now 3 weeks away from closing!

358047_401_19The house is in Beaverdale, a cute neighborhood on the Northwest side of Des Moines, full of charming brick houses built in the ’30s and ’40s. Our house was built in 1939. We love all the character: wood floors, arched doorways, glass doorknobs and wood-burning fireplaces (there’s one in the basement too!). I can’t wait to get in touch with my inner product editor self and start shopping for rugs, furniture and paint (the kitchen is first on the list). Any suggestions?

358047_201_18For now we are enjoying our last few weeks of not having to shovel (though Adam is looking forward to being able to park his car in the 2 1/2 stall garage). I’m heading to St. Louis this weekend for work. then the following weekend we’re heading south to visit family in Florida, then there’s one weekend to pack and we’ll be new homeowners for the second time.

a few of my favorite things…

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Don’t these just make you happy? My teaspoon had a run in with the garbage disposal and the garbage disposal won. So when I saw these pretty little measuring spoons at Williams-Sonoma I couldn’t resit. I love the bright colors (and hopefully they will be harder to lose in the garbage disposal). Adam wanted to get an industrial stainless steel pair, but I insisted on these.

img_0948Iowa is gearing up for the first big snow storm of the season. It’s already been named “Blizzard ‘09″ and the first flake hasn’t even fallen yet! I don’t buy into all the hype, but I do love watching the snow fall from the comfort of my couch with the Christmas lights on! We didn’t put a tree up last year (we thought we were going to move, still hasn’t happened) so it was extra fun to get everything out this year. We keep saying we’ll get a better tree when we move and maybe that will actually happen next year. We’ll see. I think this one looks pretty good considering it was a $15 Wal-Mart special 6 years ago.

l_r136488Doesn’t this recipe for peppermint cream bites look amazing? I think I need to make it. Peppermint chocolate is my favorite!

Black Forest Cake

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The cake (and the birthday) was a success! If I make it again, I would skip the brandy, but it’s still good!

3 things I learned while making this:

1. Real whipped cream is AMAZING, sinful, delightful, divine. I could sing it’s praises for hours. While I understand the convenience of a tub of Cool Whip, if you have 5 extra minutes splurge on the real thing.

2. I need to work on my layer cake technique. Even after shaving the tops off there was still a big gap between the layers. Good thing I had extra whipped cream to fill it in.

3. I will never be a perfectionist when I cook. Save that for Becca. You might think this looks pretty good in the picture, but I’ll let you in on a secret–the other side was my practice side.


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Here’s the recipe
Ingredients:

  • 1 dark chocolate cake mix
  • 1/4 c. kirsch (cherry brandy)
  • 1 can cherry pie filling
  • 16 oz. heavy whipping cream
  • 1/2 c. confectioners’ sugar
  • milk chocolate curls or shavings, for garnish

Preparation:

  • Drain cherry pie filling in a colander to remove most of the thickened juices.
  • Make cake, following package directions. Bake cake, as directed, in two 9-inch layer cake pans.
  • When cool, sprinkle kirsch over both cake layers.
  • Chill electric beaters and large mixing bowl (this step is KEY!); beat cream until it thickens slightly, gradually add confectioners’ sugar and beat until thick enough to hold its shape.
  • Using a vegetable peeler, shave chocolate; refrigerate until ready to serve.
  • Assemble cake; place one layer on serving plate and spread its top with 1/2-inch thick layer of whipped cream and strew the cherries over the cream leaving about 1/2 inch margin around border of cake with no cherries.
  • Set other layer on top of cherries and spread top and sides of cake with remaining cream, shape whipped cream into decorative swirls on top.
  • Garnish top with drained maraschino cherries, if desired, or with a few remaining chocolate curls.