August Recap

This might have been my favorite month this year.  I got married!  I died my hair purple.  I let it fade.  I had a great visit from some amazing family.  I explored my county.  I ate more ice cream than usual.  I grew closer to my man.  I cooked outside almost every day.  I didn't see enough of the water.  I watched way too much Netflix.  I might have returned to a video game that I have played WAY too much of (I can't admit it! World of Warcraft).  I made butter!  Twice!  What else?  Lot's more I'm sure that isn't come to mind.

It's been real, Summer.

Showing Off My Loots!

The past few days have been full of packages!  I've gotten so many goodies lately it's felt like a mini-birthday!  First to arrive were my Blowfish shoes.  I won an adorable pair of Bicker booties over on lovely Chelsea's blog, Tea Talk.  I just love them!  Though, I think they might need a new outfit to go with them.  I'll be sure to share it with you when I find something perfect. :)

Next were my synthetic dreads!  I ordered them from damnationhair.  I have never worn synthetic dreads before but was pretty pumped about them when I learned about them from Krista over at saturated canary.  She's got a full set (which I hope to do soon!, check em out!

And last and DEFINITELY not least was my wedding band!  WOOO!!!  My engagement ring came from Etsy and I knew I wanted my wedding band to match. Jorgensen Studio were happy to oblige and I got it pretty quick.  I am so happy to finally have it.

That's all I've got to show off for now.  I need to get back to planning my Chicago trip.  I'll be going in a few weeks!  We have to wait on a few Coast Guard things before we can set the dates in stone.  I'm trying to decide if I want to have posts written up and scheduled for you or if I want to invite over some guest bloggers.  I have never done so before though so I'm not sure!  I promise it won't be quiet here though, even if it means blogging while on my trip. :)

Song of the Moment #3

Nicki Minaj -- Fly ft. Rihanna

I came to win, to fight, to conquer, to thrive
I came to win, to survive, to prosper, to rise

Goth Boot - Leather Lust 

Praying but I think I’m still an angel away

 Apple Berry Kiss - MissVioletLace

Everybody wanna try to box me in
Suffocating every time it locks me in

 Leather Tank Dress - Neiman Marcus (Michael Kors)

Cause I am not a word, I am not a line
I am not a girl that can ever be defined

Strawberry Ice Cream - MissVioletLace

I came to win, to fight, to conquer, to thrive
I came to win, to survive, to prosper, to rise
To flyTo fly

I can't get Nicki Minaj out of my head lately.  I of course downloaded the entiiiire album!  This songs is one of my favorites.  I love her funky style.  Mix in some Rihanna and it get's even better.  Above are a few looks I would LOVE to have... inspired from the music video.  What about you?  Are you brave enough to try any of these items?  Or perhaps you could find a wake to tweak it and made it your own.  A little leather there.... a splash of pink here.  :)  It's so funny.... the older I get the more daring I become.  You would think it would be the opposite.  Don't get me wrong, I am sure I was a little terror when I was younger as well but it wasn't until my 20's that I really stopped caring what everyone else thought.  It's so liberating.

Enjoying this Saturday

Yesterday was an easy day filled with relaxation and a bit of spontaneity.  Mike and I spent most of the day at home messing around on the computers and drinking a bit too much coffee.  By evening we were restless and unsure about what we wanted to do.  We played around with the idea of a fire but decided to get out of the house instead.  We made it down to one of our favorite places but the crowd was strange and they were ultra busy.  Instead we headed over to Neighborhood Pub which is my *favorite* place to eat in Sturgeon Bay.  Mike ordered their brisket platter (weekend special!) and I ordered the portabella mushroom pressed wrap.  It was delicious but I was a little jealous of Mike's BBQ platter.  Lucky for me he kept sneaking me pieces of brisket. :) :)  Today is Mike's last day before heading back to work.  It's been so nice having him home but I feel like I've been slacking a bit.  Tomorrow I'm going to do a bit of an overhaul on the house and get back to being organized.  Oh!  I'm also excited because my wedding band (from Etsy!!!) should be here early next week as well as some synthetic dreads I ordered (from Etsy as well! :P)  I will of course show you both.

Hope you all have a wonderful Sunday!! xoxo

Malted Milk Ball Cupcakes

So glad it's the weekend!  Mike is finally starting to feel like himself again.  Yesterday was his last day of IV antibiotics and now he is just on his oral and has orders to rest up through the weekend.  Sooo glad he's feeling better, though I've gotta admit it's been nice having him home!  We've been enjoying the extra time together though haven't done anything too exciting.  I think later today we are going to head down to one of our favorite restaurants with Yama.  It's so nice having a place right on the water where we can relax and bring Yama for some much needed fresh air.  Tomorrow we might go fishing.  We considered going today but we finally got a chance to sleep in (yay for no doctor's appointments!).  I haven't slept so close to 10:00 in sooo long!

Last week my friend Nanc' and I baked some Malted Milk Ball cupcakes.  I found the recipe on Pinterest and knew I had to try them.  The cake itself turned out soooo good from the sour cream and the chocolate pudding.  I am planning on reworking that batter to come up with some other flavors (think: strawberry).  

Recipe below the pictures!

Malted Milk Ball Cupcakes

24 cupcake liners
1 package (18.25 oz) plain yellow cake mix
1 box (3.8 oz) instant chocolate pudding mix
1 cup sour cream
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1/4 cup water
1/4 cup sugar
4 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup milk chocolate chips (I totally forgot to add these, and would forget on purpose next time)
Malted Mill Buttercream (see recipe below)
40 malted milk balls, coarsely crushed, for garnish

Place a rack in the center of the oven and preheat the oven to 350.  Line 24 cupcake cups with paper liners.  Set the pans aside.

Place cake mix, pudding mix, sour cream, oil, water, sugar, eggs and vanilla in a large mixing bowl.  Blend with mixer on low speed for 30 seconds until the ingredients are well blended, then stop the machine and scrape down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula.  Increase the speed to medium and beat for 2 minutes more, scraping down the sides again if needed.  The batter should look smooth and thickened.  Fold in the chocolate chips, making sure they are well distributed throughout the batter.  Spoon or scoop 1/3 cup batter into each lined cupcake cup, filling it three quarters of the way full.  (You will get between 22-24 cupcakes; remove the empty liners, if any.)  Place the pans in the oven.

Bake the cupcakes until they spring back when lightly pressed with your finger, 18-20 minutes.  Remove the pans from the oven and place them on wire rack to cool for 5 minutes.  Run a dinner knife around the edges of the cupcake liners.  Lift the cupcakes from the bottoms of the cups using the end of a knife, and pick them out of the cups carefully with your fingertips.  (I left mine in their cups). Place them on a wire rack to cool for 15 minutes before frosting.

Meanwhile, prepare the Malted Milk Buttercream.  Place a heaping tablespoon of frosting on each cupcake and swirl to spread it out with a short metal spatula or a spoon, taking care to cover the tops completely.  Garnish with crushed malted milk balls.

Malted Milk Buttercream

8 tablespoons (1 stick) butter, at room temperature
3-1/2 cups confectioner’s sugar, sifted
5 tablespoons malted milk powder (I used chocolate syrup … shhh; no sense in buying a whole container of Ovaltine when the recipe only needs five tablespoons and the chocolate syrup worked well)
1/4 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Place the butter in a large mixing bowl.  Blend with an electric mixer on low speed until fluffy, 30 seconds.  Stop the machine and add the confectioner’s sugar, malted milk powder, milk and vanilla.  Blend with the mixer on low speed until the sugar is incorporated, 1 minute.  Increase the speed to medium and beat until light and fluffy, 1 minute more.

(source)

Friday Favorites #4

 Want NEED these boots!

 The dread obsession is far from over.  More on this later -- I sweeeear!  <3

Cats in hats.  Enough said.

 Beyond amazing luggage set.  Check out that pattern and those colors!

 Simple yet gorgeous stacking rings.

 This pitcher would fit right in in my kitchen.

Moss necklace, so soft and pretty.

This gunmetal nail polish.  On for three days now and no chips in sight!  I love this color for fall though I'm missing my BRIGHTS a bit.  I'm sure we'll see them again soon. :)

What do you think of this week's favorites?  I have certain colors on the brain, especially yellows and greens!  I am getting really pumped for the end of summer.  Autumn has always been my favorite season.  I am addicted to the crisp air and the crunch of dead leaves.  So gorgeous!  I hope all of you have a great weekend.  Ours will be quiet and low key, just getting Mike nursed back to health and enjoying his time home.  I think we might go fishing tomorrow (pics for sure!) and perhaps visit the Farmer's Market in the morning.

Quick Update

Heeey guys!  I wanted to make a post really quick... mainly because I don't like to miss a day!! (obsessive?? ehhh!)  Mike is still battling this staph (thanks mom for the spell checking! :P) infection.  He went in for another IV antibiotic today and has another tomorrow morning.  Hopefully it will start to get better!  It's got me a tad worried though I am sure it's going to be better here any day now.  Other than that we're not up to much!  Planning on a new soap line here very soon and thinking slightly obsessively about synthetic dreads (not random I promise!).  I've got a lot of things lined up for the blog as well and can't wait to share it all with you guys!  Bigger post here verrrry soon. <3 

Sweet and Sour Pork Chops

Sweet & Sour Pork Chop Glaze

4 pork chops

1/2 cup brown sugar

2 tablespoons honey

1 lime, juiced

1 teaspoon red chili flakes

salt and pepper

combine add ingredients in plastic bag and let marinade at least 20 minutes

Grill pork chops, brushing with marinade early on

DELICIOUS!

Mike and I made these pork chops a few days ago and they were amazing!  We ate them with steamed broccoli and white rice.  I've been trying to find recipes that can enter our "regulars" and I know this one I will definitely be repeating.

Apologizes for the short post yesterday.  Mike has been having some issues with his elbow the past few days and we have been in and out of clinics and doctors' offices.  Finally this morning we found out he has septic bursitis with a staff infection.  They have him a round of antibiotics and he should be all better sometime this weekend.  It was a relief to finally get some answers.  Now we are just planning on having him rest up and get better.

I am planning on trying to post a recipe at least once a week for you guys.  If you missed the last one (Shrimp Creole that was amaaazing) you can find it here!