high 5 Friday, 5/22/2014

Hello dearies! How was your week? It is starting to feel like summer in your neck of the woods? Have you been rockin' shorts & a pair of cheap sunglasses? (Insert ZZ Top song here).  Maybe you have this Monday off for Memorial Day, therefore having a long weekend, & have plans for a mini vaca?  
If you are curious about what I did this past week, here is a list of my favorite things that happened in my life.

1) A Jo-Ann's Fabric & Craft Store opened in my town! About 7 minutes from my house! You have no idea how happy this made me. Until last Friday, we did not have a craft store in my town.  The closest craft store was about a 30 minutes drive on a ridiculously congested highway. Yuck! Now I have a store at my back door! I am so excited :)

2) Mulberries are blooming. This my not mean much to you but this is a sign in my household that a super delicious treat is on it's way.   You see my dad is a one who loves to experiment. He experiments in many ways including when it comes to food. Many people I know make home-made ice cream in the summer months. Most make, or start out making vanilla ice cream. Why not? It is a very reasonable starting point, especially for a beginner. But not my dad. No ma'am. He decided to use the mulberries that started blooming in our yard. None of us had ever heard of mulberry ice cream, but my dad wanted to give it a shot. This is some of the most delicious ice cream I have ever tasted!
3) I am really loving the Spotify app. I heard about it a couple of weeks ago & have been listening to all kinds of music lately while getting ready, cleaning, baking, etc.

4) I am happy that I am on the cusp of finishing a crochet project. :-D

5) I am enjoying the iced coffee season. I have had a couple chilled coffee drinks this week <3

I hope you have a great weekend!

Check out the link party 

God bless!

He brings joy

God Bless!

Tunisian Tuesday

I think I am coming to the end of my first Tunisian crochet project. It has been fun learning a new technique in crochet. This will be a throw pillow, a small one, but it will be MY pillow :)
I just have a few rows to finish, stuff it & sew the edges together, & it will be done!
Have a wonderful day!
God bless!

high 5 Friday

Happy Friday Everyone! How was your week? I hope it was great. How was mine? Pretty nice..

1) Mother's Day. It is always nice that we take time to remember & be thankful for our moms! I love my Momma dearly.

2) Baking cookies is one of my favorite hobbies. I love it! I love trying new recipes & techniques. It is hard to beat a fresh, made-from-scratch cookie. Recently I discovered a new technique for baking cookies. Oh joy! So excited! I will post more about this in the future ;)

3) Earlier this week one of my "adopted" brothers (who is a member of our music band) return home for the summer from college. He spent a few hours at the house laughin' & jammin' with the fam :)

4) Referring back to Mother's Day; we had a Sunday dinner with the family in honor of our moms. It is wonderful when you can enjoy good food & good times with loved ones. (We are Baptist; We love to eat).

5) I love the warmer evenings. It is so relaxing when you can spend time out on your porch taking in creation.

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend!

Try the link party :)

God bless!

hummingbird cake

Dad trying to sneak a taste :)

This is the cake that both my mom & dad requested for their birthdays this year. Even though this cake contains fruit, do not think that it is like a traditional fruit cake you have at Christmas time. This is a super moist dessert to have with a good cup of coffee. My mom discovered this recipe a couple of years ago. I use the original Southern Living recipe {here}. Southern Living first printed this recipe in 1978, & it has become one of their most popular cake recipes.
The Hummingbird cake has bananas, pineapple, pecans, & cinnamon topped with cream cheese icing. Yummm :)
God bless!

high 5 Friday

Hello dearies! Happy Friday to you all! I hate that I have been slacking on my blogging. I want to write more than just once a week. I will try to do better.
I hope you have all had a wonderful week. I know I did. Here in North Carolina, the temperatures have been pushing 90°F. Summer is coming. Surprise! I don't like being out in when it is super hot, but I have been enjoying taking the dogs for walks in the morning before it gets hot. The temperatures have been ideal for me in the mornings.
Are you ready for Mother's Day? Don't forget it is coming up this Sunday. Remember to do something special for that special lady that you are blessed enough to call "Mom" (or whatever you call her).

Week in review

1) My grandmother (a.k.a Nina) turned 80 years-old this past Monday. We celebrated her birthday by having a family & friends over for a semi-outdoor lunch. The weather was beautiful & there was a lot of love shown to my grandmother. I am glad she had such a nice time.

2) I have really enjoyed my Julep Maven subscription. I have been going through a nail polish crave in the last few months, & Julep has been helping get my fix. I am really loving this beautiful blue polish I received in this month's box, called Jeanne. It is a happy, summery, robin's egg blue. So fun.
If you are interested in subscribing to Julep Maven, click here.


3) We have had a nice taste of summer before it gets too hot. Perfect time to rock the shades.

4) I finished shopping for my Mom's Mother's Day gift, yeah!

5) I am glad that I have a plan for what I will fix for Mother's Day lunch. I found a similar recipe on-line: Chicken Eugene from allrecipes. I think this is a predominantly "Southern" dish. I have only tried it with the dried corn beef, chicken breast & cream of mushroom soup. I have never used beacon & sour cream in this dish, but I am sure it is delicious. It is simple to prep & I can put it in the oven before I leave for church & it will be done be the time we are back home. It is a wonderful recipe for inexperienced cooks. I serve the chicken over rice & with steamed broccoli.

Hope you have a wonderful weekend!

Have a wonderful weekend! 

God bless!

high 5 Friday

Happy Friday People! I hope you are enjoying the beginning of May 2014. Let's review my top five highlights of the past week, shall we?

1) I was able to have a little jam session with one of the bros this Sunday afternoon, after church. It is always nice to make music! I played my ukulele & he played his guitar. I need to post a video of his playing. My brother is an uber talented guitarist!


2) From Monday, until Thursday morning our area was on high alert for a severe thunderstorm. This storm had done some horrible damage, even costing some lives in other parts of the country. The weather experts were predicting that we would have sever thunder storms, hail & tornadoes. We were all on the lookout and preparing. I mowed my grandmother's like a wild woman I went so fast. My dad prepared the lawn for rain. All my area saw was a light shower Wednesday night.
So I am thankful we were spared a terrible storm.

3) My mom had a successful cataract surgery last week, and received a good bill of visual health from my boss, an optometrist, Yesterday at her post-op. Hurray for good vision!

4) I finished watching the first season of the British reality show An Idiot Abroad. This is a travel show that follows someone, Karl Pilkington, who never travels & captures his reactions & utter confusion to the new cultures he experiences. I watched most of the episodes by myself & would laugh out loud. I love Karl. He makes the funniest observations. Being a Southerner, I feel that Karl is the British equivalent of what is know around here as a "good ol' boy". I also watch the show just to hear Ricky Gervais' awesome laugh.

5) I have been looking forward to celebrating my grandmother's 80th birthday this weekend. I am hoping for a nice time with friends & family!

How was your week? Any fun weekend plans?
Check out some more high fives from the past week on Lauren Elizabeth's blog!

God bless,