Cupcakes for my cuppycake

 

It just doesn’t get much cuter than this.

Last weekend my little babers turned ONE!  Though it’s cliché, it’s amazing how much children change in such a seemingly short amount of time. While I miss some of the aspects of babyhood, he gets sweeter and more fun everyday. 

We celebrated the little guy’s milestone in style with family, friends and of course, cake!  {Well, cupcakes, as the title does declare.}

I used this recipe to make the cupcakes and like pretty much everything I try, it was much harder and more time consuming than I anticipated.  I should clarify that it was the icing that gave me the most grief.  Thank goodness for my mom and sister’s help getting the rest of the food ready or cupcakes would have been the only item on the menu.

CAKE’s cupcakes v. JC’s cupcakes.  Wah waaaahhhhh

{cupcake toppers from Etsy seller Designer Favors}

The icing was a big hit. The cake… not so much.  A boy after my own heart-- and Allie’s from Hyperbole and a Half, who artistically demonstrated our her feelings on the matter:

Are you a cake person?  Are you an EXTREME cake person, one who will eat cake without icing?  And what’s the difference between frosting and icing, if anything?

New life with spray paint!

 

I picked up this little napkin holder while at the family cabin a few weeks ago and knew that it would be like new with a fresh coat of paint {and some light sanding.}  I kept it in the green family using Rustoleum’s Green Apple—one of my favorite fun colors!

Before

After

How’s that for a quick project?  A fun little pop of color on the kitchen table for just a few minutes’ work and no coin out of my pocket!

What’s the quickest project you’ve completed lately?

Oops, I did it again

I thought I would be Super Mom and make my kids pancakes on a non-weekend day… and I’m not talking about pancakes from a box, I’m talking about pancakes from SCRATCH {using this, my favorite pancake recipe}!  Well, wouldn’t you know that I was nearing the end of the recipe when I realized that I did not have eggs.  Ugh!  I already had my milk souring so I didn’t want to take the time to go to the store, so I began feverishly Googling egg substitutes.  I found a number of vegan options, but didn’t have the patience or ingredients to grind flax seed and soak it in almond milk or whatever the heck they were telling me to do.  Based on some of the recommendations I found, I thought I could resort to my trusty pantry full of pumpkin. :)

 

I added a splash of oil which was probably not needed, because these bad boys were DENSE!  I also added a few shakes of cinnamon, and couple dashes of ginger and nutmeg.  Look at me improvise!

 

My {almost} one year old slammed them, as did my {almost} three year old.  They love pumpkin just like their mama!

If you’re feeling too lazy to click the link above, here is the awesome pancake recipe from Allrecipes.com:

Ingredients

• 3/4 cup milk
• 2 tablespoons white vinegar
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 2 tablespoons white sugar
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• {I also added probably 1/4 tsp cinnamon, 1/8 tsp each of ginger & nutmeg}
• 1 egg {I used 1/4 c pumpkin instead}
• 2 tablespoons butter, melted
• cooking spray

 

Directions

1. Combine milk with vinegar in a medium bowl and set aside for 5 minutes to "sour".
2. Combine flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt {and cinnamon, ginger & nutmeg} in a large mixing bowl. Whisk egg and butter into "soured" milk. Pour the flour mixture into the wet ingredients and whisk until lumps are gone.
3. Heat a large skillet over medium heat, and coat with cooking spray. Pour 1/4 cupfuls of batter onto the skillet, and cook until bubbles appear on the surface. Flip with a spatula, and cook until browned on the other side.

Try these {modified or not} - I promise you will love them!

Weirdo Pantry Meals

You know those days when you’re pressed for time and have no plan for dinner so you scrounge around to see what you have and you end up lacking some key ingredient for everything you think you can make?  No?  You’re much more organized then me?  Ok, then humor me here.

I sometimes do that.  Well, only if we’ve already had pizza once that week and I’ll feel like a domestic failure if I don’t throw something lukewarm on a plate and serve it to my mini Vikings who are pounding their forks on the table and grunting for food.

Here’s my most recent Weirdo Pantry Meal.  This delectable plate is comprised of:

• Green beans from the freezer
• Couscous cooked to package directions, using chicken stock
• Canned chicken {I didn’t even heat it, just drained and added it to the hot couscous}
• Mrs. Dash seasoning
• Paprika for color
• Fresh basil to jazz it up

To be honest, this meal is probably worthy of 5.5 stars on a scale of 1 to 10.  It was ok.  I wouldn’t go out of my way to plan it again, but it worked in a pinch, saved us from eating pizza and was probably a little healthy as no oil or butter was added. Overall… not too awful.  

Should Weirdo Pantry Meals be a new category on this crazy blog?  No?  Ok then.  What unconventional meals have you come up with in a pinch?

Haven… I’m in Haven

South Haven that is.  And really, I’m back home already.  No way was I hauling my laptop on vacation to blog (realistically there wasn’t room, what with all the baby gear we had to truck). But I have to tell you about the little piece of heaven that I found in South Haven, Michigan: a little place called Bayberry Cottage.

  

Oh… my… goodness I want EVERYTHING in this store and I really can’t say that about any other store I’ve ever been in.  It was staged so well, not overstuffed but layered enough that your eye was always busy.

They feature unique pieces including furniture from Joe Ruggiero, gorgeous silver pieces from Mariposa and textiles from Company C.  If you’re in a position to stop by I highly recommend it! 

Bayberry Cottage

510 Phoenix Street, South Haven, MI 49090

(269) 639-9615 

www.bayberrycottage.com

What the hail?

 

Can someone smarter than me explain how little ice balls hit my house/car/yard when it’s 90 degrees out?  Science isn’t my strong suit.

Easy Does It

My blog has been neglected now that the weather has turned nice!  I’ve been busy working on projects and more importantly, socializing.  Last week I visited my style icon Kate of Starr Family Blog.  Every detail of her house is gorgeous and perfectly planned.  My little spy wanted to explore every room in her house so I got to see all of the awesomeness that she features on her blog first hand.  

In regards to projects, I’ve been working on a number of painting projects.  If one exists, I’m probably on a spray paint watch list.  Even the kid at Home Depot was asking what I was working on and then asked me to paint his room.  Uhhhhh… I was glad the transaction was complete at that point.  Peace out, kid!

Here’s a simple project that I completed recently.  When we revamped my husband’s bathroom we removed the old medicine cabinet and replaced it with a modern mirror.  I thought the original mirror was gone but I found it in the basement recently and thought I would give it a little makeover and put it in my bathroom.  I primed it and then painted it a glossy white.  A simple project but I love the difference and I used what we had to add a little pizazz to my space!

Before

After

We have a few projects yet to do to complete the bathroom, such as framing out the bathroom mirror, painting the ceiling to cover a stain we got when our roof leaked this winter and finally, adding crown moulding that we bought a few years ago but never got around to installing. 

For funsies, here’s our stained ceiling: 

Gross.  Have you ever had your roof leak?  Did you paint just the stain or the whole ceiling?  We’re planning on painting the whole ceiling, but it sure would be nice to not have to!