the real V day

I'm a sappy romantic... but I'm more of a realist than anything. So it would figure that my Valentine's Day would end up the way it did ;)

We had already planned to be apart for the day. We went to dinner on Sunday together instead of Monday, and then when I got home Monday night we were going to exchange our cards and such :) However, I ended up coming home early as I began feeling sick mid-afternoon. Turned out, so did Steve.

So there we were, both home, together, on Valentine's Day. Feeling rotten as heck. He brought me flowers, but was apologetic as he couldn't stand being out to hunt for something better on his way home trying to hold it together. I don't blame him, because he felt like I did, and I would have skipped the flowers altogether had it been me...

We alternately made trips to the bathroom, landing back in bed looking over at eachother with a sorrowful pity knowing the other felt just as crappy.

Middle of the night we both finally had the end of it. I am pretty sure it was food poisoning... from our dinner the day before ;)

But what is love if it's not real. I don't need a beach in the tropics to fall in love with my man... I just need to know his heart is mine... and that he so kindly shares the bathroom with me ;)

LOVE

Past Valentine's Days have been filled with hearts and cutesie lovely things. Cookies and pictures, friends and fun. I've spent 1 Valentine's Day with the love of my life and this year is the second and most importantly, our first married Valentine's Day :)

In May 2010 I married the kindest and most loving and sincere man I've ever met. Sometimes I doubt his sincerity, only because of ways I've been jaded by social media's version of love... but in ways I don't expect, he shows me over and over how blessed I am. Truly one of a kind, I know it sounds cheesy, but it's true.

Happy Valentine's Day Love, I'm forever yours :)

cookie cookie cookie

Two years ago Melissa and I made the cutest Valentine's Day cookies... and ever since then I've fantasized about doing it again. There are a lot of things I am motivated to do with the idea that I get to take pictures of it when I'm done... I love taking pictures though. There's something really satisfying for me to make something cool and then take an even cooler {at least in my mind} picture.



I made enough for Melissa and her friend Sheri and I to decorate when they came over during naptime... yep, I'm takin care of kids again. I can't seem to stay away lol. I have another post brewing about that topic...

But before they came over, I let the kids do some decorating of their own. I didn't give Lilly any frosting, really, she didn't need it. She had enough fun just eating it. And when it was gone, she was more than a little vocal about wanting another... heh



This one of the other hand did quite well with the frosting I gave him...



I only gave him red because I figured much like play doh, all colors would get mixed to red eventually anyways... but that didn't stop him from asking for more. I'm selfish though, I wanted the pink and white for mine!



So then later on when Sheri and Melissa came over we had a blast decorating the rest.





And then cookie monster {aka me} ate them.

These cookies were from a new recipe I tried and I really really liked it, so here it is.

Sour Cream Cookies {makes about 5 dozen cookies}

For cookies:
1/2 cup softened butter
1 1/2 cup sugar {I used raw and it turned out great!}
2 eggs
1 tsp almond extract
3 1/2 cups flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup sour cream

Mix butter and sugar well, add eggs and almond extract. Blend until smooth. Add flour, baking powder, baking soda, sour cream and salt. Mix until blended and dough forms a ball. If dough is too loose, add flour. Cover and refrigerate a few hours.

On a well-floured surface, roll out and cut shapes with cookie cutters. Bake at 425 degrees 4-6 minutes. Cool on wire rack before icing.

For frosting:
1/2 cup softened butter
1 lb powdered sugar
2 tsp almond extract
4 Tbsp milk
1/4 tsp salt
food coloring

Mix together and blend until smooth. Use sandwich size ziploc baggies and put about 1/2 cup frosting into corner of bag and cut a teeny tiny hole to do detail icing.

These cookies aren't just your average sugar cookie. It's the almond I tell ya. It makes them so flavorful!

Valentine's Day

In the past I've expressed my opinion about Valentine's day being a commercial holiday that I do not appreciate. I feel like it's a little cliche and anything done on that day loses a little bit of lustre if only because it's somewhat expected and everything's already been done before.

Anyways, that hasn't changed now that I have my own Valentine :) But I will not lie and say that I boycott the holiday based on principle. Fact is, I think everyday is a good day to say I love you :) And if it happens to be on February 14, then so be it :)

I don't have any real vases yet, so when my man brought me roses, I had to split them into 2 vases. Putting one in the kitchen and one in the bathroom.



This gorgeous rusty orange rose I have is from my mom. She brought it to me on Friday when I was with the new kids I'm watching a few days a week.



And you may have noticed the blog changes. I thought in all sincerity that I would never get sick of my old blog design, but alas, I have. I wanted something brighter, whiter and simpler. So I've widened the margins as well, so now I'm able to upload pictures here just as big as I can on my photo blog.

I have a bunch of posts in line to go up since it's been a few weeks since I've blogged. Not really sure why that is, since I've had plenty of time really. I'm really enjoying this time though... because very soon, I'm not going to have any left!

roses are red

Still beautiful from Valentine's Day

a marketing company's nightmare

Ok, so after reading everyone's fabuless accounts of their lovely and romantic love lives, i really felt the need to say something about my own... or lack thereof.

I know this is a late post, and if you're reading it, it's probably no longer V day. But that's not the point. the point is that i DID write it on V day, so there.

So basically wanted to write about my feelings about said day... and they are this. I think that valentine's day is an adorable holiday... especially when it involves children. and i think that the age old tradition of passing around valentines in elementary school is so cute. but when it comes to the big leagues, it's a different story. Now please don't take my tones of bitterness/sarcasm as the rants from a 23 year old spinster. this is how i feel now, and will most likely always feel. I really like to hear romantic stories about V day... i love seeing other couples in love and hearing what wonderful things they do for eachother on V day. However, my personal feelings about the day are that it should not be a day that is special at all.

this is my theory: when one expects something on V day, they are almost always disappointed. One thing or another doesn't match up with the expectations and said person is let down. When one does not expect anything on V day, ultimately someone will screw it up with an unexpected expectation! It's an all around lose-lose situation. i've struggled through my share... with and without someone to share it with... and i've NEVER liked the day for myself.

I'm the girl who the marketing companies hate... and that's just fine with me :)

V Day Cookies

I felt an uncontrollable urge to take some cool pictures last night, and since Melissa was going to bake cookies today and had invited me over to help it was the perfect opportunity!


This past weekend my small group from church did an outreach where we decorated Valentine's Day cookies together and then delivered them to different people in the church. Mostly elderly single or widowed people, but a few others who we thought could use a little cheer this time of year.


The recipe that Melissa used was a basic sugar cookie mix. In fact, I believe that it was actually a mix that you can buy and then add maybe butter and an egg or something. Whatever it was they were great! At any rate, I went on a little icing adventure with Alicia this weekend in the midst of our great cookie baking experience. We mixed up more icing that i've ever seen and or used in my whole life. So I broke the icing down into a *manageable* amount and wrote it down here for you.


It's kind of a combination of the icing that my family uses for Christmas cookies and basic buttercream frosting.

1 bag confectioners sugar
3/4 cup butter
milk to desirable consistency
1 tsp flavoring of choice

The milk is variable, since i never actually measured that. Or the flavoring for that matter! So basically you would put the butter in the microwave for a few seconds to soften it up. Then add the confec sugar and mix it up with a mixer adding milk slowly to make it mixable. Depending on how thin/thick you want the icing will determine how much of the milk you actually use. And if you add too much milk and it's too runny, you could always add some more sugar... that is if you have any left!


The flavoring is my favorite part, because that's what gives cookies a true "signature" taste. I made some cookies later on this afternoon as well for my cadre tomorrow and used almond flavoring in both the mix and the frosting. They are sooo yummy!

The super amazing cookie decorating experience

While we were at Melissa's today baking cookies, A decided that he wanted to decorate them. I was envisioning a complete mess... however, i was not going to let that stop his creativity from flowing forth. Sometimes you just have to clean up a little... and there's nothing wrong with that!

So when i told him he could decorate some for his sisters and his mommy and daddy this is the face I saw.


And wouldn't ya know, the kid actually produced awe worthy art! Not just the kind that you say is so beautiful because he made such an effort to produce something wonderful, this was actual bona fide, pretty darn good decorating!


And I am very proud to say that I literally did not help him with any of it, except for the one that has writing on it :)