Sneak Peek

Boy it's been a busy photography weekend! I photographed two handsome fellas on Friday, had a wedding yesterday and today is a day for relaxin'... well sort of... EJB is napping and I have begun going through the all the photographs I have snapped in the last few days - WOW, I really do like to take pictures, I am going to be here for a while...

Well, here are a couple that I have to share right away, how adorable are these brothers!!

Hope you all are enjoying the weekend!

Over the River

A couple weekends ago my husband and I packed up the truck, loaded the Jeep on the trailer and we were headed. Headed where you may ask, well Up Naaath (for those of you unfamiliar with that term, we went Up North.)

We went to a place in Maine where some people do not have indoor plumbing, or electricity, but boy oh boy do they have some good cell phone service.

Ever since I found out that the American Logger's opened up a restaurant in Millinocket I have wanted to go. If you don't know what American Logger's is/are, then that means you probably don't know what the Deadliest Catch, Ax Men, or Swamp Loggers is either, and to be honest that disappoints me just a little. American Logger's is a Reality Show on the Discovery Channel that highlights a Maine family and their logging business. It's quite entertaining and I think you should tune in if the opportunity presents itself.

Once we arrived at the place we were staying, we unloaded the Jeep and hit the high road to Millinocket.



I kid you not, this is the road we took.

Luckily, we brought tha Jeep!!

 While over the river and through the woods, we saw some nice scenery.



Once we hit the tar road, we found this amazing store that is open 8 days a week!!

Talk about a convenience!



Finally we arrived at our destination!

I must say that I was a little surprised at the location of the establishement. For some reason I envisioned the building in the middle of a log yard, well it's not, it's right off a Main Street.

The inside is really nice, they have chainsaws all over the place as well as old logging pictures covering the walls. I wish I would have taken a picture; but the bathrooms are labeled Lumber Jack and Lumber Jill - I love that idea and am pondering replicating them and then hanging them over the his and hers sinks in my bathroom... (thoughts?)

The food was very good, the beer was very cold, and they were super creative when naming the food in their menu so this place gets a B+ in my food book. If it would have been smack dap in the middle of a log yard and if there would have been a pine candle burning somewhere, it would have received an A+!!

Happy Friday!!

Friday's Question

What is your favorite summer beverage??

Friday's Question

What is your all time favorite TV sitcom?

Dinner Plans

The room was silent except for the sound of sizzling cube steak in the cast iron skillet, the room was filled with the warm glow from the unscented pillar candles on the table, rose petals scattered up the stairs, through the kitchen, leading toward the table that was draped with the finest linen minimum wage could buy. I poured myself another glass of wine from the box in the fridge and waited anxiously for my husband to get home. SCREECH! HUH!??! Who just wrote that?? I don't eat cube steak!! HAHA!!

Remember those days when you simply cooked dinner. You cooked what ever you felt like, you cooked it when ever you were hungry, ate it in silence, or perhaps you watched the news, put your dishes in the sink and that was it. Just like brushing your teeth, you don't plan it, you don't look forward to it, you probably don't even remember the details of the event the next day. BUT, and that is a big BUT, when you have kids, what was once just another task you did to get though the day, all of a sudden is a major production.

First of all, you have guests to attend to, many of them show up unexpected and sit in other people's assigned seats.

Which is a huge inconvenience; as it leads to increased mobility and greater access to distractions.

You remove the distractions and think for 3.6 seconds your dinner will once again resume.

That is until... someone else shows up.

Now, you have to be concerned with the unsanitary sharing of food.

And then you realize that two seconds ago she was dipping her snot in the ketchup and think, oh what the heck!

Dinner around here is nothing short of a chore. What was once a simple, mindless task, now requires our full attention. "Amy, just make her sit there and eat it, you are the boss." Yes, I know, I have told myself this a million times, but then I see this and we are right back to square one.

As frustrating as it can be, at least I remember the event in the morning and often share the story with co-workers the next day. One way or another she eats, my husband eats, I eat, even the dog eats and life is good!

Happy Monday!

  

Cake Pops!

Cake Pops! If you never heard of them, let me be the one to introduce you. They are a delectable combination of cake and frosting, covered in chocolate, need a say more? I first heard of cake pops a year or so ago when I started following Bakerella, this lady makes ah-may-zing cake pops, she decorates them so beautifully, she even has a book filled with all kinds of fun cake pop ideas. I have read about her book on her blog, but when I was at A.C. Moore buying the ingredients for my own cake pops, I actually saw her book on the shelf, how cool is that! But I got this recipe from my friend Angie at work!

Cake pops are a simple combination of cake, any kind of cake, and frosting, any kind of frosting, covered with chocolate, any kind of chocolate. Below are the simple directions on how to make your own cake pops.

First, gather all your ingredients:

• 1 Box of Cake Mix
• 1 Tub of Frosting
• Melting Chocolate
• Sprinkles
• Small Baking Cups
• Lollipop Sticks

Prepare and bake cake mix as directed:

Well Hello there Little Friend.

While the cake is still warm, break it up into 100,255,000 pieces and place into a large mixing bowl. On top of your now mashed up cake, dump the entire can of frosting on top. I know, I know, it looks kind of gross, unless you are on your 16th day of your menstrual cycle, then this looks irresistible. Am I right ladies?? Haha!

Now mix the cake and frosting together until you get sort of a 'mush' mixture.

I used a small ice cream scoop to scoop out the cake balls. I put them all on a large cutting board, once they were all lined up, I used my hands and rolled them smooth.

Once they are all rolled and smooth, stick a lollipop stick into each one. Place them in the freezer long enough to cook, serve, and clean up supper, work through a two year old's temper tantrum, a 36 year old's temper tantrum, a bath, dishes, two loads of laundry, book time, bed time, and two sips of wine - a.k.a. 3 Hours.

Before removing your cake pops from the freezer, melt the chocolate that you will use to coat the pops with. I haven't experimented enough to know, but I assume any kind of chocolate will work.

Once you have everything melted, take each pop, one by one, and dip until you can't dip no more!

If you plan on sprinkling anything on to the pops, I found that it was best to do so right away. Because the cake is frozen, it doesn't take long for the melted chocolate to set.

After everything is decorated, display and devour!

See how easy these are!! Well, actually they are a bit time consuming, but trust me, they are worth the effort. If you want more ideas on what you can do with these, check out Bakerella's web-site, I provided a link on top and if you look over to the right there is another link there. If your creative juices are following, you could do some really cute cake pops for the 4th of July. Just think, white chocolate drizzled with blue and red chocolate, or sprinkled with stars, OR you could do little flags on each one!!

The possibilities are endless. If you try these on your own, let me know how it went and what you did with them!



Happy Birthday!

Happy Birthday to my little pal,

my little side kick, shadow, and favorite gal.

730 days I have been with you,

each day learning something new.

Today you are one year older,

another chapter complete in your baby folder.

You make me so happy and proud,

just like me, funny and loud.

I look forward to the years to come,

Daddy, You and Me will have so much fun.

You are the apple of my two green eyes,

enjoy your day peanut  pie.

What a difference a year makes huh?!