Hitting the Road

Happy Thursday! We had some rough weather last night. It started pouring right after we got home from church. Seriously, I haven’t seen rain like that in a long time! But today it’s gorgeous. It’s like the world is sparkling out there.

I’m very excited because I have a girl’s weekend coming up! I’m taking off work tomorrow and hitting the road to my friend’s house in NC. She invited myself and another friend of ours up for the weekend. We’ve got lots of shopping and eating and relaxing planned. Personally, I’m most looking forward to eating a meal that doesn’t involve wiping ketchup off of someone’s face or begging someone to drink their milk. It’s funny how your definition of a relaxing weekend changes once you have kids, isn’t it? I mean, I love Brady more than life itself, but a mom needs a few days away once in a while.

Well, yesterday was a big day. I finally let one of my real-life friends know about my blog. I’m sure she’s gotten a lot of enjoyment out of reading all of my random thoughts. Unfortunately, I think she is now totally convinced that DH and I are total crazy people! So it begins……………….

Y’all have a great weekend and I’ll think about you while I’m in Sephora over the weekend. Or not!

Cupcake Recipes

Here are the two cupcake recipes I made for our party on Saturday night. They both turned out so good that I just had to share them with you. You know how much I love cupcakes!

Moist Chocolate Cupcakes

1 (18.25-oz.) package German chocolate cake mix
1 (16-oz.) container sour cream
1/4 cup butter, melted
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Paper baking cups
Vegetable cooking spray


1. Preheat oven to 350°. Beat first 5 ingredients at low speed with an electric mixer just until dry ingredients are moistened. Increase speed to medium, and beat 1 to 2 minutes or until smooth, stopping to scrape bowl as needed.
2. Place paper baking cups in muffin pans, and coat with cooking spray; spoon batter into baking cups, filling two-thirds full.
3. Bake at 350° for 20 to 25 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in pans on wire racks 10 minutes; remove cupcakes from pans to wire racks, and let cool completely (about 1 hour).

Note: I frosted these with plain chocolate canned frosting, but you could also do chocolate buttercream or even German Chocolate frosting. They would also be pretty with chocolate shavings on top.


Easy Red Velvet Cupcakes

Ingredients
1 (18.25-ounce) package yellow cake mix
2 tablespoons cocoa
5 large eggs
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 cup buttermilk
2 (1-ounce) bottles red liquid food coloring
Cream Cheese Frosting

Preparation
Beat cake mix and next 5 ingredients at low speed with an electric mixer 2 minutes. Spoon batter evenly into 24 paper- or foil-lined muffin cups, filling two-thirds full; bake according to package directions. Remove from pans immediately, and cool on wire racks.
Spread cupcakes evenly with Cream Cheese Frosting.

Note: When they say to only fill the muffin cups two-thirds full, they really mean it! I went all Barefoot Contessa and filled them to the very top and they spilled out all over the place!

A little bit of this and a little bit of that

Hello Blog Land! I know, I just can't leave my blog design alone, can I? Well, I love this one so much that I'm not planning on changing it again soon.

Did everyone have a good Valentine’s Day? Here’s a picture of Brady opening his Batman toy. He was sooooo excited! I’m loving my new Vera Bradley billfold. It’s so bright and cheery when I pull it out of my purse.

Our Valentine’s party was awesome on Saturday night. We have the greatest group of friends. It’s been a while since I’ve laughed that hard. We all learned a lot about each other that night! I’ll forever wonder now if I truly have enough mirrors in my house. You just had to be there! And Brady and Vivian got to spend their first Valentine’s Day together, too.

We’re having revival this week at church. To keep Brady from being out each night, DH and I have been alternating attending. Last night was my turn to go. It was so good and so nice to get out and get refreshed during the week.

So this weekend I’m going out of town. I’m so excited! Another friend and I are going up to a friend’s house in NC to have a fun-filled weekend of shopping and eating and girl talk. As I’m packing my bag and charging my cell phone, I’m also a little concerned. My DH and Brady are doing the grocery shopping this weekend. Now, back in the day, our idea of a fun Friday night was going grocery shopping together. Seriously. But as Brady has gotten older, it’s become easier for me to go out early on Saturday morning and get the shopping done. Plus I’ve really gotten into couponing and shopping the sales, so it’s almost become a science to me. I’ve got the shopping list made out, everything color-coded by store and corresponding coupons attached. I know DH will probably get everything on the list, but I’m still a little worried. I’m just imagining a grocery trip consisting of Hamburger Helper, sunflower seeds, fruit cups, Doritos and comic books. And coffee. My husband could survive six months on those items!

Happy Wednesday! Stay Dry!

T-Minus 3 Days

Someone pry the conversation hearts out of my hands!

So, Valentine’s Day is just around the corner. Is everyone ready? I spent Monday night working on the valentines Brady will take to Awanas with him tonight. They’re getting Spiderman valentines. Last night I did the goody bags and valentines for his class party at school on Friday. These are a variety of Incredible Hulk, Spiderman and Iron Man valentines. One of the great things about having children is all the fun stuff you get to do for the different holidays. I’m loving it!

Brady is getting a Batman toy and a book about sharks for his Valentine’s gift. DH bought a bunch of comic books at a sale a few weeks ago, so that is his gift. I’m getting a Vera Bradley zip-around wallet in Raspberry Fizz. J I’ve been needing a new one for ages, considering the one that I have now is at least 6 years old and probably older. My Fossil wallet served me well, but she needs to be retired now.

Saturday night we’re having a bunch of friends over for dinner. All of us have small children and we don’t really go out on Valentine’s Day anymore, so I thought it would be fun to have everyone over and just make a party out of it. I’m serving lasagna, salad and garlic bread, plus German chocolate cupcakes and red velvet cupcakes for dessert! My friend is bringing fruit for the lactose-intolerant/gluten-free friends that we have. J
So what are you doing on February 14th?

He's Just Not That Into You

Good morning! Sorry I haven’t been on here lately. I’ve been suffering from writer’s block. I mean, we’ve been super busy and lots of things have been going on, but just nothing I felt like blogging about.

But here are a few things to keep you reading……………

I went to see “He’s Just Not That Into You” with the girls on Sunday afternoon. Honestly, I wasn’t too excited about this. I hadn’t read the book and it just didn’t grab me, but everyone else wanted to see it and there’s nothing like a little peer pressure to get you to fork over $7 for a matinee you aren’t even sure you want to see. But it was adorable and I’m so glad I went! J Cute, cute movie that makes me so happy that I’m married and no longer dating. And Ben Affleck is a gem in this movie. Love him.


DH and I went out Saturday for Date Night. We celebrated Valentine’s Day and our ten year anniversary of when we started dating. Ten years. Wow. We went to Trios restaurant downtown and had a great time.


The weather is giving me serious spring fever. 72F today and sunny! Just another reason to love living in the south.

Off to the dentist. Happy Tuesday!

Rolling right along..........

The verdict came in on DH – he had really bad case of strep throat. He got the shot (ouch!) and was feeling a little perkier by that evening. At least it wasn’t anything more serious than it was!

So we’re slowly on the road to recovery – finally!

Brady and I went shopping Sunday afternoon to give DH some quiet time at the house and I found the cutest Valentine’s shirt for him at Gymboree:

The good thing is that he can wear it long past Valentine’s Day because it’s not sappy sweet. He calls it his “mom shirt.”

I was sorting through his spring and summer clothes a few days ago and I’m so happy he’s at the point where he’s not growing out of everything each season. There are a lot of things I bought him at the end of last year, mostly for our trip to Boston, that will still fit him at least through the first part of the summer. Gap and Gymboree are both having big sales right now, so I’ll probably fill in the pieces with a few more items and then we’ll just have shoes and underwear and pj’s to get.

Oh, my new camera just arrived!

Monday, Monday

Thanks for all of the suggestions about Brady’s room. Paula, I do remember “This End Up” furniture! I think I’m going to check a few of the furniture consignment stores around here before I purchase anything. I am a little worried that buying a set for his room will result in a very “matchy-matchy” look, and I don’t really want that, so I may go more for individual pieces. What do you think??

We had a good weekend, despite the fact that DH is sick again. Actually, I think he never truly got over what he had last weekend and it’s just showing it’s ugly head. He’s off to the doctor this morning, so please pray we can get this thing wiped out once and for all. I hate it when DH is sick because he’s so rarely sick.

Saturday (when he was feeling better) we went out to Best Buy and got our new digital camera. We had to order it because they didn’t have the color I wanted there in the store, so I’m hoping it will get here soon. It’s a Canon Powershot in pink, of course! I can’t wait for it to get here!