ohp - sweet summer time

Something about this week has me totally loving summer and I feel that my ohp post should reflect that this week. Anddd btw - still no Branson! Someone please help send mental labor pains to my sister. She is more than ready for him to be here!!

Source: thekitchn.com via Race on Pinterest

Grilled pizza is definitely a fav of mine in the summer!

Source: rachelgivenss.tumblr.com via Lara on Pinterest

LOVE my hair braided and out of my face. Especially when it's hot outside.

Source: luckypony.co.za via Allison on Pinterest

If my hair isn't braided, I think I'll be wearing one of these. They don't look too difficult to make!

Source: visualphotos.com via Pam on Pinterest

These look amazing. Perfect way to keep a summer drink chilled.

Source: grocerybudget101.com via Tiah on Pinterest

Love Hawaiian chicken, this looks like a delicious recipe.

Source: rusticweddingchic.com via Whittney on Pinterest

Beautiful location and setup for a summertime wedding.

Source: beyondbeyond.co.uk via Elise on Pinterest

Patriotic sparkly nails. What could be better?

Source: johnna-cameron.polyvore.com via Ginhee on Pinterest

Super cute outfit for a summer night

Source: iowagirleats.com via Yen on Pinterest

mmmmmmm.



Hope you're having a fabulous week!

lemony angel food cake

We are overflowing with strawberries around here. I’m loving strawberry season. I still plan on making some jam but I wanted to make a delicious dessert for after dinner. I wasn’t feeling straight up strawberry shortcake. So after perusing Pinterest for a bit, I came across a lemony angel food cake that sounded delicious. I happened to have a bunch of lemons left over from a different recipe so this was perfect to use up some ingredients before they went bad.


This was the pin-spiration for the dessert:

Source: marthastewart.com via Julie on Pinterest

Really it was completely delicious. The cake by itself was totally addicting. Every time I walked by the leftovers I cut myself a tiny slice and munched on it. I was really happy with the results. I could have whipped the egg whites a little bit longer and it would have been a little fluffier, but it was delicious. The recipe I used said to add the lemon juice, zest, vanilla and cream of tartar before the egg whites were at stiff peaks and I don’t think that was the best plan. I couldn’t get them to whip all the way up to firm peaks, even beating them for 15 or so minutes.





Lemony Angel Food Cake
(adapted from Martha Stewart)


1 cup sifted cake flour
1 1/2 cups sugar
12 large egg whites
2 tablespoons lemon zest
4 teaspoons lemon juice
1 teaspoon cream of tartar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon salt
Directions:

• Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Prepare a 12” cake pan by spraying with non-stick cooking spray.
• Sift together cake flour and 1/2 cup of the sugar.
• Beat egg whites until soft peaks form, then add in lemon zest, lemon juice, cream of tartar and vanilla extract. Beat for an additional 1-2 minutes until soft peaks return.
• Add the rest sugar gradually while beating to firm peaks but not stiff peaks.
• Fold in the flour/sugar mixture.
• Pour into prepared pan and bake 40-50 minutes until golden brown and a toothpick comes out clean.

family pictures

Saturday morning I met up with my cousin Dylan, his girlfriend Gigi and her two kids to take a couple family pictures before their new arrival comes this August. They are some of the most gorgeous and photogenic people I’ve ever met and it was definitely my pleasure taking their pictures and capturing some of the love and happiness that just beams from them when they’re together.

who likes short shorts?

Happy Friday! After a kind of chilly week, we are finally going to have some summery weather this weekend. To say I’m looking forward to it is definitely an understatement. I’m really excited to throw on my bathing suit and spend some time reading by the pool. I think it’s going to be a family barbecue day on Sunday, so that just means more hanging with my favorite people in the world anxiously waiting for my nephew to get here!

This week for Friday’s Fancies we’re tackling shorts. I think shorts look gorgeous on some people, I’m just not one of those people. I love these two outfits and would love to see them on my sister or mother, both of whom look stunning in shorts.

 

 

short shorts by rundreamcook featuring bow earrings

Striped tank top
18 CAD - eluxe.ca

 

Lipsy beaded top
£38 - lipsy.co.uk

Paige Denim short shorts
£93 - farfetch.com

Rut m.fl. cotton short shorts
£17 - nelly.com

Stella McCartney strappy heels
$501 - net-a-porter.com

Corso Como ankle strap sandals
$95 - heels.com

Marc by Marc Jacobs dangling jewelry
$28 - marcjacobs.com

Breil Milano rose gold jewelry
$100 - couture.zappos.com

Blue Nile bow earrings
$108 - bluenile.com

There are so many lovely pieces there, I wish they would all just jump into my closet.

Cross your fingers and maybe we’ll get a surprise appearance by my nephew this weekend. Eeek. I can’t wait to meet him, this waiting game is killing me!

toes in the sand...

In my mind I'm here today:

Source: bvitourism.com via Jenni on Pinterest

Having a beachy sort of day. Enjoy!

ohp!

Here’s a round up of some of my favorites from this week!

Source: erin-farrell.polyvore.com via Ericka on Pinterest

I love this outfit. Totally adorable. The coral shorts are perfect for summer this year! Definitely loving this style.

Source: cookingwithsugar.com via Meghan on Pinterest

Uhm, These look amazing. Who cares about the shell?? I’m all about the filling and those delicious looking chocolate chips!

Source: dustjacketattic.blogspot.com.au via Emma on Pinterest

This room looks amazing. I love it.

Source: tinywhitedaisies.tumblr.com via Tara on Pinterest

These flowers are spectacular. I love them. The mason jars with the twine are fabulous.

Source: florajoy.tumblr.com via Hannah on Pinterest

I think I like people that smile, period.

Source: onewed.com via Lauren on Pinterest

Fabulous suit! I love this look a lot.

coconut raspberry macaroons

**before we get going here - please ignore some bad formatting! I've been trying out Windows Live Writer and when I upload some of the formatting seems to be a bit off...ugh. Tips or advice are appreciated!!"


Let’s talk Pinterest for a minute. I’m addicted. You are too right? I’m not sure I know anyone online or in “real” life that doesn’t have an account. My cousin’s husband even has an account where he pins all of his favorite vacation ideas and home renovation ideas. The first time I got an email that said G has repinned your pin, I actually laughed out loud. Then after a full day helping my sister and brother-in-law help redo part of their roof, I saw a big article on Pinterest in a wedding planning magazine. It really is everywhere. The problem with it though is that we pin all of these gorgeous, delicious ideas and never execute them! I’ve decided to put an end to that! At least once a week (hopefully on Tuesdays to share my results on Wednesday for the OHP linkup) I’m going to attempt something I’ve pinned. It could be anything, an outfit, a dinner, a workout, just do it already! I have 753 pins, so it may take a while…But I really want to put these to good use!
So, to start off my Pinterest to real life series, I made this pin:

Source: smittenkitchen.com via Julie on Pinterest

First thing first, I adore Smitten Kitchen. It is one of the first food blogs I started reading and every single recipe that I’ve made from her blog has been absolutely amazing. When I saw that these macaroons were from her blog, I had to try them. Plus, I have an insane amount of fruit (strawberries, raspberries, watermelon, peaches) in my house right now that were perfect for these!

My cookie batter was a little more wet that it should have been which lead them to bake with little puddles around them. I was being impatient and didn’t let the raspberries dry as much as I should have before adding them to the coconut mixture. Also, I only own a tiny food processor, a mini chopper really, and had to blend in batches. I stirred the raspberries in instead of chopping them in with the food processor which I’m sure made a bit of a difference.


You can see the puddles I was talking about here. I don’t think that it made a difference with the flavor or texture, but they took a bit longer to bake and that puddle part was a bit chewy, but the rest of the cookie had a great texture!
Yum.
Ok, so on with the recipe. I cut mine in half from what the original from Smitten Kitchen had, but I didn’t make any changes aside from that.
Raspberry Coconut Macaroons
(Originally from Smitten Kitchen)
Printable Recipe
200 grams sweetened, flaked coconut
65 grams granulated sugar
45 grams egg whites
pinch of kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon almond extract
85 grams fresh raspberries – remember to dry them very well.. That was my downfall in this recipe.

• In a food processor finely mill the flaked coconut. In my mini processor it took 2-3 minutes to get it in tiny enough pieces
• Add in sugar and process for about a minute
• Add in egg whites, salt and almond extract, process again for about a minute.
• Transfer mixture to a bowl and gently stir in the raspberries.
• Scoop into 1 inch balls onto a lined cookie sheet, I used a silicone mat.
• Bake at 325 until the tops are nicely toasted, it took about 45 minutes for my wet batter to get there – but the original recipe says 20-30 minutes.

Let cool and enjoy…

weekend update

Another Monday and still no baby. I know ya’ll are on baby watch like I am. I’m kind of ridiculous. I love that baby boy more than anything in the world and he’s still gestating…Just imagine what it is going to be like when he actually gets here and I get to have some serious cuddle time with him!

So, we had an oddly productive weekend. On Friday Mike and I ended up at Jenni’s house redoing a big portion of their roof. Who knew I was so handy?! Tom and I work so well together. We were kind of rockstars. When I finally got home at almost midnight, I was so exhausted I fell right to sleep. When I woke up on Saturday, every muscle in my body hurt. Oye. I had no idea that roofing was so physical. Mike had a high power shooting competition in the morning and then we met up with a bunch of friends and family to go out to dinner. They had spent the day at a beer and wine festival so they were a bit tipsy and all very fun to be around.

Sunday was spent installing new light fixtures, being very silly and then spending some family time at the very muddy dog park.

We had a fabulous weekend and I’m sad to see it go, but I’m ever hopeful that today or this week will be the time for B to come into the world!

white out

One more week has gone by and still no nephew! I swear I am on constant baby watch! Jess goes to the doctor again today, we'll see what he has to say. 

This weekend's weather isn't going to be even close to as awesome as it was last weekend. That doesn't mean this weekend isn't going to be just as fun! We're planning on a kind of relaxing weekend in. Mike has a shooting competition on Saturday morning and I'm taking some fun maternity/family pictures of my cousin and his expecting girlfriend. We're pretty excited!

Since Memorial Day has come and gone, we are all free to wear white as much as we'd like now. Not that I'm really a fan of wearing white. The only white I usually wear is in the form of dresses or skirts. I fell in love with this dress and the casualness of the outfit.

Enjoy!

white out by rundreamcook featuring engagement rings

Jasmine white dress
£28 - awear.com

Antik Batik flat thong sandals
$225 - calypsostbarth.com

Engagement ring
tacori.com

Nina cubic zirconia jewelry
$25 - lordandtaylor.com

Vintage sunglasses
£101 - farfetch.com






Hope your weekend is truly fabulous!