father's day brunch

I held father's day brunch at my house this weekend with both my family and my husbands. We had an egg casserole, fruit salad, banana bread, and buttermilk blueberry breakfast cake. I found the blueberry cake recipe on pinterest and I have to say its so good I could eat the whole thing myself. This is the second time I've made it and love it even more the next time- if that is possible. The recipe is below and I recommend trying it yourself and I have to agree with the source that buttermilk does turn everything into gold!

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Buttermilk-Blueberry Breakfast Cake

Serves 6-8
½ cup unsalted butter, room temperature
2 tsp. lemon zest or more — zest from 1 large lemon
7/8 cup* + 1 tablespoon sugar**
1 egg, room temperature
1 tsp. vanilla
2 cups flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. kosher salt
2 cups fresh blueberries
½ cup buttermilk
* 7/8 cup = 3/4 cup + 2 tablespoons
** This 1 tablespoon is for sprinkling on top

1. Preheat the oven to 350ºF. Cream butter with lemon zest and 7/8 cup of the sugar until light and fluffy.

2. Add the egg and vanilla and beat until combined. Meanwhile, toss the blueberries with ¼ cup of flour, then whisk together the remaining flour, baking powder and salt.

3. Add the flour mixture to the batter a little at a time, alternating with the buttermilk. Fold in the blueberries.

4. Grease a 9-inch square baking pan (or something similar) with butter or coat with non-stick spray. Spread batter into pan. Sprinkle batter with remaining tablespoon of sugar. Bake for 35 minutes. Check with a toothpick for doneness. If necessary, return pan to oven for a couple of more minutes. (Note: Baking for as long as 10 minutes more might be necessary.) Let cool at least 15 minutes before serving.

This is a picture of me and my dad- I think I was in 8th grade!

racing....

I feel like the world is racing around me these days and I can't catch it! This is typical for the time of year as we are in our "busy season" at work... BUT since the beginning of 2012 I've had this feeling. I know it will go away and I know i have to stay positive and keep going.

I'd like to run away from all this crazy and see if i can catch up with the world- maybe the second half of this year I will find a way.

favorite sweater

j.crew has my favorite sweaters right now... the whisper linen cardigan- its the right lenght and weight but a little expensive. i still bought two (navy and  cerise) and hope to catch them when the are on sale- LOVE THEM!!!

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Mowing

I begged to mow the grass the other day - it was a sunny 80 degree day! An hour and half of peace.. listening to my music and no one bothering me. Ahhhh- heaven! (oh and burn 357 calories would be an extra bonus) I got about 75% of the lawn done and had to quite... it was so hot and I nearly passed out. This was more work than I remembered.
Before I met my husband I owned my own house and cut my own grass. My thought this warm sunny day was... I did it before I can certainly do it now. After spending 15 mins of begging him to let me...he ended up having to finish up where I left off.

Lesson learned he should continue to cut the grass! I will have to find a time for my peace somewhere else.

holidays...blah

I am kind of wishing they didn't exist anymore... it seems as if every month I am having to figure out what is fair and what we will do. It would be so much easier if our family lived closer and there would be not as much traveling involved. The only easy holiday that I feel is not "as" stressful is... Thanksgiving. Every other year we go to the spouses parents home (Michigan or Hilton Head).

My feelings for holidays all started around Christmas this year... all the running around and talking about where we are going to spend a few hours of a particular named holiday was too much. Just because a certain day is tagged Christmas Eve or Christmas than we start talking about where we will spend that day/night. I told myself that just because that day is tagged "Christmas" doesn't mean that if we were to celebrate it a day after or even the weekend before can be just as meaningful/eventful.

In 3 weeks it's fathers day and I am having that feeling all over again. We usually have an annual golf outing that we organize (this year we have changed the date) and my in laws always come up. For the past 6 years I have not spent this weekend/day with my dad. I feel he has gotten the short end of the stick (but because he is such an awesome dad) he had never once said anything- he always seemed to understand. Since we have moved the golf outing to a later date I feel we should go home  (Michigan) to see my dad. But since my in laws are here it makes it difficult to just leave... on top of having a newborn- when it was just Gavin I had not a thought of jumping in the car and going home- now with two it just seems to be so much harder right now. (I might have to break down and get a mini-van which is a whole post its self)

All this would be so much easier if we all just live in the same city- but we don't!  I've got to get this figured out so I can stop thinking about it every holiday.

worth every penny

JJ Cole's car seat canopy is hands down one of the best things I have bought for Henry! I had no idea there was such an item out there like this. I was using blankets to cover him while we went out and they would blow in the wind. (Henry was born in Febuary) Now that summer is here its nice to have something to protect him from the hot burning sun.

I actual envisioned making one of these myself until I found this while shopping in a little boutique store in Ann Arbor. I had no idea that this even existed- saved me a giant headache and time that I don't have. I HIGHLY recommend this to anyone that has just had a baby or having one in the near future!! Worth every penny and super cute!




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making me laugh

confessions of a scary mommy by jill smokler- i am truly laughing out loud while reading this book. since I have been home on maternity leave I've been watching the today show every morning. they featured a segment on jill and her book and just some of the crazy confessions of mom's. at that moment i packed henry up and we were on our way to barnes and noble to get my own copy. i highly recommend this book if you have kids or even going to have kids.

scary mommy