Favorite Friday

Just in time for summer........my favorite thing for this Friday is the Misto. A dear friend treated me to my very own Misto and some gourmet olive oil for my birthday. She has loved hers forever and knows I'm trying my hardest to eat cleaner....and without one of these in my kitchen things just weren't in balance. I don't know how I lived without it. It's re-usable and you can try all different fun flavors of olive oil. Oh! And check out my friend Tammy's blog too......she is an inspiration to me.......it's a blog all about exercise and healthy living, I know you'll love it. Have a terrific Memorial Day weekend!

A Surprise Birthday Field Trip With The Soul Sisters

Yesterday was circled in red on my calendar (I always use a red Sharpie marker for all of my very important things :) It was the day Jennifer Juniper and I were being taken on a Surprise field trip by our other two soul sisters. We all met at 11am and Marzipan whisked us away. She did a stellar job at keeping it a secret the whole way!

Our destination was the wonderful mansion of a prominent old Pittsburgh family. We started the afternoon with lunch at the outdoor cafe.



We weren't able to take the formal tour of the mansion, but we enjoyed getting caught up and peeking around ourselves. Here is the elaborate greenhouse on the property. It was used to grow the mansion's flowers and vegetables.



And here is the children's playhouse.....can you believe it??? Not too shabby.



We weren't able to look inside the house....but we strolled around the outside. And can I just say it was great to be outside...with all of the rain we've had around here these past few months it felt great.




Can you take a guess where the second stop of the day was??????



Yep, You got it! A super cute cupcake shop.



Yummy cupcakes.....



...and lots of other sugary treats.



We each chose a flavor...( and no, the cupcakes aren't sitting on the floor...we were sitting at a glass top table :) and had a taste of each of them. I "hmmmmmeeed" over every one, it was REALLY hard to rank them.



Can you see by these smiles....



....that these cupcakes were the perfect ending to a great day?

Bundle up that baby...how to make your own receiving blankets

I have been making these over-sized receiving blankets for years. Sooooo many babies and mommies love them that I thought I'd share my suuuuuppper easy method of making them.



I start by purchasing a 1 1/4 yards of your favorite cuddly flannel. Most flannel comes in 45" widths...so by getting a 1 1/4 yards...they come out in a big, perfect square. I prefer these for lots of reasons.....they are big enought to fully cover you when you're nursing, they make a big area to lay the baby, or to cover the matress when they're sleeping....so if there is a little mess you can just switch out the flannel blankie in the middle of the night without having to change the sheets at 4 a.m. :)

Simply start by pressing an even 1/2" all the way around....



...then fold it over again, and press again so there are no raw edges.



I set my sewing machine to the biggest zig-zag stitch....and stitch all the way around.



Literally you can make a few of these in 30 minutes or less...



I'm warning you though, you will have non-crafty mommies calling for more!!! They quickly find out those thin, little, teenie ones you get in the store just don't hack it in the real world. Now pop on over to my real-life friend Jennifer Junipers blog and link up your own little tutorial to her amazing linky party...I just did :)

Fairy Tales Do Come True!!

I looooooooooovvvve this!!!!!!!!!!!! I am still enthralled with the royal wedding, and I just had to share this...isn't it a hoot??!

Favortie Friday

If you haven't seen this movie yet, run to your Redbox and get it!!!!!! It is now officially my new favorite....so I had to feature it today for Favorite Friday. I picked it up last Friday for a family movie night. With two teenagers and a seven year old, it's hard to find a movie everyone will like......this was a hit! And how appropriate with the Kentucky Derby being the next day.

I remember all of the thrill and excitement when Secretariat was winning that summer...and seeing his picture as "Horse of the Year" on the cover of my Dad's Time magazine. But I had no clue as to the history or story behind him.....it is truly an AMAZING tale. You won't be dissapointed!

Chicken Fried Rice

I've had this kicking around my brain for a few weeks now that I've been wanting to try this. A friend at the gym put it into my head, so I googled a recipe and got my ingredients. The recipe I found had a place for comments and a girl whose family had a chinese restaurant left a big long comment with lots of helpful hints. I kid you not....this tastes JUST like you got chinese take out!!



I swear the secret ingredient must be the oyster sauce....

Ingredients:

4 chicken breasts- cubed (I diced mine pretty small)
salt
pepper
garlic
garlic powder
onion powder
oyster sauce
butter- 2 Tbsp
sesame oil- 2 Tbsp
4 scrambled eggs
16 oz. bag frozen peas and carrots
1 medium onion- chopped
1/4 c. soy sauce
7 cups Jasmine rice- cooked, cold

Directions:

Season chicken with salt, pepper, garlic powder and onion powder and a Tbsp. oyster sauce. ( I probably used more like two...) Heat butter with sesame oil. Add 3 cloves garlic and the diced onion with chicken.(I used that minced stuff from a jar) Cook until no longer pink. Add scrambled eggs. Cook 3-4 minutes, then add peas and carrots. Mix in the cold rice. Add 1/4 cup soy sauce and stir fry until golden brown. At this point I also added extra sesame oil too...

Stuff I learned:

1. Oyster sauce doesn't taste or smell anything like oysters....but I swear this is what gives it that authentic taste.
2. I would certainly cut this recipe in half next time!!!!!! It makes enough to keep a chinese restaurant supplied on a busy Friday night.
3. You can use your spaghetti pot if you don't have a wok. I thought I would just do the stir fry part in my skillet but there's waaaaaaaaay too much for that, so I dumped it all in my pot and it worked pretty good.

I'm going to link up to Jennifer Juniper's Tutorial Tuesday......stop over and check things out, there is always toooooonns of great stuff.

Happy Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day to every special Mommy. I took a few necessary actions to ensure I was feeling especially loved and special today....like getting myself a cake from my favorite bakery.



A set of Sharpie fine point markers that I've had my eye on for my scrapbooking stash...as well as a MUCH needed new Wusthoff bread knife. If you've been peeking around my blog lately you probably noticed I've been really into making bread...and the bread knife I had just wasn't cutting it any more...no pun intended :)



Chip was away for the weekend...but he helped the kiddos pick out the prettiest flowers for me.



Of course Cubby was the very first one up in the morning so he could be sure to be the first one to wish me a Happy Mother's Day. He couldn't wait to give me this pretty picture he made me in school. It was such a wonderful day.....I spent it with my three amazing children who complete my life. They are the my life's biggest blessings and the reason I live my life every day trying to be the very best mommy.

Favorite Friday

Do you remember last week when I had a little Limoncello tasting at my girlfriends house?? Well, we were in the kitchen working on the appetizers and getting situated and I noticed this little whipy-whip thing next her coffee maker. I asked all about it, and everyone there had one except me. I didn't even know what it was....but I do now! It's an aerolatte...the original steam free milk frother. I quickly got the scoop on it. So if you haven't heard of one yet either here it is...



It froths up your coffee at home like you got it at Starbucks! This picture doesn't do it justice....but I am sooooo loving it! They have them at Williams Sonoma for $20. Well, don't you know Chip was taking Cindylou to the mall the VERY next day and I made sure they brought one home for me as a little treat.




You put your creamer ( I ALWAYS need a flavored creamer...usually French Vanilla) in your mug and whip it up...it froths up almost double the size. Then when you add your coffee it puffs up even more! It's great!!!! The little booklet that came with it says you can use it for Hot Chocolate, Cappuccino, Caffe Latte, Iced Chocolate (Add chocolate syrup to cold milk, froth to a thick foam and add a scoop of vanilla ice cream. Haven't tried this one yet...but it sure sounds great) I feel so special, I'm my own personal barista.

I Was Just Doing Some Errands.....

I dropped T. at lacrosse practice Monday night and was doing some errands when Cubby called me...in the cutest little voice ever, he asked me if he could get a baby duck. I didn't quite hear him...I thought he said "dog"...but he clarified it and said DUCK. I just couldn't figure out where he was, who he was with or what was going on.....my mind was racing as I was trolling through the aisles of Target. I had just left him at home with Cindylou and Chip 15 minutes earlier. Weeeelllll.......they were in Tractor Supply and falling in love with two very adorable ducklings. In the blink of an eye they got food, a feeder, a water supply thing-y, a big silver light and a red light bulb....they raced home and got things set up before I even checked out at Target....this was the picture they sent to my Blackberry!!

Yep, if you look closely you can see they are in CindyLou's room!!!!!!!!!! They made their home in a big Rubbermaid bin and had it upstairs in her bedroom! For REAL!




A minute later they sent this closeup of the little darlings. Seriously???? According to Cub they don't need any water for 4 weeks....then all we have to do is find them a pond and let them go. But he has already figured that we have a TON of food and they're hardly eating anything...so we'll have a lot left over and we can just get new ducklings every 4 weeks after we release the previous pair. That way we will never be without ducklings!

They are truly making themselves right at home. Last night they went for a swim in the Jacuzzi tub in my master bathroom...and they used my pretty towels to dry off! If you're sitting there reading this thinking,"Wow! The Treatgirl has lost total control over there" You're right! I swear I will NEVER leave Chip home alone with these kids AGAIN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!