Thirty-Something

// I am no longer just thirty years old, I have now entered the thirty-something club. //

Today started with hubby bringing me my favorite breakfast in bed- eggs over easy with a side of toast, red juicy strawberries, coffee and a pink daisy.  Yates was already awake and helped Daddy sing "Happy Birthday" to me.

My mom and dad brought Chloe and Yates over to eat lunch with me at school, and my third grade students wrote handmade birthday cards to wish me a happy birthday.  This afternoon we went on a walk, Chloe and Yates each gave me a birthday balloon and we are eating cupcakes for dinner.  I have so many loving friends and family who have made my birthday a special one ... and I am one very lucky princess.

While I notice everyone else around me getting older it's hard to accept that I, myself am also getting older.  I will believe, however, that a few things have changed about myself, for the better... and for that I am proud of.

//  It's okay to sometimes appreciate the planning more than the executing, and the fantasy more than the reality. (Reading novels at night, such as the latest bestseller of Zelda Fitzgerald's biography usually fulfills this.)

// Enjoy trends while they're in, and then onto the next.  What's fun about staying the same?  So what I am a thirty-something wearing a jumpsuit?  In good taste, you only live once.

// But... do invest in nice furniture and curtains. Your home decor should remain a classic.  (Still working on this.)

// Listen to others.  Be a good ear, and don't speak over people. (Also, still working on this).

// Work hard.  Be that person people say, "How does she have time for it all?"  Because there isn't enough time on this Earth... and we need to make the most of it.

// Pray more.  Pray when you don't need something, but rather when you are thankful for something.

// Be grateful for what you have, not what you want.  There is always something or someone bigger or better.  Don't sell yourself short, but be modest in what you do and good will follow.

// Usually things don't turn out as you planned.  Trust in God that He has a plan... it is better than you ever could have imaged.  And that's the most exciting thing in the world.

// Don't be afraid to try new things.  Be ready for the future and what it brings.  Being anxious about everything will take away from the joy that life brings.  Worry less.  Be childlike in what you do and it will bring you much joy.

Strawberry Fields

// Spring football practice started Monday afternoon, which means Daddy won't have much free time from now until December.  We made the most of this last weekend together, spending lots of quality time together as a family.  Saturday afternoon we went strawberry picking, and spent the rest of Memorial Day weekend eating strawberries until our fingers were stained red.  These strawberries are the ripe, run- down- your- chin juicy type that are best when shared with blonde- haired, rosy- cheeked, sun- kissed skined, sticky- fingered children. //

Strawberry Lemon Buttermilk Icebox Pie

// Recipe from Southern Living //

Crumb Crust

1 1/2 cups crushed vanilla wafers

1/4 cup sugar

1 tsp. kosher salt

6 tbsp. butter, melted

vegetable cooking spray

Preheat oven to 325.  Process crushed wafers, sugar and salt in a food processor until finely crushed and well combined.  Add melted butter, and process until thoroughly combined.  Press on bottom, up sides, and onto lip of a lightly greased (with cooking spray) 9-inch regular pie plate (or deep dish pie plate).  Bake crust 8 to 10 minutes or until lightly browned.

Strawberry-Lemon-Buttermilk Icebox Pie

1 (14 oz) can sweetened condensed milk

1 tbsp. loosely packed lemon zest

1/2 cup fresh lemon juice

3 large egg yolks

1/4 cup buttermilk

1/2 cup strawberry jam

3 tbsp. strawberry jam

16 oz. fresh sliced strawberries

vegetable cooking spray

1. Preheat oven to 325.  Whisk together first 3 ingredients in a bowl.

2. Beat egg yolks with a handheld mixer in a medium bowl at high speed 4 to 5 minutes or until yolks become pale and ribbons form on surface of mixture when beater is lifted.  Gradually whisk in sweetened condensed milk mixture, and whisk until thoroughly combined.  Whisk in buttermilk.  Whisk in 1/2 cup strawberry jam.  Pour mixture into prepared crust.

3. Bake at 325 for 20 to 25 minutes or until set around edges.  (Pie will be slightly jiggly.)  Cool on a wire rack 1 hour.  Cover pie with lightly greased (with cooking spray) plastic wrap, and freeze 4 to 6 hours.

4. Microwave 3 tbsp. strawberry jam in a medium size microwave safe bowl at high for 20 seconds.  Stir 16 oz. fresh strawberries into jam.

Sweetened Whipped Cream

Beat 2 cups heavy cream and 1 tsp. vanilla extract at medium-high speed with an electric mixer until foamy; gradually add 1/4 cup powdered sugar, beating until soft peaks form.

Top pie with strawberry mixture and whipped cream just before serving.

// This pie is ah-mazing.  It's not the easiest thing to make, but definitely worth all the time and effort.  I have subscribed to Southern Living ever since I had an address of my own.  Growing up I remember my mother having (and still has) a subscription to Southern Living- and how she would slowly savor every page, soaking in all the articles about the "best of the south" and the recipes each issue included.  I now find myself doing the same, and after going strawberry picking this weekend I didn't find it a coincidence that the June issue which had just come in the mail included a strawberry pie recipe.   It was as if this pie was calling my name and I HAD to bake it.  It did not disappoint and we (Chloe and I) were even more excited to make an extra one for a friend.

I experimented and changed a few variations of the basic lemon buttermilk icebox pie to include a vanilla wafer crust and sweet strawberries in the filling.  A fresh strawberry glaze and homemade whipped cream topped it all off! //

Happy Memorial Day!

// Remembering those who have made the ultimate sacrifice so that we can have the freedoms we do today.  We are incredibly grateful to live in our great country, the United States of America. // 

Tweet Tweet, a Bird's Treat!

Recently Chloe and Yates have enjoyed watching and listening to birds in our backyard.  This week we decided to make our own bird feeders so the cardinals would come by and visit every afternoon.

// Cookie- Cutter Bird Feeders //

• 2/3 cup of boiling water
• 2 packets of gelatine
• 2 cups of bird seed 
• wax paper
• various cookie cutters
• straws cut into 2 inch pieces (for the whole to tie the string at the top of the bird feeder)
• string

Pour the water into a very large mixing bowl.  Add two packages of gelatine and stir until it’s fully dissolved.  Add the bird seed and mix well until everything is evenly coated.

Place cookie cutters onto wax paper and scoop seed mixture in until heaping full.  Gently poke straw pieces at the top of the seed shapes all the way through.  Pop the tray into the fridge for a couple of hours to allow the feeders to set.  Later on, remove the tray from the fridge and let sit on the counter to dry out.

Once the feeders are hard and dry, carefully remove the seed shapes from the cookie cutters.  Remove the straw and tie a string through the hole around the top of the bird feeder.  Hang from a tree, or low bush and enjoy watching birds come by to for a treat!

How I've Become a Photographer

In high school I took one photography class, which I liked, but didn't have a great interest in.  Until recently, I never was the one to always remember my camera or take a lot of pictures during special events.  However, once my husband and I had kids, everything changed... for the better in so many different ways.

My hobbies changed, my priorities changed and the things that once didn't matter all of a sudden mattered the most.  Taking pictures became important to me.  To capture every special moment with my children we share together as a family.  From this new hobby new opportunities have arisen which I am incredibly grateful for.  Taking pictures for others is now just as enjoyable as taking pictures with my own children.  The people I have met, the families I have connected with have given me so much joy and a new passion in life.

Photography has become my creative outlet, my favorite past-time.  It is a way of feeling, of loving.  What you have captured is forever, and it remembers little things, long after you have forgotten everything.  For the most part I am self-taught and I have enjoyed stumbling and finding my own way through taking and editing pictures.  Along with photography sessions and weddings booked in the future I look forward to sharing with you my journey as it continues capturing life's precious moments.

"Photography is an art of observation.  It has little to do with the things you see and everything to do with the way you see them."