Brittany & Travis

I just had to share my little sister's amazing engagement photos with you all!
Last weekend she and Travis had their professional engagement photo shoot with their awesome photographers at Acromatico.

I was fortunate enough to be there for all the fun! Their shoot was at their high school (and mine;) where they met 8 years ago...on the baseball field.
Brittany was manager of the team, Travis played ball. I love them both and I can't wait for their wedding!

Thanks for taking gorgeous pictures Acromatico!

Fun with Shells

For some reason, spring brings in the shell orders. I guess we get a touch of warm weather throughout the country and people get inspired for a change. I know I do!
I have been shell crafting away lately...


I made this 8x10 frame with shells I found at Lighthouse Point in Fort Lauderdale.


Limpet hair clips are so pretty for summertime.





Who doesn't need a shell fan pull?!


And nightlights. So pretty. This one is made with a mushroom coral.

This is a cockel shell from Sanibel Island, FL. I may need to add a little white starfish to this one ;)



I have 3 Wine stoppers. The one on the left is a cowrie shell. The other 2 I have are fighting conchs that I found on various Florida beaches.

More to come soon! Visit my etsy shop if you are interested in purchasing any of these super shell items.

Stuff We've Been Up To

It's been a bit crazy for us lately. Our apartment is being tented for termites. We are living in a corporate apartment across town in the meantime and while it has been kinda fun to be somewhere new for a few days, I am ready to go back.
We had to bring food, work and pets with us while the tenting takes place. It's so strange...I feel like we are living in two places.

Outside of our temporary home, there is a little dove guarding her nest. This is torturing the cats and thus torturing the dove in return. But I have enjoyed her company.


So tonight we head back to our critter-free home, start the cleaning process and pack up again to head to Fort Lauderdale for Easter with the family.


On another note...last weekend we went to the Grand Prix in St. Pete.


We saw lots of cars go fast!

We watched the winners celebrate with champagne.


We watched the Indy cars race.

And we were able to view the cars up close.


The Budweiser Clydesdale horses were there.





And they brought us free beer!



We didn't go on this Ferris Wheel, I just like pictures of Ferris Wheels.


Husband was in his element.




That's it for us. More adventures next week.
Happy Easter to you all!!

Strawberry Summer Cake

Strawberries are 3 for $5 at Publix right now. This is a great deal!
I bought them knowing I would have to figure something out so they didn't go bad. Luckily, I found a fabulous recipe from Smitten Kitchen. Her site makes it so easy. She has every recipe organized in such a way that I was able to look at a list of everything she has made with just strawberries to pick what I wanted.
And what I wanted was this Strawberry Summer Cake.



First clean up your berries.

Mix your dry ingredients into your wet ingredients and pour them into a buttered 10 inch pan - 9 inch pie pans will NOT work here!


Place your berries on top and sprinkle with sugar.



Bake.

Eat.


Soooooo good! I had some for breakfast, I'm not gonna lie. And I feel good about it.
Get better photos and the entire recipe here. Thanks again for another delicious recipe Smitten Kitchen!

Making Food & Eating It...By the Docks

I am really loving the recipes over at Smitten Kitchen. The photos are fabulous and the food tastes great!

Last night I made the pesto potato salad with green beans along with fried egg sandwich with bacon & blue cheese.
We ate our delicious meal by the water and watched a beautiful sunset.

First you boil your potatoes and chop up your green beans.


Prepare your pesto ingredients.


Let your potatoes and beans cool.


Process the basil and garlic. Add olive oil, salt and pepper.


Toast up some pine nuts.


Add all that to your potatoes and beans.


Stir. I boiled my potatoes a tad too long but luckily that doesn't affect the taste!


Then I made the egg sandwiches.


And we headed to the water with one of my thrifted picnic baskets.


Husband loved it.




The dolphins came close to us for a second and then took off. This was the best shot I could get with dinner in my lap!




I love to be near the boats.





Have a great Tuesday everyone. And check out those recipes at smitten kitchen!

30 in Disney

It happened. I turned 30. I don't know how it happened...it seems like only yesterday I was 29. Time is really flying.

I spent this wretched Birthday in Disney World with the best people I know. We had a great time!!

Saturday we hit up Animal Kingdom to check out some Animals.


Everyone wore their favorite green tees in celebration of me...I mean St. Patrick's Day ;)

We saw bats and learned that some of them have wing spans of up to 6 feet!


These hippos did not care about us one bit.



The rhino was out and about.

And so were the elephants.





Giraffe lookin tall.

We rode the monorail.





We looked at treats.

We ate some eggrolls.


We went on our favorite rides.





We ate dinner in Mexico - my favorite!

Thank you all for a wonderful 30th Birthday. I can't wait for our next adventure!