Foodie Pen Pal- Macaroons

When you see that package sitting at your front door, your heart skips a beat. You get pumped up that somebody cares enough to send you a gift. This particular gift is special though, because it comes from someone that I have never met. This someone is named Megan and we got linked up with me through the Foodie Pen Pal program.

Part of the fun for Belle was smelling all of the goodies!

Megan and her pups!

In the program you get a new Foodie Pen Pal each month. So you get new treats from somewhere across the U.S. and you get to send a package of treats from your hometown to somewhere else every month. It is so much fun! If you want to register click here.

My favorite thing that she sent was her homemade macaroons! They were so so so good, I had two just standing and looking at the rest of the stuff in my box and didn't notice! So I emailed Megan that I got her package and told her how much I loved her macaroons, so she gave me the recipe with a sweet note included!

"Those macaroons are so easy to make and a personal favorite so I am glad you are enjoying them! I experimented with some chocolate chips this time but have always wanted to mix it up with maybe some dried cranberries or nuts; maybe you can try something new in your first batch! Below I will provide the recipe- happy baking!"- Megan

Megan's Coconut Macaroons

Ingredients:

4 medium egg whites (1/2 cup)

1/4 cup sugar

1 tsp. vanilla extract

1/2 cup all purpose flour

1/4 tsp. salt

1 cup sugar (added at a different time than the sugar above)

2 1/2 cup sweetened coconut

Directions: Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Beat egg whites until stiff but not

dry, gradually adding 1/4 cup sugar and vanilla. In a separate bowl,

whisk together flour, salt and 1 cup sugar. Add coconut and mix until

well combined. Fold gently into the beat egg whites, a little at a

time, until all of the flour/sugar mixture is incorporated. Place

batter in rounded teaspoonfuls onto a parchment or silicone lined

baking sheet. Bake in preheated oven for 20-25 minutes, or until tops

are golden. Remove from oven and cool for 2 minutes, then carefully

remove macaroons using a thin spatula.

I enjoyed the Foodie Pen Pals so much and I can't wait to see what this upcoming month holds!

L.M. Sherwin

So this amazing woman, Leah Sherwin, who did my DYI Fork, Knife and Spoon and who accompanied me to the local farmers market well she is a super talented amazing author who is published her very first book today!

I am so proud of her!

Check out here book here or here and check her out here.

Oh and she is a creative drawer of cute leaves, as a side job :) Haha

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P.S. She told me that I was the first person to purchase her book :)

Kicking Butts

Sometimes you just don't know. You have no clue why your steps in life are moving in a direction you didn't see going. Obstacles and detours get put into your seeming so straight and easy path.

I have faith, that God has given me these speed bumps to get through and curved my path in order to show Him glory. In order to make me a stronger woman in His image.

It totally and completely sucks though. I mean really sucks!

But, I can do anything and everything better than I even think I am capable of because God kicks butts and takes names on my behalf.

I am never going to give up what I believe to be true and I am never going to stop taking steps towards my unchanging goal, so watch out world. I am coming for you!

On a side note: This past weekend I went down to the lake for some fam time and well here it is in picture form.

Being a Daughter

This week has been a struggle tug-a-war game with my heart in the middle.
I have gotten support from the people I love, but it has still been brutal.

Yesterday I sent my childhood pastor, John Darsey, an email about a crazy article that I thought he would enjoy. He kindly sent me a reply back about the article and then at the bottom it said:

"I sure enjoy your FB and blog. You seem to be every bit the happy, intelligent, confident, and lovely woman that we all knew you would be when you were little. If you don't mind me saying so, I believe your dad is proud of you. I sure am. Take care!"

Tears started streaming from my face as soon as I read it.
My father passed away when I was 13.
I just needed to hear those words so much.

I am happy, intelligent, confident and a lovely woman not only in my father's eyes but even more so in my heavenly Father's eyes despite how I feel some days.

Always having the mindset and outlook on life as being a daughter of God first and foremost can do wonders to your self-esteem.

Note it up.

I have an awesome housemate. This post-it note made my day. Write a fun note for somebody today. I double dog dare you. Which means you have to accept. The end.

Breaking Through

A small weed peeking through cracks in bricks and surrounded by barbed wire. Imagine how long it took this little determined guy to spread his roots and be born into life and survive. No matter how much you are struggling this week, remember to keep going. Remember to keep breaking through the barriers that come your way. Keep steadfast to your purpose and peruse what is right and true.

Good for the Soul

Do you ever have those weekends that are just good for the soul? 

You know the kind where you can bear your heart out to good people? 

That was this weekend for me. 

Being brutally honest with yourself and sharing your stuggles, triumphs and giggles with others is better than any other detox I know.

Run Unashamedly

Run, run as fast as you can. Don't look back, don't look down, just run. 

Don't let any other thoughts go through your head, just do it, just run. 

Run towards what you want. 

Set your destination and run wildly, unashamedly to it.

You are only stopping you. You are the one who causes you to stumble. 

You are your own biggest road block.

Don't be so worried with falling that you don't even began to start walking.

Don't let the obstacles get in the way of your goals. 

Always keep your eye on the goal and never look down.

Just keep pushing forward this week towards what you want. You can do it.

Via

Grandmother's Kitchen: Exploration

Diving into my grandmother's strawberry cake filled past has been an adventure that keeps on giving delicious surprises. Once the discovery of the recipes had been made, then came the task of sorting though all of them and typing them up to form a book which is where we are at now.

My housemate Rachel has been helping me with this task. She is the Collections Manager at Oak Hill & The Martha Berry Museum, so her knowledge on cursive is a huge help and her love for fine food makes it a fun project to do together. We have decided to type up at least 5 recipes every Monday night, in the hopes to have a lot of them done by my family reunion on September 27th! 

I took some photos of the recipe cards and did a watermark background to be the pages in the book. I think it will turn out pretty nice, if I do say so myself!

Someone just wanted me to pet her all night though, so it made things a little more difficult to get done! I am super excited to see the finished project, but I still have you know a couple hundred more recipe cards to go...

DYI: Fork, Knife, Spoon

I have about 9% craftiness in my body and that is when I am searching on Pinterest. However, I absolutely love DYI projects... just not necessarily when whey are done by me haha! I asked my super talented friend Leah to draw me a fork, knife, and spoon that would have the honor to be above my dining room table.

She totally delivered and was even sweet enough to take photos of the whole process.

Perfection.

Magazine Love: BH&G

Via

In the large bathroom at my office, there is a magazine rack... well because it is the large bathroom, you know... gross. But, some magic fairy at the office has a subscription to Better Homes & Gardens magazine and let me just tell you I could sit there for hours reading it. Well that sounds strange, but you know the magazines that you even love just looking at the ads because they are just as awesome as the articles (inner marketing nerd coming out) well that is BH&G for me.

So it tickled my fancy this week that one of my favorite websites, the Foundary had a special on this magazine. And when I say special, I mean oh my goodness awesomeness.

A two year subscription for $7.

Yep. Ridiculously cheap, like less than buying you and your girl friend's drink at Starbucks cheap. It is only going on for the next day or two so you should check it out.

You should get it, like now! From HERE.

Via

In the News: U.S. Postal Service

The United States Postal Service reported yesterday that they registered a loss of $5.2 billion or $5,200,000,000 for the third quarter. For one single quarter out of four per year. Holy crap! That is a lot of money that they have lost in a matter of three months.

But, they have gorgeous stamps...

Conversion

Making the best out of the worst. Nobody likes going to court, well except for the lawyers and judges and not even them some days. Yesterday morning Glenn and I had to go to court for the accident that we were in. Nothing like being at court at 9AM, but after that funness I had a fabulous day.

1/ Working across the room from this hottie and later laughing at #honeybooboo comments!

2/ Box wine in a mason jar... hipster or redneck!?!

3/ Being crazy in animal print.

4/ Sweet boyfriend on date night.

5/ Huge fish outside of the Atlanta Fish Market.

6/ Some amazing fish dishes (but the best sushi!).

Fungi

The waiter brought my steak to the table that was perfuming goodness into my eight year old nostrils. On the side of my mothers equally as sweet steak was a small bowl filled with what looked to be like little brown buttons covered with butter. I knew my distaste for those white rubbery mushrooms, but these, these brown little buttons peaked my interest. She asked if I would like to try the small treat, so I took a tiny mushroom with a bigger portion of steak obviously on my fork and plunged it into my mouth. I so enjoyed the taste of the mushrooms surrounded by steak, and so began my love affair with fungi.

1/2

The original standard white mushrooms. I don't particularly care for pre-sliced variety, well because they are always more expensive and I feel like a two year old could squeeze a mushroom in half so why would I pay more for that. Also, I almost always stay away from the white ones, because I simply love the taste of portobello mushroom more.

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Then is the big beautiful bellos. Oh how I love to bake in thee and add thee in replacement of noodles in lasagna. You are my favorite grocery store find. The baby portobello mushrooms make a home in my simple vodka sauce. However my favorite way to consume them is simply to drown them in red wine and butter with some herbs which creates a scrumptious side to well anything.

Wedding Photo Booth Photos

Just because wedding photo booths photos make me laugh...

You get to laugh with/at us...

Forts, BBQ, and Miracles

There is just something about stringing up bed sheets from dressers and door frames, and building a pallet on the floor to curl up in to watch a scary movie. That is indeed what my friday night existed of, with this cute boy that I know :) Oh and of course lots of pizza was consumed.

Awesome Fort Making Supplies! Via 1/2/3

Life is filled with responsibilities, and sometimes it is just super nice just to chill in a fort and forget about the outside world.

Glenn and I also met up with my folks this weekend at a BBQ place in a sleepy town.

He enjoyed that it was spelled right :)

On an even more personal level, I have been thinking a lot about miracles. Like big God miracles. Things that you would only dream about happening becoming real 

because you prayed for them to happen. 

Thinking something is to big for you to concur this week, it probably is by yourself. 

But, not with the help of God. 

Together you can preform miracles.