U.S. National Arboretum

After my trip to the French embassy, I had a few hours to kill before rush hour started, so at the suggestion of my friend and her fiance, I decided to spend some time at the U.S. National Arboretum. (FYI, all of the "tourist attractions" in D.C. are free, so it's worth it to check at least one place out if you're in the area!) The arboretum is huge and most of the gardens were not in bloom, so I just visited the Bonsai garden, the herb garden, and the Asian forest. Deep in the Asian forest there is a little trail that takes you down to the river, so of course I checked that out too! It was 90 degrees that day, but the tree coverage kept everything pleasant. I'd love to go back in the spring when more gardens are in bloom!

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Lately....

So.... things have been quiet on the blog this week because I can't seem to upload my photos onto my computer! We switched the location of our wireless router and now my phone won't sync up with my computer anymore. And my computer doesn't recognize it when it's plugged in, so.... yeah. I'll figure something out. In the mean time, here's what I've been up to lately.

Watching:
Sightseers - I had come across the trailer for this some time last year, and then it was brought to my attention more recently when I saw it mentioned by another blogger... then I found out it was on Netflix so Shawn and I settled in to watch it on our last day off together. It had a slow start and the story was quite awkward, but that seems to be the case with most independent films. I would say it's worth a watch though!
The One That I Love - After the aforementioned movie, I told Shawn about this one, which I had watched by myself months ago. Netflix has it listed as a comedy, but it's more of a romantic sci-fi thriller. I enjoyed it just as much the second time around, and Shawn did too, as I suspected.
Love, Lust, or Run - Makeover shows are my guilty pleasure (whether they come in the form of mis-dressed people or renovated houses), and What Not to Wear was my absolute favorite back in the day. Imagine my delight when I heard that Stacy London is now hosting a new show, similar to WNtW but also a spin off of the BBC's Snog, Marry, Avoid. I've caught every episode on YouTube, since we don't have cable. I love and hate that the episodes are only 20 minutes long.

Reading:
I'm still working my way through my bookcase. About a month or so ago I started reading The Master and Margherita, but I just could not get into it. I read about 35 pages and then decided that was enough. I don't usually do that with books, but I really didn't feel like wasting my time with this one. I'm actually a little offended because it was given to me in high school by a friend under the pretense that I "would really love it". Hm, maybe that friend didn't know me very well after all. So I picked up The Perks of Being a Wallflower instead and have been breezing through that. It's fun to re-read books I read as a teenager- they're easy to get through, and I don't feel bad donating them afterwards. If something has been sitting on my bookshelf for that long, I might as well re-read it before giving it away!

Offline:
The most exciting thing in my life right now is that my dad bought me plane tickets to visit them in Madrid in October! We'll also be spending a weekend in Barcelona (I booked accomodations on airbnb; we'll be staying here!) - I can't wait! I've never been to Spain before, so getting to see two major cities in one trip is a big deal. The only downside is that my passport expires at the end of the year and I need to renew it before my trip. Normally, this wouldn't be a big deal, but since I'm a French citizen, I have to go to either the French Consulate in DC or in New York to do this, since the Philadelphia location doesn't deal with passports. So now I'm looking at a day trip (or two) just to do that. But, it's totally worth the hassle! At least, I'll be thinking that in October once my feet are on Spanish soil....

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Amy's Bridal Shower

My friend Amy is getting married in August, and she asked her three best friends to be in her bridal party. Her friend Billy lives out of the country, so the other maid of honor, Alyson, and I took it upon ourselves to throw Amy a bridal shower, with lots of help from her family. We decided to have it at her house, and asked her mom to take her out and distract her while a few of us decorated the backyard for the shower. What ensued was something "very Pinterest-worthy"... as we were told by a few people at the shower!




Alyson is the queen of DIY and made all of the decorations herself! With her crafting skills and my kitchen skills, we threw a heck of a party! We went with a wine & cheese theme, and a teal/pink/gold color scheme. She spray painted wine and beer bottles white and dipped the bottoms in gold glitter, then we tossed some pink peonies in them. She also made a bride-to-be banner out of burlap and paint, and made a wooden A & E sign in the color scheme, with the date of their wedding on it. (That's now sitting on Amy and Eric's mantel!)








As far as food goes, we opted for light fare since it was outside mid-afternoon on a warm spring day. Alyson made a southwest-inspired quinoa salad and a watermelon mojito salad. I picked up a few different cheeses, some prosciutto, soppressata and crackers, and made caprese skewers, triple lemon cupcakes for dessert, along with nutella brownie muffins, and I purchased some macarons from a local French bakery. We also had some fruit and vegetables out with hummus. Her parents brought the wine - an assortment of reds and whites, though I think most of the guests stuck with white, myself included. Alyson also made a delicious ginger mint punch that didn't last long!






For favors, Alyson made oatmeal lavender bars of soap with a little wrapper that read "From Amy's shower to yours!" (Like I said, she is the queen of DIY!) For the game prizes we gave out small bottles of wine that she decorated with burlap and ribbon to fit the color scheme. When I was out shopping for shower supplies, I came across fun cutouts of glasses, lips, and crowns that Alyson and I glued to long skewers to use as photo booth props! We used my polaroid camera to snap silly photos of each of the guests, and then they used washi tape to stick them onto a colorful page and write a piece of advice for the bride. We put all of those pages, along with some other fun photos snapped throughout the party, into a small scrapbook for Amy. Alyson glued the shower invitation onto the front of the scrapbook, and now Amy has a tangible reminder of the special party we threw just for her!






This is the second bridal shower I've thrown (also the second wedding I've been in!) and it was so much fun to plan! I was a novice for the first shower I co-hosted, but for this one I had some experience under my belt, and lots of help. Alyson and I started planning months ago and it was difficult not mentioning any part of the process here, because I know Amy reads the blog... but now that the shower has happened, I'm excited to share the details here. Alyson and I had a private pinterest board where we exchanged ideas about what to do/make. It was fun putting our own little twist on everything. And I'm not ashamed to say that I definitely used the shower as an excuse to buy that polaroid camera ;) The shower was supposed to be a surprise, but Amy figured it all out the week beforehand. Oh well! It was still a blast for everyone that came, and we couldn't have asked for more cooperative weather. Just an awesome day all around!

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April Baking

Lemon drop cookies



Mini orange cranberry crumb muffins



Petit fours fit for spring!



Carrot cake cookies



Almond orange cloud cookies



Chocolate vanilla swirl cupcakes (they remind me of soft serve!)



Teapot sugar cookies



Mini chocolate salted caramel tarts

I thought April pastries were more colorful, but these photos don't seem to tell that story... regardless, I tried some new recipes that I think will work well for the shop and I'm excited to make them again. May is a whole new month (with hopefully more color!) and this week is all about prepping for mother's day tea. I'll be making some fun things, and I'll be working the tea on Sunday, so I'll actually get some photos of the tiers with everything on them! Can't wait to share :)

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March Baking

Oatmeal cranberry cookies with macadamia nut butter



Raspberry coconut macaroons



Irish potatoes



Irish soda bread



Bailey's Irish cream cake



White chocolate macadamia nut cookies



Nanaimo bars



Petit fours fit for spring!



Chocolate mousse



Chocolate and vanilla cupcakes in pretty cake cups for a catering




Oatmeal raisin cookies with cinnamon cream cheese center
I love that the different holidays each month influence the things that I make. Obviously March was about all things Irish (or should I say - American-Irish). April is going to bring a lot of color back into pastries - I'm ready for spring! Lots of pinks and yellows, just like the flowers outside will soon be.

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February Baking

Lemon cupcakes




Linzer cookies



Shortbread hearts



Butterscotch blondies



Chocolate sandwich cookies




Chocolate chip coconut macaroons



Tart shell prep



Bridal shower cake



Petit fours (this particular combo makes me think of mermaids....)



Vanilla cupcakes

While I'm not a fan of Valentine's Day, I am a fan of any excuse to make themed pastries! So February was all about hearts and the color pink. We had Valentine's Day tea with a special menu, including a raspberry double chocolate scone, flourless chocolate cake, macadamia nut bark, fruit tarts... and other things I can't remember at this point because I didn't take any photos (!) and it was too long ago. We create special menus for all the major holidays, which means making treats that are a little 'fancier' than our usual goodies, or that use more expensive ingredients we don't normally get a chance to use. The only problem is that I'm rarely working on those days, since they're always on a weekend. So I hardly ever get photos of the finished product! And the prep photos are never as exciting. Boo! February was fun though; a great month to get all caught up again after the frenzy of the Christmas/New Years holidays of the months prior.

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