Hello? April? It's me, Olivia.

April has certainly been quite a busy month for us!  Please, please, please excuse the lack of blogging. It's not because I didn't want to, trust me. We've been preoccupied with birthdays (mine and a few friends), home improvement projects that go from five minutes to five hours, weddings (congrats to Jacq and Steven!), taxes and just general stuff. Plus, I've been adjusting to my fantastic new job and schedule!  That has been the best part of it all for me. I finally feel like I got my life back.

So here are a few snapshots to sum it all up! Happy April!

Magnolias at Dusk

  A growing collection of new photographs available later this week in my Etsy shop as the warm weather continues. Check out the rest of the collection here on my Facebook page.

Some new art.

I finally got to use one of my Groupons to CanvasPop last week. I bought it about six months ago and really waited til the last minute to use it because I had a feeling I would want to use it on a picture from our cruise -- and I was right.

The picture looks so good hanging in our living room nook that Tim just shakes his head in disbelief and says, "If I didn't know you actually took that picture and I was there with you, I'd swear that was fake." 

Thanks, Tim. Music to my ears. :)

(If you are interested in purchasing a photographic print of this picture, it is listed here on my Etsy site.)

DIY: Authentic Homemade Rum Cake

Shortly after we returned from our cruise a few weeks ago, I got another craving for some rum cake (imagine that).  So one evening, Tim and I went searching on the internet for good, homemade rum cake. It took a little patience and persistence but it paid off, because eventually we stumbled upon this wonderful little food blog and this one post about making authentic rum cake! The only problem was that we had to do a little converting for the measurements but after that it was smooth sailing.

The taste-testing during the process was a lot of fun. ;)

About an hour later, this is what you end up with after the glaze is poured.

 

 

 

It took a while for the glaze to absorb but the best part is eating it while it's warm!

In case you are interested in making this delectable little delight, I will include some of the conversions that we did:

Cake:
8.5oz Milk
3.88oz Butter
11oz  Flour
1/4 c  Rum (we used Meyer's Dark Rum)

(I know that doesn't cover all of the conversions but they just happened to be the only ones that I wrote down at the time.) 

We realized about halfway through that we were out of vanilla extract so we substituted with 1tsp of mango-flavored liqueur instead. We also omitted the nuts at the end -- just a personal preference. Either way, as long as you stay pretty close to the recipe you will end up with an AMAZING cake that is just so indulgent you won't believe your tastebuds.  Trust me.

Five On Friday: Caribbean style

Five Things I Learned On Our Caribbean Cruise:

1.  Sometimes it is worth it to book an expensive excursion through the cruiseline. As long as it takes you to places like this.

2.  When in doubt, go with a seafood dish.

3.  Be prepared to listen to lots of Bob Marley and other reggae music. (Which I didn't mind... but others in my group grew tired of it quickly.)

4. There is such a thing as too much rum.

5. There is no such thing as too much rum cake. :)

Caribbean Dreams

 It hasn't even been a week since our Caribbean cruise ended and I'm already dreaming of going back.  Thoughts of white sandy beaches, turquoise waters and fruity drinks keep me in a warm state of mind when it's 20 degrees outside.  These pictures and a few more will be available in the Etsy shop this weekend! Cheers.

Weekend Warmth

We had a terribly cold weekend.  It got down to 0 degrees overnight on Saturday. I have never experienced that in my life! Needless to say, we had a fire going all weekend.  On Sunday, while Tim was at work, I got this craving to make some white chocolate chip cookies. I couldn't really find any recipes that inspired me so I altered this recipe and I loved the results! So here's the recipe if you wanna try it and I changed the name to something more fitting.

Enjoy!

Winter Storm White Chocolate Oatmeal Cookies

2/3 cup butter or margarine, softened

2/3 cup brown sugar

2 large eggs

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 1/2 cups old-fashioned oats

1 1/2 cups flour

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 tsp ground cinnamon

2/3 cup white chocolate chips (or chunks)

1/3 cup sliced almonds

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat oven to 375ºF.

Using an electric mixer, beat butter or margarine and sugar together in a medium mixing bowl until light and fluffy. Add eggs, mixing well. Combine oats, flour, baking soda and salt in a separate mixing bowl. Add to butter mixture in several additions, mixing well after each addition. (The batter may seem a little bit dry but that's okay, it'll be fine.) Stir in sliced almonds and white chocolate chips. Drop by rounded teaspoonfuls onto parchment paper-covered cookie sheets. Bake for 10-12 minutes or until golden brown.

Five On Friday

Here are some things that caught my eye this week!

1. I first saw this video on Alicia Bock's blog and after I watched it I thought, "How cool." I hope this guy succeeds in locating those people.

2. Thought about taking this book to read while on the cruise. A Million Miles in a Thousand Years: What I Learned While Editing My Life  Have any of you guys read this? Thoughts?  On a related note, what do you guys think about e-readers. I am going back and forth between a Kindle and a Nook. Any thoughts on that?

 

3.  Also debating on whether or not to get the iPhone with Verizon (I've still got a few weeks to decide). If I decide to go with it, I am definitely buying these to put on the back. Gosh, I love Photojojo! :)

4. I am still dreaming about clothes for the cruise. If I could, (as in, had the extra money) I would get this dress from The Limited. So freakin' cute! (Minus the tights, of course.)

5. Thinking about more branding with livvielane photography and would love to get a custom stamp done. All I have been able to find is pre-made designs though. I would really love to find a place that could use my signature! If anyone knows a great place, please let me know! 

Have a fantastic weekend!

Good Eats.

Last week we finally got to try Terry's Turf Club on the Eastside. Our first attempt at dining at Terry's was unsuccessful – we missed the mark by a few hours because we thought they were open for lunch during the week (-- as of last week they are now open for lunch on Thursdays and Fridays). And then our second attempt was halted by some reconstruction they were doing on the kitchen earlier in the month. So last week we were thrilled when we actually got to sit down and see what all the fuss is about!

Terry's Turf Club came highly recommended from several locals and our favorite wine shop down the street. They also said it had been featured on Food Network's show "Diners, Drive-Ins & Dives"  -- so then we knew it had to be good! (Click here to see the Food Network clip with Guy Fieri on YouTube if you want to check it out.)

As you can see from the pictures above, the burgers are huge and built with great toppings. Tim and I both decided to get their classic burger and then add the aged English Cheddar and three strips of bacon. Y'all, I don't even have words to describe how good this burger was. Tim said it was the best burger he'd ever had in his entire life. For real.  And I think I might have to agree. I decided to get one of their fresh-juice cocktails - a blood orange martini - and that, too, was awesome. Oh, and the fries are really good, too.

Afterward, I was really craving some dessert (because I only ate half of my burger and decided to take the other half home) so we tried another new place a little closer to home called Marty's Hops & Vines. Obviously they are a beer and wine shop, but they also offer small plates/appetizers and desserts. I tried their flourless chocolate torte (last picture above) and it was fantastic.We really enjoyed the cozy atmosphere there, too.

All in all, a fabulous night for dinner and drinks and I can't wait to do it again.

Yesterday: Keeping Warm.

Stayed inside and enjoyed the day off with Tim.

Listened to this soundtrack
and worked on some new products.