Twiggie Makes by Candace Grahl

My mother in law was in town this weekend to help out with the monkies while hubby was away. This meant a little more free time to myself and I got to tackle not only my inbox but also my feed reader (which I knocked out completely on Sunday, went back to check on it today and am yet again waaaaaaay behind. Blergh.) But while sifting through literally hundreds of updated feeds I found some little gems along the way that made my back straighten and my eyes perk up just a little bit more. So here ya go: Top Ten Pretty-To-Me Links.

1) Vintage Paper Parade I just love this etsy shop. Super simple but super cute stationery - I can not narrow down which is my favorite, love it all! (and Pepper Design Blog is doing a giveaway so head on over to score some adorable and f-r-e-e goods)

2) Red & Teal Wedding While perusing the archives of one of my favorite photography blogs, I found this little gem and it blew me away. I would love to say I have the cahoonah’s to do such a bright color scheme for my wedding but isn’t it gorgeous?! And the cake, did you see the cake? OhMyGoshIJustLoveIt. LOVE. IT. *swoon* *drool* *sigh*

3) Best Easter Baskets Easter is one of my favorite holidays but sometimes the “cutesyness” of it overwhelms me. However, I am always a sucker for a beautifully designed and executed Easter basket. My favorite? The dyed Easter basket. So incredibly simple but so lovely.

4) Beautiful Cherry Blossom Cookies Aren’t these cookies amazing?? I don’t think I could bring myself to eat one! Wait, who are we kidding - of course I could. But I would take tons of pictures first.

5) DIY Ruffles and Lace Tank Top Sewing can be such a fussy process, one that irritates and bores me but I think I will blow the dust off of my sewing machine to make one of these - pink puffy *heart* this.

6) Only the best cake ever Today. (cuz we all know I will change my mind when I find another one tomorrow) but still, so stunning (Brandi, I think you should have this cake for Bug’s 2nd birthday party. Just a thought *wink*).

7) Macaron pops Love me some macarons. Love me some lolli’s. Love me some Bakerella.

8) Shauna Younge I am a huge Amy Atlas fan and love seeing what her genius-mind comes up with but I found another pro in the dessert bar field and I can’t get enough of her stuff either! Her “LOVE” dessert table knocked my socks off - so sweet and I am totally digging the silhouette’s.

9) Pentunia Pickle Bottom Cosmopolitan Carryall I mean, the name is just fabulous on it’s own (Petunia…so lovely). But then the description makes my eyelids flutter “Sapphire blue and Ocean Mist vintage inspired floral European cut velvet with coordinating sapphire blue wool tweed and sapphire blue water resistant lining” What does it all mean? I don’t care. All I know is she takes my breath away.

10) Simple yet Adorable Cuppie Today kicked my butt, especially between the hours of 3pm to 7pm, so to stumble upon this little gem really brought a sense of peace and tranquility to my mind. Is it weird that food does that? No? Good. A little yummy topped with sweetness on a backdrop of happiness. I know it’s weird but I’m 10% auditory, 90% visual so it just happens that way. But man, isn’t it a beauty.

Hubby went out of town this past weekend to Austin, TX to attend SXSW. Seeing that he and his crazy diet were going with him, I decided to break out one of my favorite (and super duper easy!!) breakfast recipes, chocked full of processed, buttered and sugary goodness to cook up for us to enjoy. This is one of those recipes that makes the words “comfort food” come to my mind. I remember my mom making this for us on Sunday mornings before we went to church. It is so amazingly delicious and smells just as good when it is baking that it would quite literally wake us from our Sunday morning sleeping. When I tweeted that I was going to devour my weight in monkey bread I received three twitter responses of “What is monkey bread?” and I just about fainted. Only because I am so sad that these women have lived for so many years without ever tasting it. And actually, you might have had it as a child only called it something else. I can not for the life of me understand why they call it monkey bread, but whatever I don’t care. It is so good. And I drop my voice as low as I can when I say gooooooooood. So here it is, my beloveds: the monkey bread recipe.

Monkey Bread

3 cans of refrigerated biscuits (regular size - we get the 4-pack)
3/4 cup sugar
1-1/2 tbsp cinnamon
1/4 cup butter, melted
2 cups confectionery sugar
1 to 3 tbsp water

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees and grease a 9″ or 10″ bundt pan (or tube pan, as some call them, altho I like calling it a bundt pan mainly because I love the scene in My Big Fat Greek Wedding where the grooms mom brings the bundt cake to the family dinner and the mother of the bride can not pronounce “bundt” but then turns to her family, totally confused and says “This cake has a hole in it.” *snort*). Pour the sugar and cinnamon in a ziplock freezer bag, seal the bag and then mix it together until evenly combined. Quarter the refrigerated biscuits, pull them a part…

…and then place in the bag with the cinnamon-sugar.

Seal the bag tightly (and make extra sure it is closed or else you will have a big ol’ mess on your hands. and you can trust me on that one.) and then toss the bag around in your hands to make sure all that dough gets coated in the cinnamon-sugar mixture.

Take the cinnamon-sugar coated dough chunks and place them evenly around the greased bundt pan.

Combine the melted butter and the remainder of the cinnamon-sugar mix and drizzle on top of the dough. Place in the oven, bake 30-35 minutes. Once done, remove from the oven and let cool for 5-10 minutes. Invert onto a plate or cake stand. In a small-medium sized bowl combine the confectionery sugar and water, adding a tablespoon at a time and whisk until all lumps are gone and icing consistency is achieved (in between runny and sludgy. or sludgey. is that even a word?). Drizzle on top of warm monkey bread.

Pull a part and be ready to eat so much you will make yourself sick. But in one of the best ways possible!

*You could also add raisins or nuts before you put it in the oven, if you so desire.

Since I am swearing off refined sugar for a month *gulp* I thought what better week to do a Flickr Friday showcasing my favorite sweet treat: cupcakes and frosting. Especially buttercream frosting. Lots and lots and lots of buttercream…so beautifully delicious.

1. Cupcake Pops, 2. Colorful Engagement Cupcake Samples, 3. pink cupcakes, 4. Marie Antoinette cupcakes, 5. Strawberry Cupcakes, 6. what’s for dessert? // vegan mint oreo cupcakes, 7. Bright Flowers 21st Cupcakes, 8. Pretty pink cupcakes, 9. Easter Cupcakes & Minis, 10. Pink & Blue Vanilla Cupcakes, 11. Baileys flavour white cupcake, 12. rose cupcakes, 13. cupcake, 14. cupcakes, 15. green tea cupcakes, 16. red owl and bird cupcake box

Spring is certainly in the air and I am thrilled beyond measure! And this coming from someone who loves winter so you know I am that excited about this change. The woods behind our house has turned from a grayish-brown of tangled trees to softer shades of green with even hints of pink and red blooms poking out here and there. The other day I even smelled fresh grass clippings on my way home from the store and I breathed it in as quickly and heavily as I could as to not miss any of it. The winter wasn’t bad this year but symbolically it was the end of a long personal battle I’ve had and I stand on the other side a victor. So seeing spring come, with all it’s newness and endless possibilities and I am ready to just dive right in, head-first. Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

One thing that really helped me dive right in: Martha Stewart. Have you seen the April edition of Martha Stewart Living? Check out these GORGEOUS decoupage eggs

And my fave, the paper-napkin decoupage eggs:

Seriously, how can your eyes just not feast on those colors? I never realized how much I love color. I mean, I really really love it. One of my favorite things to do is help people pick colors for their home, their office, themselves - it’s such a fun task and mixing and matching combinations and watching them meld together or play off one another is so cool. I haven’t had much time to create lately, but letting my eyes enjoy the palette of bold, rich colors is just as satisfying sometimes and I can do that with two little monkeys hanging off of me.

Sometimes it’s really hard not to wish my little dudes were older. I think and dream up all kinds of things I want to spend hours creating with my hands, or plans for myself in a possible career I would love to pursue, but I am jolted back into reality by the whiff of a dirty diaper or a squeal because someone can’t find his silly putty. I know that in ten years - well, not even ten, probably more like two or three - I will have much more time to myself, but I will also not have a baby to hold who delights in getting kisses, or a preschooler who pleads with me to tickle him. Some days will be harder than others not to wish away and I hope I learn to be gracious to myself and the creative process that I love so much, even when I can only devote a few minutes to it at a time, if even that much.

My creative endeavors were side-lined last week when our household was leveled with that nasty stomach bug. If you haven’t gotten this yet, count your lucky stars because it is ewwwwwwwwwww. Everyone is back to feeling tip-top just in time for the spring weather. I seriously hope we’re not just being teased - I’m so sick of being indoors.

Tim is on the internet all day with his job and finds some pretty cool things along the way. He passed this one to me last week and I have watched it quite a few times. It’s a talk given by Elizabeth Gilbert, the author of Eat, Pray, Loveand she talks about a different way to look at your creative genius. It’s a funny, personal and surprisingly moving talk that has really stirred me in a way that I haven’t been in awhile (when she gets to the part about seeing a glimpse of God, it gives me chills every time). If you are at all creative or enjoy the creative process and understand the pressures it sometimes carries, you must watch it. I would LOVE to hear your thoughts on it when you’re done. Actually, I’m going to go watch it again - love it.