Friday Favs + Valentine's Goodies Swap!

Holla back if you're glad it's Friday! Woop woop!

Just picture me doing this dance and if you weren't smiling already, you will be.

OH! Before you do another thing, go wish Amanda a happy wedding day!!! Go on, I'll wait. 

...

I'm so excited for her and I know she will be the most gorgeous bride! Congrats and best wishes Amanda! 

This week was...long. Really really long. But here are the things that made me smile:

Favorite song: 

Ed Sheeran, Thinking Out Loud

I've been jammin' to this Ed Sheeran song this week, I LOVE it! Such a sweet song, and I could listen to his voice all day, erry day. 

Favorite new food: 

OMG you guys. This new Ben and Jerry's flavor, dough (Get it?? Dough?? Hahaha, I slay me).

Shut. Up. 

Oh Ben and Jerry, how I love you. But why do you do this to me?? Do you want me to be fat?? Also, Jimmy Fallon you are killing it right now. Killing. it. I haven't tried this flavor yet but it is on the list! 

Favorite workout: 

I would follow that up with my favorite workout. But as I like to say, no pain, no cake (or other delicious dessert of any kind)! 

21 Day Fix Extreme: Plyo Fix, you guys. Straight up ridiculous, in a good way. But I may or may not feel like I'm going to die multiple times during this workout. The only thing that makes me feel better 'bout it is that the extremely ripped and fit people on the video are also sweating buckets and having to stop and breathe every now and then so they don't pass out. I thought the regular 21 Day Fix workouts were intense. HAHAHA, yeah no.

Favorite Posts: 

This post by Kristen of See You In A Porridge- Where I thought I'd be by now- I think this is something we can all identify with am I right? 

This one about Athleisure Wear by B Loved Boston inspired me to try those joggers again! Are they not so cute when they're styled right? And who would say no to looking super cute and stylish in what is basically sweatpants?? 

Emelia of Dream Big & Buy The Shoes- I LOVE what she says in this post called You Are Beautiful/Love More. Judge Less. Just read it. 

Favorite Mail: 

Ok, I actually got this last week but it totally counts- I participated in a Valentine's Goodies Swap hosted by Bella of Bella and the City and Carly of Musings of a Wanderer! 

I was matched up with Lauren of Genuinely Lauren and I was so happy to meet her and discover her blog! Getting a package in the mail is always fun and even more so when it's a package of surprises! I was SO excited when I opened the box to see this: 

Is this not the cutest mug ever?? I'm such a coffee mug addict, and this is a perfect addition to my collection! Plus the coffee she sent is SO good, no joke Hazelnut is my favorite flavored coffee. And I LOVE the washi tape, can you believe I have never had washi tape before?? Serious blogger fail right? But now I do have some and I can't wait to use it! 

Thank you so much Lauren, I love it all and I am so excited to continue to read your blog and get to know you better! 

Even though this post is already way too long, I gotta include some Favorite Funnies: 

Well that's all I've got today lovelies! Have a truly fabulous weekend, whether you're schedule is full or you're basically binge-watching TV and eating pizza all weekend, make it a great one! 

The Story of Us: Part 2

Ok, part 2 of our story is up next! If you missed Part 1, you can read that here.

So anyways...we had the game night and Sarah and Emily had been acting kind of weird for a couple of days afterwards. Like whispering and smiling and such, you know how girls do. I really didn't think much of it, just figured if there was something they knew that involved me, they would tell me.

A few nights later Sarah told me "Adam had a really good time the other night" and I think from her tone of voice and the way she said it I pretty much immediately figured out what she was trying to say. They (Sarah and Emily) had debated whether they should tell me that Adam liked me and wanted to get to know me better, and that he had asked if they thought he should just call me sometime or wait until we had another group thing. Knowing me and my super shy nature Emily and Sarah thought I might feel more comfortable in a group setting at first, so they planned a lunch thing at Kevin's apartment.

It was pretty much a typical weekend afternoon for us, eating KFC and playing Mario Party (we were CRAZY college kids, you guys). Adam and I interacted of course, but no more than anyone else, we all just had fun together.

About a week later, when Rebecca and I came back from the gym, I walked in the door and Sarah immediately tells me "Adam called." (This was on my cell phone, and it just occurred to me...I went to the gym and left without my cell phone?? How times have changed.)

I quickly checked my voicemail and his message said that he had gotten my number from Emily and he wanted to know if I wanted to do something that night. I promptly began to freak OUT because as you may recall at this point I have pretty much zero experience with dating AND I'm an overthinker so I'm all nervous and awkward. I had plans already for that night so I called him back and asked him if he wanted to do something tomorrow instead. He said that would work and the plan was set.

The next afternoon after church (it was a Sunday) I called and we agreed to meet at a local arcade later that afternoon. I went to lunch with Sarah and Rebecca in the cafeteria and could barely eat anything, I was so nervous. We met at the arcade and played all the games for a while, then went to Starbucks for a while, just chatting. I honestly can't really remember what we talked about, but I do remember it just being so natural and easy, even with my nervousness. I was all "Hey this isn't so bad, this guy is really easy to talk to" and he said we would call me later that week.

About a week later was the day before Valentine's Day "date" and after that he started hanging out with our group a lot more and we started calling and texting each other a few nights a week. I was starting to fall for him, and I didn't even realize it yet.

Caramel Latte Cake

Y'all, this one is super easy. It's a modified cake mix but by the time you add the extra stuff you totally cannot tell it's a mix! It has a lovely dense, moist texture and it tastes AMAZING. Basically when you add the dulce de leche filling it tastes like a caramel frappuccino from Starbucks, plus buttercream. 

CARAMEL LATTE CAKE

3 cups yellow cake mix

1 cup warm water

1 tablespoon instant espresso coffee granules

1/3 cup butter, melted

3 eggs

Filling:

1 can (13.4 oz) dulce de leche 

½ cup hot water

3 tablespoons instant espresso coffee granules 

1 tablespoon dark rum or 1 teaspoon rum extract plus 2 teaspoons water

Buttercream: (This is a double batch which should give you more than enough, but it never hurts to have extra!)

4 sticks REAL butter (none of that margarine or shortening stuff)

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

8 cups powdered sugar

4-6 Tbsp milk, add more or less until spreadable consistency

Directions:

1. Heat oven to 350°F. Prepare three 8 inch pans with shortening and flour, or one 9x13 pan. 

2. In large bowl, place cake mix. In 1-cup glass measuring cup, stir 1 cup warm water and 1 tablespoon espresso granules until granules are dissolved. Add espresso mixture, butter and eggs to cake mix. Beat with electric mixer on low speed 30 seconds; scrape bowl. Beat on medium speed 2 minutes longer. Pour batter equally into pans, or all into one 9x13. 

3. For the three 8 inch pans, bake for approximately 20 minutes or until toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean (they don't take long to bake because they are thin layers). For the 9x13 you may need slightly more baking time. Cool in pan on cooling rack about 15 minutes, then turn out of pans. 

4. Meanwhile, spoon dulce de leche into medium microwavable bowl. In small bowl, mix 1/2 cup hot water, 3 tablespoons espresso granules and the rum; stir into dulce de leche until smooth. Microwave uncovered on High 2 to 3 minutes, stirring after about 1 minute with whisk, until pourable. Set aside while cake cools. 

5. To make the buttercream: beat butter in mixer with vanilla and milk. Slowly add powdered sugar until fully incorporated, and then beat on low medium speed until smooth and fluffy. 

6. From here, if you did a 9x13, you can poke holes into the cake with a wooden spoon and pour the dulce de leche filling on top. 

If you did a layered cake, you will want to fill each layer with buttercream to keep the filling from seeping into the cake and then add the chilled dulce de leche filling on top of the buttercream, but not too much because it will ooze out of the sides! Then ice the cake with buttercream and drizzle dulce de leche filling on top.

Tips: 
* The filling is really liquid-y (technical term) since it actually is meant as a "poke cake" where you pour the filling all over the cake. I like it as a layer cake, so I just make sure the filling is as cold as possible when filling the cake, and then once you have it filled you'll want to do a thin coat of icing over the whole cake to seal it all in and let it chill in the fridge for a bit. Then add the other coats of icing until desired thickness. As long as you don't let it get too warm after that it should all stay together, but you probably want to store it in the fridge and pull it out about 30-45 minutes before serving (because cold cake = yuck).

* It also helps to do a "dam" of buttercream around the perimeter of each layer and just do the filling in the middle, so that when the pressure from the layer on top squishes the filling down, it has room to expand a little and the buttercream dam will hold it in better. This is true of any more loose cake filling, like preserves, lemon curd, ganache, etc. 

Enjoy! 

Weekend Recap: Valentine's Edition

Happy Monday lovelies!

It was a wonderful weekend! I got to spend lots of quality time with my sweetie, including all day Saturday for Valentine's!

On Friday I brought these Red Velvet Oreo Truffles from Eat, Drink, and Be Mary to work. They were a HUGE hit! Of course I had to sample some myself, and I concur with my coworkers, OM NOM NOM.

Friday night we spent at home, eating yummy steak for dinner and binge-watching our latest show, Eureka. It's extremely campy Sci-Fi, and we love it! We're on the last season though so we're going to have to find a new show to watch soon.

Saturday morning we slept in and then headed out to brunch at Cracker Barrel because we're apparently 80 years old. 

I was loving my new boyfriend jeans from Target with my nude flats (also from Target!)

After stuffing our faces with all kinds of yumminess we went over to the Riverside area of town to look in the antique shops. We stopped for a cup of coffee at a place called Cool Moose Café. 

Yes, that is a gator head and feet in a turtle shell. The things you find in antique shops...

I was looking for an antique wire basket to put cookbooks in, like this one: 

Source

But I couldn't find one this time. I'm still on the lookout, I really want it as decor for our coffee bar/hutch in the dining room. 

On the way home we stopped by Sonic for Happy Hour drinks! The Vanilla Dr. Pepper was calling my name. 

When we got home these were waiting for me: 

Aren't they beautiful?? White daisies and red alstroemeria, some of my favorite flowers! He did good. 

Sunday was a lazy day as usual, we chilled at home most of the day. I did get to make the blueberry muffins for Adam as his Valentine's treat: 

So I was going to do this ON Valentine's but I wasn't able to figure out how to make the muffins without Adam knowing (plus we had decided to go out for brunch anyway), so I settled for getting him a card and candy and gave that to him on Saturday. Then Sunday morning I was like well I might as well still make him muffins and then just put them in a box with the cute tag. Then I couldn't get to the boxes we had (they were stored) and he came up behind me while I was cutting out the tag, so it was kind of a fail. The struggle is real, y'all. 

But he still enjoyed the muffins! So that's something! Right??

We went to dinner with friends and then I ended the evening eating chocolate chip cookies and watching Downton and Grantchester.  

Link up with us and tell us all about your weekend! 

My Favorite Valentine's Memory

*This is sort of a continuation of our story, but more of just a little aside within the story, if you will. I will continue the main story next Thursday as promised*

As I have mentioned, Adam was my first and only boyfriend/dating relationship, so I spent A LOT of Valentine's Days as a single lady (all the single ladies), but it never really bothered me that much. Of course there were Valentine's Days I wished I had a boyfriend to send me flowers or bring me candy, but I never really just hated the day or anything.

It's kind of funny because my favorite Valentine's memory is actually of the Valentine's Day immediately before Adam and I were "official", when we were in the "we're just hanging out as friends" phase (like February 13th was literally our second time hanging out just the two of us). At this point we knew there was interest, but we were just getting to know each other. We planned to meet at Starbucks that afternoon to have coffee and chat. 

So I felt kind of awkward going on a "date" (we didn't call it a date at the time, but let's face it, that's what it was) with this guy I didn't know very well right before Valentine's Day. Isn't that like, a cardinal rule of dating or something? Don't plan a date with a guy you're not in an official relationship with on or right around Valentine's? Obviously I was clueless. I didn't know if he would feel like he should bring me some kind of gift and I didn't want him to feel like he had to. But what if he did?? And what if it was weird?? And what should I doooo and saaaaay??

Clearly I was overthinking things, as usual. Since it was all so new to me I was super afraid of doing something wrong or awkward or weird. 

When I arrived I noticed he didn't have candy or a card or anything so I was like "Ok, cool. Now I know" and we sat and talked for awhile. Then as we were getting ready to leave he goes "I have something in the car for you" and I was like "Oh snap."

So I walk to the car with him and he pulls out a card and a Guitar how-to book. We both played guitar and had talked about it and he knew I was just learning chords and stuff, so he thought I might like to read up on it. I was thinking "Well gosh darn it that's just the most adorable and thoughtful thing ever!" and I was impressed that he managed to come up with something thoughtful and sweet but not the kind of gift that says "Happy Valentine's Day, we are just getting to know each other but let's define the relationship right here and right now!"

Then I opened the card and it was a Valentine's greeting card with Barbie on it and said "For a Special Granddaughter" but "Granddaughter" was crossed out and he had written "Julie" in it's place (Julie is what my friends have always called me even though my real name is Julia). I cracked up and all of the nervousness left.

You would have to know Adam to know this perfectly embodies his quirky sense of humor and I absolutely loved it. Again I was impressed that he struck the perfect balance between sweet and funny and a little bit of sentimental as we were discovering how we felt about each other. I left that day thinking "This guy is something pretty special."

Of course we've had many wonderful Valentine's as a couple since then, but this one is my favorite because it was my first real glimpse into what a sweet, thoughtful, funny, and considerate guy Adam is, and though I didn't know it at the time, it was the start of something wonderful. 

What's your favorite Valentine's Day memory?

DANG I am wordy! And I tried to be more succinct with this one, really I did!