It's the Little Things.

So I know I said I had all sorts of things to post...well I do, but I wasn't very good about posting any of them last week.  And it appears that I let a whole week fly by before posting anything!  Hmm..I really must try to change my ways.  But while I am attempting to figure that out, I figured I would leave you with a little something.

Here are some home updates.  My husband has been a little machine and he has been transforming our house every chance he gets.  This past weekend we repainted and restained our deck - pictures to come later.  He took off the pillar things near our back door.  Looks a whole lot better, but once again - this is the only photo I have!  We also had a bonfire last night after Peter sorted out the lilac tree that fell down in the rain and thunderstorm.  And I couldn't let all those flowers go to waste - so let's just say I pulled out nearly every vase I own and filled them with flowers.  And I had to get a picture of our raspberry bushes and our peas.  Things are growing!  Peter pulled a few blueberries off our bushes and they were delicious - huge, juicy berries that are free - doesn't get much better than that!  He also tasted one of our blackberries tonight - yes we have a blackberry bush.  I know, I know, it may have been the worst thing we ever did.  But let's just say Peter was pretty pleased with that one little blackberry - wish you could have seen the smile on that man's face.  Truly priceless - and as long as we maintain it, it can't get too bad right?? 

Yumm...some things that made me happy this past weekend - sour cream blueberry muffins (I should put the recipe in here, but then that would mean I would have to find it again!!), Indian food - delicious and I ordered it WAY spicier than I normally do - my mouth is salivating just thinking about how good it was, and carrot soup.  I have started making carrot soup weekly - a great way for me to get my vegetables, when I don't really feel like eating them!

And some more house projects...we had this brick container thing in front of our house and I give it the nasty eye every time I walk through the front door - which isn't all that often.  I don't know what it is about it, but I just don't like the bricks - I don't even really like the bricks on the sides of our house, but Peter says those are staying!  So what's a girl to do??  Get over it I suppose!  But we could fix one thing...the little brick container.  Peter destroyed it and put in a little planter box instead (finished product picture to be posted later I suppose).  And then we were left with all sorts of remnants which we eventually got rid of a few weeks later.  And another house project - Peter's parking spot.  It was full of just random rocks, weeds and dirt - and Peter dug ALL of that up and filled it in with crushed rock.  It looks so much better!  And lastly...our deck, this is a work in progress, and we spent this past weekend restaining things and repainting the black sides and the black pillars and Peter has built a new step, which I don't have a picture of!  And it looks so much Peter!  I feel so blessed to be homeowner's and even more blessed to be married to a man that LOVES house projects!  Next project - new windows, complete outer paint job, and a new bathroom (this is going to be my birthday present - new floor tiles, new sink, new toilet, new bathtub maybe?, maybe even new light fixtures - a girl can dream right??).

It truly is the little things...like good food, good company, and fun house projects that make me smile.  To be continued...I promise to post more than once this week!  

xoxo, 

Malia

Blueberry Muffins.

This past weekend I baked muffins.  They weren't just any muffins ...they were blueberry muffins, my absolute favorite!  I wanted to try a new recipe, and that in itself is always kind of risky, but I figured I couldn't really go wrong could I?  

I perused a few recipes, and landed on this one from Allrecipes, titled To Die for Blueberry Muffins.  And guess what? They were to die for!  I brought them to a girl brunch on Saturday, and they loved them, and Peter loved them too, but let's be honest, it's not too difficult to please him.  

Ingredients
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup white sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 egg
1/3 cup milk
1 cup fresh blueberries
1/2 cup white sugar
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup butter, cubed
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Grease muffin cups or line with muffin liners.
2. Combine 1 1/2 cups flour, 3/4 cup sugar, salt and baking powder. Place vegetable oil into a 1 cup measuring cup; add the egg and enough milk to fill the cup. Mix this with flour mixture. Fold in blueberries. Fill muffin cups right to the top, and sprinkle with crumb topping mixture.
3. To Make Crumb Topping: Mix together 1/2 cup sugar, 1/3 cup flour, 1/4 cup butter, and 1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon. Mix with fork, and sprinkle over muffins before baking.
4. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes in the preheated oven, or until done.

Weekend Highlights.

Here are a few of my weekend highlights...

Homemade Blueberry muffins - recipe to come later!

Yard renovations...the before.

During the process.  Getting rid of this awkward space in the fence.

Previous owners used it to store yard waste and branches.

The finished project.  Fence flush with rest of fence!

My highlight - new lamps from TJMaxx.

And they match our bedding perfect - note my new standard shams (Anthro sale).