This Life is Taylor Made

July 12, 2012

Ten on Ten: July 2012

starting the day.

always a list.

pinterest project.

chatting with the girls.

packing it up.

cookies n cream.

crazy thumb.

much needed outing.

farmers' market.

lovely discovery.

messy eaters.

July 4, 2012

Today while the girls were napping, I headed to the coffee pot for my afternoon date. I wasn't really in the mood for hot coffee, so I decided to experiment with some iced coffee. I like to drink my hot coffee black. Occasionally I will buy some frilly something to mix in, but usually straight out of the pot is how I take it.

When it comes to iced coffee, I'd rather have something sweeter. After filling my glass with ice, I filled the glass 3/4 of the way with the coffee from the pot. (Yes, this coffee was leftover from this morning. Yes, I'm sure that's gross, but that's just how it is at my house.) I then topped it off with milk and stirred. It was good, but I wanted some flavor in it. I dug out (don't judge) the powered sugar. I wanted sweet, but not regular sugar sweet. A few shakes and stirs later...delicious!

Now, I was already thinking of an icing recipe to top my chocolate cupcakes I made for dinner at Mom and Dad's. The powered sugar made me think of petit fours. (Last August the Duke girls met at my Aunt Lori's and spent the morning making petit fours. It was a blast. I was a whale, btw.) Anyway, I got out the Almond extract. Did you know that's what gives petit fours their flavor? I added barely a dash--didn't want to overdo it! It tastes so good!

Yummm....

And, yes I am wearing red, white, and blue. I'm nerdy cool like that.

June 25, 2012

What I Made.

This past Saturday I attended a baby shower for my good friend Suzanne. I had fun making this onesie and bib for Esther!

(I think this picture might be blurry. Either that or I need to change my contacts.)

I think the pear my be my best applique to date. That little leaf was a bit of a challenge, and it turned out so cute! I'm proud.

BFF Lauren shared this spin on chicken salad with me on Saturday. It is seriously delicious. I'm sure it has a name. And I'm sure I could find it on Pinterest, but I'm not going to try. I'll just call it Avocado Chicken Salad (even though it is so much more than that!).

Avocado Chicken Salad

Shredded chicken

(I used canned chicken...don't judge.)

Avocado

Cilantro

Green onion

Salt

Pepper

lime juice

There weren't any specifics when it came to amounts, so I just added as needed. I also threw in a can of garbanzo beans for fun.

I ate it with pita chips.

Steve said it would be good as a dip. I bet if you crushed the beans a little and added white onion and tomatoes, it would be like a salsa. And Lauren suggested black beans instead of the garbanzos...

So many possibilities...

June 21, 2012

Embrace the Camera 06.21.12

June 18, 2012

A Monday letter.

Dear Sergio Ramos, I really like your haircut. I mean, I liked your long hair too, and your cute headband, but this short hair is good.

Dear Kay Arthur, you are wearing me out in this study of Genesis. I'm sure if I worked on it day by day instead of cramming a week's worth of work into a few hours I wouldn't be so stressed. I'll try to do better.

Dear Amazon, thank you for suggesting I try the Cloud reader app for Kindle. Next time, can you make it work? That little circle is still going round and round...

Dear girls, thank you for finally learning the joy of an afternoon nap. Let's work on making it last more than an hour. And enough with the dirty diapers.

Dear summer, thank you for feeling more like a warm Spring day. And that bright blue sky was pretty nice too.

-et