Strawberry-Raspberry-Huckleberry Crock Pot Cobbler

Now that's a mouthful!
Our oven is out, so I needed to find a way to make a cobbler for my honey.
I found a basic recipe for strawberry cobbler in a crock pot and went from there to make my own.


So from me to you,
Here's my recipe:


3 cups strawberries
1 cup raspberries
1 cup huckleberries
1/4 cup sugar1 tbsp flour1 tbsp lemon juice


Topping:1 1/2 cups flour1/4 cup sugar4 tsp baking powder1/2 tsp baking soda1/4 tsp salt1/3 cup cold butter, cubed1/2 cup buttermilk

Grease bottom and sides of crockpot. 


Add strawberries, raspberries, huckleberries, sugar, flour and lemon juice. 


Stir to combine.

For the topping:
 In a large bowl, mix flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Cut in butter with until crumbly. Add buttermilk and stir very lightly until it forms a sticky dough. 

Drop the dough in little chunks until it covers all your berries inside the crock pot.

Cover and cook on low until topping is no longer doughy underneath, about 3-4 hours.


Remove insert and let cool, uncovered for about an hour before serving.


Once ready to serve, grab your vanilla ice cream and top it off!


Yum
Enjoy!

On the Road Again...

So a few weeks ago Ryan, Rainey & I made the trip all the way out to Pella, IA!
Can you believe the whole trip I only took maybe 10 pictures?!?!?!?!
I hate it when I do that. I love pictures for the memories.
So sorry.. but really I only have 2

Here they are!!!
Rainey being her usual self and Ryan cheesin'!

.

my favorite way to make asparagus

i have a recipe for you.
i hope you try it and love it as much as i do.

my husband even liked it.

if you know him, i can hardly get him to eat a vegetable.

so i was super excited he liked it.

there's one catch..

it's kinda time consuming...

NOT!

Here's what you do:

 Brush the asparagus with olive oil

sprinkle salt & pepper

then shred Parmesan cheese & sprinkle that on top

bake at 350 

for 10-15 minutes.

Yep... that easy. I found the recipe on the beloved pinterest.

but the picture that i tagged links to nothing. 

so i don't know the original source

enjoy!

xxxoooxxx

Sneak Peak

Hey.. So I'm super excited to show off one of my most favorite things I've seen lately...
A couple months ago, I found out I needed to replace some old lighting in our house.
I've been going back and forth over what I wanted to get. Nothing really struck me...
Until the new Pottery Barn Spring Catalog came out.
In that catalog was these beauties right here:

These guys are called the Harlowe Pendant from Pottery Barn.
You can find them here.

I just wanted to give you a sneak peak! I couldn't wait to show you!
Once they are up, I will show you the before and after!
It'll make a HUGE difference in the house.
#soexcited


xxxoooxxx

Today...

I'm just gonna go out and say it...
Today has been a rough day for me. I've been flooded with past memories of a special person throughout my life growing up.

I learned very early on today that a friend from school has passed away.
His name was Barney.
I remember teasing him constantly about "Fords" being a better ride than "Chevy's" mostly just to get down and bug that Chevy heart of his. It pains me to think of his smile, his hug, and the way he talked.
To think that I will never see that smile again, pains me to no end.
The thoughts running through my head, "What was my last interaction with him?" "Was it all I wanted to be if I had known it was my last time seeing him?"

At this time, all I know to say is, Rest in Peace Barney. You will be missed.
Much Love,
Talia

February Birchbox

I <3 February's Birchbox.

This months box was really fun for me.

This month had:

1. Dermalogica Daily Microfoliant

2. Colorescience Pro

3. Eye Rock Designer Liner

4. Jouer Luminizing Moisture Tint

5. Heart Shaped Nail File

6. Six Free Downloads from Green River Ordinance

#1 I was super excited about because I have been wanting to try the Dermalogica brand.
With my sensitive skin and the $50 price tag I would probably skip out on, but because of Birchbox I have the opportunity to try it & if I love it, I know it is worth every penny.

 #3 is this stick on eye liner. Which I haven't tried yet. The idea is brand new to me.

#4 I am excited to try because I use Smashbox primer and then the Jouer Luminizing Moisture Tint is supposed to go on your primer to help your make up last longer.

So that's February's Birchbox.

Anything you get in your Birchbox,

you can buy the full sized products at birchbox.com.
For $10.00 a month you get to try high end beauty products.

You can cancel at any time too.

It's like spoiling yourself at almost no cost!



30th Birthday Invites

Last month we had Ryan's (surprise) 30th Birthday Party.

I made the invitationsfor the party. I originally found the invitations at this blog via  pinterest.

Here's how they turned out:

The balloon says:

Say it ain’t so... Ryan is gonna be the

BIG 3-0!

He said, “A party? No way!”

But I thought it over & decided to have one anyway!

Shhh! It’s a surprise!
Saturday, January 14^th
6:30pm {arrive before 7pm to be in on the surprise!}

Hood River Inn

Shoreline Room

1108 East Marina Way

Hood River, OR 97031

Call Talia @ 555-555-5555 for any ?’s

They ended up being perfectly imperfect.

At least that's what I told myself.

They were much harder to make than I had expected.

I also was very limited on time since I live with the guy whose surprise party I was planning.

Makes it difficult to find time to make 80 invitations.

This is what I used to make the invitations:

1. I had the balloons orders from fastballoons.

2. I then got the card stock with matching envelopes from target.

I believe it is this product that I purchased in store.

3. I used twine that I already had.

4. Chevron Paper

5. Alphabet Stamps ($1 from wal-mart)

6. White Ink ($1 from wal-mart)

7. Scissors & Hole punch.

Step 1: I stamped out the letters that said, "Blow Up" & "Shh... Don't Tell"

Step 2: Cut out the chevron paper to a smaller scale of your card.

Step 3: Tie the balloon on with small strips of twine.
Step 4: Enjoy your masterpiece!
 

Ryan's 30th!

I've been a bit incognito lately. 

Sorry! :(

BUT is was due to the fact that I was so 

busy getting ready for my hubby's 

(SURPRISE) 30th Birthday Party!

Surprise birthdays are hard to pull off. 

Especially when you live with

the person you are suprising.

I spent hours worrying if he was going 

to walk in while I made the invitations or

worrying he'd catch me in a little white lie.

I was relieved when he finally knew about it.

Probably because I am a horrible liar.

I couldn't remember what I had and hadn't told him.

I had out of town guests hiding from him for a few days!

All in all though it was worth it.

Here are a few pictures from the party.

Table Decorations

My Family... Gotta Love them!

My Niece Kinzee with her Mom & Dad :)

The Infamous Couple that set Ryan & I up... :)

Mike & Maria

Nano & Ashley

Ryan's Uncle Kelly, Aunt Jill, & Uncle Stanley

Rich & Danae

Teunis & Grandma Pat

Hank & Kate

The Birthday Boy

My niece Keira... She was upset we were having Ryan's party on her birthday!
So Grandma Lori made it all better by buying her Cinderella's Castle!

I was new to planning a surprise party...
So here are a few tips I would have found helpful from my experience:

1. Plan the party a week or 2 before their actual birthday. 

It's more of a surprise.
They will have a sneaking suspicion

the closer it gets to their birth date.

2. GO on lots of "girl" (or "man") dates to get away... 

You'll need every spare moment.

3. Use Pinterest to help for any quick 

decorating ideas or even invitation ideas.

4. Make sure your plan to get the honoree party person

to the destination doesn't involve too many people &

make sure you are all on the same page for your story.

Those are just a few things....

I'll post the invitations here soon.

You'll love them.

Thanks to Pinterest for the idea!

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year

Life (aka House) Update

Hey everybody!!!
Life sure has been busy here...
But when is it ever not?
Christmas has come and gone...

Sad day...

A new year is here...
Where does time go?

Lately our time has been busy with the
holiday hustle and bustle...
With a side of redoing our floors.

Back in November I went to the beach without the hubs and he calls saying,
"Hey babe... Don't get mad but...
 I ripped up all the carpet in our house!"

I'm thinking.... "Yay!!! That carpet is gone!"
I'm also thinking..."crap... What does our house look like?
What am I coming home to?"

Well....
Underneath the carpet was just some linoleum &
 underneath that was some particle board....
BUMMER!!!

I was secretly wishing there were wood floors.

I mean this house is old.
There would HAVE to be wood floors, right?

WELL...
The hubs calls again a few hours later and says,
"Babe! Guess What?"

I'm thinking... "You just spent $500.00 at home depot, huh?"

"There goes my spending cash... huh?"

Nope....
"There's wood floors!!!!"

What???
Wood Floors!!!!
***Happy Dance***

Here's Ryan carrying out the carpet...

The Carpet

See the wood floors??? :)

Tiles where the wood floor wasn't....

Rainey being her usual helpful self
pinning down her papa with a million kisses... :)

You can see the hideous carpets...
So glad to be rid of them.

There weren't wood floors underneath all of the carpet.
***sob sob***
(This 850 square foot house has been added onto 3 times!)
We happened to hit part of the addition which didn't have
the old wood floors & had to tile the floors instead.

So that's our house update...
As far as Christmas goes...
It came and left much too quickly this year.
Every year I try to buy a few new

(but matching because I'm anal)
Christmas ornaments for our tree.
This year, I found the

CUTEST

PLAID

TWIGGY

BIRDS

TA DA!
SO CUTE
<3 at first sight

Unfortunately... All I have for a picture of our whole tree is blurry!
Of course I hadn't noticed until I tore down the whole thing....
:(

Have you seen those ruffle tree skirts on pinterest?
The no sew ones?
Like this one here!

I made one...
Of course mine pictured isn't as beautiful....
Dang camera...
Why was it blurry??
Oh well...
Here's the blurry pic anyway...
You get the idea, right?

That's the latest here....
Hope you all had a wonderful Christmas
& a happy new year!
xxxoooxxx

Talia