Butterfly Cake

I got asked to make a butterfly cake for a little girls 2nd birthday party which I gladly said yes to.

I love any opportunity to make something girly. It's a nice departure from my usual Star Wars, bugs and sports that my boys request.

It took me a couple hours between baking and making homemade tinted buttercream but once I got going it went quick. A star tip is a beautiful thing...

GO NEW ORLEANS! Lemon Cookies

I go to a pretty amazing church here in Cincinnati called Crossroads. Each year my church sends teams to New Orleans in partnership with Habitat for Humanity to help rebuild the city and love on it's peeps.

I couldn't swing going this year on the trip since I was already spread thin with some other commitments, but I'm holding out hope I can next year.

My neighbor, Bethanne is taking the amazing journey to the Big Easy and I thought with a 17 hour bus trip to endure, she would appreciate some cookie bliss.

I give you the easiest and quite yummy lemon cookie recipe made with a cake mix:

1 box lemon cake mix

2 eggs

1/3 cup butter softened

zest of one lemon

Mix lemon cake mix, eggs, butter and lemon zest together. Drop teaspoons of dough on to ungreased baking sheet. Bake at 375 for 7-9 minutes. Dust with powdered sugar if desired. I also think a cream cheese glaze drizzled over them would be a nice touch too.

Here are mine all boxed up to send off with Bethanne:

Hope you enjoy!

Eat Well...Live Long

The Lindsey household is striving to get healthier! My cooking is now very health conscious and we now have a membership to the local Y for frequent calorie burning.

Someone told me to grocery shop only in the outer rim of the store where all the fresh veggies, fruit and meats are. It's a challenge to stay away from pre-packaged items just for the convenience factor but we're doing well avoiding them.

I'm really trying to be creative with meals but that's also challenging when you have limited time to whip something up after work.

I've been doing alot of salads like tuna, egg and chicken with lots of greens to accompany it. Very light, fresh and perfect for summer! Arranging it all on a platter really makes it seem dinner worthy.

A rotisserie chicken makes throwing together the chicken salad a breeze. My chicken salad is full of yummy herbs, nuts and grapes. Here's my recipe:

Yummy Chicken Salad

2 cups cubed cooked chicken breasts
1/4 cup diced red onion
1 cup of halved grapes (green or red)
1/3 cup of chopped or halved pecans
handful of fresh chopped parsley
salt & pepper to taste

Toss all together and refridgerate. The longer it sits so the flavors meld together, the better it tastes.

Enjoy!

Blog Envy

So many amazing blogs on the web!

Especially ones written by other mothers who are crafty, domestic and whitty.

I have serious blog envy!

Here are some of the sources of my green eyes:

Joys Hope:

She has this great & easy tutuorial for an absolutely adorable fabric necklace. I plan on making many with my fabric remnants.

Maya Made:

Check out this simple summer pavilion She made her kids. I want one for my boys!

Joyful Abode

She has delicious recipes complete with mouth watering photography.

Like these baked egg rolls.

Pretty Partridge

The cutest toddler tank made perfect with the addition of a ruffle.

The Art of Indecision

She recently posted pics of my dream caravan. Absolutely stunning!

Make sure you check out all the pics on Her blog post. I'm drooling right now!

So GO off and discover some of these amazing blogs who provide so much inspiration, knowledge and invoke complete envy!

Come have Coffee with me. I like tea too.

So my front porch bistro set project is done!

The chairs turned out just like I imagined in my head. I painted a black bistro table I already had white and I think I'll add an outdoor rug when I find the right one. Otherwise it's ready for company!

I love it so much that I thought about opening my own little cafe right here on my porch like Jack does outside his apartment on Will and Grace. Yes, I think I love that idea:)

Now off to make the right coffee house apron...

I whipped up a matching pillow out of the left over fabric and added it to the bench on the other side.

I am a proud 'DIY'er!

Mantle Magnificence

I stopped in at my neighbor's house and a spur of the moment divine design happened. Bethanne is an avid thrifter/yard saler like myself and she has a great collection of colored glass throughout her house.

All of a sudden I had an intense desire to see it all on her mantle. Luckily she's open to spur of the moment suggestions. We collected all the glass from around her house and together we arranged it on her mantle.

The result was so lovely and is even more so all aglow. I am inspired to look around my home to see if there is anything I have that would lend itself to a re-design!

Front Porch Chairs

So last week on my Bellevue Street Sale bargain hunting I found two of these chairs:

$4 a piece!

I know I can breathe new life into them.

Along with a bistro table they will make the perfect compliment to my front porch.

Just the place for my morning coffee!

These chairs are soon to meet with these:

Can't wait to show you the beautiful results!

Birthday Bliss

My 29th birthday has came and gone and boy was it a fun weekend! My day started out with t-ball on Saturday morning. Caleb is ridiculously adorable in his uniform:

See what I mean:)

Afterwards I hit the Bellevue street sale for a minute before I was off to the spa. Joe arranged for me to have a wonderful day at the Avalon spa in Hyde Park.

A swedish massage, manicure and pedicure later I felt like a new girl! See here that I decided to go dark with the nails. The Starbucks coffee cup was also a sweet little birthday gift.

The night ended with my and my girlfriends celebrating at Jefferson Hall listening to the Swimsuit Models. We had a great time!

Sunday morning I woke up to a cookies & cream birthday cake complete with candles and song from my boys. So adorable!

Couldn't have celebrated 29 any better thanks to my wonderful family and friends!

My Etsy shop is finally open for biz! A long time coming, I just haven't had the time to dedicate to getting some of my things uploaded into my store.

So I hunkered down tonight and got 5 of my most precious vintage finds posted. I have alot to learn yet about the photography aspect but I figure I'll get a groove soon enough. Now I just can't wait to get some of my handmade goodies in there!


Click on my etsy button and come visit me!