UK Vacation!

Since I returned from my semester abroad in Italy, I've been compiling a mental list of places that I really want to visit before I die. Number one on that list right now is London. What I wouldn't give to spend a few weeks there! 

I've always had a thing for England. As I child, I loved learning about the Tudor family and King Henry VIII and all of his wives (3 Catherine's, 2 Anne's, and 1 Jane). The history nerd in me also loves England from a historical perspective. I took two English history classes at A&M and that drove me to want to see them in person even more. I even wrote a 20-page paper on the impact of the Black Death on the development of London and another 20-page paper on Cardinal Thomas Wolsey's fall from grace. English history papers were never hard to write... I was enthralled!

Tower of London. Prisoners of note: Anne Boleyn, Sir Walter Raleigh,
the Princes of the Tower (King Edward IV's 2 sons who are believed to have
been put to death by their uncle, King Richard III), Guy Fawkes (took part
in the Gunpowder Plot in an attempt to kill King James I), and Lady
Jane Grey, the nine day queen. 

Then, there are the other reasons... like seeing where Sherlock, Doctor Who, and Harry Potter were filmed. For whatever reason, the country has always fascinated me and visiting would be a dream come true. 

With all that being said, I'm thrilled to share that I am currently planning a 10 day trip to the UK with my amazing mother. We'd intended on going on a mother-daughter trip after I finished graduate school, but between moving and job searching we couldn't find a good time. But now that I've been in my current position for a year, I have saved up enough money and vacation time to make this possible! There are seriously not words to express the excitement I felt when we booked plane tickets. 

London.

Needless to say, I've been slacking on my blogging since we decided to go because I've been planning how we'll spend our time abroad. While we're still working out the details, we'll be spending 6 days in London and the surrounding areas and the remaining four days in Edinburgh, Scotland. 

Edinburgh.

Things we're attempting to fit into our itinerary... 

London
London Eye 
Westminster Abbey
Big Ben
Houses of Parliament 
Churchill's War Rooms
St. James Park
Buckingham Palace
Trafalgar Square
10 Downing Street (Prime Minister's home)
Wicked the Musical @ Apollo Victoria Theatre
Tower of London
Shakespeare's Globe Theatre
St. Paul's Cathedral
Old Spitalfields Market
Petticoat Lane
Chinatown
Covent Garden Market
Hampton Court Palace
Millennium Bridge
Stonehenge
Kensington Palace
Temple Church
Platform 9 3/4 (Harry Potter, hello!) 
Traditional Afternoon Tea
Hot Air Balloon Ride over London

Edinburgh
Climb Arthur's Seat
Edinburgh Castle
Royal Botanic Garden
Scott Monument
Royal Mile 
Holyrood House
Camera Obscura
Ghost Walk of Edinburgh
Walk up Calton Hill
Evening tour of Greyfriars Cemetery 
St. Giles Cathedral
Shopping on George Street
West End Village 
Dessert @ Mary's Milk Bar 
Saturday Morning at the Farmer's Market 
Real Mary King's Close 

Still refining these lists as we plan out our itinerary. I cant wait to see where out UK adventures take us! :)

Ready for the Sock Hop!

Throwback Thursday!

Catherine and I LOVED the annual sock hop at David Elementary.
What made it even better was these awesome poodle skirts that our mom made for us.
She is incredibly crafty (guess where I get it from?) and she made sure we looked authentic!
We loved these skirts!

Patriotic Summer Wreath

Yes... I made more wreaths... Do I have a problem? Maybe. They're just so easy and fun and there are endless possibilities and seasons to celebrate. From Memorial Day to the 4th of July, a patriotic wreath is perfect for summer. And it is definitely summer here in Texas already. Only just into June and we've already hit the mid-90s.

I found the inspiration for this wreath on Pinterest, as always. I got the general idea: wreath form, clothespins, paint, stars. Got it. I kind of used my imagination from there about how to execute it. I got wreath forms at Hobby Lobby for $2/each and got clothespins and spray paint from Home Depot. Do not buy clothespins from Hobby Lobby- they're like $4 for 30 as opposed to $2.35 for 50 at Home Depot. Don't waste your money on the expensive ones when the cheap ones work perfectly! I had white acrylic paint and paint brushes left over from another project, so I didn't worry about buying white spray paint.

This is how I made my patriotic clothespin wreaths...

Supplies/Tools Needed

wreath form

clothespins (# depends on wreath form size)

red, white, and blue paint

paint brush

star-shaped paper punch

white card stock or thicker paper

adhesive

These are the clothespins that you can buy at Home Depot. 50 pack for $2.35.
They were in the aisle with the spools of clothesline by the yard. 

First, you have to put all of the clothespins you can fit on the wreath form. The number of clothespins depends on the size of the wreath. I made two of these using one 12" form and one 16" form (measuring outermost part of wreath form). The 12" form fit 67 clothespins and the 16" form fit 96.

From there, I decided how many clothespins thick I wanted to make the white and red stripes. While deciding, I kept in mind that  the star and stripe sections should be somewhat proportional to a flag and that there are 13 stripes (7 red, 6 white). I did some quick math and decided that I'd use 3 clothespins for the stripes on the smaller wreath and 4 for each stripe on the larger wreath. That allowed me to have a fairly representative amount of blue clothespins on each wreath for the stars.

12" wreath: 67 clothespins = 28 blue + 21 red + 18 white.

16" wreath: 96 clothespins = 31 blue + 35 red + 30 white.

First, I took the clothespins that I was going to paint white off of the wreath form and left the others. on. I painted the white clothespins. Don't forget to paint the clippy end (very technical term).

The "clippy end."

With the other clothespins on the wreath form, I divided them into a red and blue group and then used aluminum foil to cover one group while I painted the other. This is a very make-shift way to paint the clothespins w/o having to flip them all over and paint twice. You definitely don't have to use my painting technique if you know a better one! :) I covered the blue ones and painted the red group first.

Then, I uncovered the blue group and covered the red clothespins and repeated. Make sure that all of the spray paint is fully dry before you cover it in foil.

Once all the paint had dried, I assembled the clothespins into 13 stripes and the large, blue section.

12" wreath.

16" wreath.

Then, I took used the star-shaped paper punch to cut out stars for the blue section. My mom came to the rescue again with her endless craft supplies! I borrowed her 3/4 of an inch star-shaped punch and cut out 100 stars. My hand was not loving it by the end, but I made it through. Crafting struggles... 

Then I used my mom's sticker maker (a Xyron?) to put adhesive on the back of the stars, then placed them in a scattered non-pattern around the blue clothespins.  

Ta-da!

These were really easy to make and they turned out so cute!!
I can't wait for them to be hanging in my parent's house and my sister's salon! 

Turtle Cookies & Doggy Haircuts

It seems like it's been forever since I last posted... and considering how recently I've been posting lately... it kind of has been. Last week I had a pretty nasty cold, so all of my time typically spent blogging, I spent curled up on the couch with tissues and cough drops. Thankfully, the germs had mostly subsided by the end of the week and I actually got to have a fun and productive weekend. I cleaned the house and tried out some fun new recipes! My dog, a very hairy little guy, got his summer haircut! (See bottom of the post for funny before and afters!)

I stumbled across this recipe for turtle cookies while I was surfing the internet. The picture alone hooked me, I'm a sucker for caramel. The directions didn't seem to difficult, so I figured I'd give them a shot and they turned out SO GOOD! Thankfully, the batch only makes about 20 cookies... these could be dangerous en masse.

Ingredients

Cookies

1 cup all purpose flour

1/3 cup cocoa powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 stick unsalted butter, softened

2/3 cup granulated sugar

1 large egg separated, plus additional egg white 

2 tablespoons milk

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1-1 & 1/2 cups pecans, finely chopped 

Caramel Filling

14 soft caramel candies

3 tablespoons heavy cream

Directions...

The dough is pretty easy to make. 

First, beat together butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Takes about 2-3 minutes. Add egg yolk, milk, and vanilla extract, then mix until incorporated. Add dry ingredients (flour, cocoa powder, salt) and mix until just combined. Dough will be very thick. Chill in refrigerator for 30 minutes to an hour or until dough is firm and scoop-able. 

Make sure your hands are nice and clean. Roll dough into 1 to 1 & 1/2 inch balls,

depending on how big you want your cookies to be.

Beat both egg whites in a small bowl until they're frothy.

This will be the "glue" that holds the pecan pieces to the cookie.

Dip the dough ball into the egg white and make sure it's fully coated before rolling in pecan pieces.

Place on parchment paper-lined cookie sheet about 2 inches apart. They won't spread much.

Using your thumb or the round part of a tablespoon, create a crater in the middle of each dough ball. This will help flatten out the cookie and will provide a place for the caramel after baking. 

Bake in 350 degree oven for 10-12 minutes or until they have firmed up.

Don't rely on the color changing to tell if they're done.

I used the time while they were baking to prepare the caramel filling in the microwave.

Put heavy cream and caramel candies into a small bowl and heat for 30 second intervals until hot and smooth when you stir it.

After removing from the oven, remake the crater in each cookie with the back of a tablespoon.
You won't want to use your finger this time, because they're going to be HOT! :) 

Use a small spoon (I used a teaspoon-sized measuring spoon)
to pour caramel into the crater in each cookie. 

Allow caramel to cool and settle.

It won't get hard or chewy, so no worries about destroying your teeth on it when you take a bite!

These cookies turned out awesome! The recipe was a little involved, but it was worth it in the end!

Inspiration and recipe for these cookies came from this blogger's site. 

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Tucker is a FUR-BALL! 

Before.

Before.

And that fur is thick! The Texas heat called for a nice summer hair cut! 

He always looks so naked without his fur! 

After.

After.

It's going to take me a while to get used to his goofy new look! :) 

Love you Tucker!