Saturday Snack {Rosemary Parmesan Bread}

Yesterday after work my friend Jenn had a little happy hour so people could see her brand new kitchen.   It has been under construction for months and she did some  of the work herself!  It was beautiful and I'm thrilled we could celebrate her new kitchen.

I would have loved to take pictures of it but there were so many people that I couldn't but I did get a picture of a few of us that were there.  Jen is next to me in black.

 

I made homemade Rosemary Parmesan bread to take with me.  It was amazing and so easy to make.  

 

Here is the recipe

Rosemary Parmesan Bread 

3 cups bread flour

1.5 cups warm water

3/4 t yeast

1.5 t sea salt 

2 T rosemary

1/4-1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese

Mix all ingredients except the cheese and let rise for 8 hours.   Punch the dough down one time and let rise again for an hour,  mix in the cheese.  Preheat oven to 425 degrees.  Cook bread for 30-40 min in covered Dutch oven. Serve warm with olive oil and freshly grated Parmesan cheese.

Have a fabulous Saturday!

Xoxo

Friday Favorites

Today I am linking up with Erika, Narci and Andrea to share my Friday favorites.  I am  happy it's Friday!  This is a weekend full of fun!  Tonight I have a happy hour at a friend's house to see her new kitchen, tomorrow we have a fundraiser for the YMCA, Sunday I'm doing a walk to support SADD at Ava's school and then I have a fundraiser for Hospice.  It's going to be a GREAT weekend!

My friend Sabrina came over last night and helped me make this succulent bracelet that I'm going to wear this weekend to the Y event and to the Hospice event.  I went to a class at the Philadelphia flower show on living jewelry and I wanted to try to make one.  After the events I can take the succulents off the bracelet and plant them in a pot and they'll grow!  I love how it turned out.  

 

Tonight I'm going to my friend Jenn's and I'm going to make a pitcher of mojitos to bring using some mint from my little mint plant. 

I bought this book from Amazon and it's amazing!  So many healthy recipes in this book,  Last night we had I made potatoes and green beans on a sheet pan and they were so good.  

 

 

I am in love with this book.  There is nothing I love more than beautiful fresh cut flowers.  I got this book on Amazon this week and I can't wait to read it cover to cover.  

 

I hope you have a fabulous weekend full of family, friends, and fun.

Xoxo 

Life lately

Holy cow this week has flown by!!! I can't believe it's Thursday already!   We have some fun plans for the weekend so I'm pumped about that ❤

Here are some pics of our life lately......

Last Wednesday our exchange student did a presentation on  home country to our Rotary Club.  She also made Danish cookies.  She did a great job!  Ava went to the presentation too because next year when she's in Czech she'll do a presentation on the US.

 

I love this air plant I got at the Philadelphia flower show.  It's  doing so well in it's little pot in our dining room.

 

We keep plugging away to get our house ready for baseball tenants.  This is our sunroom.  This is my favorite and least used room in our whole house.  During the summer it will be the Rockerfeller room and it will have a big print of the tree and a couple of scrapbooks filled with pictures of the tree.  

I need to start working on those 😬

 

Three former students surprised me last weekend at the leadership conference.  They were in town visiting and stopped in to see me at work.  It was great to see them! 

 

This weekend Brock is going to buy a car in Arizona.  He has been using a bike since he got there but he feels like he needs a car so this weekend he is going to buy one.  He doesn't have a huge budget and he has been researching what would be best for him. I love this picture of him from Chef Mickeys ❤. We still kiss him like crazy but he lives Arizona and I'm happy that he's happy there :-) 

 

I've been trying to slow down lately, I feel like we are constantly running around. I love this quote and try to remember it when I'm being pulled in 10000 directions all at once :-)

 

That's a peek at our life lately.  Happy Thursday!

Xoxo

Craft Wednesday {DIY succulent planters}

Last week I put together two little succulent arrangements for friends.   I think it's always fun to give plants as gifts.  I bought the little succulents at the grocery store. 

I put both pots together the same way. I used two containers that I already had at home.  For one arrangement I used an wooden basket that had a liner and I used a hypertufa planter for the other one. 

 

For drainage I added rocks to the bottom of the containers.

 

 

The plant was pretty rootbound from being in that tiny pot so I used my fingers to break up the soil.

 

Then I arranged the plants where I thought they looked best in the pot.

 

I patted the soil down with my fingers and then added a layer of rocks on top to finish it off. 

 

For the hypertufa one I used the same method.

 

These were two fun little projects to work on.  My friends loved them!

Xoxo 

What's Up Wednesday

Today I am linking up to Shay, Mel and Shaeffer for What's Up Wednesday.  I always love this link up so you can see what I've been up to and I love reading what other people have been doing.  March  FLEW by!  Two highlights are that I went to Florida and our Ava turned 15.  We have also been busy getting ready to move into our summer house in May.  

What we're eating this week....

Sunday my friend V and I made homemade pasta.  It was SO fun but it took HOURS!  I'm so glad we don't have to make homemade pasta every time we want pasta!   I also made a delicious homemade Rosemary Parmesan bread.  I will post the recipe for the bread this weekend.

 

 

What I'm reminiscing about...my trip to Florida.  I had the best time and it's been so cold and nasty here I wish I could go back!

 

What I'm loving....

Amazon prime!  Hello I know everyone had this years ago but we just got on board.  You can buy anything on Amazon.  I am totally hooked!

What we've been up to....

We've been getting our house ready for the summer.  We are renting our house out to families that are coming to our town  for baseball camp this summer.  We used a rental company and have all 13 weeks booked!  We bought a smaller house near the college where we work and that's where we will live this summer.  Here are two pictures from our current house that was used in our online listing.

 

 

What I'm dreading... I have 4 jobs and sometime it's tough to balance it all.  I work full time at the college, I'm a fitness instructor at the Y, I work part time for a small non profit in our town and I have Branch and Bloom.  Big things are happening at each one and I want to make sure I'm giving my all to each of them.  It's tough sometimes to manage everything!

What I'm working on.... When I went to the Philadelphia flower show I went to a workshop on succulent jewelry.  I got all of the supplies and I am going to make myself a succulent bracelet for two events I have this weekend.  Here is a necklace from that workshop.  Isn't it goregous?

 

What I'm excited about.....my dear friend Sabrina and I are planning a little spring break trip for us and our girls.  We are going to go to Washington DC to see the sights.  

What I'm watching/reading....I have ordered so many books from Amazon (see above-ha ha) these are two of my favorites. I read We Were The Lucky Ones for my book group this month.  I couldn't put it down.  It was SO good.  The book was about a Jewish family and their extraordinary struggles during WW2.  They were all split up but they all managed to survive.  I love this book because it's based on a true story.  I know this will be one of my favorites from 2017.  

 

I also just got this book on the recommendation from my favorite podcast.  I can't wait to read it! 

 

What I'm listening to.....speaking of podcasts.  I've been listening to a lot of them.  My three favorites are Lore, Happier and Slow Flowers. I listen to podcasts when I'm in the car and I'm obsessed.  I love them!  

 

 

 

What I'm wearing...we are still wearing our winter clothes-ughhhhh!  I'm ready for spring!

What I'm doing this weekend...I have a happy hour, a fundraiser for the Y, a walk for SADD, and a fundraiser for hospice on the calendar for this weekend.  It will be a fun filled weekend!  I'm going to enjoy it because next weekend G and I are planning on painting and cleaning our house to get it ready for tenants. 

What I'm looking forward to next month...our spring break trip to Washington DC!

What else is going on... My dear friends Jenn, Rachael  and I collaborating on a few fun events this spring.  We are planning a Farm Retreat in May at Jenn's farm.  She teaches yoga so at the retreat we will do two yoga classes, enjoy a farm fresh healthy lunch and make a windowsill herb garden.  

 

In April and June we are hosting Plant and Pose classes which is a shorter version of the farm retreat.  Participants will take one yoga class and then make a succulent hypertufa.    We are excited about all of our upcoming classes! 

 

Jenn and I are also doing a strength challenge that starts today!  We both want to get stronger and leaner and I think this challenge is just what we need!  We did our two rep maximums to see where we are starting from and we have our orientation today.  I'll keep you posted on our progress.  

 

I can't wait to hear about what everyone had been up to this month.  March was good to us.  I can't wait to see what April brings.

Xoxo

  

Show and Tell Tuesday-Picture edition

Today I am linking up with Andrea to show my top 5 favorite pictures.  This was SO hard for me because I have SO many pictures.  I have 5,680 on my phone alone.  I love pictures and I loved going through my pictures to find the pictures for this post.  It was a fun trip down memory lane :)

1.  I love this picture of our kids.  They both LOVE basketball but since they are 5 years apart they weren't ever in high school at the same time to play together.  They both do the Gus Macker tournament every year and it's so fun to be able to watch both of them play in the same tournament.

2.  Brock's graduation day was such a happy day for our little family.  It was a day I'll always remember.  We are SO proud of our son and the young man he has grown up to be.

3.  Every year I go on a trip with my Dad and sister.  I love this picture of us from Disney last year.  This picture was taken in front of my all time favorite Disney ride-haunted mansion and I am with my favorite people. 

4.  Our tree got a lot of attention last year and this picture was from the day they put it up in NYC.  Lots of fun tree memories for our family.  

5.  This picture came up on my facebook feed today!  One year ago today I was in Florida celebrating the last night of our girls trip with my besties.  I love these girls and I am so thankful for our time together.  

I hope you had a great Tuesday.
Xoxo

Our weekend

We had a jam packed weekend full of fun!  I would love to have another day to recover and get stuff done around the house but I'm headed back to work today. 

Friday and Saturday I organized a leadership conference at work for students.  We had guest speakers, community leaders and alumni come and lead presentations for students.  It took a team of people and months of planning but it was so worth it!  

 

Friday night I went to a going away party for my friend D.  I'm so sad she's moving away but I'm happy that we got to say goodbye and she's only moving two hours away so I know we will stay in touch. 

Saturday night G and I went to his end of the year referee banquet which is always fun!

Sunday morning Ava, Anne and I went to the Farmers Museum with our friends Sabrina and Eliza for a fun pancake breakfast.  After breakfast we walked around and saw how maple syrup is made and we saw the animals in the barnyard.  It was so fun! 

 

Sunday after I got together with my friend V to do another cooking adventure.  We have made spanakopita and eggplant parm and this time we made homemade pasta noodles. It took a long time but the pasta was SO good.  I'm going to make another batch this week because Ava and Anne want to try making it. 

 

 

That was our weekend!

Xoxo 

Saturday Snack {pepperoni roll}

Last night I had a going away party for my friend Donna.  She's moving two hours south. Another friend had a party for her and asked each of us to bring a snack to share. 

I decided to make a pepperoni roll.  I love pepperoni rolls.  They are so good and EASY to make!   They aren't healthy but they are good for an appetizer or a quick dinner.

Since I had to work late I made this yesterday morning before work and dropped it off early for the party. 

I put the pepperoni rolls on this giving plate which another friend had brought to our house a few months ago.  I was happy to pass it on.  

To make the pepperoni unroll crescent roll dough and seal the seams.  Then top with pepperoni and a layer of cheese.

Roll the dough tightly from the long edge. Top with an egg wash and cook in a 375 degree oven for 12-14 minutes.

Cut and then serve with marinara and enjoy!

 

We took a picture that we are going to have framed for Donna (next to me in the middle) I am going to miss her ❤❤

 

Xoxo