about thunder storms & cookies

July 13, 2012

Miscellaneous

i don’t know what it is about thunder storms and cookies, all i know is they’re not complete without each other. 
yesterday i got off work a lot earlier than usual which meant when camden got home from work around five-ish i was completely bored. the thing is when i get bored, i either get completely silly or very grumpy. luckily for all of us it was the silly kind yesterday, but let me tell you i was on one. cracking up jokes, talking in silly voices, sometimes i think camden just doesn’t know what to do with me. anyway, while i was waiting for camden to get home i could hear the soft rumbles of thunder in the distance and that got me excited, which probably had something to do with my mood.
i have a hard time telling if thunder is actually thunder where we live. the way it bounces off the mountains or some sort of mumbo jumbo, makes the rumbling sound last at least three times as long. it sounds like garbage cans rolling down a street. usually by the third rumble i have either declared wether a thunder storm is rolling in or a garbage can rolling party has broken out outside. 
after listening to the distant storm all afternoon, i knew we had to make something out of it. camden, never understanding why i must make such little daily life occurrences into big productions (frankly i don’t understand myself), reluctantly agreed and off to the store we three walked for the missing ingredients we needed for my all-time favorite cookies. naturally kramer came with us, i just couldn’t bear leaving him behind on our little adventure.
after leaving, i turned around to have a look at the sky and saw the storm was actually closer than i had thought. camden asked if i wanted to turn back, because we were still closer to our house than target, but i wouldn’t have it. it wouldn’t be an adventure if there was no risk of getting caught in the storm, so no, walk we did.
since kramers are not allowed into targets, he and i sat outside and waited for camden to do the shopping. kramer is a people watcher, we are kind of alike that way. it is most entertaining watching all sorts of people walking in and out of stores. he also has this way of making every person come up to us to say “oh . . what a cute puppy!”. he is a people charmer he is. if i had a dime for every person that told me that, i would be rich i tell you. he is awfully cute though. 
after camden came out of the store and we started our mini trek back home (it’s not so much a trek when you can see your house from the store), the wind started to pick up and we knew it was only minutes until the rain would start to drip down. i kept playing weather woman and making up all sorts of things about what the storm was doing. this is when that silly mood i was talking about really comes into play.
“oh those winds, they are really picking up.” “can’t you feel those winds picking up?” “i’m a storm catcher you know, or chaser, or whatever they are in that movie twister, that’s what i am.” 
camden would reply: “or really . . is that so . .” 
“oh yes” i said, “and those winds are really picking up”
“i know you’ve only mentioned it three or four times now” camden said, trying hard to hold back his laughter. 
-i like to think we have fun sometimes.
the storm barely missed us which i was slightly bummed about, i sort of secretly wanted to have a little rain adventure.
once home we got a – crack – a – lackin’ on those cookies and the house quickly filled with the warm scent of buttery limes as the rain pitter pattered down on to our roof. camden even helped me which made it that much more fun. oh, and of course kramer helped to, he is the official powdered sugar licker upper after all. 
p.s. i have included the cookie recipe below on the condition you will all promise to make them
here is that cookie recipe i promised, oh and i forgot to mention above, this recipe is a martha stewart original, because what can’t she do? oh and did i mention this recipe is super easy? well this recipe is super easy . . you will love it!

:: my favorite lime cookie recipe ::

ingredients
3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup confectioners’ sugar + extra for dusting
2 tablespoons grated lime zest, (2 medium limes)
2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 thunder storm (optional)
directions
with and electric mixer, cream butter and sugars until, light, scraping down sides of bowl as needed. add lime zest, lime juice, and salt; beat until combined. add flour; beat until dough is just combined.
place dough on a 16 x 12-inch piece of parchment or wax paper. using your hands, shape into an 8-inch log; flatten into a rectangle (1 1/2 inches high and 2 1/2 inches wide). fold paper over log; flatten sides against work surface. refrigerate dough until firm, at least 1 hour and up to 1 day.
preheat oven to 350 degrees. line two baking sheets with parchment. slice dough crosswise 1/4 inch thick; place on sheets. bake, rotating sheets halfway through, until cookies are puffed and barely golden, about 15 minutes. transfer to wire rack to cool.
coat with powdered sugar and enjoy!

snuggling

July 11, 2012

Miscellaneous

 we are all about snuggling over here especially this little kramer guy.
he gets even more so when we have been gone a bit too long for his liking.
he really loves to snuggle with camden in the morning since i leave to go to work 
much earlier than he, camden is usually the one he wakes up with and 
what is better than morning snuggles? 
i’m a cozy person myself. camden thinks i’m crazy because even in the summer
you’ll always find me wrapped up in some sort of blanket.
especially at night. i just love being cozy i guess.
these are just a few of the pictures i have snapped
of snuggles going on around here lately. 
p.s. i have had this song stuck in my head all day so i thought i would share it with you.

      

t.o.t —> about hiking

July 10, 2012

Miscellaneous

shirt: madewell . sweater: target . skirt: f21 . shoes: jeffery campbell . bracelet: j.crew and f21 . watch: dkny
hiking. do you like it? well camden does, in fact he loooovvvess it. pretty much he wants to marry it kind of love. that is what we did on our first date you know, hiking i mean. did i ever tell you that? well it goes a little something like this.
let’s skip all that planning and calling and how we got there stuff and start here, which would be in the car after he picked me up for our first date to go on a hike. first of all, a little background to fully grasp the story.
i wasn’t sure how good at hiking camden was but to put it nicely it wasn’t my strongest attribute, but i thought no harm, just a fun little first date hike. i even wore hiking shoes instead of all stars (my shoe of choice back then). well lets just say a very soon to be learned fact about this camden kid is that he was a macho, outdoorsy, hiking guru, that specialized in all things fast and challenging. now that we’ve got that out of the way lets move on.
so anyway we are currently in the car on our way to our hike and i just casually ask, how hard this hike was that we are about to embark on. – not wanting to sound to “woosy” on our first date. “oh really easy!” he says “like really easy”. ‘great’ i thought, i wouldn’t have to look like a total loser after all. 
it wasn’t that i couldn’t hike, it was just that i wasn’t sure what his definition of “easy” was. turns out his definition was what mine would be for extremely long, hard, and all out brutality.
this so called easy hike wound back and forth up a mountain for who knows how long, and this thing was steep too, i mean really steep. but in front of me with no shown strife at all hiked camden, just chatting away. i kept trying to open my mouth to respond because i could have really seen this conversation going somewhere pretty interesting, but all that would come out was a soft squeak, something resembling “water please”. 
finally, at the top, we sat down to eat our little subway picnic where i finally caught my breath and said more than a few measly words. it was half dark on our way down and since going down a hike is my specialty, the conversation consisted of both of us, my lungs now full of beautiful fresh air. 
i remember on our way down camden mentioning something like he had always wanted to marry a girl who could hike, bike, mountain climb, and all those fun things with him. in my head i thought ‘oh brother, where can this go?’. (please let the record show that besides the occasional hike and neighborhood family bike ride i had never done any of these things, at least at the level he was talking about). however, as we continued to date these things became less important to camden, at least, luckily for me, less important for me to do with him, and he was more than happy to do them alone, as long as we could still do the occasional hike together.
now when we go on hikes camden fully understands i’m all gung-ho as long as he helps push me up the really steep hills because like i say: “it really makes it at least 30% easier . . almost like it’s flat . . . almost”. this little thing we have going may just work out after all. 
love you camden.

a flea market + a baseball game = a lot of pictures

July 9, 2012

Miscellaneous

remember how last week i read the wrong date for the flea market and blah blah blah and a bit of jibber jabber later, and well . . . we missed it? this week was the complete opposite of last as today was the actual date! – and ahhhh (pause to fill the relief), it was soooo much better. we made out with the few pieces that we could carry with us on the train home (yes we took the train), all under $35 as well. i’m so excited to use the coolest blanket we found, tucked under a little vintage desk, by far my favorite find of the day. 
we have had some fun situations on public transit. just about every time we decide to take it, the train breaks down. thankfully today, with the 98 degree weather (literally had sweat dripping down my back, unflattering but extremely true), was a different story and we made it home with no 45 minute stops.
saturday i also took the train down to the ballpark stadium, where i met family and camden for a night of baseball. baseball is one of the few sports that i actually like to watch (well in person at least), but the highlight of the evening is always the fireworks.  
there is something about fireworks that you never outgrow. the sparkle in the sky mixed with the boom effect of each one, it never seems to get old, and the finale, nothing beats a good firework finale.
it was a brilliant weekend, and ever better, i actually got a bit of cleaning done. shocker i know, but i’m enjoying looking at the floor again and there is always something about clean sheets with a freshly made bed, don’t even get me started . . . 
check out these old cell phones . .
some fireworks from our baseball game

lately

July 7, 2012

Miscellaneous

lately camden has been working a bit late, which means laziness sets in early (really early), the sweats go on, and audrey hepburn goes up on the boob tube. a lot of cup of noodles have been getting eaten around here (by me) and lots of snuggles with kramer as well. i should be doing more productive things around the house, cleaning kind of things, but i just can’t seem to make myself do them. cleaning is the last thing from my mind. the pile of clothes look so comfy on the floor and i suppose the shoes don’t really like the closet anyhow. i do have some fun things planned this weekend so a little down time doesn’t hurt and camden has sunday off so we will get a bit of time together this weekend after all. perhaps i may even throw a few things in the dirty hamper and put to bed a few shoes as well. as for now, roman holiday and a root beer float are calling my name. oh audrey . . how your charm does charm us all. – happy weekend everyone!