Friday Round Up 2/16

Lizzard Loves these Friday round ups!

A great week indeed because the Winter Olympics started last Friday!! Eeeek!

1. Winter Olympics & our tradition

Man, we love the Winter Olympics. Like, a lot. We love these 2 weeks A LOT. You know I love all things winter, snow & ice (direct reference to my favorite children's book, Madeline. Do yourself a favor & read it to a kid in your life - no one will be sorry!). The Winter Olympics broadcast is easily the most TV heavy 2 weeks of our 4 years!! Chris & I love to watch the opening ceremonies and our tradition is to make chachos (also known as chicken nachos) and eat while watching the show. This year was no different, though we skipped making the margaritas & cracked a couple of delicious IPAs from this new beer shop in our town instead. I love traditions & I love the Winter Olympics. This was a most excellent evening indeed!

Yes this was only for the 2 of us....go big or go home!

2. Snuggles

So this is a happy & a sad at the same time. Lulu came down with her first fever on Wednesday which is the sad part. She's out of sorts, clearly doesn't feel well, has very little energy & really no interest in playing. She HATES taking medicine, so my efforts with the infant Tylenol & Motrin are sketchy at best. The good things about having a sick kiddo are: Lulu wants snuggles in a way that she hasn't in a long time. She's an independent little lady & I love that about her, but clearly part of my heart misses the newborn snuggle filled period! It has been a treat to have her lay on my chest & snuggle up for an extra nap here or there these past couple of days. The other good thing is Lulu's doctor's office is very communicative & responsive. I know that what's going on with Lulu isn't serious, which is incredibly comforting. I know what to look out for that would make our situation serious (dehydration, not nursing, not having wet diapers, medicine having no effect on the fever, etc) and that helps me feel much more capable of handling this. Have I mentioned how hard I think parenting is??

My feverish snuggle bug

3. An understanding husband

Thank goodness for Chris. I baked before volunteering on Wednesday (Valentine's Day) so was up at 3:30am. When I got home from the Zoo Lulu was tired & hungry & out of sorts so I got her down for a nap & didn't realize until she woke up that she was sick :( So I didn't write Chris' Valentine's Day card, I actually still haven't as I type this (yikes, that is bad) and I ended up asleep on the couch before our food delivery for dinner arrived. So I was asleep before 8pm. So Chris ate without me, didn't complain that I'm lame & couldn't stay awake for a delicious meal & not a peep about his missing Valentine. I don't feel like I'm killing it this week and it is so incredibly reassuring that Chris has my back even when I come up short on making him feel special.

Lulu inspects her Valentine flowers from her Daddy

Cheers to bubbly Malbec rose & flowers for me!

I hope you & yours had a wonderful & fun Valentine's Day! Feel free to share any favorite vegetarian recipes for my meatless Fridays during Lent, I'm always on the hunt for good ones.

Valentine's Day

I love Valentine's Day.

Lizzard Loves Valentine's Day cards

I love the excuse to make & write cards to people I love. Although, who am I kidding, I really don't need an excuse for that!

I love the reminder to tell Chris I love him all day long.

Lizzard Loves Vday dinner at home

I love that our main tradition for this day is to order Thai takeout from our favorite Thai place and eat at home. I love that Chris & I agree heartily on avoiding the crowds on this holiday. I appreciate that we were both too burnt out on Thai food to want anymore this week; so I cooked for us instead. I love mixing up our fancy china & crystal with our funky new placemats from Thailand and our everyday silverware. I love that the flower on the table was a gift from my sister in law (I'm sure it was from my brother too :)


I love receiving Valentines (I usually get them from Chris, my little monkey nephews, my sister & my parents which is just great. This year was a total bonus because we got one from our niece too! That one featured dinosaurs, which was a double bonus). I encourage you to send Valentine's Day cards. I get it, we are days past actual Valentine's Day. But, it doesn't matter! Write a belated card. The cards are probably all on sale now anyway (bonus!). Can you think of a friend or family member or loved one who could use a pick me up? I am guessing you can............and I would guess they would love to receive a Valentine from you. Its just a thought, but it is the little things, right??

Lizzard Loves heart decorated bread

I love heart shaped things, because making things into heart shapes makes them more fun. I wish I could say I baked the bread with the heart shape, but alas & alack - it is from the delicious Simple Bakery. Check it out; I promise you won't be disappointed (although don't get confused- they changed their name from Sweet House of Madness to Simple Bakery - I don't want anyone to think it is a misdirected link). 

Lizzard Loves heart shaped pancakes

The pancakes turned out really well, I got the idea from this video, compliments of Food & Wine (which is a magazine I absolutely love!) Chris liked the pancakes, as did my nephews. I really liked them, but how can you not like something with cake in the name that is served as breakfast?? Riddle me that.





I hope you & yours had a good Valentine's Day. I hope you take me up on my belated Valentine's Day card challange. Let me know in the comments if you send (or receive!) any cards! Remember what Ghandi said: "You must be the change you wish to see in the world"

The "Uh Oh" Series

I love fixing my mistakes.

Lizzard Loves....the "Uh Oh" series of cards

Obvious, right? Mistakes stink.......fixing them makes you feel a lot better. I also love to make cards, which you likely already knew.

Combining these two loves created the "Uh Oh" series of cards! 

Lizzard Loves....the "Uh Oh" series

Sometimes you forget a birthday. Other times your thank you note is months delayed. There may even be times when you made a mistake in life that warrants a note to apologize for it. Perhaps you forgot your anniversary. Maybe you neglected to acknowledge the birth of a friend's baby. I may or may not have made these mistakes myself.

The beauty part? A handwritten note goes a long way to smooth things over. These particular handwritten notes may also make the offended party giggle.....its next to impossible to hold a grudge if you are giggling!

Let me know if you want to order any of the "Uh Oh" series, it never hurts to have a mistake eraser in your back pocket :)

Coconut Almond Scones, Coffee and Mail

I love coffee.

Lizzard Loves a surprise gift of coffee

My morning cup(s) of coffee is the best part of my day (and when I say this, I'm only sort of kidding). Each night I set my coffee maker to "delay brew" so it starts the brew cycle 15 minutes before my alarm goes off. This way I get to wake up to the smell of coffee, one of the best smells in the world. Yuuuummmm.

I also love mail. I suppose some weeks I should call it "snail mail" because it can be so darn slow, but I prefer just mail. When I check the mail and our box is chock full of my favorite magazines, maybe a card, or a letter from one of my favorite organizations I am thrilled. It has always seemed like magic to me, the way USPS works (or as the case is now, doesn't work, at least not on a feasible budget.......but I digress). For less than $1, I can get something from my front door to the front door of anyone in the US. Seriously? That seems utterly magical to me.

Cards are my favorite things to get in the mail, I could wax poetic on why I love a handwritten card or note, but it is really quite simple. A handwritten card takes a bit of time, extra time (over a text or an email) and it makes me feel like a friend or a family member was really thinking of me when they sent it. And there is something awesome in my mailbox when I check it! Double bonus!

Lizzard Loves a handwritten card and great coffee

I checked the mail this week & found a PACKAGE! It is not my birth month, it was not sent for any occasion, it was a glorious "just because" gift. A bag of delicious coffee and a handwritten card from one of my favorite friends who lives 5 states away. She shares my love of coffee and the wonderfully cute shop Paper Source (even if you don't have a physical store near you, check out their website. Great gifts, awesome stamps/ink, and obviously a huge selection of paper products) The card was from Paper Source and was covered with French macarons; another thing we both love. Stay tuned for a future post on baking macarons; I haven't perfected it yet, but once I do I'll share the process!

What could be better than a friend who is thoughtful enough to mail you a treat they enjoy & know you will too? The card that accompanied the coffee specified that since we can't sit down & have coffee together......at least we can sit down to the same coffee apart. What a great idea & sentiment from a wonderful friend. I enjoyed some this morning with my newest favorite scone; Coconut Almond. In case you want to rock some of the scones, the recipe follows........

Coconut Almond Scones
Ingredients
2 cups all purpose flour, plus more for dusting your work surface
1 cup whole wheat flour
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/3 cup sugar
3/4 cup (1.5 sticks) butter
1 cup, plus 2 tablespoons buttermilk
1/3 cup unsalted slivered dry toasted almonds (I buy mine at Trader Joe's)
2/3 cup sweetened shredded coconut, plus more for sprinkling (separated)
1 tsp coconut extract (imitation is OK & is cheaper)
turbinado/raw sugar for dusting

Directions
1. Preheat your oven to 425 and line 2 cookie sheets with parchment paper. Use airbake cookie sheets for softer scones, traditional cookie sheets for crisper scones.
2. Place both flours, baking powder, sugar, 1/3 cup coconut & butter into the bowl of your food processor. Pulse until the mixture is uniform & no pieces of butter remain.
3. Scrape the contents into a large mixing bowl and add the remaining 1/3 cup shredded coconut and the slivered almonds. Toss to coat.
4. Mix in the buttermilk & coconut extract; just until the dough comes together.
5. Flour your work surface (counter top, cutting board, whatever you're using!) and turn the dough out.
6. Knead the dough gently a few times and shape into a flat disk. Kneading your dough too much will yield tough scones.....scones should be delicate, not tough :)
7. Sprinkle the dough with turbinado sugar and the extra shredded coconut and press down to ensure the toppings have adhered.
8. Now for the fun part.......cut the dough into whatever shape you desire! I tend toward triangles and I make some miniature & some "normal" size.  I've used a round cookie cutter & also sort of ripped the dough apart to make it look like messy mounds.......they all taste great, its just a matter of what you think looks good!

Lizzard Loves Coconut Almond Scones with coffee

9. Bake in your preheated oven for 12-18 minutes (my oven is old & weak- it usually takes me 20+ minutes, but in my brother & sister in law's new powerful oven it only takes 10-12. As always- you will know your oven better than any recipe- so take a peek at 10 minutes! If they are not done at 10 minutes, rotate the pans from top to bottom).
10. Let the scones cool on a wire rack and gleefully enjoy them with your favorite coffee.....I know I do!

Fresh produce delivery

 I didn't know it until this week, but I love getting fresh produce delivered to my doorstep!

I ordered a box of produce to be delivered after Chris & I had been away for awhile, figuring it would be a great way to restock our fridge& fruit bowl it worked fabulously. 

Our handwritten note from the delivery person

As a bonus, the delivery person hand wrote a note on a post it apologizing for my delivery box being dirty- who does that?? It was a gesture that likely took the delivery person a minute, but I was so impressed by it. 

List of the delicious stuff inside, plus a view of how dirty our box was :)

I love when people make the extra effort- it does make such a difference. The box was full of awesome stuff for us, and honestly- the perfect size for a couple; almost everything came in a pair. As the photo shows, the box was pretty beat up on the outside, but the items inside looked perfect.

Handwritten notes

I love handwritten notes.

There is something so right about receiving a card or note in the regular mail. Don't get me wrong, I text, email, blog...(obviously), post on Facebook & occasionally Twitter, but none of those modes of communication have the ability to excite me anywhere near as much as a piece of actual mail.

I received this letter in the mail last week & I love so many things about it. We hosted our friends for brunch, and we got a thank you note! I love thank you notes. The best part is though, our friends have a little baby girl, are in the process of packing/moving, and they both work full time......needless to say they have their hands FULL.

All of that busy-ness did not prevent our friend from sending a note! Her cards & stationery were all packed, so she used what she had. I love the sentiment. I love the notebook paper. I love mail.



In case you are wondering; yes, this is hanging on our fridge!



Positive words cards

I love making cards.

It stems from the fact that I love paper mail. I love sending cards & I absolutely love recieving them. I've been having a really relaxed and happy weekend so when I sat down last night to make some cards, these are what I came up with.....using all of my "positive word" stamps!

Close up so you can see the words

Pictured below are the new ink colors I used on this project. I love the tiny little ink pads with the fleur de lis on the lids. It was a good weekend!

I love valentines (as in cards sent for Valentine's Day) I also love making my valentines, which I did today. Lastly, I love getting things done ahead of time- so the fact that it is still January and I've made my cards for Valentine's Day is a very good thing!

It shouldn't be a surprise that I love any excuse to tell my family & friends that I love them....and cute cards are a nice way to do it.

It does look like I used 2 different envelopes....I didn't....I just took a terrible photo of the front!

And- no- I didn't do the cool design on the front of the card....I only wish I knew how to do that! The cards came with the pattern on them :)