weekend picnic

after our trip to quiet valley over the weekend, we went back to my parents' house for a picnic on their deck.  my mom made so many amazing things for dinner . . . chicken satay, teriyaki steak, baked beans, broccoli salad, carrot salad, and frozen lemonade.  for dessert we had angel food cake with fruit and fresh whipped cream.  seriously, my mom is the best cook ever!  yum!

love, laurie

a trip to the farm

over the weekend, we took a trip to quiet valley living historical farm with my parents.  ever since i was a little girl, my family and i have been visiting quiet valley in the fall for the harvest festival and in the spring for the farm animal frolic.  this weekend was the annual farm animal frolic, and we had such a good time walking around the farm and seeing all of the new baby animals.  ryan and my parents even got to hold a few brand new baby birds.  we loved seeing all of the animals, but the four-day old black and white baby goats really stole the show.  seriously, so cute!

the grill master

dear husband, you sure do know how to rock veggies on the grill.  i am so glad i married a man who can cook . . . and bake, and clean, and catch bugs, and fix things.  your mama sure did raise you right!

love, laurie

happy memorial day!

since it's memorial day, we have the day off from work,

and we plan on enjoying our day off with this guy!

have a great day!

love, laurie

check it out

for the month of may, kaytee lauren asked each of her sponsors to create a spring outfit using white or ivory pieces from their wardrobe, and then she featured all of our outfits in a group guest post.

for my outfit, i picked the ivory lace dress that i wore for my graduation a few weeks ago (seen here).  this dress is one of the most comfortable dresses that i own!  i chose to keep my outfit plain and simple because the delicate detail around the neckline of this dress is so feminine and flattering.  this dress is great because it can be dressed up with a pair of heels for a formal occasion, or dressed down with a pair of flat sandals for a more casual look.

outfit details . . .
dress: rabbit rabbit rabbit designs
sandals: old navy
earrings: made by me
sunglasses: relic
bag: jessica simpson
lipstick: mary kay "paradise pink"

check out my outfit in kaytee's group guest post here

have a great weekend!

love, laurie

have a great weekend!

hello three day weekend!

this weekend we are looking forward to
checking several things off our to-do list

and getting some much needed relaxation!  

hope everyone has a wonderful memorial day weekend!

love, laurie

homemade twix bars

i have never considered myself to be much of a candy lover.  often, i find most candies to be too sweet for my taste.  (i am one of those people who automatically starts off by cutting the recommended amount of sugar in half each time i try a new recipe.)  but, several years ago my brother introduced me to twix bars.  i loved the idea of combining shortbread, caramel, and chocolate into one dessert.  so, when i found this recipe for homemade twix bars, i just knew that i had to try them.

i made these homemade twix bars quite a while ago, but somehow i never got around to posting the pictures of them.  they certainly were a bit messy . . . mainly because i got impatient and didn't wait long enough for the caramel to completely come together, which meant that they never really looked like they were supposed to.  (here is a good example of how they should have looked.)  however, they still were tasty.

overall, they were a tad sweet for me, but then again, caramel is really sweet.  even though this recipe is time consuming (because it is really like three recipes in one) i would still recommend it!

enjoy!

love, laurie

sometimes things just hit you.

{photo taken by ryan's mom during our trip to north carolina}

the other day i had an epiphany . . . i am no longer a student.

i know it sounds pretty basic.  after all, people graduate and move on from academic life all the time.  however, i have never known anything but being a student.  i went straight through school, from preschool to kindergarten to elementary school to junior high school to high school to college to graduate school to doctoral school.  i never took a break between, and now that graduation is finally behind me, i am finding it hard to believe that i am actually no longer a "student."  but, i am looking forward to this new chapter in my life that doesn't involve classes, homework, research, studying, and endless paper writing.  i am also looking forward to no longer having to pay tuition.  (thank goodness for that!)

i know that i am still a "student" in many ways, since i am continuously learning new things every day.  now, i just get to learn them without having to worry about studying for tests and writing papers!

also, you can bet that i'm going to hold on to my student id for the occasional "student discount" . . . just in case ;-)

have a wonderful wednesday!
love, laurie

meeting baby davis

over the weekend, we took a trip down to north carolina with ryan's parents.  we visited ryan's brother and sister-in-law and met their new baby.  davis is only two weeks old, and everyone was thrilled to be able to hold him for the very first time.  we had a nice weekend visiting with family, and we look forward to seeing baby davis again soon.

hope everyone had a great weekend!

love, laurie

a few fun links

over the weekend we took a quick trip down to north carolina to see our new nephew for the very first time.  today, we will be in the car all day making the 12 hour trip home from north carolina.  luckily i have lots of stuff to keep me busy in the car, and lots of snacks too!  in the mean time, here are a few fun links that i found around the internet recently:

an elegant way to sweeten up your cup of tea

a fun idea for lighting up your cotton candy

a cute end of the year teacher appreciation gift

a revolutionary fruit sticker

a cool alternative to a traditional bookshelf

a funny pun for music nerds

a very unique twist on traditional ballet pointe shoes

an absolutely adorable pair of baby owls

happy monday!
love, laurie

snapshots of life lately, according to my iphone pictures

chocolate peanut butter ice cream in a pretzel cone.
our sweet kitten all ready for bed.
azaleas in bloom in our yard.
fun straw wrappers at dinner.

gorgeous sunflowers from my hubby.
iced coffee from a local cafe.
layers of cupcake and icing in a jar, made by kelly.

{iphone pictures via the instagram app}

around our yard

we haven't planted any flowers in our garden yet since it has been just a tad too cool lately.  we are looking forward to sprucing up our garden and planting colorful flowers and some yummy herbs too once the weather evens out.  however, in the mean time, a few perennial flowers have been popping up around our yard.  their bright and vibrant colors have put me right in the mood for sunshine and warm weather!  over the weekend, ryan's mom took a stroll around our yard and took some lovely pictures of what's currently in bloom.  here are just a few of her photos . . .

love, laurie
{photos by ryan's mom}