stocking up for winter..

i love myself some strawberries when

it's not strawberry season!

so these are off to the freezer!

tonight my new friend keva is coming over

and we're going to have a lil baking party.

i'm so excited!

muffins for my new friend: keva

oh how i love her!

first we went to a local coffeehouse..

which has the best chai i've had as of lately!

last night we went to 'inception'

which of course was an amazing movie.

i am SO blessed!

God could not have given me

a better friend right now... seriously!

mid-week muffin

just some of the ingredients

white chocolate macadamia nut muffins

today is another lovely day outside

and i chose to be inside baking..

with the oven on 400* and now i'm wondering

why i decided to bake on a day like today...

~ perhaps it is because i wanted to use some new muffin liners

(if you look closely you can see little pink muffins)

~ perhaps it is because i LOVE baking..it doesn't matter how hot it is outside.

(right now it is 91* outside!)

~ perhaps it is because i had a new recipe i've been wanting to try.

(it has been calling my name!) and i love myself some white chocolate

macadamia nut cookies...and in a muffin form...yum!

~ perhaps it is because i don't usually bake

with macadamia nuts or vanilla chips and i've had them

in my pantry for some time and been wanting to use them.

one of the longest names of a muffin a might say.

white chocolate macadamia nut muffins.

maybe it should be w.c.m.n. muffins : )

i thought about drizzling a white chocolate glaze on top

(which i still might!) but for now i'm going to see

what my husband thinks of them.

i think they are sweet, just as they are.

but a little white chocolate on top..

would make them look FABULOUS!

my new cookbook

today i checked my mail

and received a lovely package.

i am so excited to have won this cookbook

by Julia Child (my first blog win!)

and it came all the way from Australia!

thanks to the lovely Louisa Janke

who has a wonderful blog, Vintage by Lou Lou

hope you all had an amazing week!

this time last year..

this past weekend marked the first anniversary

of one of my best friends, rachel getting married.

rachel and i met in college but really didn't become

friends until our senior year when all of us girls

lived next door to each other.

we wished that we were as good of friends now

as we were when we first attended NNU.

however, we now have the rest of our lives

to be the best of friends!

and not to mention..our husbands are like

long lost brothers..so it works out perfectly!

rachel was the first of my close friends

to tie the knot...nate is such a lucky guy!

we got to celebrate their 1st anniversary

with them..so i thought i would share some

pictures from their wedding weekend..a year ago!

enjoy!

starbucks run before the rehearsal

gorgeous setting!

lovely friends.

the big day..

rachel's mom, kathy doing her hair

the bridal party.

the reception

the ding-dong tower

ikea love

poppyseed muffins!

muffin liners

some lovely napkins

tonight i realized was i in an Ikea mood!

we were out of napkins..so i looked through my

stash. yes i have a stash of lovely napkins!

most of them were gifts from from my mum.

however, these ones i purchased at Ikea.

my favorite color is purple and i could

not pass up the gray and purple combination!

on another trip to Ikea i purchased these muffin liners.

i bought two packages...one for me and another

for one of my close friends, Rachel, who also enjoys baking.

the liners made a great hostess gift along with some towels!

which leads up to tonight..i finally baked with mine!

i chose to make one of my favorite muffin recipes..

my fat-free poppyseed muffins!

(also a husband favorite!)

chocolate chip bread

yesterday i brought out my bread maker

(courtesy of my grandparents!)

and made some yummy chocolate chip bread!

it was a new recipe, and one that i will definitely

be making again!

my husband had just gotten home last night

just as the bread was done baking..

and there is nothing like taking the baby loaf

out right away and having a warm slice!