celebrating

The last week or so has been pretty emotional, watching my close friend in her fight with stage IV cancer. My Cora is helping me keep my spirits up, though. I'm so glad to have her around during this sad time.


We've also had several occasions to celebrate: a first Father's Day, my 30th!! birthday (yesterday), and our 7th wedding anniversary (today). I kept forgetting that it was my birthday--not because I want to avoid that unbelievable number--but because this little one means there's now someone more important than me, even on my birthday! I do feel like the number reflects my age and where I am in life, so 30 isn't so bad:)

I'm calling the above photo 'key lime cheescake, take 2' because we made it for 2 weekends in a row, first for E and his dad on Father's Day, and then again for us and my parents. We first had this cheesecake when our neighbor made it a few days after we came home with Cora. I immediately thought of E's dad-- lover of the Keys and limes! It didn't come out so pretty (2nd photo) when we copied our neighbor's jello topping (funny how that keeps happening), and I preferred to scrape the green off anyway, so this time we went for a less kitschy presentation.


It tasted tangy and delicious both times, so we'll definitely keep this recipe around.

Key Lime Cheesecake

Crust: We followed our neighbor's instructions to use packaged sugar cookie dough for the crust. You bake it first in the spring form pan according to directions.

Filling: 3 8oz packages cream cheese, softened
3/4c sugar
3 limes
1 tsp vanilla
3 eggs, separated

Combine cheese, sugar, vanilla in electric mixer on medium speed. Add juice of limes and 1.5 tsp lime zest, mix well. Add yolks one at a time, mix well after each addition. Beat egg whites in a separate bowl until stiff peaks form. Fold into cheese mixture. Pour over crust. Bake at 300 degrees for 55 minutes. Turn oven off and let cool in warm over for 1 hour. Loosen cake from edge of pan, and cool completely before refrigerating. Garnish as you like. (but I think simpler is better!)

lucky!

When it rains...

I didn't forget about my giveaway--things just get a little unpredictable with a newborn!

Since there were 4 commenters on the giveaway post, I think I'll send a little something to each. Just email me (see my blogger profile) your mailing address.

Thank you all for the reading suggestions. I found some new favorites, and enjoyed reading your blogs, too!. I always appreciate new-to-me resources that I find on blogs I enjoy, so I'm adding a new section to the sidebar to list some of my own current inspiration.

Yesterday and today I got a couple of much needed breaks, thanks to E and my mom. It's always difficult to decide how to spend that precious free time. So yesterday I finished up a sewing project--some new burp cloths (exciting!)-- I hope to post some photos soon. And today, I was able to go to yoga for the first time in 2 months. I never thought I would say this, but it was better than a nap. Thank you, mom!

tiny fast pants and grandmom's garden

Unfortunately, my model was less than happy about having her photo taken in these, her new pants that match her room. My dad said they look like camouflage pants, and I guess they do. I'll be making lots more of these because they're so easy and quick--just 2 legs cut, sewn down the middle, then sewn down the inseam. Hem them and add the casing and elastic at the waist, and you're done.

I haven't said much here about where my gardening inspiration comes from, but it's all my grandmother. She's an amazing lady, who tends an unbelievable garden up the hill from her house in Athens, GA. My cousin Naomi recently photographed and wrote about my grandmom's set up here. I hope one day I have half the growing success she does. Thanks, Naomi, for documenting it!

it would have been prettier

..if I had had enough berries to make the full recipe. ..if I'd had more than one old, dried out, frozen pie crust. ..if I'd remembered to take the photo before I ate a slice. But it doesn't matter how it looked, it was so satisfying anyway. I just thirded everything (like halved, but 1/3) in my go-to recipe since I picked just 2 cups of berries off our bushes, and baked it in a small corningware dish.

I went to the grocery store today and was almost tempted to see if blueberries were on sale so I could make a full pie, but I really wanted to use just the home grown berries. Plus, I'm trying to use more of what we have on hand. It makes sense because our pantry and freezer are overflowing, and, after reading this challenge and this result on mommycoddle, I know I don't need to buy so much food every week. With just milk, eggs, cereal and produce, today's grocery bill was just half what I usually spend, and I think we have more than enough to get through the week! I'll just have to be a little more creative.

Oh, and I gave up on installing typepad connect. Troubleshooting html code is just way beyond my trial-and-error ability!

back at it

Blueberry picking, that is. Only this year, I had the foresight to plant some bushes of our own. With a six-week-old, I had a feeling we might not make it to the pick-your-own farm. We may not get enough for a full pie off these new bushes this year, but my sister-in-law Gwen suggested making mini pies in a muffin pan. My mouth is watering already! I look forward to that pie all year.


Now if I can just stop eating them from the bowl!

number 200

our little family

Wow--this is my 200th post here. It's funny to think I've had 200 things in my life in the past 2+ years that I felt were interesting enough to share! I was looking back at posts I wrote a year ago, just to see where I was this time in 2008. I had a lot going on--blueberry picking, sewing for a co-worker, screen printing--and I had no idea what excitement the next year had in store! Becoming a mother (still so weird to say!) has been an amazing, life-changing experience.

Anyway, I'm wanting to get back to the interesting bits of my life and to documenting them here. So I've made a few changes to the blog--new banner, a book list (still in progress), and adding typepad connect. I'm excited that typepad has made this commenting service available to blogger users, and can't wait to be able to have more of a dialogue with readers. We'll see how it goes!


So since this is number 200, I should have a little giveaway, right? Right. But can I ask you for something? I would love to find some new inspiration to look at/read. Is there a blog or website you've been enjoying, even your own? Please share it with me in the comments. It'll be a great trial run of typepad connect, and 3 lucky commenters will receive one of these items from my stash. Tell your friends--like I said, I'm looking for inspiration, and I'll randomly select winners next Weds., June 17.

And some good reads I've discovered recently:
amazing mae
katie did (thanks julie!)
making it lovely

OK, now I have to go watch So You Think You Can Dance!

It looks like I the typepad commenting still needs some work, so I'll just open back up the regular comments in the meantime.

and one for dad

E finally got his sling yesterday. Since Cora isn't sleeping as much anymore, it took a little longer for me to finish this one, but it works to calm her down just like mine. It's just a few inches longer to fit his torso.


He really likes this tattoo-style dragon fabric, and is already asking what else I could use it for. Any ideas? It's always tough to sew for guys.