Pinterest-inspired Birthday Cheesecake

Pinterest is an amazing thing. When I asked Michael what kind of cake he'd like for his birthday this year, he came up with the idea of some type of peanut butter-y chocolate-y cheesecake. Most normal people don't really have a recipe on hand for something that specific... cue Pinterest. I searched "peanut butter chocolate cheesecake" and dozens of different recipes came up on the page. I simply scrolled through the pictures and showed them to Michael, and he picked out the one he wanted.

pinned here and the recipe can be found at this blog post

Of course he would pick that one. A little intimidating, huh?

Surprisingly enough, I actually pulled it off! Here is my version:

It was a huge success with the birthday boy, and that makes me happy! It was super creamy and the peanut butter baked really well with the cheesecake flavor (I was a little unsure when tasting the batter). We had Michael's sister and husband over to help us eat it, thank goodness. It was so rich though, that none of us were even able to finish a whole slice. We'll be freezing some of this for sure. Michael would never let a good dessert go to waste.

Seriously though, what did we do before Pinterest?

Happy birthday Michael, I love you!

Birthday weekend!

This weekend was one big birthday celebration, and we basically spent it all in Durham. Friday I finally got to enjoy my birthday present of a night out to see Wicked! We ate dinner in the Tobacco District before and then walked over to see the show. It was amazing and the actors were all incredibly talented. I loved it! We don't know Durham too well, so it was really fun to explore. We love that there is so much to do all in the same area! Since tomorrow is Michael's birthday, we started his celebration on Saturday. I made him blueberry pancakes, took him to the driving range to test out his new clubs, and then we went up to Durham again to see a Bulls game. Instead of going into the stadium we went to Tobacco Road on the edge of the stadium and thankfully we got amazing seats! It was a sweet spot to watch the game for sure. Sunday we went to see Avengers to continue the celebrating. Basically I'm trying to spoil him - I sure hope he feels like it!

I'm so thankful for a wonderful weekend with my birthday boy! Of course we'll continue the celebrating through tomorrow, and then we'll be focusing on getting all packed up for our vacation! Seriously. cannot. wait. Five more work days and then we get on a plane! I'm stoked!!

Wedding weekend

I've been slightly busy lately so I thought I'd pop in and do a quick post about our weekend. We traveled to DC for Kyle and Kristy's wedding. It was so great to see them tie the knot and also spend time with my family while we were up there. Of course every time I go home I miss living in Virginia, but that's a different topic for a different day. This was our first wedding of the season and we only have one more, thank goodness. Last year we had several to attend, and Michael was a groomsman in 3 of them!

We had the rehearsal dinner at Maggiano's - always a winner!

The wedding was in a gorgeous Methodist church in Georgetown, and the reception was a ballroom nearby that was almost as beautiful. I would say most venues would have a hard time competing with this:

I wish I had a better picture of the bride's beautiful dress. She was truly stunning. Congrats Kyle and Kristy!

I thought this picture was silly while we were taking it but I actually kind of like it since it's different.
What do you think?

Gosh I love weddings. My sister and I were asking each other why girls are so obsessed with weddings and I think we figured it out. They combine all the things girls love into one pretty package:

flowers, fashion, food, decor, and romance.

Am I right?

And that wraps up another fun weekend! Can you believe it's already mid-May??

P.S. Since that last photo is showing a random sign in our yard, I thought I would explain. My sister got asked to prom on Saturday morning by her boyfriend with these adorable signs! What a sweet idea. Highschoolers can sometimes be cute I guess.

Green thumb wannabe

I mentioned that I picked up some fresh herb sprouts at the farmers market this weekend. Basil and cilantro, two of my faves. Last year I grew them from seeds. They lasted a while and I got to use them in some recipes, but I also didn't know what I was doing. The nice guy at the farmers market, or I guess I could call him the farmer (duh), told me how to care for these precious little guys. "Morning sun, afternoon shade. And don't over-water the basil." Last summer it was so hot that I watered my plants all the time, thinking they needed more to drink in the stifling heat. But soon my basil had yellowing leaves, and I found out I was drowning him as well as scorching him in the afternoon sun. My cilantro pretty much keeled over at one point, maybe from too much sun as well. So I obviously made some changes this year: brought them off the balcony onto the table so they'll get the morning sun and be shaded in the afternoon; waiting to water until they really need it, which is not necessarily every day. I'm sure hoping this works better! So far they look great... but then again I've only had them for 4 days. Hopefully my black thumb is at least turning a hunter green by now, so these beautiful guys actually stand a chance!

Strawberry bread

It's strawberry season, y'all! There is truly something amazing about fresh strawberries. I grabbed a bucket at the farmers market this weekend and they are incredible! They are 10x better than grocery store strawberries and they helped me whip up this spectacular bread. Honestly I was just looking for a recipe that had minimal ingredients since I didn't want to go to the grocery store, and this one turned out to be perfect. I halved the original recipe so it would just make one loaf, but seeing that hubby and I devoured half of the one in about the first hour, I probably should have made two! The next day I was wanting more, so I turned the recipe into muffins by adding a little milk. Perfect for breakfast all week :)

Strawberry Bread

1/2 cup oil
1 cup sugar
2 eggs, beaten
1 1/2 cups flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1.5-2 cups chopped fresh strawberries, or 1 10-oz. package frozen strawberries*

*If you're using fresh ones, save a couple before chopping to use for the top. Also the amount is a guesstimate - just eyeball it. Add enough to make it good, but don't overload the dough.

Preheat oven to 350. Mix oil, sugar, and eggs. Add flour, baking soda, and salt. Mix well until thoroughly blended. Add in strawberries. They will mash a little in this process and that's okay.  Grease a loaf pan and sprinkle with sugar. Pour batter into the loaf pan. Slice 1-2 strawberries and lay the slices on top. Bake at 325 for 1 hour. To make it fancy, serve with cream cheese and extra strawberries.

adapted from: Just Cook Already

And just because it's fun, here's a cute May calendar for your desktop or phone via RedStamp! Follow them on Facebook and you'll get a cute calendar for every month of the year. I LOVE this month's!

desktop

phone

(I did not get asked/paid by RedStamp to promote this, I just wanted to share it with you because it's cute!)

Weekend activities

This weekend was another fun one at home! We kicked it off by having friends over Friday night, which included a homemade dinner, walking outside in the beautiful weather, and late night hot-tubbing. Saturday morning hubby and I headed over to the Raleigh Farmers Market for some breakfast and just to walk around. We left with basil and cilantro plants, a couple tomatoes, a spring bouquet, and a bucket of perfect strawberries, which led to lots of strawberry-induced baking. Sunday included pool time and delving further into book two of the Hunger Games, as well as an evening of worship at church for the release of our worship team's new CD, "Jesus in My Place." I bought the CD and it is SO, so good. I feel like I truly got some R&R this weekend and it feels so amazing! I am now (hopefully) ready to take on another week. :)

Friday's here!

Friday, I've been waiting for you all week. I'm so glad you're finally here!

This week has had its share of ups and downs. As far as the downs go, I've been PMSing like whoa (TMI? sorry guys) and the hubs has been having to deal with it (thanks sweetie!). He really is a keeper. But anywho... let's move on to the ups :)

1. Last Friday was date night. Like fancy date night. I wore a sexy black dress and high heels, curled my hair, and we were treated like royalty at the Angus Barn. It was so wonderful!

We got the Chateaubriand (the absolute best steak there is) and indulged on their famous Chocolate Chess Pie for dessert, warmed with vanilla ice cream of course. We took a tour of the wine cellar also, which is pretty famous and has won lots of awards. I feel like we are officially Raleigh-Durham locals now that we've finally been to Angus Barn!

2. Saturday we picked up some strawberries from the local strawberry patch. We were in a hurry so we just grabbed a few cartons instead of picking them ourselves, but boy were they good! They were totally already gone by Sunday.

3. While grocery shopping at Target, I had a buy-one-get-one-50%-off coupon for accessories, so I wandered over to the purses and jewelry. I just happened to stumble upon the most perfect spring/summer purse! I love the bright punch of red, and the colorful stripes inside just make me so happy! And it was on sale for $21! I picked up a pair of sunglasses for half off and called it a day. A happy day for sure.

4. I created a weekly prayer schedule. I feel like whenever I seriously want to pray, I get super overwhelmed about all the things there are to pray for, and then I just get stressed because I feel like there will never be enough time to pray about them all. So each day of the week has a designated thing or person to pray for, things like: family, my husband, our future kids, the world, my walk with God and my struggles, our church and small group, our friends. This will take a while to get good at - my goal is to pray throughout the day but so far I'm having a hard time remembering because I'm so absorbed in my own activities, so I guess there will be prayer for that as well! Thinking about the fact that I am able to have an intimate conversation with the God of this universe really puts it into perspective and reminds me not to take that for granted. This is going to be a great thing :)

5. As I said before, my husband is more patient with me than I deserve. I'm so lucky to have him as my partner in life! I had no idea when I walked down the aisle that marriage would be this hard... but I also had no idea how amazing and beautiful it would be too. The good by far outweighs the bad and I love Michael so much more now than I did on our wedding day! So, so thankful for him.

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend! :)

Linking up with Lauren From My Grey Desk

for High Five for Friday

One month until bliss!

Lately I've been starting to think about all I need to do for an exciting trip we're taking in May. This will be our first true vacation together since our honeymoon almost two years ago (besides family trips), and I really can't wait! I think I'll hold off telling you where we're going until we get back (where of course I'll show pictures!). But I'll give you a hint - it's tropical :)

I picked up this bag at TJMaxx a couple weeks ago (for $12.99, woot woot!) and I wasn't totally sure about it at first but now I'm loving it. It will be perfect for toting around a towel, book, water bottle, etc. while we're vacationing in __________. Don't you love it??

I have running list of things we need to do to prepare:

update passport with my married name
stock up on supplies: sunscreen, toiletries, etc.
purchase a new swimsuit for myself and the hubs
maybe get a couple more fun summer dresses
decide on how much spending money we'll be bringing
book a hotel room for our 1-night layover
work on my base tan so I don't get completely fried
tone my legs and stomach by working out and eating healthy for the next month so I can look good in that swimsuit :)

I'm mainly just excited about getting there, so this list is basically just a way to trick myself into thinking that our time of departure is approaching faster! I'm also realizing that not having pets or children makes it so much easier to just pick up and go - I really need to savor this season of life!

What do you do to prepare for a vacation? Are you going anywhere fun this summer?