not every recipe is blog-worthy

i tend to post a lot of recipes.  almost all of them are either my own creations or my mom's family recipes.  lately i have been working on making some new and unique cupcakes, mostly with fruit.  i follow a lot of recipe/diy blogs, and i always see these amazing and beautiful concoctions.  my creations lately have been everything but amazing... or delicious.  it made me wonder, do other bloggers plan and photograph recipes that turn out awfully that they'll never share? gosh, i hope so; i don't want to be alone!

here are a couple of my failed attempts:

1. chocolate raspberry cupcakes: my aunt's chocolate cake recipe with 3/4 of a can of raspberry cake filling in the batter. the cake was really good, except for the bit of additional raspberry filling i put in the batter sunk down to the bottom of the cupcake.  overall, the frosting was the real nightmare; not a great consistency and it had just a sweet, not raspberry taste.

well that didn't work

womp womp and gross frosting...

2. peach cupcakes: used a vanilla cake recipe and put in three pureed peaches.  three peaches didn't make it taste peachy at all! as for the frosting... with three more peaches - still no peach taste. so disappointing!

seriously, how can you tell me that wasn't enough to make a peach taste?

well, needless to say, no baker is perfect.  but, luckily, i got this great book as a present when i was in cooperstown, and i cannot wait to start making some of these cupcakes!

i cannot wait to make these!

camelbaks are AWESOME

mike has had a camelbak forever for biking, and i have always been envious - they are so cool!  this weekend, he surprised me with one!  we went to ems and he let me pick one.  i chose this one, and it is absolutely awesome.  his reason for getting one for me was to get me to go biking more [which i SURELY will], but shortly after purchasing it, i realized it would also be perfect for work.  spending 7 hours out on a golf course is tiring and hot, and it's perfect to store water [obviously], my phone, schedule, sunscreen, and band-aids [i'm also the camp medical director].  for the past three weeks, i have only been able to wear my golf skirts/shorts that have pockets, but now i can wear all my clothes.  small miracles!

seriously, best boyfriend and purchase everrrrr.

not to mention, all of the girls who started camp with me today LOVED it.  i wouldn't be surprised if four or five of them came with them tomorrow haha.

thanks to my fellow coach for this shot haha

this week is a specialty week for camp; there are two camps going on at the same time but entirely independent of each other.  camp [for the other 6 weeks] begins at age 7, but this week there is a half day camp for 5 & 6 year olds as well as a girls only camp.  the 18 girls i had today were phenomenal!

our new roommates

a few of weeks back, i mentioned at lindsey moved into our spare bedroom.

all of my roommates playing badminton

i also mentioned that it wasn't just her.  her cat, merp, moved in, and slowly but surely he and roxy are getting to know each other.  you can't really tell from the photos, but merp is significantly bigger than roxy, but you wouldn't know it by how dominant she is.  she takes his food, his spaces in the house, and teases him like crazy!

oh well, at least he doesn't seem to mind.

getting closer!

she is awful!

but at least he is starting to retaliate! you can tell how much bigger he is by how he fits in her perch...

meatball grinders

whenever my mom comes to visit, she always brings up a container of her famous meatballs and sauce. usually, we freeze them and save them to have pasta and sauce or meatball grinders.  i absolutely love meatball grinders [or subs or hoagies for you people who aren't from rhode island]!

my mom finally gave me her meatballs and sauce recipe, so i plan to try to duplicate them piece of piece.  for now, i will try just the meatballs but in store bought sauce for the grinders.

ingredients:

about 15 cups of pasta sauce

2 pounds of hamburg [preferably 80/20]

2 eggs

1 cup parmesan cheese

1 cup seasoned bread crumbs

5 tablespoons pasta sauce

2 teaspoons salt

1 lb provolone cheese

6 pack of italian rolls

directions:

- put sauce on stove over medium until bubbling

- combine hamburg, eggs, parmesan cheese, 5 tablespoons sauce, and salt

- form into balls and put into sauce

- simmer in sauce for 1 hour

  when ready for meatball grinders:

- preheat oven to 350

- line cookie sheet with aluminum foil

- line grinder rolls with slices of provolone cheese

- spoon in 5-6 meatballs per grinder roll

- cover with provolone cheese

- place in oven for 6-7 minutes

my week at camp

3 of 7 weeks of summer camp down.  next week is two specialty camps: a girls only week and a half-day week for 5 & 6 year olds.  needless to say, there will FOR SURE be some awesome pictures and videos to share.

rainy day at camp

look at last year to this year...

what an amazing addition. can't wait for it to open in a month!

look at that beautiful building - from december to march to may and now this! 

cooperstown via instagram

beautiful sky driving through ny state

quack quack new friends

the famous cooperstown movie

my favorite house in town

the only good thing about coming home... yummy treats to bring back

summer wardrobe and induction weekend

this past weekend my family and i spent the weekend in cooperstown, ny for the baseball hall of fame induction weekend.  it was my 24th [every year of my life], my parents' 30th consecutive, and mike's 2nd.  we had a great time!

a few days prior, i bought a bunch of new summer clothes.  somehow, a year ago, in transition over a week from college to my parents' house to my new house i lost almost all of my summer clothes.  i dealt with it last summer because i worked a ton, but i decided to splurge with my latest paycheck and spend some money at forever 21 purchasing some new summer clothes.  i hadn't spent any money on clothes since i went spring clothes shopping, and that was months ago!

additionally, i saw this article on my roommate's facebook wall a couple of weeks back and i have a new life motto with #18.

i purchased a scarf, two pairs of shorts, a skirt, two plain shirts, three pretty shirts, and a dress for $100.

outfit 1 - new shorts and plain shirt under my all-star jersey (matching with my dad)

feeding my new duckie friends

and some scenic shots around cooperstown:

what a coat of paint can do: diy week 3

oh boy, it's been three weeks since my initial video, two weeks since i finished the cabinets and stripped the wallpaper, and a week since i finished grouting.  now, i am closer than ever to finishing my list!

rundown of updates:

7/1 - tear down wallpaper - CHECK! except it wasn't quite as easy as i showed in the video, we pulled some extra layers off in places, so some mudding/sanding will have to be done [so i will add that to the list]

- mud/sand walls - CHECK! mike did an amazing job!!!

- repaint walls - CHECK! we decided to go with a bit darker color "traditional" than originally chosen so it wouldn't clash with the window or tiling

7/1 - repaint cabinet and drawers under sink - CHECK! eurolinen by behr

7/1 - new hardware for cabinets, drawers, etc. - CHECK! brushed nickel pieces

7/1 - clean and line all the drawers - CHECK! plus i cleaned all the junk out of the drawers

7/1 - repaint radiator - CHECK! informal ivory, like the rest of the house

- re-grout tiling around the room - CHECK! finished the tub last week!

- re-caulk the bathtub

- new light fixture above the sink - CHECK! another thank you to mike!

- make and install curtain for window

so, as you can see, all i need to do is caulk the line of the tile and paint around the room as well as have mike help me make a curtain for the room.

went with "traditional"

all mudded and sanded

primed

last remaining wallpaper in the house - the bathroom ceiling. i think we'll keep it

new paint drying

getting ready for the light fixture

lovely and sophisticated 

and new bath mats!