Eugene Turns One

 This little love bug celebrates his FIRST birthday today.  Eugene has brought unending joy to our lives + we are so thankful to call him ours.

While my parents were down for Thanksgiving we threw Eugene a little Birthday celebration.  We sang to him, gave him some new pajamas + let him go crazy on his own chocolate cupcake.  I would say that was the highlight of his first year! However, next time, we're going with vanilla. Ha.

We love you to the moon + back Eugene Robert!

Oh Darling, Let's Be Adventurers

We happened to catch a perfect fall day yesterday.  The sun was shining brightly, the trees were still holding on to bits of color + the temperatures were tolerable enough to frolic in outside.  After taking a drive through the country + fueling up on some Intelligentsia coffee it was inevitable that my camera would find its way to my hands.  We went for a hike in a great southern Wisconsin park where I immediately starting taking pictures.  We unintentionally matched the scenery + also unintentionally matched each other. I wait all year for this season to return + 2013 did not disappoint me. 

When the bleak of winter starts to wear on me I will have to find these pictures + revel in them to remind myself that color will once again reign as king.  The forest was full of vivid shades of yellow-orange leaves, back lit with endless sunshine glowing through the trees upon which they were resting. It was breathtaking. 

Eugene had so much fun playing in the crunchy leaves + then attempting to eat them when we weren't looking.  I am quite certain he would have stayed all day if we would have let him.  

I hope you have gotten the chance to be out in nature to enjoy this lovely season.  I am going to try to hold on to autumn as long as I can.  The holidays will be upon us shortly, we will find ourselves ringing in the new year + before long there will be another baby joining this little family. There is so much to be grateful for!

Having A Blast

As you may know, we are expecting our 2nd child in March! We couldn't be more excited to grow our little family + for Eugene to have a playmate.  We won't find out the gender for another month so in the meantime I came up with some gender-neutral ideas for the nursery.  Just me over here dreaming + being inspired.  Enjoy!

 

 

1. Plant 2. My Roots Are Here: Art 3. Mobile 4. Lamp 5. Crib 6. Chair 7. Toy



Autumn Wanderings

Just popping by to say hello + to show you a little of what we have been up to lately in this lovely fall weather.  I hope this finds you well + enjoying all things pumpkin!

Xoxo,

Heather

 



Recipe: Restaurant Soup In Your Home

 

I highly recommend dropping everything to make this rich, velvety soup.  It is very simple to make, but I guarantee the taste of it will blow you away!  I used vegetables I had in my fridge/from my garden, but feel free to change up the recipe to whatever vegetables you have on hand.  Now go, get cooking! You have friends who need impressing!

 

 RECIPE:

 

Garlic Infused Olive Oil

3 Small Tomatoes

5 Carrots

1 Small Green Pepper

1 Sweet Vidalia Onion

Herbs

Seasonings

Butter (optional)

Cream (optional)

Freshly Grated Parmesan (optional) 

Water

 

1. Heat a generous amount of garlic infused oil on medium heat in a Le Creuset pot or a sturdy kettle. Basically, you want enough oil to cover the entire surface of your pot. If you don't have garlic oil on hand you can add some chopped garlic to the oil, just make sure it doesn't get very brown or it will turn bitter. Add some fresh or dried herbs to the oil until aromatic.

2. While the oil is heating dice all your vegetables.

3. Add the onion/pepper/carrot mixture.  Add salt/pepper/seasonings of your choice. Sauté until onions are translucent + brown. Add a dab of butter to mixture. Add tomatoes. Sauté all ingredients for a good 5 minutes. 

4. Add enough water to cover all the vegetables + let simmer until all vegetables are soft.  Approximately 15 minutes. Then remove from heat + let cool a bit.

5. Add soup mixture to a blender. CAUTION, mixture is still hot so don't cover the blender completely.  Either use towel to cover the blender or just set the top loosely over blender so you don't get sprayed.  Puree until well blended. Add a bit of water as needed to get a runny applesauce consistency. Also, add more seasoning if needed.

6. Strain soup through a cheesecloth.  This is what makes it SO velvety. YUM.

7. At this point I added some freshly grated Parmesan cheese + a bit of cream. I think this makes it go all the way up to an eleven.  I am not kidding this soup is fantastic.

8. Enjoy.

 

***NOTE: This recipe only makes 1 larger bowl of soup.  If you are making this for a bunch of people, I recommend using 5 large, ripe tomatoes, 1 pound of carrots, 2 large peppers of any color (mixed colors), 1 large sweet Vidalia onion & more of everything else, as needed.