April showers....

Oh April, what a month you've been.

You rained. A lot.

You learned that I am about join the ranks of the fabulously unemployed.

You watched me turn 30.

You welcomed a new bundle of joy to a dear friend.

Welcome Princess Gwenyth, born April 28 10:01pm, 7lbs, 6oz, 19 inches.

And this morning you celebrated the fairy tale wedding of a life time.

All the ups and downs of this fabulous thing we call life. ♥

Southwest Turkey Burgers

Rain, rain, go away...

Did you know Cleveland is experiencing the wettest April on record? That's a lot of rain. The consistent downpour has me longing for summer - sunshine, shorts, parties and lots of grilling.

In the meantime, Jeff and I are making do with our cast iron griddle pan. If you are curious as to my kitchen must haves, this cast iron griddle/grill pan is one of them. Honestly (they aren't paying me!), we use it for everything - grilled chicken, fajita veggies, pancakes, turkey burgers....

Yum.

This has to be my favorite turkey burger recipe we've concocted so far. The burgers are full of southwest flavors - very intentional as I was aiming to top them with my two favorite condiments: Franks Buffalo Sauce and Famous Dave's Hellfire Pickle Chips.

This is a serious jar of pickles.

Confession: I am a serious pickle fanatic. I may or may not have married Jeff because he gives me his pickles. That's love.

Southwest Turkey Burgers
Serves 2

1 tbsp cumin seeds
1 tbsp hot paprika
1 tsp chili powder
2 tbsp green onions, diced
1 tsp ground coriander
8oz ground turkey
Tabasco Chipotle sauce, to taste

1. Toast cumin seeds until fragrant, about 5 minutes. Grind to a fine powder in a spice grinder.
2. Mix all cumin and all remaining ingredients in a bowl. Blend well.
3. Form mixture into two patties. Allow to set/chill for 15 minutes.
4. Cook on a griddle pan on medium high, about 4 minutes a side or until burgers are done.

Top with your desired toppings and serve with tots. Or at least, I would serve with tots. Because tots are awesome.

¡Felices Pascuas!

Happy Easter, everyone! (If you celebrate, that is...)

Pins - vintage/thrifted | Tissue Tee - Target (HERE) | Skirt - Modcloth (HERE |

Shoes - Seychelles Pot of Gold (HERE)

Jeff and I headed to my parents house to celebrate Easter. My crazy-wonderful half-Polish, half-English/Native American family decided to do "Mexican Easter". We had fish tacos, tamales and a make-your-own fajita bar. It was madness and fabulous.

Jeff made 5lbs of barbacoa shredded beef. Delicious.

I hope you all had a wonderful, blessed Easter Sunday!

Polish conundrum

Why is it that the second you finish painting your nails that your bladder decides to kick into overdrive? It doesn't seem to matter if you emptied it out before you started your manicure; it's like your bladder senses that your nails are wet and decides to cause trouble.

Another Saturday morning spent for Jeff and I at the West Side Market. More crepes, more coffee, in addition to some meats for Easter and flowers.

Yellow ranunculus.

Ranunculus were in my wedding bouquet. They are one of my favorites along with peonies and stargazer lilies, just in the event that you wanted to send me some flowers.

It's kind of windy today so forgive the stringy hair, please. Off to Michael Symons Lola tonight to celebrate my birthday with the outlaws in laws. Super excited!!

Blazer - Target (HERE) | Blouse - H&M | Jeans - American Eagle (HERE and on sale!) |

Flats - JS by Jessica 'Dreis' (HERE)

Happy Easter, Passover, spring or whatever you are celebrating! What is your favorite flower?

Crazy pants running

I have some serious crazy pants.

No, not like Hammer pants (although I may have way back in the day). I am crazy pants. As in, I have some really odd anxieties sometimes when it comes to running.

Specifically, I don’t do well with seasonal changes. Here’s how my brain works:

Spring into Summer: Woo it’s so nice and warm! I love running outside! Yay nature!

Summer into Fall: It’s getting cold. It’s really cold. But I don’t want to run inside. It’ll be horrible. It’s so hot in that room. I can’t breathe!!

Fall into Winter: I hate you treadmill. I hate you.... Okay, maybe you’re not so bad.

Winter into Spring: I can’t run outside. I can’t. I’ve forgotten how to propel myself forward. What if I get out there and collapse after one mile!?!?

See? I am crazy pants.

Crazy pants = that last face

But after my first outdoor run of the season my worries were, of course, completely unwarranted. Everything worked out completely fine. No collapsing, no inability to propel myself forward - and if that ever happened you'd just have to dangle a shoe in front of me and I'd run for it anyway.

As I transition back to the Great Outdoors and bid my favorite treadmill adieu, I do have it to show it some last love.

Reasons why the treadmill is (sometimes) better than the great outdoors:

1. You don't have to worry about forgetting your Garmin (like I did) because your pace, time and distance are on that (sometimes annoying) display in front of you.

2. You don't have to experience the nauseating cringe of your iPhone going kersplat! on the concrete when it falls out of your pocket. Treadmills have nice ledges/shelves to hold your music device.

3. 20 mph winds. Enough said.

Please tell me I'm not the only one with crazy ideas/anxieties about running!

Cupcakes and happy birthdays

Happy Birthday to Hayden Christensen, Kate Hudson, James Franco..... and me!

(Who knew I'd end up sharing the same birth date with Darth Vader? Kinda cool....)

What is being a child of the 80's worth without the scary floating baby head photo?

It's not just any birthday - it's my 30th birthday. Which is kind of mind-reeling given that most days I still feel about 10 years old, watching cartoons and wondering what I want to be when I grow up.

And after having many-a birthday (from roller skating extravaganzas to surprise parties to ones I can't really remember all that well) I've come to realize that birthdays are best when they are celebrated with people who love you..

…and cupcakes.

It’s a new tradition I started. All (my) birthdays must be celebrated with cupcakes!

I ended up swapping out the vanilla cupcake for a chocolate strawberry cupcake – can you blame me! Look at that sanding sugar (I have a weakness for sanding sugar)!

And I wonder why I still feel 10 years old… ♥

Blueberry Scones

When I lived in London there was always a great discussion around the way I pronounced scones. My dear flatmate, Charly, said I pronounced it in too formal a fashion. She called "the Queen's English" and we'd go round and round with me attempting to mimic her accent and way of saying scones.

Oh my. Youth.

While I am not sure if this scone recipe is quite as delicious as Charly's, I find it to be quite tasty. It's an adaptation of Alton Brown's scones recipe (you know how much I love Alton) that I tried to make tiny bit healthier. I subbed half of the all-purpose flour for whole wheat flour and eliminated the cream for Chobani 0% vanilla yogurt.

The result? A delightfully soft, buttery blueberry scone with a hint of sweetness and tang. Perfect with a "cuppa" tea or clotted cream. Yum! I miss that stuff!

Blueberry Scones (makes 12 scones)
(Adapted from Alton Brown)

1 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup all purpose flour
3/4 tsp salt
1/3 cup sugar
4 tbsp butter, cut into chunks
2 tbsp shortening, cut into chunks
1 6oz container Chobani 0% vanilla yogurt
2 tsp water
1 egg
1/2 pint blueberries (or other fruit, fresh or dried)

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
2. In a large mixing bowl, combine flours, sugar and salt.
3. Cut in flour and shortening using a knife or your fingers. Work to incorporate the fat equally through the flour until it looks like sand.
4. In another bowl, mix the yogurt, water and beaten egg until combined. Add to dry ingredients.
5. Turn out dough on to floured surface and gently start to work together. If it looks too dry, slowly add more water. Once the dough feels nice and elastic gently fold in your fruit.
6. If you are using a delicate fruit (like blueberries) use your hand to gently push out the dough. If you are using dried fruit, or chocolate chips, you can use a rolling pin.
7. Cut into rounds with a biscuit cutter. Bake for 15 minutes or until the tops are golden brown.

Spring Love

One of the things I love the most about spring (and summer) is getting to enjoy all the fresh produce I missed out on during the winter. And combining it all into an amazing salad like this:

Green leaf lettuce, baby spinach, grated carrot, celery, strawberries, cucumbers and slivered almonds dressed with Bolthouse Farms Classic Balsamic Vinaigrette. Yum!!

I also love not being covered up in a million layers just to stay warm. My poor pale legs could use the sunshine. :)

Cardigan - Target | Polkadot bow top - H&M | Shorts - Target | Pumps - Secert by Jessica Simpson

Now if I could just get my knee and the weather to coordinate their good days.

What do you love most about spring?

Crepes!

How a girl can live her entire life without eating crepes is beyond me, but I seem to have managed somehow. I've become rather obsessed with them lately. There's a vendor that sells fresh crepes at the West Side Market and it's become my favorite Saturday morning stop. They are delicately made with buckwheat flour and lately I've been getting a savory crepe with smoked salmon, capers, spinach, chives and small bit of creme fraiche. Jeff and I will grab a crepe and cup of coffee and people watch from the balcony.

People watching is definitely one of my favorite past times.

With Spring finally having sprung in NEO, I've been eager to break out some spring-like skirts and dresses. Funny how it still looks fall-like here.

I also have a coat addiction.

My serious "fashion face" needs work. Eek!

Much better.

Coat - LC Lauren Conrad for Kohls | Dress - Tucker for Target | OTK Socks - Sock Dreams | Boots - Nine West

Drive-by reorg

As some of you who follow me on Twitter may have already learned, I was the victim of a departmental reorganization this past Tuesday. What that means is that I will continue to be employed through the end of June, at which time my position will be eliminated and I will join the ranks of the unemployed.

I’ve know that this “reorg” was coming for quite some time, but I didn’t really think I’d be eliminated. Okay, I did and I didn’t. I never rest easy; no one is ever safe and even the best of the best can be let go for any reason. So I prepared myself for the worst but at the same time thought my position was at least of some value to the department.

Even still, the news didn’t really come as a shock. And I have to give myself major props for not tearing up (crying would be my worst nightmare!)

It’s hard to prepare yourself for what you are going to feel when you get news like this, you know? We got a packet of paperwork, some of which tries to help us through the “grief” and “loss” of our situation. I get that, I guess. There have been a few tears, but no anger. I wouldn’t really consider it grief.

The uncertainty gets me more than anything. What if I don’t find new employment before June? What are we going to do about Tokyo? About the WDW Half in January? Prescriptions? Car payments? Rent? SHOES?

Okay, shoes aren’t important. Yes they totally are.

(At least I can keep some humor about this whole thing.)

In the meantime, I have a paycheck for a few more weeks, which is a blessing. And I’m taking some time to figure out where I want to go from here. There are a lot of new options in my industry that weren’t around when I started; I think I need to figure out how to squirrel my way into some of them.

Keep your fingers crossed for me, k? :)