Tomorrow is National Book Lovers’ Day, so to celebrate I thought it would be fun to share a special roundup of book-themed drinks. 🙂
Why drinks, you ask? Well, I figured drink recipes are something quick and easy you can throw together on a whim, which is important for a holiday like this (one that lands on a weekday and is the sort that some people don’t hear about until the last minute). After all, just because you haven’t got time to run to the store doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be able to toast your love of books, right? 😉
The recipes listed here include cocktails, nonalcoholic punch, hot chocolate, and even Earl Grey lattes. So we’ve got something for everyone—whether you wanna party it up with an Edgar Allan Poe cocktail or get cozy with some of the White Witch’s hot chocolate.
As you can probably tell from the focus of my blog, I love making themed recipes. Themed desserts hold a special place in my heart, since they’re a great way to achieve that awesome visual wow factor. So I decided to round up all the red, white, and blue desserts on the blog and do a quick little post for anyone who’d like to whip up something fun and colorful for the 4th of July. Munch on, fellow patriots! 😉
Father’s Day is just around the corner, and I’m extra excited this year!
This Father’s Day will be my husband’s first official Father’s Day AND it falls on his birthday, so I really wanted to make it count. Especially since most of the gifts baby makes for him these days come wrapped in diapers! 😉
I usually wind up cooking something for the Mister on gift-giving occasions (for Christmas I made him white rum and almond hot chocolate!). So for Father’s Day, I decided to peruse my archive of meaty main dishes for inspiration when I realized that lots of other moms are probably in the same boat! So I decided to share a roundup of all the dishes I’m considering, so you can use them too!
Easter is just around the corner, and I’m eager to make some spring-themed Easter recipes for my family get togethers this year. But like most holidays, I run into some problems when deciding what to make for Easter parties.
I usually want something festive and easy to pass around, but I still want it to be unique enough that it’s not just a repeat of what someone else is bringing. Luckily, I’ve developed a repertoire of these sorts of recipes over the past few years of blogging. So I thought I’d share some today! 🙂
Happy Pi Day, everybody! I wish I could say I had another St. Patrick/Pi Day mashup party in the works this year, but unfortunately it was not to be. The Little Mister has been experiencing a growth spurt, so he’s spent all his waking hours for the past several days eating. Even though it’s difficult to cook anything right now, I can’t seem to feel resentful. He’s just too darn cute! I’m seriously so proud. He’s only 5 weeks old and can already lift his head, roll from side to side, and even smile! We like to joke that someone forgot to tell him he’s a baby. 😉
Still, just because my life’s a little crazy right now doesn’t mean everyone else can’t bake up some Pi Day goodness, right? Here’s a roundup of all the pies I’ve ever made here on AWR, if you’re looking for some inspiration. Almost all of them are savory, which surprised me…but that just means I should make sure to add some sweet pies to future menus this year!
In the mean time, maybe I can convince my husband to swing by a bakery and pick me up a slice of lemon meringue on his way home from work today. Fingers crossed! 🙂
What do you do on Valentine’s Day when the person you love is wild for books? Make them a dessert inspired by their favorite story…and then take them to the bookstore, of course! 😉
These are my top ten book-themed Valentine’s Day desserts. Stay sweet, Wonderlanders! 😉
A love as dauntless as yours calls for the most intense chocolate cake! (Note: If you’re concerned it’ll be too sweet, swap out the bourbon frosting for whipped cream blended with a little cinnamon)
My baby’s due any day now, so I thought now would be a good time to talk about the two awesomely bookish baby showers my family threw for me! 🙂
At first I didn’t think I’d have time to write a post about the showers, but I was so floored by the incredible effort my family put into them, it seemed like such a shame not to share them. Plus, if you’re planning any book themed baby showers of your own, there are some great ideas here! 🙂
P.S. I can’t take credit for any of the cool things described below. It all goes to my mother-in-law, mom, and sister. They’re the creative geniuses behind these parties. ^.^
2017 is here, folks! Can you believe it? I seems like just yesterday I was making plans to kick off 2016. So much has changed since then! I doubled my number of blog posts, hosted my first recipe linkup, and am expecting a baby by the end of this month. So much excitement!
Every New Year, I like to share a review post detailing the most popular recipes of the previous year. This year I’ll also include a summary of the changes you can expect to see on the blog in 2017 (many of them are baby-centric changes). So in true New Year’s spirit, whip yourself up a cocktail, and let’s get started! I recommend our most recent recipe, a nonalcoholic cocktail called Sugar Plum Punch:
Do you have your drink? Ok. Let’s start by revealing last year’s top ten posts! The winners are…
This year, I’m going to write about something a little different.
As you may know, the Mister and I are expecting our first baby in a little over a month. It’s exciting and strange to think that this is our last anniversary as “just us.”
It’s tempting to think our family is just now starting out, but then I remember something the priest at our wedding said during his sermon:
“People will start asking you when you’re going to start your family,” he said. “When they do that, you tell them, ‘It started today.’ Because from now on, the two of you together are a family.”
That stuck with me. And when I look back at the past three years, I realize how much of it has been focused on building the two of us into a strong family.
After all, what’s being a family all about?
Patience. No matter how much you love somebody, living with them requires patience. I’ve always been on the hot-tempered side, but I’ve chilled out a lot since Year 1 of being married, especially about domestic stuff. It’s made the little daily frustrations a lot easier, and I can feel it shaping me into someone who will be a better parent.
Making Time. The Mister and I have LOTS of practice at this one, what with the two and a half years he spent going to grad school and working full time. And yet, we know that finding time for each other after children—and spending meaningful time with our children amidst the demands of daily life—is going to get a lot harder.
Sharing What You Love. We have a tradition that every year on our anniversary we go to our local Brazilian steakhouse and eat like kings (Seriously. Fogo de Chao. It’s the greatest.). However, even though the food is amazing, the food itself isn’t the point. The point is to celebrate an important day doing something we both love (we share an abiding passion for good food). This year, I was super excited that Baby got to share in the tradition, and if the wild kicks in my tummy were anything to judge by, Baby was excited too. ^.^
Making a gift of self. Marriage challenges you to approach life with a new generosity of spirit, but parenthood flat-out demands it. When I got married, my life wasn’t just about me anymore. And when baby makes three, the sharing will stretch even further. Motherhood is definitely a gift of self, but it’s building on a lesson that marriage taught me first.
Creating a Home. I’ve always believed that the difference between a house and a home is the difference between a place and a person. I loved our first little newlywed apartment, but I wasn’t that choked up when we left. After all, my reason for loving it was moving right along with me. Soon, I hope our baby will able to share in the feeling of home that the Mister and I have created with each other.
Long story short, I’m pretty darn proud of my two-person family, which is part of why I’m so excited for it to grow! So when our first Little Miss or Little Mister makes their appearance come January, I’ll remind myself that my family isn’t beginning—it’s getting bigger. And I think I can speak for both the Mister and me when I say:
Welcome to the family, Baby. We can’t wait to meet you.
‘Tis the season to deck the halls! As I started planning my Christmas decorations for this year, I thought about how great it would be to use wintery decor as a way to celebrate my love of books. I searched the interwebs, and it turns out there are TONS of gorgeous, festive literary decorations out there. Here are my top ten!
