lemonade love...

Just about any combination of "berry" and "lemonade" is a hit in my book! Thankfully, one day I googled the term "raspberry lemonade" (cause I have nothing better to do?) and came across this site here. 

I made this YUMMY treat in cupcake form for my recent ThirtyOne Bags party and they were a hit! They'd be PERFECT for your next spring/summer get together and don't require much more work than your standard cupcake or cake. Seriously... give it a try! 

from jessie (so berry sweet and sour)... with love 

PUKE!

Sorry for the week long hiatus! I had a BUSY weekend followed by a BUSY start to my work week... 

FRIDAY - Thirty-One Party with Lindsey Brooks and Fabulous Friends (I can't say enough about these products people!)

SATURDAY- all day "hang-out-extravaganza" with some best friends: Katie, Krystal, and Joy

SUNDAY - went to church, reorganized the house, crafts, sleep!

MONDAY - Field Trip to Jamestown (more on this to come) AND Awards/Brag Night at School

TUESDAY - community group and SO MUCH FUN with apples to apples

...see! I was genuinely busy! 

As for the MONDAY field trip... PUKE! That's right, puke! As we're merrily driving along the road to Jamestown huddled close together in a bus, on of my LOVELY students let it all out. The stench hit me first, then the announcement that "HE THREW UP". So yours truly spent the trip to Jamestown carefully redirecting students (on a moving bus) away from the "impact-zone" and the traveling vomit that sloshed slowly down the isle. I had to employ "mommy skills" and clean up the damage so no one ELSE would loose their breakfast. THANK YOU HAND SANITIZER AND LYSOL SPRAY! That is a trip I won't soon forget. 

from jessie (GOODNESS!)... with love 

chicken marsala

Scott is on a "mushroom" kick here lately... my hubby wants dinner that has ANYTHING and EVERYTHING to do with mushrooms; and as his loving wife (and a fan of mushrooms myself), I'm more than happy to comply. The other night our "mushroom adventure" presented itself in a little dish I like to call Chicken Marsala! 

A few christmases back I asked for (and received) a book called The Modern Girls Guide To Life. This book has not made me more modern and has not guided my life, but it HAS presented me with some fun tidbits that I keep stashed away to use when handy. This book is where I found a quick, simple, base recipe for Chicken Marsala. With a few basic ingredients (namely chicken, mushrooms, marsala wine, and pasta) I was able to create a quick and fairly hassle-free dinner FULL of mushroomy delight!

I won't share the recipe on here because I feel it would be some sort of copy-right infringement to post it, but I will happily share it with friends "casually" if requested. 

Final verdict... needed a little more "pizzaz" factor but yumm-yum-yummy none the less! 

from jessie (eater of fungi)... with love 

fresh produce

Are eggs produce? Either way, they are lovely!

  

While visiting with my parents this past weekend my aunt, who lives close by, graced me with the gift of eggs... fresh from her chickens! These eggs are so lovely and I had to take a picture of them... so earthy, organic, and beautiful in their imperfection! The camera (at least mine) does not do them justice! 

from jessie (sunny side up)... with love 

Valentine's Sweetness

Just a quick share of the cupcakes I baked and decorated to give my kiddos at school and the FESTIVE, GIANT sugar cookies I made for Scooter and my family. The "heart shaped cupcake foil sculpture" was re-gifted to me by a student on Friday with a hearty "look what I did... Happy Valentine's Day Mrs.Minter!"

  
  

HAPPY OFFICIAL DAY OF LOVE 

**and a special xoxo to my FABULOUS husband SCOTT**

from jessie (sweet sweet valentine)... with love 

quotable

thoughts on good friends (taken from a talk by Robshep and Stu):

"Those friends who always say 'yes' to you shake their heads when you leave the room. A good friend will sharpen you with yeses and nos." 

from jessie (words to live by)... with love 

You Don't Know Jack

When Windows 98 was the "next best thing", my father bought a computer game for the family that would revolutionize our get-togethers for the next several years. That game: YOU DON'T KNOW JACK. We'd gather around the computer and pit our wits against each other for the ultimate "know it all" bragging rights! 

During a recent CG hang out night here at the Minter's pad, the memory of that fantastic game came to mind. Longing for the fun times and hilarious banter of the game, I hopefully googled it and found YOU DON'T KNOW JACK ONLINE... yesssssss! We had so much fun playing this shortened online version of the game. And though the site has not been updated since 2008, and the cd-rom game hasn't been reformatted for more recent operating systems, it's so worth a try. Trust me, you won't regret it!

from jessie (i know JACK)... with love 

Jem

You remember the cartoon Jem from the 80's (early 90's?)? This blog post is not about her (even though she is in the running for my 2010 halloween costume line-up).

No, this post is about the real life songstress Jem. I came across her website when googling the afore mentioned Jem; and how happy I was to have stumbled upon her! A few moments of listening solidified in my mind that her CD was a must have (and it takes some serious liking or me to purchase an entire album from someone). One reviewer deemed her music "folktronica"... and even though that term seems to have nasty connotations (electonica, really?!), if it describes her music.... label me a folktronica fan!!! Check out Jem's Site and take a listen for yourself. 

from jessie (jammin to Jem)... with love 

believe in the children

Through happy coincidence (and a bit of blog surfing), I came across one of the most precious, and enjoyable YouTube videos I've seen in awhile. Something about seeing this music teacher reach out to what these kids RESPOND TO and help them grow with it is super inspiring! ENJOY!

Awesome song... but I'm a bit partial to the Viva La Vida video myself. So many more to enjoy if you just visit the YouTube page of this PS22 music teacher. 

from jessie (chime on children)... with love 

just around the corner...

Valentine's Day is JUST around the corner. I was trying to think of a little something to do for the people in my life that I love (and although Scott is at the TOP of my list, he doesn't encompass the whole thing) and found a few fun things on some of my favorite blogs and Etsy. One of the cutest DIY projects I found was this Love Coupon Pocket Book: 

You purchase the PDF for 4.00, print, and put together yourself (with a few personal touches of course). I love the examples the ETSY seller gave of "a red box movie night" and "milkshake for two". Two ideas of my own: two movie tickets or a destination picture of a short day trip. So many ideas to be had! 

from jessie (in LOVE with DIY)... with love 

Snow Cream

I remember the miraculous winter where we got a 3 inches of snow in South Carolina and my mom rushed to put a bowl outside to catch the falling snow. She added milk, sugar, and vanilla and we ended up with this liquidy, slushy, sweet, magical mixture she called snow cream. This snow day treat (shared with her by her dad) soon marked all snow days to follow in my family.

So of COURSE when it snowed yesterday, snow cream was one of the first things that came to Scott and my minds! Thanks to my friend Bethany, I was led towards a Paula Dean recipe for snow cream (an ice-creamier version of the slushy like snow cream I was used to as a child). Her recipe calls for condensed sweetened milk... unfortunately I had none. So improvising I concocted the following which turned out yum, yum, yummy! 

SNOW CREAM

1/2 can of Evaporated Milk 

3-4 tsp. sugar

1 tsp. vanilla extract

4 cups freshly fallen snow 

If you've never experienced snow cream, you owe it to yourself. It's more nostalgic than gourmet, but it's one of those things that makes snow days special. And if you have children... you kind of owe it to them to begin this snow day tradition!

from jessie (snow chef)... with love 

SNOW, SNOW, ICE, SNOW

Oh these past four days have been something else...

Prior to the snow's arrival (Thursday evening), I came down with the "sick" bug. This condition had me down for the count all Thursday evening through Friday night, subsided momentarily, and returned for a final go on Saturday afternoon. I share this only because, as much as I LOVE SNOW, the "sick" made it feel more isolating than usual when it arrived late Friday night. I feel I have officially experienced the onset of what northerners would deem "cabin fever"... and it ISN'T pretty folks.

Thankfully, late Saturday morning (while the bug was at bay), Scott talked me into taking a snow walk around our apartment complex to see what the weather had made of our lovely little town...

  

  

A rare site indeed. 

I've officially worn out the "relaxation" card these past four days and am ready to get back to being PRODUCTIVE (which doesn't necessarily mean school has to reopen anytime soon... wink wink).

from jessie (snow struck)... with love