July

hello there!  I last updated you about this summer's happenings and made it through June.  If you are interested enough in my life, you may continue on reading.  

July began with a bang!  The city had a gathering with parade that morning.  The children decorate their bikes, wagons, etc. and ride around the block.  Ashton helped Maire decorate hers this year.

Maire and friend Claire celebratin'

We had a wonderful Fourth and celebrated my cousin, Jackson's, 5th birthday that day! 

The kids!  Birthday boy is there in the center!

I can not believe he is 5!  I feel sooooo old    

 Later that night we headed downtown to watch the city fireworks show.  It was one of the better shows in quite some time!  We watched from Confederate Park and had a perfect view of the fireworks lighting up City Hall!

I made a divine dessert for the occasion as well!  I will feature it next time (you may recognize it from the cover of July's Southern Living).  Be sure to look out for it.  Omg.

That very next Saturday, one of my very best friends since high school got MARRIED!  I still can't believe it, but the day was beautiful and perfect and I was so happy to be a part of her big day!

Look at that bride!

Checking out the guests.  I do believe Brit's words here were, "oh, thats gotta be a county 24 tag.  Yep, good ol' Crenshaw county folks".

Guess who caught the bouquet?!  Look out for my wedding post.......

Bridesmaids.  Doing our squats the best way we know how

The whole shebang.  How fun!!

The weekend after the wedding, I road-tripped to Charleston with my friends from Auburn.  We went to visit our friend Margaret who just began PT school at MUSC.  We decided she needed us to pay a visit  :)  We had a great time!  We took a carriage ride downtown and learned some cool history, we ate some delish food, made it to the beach, saw some night life, and even found some good geocaches.  Fun times with great people!!

I sorta failed at taking pictures-who woulda ever guessed?!  But here's one from Allison.  This was at Folly Beach which appeared to be quite the hangout!

Doug had a birthday the following Thursday so we helped him celebrate with signs, cards, gifts, and cheesecake! And, for those of you that know Doug, you know that he couldn't have been more thrilled to share his big day with the last night of Vacation Bible School!

Someone couldn't wait to cut the cake!  Half of it was gone when I came home to light the candles!!  

Finest picture I ever did see....

To end the month, we had a celebration/good-bye dinner for our friend Delia.  Delia is from Romania but goes to school in Montgomery at AUM.  She played tennis there and we were lucky enough to have her drive down on the weekends and teach us lessons.  She has been coming since I was a junior (so for about 7 years now).  She is moving to North Carolina for grad school.  We will surely miss her!

Well, that's about a wrap for July!  I have already had an eventful August so I'll catch you up to speed soon. Hope to do some foodie posts soon.  Over and out.

   

I scream, you scream

Those of you who know me know best know that I have an absolute and total soft spot in my heart for ice cream.  Especially vanilla ice cream.  Well, you can imagine my excitement when I came across a realllly simple and cheap 2 ingredient ice cream recipe.  Yes, yes you read that right--only 2 ingredients!  And no fancy ice cream equipment is required.  If you have a mixer and a freezer, you are in business!  

The two required ingredients:  one carton of heavy whipping cream and one can of sweetened condensed milk.  

First, pour the cream into a bowl and whip it until it is stiff like cool whip.  It takes about 3 or 4 minutes.  And don't be afraid of you mixer.  Put it on high and go to town for the quickest-and best- results!

Once the cream is stiff, pour in the whole can of sweetened condensed milk and stir it in with a spoon.  Just blend the mixture well. 

And that my friends, is it!  If you want more vanilla flavor (yes please!) add a dash of vanilla.  If you want chocolate ice cream, add some chocolate syrup.  Fresh fruit of any kind would be delicious!  You can also get really crafty and add oreos, graham crackers, marshmallow cream, etc.  Simply customize this base flavor any way you like it.  

I'm sortof a plane jane and prefer plain old vanilla, but I thought I'd get spunky and add mini chocolate chips to my batch.  It was delish!  Just stir in any toppings!

Pour your (liquid) ice cream into a container and freeze for 6 hours.  Open your freezer and be amazed as you have a fresh batch of homemade ice cream!!  Be sure your container has some extra room as ice cream does expand when it freezes.

Hope this recipe will help you and yours cool down in this July heat!  Or maybe you'll enjoy while watching the daily afternoon showers!