happiest

of days to my dear Richard!






For your birthday, a poem inspired by Nathan Sims...







And a sneaky little birthday gift...



Watch closely...





Dark Chocolate Chip Bundt Cake

• 1 box of Duncan Hines Butter Chocolate Cake mix
• 1 3oz chocolate fudge pudding box
• 1 cup sour cream
• 1/2 c Kahlua or cooled brewed coffee
• 1/2 c of canola or vegetable oil
• 3 eggs
• 1pkg of dark or semisweet chocolate chips

Add all ingredients except the chocolate chips, beat 4 minutes with mixer on med high. Pour 1/2 of the mix in greased and floured bundt or tube pan with removable bottom. Add 1/2 chips on batter and slightly swirl to coat. Add remaining batter And the remaining chips. Swirl to coat chips. Bake at 350 for about 1 hour. Let pan cool on rack for ten minutes then turn cake out to plate to finish cooling. Cake can be frosted with ganache or powdered with confectioners sugar.

A late December birthday

Celebrating a birthday near Christmas always gets a bad rap...but having a late-December birthday myself, I can attest to its greatness.



The chilling weather makes hibernating indoors socially acceptable, holiday baked goods abound, and friends and family are in festive and celebratory moods.



Today, I think I'm going to curl up in bed and enjoy a sugar cookie or two.



When I splurged and bought my Anthropologie duvet last year, this is precisely the scene I imagined.



Rich mixed a perfect palette of icing colors (check out the unique lavender and goldish mustard) as I decorated the cookies.



I think this year's cookies turned out quite lovely. And as most of these types of projects go, they felt too pretty to eat...but we got over that feeling quickly.



I used this popular sugar cookie recipe (word to the wise: let the dough chill overnight, it makes a world of difference when you go to cut out shapes) as well as this simple icing recipe. When it comes to sugar cookies and icing, I like to keep it traditional and defer to the tried and true recipes. However, let your creativity run wild when it comes to icing colors, decorations designs, and sprinkleology.

happy father's day, dad

Over the last several weeks, I've experienced a responsibility overload. 8-week-old Scout, and a job of caring for two young delicate lives, requires constant attention, exercise, food, and middle-of-the-night potty breaks. It's pointless to say I'm completely spent. But I am.

This tiny glimpse into parenthood has stopped in my tracks and left me in total awe of the sacrifice my own parents made for my livelihood.




So on this Father's Day, I thank my amazing and humble dad in the most sincere sense. His grace, unconditional love, integrity, and selflessness set the bar high. He is a 'still waters run deep' kind of man. Deeply sentimental with the ability to continually look forward. A former college football player that can appreciate a great musical, classical music, and art.

He's such a good man, that Mark Schubert.

Harry Potter-inspired tent for a birthday

Roommate Kevin's 25th birthday was Monday. Kevin really loves Harry Potter. And I really love Harry Potter. We both agree that after a hard day, there's no better remedy for the heart than to curl up with a blueberry pie and watch The Goblet of Fire.

A favorite scene occurs when Harry and the Weasley's walk into the Weasley's seemingly modest tent at the Quidditch World Cup campground to find a beautiful indoor tented world awaiting them.

So for his birthday, we transformed the kitchen into our own version of the Weasley's tent and baked a yummy blueberry pie.




And the pie...





To keep things authentic, Erica made Kevin a letter of acceptance into Hogwarts, along with Hedwig the white owl, and a Sword of Gryffindor.

sweet christine

This is my mother.



Today is her birthday. And she turned somewhere between 55 and divine perfection.Happy birthday Mom. I wish we could nibble on Walnut Raisin toast from Whole Foods and sip coffee together this morning. Your birthday package should arrive this afternoon (don't you dare let me down USPS!)





And now, 10 reasons why my mom is just the most amazing...

1. Growing up, she filled our shelves with books and our garden with flowers and showed a green thumb was as precious as a cultivated mind.

2. She is always game for going to see a movie. Even the midnight showing.

3. A 150 lb Newfie named Lulu knows she's the boss.

4. She hates 'the Facebook'.

5. She is 'the Franchise of our family' -My Dad

6. She knows more pop culture references and rap artists than I do.

7. She devours books and recalls characters of fiction years after reading them and speaks of them as she would of old friends.

8. She holds her baked goods to the highest standard and would rather wake up at 5AM to bake a batch of fresh cookies than 'take the easy route' baking the night before.

9. 'She is so interesting because she is so interested' -my best friend Lindsey

10. If you call her and tell her that you really need your mother, she will drive across the state, or country, to be with you.

I love you mom.

Layer Cake Redemption

Layer cakes and I don't share a great history. My first attempt proved..well...



... I don't want to talk about it.

Anyways, not until Rich's birthday last month did I muster the courage to get back in the layer cake game. And what better way to get back in the saddle than with a Chocolate Sour Cream Cake with Peanut Butter Frosting and Chocolate Peanut Butter Ganache?



The result, taste-wise, was incredible. You can't go wrong with the choc-PB combo. Aesthetically speaking, my frosting was a little messy, but I find it's the hardest thing to master.