Thursday 31 May 2012

Birthday Celebrations

Sunday was my Darling's 27th birthday, and we enjoyed a quiet, relaxing day together celebrating.
After morning church, we came home to enjoy a dinner for two.


Lasagna is one of Matt's favorites, and Ree Drummond's recipes are my favorites, so I combined the two and made a yummy birthday lasagna. :-)

Here is a link to The Pioneer Woman's recipe.
http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2007/06/the_best_lasagn/

Matt has never been a huge "cake" person,except for cheesecakes. He LOOOOOOOVES cheesecakes!!So I made him a Triple Lemon Cheesecake.
I found the recipe on a cute little blog I stumbled across the other day when I was searching for "crafty" ideas. This lady bakes AND crafts and is good at both! :-)

Here is a link to her blog...
http://gratefulprayerthankfulheart.blogspot.com/

...and a link to her cheesecake recipe.
http://gratefulprayerthankfulheart.blogspot.com/2012/01/triple-lemon-cheesecake.html
(Make sure you follow her directions on baking the cheesecake in a water bath...it keeps the cheesecake from cracking!)



My sweetheart's birthday cheesecake



After dinner, Matt asked if we could go to the beach and look for sea glass like we had done the previous Sunday! I was all up for it, so we packed a cool drink, and a bucket to collect our sea glass in, and headed for the beach.


This is the truck we sported all weekend. I love the perks my man gets with his job! :-) I fell in love with this truck the minute Matt brought it home! He even let me drive it some over the weekend, and I just fell MORE in love!! *sigh* ;-)


It was a beautiful warm, sunny day and a slight breeze cooled us off while we strolled the beach hand in hand, picking up beautiful pieces of sea glass. We had good success in finding pieces and came home with a jar full. We found quite a few green pieces, and also some "treasures."
Here are the greatest finds of the day!


The blue piece was just sitting on the sand when I found it. I was SOOOO excited because blue is the hardest color to find. Matt found the other two pieces. When he found the clear piece, part of it was buried in the sand. He kept pulling and pulling and the piece coming out was getting bigger and bigger! :-) We were both excited when we saw it was the complete bottom, and a bit of each of the sides of a bottle!
We spent most of the afternoon at the beach, and then took the scenic route home, stopping along the way to look at beautiful houses, or different parts of the shoreline.
After church that evening, we took the remaining lasagna and cheesecake over to his parents' house and enjoyed supper with his family.
Our day ended with trying to spot a big black bear that had been seen in a field just above Matt's parents' house. We immediately hopped in the truck and headed up the road to see if we could find it, but it was not to be seen. Oh well, maybe next time! :-)


One of the gifts I got my man! Tim McGraw Soul 2 Soul. It smells DIVINE!!!!!! Anybody want to watch Flicka? ;-)

Friday 25 May 2012

Cinnamon Rolls

While doing some blog searching today and copying down some recipes that I had bookmarked, I came across this recipe for cinnamon rolls. I had been trying to decided what I could make for Matt to take to work tomorrow for "the guys" to enjoy, and when I saw this recipe I knew I HAD to try it! It comes from Ree Drummond's aka The Pioneer Woman's blog,and ANY recipe she posts is DELICIOUS!!! Here is a link to her cooking blog and the cinnamon rolls.

http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2007/06/cinammon_rolls_/


Enjoy!! :-)



My freshly baked cinnamon rolls


Wednesday 23 May 2012

That time of year!


+



=


SPRINGTIME!!!!

These are just two of the many things I am enjoying this spring! :-)

Monday 21 May 2012

A Picnic and Seaglass

We've been having EXTREMELY beautiful weather lately and have been enjoying every bit of it. Since it was so nice yesterday, we decided to have a picnic for lunch. I packed a lunch for us after church and we drove down to Pumpkin Head Island and ate our dinner on the beach.

Our view while we ate!





Pumpkin Head Lighthouse

After we were done lunch we walked the beach there looking for sea glass. We found a few pieces, but there wasn't much beach to search on, so Matt decided to take me to the beach by his family's camp. He said sea glass can always be found there. We had a grand time walking the beach looking for our "treasure",and when it was time to go we had a whole travel mug full of clear, brown, green, mauve, white and blue sea glass. Matt said blue is the hardest color to find, so we were both excited when we each were able to find a piece of blue! :-) When all of the different colored pieces were put together in a jar, they made a beautiful, nautical decoration for our house! :-)



Saturday 19 May 2012

Watermelon!!!!!

Slurp... sip... sloop...

You can't eat watermelon quietly!=)

Matt and I both LOOOOVE watermelon, so my man brought one home tonight as a special treat! We enjoyed it IMMENSELY!



My handsome man! (Note the new haircut!)




A perfect summery treat for a beautiful warm, summery day!

Friday 18 May 2012

Because....

...It was a beautiful warm, sunny day....

...It was the weekend...

...Matt had had a good week at work....

...I felt like eating an icecream cone...

...My man loves me....

He spoiled me rotten!!!

My darling man added to the ice cream cone idea, and took me out for supper to a Chinese restaurant called Shinbashi on Saturday. It was recommended to him by one of his coworkers, so we thought we would give it a try. It was a cute little spot with really good food, and I thoroughly enjoyed myself! On top of taking me out for supper, and getting me an icecream cone(black raspberry soft-serve, no less) my man took me shopping and bought me a GORGEOUS tangerine colored shirt! (Maybe I'll post a picture of it sometime!) :-) I have the sweetest man EVER!!!


Matt's drink. {I thought it was so cute!} He said the lime was *SOUR*!!!



We ordered the pu pu platter for two. It has a flame in the middle to warm your food on. SO NEAT!!



Thursday 17 May 2012

*So Beautiful*

I've been enjoying my gardens the last couple of weeks....watching different plants come up, form buds, and little flowers burst forth making splashes of color in various places! I've also been enjoying watching the wild flowers blossom! There are millions of violets, and johnny-jump-ups in our lawn which I use to make bouquets to pretty up our kitchen table. I wanted to share some of the beauty of our outdoors with you! :-)



My garden is prettier than these pictures show. The light from the sun washed the picture out! :-(


Are these narcissus? That's what I'm calling them right now! =) Leave a comment if you know what they are.



My peace lily has one bloom on it, and another bud formed! I was SO excited when Matt spotted them!






Our freshly mowed lawn.






Our current "kitchen table" bouquet.

Monday 7 May 2012

Acadia National Park

The last time we went to Acadia National Park/Cadillac Mountain it was rainy and foggy so we couldn't see a long way. Matt wanted to take me back when it was sunny and clear. Yesterday was the perfect day, so we headed out after church to spend the afternoon in the park. I was armed with camera and iPad to take tons of pictures. I soon found out that a camera cannot do justice to the beauty of this place, but I will share the pictures I did take with the iPad.


We went up Cadillac Mountain first! This is us on the very top of the mountain. (I took more pics on the way up, but they are on my camera and I cannot download pics straight from my camera to my iPad.)



This seagull was just posing for me! :-)





Gorgeous scenery!


You can see one of the stone bridges behind me.







Some of the beautiful stonework that is throughout the park.


Looking out over the ocean through the trees.




Little rivers and streams gurgle through the forest in various places around the park! A perfect place for a picnic.

We had a WONDERFUL time driving through the park, enjoying the scenery, and even bought a season pass so we can go back whenever we want this summer! One of the things on our "To Do" list next time we go, is to view the park on horseback!

Saturday 5 May 2012

Flowers

On one of my trips to/from Ellsworth this week, I noticed that The Peddlar's Wagon in Blue Hill had a sign out advertising Greenhouse Day this Saturday. There was to be door prizes, demonstrations, fun, and more! I made it a point to go, so this morning I headed out with the rest of my Valentines money to see what I might find. When I got there, I was the only customer and there were no door prizes or demonstrations! BIG DISSAPOINTMENT!!! But I decided since I was there I would look at what they had. There was one greenhouse full of annuals, many of which I fell in love with. These are the ones I came home with!



Mystic Illusion Dahlia



Berries&Cream Sachet Nemesia




Sweet Sunshine Petunia I'm not usually a fan of petunias, but this one was beautiful!!! Look at how full it is!!



Starsister Pink Picotee Dahlia

I plan to use the little purple Nemesia in one of my pots. I also have pansies and a purple and orange osteospermum to plant along with the rest of these flowers. :-)
It is supposed to clear off this afternoon after a WHOLE week of rain, so hopefully I'll be able to plant some of these this afternoon!

Thursday 3 May 2012

Five months ago today.....

....I married the love of my life!!!

And they have been the best five months EVER!!!!!




Loving you is like counting the stars...Just when I think I've discovered all the reasons to thank God for you-- I realize I've just begun!!!



I love you with all of my heart, sweetheart!

Wednesday 2 May 2012

Our Special Date

My blog has been neglected the last week or so, not for lack of ideas, but for lack of time. I have quite a few pictures and " happenings" to share, so stay tuned for some posts! :-) In the meantime, I will start catching up, by sharing the special date my darling took me on yesterday.

If ever there was a perfect date, my man took me on it yesterday! After working on our house yesterday morning (more about that in another post), my man gave me time to get beautiful, and then whisked me off to town for a special afternoon/evening. Holding hands,music from his iPod sounding over the Bowe speakers in his gorgeous demo, heat adjusted to 70 degrees keeping us warm (it was a cold rainy day) set the mood for the afternoon. We stopped in Blue Hill to run a couple of errands, and enjoyed just ambling through the stores together, taking our time to get the things we needed! We then motored on to Surry where we stopped at the Surry Gardens Nursery, and I was able to spend my Valentines gift to buy some plants for my flower garden. I picked out pansies in two different colors, because I love their adorable little faces SO much, and also two little darling daisy like flowers in a purple and orange shade. I can't WAIT for a sunny day so I can go out and plant them!!!

We headed on to Ellsworth and priced out a new back door for the kitchen (more house renovations) at Home Depot and enjoyed walking through the store looking at all of the neat things we didn't know we were missing out on, to furnish our house with! ;-) My man then took me to WalMart and COMPLETLY spoiled me. I am planning to make a quilt (pics to come) and earlier in the morning, my sweet man had set down with me, and helped me draw out the plans for it! Just because he is SOOOO sweet, he took me to WalMart and bought me a roller cutter and mat, to make cutting the strips of fabric I need easier! I have the BEST man in the whole world!!! I can't WAIT to try out my new "tools" and see how they work! :-)

My man had already told me that he was taking me out for supper, and since we were getting a little hungry, we made Helen's our next stop. I had never been there, and didn't realize what a cute little spot it is! It has little stone walkways leading up to the door, with lamposts on either side of them, and beautiful little gardens along the front. Inside it is completely decorated in old-fashioned, antique-looking furniture and decor. The food was delicious, and way more than I could eat. I finally decided on a chef salad, and Matt ordered a lobster!

My man gave me the option of going bowling after supper,but I asked if we could just go on a drive instead. He sweetly consented and proceeded to take me to one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen- Mt. Desert Island,the home of Bar Harbor and Acadia National Park!!!!! You would have to see it, to believe how beautiful it is, because I cannot do it justice in describing it!He drove me through downtown Bar Harbor which is laden with quaint little shops, and GORGEOUS hotels and houses. Many of them have a waterfront view which is priceless! Matt said in the summertime. there is usually at least one HUGE yacht in the harbor. He then took me to Acadia National Park which was donated to the State by the Rockefellers. All of the roads in the park are one-way, two-lane paved streets. You park whenever you want to in the right lane and enjoy the scenery. The park covers a vast amount of land, and is right on the water. All of the bridges in the park are stone, and in season the park offers horse carriage rides through it on stone paths. There are also hiking trails which will take you all over the park. We just drove through the park enjoying the beautiful scenery of forest and ocean. The park has many interesting features, which Matt took me to. Things such as a sand beach,(a novelty for Maine), a huge lake(whoever heard tell of a lake in the middle of an island?), something called the Bubble Rock- a HUGE boulder on top of a high cliff just balanced there: nobody knows how it got there, and no amount of wind or weather moves it! One of the attractions I enjoyed most was something the park calls the Thunderhole. The ocean has erroded a hole under one of the cliffs and a vacuum is created under there. When the waves come in under the cliff, air gets trapped in the hole. This creates pressure which forces the water back out into the ocean making a huge rumble that sounds like thunder. It was not very loud yesterday, but Matt said sometimes it is really loud and you can feel the ground shake underneath you! If it is too stormy, the park closes this attraction off, because the water forced back out of the hole sprays so far you would get swept into the ocean! On good days you can hear the rumble as you are driving up to it! The park is also home to Cadillac Mountian, the highest mountian on the Atlantic Coast at 1530 feet. The neat part is that you can drive all the way to the top...and we did!!What a BREATHTAKING view!!!!!!! It was foggy and rainy last night, so we couldn't see a long way, but on clear days, you can see all the way to Blue Hill! When you get to the top you can only see the tops of trees,the rest is just sky! I could only stand in awe of the absolutely AMAZING creation our Lord has given us!!! Who could deny there is a God after seeing something so beautiful and breathtaking? We slowly motored down from the top enjoying the scenery, and watching for deer(we saw 8),and headed out of the park back toward home.I was dying to take HUNDREDS of pictures, but it was foggy and rainy and I only had my iPad with me! Matt promised he will take me back on a clear, sunny day and I can take all the pictures I want! Hmmmm...I will be in picture heaven!! :-) When we left the park I thought we would just head home,but my man was not finished yet, on our way out of Bar Harbor he took me in to a cute little candy shop and bought me a piece of the BEST fudge I have ever tasted! They make it as well as ice cream right there at the shop!! DELICIOUS!!!!!I couldn't stop smiling the whole way home!!! When I thanked my sweetheart for taking me on such an awesome date, he just said "I did it cause I love you!" My heart absolutely melted!! I have SUCH an adorable man!!!!

My darling and me at the "Thunderhole"

My chef salad

Matt's lobster