Lovely Little Things...

Anyone that knows me, will tell you I'm a die hard fan of Red Velvet. Red Velvet Cupcakes, Red Velvet Cake, Red Velvet Ice Cream...if it says or looks anything like it, I've gotta try it.

While browsing some cake box cookie recipes, I couldn't help but think...Red Velvet Cake Cookies would be yummo.

I used the classic recipe:

1 Box of Cake Mix (red velvet, obviously, lol)
1/3 Cup Oil
2 Eggs
1/3 Cup Sugar (to coat cookie dough)

After mixing the ingredients, form into tablespoon size balls. Roll in sugar until well coated. Bake at 350 for 7-9 minutes. Once out of the oven, immediately sprinkle with more sugar. Let them sit for 2-3 minutes before removing from pan. Edges should be slightly crispy, and the inside very fudgy and chewy.

I thought they tasted good, but these aren't for the faint of heart! ;-)

In other news, I got crafty for the first time in a loooong time... I snagged up this plain little grapevine wreath for a quarter at a neighborhood sale! And was ready for DIY project...



So I headed to Hobby Lobby for their 50% off sale on their fall flowers, and got to work. I chose my color scheme, my favorite flowers, and bought what I thought I would need. Instead of using hot glue, I simply wound the flowers into the grapevine. My goal was to re-use this wreath again at the end of next month and re-dress it for Christmas!



Now I just need some pumpkins to spray paint and decorate outside our door...I absolutely cannot wait for Thanksgiving!! It's my favorite holiday after Christmas! =)

For more DIY Projects check out A Soft Place To Land, the DIY Show Off blog & Today's Creative Blog!

Celebrating!!!

6 months ago...

I said "I do"...



Being married is the BEST thing EVER. Hands down. I'm pretty sure those two words I uttered were the most life changing and amazing words uttered from my lips.

To celebrate, we went hiking in a state park near us. The weather was perfect! Afterward we feasted on juicy hamburgers and old fashioned shakes! Perrrfect ending to a fun anniversary celebration day!!! :) We saved the top portions of both our bridal cake AND our groom cake. We are saving the bridal cake for the big 1 year mark...but I'm thinking the grooms cake needs to be enjoyed for the 6 month mark...right? ;-)



PS...check out the wedding slideshow I put together of my favorite photos from our big day...gah, I'm such a SAP. ;-)

Cupcake Talk!!

Last week I had one of *those* cravings! I had to have rich, dark chocolate, and something super melt in your mouth yummy. So I whisked together my own version of Chocolate Mocha Hazelnut Cupcakes with Chocolate Hazelnut Buttercream frosting...hm...say that 5 x's fast!!! ;-)


...and for the recipe!


Chocolate Mocha Hazelnut Cupcakes

1 Box Devil Food Cake Mix
2 Tablespoons of Hazelnut Syrup (I used the Starbucks syrup)
2 Pkgs. of Starbucks Via Instant Coffee
1 Teaspoon Vanilla

Mix the cupcakes according to package directions. Add the syrup, vanilla & Instant Coffee. Bake according to package directions for cupcakes! Chill in refrigerator at least 1 hour. EASY Peasy!!! :)

Chocolate Hazelnut Buttercream Frosting

1/2 Cup of Butter (softened)
3 Cups Powdered Sugar
1/2 Teaspoon Vanilla
1 Tablespoon of Milk
2 Tablespoon of Nutella

In a mixer, blend Butter and powder sugar until smooth. Add remaining ingredients and mix until all ingredients are blended. Proceed to decorate your cupcakes... :D

HELLO!!! I'm all about Nutella, so this was a wonderful treat!! ;-) FYI, the frosting was much better fresh, than the next day. Just sayin!

So, what's your favorite cupcake flavor?



xoxo,

Mrs. Southern Bride

love, love.

Thanks to Joe for the picture!

Keeping with our hectic schedule "tradition", we packed more into Saturday, than I think should be humanly possible!! So I was thankful for Sunday church service, and a relaxing brunch with some of our family. Josh took his turn batting his eyelashes and giving me puppy eyes this weekend, so this we watched "Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs". Cute, cute!! I think I ended up laughing more than Josh. Perhaps I have a weird since of humor? Probably... ;-)

The past two days, it has been FREEZING, and RAINING like cats and dogs. It makes my commute to work so much longer because of the messy road conditions and traffic. So last night, I was beyond thrilled to relax with movies, a fireplace, chocolate, and a glass of red wine. Tonight will be just the same.

Our menu tonight consist of Sweet Potato Soup, red wine, and more time in front of the fireplace!!! Oh yeah, and polishing off the Chocolate Mocha Hazelnut Cupcakes with butter cream icing that I made last night...

Love,

Mrs. Southern Bride

Makeover!

Since we've been married, I've been busy collecting things and adding "feminine touches" to our house. My main focus has been the living and kitchen area, mainly due to the fact we entertain in our home so often!

But, on Monday, I realized that our master bedroom was lacking in the romantic department. Since I'm trying to save money on the side for a variety of other projects, I decided to do a "mini" makeover if you will. I set a very small budget and also decided to "shop" around the house for new items of interest to add to our room.

The biggest decorative item in our room that I wanted to replace was our lamp. Not that it was a bad lamp, it was simply too masculine and would suit our guest bedroom (or even our office...) much better. I began shopping for lamps, but no luck.

Enter Yard Sales... I ended up finding a lamp base at a yard sale that I fell in love with. Then began shopping for a lamp shade. So here are my "treasures" if you will...


Bargain Finds:


Lamp Stand: $3, Yard Sale!


Lamp Shade: $4 Clearance at Kirklands!


Wire Ribbon: $7 Hobby Lobby Find

Total: $14


The lamp was much taller, and with the ribbon, it has the romantic touch I was looking for. So it was the perfect replacement candidate for the lamp in our bedroom.

The next items on the list were curtains, switching out our end table, adding some flowers, and new pillows for our bed...So I did some price comparising shopping on Monday night. Then I made a list of the items that a liked, and reworked our color scheme to include chocolate brown, latte & a Tuscany red.

The After:

Pillows: $20, Kirklands
Curtains: $7, clearance at T.J. Maxx
Flower arrangment: $8 Kirklands
End Table: Free, was in our guest room... ;-)

Recognize the lamp?

Josh helped me hang the curtains, and I made the changes in just a few minutes. Now we have nice romantic "get away" for our room now. Bliss!


Now, if only I could curl up with some ice cream and movie in bed...doesn't get much better than that!



Love,
Mrs. Southern Bride

Decorating & Pumpkin Pie Soup!

This month has been filled with travels galore for this southern bride-three overnight road trips to a variety of cities! I still managed to find time for yard sale and flea market sessions! My favorite finds were three decorating books for just $1! Can't beat that, can you? Among them were... Good Things by Martha Stewart, a Rachel Ashwell book, and a Better Homes & Gardens book on decorating.

Needless to say, this month I have devoted all my extra efforts and energy to doing DIY projects around the house and giving our home mini makeovers in each room! Last night, I tackled our master bedroom! Before and after pictures to come! I was very pleased with the turnout and so was my husband (double plus!! ;-) )

Besides decorating, I've been baking up a storm. I tried to new apple pie recipes. The first was a double crusted German Apple Pie, and the second was an Apple Pie with Crumb toppings! They were both good, but frankly they didn't hold a candle to my classic apple pie recipe!

With that, I'll leave you with my newest soup adventure...

Pumpkin Pie Soup

2 Cans of Pumpkin (15. oz)
1/2 Cup of Sweetened Condensed Milk
1/4 Cup of half and half
4 Tablespoons of Butter
2 Tablespoons of brown sugar
1 1/2 teaspoon of Cinnamon
Nutmeg (to taste)

Combine ingredients and cook on medium heat until it begins to boil. Remove from heat and cool. Serves well with french bread and brie cheese!



What are your favorite recipes for the fall months?



Love,

Mrs. Southern Bride

Très Chic

In front of the Eiffel Tower Restaurant in Paris.

Sunday, hubby took me out for brunch at Cracker Barrel. Ahhh, love me some good country breakfast from there! Afterwords we headed to the movies of which, after some eyelash batting and puppy eyes...I convinced him to take me to see "Love Happens". LOVED IT! I can't wait for it to come out on DVD. :D EDIT: Those of you asking about the movie...yes, it is a sad movie, but it has a happy ending. I don't know how to describe it without giving it away. But overall, I found the movie sweet. Just don't be surprised if you shed a tear or two! :)

In other chick flick news, we rented "Kate & Leopold" last night. I'm not sure how I'd never heard of this movie, but I was pleasantly surprised! I love me some Meg Ryan, and this was just a cute movie.

So I guess with all the chick flicks flying around, hubby deserves to go see the movie he's been asking about..."Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs"... :D

Can you believe it's OCTOBER?? HELLO? Where did September go? I can finally wear my black boots in the photo above. Got them on our honeymoon in Paris...Très Chic, said the saleslady as I tried them on...or maybe she was just trying to get a sale of a tourist. ;-)

Love,
Mrs. Southern Bride