I’m sure a few of you are shaking your heads, muttering, “That looks NOTHING like a King Cake.” And you’d be right – sort of. New Orleans style King Cake looks a bit like a bundt, is made with a brioche-style dough and is dotted with dried fruit, nuts, and la fève – a trinket …

Our friend Amy hosts a murder mystery party every year for her birthday (which is right around Halloween). Over the years, I've been a 1950's housewife, a 1920's flapper mob daughter, a Governor's daughter surrounded by pirates (a la Elizabeth Swann), a "Downton Abbey" style housekeeper, a fairy princess, and a 1980's prom-goer. Coming up with a costume for the party is literally one of my favorite times of the year. So this year's theme is "Murder at the Deadwood Saloon", set in the Wild…

Our friend Amy hosts a murder mystery party every year for her birthday (which is right around Halloween). Over the years, I've been a 1950's housewife, a 1920's flapper mob daughter, a Governor's daughter surrounded by pirates (a la Elizabeth Swann), a "Downton Abbey" style housekeeper, a fairy princess, and a 1980's prom-goer. Coming up with a costume for the party is literally one of my favorite times of the year. So this year's theme is "Murder at the Deadwood Saloon", set in the Wild…

Our friend Amy hosts a murder mystery party every year for her birthday (which is right around Halloween). Over the years, I've been a 1950's housewife, a 1920's flapper mob daughter, a Governor's daughter surrounded by pirates (a la Elizabeth Swann), a "Downton Abbey" style housekeeper, a fairy princess, and a 1980's prom-goer. Coming up with a costume for the party is literally one of my favorite times of the year. So this year's theme is "Murder at the Deadwood Saloon", set in the Wild…

Over the past 6 months, we've been doing some updating to the bathrooms in our house. Now that everything's wrapped up it seemed like a good time to share! Guest Bathroom: This bathroom has a really nice jetted tub (not shown)--no improvements needed there, except that the overflow drain is a little low and doesn't let the tub fill up enough to really soak, so we bought this drain cover to fix that problem. Wall and trim paint were already great too, very beachy. But it had NO storage…

Over the past 6 months, we've been doing some updating to the bathrooms in our house. Now that everything's wrapped up it seemed like a good time to share! Guest Bathroom: This bathroom has a really nice jetted tub (not shown)--no improvements needed there, except that the overflow drain is a little low and doesn't let the tub fill up enough to really soak, so we bought this drain cover to fix that problem. Wall and trim paint were already great too, very beachy. But it had NO storage…

Last week we talked about making the switch to all-grain brewing...and the kegerator wasn't far behind. We held off on the kegerator for a long time, because we like to have a variety of beer around the house. Bottling allows you to store several batches for a long time and have tons of variety in the fridge. But...cleaning, sanitizing, and capping each bottle is also a huge pain in the butt, and we, like many brewers, have dealt with the annoyance of having some of your bottles not get…

As most of you know, we have been home brewing for a while now. It started about 5 years ago when I got the The Hubs a Groupon for a 5-gallon bucket system and a brewing class from our local homebrew store. It should be noted--The Hubs does most of the brewing--I help with sanitizing, cleaning, stirring when his arm gets tired, handing him things, acquiring bottles, and bragging on him since he's his own worst critic. Our first batch in 2014, an American Bock (this is a really solid kit…

LA celebrates everything!

Let the good times Boil! By Connie's Designs

Finally finished this project in our backyard, after almost 2.5 years! So I decided to stick all the pics in one place to show the beginning to end transformation. So this is what it looked like when we moved in... Most of the plants were already dead, aside from a honeysuckle bush that had kind of taken over--which we dug up and transplanted into a pot. There were a few "blackberry lilies" which we decided to pull out because...well, they look like blackberries but will make you sick, and…

So I'm not sure if staying at AirBNB's three times makes me an expert, but after three fabulous stays, it sure feels like it. We admittedly had reservations about it initially as well, but if you're a frequent traveler, it's definitely a tool to have in your arsenal for cheap travel. (PS--check out the link at the bottom of this post to get $55 off your first AirBNB stay!) Why Do We Love It? 1. It's Generally Cheaper than A Hotel If you're only going somewhere for a night or two, maybe a…

I was looking through my backlog of pics and recipes that I haven't shared yet, and noticed a surplus of peach recipes. Since peach season is coming up soon, it seemed like a good time to share all of these! First things first: I was craving bruschetta, but didn't want JUST tomato bruschetta. So I bought some goat cheese, added some sliced peaches to one, sliced strawberries to another, and sliced mint to both. UH-MAZE-BALLS. Next up, I made a peach and proscuitto pizza. I used a pre-made…

I was looking through my backlog of pics and recipes that I haven't shared yet, and noticed a surplus of peach recipes. Since peach season is coming up soon, it seemed like a good time to share all of these! First things first: I was craving bruschetta, but didn't want JUST tomato bruschetta. So I bought some goat cheese, added some sliced peaches to one, sliced strawberries to another, and sliced mint to both. UH-MAZE-BALLS. Next up, I made a peach and proscuitto pizza. I used a pre-made…

I was looking through my backlog of pics and recipes that I haven't shared yet, and noticed a surplus of peach recipes. Since peach season is coming up soon, it seemed like a good time to share all of these! First things first: I was craving bruschetta, but didn't want JUST tomato bruschetta. So I bought some goat cheese, added some sliced peaches to one, sliced strawberries to another, and sliced mint to both. UH-MAZE-BALLS. Next up, I made a peach and proscuitto pizza. I used a pre-made…

After my mishap with the vodka tonic, I had to try to redeem myself. This was the result. Pretty tasty, and it rolls in at 3.3 carbs for a double (tall) drink. INGREDIENTS (per cocktail): 6 raspberries 4 mint leaves 1 packet Splenda 2 oz vodka juice from 1/4 grapefruit ice sparkling water DIRECTIONS: Muddle the mint and raspberries in the bottom of the glass, and add the Splenda. Top with vodka & stir. Add ice to about halfway up the glass, and then top with the sparkling water. Garnish with…