baking

Currently: August 2018

Somehow we are in the double digits of August! I feel like this month is just flying by. I keep seeing fall decorations in stores and it’s making me realize a new season is just around the corner. Here’s what’s currently going on in my life this month.

Current book Almost Amish by Nancy Sleeth. Just started this yesterday, but it seems great so far. I think I have a fascination with books about the Amish way of life because I always find myself picking them up!

Almost Amish by Nancy Sleeth book

Current song Counting Every Blessing by Rend Collective. Love jammin’ out to this one.

Current beauty product This body wash and shampoo combo. It smells like a Creamsicle!

Current blessing Jimmy. He’s just all around amazing, supportive, helpful, and loving. I am so blessed to call him my husband.

Black and white picture of smiling couple

Current confession I don’t know if it’s being in my third trimester, the heat of summer, or a combo of both, but I officially have cankles. Does anyone have any remedies?!

Current baked good Malted milk chocolate chip cookies. I am on the quest to make the perfect one. I tried a recipe in May, but wasn’t impressed with it. I just made a batch last night using milk chocolate chips and semisweet chocolate chips and they’re much better!

Current drink Coffee, as always! Jimmy and I have been enjoying our Angel’s Cup subscription that I gifted him for Father’s Day, along with Starbucks and Sheetz lattes and frappes as a treat here and there. Jimmy likes anything caramel, and I’m a vanilla gal through and through.

Angel's Cup coffee subscription in Catfinated coffee mug and Starbucks coffee mug

Current fun Scrapbooking. I’ve really been enjoying it lately. Still using the Project Life kits/method, which makes it super easy and relaxed.

Current fact As of August 12th, Mavis has been a part of our family for a year! It feels like just yesterday we brought her home and officially made the Zottola house a complete zoo 😉

Current obsession These pens. I have been a Pilot G2 fan for a few years now, but these are quickly becoming a favorite writing utensil of mine.

Paper Mate InkJoy Pens

Current excitement Welcoming our daughter next month, Lord Willing. It’s surreal to think about! We’re praying for a safe delivery and healthy baby and mama.

Current procrastination Blogging. I haven’t been very great at keeping up lately! I am hoping to post more this week. This space is my favorite!

Current food Black bean soup. I just made a big pot on Saturday and actually took a few photos. Would anyone be interested in the recipe? It’s one of my absolute favorite soups!

Black bean soup with cilantro

Current goal Cleaning and organizing our house. I’m pretty sure this is my goal each month, lol.

Current need I’d love a day spent with my sister. We’re both so busy, but I just love when we get an uninterrupted day to hang out and have fun together.

Current app I’ve been loving using Ibotta for a few months now. Definitely check it out if you’re into saving money!

Tell me something current in your life!

A Few Things to Share

Hello and Happy Friday! Is anyone else confused on which day it is?! Having the Fourth of July on a Wednesday totally threw me off this week. It was so nice having a day off with Jimmy, though!

Guy holding cat and cat's paws on his lap

Did you do anything fun for the holiday? I went to a little barbecue at Jimmy’s work on the third, which was fun. I even brought Mavis along and she enjoyed meeting some of the people Jimmy works with. My dad went, too, since his office is about 15 minutes from Jimmy’s shop!

On the Fourth, we laid low and bought flooring for the nursery, Jimmy’s truck battery died while we were at Lowes (AAA to the rescue!), went to church, and watched fireworks in the evening. I also baked chocolate chunk cookies for our neighbor who has celiac disease.

Gluten free chocolate chunk cookies with Pillsbury gluten free flour

I was super nervous I was going to make her sick from cross contamination or some other hidden form of gluten. I had Jimmy checking whether or not chocolate chunks had gluten and was washing all of our pans and supplies obsessively, lol. I can’t imagine actually living with celiac disease. Thankfully, the cookies came out great and our neighbor reported back that she loved them 🙂

I bought the flour from Walmart, and wanted to share that our grocery pickup experience from there that I mentioned in my last post was awesome! I’d definitely recommend it. I just ordered our groceries online, chose a pickup time, went to Walmart at that time, checked in at an outdoor kiosk, and a nice worker loaded our truck with our groceries. So simple!

See the picture below? That’s my favorite spot in our neighborhood. I just love walking the dogs on that street because its so quiet and the trees are so big and beautiful. In the morning, the sun pokes through the trees and it’s the best.

Pathway through trees with sun shining behind them

I have some other random things to share! First of all, have you heard of Altar’d State? It’s a Christian-based clothing store. It kind of reminds me of Anthropoligie mixed with Francesca’s Closet.

My mom and I popped in there a few weekends ago while we were hanging out and there was a huge sale going on, so I picked up two things I’m loving.

This bracelet…

When you love what you have you have everything you need bracelet from Altar'd State

And this sign! One of my favorite scriptures.

Esther 4:14 sign with wood frame from Altar'd State

I think that’s all the randomness I have to share this morning. I have lots of pregnancy updates as well, but I’ll save that for another post.

I hope everyone has a great weekend!