Spring

Five Recent Obsessions

Thank you to everyone who commented on my last post! I’m glad those who watched the video enjoyed it, too. It seemed like everyone loved my mom’s reaction 🙂

Today I’m popping in to share five things I’ve been obsessed with lately!

1. Frothed Milk. I don’t know why, but I have been obsessed with having warm, frothed milk lately. At first, I thought it would be perfect with coffee, but I am still having a small (occasional–yay!) aversion to coffee since becoming pregnant. Soo, I’ve been drinking mugs of warm, frothy milk. How do I froth my milk? With this bad boy. It’s amazing.

2. Cake baking and celebrating. I made a strawberry cake with strawberry mousse and vanilla buttercream for my mom’s birthday. We (my parents, sister, brother-in-law, and cousins) went out to dinner to celebrate my mom and it was such a lovely evening! I truly adore spending time with family.

Family dinner at Bella Luna in Pittsburgh

We went to Bella Luna Trattoria, if any Pittsburghers are wondering!

Strawberry birthday cake with vanilla buttercream and sprinkles

3. Pet Sitting. It is kind of starting to warm up and feel more spring-like in Pittsburgh, which has made pet sitting so enjoyable (as if it’s not enjoyable enough when I have the adorable faces below staring back at me)! Tomorrow is supposed to be in the 50s and rainy, and I have six dogs to care for. It’s much easier to walk six dogs in rain than in snow, in my opinion! I’ll let you know if I change my mind on that after tomorrow, though 😉

Cocker spaniel puppy and chocolate lab on couch together

4. Preparing for Resurrection Sunday. It feels like Resurrection Sunday, or Easter as many call it, came up quickly! I plan on reading the story of Jesus’ crucifixion and resurrection this week, and have been writing cards to all my clients. Jimmy and I are also hosting my sister, brother-in-law, father-in-law, and his fiancé for dinner on Saturday and we are super excited!

Hallmark Easter card

5. Whipped cream flowers. I had a bunch of mousse leftover from my mom’s cake, and it’s basically whipped cream with a few extra ingredients. I didn’t want it to go to waste, so I did some research and learned that homemade whipped cream can be frozen! I pipped the whipped cream/mousse into rosettes and flowers and froze them on a baking sheet, then popped them into a freezer bag. I’m thinking they’ll be good on a mug of hot coffee or to decorate a cake or cupcakes!

Whipped cream piped into flowers and frozen

What have you been obsessed with lately?

Welcoming Spring

Spring has officially arrived! So did a nor’easter here in Pittsburgh. But hey, I think there’s a saying that goes something like if you don’t like the weather in Pittsburgh, wait 15 minutes. So true.

I was able to walk Lola and Mavis in gorgeously sunny 50 degree weather earlier in the week, and today I will be pulling out my snow boots for my pet sitting jobs.

Cocker spaniel and black lab walking on grassy trail in sunshine

Walks with Lola and Mavis are so lovely due to the fact that we have a leash coupler, so I only have to use one leash! Walks with Lola and Mavis aren’t so lovely when Lola walks backwards and slips out of her harness to run away.

Our pets certainly know how to keep Jimmy and I on our toes with their antics. We spoil them anyways. We just bought Lola the harness in the above picture and Mavis chewed the handle (while Lola was wearing it!) until it was hanging on by a thread. So what did I do the other day? Bought them a chew toy.

Cocker spaniel with Petstages deerhorn chew

Mr. Malcolm over here isn’t much more well behaved than his sisters. He’s actually the instigator in our household and has quite the penchant for trying to slip out our back door (is life with us that bad that our pets want to run away?!). But we spoil him, too.

His new obsession, as I mentioned in my most recent vlog, are Friskies Pull ‘n Play treats. He goes crazy for these and runs all around the house with the treats in his mouth. I think he tries to tease Mavis and Lola!

Friskies Pull 'n Play cat treats chicken and cheese flavors

Speaking of cat treats, I have a great resource to share for any cat parents out there! Reviews.com has an awesome cat food guide that has a list of the best cat foods for 2018. The researchers that created the guide analyzed over 2,000 cat food formulas and picked their top 18 high-quality brands.

Okay, back to talking about spring. To celebrate its arrival yesterday, I decided to bake one of my favorite spring-like recipes: lemon poppy seed muffins! When I typed out poppy seed, I accidentally typed “puppy seed.” I guess I have dogs on the brain?!

Lemon poppy seed muffins

I think I’ll go enjoy one now as I watch the snow pile up outside 😉

What food reminds you most of spring?