Florida Wedding

First off, I hope you all had a very Merry Christmas. And New Years is just around the bend so I hope your plans and resolutions are shaping up. I just popped down to Florida for a warm weather winter wedding.  My cousin Josh got married to the lovely Vanessa. It was such a sweet wedding and I'm so happy for them both.

Durham, North Carolina Bakery Spotlight

Before I left for college 4.5 years ago, none of these bakeries were in existence.  Now, Durham is a veritable bakery paradise.  They spring up every few months it seems and thrive in the downtown.  Get to Monuts too late in the day and they've already sold out of their cake donuts.  Durham likes its sweets.  Most of these lovely places began as a Farmer's Market stall (like Scratch and Loaf).  The Parlour began as a food truck, which they still have.  Monuts Donuts began selling their creations on the back of a bicycle around Durham.  Watching Durham become so fabulous and delicious has been a dream come true.

Daisy Cakes, serving cupcakes and so much more.

The Parlour, serving homemade ice-cream, sundaes etc. 

Loaf makes the best bread ever! 

I think Scratch has to be my favorite.  They do so much and I am seriously obsessed with this drink they made called the London Fog.

 

 Monuts Donuts... um, donuts, need I say more?

   
And because you can never have too many cupcake shops, The Cupcake Bar.

And of course I had to do a little spotlight on Dolly's Vintage.  During High School I worked here for 4 years while it was located in Bright Leaf Square.  Since I left Durham Dolly's moved downtown on Main street and as been thriving along with all the lovely bakeries.  I'm now back in Durham and working at Dolly's again and fingers crossed... hopefully one of these bakeries as well soon.

It's Christmas Time

Christmas finally arrived at my house. We do pretty much the same decorations every year, which is fine with me.  I like traditions. Here are just a couple snap shots of some baubles and my Christmas sugar cookies. I use the same recipe every year and I don't worry about making them perfect. I love trying new fancy recipes but for me, Christmas cookies aren't the time for anything fancy pants.

Farmer's Market

Today my mom brought home some gorgeous vegetables from our local farmer's market in Durham. I couldn't help but clear off the kitchen table and snap a couple pictures with my phone.

DIY Christmas Cards

I started working on a project that was originally going to be 25 cards of Christmas but I guess I'm really feeling the love because I think it is going to turn out to be a lot more that that. Shout out to the lovely ladies at A Beautiful Mess. I downloaded their app even though I'm generally not interested in things like that but I actually love it!