Ballerina Pout

I love lip gloss. It is the one product I cannot live without.  Being a long time lippee lover, I  have tried many a lip product. Last week while shopping for birthday presents, I entered the Cosmetic Market. My mission: find a lip gloss for my aching lips. My eyes scanned  counter to counter until they stopped at Sara Happ. At this small counter, I found beautiful little boxes of lip scrub tied with a bow and five lip glosses. The lip gloss or lip slip I picked up was Ballet slip. Ballet pink,  my favorite shade of pink. I had to have this shade if only for the name. Although I thought the shade was pretty,  I had no idea how this Sara Happ lip slip would perform. I am happy to announce that this beautiful shade of lip gloss kept my lips gorgeous and moisturized. Since I bought this lip gloss, it is the only shade I have been wearing. Next on my list to try is Sara Happ's lip scrub.

For all you local gals living on the north side of Atlanta, Sara Happ lip gloss is sold at the Cosmetic Market in Avalon and Nordstrom at Perimeter Mall for $24.00. Go out and try it, your lips will thank you.
 

Father's Day

Father's day was this past Sunday and I feel I should give a shout out to my awesome husband, Klaus. In church on Father's day we were reminded that God wants us to call Him, Abba which means daddy. A daddy is someone who comes down to a child's level and helps them with a task or simply let's them know they are loved. This is precisely what God our Father has done for us when  He sent His son to walk among us. I mention this because I see Klaus everyday hold our daughter in his arms, tell her he loves her, and gets down on her level when she is trying to speak. Klaus is a wonderful daddy  and it shows when you see our daughter's face light up when she sees him. I can only say, 
"thank you ", to God for making such an incredible man and to Klaus for consistently being a great daddy.

Church Picnic

I love church picnics. There is something so old fashioned about them that warms my heart. Last Saturday was our church picnic. We showed up rather early with a bowl of German meatballs to share, my husband's specialty ready to eat. While my husband found a spot for his meatballs, I found a table for the three of us near the kids section. For over two hours we sampled food from around the world, a great thing about being at a Catholic Church Picnic and watched our little daughter play. The highlight for my husband and I were the Vietnamese vermacelli bowls, while my daughter enjoyed cupcakes. If you've never been to a church picnic for your church or at all, I encourage you to go. It's an opportunity to eat great food, play games, listen to music and a chance to  get to know people you see every Sunday.

Gardening

I have a black thumb, really. Everything I attempt to grow fails to thrive. My mother -in-law used to buy me silk plants and flowers so that I could have some sort of vegetation in my house. Yet, with all of the above being true, I find myself yearning to do yard work around my house.  My husband and I live in a small bungalow with a rustic yard and up until about a month ago, we barely touched it. Maybe I 've been inspired by fairy tales to create a patch of land where my daughter can frolic in nature, maybe I want to invite the sprites for tea in my garden.  Whatever the real reason,  I go out into my yard every day for almost an hour weeding and pruning and it feels me with peace.

Leprechaun Turds

For St Patrick's Day, I made a lovely batch of almond cookies, or as I like to call them, Leprechaun turds. This recipe was give to me by the brownie that lives in our house. Brownies can be very helpful in the kitchen.

Ingredients :
-3/4 cup of powdered sugar
-1/4 cup of brown sugar
-6 tablespoons of butter
-1 1/2 cups of flour
-2 eggs
-1 teaspoon of almond extract
-1/2 teaspoon of vanilla extract
-1/4 cup of shaved almonds
-10 drops of green food coloring
-orange sprinkles

Preheat the oven at 350 degrees. In a large bowl combine the sugars, butter, and both extracts using a mixer on medium speed. Gradually add the flour, eggs, and almond shavings. Once the dough is complete, have fun and add the food coloring.

Place the green cookie dough on a cookie sheet, using parchment paper and bake for 10 minutes. When the cookies are done, let them cool on parchment paper while adding the orange sprinkles.

Little Dacha

I wanted to share my Etsy shop with everyone who reads my blog. My shop is called Little Dacha and I have two items for sale, one is a collection of books all wrapped up with three clues on the cover and the other one is five hand stamped cards ready for Easter. I will have more items in the future.

Owls at Rucker Pet Supply

On Saturday, February 21st, our family went to see the owls, my daughter's favorite animal at Rucker Pet Supply.  This event was a meet and greet, not a flying exhibit. It was a wonderful to see the Owls up close. Carter definitely enjoyed herself. Mom and dad loved it, even though it was crowded. My only critique is that if Rucker Pet does this next year, they work on organization of the crowds. A part from that a good time was had by all. Thank you Rucker Pet for having such a great event. We will definitely be back.