Books at McDonalds

via Pinterest

Have you heard?

Your neighborhood rendition of the Golden Arches, will soon be including children's books as an option for happy meals. It starts on November 1st, National Literacy Day, and is expected to provide more than 20 million children's books to families during a 2 week time period.

Read more about it here.

Gotta love literacy!

Bye Bye August

Hail to the Weekend!

I think that there have been many days in the past two years, where I have lived in a puddle of jell-o, deep enough to notice, and just enough to annoy you with grossness on your favorite heels. But puddles are forgetful, casual, and come to pass without later thought. I want to live an intent life full of goals I can reach and others I must push myself towards. I'm an overachiever that needs accomplishments at least in intermittent intervals.

On this blog, I already fight the tendency to post about a "curated life" rather that what actuates me everyday. I'll instead try for those that inspire me, and I hope will in turn inspire others. I'm trying my hardest to keep this in mind every day.

This Weekend:

Saturday:: Headed to Atlanta to go shopping and roam around. Maybe head to Phipps Tavern or STK

Sunday:: Apple picking in Hendersonville

The weeks favorite posts from around the horn:

* butterscotch pudding popsicles

* Emma's DIY wedding dress from A Beautiful Mess

* Atlantic-Pacific gets a rocks 3.1 Phillip Lim

* green smoothie pops and oatmeal chocolate chip pancakes from Top with Cinnamon

And....coming next week on the blog:

- a recap of apple picking and how to do it expertly

- a post on juicing

- a post on Nordic Crime fiction (think what you should be reading to get a good taste of it)

- a pie with cheese in the crust

- a post on having your own personal board of directors

the girl's got style: Lorde

Lorde is only sort of new to the music scene.

Her voice is so unique and miles past memorable. The sound is haunting, and currently engrained within me.
Her combination of music, vocal styling, and the visual look of her videos is just refreshing. I wouldn't call her vocal control and styling lyric, because there is strength in the higher register. The influence of R&B on the 16-year old New Zealander is clear from the background beat of "Royals".

Watch it here.

And listen to the singles below.

New to my interest: A double dose of inspiration

Not only do we share a first name, but I am genuinely enthralled with the new abook from Samantha Hahn. Hahn is New York based illustrator and artistic designer, that maintains a blog of colorful inspiration at Maquette Blog.



In the book, Hahn exhibits her 50 watercolor paintings of fiction's most beloved heroines. Well Read Women is so striking, because Hahn is unafraid of color. Her style is pronounced in the sweeping brush strokes and stunning use of white space to define textures.

  

I really like artistic expressions of well-known fiction and equate it to a "fiction riff".

Buy from Amazon

Buy this, and be inspired by the artwork, and some of fiction's leading ladies.

Pie of the Week #5: Banana Cream Pie via Six Sisters Stuff

Imagine if you had 5 sisters. You have to make it through puberty, high school and college. Somehow you do this still want to keep in contact with each other. Not only that, you all decide to start a blog, make it really popular, and share your life with readers around the world.

Imagine that.

You probably have an reserve of patience, and a high aptitude for working in groups. Six Sisters Stuff is a blog run by 6 siblings, who regardless of distance, children and other distractions, maintain a blog where they share recipes and home projects.

If you've never visited their blog, you should take a look. One of my favorite parts is the restaurant copy-cat recipes. I even have a pinterest board for them! (they are just the same)

via Six Sisters Stuff

The pie

The pie this week was posted by Camille (the oldest). This recipe is a favorite of mine because:
1) it is so super easy
&
2) it's perfect for a hot August cool down

Although it isn't a pie shape, it has the pertinent parts. Crunchy crust. Cool, creamy topping structure. And some type of sweetened fruit. I can believe that this would be just a delicious with some type of berry instead of bananas.





Catch the recipe below

Easy Banana Cream PieIngredients:
80 Nilla Wafer cookies, crushed (about one 12 oz box)
1/2 cup butter, melted
1 (8 oz) package cream cheese (light is fine)
2 cups powdered sugar
2 (8 oz) containers Cool Whip, thawed (light is fine)
1 box (5.1 oz) banana cream instant pudding
2 cups milk (skim is fine)
3 bananas, sliced
Directions: *Mix together the crushed cookies and melted butter. Press into a 9x13" baking pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 10 minutes. Let cool.
*Beat together the cream cheese, powdered sugar, and 1 container of Cool Whip. Spread on top of cooled cookie crust.
*Beat together the banana cream pudding with milk. Let stand for about 4-5 minutes until it has thickened. *Spread on top of cream cheese layer.
*Spread sliced bananas on top of pudding, covering the entire pan.
*Spread the last container of Cool Whip on top of the bananas. Let set in the fridge for at least 2 hours before serving.
*Top with caramel sauce, sliced bananas and crushed cookies as a garnish (totally optional, but it makes it look good).

Be Up and Doing

Pie of the Week #4: Wild Blueberry Pie via Saveur Magazine Online

I won't say I'm obsessed. But, I love the endless possibilities that exist in pie manufacture. And in the most basic sense, pies can be very easy or incredibly detailed. This weeks pie is rather basic and rather delicious.

 Growing up in the foothills of South Carolina, it's normal to have pet chickens or ducks. It is also normal to go fruit and veggie picking throughout the year at local farms or the backyard because many people have gardens. In the foothills, you are basically in prime blueberry real estate.

Wild Blueberry Tart

Cool Air flowing through the hills and mountains comes to rest on the bushes at the end of the day. Temperate heat from the southern clime heats the berries but doesn't overwhelm with humidity after rainfalls.

Prime Blueberry Real Estate.

However, we are just now coming to the end of the season, and I couldn't help but buy a load at the farmer's market this weekend with the intention of freezing for use throughout the year.

This week's recipe comes from Saveur.com . It uses Wild Maine Blueberries, but any blueberries should be just fine, even though this species tends to be smaller and a little sweeter than those found in my area.

Dating Problems? – These Best Friends decided to date each other

Say What?

We all have relationship trouble in some form or another. Two New York best friends recognized their relationship troubles were a foil of the other.

She commits early and falls hard.

He kind of plays the field.

It’s a social experiment from Timothy Goodman and Jessica Walsh. Best friends who found themselves single at the same time and seek to understand if they could change their typical romantic relationship behavior. (It usually takes 40 days to change behavior)

Pie of the Week #3: Cowboy Quiche from The Pioneer Woman

Newsflash! Quiche is a type of pie!

Two weeks ago, my cousin got married in Mount Pleasant, SC. It was great to have the entire family in town. We decided to rent a house on Isle of Palms. So as you can imagine having 17 people in one house was very interesting. I made this quiche ahead of time and reheated it while we were there.

Let me tell you, the crispy, flaky crust plus the goodness which is cream/eggs/veggies make something incredibly delicious. The recipe is rather easy, and if you are in a pinch and don't have all the ingredients, break free and wing it.

Cover Love #2// Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

"Welcome to the Knight Bus, emergency transport for the stranded witch or wizard"
- Stan Shunpike; Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban