A Berry Nice Surprise

Hey Loves! F & J here!

We got around to counting our coin jar again. If you don't know about our coin jar yet, make sure you read our post about it by clicking here. It's over $100 up from last time which is a nice surprise, and will definitely make a dent in our travel fund. We know that it is just going to keep growing.

We still don't want to share where we are headed to yet, because it's not set in stone. But we are excited that the jar is growing nicely. We don't know if any of you have a coin jar, but if you do, or are going to start one, let us know!

Go ahead. Be Jealous.

Besides the coin jar we went berry picking this morning and got a pretty hefty amount. Once we wash them, they will be a yummy snack, and we know we worked hard for them. There was blood, sweat, and tears (literally!) while picking them, and we have cuts up our arms (stupid thorns), but it was so worth it. It definitely won't be the last time we go berry picking this summer.

Love,

F & J

Pretty & Pink

Hey Loves! F & J here!

Look at this beauty! We are not one's to brag but we have to admit we are really proud of the way this turned out. We have never attempted a multi-layered cake before and we did not even follow any directions! We just made things up as we went along, and it looks like it worked in our favor! 

It took quite a while but we think it was well worth the time.

If you want to make this yourself here's how: 

We took the easy way out, and bought white cake mix, in a box, but obviously you could use your own batter (preferably white, for color sake). 

After mixing it, we filled the pan with a quarter of the plain white batter. Stuck it in the oven moved on to layer two. Remember there is less cake than normal, so it will take less time and you should bake it at a lower temp. We did ours at 325 degrees Fahrenheit for about 12-15 minutes a layer.

Then we added a few drops of red food coloring (you can use whatever color you want), just enough to make a pretty baby pink. Then like the first one we took the same amount out (we used a measuring tool to know how much to put for each layer).

The third and fourth layer we just added more food coloring to make the gradient effect.

After all our layers were baked, we put them on cooling racks, then in the fridge. We waited about an hour to make sure that they were COMPLETELY cool. Even a little warm, will make the frosting melt, and it will be a disaster!

We came back to our cakes and used a knife to make sure all our layers were flat, then came the fun part. We began stacking the cakes, putting a layer of frosting between each other. Then we stuck it back in the fridge, to make sure the frosting was cold. Then we properly iced the whole cake.

When we cut in, the results were really exciting. When the cakes were baked the colors looked whiter, and we thought it didn't work. We were a bit anxious cutting into it, but were pleasantly surprised.

We think that you guys should all try this, because it is not too hard, and looks pretty impressive. We will definitely be making more of these in the future! Share pictures, we love seeing what you guys create!

Love,

F & J

Macarons & Mischief

Hey Loves! F & J here!

What a beautiful day it has been! Today after work we got together to go visit Lady Yum, a shop we have had our eye on for a while now.

We first learned about Lady Yum back in March at a fundraiser we helped volunteer at. She catered the dessert portion of the event. Her specialty is her to-die-for macarons. By the end of the event there was only two macarons left, so we each snagged them before anyone else got the chance to (oops #sorrynotsorry). And since then we have been waiting to try them again. You could say we were in love! 

At the event we got the chance to meet the owner, Megan, and she is so sweet (just like her macarons) and funny, and she seems so loveable. Even better she donated over $2,000 worth of her heavenly desserts.

We knew she was planning on opening a shop in Downtown Kirkland, and it happens that today was opening day, so we made a special trip to finally get the macarons we have been waiting for. When you first walk in to the shop you see a glass case filled with macarons of almost every color, and diamond chandeliers hanging from the ceiling. Her shelves are lined with local brands and goods, and it all looks so cute! It is absolutely magical and charming and that was just the appearance.

Now for the hard part... deciding what flavors to choose. Everything looked and sounded so delicious, there were so many choices. And it is crazy to think by the time we got there they had sold out of five flavors already! We decided to limit ourselves to five each, which came in adorable packaging. It felt like it took forever to decide but we ended up choosing all the same except one flavor. We both got, salted caramel, hedgehog toffee, chocolate mint, and toasted coconut. J got maple bacon as her fifth, and F got oatmeal cookie!

Though we have yet to finish our packs, we got a taste of all of them! Spoiler Alert.... They are better than we remember them. Which is a crazy thought! Lady Yum knows what they are doing! Everyone must try these, and thankfully she delivers. But if you live in the Seattle area, making a trip to Downtown Kirkland, will be something you won't regret. Don't forget to check out her Facebook Page and her Website (linked to the words). 

After we had to come to terms with leaving the cutest shop ever we decided to walk along the water front where there was the Uncorked Festival, which is a wine festival, but also has booths set up from local businesses. It was kind of like a farmers market, so of course we had to make a round. Things were going great, until something smelt a little funny. This is where we met out new friends. 

Yes, the single one is a llama, and the other two are alpacas! No, we don't usually see them in Kirkland, so we had to snap a picture! They kind of freaked us out though. They just stare at you, with the biggest eyes EVER! 

Overall it was a great day, and needless to say, we will become regulars at Lady Yum, and we think you should too!

Love,

F & J

Here's to Change

Hey Loves! F & J here!

We just wanted to update all you guys, to let you know what has been happening with us and our blog! We both are not the techiest girls out there so it is taking quite a bit of time, but we want to give the blog a make over. All these HTML codes are quite confusing and we want to make it the best we can, so we are being patient and trying to learn how to do it the right way, and we hope you have the patience to stay with us! 

Our lives seem to be getting a little crazy and it is taken us a while to realize that we missed Travel Tuesday. So we had to come to a decision that from here on out we will posting Travel Tuesday less often as we have (weekly). This doesn't mean the end of Travel Tuesday, but we didn't like having a timeline to post on a certain day, because sometimes we felt like we could not put exactly what we wanted to in these posts, because of the time, or other work conflicts leaving us feeling rushed. Don't worry though,  we have lots of places we want to go, and will share them with you guys every so often. Maybe not even on a Tuesday!

As far as personal lives go, J has been job hunting like crazy. It is a stressful time, because we all know how much we need money to function in society (and to feed are vicious spending habits). F has a lot deciding to do about her future and it is all a little bit stressful!

Sometimes change is scary (let's be honest most of the time it is), but when it all comes down to it, it usually is for the better. Just like J finding a new job and F making life decisions, we want to make sure we change in the right direction, and we all look for some reassurance and sometimes it is not there, but trust your gut, and listen to your heart... They usually know what's right.

Here's to Change.

Love,

F & J

New Places, New Faces

Hey Loves! F & J here!

We have been having such lovely weather this past week and we had to take advantage of it! On Tuesday we met up with a friend for Starbucks' (You know us Seattle girls) for a good hearted conversation about life, love, and boys (the usual!) and some shopping at the local mall! We had lunch at a fun little pizza parlor, and decided to spontaneously go spend the rest of our day at Alki Beach. Even though the beach is located in Seattle and is very popular, it is not somewhere we always go to because it is quite far from home, and is usually so packed! But because our friend lives so close to it, we HAD to go!

Parking, as you could have guessed, was a nightmare. But we had all day, and the walk to the beach is on the waters edge so we had a great view. We ended parking around 45 minutes (walking) away, but we love to stroll, so this was not so bad at all!

We decided to sit on a log on the sand to watch the sunset, and people watch. If you have never watched the sun actually disappear from the sky, it is something you have to see because it is too beautiful for words to describe! The environment seemed so care free, and the breeze in the air took us away, and it felt like we were worlds away from the crazy city life.

We decided to walk to Tully's (another coffee house), to quench our thirst, and use a clean bathroom, before heading back to our car. We then decided to sit on the steps and enjoy our drinks while watching 'fire-twirlers' work their magic. It was quite a sight, and made us feel like we were in Hawaii!

The time flew by, and before we knew it, it was almost midnight! There were so many people still out, and enjoying life at the beach we didn't want to leave.

Even though it is a bit of drive to Alki from our houses, we will definitely be seeing it again soon.

If you are ever in the Seattle area, it is definitely worth seeing, and spending at least a few hours there. There are plenty of cute dining choices too, so you could make a day of it!

Love,

F & J

The Fourth

Hey Loves! F & J here,

We hope you all had as good of a Fourth of July as we did! We started off the day by being in our local Parade with Sibling House (our charity of choice). The weather was absolutely gorgeous, so we were really excited to go the barbeque at J's house. There were so many people and we got our fair share of baby time! F got to hold a little baby through the whole parade! We absolutely love babies and will take any opportunity to hold them. We are self professed baby hogs!

We caught up with a lot of people we haven't seen in awhile and made some new friends which is always nice. Our friend from Germany joined us for the whole day which was a blast because she got to see how we Americans do!

After people started leaving the barbeque, it became a smaller more personal party with people we love which made it even more fun! After dinner and s'mores we drove our friends to the lake to watch the fireworks. Two of them were on crutches so it made the experience quite slow, but worth it. We had to park aways away and we attempted to give them piggy back rides! That didn't last long!!

Once we got down we had a great view and made it just in time. The firework show was fabulous and the was such a happy atmosphere. We wish it was like this all the time! Afterwords we waited for the crowd to die down, so we laid a blanket on the rocks and listened to music and had a good chat while looking at the Seattle sky line before we fought traffic to get home.

It was easily one of the best Fourth of July's we have had and we hope they only get better. We are so thankful to be living in America, the land of the free.

Love,

F & J

Home is Where the Heart is

Hey Loves! F & J here!

As some of you know, our friend from Germany is finally in town! We are so excited because it has been way too long! For those of you who do not know, we met our friend in high school, while she was part of an exchange program. We have known she has been coming for a while, so we have been picking up little gifts for her, because we like to do an exchange. She loves American stuff, and we love getting things from other countries, so it kind of works out.

She is a tough cookie when it comes to buying gifts, because it is hard to know what she wants, and it has to be small enough to take back with her. This time as well as buying her some gifts, we got a little crafty. Because she considers Seattle her second home, we made her a lovely little canvas duo, that shows that her heart is in two different places.

It's a really simple, but thoughtful gift, that anyone can make. All it takes is two canvases, we used flat ones to conserve luggage space, a sharpie, and a marker. As far as drawing the outlines, you could free hand it, or cheat a little, and figure out a way to trace it. We suggest doing it in light pencil first, because everyone has boo boo's. Then we added the heart in the exact location of the cities.

If anybody decides to make this craft for someone they love, please send us your pictures! We would love to see them!

Love,

F & J

Travel Tuesday: Cape Cod

Hey Loves! F & J here! 

This week for travel Tuesday we are headed to Cape Cod! In honor of the Fourth of July just around the corner, we thought we would pick somewhere that screams America! For those of you who may not know, it's located in Massachusetts in the Upper East Coast of the States. 

Not only is Cape Cod know for being the place where the pilgrims landed and for it's various mermaid sightings but it absolutely gorgeous! J has actually been lucky enough to go and F has it on her list of top places she wants to visit!

J's favorite ice cream shop is unfortunately over there. 4Seas is open only during the spring and summer but their handmade ice cream is to die for! Random fact: 4Seas first opened in 1934 and is the 3rd oldest ice cream shop in New England!

Cape Cod is also where the Kennedy Compound is. (And yes we do mean the Kennedy's as in JFK, and Conor, Taylor Swift's ex) and speaking of Taylor she has a house on the Cape too! 

And lastly, the lighthouses and beaches! You can probably guess based on previous Travel Tuesdays that we love love love the beach! And with the perfect old time feel to it Cape Cod has fantastic beaches to visit! 

Love,

F & J