Wednesday, December 20, 2017

Pajama Series

I don't know if you've looked at the weather for East Texas but it is supposed to be COLD for Christmas. And my girl's Christmas PJs are cotton, not fleece. So naturally, I had to have her wear them today (and most likely the next few warmer days) to get our wear out of them. And well, she was just so cute we had to have a mini photo shoot in our PJs. Shocked???







My girl is full of personality. And she is such a joy to capture on camera. Plus I think she's getting used to me singing behind the camera in order to get her attention. She's a pro! ;)

Monday, December 18, 2017

Christmas Pictures 2017

It's obvious if you follow me on social media that I am obsessed with my daughter. So when my mom pitched the idea that we set her in a basket at her house by the tree for some Christmas pictures I jumped on it! I'm blessed with a fun-loving little girl who is absolutely beautiful (in my opinion).

While I am not a professional photographer, I am pleased with the pictures. Mind you I snapped close to one hundred in order to get my nine pictures featured here. And I had my mother (Liv's Nana) dancing and singing behind me to get the expressions you see below. But I think we did pretty darn good! I think professional photographers take numerous to get a smaller amount of post-worthy pictures but I doubt their raw image to edited and frame-worthy image ratio is quite like mine. Ha! Anyways, all that to say, "Let me show you my beautiful baby in all her Christmas glory!" 










I told you she was cute, right? The last three pictures get me every time. They show off her little personality! She's a hoot. And thank you, Mom, for the great photo set-up idea! 

Olivia is such a joy and I count my blessings every time I look at her sweet face. It is so much fun to have her around for the holiday's this year! I can't wait to snap some pictures of her on Christmas as she experiences the fun times we all know and cherish! 

Friday, December 15, 2017

The BEST & EASIEST Blueberry Muffins

I am a muffin girl. I love that they aren't too sweet like most desserts. I love that I can grab one to have with my coffee or consider one as a dessert after a meal. I LOVE muffins. And I LOVE this blueberry muffin recipe. (And so does the hubs!) I found the recipe here and have been addicted to my modified version ever since.


One of my favorite things about this recipe is that it requires ONE mixing bowl and a small liquid measuring cup like this. Nothing worse than having to clean up multiple mixing bowls!

The Best & Easiest Blueberry Muffin Recipe 

Recipe makes 8 jumbo muffins or 10 regular muffins.

Ingredients:

  • 1 1/2 cup flour
  • 3/4 cup granulated sugar
  • 2 tsp baking powder
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1 large egg
  • 1/3 cup vegetable oil
  • 1/2 cup milk
  • 1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1 cup frozen blueberries (you can of course use fresh but frozen is so easy and convenient) 

Steps:

  1. Preheat oven to 400 F and line your muffin tin or spray with non-stick cooking spray.
  2. Whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt in your mixing bowl and set aside. 
  3. In a measuring cup that holds at least 1 cup add the egg, vegetable oil, milk and vanilla. Then mix with a fork until combined.
  4. Add the liquid mixture to the dry ingredients and mix with a spoon until just combined. Your batter will be thick! Don't use an electric mixer as it can over mix the batter. You just want to stir the ingredients together until all the dry ingredients are married with the wet. 
  5. Gently fold in the blueberries.
  6. Sprinkle a little granulated sugar on the top of each muffin. (Makes them extra tasty!)
  7. Scoop batter into muffin tin and bake for 15-20 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean.
***Personally, I've noticed my muffins take closer to 23-24 minutes to bake and I make the 10 standard size muffins. I don't know if this is my oven or not but just be sure to check your muffins with a toothpick. Another tip: try not to peak at your muffins by opening your oven. This can cause the muffins to sink in the middle. Give them at least 15 minutes before opening your oven to check them. I learned this the hard way and had gooey, sunk in muffins. Yuck! 


While I am not claiming to be a good baker, I must say these muffins make me appear as one. So add them to your recipe book! You'll thank me later. :) 

Wednesday, December 13, 2017

New Name and a Facelift

Yep, it's 2:07 AM and I am redesigning my blog and renaming it all at the same time -- in the middle of the night. I've had some insomnia lately so I decided to make better use of my time not sleeping and piddle on here. Back in the day I dabbled in blog design and still enjoy doing it. And I stole the new name of the blog from my husband's Instagram tag. But do you get it? Morris Better..."More is Better???" Seemed very fitting for a blog name about our lives. Surely he won't mind. ;)

I know I've been absent from here but like I've warned you before -- I AM NOT CONSISTENT.

A few updates for you:

1. I briefly mentioned my essential oil journey I started. Well, I'm currently at a stand still. I think I dove in too fast and the result was terrible migraines. So I have been advised to slowly reintroduce them one at a time but to be honest I'm a little gun shy. Disclaimer: I am not saying oils don't work but right now they aren't working for me. I haven't completely given up yet though! So stay tuned on that front.

2. The more I ponder the direction of my Etsy shop the more I realize my heart is just not in it. I also have serious issues of being very hard on myself when it comes to my own expectations of the products I make and I'm honestly just not proud of what I was producing. So it's looking like I won't reopen the shop.

3. Olivia is growing like a weed and I LOVE taking pictures of her. In fact, I'm currently using her as my subject to work on my photography skills. I've always enjoyed taking pictures and I'm slowly learning more about my camera and how to utilize Photoshop to enhance the pictures. But back to Olivia, she is seven and a half months old! I simply cannot believe it. I mean look at how precious she is!!!



Anyways, late night posting at it's finest. Hope you like my redesign. I know I do! And I hope everyone is enjoying the holiday season. Here's to inconsistent blogging and random ramblings!

As always, thanks for reading!