tgif + popsicles

ah, sigh of relief - it's friday. I'm celebrating with a popsicle (made with grapes, strawberries, raspberries, topped with lemonade). happy weekend!

tea & scones

going through the photos from our high tea at kensington made me wish I was still over there. so I thought I'd bring some london to florida. last weekend I made a clotted cream with this recipe (ok I cheated; real clotted cream takes like days to make & let's face it- I don't have the skill or patience). and scones with this recipe - and then threw in a handful of semi-sweet chocolate chips. I just closed my eyes & pretended it wasn't 100 degrees. 

august cake: vanilla wedding cake with swiss buttercream frosting

as I mentioned, my parents 35th anniversary was this past weekend. so for august's cake, I decided to try to recreate the top of their wedding cake. in total 70s style, it was topped with white daises and lots of baby's breath. so sweet. I had so much fun making this cake; we even had mom & dad cut it just like they did on their wedding day!

{35th anniversary vanilla wedding cake with swiss buttercream frosting}

{my parents in 1976, cutting their wedding cake}

thirty-five

toady my parents celebrate 35 years of marriage! I know that every marriage takes work, but mom & dad sure do make it look easy. they enjoy each other's company & find pleasure & laughter in the smallest things in life. they have set an amazing example of love, patience & loyalty for both my sister & me to follow. 

check out this sweet wedding photo. isn't my dad styling in his frilly blue suit? and I think my mom looks so beautiful & natural. she said at the time it was almost taboo for a bride to wear her hair down. 

I captured a little piece of their love story in this book as a gift for their anniversary. I had so much fun making it & sifting through all of their old photos. here's a little snippet. happy 35th anniversary mom & daddy! 

tea at kensington palace

one of my favorite parts of our trip to england was having high tea at the orangery at kensington palace. the gardens were so beautiful & manicured. and tea in the greenhouse was splendid. I ordered the chocolate tea & robert had darjeeling tea (plus some champagne!). they served it with three-tiered trays of delicious pastries & tarts, orange scones with cornish clotted cream & delicate little finger sandwiches. I totally felt like marie antoinette. it was a lovely afternoon.

river city

father-daughter bonding activities have been going on for as long a I can remember. and even now that I have a husband, I still cherish the time I get to spend with my daddy. on a rainy sunday evening, the two of us took the boat out for a cruise down the st. johns river. it was a beautiful, peaceful evening (well, except that part where we stopped at the landing to eat dinner at hooters. can you believe they still wear those scrunchie socks?!). 
our city looks really lovely from the river at sunset. 

portobello road

this is the soundtrack that played on repeat in my head the entire time we meandered down portobello road. if it wasn't so crowded, I'd probably have been skipping. the street was buzzing with activity; everywhere I looked there was something beautiful or interesting. giant piles of handmade breads and pastries, tightly bound croquet balls that smelled of leather, white flowers that appeared to be dripping off the buildings. portobello road is certainly one of a kind.