goodbye 2012 & hello 2013!

visiting bellingrath gardens christmas lights in mobile, rollerskating double date in birmingham, my awesome wrapping skills, 2012 memories, my favorite b&bw scents, my parent's christmas tree, my new juicy pizza charm (after christmas sales, yes!) & my new bracelet.

long time no blog! after over a month, i've finally got the time to sit down & write. i never intended for this blog to be a routine, scheduled thing - after all, i am a busy student & i have to put other things first. but i still love writing, & it makes me really happy when i have the time to do so.

the end of the fall semester was the most stressful of my life. i shed blood (literally, thanks to my clumsiness & nearly taking a finger off with an x-acto knife) for the sake of my classes, but it all paid off! my grades were awesome, and i'm going into my final semester of college excited & optimistic. i've spent the majority of christmas break relaxing and recuperating - trust me, i needed it - and focusing on me. it always feels good to say that. last semester, i let my health slip for the sake of time & convenience, but i've done a wonderful job getting back on track and taking care of myself, which i will undoubtedly continue in 2013.

anyway, it's 2013?!?! how did that happen?! 2012 was a major learning year of my life, full of fun, love and adventure. i learned a lot about myself & about other people. 13 is also my lucky number, so i've got good feelings about the year to come. i'm not normally one for resolutions, but i'll summarize, briefly, what i hope to accomplish in 2013:

• graduate in may with my bachelor's degree, of course! but before then, focus on my classes & enjoying my last semester of college.
• get a real job. oh boy.
• remind myself who my true friends are & give them my all.
• keep negativity out of my life & maintain my health.
• i don't want to jinx it - but i'm planning a big, important trip this spring, & i'm crossing my fingers that it works out. i don't even want to talk about it because i'm scared of getting too excited & then it not going as planned - BUT LETS BE HOPEFUL!

i miss baking, y'all. i just bought THE cutest cupcake liners the other day, & i'm so excited to use them. this weekend i'm going to visit some old friends before i go back to tuscaloosa after the national championship game. i hope everyone had a wonderful holiday season & new year, happy 2013!

make this place your home

 this month, i completed the most taxing & difficult project of my college career thus far. it was draining. literally. night after night in the library doing calculations & writing... i felt like a zombie for a week or two there. and i didn't procrastinate, oh no. it literally consumed about two weeks of my time. in between all of that, i got a cute tray from target for my perfumes, picked up my first "red cup" of the season from starbucks, and spent some quality time with my parents when they came into town for the texas a&m game.

they couldn't have picked a worse game to come for, unfortunately. it was our first loss of the season, and shot our national championship hopes out of the picture. but now, as i write this, we're back in the running thanks to kansas state & oregon losing. silly how football brings us all together, but here in alabama, it honestly does. regardless of the game, i had a wonderful time with my family and i'm glad they came up. they don't get to often enough.

last weekend i spent time in huntsville with corey. it's absolutely breathtaking up there, as you can see. the seasons are just now physically beginning to shift here. and, dare i say it, i'm actually kind of ok with all the christmas stuff popping up right now. i think thanksgiving deserves it's moment, don't get me wrong. but people already have trees and wreaths up, and it's not as ridiculous as it usually seems. the christmas music already playing in the mall? that's another story.

(the best) pumpkin spice cupcakes

i had some domain issues, so floralfrocks.net is now floralfrocks.me. if you've dealt with godaddy before, you'll probably understand. my blog is accessible via floralfrocks.me or floral--frocks.blogspot.com. as always, i post updates on my twitter and those following via google will not be affected. thanks!

 
i bake things besides cupcakes, i swear. in fact, last weekend, i baked some banana bread. to be perfectly honest i'm not the biggest banana bread fan, so it doesn't get its own blog post. but let me tell you... these cupcakes are where its at. i was expecting them to be so-so. pumpkin has never been my ultimate favorite autumn treat ever. i don't rush out to starbucks for pumpkin spiced lattes, i don't eat pumpkin pie and when i carved pumpkins earlier this month, i had to battle my way through the smell. but these... oh my goodness, guys. it's probably the best recipe i've ever baked. when i tell you to bake them right now, i mean it.

it's my opinion that baking with oil instead of butter always lends to fluffier, smoother and lighter cake as a result. these are #1 in that department - they're super fluffy, not dense at all. the spices in the recipe - cloves, nutmeg and cinnamon - smelled super strong when i measured them out. i was worried it would be a bit much. nope, just enough. can i continue to tell you how perfect these are? i wish i could.

i doubled up on the frosting recipe and was liberal with my vanilla because i love it so. but other than that, i made it exactly as i found it on annie's eats.

for the cupcakes:

• 2 & 2/3 cup flour
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon 
• 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 can or 15 ounces of pumpkin puree
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1 cup vegetable oil
• 4 eggs

for the frosting:

• 2 sticks unsalted butter, room temperature
• 16 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
• 2 teaspoons (or a pinch more) vanilla extract
• 3-5 cups powdered sugar, sifted (this amount is totally up to taste - i used 3 & 1/2)

preheat your oven to 350 degrees farenheit. line a cupcake pan with cute wrappers of your choice. in a large bowl, sift together your flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves and salt. set aside. in a second large bowl, add your sugar, brown sugar, vegetable oil and pumpkin puree and mix with an electric mixer until smooth and cream. add the eggs in one at a time, beating after each addition. add the flour mixture in a few additions until the mixture is just combined.

fill your cupcake papers a little over halfway full, and bake for 18-22 minutes. allow them to cool completely before frosting.

for the frosting, mix the cream cheese and butter together with an electric mixer until smooth. add the vanilla extract. gradually beat in the powdered sugar until the frosting is to the sweetness you desire. i used a wilton frosting bag & tip.

candlelit autumn nights

♥ i visited fairhope during the first weekend of october and spent some time with my parents. the weekend included an early birthday dinner with my grandparents, hanging out at fly creek cafe with mom and dad, and saturday lunch with my grandmother and brother. i hadn't been home in a while and i had a really relaxing weekend, only to return to, you guessed it, crazy things to do! i won't get into all the work i've had to do - just trust me, it's lots. but aside from that, i've been enjoying the change in weather, even though it's minimal. it's getting into the 40s at night!

♥ last week i went to birmingham and tried flip burger, and was pleasantly surprised. the whole concept is a "gourmet" selection of burgers - shrimp burgers, lamb burgers, and of course, the basic beef. i'm not really sure what i was expecting, but it surpassed my expectations. because of course, let's face it, gourmet burgers are right up my alley anyway. they put dry ice in their cocktails, which was sort of unnerving... but i'm alive, so i guess it's alright. i wish the summit weren't the only place around "these parts" with a chic array of eateries to choose from (check out my foodie speak...)

♥ sooooo... i got a starbucks card. this has been a long time coming. i've also learned to enjoy paying with my card via passbook, thanks to iOS 6. the starbucks card makes me feel special, but it also makes my marketing senses tingle. sometimes i hate buying into little gimmicks (like this) that really don't provide astounding returns for my unwavering loyalty, but regardless, i like aspiring to being a "gold member". see, it even has a nice ring to it. meredith, the gold member at starbucks.


♥ i turned 22 on the 13th. 22 is not an exciting age, it just means i'm one year older and closer to graduating. just a few of my birthday goodies - a new ID holder for my keys, a pumpkin buttercream (!!!) candle, a nintendo 64 (+ zelda ocarina of time, pokemon snap & mario 64) from my sweet boyfriend, beautiful flowers, a bracelet from bauble bar & a new watch! i have been dying to have a nostalgia fest and play the game console from my glory days - i'm already in love with zelda all over again, it's quite literally one of the most fantastic games ever created in my opinion.

♥ i carved a pumpkin! corey, charla and i got to work on saturday night carving pumpkins - it had been years since i'd done it and it was super fun. i love fall. speaking of which, i've got a fall baking list that keeps getting bigger that i need to tackle soon!

perfect & simple vanilla iced coffee

+ optional cinnamon roll.

but why would you want it to be optional?

i love iced coffee, and i will drink it well into winter until it's 20 degrees outside. and although i'll settle for a steaming latte or caramel macchiato every now and then when it gets chilly, something about iced coffee is really delicious to me. it's better, somehow. don't ask me how. similarly, i enjoy popsicles and ice cream regardless of the temperature. soups are also divine when it's 100 degrees outside. sometimes i don't make sense.

this semester has really sucked the life out of me so far. i'm staying up later and waking up earlier, which means i'm getting a lot less sleep. i am not a morning person, though i strive to be. when i do manage to wake up without feeling half dead, i thoroughly enjoy morning time. taking my time getting ready, browsing the news and making a nice breakfast (i know, it's like i'm sixty or something, right?) make all the difference in the world in terms of how my day goes. if i start on a tranquil note, i find it so much easier to relax and maintain that tranquility throughout the day.

needless to say, i've been drinking a lot of coffee. and waking up even earlier to trek to starbucks or mcdonalds (shudder) for a nice iced coffee was starting to add up in a lot of ways. i wanted to learn to make my own, at-home version. and i did!

it's really quite easy. i did a lot of reading about methods, and i decided to do the "cold brew" process instead of brewing the coffee hot and then allowing it to cool. don't ask me how, but it truly does taste better this way! making my own vanilla syrup was incredibly easy as well, but these, in addition to other flavors, can be purchased at starbucks, target and other grocery stores.

you will need:

• a large (at least 1½ - 2 gallons) jug/container
• 12 oz. - 16 oz. bag of ground coffee (i used starbucks medium roast!)
• filtered or tap water

and, if you'd like to make the vanilla syrup:

• 3½ cups water
• 3 cups sugar
• ½ cup brown sugar
• 3 tablespoons vanilla extract
• a container of your choice 

pour your ground coffee into your container, then fill with water. this depends on your container size, of course. i used a 12 oz. bag of coffee and i fit about 22 cups of water into mine; i'm not sure this detail is super important, as long as the coffee isn't watered down, but all of the grounds are in contact with water - stir to make sure! pop your container in the fridge over night, or at least 8 hours.

for the syrup, boil together your water and sugar for about 10-15 minutes, until the mixture thickens just slightly. afterward, put it an a container, allow it to cool, then add your vanilla extract and refrigerate.

the next morning, or 8 hours later, take out your mixture and prepare to strain. here's where it's tricky. i didn't have cheesecloth, so i used paper towels. if you have an extra fine sift, this might work as well. take another large container to collect your liquid, place your paper towels over the top and begin pouring the mix in, separating the grounds from the liquid. this took me about 10 minutes and i had some help, but paper towels ultimately work if you're patient. when you're done, you've got your perfect iced coffee!

i put mine back into the large container and keep it in the fridge. i've read various accounts about how long this is supposed to keep... a week, a month, who knows. i'll find out. to make mine the way i like it, i put 3-4 spoonfuls of vanilla syrup into the bottom of the glass with ice. i then add about a cup or cup and a half of the iced coffee, then top it off with 1% milk. usually i shake it up to make it frothy!

enjoying this coffee has made my mornings this week go a lot smoother. cinnamon rolls help too.