Dragonfly

I am sharing a delicious mocktail I created today. I love a good cocktail as much as the next person, but I am very much a lightweight drinker and don't think every drink has to be laced with alcohol to be fun and festive. I really hate when I go to restaurants and order a virgin drink and they bring it to me in a kiddie glass, devoid of any embellishment or a pretty fluted glass. 

I love drinking out of pretty fluted glasses, no matter what I am drinking. I have such fun creating  festive drinks, giving them cute names and making

them look appealing and tempting to the eye.

.

 After all, we taste with our eyes first, right?

Here is a delicious non-alcoholic drink, with a sugared rim and a cute little umbrella! And of course, you can make this a very grown up drink by simply adding a shot of rum, vodka, patron, etc.

I call this drink "Dragonfly" because it reminds me of the brightly colored green and blue dragon flies that I often saw flying around the pond on my grandmothers farm in rural Louisiana. This is very easy to make and perfect for those hot summer days:-)

Dragonfly

1 cup sugar

1 envelope unsweetened blue rasberry lemonade mix

7 cups water

 1 6 ounce can frozen lemonade

1 46 ounce can  unsweetened Pineapple juice chilled

1 2 litter bottle Ginger Ale

Stir the first four ingrediens together in a 2 quart pitcher. Pour evenly into ice cube trays and

freeze until solid.  Combine pineapple juice and gingerale. Pour into glasses over the blue lemonade ice cubes. This becomes more flavorful and delicious as the blue cubes melt into the ginger ale.

Note: Wait a few moments for the cubes to slightly melt into the ginger ale before serving.

Doesn't this look amazing?

Thirsty yet?

Go ahead.....obey your thirst:-)

Easy Breezy Turquoise

Hi Lovely Ones! I hope you had an amazing weekend! I went to a beautiful wedding over the weekend. And I had a few early birthday celebrations:-) I have a birthday coming up later this week and I am looking foward to it! The wedding I went to helped to restore my feelings about love and marriage. When someone breaks your heart, it is hard to have those warm fuzzy feelings, but an ending is also a new beginning, right?  So here is to new beginnings...

Black Cardigan: Windsor, Turquoise Tunic: Crush, Sandals: DSW, Bracelets: Burlington Coat Factory, Necklace: F-21, Purse: Newport News:

I decided to wear my necklace backwards. I love doing this when I am wearing something cut low in the back.

I love these summery colors

Strolling on a gorgeous day...

Here is the necklace worn the traditional way, but with this tunic, I prefer it backwards.

Have an amazing Day!

Vanilla Bean Cupcakes with Vanilla Buttercream Frosting

Cupcakes are one of those desserts that most people cannot resist. I love them! They are decadent, delicious and easy to make. This recipe is simple and perfect for a quick and easy dessert. I love lots of buttercream frosting. In fact, I am one of those people that wants the piece of birthday cake with the big rose on it, just so I can have some extra frosting:-)

These are moist, flavorful, and so good, you will want to eat five or six. Look at how creamy this frosting looks, and yes, the buttercream is just as rich and sinful as it looks. Ready to make cupcakes? LETS GO!

Vanilla Bean Cupcakes

3 cups cake flour
1 tbsp. baking powder
½ tsp. salt
1 vanilla bean, split lengthwise

1 teaspoon Trader Joes Vanilla Bean paste
16 tbsp. unsalted butter, at room temperature
2 cups sugar
5 large eggs, at room temperature
1¼ cups buttermilk, at room temperature
1 tbsp. vanilla extract

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350° F.  Line two cupcake pans with paper liners.  Set aside.

In a medium-mixing bowl, combine the cake flour, baking powder and salt.  Whisk together and set aside.  Add the butter to the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. (you can use a regular mixer if you don’t have a mixer with a paddle attachment) Scrape the vanilla bean seeds into the bowl of the mixer with the butter and discard the pod. Beat on medium-high speed for 3 minutes, until light and creamy in color.  Scrape down the sides of the bowl and beat for one more minute.

Add the sugar to the butter mixture, ¼ cup at a time, beating 1 minute after each addition.  Mix in the eggs one at a time until incorporated.  Scrape down the sides of the bowl after each addition.  Combine the buttermilk and the vanilla extract in a liquid measuring cup.  With the mixer on low speed, add the dry ingredients alternately with the wet ingredients, beginning and ending with the dry ingredients and mixing just until incorporated.

 Scrape down the sides of the bowl and mix for 15 seconds longer.

Divide the batter between the prepared paper liners, filling each about 2/3 of the way full Bake 18-22 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.  Allow to cool in the pans 5-10 minutes, then transfer to a cooling rack to cool completely.

 Vanilla Buttercream
Ingredients:
2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
2 ½ cups confectioners’ sugar, sifted
1/8 tsp. salt
2 tsp. vanilla extract
2 tbsp. heavy cream  

Directions:
In a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, beat butter at medium-high speed until smooth, about 20 seconds.  Add confectioners’ sugar and salt; beat at medium-low speed until most of the sugar is moistened, about 45 seconds.  Scrape down the bowl and beat at medium speed until mixture is fully combined, about 15 seconds.  Scrape bowl, add vanilla and heavy cream, and beat at medium speed until incorporated, about 10 seconds.  Then increase the speed to medium-high and beat until light and fluffy, about 4 minutes, scraping down bowl once or twice.  

To create the swirl effect for your cupcakes, you will need:

A pastry bag

1M (open start tip)

Place the open star tip inside of your pastry bag. Fill the bag with frosting, Hold the tip at a 90 degree angle and pipe frosting on the outer edge of the cupcake and work inward. 

Enjoy your cupcakes! These are lovely with an ice cold glass of milk or a hot cup of coffee, or a scoop of ice cream:-)

 

And the Winner Is...

 I would like to thank all of you for entering the Danielle Celeste Couture Designer Gift Giveaway. And I would like to thank Danielle Celeste for such an amazing giveaway and for a great partnership! I want all of you to know how much I enjoy reading your comments and connecting with all of you. And now....

(drum roll please) The lucky winner of the Danielle Celeste Cardigan is: "Live Life in Style" Congratulations! I will be contacting you by email:-)  To all of my other lovely readers, stay tuned in the coming weeks for another amazing giveaway and  another opportunity to win something amazing.

Two in One Blog Awards!!!

I am beyond thrilled that I received two blog awards!  With all of the recent blogger issues such as missing comments, deleted posts, it took a while to give this the attention it deserved. Ladies please forgive me for being slower than molasses.  The first award : "Kreativ Blogger" was given to me by the amazing Sincerely Sabrina. There are no words to express my gratitude Sabrina! Thank You from the bottom of my heart:-) And the second award "Lovely Blogger Award" was given to me by the awesome Caramellitsa. Thank you for such a great honor! It means the world to me:-)

With these awards, you say seven things about yourself and pass the award on to 15 other bloggers. Since I have two awards, I am saying a little bit more and passing on awards to seven bloggers for each award.



Here are ten things about me:

1. I have a sugar addiction
2. I love McDonalds French Fries
3. I lose stuff all the time
4. I hate going to the doctor
5. I like to watch old Brady Bunch reruns
6. I love to eat more than anybody should
7. I have always had a crush on Clint Eastwood
8. I have an encyclopedic knowledge of music
9. I like crunchy things
10. I think being smart is sexy

And now I pass this award on to:

 http://www.justbblog.com/

http://www.curlyinthecity.com/

http://diyraven.com/

http://matterofstyle.blogspot.com/

http://www.trufflesnruffles.com/

http://artfullyawear.blogspot.com/

http://bedifferentactnormal.com

   

And for the Lovely Blog Award, here are ten more random facts about me:

1. I love the middle eastern pickles called  “Torshi Left”
2. I once won a dance scholarship
3. My first writing gig was as a food writer
4. The first cake I ever baked tasted like cornbread
5. I love music
6. I once thought about going to culinary school
7. I am dying to go to New York Fashion week
8. I think being humble is much better than being arrogant
9. I have the appetite of a couple of men
10. I have studied Hapkido, Muay Thai and Taekwando

And I now pass this award on to:

http://prettyshinysparkly.com/

http://www.goingwest.net/

http://www.wendyslookbook.com/

http://cheekypinktulip.blogspot.com/

http://likemousseauchoco.blogspot.com/

http://stardustandroses.blogspot.com/

Congratulations Beautiful Ones!

Spring Fling

Happy Monday Beautiful Ones! I hope you had an amazing weekend and I hope you enjoyed your Fathers Day celebrations. It is very hot today, so I pulled out a cute and simple colorful sundress and some comfy wedges. Tomorrow is the last day to enter the giveaway. Please enter to win an amazing cardigan from Danielle Celeste Couture and if you already entered, Good Luck!

 I found these cute little red wedges at payless! Recession proof shopping y'all...LOL

This gorgeous purse was snagged from Aldo. I love it!

Black Cardigan: Body Central: Multicolor Sundress: Random Boutique, Red Wedges: Payless, Bracelet: F-21, Ring: NY Street Vendor, Purse: Aldo

Have an amazing Monday!

Looking for the sun...

Hi Lovelies! Happy Tuesday! It is a beautiful day! Gorgeous and sunny:-) I wanted to wear a bright color and I decided to reach into my massive collection of crosses and pair this beautiful turquoise cross with a bright bubble gum pink top.  I always love sunlight  and how it makes me feel and i am always chasing it, literally and figuratively. I am looking for the sun... in everything:-)

Just a reminder, its not too late to enter the giveaway. Please enter to win a custom Danielle Celeste Couture . I don't know about you, but I love having unique creations that no one else has. So hurry up and enter this great giveaway! and if you want details click here

There are a lot of photos in this post because I wanted to share lots of details with you and show you lots of images of the amazing location where I took these photos. Enjoy!

Top: New York and Company, Cross: Los Angeles Fashion District, Purse: Dooney & Burke, Jeans: Old Navy, Bracelets: Random Boutique, Scarf: Burlington Coat Factory, Shoes: Nine West

Having a little sip of "Vivacious Me" Cool name for a drink huh? And it's so important

to stay hydrated because we all know what hard back breaking work it is to take blog photos...LOL

Looking for the Sun...

I am truly a music fanatic and I couldn't resist sharing the song "Looking for the Sun" by Aya. It is

very heavy on percussion and reminds me a lot of Sade.  Very nice chill out song to listen to...

Have a great day!