Sunday, March 24, 2013

Spring Fever!

Sunday, March 24, 2013
Hello!

I don't know about where you live, but here in Albany, we still have snow on the ground and I'm absolutely ready for some sunshine and SPRING to kick in!

Despite the weather outside, I figured I could do my part to get our apartment somewhat more springy inside. I have a few projects in the works, but I thought I'd share this little printable I made. It's a quote from Huckleberry Finn in Mark Twain's Tom Sawyer, Detective, and it absolutely captures how I feel about spring!

Feel free to use it for your own purposes... hope it helps get spring going for you, too!


Linking up at
Posted by Sarah at 12:04 PM 6 comments
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Wednesday, March 13, 2013

A Marriage Legacy

Wednesday, March 13, 2013
Hello!

Today, my grandparents celebrate their 60th wedding anniversary! I don't know about you, but I think it's incredible to have couples in my life who have shared over 60 years of memories together. 


My parents will celebrate their 30th wedding anniversary this year and the hubby and I will celebrate our 5th.

My husband's grandparents celebrated their 60th last year, and his parents celebrated their 30th. 

I'm grateful for so many inspiring relationships and I am so excited for another 55+ years of doing life together with my hubby! Sometimes, I feel like I'm getting so old, but today is a great reminder that there is so much more living to do!

I have a feeling it's going to be a good day :)



Posted by Sarah at 8:15 AM 0 comments
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Sunday, February 24, 2013

Fresh Apple Cake

Sunday, February 24, 2013
Hello!

I am officially on "spring break" for 2 weeks! I just finished my pediatric rotation and will start my family medicine rotation next. I wish this meant two whole weeks of crafting and relaxing, but I do have quite a few other responsibilities to take care of. Even so, I'm looking forward to spending a good deal of time baking, crafting, photographing, and of course relaxing. The hubby and I will be heading to Florida again next weekend. Yay for sun and warm weather!!


To get this break started right, I made my grandmother's Fresh Apple Cake. This was the first time I have ever made it... despite enjoying it a TON growing up. My mom has seriously perfected her mother-in-law's tasty recipe. I'm happy to say mine turned out great! Aside from peeling the apples, the cake is quite easy to put together. The full recipe for print is below. Hope you enjoy!


Cake:
  • 1c oil
  • 3 eggs
  • 1t vanilla
  • 2c sugar
  • 2c flour
  • 4c thinly sliced apples, peeled
  • 2t cinnamon
  • 1t baking soda
  • 1/2t salt
  • 1t nutmeg
  • 1t cloves
  • (1c chopped pecans or walnuts - optional)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Beat eggs, oil, and sugar. Add vanilla and mix well until fluffy. Sift together dry ingredients (flour and spices). Add to other mixture and beat well. Add apples and nuts. Blend well. Batter will be thick. Bake in greased 9 x 13 glass dish at 350 degrees for 45-60 minutes. Let cool.


Icing:
  • 12 oz softened cream cheese
  • 1.5t vanilla
  • 4.5t melted butter
  • 1.5c powdered sugar
Mix all ingredients well, spread on cooled apple cake.


 


So fresh and delicious! Also, this is my absolute favorite cream cheese frosting recipe. It's the perfect balance of sweet + cream cheese flavor. Yum!


Here's the recipe as a JPEG to print:


Linking up at



Posted by Sarah at 3:33 PM 20 comments
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Sunday, February 10, 2013

Med School Formal (aka med school prom)

Sunday, February 10, 2013
Hello! I apologize for the long absence. I've had a great month on my pediatrics rotation... so many incredible kids! Unfortunately, I also got a couple of nasty colds. No matter how hygienic I am with hand washing, you really can't predict when a kid will cough or sneeze in your face during your physical exam. Anyway, over the weekend, we had our annual medical school formal. Here are some pictures from the event!


 A few ladies from the Keytones - our a cappella group!


















We had a great time and are looking forward to next year - our last one!


Posted by Sarah at 8:52 PM 2 comments
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Saturday, January 5, 2013

Digital Chalkboard Art

Saturday, January 5, 2013
While browsing Pinterest, I found some great chalkboard backgrounds and tutorials for making your own digital chalkboard art in Photoshop.


It was a quiet Saturday evening in our apartment as we watched the playoff games and enjoyed pizza + wings, so I opened up Photoshop and played around with the chalkboard background from here and the tutorial from here. These are great free resources, so check them out!

Using one of my favorite Winnie-the-Pooh quotes, I made this simple little sign. There are three different versions - feel free to save them for your own use. Here's a brief summary of what I did:

1.     I opened the chalkboard background in Photoshop, selected the Type tool, chose a fun font (or a few), and typed out my quote. Then I selected "crumpled paper" as a pattern overlay in blending mode under layer style.


2.     Then I rasterized the text layer and added some noise at less than 30% to make the "chalk" not so smooth. 


3.     Next, I used an eraser on 20% opacity to make some parts of the letters lighter than others. Finally, I made a new blank layer on top and used a white round brush set to 20% opacity to make some smudges on a few of the letters. All these steps are explained really well in Courtney's tutorial :)



This last version incorporates a bird graphic from The Graphics Fairy :)

I'm looking forward to creating more Photoshop chalkboard art soon!


Linking up at

Posted by Sarah at 11:26 PM 12 comments
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Friday, December 28, 2012

2012 Favorite Posts

Friday, December 28, 2012
Happy End of 2012, Everyone!

I have a hard time with Christmas ending because I love all the family time, music, tasty food and beautiful decorations, and I hate to see it all end so abruptly! I do look forward to the New Year coming with a chance to start fresh. For some reason, I get into super cleaning mode, but before that kicks in, I thought I'd share the 12 most popular posts of 2012. It's been a wonderful blogging year for me, and I'm very much looking forward to 2013! Thanks for all of your support and encouragement as I make my way through medical school, doing fun projects on the side!


Here are the most popular posts in no particular order:




































We're in Seattle with family right now... enjoying company and some refreshing rain :)

Hope you all have a lovely end of the year!



Linking up at


Posted by Sarah at 5:07 PM 11 comments
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Sunday, December 16, 2012

Joy To The World - Printable

Sunday, December 16, 2012
Hi friends!



Sorry for being MIA for so long... I'm on my OB/GYN rotation and it turns out there are a lot of people having babies this month, which is keeping me busy! Hopefully I'll get in another post this week about a Christmas craft, but I'll start by sharing this free printable I made: "Joy To The World" in the shape of a Christmas tree! Feel free to use it however you would like! (It's a JPEG. Right click it for larger size)

I love the Christmas season for so many reasons. I love the time with family and friends, the smell of evergreen trees, the taste of fresh fudge and homemade cookies, the beautiful lights and decorations. Most of all, I love that Jesus came to our dark and hurting world to bring salvation, love, guidance, hope, and light!

I hope you find this little graphic encouraging to you this Christmas season!


Linking up at





Posted by Sarah at 12:06 PM 5 comments
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Friday, November 30, 2012

Autumn in New York - Nature

Friday, November 30, 2012
About a month ago, my sister-in-law came to visit us in Albany. Betsy is amazing and I am so blessed to have her as a sister and friend! We had a great time traveling to Vermont and spending time in Saratoga, NY. Here are some photos documenting our adventures!





Brother and sister!















Cute!


Andrew... always making me laugh!





Playing in the leaves! 


Best homemade ice cream!


Beautiful fall colors


Homemade chili for dinner






Isn't she a beauty? Too bad her sweet hubby couldn't come visit this time!













We loved having Betsy visit, and we can't wait until both she and her husband Brock can come visit together! Very much looking forward to seeing them at Christmas time in Seattle!




Posted by Sarah at 7:17 PM 0 comments
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