Rachel's Fine Baked Goods

Check out how delicious this cake looks:

http://rachelsfinebakedgoods.com/

Ever since I discovered this baker at one of my weddings, I've been calling on her to make cakes for birthdays and what not. I asked her to make that cake on her blog for my friend Amanda. Since we moved to Alexandria, it's hard to celebrate our Cville friend's birthdays. But I thought that this might be just the perfect gift for our dear Amanda. Rachel was able to deliver it to her for me on her birthday. Amazing.

Now if we can just figure out how to get Rachel's cakes up to Alexandria, I've got a half birthday coming up....I'm hungry for chocolate peanut butter cake already.

Happy Birthday Amanda

Happy Birthday my dear friend! We miss you a ton. I hope you were blessed today and felt extremely loved. I also hope you got your cake today.

Blended Beverage Mistake

This is so trivial but must to brought to attention to serve the greater good of the world of trivial, mindless things.

"Grande" or medium sized blended beverages are NEVER as good as tall/small or venti/large. This holds true of nearly all frappuccinos and smoothies. I've never been a barista but there is something off about the taste in medium sized frozen beverages. Take Strawberries n' Creme for example. You get a tall SCF and it's delicious. You always wish you had more and didn't get to the whipped cream on the bottom so fast. So next time you try a grande. HUGE mistake because they don't put enough flavor in it. It's like they put just the right amount in a tall, more than enough/too good to be true in a venti, but cannot commit to putting too much flavor in the grande. Bleh.

This same law holds true of Smoothie King. I normally order the small 20oz Angel Food, but this time I got a 32 oz/medium one. I walked away so disappointed because it lacked so much of the strawberry banana flavor it should've had. I stopped at Michael's work and gave the rest to him. Men don't discriminate.

So I've concluded that medium/grande is a waste of time, money and calories. Be conservative and get a small beverage or go all out and get a venti. But never in between.

Who doesn't love a good picture?

All smiles. We're happy.

I was told that my blog background was going to disappear on Friday July 23rd. I don't know why. But have patience with me as I settle on an updated look. It's so important. ;)

Oh and I love trader joes.

Confession

I just love The Bachelor/The Bachelorette. I can't help it. It seriously is one of my favorite reality TV shows. Watch one episode and you will get addicted. You will have your favorites, your least favorites and will get goose bumps when someone proposes in the end. (Unless it's to Vienna, then you throw up.)

Even with my husband laughing at it and making fun of the love scenes, I still enjoy it. I cannot wait for the season finale of Ali's search for love. I like both men that are left, but I am pulling for Roberto. Any thoughts?

Dear Esther,

I am so sorry that I spelled your name wrong. I know full well how to spell "Esther" and feel bad for making the mistake. You have a beautiful name and deserve for someone to get it right especially when commenting on your own blog! Please forgive me.

Love,

Megan

Finally, the rest of the house pics

Welcome. Here's everything you see from the front door.Living Room
Half Bath. We are not sure we want to paint much downstairs. We are only renting...
Love our kitchen. It's quite an upgrade from our last home.

Michael did paint the walls in our kitchen. It was too cute not to paint.

Up to the second level, our laundry is in that door to the right.
I think the hallways are my favorite part of the house. Too bad it's not socially acceptable to have people over and put them in your hallway. We've got great space for it!
The landing on the second level right outside the master
Master bedroom. It's a little too brown at the moment. Not my cup of tea. There is a whole other sitting room that I was standing in to take this photo, but it's not picture worthy yet. So just come visit if you want to see it. And the bathroom, which I shared with you months ago, is to the left of the sitting room. It's still working.
Going up to the 3rd level
There are two more bedrooms that we use as a guest room and my office - neither of them are up to my standards, so maybe someday I will show them to you. Again, more great hallway space.
The guest bathroom. Nothing fancy.
So that's most of the house! Sorry family, for taking three months to get these pictures up. We love to have visitors so please come stay with us anytime!

Old Town to National Harbor

Saturday we took Brianna on the water taxi over to National Harbor. It was so fun! National Harbor is pretty new but is modeled after Las Ramblas in Barcelona, Spain. The streets are full of yummy restaurants, Disney is building a park there and there is a Cake Love shop. Michael and I are already planning out next trip back.

Hello Alexandria:
It started out rainy but ended up being a beautiful daySailing under the Woodrow Wilson Bridge

"Free"

We had to. You got a free meal (any meal you wanted) just for honoring the cows. I hope you all got to take advantage of Cow Appreciation Day on Friday! Who wants to pass up free chick-fil-a?

Cute Baby Alert

Well Lord, you did it again. Another adorable baby. Are there any left up in heaven for when it's my turn??? Everyone is always afraid that their newborn will look like E.T. But sweet Abrielle Lorenn Coles was so beautiful. Then again look at how beautiful her parents are:

(Just like to mention that I was the closest at guessing her correct weight and length. I think that means I'm her favorite Aunt.)

Beautiful Evening in Old Town

Thursday was spent with some of our favorite people dinning on a rooftop terrace of a restaurant on King Street. We are totally in our 20's.

Baby Laughter

My little cousin, Lyren, was so cute to have at the beach with us. She was so happy and made us laugh all the time. Michael took a short video of her belly-laughter:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QYRDfBI0H3o

It's funny how simply hearing a baby laugh can make you smile or even laugh yourself.