Lily P. Winthrop

Midnight Cowboy Body Shimmer Lotion

Well, this just takes the cake.  Now you can have Midnight Cowboy lotion.  Just in time for that little black (or red) dress for the holidays!  I'm sure it's fantastic and I can't wait to try it myself. 

Here's the link, you can find it at Sephora.

Ina Garten's 4th of July Cake

Best cake ever, believe me. 

Here's the la la link to her flag cake video.  Here is her recipe, taken from 'Barefoot Contessa Family Style'.

Flag Cake

2002, Barefoot Contessa Family Style, All rights reserved

Prep Time:

45 min

Inactive Prep Time:

hr min

Cook Time:

30 min

Level:

Intermediate

Serves:

20 to 24 servings

Ingredients

• 18 tablespoons (2 1/4 sticks) unsalted butter at room temperature
• 3 cups sugar
• 6 extra-large eggs at room temperature
• 1 cup sour cream at room temperature
• 1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
• 3 cups flour
• 1/3 cup cornstarch
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1 teaspoon baking soda

For the icing:

• 1 pound (4 sticks) unsalted butter at room temperature
• 1 1/2 pounds cream cheese at room temperature
• 1 pound confectioners' sugar, sifted
• 1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

To assemble:

• 2 half-pints blueberries
• 3 half-pints raspberries

Directions

Heat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Butter and flour an 18 by 13 by 1 1/2-inch sheet pan.

Cream the butter and sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment on high speed, until light and fluffy. On medium speed, add the eggs, 2 at a time, then add the sour cream and vanilla. Scrape down the sides and stir until smooth.

Sift together the flour, cornstarch, salt, and baking soda in a bowl. With the mixer on low speed, add the flour mixture to the butter mixture until just combined. Pour into the prepared pan. Smooth the top with a spatula. Bake in the center of the oven for 20 to 30 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool to room temperature.

For the icing, combine the butter, cream cheese, sugar, and vanilla in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, mixing just until smooth.

Spread three-fourths of the icing on the top of the cooled sheet cake. Outline the flag on the top of the cake with a toothpick. Fill the upper left corner with blueberries. Place 2 rows of raspberries across the top of the cake like a red stripe. Put the remaining icing in a pastry bag fitted with a star tip and pipe two rows of white stripes below the raspberries. Alternate rows of raspberries and icing until the flag is completed. Pipe stars on top of the blueberries.

I serve this cake right in the pan. If you want to turn it out onto a board before frosting, use parchment paper when you grease and flour the pan

Ahem. Some Mother's Day Ideas. Might want to show your DH my blog.....

http://www.redenvelope.com/default.aspx?ref=RDPFRE09APR26ATC50&prid=RDRE09BD023&op=new

That's the link to Red Envelope.  They have some wonderful gifts for Moms over there.

I've picked a few of my favorites.  Now, I might be getting my own Mother's Day gift to beat all Mother's Day gifts anyway but here's some help in case you don't know quite what the love of your life might like.

This is a pea in the pod necklace.  Awwwww, so cute.  Now, you can pick the amount of peas to put in your pod and then prices will vary, much like real life!  : ) 

They come in either silver or gold. 

Ahhhhh, a lotus fountain.  That spells relief to this Mommy.  Listen to the trickling of the water and drift into oooohhhhhmmmm.  Ahhh, beautyness.  LOL,  I love making up new words. 

The Lotus Fountain only costs around $49 and think of all the peace it will bring to your life. 

Oh, and I highly recommend that every woman have a room of her own.  This would be a nice addition in that room of tranquility.

 

Here's a digital photo keychain so that you can gaze on your sweetings during that dreaded oil change or root canal.  All lovely ideas. 

I'd also like to include one more thing from Tiffany that seems to be all the rage at the moment....  Keychains on a necklace.  Do you think the white rabbit knows what door they unlock?  I have a strange feeling that they're sort of useless but thought I'd post them anyway because they're pretty cool.  I suspect they'll get tired in about a month, however. 

So, here's the keychain necklace (they come with diamonds as well).  I suppose it's some sappy reference to 'Here's the key to my cold-blooded heart.' 

 

They're so piggy that they have taken up a ton of space on my post here and there's nothing I can do about it. :  )  I love you, Tiffany.  Here's why. 

My husband gave my this necklace years ago and I love it.   I simply adore Elsa Peretti, she's the best designer Tiffany has.  Here it is, she calls it 'The Eternal Circle'.  Thank you, Andrew.

 

I'm giong to blog later about one of the happiest days of my life.  The day that Tara brought Daisy over to visit Hugo. 

 

Who totally lost his cool, by the way.  However, he was just doing what came naturally to him.  He is a dog, after all!

Sounds like it wouldn't be that big of a deal but let me tell you, for a family like us, a family that enjoys Frenchies as much as we do-it was heaven!  The pictures are hilarious.  It was so hard to get a picture of them not in each other's grills but we did our best. 

I'm also going to start featuring a Frenchie that needs our help in my posts.  If you can help with a small donation or just a note of encouragement to the foster parents, it would be greatly appreciated.  We also accept care packages for our new frogs in need.   The Frenchie I've had help with choosing for this week's name is Rhone and that boy tugs at my heartstrings like you wouldn't believe.  The poor little felllar was a stray, just a mess and blind.  He was so lucky that some good samaritan happened along to get him out of the elements and into the loving, capable arms of FBRN! 

So, until later, I'm signing off! 

Edge Blur

I love the 'Edge Blur' feature on iPhoto. Your eyes are okay.

I've decorated for Halloween and thought I'd share some of our decorations. Some are old and some are new....

Here's an old pot I hand painted years ago. The plant is an ornamental pepper. Rib picked it out. Lowe's (or any place that sells plants) bores Jack to tears, though he doesn't complain (bless his heart). I was the same way when I was a kid, I didn't enjoy gardening until I was an adult.

We found this guy at Cracker Barrel. He's old school, one of my favorites.

These are new. We found them yesterday at Michael's (30% off right now), they're Martha Stewart's ('Bats Window Cling'). It comes in one sheet and I wanted them to cover the three panels in the bay window. I cut all of the bats out of the vinyl, problem solved. Now they're window clings, plural.

Tarantulas on our back window. They come with white pop dots, just replace them with the clear dots if you want to put them on the window. If you can still find her decorations at Michael's, go with the Spider Silhouettes instead of the window clings, unless you don't mind looking through the clear vinyl and that's all good. : )

Here's a picture of Noah's gourd plants that he grew from seed. We think they're pretty cool.

Future gourd.

I met Sharon and Heather at Panera's last week. I had an absolutely wonderful time with them but I always have a lot of fun with Sharon anyway....