Local Love: Wooden Spoon Bakery

Oh how ahead of her time Marie Antoinette was when she spoke those words: "Let them eat cake!"

Just south of Birmingham, Alabama there is a little business called Wooden Spoon Bakery. The owner and baker, Leslie Arnold, is a genius of flavor and design. Her sweet treats taste delicious and look professional, but are still very obviously carefully homemade and unique.


She offers a variety of baking services: scones, birthday cakes, cupcake towers, etc...

   

<---Curious George cupcake tower. Chocolate cupcakes with banana filling and peanut butter icing. OH. YUM.    
  
  
         Angry Birds!--->














       
My personal favorite item that Wooden   Spoon bakery offers is the scones. Trust me on this one! Leslie bakes some of the best scones I have ever tasted, savory and sweet. Flavors range from bacon and cheese to white chocolate macadamia nut. Also, blackberry & blueberry, caramel apple, cherry lemon poppyseed...OK I know, I'm salivating too so I'll let you discover her other flavors and services HERE on her Facebook page. I also happen to know she does some giveaways, so make sure to like her page to be in the know!

Left: bacon cheddar biscuits     Right: assortment of scones 

New York (courtesy of Clear Channel Radio!)

On a recent trip to visit Will's family in Dothan, we heard a contest announced on the radio to win two tickets to a concert in New York. We entered on our iPhones and didn't really think about it again. Well, three days later I received an email from Clear Channel Radio that we had won an all expenses paid trip to New York for three days! On top of that, we would be leaving on our 1 year wedding anniversary! Whoa! We had been saving up so that we could go to a nice dinner to celebrate, but we decided to move that dinner to a pizza place in TriBeCa.
We knew we still had to do this trip on the cheap, so we carefully planned our stops and visits. Despite a few setbacks on getting home, we had a wonderful time! I just wanted to share a few photos with you. 


Oh and to encourage you to enter for more contests; we won the only two tickets outside the NY viewing area!

The HighLine in NYC
Check out the site about this new                                Roxy cheesecake! Had to take him there!
"park". It is my favorite favorite part of the city!

               

   

       

 Before our FREE Karmin concert!                                               Gray's Papaya hot dogs...NY staple.

Pizza Night!

Trying to convince my husband to employ "meatless mondays" has been quite a challenge. BUT, piling veggies on top of a pizza crust did just the trick! We were leaving in a few days for an anniversary trip (free trip from an online contest, blog to follow!) in just a few days and had a bounty of vegetables that were going to go bad. 
In an effort to save money for the trip, I did cut some corners on this pizza. The total cost of this pizza was just $10 and there was more than enough for the 3 people I needed to feed! 
I normally go for the Whole Foods whole wheat crust, but I found a Pillsbury crust for just under $2! I also used 1lb of mushrooms, 8 small sweet peppers, 3 roma tomatoes, and one small onion. The first thing I did was start cooking all the veggies. Other than the mushrooms, all I did was cook them down with olive oil. I added balsamic to the mushrooms.

I rolled out the crust and covered it in olive oil and some spices. I cooked it for about 3 minutes, then added the sliced tomatoes and more oil and cooked it for another 3 minutes.

I added parmesan and mozzarella cheese and cooked that for another 3 minutes

Once I added the veggies, I cooked the pizza for another 5 minutes and let it cool for about 10 before slicing it.

The results were delicious! Between my husband and our good friend, we demolished this pizza. Other than the white flour crust, this was quite a healthy pizza. Great alternative to a meat packed meal!

Local Love: Visionopolis & KSB Fine Art

Something I feel very strongly about is small business. It is easier now more than ever, in Birmingham and most other cities, to choose to shop local. Even so, I find myself still running to the big box stores most times I need something! My goal with these posts (Local Love) is to explore local restaurants, businesses and services.


My first local post is loaded with family bias! My sister, Kelley Brasher, is a crazy talented photographer (and equally skilled graphic artist!). She and her husband both have a love for real photography; they will sit still for an hour trying to get the perfect shot before they would dream of photoshopping. Kelley has been able to work on the side with both photography and graphic design, and has been chosen to be in art shows in Birmingham over the past years.
Her main website is visionopolis.net. You will find an overview of her services and pricing there. Her fine art prints, which are truly amazing, will soon be up at THIS web address. If you need any design services (business cards, programs, car wraps, etc...) she is your girl! 


Be on the lookout for the next Local Love blog. If I know myself, it will probably be a restaurant!

Motherly Love

My family is a very close knit group. We see each other every week, so sometimes days like mother's day seem to slip by like any other Sunday. The past couple years we have tried to make it a little more special. My mom requested that we each stop worrying about buying gifts and instead, each share a memory from childhood that we love. I was worried that I would struggle to do this (we aren't the most sentimental crew), but the real problem was choosing just ONE! I decided to put together a little paper flower bouquet with a memory on each flower. It was the best Mother's day I can remember! If you need a last minute gift idea, I would recommend surprising your mom with one of these! We extended that tradition to Father's day also! I'll share details on that one closer to June :)
I just wanted to use this post to brag about how wonderful my mother is...

Yep, this about describes us!

New Items!

A little sneak peak of some of the things I finally posted today!

Prices range from $8-$16

 The Modern Vine is a set of 2.
Paisley and Birdie are sets of 4.

Each coaster is hand painted, cured, baked and sealed. The bottoms are covered in cork to prevent scratching.

Dinner to DIY

Scrolling through Pinterest one day, I came across an adorable, simple DIY project I could not resist. The pin came from the blog, Bump Smitten. I absolutely love fresh flowers; in our tiny apartment they do just the trick to brighten things up.
These were the perfect vessel for some spring stems!

How cute are these! The best part is how easy (and cheap) they are to make. 

Of course, I was responsible and waited until I had used 5 cans of food before I made these...

Ok, two cans of green beans were sacrificed for the project, but I was way too excited to wait!

I scrubbed the cans clean and made sure there were no sharp metal pieces left. Hobby Lobby had scrapbook paper 50% off that week, so I got all the paper I needed for $1! I cut the paper into 4" by 9.5" pieces. Using ModPodge, I glued on the paper. I also added a layer of ModPodge on the outside to give them a more finished look.

I am so happy with this project. Mine are resting on the table right as I walk in my front door, but they would also be cute set up as a centerpiece. Give them a try and let me know if you love them too!