Lemon Drop Love

Cocktails can be intimidating. The first time I ever had fun with a drink was when I tasted a cocktail (the lemon drop) at a local restaurant (I never thought I’d like it), and after one sip, the first thing I wanted to do was go home and try and recreate it. It was so fresh and citrusy with the perfect amount of alcohol. That incident was actually one reason this little blog got started. Check out my first post here.

I suppose it is only natural to start this weekly ritual. Every Friday I will be posting a new cocktail. And hopefully, together we can become more confident mixologists, and of course, have fun in the process!

MOSCOW MULE

What you need:
1/2 ounce lime juice
2 ounces vodka
4 to 6 ounces ginger beer (best is Gosling’s Blend, we found ours at Trader Joe’s)

Mix it up:
Squeeze lime juice into a glass (or Moscow Mule mug) and drop in the used wedge or two. Add ice cubes, then pour in the vodka and fill with cold ginger beer. Garnish with a lime slice.

I did it. I made pancakes from scratch. Little secret, it wasn’t nearly has hard as I thought it was going to be. I’ve made these many times and they have always been a huge hit, but I wanted to up the ante for a special Valentine’s Day treat. Thanks to Joy the Baker, I have a new go-to recipe, and to be honest, it will be hard for me to look back to my old “box” recipe. If you love to cook (or just like to eat), check out her fabulous blog and you can see the recipe I used here.

Look at me…cooking from scratch!

{Every year I buy these candy hearts, next year it would be nice if they made them taste better}

Everyone seems to have a strong opinion on what this holiday means. I’ve heard everything from: “It was created by the card/flower companies just to make money”, or “It’s a solid reminder that I’m single and the holiday is LAME”, “My boyfriend always forgets”, “I don’t even know why I need to get my girlfriend something” –and of course the– “We have been together for SO long, we just don’t celebrate it anymore.”

Well, here’s my opinion (hope you wanted it). I love Valentine’s Day. I believe this day is a time to slow down and celebrate LOVE. You can celebrate a love for life, you (of course), your girlfriend, boyfriend, friend or family member. It doesn’t mean you HAVE to get/give flowers, candies, jewelry, etc. Rather, it is time to reflect and focus on how you can best show your love and spend quality time. Since Brian and I celebrated Logan’s graduation day on Valentine’s Day, we will be celebrating our love this weekend. Our Valentine’s Day will look something like this: my pancakes in the morning, pajamas all day (maybe a nap), a walk outside and a dinner we make together, all paired with a few cocktails here and there.

This is what our love needs this year (some quite time).  If you’ve already celebrated or still need to (why skip this day, we all need it?), be sure you do exactly what you want, not what you think you should do!

Okay, okay way off topic…but the entire time I was writing this, I kept humming this song to myself (don’t ask).

{Logan sporting the Thunder Shirt}

{Graduation}

I am a dog lover…always have been. It is probably more accurate to say I am an animal lover. As a young girl, I always wanted to take animals home with me (cats, lizards, fish, turtles, puppies, mice, hamsters, you name it, I wanted to take care of it). I have owned many animals in my young life and one thing always rings true, you never know what you are going to get. Each pet is unique, with his or her own little quirks (just like us, I guess).

Why am I bringing this up? You may know of my goofy, exceptionally charming French bulldog, Logan. I have mentioned him on the blog here, here, here, here and here before (wow, that’s a lot). There’s one thing I’ve left out: his uncanny quirky behavior/issue that we can’t seem to get him over. His big deal/life-stressing quirk is a frustrating one. Logan gets himself worked up into a tizzy every time Brian or myself leave him alone (god, I wish he spoke English, I could just tell him, “No biggy buddy, we will always come back” or like my Pap used to tell me when I little and wanted to know how long something was going to take, “We will be back in two Cosby shows”).

Basically, he howls and cries as if the moment, right before we leave, is the last he will ever see either of us again. I adopted him when he was one and he is going on five in March. His separation anxiety has escalated into a more extreme state since we moved from Chicago to L.A. in August. This has been something I’ve constantly been working on: Currently, we are taking him to a dog class @ the ZoomRoom to build his confidence (he graduated last night), we tried the Thunder Shirt (which was a total bust, it seemed to push him over the edge) and now we are giving him Sleepy Time Tonic every time we leave.

He is loved, and I just want him to be happy; live a life without undeniable fear that we will never return. If you’ve ever experienced this with your dog, I would love to hear how you solved it.

p.s. Thank you for bearing with me on the abnormally long post (I needed to vent).

xx Jen

In my opinion, the epitome of simply delicious is the classic Rice Krispie Treat. They aren’t complicated to make and the ingredients are a perfect complement to one another. I have many memories making them as a child and they are just as fun and easy to eat at the age of 28. I found this recipe on the famous Cupcakes and Cashmere blog and discovered the amped up take on the original treat is from one of my favorite food bloggers, Smitten Kitchen. Basically, the butter is cooked a bit longer and you add a dash of salt, making the flavors that much better (did you think that was even possible?). I whipped up a batch on Super Bowl Sunday and surprisingly they are wierdly good with an ice cold beer.

I have wanted to give my blog a facelift for a very, very long time. Finally, thanks to my friend (she doesn’t have a site or I would share it), my dreams came true and Lemon Drop Love received the TLC I have been wishing for. I love it and I am completely giddy with the new design!

I still have a couple more tweaks up my sleeve, but those will pop slowly over the next few months.

Have a nice weekend!

p.s. Logan and Sophie wanted to say, “Hi!” They haven’t made an appearance in a while

xx Jen