Weekend Adventures

Scones for brunching

~ Sarah ~ 1 Comment

Well friends, I made up for the prior weekend’s purposeful antisocial agenda by emerging from my cocoon as a full-fledged social butterfly this weekend. Celebrating a friend’s birthday at The Foundry, treating Lydia’s cousin to a one-night version of the Dallas Experience (drinks overlooking the skyline at NYLO followed by late-night early morning Velvet Taco), hot dogs behind home plate at a Rangers game, North Park shopping and a Teavana splurge followed by Rusty Tacos with a visiting Fort Worth friend, Sunday brunch with Lydia and our loverly friends…whew.

I’ve also recently become a tad addicted to Instagram as of late so you can even see the discrepancy for yourselves.

Last weekend:

jennifer lawrence vogue

This weekend:

the foundry - chicken scratch dallas

the rangers ballpark in arlington

flowers

strawberries and cream scones

Which leads me to the below recipe, found at Sarah Bakes Gluten Free Treats. It was pretty delicious while, like all things gluten-free/vegan baking, pretty trial and error. For example, I subbed Bob’s Red Mill baking flour for her flour blend in an effort to be financially and time efficient (read: cheap and lazy). This led to more of a cupcake-like batter consistency than cookie-like, resulting in a first round of very flat, wide wanna-be “scones.” Using only about 2/3’s of the called for coconut milk and adding in a little more flour definitely helped the next time around!

gluten free vegan strawberries n’ cream scones

  • 1 3/4 cups Sarah’s gluten free flour blend (Or in my case, Bob’s Red Mill gluten-free all-purpose baking flour)
  • 1/2 cup organic cane sugar
  • 2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 5 tablespoons Earth Balance vegan butter, chilled
  • 1/2 cup So Delicious unsweetened vanilla coconut milk (For me: 1/3 cup)
  • 1 cup fresh strawberries, diced (Even more is better!)
vanilla glaze
  • 1 cup organic powdered sugar
  • 2 tablespoons So Delicious barista style coconut milk french vanilla coffee creamer

They ended up being a pretty big brunch success, and testing two batches means I get to start my mornings all week long with baked sweetness I can actually eat. We also enjoyed White Peach Gin Fizz cocktails, which fit my gin phase and peach craving quite nicely. So nicely in fact, that I forgot to take a picture in all the excitement of actually drinking them so you’ll just have to take my word for it or try the recipe out for yourselves…

Planning for now

~ Sarah ~ Leave a comment

sunshinewe are alive print

After months of feeling ‘eh’ and a week and a half where I literally didn’t leave my apartment, I finally feel like I’m getting back to myself and to my life. My planner had become accustomed to such neglect that it’s not sure what to do with all this one-on-one attention now. It truly is like the post-pill popping portion of those allergy commercials…I’m basically pushing back the curtains to let in blinding light and running through a flower-filled meadow as we speak.

This past weekend was filled with three of my closest friends, an art party aka my new favorite Dallas event – the DADA Art Walk, reaching new poses at Super Yoga Palace and reminiscing on high school days at The Rocket Summer concert / dance party. Instead of being completely wiped out from the weekend, like I would have when submerged in allergy-related sickness, I woke up this morning energized for the week and summer ahead. This year’s new bathing suit, check. New Home Pinterest board, check. Plane ticket bought and time off approved, check and check!

All this planning has got me quite excited for the fun ahead, but my favorite part is that for once I’ve managed to keep my balance between the doing and planning so far. It’s easy for me to get lost in the plans and possible scenarios instead of making the most of the time that’s going on right now. New changes are just one month away, making being present in this time even sweeter.

This week my only goal is to continue this momentum, which will require even more of my previously mentioned mindfulness and thankfulness. After all, sometimes goals take more than just one week to master!

And of course, since no life moment would be complete without a corresponding movie quote, I’ll leave you with this little nugget from the always fantastic Joseph Gordon-Levitt in the always fantastic 10 Things I Hate About You…”And I’m back in the game!”

We’ll – correction – I’ll always have Paris.

~ Lydia ~ 5 Comments

8124506761_e7591c7e8f_b paris2 paris3 paris4

I don’t want to brag, but I had a pretty fantastic weekend. I hung out with three great friends and met so many new and amazing people. I kicked some serious bootay in Jumbo Jenga (but in girls vs boys, girls always win, am I right?), watched a terribly awkward comedy show that at the very least provided for a good story, and brunched with a group of great girls courtesy of fellow Tiffanys blogger Sarah Drew. My motto to just say “Yes, I’d love to!” was definitely exercised to the fullest. It might be the lack of sleep, but all that socializing has this introvert completely worn out. I digress.

In about a month and a half I will be taking a bit of a tour of Europe. I’m headed to Paris, Sevilla, Rome, Prague and Berlin. I’ve never been out of the country, so to say I am excited is likely the understatement of the decade. But due to a few unavoidable obstacles, it appears I will be exploring Paris solo.

At first, I was totally freaked. I mean, I’ve seen Taken, ya’ll. Plus, Paris is the romance capital of the world. As a single 20-something, looking up at the eiffel tower, surrounded by couples in love, with no beau waiting for me back home, sounded mildly depressing. I saw Paris at Midnight. What if I get transported back to the 1920’s? Actually.. that part I wouldn’t mind.

Lucky for me, the first two friends I consulted are super independent and well traveled women. They assured me it wouldn’t be as bad or as scary as I imagined. I’ve been instructed to study up on Rick Steve’s travel guides, carry my journal with me and keep a good book on hand. After a week of digesting the new version of my trip, I am actually really excited to explore Paris by myself. I can choose whatever I want to do each day and spend however long I choose doing it. True to geeky nature, I’ll be a Paris history expert in no time.

Although I would love to be joined in Paris with friends so we can gush about the trip for years to come, I think I’ll get something different out of traveling solo. The rest of my travels I’ll be accompanied by two other great friends, but Paris is all mine. It will be such an exciting adventure!

So, mom, dad, brother and several concerned friends, if you’re reading this….. ne vous inquiétez pas. 

Yep, I Google translated that – like a boss.