fabulous friday #51: recap edition!

Posted on June 5, 2015 by dallaswoodburn

Hi friends, and happy Friday! Sorry for the radio silence around here the past week or so… it’s been an especially busy time, filled with lots of emotion! I thought I would make today’s Fabulous Friday post a recap version of all the neat things I’ve been grateful to experience and celebrate recently.

Happy weekend! Hope you’re up to something fun!

Here are 5 things I’m loving right now:

1. Memorial Day weekend was Céline’s Celebration of Life, which was basically a big party honoring her memory and celebrating the amazing, one-of-a-kind, treasure of a person she was.

I wasn’t quite sure what to expect or how I would be feeling, and while the evening was bittersweet and there were certainly tears shed, it was an overwhelmingly loving and beautiful experience. It was a gift to be with my friends from college, and to spend time talking to and connecting with other people who knew and loved Céline from all different facets of her life. The party was themed “Around the World” and I dressed up as Ireland — an excuse to wear my gold dress from college that I always associate with Céline and our college parties.

I think Céline would have really loved it. I miss her every day.

2. My 28th birthday yielded all sorts of sweet surprises. One of my students wrote me this lovely card, and another gave me a piece of her own artwork — a stunning painting of birch trees! She is nine. NINE. I am in awe.

And my darling Dana surprised me with these gorgeous sunny tulips! They make me smile every time I walk past. Thank you, Dana! ❤

3. For my birthday, Allyn surprised me with a cooking class in San Francisco at Sur La Table! It was my first time ever taking a cooking class and it was so much fun. Normally the class would hold up to 16 people, but we lucked out that we were the only two people who showed up — it ended up being a “private” class just for us! I think we got to do a lot more “hands-on” cooking ourselves than we would have if it had been a full class. And when the instructor found out it was my birthday, she brought me a cupcake with a candle in it and everyone sang me “Happy Birthday.” So thoughtful!

We learned to make grilled pizzas with homemade dough and toppings. That’s right, pizza cooked on a grill pan over your stovetop! It was much easier than I expected and turned out amazing. My favorite part was the thick, chewy crust. We made a classic margarita pizza; a Greek-influenced bell pepper and chorizo-topped pizza; and a pizza topped with seasoned lamb and mint pesto. They were all fabulous!

Allyn had a fun time too and we are definitely hoping to take more cooking classes together in the future. Such a unique and cute date!

4. The evening of my birthday, my extended family gathered at my Aunt Annie’s house for dinner. It was wonderful to get to spend time with them all. As always, there was lots of laughter and storytelling around the table. And my grandma baked and decorated my birthday cake herself! Have you ever seen a more adorable cake?

5. On May 30, Allyn graduated with his MBA! He has worked so hard the past two years on his degree and I could not be more proud of him. If graduating were not enough, he was also honored as the Outstanding Student of the Year, chosen by faculty and fellow students. Congrats, sweetheart!!

Questions for the evening:

What are you loving right now?
What do you have on the agenda for this weekend?

27 birthday gratitudes

Posted on June 18, 2014 by dallaswoodburn

Hi, friends! I’ve been working on this post slowly over the past couple weeks, ever since my birthday — which has seemed to stretch out for quite a while because I’ve gotten to spend time with my loved ones and celebrate my birthday belatedly with different circles of people. Now, I think things have fully calmed down and I can unequivocally think of myself as 27 years old! 🙂

This birthday, more than any other before that I can remember, has left me SO filled with gratitude. So, in the spirit of this month’s year of Wooden challenge, and as a companion piece to my 27 acts of kindness for my 27th birthday, here are my…

27 birthday gratitudes!

1. The cards I received in the mail from my mom, my dad, and Gramps that I opened up while lying in bed the morning of my birthday. It made me feel so loved that, even though I was going to see them in less than a week, they went through the trouble of mailing me birthday cards so I could open them on my actual birthday. And their written messages were very sweet!

2. My grandma snuck into my room while I was in the shower and left me a flower and a card from her and Grandpap.

3. Greg was out of the country in China, but he made a birthday video for me before he embarked on his trip! It was a huge surprise to wake up to an email from him in my inbox, not to mention this amazing video that I will treasure always. Wow! I can’t imagine a more loving and supportive brother, and I am so beyond blessed to be his sister.

{Greg got me that cute purse for my birthday, too! It’s from a market in Thailand.}

4. I received dozens of text messages throughout the day from lots of friends, former classmates, and relatives. Such a treat to hear from people I care about who are scattered far and wide but still remembered me on my birthday!

5. I also received phone calls throughout the day from friends and family, which was wonderful.

6. And so many thoughtful Facebook messages/posts! It made me smile throughout the day to get Facebook notifications on my phone. I made myself wait until the end of the day to read through them all, and it warmed my heart immensely. Perhaps my favorite thing about Facebook is how it enables you to keep in touch with people from all different parts and times of your life, and nothing showcases this more than on your birthday.

7. My friend Lauren sent me these gorgeous flowers!

8. Janet and Chidelia also sent me gifts and cards from far away {Wisconsin and North Dakota}… I miss them both and it was so kind of them to take the time to send me something on my birthday!

9. Speaking of thoughtful gifts, Allyn spoiled me with a few — including a mix CD that I have been listening to in my car nonstop since he left — and this cute card. He didn’t even know when he got it that I have a thing for adorable owls. {I have an owl-printed apron, an owl-decorated coffee mug, and some owl-embellished stationary!}

10. Allyn also took me to the California Academy of Sciences for the day, which is located in the beautiful Golden Gate Park in San Francisco. I had never been there before and I loved the various exhibits, particularly the rainforest dome and the planetarium show!

On an unrelated note, I could not stop taking pictures of butterflies. I have more than a dozen on my phone!

11. After the California Academy of Sciences, Allyn and I headed back to my grandparents’ house where my grandma held a birthday dinner for me! She made a fancy salad and baked ziti and Grandpap grilled chicken. Annie and Arianna came over and it was lovely to visit out on the porch in the sunshine before the meal.

12. Arianna helped me bake and frost my funfetti cake! Allyn and Bianca did a pro job with sprinkles distribution.

13. My aunt Mary and cousins Makena and Bianca joined us for dessert, and as we did back in January for Arianna’s birthday, everyone went around the table and shared one word they would use to describe the birthday girl — in this case, me! Their words were so heartfelt and beautiful and I got teary-eyed listening to such loving tributes. I am a lucky girl!

14. As if that around-the-table tribute wasn’t enough, my aunts and uncles also gave me gifts and cards. I especially cherish the card from Arianna — every time I read it, I feel about ten feet tall. She’s a kind and gentle soul!

15. The day after my birthday, my dear car Charley had a little temper-tantrum. Something was wrong with the alarm system and it kept going off while I was driving — blaring noise, windshield wipers going, lights blinking. It was crazy! Luckily I was able to get Charley towed to the dealership and the concerned tow-truck driver insisted on waiting with me until my ride showed up. My grandparents came to the rescue, and my grandma let me borrow her car to drive to my birthday party and work the next day.

Something else to be grateful for: Charley is up and running again smoothly now!

16. That evening, some dear friends joined me at an ice cream parlor to celebrate my birthday! Even with my car fiasco, I was only five minutes late. We stayed for nearly three hours, sharing lots of stories and laughter and, of course, enjoying delectable ice cream!

17. These sweet friends sneakily paid for my sundae! I got the chocolate-peanut butter special: chocolate ice cream, peanut butter Oreos {did not even know those existed!} and Reeses. Plus a candle!

18. The card Dana gave me was particularly special, since this is our first year as friends! She found a journal entry she’d written last September, when she learned through this very blog that I was moving up to the Bay Area, and was wondering whether she should reach out to me. Well, she did, and I am SO grateful for it! She included an excerpt from the journal entry in her card and it gave me goosebumps. She also gave me this beautiful wooden sign — I love its message! Dana, my life is so much richer with you in it!

19. Allyson and Henry drove all the way to Walnut Creek from Fremont in Friday traffic to come to my party, and they brought me a gorgeous bouquet of sunflowers to boot!

20. Allyn’s family made me feel very special — his mom sent me an incredibly nice birthday card, and his dad and stepmom Laurel gave me this pretty sunflower stationary. Laurel also baked delicious mini chocolate lava cakes as a surprise dessert and they all sang happy birthday. I was very touched!

21. The Wednesday after my birthday, I got to fly home for a few days to celebrate my birthday and my dad’s birthday, and also enjoy a few days with Greg before he left for his summer internship in D.C. Dad surprised me at the airport with sunflowers! {Haha, are you sensing a common theme here? I ❤ sunflowers!}

22. I loved all the gifts my parents gave me, including a night out at a local play, but probably the one I’m most excited about is a Magic Bullet blender! I forgot to take a picture of it, but it will no doubt be getting a LOT of use and popping up on the blog quite a bit! Hello, summer smoothies!

23. Gramps took me and Greg out for lunch at one of our favorite restaurants, Andria’s. Their grilled fish sandwich is my fave!

24. Erica drove all the way out to Ventura to see me after she got off work on Thursday evening. It was such a quick visit home, I was not sure if I would be able to see her, so it was an extra-special treat. And the birthday muffins she made me were the bomb!

25. Dana donated blood at her work’s blood drive for my birthday! It was her first time donating blood and she confessed it was a little frightening {and she felt a little faint at one point!} but she bravely did it and I am so honored by the gesture. Plus, it’s wonderful to know that others will be helped by her donation!

26. Holly’s entire visit was a ginormous birthday gift to me! Not only did she fly out to see me, she also got me a T.Swift birthday card and two terrific devotional/meditation books and a super-cute pair of flats… all wrapped in High School Musical wrapping paper, of course! That’s pretty much our friendship in a nutshell: deep conversations + Disney movies aimed for 12-year-olds. 🙂

27. Thanks to all of YOU for your blog comments and for doing random acts of kindness to celebrate my birthday! You made my special day even more special.

I used a random number generator to select the winner of my birthday giveaway {an autographed copy of my book 3 a.m.: a collection of short stories} and the winner is… Annanori!

Email me at dallaswoodburn<at> gmail <dot> com and we’ll get your book to you!

Questions of the morning:

What are you grateful for today?
What were some highlights of your most recent birthday?

goals + recipes for the week of 3/30

Posted on March 30, 2014 by dallaswoodburn

Aaaaaand just like that, it’s Sunday again! And the end of March! Where does the time go?

My mom is here! My mom is here! 🙂 I’m so happy to see her. Yesterday evening we had a nice, low-key celebration of my grandma’s birthday with the fam. Tonight we are going out for a fancier dinner to celebrate.

The cake turned out wonderfully! It was a big hit! Confetti cake mix + white chocolate chips stirred into the batter + homemade cream cheese frosting + rainbow sprinkles expertly sprinkled by my cousin Bianca.

Before I head off for the day, it’s time for goals!

Here’s how I did on my goals from this past week:
– ~~write 12 pages~~
– send out newsletter
– ~~go to two yoga classes~~ {I made it to three! woooot!}
– ~~finish reading through three lit journals from my AWP stash~~
– ~~connect with three friends~~
– ~~bake an amazing cake for Grandma’s birthday! {perhaps this one?}~~

And here are my goals for this upcoming week:
– write 12 pages
– send out newsletter
– go to two yoga classes
– prepare for my Steinbeck Fellowship reading
– connect with three friends
– have a wonderful time with my mama in town!

And here are some recipes I’m drooling over this week:
– these 3-ingredient recipes via Buzzfeed
– black bean pumpkin soup via Sarah @The Pajama Chef
– crock-pot salsa chicken via Danica @It’s Progression
– flourless pb & j snack cookies via Robyn @the real-life rd
– pumpkin toffee chocolate-chip muffins via Two Peas & Their Pod

Questions of the morning:

How has your weekend been so far?
What are your goals for this upcoming week?
What recipes are you drooling over lately?

fabulous friday #16

Posted on March 28, 2014 by dallaswoodburn

Happy Friday, friends! Hope you are having a delightful #TGIF. It’s been a little damp and drizzly up here in the Bay Area this week, which is wonderful because we need all the rain we can get! And even with the gray skies, I’m in a sunshine-y mood. Which brings me to…

5 things I’m loving right now:

1. My sweet mama is coming into town tomorrow!!! I haven’t seen her since Christmas and I’m sooooo excited to pick her up from the airport and give her a ginormous hug. It’s gonna be a great weekend!

2. Tonight Allyn and I are going to a play! I haven’t been to a play since September, and I’m really excited. There’s something about live performances that I just love so much. Plus, it’s opening night, which makes it all the more fun! We’re going to see this mystery play called “Sleuth” in Walnut Creek.

3. Look at this mini library in Allyn’s neighborhood! How amazing is this?? I want to start one of my own!

4. One of my favorite local cafes has lovely photos & quotes on the back of their order numbers. This was the one I received when I was there with Emy over the weekend. It warmed my heart. Such wise & true words! And the elderly couple dancing — swoon! “Love doesn’t make the world go round, but it makes the ride worthwhile.”

5. Baking time! I need to make my grandma a birthday cake {the current front-runner is funfetti! with cream-cheese frosting!} aaaand these bananas are just screaming to be made into banana muffins, don’t you think?

**BONUS! {Because it seems there’s just too much to love on this Friday!}: This adorable video documenting a woman’s growing baby bump and her husband’s sweet serenade to the new member of their family: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yJ7-v7xVm3I

Questions of the morning:

What are you loving right now?
What’s on your agenda for the weekend?

apple cake with crumb topping & brown sugar glaze

Posted on October 22, 2013 by dallaswoodburn

Hi everyone! I’ve decided to designate the next few days as Apple Week here on the blog! I have a few apple-themed recipes I’m excited to share with you, so I thought why not group them together in a single week … after all, no time of year says apple like autumn does!

Today, I’m excited to share the recipe for the apple cake I shared a teaser picture of in yesterday’s post. Grandma and I baked this cake for our dinnertime get-together at my aunt’s house, and it was a huge hit! There were only six of us there, and pretty much the entire cake got devoured by the time we left.

apple cake with crumb topping and a brown sugar glaze

for the cake:
– 5 cups apples {peeled, cored and chopped}
– 1 & 3/4 cups flour
– 1/4 cup almond meal
– 2 tsp baking soda
– 2 or 3 tsp cinnamon {depending on your tastes}
– 1 tsp salt
– 3/4 cup brown sugar
– 1/4 cup maple syrup or agave
– 1/2 cup vegetable oil
– 1 cup applesauce
– 2 eggs
– 1 tsp vanilla

for the crumb topping:
– 1/2 cup flour
– 1/2 cup brown sugar
– 1 tsp cinnamon
– 2 tbsp butter

for the brown sugar glaze:
– 1/2 cup brown sugar
– 1 tsp vanilla
– 2 tbsp water

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease a 9 x 13 baking pan and set aside.

2. In a large bowl, stir together the brown sugar, maple syrup/agave, and chopped apples. Mix until apples are well coated with sugar. Set aside.

3. In a separate bowl, beat together eggs, vegetable oil, applesauce, and vanilla until well combined.

4. Sift together dry ingredients: flour, almond meal, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon.

5. Add dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix well.

6. Pour the batter over the apple-sugar mixture. Stir until well combined, then pour into the baking pan.

7. To make the crumb topping: mix together flour, brown sugar and cinnamon. Add butter in small pieces. Mix until you have a fine, crumbly mixture. Generously sprinkle the crumb topping over the apple cake batter.

8. Bake for approximately 45 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean. {Note: your house will smell AMAZING when this is baking!}

9. While cake is baking, make your brown sugar glaze by combining brown sugar, vanilla and water in a small bowl. Stir until smooth.

10. Remove cake from oven and drizzle with brown sugar glaze, which will harden as the cake cools.

In my opinion, this cake is best served warm with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. Enjoy!!

———

like this recipe? you might want to also check out:
– baked cinnamon french toast
– incredibly easy pumpkin spice cookies
– chocolate spice zucchini muffins
– apple banana oatmeal muffins

happy birthday holly!!

Posted on September 1, 2013 by dallaswoodburn

Today is my amazing friend Holly’s birthday! As per our tradition, I baked her something special even though we’re not together right now to celebrate. {Fortunately I am going to visit her in two weeks, so we get to celebrate belatedly then!}

Holly is one of those people that just has this light about her. She glows with warmth and genuine kindness. She is a constant source of joy in my life. We would talk often on the phone this summer when I was living at home, and my family would immediately know I was talking to her because I would erupt into fits of giggles. She is that type of friend. She knows me to my core and she loves and accepts me exactly as I am. And the amazing, generous person she is makes me want to be a better person myself. I feel so blessed that our friendship has grown with us the past eight years and even though we are physically separated by distance, as the years pass we grow closer than ever.

Happy birthday, Holly! I love you! ❤

my favorite. dessert. ever!

Posted on May 31, 2013 by dallaswoodburn

Happy Friday, friends! Hope you have something fun planned for this weekend. 🙂 I am getting ready to head to LA this afternoon for my cousin Amanda’s bachelorette party! I am so excited! It will actually be the first bachelorette party I’ve ever attended. I’m looking forward to seeing my cousins and friends and celebrating Amanda’s final days of singledom!

I have a delicious recipe to share with you today! I made this for my dad’s birthday cake on Monday. He loves peanut butter and chocolate, so I took my peanut butter cup brownies and upgraded them to a “brownie-cake” … and the highlight is definitely the homemade peanut butter frosting! This frosting is SO simple to make, and if you like peanut butter, you are in for a treat! I predict you will be licking the bowl. {Or maybe that’s just me!}

I will warn you in advance, I didn’t even try to healthify this dessert … I don’t even want to know how many calories/fat/sugar/etc. is in a slice of this! Sometimes you just have to treat yourself, right? But I did just come across this recipe by Lindsay at The Lean Green Bean for healthy sweet potato brownies that I might try using in this recipe in the future! If you try it out, let me know how it goes!

I used my fave boxed brownie mix … Ghiradelli dark chocolate!

I made the batter as directed {if you’re trying to healthify things a little, you could substitute unsweetened applesauce for half of the oil} and poured the batter into a lightly greased 8 x 8 pan. Then I stuck in mini dark chocolate peanut butter cups in a tic-tac-toe pattern.

Bake at 325 degrees for 45 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Once the brownies were cool, I frosted them with homemade peanut butter frosting!

homemade peanut butter frosting
– 1/4 cup butter, softened
– 2/3 cup creamy peanut butter
– 3/4 cup powdered sugar
– 2 tbsp milk {to taste … depending on your frosting consistency preferences!}

1. Mix together the butter and peanut butter until well blended.

2. Slowly add the powdered sugar and beat until smooth. Add milk until it gets to desired consistency.

After frosting the brownies, my final step was sprinkling mini chocolate chips over the frosting layer. Ta da! My favorite dessert ever!

These disappeared from our house in record time!

Thank you also for the sweet birthday wishes! I had a wonderful birthday. My family took me out for dinner and even surprised me with sunflowers! How pretty and happy are these flowers?

Thanks also to everyone who took part in my birthday beauty giveaway, and welcome to all our new subscribers! The two randomly selected winners are:
– Big Beauty Basket: Anna Wang
– Travel Beauty Clutch: Jo Tran

I will email you both to get your mailing addresses to send you the prizes!

Happy weekend, everyone! Eat something yummy and spend time with those you love!

This post is linked up as part of Menu-Plan Monday!

cake or cake-pops?

Posted on December 7, 2012 by dallaswoodburn

Happy Friday, everyone! Hope your day is going wonderfully.

I have a quick question that I’d love your feedback on. I’m hosting a party in a couple weeks and I am trying to decide whether to serve cake or cake-pops.

I like cake because it’s traditional, substantial, and satisfying {seriously, who doesn’t love being served a big slice of cake?}

But I’m torn because cake-pops seem so cute and fun and party-friendly. Plus, you can serve a variety of flavors.

What do you think?

happy birthday holly!

Posted on September 1, 2012 by dallaswoodburn

Today is my friend Holly’s 25th birthday! Happy birthday, Holly! ❤ We met our freshman year of college at USC where we lived in the same dorm and quickly bonded over our shared love of Sarah Dessen books, Nora Ephron movies, cheesey rice cakes, giggling, baking, browsing Target, taking long walks {especially in the autumn with hot apple cider from Starbucks!} and listening to Taylor Swift albums on repeat. Holly is one of those people who makes others feel instantly at ease with her warmth and compassion. I admire her for a zillion reasons: her genuine kindness, brave spirit, intelligence, creativity, insightful take on any situation. She is someone I can always call for advice and she will listen thoughtfully and help me come up with solutions when it seemed like there were none. And she is always someone I can count on to make me laugh and find the joy in the everyday moments of life!

Holly is living in Nashville, going to divinity school at Vanderbilt, and I’m bummed I couldn’t celebrate her birthday with her in person. We lived together for our four years of college, but since we graduated our friendship has been “long distance.” I miss her! But we have a little birthday ritual that helps us feel like we get to celebrate together even though we live far apart. It started when Holly baked me a cake on my birthday a couple years ago and sent me a picture. It was such a sweet gesture and I loved thinking of her enjoying some birthday cake on my behalf! We’ve continued baking birthday cakes for each other even though we aren’t together to share them. {I’m hoping one day soon, we will be!}

This year I changed things up a little bit and made Holly some birthday brownies instead of a cake. I used to make brownies all the time in college and I have many fond memories of Friday nights in, eating brownies and watching Friends marathons.

Nom nom nom!

I just used a box mix for these brownies {Duncan Hines Dark Chocolate} but I substituted the oil for applesauce to make them a little healthier and I also mixed in some white chocolate chips for extra chocolate goodness.

And because what goes better with chocolate than strawberries… I sliced up some strawberries and put them on top! Delicious.

Do you have any special birthday rituals? How do you celebrate the birthdays of your friends & family?

Happy weekend!

-Dallas

Day-By-Day Masterpiece

Tag Archives: cake

fabulous friday #51: recap edition!

Here are 5 things I’m loving right now:

Questions for the evening:

27 birthday gratitudes

27 birthday gratitudes!

Questions of the morning:

goals + recipes for the week of 3/30

Questions of the morning:

fabulous friday #16

5 things I’m loving right now:

Questions of the morning:

apple cake with crumb topping & brown sugar glaze

happy birthday holly!!

my favorite. dessert. ever!

cake or cake-pops?

happy birthday holly!