Weekly Tune-Up: Alabama Shakes

My boyfriend gave me Alabama Shakes' first full-length album, Boys and Girls, so I tried it out on my way to work this morning.

Alabama Shakes

It's another must-have album, trust me. Brittany Howard's vocals are beyond spectacular - her voice was described to me as "very Janis Joplin-y" and that was pretty dead on. You just don't hear the kind of vocal power Howard has very often anymore. And the band only just takes every song to the next level of amazing when its combined with her voice.  


This is the perfect album for summer driving with the windows rolled down. And it's only $9 ($8 for the MP3 download) on Amazon so there's no excuse to not purchase it immediately.

Light and White

Summer just started and I've been really into this trend of light & white for the evening and cooler days in the summer. I picked out three little light & white numbers at American Eagle.

The evening sweater

The eyelet top

The short-sleeve sweater

Traveling mind

If I had my way, I'd be on the next flight back to Spain. Which is probably why I can't get this "Cities & Typography" series by Gokhun Guneyhan out of my head.

Check out the rest of the series right here. It's pretty awesome, trust me.

The best cobbler ever

I just discovered the best berry cobbler ever and it is super easy. I wanted to eat the whole pan.

Ingredients

• \1 stick
 Butter

• 1-1/4 cup
 Sugar

• 1 cup
 Self-Rising Flour

• 1 cup
 Milk

• 2 cups Blackberries (frozen Or Fresh)

Preparation Instructions

Melt butter in a microwavable dish. Pour 1 cup of sugar and flour into a mixing bowl, whisking in milk. Mix well. Then, pour in melted butter and whisk it all well together. Butter a baking dish.

Now rinse and pat dry the blackberries. Pour the batter into the buttered baking dish. Sprinkle blackberries over the top of the batter; distributing evenly. Sprinkle ¼ cup sugar over the top.Bake in the oven at 350 degrees for 1 hour, or until golden and bubbly. If you desire, sprinkle an additional teaspoon of sugar over the cobbler 10 minutes before it’s done.

From the The Pioneer Woman

TGIF: Cupcake awesomeness

Sorry for the late post today, guys, but trust me it's totally worth it . . . because my mom and I just put the finishing touches on one of my all-time favorite treats - ice cream cone cupcakes.

Little cones of sunshine

If you're making cupcakes this summer, make them in ice cream cones. It won't take you much more time and they're beyond delicious. You just need to follow the instructions on the cake mix box to make your batter and line up your cones inside a pan. We used a 9x13 and a smaller, jellyroll pan.

Pack 'em in so they don't fall over

Fill your cones with batter until the batter fills the entire bottom part of the cone - it's about one ladle-full of batter in each cone.

My mom's basically a pro at these

Then simply place them in the oven as per the cake mix instructions. You will have to bake them a little longer than the box says, so just keep an eye on them. It usually takes less than 10 minutes more than the box's minimum baking time.

Strawberry is my favorite cake for these

Frost, sprinkle and you're good to go! I can't even tell you how much I love these. So cute and so good, plus I'm sharing my mom's icing recipe with you below. It's amazing so you're welcome.


My mom's top-secret, awesome icing recipe*
1 cup of sugar
1/4 teaspoon of cream of tartar
2 egg whites
1 teaspoon of vanilla
1/3 cup of water
Dash of salt

In a saucepan combine sugar, cream of tartar, water and salt. Cook and stir till bubbly and sugar dissolves. (Trick: Don't stop stirring)
In a mixing bowl, combine egg whites and vanilla.
Here's where you need a second person, if you're me. Add sugar syrup very slowly to unbeaten egg whites and vanilla while beating constantly at a high speed (with an electric mixer).
Beat for 7 minutes or until stiff peaks form.

*This frosting recipe is actually from the Better Homes and Garden cookbook ("Fluffy White Frosting"). Just in case they get offended by me changing the frosting's name.

Weekly Tuneup — Summer tunes

My summer soundtrack has become My Head is an Animal by Of Monsters and Men. This band always puts together an album perfect for relaxing in the summer sun. This album is no exception.

My favorite song is Little Talks: 

Beat the heat

When it's wicked hot out like it has been here lately, I can't think of wearing anything but dresses. They're lightweight, easy and they also slip on right over a swimsuit. Perfect summer style. Here are a few I'd like to add to my closet so I could rock a dress every day of the week.

Aztec hi-low dress from Charlotte Russe ($29.99)

Mossimo kimono dress from Target ($18)

Printed gauze sundress from Old Navy ($26.99 on sale)

Striped sundress from Old Navy ($17.99 on sale)

Fancy Flowers

A friend recently showed me her new obsession — weird vases for her Ohio picked wild flowers. So when I found these I instantly thought about her.

The are little vases from Fitzsu that are meant to depict dress up for children. "What will the wild flowers were today."

My favorite is the little one with the rounded collar, I may just buy myself one.

Beautiful blue

Today is one of my favorite people's birthdays, and we had a celebration Friday night. I always try to do something special for her cake and this year I set out to make her a blue velvet cake.

From Betty Crocker

Before you get too impressed - this is not a photo of the cake I made. This is a photo of the cake I used the frosting recipe from. Kudos to Betty Crocker. I didn't think to take a photo of my cake (there were pirate candles involved), but it was delicious so here are the recipes I used so you can make your own and see what it looks/tastes like.

Cake recipe (slightly adapted from Adventures in Cooking)

1 1/4 cups of cake flour

1 1/4 cups of sugar

11 egg whites

2 teaspoons of vanilla extract

3/4 teaspoon of royal blue gel paste food color

1 1/2 teaspoons of cream of tartar

1 tablespoon of cocoa powder

1/4 teaspoon of salt

Preheat the oven to 375 and grease (the more Crisco the better) two 9-inch (I used 8-inch and it was fine) round cake pans. 

In a medium bowl, combine the cake flour, 1/2 cup of the sugar and the cocoa powder. In a large bowl, beat together the egg whites, vanilla extract, cream of tartar and salt until it forms soft peaks. Then beat in the remaining 3/4 cup of sugar and gel paste until the mixture forms stiff peaks (around 4 minutes or so).

Slowly fold in (use a spatula, don't mix) the flour mixture 1/4 cup at a time until it's all incorporated. 

Pour batter into cake pans and bake for about 30 minutes. I checked mine at 27 minutes and they were ready to come out.

Frosting recipe (from Betty Crocker)

1 7 oz. jar of marshmallow creme

1 cup of butter, softened

2 1/2 cups of powdered sugar

1/8 teaspoon of salt

In a large (microwaveable) bowl, microwave the marshmallow creme uncovered on high for 15-20 seconds to soften it. Add butter. Beat with electric mixer on medium until smooth. Beat in powdered sugar and salt until smooth.

Weekly tune-up

Best Coast released their sophomore album, The Only Place, about a month ago and I just now had a chance to really listen to it all the way through. This is definitely an album you need for the summer. It's really chill so it's perfect to listen to while you're relaxing by the pool, or if you're really lucky by the beach. So check it out, buy it and wear it out on your iPod. It's worth it, trust me.

Got the Fever

This weekend I enjoyed a lovely evening in Oberlin, Ohio with my co-workers. We bought cacti for our desks, mine is named Rafa Nadal for his recent French Open win. We also went to The Feve, what appears to the intricate hub of the Oberlin community. 

The food was amazing and the selection was so vast that our waitress had to come back three times to get our order because we just couldn't decide.

The awesome thing about The Feve is that it has every thing from a bacon cheeseburger to veggie burgers to tater tots to veggies and hummus. It also has a pretty solid beer selection and some of the best fries I've ever tasted.

Made in Iceland

I'm a sucker for kitchen accessories and after making too much pasta last night (as usual), this adorable kitchen gadget has made its way to the top of my wish list.

"I could eat a horse" spaghetti measure

This "I could eat a horse" spaghetti measuring tool from the Reykjavik Corner Store out of Iceland is too cute for words. I'm using the "I always make too much pasta" excuse as a reason to get it in my kitchen. The rest of their inventory is pretty cool too, so take a peek!

Loving this — Sandal flats

I'm always looking for new pairs of inexpensive flats because I go through them so quickly. I found this super cute woven sandal flats from American Eagle this week. I have to have these! I have always had a mild obsession with wicker shoes, I have no idea why but these flats seem like a more substantial pair of flats.

Living it up long

Business casual is a common talking point here at Ohio is 4 Lovers but today I want to talk about casual casual. I'm not a short wearer in the summer season. I either wear jeans or dresses. I really want to be one of those cool girls who can pull off this new long-skirt trend. I just bought my first one and I can't wait to try it out on the next day I can be casual. Sounds relaxing.

from target

Sad to see it go

Last year we wrote a post about an online paper store that was opening up called Our Paper Shop. Sadly, owners Emma Robertson and Bre Radermacher announced last week that they are closing their store. I'm definitely going to miss their monthly desktop/iPhone wallpapers and I regret not buying one of their adorable letter stamps while I had the chance. But they are having a going-away sale right now - so check it out and snatch up some of their awesome creations while you still can . . .

All images from Our Paper Shop.

TGIF — OH chooses Jif

Happy Friday! My mom bought me a jar of Mocha Cappuccino Jif last week just so I could try it. I fell in love. I am such a fan of hazelnut spreads but this one takes the cake! It's hazelnut, mocha and cappuccino — ALL IN ONE.
It makes this rainy, Ohio Friday so good.