TGIF — Everyone loves Wyoming

 

This summer I went to Rawlins, Wyoming to visit my good friend Kate. 

Some highlights of my trip including a creepy old jail/ museum, mule deer that just wander people's yards and — my personal favorite — a ranchers' rodeo. I still have no idea how it's scored but it was as interesting as about half the high school sports I cover for a leaving.

Here are some photos of me in front of some murals, which  Rawlins has a plethora of.

I would like to note that the two ice cream cones I'm holding in these photos are not both mine, just one. Kate needed both hands to take the photos.

After Wyoming I went to Colorado. At the Red Rock Amphitheater, I accidentally got to listen to the sounds of live Neil Young. 

And then I closed the evening in LO DO in Denver ... Very classy. 

A little bit country

I've been listening to a little bit of country music lately (you can blame my sister). By a little bit, I mean a very little bit. And by that I mean Jana Kramer.

I first spotted her on One Tree Hill and now her self-titled album has been on repeat in my car, on my phone and on my laptop for weeks. So check out the video below for her single "Why You Wanna" - even if you're not the biggest country fan.

Sleeping on the stars

I tried to get into astronomy this summer and let me tell you — it didn't last long. But I did find these really cool constellation pillows from Kin Ship. You can get a variety of star formations and it comes with a starry night kaleidoscope to take you back to childhood stargazing. 

TOMS weather

By now you know that we love TOMS. Even though I have a couple pairs already, the promise of cooler temperatures and the imminent arrival of my favorite season has me eyeing the fall-friendly kicks. I'm especially loving the brightly colored patterns from their globally-inspired patterns line.

The elusive Cotton Candy Grapes

I thought I'd open this week's posts with the biggest food mystery of my summer. I read about this new breed of grape that tastes just like cotton candy. I love cotton candy and all cotton candy flavored things. So these grapes are my dream, something healthy that tastes like something so unhealthy. The issue is they don't sell them here in the O-H-I-O and I can't find them online!

It's upsetting and I will keep you updated on finding them but for now I hope the sheer prospect of the fruit of my dreams gets you excited.

TGIF: Cooking up some state love

I've posted about APE MADE before - her Akron blimp print is hanging in my apartment and I've ordered other awesome Ohio products from her too. This latest addition to her collection is also the latest addition to my wish list . . .

Get yours right here for $18.50.

Under the lights

High school football season begins tomorrow, so I've gathered some of staples for the season.

Black skinny jeans save my life every week. They are the perfect pants for a Friday night.

from Old Navy

The necessary light button-up.

from Old Navy

Casual flats for everyday needs.

form Target

The new addition of my Friday essentials ... a book bag for hands-free interviews.

from Target

Entering the real world

In between baking with my aunts, taking kickboxing classes with my sister and doing other assorted summer break activities, I also got my first big kid job during our blog break. I truly could not be happier or more excited. The funny thing was it didn't really hit me until I was staring at my business cards. My business cards. With my name and all of my contact information. Craziness!

I know I'm probably late to this party, but I cannot wait to buy one of these gorgeous leather cases from Almanac Industries to hold my business cards!

My eye is on the orange one, how about you? Make sure you check out everything in their shop, I want to buy it all.

Music for your mood

It feels good to be back on Ohio is for Lovers. 

While Alissa and I were away, I discovered our music post for the week.

It's call Songza and it's a pretty awesome playlist site that essentially asks you what activity your taking part in at that time in the day and creates a playlist for you.

It's pretty useful and I've been listening to it a lot the past few weeks in the office ... their picks for me have been dead on.

My Tuesday afternoon choice

I found this one for Alissa, :) 

One of my favorites for the gym.

So sweet to be back

Hey, guys! It feels good to be back, and don't worry we didn't entirely forget about the blog during our break. I baked with my aunts a couple times during my break and I've been dying to share what we made ...

Homemade fried pies! You know those Hostess pies that come in a few different flavors? Right, just like that - except a million times better. And trust me when I tell you they're fairly easy and a lot of fun to make.

You can fill them with whatever you want - the whole time we were baking we came up with a dozen more combinations. For our first try we made cherry, peach and apple. You can make your own filling if you want, my aunt made the cherry filling and the other two were canned pie fillings.

 You can also make them whatever size you want - we made a couple different sizes to see what worked best. And as far as the pie crust is concerned, you can also choose what you want to do with that. We made most of ours from Pillsbury pie crusts but we also did a batch using Pillsbury cinnamon rolls.

Toppings are another thing you can have your pick on. Some of ours we dusted with powder sugar and others with cinnamon sugar but a lot of them we glazed (that was definitely our favorite).

So since this recipe is so customize-able, here's one recipe you can start with as your base from Paula Deen.  Enjoy!