Friday Favorites: Cupcakes and a Giveaway!

Hello Everyone! Today's Friday Favorites is extra special because... there is a giveaway waiting for you down at the end of this post!!! Now go back and reread that last sentence with your best Oprah impersonation.  "It's a giveaway!" 

I'm so excited but let's get to some favorites from the week first:

Eins: Triple Salted Caramel Cupcakes

Back in February a dear friend of mine requested I make some Salted Caramel Cupcakes. 3 months later and 2 weeks before our move, I finally tackled the task. When my friend first requested cupcakes with caramel, my mind had horrible visions of boiling condensed milk for hours. Little did I know how easy it actually is to make caramel using dark brown sugar, butter, and heavy cream. Mmmm. (While the caramel was cooling, there was some serious spoon lickin' taking place)

You must check out the recipe from Sally's Baking Addiction. This recipe is not too difficult and left me feeling silly for procrastinating so long. Husband approved and in mid bite said "These are sell worthy."

Zwei: Mother's Day

Sunday was Mother's Day and we were without our moms, Since we weren't able to join them for quiches and coffee, we had to settle for a good old fashioned phone call and a Skype session. 

 Husband and I drove 20 minutes out of the city to our favorite lake, Ammersee. The weather was off and on between cloudy and sunny but that did not stop us from taking in a view of the Alps faintly in the distance.

Like all good patio hunts, our choice of venue was based first off the comfort of the seating arrangement and secondly on the menu choices. I approved of these chairs, the waterside seating, and fleece blankets for extra warmth. 
If you are ever in Bavaria during the spring time, you must try white asparagus. It is a local specialty and I have only had it once in Texas (at a Bavarian restaurant). Sunday, I enjoyed creamy white asparagus soup and it was scrumptious.

Drei: Giveaway Time!

Last Friday I spent the afternoon basking in the gorgeous spring weather. It was the perfect day to don a bright cheerful shirt, layered with a jean jacket and topped off with my new floral stud earrings. 

These earrings were love at first sight. Recently, I met a friend for coffee at My Fable and these pretty little things were displayed inside the shop's window. The vibrant colors and Dahlia-like flower shapes immediately reminded me of Husband's grandmother's prize winning blooms. I had to have them.

Luckily for two girls who not only enjoy coffee but also art, My Fable hand selects local and worldwide artists to feature inside their shop. All the pieces are handmade, share a story, and support people who love doing what they do.

During our visit to My Fable, we were greeted by the owners and introduced to the different pieces of art featured in their shop. When I asked about these floral studs, I learned that local German artist Sabine Hohenester creates her jewelry as a hobby, specializing in polymer clay.

I was amazed at how much detail and intricate work Sabine puts into her jewelry. No two pairs of earrings at exactly alike, each piece is unique. When I heard that each petal on the flower is hand sculpted from the clay, it was official, I was not leaving without a pair of my own.  

Since then, I have worn my coral flower studs nearly every day. I have even slept in these earrings and they have held up beautifully. The studs are the perfect size, super light, and best of all, my purchase supported handmade. 

If you are interested in supporting a local, talented artist, please visit My Fable's online shop here. Use the promo code "mainlymaren2015" to receive 10% off. (P.S. If you open the page in Google Chrome, you will have the option to translate into English) Google Translate + Me = BFF

You should also enter the giveaway to win your very own pair! Just in time for summer!!!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Has anyone made Salted Caramel Cupcakes?

What is your spring/summer go-to accessory?

Who here supports handmade?!

Happy Weekend,

Linking up with Andrea and all the fun today on Friday Favorites!

*This post contains affiliate links to bring you products I love and support. All opinions are my own.

Friday Favorites: BMW and Books

Three weeks from now Husband, Shelby Dog, and I will be in the car headed to the airport on our big move back to The States. This week has been pretty tame with just a few chores, moving items, and business to take care of. 

Here are a few of my favorites from this past week:

1. Shelby Dog's 5th Birthday:

Only in Bavaria do they have pretzel dog treats!

A lot of people were celebrating Cinco de Mayo this week but we were busy looking forward to Seis de Mayo, Shelby's birthday. 

On her birthday, we took Shelby to our local pet store. We picked up a few things we need to make her flight back to Texas as comfortable as possible. For the flight she needed puppy pads, an attachable water dish, and a new tug bone for no reason other than she has Husband wrapped around her paw. 

Then she smelled something delicious right as we were checking out.... who says dogs aren't kids?! 

So we gave in and bought her a birthday treat! Then Husband and I embarrassingly sang "Happy Birthday" to our Shelby. Her tail was wagging a million miles (or kilometers) a minute!

2. Burger House

Would you believe one of the best burgers we have ever tasted was not in Texas but in Munich? Our favorite weekend lunch spot is a tiny joint called Burger House. It is so tiny you rarely can get reservations but we have perfected the timing to getting a table. But I won't reveal that secret...

Last week I was talking about Pilates and this week I'm talking about Chili Cheese Fries... what a double standard. At Burger House I always get the same meal; Chicken Camembert with a side of Chili Cheese Fries. On special occasions, like any week day that ends in the three letters ______d-a-y, Husband recreates the Chicken Camembert using flattened chicken breast and frozen (uh hem, no judging) fried Camembert patties. OH my word. Delicious! 

3. BMW World

I mentioned last week that we were going to visit BMW World and Museum. Well, Sunday we woke up to rain for days, so in the afternoon we headed over to see what these places were all about. BMW World was packed full of people, kids, tourists... We enjoyed walking around looking at all the different models including Minis and Rolls Royces. 

BMW World had a small exhibit about the cars made in the U.S.A. I was a bit surprised because I always thought the cars were still shipped over from Germany. 

4. Home Office and Guest Room Inspiration

Yesterday, I posted two different designs for the remodel of our Guest Room and Home Office space. I would really love it if you could check it out and let me know what you think!

5. Quick, Quick, QUICK Jenny Colgan Giveaway!

Last week I talked about reading Jenny Colgan's Summer at Beach Street Bakery, the sequel to Beach Street Bakery, and now I have finished both books! I stayed up until 3 a.m. Wednesday night not able to put down Summer at Beach Street Bakery.

Now with our move coming up... I thought it would make things easier if I passed on my two copies for someone else to enjoy. (Saves me space and weight in a box!) Just a quick giveaway so I can get them dropped into the mail Monday morning!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Do you celebrate your pet's birthday?

What book should I read next? 
I am always looking for fun, lighthearted reads to add to my summer book list!

Who has a BMW and what do you think?

Have a fantastic weekend, friends! We will be busy painting the walls back to white. Fun, fun! See you next week!

Make Life Beautiful,

Linking up with Andrea today to bring you these Friday Favorites!

Room Inspiration: Home Office and Guest Room

When most little girls were playing in their multi-story, pink plastic, Barbie houses, I was busy doing something else. With an antique cigar box filled with half-used pencils and a cleared bedroom floor, I spent endless hours of my childhood designing floor plans for Barbie. Very little of my time was actually used role playing with Barbie but instead setting up her house. 

Somewhere in my childhood closet is an American Girl doll box filled with sheets of notebook paper with drawn out floor plans. Pencil erasing, rule straight lines, and labeled rooms marked the visions I dreamed up for the perfect home.

Source

There was a even a time I brought my favorite floor plan to show my uncle, the architect, to get his advice. I'm not even sure if I was in middle school at that point...

I went through a phase in college when I thought about changing my major. After a disappointing visit to the advisor's office, I learned switching to architecture would pile on additional years that just weren't in my family's already over-stretched budget. Now, I am thankful that God put me where He did and I wouldn't change the path I have gone down. 

So when it comes to living out a childhood dream, my home is my blank canvas, a place I can explore endless possibilities in design. I call it "real-life" doll house and I. Love. It. 

My latest project has been planning a combined space for a guest room and home office for Mainly Maren. I want the space to inspire the look of the blog using my favorite colors green apple and turquoise. 

Take a look at the two inspiration boards I created:

Vintage Chic

When I created the look of this space, I was incorporating our very colorful Pottery Barn duvet. Except...after 3 years of use, I noticed the colors on the duvet have faded from multiple washes. I am still not ready to part with this duvet but I do not think I want it to be the center of the design.

In addition, I wasn't really feeling the black and white touches. It is very chic and stylish right now but it just isn't me. Husband took one look at the photo and said "You aren't a black and white person. You don't even wear those colors." Good point. 

Vintage Shabby 

So I hit the drawing board again. I decided that maybe my black iron headboard just needs a fresh coat of spray paint. That is when I saw this gorgeous bed on Apartment Therapy. I like the neutral bedding that doesn't fight with the wall decor. 

The inspiration for the window treatments is actually a shower curtain from Anthropologie. I have seen several DIY versions circling around the internet. I love the ombre look with both of my favorite colors! The desk pictured is very similar to my childhood writing desk. Now to find the perfect chair...

Before Husband and I moved, we had a Texas A&M room and a Texas Tech room. The space I am going to use for the guest room/home office is the former Tech room. Here is what it looked like before:

This headboard was my grandparent's for decades. It has been white, hunter green, black and soon to be turquoise! The bedding here is from Target and TJMaxx.

I hate that this photo is out of focus. We sold this side table in a garage sale right before our move. The baskets from Wal-Mart were filled with children's books. On the top were encyclopedias T-E-C-H, a camera lamp (gifted to my brother), a vintage school bell (from my aunt and uncle!), and scrapbooks/yearbook from my college days. On the wall were mine and my grandmother's sorority paddle, photos from college, my diploma, a graduation sketch from my cousin, and a signed print from one of the veterans who claims to be in the famous V-J Day in Times Square photograph.

Not much to see here, except the window without curtains. The dollhouse on the floor is a metal one from the 60s. I can't believe little kids used to play with sharp cornered dollhouses! My plan is to use this dollhouse as a mail sorter. 

I cannot wait for this space to be completely dedicated to Mainly Maren! Since I enjoy doing most of my crafts out in the open living spaces, I decided against a "craft room".  A space dedicated to blogging is much more practical for me. 

In our other spare bedroom we will combine our A&M and Tech decor into a "United House" home office. Although, if you ask Husband just make sure you use the term "Man Cave". 

Which space do you like best; Vintage Chic, Vintage Shabby, or Texas Tech?

If you are a blogger, do you have a space dedicated to writing?

Who's husband has a man cave?!

Cheers,

Linking up with all the fun today at:

Show and Tell: Wine Tasting Party

Today is exciting because it is another edition of Show and Tell Tuesday! This assignment is to share with you my absolute favorite party I have hosted. I. Love. Hosting. Parties.

When I started brainstorming my absolute favorite party, I came up with  these Top 3:

1. At Work Wedding Shower (Honeymoon Beach theme) for one of my would be later bridesmaids

2. In Home Bachelorette Shower (Traditional pink, black and white theme) for another bridesmaid

3. Historic Downtown Wedding Shower (Vintage Floral theme) for my Matron of Honor

All of these are based around weddings! (It's a theme in a theme!!) Anyways, when I went to dig out the photos for any of my Top 3 and I couldn't find them anywhere. What a pity.  

Well, while searching, I did find some photographs from another fun event that I never shared with you... Wedding Wine Tasting Choosing with my bridesmaids. 

Let's get this party started! (See what I did there?!)

When Husband and I were planning our wedding reception, the debate of whether or not to serve alcohol was quite a discussion. Our guests came from different faiths, states, and parts of our lives. We wanted everyone to be comfortable and have a good time so we decided to keep things simple with beer, wine, ice tea, water, and root beer. 

When it came time to choosing the beer, it was an easy decision. We went with the Texas brewed beer, Shiner Bock and their summer brew, Ruby Red.

The wine choices turned out to be a bit harder, so I decided to call in the troops, my bridesmaids, for a little wine tasting.  

I headed up to our local Market Street where I knew the wine sommelier was highly recommended. He helped me pick out 4 red and 4 white wines based within the budget we had allotted for the cost per bottle. 

At the store, I also picked up all the things that accompany a good glass of wine; grapes, apples, carrots, snap peas, crackers, and an assortment of cheeses.  

Even though our wedding reception wasn't until June, we wanted to get a better idea of our budget early on. I held the party in December and decided to match the rest of the house with Christmas plates and napkins. 

I lined up the 4 bottles of red and 4 bottles of white wine on the counter. Every bottle label was hidden inside a brown lunch sack. If the bottle was a red wine, it was tied at the top with a dark ribbon. If the bottle was a white wine, it was tied at the top with a light ribbon. 

I traced the bottom of a wine glass onto each paper sack using a dark marker. Inside each circle I labeled the sacks 1-8. After trying a bit from each bottle, the girls wrote down what they thought on individual pieces of paper. (I wish I had a photo of this but you could easily make your own ranking sheet)

Towards the end of the night, we went over our thoughts and ranked the bottles together. After finding out the majority favored bottles #6 and #4, I opened the brown sacks to reveal the winners. 

Ironically, the chosen white and red were both from the same label! Gabbiano ended up being the wine Husband and I served at our wedding reception. 

Picking wines for the wedding reception ended up being the perfect excuse to get together with some of my dearest friends. There was lots of laughter, a baby announcement (no wine there!), and a great way to relax with a girl's night. It was wonderful to spend time with the bridesmaids away from the stress and pressures of wedding planning!

How did you choose what drinks to serve at your wedding reception?

Has anyone tried Gabbiano wines?

Happy Cinco di Mayo,






Linking up with Andrea today! Professional photos by Amanda Lynn. Check out her page here!