A Little Randomness for Your Hump Day

So these last few weekends have been packed full of business. We are still in the middle of our Ikea hack, the project that will never end. Not because it's particularly difficult, just that other things keep taking us away from it. Just needing to paint and stain, which the stormy afternoon/evenings have prevented. And I'm almost done with my new chalkboard (also delayed by the weather). Hoping to get those finished soon so I will have something to show you guys.  In the meantime, I wish you all a Happy Hump Day and present you with a little bit of randomness for the midweek.

For some reason, this camel cracks me up! I know this is crazy, but I really feel like that should be his voice! Makes me laugh every time! Let me throw in one more exclamation point!

Speaking of Ikea (well, sort of), two kind of awesome things happened: #1-We declared September 8th "New Sofa Day!" About a month ago, we trekked down to Ikea to check out the sofas, without any real intention of actually getting one anytime soon. Our current furniture has about had it, and once we had chosen something new, our old stuff started looking worse and neither one of us could get the new sofa out of our minds. So, next Sunday, the Tuna family will once again trek south with my step-dad's truck (since the giant boxes definitely won't fit in my VW Rabbit) and pick up this puppy:

IKEA Karlstad Corner Sofa

Of course this means that now we will need a new rug and coffee table and so many throw pillows!

And #2 - This arrived in the mail yesterday! Woot woot! It's the little things these days that make me giddy, and I have to say that coming home to see the 2014 catalog on the table made me squeal with glee. (I probably need to get out more!)

We did manage to make the most of the one and only storm-free evening by taking a walk around the neighborhood, something we haven't been able to do much this summer thanks to the mosquitoes and suffocating heat. This also marked Baby Tuna's first ride in the stroller like a big kid - without the infant carrier!! Of course, Abby Cadabby had to come along for the inaugural ride!

So, seven Labor Day Weekends ago, one of my oldest friends and I went out for a few drinks. That very same night, a tall and handsome fella happened to be in town and at the very same bar with a buddy. Well, I think you can figure out how this story ends. Even though we knew each other in high school, the Hubs and I didn't start dating until that night. We call it the night we "re-met." So this weekend we celebrated our "Re-Met-aversary" with a yummy dinner and what I call "Half-Assed Cookies & Cream Cupcakes."

I love to bake. My love of Oreos is pure and true, and I try to incorporate them into a lot of my baking endeavors. Usually I bake cupcakes from scratch, right down to the frosting. No frosting from a can in this house. But with a six month old, you gotta make some concessions here and there. So here's how it goes...For Father's Day, I made a batch of chocolate cupcakes and froze what we didn't eat that weekend. I love this recipe from Kevin and Amanda. Yes, it's from a mix, but it's so doctored up and chocolatey delicious, I may never make chocolate cake from scratch again. I use the gluten free Betty Crocker mix. They freeze and thaw so nicely so you can have cupcakes anytime you want! 

Now for my half-assed frosting...

To frost 4 cupcakes (plus a few spoonfuls to taste-test), I used half a tub of the new Cool Whip Cream Cheese frosting (which I would normally make myself), threw some Oreos (about 7 or 8) into my food processor and mixed all together. The frosting on it's own didn't taste exactly like homemade, but once the Oreo crumbs were mixed in...yum-o! Pipe onto thawed chocolate cupcakes, sprinkle with Oreo pieces, and Viola! Chocolatey Oreo yumminess! 

And finally, since it's now September, which should mean instantly cooler temps (but unfortunately it doesn't),

Just know that this temp does NOT include the insane humidity...it felt like at least 500 degrees!

I had to pop in to Starbucks to pickup my first Pumpkin Spice Latte of the season. I usually wait till the temps cool off a bit, but I couldn't resist. So since the babe had fallen asleep in the car, which meant I needed to kill some time while she slept, I hit the drive-thru. And having it iced wasn't so bad.

Now I'm ready to decorate the house for fall and am dreaming of fuzzy socks and open-window weather...which is still at least two months away. Boo to that!!