What Women do when they're Unhappy/Stressed/Mad/Sad etc...

I'm interested to know what you do when you're unhappy or stressed or confused or mad or sad or in general just feeling at odds with yourself and the world. 


Do you read a book, take a walk, punch a pillow, pray? 
I'm more one to brood or sulk, and I need to get out of this habit! 

This is my "Seriously?!" face as a child...I use it more as an adult than I should.

I'm compiling a list and then doing a blog post on my findings later this month. 


Thank you in advance ladies- many kisses!

Easter Weekend Eats and Treats

Hello fabulous people!

I hope you all had a lovely Easter or wonderful spring weekend. I had to work on Friday morning, but Friday night we were able to go visit some friends and dye some eggs. I haven't done that in a couple years, and I forgot how much fun it is!

Saturday was lovely in that it was rainy and miserably damp outside...got some shopping and errands done with Handsome. He went into every store that I wanted to and waited patiently while I tried on clothes, and told me his opinions on everything, consoled me when I was having a bad "body" day, and even snuck out and bought me not one but TWO Easter cards and a chocolate bunny. He really is a treasure. When we got home that night, I made him Teriyaki Chicken from Jessica Seinfeld's Double Delicious!: Good, Simple Food for Busy, Complicated Lives. I highly recommend this cookbook for anyone, not just someone with kids. Handsome doesn't like to eat his veggies, but he loves everything that I've made from this cookbook or the other one, Deceptively Delicious: Simple Secrets to Get Your Kids Eating Good Food. All the recipes are healthy, easy to make, and very tasty!  I made a few changes to the recipe (mainly because I was missing half the ingredients)...I used a mix of lemon and lime juice in place of the orange juice, a little extra carrot puree, and some honey. 

It was so delicious and so easy! Handsome told me to "make this again soon please"

For Easter Dessert, I decided to make Chocolate Cupcakes with Mocha Buttercream frosting.
I used Paula Deen's recipe for the cupcakes themselves, but I didn't make the filling and I modified the Joy of Cooking's Mocha frosting recipe:

1/2 c. unsalted butter, 1 2/3rds c. confectioner's sugar, 1/3 c. cocoa powder, 1 tsp. vanilla, 1/4 tsp. salt, and 3 tbsp. STRONG cooled coffee. Beat sifted sugar, cocoa powder, and butter together, then add remaining ingredients.

 About to go into the oven, right out of the oven, stacked and ready to frost, and my kitschy Easter liners.

Finished Cupcakes

(This post is part of a link-up party at A Well-Seasoned Life)

Handsome's family's brunch

Pictures from my Auntie Linda's house

 Pictures from Easter's Past and Present

Kindly, Kate xoxoxo

Need Easter Dessert Recipes!

 Hello lovely people!

I need to bring a dessert for Easter to my family's celebration, and I'm at a loss. A food mental block doesn't happen very often for me, especially involving DESSERT, so I need help!

Please send me your very best Easter/Spring dessert recipes.
(No jello, cool whip, or anything chemical-y please)
The recipe I pick will be featured on my blog along with recipe owner's name/blog.

Don't let a chickie down! :p

Kisses, Kate

                                                              photo from deaneanderson.com

Weekend Fun!

My weekend was too short, very much like all my weekends are (and my weekend starts on Friday-don't hate me). I started a new job as a takeout girl at a local seafood/ice cream place on the beach- I've aced it so far! What I didn't know when I started is that I'm going to be surrounded by very easily accessible ice cream, hot fudge, and desserts. This is going to be bad for my thighs! Must. think. cruise. Must. think. cruise. I'm going on a cruise to Bermuda over my birthday in July, and I have a gorgeous red dress picked out that I want to look amazing in. But...if I keep eating like I did this weekend...I'm gonna be in TROUBLE.

Saturday night Handsome and I procrastinated about dinner...so at 7 we were both saying "Ehhh, I'm hungry but I don't want to make a big dinner". I pulled my wits together and by 8 we were sitting down to homemade meatballs in some doctored-up tomato sauce with farfalle, and homemade strawberry-raspberry ice cream with a hint of key lime juice. Domestic Goddess...I think so.

 Sorry for the quality of this one^ My camera was dying and I was hungry. The sauce has spinach, carrot, and green peppers with homemade meatballs that I had in the freezer thrown in.

Can I say YUM?!

 I used a pint of strawberries, a pint of frozen raspberries, 3/4 c. sugar, the juice of a lemon,

a couple squeezes of Key Lime juice from the bottle, a couple shakes of salt, 2 eggs, 1 c. heavy cream, and 2 c. milk. We ate the entire quart in 2 days. Amazingly refreshing, light, and addictive.

Sunday night Handsome grilled us some AMAZING ginger lime marinated steak tips from

 Joe's Meat Shoppe , and we had more ice cream for dessert. Goodness, that ice cream was ridiculous. 

My thighs are hating me but my stomach is happy. 

In which I explain this blog's name and...First Giveaway!

The reason I started this blog is mainly so that I could share stories and pictures about my day-to-day life...but also to start a chain of kindness (ahhh, Kindly, Kate). Every Wednesday, I'm going to share a kind thing I did the previous week, along with a picture/video, and a kind thing that someone did for me. The idea is, I will become a better and more appreciative person and the world will become a better place, one kind act at a time.

And so today, being Wednesday, here is my first kind act.

My very good friend Danielle has been going through some major health issues these past couple months, and has racked up quite the large amount of medical bills.  Her dear husband is working 6 days a week to help pay them off, and Danielle is in and out of the hospital and doctors offices, which means that sometimes they can't make it to pick their 5-year-old up off the bus or bring her to activities. My boyfriend and I (henceforth always known as Handsome, or some variation) have stepped up and act as Emma's helpers. Every weekend, we spend time with them, bring her places, and do things with her. This past weekend, her dad was working and couldn't come to her first soccer game, and Emma was really disappointed. We decided to give up our Saturday and watch our little friend play in her little uniform (really, this was not so much of a hardship, because she is so precious- I promise a better one next week).

Clip of Emma Playing Soccer

My favorite clip from the game- she get's a highfive from her coach, and then sits down on the field. In the middle of the game. She's a girl after my own heart.

SO- here is my first giveaway....
(Follow my blog, and then...)
Please comment below with a kind story from your week. It can be something that you did OR something that someone did for you. I will then pick what I think is the best answer, and send the reader a batch of my delicious homemade almost-flourless ganache brownies. Your tongue will thank me.
(contest ends April 30th- submissions must be from U.S. in order to be considered for brownies, but please post anyway even if you don't live in this country. I'll send you a postcard!)

The Beginning

I have a confession:
Until a few months ago, I had never read a blog.
Ever.
In fact, I didn't really know what they were.
But one day, during the deep dark New England winter, I was scanning through wedding websites (do all not-engaged-yet-but-hopefully-soon girls do this or is it just little old pathetic me?) and I saw an article about the Langs (of  Underaged and Engaged) and I fell in love. I seriously read every single post. Every one. I was bored, sick, and home alone with nothing else to do except eat chicken soup and and read, but still. They are just the cutest family- they write hilarious/heartwarming things and they take beautiful pictures! What more could a girl want?
After that, I started reading more and more, and before long I was checking in on about 10 blogs a day.
(Not in a creepy stalker way I promise). I love the freedom a blog offers, I love taking pictures, and I miss writing! The only writing I do these days is for my college classes, which means I can't write about my life, stories, family, etc. I miss getting comments back on my papers in high school and reading those funny stories out loud, so here's my chance!
The only experience I have with webpages is through an HTML class I took in high school, and I don't remember any of it. So Please Please Please give me comments, suggestions, critiques, and love!

Kindly, Kate