Beer Cake Tutorial {Father's Day Gift Idea}

We have made it to Florida! And had a trip to Ocean City, NJ in between moving here and now. So between unpacking, seeing family, and mucho more, I have been one busy ass bee! Father's Day is this Sunday, and it is my husband's first Father's Day, so it's a special one ;)

So special, that I decided he deserves a beer cake! haha...don't worry, Baby E got him something a little sentimental too!



My hubby is into craft beers (and I looove that he is, because I benefit from that too!) so I went to Whole Foods and grabbed a couple different unique beers to make this.

What you'll need:

• Beer
• Cardboard Rounds 
• Ribbon
• Embellishments of your choice (optional)

I used a dinner plate and a salad plate to trace circles on the cardboard then cut out. You can buy cardboard rounds at the craft store if it's easier! You can also decorate the rounds with paper, but as I said, I'm way too busy lately and went the easy route!

Place the bigger cardboard round on the bottom.

I used 12 cans on the bottom tier. Just place them in a circle and a few in the middle.

Then place the smaller cardboard round on top of the cans.

I used a 6 pack of bottles for the middle tier, and in the middle of the bottle circle, there is 1 canned beer.

For the top, I just stacked one beer on top of the can to raise it.

Wrap with ribbon, and embellish however you'd like!

You can embellish with candy bars, scratch-off tickets, photos, anything your little heart desires!

Set up it for Daddy to see and let him enjoy! :)

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A Florida post is coming soon -- this gal has been a busy bee. But for this special Father's Day weekend, we are headed to the beach to relax and celebrate fatherhood!

summer as newlyweds

The sweet smell of summer officially lingers off in two days. Months of cool weather, colored leaves and warm fires await us; while the hot sun, bright skies, and beach days of 2011 will become fond memories for people of all ages to look back on while yearning to create more next summer.

For us, the summer of 2011 brought the deepest love we've ever felt for each other, beautiful memories we surely won't forget, and the start of our lives together as husband and wife. It was our summer as newlyweds. Looking back 4 months ago, we were knee deep - scratch that - neck deep in wedding jargon. We were excited beyond belief for what was to come. We had the summer ahead of us, which included our wedding, our honeymoon, and quality time with family and friends. While we started our lives together 9 1/2 years ago, we knew this summer was the start of our lives together as a family - to include memories and traditions that we'll continue to do/make our whole lives through. This past summer for us was unforgettable.

Finally, the summer recap as I promised:

There was that whole wedding thing. And honeymoon thing. You know, no big deal - only the most AMAZING things we have gone through together yet :)

Then that post-honeymoon thing...where we soaked up the sun, fun, and had bonding time with family and friends in South Florida. Newlyweds.. :)


There was a trip to Tallahassee to reminisce on all the beer-drinking, cheap-eating, late-night-partying, awesomely stupid days we had together + the football games, classes, and residences we shared together. There was time spent with our favorite friends there, along with their precious baby girl - a smart little reader :)

Brown bear, brown bear, what do you see?

We eventually made our way back to Georgia, where it was time to relax and enjoy while having NO wedding planning to consume our time, minds, or destroy our house with endless projects! (Well, they ended, and now I miss them! But I think I'll manage...)

There were game nights, beer nights, friend/family nights, even a trip to the Varsity thrown in between...


...days of 'Just Dance'-ing and delicious home-made frozen drinks (we had to test out all the new wedding gifts) ...

dog days...

painting days...


and trips to the Chattahoochee river (only a 10 minute drive away)...

a trip to Pensacola for Jason & Chiaki's wedding..(more newlyweds!)

a crab boil with friends..


random dinners with friends...


our very own made-up pretzel and beer tour of Atlanta...



town center days...

(apparently, they play frisbee with their feet...?)

more trips to the river...

we watched teens jump off the bridge and realized how old we are because we thought they were kinda stupid..

grizz spent his 4th birthday party here with canine friends...


there were bbq days...


suwanee beer fest...


camping trip in NC...


brunch days...


concert nights...



....and so much more!

There were numerous moments we'd love to have captured, but were too spontaneous for a camera...and moments like that are wonderful. I was thankful to spend so much time with our family and friends.. and our time together with just each other was something we'll always remember.

It was the summer we were married - our summer as newlyweds <3

A few recommendations - from us to you!

J and I had a great weekend. He had the weekend off- no guilt and no thoughts in his mind of having to study, and I know he needed it. It reminded us of our weekends in Tallahassee, when all we had to think about was where to eat or grab drinks next - oh the days! :) We took advantage of the weekend, though, and now he's ready to take on another term (or as ready as he'll ever be I guess!)

I thought I'd make some recommendations for you to try - they come highly recommended from J and myself...

Abita Strawberry Harvest

If you know us well, you know we are beer people. My sister says she doesn't like all of our "fancy beers," but you know this one sounds good! We first came across Abita Strawberry Harvest last spring and sat outside enjoying it often, so when we found it in the liquor store this weekend, we were excited to grab a 6 pack (or 2!) and sit out back on one of our warmest days yet. Yummy, try it!

Keurig Brewing System

We got this as a gift for Christmas - and it's definitely come in handy. With only 2 of us, making a pot of coffee never seems to make sense (especially since I don't drink coffee!) - so this is the perfect solution. J can make a single cup of coffee - using K cups which can be purchased almost anywhere in all different flavors - in just about 2 minutes. It's quick and easy, which is great for us since we are NOT morning people! If you're asking why I would recommend this when I don't even drink coffee, it's because it also makes hot chocolate and tea..Mmm, you can't go wrong :) Oh, and it turns off on it's own after 90 seconds, so you never have to worry about that!

E-mealz.com

I started using E-mealz a little over a month ago and it has been GREAT! It was recommended to me by Carly (one of my fellow med-school wives!) - so thank you - and it's definitely been a benefit for both J and myself. You do have to pay a small cost - with a coupon code, it comes to $1 per week over a 3 month period. They send you a menu every week (I chose the Weight Watchers menu for 2), which gives you 5 meals to make, plus your shopping list broken down aisle by aisle. It's actually made me cook almost every weeknight and we are trying completely different meals than our "usuals." I highly recommend doing this plan to anyone needing that motivation to cook or not wanting to have to think about what to cook or what the sides are going to be.

Front Page News

Any chance we get, we make the 20-25 minute drive into Atlanta to enjoy sitting outside for brunch at Front Page News on Crescent Street. If you live around here or are visiting the area, J and I would say it's a must to eat here. They have a 100-item bloody mary bar, buckets of mimosas, and live jazz on Sundays on the outside patio. It is a New Orleans style restaurant with a wonderful patio that has great ambiance. My personal favorite is the Pain Perdu - french toast topped with pecan butter - and J's favorite is the fried chicken biscuits served with home fries. Delicious :)

That's it for now - enjoy! Tomorrow is Friday - woohoo! Although, this weekend isn't looking too exciting for me. I have CPR/First Aid training on Saturday morning plus an extra hour of Fire Safety training and our first Natural Family Planning class on Sunday at church which I hear will last about 3 hours. Ready for a mini vacation next weekend! See some of you soon :)

Happy Valentine's Day!

Hope everyone had a very Happy Valentine's Day <3

Us almost 9 years ago

This year marked our 9 year anniversary, and our last one before getting married! So everyone keeps telling me it all starts over next year - but I think instead of saying "we've been married a year", I'll have to say "we've been together 10 years!" - It makes a difference (to us, at least!) We got a cute card in the mail from the DiSalvo's for our anniversary, a card from J's grandparents, and a delicious package from J's parents for Valentine's Day (our favorite popcorn from the Boardwalk in Ocean City) - Thank you all!!

J and I bought our wedding bands this weekend - how exciting - so we said no gifts for Valentine's Day. Of course, we had to do a little something though..cause that's just how we are...

My beautiful roses from J

My little package for him

Grizz was treated to a bath at Petsmart, which wore him out

J and I went out for dinner - PF Chang's, yummy! We absolutely love that restaurant and we had a gift card, so that worked out nicely! We ate dessert at home, and then went to bed early - a night of no studying for J - and it was nice for both of us :)

We had a Valentine's Day party at school for the kids - it was fun watching them do the "Valentine exchange" for their first time as Pre-K'ers, and I know they enjoyed it! Speaking of the kids, they have all been sick lately with this weather, which means I have been sick as well. Twice in the past 3 weeks, and it's no fun. We had even more snow last week..

Hoping that was the last of the year!

At least we'll be heading to South Florida next month, it can't come soon enough! And J will have a whole week off of school for his spring break. I'm sure he'll spend most days out on his mountain bike (he loves all the trails around here) - so another reason to hope for warm weather.

I've been able to check a few more things off the wedding list, which feels great, as we are only 4 months away! Visit our site: