Dark chocolate iced coffee!

This coffee drink was one of my go-to drinks the last few weeks of the semester. I was very low on scholarship money (womp womp) and super-slammed with readings and papers to wrap up, so I wanted to find a new coffee fix that was easy on the budget and just as fancy as visiting a coffee shop.

Thus, the dark chocolate iced coffee was born!

I altered this recipe to make a cold brewed iced coffee base and then added some delicious dark chocolate almond milk. Mmm, it's like an iced mocha that's sorta good for you. Want to make it? Here's how.

Ingredients:

2/3 c coursely ground coffee (I think that a dark roast works best)

3 c cold water 

dark chocolate almond milk, to taste

You can double or triple this recipe too, just depends on how large a glass container you have to store it in. I like to double the batch and drink it for a few days.

What you need to do: 

Grind your beans on a course setting (or have them ground at a coffee shop for you). Enjoy the smell of those beans as you're doing so. Measure out 2/3 cups coffee and place in a pretty glass container of your choosing. Pour cold water on top, give it a stir, cover, and set in the fridge for 4-8 hours minimum, but the longer the better! Leaving the glass in the fridge overnight is a good choice.

Strain the coffee out using a fine mesh strainer or cheese cloth, rinse out your jar, and put the coffee back in. Viola! You've got a super versatile coffee base just waiting to be made into something amazing. (Sidenote: This base is good for Vietnamese coffee and minty iced coffee too, both of which will be coming to the blog soon.) 

I like to set my coffee right next to my chocolate almond milk so it knows its fate.

Fill a glass half full, add plenty of ice, and pour that dark chocolate almond milk over the top. Stir, taste, and add more milk or coffee depending on what you're feelin' that day. You're set! Ahhhhhhh... so good.

If you make this, let me know how you like it. This would be awesome with any kind of fancy milk or creamer. French vanilla coconut milk is also simply devine, but so is good old fashioned half and half. If you are opting to go the milk or cream route and like your coffee sweet, I recommend making Vanessa's recipe with the light brown sugar and cinnamon that it calls for. It's. so. so. good.

Happy coffee making!

This time, last year.

Here we are again, strolling down (my) memory lane. Here's what was happening, this time last year!

I spent lots of time taking walks, runs and bike rides down by the river behind my house. Summer was just around the corner (or, at least it felt that way), we were saying goodbye to our spring interns, and everyone was getting ready for tons of beach times and special summertime celebrations. 

My old house in Rockledge!

Harbor and I took a roadtrip to St. Augustine for paletas and fun times with our friends.

My little brother graduated form Florida State, too! And now he's already completed his first year in his Audiology program at Northwestern. He's a very smart dude.

Harbor and I had a really fun time at a fair last year, too. Hmm, I wonder if we'll be able to go to a fair this year too... 

That's what I was up to at the end of April, one year ago. Until next time!

Engagement photos (part 1)

Part one of our engagement photos took place in one of my best friends' apartment complexes. She had asked me to snap a few special one-year anniversary photos of her and her sweet husband early one morning, and I feel in love with the light coming through the trees and vines during the shoot, and how gorgeous the shots came out. Lindsey is going to be one of my beautiful bridesmaids (one of seven actually!) and shortly after Harbor and I got engaged she offered to give us a free engagement photoshoot! I was so delighted. As she and I were brainstorming locations for the few days we'd set aside for photos, her apartment complex immediately came to mind. 

So, one afternoon before Harbor and I headed over to Jacksonville for the weekend for a wedding, we got off work/out of school, freshened up, dressed up, and took some photos as the clouds were rolling in with a huge storm! 

It's just so unbelievable how pretty these photos came out given the circumstances, but that's the magic of Lindsey. (Check our her work here and here!) 

 

Well, that's all for now! I'll be sharing some more sweet photos soon.

A Fisheye2 view just for you.

I found this draft the other day, and totally forgot that I wanted to share some of them with ya. 

Last month I picked up my lastest roll of film from the drug store. I can't remember how far back some of these photos go, so I'll just share them all out of order and without context. (Sound inconvenient?) I really have missed carrying around a camera, so now I'm itching to finish off the other roll I have waiting for me in my Minolta.

Don't get too dizzy looking at these photos all in a row. You've been warned!

Here's a great set of our future family! Harbor, Kaitlyn and little Matilda. The tiniest little family in all the land.

K

Coming soon: Engagement Photos!

Hey guys! The semester is wrapping up (yay!) and I'm getting married in less than six months (double yay!).

Want to see some of our engagement photos? I hope you do, because I have a few posts coming your way over the next week just so I can share them and brag on my handsome fiancé and share some of our wedding details. Wedding planning has been going really smoothly, and that is 50% thanks to our amazing friends who continue to bless us, and 50% due to my recently self-diagnosed WDSP syndrome (wedding-dreamer-student-procrastination syndrome). I'm also thinking about putting together a wedding planning post or two. We'll see what I can accomplish over the weekend. I'm probably getting a little too overzealous in the blog post department, considering my recent track record. I just miss posting, is all!

Oh, and also coming over the weekend... a little post about home brewed iced coffee recipes just in time for summer.

You drooling yet?

;)

Playing dress-up.

Lately I've been crazy, crazy, crazy busy.

With only four more weeks of school, I'm waking up every morning and giving myself a pep talk on how to get through the day in order to effectively balance my wedding planning with my school work with my research and my fun times too! (Phew.) But, for the most part, I've been having a blast with it all.

The wedding dress hunt has been really interesting. I guess I'm not the person who tries on "the one" and just knows it's right, because I always think about how much I'm spending, and if I'm matching my theme well enough, etc. However, it's still really nice to feel pretty and elegant.

Plus, it never hurts to take time out and dress up. I was Katniss for The Hunger Games midnight premiere last night. (I'm still paying for that decision today.)

Have a great weekend, everyone!

K

Tomorrow night, it's on!

I'd say that photo up there about sums it up.

Harbor and I have tickets to one of the midnight screenings of The Hunger Games in Tallahassee tomorrow night. Like many of you, it's hard to believe that the wait is nearly over and the movie is only one more sleep away. Though I had contemplated dressing up like Katniss, I don't have anything ready to go for tomorrow, so we'll see if I end up getting snazzy and dressing up for the premiere. We'll see. 

Goodnight to all the HG fans out there. Good luck finding good seats at the screening. And may the odds be ever in your favor. 

K

This time, last year.

Happy first day of Spring!

There's something so refreshing about the idea of rebirth for me right now. I've felt rather weighed down with details lately, so tonight I'm practicing stillness and being thankful for things in my life. So, I decided that tonight would be the best night to debut my latest blog feature.

It's called, "This time, last year." The goal is simple, really. I love the iPhoto feature of hopping back exactly a year ago to see what you were doing during that time. Sometimes after I upload my latest photos, I'll take a quick walk down memory lane and see what I was up to this time last year. After I uploaded my photos this afternoon, I looked back a year ago and was amazed at how much time had already passed.

So, without further ado...

This time last year I was printing photos from my dear friend's wedding, heading home from SXSW, and, enjoying some time with family.

Oh yeah, and I still had red hair! I almost forgot. 

I was also eating a lot of frozen yogurt with friends all over the United States. 

Los Angeles, CA

Hollywood, CA

Cocoa, FL

March was a super busy month for me last year. I guess it's not any slower this year with school and wedding planning, but it's certainly less glamorous and travel-savvy. 

What about you? Take a look back and let me know what you were doing this time last year.

K