Our Alphabet of Marriage: The Sweetest DIY Gift of Love Ever

In November my husband and I celebrated 21 amazingly difficult, breathtaking, wonder-filled years of marriage. We have experienced the "don't blink you don't want to miss one second of this" adventures of a lifetime, unfortunately we have also experienced enough loss for a lifetime, as well as everything in between. 

The more we have experienced the loss of loved ones, the more we have come to a place where "things" just don't hold as much value. The idea of working our patooshkies off resulting in more time taken away from our family in order to have more stuff, well let's say it has lost it's luster in our eyes. 

This can pose a bit of a problem for us during the "Gift-giving Holidays" of our culture. You know which ones they are, right? The ones that have all the commercials, magazine ads, and store decorations helping direct you to the oh-so perfect gift to show your undying love. If you pay close attention you may even recognize a grading scale on how deep your love truly is - the BIGGER diamond shows you love them that much more, the newest techie toy, the brand name clothing. The hope that after the recipient has gently removed the wrap and tipped open the box you might hear them utter these three simple words: "Oh...you didn't..."  

{Please don't get me wrong here - our family still has a love attraction to the stuff. We just have more inner turmoil that goes along with it. It doesn't "feel" the same as it once did. It has now become more of a love/hate relationship. So, we try to be more purposeful.}

On the day of our Anniversary my Husband was working on being more purposeful. He painstakingly lovingly searched around on the web for thoughtful ideas with a dyno-mite love punch. I am not certain of what he found or where, but he was inspired to create a very thoughtful gift. It didn't come in pretty wrap, it wasn't professionally done... yet it is my most cherished  gift I have from him. 

You see I found him the morning of our Anniversary sitting in a chair with his Bible and a spiral notebook in hand. He appeared pensive as I entered the room so I retreated back into the kitchen to give him some space. About an hour later he gifted me with the precious piece of ink scribbled notebook paper he had recently torn from one of the kids spiral notebooks. {See photo above} At the top of the page was written "Alphabet of Marriage" A through Z he had listed out the hopes, dreams and experiences that have glued us together.

There were a few misspellings & scratched over words but that only made it more precious to me. It was simply beautiful and truly heart touching. It was a line by line reflection of what our lives together were made of. Some of the life-line reflections had me in tears & some had me laughing. It was the PERFECT Anniversary Gift my heart had been unknowingly longing for. 

So if  you haven't already lined up your next token of love, I think this would make a sweet valentines gift for a husband to give a wife, a wife to give a husband, a child to give a parent - or even a gift for a friend. The title can be changed to reflect the Alphabet of Love, or the Alphabet of Our Friendship. Mothers Day, Fathers Day, Best Friends Day or Birthdays: this can be modified to make a very nostalgic & sentimental gift.

I hope this inspires you to take some time to reflect on your relationships & encourages you to let those special people in your lives know just how much they mean to you. They were written into your story with a purpose.

-Simply Sublime

Let them EAT Cake: Best Ever Birthday Cake Recipe's & Easy DIY Decorating

When in doubt...ADD RIBBON!

recipe found at add a pinch and listed below

This was so EASY-PEASY...and I think it turned out super-duper cute. 

To be quite honest this happened by total accident. I was frosting the cake and thought it needed a little extra something. Oh yes indeed,  I do have all of the proper wilton cake decorating tubes, tips and ingredients to whip up something beautiful but... to be quite frank... I didn't want to put in the effort. Yeah, Mom of the year award here. But let me explain why before you go judging my lack of love effort here. I had been cooking up my daughter's favorite Italian Feast of bread sticks from scratch, Steak Gorgonzola and a Chicken Fettucine...ALL.DAY.LONG! This cake decorating was the final step, whew. 

So, as I was looking at this flatly frosted creation I decided to pull out that "easy" gun frosting shooter thingy (cake decorator) that can be used for making all food dishes pretty... a'hem. Yeah, right, maybe deviled eggs once a year on Easter.

My frosting was a bit soft but I was in a slam-jam hurry so, I slopped it into the tube and started shooting my cake around the rim with little star point slabby dots,  rather unsuccessfully. UGH! Okay...when in doubt ADD MORE! Lets run a little around the base of the cake. Eh...not much better. Somehow these little additions to the cake were actually drawing the eye to the imperfections and making it look even sadder. Atleast to me anyway. AND, I wanted a HAPPY cake. Yes, I said it ... a HAPPY CAKE! 

Then as if hit in the head by the most brilliant brainstorm ever I remembered the adorable bright hot pink polka dot ribbon in the the wrap drawer. Ahhh...... lovely, just lovely. That paired with the adorable long sparkler candles we picked up and the cake was complete. Pretty cute, huh?

Now for this little beauty - Toasted Coconut Layer Cake with Coconut Butter Cream

Recipe at Food Network & Listed below

This Coconut Layer Cake photo and recipe has been waiting to blog about since July but just after I made it we were off to Africa. So, it has sat waiting oh-so-patiently for it's BIG reveal. 

This is one of my favorite Chef's {Bobby Flay's}recipes from a show called Throwdown. You can't really see my layers in the photo...but they are there. I should have turned my sliced cake layer over so it would show up better when cut. Lesson learned.

Some cakes just don't need much decorating, and this is one of those. The toasted coconut on it makes it simply divine...like eye candy at it's best. I guess for those unfortunate souls who don't like coconut it may lack some luster but we LOVE us some coconut in this fam!

The recipe on this one is a bit more involved with many more steps than the chocolate cake - but it required less decorating. Can I say I could have dove in the bowl and ate each of the layers before they were even assembled? Yes, it is all THAT GOOD! 

There is something so rewarding about whipping out a homemade Birthday Cake! I can't remember the last time we purchased a birthday cake - because my kids are always excited to dig into the home made YUM-FEST created for their special day. It really doesn't take a lot - but think about what it adds to your home. Your kiddos SEE you creating something to celebrate them, they also SMELL the deliciousness wafting throughout the rooms of your home in the process, and finally they get to TASTE the yumminess of what you made on their behalf. Can you picture it - it is like a Hallmark Greeting Card or Norman Rockwell scene right? Okay, okay - well, life isn't about perfection - it is about the enjoying the process. 

Just remember you don't have to be a professional baker or cake decorator to pull this off. Ribbon and fun candles can make all the difference. Some curled chocolate or toasted coconut can add a lil' extra yum factor and eye appeal. Just relax and have fun with it. Your kids will notice your deposit of love in action.

Okay here are the recipes: 

{or you can clink on the links under the photos and print them out}

Watch what God does, and then you do it, like children who learn proper behavior from their parents. Mostly what God does is love you. Keep company with him and learn a life of love. Observe how Christ loved us. His love was not cautious but extravagant. He didn’t love in order to get something from us but to give everything of himself to us. Love like that. -Eph. 5:2

-Simply Sublime

Nate's Birthday Cake Request: Best Easy Yummy Gooey Chocolate Chunk Bundt Cake Recipe

Today I am sharing with you a simple, easy and yummy cake recipe that ends up tasting super yumm-o-licious. It is a dense, moist, gooey rich chocolate cake that is beautiful as well. This cake was on the requested menu for our son Nate's 9th Birthday Celebration Bash. He thinks this cake is the best cake ever! The BOMB.com. 

Okay - call me a snob-o-chef but typically I really prefer to whip up my kitchen creations from scratch. I love combining a lot of randomness to create something divinely delicious. I mean how many of you just can't wait to get into the kitchen to gulp down a little cocoa powder, or sprinkle a lil' baking soda in your mouth. Gross, right? Yet...Something magical happens when we combine odd tasting  individual ingredients together - they end up creating a symphony for our taste buds to experience. I LOVE this!

Saying this however, every once in awhile our family will stumble into a recipe that asks for an ingredient we wouldn't typically consider. This is one of those recipes. Years ago I got this cookbook from a dear friend that has a recipe in it with a boxed cake mix as the base. It had yummy add-ins - espresso powder, sour cream, pudding.... hmmm....might be worth a try. 

Indeed it was! We have probably made this cake once a year ever since. (Which is saying a lot because we really like trying new things) 

First you will want a fluted pan. Check out this vintage lovely - it is my Mom's. I have even had to tape the box to keep it in one piece. I can't begin to tell you how many sugary sensations we have whipped up with this little treasure. 

Ingredients you will need:

• 1    Box Chocolate Cake Mix
• 4    Eggs
• 1    Cup Sour Cream
• 1    3.9oz Instant Chocolate Pudding
• 1/2 Cup Oil
• 1/2 Cup Water
• 1/4 Cup Espresso Powder
• 1    box (8 squares) Semi Sweet Baking Chocolate (chopped)
• 2    Tbsp. Powdered Sugar

Make sure you get your chocolate squares chopped up.

My secret ingredient is the BEST coffee in the whole world. We bring this back with us from Tanzania. I grind this up on the finest setting in my burr grinder and use 1/4 Cup to  1/3 Cup in the batter. Just toss the ground beans straight into the mix. (This is my espresso powder) Espresso powder enhances the cocoa flavor without adding much coffee flavor. 

PreHEAT oven to 350°F.

BEAT all ingredients except espresso powder, chopped chocolate and powdered sugar in large bowl with mixer until well blended. Once it is mixed nicely you can add in the espresso powder & chopped chocolate. Hand stir until well mixed.

 POUR batter into 12-cup fluted tube pan or 10-inch tube pan sprayed with cooking spray. The batter will need some assistance being spooned out as it is quite thick. 

BAKE   for 45 minutes or until toothpick inserted near center comes out clean. Cool cake in pan 10 min. Loosen cake from side of pan with knife. Invert cake onto wire rack; gently remove pan. Cool cake completely. Transfer to plate just before serving; sprinkle with 2 Tbsp. powdered sugar.

Here is Nate's finished Birthday Cake. Can you say YUM! A dense, gooey chocolatey YUM-FEST!!! Let's just say there was only one slice left over. Super easy and super yummy!

-Simbly Sublime