HELLO WEEKEND
How about that lilac though? The lilac trees are blooming all over my city and it makes me so happy. I really want to plant one of these beauties in the future!!
I have today off (!!!!) so I'm pretty pumped to get a jump start on the weekend. I have plans to hang with one of my besties, hit up a baby store and do some projects around the house. I borrowed a friend's battery charger so I can finally shoot and show you the progress on the nursery and the complete bathroom before! Our tile floor arrived and we are getting sooo excited to start this reno....it's crazy because after reno, it will be a few weeks until the lion comes...sooo insane!!!
I can't believe I'm 32 weeks pregnant. Next week I'll post my 8 month pregnancy update but man, time is flying by!!! We had another amazing prenatal class this Tuesday and man oh man, it's getting REAL! We assembled our stroller (we bought this one with the tan fabric off Used Victoria and love it so far) and my heart melts whenever I look at it. So excited for summer walks with my boy eeeeeeee!!
I defs took advantage of the Sephora sale earlier this week. I didn't get any new blush but I did go with this foundation instead of this one. I'll try it out this weekend and report to you on Monday how it is!
Okay swimsuit season is coming up and I'll be rocking the postpartum bod so I'm in search of a cute one piece...how sweet is this one (in black obvs)? I love how J Crew gives you every option in each pattern! And oh my gosh, have you seen these ban.do pool floaties?
I'm 100% obsessed with snapchat these days. Seriously, I'm on it more than instagram lols. I'm posting lots of stories, so follow along if you like baby things and cats and flowers lols (@lauraliira)
Hope you have a wonderful weekend!
XO,
laura
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CLASSIC CARROT CAKE WITH CREAM CHEESE ICING
Oh, carrot cake, I love you. Over Easter weekend I made not one, but two carrot cakes! I made my first ever carrot cake from scratch at my birthday last year and it was delicious so I decided to make it again for Easter. For my birthday cake and the second cake made over Easter, I used a recipe from The Hummingbird Bakery Cookbook. For the first one over Easter, I used this recipe. We definitely preferred the Hummingbird one so I'll post that one below. The other one was yummy but it was much drier than the Hummingbird one and I'm all about moist cakes!
CLASSIC CARROT CAKE WITH CREAM CHEESE ICING
Ingredients:
- 1 1/2 cups packed light brown sugar
- 3 eggs
- 1 1/4 sunflower oil
- 2 1/3 cups flour
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp ginger
- 1/2 tsp nutmeg
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/4 tsp vanilla extract
- About 3 carrots grated
Cream Cheese Frosting Ingredients:
- 2 1/4 cups cream cheese (1.5 bricks), room temperature
- 1/2 cup butter, room temperature
- 1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 3 cups powdered sugar
Directions:
- Preheat the oven to 325.
- Put the sugar, eggs and oil in an electric mixer with the paddle attachment and beat until well incorporated. Slowly add the flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, salt and vanilla and continue to beat until well mixed.
- Stir in the grated carrots (and nuts/raisins if you want to add those) by hand until they are evenly dispersed.
- Pour the batter into the prepared cake pans (3 8 inch or 2 9inch, lined with parchment paper) and smooth over. Bake in the preheated over for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown and the cake bounces when touched. Let the cake layers cool slightly in the pans before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.
- While the cake is cooling, make cream cheese icing by beating the cream cheese and butter in an electric mixer for 1 minute on medium speed until smooth. Add in vanilla extract and salt and continue mixing. Add in powdered sugar and beat at med-high until smooth (add more powdered sugar if it's too runny).
- Once the cake is cooled completely, transfer the layers to a cake stand and ice away!
- Enjoy :)
So there you have it, my favourite recipe for carrot cake!
XO,
laura
HELLO WEEKEND
Hello Friday!
First of all, sorry for the lack of posting!! Work has been busy, my night's have been filled with things and when I'm finally ready to sit down and write it's past 10pm and my body is like SLEEEEEP. But work calms down a bit later this month so here's to hoping I'll be posting a bit more!
I have so much to tell you. We're reno-ing our bathroom at the end of this month! The nursery is half done! I have big plans to do awesome posts but I can't flipping find my camera battery charger anywhere so I haven't been able to take photos :(
I went to chiro yesterday and it was the best. I'm all about that cracking..and getting the bod ready for birth. James and I started our pre-natal classes at the hospital this week and wow, we learned so much and still have three more classes! I'm 31 weeks pregnant which means baby liira arrives in 9ish weeks (AHHHHH!!) James has been in full on nesting mode and it's finally starting to hit me aka I washed the bugaboo cover last night...that counts right???
Any of you guys hitting Sephora this weekend to take advantage of the sale? I'm in need of my concealer, foundation, and moisturizer...but that's all too boring so I may purchase a new blush because it's spring :)
Speaking of spring...it's gorgeous here in Victoria! Oh and Vogue posted about my good ol city (so random, but yay!!)
Hope you all have a great weekend!
XO,
laura
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PRINTABLE APRIL CALENDAR!
Happy April 1st everybody! I didn't see any April fool's pranks anywhere and I'm pretty pumped about that because I'm very gullible and fall for everything!!
Well Spring has officially come to my city. Flowers are blooming everywhere and the sun is shining! It's gone up about 10 degrees, I swear. I hope it stays like this until summer but chances are, the rain will make it's way back at some point.
April is here! Can you believe a quarter of the year is done? INSANE! And you know what else is crazy? I'm 30 weeks pregnant...10ish weeks until I get to see my little lion....weeeeee!!!
CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE APRIL CALENDAR
Happy Friday!
XO,
laura
SO LOVED
It's Good Friday & Easter weekend and amidst the craziness of organizing services for almost 2000 people, my heart is reminded to pause and remember the why of it all.
For God SO LOVED the world that HE GAVE His one and only son.
I am loving the simple crossequalslove campaign from Hillsong because it puts the message out so clearly and simply. He loves you.
Happy Easter weekend everyone. If you're looking for a church to attend, come to mine :) I guarantee you'll be surprised.
xoxo,
laura