DIY Cinnamon Coffee Cafe Muffins

Hello everyone!

Talk about YUM! After trying a few Pinterest recipes (and failing greatly) I decided to experiment and combine some recipes and came up with this! It makes 12 regular sized muffins which I feel is perfect, not too much not too little! And you can easily double the recipe.

Here's What You'll Need
- Muffin tin
- Cooking spray
- Kitchen Aid* great, but not required
- Measuring cups
- Mixing bowl

For the muffins
- 1 1/2 cups of all purpose flour
- 1/2 cup light brown sugar
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 1/4 tsp baking soda
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 1/3 cup canola oil
- 3/4 cup milk
- 2 large eggs

For the crumble
- 1/3 cup granulated sugar
- 1/3 cup light brown sugar
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1/2 cup butter (1 stick)
- 1 1/4 cup flour

For the glaze
- 1/2 cup confectioners' sugar
- 1 tsp milk (and add by the 1/2 tsp PRN)

1) Preheat your oven to 375 degrees. Spray cooking spray in the muffin tin.
2) Combine all the dry ingredients for the muffins in a mixing bowl and then add in the wet ingredients after sifting together well.
3) For the crumble combine all ingredients except the butter, then using a whisk add the butter half at a time. It should crumble easily in between your fingers.
4) Fill the muffin tin spots halfway up with the muffin mix. Fill the other half with the crumble (to the top of the tins).
5) Bake for 14-16 minutes or until a fork comes out clean.
6) Let cool for 10 minutes then place on a cooling rack with parchment paper below it.
7) Take the glaze and sprinkle over the tops of the muffins.

There you have it! They turned out looking pretty darn good, and don't taste bad either ;)! I was so happy to finally have a recipe that works. Have you made these types of muffins before? Do you think there is anything else I could add to make it even better? Let me know! And of course while I was trying to get pictures of the muffins this little cutie had to be a model ;).

Thanks for reading!
- Olivia :)

#BookWorm: Infinite in Between

Hello fellow readers,

On one of my trips to the library recently I picked up this random book called Infinite In Between based on an Amazon recommended read (yes seriously love their recommendations list) and it turned out to be enjoyable. This book was nothing super special in itself, nothing life altering or crazy ending, but an easy, get your mind off of life and just read kind of book. The premise was about five teenage freshmen who got randomly lumped together on their first day of high school in a group project. They all wrote letters to themselves and made a pact to read them on their graduation day.

Over all this book was pretty predictable and happy-go-lucky.  Everything seemed to work out the way you would think for the most part for the characters and I loved how they all connected back to each other in the end since in the beginning they were unknown to each other. Somewhere I read something about how in this book this crazy ending happened that brought them all back together, but to me it wasn't really so crazy. One thing I did like about this book was that the school actually made kids do an activity together in separate groups and I think the letter idea would have been interesting for kids to take part in. I guess if everyone did it, it would lose its meaning, but I love looking back at things from high school and shaking my head at my thirteen to sixteen year old self wondering what the heck I was thinking and how dramatic I thought life was back then. You grow up and you learn and its good to have things like journals and notes to look back on to see that you actually have come a long way even though it may not feel like it. Rating for this book would be a 7/10. Nothing spectacular, a good read, but not the most amazing story ever.

Loving the books I've been finding at our local library lately! Next read is James Dashner's prequel to The Maze Runner, The Kill Order. Can't wait to keep knocking books off my "to read" list! Have you read Infinite In Between? What did you think of it? Any books you're looking forward to read this fall?

Thanks for keeping up,
- Olivia :)

{Real Talk}: French Toast with a Side of Bacon

"I'll have French toast and a side of bacon." That is my usual answer to the question "what will you be having today" at any breakfast or brunch place. I like things unchanging. I rarely sway from my normal patterns of life (including what I order for the first meal of the day if we go out to eat). A year ago I stepped out of my comfort zone, and moved away from all of my friends and family to North Carolina with my new husband. Knowing only one person in the entire state of North Carolina. Yeah, talk about being out of your comfort zone. I posted my blog post on changes (read that one here), having a daily freak out about being far away from home in an unknown place and how scary that was to me. Me and my "French toast and bacon" comfort zone was not readily available. Then the changes kept on coming; a death in the family, a car accident with broken bones, new family members, parents and friends in new relationships, health problems, all while being isolated from the ones we love. Yeah it was hard. There were times I would want to pack my bags and take the first flight back to Florida where everything was "French toast and bacon", except as we found out when we went home last April, things had changed there too. As I wrote in my blog post about what I learned in year one of marriage, I truly had to depend on Madi to be there through all these struggles, which wasn't always easy with both of our schedules being so tight. And yet... 

We LOVE it in Durham. God has blessed us beyond belief with this opportunity to grow together and individually. Looking back on the last year, I wouldn't rather be anywhere else. We've found an awesome church and gotten involved with their ministries weekly, gotten to see the beauty of four seasons, had the chance to work for and go to school at one of the best places in the nation (even if they are the devils), and meet new people who have become friends. I remember around Christmas time being invited to different Christmas events and thinking, "wow people here are so welcoming and friendly!" They really are! I got so lucky with the job I'm in, having great co-workers next to me on the daily, working with some of the most prestigious doctors, and seeing some amazing research take place right before my eyes. So I'm glad I gave Durham a chance, sometimes God's work through change surprises you in the most amazing ways. 

Yeah I still follow patterns, and like things to be complacent. But when things do go for a spin I've been trying to get better on relying on God and trusting in him and his plan through the changes. Proverbs 3:5-6 "Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding." But in the spirit of adapting and growing in change maybe the next time I go to brunch, I'll order something different than French toast and bacon. Who knows, I may just go crazy and adventure out to pancakes ;)

Thanks for keeping up with us,

- Olivia :)