Weekend Disappointment - Missing B & B's Wedding

Kyle and I were suppose to be guests at a dear friends wedding in Atlanta right now. But unfortunately we are sitting at home watching football in our typical weekend clothes instead of wearing the black tux and beautiful black dress we should have on. One of Kyle's groomsman's, Baxter Underwood, is marrying his beloved Brittany today whom we still can't wait to meet. It's amazing to see how when God brings the right person into one's life, two really become better than one. Kyle and I can already tell without having the privilege of meeting Brittany yet that she has really added so much to Baxter's life. God is really good! 

Here is the disappointing story to why Kyle and I are not at B & B's wedding. I had my 32 week doctors appointment on Wednesday; baby Taplin is growing right on schedule based on my measurements and weight gain (which I am not going to disclose the grand total thus far). However I had some concerns with a decrease in movements from Taplin and a change to his normal schedule plus an increase in Braxton Hicks contractions (my belly has been tightening about every hour). The doctor put me on the monitor and the sweet boy didn't move at all within the 30 minutes of observation. So I was sent for an ultrasound finding out that everything is perfect and the stubborn boy finally decided to move (I am assuming he was getting tired of being probed). I still didn't really ask the doctor if it was okay for me to travel this weekend assuming that a 45 minute flight to Atlanta wouldn't hurt me or the darling boy. 

The next part leaves me to believe that the Lord was telling Kyle and I a big "NO". Kyle went to check us into our flights on Thursday and found out that our flights to Atlanta had been booked for the weekend before. I figured there would be a solution to our problem so I proceeded to get on the phone with Airtran. I convinced the girl to retrofit our tickets and give us a credit hoping we could put it towards another flight. As Kyle and I searched every airline looking for a reasonable priced all we came up with was $1600 for us both round trip. Ugh... that was not in our price range. So we figured we would endure the 14 hour round trip drive to make it to both the rehearsal dinner and wedding.

The more we discussed and thought about it and took everything from this week into consideration we made the decision that this 8 months pregnant girl didn't need to go anywhere. I have been grounded in Florida a week earlier than expected but trusting that God's will and plan were better than ours and he thwarted the plans of this stubborn girl. So here we are in Winter Park for the weekend and so disappointed we aren't in Atlanta to celebrate the marriage of our darling friend, Baxter to his bride Brittany. Cheers from afar to B & B...  until our rendezvous in the springtime!

Cinnamon Cream Cake

 

One of my favorite spots in Dallas is Corner Bakery.  I was reminded of my love for there Cinnamon Cream Cake recently when I was in Chicago. I could not pass up on the decadence. Upon my return I was on the hunt for a recipe and I found one that is so comparable. It's been tested and approved by a dinner party for 6. If you love Cinnamon you are going to love this recipe. 

Topping and Filling:
1/2 cup sugar
2/3 cup brown sugar
2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp. ground nutmeg
2 sticks salted butter, melted
2 2/3 cups flour

Cake:
3 cups flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt
1/2 cup butter, room temp, cut into pieces
1/2 cup vegetable shortening
1 1/2 cups sugar
5 eggs
1 1/2 tsp. almond extract
2 cups sour cream
 
Preheat oven to 350. Combine topping ingredients in a large bowl and combine with a wooden spoon. You want big chunks of this topping and filling. Next, combine flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a medium size bowl, set aside. Grease 10 inch tube pan very well. In a large bowl cream butter, shortening, and sugar until very light. Beat in the eggs one at a time. Mix in almond extract. Add the dry cake ingredients alternately with the sour cream. The batter will be very thick. Spoon half of the cake batter into the prepared pan. Sprinkle half of the topping mixture over the batter, then the remaining cake batter, then remaining topping. Press the final topping layer into the cake layer very gently, just to make sure it “sticks”. Bake in the center of the oven for 1 hour and 15 minutes, but check at the 55 minute point. Test for doneness. Cool in pan about 5-10 minutes. Loosen sides of cake with knife and invert onto a wire rack to finish cooling. Enjoy!

The Bourne Daily is HERE

The Bourne Daily is here! After months or more like a year of trying to start a new blog; I am finally writing my first post. I figured I needed to get back into the swing of things before little Robert "Taplin" makes his appearance as he is expected to arrive on December 14th. So I began with killing the old blog PurelySmitten and starting fresh since God has brought so many exciting life changes since March 2011 when I moved back to Louisville to start a new job at GE.

I had no idea what all was in store for me - that God would provide Kyle just months after this crazy girl bought a wedding dress in Dallas without a single prospect, that we would get engaged just 2 months after dating, and married 3 months later. I couldn't even fathom that one day I would live outside Orlando in a darling place like Winter Park and that I would be blessed with a Home and an the gift of a son within 6 months of being married. So get excited as I am sure this blog will be chalked full of even more unexpected surprises from the Lord that will bring joy and even times of sadness. Oh and I bet it will also be full of yummy and exciting new recipes like the last but specially full of my trials and errors in making baby food (as this is a new goal of mine), plus Kyle and my adventures in becoming new parents, and all the other exciting things God has in store for the two of us. So let's go...