Cranberry Drop Scones

This scone recipe is one from my mom.  She says that they are not nearly as good as the ones she used to eat when she lived in England.  I've never had scones in England, so I don't know, but I personally like these scones just fine.

This is one of my favorite breakfast recipes.  It's easy and quick as well as perfect if you have company over and don't want to spend lots of time baking but still want to have a yummy breakfast.

Cranberry Drop Scones

Ingredients:
3 cups biscuit mix (I use Jiffy's)
1 cup milk
2 Tbs sugar
2 Tbs butter, melted
1/2 cup dried cranberries

Preheat the oven to 425 F.
Mix all of the ingredients together in a bowl until well combined.
Drop the mixture by spoonfuls onto a lightly greased baking sheet.
Then, put a little water on your fingers and smooth the dropped spoonfulls into little mounds.  This will keep the edges that were sticking out from burning. 
Place the scones into the oven and bake for 10 to 12 minutes.

Makes between 20 and 24 scones.

Counting the baking time, the entire process takes about 15 minutes.  Not too difficult for early in the morning.

About Page and Inspirations Page are now up

I've now put up the About page and Inspirations page.  If you click at the top on About, you'll learn how my favorite person (also know as my sister) came to join the blog with me here at Life of Lovely.  Click on the Inspirations page, and you will see some of the blogs that inspire me.  The list is short at the moment because I tend to lean towards books and magazines more for inspirations than the internet. So I'll be adding my favorites in those in the future. Jennifer will be adding her favorites as well.

Book Review of The Party Dress: How to Sew the Best Dress in the Room

Although I wasn't looking to find this book, when I walked by the stand of new books at the public library (one of my favorite places), the cover of this book instantly caught my eye.

The Party Dress Book: How to Sew the Best Dress in the Room by Mary Adams contains sections detailing Mary Adams' career as a designer, being inspired by colors, sewing techniques, and a final section on how to sew your own party dress.  The book also includes a pattern which I was unable to view in this copy.

If you are looking for inspirations on creating dresses that stand out from any other dresses you might see on others, then this book could be what you are looking for.  Especially if you like lots of ruffles and fun colors.

I, personally, don't think that my sewing skills are quite up to creating dresses as beautiful as the dresses shown in the book.  However, I would love to learn to make dresses like those.  So, I've now added the book to my already impossibly long wish list.  Some other books about more basic sewing will probably come before I purchase this one, but then again, I may get it just to look at the inspiring pictures.

One of my favorite book sources

I absolutely adore reading. Since I go through books so quickly sometimes, I find it difficult to keep enough books on hand to read. Which is why I was overjoyed when I discover Project Gutenberg several years ago. It offers a huge collection of free e-books as well as some free audio books. These are books whose copyright in the U.S. have expired allowing them to offer these books to the public. The site has thousands of e-books in various languages which you can read online, on your kindle, ipad, iphone, iwhatever, and also your personal computer.

I downloaded several books to my laptop when I studied abroad in France last semester. Being able to have classic books in English when I was feeling a little homesick was a very good thing, and the books didn't take up any extra space in my suitcase.

The biggest problem that I have with Project Gutenberg is that with the large number of books browsing for interesting reads can be time comsuming so here's a short list of some interesting books that I read last semester.

1. Dracula by Bram Stroker - On a weekend trip to Dubling (birthplace of Bram Stroker), i somehow found myself on a Dracula Haunted Castle Tour. Obviously, I had to read the book after.


2. The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde - Mr. Wilde is another writer from Dublin. I had never read anything by him before, but after seeing his statue lounging in a park in Dublin, I felt that I needed to do a little reading.


3. The Portrait of a Lady by Henry James - This one had been on my reading list for a while, so I decided to go ahead and read it when I had a little downtime during the semester.


4. Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra - Again this is another one that was on my list because I'd heard so many references to it. I haven't finished it yet, but I imagine that I will when the semester starts back.

Welcome

Hello everyone! I've decided to start my first blog. I recently checked the medium salary on my one of my possible career choices and suddenly realized that my chances of making 6 figures any time in the near future are not that high. My life of dreams jetting off every other weekend to some far flung destination and that beautiful old Southern home with a porch all the way around is simply not going to happen for a while, if at all. However, I still intend to live my life in a beautiful way. I don't think that it necessarily takes lots of money to live a lovely life. You are welcome to join in my discoveries of things that allow a person to live well without amassing a huge debt (or any debt at all preferably.)