Oz Girl's Favorite Chocolate Martini

I think it's hard to classify this deelish drink... I mean,

does it fall under alcoholic beverages, or desserts?!

In either case, here's the recipe to make

just enough for one person to savor:

One jigger* Godiva dark chocolate liqueur

One jigger vanilla vodka

One jigger half and half

Rim your martini glass with vanilla flavored cocktail sugar.  {I found mine at a Williams & Sonoma store quite a few years ago.  It's pricey, but it lasts a long time!} If you don't have any decadent vanilla sugar, you can use regular ole sugar.  Drizzle some chocolate syrup around the inside of your martini glass.

Mix the above liquid ingredients in a shaker with ice, shaking hard so some of the ice breaks up into lil teeny bits.  Strain the drink into your martini glass, letting some of the teeny ice shreds through to keep your drink chilled. Alternately, you could just drink it fast and not worry about your martini losing its chill.... I mean, dessert is meant to be inhaled, right?

There are several Godiva chocolate liqueurs on the market ~ milk chocolate, white chocolate and a dark chocolate (the original), plus mocha and their newest concoction, a caramel milk chocolate liqueur.  I haven't tried this last one yet, but it sure sounds yummy. Or if you don't want to spend all your hard earned dough on a Godiva liqueur, try using some creme de cacao, either the dark or light. For variety, you could add some Bailey's, or Kahlua for an espresso flavored martini. 

This is the perfect drink if you want to feel like you've just left that big snow pile you call home and pretend you're sitting at the cutest lil island bar somewhere on St. Thomas!  {wink}

Click on the above beach badge to head on over

to Dave's Beachwarming Party!

• A jigger is larger than a shot, 1.5 oz to be precise.  What the hay, throw in 2 oz of each ingredient and make yourself a bigger martini.

Fun Spring Giveaways!

I'm going to get the word out about several great giveaways at some of my bloggy friends sites, so listen up y'all!

First up is a beautiful hooked rug by Jane Augenstein, My World in Pictures. Jane has crafted some amazing hooked rugs, and they are all her own original designs. Now she is offering her Golden Pony design (retail value $115.00) in a giveaway! How cool is that. Go directly to her blog post with the hooked rug here, but be sure to enter before March 1st. She has also set up a new website to showcase and sell her rugs at Liberty Homestead Rugs. Check them out sometime, leave her a comment or just go ahead and buy one!

Second, Misha at From My Front Porch in the Mountains is having an awesome spring giveaway with all kinds of goodies ~ you have until Tuesday, March 2, at 7:00 pm (Eastern time) to enter her contest.  Run over there and check it out, she's got a ton of goodies in this giveaway. 

Third is a new blogger I found tonight through Misha's blog... Simply Stated Aesthestics and Simply Stated Antiques.  Rebecca is having a wonderful giveaway, a "package overflowing with all sorts of goodies" that will include your choice of tea or coffee from Heavenly Cup, but you have to enter before March 1st, so get on over there right now and enter!  You can enter her contest on either one of her blogs, but click here if you want to get there fast.

Last (but not least!) is another new blogger I found via Simply Stated Aesthetics.  Coastal Charm is giving away two (2) fresh, crisp $20 bills to two lucky winners.  Enter before March 10 to have a chance to add a 20-spot to your billfold.  Click here to go right to Linda's giveaway.

These are all fun giveaways, but bottom line, all of these women are fantastic bloggers, and you would love to add them to your following list.  I know I enjoy reading Misha's and Jane's blogs, and I'm looking forward to following Rebecca and Linda too, now that I've found them.

A Little of This, and a Little of That

It's a beautiful sunny day today... isn't it amazing what the sun can do for a person's outlook?  You can't help but feel more cheerful and have an agreeable disposition and outlook on life.  Perhaps I'll take the furkids on a walk around the property later this afternoon...

As promised in my last post, I've put up a dog book giveaway at my Lazy G Ranch website.  So hop on over and make a comment to enter... you have until Sunday the 28th.  Earn extra points if you tweet, facebook or post on your blog about my book giveaway ~ just let me know in your comment if you do so.  Subscribe to the Lazy G blog and earn an extra 5 points!

Since several of my readers have asked about my grandmother, I want to let y'all know that upon my departure from Ohio she was doing exceptionally well.  No longer at death's door, she was not only eating and taking her meds voluntarily, but she was up and about, going to eat in the nursing home dining room and meeting other ladies.  So I think she's got quite a bit more time here on this lovely planet, contrary to the doctor's prognosis.  Thank you to everyone who asked about her, and for all your good wishes and prayers.

While in Ohio, I found several old photo albums at her house.  If only I had drove to Ohio, then I would have brought those home with me and reorganized them (many are falling out of the binders) and then scanned several to add to my post here.  I should have selected a few photos to bring back home with me, but alas, I did not.  There's a wealth of old, old family photos there.  Our great-aunts were fascinated with the family genealogy, and so I did manage to snag many of their written research materials.  I've started a family tree on  Ancestry.com {just another of my many projects that I don't seem to have the appropriate amount of time to devote} but as soon as I can get back to it, it promises to provide an additional wealth of information.  In the materials that my great-aunts put together, I have family names dating back to 1769; Leonard Barnes, who was born that year, would be my great-great-great-great-great grandfather!!  Five generations ago, how cool is that?

 

The above photo sits right here by my computer; I've had it a long time. This is my great-great grandfather Joshua (also my son's name) and his wife Sarah, married Christmas eve 1885.  Joshua was 24, Sarah was only 17.   Joshua passed away in August 1936, Sarah in January 1942.

When I get those photo albums back home, I'll have lots more really cool old pics to post.  I'd like to put up some pics of my gramma, both in her younger days and more recent photos too.

Now I did say "a little of this and a little of that" in my post... here's something else on my agenda these days...

This is a baby quilt I started for my son and his wife, oh, about 3 years ago?  Some of you may know that they had a miscarriage in 2006, and then another in 2007, and possibly a few more before they even knew they were pregnant.  It's been a rocky road for them, but this time it appears we're going to have a new family member by June...I'm going to be a grammy!  Soooo, upon my return from Ohio last week, I removed the above quilt from my living room chest because now I need to finish this bugger.  I am hand quilting inside each heart and around each heart, then I need to get some yarn to do some random hand tying in the border.  Wish me luck... this is my first official quilt project!!

 close-up of the heart detail

This is the book, below, that I adapted my heart quilt from... I know this isn't the best picture, but you can kinda see the heart quilt on the cover of the book here.  I like the country look of their quilt (it's a button quilt) and maybe I'll even do a second one like it... I modified mine for a baby with the soft, muted natural tones.  If you're interested in this book, it can be purchased at Gooseberry Patch.  It's a wonderful book with really cool country designs and recipes too!

I think that's enough of "this and that" for this post... stay tuned for my next post, as we discuss a unique and adorable alternative to staying at hotels which may have bedbugs!!  

And for your reading pleasure, here's a recent news article in the Wichita Eagle ...  I think if you are travelling through our wonderful state, you may want to think twice about staying in ANY of our hotels.  Seriously.  Any of my readers are more than welcome to stay at our place.  We would love to have y'all!