Friends - I have big news. Right this very second as I am typing this, I am sitting on MY couch in MY house. Yup. Phase Two of the family move is over. For those of you that don't know, we used to live in Charlotte and about two years ago (almost exactly when I found out I was pregnant), my husband got a job in Maryland and we had to pack it all up and move.. that was the last week of June 2010. Here I sit on my exact same couch, in the my exact same living room, in my exact same house --- all moved in (and NOT unpacked) in June 2012. Yup, we moved right back into the house we had left, just plus one little person - Miss Macie! It has been a super odd week for me because I never thought I would live in this house again and yet, here I am. We painted everything to give it fresh life (and get rid of some tenant residue.. ahem). I have lots of fun projects planned for our new/old little house, I can't wait to share some after I unearth all of my supplies in the mountains of boxes.
In other non-blog related news, a brand spanking new Krispy Kreme opened right by our house and yesterday I witnessed a first for me -- people camping out for donuts. I wish I had been faster with the Iphone because I wanted to snap a picture of the tents in the parking lot. Oh and side note, it was pouring rain yesterday - like build an ark - flooding. As we drove by, I told Allen that some people are just crazy and how I would NEVER wait in a line for a donut. I am here to confess, I ate my words. Literally. While out running errands with Macie, I got the urge to see what the fuss was about and maybe I got in the drive thru line and maybe I waited about ten minutes and maybe I gave my daughter her first donut. Oops. She was so excited. It was hilarious. I even got her to put the hat on by telling her she could have more donut if she wore it -- yeah, I bribed her for the picture. She looks super mad at me doesn't she? Ha.
In the midst of everything going on I started craving something a little sweet (besides the Krispy Kreme). I have no idea why, but I wanted an Orange Julius. You know what I'm talking about right? The original mall smoothie place (at least in my mind). I used to love them, but I had never tried to make one. I was cruising around Pinterest trying to avoid the boxes all over the house and found a few pins for an orange julius smoothie. The one from Six Sisters' Stuff seemed like it was straight-forward enough so I got my ingredients and went at it. I reduced the sugar and honestly think I could have reduced it even further. All in all though, this was one tasty smoothie. So yummy. It's creamy and tart and sweet and orangey and pretty much, sunshine in a cup. Yay sunshine!!!
Orange Julius-like Smoothie
adapted from Six Sisters' Stuff
1 Can frozen orange juice concentrate
1 C skim milk (I think any milk will work)
1/8 C sugar (or less)
1 tsp vanilla
1 banana (I used frozen, but its optional)
2 C ice
Throw everything into your blender and blend until a smooth consistency. I added the ice gradually so I could be careful not to add too much and make it too icy.
I will tell you a sad little note about this smoothie... I think it killed my blender. I knew my little blender was on it's last leg, I just didn't realize that leg was going to give out today. I have to admit that there is a small part of me doing a happy dance because I've been wanting a new blender - but now I have to decide what kind to get so I can continue my smoothie adventures!! Any suggestions??
