2.28.2011

Weekend Mirths

When I grow up, I'm going to have an Oscars Party. It will be like a Super Bowl party, only it will be classy. We'll trade soda for mocktails, chicken wings and chips for fresh popped popcorn (a variety of flavors to be sure!) and a plethora of brightly-colored candy in beautiful glass jars. Maybe we'll dress up too.

In the meantime, I'll sit on my couch in my sweats and enjoy all of the beautiful dresses.

I was loving all of the blush and nude tones that were accented with lots of sparkle, it's a good indication of what's coming for Spring, and it's definitely a trend I can get into. Here are some of my favorite not-so-neutral dresses from the red carpet:













I hope you had a lovely Oscars weekend!


pics from msn

2.26.2011

When life gives you lemons....




Dealing with reality has been a bit of a challenge lately. We're nearing the end of the semester, but we're not close enough yet to start celebrating, just close enough that school work is getting taxing and many large projects are coming due. On top of that, the weather is schizophrenic and threatens to drag us along on its treacherous roller coaster of warm weather, snow, thaw, rain, slush, and then warm weather once again.

We're not letting it get us down, because we know that when life hands you lemons, make lemonade! For an extra special touch, we made our lemonade with fresher-than-could-possibly-be lemons from Krista and Steve's house.


Honey Lemonade

1 C water and 1 C honey for every 1 C lemon juice
3-4 C cold water to dilute
Method:

Make a simple syrup by dissolving equal parts honey (or you can use sugar, or both) and water, and in a saucepan on the stove. Once you have a thin syrup, remove from heat and mix in the freshly squeezed lemon juice. Dilute with cold water. Make adjustments as necessary, either less water or more sugar or more lemon juice-this means you get to sample as you go! Some people think that honey is less sweet measure per measure than sugar, so more sugar may be necessary if you like really sweet lemonade. If you like a little zip, the equal parts measure will be perfect.



To embrace the schizophrenia, we used the lemonade to wash down some sinfully delicious potato soup. Summer drink and Winter soup. Things are looking up.


The potato soup recipe is from my bestie, Ash pants. Thinking of you lovely! I only tweaked it by dropping in a hunk of parmesan cheese and its rind and letting it melt and absorb before I added the mashed potato to the broth mixture, and I also added some sauteed slices of kielbasa to the mix since I don't love bacon. These two make it sinfully delicious. We devoured this soup, with Jeffie licking his lips and exclaiming, "I could eat this everyday for the rest of my life!"

2.22.2011

Weekend Mirths: Roadtrip

Wow. This has been a long time coming. Please forgive me for not getting around to telling you about the adventurous weekend we spent in Arizona. Life swallowed us up once we returned, which always makes me wonder if vacations are really worth all the additional stress they put into your life. Reviewing these pictures, however, reminds me that memories and great experiences are definitely worth the extra effort.


Vegas at 11 o'clock at night. One word to define it, one word that explains why I want to go back: "sparkly". We didn't stay on the strip...I know know, I mean I didn't know, I had never been to Vegas before! We were down on Freemont Street, and while trying to find our way to the strip we counted three little wedding chapels, and one man who asked if we were looking to get married. Ha. He's two years too late. Been there Mister. Done that.

After we got tired of walking,we returned to our hotel, the Golden Nugget, and discovered that the strip is a few miles away from Freemont. Needless to say, we didn't ever see the strip. Not this time anyway. But I want to go back to the land of the sparkles, so there's always next time.

{our hotel had a shark tank! If you know Jeff, you'll know that's why we stayed here}

{the glittering Golden Nugget}

{after stuffing ourselves at one of the infamous Vegas buffets}


The road trip section of this journey was actually pretty eventful. Sort of. We got stuck in traffic in Arizona on a two-lane highway in the middle of the desert. We literally parked our car for two hours! The weather was absolutely beautiful so we rolled down our windows, opened the sun roof, and pretended like we were doing crossword puzzles at the beach. We didn't actually successfully complete one single crossword puzzle entirely on our own, but who really walks around knowing the capital of Samoa?

Once we finally got to Mesa, in the land of the sun, it rained. All weekend long. It was pretty rain though and during the breaks in the weather Jeff and I would sneak out to pluck some oranges right from the trees and devour them.

Krista and Steve are doing great, living in a cute little house with lemon and grapefruit trees in the backyard. Together with them we enjoyed a relaxing weekend of citrus, fresh Mexican food, movies, and cupcakes.





{from Sprinkles Bakery}

We dreaded the thought of returning from rain to snow without seeing one glimpse of the sun, so Arizona kindly ceased it's deluge for our last few hours and we were able to soak up some sun and catch a refreshing breeze on our way back home.

2.16.2011

Weekend Mirths

Yes. It is the middle of the week and I'm finally getting around to weekend mirths. It's been that kind of week; high-stress, too much to do, never enough time in the day, but oh my, we had a nice weekend.

{orchids from my valentine}

{home made valentines}

{dreaming}


And oh my, are we going to have an0ther great weekend.

ROADTRIP!!!

Jeff are I are traveling down to Arizona by way of Vegas. I've never been to Vegas so I'm really excited to go! After traipsing around a bit, we're continuing south to spend the long weekend with my sister.

It makes the long week so worthwhile!
Wish me luck in Sin City! Be back next week!

P.S.-I had my 9 month (!!!!) check-up this week and the doctor says I'm doing great. I still can't believe it....

2.09.2011

Valetines...all grown up

Growing up, I loved making valentines for all of my friends and especially for my mom. I would hand make some, but usually I bought a box of Disney Princess valentines to pass out to people at school. As I've grown, I'm still tempted to buy the princess valentines for old time's sake, but I definitely prefer to make my own special creations, from the heart. It's a great way to really think about the person you're making a valentine for, and a great way to send some extra love.

Here are some adorable ideas for your valentines this year, some conventional, some fresh:

{using thick paper and crochet floss}

{lace-printed paper, so lovely!}

{a really fresh take, creating a valentine that decorates and stays up as a reminder year round}

{create a keepsake: a sewed valentine album}

{put your heart on the map}

{download and print this design off to either decorate or send out}


{you can purchase these all-in-one valentines-note and gift- from inklore}


{"heart string" valentine}

2.08.2011

A New Kind of Floral Wreath

Felt rosettes are quite possibly the easiest rosettes to make. And they can beautifully adorn alomst anything. From headbands to sweaters to school bags, they add pretty little feminine details without too much fuss. Back in September, I made some to decorate one of my bags with, and so when I saw the idea for this wreath pop up on another blog, I knew I had to try it.

While making these rosettes is so cinch, it does take some time to make up enough to cover a foam wreath. While I love the idea of this wreath for Valentine's day, I think it would also make a lovely wreath for Spring. Just switch out the colors to maybe some butter yellow, a soft greeen, some white and maybe even some pink if you're into that color. I despise pink, especially baby pink, but it id a color both of Spring and Valentine's Day....so despite my best efforts I ended up using a lot more baby pink than I ever wanted to. My consolation is that the end result is still delightful.

Felt Rosette Wreath What You'll Need:
a 10-in foam wreath, available at craft stores
4 sheets of 4 different colors of felt, alternatively you could use 10 sheets of three different colors
hot glue gun
scissors


Begin by cutting out squares of felt that are no bigger than the palm of you hand. Don't be OCD about getting squares of all the same size, it works out with a wide range of sizes.

Round the corners to the squares, then begin cutting a snaking circle from the outside in. This is hard to explain, so look at the pictures. Basically, this is the line your scissors will follow:



And you'll end up with this:


Beginning at the center, start rolling the felt. It will basically wrap around itself, so this is the easiest (and most fun!) part.


Once you've made your fair share of rosettes, you're ready to glue those suckers onto the foam wreath. Alternate the colors so you have a nice mosaic of colors.


Eventually, it will start to look like this:

And that's as far as I got! Haha I plan to finish it tonight and strap it to my door with a happy heart.

If you'd like to see the original plan, and maybe some better pictures and a second explanation (she cuts her a bit differently, if you ask me, I do it the easier way), oh and a finished product, check out one of my favorite blogs, ourbestbites.com.

If a wreath isn't your thing, try out these ideas:
click on the picture for tutorials

{a love note sure to last}

{so cute for kids! heart-shaped button backing}

{heart doilies}

{printed paper hearts}

{crayon hearts}

{heart-shaped pot holders}


2.07.2011

Weekend Mirths

I think that I ate my weight in chips this weekend. I had no idea that I liked chips so much, but what I also didn't know was that I would practically eat a whole bowl of buffalo chicken dip all by myself. Hey, it was "light".

In addition to the game, we got in a short game of Farkel and another game of Yahtzee. The best; it was a nice relaxing weekend with family and friends.


{random man......oh.....Wisconsin.....}

{Super Bowl snack prep}

{loaded baked potato dip}

{oh yum. you're gonna want this recipe: peanut butter oreo cheese cake bites}


The first Easter candy of the season! But I get ahead of myself here, lets first talk about how Valentine's Day is a week away. I've got a bunch of great ideas to make it special, from crafts, to treats, to gifts, I've got you covered so you can have a great holiday.

It's gonna be a great week!

{Jeffrey's great morning breakfast}

Get ready for some fabulous Lover's Day ideas!!

2.03.2011

Oh Thank Heavens

It's Thursday!! That means I only have three more classes, one test, and 4 more hours of work until the weekend.

Lately, I've taken up some serious opportunities to multi-task since my day doesn't have nearly enough time to get everything done. One of my favorites is studying at the gym. The air quality is very poor here this time of year and so I do my running and biking indoors, and it's usually no problem to just prop up my study guides and review them while I work out. It's brilliant-it keeps my mind occupied so that long before I realize it, I've run or biked more than I planned and the time just flies.

Well last night, my paper was the thing flying around. As mentioned previously, I have this one last test to take this week, and I only have 1 1/2 hour window to take it today, and I only have one copy of my study guide which has been notated on in a very extreme manner-and of all things it flew over a bench and slipped into an unreachable crack between a bench and a wall. I almost cried. And then freaked out and smashed my hands and almost made them bleed while Jeff pulled out the bench that was secured to wall. Low point.

I'm thinking I need to relax, do something that I like to do and laugh.

While I get working on that, here's a hilarious video that started my relaxation processes. I don't normally like watching little videos, and I don't really like animals, but these two are so funny I made an exception and even watched them both twice. They are equally funny with the sound muted...I think I liked them better that way.






<br/><a href="http://www.bing.com/videos/watch/video/piano-dog-sings-and-plays/20uvunsk?q=dog+plays+piano+and+sings&src=v5:embed:&fg=sharenoembed" target="_new"title="Piano dog sings and plays">Video: Piano dog sings and plays</a>


Smile! And have a great weekend!

2.02.2011

Are You Ready for Some Football?

I'll be honest with you, watching the Super Bowl, like actually watching it, is not my favorite thing to do of lovely mid-winter's eve. It's actually not even physically possible for me to do; I get bored about 30 minutes into the game, and then I start wondering why I'm even watching the Super Bowl, and then I get to wandering around or wanting to change the channel to watch House Hunters. But ever year I end up watching it anyway because I need some sort of an excuse to serve a whole bunch of my appetizers and call it dinner. This year I suppose I have another reason as well, since the man who lives with me is from Wisconsin, and he keeps bringing up something called "Green Bay", I dunno, "Slackers", or maybe it was "Packers". I dunno. What I do know is that I need to get my game plan ready for this Sunday. Here are a few of my favorite game-day fares:

Hot Dips:
Garlic Artichoke Dip-ourbestbites.com
Chili Con Queso Dip-ourbestbites.com
Homemade Dulce De Leche-ourbestbites.com
White Bean Dip-ourbestbites.com
Buffalo Chicken Dip-allrecipes.com
Lighter Buffalo Chicken Dip-skinnytaste.com
Hot Chorizo and Cheese Dip-melskitchencafe.com

Cool Dips:
Pimiento Cheese Dip-thelunacafe.com
Carmelized Onion Dip (and a recipe for homemade potato chips!)-spoonwithme.wordpress.com

Bigger Fillers:
Bacon Wrapped Sausages-busycooks
Chicken Meatballs with Hney-Chipotle Sauce-noblepig.com
Buffalo Chicken Pizza-culinarycory.com
Skinny-Mini Baked Potatoes-familyfreshcooking.com
Sweet Hot Mustard Chicken Wings-foodwishes.blogspot.com
Slow Cooker BBQ Pork Sandwhiches-erinsfoodfiles.com
Super Bowl Chili-nookandpantry.com, or Boilermaker Chili-allrecipes.com

Sweet Treats:
Peanut Butter Oreo cheesecake bites-crepesofwrath.com
Football Brownie Bites-whatsgabbycooking.com
Super Bowl Oreo Truffle-bakerella.com


Tips for making your Super Bowl a smidge healthier:
  • Use part skim ricotta cheese to substitute for mayonnaise in dip recipes. I do this for the Garlic Artichoke Dip and nearly anything else that calls for mayonnaise, because, in truth, mayonnaise is gross. It seriously gives me the creeps. I mean, who really wants to scoop up a big glob of flavored mayonnaise and shove it in their mouths and exclaim "Yum!"......And if you think it jiggles a lot on the outside, just think of how it jiggles once it's inside. Down with mayonnaise!
  • Cottage cheese makes a good substitute for sour cream in ranch and french onion dips
  • When possible, used reduced-fat versions of sour cream and cream cheese. I myself prefer to substitute Neufchatel cheese for cream cheese instead of reduced-fat cream cheese. It's 1/3 the calories but not rubbery-textured like reduced-fat cream cheese.
  • Serve plenty of veggies and fruits alongside the crackers. And maybe place a few whole- or multi-grain, low fat cracker options out there too.
  • Eat a real dinner before indulging in appetizers. In theory, you should eat less this way because you've already eaten a real meal. Note: I have no intentions of doing this.
  • At half time, get up and take a walk around town. Go for a bike ride. If it's cold outside, play charades and really get into it.
Anyway you go, "full flavor" or "figure-friendly," just enjoy the fact that you get to round up some great people for some great food. And if anyone has a cheese head hat, please tell me where I can get one. I would like nothing more than to watch my cheese head husband wear one for 4 hours (am I kidding anyone??? you all that it's me who really wants to wear it, right?)-that would be a GREAT Super Bowl.

2.01.2011

Have you seen this lately?

I've been trying to figure out this food blog thing, and while I'm not quite certain how it's going to work out and if I'll keep it around, in the meantime you should really check out what's been cookin'.

{sausage and lentils}

{roasted butternut squash pizza}

{roasted garlic}