Handmade Holiday

If you haven't seen it yet, go check out my Handmade Holiday Blogathon on my new blog! You'll find TONS of tutorials, recipes, gift ideas, advice, and more to give this holiday an awesome handmade touch. Enjoy! :D

New Flavors for Vegetables

I just got this new book from Williams Sonoma. Actually, I got a whole set! I was debating buying this book ($23) until I saw a set of four on sale (from $80) for only $20!! My friend and I each got one :D I've already made several dishes, and I absolutely love it.

Since I mainly cook vegetables, it's exciting to find new ways to prepare them! So far we've had a delicious mint snow pea salad, tasty potatoes with chives, and zucchini "pasta." With each dish, I've learned a new technique! Not only does it have clear directions, it also includes beautiful photographs of each dish and descriptions of the ingredients. Plus, the recipes are sorted by season, so it's easy to locate fresh ingredients. I highly recommend this book if you love veggies!

Strawberry Mint Lemonade

It's still frothy from the blender. And it's YUM.

Strawberry Mint Lemonade:

1. Pour lemonade (I used this whole jar) in blender.
2. Add 8-12 fresh strawberries, leaves removed.
3. Add leaves from 3-5 sprigs of mint.
4. Puree until smooth.
5. Drink your tasty, tasty treat!

This is seriously my new favorite drink. LOVE it.

10 Questions

I found this little survey on The Freckled Nest (LA's post), and several other blogs, a while back. I think it's really fun, and am glad I finally got around to doing it ^_^ I'm not very good at picking favorites, but I tried to do the first ones that came to mind here.
Hope you enjoy getting to learn a little more about me!

1. Favorite hobby?

2. Favorite tv show?
     

(The Office)

3. Favorite restaurant food?

 (source)

4. Favorite thing to shop for?

 

5. Favorite animal?
 

 (source)

 (source)

 (source)

6. Favorite song?

7. Favorite word?

8. Recent favorite youtube video?

9. Favorite movie?

Hmm...I'm sensing a them here...:P
(images via Amazon)

10. Favorite childhood memory?
Playing spies in the neighborhood...
Cooking/baking with my sister...
Gymnastics meets...
Bedtime stories with my dad...
Acting ridiculous with my best friends...
Family game nights...
I have many ♡

Anything surprising?

Want to post the survey too? Leave me a link!

(images are mine unless sourced)

Guiltless Dessert

I want to share with you a little secret of mine. I'm not a big dieter, but I try to choose healthful foods. But I have a major sweet tooth. So I made this little lovely ^_^ It's a banana split without the ice cream!

• 1 small banana (about 90 cal)
• 3-4 medium strawberries (about 20 cal)
• 4 tbsp no fat Cool Whip (30 cal)

Grand total: 140 calories, most of which are fruit!
Much better than a little snack pack, don't you think? You could always try different fruits, too.

Oh, and sometimes I add a drizzle of Hershey's syrup (about 20 cal) :-)

Enjoy!

Dishes

I just wanted to share...Alex and I recently got these beautiful dishes:

We are so in love with them. As usual, we've been constantly on the lookout for the perfect ones (like with our TV stand, dressers, bedspread...). Over the last couple years, we'd sort of agreed on a few different sets, but nothing was perfect...UNTIL...we laid our eyes on these beauties at Crate and Barrel. *sound revelation music* Love at first site! No joke, everything looks awesome on these plates.

We also got these bowls (not the ones pictured above) and side dishes (wide enough for salsa, shallow enough for soy sauce):

Thank you, Crate & Barrel, for giving us our perfect dishes.
Also, anyone else in love with these glasses??

hehe...As you may know, I'm a fan of things that say exactly what they are ^_^ hehe..

Okay, sharing over! ♡

Tie-Dye Cupcakes!

In case you missed it in my Summer Projects post, I've had a hankering for rainbow cupcakes! Yesterday some friends invited us over for dinner, so I had a delicious opportunity to make some :D I'll admit, I cheated. I used a confetti cake mix (I never do that!). But I did color them myself :) You may remember that I made some (amazing) red velvet cupcakes for my birthday this year...Well, due to the boys being unable to find a large red food coloring bottle, we ended up with three multi-colored packages. So when I reached for the food coloring to make my rainbow, I discovered lots of yellow, green, and blue. I improvised - tie dye cupcakes. Perfect! Yellow, yellow-green, green, turquoise, and blue!

(Anyone else think it's strange that yellow food coloring looks orange?)

(LOVE these colorful wrappers!)

(Fresh out of the oven - mmm)

(Taste test!)

They turned out rather nicely, if I do say so myself ^_^ I topped them off with chocolate frosting, and everyone enjoyed them! *yay*

Etsy Finds: Watermelon

Summertime to me is watermelon ^_^

Here are a few lovely watermelon-themed products I found on Etsy:

A watermelon red dress by Clothingwholesale:

A cross-stitch pattern by andwabisabi:

Juicy watermelon earrings by sypria:

Flower bobby pins by alovelycreation:

Watermelon yarn by shunklies:

Fluffy vegan soap by dennisanderson:

An original painting by artflat5:

To see more of my watermelon favs, check out my "Sweet Watermelon" treasury!

Summer Projects

Obviously I'm going to be very busy this summer. I'm job hunting, starting Craft Academy, updating my Etsy shop, probably redesigning my blog (time for a facelift, right?), and continuing to work on my portfolio. But aside from all that "work" (hehe), I'd like to throw in some fun, personal projects. Here are a few I have my eye on...

Fruity trivets and potholders via the Purl Bee (aren't these adorable?!)

I'm thinking the lime is my fav, but I may make a new color combo to make apples! Which would you do?

Rainbow cupcakes! (Lemon Drop Rainbow Cupcakes via Bite Size Baker)

I love rainbows and I love cupcakes. So...makes sense, right? :)
 

The Danielle Dress, a free pattern on BurdaStyle

This dress should be pretty easy to modify - neckline, length, sleeves, etc. And it's so simple and cute! I'm excited to make another dress ^_^ (Plus it's on my 2010 goals!)

Or maybe I'll make this Work Dress (it's a wrap style), also on BurdaStyle.

It's pretty nifty, not to mention handy! I looove pockets.

Crocheted Dishcloths via Lion Brand Yarn

 I think my favorite thing might actually be the colors :P

Root beer cookies?! That just sounds awesome! [Recipe here, but via The Dainty Squid] I also found some Dr. Pepper chocolate cake mix, so I may have to try to make my own recipe for that...It's going to be a tasty summer!

I'd also like to knit (or maybe crochet) a small shrug. I haven't found the perfect free pattern yet though. Anyone have one to share? Aside from these, we'll probably also be working on our apartment...I love redecorating :D And Alex and I are thinking of getting me an old Honda motorcycle to rebuild.......but that may be a more distant project. But I can still think about it this summer ;D

What just-for-fun projects are you working on this summer?

Busy Saturday, Take 6

Today is another busy Saturday! I woke up refreshed and still excited after the Etsy Craft Party last night :) So I immediately got to work. I started off making some sunglasses and iPhone/iPod cases. [I have a few ideas for screenprinting, so I'm trying out some sewing projects to decide what to screenprint :)] I had already cut the fabric for them - gray felt matched with several fun prints - and was ready to sew. Whew, was sewing all that felt tricky! It was mainly problematic because they were small cases and they were lined nicely (meaning all the seams are hidden between the fabrics). But I think they turned out ok:

Hm...I have a lot of sunglasses...well, only one pair wasn't pictured. Hee :D But now they won't get scratched up! Yay! After I finished those up, Alex and I ran errands...it took quite a while. We even went by Central Market and got lots of organic goodness :d AND he bought me these pretties:

Gotta love a husband who'll buy you flowers ;) When we got home I made fruit salad! Yum yum

We're having some friends over later, so it'll be a good snack :D I'm hoping I can go for my run before they get here...We started the Couch to 5K program (with the help of the awesome c25k app). I've only done it twice, but I really like it so far! It'll be so awesome if I can keep it up and actually run a 5K by the end of the summer!!

In other news, Craft Academy starts Tuesday!!! I can't believe it. If you haven't signed up yet, you really should. We're going to be making our favorite crafts all summer long! Plus live chats, giveaways (if I can bear to part with the cuteness, that is!), and special little bonuses here and there ;) I'm just super excited :D:D:D

What are you up to?

Have a happy Saturday!

New Orleans

Friday night in New Orleans, my sister's bachelorette party (she's asked me not to post any photos, so here's a street sign, and my lovely husband):

Sight-seeing, including the French Quarter (where we stayed), Jackson Square, and beignets from Cafe du Monde (yum):

But of course the main event was the wedding :)

The above pictures are: My beautiful sister; Alex's cuff-links (a gift from our best friends); the jazz band playing for the bride and groom (amazing); my brother (he does exist!); the happy couple about to cut the cake; and a photo I managed to snag of the hubby and me!

It was a whirlwind mini-vacation! I was very glad to spend time with my family this weekend and to see such a rich city :)