Casual Fridays

Celebrations

2012-02-29T06:00:00.008-06:00

Hello blog friends! It's been a while, hasn't it? I won't bore you with the boring story of what I have been doing since November because it really is very boring. I can promise you though that I missed you more than you missed me. Thant brings me to why we are here today.

I have a lot to celebrate today. First, my birthday was this past weekend. I turned 26, which is really old. I didn't really celebrate it because I was studying but Alex made it a really nice day despite that. Second, yesterday I took the Kansas bar exam. It was a very different experience from last July, easier in some ways and much harder in others. I am so happy to have it behind me. And third, I'm launching a new blog tomorrow. In my blogging sabbatical, I did a lot of thinking about what direction I wanted to go. I decided that I wanted a fresh start, so from now on you can find me over at Casual Fridays. So please update your links or however you prefer to follow blogs. You may notice that I don't have a Google Friends Connect app on there. With the news that it may be phased out, I decided just to leave it out all together. There are a few options as how you can stay updated with all I have to say. You can follow through Blogger if you blog, or though the RSS link on the right hand side if you use Google Reader. I also added Linky Followers, so if you are using that these days, feel free to add me there.

I hope you'll join my on my new adventure!

We are moving!

2011-11-06T17:03:00.001-06:00

We found a place! It is a cute little house in the area we were looking for. We signed the lease late last week and take possession in the middle of the month. So if my posting is scarce it's because I am packing and I figure that is boring and you all don't want to hear about it. But I'll be back soon to show off our new home!

My Frog Prince

2011-10-27T06:00:00.000-05:00

Halloween is not my favorite holiday. I’m not a huge fan of dressing up and I feel like Halloween costumes are over priced and way to skanky. We’re trying to limit our spending because of the upcoming move, so we wanted to go cheap. We found this picture and decided this would be our theme: the princess and the frog.

I figured I could do just about this for Alex, but mine would be a little more complicated. I haven’t finished mine but once I got started on Alex’s, I couldn’t stop. I now present to you my Frog Prince:

We lucked out and found a green hoodie the first time we looked at Walmart. I wanted to make sure that Alex could wear the hoodie after Halloween, so I wanted everything to be easily removable. My original plan was just to use white fabric for the eyes and stuff them with plastic bags. Then Alex asked me if I was going to make him googlie eyes and I responded that yes, yes I was.

I got two .99 (they were on sale too, so they were even cheaper) clear plastic Christmas ornaments from Hobby Lobby. I made a little pom pom (see Pinterest for instruction) and shoved it in the ornament. Then I sewed them to the top of the hoodie. Easy peasy. Plus the ornaments already have the loop thing on the top so there is something to sew onto.

Then I had to come up with a crown. I was originally going to use a cereal box but it wasn’t rolling quite like I wanted. Then I had a brilliant idea and got a big yogurt container out of the recycling bin. I cut a crown shape out then sprayed it with adhesive and attached yellow fleece. So easy. The hardest part of the whole thing was sewing the yogurt container to the top of the hoodie. Since the plastic is really thin it was totally doable, it just took a little muscle.

I’ll be honest, I love the way it turned out. We bought the hoodie (will be worn after Halloween), ornaments (I actually plan on reworking them and gifting them at Christmas) and the black yarn. I can’t wait to show it off this weekend. And I guess I’ll have to keep kissing him until he turns into a prince.

Chiefs Rag Wreath

2011-10-25T06:00:00.000-05:00

We’re big Kansas City Chiefs fans around here. And by we, I mean Alex is a big Chiefs fan. I’m not much of a football fan, especially football on TV. I like to go to pretty much any sporting event live, but really the only thing I like to watch on TV is college basketball. But I’m getting there since we watch football pretty much every Sunday.

I am constantly trying to incorporate Alex’s likes into our décor. This can be slightly problematic since the only things Alex really likes are sports and beer. I don’t really want to feel like I am living in a college frat house, so this can be kind of difficult. However, I was browsing Pinterest and after seeing a few things, got inspired.

I used one of the viney wood wreath frames from the Dollar Tree. I got red and yellow fabric and cut it into one inch strips and starting tying. This would be a great car ride (as long as you bring a lint roller to get all of the strings off your clothes) or TV watching activity because it is easy and mindless.

Just keep tying and tying and tying until your wreath is full. Have a fuller wreath form helps give it a little heft.

I felt like it needed a little something else, so we stopped at Hobby Lobby and got this wooded football. It was already painted and everything. I hot glued an extra piece of fabric on the back of it then once it dried, tied it to the wreath. That way, if for some reason I ever want to take it off, I can.

Since we are moving soon, I’m not sure where it will be hanging long term, so I didn’t really know how long I wanted the hanger to be. So, for now, I took a strip of yellow and red fabric and tied them together around the wreath. I knotted the top so it hung at the right height for now, but I can change it once we move.

Alex likes it and it is a cute way to incorporate his interests into our décor.

Monday's Musings

2011-10-24T15:22:00.001-05:00

I don't have a lot to share today. The house hunting is going well, and we have couple of promising places that we looked at on Friday. We need to finish our applications so we can get them turned in and hopefully get a place finalized soon. Our goal is to move the weekend before Thanksgiving because that is the only weekend that will work well for us for a while.

No menu for this week. I just wasn't feeling up to making one over the weekend and we really need to eat what we have in the apartment so we don't have to move as much stuff, so we're just going to wing it.

I've got a couple of projects I am working on this week. The first is Halloween costumes. We're going to be super busy next weekend (we're going to a rodeo/concert Saturday night and the Chiefs game on Monday night), so I really didn't think that we would need Halloween costumes. I'm not much for dressing up, so I wouldn't have minded going without this year. But some friends invited us over to their house on Sunday night so we had to come up with something. Alex also likes matching costumes, so I made him pick a theme yesterday morning. We are going with the princess and the frog. We got a green hoodie to make Alex into a frog prince and now I need to figure out how to make myself into a princess. I'm not spending a bunch of money on this, so we'll see what I can come up with. So far I have some blue thrift store elbow length gloves.

I also started on my first furniture refinishing adventure yesterday. "Refinishing" might be a generous term, because really all I am doing is repainting a DVD holder that Alex inherited from a friend who I believe inherited it from another friend. Its a nice little piece, it just needed a facelift. Hopefully I can get it done this week and share pictures next week.

Here's your inspiration for this week. Have a good one!

Source: bravegirlsclub.com via Courtney on Pinterest

101 Things in 1001 Days

2011-10-23T06:00:00.000-05:00

If you have been around for a while, you may know that last summer I started a 101 Things in 1001 Days challenge. I was really excited about it and got a few things on my list done, but of course, law school and life got in the way. I was thinking about it the other day and I thought this was a good time to restart the challenge. I came up with a new list that I feel like better fits my life now, where I am and the things I want to do. I plan on blogging about each task that I finish, so get excited about that. If you want to join in the challenge, please do. I'd love to follow along with you. Here's my list:
1. Take Alex to the American Royal Rodeo since he claims to have never been.
2. Visit the new Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts, either for a performance or just to look.
3. Tailgate at Arrowhead--just drinking beer in the parking lot doesn't count.
4. Make a list of 101 things that make me happy, then print it out for dreary days.
5. Create a will and a living will/heath care directive. Have them witnessed so they are legit.
6. Have a picnic at the Kauffman Memorial Gardens.
7. Go camping.
8. Visit the Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art.
9. Spend an afternoon at the Nelson Atkins Museum of Art.
10. Attend First Fridays.
11. Go see Shakespeare in the park and stay for the whole thing. Gotta stay awake too.
12. Go ice skating.
13. Donate $1000 to charity.
14. Write a love letter to Alex every month.
15. Send someone flowers.
16. Own a (right hand or left hand) diamond ring.
17. Run a 5k.
18. Get a professional massage.
19. Make ADPi t-shirt quilt (or have it made).
20. Host a Christmas cookie exchange. Go all out with it.
21. Finish captioning JYA photo albums.
22. Read 50 new books.
23. Watch 50 new movies.
24. Cook 50 new recipes.
25. Save $5,000.
26. Make a budget and follow it for three months.
27. Read the Bible, cover to cover.
28. Keep the TV off for a weekend.
29. Don't get on the Internet for a weekend (phone and computer).
30. No Facebook for a week.
31. Complete a color book.
32. Reach 250 blog followers.
33. Memorize Alex's phone number.
34. Get rid of 101 things.
35. Go to the drive-in.
36. Set up and implement a photo organization system.
37. Carve a pumpkin.
38. Make a snowman/woman/animal.
39. Set up retirement savings.
40. Fit comfortably into blue England dress.
41. Kit something.
42. Learn to play chess.
43. Stop using paper napkins at home.
44. Comment on at least one blog per day for a month.
45. Go to the driving range with Alex.
46. Get rid of laptop from undergrad (I don't really need three laptops).
47. Make border showdown Christmas cards.
48. Make ten projects from Pinterest.
49. Fill up leather bound journal.
50. Go diving.
51. Make 25 new cocktails.
52. Make homemade Halloween costumes.
53. Have a party/compete at the American Royal Barbecue.
54. Make 100 Etsy sales.
55. Donate blood (or at least make an attempt).
56. Finish Outlander series.
57. Pick a TV series to watch from start to finish.
58. Take a dance class.
59. Take an exercise class.
60. Have a progressive picnic.
61. Have a movie marathon date night.
62. Cook 90% of recipes in Pioneer Woman's cookbook.
63. Volunteer for something not family related.
64. Make and use my own chalkboard paint.
65. Adopt a dog.
66. Eat a whole meal with chopsticks.
67. Pay for the person behind me in the drive through.
68. Swim in the ocean.
69. Lean to do my own eye makeup.
70. Don't drink any alcohol for one month.
71. Make homemade ice cream.
72. Take one picture a day and blog about it for a month.
73. Learn to play poker decently well.
74. Make bed every morning for two weeks.
75. Scrapbook 25 pages from college.
76. Host a murder mystery dinner party.
77. Ride on the new sky ride thing at the Kansas City Zoo.
78. Read a book of Alex's choosing.
79. Go to church.
80. Visit 3 new states.
81. Buy do, then donate a puzzle.
82. Go geocaching.
83. Get mats cut for lawyer frames.
84. Play in the rain.
85. Use my iPhone for calls and texts only for a weekend.
86. Make/get reusable sandwich/snack bags.
87. Only homemade birthday gifts in 2012.
88. Eat at 25 new restaurants.
89. No eating out unless it is with friends for a month.
90. Take a picture of Alex and I every month.
91. Spend a lazy Saturday in pajamas at home.
92. No plastic bags from stores for a month.
93. Take a photography class.
94. Ride a bike
95. Go shopping early on Black Friday.
96. Spend an entire weekend at home.
97. Buy three new board games.
98. Get rid of all law school text books.
99. Get a manicure.
100. Have professional pictures taken again.
101. Blog about each completed task.

Scrapbook Saturday

2011-10-21T06:00:00.000-05:00

Silya—the paper elements are all from the same pack, but I don’t remember where it came from. You can’t really tell in the picture, but the paper elements have some texture to them, which makes them look really nice. The picture was taken at a baseball game, hence the people in the background.

Mail Sorter

2011-10-20T06:00:00.000-05:00

We got this cast-off mail organizer from some friends who were moving. We needed a place to put our mail so it didn’t get lost but I just wasn’t feeling it (and of course, I forgot to take before pictures). Enter some blue paint and vinyl and we’ve got ourselves a functional and cute mail organizer. It hangs right by the front door so we never forget to mail our Netflix back.

Worldly Wednesday

2011-10-19T06:00:00.000-05:00

I love to travel and have been lucky enough to have visited a lot of amazing places. Every Wednesday I share one picture of the places I’ve been.

Beer Labels

2011-10-18T06:00:00.000-05:00

We did a batch of beer a while back for some friends. They were moving into their new house and wanted something special to commemorate it. I wanted it to be something extra special so I decided to make some custom labels. I got special bottle label paper but you could use the full size label paper you can get at the office supply stores or just print them on regular paper and seal it with packing tape. I wanted something that would come off easily (we reuse the bottles) so I sprung for the special paper.
Since it was celebrating their new house, I wanted the label to reflect that. I got a picture of the front of their house and used photoshop to turn it into a sketch. Then I added the type and printed them out. They turned out really nice and really took the gift to the next level.
The label paper came from our local brewing store. You wouldn't have to homebrew to do this either. You could use anything in a bottle, as long as you could get the old label off first. It would be great to do custom labels for a birthday or holiday party.

Monday Musings

2011-10-17T06:00:00.000-05:00

After a longish hiatus, I’m back. I hope you like the new blog look. My mom said it was too big for her screen so I made it a little smaller. Mom, hope this works better for you. I am to please. I’m still working on the Etsy shop and hopefully will launch it before too long. We’re still house hunting (spent 4 hours today looking) but we haven’t decided on anything yet. We’ve got a few calls in though so fingers crossed something will come through soon.

I’m hoping to have some crafty time this week, but house hunting takes priority so if we can go look at a few places, I may not get much done. I’m itching to sew something, I just don’t know what yet. I also have a yarn wreath that I need to finish.

Here’s what’s for dinner this week:

Sunday: Chicken Parmesan Skillet Pot Pie
Monday: Hard Cider Pork Chops
Tuesday: Chicken, Bacon & Avocado Quesadillas
Wednesday: Chicken Ranch Pizza
Thursday: Italian Bubble Up
Friday: BBQ Pork Ribs in Crockpot
Saturday: Italian Pork Chops

And something to make you smile on this mundane Monday morning:

Source: gardenandgun.com via Courtney on Pinterest

and this one too

Source: happyplace.com via Courtney on Pinterest

New Name and a New Look

2011-10-14T11:10:00.000-05:00

I know its been a while since I've posted (I'm sensing a theme here), but I haven't been neglecting the old blog entirely. You may or may not have noticed that she got a new name--Casual Fridays. I feel like it fits my life a little bit better than the old name. It may stick, or it may not. You'll have to stick around to see. To go along with her new name, I gave her a new look too. I'm also in the process of starting at Etsy shop. I was going to wait to officially re-launch her next week, but I had some free time today so you get a sneak peek.

And speaking of new things, I officially started a new job. I'm working in the same office but I am officially an attorney now, practicing in the state of Missouri and the Western District of Missouri (federal court). I'm working on my Kansas bar application so in the spring I will be (knock on wood) licensed in Kansas as well. I am so blessed to be working in the field that I want to. Getting up in the morning to be at work by 8:00am is a little rough, but I'm sure I will get used to it eventually.

You may or may not know this, but this is one of the top 10 happiest days of the year. If you know why, Rock Chalk! If you don't, tonight is Late Night aka the official start of the college basketball season. I am a HUGE University of Kansas basketball fan. More often than not by this time of year, college football has gotten rather depressing for KU fans, so the start of basketball season, even if it is only practice, is very welcome.

Another reason I have been MIA is that we are looking for a new place to live. We ~~hate~~ have outgrown our current apartment and are looking for a house to rent for at least a year. Looking for a place to live happens to be one of my most hated activities so for now it is taking all of my free time and patience. So bear with me for a while longer. Hopefully soon we will have a new place to live which means a new space to decorate.

Have a great weekend and I'll see you all next week!

Puff Quilts 2 & 3

2011-09-27T19:10:00.001-05:00

After I finished my first puff quilt the day before Easter last spring (so I could give it to my cousin and her baby on Easter), I started a puff quilt for Alex’s cousin who had also just had a baby. Then came finals, graduation, the bar and recovery from all those things. And puff quilt #2 sat unfinished. Then our friends found out that they were having a baby and I decided I wanted to make them a puff quilt too. Only problem was that puff quilt #2 was still not done and I decided that I couldn’t start another one before I finished the last one. So I got my butt in gear and started sewing and sewing and sewing. Puff quilts aren’t hard, they are just really time consuming. I got Cole’s quilt (#2) done and in the mail the weekend before the shower for Baby J. So I had a week to get Baby J’s quilt done. And guess, what, I actually managed to pull it off. Granted, I did the binding the morning of the shower. But the point is that is quite the accomplishment for me, the World’s Slowest Sewer. Here are some pictures of both quilts. The morning of the shower it was rainy and icky so the light was terrible, so the shots of Baby J’s quilt aren’t great.

This is Cole’s quilt:

And here is Baby J’s quilt:

Both of these seemed so much easier than the first one I did. I messed up the piecing on Baby J’s quilt, but didn’t have the time or patience to redo it. I also don’t love the binding on either quilt. That is something I can’t seem to get right and it frustrates me. I even tried to do it differently on Baby J’s quilt, but it didn’t work either. Practice makes perfect, so hopefully I will get a hang of it one of these days.

You may notice that the lion fabric shows up in all three quilts. I love it, which is probably the ADPi in me. I also have some trouble cutting the border pieces but they are the same width as the puffs, so one quilt’s messed up border is another quilt’s puffs. I used two fabrics to bind Baby J’s quilt. This was sort of planned and sort of not. I originally wanted to bind it in green fleece. I think that if I had more time and patience, it would have worked. As it was, the week I was working on his quilt was also the week I found out that I had passed the bar so I wasn’t home every night. When I finally got around to binding it a few hours before the shower, the fleece and I weren’t getting along and I didn’t have enough of any one fabric to make new binding so I used two different ones. I actually like the way it looks and would probably love it if I could figure out how to sew it right.

Now I just need someone to have a baby girl because I am dying to make one of these in girly fabrics!

Monday Musings

2011-09-26T06:00:00.000-05:00

0Alex, my parents and I are off in Jefferson City (the MO state capital for those who don’t know) so I can get sworn in. That means that by dinner time I will officially be able to practice law in the state of Missouri. I am really excited because this is what I have been working towards for pretty much my entire life. I'm not sure what exactly my work schedule will be from here on out but I feel so blessed to have a job already.

Here’s what we are eating this week:

Sunday: in Lee’s Summit with Alex’s family
Monday: BBQ Chicken Baked Potatoes
Tuesday: Slow Cooker Chicken Caesar Sandwiches
Wednesday: Kyle Chicken
Thursday: Bubble Up Enchiladas
Friday: American Royal Barbecue with my Dad
Saturday: Pork Chops

Here’s what I’m working on this week:

I have two wreaths that I started a while ago and need to finish so I can actually used them to decorate.
I know its early but I’m already starting to think about Christmas gifts, so I’m trying to figure out who needs a gift and what I should start making.
I’m also thinking about starting an Etsy shop so I will probably do some thinking/planning about that.

Here’s your inspiration for the week:

Source: yesandyes.org via Courtney on Pinterest

Baby Girl's Football Outfit

2011-09-23T16:17:00.001-05:00

I know I already posted today but I wanted to share something related to yesterday's post. In Alex's group of close guy friends there is already one kidlet--you may remember back when I posted about her first birthday outfit. I couldn't let Baby J have all the fun so when I was getting the onesie for his football outfit I picked up a shirt for Baby Girl. But of course she needed something super-girly to go along with it so she got a Kansas City Chiefs tutu to go with her shirt. Personally I think she looks adorable. Now if the Chiefs would stop being terrible we'd be good to go for football season.

Pizza Waffles

2011-09-23T06:00:00.000-05:00

When I make things, people seem to think I’m pretty cool. They don’t really know that pretty much all I do is spend way too much time online (what else am I supposed to do when Alex thinks his video game is plotting against him and that is why he keeps dying?) and then I try, sometime with success and sometimes without, to recreate it. And now that Pinterest is on the scene, I have all kinds of ideas to copycat. And now I bring you pizza waffles.

Here is the original pin/link. You will soon see that hers are a lot prettier than mine:

Source: momommamoney.blogspot.com via Courtney on Pinterest

I should probably also give you another heads up. My favorite place to go shopping is my parents house. They have really cool stuff and it is free. Well more or less free. They prefer to charge in man hours. My current payment plan includes stringing pompoms onto string to be used for some project when little kids visit my dad’s museum. (Note my dad doesn’t actually have a museum. He just works for a place that does. Although he has enough stuff he could probably start a museum). So anyway, stuff there is free. It’s also a you take what you can get sort of situation. Why am I rambling on? Well I though you should know before you see the pictures and start scratching your head and wondering what in the world I am up to that I don’t have a real waffle maker like the one in the picture. My mom does, but she didn’t give it to me. Instead she gave me the Mickey and Minnie Mouse waffle maker. You’ll be glad to know though that it works just as well to make waffle pizzas. Well, sort of.

This is the waffle maker. It has some flour on it because prior to taking this picture I was checking to see if my dough was the right size. The great thing about waffle pizza is that it can be super easy or super fancy, depending on your style. I’ll let you guess which one mine is. All you need is pizza dough and your choice of pizza toppings. I used dough from Trader Joe’s—we had the wheat and the garlic and herb. Both were good but the garlic and herb was pretty sticky. I don’t know if it was just my batch or if it is always like that, but if it were that sticky again, I would probably just work some flour into it to make it easier to handle.

Here’s what you do. Roll your dough out to the size of your waffle maker. We did separate Minnie and Mickey pizzas because clearly I need to eat Minnie since I am a girl and Alex needs to eat Mickey because he is a boy. Plus we don’t really like the same food, so I didn’t want to have to eat his. Put your dough on the waffle maker, top with sauce and your choice of toppings, then put a second piece of dough on top, close that sucker up and let it cook.

The amount of time it needs to cook will probably depend on how hot your waffle maker is and how thick your dough and toppings are. Our only took a few minutes—maybe five or six. I did flip them halfway though but I also do that when making regular waffles.

In the link above, she says to trim off the extra dough. I did trim off the parts that were hanging out of the waffle maker but as you can see, there was some around Mickey’s face that got cooked. If you were going to for cute you could trim this off. I chose not to because 1) I was starving and 2) I like bread.

One of the best things about this recipe is that you can customize it anyway you can customize pizza, which is pretty much limitless. They were kind of like calzones, but better in my mind because the dough was more cooked—I hate when you get a calzone and the inside of the dough is still kind of doughy.

Diaper Party Gift

2011-09-22T23:47:00.001-05:00

So I don’t know if you know this or not, but the boy version of a baby shower is a diaper party. For Alex and his friends that pretty much meant what they would normally do on a Sunday afternoon (drink beer and watch football) but they all brought diapers. I know diapers are practical and all, but they are not very cute nor are they clever. However, there are a lot of onesies on Pinterest that are cute and clever. I have a whole board of things that are ideas for gifts for other people’s babies. You should check it out. Only thing is that not all of these onesies are appropriate for when Great-Grandma is around. They are however, appropriate for a diaper party. I decided that I couldn’t let the boys have all the fun, and little baby J needed his own six pack:

I took an empty six pack container and spray painted it blue. Then I got six bottles from the Dollar Tree (note, you could get real, nice bottles, but the bottles weren’t really the gift, what was inside the bottlers were). Then I stuffed a custom onesie in each bottle:

These two are my favorites. Both ideas are from Pinterest, so I can’t take credit. I did put my own design spin on them though. I used Sure Cuts A Lot, my Cricut and freezer paper to make the stencils. (Yes mom, I took these pictures at your house. I was running a bit behind so Molly helped me get it put together).

These two are painted too. The brown onesie is from Hobby Lobby. I couldn’t find solid brown onesies or kids shirts anywhere else.

Just to mix things up a bit, I did some appliques too. I ironed Heat and Bond to my fabric and cut it out on my Cricut. Just make sure your mat is really sticky and you cut slowly or it will mess up and you will be frustrated.

Baby J is going to be the best dressed kid on the block, if you ask me. At least when dad gets him dressed, that is.

Worldly Wednesday

2011-09-21T09:35:00.001-05:00

Venice, Italy

I love to travel and have been lucky enough to have visited a lot of amazing places. Every Wednesday I share one picture of the places I’ve been.

Bb is for Baby—A Baby Shower

2011-09-20T21:23:00.001-05:00

One of Alex’s best friends and his wife (the best friend’s wife, not Alex’s) is having a baby sometime in the next month. This past weekend, I helped throw her (the best friend’s wife) and baby Jameson a shower.

We hosted it at a local kitchenware shop. It was a cute place and they did the food and clean up. Our theme was Bb is for Baby because their last name starts with a B, it is a baby boy and she is an English teacher. One of the other co-hostesses made this cute sign.

My contribution was mostly the decorations. You already saw the diaper cake and cupcakes. I also made three centerpieces. I used one of the diaper cupcakes on each table and then a Dollar Tree vase (vase glued to candlestick) filled with black beans. I made tissue puffs that are all over the blog world using yellow and black tissue paper (the colors for the day) and stuck them on sticks so they could go in the vases. They were super cheap but also super cute.

Like I said, the venue provided the food, but to make them it a little more personal, I made cupcake toppers for the mini-cupcakes. I used cut the circles, B's and bees out with my Cricut. I ran the B’s and bees though a Xyron sticker maker and stuck them to the circles. Then I used round white mailing stickers to stick the circles to tooth picks. They were so easy to make that even Alex could do it (I made him help).

We decorated bibs and onesies for little Baby J to wear once he gets here. To make it a little less messy, we stuck with pain pens rather than puff paint.

We had super tasty cake pops too that two of the co-hostesses made. They did red velvet and peanut butter/chocolate. Super tasty and super cute. It was a lot of fun throwing a part for the mom-to-be and Baby J.

Monday Musings

2011-09-19T22:12:00.001-05:00

I don’t really know how to describe this past week other than that it was a blur. Between co-hosting a baby shower on Saturday and finding out that I passed the bar I felt like things were always going a mile a minute. I’ve got good stuff to share this week, so stick around.

Here’s what’s for dinner this week. We are trying a new thing where I cook Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday and Alex cooks Monday, Wednesday and Friday and then we switch off on Saturdays.

Sunday: Tacos with Alex’s parents

Monday: Sausage Penne

Tuesday: BLT Wraps

Wednesday: Kyle Chicken

Thursday: Bubble Up Enchiladas

Friday: Alex is on his own because I’m going out with the girls

Saturday: Orange Chicken

I’m not planning on starting any new projects this week, just wrapping up some that have been sitting half finished for far too long. We rearranged the furniture in our living/dining space so I’m going to be tweaking that until it is just right.

And finally, here’s a little inspiration to get you though the week:

Source: whenigrowupcoach.com via Courtney on Pinterest

Monday Musings

2011-09-12T12:05:00.002-05:00

Do you ever get so excited about something that you take on a little too much and realize that you may have over committed yourself? But you are so excited that you can't decide what to cut out? Yeah, that's me with the baby shower this week. So I'm going to be a busy little bee over the next few days. And then there's the whole tomorrow-is-the-most-important-day-of-my-life-because-bar-results-come-out thing. So yeah, its going to be an interesting week.

I don't have a menu for this week yet. We're trying something new where we are going to switch off making dinner. My days are Sunday, Tuesday, Thursday and every other Saturday.

That's all I've got for now, but here's a little inspiration to get you through the week:

Source: google.com via Courtney on Pinterest

Displaying Alex's Mic-O-Say Beads

2011-09-08T12:08:00.002-05:00

My opinion on collectables/sentimental items is that you should either display them or they don't really mean that much to you so you should get rid of them. And if you are going to bother to display them, you should do so in a nice way that will preserve them. Boy Scouts was a big part of Alex's life when he was younger. In the Kansas City area, there is a unique aspect to Boy Scouts called Mic-O-Say. Once you become part of Mic-O-Say, you get to wear beads and claws around your neck. The different beads symbolize different things as do the different colors of paint on the claws. Alex was so involved in Boy Scouts for so long that he has a whole bunch of sets of beads. Since it was such an important part of his life, I wanted to be able to display them, so I did.

I got a shadow box from Michael's and put batting and fabric on the back. Then I used fishing line to sew each set onto the fabric. It's not perfect, but it's much nicer than having them hang on a bulletin board in our bedroom.

Worldly Wednesday

2011-09-07T06:00:00.000-05:00

Cinque Terre, Italy

I love to travel and have been lucky enough to have visited a lot of amazing places. Every Wednesday I share one picture of the places I’ve been.

Diaper Cake

2011-09-06T11:31:00.001-05:00

I’m helping to host a baby shower for a good friend weekend after next and I’m making a lot of the decorations. Of course, a must for any baby shower is a diaper cake. I've been wanting to make one of these for a long time, so I was super excited when I was asked to help with the shower. The theme is Bb is for Baby and we are doing a yellow and black color scheme. The Bb theme is perfect because 1) they are having a Boy, 2) their last name starts with B and 3) she is an English teacher and loves to read so it is fun to incorporate little elements like that. Instead of doing one big post on everything, I wanted to break it down into the elements, but I will be sure to share pictures of the whole shower after the party.

On to today’s main event:

I used two packages of the Target brand diapers—they have these cute blue and green polka dots on them. I don’t have children so I have no idea if they are quality diapers or not. I started by just rolling the diapers up and using a piece of tape to make them stay—a great football game activity. Then I got started with the actual construction. I did a bit of Googling and Pinteresting before getting started to figure out what would be easiest for me. I eventually decided to start here:

Empty paper towel roll and cardboard cake base. You could cut your own circle out of scrap cardboard but I opted to buy mine so it would look nice. I’m terrible at cutting cardboard. Then I glued the tube in the middle of the circle like so:

Just use a little hot glue and make sure it is more or less centered. Now it is time to add the diapers. This is a point where it might be nice to have an extra set of hands, but you can certainly do it on your own, like I did. I started by putting a rubber band around the tube then filled in between the rubber band and tube with diapers.

Start by just doing one row to make it easier on yourself. This way diapers aren’t falling all over the place. After you do the inner row, work your way out.

My bottom layer had three rows so my middle layer could have two and my top one. After you get the bottom done, repeat with the middle.

Once the middle layer is done, stick a diaper in the top of the tube so that it will be level with the top layer of diapers. This way you have a nice looking top and not an empty tube. I didn’t take a picture of the complete cake without the embellishments. This is where you can really let your imagination fly. People use fabric, paper, ribbon, baby stuff, toys, just about anything you can imagine. I wanted to keep mine budget friendly (this isn’t my gift so I didn’t want to buy a bunch of stuff) so I used fabric. I find it to be more forgiving than paper even if it is a little more work.

Hobby Lobby as this cute bee fabric and I knew I wanted that to be a part of it. I didn’t want solid black so I went for black with white polka dots. And I got some black jumbo rickrack to top it off.

The top is my favorite. I sewed the black fabric into a tube then ironed it flat. I took a piece of the yellow fabric and added heat and bond. Then I cut out the B’s on my Cricut and ironed them on. On all of the layers, I attached the fabric by pinning the ends together then added a few more pins around to keep it up.

The middle layer is a tube of the yellow fabric with the black ric rack down the middle. I hid the straight pins under the ric rack to make it look a little nicer.

The bottom layer it two tubes of fabric sewn together. I love how it all looks together—sophisticated yet fun.

I had some diapers and fabric left over, so I decided to make some diaper cupcakes too.

Instead of rolling the diapers, I used a spiral method on these. Just Google diaper cakes and you’ll find someone who can explain how to do it. This method allowed me to push the centers up a little to make them look like cupcakes.

Baby Gifts

2011-08-16T11:44:00.001-05:00

I just realized I didn’t have a post up yet for today, so I tore myself away from my sewing machine to hop on the computer for a bit. Progress is actually being made on the puff quilt—yay! I really should be cleaning my living room, but I decided to sew instead.

Alex’s friends had a baby about a month ago and we finally got to go meet little Hannah week before last. I whipped up a few cute outfits to take over as a baby gift. My favorite baby gifts are definitely clothes—all kids need clothes. Its super easy to personalize them too. I usually do at least size six months, since it seems like most people get newborn sized stuff and that way if the baby is big, you don’t have to worry about the clothes being to small.

I made matching shirts for Hannah and her big brother Henry. I thought they could be cute in pictures or something. I used freezer paper stenciling and my Cricut to cut out the letters.

Henry got a shirt and some squishy dinosaurs. Henry’s a funny little guy and was actually scared of the dinosaurs at first, but he warmed up to them after we played with them for a while.

Hannah got three little outfits. I’ve posted about the one on the right before here, so if you’re curious, you can check them out. I used my Forever Young Cricut cartridge for the middle one using freezer paper stenciling.

Monday Musings

2011-08-15T11:18:00.001-05:00

I don’t know what the weather is like where you are, but it has finally cooled down here a little bit. I cannot wait until fall. I think that fall is my favorite season—it would be perfect if it had basketball instead of football. We’ve been out and about enjoying the nice weather. Last week we had dinner with friends one night and went to the T-Bones game another. If you from Kansas City and have never been to a T-Bones game, I’d highly recommend it. Its way cheaper than a Royals game and just as much fun. Saturday night we went to Em Chamas, a Brazilian grill, to celebrate our anniversary. Its kids of surreal that we have been dating for two years. Our actual anniversary was yesterday. We ran some errands and I got this:

It’s a Cannon Rebel T2i and I love it. I don’t actually know how to use it yet, but I’m loving it so far. I took it to softball last night and took a bunch of pictures. I also took some pictures at home, including a photoshoot with Mr. Potato Head.

If anyone wants to teach me how to use it, let me know. Other than errands, we had a pretty quiet day. Dinner at Ihop (my choice lol):

And then softball. Luckily it was a nice night and the boys won, so we hung out in the parking lot for a while afterwards.

On the project front, I got the birthday gift done for my friend. Now I’m just waiting for her to come back into town so I can give it to her and show it to you all. I didn’t work on the puff quilt (surprise surprise) but I did decide on a new hobby for football season—I’m going to teach myself to knit and/or crochet. I just have to go get the stuff from my mom so I can get started.

Here’s what we are eating this week:

Sunday: IHop for our anniversary :)
Monday: Enchiladas (We didn’t get around to it last week)
Tuesday: Spaghetti and Meatballs (We didn’t get around to it last week)
Wednesday: Brunch Casserole
Thursday: BBQ Chicken Stuffed Potatoes
Friday: Chicken Spaghetti
Saturday: Pot luck at friends’ house

Projects for This Week

The puff quilt is still on the list and will be until its done—I’m feeling a little more motivated this week so maybe something good will happen.
I’ve got a while bunch of little piddly half done projects that I need to finish this week—hang some pictures, finish a couple of wreaths I started but got distracted, those kinds of things.
I’m starting on baby gifts and baby shower projects for some good friends. I have a lot of fun things planned, so be on the look out at the end of September when I’ll share them.

Some Inspiration for the Week

Source: etsy.com via Courtney on Pinterest

Saturday Scrapbook Page

2011-08-13T06:00:00.000-05:00

I cut the flowers out of different patterned paper with a punch. I like how they stand out against the yellow paper. The little starts are stickers so are the letters.

Foodie Friday

2011-08-12T06:00:00.000-05:00

I was supposed to post this last Friday and well, I failed. Probably a good thing though because we’ve been eating out or boring this week. Although after last night, my patience for restaurants is growing thin. We went out with some friends to a place called Cheddars in Independence. Its right be Bass Pro off 291. Its ALWAYS packed, or at least the parking lot is. So much so that Alex and I joke that they must have a deal with the car dealership across the street that Carmax parks its extra cars there to make it look busy. I’d never been there, so I was kind of looking forward to it. We had to wait for over an hour because they skipped over us and forgot to seat us. Then the bartenders lost our drink tickets so we had to wait FOREVER. When they finally came out one of them was wrong and the manager who brought them over spilled two of them all over one of our friends. She hardly even got an apology. They replaced the wrong drink with another wrong drink and brought all of the food but one person’s and then when they did finally bring his food out, they only brought half of the dish and he had to wait for the other half. And they didn’t comp any of the bill until we asked if they were going to do anything for our troubles. Honestly, it got to the point where the whole night was just so ridiculous that we had to laugh. Needless to say, I don’t think we will be going back there again.

Anyway, you may remember from last week that one of the recipes we were going to have for dinner was Pizza Pancakes. I had found this idea on Pinterest, but don’t seem to have pinned it so I can’t share the link. I’d never really thought about doing a savory pancake before, but after this we are hooked.

They were super easy too. I used Bisquick (actually the reduced fat store brand Bisquick) and mixed some Italian seasoning and meatball chunks in the batter. You could do any pizza topping—pepperoni, sausage, veggies, whatever. You could do pancakes from scratch, maybe just reduce the amount of sugar. Instead of syrup, we topped them with spaghetti sauces and parmesan cheese. You can bet we will be making these again!

Puff Quilt #1 Again

2011-08-11T16:17:00.001-05:00

You might remember the first puff quilt I made for my cousin’s baby—if not, you can find it here. I gave it to them at Easter and just recently got some super cute pictures from that day. The little guy was super tiny and one of my aunts had a giant Easter basket. So of course, we had to take some pictures:

You can tell he wasn’t all that impressed, but he didn’t fuss either—what a good sport!

Isn’t his outfit cute?

What a cutie!

Worldly Wednesday

2011-08-10T06:00:00.001-05:00

Morgan, Emily & Emily looking across the river at the Papal Place, Avignon, France.
I love to travel and have been lucky enough to have visited a lot of amazing places. Every Wednesday I share one picture of the places I’ve been.

S’mores!

2011-08-09T21:39:00.001-05:00

It has been brought to my attention (thanks Mom) that tomorrow is National S’mores Day. I have a sneaking suspicion that this is more like Talk Like A Pirate Day than Christmas, but I for one will be celebrating. If you follow me on Pinterest, you may have noticed I have a think for s’mores right now. You might think s’mores are only for camping, but man you are wrong.

You can put them in a jar:

Source: thekitchn.com via Courtney on Pinterest

You can make them into a cupcake:

Source: glorioustreats.blogspot.com via Courtney on Pinterest

Maybe you prefer your s’mores a bit more on the ice cream side:

Source: divinepartyconcepts.com via Courtney on Pinterest

Would you like a cookie?

Source: picky-palate.com via Courtney on Pinterest

Or maybe a cookie bar (note: these are my new favorite desserts—they are heaven in a pan—seriously)

Source: lovintheoven.com via Courtney on Pinterest

You can have s’mores for breakfast

Source: bedifferentactnormal.com via Courtney on Pinterest

Pie?

Source: justataste.com via Courtney on Pinterest

Nachos?

Source: eatathomecooks.com via Courtney on Pinterest

I’ve got more on there, so head on over to check it out. As you can probably tell, I slightly obsessed with s’mores. My Mom caught on to this and while I was studying for the Bar she surprised me with a pretty awesome s’mores treat. She put mini Hershey’s Kisses, Teddy Grahams, mini marshmallows and brownies in jars. I apologize in advance for the TERRIBLE pictures—apparently my brain was having a really off day that day.

Yummy! (And blurry)

Doesn’t that look tasty. It gest even better:

That’s right, we microwaved them for a little while, just to get everything soft and gooey. If you leave the brownies out, it makes a great s’mores trail mix. Just don’t take it to a baseball game in a million degree heat—take my word for it.

Monday Musings

2011-08-08T22:23:00.002-05:00

You know how a lot of people swear by having a routine for their kids and sticking to it? I do that to myself. I am way more productive and way less stressed when I have a routine to follow. The last few weeks have been pretty routine-less because of everything going on, but I think I am finally back to a point where I can figure something out. It seems like lately when I set out to have a very productive day, well, as John Steinbeck said, the best laid plans of mice and men often go astray. I’m trying though and one of these days its going to work out for me. I did okay on my list from last week—I got the baby gifts done and the apartment is starting to look nice again. I didn’t work on the puff quilt at all because I ended up going back to work last week. I’m not licensed yet (won’t get the Bar results until mid-September), so I’m doing the same thing as before, working part time. I’m so thankful for it though, even if it did cut my vacation short.

Here’s what we are eating this week:

Sunday: Tacos
Monday: Skillet Chicken with Tomatoes
Tuesday: Spaghetti and Meatballs
Wednesday: Chicken BLTs
Thursday: T-Bones game
Friday: Enchiladas
Saturday: Date Night for our anniversary (crazy to think we’ve been dating for 2 years now)

Projects for This Week

One of my law school friends had a birthday right before the Bar. Due to time constraints (aka studying for 12 hours a day), I had to give her an IOU. I've come up with something that I think is going to be pretty cute but you guys won’t get to see it until I have a chance to give it to her.
Maybe I’ll actually get a chance to work on the puff quilt this week. Don’t hold your breath—the last one took me forever to do too. I seriously am the world’s slowest sewer.
I’ve got to come up with a new hobby/craft that I can do during football games. I really don’t like football but Alex loves it. I’m thinking of taking up knitting (again). I know how to do it, I’m just not patient enough. If anyone has any ideas for a portable hobby, let me know.

A Little Inspiration to Get You Though the Week

(I’m feeling a little sappy, with the whole anniversary thing this week). Have a great week everyone!

I almost forgot to mention the most exciting thing--my Mod Podge Shoes were featured over at Keepin it Thifty! Its a great blog, so go check it out:

Worldly Wednesday

2011-08-03T06:00:00.000-05:00

Disturbingly Large Pink Pelican, Mykonos, Greece

I love to travel and have been lucky enough to have visited a lot of amazing places. Every Wednesday I share one picture of the places I’ve been.

Mod Podge Shoes

2011-08-02T06:00:00.000-05:00

I’ve seen posts about using Mod Podge to attach fabric to shoes all over the place and decided to give it a try. I had a pair of black ballet flats that had a hole where my big toe nail is. I’m too cheap to buy new shoes at the moment (other than some clearance flip flops at Target that I love) so I decided to see if I could give the flats a second life. I figured that the worst thing that happened was that I ruined a pair of already ruined shoes.

You can see the hole on the one on the right. Its not a big hole, but its noticeable and since I wear these shoes to work, I wanted them to look nice. Since the only problem was the hole, I decided just to cover the toes and not the whole thing. That way if it didn’t work out, I hadn’t wasted too much fabric. Plus, it seemed easier. I used a heavier weight fabric (duck cloth I think) and outdoor Mod Podge so they would be a little more weather proof. No step-by-step pictures, because like most of my projects, I just kind of winged it. All I did was cut a square of fabric, glued it on then trimmed it along the bottom. A few more coats of Mod Podge to seal it up and you have:

Tada! No more hole. They aren’t perfect, but no one spends a lot of time staring at my feet. And they are somewhat waterproof—the first day I wore them it rained cats and dogs. I’ve worn them several times now and they still look great. I was a little concerned that the white fabric would get dingy or dirty quickly, but so far, with normal wear (I’m not jumping in any mud puddles), they still look nice. Not a bad (free) fix for a pair of shoes that would have otherwise gone in the trash.

Sunday Summary (On Monday)

2011-08-01T16:32:00.001-05:00

This was the post I was originally going to do yesterday, but we spent the day with Alex’s parents finishing the last four (of nine) loads of laundry that needed to get done to catch up from bar prep. Then Alex had the first of three 10:00 softball games this session. We have a terrible schedule and no one is happy about it. The only good thing about it was that by then it had cooled off a little.

I try to plan out our menu for the week in advance. This way we have a plan when we go grocery shopping, which saves us money. I also find that it takes away a lot of stress too because I hate when 5:00 rolls around and I have no idea what we are going to have for dinner. I like when other people pose things like this on their blogs because it gives me new ideas for our dinners.

Here’s what we are eating this week:

Sunday: Dinner with Alex’s family

Monday: Pizza pancakes with salad

Tuesday: Drunken Pork Chops with Rice

Wednesday: Cornbread Taco Casserole

Thursday: Soft Pretzel Dogs

Friday: Tortellini with Trader Joe’s Bruschetta topping

Saturday: Sporting Kansas City game

Projects for This Week

I’ve got another puff quilt in the works. This one is for Alex’s cousin’s baby. They are in town this week so I’m hoping to get it done so I don’t have to mail it to them. I’ve had most of the pieces cut out since before graduation, so I’m ready to get it out the door. I’m only cautiously optimistic about this one.

We got caught up on laundry but the rest of our apartment has been sorely neglected over the last month. My goal is always to keep it neat enough so that I’m no embarrassed if we have company show up unexpectedly.

One of Alex’s buddies had a baby at the height of last month’s insanity, so we haven’t met her yet. We’re taking dinner over there this week, which means I have to cook and finish her gifts.

A Little Inspiration to Get You Though the Week

Source: etsy.com via Courtney on Pinterest

Hope everyone has a great week!

Worldly Wednesday

2011-08-01T06:00:00.000-05:00

Inside the Catacombs, Paris, France

I love to travel and have been lucky enough to have visited a lot of amazing places. Every Wednesday I share one picture of the places I’ve been.

And We’re Back

2011-07-31T16:12:00.001-05:00

Hi Friends! I’m back. I took the Missouri Bar this past week in Jefferson City. I’ll be honest, I’m pretty sick of talking about it, but I think it went well and I’ll find out in six weeks whether or not I’m licensed.

Now on to the fun stuff. I’ve got a LONG list of stuff that I want to make and I’ve actually got several things that I worked on a while ago and never had the energy to post about.

I found this idea on Tatertots and Jello and knew that I wanted to do something similar for a big empty wall in our bedroom. Mine needed to a lot bigger though. A whole lot.

I started with a canvas drop cloth from Lowes. I decided that it would be more cost effective than buying fabric at the store. I got paint and the fabric from Hobby Lobby. I got three fabrics. The polka dot one was a yard (I think) and I cut it into strips that were four inches wide. Then I sewed all of the strips together so I had one long piece of fabric. I ironed it in half and then each half in half again to essentially make double found bias tape. I cut the pennants out of the drop cloth and made me own stencil using a sheet of clear plastic and my Cricut. I did polka dots, chevron, strips and a wavy. I positioned the stencil differently on different pennants so it made it a little more interesting. Originally I was going to use fabric paint but realized that it wasn’t ever going to get washed so acrylic was fine. I pained the pennants and then sewed them into the bias tape. I also sewed strips of fabric in between the pennants.

They are strung across a wall of our bedroom and they had a great splash of color and fun. It was a little tedious, but only because I wanted it so long.

One More Week

2011-07-20T23:17:00.000-05:00

Guess what? One week from now, I will be done with this godforsaken test. Sorry I haven't been posting more. I do have some projects that are done and in various stages of being ready to be posted, but studying this much wears me out. Any free time that I do have goes towards making sure the boyfriend doesn't feel neglected and making sure we are eating more than just s'mores and cheez-its. Speaking of s'mores, while I haven't been crafting, I have been finding things to craft in the future. I am kind of obsessed with Pinterest. Its a great study break because I can take a minute or two and browse all the fun and cute things out there on the web. If you want to follow me, you can find me here, but for now, here's a few of my recent pins:

Source: sunsurfer.tumblr.com via Courtney on Pinterest

Source: thebloggess.com via Courtney on Pinterest

Go read this post...it made me laugh out loud

Source: angbrimwil.blogspot.com via Courtney on Pinterest

There's just a little something to tide you over until I'm back in action next week. Let me know if you want a Pinterest invite, and I'll hook you up.

Chalkboard Sign

2011-07-05T06:00:00.000-05:00

I’m thinking my new favorite project supply may be chalkboard paint.

I bought this sign at Hobby Lobby on clearance for less than $4. I had originally planned on using it to make a wedding gift, but due to studying, the wedding came and went before I was able to make it into something nice. And I had gotten a can of chalkboard spray paint for another project that still hasn’t gotten done. I took a few minutes this week to combine the two to get this:

It’s hanging on the inside of our door so we can write notes to ourselves or each other so we’ll see them before we walk out the door. Or we can just write random things like Happy Birthday America. I’m not sure how well it is going to hold up because the wood is a little rustic, but since it was so cheap, if it doesn’t last forever, it won’t be so bad.

P.S. Do you love our super old school ghetto door bell? Its pretty awesome. The best part is that the button you press on the outside of the door usually gets stuck and it freaks out the pizza guy.

Faith, Hope and Love

2011-07-04T18:45:00.001-05:00

It’s been a while, hasn’t it. Remember when I said they told us we needed to spend 12 hours a day studying for the Bar? Well, this day has come. Actually, its been that way for a while. I won’t bore you will the details, but lets just say I’ve been studying a lot. A whole lot. And it leaves very little time for anything else, including blogging. That sucks because I really love to blog. So I’m working on trying to get back to it. It won’t be everyday, but hopefully we won’t go weeks without a new post. Anyway, now that the excuses are out of the way, onto something more fun.

I saw this on Pinterest and loved them. My wonderful mom left me a surprise Michael’s giftcard in my car one day and I knew that this is what I wanted to do with it. I bought a pack of 3 flat canvases and the wooden letters. While I like the look of the regular canvases, the flat ones were more cost effective. I used my e6000 glue to affix the wooden letters to the canvases then gave them a few coats of spray paint. I went with blue rather than white because all of my walls are white.

They are hanging in our living room with our canvas from Canvas People. I want to add something more around it, but I haven’t found what I am looking for yet. Given that I have no idea what I am looking for, it may be awhile before the look is complete.

My Blog's Wordle

2011-06-13T12:31:00.000-05:00

My Blog's Wordle--Thanks Mom!

Want your own? Go to http://www.wordle.net/create and put in your url.

Sunday Summary

2011-06-13T00:11:00.000-05:00

Turns out studying for six hours a day on top of working part time, plus all the other requirements in life doesn't leave a lot of time for creating or blogging. Last week pretty much took a nose dive and by the end of it I was physically and emotionally drained. Looking forward to this week, although six hours is going to have to be seven or eight most days to accommodate a busy weekend.

Here's what for dinner this week:
Sunday: BLT Wraps (found this idea on Pinterest and love it)
Monday: Chicken w/ pesto
Tuesday: Biscuits & Gravy
Wednesday: Taco Pasta Bake
Thursday: Lemon Chicken Pasta

My goals for the week: finish pennants, spray painting, and work on gifts for a homemade gift exchange. Oh and actually blog on a regular basis and learn something that lawyers need to know. Maybe two things. I'd say three, but don't want to get too crazy now. :)

Taco Bell Quesadillas

2011-06-07T21:15:00.001-05:00

I’m not positive, but I think this recipe is from middle school home ec and until a few weeks ago, I think that is the last time I had made it. But Alex really likes it and it really is super easy. I can’t actually say that it tastes like Taco Bell because I don’t eat there.

For the sauce, mix:

1/4 mayo (or do half mayo and half sour cream)
2 tsp minced jalapenos
2 tsp jalapeno juice
3/4 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp chili pepper
1/8 tsp garlic powder
dash of salt

This can be a bit hot, especially if you get a chunk of jalapeno in there, so you might want to adjust if you are feeding any kidlets

You’ll also need:

flour tortillas
grilled chicken breasts
shredded cheese (I use whatever we have in the fridge—cheddar, monetary jack, pepper jack, Mexican mix)
Kraft singles

For each quesadilla, spread sauce on one side of a flour tortilla and put it in hot skillet. Sprinkle the sauced side with shredded cheese and half of a Kraft single. After it has started to melt, top with chicken (or whatever other toppings you want). Fold over and press gently with spatula. Flip over and cook until cheese is melted.

Hungry yet? I like to eat mine with salsa and sour cream, but Alex will eat them plain.

Sorry for the lack of posts over the last few days. Bar prep has really ramped up and my goal is 6 hours a day. I’m still trying to get into a good routine and figure out how to balance studying with everything else in my life. Bear with me though, I think I’ve just about got it done. Until it increases to 8 hours a day that is.

Saturday Scrapbook Page

2011-06-05T00:31:00.001-05:00

I have a scrapbook where each page is a single picture of me and a friend. The green paper is from a rock start themed pack. The ribbon is a random one I saved off something. I used stamps for the name and the other embellishments came together.

Friday Favorites and Fun Stuff

2011-06-03T18:38:00.001-05:00

{On Fridays, I’m sharing my favorites things and places and other fun stuff}

I hate chopping. It’s probably my least favorite thing about cooking. Its messy and never looks very nice and always ends up uneven. So for my birthday I asked for this:

Its called a Garlic Zoom and it is amazing. All you have to do is peel your garlic, drop it in the top and roll this little guy across your counter a few times. Then he opens in the middle, you pull out the blade and dump out perfectly chopped garlic. It saves me a lot of time and headaches in the kitchen. I know you can get it on Amazon and I’m sure you can find it, or a similar product, in most food stores.

More Vinyl Projects

2011-06-03T18:30:00.001-05:00

When I was showing you all my laptop, I talked about how I loved that you could just peel the vinyl off if you got sick of it. Well, I’ve also found that unless you peel it off yourself, vinyl sticks really well. Even though the dishwasher.

This is my summer drink cup. One of my favorite summer cocktails is Pimm’s. it’s a British drink that I discovered when I was studying in England. Its really popular over there in the summer. It a gin based liqueur that you mix with sprite (or lemonade if you are in England). It’s usually served with fruit (I like frozen fruit—it keeps your drink cold without diluting it). I got one of those hard plastic cups from Hobby Lobby and put the measurements for the drink on the side. This way I can easily mix the perfect drink. Its been through the dishwasher several times and the vinyl still looks great.

I’m a big water bottle user, but I’m kind of picky. I have certain water bottles that are just for plain water and some that are for flavored drinks. I wanted to make sure the boy didn’t get them mixed up, so I labeled them with vinyl. This would also be great if you had multiple people with the same water bottles and you wanted to know whose was whose. Again, they’ve been though the dishwasher several times and still look great.

Worldly Wednesday

2011-06-01T06:00:00.000-05:00

Sunset+ocean+hammock=wish I were there

Puerto Vallerta, Mexcio

I love to travel and have been lucky enough to have visited a lot of amazing places. Every Wednesday I share one picture of the places I’ve been.

Creamy Spaghetti

2011-05-31T21:10:00.001-05:00

Spaghetti is probably my favorite real food. My favorite snack food is reduced fat Cheez-its, but my favorite dinner is definitely spaghetti. If it were just me (and when it has been just me before), spaghetti would probably be on the menu at least once a week. But the boy seems to like a little variety in his menus, so we don’t have it all that often. A fun way to mix it up is by doing creamy spaghetti. All you have to do is add either cream or cream cheese to the sauce. I’ve done both, and they were both equally delicious. I’ve served it with chicken before, but last week we had it with Italian sausage and it was delicious

I also served it with a wedge salad on the side. I have decided to only serve wedge salads from now on (unless I but salad in the bag). Why bother cutting/tearing the lettuce when you can just quarter it and call it good?

Computer Vinyl

2011-05-30T15:21:00.001-05:00

I decided my new laptop was looking a little naked, so I decided to spruce her up a bit:

I love love love cutting vinyl with my Cricut. I have used both the Cricut brand vinyl and an off brand as well and they both work well. I have had some issues mastering the use of transfer paper, but I’m pretty sure that is user error. I especially like that the vinyl is durable, yet if you get tired of it, you can always just peel it off. I used my SCAL software for these designs, but you can find super cute stuff on the cartridges as well.

Now she’s looking nice and pretty. If you had two similar laptops in the house, this would be a great way to tell whose is whose. I didn’t even have spend any new money on this project since I already had the vinyl.

Sunday Day Summary

2011-05-29T15:03:00.001-05:00

Menu:

Sunday: Dinner with Friends

Monday: Memorial Day Cookout with Friends

Tuesday: BBQ Pork Tenderloin

Wednesday: Breakfast

Thursday: Chicken Parmesan

Friday: Taco Bell Quesadillas

Saturday: Honey Mustard Pork Chops

Project Goals:

Get all the half finished projects on my craft table done

What I Accomplished Last Week:

Got my office/craft room (mostly) cleaned up) and started bar prep

Getting Organized

2011-05-28T11:43:00.001-05:00

I am forever hopeful that one of these days my life is going to slow down. I was sure that after graduation things would start moving at a leisurely pace and I would be able to enjoy a couple of weeks off. Well, that didn’t happen. Not one bit. Then this week bar prep started. Apparently I am supposed to be studying for the bar 8-12 hours a day. I don’t do anything for 12 hours a day. My attention span is not that long. All week I’ve been taking tests to learn just how much I do not know. And to top it all off, I woke up sick yesterday. Lame.

You may have figured it out by now, but I kind of gave up on the everyday in May thing. I just didn’t have time and it got to the point where it felt more like a chore than something fun to do. No point in doing it if I’m not going to enjoy it. Plus for the most part, my life is really boring. I went to the lake last weekend with some friends and had a great time, but didn’t take any pictures.

I found this quote in my latest issue of Real Simple: “When I cannot bear outer pressure anymore, I begin to put order in my belongings…. As if unable to organize and control my life, I seek to exert this on the world of objects. It pretty much sums me up perfectly. So this week I’ve been getting my life in order before the crazy madness of bar prep really sets in. The good news for you is that I even made a blogging schedule so I will have posts up regularly (knock on wood). The bad news is that the most creative thing I’ve done all week is clean my office so I have a place to study and to craft. So nothing new to post today, but the new schedule will start tomorrow, so check back then.

Laptop Case

2011-05-21T05:00:00.000-05:00

I got a new laptop for graduation. My old one still works and I am still using it because SCAL is no longer compatible with Circuit, so I am going to keep using the version I have which does work for as long as possible. Also my old laptop has Photoshop, and while my parents have informed me that I can move it onto the new one, I have been too lazy to do so. Anyway, so while I have a functional computer, its got a few quarks from being used and toted to and from school pretty much daily over the last three years. And since I have to use my own computer to take the Bar in July, I wanted something more reliable. Enter a very generous grandmother who supplied me with my as yet to be named new laptop.

Since the new laptop is not going to go on nearly as many trips as the old one did, I asked for, and received, one with a bigger screen. Only problem with this is that it doesn’t fit into my old laptop case. It won’t be going on many outings, but I wanted it to be safe during the ones it does go on. Now, I could have gone out and bought a case, but where would be the fun in that? I didn’t have too many requirements other than it be cute and not have a zipper because the idea of sewing a zipper scares me. I did some googling and finally settled on this tutorial from The Cottage Home. I used magnetic snaps instead of buttons (because button holes scare me too) and added some ruffles, because let’s face it, everything is cuter with ruffles. So without further ado, I bring you my new laptop case:

The outside is made from a home décor weight fabric to make it a little more sturdy and the ruffles are from two fat quarters.

To make it a little more cushy I used a pre-quilted fabric for the lining.

Close up of the ruffles. I tried to use my ruffler foot but it was giving me all kinds of trouble so I ended up just adjusting my stitch length and tension.

Here’s a close up of the top. Next time I would probably but the snap on the body down lower but I was afraid the ruffles would get in the way. I don’t think the straps are really as lopsided in real life as they look in this picture. Overall though, I love it and I’m pretty sure my laptop loves it too. Just don’t let my old laptop see it—its case is a free one that I got from school.

Worldly Wednesday

2011-05-19T12:38:00.001-05:00

I love to travel and have been lucky enough to have visited a lot of amazing places. Every Wednesday I’m planning on featuring one picture of the places I’ve been.

Strawberry Pie in a Jar

2011-05-19T00:33:00.001-05:00

I wanted to do a fun, portable dessert for Mother’s Day with the Boy’s family. I happen to LOVE strawberries, so when I saw this recipe for Chocolate Drizzled Strawberries and Cream Pie at Our Best Bites, I knew that was what I wanted to make. Plus his sister doesn’t do much dairy so I could easily do chocolate covered strawberries for her. I’ve seen cake/cupcakes/pie in a jar all over, so I thought that would be the easiest way get it from our house to theirs and then out on our outing without making a mess. So I gathered my supplies and got started.

It was a super simple recipe that even I couldn’t mess up. Can’t forget the jars though.

Oh good, there they are. I got them at Wal-Mart, in case you are looking for some of your own.

I wish I could say that no chocolate bunnies were harmed in the making of this dessert, but that clearly was not the case. We had a bunch of chocolate Easter candy left so I melted that before I broke into the chocolate chips (I’m cheap).

Before filling the jars, I got each part ready—the crust, the strawberries, the filling and the chocolate (which was on the stove so it didn’t make it into the picture). They Boy started helping me at this point since I only have two hands.

I don’t know how well you can tell from this picture, but I used a small, flat-ish ladle to push the crust into the bottom. I like a lot of crust, so I did it pretty thick. Then my hands were too full to take pictures but I layered crust, filling, strawberries, chocolate, filling, strawberries and chocolate. I went for two layers since my jars were a little taller.

Here’s some close ups. I topped them with some left over puff quilt fabric (it was already cut and everything). You can tell that they are a little bit rustic, but for our first go around, it wasn’t bad. Plus they were delicious!

The final touch was to add a plastic fork with some ribbon. They’re not in the picture, but I also did two with just chocolate covered strawberries. Pretty much the only thing I would do differently is to make more of the filling because I could have used a bit more to fill the jars a bit more. They would probably also be a little prettier with less chocolate, but the Boy either doesn’t know what drizzle means or he knew that they would be extra tasty with extra chocolate.

Here's What Happened...

2011-05-16T17:56:00.000-05:00

So the Thursday before graduation (that would, I believe, have been two Thursdays ago), the Boy got me some flowers. Well actually what happened was that I told the Boy he was getting me flowers so we went to Costco and I picked out and paid for some flowers. He has, two or three times, of his own accord gotten me flowers, but if I want flowers, I pretty much have to get them myself. That's just how we roll here. So anyway, I got some flowers. They were pink and pretty and I put them in a vase by the door. Then last Thursday, we came home from doing whatever it is that we had been doing and all of a sudden realized that it had, in real time, been a week since I had gotten said flowers. Normally this wouldn't be a problem, but it has only been about 30 seconds in Courtney time. The week flew by and I feel like I got nothing accomplished. The days since Thursday haven't been much better. I have things to share, they just haven't had a chance to make it from my head to my computer yet. I'm thinking sometime in the next couple of days I can make that happen, so don't give up on my quite yet.

Catching Up On May

2011-05-11T21:50:00.000-05:00

Did you guys think I had given up on my Every Day in May project? My mom did (hi mom), but have no fear, I’ve just been disgustingly busy. I have all kinds of excuses—would you like to hear them? Well lets start with a little thing called graduation, or make that 3 graduations in two days. Then there were two days spent at the Boy’s parents house, one sans laptop, one with my laptop but no internet. And I got a new laptop for graduation (love it!) but I didn’t have any good photo/scrapbooking software on it, so I had to remedy that (using My Memories digital scrapbooking, which I’m loving so far). Oh yeah, and I’m still working. So yeah, I needed some time to catch up, but catch up I have so get ready for this:

Composition Book Covers

2011-05-11T12:28:00.001-05:00

I have five good girl friends that I have gotten really close to during law school and I wanted to get them a little something as a graduation gift. I was looking through my favorites and came across this link and thought it would be perfect. We are about to start bar prep and I figured that if we had to study then at least they needed something cute to take notes on. Her tutorial is easy to follow and unless you are the world’s slowest sewer aka me, then they don’t take much time at all. I used duck cloth. Make sure you get the double fold bias tape or it won’t work. Also don’t get the quilting bias tape unless you cut the fabric bigger than she tells you to.

I used extra bias tape to make rosettes to go on the front. I love love love the fabric!

Graduation Day

2011-05-07T17:00:00.000-05:00

Today’s a big day for me because today I graduate from law school. That’s some crazy business. I have wanted to be a lawyer for as long as I can remember. All throughout high school and college, I did things with the intention that they would help me get into law school. By the time my senior year of college rolled around, I wasn’t so sure anymore. There wasn’t anything else that I wanted to do, but I didn’t know if I wanted to go straight into law school. I had just gotten back into the country after being gone for a year and was involved in a million activities so I was always busy and stressed. My mom went to a law school fair thing for me (I couldn’t go because of a school commitment) and someone there told her that if I wanted to get in anywhere that I needed to have my application done before Christmas.

I basically was at the point where I didn’t know what I wanted to do, but I knew I needed to do something. I finally decided that I would apply to two local schools and if they didn’t work out then I would take a year off to reevaluate. I knew that if it was in God’s plan for me to go straight into law school, then he would make it happen. I got my applications in during January and then it was a waiting game.

I remember exactly when the lady from UMKC called me. It was the last Friday in February—my birthday was on Monday. I was up on my sorority wing because we were having initiation. I don’t even know why I answered my phone when she called because usually I don’t answer when I don’t recognize the number. But I did and she asked me if I had decided where I was going to law school. I explained that I hadn’t been accepted anywhere yet because I didn’t have a complete application because I was having a hard time getting a professor to turn in a letter of recommendation. She said “oh let me be the first to congratulate you” and told me that I had been accepted and was being offered a couple of scholarships. I was over the moon but took the weekend to think about it and talked it over with my folks, but ended up accepting the next week.

There are better law schools out that than UMKC but I really think I made the right decision for me. It has been a really great place to go to school. I’m not going to say that I enjoyed it all of the time, or even most of the time, because that wouldn’t be true. But that is the nature of law school. I am so glad that I did it but I am even more glad that I am done. It has been really tough academically and emotionally. I feel like I missed out on a lot of things because I was always having to study. I know that one of these days, all that hard work will pay off though.

The main thing I loved about UMKC was the people. I made some really good friends over the past three years. We laughed, studied, drank, procrastinated and complained together. It seems like the elite law schools are all super competitive which would not have worked for me. I needed to be in a place where someone would send me notes if I missed a class or explain something to me that I really just didn’t get. For me it is the people who really make experiences worthwhile and I couldn’t have spent the last three years with better people.

For today, I’m just going to enjoy the moment. Enjoy being with all of the great friends I have made over the last three years. In a few weeks I start 9 weeks of Bar prep, but for today I am just going to bask in the glow of my accomplishment.

Every Day in May--May 3

2011-05-03T23:06:00.000-05:00

Every Day in May--May 2

2011-05-03T10:29:00.000-05:00

I didn't get around to this last night because the Boy finished his finals and we went out for a drink with some people in his class. But, without further ado, here's May 2nd:

Every Day in May--1

2011-05-01T23:21:00.001-05:00

I decided to do something fun for May. I’m going to try to take at least one picture every day and put it into a digital scrapbook layout. I’m more likely to follow through with it if it is public knowledge, so I’m going to post the pages here! Here’s the page for May 1st:

Its not much, mostly because my computer is being a little tweakish right now but I wanted to get it done and posted because I don’t want to fall behind on the first day. My goal is to get the LO done each night before bed, but I know that won’t happen every day. Keep checking back for more of what I’m doing in May!

Worldly Wednesday 4/27

2011-04-27T04:00:00.000-05:00

Windsor Castle, Berkshire, England

(No spottings of the Princes that day, but we did walk down to see the school they went to as kids)

I love to travel and have been lucky enough to have visited a lot of amazing places. Every Wednesday I’m planning on featuring one picture of the places I’ve been.

Puff Quilt

2011-04-23T16:13:00.001-05:00

Another reason (other than school) that I haven’t posted much lately is because I have been working on this:

It has taken FOREVER, but I’m really happy with how it turned out. I used a pattern from Honeybear Lane. Of course until after I got it that I realized that it had 50 steps. But since I paid for it already I forged ahead. My cousin just had a baby boy, so this is for Baby Brody. I’ll be honest, the only reason it got done today is because I want to give it to my cousin tomorrow when the family gets together for Easter. I need to do laundry, clean my apartment and study for my Estates & Trusts finals. It is my no mean perfect, but I figure the baby won’t care.

I only used four fabrics for the puffs instead of the eight she recommends. I also doubled the batting so the border would be even puffier. The binding didn’t go so well so I had to improvise a bit, but it works.

I love the lion fabric! And the blue looks awesome next to it. The yellow (it has little bees on it), polka dot, and green fabrics are cotton. The one with animals is a flannel and the green backing is flannel as well. The binding is a blue cotton as well.

I’m a glutton for punishment, so I’m making another one for the Boy’s cousin who also just had a baby boy. I’m hoping the second one goes faster than the first. Its not a hard pattern, just time consuming. I have a friend who is having a baby girl soon, so maybe if I get good at it, she’ll get one too.

Computer Background

2011-04-21T08:50:00.000-05:00

My dad let me load his copy of Photoshop onto my computer and I love to go in there and mess around. I'm by no means a pro, but it keeps me busy. Here's a background I made for my computer a few days ago, and I thought I would share it with you all. I've seen this phrase all over Pinterest and a whole bunch of people's blogs and it really resonated with me because I have finals, graduation and the bar coming over over the next few days, weeks and months. Anyway, I hope you like it. It's free to download but I'd love it if you left me a comment so I know if you liked it!

Here's the link to download it: I Can Do Hard Things

I used free digital scrapbook stuff from Summertime Designs. Her stuff is my favorite!

Worldly Wednesday 4/20

2011-04-20T04:00:00.000-05:00

Arc du Triomphe, Paris, France

I love to travel and have been lucky enough to have visited a lot of amazing places. Every Wednesday I’m planning on featuring one picture of the places I’ve been.

St. Patty’s Chip and Dip

2011-04-17T21:10:00.001-05:00

The Boy and I were at Target after St. Patrick’s Day, so of course we were perusing the clearance. The Boy loves St. Patty’s Day and I love projects, so when I saw how cheap their holiday bowls and cups were, I couldn’t help myself.

I use E6000 to glue the cup in between the big and little bowls. It’s plenty big for lots of chips and then the dip can go in the top. I love that the cup matches the bowls so well.

Simple, cheap and practical. My kind of project. It takes up a bit of cabinet space, but that’s okay. And since the Boy likes being Irish so much that we can use it all year round.

Union Jack Cigar Box

2011-04-16T23:40:00.001-05:00

It has been far too long since I have last posted and I want to thank everyone who’s still here. Law school is way super lame and I have been crazy busy with end of the year/end of it all forever stuff. Some of it has been fun, but most of it has been work and it has all left me super tired. Since I didn’t think you really wanted to know about my latest creation, which was a 15 page memo to a fictitious client about the pros and cons of a couple of financing proposals, I finally photographed some random stuff that I thought you might be interested in.

This first one is something I did right after I got back from England and was still super homesick for my second home. It was funny how I was homesick while I was there but equally as homesick when I got home. I wanted a place to keep some mementos and I was going though a Mod Podge phase. I started out with a cigar box. Honestly, I can’t remember where it came from but I think my dad somehow came home with a bunch one day or something. No one in our family smokes cigars but I do come from a long line of dumpster divers, so maybe that had something to do with it.

Basically all I did was cut blue, red and silver pictures out of magazines and went to town. To get the top just right, I printed the outline of the British flag (found it on Google by searching for coloring pages). Then I cut the pieces out, kind of like a puzzle, and Mod Podged the right color clippings to each of the red and blue parts then Mod Podged the whole thing together onto the lid that I had done in all silver. Doing the top one color made it so I didn’t have to get everything lined up perfectly. I made a journal using the same technique, but I think it is in a box somewhere at the moment, still waiting for its turn to be used.

The body of the box is red because that is probably what I had the most of. The inside of the lid is foil because it is not all that easy finding pictures that have big chunks of silver.

It holds birthday cards, Underground tickets and other trinkets from my year abroad. They’re pretty happy in their pretty little home. Here’s one more close up of the top.

Worldly Wednesday 4/13

2011-04-13T04:00:00.000-05:00

Palacio Real de Madrid, Madrid, Spain

(I loved this light pole in the middle of the courtyard)

I love to travel and have been lucky enough to have visited a lot of amazing places. Every Wednesday I’m planning on featuring one picture of the places I’ve been.

Memo & Magnet Board

2011-04-08T05:00:00.000-05:00

My favorite place to shop is at my parent’s house. They have lots of cool stuff there and the price is always right—free! Well, its more like a currency-less exchange program: I borrow a table so I don’t have to put my sewing machine away and in return I agree that the Boy will help my dad move a cabinet at work. Its great for my budget.

Anyway so a while back we stopped by my parents’ house for one reason or another and my mom asked me if I wanted this frame:

Apparently one of her brothers had given her this artwork a while back. By a while back I mean she’s had them longer than I’ve been alive and they have never been hung up in the house. Needless to say she didn’t need them anymore. Being a good kid, I of course offered to take it off her hands. Not that I needed it, but I am broke so I don’t turn down free stuff. I figured I would find something to do with it at some point or if not, I would give it to charity like she was going to if I didn’t take it.

So it sat in my closet for a while until one day I got bored and decided that I needed something to hang above my desk. I didn’t really have a plan, so I dragged out a bunch of random supplies and started fiddling. I have this roll of metal that I got to do my wall of frames and I still have a lot left. The frame had a piece of cardboard behind the artwork (which got recycled) so I decided on a memo/magnet board. I got out some scrapbook paper to cover the cardboard for the memo side and cut the metal for the top magnet side.

Hey look, there it is. So I cut my metal and stuck it back in the frame only to realize I had a small problem.

Can you see it there? The metal wouldn’t lie flat. Ugh. Don’t you hate it when things like that happen. Luckily for you and I they invited a nifty little thing called glue, so I just stuck some along this edge and put a few of my text books to good use holding the metal down until it dried.

Success! It hangs above my desk so I have something fun to look at while I am studying. I just use pushpins to stick things to the bottom and magnets on the top. It won’t last forever, but given the amount of money I spend on it ($0), it doesn’t need to.

Command Center

2011-04-06T14:16:00.001-05:00

I was inspired by the Command Center over at Oh So Chichi! and decided that I needed something like that in my house. Now I don’t have any kids to keep track of but the more organized I am, the happier I am. I also like to keep everything in one place. I sketched out my design and headed out to Dollar General and picked up some cheap frames. They are super lightweight which is what I wanted so I could use Command strips to hang them. Here’s the final result:

This is the best picture I could get since it hangs in a tiny hallway that runs down the center of our apartment. It’s a good location though because its right across from the kitchen and we pass it to get to the bedroom, office or bathroom. I used the leftover fabric from my apron instead of paper behind the glass.

This 11x14 is our to do list. I keep my personal to do list in my planner but this is where we can put things that we need to do together. The fabric is behind the glass so we can write on it with dry erase markers and wipe it off when we are done. I cut the vinyl using my Sure Cuts A Lot Software.

This menu board is my favorite part of the whole deal. I painted clothes pins using my free Valspar paint sample from Facebook. Then I painted chipboard letters (they didn’t match otherwise I wouldn’t have needed to paint them) and glued the letters to the clothespins then glued the clothespins to the frame. The pockets are fabric with vinyl on them. I ironed the fabric in the size I wanted it and glued the edges to the glass. I write one recipe per piece of paper and clip it on the day that we are going to have that for dinner. This helps me keep track of our favorites, which will go in the favs pocket. The new pocket holds blank paper and recipes that I want to try. Also on each piece of paper I note where the recipe is from so I don’t have to dig around when it comes time to cook.

The rest of the frames are 8x10s. The first one is just where we can leave notes or reminders or just say I love you. For the middle one, I glued a piece of metal flashing to the glass and stuck it in the frame. Then I used some magnet paper (it is supposed to be used in your Cricut) to make strips with our weekly cleaning chores on them. When that room has been cleaned for the week, the strip goes on the other side so we know what is done and what still has to be done. The last frame is for bills. We have three bills that we get in the mail (electric, internet and water/sewer/gas), so when those bills come in the mail they get clipped onto this frame and the due date gets written above the clip with a dry erase marker. That way we won’t forget what is due when.

Here it is in use! I love it so far and it works really well for our little family. There is room to add another row of frames below these too so if I come up with more things that we need I can easily add them.

Worldly Wednesday 4/6

2011-04-06T04:00:00.000-05:00

Christ Church College, Oxford, England (parts of Harry Potter were filmed here)

I love to travel and have been lucky enough to have visited a lot of amazing places. Every Wednesday I’m planning on featuring one picture of the places I’ve been.

Name Frames

2011-04-01T04:00:00.000-05:00

One of my good friends (Baby Girl’s mom) had a birthday a few weeks ago and I racked my brain to figure out what to get her. She is a great mom to three little girls and they are the most important thing in her world, so I thought that something that had to do with her girls would be great. I thought about the frames I made for Boy’s cousin for their baby and I got an idea. Here’s what I came up with:

Her three girls are Brooke, Felicity and Callie. I got some frames and ribbon from Walmart and used my E6000 glue to glue them together. I also etched each girl’s name on her frame.

I put pink paper in the frames because I didn’t have time to print pictures of her girls, but when she gets pictures printed she will be able put pictures of her babies in there. She loved it and it was a super easy to put together. I love giving personalized gifts because they are just that much more special.

Beatles Coasters

2011-03-31T14:28:00.001-05:00

In my experience, boys are really hard to make things for. I make gifts for most of my girlfriends but when the Boy has to get a gift for one of his buddies, we almost always buy something. Here’s something that could work for boys and girls, and let’s be honest, most everyone likes the Beatles:

Coasters are one of my go-to gifts because everyone needs coasters (even if they don’t know it). I use super cheap plain white tiles (you can get them at Home Depot or Lowe’s for like $.12 each but these ones came from Habitat ReStore and my parents got them for even cheaper). All I do is Mod Podge scrapbook paper on them. Here I put down the tan paper then let it dry then added the Beatles figures (I cut them out with my Cricut). Then I do one more coat of Mod Podge and I like to spay them with a clear sealant so they don’t stick together. I back them with craft foam but you could use felt or cork.

Worldly Wednesday 3/30

2011-03-30T04:00:00.000-05:00

A street in Aix-en-Provence, France

I love to travel and have been lucky enough to have visited a lot of amazing places. Every Wednesday I’m planning on featuring one picture of the places I’ve been.

Cookies and Cream Cupcakes

2011-03-25T12:02:00.000-05:00

I made these for a Super Bowl Party and they were great. I combined a couple of ideas that I found online.

I made the cupcakes from scratch but they were a bit more dense that I would have liked so next time I would probably just use a white cake mix. Mix some crushed Oreos into the batter before baking. I also used store bought icing (it was a busy weekend) then sprinkled the tops with Oreo crumbs. If that isn’t enough Oreo for you, there is a surprise waiting for your inside:

That’s right, there is an Oreo truffle in the middle. That’s why I wanted a lighter cupcake—to contrast with the truffle. The truffles are just crushed Oreos (well I used off-brand throughout) mixed with cream cheese. Drop the truffle into the cupcake liner before pouring batter over it.

Chili in Biscuit Bowls

2011-03-24T11:50:00.001-05:00

I had bookmarked this post from Ten June forever ago and actually made this forever ago, but just never got around to posting it. I used Ree’s PW recipe from her cookbook. I’ll be honest, I chose it because it listed the beans as an optional ingredient, and I hate beans. If I have to be polite, I will eat beans in my chili but if I am at home, or at my mom’s house, I will pick the beans out. It’s a texture thing. I think they are gross. I did just what Michelle did with the biscuits and we really enjoyed this meal.

In case you had noticed that the bowl is already dirty, that would be because this was Boyfriend’s second helping—he really loved it. It’s the same idea as a bread bowl for soup but way better for portion control. I think you could do this with other soups/stews than chili and it would be tasty. It could also be fun to do mini ones for kids.

Worldly Wednesday 3/23

2011-03-23T04:00:00.000-05:00

The Palais des Papes, Avignon, France.

I love to travel and have been lucky enough to have visited a lot of amazing places. Every Wednesday I’m planning on featuring one picture of the places I’ve been.

Worldly Wednesday

2011-03-16T23:38:00.000-05:00

The Erechtheum, Athens, Greece

I love to travel and have been lucky enough to have visited a lot of amazing places. Every Wednesday I’m planning on featuring one picture of the places I’ve been.

Going Without

2011-03-16T18:22:00.000-05:00

Two of the things on my list of 101 Things in 1001 Days are to go for a month without fast food and to give something up for Lent. I'm working on killing two birds with one stone--Boyfriend and I gave up fast food for Lent. I wish I could say this was no big deal for me, but since starting law school, I find myself in a drive through lane or having pizza delivered far too often. I'm hoping that 40 days of going without will break me of the habit. One thing I did to keep us on track is to make a list of things that are off limits. By coming up with a list when we are not tempted, it helps keep us honest when we are. We're one week down and so far, so good.

Thank You Notes

2011-03-15T11:51:00.001-05:00

I’m a big believer in thank you notes, so these are the ones I whipped up after Christmas (I know that was forever ago, but I just realized I had never posted them) to send to friends and family who got us gifts. Cards like this are great for using up scraps and it is cheaper than buying cards.

St. Patrick’s Day Wanna Be Mantel

2011-03-14T19:23:00.001-05:00

I know I haven’t been posting much lately—you can blame law school if you’d like (I do). I have zero free time and zero motivation, which is going to make between now and May 7th seem like a very long time. I know I typed this post up already, but it seems to have gotten lost, so here it is again. So here’s my St. Patrick’s Day sofa table/wanna be mantel:

The printable is from It's a Crafty Life—I just had it printed at Costco as a 5x7 and stuck it in a frame. The candy bowl is from the Dollar Tree. I already showed you my Claddagh candle. The green candle holder was a gift a few Christmases ago and the other jar is also a candle—I poured MP in an empty jar like I did with my Claddagh candle but instead of coloring it, I left it plain and poured glitter in the jar. It looks really pretty when lit. The small frame is just a piece of scrapbook paper that I like and the shamrock is green glass drops (we called them dragon tears when I was a kid) hot glued to green paper. The tulips were a birthday gift from a friend and the green wrapper fit in nicely so I added them.

Worldly Wednesday

2011-03-09T22:34:00.000-06:00

Puerto Vallarta, Mexico

I love to travel and have been lucky enough to have visited a lot of amazing places. Every Wednesday I’m planning on featuring one picture of the places I’ve been.

Baby Girl’s Birthday Outfit

2011-03-08T04:00:00.000-06:00

As a follow up to an earlier post, here is my friends’ (not so little) baby girl in her 1st Birthday outfit. I love how it turned out!

Worldly Wednesday

2011-03-02T06:00:00.000-06:00

Inside St. Peter’s, The Vatican, Italy
I love to travel and have been lucky enough to have visited a lot of amazing places. Every Wednesday I’m planning on featuring one picture of the places I’ve been.

Claddagh Candle

2011-03-01T21:56:00.001-06:00

Boyfriend is a big fan of St. Patrick’s day because his mom’s family is Irish. I don’t mind it myself, although I never really remember taking much notice of it as a kid (other than wearing green to avoid getting pinched). The last couple of years I’ve played hooky and spent the day at KC’s St. Patty’s Day parade and then in one of the local bar districts within walking distance from my apartment. Plan’s for this year are still as of yet undecided, but I’ve been trying to decorate to get us in the mood. Here’s one of my favorite projects so far:

It was pretty easy to make. First I colored the jar using Moge Podge. Have you ever done that? All you do is mix some Mode Podge with a little water and food coloring and coat the inside of a jar. Just swirl it around until the whole thing is covered. Then turn it upside down over an empty cup and let the excess drip out. Put it in the oven on the lowest heat setting and leave it there until it is dry. The more food coloring you use, the brighter your colors will be (if you want it bright, I suggest using quite a bit). Also don’t leave it in the oven too long.

Then after I had my nice green jar, I cut the Claddagh symbol out of contact paper with my Circuit. I use the Sure Cuts A Lot software and I love it. I stuck my stencil onto the outside of my jar and etched it into the glass. I dropped a candle in and it was done. The great thing is that it doesn’t cost anything (I used a jar I already had) and you can customize it for any holiday or occasion.

I couldn’t get a good picture of it burning, but the candle really makes the etching stand out.

My Word for 25

2011-02-25T04:00:00.000-06:00

Today is my birthday. I’m 25, which feels very old to me. Boyfriend insists that I’m not old though but that may or may not be because I tell him that he is old all the time (he’s six months older than me). Anyway, 25 is going to be a big year for me—I graduate in May from law school, take the Bar in July and hopefully become a real lawyer.

Anyway, I was inspired by this post over at less cake {more frosting}. I took some time to come up with a word that I thought would be a really good goal for me for my 25th year. I finally decided on:

I’m a worrier and and perfectionist. I like everything just so. One of the things I need to work on is letting go of the things that I can’t do anything about. Sometimes stuff happens and there is no point in dwelling. I was thinking about these things as I was trying to come up with my word and I kept coming back the serenity prayer. You know, this one:

The poem was my real inspiration. As I was narrowing it down to one word, I started thinking about what serenity means. It also means peace and I think that is something that I am going to be searching a lot for as I wrap up this crazy, stressful journey of law school.

So there’s my word: serenity. The top frame is on by nightstand so it is the first thing I see when I wake up and the last thing I see when I go to bed. I printed a few copies of the Serenity Prayer and put it in several places, including framed on my dresser (the picture above, plus in my planner, in my wallet and on the inside of my medicine cabinet. I will constantly be reminded of my goal to have more serenity in my life.

Worldly Wednesday

2011-02-23T06:00:00.000-06:00

Windmills in Mykonos, Greece
I love to travel and have been lucky enough to have visited a lot of amazing places. Every Wednesday I’m planning on featuring one picture of the places I’ve been.

Love Notes

2011-02-22T04:00:00.000-06:00

One of my 101 Things in 1001 Days is to write a love letter every month. I think that it does really good things for our relationship for me to sit down and reflect on how much I love Boyfriend every so often and it is also good for him to hear how much I care. I was doing really well for a while, but the problem was that I could never remember if I had written him a letter that month or not. To solve that problem, I hopped onto Microsoft word and created myself some love letter stationary. Its nothing fancy, just half a sheet of paper with the month and the year on it. That way I know that if February is still sitting in the stack then I haven’t done my job for the month. I can email it to anyone who is interested, but it would take 2 minutes to make your own.

First Birthday Outfit

2011-02-20T22:52:00.001-06:00

I have decided that I love having friends with kids. It’s great, because I love babies but also like to sleep. With my friends’ kids, it’s the best of both worlds—you get to play with the babies but when they start to cry or smell, you can give them back to mom. We got to spend some time this weekend with two couples who are some of our dearest friends, both of whom have 1 year olds. It was so fun to have babies in our apartment for a few hours. One of those babies is actually turning one this week and her birthday party is this coming weekend. I volunteered to make her something cute to wear. I am so so happy with how it has turned out and can’t wait to get her in the whole ensemble.

I did a hair clip that I am going to clip onto a headband because baby girl still doesn’t have enough hair for clippies. The rest of the outfit is a onesie, tutu and leg warmers. The only part I’m not in love with is the leg warmers. I got the idea from Finding My Aloha but my attempts at adding ruffles today did not go well. I may try again later in the week if I have time.

For the headband, I did cut the same tulle from the tutu into circles (sort of—I freehanded) and folded them into fourths. I sewed them into a circle and did two layers. I topped it with the ribbon from the tutu, corker style. It was super simple to make. A Girl and A Glue Gun has a good tutorial or you can just Google it. I hot glued the ribbon to the tulle then the whole thing onto a clip that I had. I still need to go get little miss a headband, but I’m super happy with how it turned out.

For the onesie, I ironed some Heat and Bond (I love that stuff—we used it all the time in college to make sorority shirts and pillow cases). I printed a 1 in Curlz font then traced it onto the Heat and Bond side (make sure its not going to turn out backwards) and ironed it on the onesie. If I wanted to make it more secure, I would have gone around the edges with a zig-zag stich, but I thinks she’ll only wear this a couple of times, so it will be okay.

My favorite part is the tutu. I wish I could wear a tutu like this for my birthday this week, but I don’t think it will be quite as cute on me. I wanted her to be able to grow into it, so I used ribbon instead of elastic for the waist. It is super fluffy. I used three colors of tulle—pink, blue and yellow. I didn’t think it was quite fluffy enough and I had lots of blue, so on the pink and yellow layers, I doubled up with a piece of blue as well. Then I went back and added the ribbon. Its also short enough so that she can still crawl while wearing it (I tested it out when she came to visit).

I will be sure to post a picture of her wearing it at the party this weekend. Yay for friends with kids!

Apron

2011-02-17T22:52:00.001-06:00

I have been lusting after a cute apron (yes, I know I am a dork) forever, but could never bring myself to buy one. When I got a sewing machine for Christmas, it was first thing on my list. I had a hard time picking out fabric for it, but when I found the accent fabric, I knew it was perfect. I followed, for the most part, the tutorial found here. I ended up not really following the directions towards the end because I was getting confused. I’m super happy with how it turned out though—the only thing is that I think it is too cute to get messy cooking in it. :)

I did try to take pictures of myself wearing it, but I hated them all.I fell in love with this fabric—London yet girly!

Altered Book

2011-02-16T20:45:00.001-06:00

This is a pre-blog project, but I wanted to share it anyway. No step by step on this one and honestly, I can’t even remember how I did some of the pages, but it’s a good way to use up random stuff from your stash. I started with a small book—I think it was one of those cheesy graduation books that just sit on the shelf. Then I just went town. Paint, paper, gel medium, glitter, paint samples, you name it, if we had it sitting around, it got used.

I painted the cover and glue the ribbon on to keep it shut. Since I added so much to the book, it got quite a bit bigger. The safety pins have beads on them that spell out “friends” since the book is full of my JYA friends.

I grouped several pages together to make one page to make it sturdier. The pictures are all printed on regular paper to make them more alterable. You can see some spots where the pages stuck together—if I were to do another one, I would probably seal the pages with a clear spray sealant.

I cut a page diagonally to make this pocket then mounted the picture on paint chips. The pages are painted. It has some fine glitter on it too.

These pages are fun. I coated them in modge podge then dumped glitter on them. I went back and glued some rhinestones on because it just didn’t have enough bling. :)

Worldly Wednesday

2011-02-16T06:00:00.000-06:00

Monument to the Murdered Jews of Europe, Berlin, Germany
I love to travel and have been lucky enough to have visited a lot of amazing places. Every Wednesday I’m planning on featuring one picture of the places I’ve been.

101 Things

2011-02-13T22:50:00.000-06:00

Back at the beginning of last summer I got into blogging not because of crafts but because I had seen people making lists of 101 things they would do in 1001 days. I wanted to join in so I made a list and a blog and all that jazz. Then I started this blog and have finally realized that there's no way I can keep both of them up, so I moved my 101 Things over to this blog in the hopes that I will keep that up too. And guess what else. I don't have school this week, so there will be lots of crafting going on. And lots of taking pictures of crafts I have already done to share with you. Yay!

Worldly Wednesday

2011-02-09T06:00:00.000-06:00

Great Hall at Homerton College, Cambridge, England aka the cafeteria for my school over there
I love to travel and have been lucky enough to have visited a lot of amazing places. Every Wednesday I’m planning on featuring one picture of the places I’ve been.

Always & Forever

2011-02-08T23:14:00.001-06:00

I really love giving gifts. Don’t get me wrong, I like getting too, but I love giving. I tend to get really excited and want to give right away. Like tonight when I finished Boyfriend’s Valentine’s Day gifts and I made him open them. I figure who really wants to wait anyway. Not me. Here’s one of his gifts.

I started with an 8x10 frame. I ordered mine in a set from Walmart.com because I have a few other projects in mind as well. Then I cut the amersand out of contact paper with my Circuit. I prefer contact paper to vinyl for etching because it is cheaper.

Slather on a good layer of etching cream and let it sit for however long the bottle says. I usually let it sit for a bit longer just for good measure. Then I cut the words out of vinyl using my Circuit again. I love my Sure Cuts A Lot software because I can use whatever font I want. Make sure you flip it before you cut it because we want to adhere the vinyl to the back of the glass. Voila, you’re done! You can put in a picture or a piece of paper. Plus you can change it out for different looks. Boyfriend loved it and I do too.

Placemat Pillows

2011-02-08T09:43:00.001-06:00

One of the traits I inherited from my father is ~~cheapness~~ financial responsibility. It’s not really a bad thing because since Boyfriend and I are both in school, we are living on a pretty tight budget. This makes redecorating our bedroom (which I have decided to do), a bit of a challenge. Luckily, the world of blogging has taught me a lot about transforming inexpensive things. When Boyfriend and I were at Target last week, I spotted some cute, clearance placemats. I remembered that I had this tutorial bookmarked and decided to get them to use in the living room. When I got them home I realized that they matched out bedspread almost perfectly, which also came from Target. I’m pretty sure they didn’t match on purpose, unless Target was planning on me making them into pillows. Seems a bit unlikely, but you never know. :)

All I did was rip a little bit of the seam out of the edge, fill with polyfill and hand sew it shut. It hardly took anytime at all. Each placemat was around $2 and I used a bag and a half of polyfill. Just make sure you get placemats that are sewn together so you can rip out part of the seam to get inside.

Edit: I linked this post up to the CSI Project!

Quite Unique

2011-02-06T16:06:00.000-06:00

Does anyone love Groupon as much as I do? I get daily emails from Groupon, Livingsocial, Spreesy, and Muncharoo. Now there's a new group deal site starting--Quite Unique. According to their website, "Quite Unique provides you with original products at a great value. They sell one product per day and each item comes from a small producer who utilizes unusual materials or techniques, or who has an interesting back-story to their company." They're launching soon, so if you want to make sure you don't miss out, use this link. (In the interest of full disclosure, I get $10 for each person I refer. If you sign up you can get the same deal).

Another Snow Day

2011-02-02T10:25:00.000-06:00

Well, it stopped snowing here, but after spending nearly an hour getting Boyfriend's car out of the parking lot, it was clear that there was no way mine was going anywhere. The funny thing is that I was looking forward to going to work so I could get out of the apartment for a while. Instead, I'm home again today and I have my Cricut set up in the living room and sewing machine in the office. :)

Worldly Wednesday

2011-02-02T06:00:00.000-06:00

Gondolas in Venice, Italy
I love to travel and have been lucky enough to have visited a lot of amazing places. Every Wednesday I’m planning on featuring one picture of the places I’ve been.

Mancakes

2011-02-01T11:15:00.001-06:00

Here in KC we are in the middle of snowpocalypse or snowmageddon if you will so I am home from school and Boyfriend is hacking up a lung so he stayed home from work today. I took decided to make him breakfast after seeing this post at Be Different Act Normal which linked to this recipe. Since it is already snowing like crazy, I had to improvise a little. We both decided we liked them but next time would either do half these and half regular or use half beer and half milk because they were a little intense. I served them to Boyfriend in his beer mug (since all of his buddies got one for Christmas he decided he needed one too—lucky for him, I’m a nice person). The pancakes were right of the griddle when I put them in the mug, so we ended up with some condensation.

Mancakes
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
3 Tbsp sugar
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 cups beer (I used Bud Light)
2 Tbsp melted butter or margarine
2 eggs
Mix dry ingredients in a bowl. Wisk wet ingredients in a separate bowl. Add wet ingredients to dry, mixing until just combined. They cook just like regular pancakes—the only difference is they smell like beer. You can make them regular size or mug sized. Boyfriend had syrup on his but I just used a bit of butter.