Screw This!

I am going to learn how to write my own damn theme because I've tried a ton and I hate them all. So this blog is going to look absolutely bonkers for a while. Should be a fun learning experience though.

Adios!

Snow in October??

This is my first post via the Wordpress iPhone app. I wanted to share some of the pictures of our neighborhood after the storm.

On a much cuter note, there is a little opossum up a tree in our back yard! More pictures later!

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Autumn!

Ok, I feel proud of that post title, even though it isn't that great.

Regardless, I have noticed that leaves are changing and I can smell fall in the air when I take Zoë for a romp in the park.

Anyway, a few weeks ago my best friend and sister, Aubrey, came to visit and we decided to have a crafts day, which turned into decorate-my-house-for-fall day. We also snuck in some Halloween-y decor as well. :P

We picked three projects - the bats and fanged pumpkins from this tutorial, and the masks from this one. I was really excited about the bat, I looove it!

During our search for supplies at Hobby Lobby I picked up this spooky owl for 40% off.

His name is Petrie! :D

The best part about this entire adventure was that we accomplished everything we wanted to do! Even though at one point we both wanted to throw our pumpkins out the window because they were extremely hard to cut, and hollowing out a small pumpkin is not fun at all, we got it all done and the place looked great for our apple-themed dinner on Sunday.

Here is my decorated buffet table! :)

It's Not Dead Yet!

...My blog, that is! In fact it is quite the opposite! Not only am I actually writing another post, but I feel that this might be my first post with some real substance.

So it was just about two weeks ago when I was perusing www.foodgawker.com and happened upon a wonderful little recipe for lemon curd. I HAD to make it! I love absolutely everything about lemons. Love! I promptly went out to the store and bought 4 lemons, with the intention of making the curd the next morning... Well, it didn't happen the next morning, or the next, or the following 8 mornings (I went on a short vacation with my family, which didn't help). Finally, this afternoon I decided I was going to make lemon curd...with SLIGHTLY shriveled lemons...(really, they were fine).

I used this recipe from Bake 5! It sounded simple enough, and really quick! I am just going to highlight some of what I did, and let you go to Bake 5! for the actual recipe.

Step 1: Gather all ingredients. (Mostly because this makes for a pretty picture!)

Step 2: Whisk all of the ingredients except the butter over a double boiler for 10 minutes. Perhaps 10 more minutes? Add a FEW more to that and that is how long it took me. I have a beef with almost ALL recipes. Take cookies for example, they say "Bake for 12 minutes." but I don't think I have EVER had a batch of cookies done in 12 minutes. It's a little annoying. Anyway, it took me about 25 minutes to achieve a consistency thick enough to coat the back of a spoon.

(Added this picture because I like it! Although it is a little dark, and I am being yelled at, so I will fix it later.)

Step 3: PROFIT! I mean...add the butter, pour into an awesome mason jar and step back and take lots of pictures! This last picture is courtesy of Evan because he knew how to make it look all nice and finished. I was just taking a picture of the jar on the counter and it looked stupid.

So, why eggs you might ask? Because Evan pointed out that I should have saved a lemon to plop next to the finished project...and because I obviously just used all of my lemons (and the juiced ones didn't make for a very good picture) we picked eggs because they at least had a part in making the lemon curd.

And there you have it. I made lemon curd... and I was able to finally use my chalk board mason jar lid for something!

*Edit: I finally fixed the pictures! *

Too Happy?

This is just a little thought, not much of a post... But does anyone think my blog is perhaps bordering on sickeningly happy? Bright yellows, blues, and greens? I might tone it down a bit. :-p I am at least happier now that I have don't have a black and gray menu.

I am sure my blog design will change MANY times over the course of it's life time!

...and now on to the REAL blog post!

Milka!

I found Milka!!

My father used to go on business trips to Germany and he'd come home with bags full of these wonderful chocolate bars. I do find it amusing that it is a company now owned by Kraft, luckily the quality is still much better than any other chocolate bar found here in the U.S.A. and thanks to gold ol' wikipedia, I have just learned that they got their name because the chocolate is made with Milch and Kakao. Nifty, eh?

Anyway, I spent all morning searching for a desk and chair so I could start on my office furniture project... Alas, I didn't find anything that I loved, and I refuse to buy something that I might not like down the road. (That is a lesson I have learned the hard way unfortunately.) However, I was quite hungry by the time I was done perusing all of the consignment shops in the area, so I stopped in to check out a little place called "Euro Deli", that sells German speciality foods. I picked up one lamb bologna sandwich and one "ham in bologna" sandwich, both of which were quite tasty. I was waiting just about to leave the store when I spotted the Milka and pretty much squealed with joy.

I grabbed three varieties... Alpenmilch (milk chocolate), Alpenmilch Schokolade Kuhfleken (appears to be milk chocolate with white chocolate), and Marzipan-créme. I have to admit I don't like the marzipan, but the other two are quite tasty!



See how well my photography skills are progressing? I am well on my way to crossing that item off my list!

Hope everyone is having a wonderful
Friday
 Saturday!

A List!

*Update: I have created a page dedicated to my to-do list! Check it out here.

It's always good to start fresh with a list right?? Haha, who am I kidding? Evan, being the sweetheart that he is got me this blog a couple of years ago and I've managed to write a whopping 5 posts! Most dealing with Zoë.

Now I swear I am a changed woman! I am going to faithfully record my daily doings in this wonderful blog.

Actually, what got me going on this recent blog revamp is that I am completely obsessed with home improvement blogs. Obsessed doesn't even sum it up. A few of my absolute favorites are:

• www.younghouselove.com (This little blog started my obsession)


• www.bowerpowerblog.com/


• www.decorandthedog.blogspot.com/


• www.yellowbrickhome.com


• www.dwellinggawker.com (Not technically a blog...but awesome just the same.)

Yep, I read those babies every day. I've even gotten so desperate that I have gone back into their archives and started from post numero uno. They are insanely inspiring though.

Oh yes...now where was I! Oh! A List!!! A list will make everything better! I have decided to make a list of fun DIY projects that I could do around the house to bring a little life to the place...and keep me from going absolutely insane while we save up to buy a house. This will also be good practice for once we get said house and I start working on this little D.I.Y. home improvement blog in earnest! Anywho! On to the list!

• Learn how to use Evans camera. (Canon EOS 60D) This is probably on EVERY first time bloggers to-do list.


• Remember to take pictures of my projects with said camera...


• Buy a house. (I am ready...but Evan is not on board yet and this makes me sad.)


• Reupholster the dining room chairs with a fun fabric. (Tan microfiber is so out...and I hate that it leaves impressions of your butt!)


• Find a chair at a consignment shop or yard sale and reupholster it to use as an office chair.


• Create and frame a silhouette of our sweet little Zoë.


• Find and paint a desk to use in the office.


• Move the guest bed to the larger room.


• Create a unique side table for the guest bedroom.


• Clean off the shelf in our closet. (This is really a task for Evan since it is all of his stuff.)


• Make the skirt I found on Pinterest.com. (By the way, if you haven't discovered this site yet check it out! It is AMAZING and where I get 99% of my D.I.Y. ideas!)

Well there it is! I am sure this list will grow and I will absolutely love crossing things off the list.

Oh...and because every blog post is better with a picture... Here is a picture of Zoë.

[caption id="attachment_314" align="alignnone" width="224" caption="Right before the pounce!"][/caption]

Right after I took this picture she pounced on me.

I've Started Drawing!

My wonderful parents got me a Bamboo (pen and touch) tablet  for Christmas and I have been playing around with it. I must admit that I barely know what I am doing but I've been having a lot of fun!

Here is a drawing I've done from a picture Evan took of Zoe. I used my Bamboo tablet (duh) and Corel Painter Essentials 4. It doesn't really look like it (and this is where my inexperience shows) but I used chalk on the smallest setting. Took me a few days. I am happy with it!



(Tip: Click on the thumbnail and then click again to enlarge the picture to see the details!)