allorahandmade.com

how to tell if an avocado is ripe.

Jessica — Tue, 22 May 2012 12:21:34 +0000

while i don’t consider myself an expert, i LOVE avocados. i have been eating a lot more of them lately too as i’ve tried to incorporate healthy and satisfying fats into my diet. there is nothing more annoying than picking out avocados at the store to find when you get home that they are rotten. boo. so, here are my tips for knowing not only when an avocado is ripe, but also whether or not it is rotten:

1. appearance:

i think most of us know, a green avocado is not ripe. a mushy shriveled black avocado is over-ripe. i usually buy my avocados when they look like the second picture – a tiny bit green, but mostly dark brown. that way if i don’t use them that day, or the next day, they will be just perfect and look like #3 by the time i want to eat them.

2. touch:

it was once explained to me that an avocado should “give”, but not mush, much like different parts of your face. if your avocado feels like your forehead, it is too firm and not ripe. (you can still buy avocados that aren’t ripe- they will ripen! avocados naturally ripen OFF the tree, so that’s fine – just don’t get impatient!) if an avocado feels like your cheek, it is too ripe and chances are it is bruised. when you push gently on an avocado, you want it to feel like the end of your nose– soft, but not too soft.

3. how to make sure your avocado isn’t rotten:

i have followed tips 1 and 2 as long as i can remember, but this last one was a revelation thanks to my local produce man. such a lifesaver! i hate when an avocado looks and feels like it’s just right and then you cut into it to find it all bruised and nasty inside. here is my secret tip to avoid that.

see that little stem there? if you pop it off gently with your thumb, you will see one of two things – a nice green spot (= healthy, unbruised yummy avocado) or a black, moldy spot (=nasty, bruised, yucky avocado). isn’t that fantastic!?!? no don’t go all willy nilly in the grocery store popping off all the tops of the avocados. those stems help to keep the avocado from going bad, so if you find a nice green one, snatch it up and take it home- don’t leave it there to get yucky faster than it would have with it’s top still in tact. i don’t feel bad about leaving the yucky ones there- they are already a lost cause!

hope these tips help to pick out the perfectly ripe avocado!

monday updates!

Jessica — Mon, 21 May 2012 19:26:25 +0000

well, hello and happy monday to you!

hope you had a fantastic weekend and are ready for a great week.

i’ve been busy busy trying to get the shop updated AND prepare for the queen bee market AND introduce some new products.

would you like a sneak peek?? if you follow me on instagram, you’ve already seen these…

aren’t they so fun!!?? i’ve been toying with this idea for awhile, and these bold new colors have really inspired me to go for it and mix it up a little!

i was hoping to be able to add them to the shop next week, but it looks like it won’t happen until after queen bee. so, in the meantime, start saving your pennies to jump on them as soon as they make their debut :)

or, just head on over to the shop and pick out your favorite color! you really can’t go wrong!

a few favorites back in stock: turquoise, lime, persimmon and blueberry

for those of you waiting for headbands, bracelets, or anything else in a particular color, i’m sorry those haven’t been updated in so long! i can hardly keep up with the demand for necklaces, so please feel free to use the made to order listing if you still don’t see the color you’ve been waiting for. thanks for your patience!

happy monday!

the queen bee market! back at it again…

Jessica — Thu, 17 May 2012 16:24:44 +0000

there was a chance i wasn’t going to be able to participate in the june queen bee market… and i shed a tear or two over it.

we figured it out, rearranged our schedules, and all is right in the universe again. allora handmade will be at the queen bee market june 1st and 2nd! i am working my tail off to have a great selection of the old standbys, but i’m also really trying hard to introduce a handful of new products that i’m really excited about that weekend!

one of my favorite things about QBM (ok, so i may be a little biased) is that it feels like a reunion every time. seeing vendors that have been with us from the very first show in a tiny little office warehouse that now have thriving business makes me soooo happy. besides the fantastic shopping, of course, i love seeing inspiring women who have become great friends. what a blessing to have them in my life! another favorite is to meet you, see you interact with the rosies, and squeal with joy when you find the perfect color. makes the crazy life i live worth the while.

will you be joining us? come make a weekend of it- you won’t regret it!

to you faithful qbm-ers, take note – we’re in carslbad this go around instead of del mar. we hope to see you there!

what i wore wednesday!

Jessica — Wed, 16 May 2012 05:28:57 +0000

i’m linking up today with lindsey to share what i wore this week! i love it when i find a new way to wear something that i already have and this week i had a few aha moments in my closet. yay!

i am also MOST DEFINITELY ready for summer. i even got my new summer sandals (see below:)

day 1: lunch with mom/working at home

maxi dress: old navy (3 years ago!)

navy tee: downeast basics

crocheted bow: made by jewls

felted necklace: me! whipped this up last week… what do you think?

day 2: working at home/being mom :)

printed top: nordstrom

peach skirt: thrifted (j.crew)

modern pearl necklace in pacific: allora handmade

pea mustaches :)

day 3: running errands/park day/food drive at church

striped dress: h&m

floral top: nordstrom

belt: anthro

fluff in copper: allora handmade

all is well necklace: crystal b.

shoes: my new saltwater sandals! so excited to spend the summer in these babies!

how about you? are you ready for summer?

it’s monday again.

Jessica — Mon, 14 May 2012 15:42:07 +0000

it’s monday again, and it has been quite the weekend with twists and turns that i never expected. having said that, i am so grateful to have had a weekend to reflect on my life and all of the goodness god has given to me.

i have a handful of shop updates to let you know about (yay for springy colors like moss, lemon, coral, and pacific being back in stock! plus a few more…) but mostly i want to leave some of my favorite words about motherhood a day late.

i have posted this here before, but i can’t hear encouragement like this enough, so i’m posting it again:)

“One young mother wrote to me recently that her anxiety tended to come on three fronts. One was that whenever she heard talks on motherhood, she worried because she felt she didn’t measure up or somehow wasn’t going to be equal to the task. Secondly, she felt like the world expected her to teach her children reading, writing, interior design, Latin, calculus, and the Internet—all before the baby said something terribly ordinary, like “goo goo.” Thirdly, she often felt people were sometimes patronizing, almost always without meaning to be, because the advice she got or even the compliments she received seemed to reflect nothing of the mental investment, the spiritual and emotional exertion, the long-night, long-day, stretched-to-the-limit demands that sometimes are required in trying to be and wanting to be the mother God hopes she will be.

But one thing, she said, keeps her going: “Through the thick and the thin of this, and through the occasional tears of it all, I know deep down inside I am doing God’s work. I know that in my motherhood I am in an eternal partnership with Him.I am deeply moved that God finds His ultimate purpose and meaning in being a parent, even if some of His children make Him weep.

“It is this realization,” she says, “that I try to recall on those inevitably difficult days when all of this can be a bit overwhelming. Maybe it is precisely our inability and anxiousness that urge us to reach out to Him and enhance His ability to reach back to us. Maybe He secretly hopes we will plead for His help. Then, I believe, He can teach these children directly, through us, but with no resistance offered. I like that idea,” she concludes. “It gives me hope. If I can be right before my Father in Heaven, perhaps His guidance to our children can be unimpeded,” she said, “and maybe then it can be His work and His glory in a very literal sense.”

In light of that kind of expression, it is clear that some of those Rhode Island–sized (under-eye) shadows come not just from diapers and carpooling but from at least a few sleepless nights spent searching the soul, seeking earnestly for the capacity to raise these children to be what God wants them to be. Moved by that kind of devotion and determination, may I say to mothers collectively, in the name of the Lord, you are magnificent. You are doing terrifically well. The very fact that you have been given such a responsibility is everlasting evidence of the trust your Father in Heaven has in you. He knows that your giving birth to a child does not immediately propel you into the circle of the omniscient. If you and your husband will strive to love God and live the gospel yourselves; if you will plead for that guidance and comfort of the Holy Spirit promised to the faithful; if you will go to the temple to both make and claim the promises of the most sacred covenants a woman or man can make in this world; if you will show others, including your children, the same caring, compassionate, forgiving heart you want heaven to show you; if you try your best to be the best parent you can be, you will have done all that a human being can do and all that God expects you to do.” (Jeffrey R. Holland, Because She is a Mother)

i hope you had a wonderful mother’s day and that you were able to celebrate not in your perfection as a mother (because heaven knows, none of us is perfect in this) but in the trust God has in you and your potential.

happy monday!