fifty acorns

Sometimes I do stupid stuff

2011-09-17T12:05:00.000-05:00

Yep, still AWOL for a bit. Sorry y'all. I realized what I did to make my blog a hot mess.... accidentally deleted ALL the photos! BAH! Whoops a daisy.

So I'll be on a bit of a longer hiatus while I fix it up and get it looking pretty again....

In the meantime here is a picture of some delicious food and a book you should read. :) I'll be back!

Peanut curry with chickpeas, spinach and red peppers with some wine and Life of Pi.

AWOL

2011-08-25T10:08:00.002-05:00

Sorry y'all, my blog is a hot mess right now as I've been neglecting it!

If you wanna hear all about my nerding out head over to

my twitter or my tumblr! :)

I'll be back soon!

Finding Hearts

2011-04-28T22:46:00.000-05:00

One of my favorite things: finding hearts.

Smile

2011-04-14T23:11:00.008-05:00

I kind of take a gazillion pictures a day, but I often don't have my nice camera when I'm playing with Dixie, since I'm often covered in mud at the same time. The other day she was romping around the living room and the sun was coming in the windows, I had to snap some photos. Realize that it took me a lot to only post a few!

She kinda loves the camera.

She is 100% puppy.

She uses her paws too much, I'm trying to get that out of her system. It's cute until she punches you in the face.

She pounces and pushes...

And is pretty much always smiling.

So Cheezy

2011-03-28T20:29:00.005-05:00

Vegan Mac is my go-to, I'm too lazy to cook, meal. It comes together fast and I can make enough to have leftovers.... and vegan queso!
I know there are a million vegan mac recipes out there that are super good, but this is the one I make most often. This is mostly because it has the simplest list of ingredients and I usually always have them on hand. So when I haven't gone grocery shopping in a while, I probably still have the makings for vegan mac. This recipe makes a lot of sauce so I usually use half of it for the macaroni and then make a big batch of queso with the rest. This recipe for the vegan mac is originally from the Willy St. Co-op in Madison, WI, with my edits.

Vegan Mac

3 1/2 C elbow/spiral macaroni (I don't measure, just dump half a bag)
1/2 C vegan butter
1/2 C flour
3 1/2 C boiling water
1 1/2 tsp salt (I use less)
2 Tbls tamari/soy sauce
pinch of tumeric (I use more)
1 1/2 tsp minced garlic
1 tsp paprika
1/4 C canola oil
1 C nutritional yeast flakes

Bring a large pot of water to boil & cook pasta until tender. I usually use a big pot of water so that I can take the boiling water from the pasta while it cooks and still leave enough to cover the pasta. If it's your first time making this I'd suggest just letting the pot of water boil until you need the water and then add the pasta, it's a bit much to be doing both at once.

Melt the butter in a large saucepan over medium heat, add garlic and saute for 3 min, do not let it burn! Whisk in flour to form a roux & cook, stir constantly for about 5 minutes. Pour in the boiling water & stir to combine. Reduce heat to low, add tamari, tumeric, salt & paprika. In separate bowl mix the oil and nutritional yeast together (I usually just pour them in at the same time). Add this to the sauce, remove from heat and mix. If your pasta is done pour half of the sauce over your pasta and reserve the rest for making queso! If you're making this for a few people you may want to use it all and make more pasta, but then there's no queso!

Queso:
If you refrigerate the leftover sauce it will coagulate, just heat it in a pan to make it saucy again. To make the queso I usually add about 1/2 C or more of hot salsa, some cayenne and red pepper flakes (depending on how hot you like it!) and a little salt and pepper. It's super quick and easy this way, but you can also get all fancy and chop onions and tomatoes and stuff if you want :)

Variations on the vegan mac:
Substitute wheat flour and wheat pasta for a heartier version, it's really good, but less "cheese" like. (The photo is the wheat-y version)
I often cut up broccoli and put in a bowl with a strainer on top of it, I strain the pasta over the broccoli and the boiling water cooks the broccoli just right, so easy!
Bake as a casserole with bread crumbs for 15-20 minutes @350 in a shallow dish

Yum! Enjoy! What's your favorite vegan mac recipe? Or just your lazy, go to recipe :)

Food is so good

2011-03-27T19:55:00.005-05:00

When I was in college I worked at a North African/Middle Eastern restaurant in downtown Madison, The Mediterranean Cafe. I started working their right after I had lived in Egypt thinking I could practice my Arabic at work. The Algerian/French that the owners spoke was far from the Egyptian dialect that I had learned so I didn't get to speak a lot of Arabic with them. But I did learn some things about North African cuisine while I worked there. At the time, I was vegetarian and easily lived off of a lot of the main dishes they served.... mostly I just lived off of hummus though, I love hummus way too much. My absolute favorite dish that they made was the Tagine of Merguez. Tagine is a sort of stew with lots of veggies. The dish was served over little meat patties, but I just poured mine over rice instead. So good!
So when I bought the book "A Vegan Girl's Guide to Life" and saw there was a tagine recipe I knew I had to try it. The ingredients were not at all the same, but the idea of a mix of veggies with a bit of sweetness was still there.

This recipe had a pretty simple mix of veggies, but added garbanzo beans (maybe a top 5 favorite food of mine), almonds and golden raisins. I was a little weirded out that it called to serve it over quinoa, but I love quinoa so I obliged.

The recipe was pretty easy and the ingredients were pretty simple, as it was just stewing veggies in a light broth.

It was really good- light, spicy and sweet. The kick was definitely in the golden raisins and topping the tagine with toasted almonds and cilantro, yum! A little sweetness and a little crunch was perfect and cayenne for a little hotness.

This was a much lighter tagine than the one at my work, I remember the broth being a lot thicker. Since it was a light stew I think it worked well over quinoa, but I think if I make it again I'll put it over couscous or rice. It was really good, but I'm still daydreaming about the Tagine at The Mediterranean Cafe in Madison. I wish I could remember what was in that! Sweet potatoes, peas, tomatoes? So good. Food is so good.

I put together an album of delicious vegan food pictures on my flickr, check them out and listen to your stomach growl!

This very moment

2011-03-24T22:25:00.005-05:00

I am kind of obsessed with love songs. All kinds of love songs. I'm always trying to find that perfect love song that expresses exactly how I feel at this very moment, which is why music is so great, because you can totally find one. Even if it's Katy Perry's Teenage Dream, yes I have listened to that song and thought "This is exactly how I feel right now." Judge me all you want, jerks. But that's why pop songs are kinda awesome, right? It reminds me of probably the best line in High Fidelity "Did I listen to pop music because I was miserable? Or was I miserable because I listened to pop music?" Right now I'm putting together two mix cd's about love. wah wah, it's always about love. One cd is about the good love songs, the ones when you know, you feel like you're in love, blah blah. And the other about heartbreak, because those are really the great ones, right? Or maybe that's just my view of love. Which again reminds me of that High Fidelity quote, "Nobody worries about kids listening to thousands, literally thousands of songs about heartbreak, rejection, pain, misery and loss." Oh, but those are the good ones. I also really love the "fuck you, I'm movin' on" break up songs, but that's a whole other thing...

My current obsession is this song by Aretha Franklin that Neko Case covers. I love love love both versions. I love Aretha's for how sassy and matter of fact it is and I love Neko's for how painful and haunting it is. Ugh, the song is just amazing... and expresses exactly how I feel right now. But just so you know, I can say that about probably 50 different love songs right now, for reals. That's why I listen to pop music.

So what are your favorite love songs???? Of any kind :)

5 Photos

2011-03-22T17:15:00.012-05:00

This sculpture was in the backyard of a house my parents rented when they came to visit, it's as big as a person!

Our tree for the Knitted Wonderland project at the Blanton.

Vegan chocolate chip cookies! So delicious!

Oh, to be a dog relaxing in a sunny spot.

I've been representing Wisconsin in Texas quite a bit lately and now I have two necklaces to show my love of them both together :)

Vegan queso will be the death of me.

oops, 6 photos.

Why, hello there

2011-03-21T23:33:00.005-05:00

Oh my.... I have been absent from the blogging world for a while! Bloglovin' says I have 421 blogs to catch up on, whoops a daisy. Sometimes life just needs your undivided attention. I have wanted to blog about so much lately, but it's all SO MUCH. My heart is being pulled in so many directions that I just needed to feel it all for a while.... Egypt, Wisconsin, Social work, Love, and Food! But I'm back and have so much to share. I have a billion pictures of delicious food and delicious vegan recipes to share, lots of new items coming to my Etsy shop, adorable pictures of my dog, and lots of adventures to share. I do miss blogging when I have to step away for a little bit.

So the chicken and I say hello again!

Material Love- Beat the Cold

2011-02-05T16:12:00.011-06:00

Yikes, I've been neglecting my blog. I blame the weather. It has been so cold in Austin! Thursday a cold front blew in and then it snowed! SNOW! I moved out of Wisconsin to get away from that stuff. But the awesome thing about snow in Austin means SNOW DAY! Do you know how many nights I prayed for a snow day growing up and still had to go to school? I woke up Friday morning to find out we had a snow day. I took Dixie out to go to the bathroom and found an adorable amount of snow on the ground, adorable. And by 11 it was sunny and beautiful. It was definitely cold though. So there was a lot of hiding inside and baking this week.

When it comes to dressing for cold weather, I kind of have a lot of experience. A number of people were shocked to learn that one could wear TWO pairs of pants and socks. I pretty much lived in multiple layers in Wisconsin. So here's what I wore to beat the cold.

Two of everything, almost.
Two pairs of socks, two pairs of pants (leggings underneath), and a long sleeve under the shirt and sweater!

Dixie approves. She also could not care less what the temperature is outside, she still expects her walks and trips to the park and she gets them!

I am sharing these pictures with you before I redyed my hair, there is about an inch of roots showing, eep.

I have had this sweater forever and I just love the flower details on the shoulders and arms. I wore leaf earrings that I made and vintage pink necklace that you can't see well in this picture, better in the one above.

I won some super cute scrabble piece hairpins from a friends party, they just happened to be a pink Texas and an acorn, so perfect for me. :)

And of course, today was 60 degrees. Gotta love Texas winter!
(Oops, I'm still having trouble putting that Christmas tree away! It's finally put away now.)

Sweater: Thrifted
Plaid shirt: Thrifted, Tommy Hilfiger, ha
Jeans: ancient, who knows when I bought those
Necklace: Thrifted
Earrings: fiftyacorns
Hairpin: Amelia Beth
Boots: Sporto, ancient enough to have survived some Wisconsin winters

Sunshine Sunday

2011-01-30T19:39:00.009-06:00

Today is was like 80 degrees in Austin... 80 degrees on January 30th! This Wisconsin girl still has trouble comprehending that. But not taking advantage of it!
Dixie and I headed downtown so sit outside at a coffee shop.

We sat outside and listened to a little country band play. I read while Dixie was spoiled with attention. She loved it! I love that Austin is such a dog friendly city, pretty much every person that walked by her stopped to pet her and there were so many dogs out. She got to make a lot of friends.

She quickly learned that she'd get more attention, and the occasional treat, if she'd sit for people and give them big smiles or puppy eyes (heavy with make-up).

She was working the crowd and posing for pictures- totally ridiculous! She's such a friendly dog and she just loves people. She was in heaven.

When we got home she was exhausted and passed out using her bone as a pillow.
I love this dog.

How was your Sunday?

Etsy Finds

2011-01-28T13:55:00.009-06:00

Lately I've been really drawn to typography. I'm usually way more drawn to image, but I've been loving the idea of putting up wall art that says something... I'm a sucker for something romantic or inspirational.

Here are a few pieces I found on Etsy that I would add to my wall.

Click on the image to go to the Etsy shop.

I love anything nautical. I may actually have to get this one.

I love the color cross-over.

Love this quote.

I may be drawn to this for the anchor reference, but I love the concept.

Hopeless romantic.

This may be my mantra.

Sick Day

2011-01-26T21:25:00.006-06:00

Today was a sick day. I think I finally crawled out of bed at Noon to take Dixie for a walk. I thought the fresh air would help a little. Down the street they were letting the water out of the fire hydrants and Dixie LOVES puddles. The water was flowing down the road and Dixie kept pouncing on it and trying to bite it. It was hilarious and I tried to catch it on video, but she would stop and stare at it for while so I kept missing the craziness. Here's a bit of video, she's trying to find the source!

After our walk I was completely out of energy so we decided to take a nap, Dixie seems to like sick days.

At 2pm I finally got some energy to make some food. I made some lentil soup from a recipe in and vegan corn muffins. I used the lentil soup recipe from this book I recently purchased, The Vegan Girl's Guide To Life.

It's a pretty basic lentil soup recipe, but it was perfect for a sick day. I ate it while laying in bed and watching Glee and drinking tea :) I like this book a lot and am excited to try some of the other recipes- like the vegan sloppy joe!

After another nap I got some more energy to make it to the grocery store for some cold medicine, cough drops, sprite, oreos, and two kinds of sorbet- mango and raspberry. The raspberry is already gone. Sick days aren't so bad when you have treats and good company. :)
What do you do on your sick days?

Material Love- Shades of Green

2011-01-23T21:29:00.009-06:00

What I wore:

I love winter in Austin because it's cold enough for layers, but warm enough to still wear dresses and tights! I love knee socks.

My camera didn't pick up the colors very accurately, these shades are all a lot more green. The picture from my phone above is more accurate, taken at work. Oh well. I don't know why that red light is on during the day and I still need to take my tree down!

This photo shoot didn't go so well as Dixie kept interrupting. I couldn't get a photo without her in it somewhere!

She's at my feet in this one! It's hard to see, but this dress is black and white pinstriped.

The dress is collared and actually doesn't fit the way it should, but with the sweater over it it kinda works better. Look at that dog? Adorable.

I'm wearing a necklace I bought at Craft Riot from Fat Cat Creations. It's the state of Texas made out of metal with a heart cut out for Austin. I love it!

I finished making a cowl for myself and added that to my outfit since it was actually pretty cold out. See Dixie sneaking in the background?

Dress: Kohls clearance
Sweater: Target
Tights: Target?
Socks: A gift
Texas Necklace: Fat Cat Creations
Cowl: handmade by me

Diary of a Grown Ass Woman

2011-01-20T22:24:00.008-06:00

My birthday was yesterday, January 19th! Shared with Janis Joplin, Edgar Allan Poe and Robert E. Lee. Yep.
The night before my birthday I had big plans to stay up until 12:10am, the time I was born. (Yeah, I usually go to bed earlier than that)

I decided drinking a bottle of wine, dying my hair and baking a cake was the perfect way to stay up and start my birthday. I made my specialty- a vegan chocolate almond zucchini cake! A bundt cake that takes a good hour to cook! So I grabbed my new apron given to me for Christmas, from roommate/brother/bestie Nick, and my favorite wine and got started...

...by taking pictures in the bathroom. After I got my cake started and was well into my bottle of wine I got ready to dye my hair.

This is what someone with curly ass hair looks like when they comb the curls out. Nick decided it was my trashy look and needed to document it.

I dyed my hair Red Passion, a Manic Panic shade. I haven't used Manic Panic since high school! But I wanted a red with some pink tones to it. I thought it turned out quite lovely... and it matched my wine! And the cake turned out perfect... though I almost forgot about it!

The next morning I got up and put on my birthday outfit. I had a strong desire to wear pink, a color I rarely wear, but lately have been extremely drawn to. I wore my pink tutu-like skirt and a giant pink bow in my hair!

My friends often make fun of me for never looking at the camera in pictures... so I decided to try it. This is what I look like. Grown ass woman with attitude.

A little less attitude. I love how my hair turned out! In the sun it looks very pink, very magenta! I really want to go pink again... I was pink ALL through high school and college.

So for my 28th birthday I dressed a bit like a fairy princess.
(I should probably take the tree down, huh?)

Hair bow- Crocheted by me
Shirt- thrifted
Skirt- Kohls clearance
Tights- Target
Boots- Ariat from Allen boots
Belt- ?

Five Photos

2011-01-17T22:27:00.008-06:00

The sun finally came out today in Austin after an entire weekend of gray skies and rain. It's amazing how much sunny weather affects my mood, I need it! The rain brought me down and I was dragging my feet around all weekend. It was lovely to relax, but I definitely had the rain, rain go away blues.

So for a little cheer up here are five photos that make me happy.

A vintage polyester dress with a vintage mustard colored cardigan makes me happy. Crochet covered buttons!

Vegan raspberry muffins fresh from the oven make me happy. So do owl potholders.

Hello blue jay. Birds make me happy.

Coffee and roses make me happy.

My puppy laying in the mud while it rains makes me happy.

Material Love- Mustard and Navy

2011-01-09T09:49:00.008-06:00

What I wore to an art fair. I believe I was wearing black and navy cowboy boots too. A random woman stopped me and told me she loved my outfit so much she wanted a hug!

Navy blue and mustard yellow are two of my favorite colors alone, but put them together and it's a severe style crush. I added anchor earrings and a blue and white striped bow. I love anything nautical.

It's hard to tell unless you enlarge the photo, but this blouse has amazing texture and detailing on the front... and ruffles! I love ruffles. The puffy sleeves have fabric buttons as well, which is a detail I love to find.

Navy Blouse: Go International. Found at Savers
Mustard Sweater: Fossil. No recollection of where it's from!
Jeans: Old Navy clearance ... 8 yrs ago?
Blue and White Bow: H.E.B
Anchor Earrings: fiftyacorns

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2011... The year I watched my first football game

2011-01-06T23:01:00.009-06:00

January 1, 2011 I watched my first football game. The Badgers made it to the Rose Bowl and being that I am a proud Wisconsinite and a UW-Madison Alum I felt obligated to watch. Also I have faint memories of watching it the last time they made it!

So I sported my Rose Bowl gear and head to Austin's Packer bar with some friends who were ready and willing to explain the in's and out's of football. Look how excited I am!?

But then they started explaining...

But I had a positive attitude! I was sporting my Wisconsin gear! I was ready to be a football fan... for the first time!

But then I got kinda tired and bored...

And tried playing Euchre on my phone instead...

Until I got scolded. Fine! Fine, I'll watch!

And then we lost! We lost!

I felt deflated... I was really ready to start liking football... for a day.

Handmade Holiday

2011-01-02T09:52:00.000-06:00

Now that the holidays are over I can finally post about my gift giving this year. I felt really happy with all of my gifts that I gave this year. Every year I try to give as many handmade gifts as I can, they are always so much more unique. Some years I make some of the gifts, but this year I tried to give ALL handmade gifts this year from local Austin artists.

While this is not handmade in Austin or really handmade at all I still feel like this counts a little because it's from the local brewery Real Ale in Texas. There is a lot of good beer in Wisconsin so I felt like I had to bring my Dad back a little taste of Texas. I also brought back a sampler pack and a pack of Fireman's Four, my favorite.

For my Mom, I found some really unique gifts that I love. The book is from Pommes Frites, the garden marker and the bottle cap necklace are from R&R Design.

The book is actually a safe! I wrapped the necklace and put it inside the book. I love all of these things, I would have bought them for myself, which I think is something that makes a good gift. It was funny watching my Mom open the book and thinking I bought her some giant Texas history book to read.

For one of my sisters I got two more things I would buy for myself, but it totally suits my sister as she loves pandas! The shirt is ridiculously awesome and made by Bearded Lady. I got it at Parts & Labour in Austin. The amazing owl candle is from Pommes Frites.

For my other sister, I found this awesome t-shirt dress shirt at Blue Genie this year. I am in love with it and I hope my sister loves it. She doesn't wear a lot of dresses, but I thought this was a cool in between she could wear over jeans. The chain on the anchor is printed on the back too. The shirt dress is made by Harrilu. She also got an owl candle from Pommes Frites.

Both of these gifts for my brother were picked up at Cherrywood Art Fair this year. I knew The Wondercraft was going to be there and wanted this awesome mustache tee by Paired Hearts. I stopped by Nepenthe's Bathtime's booth and grabbed the mustache soap to go with it! Awesome. I was worried my brother wasn't into the mustache craze, but when I got home I saw he had various mustaches taped to the wall in his room, score!

I usually get something both of my parents together too so I picked up two Texas themed ornaments. The heart shaped one was picked up at Blue Genie and is made by Michael McCarthy. The license plate ornament is from R&R Design, found at Craft Riot!

I was really happy with all the gifts I gave this year, I totally want one of each thing I bought for myself now! I actually had my shopping done really early this year too. A local boutique and some craft shows and I pretty much done! I love buying handmade!

Goodbye 2010... Year in Review

2011-01-01T10:43:00.016-06:00

January 2010.
I turned 27 and threw a masquerade ball. January was a trying month as I was working a full time as a Teacher's Assistant in hopes of getting of a teaching job. I was also working a part time job as a Children's Advocate, which I loved, but it meant 60+ hr work weeks. And then... I was injured at my full time job, an event that would make me realize it was time for a change.

February 2010.
I was not working my teaching job due to my injury and because my injury was to my hands I was also not crafting. It was a reflective month.

March 2010.
Change is real. I quit my teaching job and my part time job as a Children's Advocate became my full time job. A change that I had wanted all along, but just took a while to come to. It meant a big change for me as I was shifting gears career wise, moving away from teaching to social work. Change is good.

April 2010.
April was full of change and adjustment as I got used to my new schedule and new job. I spent a lot of time thinking about what I still wanted and needed to change in my life. I finally felt like I had the time to start making goals and working towards them.

May 2010.
May hit me like a ton of bricks and left me feeling lost. I lost my Grandma, my mom's mom. 2 weeks later I lost my Dad's mom. I felt totally paralyzed and like the world just stopped.

June 2010.
I finally got to see Dwight Yoakam in concert! It was a bright spot to starting a month that was spent reflecting... I thought a lot about my Grandmas and my mom. I thought about how inspiring they are how much I wanted my life to reflect theirs. I did a lot of processing in June. When I was home in May my mom gave me a pair of running shoes, in June I put them on and started to run again.

July 2010.
In the summer my job changes a lot. The kids are out of school so we do a summer program. I taught the 2-5th grade classroom and found so much inspiration in lesson planning, teaching and my kids! This month I decided to pick myself up from my little rut and took my running to the next level... I decided to train for a half marathon.

August 2010.
Running was incredible therapy that helped me release a lot of stored pain. I spent so much time thinking about things I wanted to do, I felt so inspired all month. I decided to get another tattoo, this one as a tribute to my mom, grandmas and craft.

September 2010.
The inspiration continued and I continued crafting and making things like crazy. I had joined back up with Etsy Austin in the summer, a group of incredibly inspiring people and decided to do a holiday craft show, Craft Riot! The making continued!

October 2010.
The timing was finally right... I adopted a dog. This little 40 pound ball of energy bouncing into my life was just what I needed.

November 2010.
An absolutely insane month! I participated in my first craft show in a long time and then the following weekend... I ran a half marathon! I completed my first half marathon under my goal time and I felt awesome the whole time. Running 13.1 miles... I thought about my mom and grandmas... laughing one mile, crying the next and enjoying every minute of the 2 hours.... It was such an amazing feeling!

December 2010.
Much of December was dominated by this little puppy. We continued to work on puppy training. We had a health scare for a while, but she quickly got back to her usual crazy self. And then I got in a car and drove for 2 days to go home for the holidays! Dixie met my family and snow and we had a lovely family filled vacation.

2010 was a roller coaster of a year. Big highs and big lows. I am definitely ending on the high note as the last few months were filled with crafting, running and a crazy puppy
Here's to 2011!

Dogs in the Snow

2010-12-27T12:20:00.009-06:00

I brought my puppy home for the holidays. Dixie met snow and Ruby, a ten year old golden retriever for the first time. Dixie loves the snow! She romps and bounds around in it like a little bunny. It's adorable! Ruby isn't too keen on this ball of energy pushing her around and trying to get her to play though. They've had a few spats, but are mostly tolerating each other. Ruby is well known for liking people, not dogs. And Dixie kind of the annoying little sister that won't leave you alone. I'm trying to not to think that Ruby is mad at me for bringing a new dog home! And since our chocolate lab, Gilley, recently passed away at 16, I wonder how that is affecting the dynamics. Yeah, I'm probably reading into it all a bit much, huh.

They did play pretty well together in the snow though.

I love playing with dogs in the snow! I had a hard time getting good pictures as it's hard to mess with your camera settings when dogs are all over you and your hands are frozen! But notice the second to last one of Dixie bounding in the snow! Giant leaps! And Ruby will always give me a good glamour shot! Love it!

Christmas in Wisconsin

2010-12-26T11:25:00.009-06:00

A glowing white tree with only red chili pepper ornaments

Playing cards with the family. . . including the pups

Romping in the snow

Baking and cooking lots and lots

Lounging in the warmth while looking out the window

Come on Christmas

2010-12-18T18:44:00.003-06:00

I just spent the entire day cleaning my apartment, with a momentary break to take my puppy to the dog park. It's finally 7pm and I'm drinking some wine while some acorn squash cooks in the oven. I'm waiting for my 6th load of laundry to be done and making a To-Do list for this week. In only a few days I will be driving from Austin, TX to Madison, WI!!!

This morning the radio told me that next week in Austin the weather is supposed to be in the 70's! I cried a little, who knows what terrifyingly cold temperature it's going to be in Madison! But, I am so excited to go home! I need a break and I want to see my family and just be home.

My little tinsel tree is up and lately I've been listening to the Dwight Yoakam Christmas Album, Charlie Brown Christmas and the Elf Soundtrack in heavy rotation. With school being out, my work schedule changes and I have kids all day... which means holiday themed crafts galore! One day we are decorating homemade Gingerbread cookies and watching Elf! I'm so excited. I have so much to do this week, but luckily all of my holiday shopping is done! I bought ALL handmade items this year and I'm so excited to give them to my family and friends. Tomorrow I will spend some time wrapping... one of the best parts of gift giving! Tomorrow I also plan to spend some time getting my holiday cards together... I LOVE holiday cards!

Tomorrow I will try and relax and enjoy my time because the next few days are going to be a little crazy with work and all the things I need to do before the BIG trip! I gave Dixie a bath today so she's ready to go :) I can't wait for my family to meet her and to see her see snow for the first time! Oh, it's going to be fun.... and cold!

What will you be doing this week to get ready for the holidays?

'Tis the Season

2010-12-12T09:03:00.006-06:00

To make antlers for your dog.

Every time I have been to Target I have almost purchased antlers for Dixie. I kind of think dogs in costumes is ridiculously adorable and antlers have to be my favorite! But I couldn't bring myself to purchase them because I couldn't help but think I could make a pair myself.
So I grabbed some felt, wire, and bias tape and went to it.

I think they turned out awesome! I used fabric glue to make the project go a little faster and easier, I may go back and reinforce with sewing. While they were drying I decided to try them on to see how I did. Ah! I love them! I want to wear them every day for the rest of December! I made them so they tied around the head, which makes them adorable and versatile - for dog or human, that is.

I tried them on Dixie and about peed myself laughing. I still can't really look at this picture! It's too much! I might make another pair today so we can both have a pair, ha. Maybe I'll post a tutorial on how to make your own too! I'm going to try and get some daytime pictures with Dixie in her antlers, we'll see how that goes.
'Tis the season to wear antlers every day.

Love is Real

2010-12-08T23:17:00.006-06:00

I'm sitting here listening to KUT and drinking wine. They are playing John Lennon songs mixed with people talking about their memories of the day John Lennon was shot and John Lennon interviews . . .

If you remember, my blog and my shop are named from a John Lennon song, if you don't remember you can read about it in one of my previous blogs here.

But for now, I'm going back to my wine and KUT.