Next Step

My Closet is Experiencing Layoffs

noreply@blogger.com (Lydia) — Sun, 12 May 2013 18:35:00 +0000

One of my goals for the year was to donate at least 1 bag of clothes. I'll see your one bag and raise you another.

A few weekends ago I stared into the abyss that is my clothes closet and decided to do a purge. The deciding factors in getting rid of an item:
1. Haven't worn it in a year (dresses can be the exception)
2. I wear it, but don't like how it fits/how I look in it.

I would say I do this type of purge about once a year, but typically only focus on deciding factor #1. By being honest with myself about what I don't feel good in, it certainly limits the items of clothing I'll have to work with, but also forces to me to lose all that dead weight. A couple pieces that survived the last two purges finally saw themselves shoved in a bag.

I waited until the start of the spring/summer season to take on this activity so that I was able to take a good look at the sweaters I was about to pack away. Some I hadn't touched all winter, some I avoid wearing because they are stretched out or too pilly. As the survivors got packed away and the shorts and polos came out, I gave the summer clothes a yay or nay before it got hung up/put in the drawer.

Most of these items of clothing can be donated, but a few are too ragged to justify giving to Goodwill. We found a site to mail in old jeans to be recycled that we need to take advantage of.

In the end, I "laid off":
3 skirts
2 hoodies
11 tops
5 cardigans
9 sweaters
1 blazer
4 jackets (I let the coat closet get in on the action)

This freed up about 25 hangers. I'm sure they'll make their way back to the rack eventually, and so until another purge....

Of course, the news isn't all grim. New closet entries include colorful ankle pants from The Limited, a threesome of Benetton sweaters, light enough for spring but heavy enough for our air conditioned office, and a couple more work tops that force me to step out of my Cotton Comfort Zone.

What's new in your closet? Are you good about replacing or are are you continually "adding to?"

Pinterest Project: Christmas in May

noreply@blogger.com (Lydia) — Wed, 08 May 2013 00:52:00 +0000

As if I needed an excuse to get crafty.

Young House Love issued another seasonal Pinterest Challenge along with Bower Power, Sparkle Meets Pop and Red Bird Blue. (Links go to their projects!) I looked over some recent pins and landed on a not-so-seasonal decision for this weekend's project: Christmas present gift tags!

For years I created a wrapping paper theme for each year (check them out here), but after seeing red in 2010, I decided to simplify matters and stock up on brown kraft paper from Staples. I was sold after spending $5 on a giant roll and bought two more for the next holiday season. So now the key is to jazz up the brown paper in different ways each year. Here's a pin I'm keeping on hand for future reference: making it look like mail.

source

The last two years I used my alphabet stamps to apply the to/from directly onto the paper., but I think I'm ready for a change....

I have tackled tags a few times over the years - my Aunt Christine serves as an inspiration as she makes some pretty cool ones out of rubber stamps and paper goods. A couple examples from an Easter themed craft day:

Speaking of red, a quick shot of the tags from 2010 - definitely heavy on the stamp ink usage!

Two years ago, I created a set as a thank you gift for a friend, with generic tags, congratulations tags, birthday tags and more.

This time around, I used this pin's comment to drive the project: "Old Christmas Cards"

source

A quick trip to Michael's stocked me up with tags of different shades and sizes. I decided to start out making 20 Christmas tags, with at least another 20 to make over a future weekend. This still leaves another 40 tags to make non-holiday specific tags when the mood strikes!

The toughest part of this project? Remembering what holiday bin I put the bag full of old cards! I save all Christmas cards and many have come in handy over the years for display purposes. It also allows me to cheat and look like I have A LOT more friends who all send their cards out by the first week of December!

I sorted out the cards I couldn't bring myself to cut up, and then took to the scissors and glue dots with the ones that would make great tags.

Its amazing how my craft supplies can seem to explode all over the room...I finally brought myself to clean up three days later! That's the nice thing about having it all contained to a second bedroom that I can close the door to at the end of the day....

20 tags later:

To highlight a few favorites, this one was cut out of a piece of scrapbook paper, trimmed to size and glued over a tag that was dabbed with cranberry colored stamp ink.

A card that featured stand up reindeer when opened came in handy when I cut them out individually! There were more than a few tags like this snowman one that I covered completely with the card's design. One hole punch later and it was done-zo.

A few 3D elements were created with cards, stickers and raised double sided tape squares.

Another pin helped me solve the issue of where to store these new tags.

source

I ended up repurposing a tin that previously held a set of alphabet stamps I never use. The stamps got downgraded to a ziploc baggie and the tin got a facelift with scrapbook paper and some leftover letters from my Every Holiday Blocks.

The perfect size, with room for a few more - looks like "Tags 2: Electric Tagaloo" will be coming to a weekend near me soon.

On another note, we built the project table and I took over the second bedroom in order to avoid making the couch the craft workstation - I kept losing things between the cushions.

Yet, there is one thing I can't seem to avoid even with a dedicated space: "helpful" cats!

Later, Sonny expresses his joy in working on gift tags....

Okay, that's enough cat pictures for one post. What projects are you working on months ahead of time? Does reading this make you want to pop in National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation like I almost did?

Photo Finish

noreply@blogger.com (Lydia) — Fri, 26 Apr 2013 01:34:00 +0000

Back from a long weekend trip to our nation's capital, and I've got inspiration on the brain!

In all of my work trips over the last eight years, and far-flung vacations, I had never made it to Washington D.C. so planning a spring trip for 2013 was heavy on my radar as I looked at the year ahead. With a few of Bob's friends living in Baltimore, we combined the trip to take advantage of seeing a play written and directed by Bob's best friend, Aldo Pantoja. If you find yourself in the Baltimore area, check out Single Carrot Theatre!

But, back to D.C. - we walked...and walked...and walked...I think my feet were ready to fly back home without me after how much we walked between the actual museum tours and just getting from place to place!

We hit up the Capitol, took far away photos of the White House, paid respects to Bob's Navy Admiral Uncle buried at Arlington Cemetery, covered a fair share of the Smithsonian museums, made 1 too many references to the Nic Cage movie "National Treasure" at the Archives and received this disapproving look from Mr. Lincoln for not seeing the Spielberg movie yet.

One of the highlights of the trip was the Newseum. Well worth the price of admission (the Smithsonian museums we went to were all free of charge), this museum focuses on journalism and the history of world events told through "the news". Exhibits included FBI's greatest cases and how they were chronicled in the papers, unaltered portions of the Berlin Wall and a 9/11 gallery with a wall full of newspaper front pages from the day.

One of the most emotional exhibits was the Pulitzer Prize Winning Photography room. With added stories from the journalists/photographers behind the photos, some of them are striking, some of them are joyous, most of them cause a lump in your throat.

This got me thinking about photography as art in your home. Now, we are no stranger to oversized art. We are lucky enough to have 17 foot ceilings and brick walls for days. Bob's five foot tall painting hangs above the fireplace, and he has a six foot canvas ready for paint as soon as inspiration strikes him. We have photography on a smaller scale featured in our office area, four black and white prints from Bob's college days in Denver. Here's how they were displayed in our previous home on a kitchen wall:

I have a subscription to Elle Decor and always linger on the pages that have an oversized piece of photography hanging in the home like this bustling train station:

If crowd shots aren't your thing, perhaps a view into the lives of famous people? I'm assuming this is Mr. Andy Warhol capturing a model's pose above the fireplace.

A mug shot of The Doors' Jim Morrison against a mirror'd wall in a home gym/office.

Here are a couple "photography as art" clips I have pinned on my "New Home Inspiration" board over the last couple years. Something about this room speaks to me - the light fixture, the threesome of dressed up dancers, the simplicity of the rest of the room.

File this under "funny strange" or possibly "best title ever": Dali with Bride & Ocelot. Can't you just picture this five feet tall, begging to be talked about at a party?

These beg the question, do they have to be in black and white to work in the home? I haven't been able to find much in the way of oversized full color photography in my (less than extensive) Google search. Weigh in on if you think color is "too much" or if we are over-doing the b&w in the art world.

It must be a careful decision to feature large scale photography as such a statement piece, but perhaps one worth exploring! Should we try it out?

Fun Fact: of the photos above, 1 is from the (semi-)home of Semi-Homemade star Sandra Lee and 1 is from the home of Grey's Anatomy star Ellen Pompeo. Try and guess which before clicking on the source links!

Double the Comfort Food

noreply@blogger.com (Lydia) — Sat, 13 Apr 2013 14:32:00 +0000

It was 5:00pm at work one day last week when I opened up Pinterest before shutting down my laptop for the day. One pin later and a grocery list was made for dinner that night!

I'm a bit of a mac and cheese connoisseur If its on the menu at a restaurant, I'm about 67% likely to order it. I have had a go to recipe for homemade cheesy stuff for the last 5 years or so. And beyond the go to one with no more than 4 ingredients, I made a Martha Stewart recipe to die for a few holidays ago.

So when the words Tomato Soup Mac and Cheese stared out at me from the Pinterest wall, I knew we had to try it.

We had to do a little bit of compromising, considering the recipe came from a blog post for a particular brand of dairy product. For our purposes, the store brand ricotta cheese and Kraft cheddar would have to do. I've also tried to jump on the whole wheat pasta bandwagon and just can't do it. It tastes too mealy to me.

1/2 pound elbow macaroni
1 can condensed tomato soup
5 oz ricotta cheese
5 oz shredded cheddar (set aside 1 oz for topping)
10 oz milk (roughly 1 soup can)

Except for the ricotta, the recipe was quite similar to my go to recipe, replacing a can of cheddar cheese soup for tomato to add in extra flavor.

Mix cooked pasta with ricotta cheese and add milk, tomato soup and 4 oz of cheddar.

After baking, broil for a few minutes with the remaining cheddar sprinkled on top.

We baked it for 20 minutes at 350 and served up with some leftover Baby Artichoke Salad from the latest issue of Martha Stewart Living. Bob found this when planning out a salad to bring to his family Easter dinner. I have never been a big fan of artichokes, but really enjoyed the taste of this salad. We had to replace pea shoots with a regular spring mix because Whole Foods did not have any in stock.

In the end, I think we could have added a little more spice or flavor to the dish, but it was far from bland and it actually tasted great when re-heated. If we do this one again, I'd probably use a bit less milk to thicken it up - I didn't quite hit the consistency of the pinned photo!

So what about you - have you ever found a random recipe and then had it in the oven within hours?

The Wedding Pinterest Projects That Weren't

noreply@blogger.com (Lydia) — Mon, 08 Apr 2013 23:19:00 +0000

I joined Pinterest just a month before I got engaged, and the timing was more than serendipitous. I didn't spend a dime on 350-page wedding magazines filled with dresses I couldn't afford, I didn't have to take to scissors and glue to create my own inspiration binder and I didn't have to sift through the thousands of webpages on theknot.com (even though I did use their checklist feature).

However, there is danger within Pinterest that I have seen many a friend fall victim to:

Overpinning - the act of pinning to the point that it is near impossible to complete any actual project, recipe or idea because of the sheer volume of pins of interest.

For example: a quick search on "green smoothie recipes" results in 15 new pins in one sitting. Or your "places to see" board contains 1,216 pins. The question is, when are you going to take the extra time to make something happen if you've given yourself too many options?

I don't believe I overpin in general, with only 437 pins across 11 boards over the last year and a half, but I will admit to my eyes being bigger than my crafty hands when it came to planned wedding projects. Check out my wedding board for direct links to sources for everything discussed below. I'm still adding to this with a few of my own recap blog posts. You may also notice that the wedding dress I ended up purchasing was one of my early pins!

Bob and I DIY'd more than a dozen elements of our wedding, most of which have been detailed on this blog, including: table numbers, luggage tag favors, card box, lantern centerpieces, altarpiece backdrop, invites and programs, menu cards, hotel gift bags, our save the date and thank you cards. Almost all of these began as a pin on my wedding board. However, a few never made it past the conception phase...

Without further ado, the Wedding Pinterest Projects That Weren't:

String Balloon Balls

Picture this: A loft venue with high ceilings, exposed ductwork and brick walls. White string lights looped along the beams to illuminate down during the reception. Airy, white globes of different sizes hanging above the head table.

It was a nice idea, but the picture below illustrates just how far I went with this one. The time and effort required, not to mention the logistics involved with actually getting all of these hung the day before the wedding put the kibosh on this project. I literally stopped halfway through a balloon and said, "What am I doing this for?"

Aisle Runner Vases

This Pinterest Project had a cute backstory. When Bob proposed to me in the park, he had almost a dozen vases filled with flowers on the bench we ended up at. In an effort to reuse the vases, I tried my hand at spray painting the rubber band-covered glassware. The thought was to line these up along the chairs as aisle runners, the candlelight illuminated through the unpainted sections of the vase. This would also play off of the stripey theme of our invites, programs and cake.

However, my Nervous Nellie nature shook its head at the potential of them being kicked over: loud noises, shattered glass, fire, screaming...Plus, once I got going I wasn't as impressed with how they looked, though I'm sure my spray painting skills would have improved after these first 2 I tried for a Young House Love Pinterest Challenge.

In the end, our centerpiece lanterns pulled double duty and I think made for a more colorful, relevant and fire-proof addition to the ceremony.

photo by GReyes Photography

Just Married Banner

This one never made it past the pin. Since we used map paper for the table numbers and the escort card wall, I thought of creating background circles of map paper with the letters for "Just Married" spread across. Since the ceremony was in the same location as the reception, the thought was to say "Just About Married" and remove "About" during the cocktail hour.

This was strictly a nice to have and got cut from the roster pretty early on. I wasn't sure how or where in the venue I would have even been able to hang this and didn't need to focus my attention on taking down a banner five minutes after saying "I do!"

Paper Flowers

If I thought the centerpiece yarn balls took me a long time, I can only imagine how many hours I would have slaved away on paper flowers. The idea is valid - I was never picturing a huge bouquet, floral centerpieces or a large presence from the fragrant ones at my wedding so a way around the cost would be to make my own. And here was another way to use map paper....

I tried to make one after watching a youtube video tutorial four times in a row. It did not go well. Let's just say I think there is a reason some of those bouquets on Etsy cost well over $100.

I quickly came to my senses and managed to keep the florist bill under $500 anyway by sticking with simple bouquets, bouts and corsages. I also asked my brother in law to pick up the flowers on his way to the hotel to save on delivery charges. As a bonus, Billy Balls seem to last forever so my bouquet still looks great after seven months.

photo by GReyes Photography

So there we have it. Four projects that might have added a little something to the wedding, but none that were vital to it. My sanity thanks me for being okay with removing things from the to-do list. Almost as satisfying as crossing the accomplished things off of it!

Pinterest Project - Egged On

noreply@blogger.com (Lydia) — Sat, 30 Mar 2013 23:14:00 +0000

Well folks, I fell of the Michaels wagon pretty hard this weekend. I hadn't stepped foot in the craft store the last couple months, quite the feat considering it was my second home last spring and summer as I prepared for my wedding. With a 30% off entire regular price purchase coupon in hand, I hit the aisles up yesterday afternoon and walked away with a haul.

I stayed close to the Easter decorations to see if inspiration would hit - I barely ever decorate for this holiday, mainly because the few decorations I have are buried in one of my Christmas totes and I haven't made the time to give them their own accessible bin. And so, Easter Sunday typically passes without much fanfare in this house. However, when I saw this dome full of eggs on Pinterest a few weeks ago I thought there might be something worth exploring here....

I picked up 3 sets of papier mache eggs and fake moss from the floral section. At first I had regular easter grass in my basket but, just as I had passed over the colored plastic eggs in favor of papier mache, I thought the moss would create more of a grown up look.

I was about to head home and consider which of my hurricanes would look most normal turned upside down, but thought to stop at the Marshalls store above Michaels. I've been on the hunt for the Perfect Pillows for our entryway bench so thought Marshalls might have a hidden gem or two. They didn't deliver in the pillow department, but when I saw a glass dome for $9.99 I didn't want to pass it up. Long after its life as a centerpiece we can use it during parties over the cheese plate or other items to keep fresh.

Sitting the dome atop a plate would not give this guy much height, so I was doubly pleased when I discovered it was the perfect fit for a stand I already had. I created two stands out of small plates and candlesticks just ahead of the wedding and they have also come in handy during the holidays as mantle decor. I first made a homemade cake stand early in this blog's life to act as tub decor (also my first posted IKEA Hack). I actually repainted it navy blue to act as our cake stand at the wedding since it was a perfect 12" in diameter.

To get a feel for the look, I filled the dome with eggs and set it atop the stand. Before I laid some moss down the eggs didn't fill the dome quite well enough, but once the greenery was in place we were cookin' with gas.

I decided to repaint the stand to match our already existing table centerpieces (a Fiestaware pitcher and a silver bowl with a pop of orange). Because my orange paint was much lighter than the dark blue paint color and red of the original plate, I scrapped off what I could of the old paint with a wet paper towel and sandpaper. Many coats later, the orange mixed in with some of the blue and red still left. This actually helped darken the color up a bit so it wasn't quite so neon.

In between applying orange coats onto the stand, I got to work on the eggs. I focused on pastel colors, mixing white paint in with the darker greens and purples to be nice and Eastery.

I had visions of ombre eggs, elaborate patterns and using a couple rolls of washi tape I had picked up at Michaels, but in the end keeping them solid had the simple and not too over the top effect I was looking for.

I did give one of the peach eggs a mini-accent with a butterfly stamp and purple ink pad. I messed up a couple times on the stamp before I figured out the right application level on a rounded surface! The key was to press down all four corners separately.

Once everyone was dry, I laid the moss back down, filled the dome with eggs and carefully put it into place.

So now we have a happy reminder of Easter and Spring on our table - the question is, how long after Easter is it kosher to keep as a centerpiece??

Creepy - I just noticed my reflection in the silver bowl as I took the photos....

Have a wonderful Easter Sunday - eat lots of ham, devil lots of eggs and - whatever you do - DON'T let your kids sit on one of these Easter Bunnies!

photo source: www.happyplace.com

Music to Keep Them Moving

noreply@blogger.com (Lydia) — Wed, 27 Mar 2013 03:55:00 +0000

Booking the entertainment for the wedding reception - this can be a drawn out, conflict-filled decision between brides and grooms. It seems as though the possibilities are endless, and all with their own pros and cons: A Cover Band can be great, but expensive. A DJ ensures the songs are played by the actual artists you love, but a DJ with a microphone can be a dangerous thing. And your Uncle Larry plugging in his iPod is cost-effective for sure, but does he really know what he's doing around that sound system???

Bob was all for the idea of filling an iPod playlist and hitting start, but I worried too much about the flow of the songs. What if I tripped and my dress ripped in half and amongst all of the concern, the next song to start up on the automated playlist was extremely inappropriate for the situation? Bonus points to whoever can come up with the most inappropriate song that could come up at that moment.
photo by GReyes Photography

After reading some amazing Yelp reviews of Chicago based DJ companies like Style Matters and Toast & Jam, I decided to go the same route I did to find a photographer - Just Craigslist It! This was our solution for paying in the hundreds and not the thousands. The fella I found via a Craigslist ad seemed right up our alley - not too expensive, not too full of himself, not too cheesy.

He seemed a little taken aback at how many traditional DJ interludes we shook our heads at. We wanted a DJ who played great music and that's about it - we weren't going to do a grand entrance, have him introduce our bridal party (this is something Bob and I did while giving our speech before dinner) or need any color commentary for a bouquet toss or garter throw (we didn't include either in our wedding, mostly because I have terrible hand-eye coordination and was embarrassed with how poor my bouquet toss was sure to be).

I provided a playlist via a shared GoogleDoc to our DJ after he gave us an approximate number of how many songs would fit in our reception timeframe. In the end, I think the only songs that got played that weren't on the list were a couple requests by our guests (nice to hear you again, "Seven" by Prince. It had been awhile!)

This list was culled from many a wedding reception and cover band experience over the years and I'm happy to report it kept people on the dance floor well into the night. Our endless flow of free booze at the bar might also have had something to do with this.

We started with a few specifics:
Cake Cutting - How Sweet It Is To Be Loved By You, James Taylor
First Dance - Rock With You, Michael Jackson
Father/Daughter and Mother/Son Dance - Thinking About You, Norah Jones
Bridal Party Dance - Let My Love Open the Door Remix, Pete Townshend (From the Grosse Pointe Blank soundtrack)

I also indicated which ones to play early in the night - the oldies but goodies and a few requests made by my 3 year old Beyonce-lovin' niece, Ella. I wanted to make sure she was still awake for her songs!
You Never Can Tell, Chuck Berry
Louie Louie, The Kingsmen
Cecilia, Simon and Garfunkel
Boogie Shoes, KC & the Sunshine Band
Build Me Up Buttercup, The Foundations
Sweet Caroline, Neil Diamond
Oh, What a Night - The Four Seasons
Your Love is Lifting Me Higher, Jackie Wilson
Single Ladies, Beyonce (an Ella special request)
Moves Like Jagger, Maroon 5 (an Ella special request, which she calls "Moves for Jagger")
Call Me Maybe, Carly Jepson (an Ella special request and definitely the Song of the Summer)

And of course the slow songs to intersperse throughout the evening:
When You Say Nothing At All, Ronan Keating
Maybe I'm Amazed, Paul McCartney
To Make You Feel My Love, Adele
Crazy Love, Van Morrison
Fade Into You, Mazzy Star

Then it was time to get the party started, in no particular order:
Say Hey, Michael Franti
Ignition, R Kelly
Gold Digger, Kanye West
Hey Ya, Outkast
Jump Around, House of Pain
Yeah, Usher/Lil John/Ludacris
Like a Prayer, Madonna
Party in the USA, Miley Cyrus
I Gotta Feelin', Black Eyed Peas
Katy Perry Mix (Last Friday Night/California Gurls/Teenage Dream)
Lady Gaga Mix (Just Dance, Born This Way, Bad Romance)
Michael Jackson Mix (PYT, The Way You Make Me Feel)
Good Feeling, Flo Rida
Empire State of Mind, Jay Z/Alicia Keys
I Wanna Dance with Somebody, Whitney Houston
Take On Me, A-ha
Lights, Ellie Goulding
Prince Mix (1999/Little Red Corvette/Kiss)
Crazy in Love, Jay Z/Beyonce
Rock Your Body, Justin Timberlake
90s Hip Hop Mix (Baby I Got Your Money/Bust a Move/Mo Money Mo Problems)
You Sexy Thing, Hot Chocolate
Mama Told Me Not to Come, Tom Jones and Stereophonics
Humpty Dance, Digital Underground
Cupid Shuffle, Cupid
Party Rock Anthem, LMFAO
Tik Tok, Ke$ha
Right Round, Flo Rida
Footloose, Kenny Loggins
I Like It, Enrique Iglesias
Summer of '69, Bryan Adams
Forget You, Cee Lo
Evacuate the Dance Floor, Cascada
Gettin' Jiggy Wit It, Will Smith
The Whistle Song, Flo Rida

Although there are some "specific to 2012" songs in here - I'm looking at you, three-time appearin' Flo Rida! - for the most part it is a playlist that could work in any year with a good mix of oldies, 80's, hip hop and pop. A few extra tidbits of info about the list:
- We made sure to add in a few personal favorites like the Tom Jones version of Mama Told Me Not To Come. When I asked Bob to make any additions he would like, he kept it simple with just one: The Humpty Dance.
- Cupid Shuffle was our only concession to an organized dance a la Electric Slide or The Chicken Dance. And this is because it is the only one I know how to do.
- The "mix" idea for Katy Perry, Lady Gaga, etc was a way to have the DJ put a little bit of his own spin on the songs as opposed to just playing multiple by the same artist over the course of the evening.
- Party in the USA was a must-play. Seriously, it is a great song.

We also used our DJ for the ceremony. I have had 2 songs in mind for the last few years as the processional and recessional and knew we needed someone in charge of the timing. The bridesmaids and I walked in to John Legend's "Refuge (When It's Cold Outside)".
photo by GReyes Photography

When Bob was instructed to kiss the bride, we launched into the opening chords of "September" by Earth, Wind and Fire to lead everyone out. That is the song that gets me out on the dance floor at parties and events - it is almost guaranteed a play early in the night at every reception or event and I treat it as my cue to start cutting a rug. This song is also the reason I wanted a September wedding, but venue-wise we couldn't make it work!
photo by GReyes Photography

Fun fact - I first came to love the song September thanks to the end credits of the movie Get Over It as a cover by Sisqo and Vitamin C. Although I couldn't bring myself to want Sisqo in my wedding ceremony, the movie continues to be one of my guilty pleasures.

So there it is - a playlist fit to print for a 3-4 hour shindig. It won't disappoint!* What's on your must-dance-to-it-at-all-costs list?

*Unless you like country music or heavy metal, then it will probably disappoint.

Reading Rainbow

noreply@blogger.com (Lydia) — Sat, 16 Mar 2013 16:39:00 +0000

One of the tasks that took us the longest to finalize for our wedding (already 6 months ago!) was writing the ceremony. We utilized some major Google-searching skills to ~~steal~~ create ideas for our officiant to build on and find 2 readings to accompany the ceremony.

Getting married outside of a church meant we didn't have a built-in officiant, and searching online for someone ordained who would do the job for $500 or so just seemed a bit impersonal. We decided to ask a friend to marry us, both a way of personalizing the ceremony and having more good friends involved without forming a groomsmen/bridesmaid train on either side of us. We also had the distinction of a ceremony conducted off of an iPad - I'm sure a growing trend! Although, I don't think I would have ever gone as far as that couple who tweeted their vows.
photo by GReyes Photography

This link takes you to a script we cribbed the most from. I read this script so many times, I really feel as though I know Kristen and Frank...those crazy kids. Just kidding. We changed things up a bit according to our own thoughts - skipped over the involvement of family and friends and wrote our own vows. We kept them short and sweet, though I did threaten weeks earlier that I was going to rap mine. We each began with three sentences of "I love that you...." which was a nice way to tie them together.

photo by GReyes Photography

When it came to finding readings, the world wide web was not short on suggestions. It was interesting to see how many times the same ones popped up: Oh, the Places You'll Go, The Velveteen Rabbit, Shakespearean Sonnets.... Our "do not play" list was simple: non-religious, not too sappy, not too jokey (we don't need them rolling in the aisles) and we'd rather it not rhyme. I narrowed down a few choices and asked Bob to make some final choices.

Stumbling upon "Gift from the Sea" we found a text that talks of the complexity of working together to maintain and grow the relationship while looking to the future. It tied in well to the partnership aspect of our ceremony script. And, we all learned a new word: propinquity. Bob's college friend read this one for us.

From Gift from the Sea, by Anne Morrow Lindbergh

So most couples in the growing years of marriage struggle to achieve a place in the world. It is a physical and material battle first of all, for a home, for children, for a place in their particular society... In these years one recognizes the truth of Saint-Exupery's line: “Love does not consist in gazing at each other, but in looking outward together in the same direction” For, in fact man and woman are not only looking outward in the same direction; they are working outward. Here one forms ties, roots, a firm base. Here one makes oneself part of the community of men, of human society. And here the bonds of marriage are formed. For marriage, which is always spoken of as a bond, becomes actually, in this stage, many bonds, many strands, of different texture and strength, making up a web that is taut and firm. The web is fashioned of love. Yes, many kinds of love: romantic love first, then a slow growing devotion and playing these through, a constantly rippling companionship. It is made of loyalties, and interdependencies, and shared experiences. It is woven of memories of meetings and conflicts; of triumphs and disappointments. It is a web of communication, a common language, and the acceptance of lack of language, too; a knowledge of likes and dislikes, of habits and reactions, both physical and mental. It is a web of instincts and intuitions, and known and unknown exchanges. The web of marriage is made by propinquity, in the day to day living side by side, looking outward and working outward in the same direction. It is woven in space and in time of the substance of life itself.

What I liked about the ceremony script is a focus on responsibility and respect. So when I found this reading, it seemed like it fit right in. It didn't hurt that it is from one of my favorite stories of all time, The Little Prince or that the author was also cited in our first reading. We asked my aunt to share this short passage:

From the Little Prince by Antoine Saint-Exupery

And he went back to meet the fox.
"Goodbye," he said.
"Goodbye," said the fox. "And now here is my secret, a very simple secret: It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye."
"What is essential is invisible to the eye," the little prince repeated, so that he would be sure to remember.
"It is the time you have wasted for your rose that makes your rose so important."
"It is the time I have wasted for my rose--" said the little prince, so that he would be sure to remember.
"Men have forgotten this truth," said the fox. "But you must not forget it. You become responsible, forever, for what you have tamed. You are responsible for your rose..."
"I am responsible for my rose," the little prince repeated, so that he would be sure to remember.

With respect to Mr. Saint-Exupery, we did make one edit to the text above - something about saying "time wasted" didn't seem quite right when talking about our relationship, so we changed it to "time spent on."

I printed the readings in large spaced out print and used photo corners to paste the pages to sized scrapbook paper.

photo by GReyes Photography.

The ceremony stayed within 20 minutes, truthfully I was never the biggest fan of readings but added them in to help boost the time! In the end, we were very pleased with the readings we had - they hit all the right notes and really meant something to us both.

Anatomy of a Library

noreply@blogger.com (Lydia) — Sun, 10 Mar 2013 21:07:00 +0000

Although we have made little touches to every room in the house since buying our condo a year and a half ago, we only have a couple areas that we can call finished. At least while the focus is on "decorating" and not "renovating." One is the second bedroom, which spent last year transforming into a craft room/office. Next up on our crossed-off list is the library!

When you live in a loft-style condo, the number of "areas" you create will likely outnumber the amount of actual rooms. Right now our main living space contains the kitchen, dining room, living room and library. A careful use of furniture and space is vital to not overstuff the room.

A less than stellar wide shot of the living room. If there was ever an excuse to buy a better camera, it would be because of the lack of natural light in our home! Our northern facing windows, right up against the neighboring building, force us to turn on all of our lights by noon.

The photos of the loft when it was on the market showed a pretty standard way of breaking up the room. The TV was over the fireplace with a couch, coffee table and general living room items taking up most of that side of the condo. A dining table was up against the other wall.

When we looked at the place, most of the furniture was already moved out, so it was easy to see a blank canvas and imagine how we might best organize. Here's how it looked for the first week after moving in. Notice that the floor is covered in books, but the mantle has been decorated for Halloween. Priorities, people.

We decided to avoid the "TV/fireplace combo" after 2 years of craning our necks to watch television at our rental, where it did hang above the mantle. We had grown tired of the trend and wanted to use the fireplace space to create a cozy reading nook and a home for entertaining. A shot of our old place:

So how did our condo go from this....

to this.....? Read below for an extra long post!

We owned two Billy Bookcases from IKEA already and quickly realized we required another for our growing collection of hardcovers and paperbacks. Shelf styling is not overdone, with many shelves taken up entirely with books. There are personal items peppered throughout: display boxes from various overseas trips like a wooden spice box found in a Turkish bazaar, dried flowers from when Bob proposed, a globe on a shelf with all travel books. The same row on each shelf holds picture frames of all sizes and colors. I always liked the idea of containing the photos in one area of the house rather than having frames on every table and wallspace.

We picked up a dozen magazine filers from IKEA and added them to the bottom row of 2 shelves to hold our Dwells, Marthas and Elle Decors. Check out this post with how I made the nametags for each.

Pinterest projects certainly found a home in this area of the house. Painted thumbtack balls (find out how I made them here) rest in the large London Hurricane from Crate & Barrel, next to our favorite set of C&B silver candlesticks. These were the first items we scanned when it came to putting our wedding registry together.

On the other side of the mantle, a simple white vase from Target holds dried eucalyptus from a bouquet Bob picked up early in our relationship. The purple color plays nicely against the artwork hanging above the mantle: the five foot tall canvas Bob created for us! (check out Prove It Parts 1, 2 and 3!)

A recent addition finds itself displayed against the window. In my day job I book motivational speakers and entertainers for conferences. Last November, we had Jewel at one of our events doing a "storytellers" like gig. She was amazing - funny, witty, self-depracating... not to mention an incredible voice. The agents I worked with surprised me with a signed guitar as a thank-you. Extremely unexpected and such a lovely gift - although I can't play a lick!

Looks like I will need to add "learn to play guitar" to the next cycle of annual goals!

Our cats are strictly indoor, not even a balcony for them to lounge about on, so we brought a little bit of the outside to them with a purchase of cat grass seeds. They didn't take long at all to sprout, and the boys have slowly started nibbling.

As I move in a circle, next up is the bar. I first wrote about how we turned a $35 dresser picked up at an antique store into a backdrop piece at our wedding here.

We wanted to use it in our house as opposed to discarding it after the big day, so after some consideration as an entryway table it was declared the new bar. Something about the mirror'd back makes this a natural fit against this wall when the top is filled with bottles, an ice bucket and decanter. We still find ourselves with way too much liquor after the wedding so eventually one of the bottom shelves will be opened up!

Above the bar we hung a gallery of three. A print from the Lichtenstein exhibit at the Art Institute, an enlarged photo of a stairwell in Egypt that Bob took on our trip and a sketch of London inherited from a family member. Because a metal pipe runs along the wall, two of the pieces hang on much longer screws than usual. Bob is learning a lot about drilling into brick during our time here!

Next up, what library would be complete without a pair of armchairs? I wrote all about these in a post just before the holidays, when our Tux chairs from Crate & Barrel finally came in. The size of these are just perfect for the small space. We still talk about adding a footstool, but are waiting to find the perfect size and pattern to make it work here.

The chairs sit on the shag rug I made last year after staring at a Pinterest pin for months, getting the courage to tackle it. 28 white t-shirts, 4 boxes of RIT dye and 60 hours later - we're loving how it turned out.

The cats like to slide into it after barreling down the hallway (this is their favorite game), so we finally picked up a rug mat last weekend to put under it and keep it in place. $5 later and the problem of finding a bunched up rug every morning was solved.

So you've got your book, you've mixed a cocktail and you've got your armchair to nestle into. All that is missing is a small table to hold your drink. We found ourselves at a going out of business sale at World Sofa last month. A contemporary furniture store with reasonable prices, we found more than a couple pieces we were interested in. For $60 we couldn't pass up a square end table with a black-brown tray top that matched the bookshelves and chrome C-shaped legs (is that a term?). I like that the table is lightweight, and open on the bottom to not take up too much precious library real estate!

There we have it, a cozy library to read, to entertain, to relax and to enjoy! I hope all of the other rooms in the condo are this fun to put together!

Pepe the Pew

noreply@blogger.com (Lydia) — Thu, 07 Mar 2013 01:32:00 +0000

Not sure if Bob will go for my proposed moniker for the newest addition to our home, but I am sort of digging it.

One of my goals for the year is to finish up the entryway to our condo by adding three areas:
1. A bench to give us a place to pull on our snowboots and sneakers
2. A row of hooks for a quick grab of workbags and jackets
3. A table to offer a catch-all for keys, mail and items that don't need to find a way past our coat closet.

About a month ago, Bob came home from church with the idea to purchase one of the old pews the pastor was fixing up and selling. At first I scoffed - it won't look right, it will be too long....but the hallway space between our front door and the second bedroom is a long 105" which leaves an extra 10 inches and upon seeing a photo I deemed the bench "not overly churchy."

And after a few Pinterest searches, my hopes were built up with photos like this one from houzz.com.

Unfortunately, we were low on the list by the time we put our name in the hat with the pastor. Who knew so many people were interested! So we were back to square one.

I did a Craigslist search a couple times a week, but the ones pictured were either too pricey (we could have gotten the church's pew for around $150) or looked more like they were from the 80s than a vintage feel (hellooo fabric covered seats!).

A Saturday spent at Architectural Artifacts only piqued our interest in having one in our house. Room after room of antique decor, light fixtures, tiles, cars - yes, cars, and what seemed to be at least 50 church pews provided us with hours of strolling and daydreaming. However, the $495 price tag on the pews left something to be desired. I was ready to pull the trigger, Bob shook his head at me.

And I'm glad he did because the next day on Craigslist we found the winner! $150 and not too far a drive? "We can pick it up within the hour!" After an uncomfortable ride home with our seats as far forward as the Ford Escape would go to allow us to shut the back door with the whole pew inside, we maneuvered it into the elevator and into the house.

The dimensions were perfect. At 74" it is a little shorter than the original pew Bob was looking at so it doesn't quite overtake the whole hallway as it might otherwise have. It comes out to about 22", leaving enough room for the front door to open and not make one feel attacked by furniture the second they are in the door.

We have plans to clean it up a bit and stain it a darker color to play off of the City of Chicago signs that hang in the hallway, but we'll be waiting until the weather gets a bit warmer to tackle that project!

For now, I'll just search for the "perfect pillows" to decorate the bench. Maybe something like these brown damask pillows on Amazon.com.

The cats enjoy their new source of entertainment: in the photo below, Fredo is on the offensive as Sonny hides underneath amongst the shoes.....what a menacing shadow Fredo makes!

Starbucks for Less Bucks

noreply@blogger.com (Lydia) — Sat, 02 Mar 2013 17:59:00 +0000

By the title, the assumption might be made that this post is about brewing coffee at home and avoiding the daily lines at the local cafe, but for this non-coffee drinker it is all about the Bistro Boxes they offer for a quick snack!

I have a bad habit of not eating much of anything in the morning - I never have much of an appetite getting ready at home before work, and when I do get to work I usually dive right in to emails and meetings and don't think about taking a few minutes to grab something for the stomach.

At the grocery store the other day (where we stocked up on ingredients to make risotto, gnocchi and lasagna over this next week, yum!), I picked out a few items to try my hand at making DIY snack boxes, inspired by the Starbucks packs I like to grab every once in awhile - usually when gift cards for the coffee giant find their way to me.

Here's a shot of Starbucks' Protein Bistro Box: hard boiled egg, peanut butter and honey spread and multi-grain bread, cheese, apples and grapes.

And here's what I built: hard boiled egg, grapes, swiss cheese cubes, wheat thins, a few pretzel sticks and a Babybel semi-soft cheese. I would have liked to add a few apple slices, but need to think about the best way not to let them brown. Something tells me a Pinterest search will be solving that conundrum!

I multiplied this snack box by 4 to stock the fridge for the week. I later realized I should wait until the morning to add the pretzels and wheat thins to the boxes as their taste was a bit affected by the cold refrigerator and mix of food in the tupperware with it, but that was a simple lesson learned. Buying a six pack of Apple Juice also ensured I was drinking something in the morning before my noon hour Pepsi habit kicked in.

I added up total cost from the grocery store receipt, and final cost of each box - including juice - will average about $2.50. Not bad for a morning worth of snacks! Now the challenge will be to keep up with this initiative of always having something in my bag for breakfast after these 4 days are up...

Something Savory From the Kitchen

noreply@blogger.com (Lydia) — Wed, 27 Feb 2013 04:02:00 +0000

Oh, those winter months in Chicago.... we're snuggled up warm in the house tonight while the wintery mix of rain and snow carries on outside. I really should not complain that much, as we have had the second mild winter in a row and hardly any snowstorms at all. Although I would rather be dealing with snowdrifts tomorrow than the slushy sloppy puddles we'll be trekking through to get to work!

These types of nights call for hot and hearty homemade dinners! Once again, Pinterest prevails with a quick search:

The above photo was pinned from a tasty looking recipe on saveur.com from Wolfgang Puck, but it also reminded me of a pot pie recipe I saw on the cover of an old Cooking Light in my cupboard. I had a year subscription in 2007 and have found that those 12 issues are all I need to satisfy a craving for new meal ideas every few months! I dug out that issue and got to work.

Although you can make your pot pie in a large crock or baking dish, we took advantage of the individual ramekins we own and filled them up with root vegetables and chicken, topped with a puff pastry crust. Absolutely delicious. A healthy dose of black pepper helps add a kick along with the parsley and thyme.

Chicken and Root Vegetable Pot Pie
3 cups chicken broth
1 1/2 cups frozen green peas, thawed
1 cup cubed baking potato, peeled
1 cup cubed sweet potato, peeled
1 cup diced celery root, peeled (I just used the end of celery for this one)
1 cup sliced parsnips
1 10oz package frozen pearl onions
1 pound chicken breasts cut into bite sized pieces
2/3 cup flour, divided
1 1/2 cups milk
1/4 cup chopped parsley
2 Tbs chopped thyme
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp ground black pepper
Cooking spray
1 sheet frozen puff pastry dough, thawed

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Boil broth in a large Dutch oven. Add peas through onions to pan, cover and reduce heat to simmer. Add chicken and cook until done. Remove pieces of chicken and the vegetables from the broth and set aside in a large bowl.

Increase heat to medium. In a bowl, mix flour - minus 1 tablespoon - with milk and whisk to blend. Add mixture to broth and cook until thickened, continuously stirring. Stir in chicken mixture, parsley, thyme, salt and pepper. I only had dried thyme and parsley so used less than the called for amounts.

Once the mixture was ready, it was time to prepare the ramekins. Bob spread out the remaining flour on to wax paper and rolled out the dough. We used a pastry cutter to make rectangles to fit over the tops of the ramekins.

After filling the ramekins and pressing to seal the pastry over the top, small slits were cut into the dough to allow steam to escape. The dough was sprayed with Pam and then set on baking sheets.

We kept an eye on them as they cooked. The recipe says 16 minutes, but we have a touchy oven on the best of days. Once the pastry was browned we took them out and let them cool for a few minutes before digging in.

We ended up with enough for 6, so four went in the fridge for leftovers - easy enough to microwave again, though the pastry dough loses a little of that loving feeling upon reheat...

So there it is, one of the best cold-weather cures for dinner! I'm linking this to the Pinterest Challenge that Young House Love and Bower Power seasonally put on. Definitely a departure from my usual home decor crafty endeavors (like these thumbtack balls or the most-intense-project-ever DIY shag rug from past posts).

However, this past weekend I didn't quite finish the art project that I'm planning on unveiling as my next major Pinterest Project. Stay tuned over the next couple weeks for that big reveal! Let's just say I'll be using a whole lotta mod podge.

Registry Recap

noreply@blogger.com (Lydia) — Sat, 23 Feb 2013 17:33:00 +0000

Back with another wedding post – as we prepare for our six month anniversary! Wow, it has certainly flown by. And why have we been so carefully counting up to six months? No, not to celebrate with a romantical dinner and lavish gifts for each other, but because it will mark the expiration of our 10% off registry fulfillment at Crate & Barrel! We have spent plenty o’ afternoons at C&B over the last few months, basically negating the charges a 9.5% sales tax in Illinois will get you, ogling products large and small. It was certainly a treat to find out that the 10% off applied not only to the items on our registry, but to anything in the store.

Not only could we pick up the orange dishtowels we had on our list, but also a couple armchairs that weren’t available when we created the registry (nor would we have felt comfortable putting such large items on our wishlist!) When it came to planning out where we would register, Crate & Barrel was pretty much a no-brainer. Their style is our style, and we looked forward to filling up our kitchen with all of those "seemingly need to have" gadgets!

We also registered on Amazon after a suggestion from my family. This would not have occurred to me, but it ended up being a great way to add a variety of products to our wish list. Although they do not offer a discount on fulfillment like Crate & Barrel and several other establishments do, we took advantage of gift cards and free shipping!

As you may recall from a previous post, everything culminated in our DIY thank you cards that featured Bob and I decked out in wedding garb using the gifts we received. Now that was a fun day.

So how did we determine what to register for? As a couple hitting our thirties, we weren’t wanting for much in the way of kitchen basics or household necessities. We made sure to add items we would actually use – this means the Panini Maker got removed from the registry soon after it was added. I can honestly say that we have used everything received so far except for the ice cream attachment to the KitchenAid mixer and a picnic set. Something to do with the subzero temps we are currently experiencing here in Chicago, I think!

We upgraded some of our items to things that will last. Like a Le Creuset Dutch Oven, a KitchenAid Blender and “the Drill we wanted to buy but settled for the $30 one that broke after a year”

We increased our numbers. I will never forget running to Crate & Barrel one Friday afternoon to buy a set of 4 plates for a dinner party because we only owned 4 at the time! We picked out simple white dishes and classic flatware x10 to match the plates we already owned.

We know we like to entertain. So large serving bowls and appetizer plates were natural additions. Again, we stuck to white for as much as we could to create a bit of a theme that focuses on the food and not a brightly colored plate.

We had a little bit of fun. A bread machine. A record player. A shiny silver bowl with a bright orange interior. Nothing we need of course, but we enjoy having them!

So that’s how we created our registry, what was your number one item that you just can’t live without after settling into marriage? For more ideas, check out this past post on going off the registry – a scary concept for some!

Bob's Bday Brew-ha-ha

noreply@blogger.com (Lydia) — Tue, 19 Feb 2013 02:12:00 +0000

Well, it is mid-February and that means one thing: Bob's Birthday Surprise of the Year!

The precedent was set in our first year of dating: For Bob's 25th I created an indoor camping scene in my studio apartment with my George Foreman Grill, a cooler of drinks, glow in the dark stars on the ceiling and my feather bed pulled into the living room and piled high with sleeping bags. I still remember the 45 minutes I attempted to set up my sleeper tent inside the apartment (fail).

The next year saw a Lost weekend marathon, followed by an Around the World Tour, a James Bond Spy Game (pictured below) and then Puzzle pieces that fit together to reveal a stay-cation getaway to a Chicago Hotel.

Last week, as I hemmed and hawed over what theme to pick for his 6th weekend celebration, I received an email from a good friend who would be visiting her family in Wisconsin and would we be interested in meeting them in New Glarus for the weekend?

"Yes!" I instantly replied. For those unfamiliar, New Glarus is a 2000 person town, home to the New Glarus Brewing Co. Literally "only in Wisconsin," we love grabbing a Spotted Cow anytime we're back in Cheese Country. In fact, we featured Spotted Cow as 1 of 2 beers offered at our wedding (the other being 90 Shilling, a beer you can currently only get in Colorado, Bob's home state).

Kara and I made plans quickly: a couple trip advisor checks for hotel and restaurant options, some sad faces upon realizing that the restaurant we wanted to check out was closed for winter break (The Glarner Stube), a lucky reservation made for the fastly filling up Chalet Landhaus and we were good to go.

On Saturday morning, Bob woke up early and was met with the following when he went to the second bedroom.

Each card was addressed slightly differently and gave clues to his weekend surprise until the big reveal at the end. A co-worker had an empty six pack carrier at home that she brought in for me to help create the scene - to keep the shape I added a bottle of beer (not a New Glarus brew, unfortunately) to the sixth opening.

1. To Bob - a happy birthday card.
2. To Dieting - an I'm-sorry-in-advance-card
3. To the Ford Escape - a gas money card
4. To the Birthday Boy - a Bon Voyage card with the details
5. To Uncle Bob - an invitation for dinner and cake with his nieces (and my sister and brother in law) on Sunday.

We had plans to be at the brewery by 2pm to meet Kara and her husband, although Bob would not realize we were going to be meeting anyone until we arrived and I was suddenly enamored with the gift shop instead of starting our tour! What, can't a girl inexplicably want to wander around for 20 minutes or so before heading in to see the actual brewery??

When our surprise guests arrived Bob was certainly taken aback, considering our friends live in Colorado. We toured the brewery, had a few tastings and then headed back to town. We checked out the local bars before dinner at a good ol' Wisconsin Supper Club. If you have never been to a supper club, you are missing out. In fact, a whole documentary was made about them! We also may have gone a little crazy at the Brewery Depot - a sampler six pack, one of their oversized fruit beers and a crate emblazoned with their logo (still working out how it will play into our decor, right now it is holding shoes at our entryway.)

And so, Bob's 30th ended not with a blow out party in downtown Chicago, but rather at the small town's Swiss Lanes - where we had free reign of the place and both had pretty decent games.

Sunday morning gave us a delish continental breakfast at The Chalet and a 2 hour drive back to Illinois. We spent some quality time with the nieces and ate a whole lotta chocolate cake from Portillos. Highly recommend.

So what's next on the Birthday Surprise list? Only time will tell!

Let it Slide

noreply@blogger.com (Lydia) — Thu, 14 Feb 2013 03:13:00 +0000

It seems as though every time I come home from my parents' house, I have at least 1 new recipe in tow. See also: Tarragon Tuna Melts, Orange-Pumpkin Roulade and Creamy Brussels Sprouts. My mother has a knack for finding wonderful new things for us to gobble up around the holidays, so when she set out these Ham Sliders as part of our Christmas Eve Smorgasbord* they did not last long at all. Crunchy outsides because of a brown sugary glaze, ham and gooey cheese goodness on the inside and a little bit of zip from the pepper jelly spread onto the bottom roll.

I have re-created this recipe twice already at home in the last month and a half, and it will become a party staple. I almost built a whole Super Bowl shindig around these, until we realized we didn't have the energy to get a full on party put together this year!

Ham Sliders

1/8 cup butter, melted

2 Tbs flour

1 cup pepper jelly

24 dinner rolls

nonstick cooking spray

1 1/2 pounds thinly sliced deli ham

12 oz. cheddar cheese, thinly sliced

Glaze:

1/4 cup butter

1/8 cup packed brown sugar

2 tsp. yellow mustard

1 tsp. Worcestershire sauce

Combine melted butter, flour and jelly in small bowl and set aside. Cut rolls in half and lay bottoms on greased 13x9 pans. Spread each roll bottom with 1 tsp. of the jelly mixture. Divide ham and cheese amongst rolls and add tops. In a small saucepan, melt the 1/4 cup butter over medium heat. Remove from heat, stir in brown sugar, mustard and Worcestershire sauce. Using a pastry brush, coat roll tops with glaze. Bake at 350 for about 20 minutes or until cheese is melted and sliders are heated through (this ran at about 12 minutes for us, our oven gets very hot).

You can make these ahead of time and wrap the pan in plastic wrap to chill overnight before adding the glaze topping the next day.

I should note that the original recipe from the December 2012 Midwest Living features poppy seeds on the top and asks for pineapple or apricot jam in place of the homemade pepper jelly Mom has stocked us with. We also halved the amount of butter and glaze ingredients and still found ourselves with plenty. I am starting to catch on that every time I make frosting, glaze, filling, etc I always have way too much in the end so tend to halve it and make more if needed.

*our Christmas Eve Smorgasbord was our growing-up tradition. While the day we celebrated Christmas featured a heavy dinner of seafood and steak, our December 24 was filled with cocktail weenies, cheese and crackers, vegetable trays and the ubiquitous tin of sardines I made a point never to touch. I should also note that this year's Christmas Eve was celebrated a few days early - we take what we can get nowadays for the whole family to get together!

Pinterest Project - Put a Cork on It

noreply@blogger.com (Lydia) — Sat, 09 Feb 2013 16:01:00 +0000

When looking for a few DIY Christmas gifts to intersperse with store-bought goodies, Pinterest pretty much always saves the day.

There are no shortage of cork projects out there in the web world. Suddenly I found myself creating a little tradition for what I make my mother - last year, I tackled these cork plant markers as a gift for her.

After pinning the cork trivet, I considered all of the different ways to make these kitchen helpers. A few examples:

from this pin

I imagine some of the pins I was seeing came as part of a kit, with the frame being just the right size for a set amount of corks to line it. In the end, I picked up a couple picture frames from the thrift store, knocked out the glass and hot glued corks in a random pattern. At first I was disappointed at the spaces in between, but as I looked closer at many of the examples online they seemed to have the same issue, even with the kits. I think that is part of the fun in using corks that have been pulled and misshapen as opposed to the bags you can buy in the store, sold specifically for decor and not for drinking!

The other big difference is that my corks are raised above the frame as opposed to sitting in it.

Although I had a healthy supply of corks on hand, many of them were the plastic-y material that didn't look right against the grain of the more traditional corks. And then of course there are the screw top bottles that don't get us anywhere! I had to rely on friends and family to help get the second trivet off the ground.

I added coverage on the bottom of the frame with more cork - this time the kind you can buy in a roll at Staples.

After just a few minutes, the job was done.....now on to that bottle of wine I had to uncork in order to finish....

Wedding Gift Bags: Simple and Sweet

noreply@blogger.com (Lydia) — Thu, 07 Feb 2013 02:35:00 +0000

I haven't written about the wedding in quite some time, so it might surprise you that I still have a number of posts to deliver on the subject. This time around let's focus on goodie bags and gifts!

First up, deciding on a gift for my bridesmaids took my a looong time. I weighed the options: personalized tote bags, flip flops for the reception, comfy zip up hoodies for hair and makeup time.... in the end, I decided to put together a mini gift bag for each of them and make their hairstyles my treat. It's quite an investment bridesmaids put into a wedding between the travel, the dress, the showers and, of course, the advice. So anything I could do to alleviate that I was happy to do - and with the amazing work of Pin Me Up Chicago, I think the gals were just as happy in the end!
photo by GReyes Photography

For the gift bag, I put together "emergency kits" of Altoids smalls, blister band aids, Shout wipes, tissues, safety pins and the like. I filled up quite the basket at Walgreens with all of these goodies. After the fact, I realized I included 4 types of breath fresheners. Nothing personal, I swear! They just all come in such cute little packages!

The Thursday before the wedding, I found myself wandering the aisles at Macy's looking for the perfect little clutch to carry the emergency kits. When I spied the shiny teal and pink Michael Kors clutches (on sale, no less!) I knew I had a winner. I packed them up and added to a gift bag with a set of Jonathan Adler pencils and a travel journal from World Market.

The Adler pencils were picked up at Papyrus and shared sayings like, "take Tambourine lessons" and "don't feel guilty about watching too much tv." I kept the latter one for myself as it surely does apply!

Moving on to the groomsmen, Bob had picked out volleyball cufflinks from an Etsy shop to commemorate his connection to his college friends (the CU Men's Volleyball Team). Along with picking up the ties and shirts they would wear under their navy suits, Bob had certainly dressed them for the occasion!
photo by GReyes Photography

As a mini-gift from me, I prepared a box that I labeled "Bob and Boys" for him to open up when he got to the hotel. The package was chock-full of gettin' ready goodies that I pulled together from a few internet lists and about an hour trolling the aisles of Walgreens.

Includes:
- 2 pairs of black socks (just in case)
- Contact solution
- Band-Aids
- Travel size Axe Body Spray
- Deodorant
- Tissues
- Shout wipes
- Aleve
- Altoids smalls
- Travel comb

Lastly, I hemmed and hawed putting together gift bags for our hotel guests. In the end, we only had about a dozen people staying at the hotel, but I still wanted to keep a close eye on our budget. After finding some lovely but definitely not budget-conscious ideas online like providing everyone with a fabric tote filled to the brim, I found options to create a $10 gift bag, including the $3.50 room drop fee we were facing from the hotel. We picked a Chicago theme: Frango mints, Jays potato chips, Wrigley gum and a Cubs crazy straw for fun. Add in 2 bottled waters and some headache (or hangover) reducers and the simple bag was set.

To jazz up the white bags I bought from Michaels, I added a bride and groom silhouette stamp to the front on scrapbook paper and attached a thank you note.

The text of the thank you notes was stolen almost entirely from another Chicago bride whose gift bags popped up in a Google image search. We kept our wedding font of Peignot Bold and our striped design that we used throughout on invites, programs and escort cards.
photo by GReyes Photography

We dropped these off with the hotel concierge before the rehearsal with the list of recipients (and their hotel confirmation numbers to be on the safe side), and they took care of the rest!

What do you like to get in a wedding welcome bag? What do you never use out of it? What travel size Walgreens find is your favorite? Personally, I love travel size Kleenex. I'm a sucker for the packaging.

Goals: Year Three

noreply@blogger.com (Lydia) — Fri, 01 Feb 2013 04:14:00 +0000

Well, it is about time. I took more than a few months off in creating my new list of goals - the original intention was to post this before Christmas to start the calendar year off right, but end of January counts just as well, doesn't it?

This list is typically in the back of my mind - and probably in the back of almost every notebook I use because when I find myself with some time on a flight or on a lazy Sunday I start looking at the list trying to add a couple more quality items.

I have learned a few things after two go-rounds (read the recap from Year One and Year Two):

Don't overextend where our moolah is going - My first year I had equal parts "spend a lot of money" and "save a lot of money" - make sure both are doable!
Be realistic - Renovating every room in the house? Probably not going to happen in the next year. But grab hold of a couple areas like the entryway and the laundry room and we're getting a little more focused.
Stick with the basics - Most of my Culture Vulture goals and a few of the Personal Development goals have stayed the same each year which is not a bad thing. Unless, we think this could be the year I watch 150 movies???

Culture Vulture
1. Read 15 books - Book club always helps out with this goal. Although without the 1-2-3 punch of The Hunger Games books this year, how quickly will I be able to add these up?
The Forgotten 500 - a WWII book club pick that most said was too textbooky, but I liked. I considered it a cross between Unbroken, Argo and In the Garden of Beasts.
The Accidental Tourist - enjoyed this one. Looks like its time I put the movie on my Netflix list.
Lottery - a bit schmaltzy for my taste, but a quick read.
Lean In - great book club discussion and a business book I actually enjoyed reading!

2. Watch 120 movies - The Netflix queue never has had less than 100 movies on it (yes, we still rock the hard discs in the mail).
31 since February 1. Looks like I'm just about on target.

3. Two trips to the theater - We just got back from The Book of Mormon after originally purchasing the tickets last summer. I can't stop singing the soundtrack. Of course, not out loud - I might get fired!

4. Visit two museums - last year we checked out the Lichtenstein exhibit at the Art Institute - what's coming up there this year?
Certainly got my fill in DC. Highlights included the Newseum and American History Museum.

5. Travel to three new cities - Work always helps me out here, with a planned trip this summer to Park City for an event. Add to this a potential DC/Baltimore visit in April and our big New England Road Trip for the fall and this one is in the bag.
DC - check! Baltimore - check!

6. Book an international trip - OK, this might be one that gets put on the back burner, but hopefully not. With our New England Road Trip being our big to-do this year, here's hoping we'll have at least started talking about what 2014 has in store for us. Fingers crossed I finally get to cross South America off of my list!

7. Have a day of fun and culture with my niece - She's nearing four years old - the perfect age to check out the Shedd Aquarium if I do say so myself.

How Entertaining
8. Take a knife skills class - Okay, I'm cheating just a little here because we just accomplished this long-standing goal this past week at The Chopping Block. Never fear me with a chef's knife again!
Done!

9. Make bread and cheese - We received a breadmaker as a wedding gift, and although it has gotten quite a bit of use already it has been driven by Mr. Kamicar. I'd like to find a couple recipes to try out. The idea of making my own mozzarella keeps popping up on Pinterest and I figure its time to give it a shot.

10. Invest in freezer meals - My recipes posts as of late have certainly had a theme - and our freezer is reaping the rewards. Keep 'em coming with at least 4 more meals like these breakfast burritos or this delish pasta.

11. Host 3 parties - With the wedding yesterday's news, I am ready to plan a few smaller scale bashes. Not to mention we still have a ton of liquor left over from the reception.

12. Clean up as we go - I'm sure I am not the only one with this bad habit. I make a great meal and the dishes sit in the sink. Sometimes rinsed off, sometimes not. Why don't I just put them in the dishwasher you ask? Well, it is probably filled up with clean dishes we haven't put away yet! It is time to clean as we cook. I think we'll all be a lot happier in the end.
We have been doing a great job with this one! It is finally relaxing to look into the kitchen.

Health and Wellness
13. Cut down on soda - I don't think I overdue it to begin with - I'm not guzzling three before noon or anything, but some days I realized all I have had to drink that day is a soda for lunch and a soda with dinner and I get a little sad for myself.

14. Run another 5K - I failed miserably at hitting this goal last time. Literally got out to run three times since my big 5K of 2010. But I'm not giving up on me yet.

15. Safeguard - I'm talking wills, emergency plans and kits, checking out life insurance and all that good stuff you really don't ever want to tackle.

16. Make appointments - It is a strange thing. I'm not scared of the dentist, I don't shudder at needles, and I can't say I am that bothered by wasting time in a stale waiting room reading an old Ladies Home Journal. What I am is a procrastinator. The type who doesn't make a dentist appointment until half her tooth breaks off because the temporary filling on the root canal she had seven months ago finally gives out. True Story. So, let 2013 be the year I make regular check up appointments for no other reason than keeping up with keeping my health.

17. Eat more Fruits and Vegetables - Wait, how many servings a day are you supposed to have? Does pizza count? What about cold pizza? I'm thinking an easy way to start is to never leave home in the morning without a small container of grapes, carrot sticks, apple pieces, etc for snacks during the workday.
Check out my DIY Bistro Boxes.

18. Wake up earlier - I sleep until the last possible second and then rush to get ready for work without time to even sit down. The sad part is I am not even sleeping that last hour. Just shutting my eyes and curling up tight to avoid getting up. If I can find a way to give myself an extra half hour at least a couple times a week I think I'll be a happier camper.

Adventures in DIY and Home Ownership

19. The Second Bathroom - This could be a big one for the year - but luckily it is a small bathroom. A little bit of new floor tile, a pedestal sink, add some storage and we will be good to go.

20. Pinterest Projects - use the knowledge base and take on at least one new project a month based on the wonderful pins that make the world go round. Last year I made a rug and a project table. What will I find this year?

21. The Entryway - A small area, but with three potential additions: 1) hooks along the wall for coats and scarves. 2) a bench for putting on our dancin' shoes before heading out the door. 3) a small table with an option to collect our junk mail, keys and such.
The church pew is here!

22. Learn how to sew - the sewing machine Bob's mom got us for Christmas a couple years ago sits forlornly in my Project Table shelves. But, come March, my Aunt Christine will be heading down for ScrapFest 2013 (check out the 2012 festivities when my crafty aunt, sister and I all get together) and she's going to impart some knowledge.

23. Do something with all those Yarn Balls - I have 150 from our wedding centerpieces. So far I have used 1 to create a cute felt owl. Now I have 149. All ideas are welcome.

24. Pillows, pillows everywhere - It is a sad home indeed when you don't love any of your pillows. The couch pillows are flat and boring (and once so new and bright in this post!). Our bed pillows misshapen and unsupportive. It's time to upgrade.

25. The Laundry Room - like the Second Bathroom, this one takes a bit of doing. Our laundry room is less a room, and more a "large closet" but the walls go vertical forever so visions of a stacked washer and dryer and shelving as high as the eye can see for additional storage has had our wheels turning for quite some time. And, of course, we'll keep it classy with the cat litter box.

26. Build a hamper - this sort of goes along with the Laundry Room re-do, but our current method for collecting dirty clothes is by shoving a laundry basket in the corner of our bathroom. The cats have adopted this as their new bed. The idea is to use all of the wasted space against our bathroom wall and create an enclosed hamper with additional storage.

Professional and Personal Development
27. Start driving in the city - Okay, so you can drive to your sister's house in the suburbs. That don't impress me much! Yeah, yeah Shania - I hear what you're saying. It's time to get over the fear and start tackling city driving (=one way streets, parallel parking and crazy Chicago cab drivers!)

28. Volunteer once a month - Between dinners at Ronald McDonald House and a couple different Chicago Cares activities, it's just a matter of remembering to sign up months in advance!

29. Donate to 3 charities/fundraising activities - Lets help some people out in the things they are fighting for, or fighting against.
Supported Global Explorers Kids by going to a benefit fundraiser on a recent Friday night with friends.

30. Get better about birthdays - I'm not sure what happened. I used to be the one who always remembered a card, sent a gift at least a couple days in advance or generally kept your big day on my mind.

31. Finish scrapbooks - I have kept scrapbook photo albums since freshman year of college (and scrapbooks in general since kindergarten) so it is a bit shameful that I haven't made my wedding scrapbook yet, let alone added any photos to the books since Christmas 2011. Yikes.

32. 80 blog posts - I have had a lackluster year in the post department - hopefully I can commit myself to at least a post a week and sometimes more to help keep the momentum up!

Money Matters
33. Have at least 2 "no-spend" weekends - I wrote about one of these a long time ago in this post. I came close last weekend, but we had a quick run to Whole Foods which bumped us up to $30. It is amazing the dent it helps take out of our credit card bill when we decide against a drive to the suburbs for the day which results in going out for lunch, hitting up the stores, etc.

34. Achieve money goals - Bob and I set up a somewhat lofty savings goal for our first two years of marriage (you know, to prepare for....well, whatever might come next after love and marriage!) Let's stick with it Kamicars!

35. Sell those blocks - I recently set up my Etsy shop for my Every Holiday Blocks. I am not sure how much like hotcakes they'll sell, but let's at least try to get them to sell like the tiny pancakes you make with that little bit of extra batter.
3/17 - 2 sold!

36. Donate at least 1 bag of clothes - I think I do a good job regularly purging my closet, so keep it up. Bonus: this means more room for new clothes that you like to wear!
Done!

Finally

36.5 The Standard Goal: Be a terrific Auntie to the best girls around! And a good wife, a good daughter, a good sister, a good co-worker, a good friend. . . .

An On the Go Breakfast

noreply@blogger.com (Lydia) — Sun, 27 Jan 2013 17:41:00 +0000

The last couple of months, I have had a regular Google search term of "meals to freeze" as I look for new ideas for dinner tonight and two weeks from tonight. With this search, I landed on a super simple recipe for homemade breakfast burritos and in it found quite the winner.

The idea: scramble a dozen eggs with salsa, sausage and all of your favorite breakfast fixin's, wrap up tightly in a tortilla, flash freeze and then individually wrap. When you need a quick breakfast, microwave one for about 2 to 2 1/2 minutes and baby, you've got a burrito going on. Confession: there have also been one or two evenings where nothing looked appetizing for dinner and these made their way into the belly.

The key is to use a large enough skillet to hold 12 scrambled eggs, a jar of salsa, a pound of breakfast sausage, 2 cups of shredded cheese and hash browns. Luckily, I didn't overflow, but came close a couple of times!

Bob helped out with his burrito wrapping expertise. He nuked the tortillas for 30 seconds, wrapped in dishtowels to keep the heat in and to make them more pliable, and then added enough for one serving. The 10 inch tortillas seemed to be the best size for these, but we also had 12 inch tortillas on hand and those filled up just fine.

The original recipe seems to be pretty optimistic in how many burritos this serving size can make, but of course it all depends on how many ingredients you add. Our first batch made 14, our second batch made 18 when we added in another 1/2 pound of sausage (the first go-round I made do with just the 1/2 pound leftover in our freezer).

The salsa added enough veggies for us, but you could throw in additional green onion, garlic, tomatoes or whatever your little heart desires.

Line the burritos on a wax paper covered baking sheet and find room in your freezer. After a few hours, the individual servings should be nice and frozen. After this step, wrap up in saran wrap and store in a ziploc gallon bag in the freezer. Pull one out as needed and enjoy!

To spread the burrito love, we gave my sister's family a homemade "gift card" for a batch of these burritos as part of an "on the go" gift package for Christmas (including ceramic travel coffee cups and an iTunes gift card to help make running a little more fun).

All in all, I spent less than an hour making a batch - not too shabby considering all of the instances it will give us where we don't have to think about breakfast!

Shared on Sugar Bee Crafts

Alpha-Bet That Would Make a Great Gift

noreply@blogger.com (Lydia) — Tue, 22 Jan 2013 02:45:00 +0000

In 2011, I made my then 2 1/2 year old niece, Ella, a photo book all her own with a little help from Mixbook.com. The story was a hit (read about it here), and she would ask to read the "Ella book" throughout the year. This holiday season, I decided to create something for the one-year old Amelia. A little Pinterest inspiration is never too far away!

This mom created an alphabet book for her little one, tailored with personal photos. She shares all of the page photos on her blog here.

I took over my sister's hard drive to find any and all applicable photos. Plugging them all into the mixbook template and adding text boxes was easy enough. And with "A" standing for Amelia, the book named itself.

I'm hoping she will have just as much fun pointing out everything familiar about the photos as she will with learning her ABC's.

Some letters were easier than others - I found myself with about four options for the letter "H", but when it came to your "X's" and "Q's" we have to get a bit more creative. Let's just say I did some forced posing with Amelia and her xylophone!

Amelia shows up in most of her photos, but with only a year under her belt I sometimes had to rely on her sister to help showcase some of the letters, like this adorable shot of Ella dishing out ice cream cones from her "kitchen."

All of Amelia's family members make appearances, including her newly minted Uncle Bob.

I also made Ella a new book: 20 pages detailing the holidays, seasons and celebrations that she celebrated in 2012. And so, the personalized hardcover book collection of my nieces grows! What should the book themes be for next year?

shared on Blooming Homestead and Sugar Bee Crafts

Freeze, Pasta!

noreply@blogger.com (Lydia) — Thu, 17 Jan 2013 00:27:00 +0000

I love when a random Google search proves more than fruitful. I started looking around at dishes to make ahead and freeze, and this Baked Pasta with Chicken Sausage stood out amongst the crowd. To paraphrase Joey from Friends, “What's not to like? Chicken Sausage? Good. Baby Spinach? Good. Fontina Cheese? Gooood!”

The recipe made enough for 2 dishes, so we wrapped one up to freeze and threw the other one in the oven.

This also had the distinction of being the first meal we at our new dining room table. Definitely room for a few more!

It wasn’t more than a few weeks later when we sat in front of an empty fridge and and were happy to find a full freezer. Re-heated and it tastes so good.

Etsy Does It: Holiday Blocks

noreply@blogger.com (Lydia) — Sat, 12 Jan 2013 04:22:00 +0000

One of my year long goals was to look into selling the Every Holiday Blocks that I first made for myself in the summer of 2011. Written about in this post, the blocks are six-sided messages meant to stay on your shelf year round, running through the major holidays and seasons.

Last spring I sort-of-impulse-bought a set of 500 one-inch blocks from the internet. Let's just say I was planning on buying 100 to try making a few seats to start, and suddenly the volume price savings took over and I figured why not buy enough to make 27 sets??

Around July I began to crave working on a project that wasn't wedding-centric (see: centerpieces, table numbers, invitations, etc), so I hunkered down and made a dozen sets of Every Holiday Blocks.

I played with the paint colors, messages and "clip art" from the original set to improve the look, and I must say have gotten pretty quick at hand-painting each of the six sides carefully. Many a netflix movie was watched during the painting sprees.

With some ready-made sets, I decided to open up an online shop and see where things lead. And so, I'm happy to unveil the lydiasnextstep shop on Etsy. Further down the line I am hoping to add a few more projects, possibly ones seen on this blog, like the Mixed Media Movie Mod Podge or a version of these Felt Owls to recycle all of the yarn balls created for my wedding centerpieces.

For now, the blocks are available, so please do share the news with any of your craft loving friends and thank you for your support of the blog - 3 1/2 years in production, wow!

Carded 2012

noreply@blogger.com (Lydia) — Wed, 09 Jan 2013 00:53:00 +0000

Under the wire doesn't even begin to describe how I went about Christmas cards this year. I knocked them all out in one night, mailed them the next day and hoped that they would all arrive before December 25!

Inspiration hadn't found me yet, so my annual tradition of making my cards was a bit threatened as my weekends filled up with other projects, work trips and general weariness from DIY overload in 2012. I was too stubborn to buy cards, and did not want to send eCards out and time was running short. So I was very happy to find the following on Pinterest, a perfect idea for all the holiday scrapbook paper I have accrued.

I started by breaking out my set of Martha Stewart holiday paper, I estimated a size per tab and got to work. Arranging them on a card wasn't too challenging - just made sure to mix up the colors and patterns enough to look random!

After some fun with the paper cutter and glue stick, I found enough stickers to act as "toppers" and a spool of decorative ribbon made for some excellent garland.

I was able to make the first couple with glue dots, which I would highly recommend for something like this. The glue stick, even though applied lightly, still added a bit too much weight and stiffness to the card.

After making a baker's dozen of tree cards, I wanted to mix it up a bit and decided to use some holiday paper that came as part of a craft set.

The ideas were simplistic, but I loved how they turned out. A background color, a swatch of holiday and an added message with a rubber stamp and ink was all it took.

Before I knew it, I had another 20 cards. Bob wrote a message on the insides of each and we got to addressin'.

We increased our mailing list a bit this year, but because of our timing we missed a few family members already en route to Chicago for the holidays! I am thinking next year I need to put cards on my to-do list for November!

Braid with Love

noreply@blogger.com (Lydia) — Thu, 03 Jan 2013 04:04:00 +0000

When we put a bread machine on the registry, it was one of those items that I couldn't help but think to myself, "would be nice to have, but would we use it?"

Well, challenge accepted! Since the wedding, we've used the bread machine three times in the traditional sense, and once more over the holidays to help knead the dough for Cardamom Bread before we braided it and put it in the oven. Now, when I say "we" I mean Bob - he's been quite the bread connoisseur.

We had a taste of sweet Cardamom Bread at our Christmas Eve celebration and wanted to recreate for Christmas Day back at home. Bob started with a simple recipe of sugar, flour, yeast, etc and added 3 tablespoons of cardamom to the dough before sticking it in the machine for an hour forty five.

When the dough was ready, Bob rolled them out into three parts and we braided it onto a greased cookie sheet.

Letting it double in size under dish towels for 30 minutes, and a quick brushing with an egg wash and a sprinkling of sugar (use sugar in the raw if available), we threw it in the oven at 350 for about 40 minutes.

We can't find the exact recipe used that day, but here's a link to a similar Cardamom Bread that sounds just wonderful.

In just a couple hours, a tasty treat we devoured that evening. Yum.

Dressed For Success

noreply@blogger.com (Lydia) — Thu, 27 Dec 2012 22:11:00 +0000

I hope you all had a wonderful holiday season! If you are like me, you are in a food coma after days of cookies, cakes, candy and more cookies. We had a wonderful first Christmas as a married couple, getting the chance to celebrate with both sides of the family. And we finally got our first snow here in Chicago, appropriately on December 25. Now it can go ahead and not snow again until next winter and I'll be happy.

Now that my nieces are getting a little older, the holiday is that much more chaotic and fun - our family's present opening tradition which normally takes several hours and includes at least one dessert break, sped along this year with the 3 year old Ella "helping" everyone open their gifts. Seeing her enjoy her gifts was a delight - I'd like to share one of the ideas I put together for her that I hope she'll get use of this coming year and perhaps beyond!

She is getting to that age where fairies and princesses are pretty much the best things on the planet. Yes, the phase of pretend time and dress up has begun! I started looking online at some dress up trunk options, and - while cute - the "trunk" was usually a cardboard box and some of the choices seemed to get so-so reviews for quality.

We used a vintage suitcase in our wedding as the card box. When its original owner did not want it back I considered what we would do with it. With the idea of building a dress up trunk growing in my mind over the last couple months, the solution was right in front of me. I always remembered my sister opening an old doll-sized suitcase filled with mini clothes and a note asking her to take care of her new doll that was placed under the Christmas tree. There is something sweet about a little girl with a vintage suitcase, and - will you look at that - I happened to have one collecting dust!

I started by going to a thrift store up the street and perusing the aisles for anything that caught my eye. I left with a gold coin purse, a small pink handbag, a sparkly ruffle skirt, a white fringy top and the most adorable furry white shoulder wrap that attaches under the neck with velcro.

Stopping at Target on the way home added a few more items: 2 pairs of footless tights, in white and hot pink, a sequin-covered purple scarf, a trio of glittered belts in case some of my sizing was off and a Tinkerbell costume from the toy aisle.

As I started putting the outfits together, three personas started to stand out: Rock Star, Fairy Princess and Movie Star. One of my friends had to name "Movie Star" for me - the only thing i could think in my head was "Sophisticated Lady" which somehow did not seem quite right.

I bought a pack of colorful headbands and added some flair with a hot glue gun, feathers and fabric flowers from the craft store. I also threw in a long strand of pearls - perfect for a Movie Star - and then had to stop myself before I went too crazy with accessories (sunglasses, hats, bracelets, oh my!).

A late in the game trip to Marshall's found another fairy costume in my cart and the Perfect "little black dress" for the Movie Star outfit. I had a little bit of room in the suitcase yet...adding a tiara from Michaels seemed only fitting. I stacked the three outfits side by side and hung the decorated headbands with a little help from mini clothespins. Bob helped me make three note cards specifying the outfits.

When she got around to opening this gift, we helped Ella unlatch the suitcase and her face went from confusion to sheer happiness as she pulled out the top fairy costume.

It was on in a matter of seconds, along with the string of pearls, hot pink tights and the blue flowery headband.

Next up was the movie star dress. I bought 4T or bigger of everything so that they aren't grown out of right away. Everything is just a little bit stretchy, perfect for playing dress up with friends.

Try as I might to put it on her, she wasn't into the shoulder wrap just then, so my photo op for the moment was lost. I stole a chance the next morning at dressing up 1 year old Amelia instead. Humiliating Aunt in progress.

By that time, Ella had switched to the Tinkerbell and Tiara costume. We established the rock star skirt was a little too big, so I'm glad to have picked up the belts!

I have to admit, I almost ordered little doctor and chef costumes and a couple other Melissa & Doug outfits from Amazon, but wanted to create a more personalized trunk by finding clothes on my own. Candidly, the store bought fairy costumes were my fail safe in case none of the other clothes fit her or tickled her fancy!

What else might one add to a dress up trunk? Maybe Ella will get an "expansion pack" for her birthday next year.