Show and Tell Monday

A friend gave me my first ever bouquet of flowers last week. Aren't they pretty?

The receptionist at my dentist's office used to give me a carnation every time I had a visit. And sometimes boys would give me red roses (or friends would give me yellow roses), but never such a huge bouquet!

I only make such a big deal about it because I used to think flowers were impractical. I was very dull. But I have changed my ways. They brighten my mood and make me smile, and I can't wait to grow heirlooms in my garden when we have a house someday.

I hope you enjoy my Show and Tell this Monday as much as I do. If you're interesting in joining in on the fun, send Katy Keuter a comment over on her blog, KT40.

Have a happy Monday, everyone!

Johnny Cake

When I was a kid, I loved the Mandie Series - a collection of 40+ mystery novels for children written by the late Lois Gladys Leppard. I loved them so much that I would read every book twice or three times in anticipation for the next publication. She couldn't write them fast enough!

Someone eventually caught on to my obsession with Mandie, and decided to give me Mandie's Cookbook. I was so excited! I remember making pancakes, jelly rolls, and bread... basically any recipe in the cookbook I could find ingredients for. Needless to say, my eight-year-old self was prone to mixing errors and faulty substitutions, but my parents were kind enough to let me continue my kitchen experimentation.

I've managed to keep that old cookbook around to this day, and every now and then I'll return to its pages to see how my attempts at the recipes turn out compared to when I was a kid. Over the weekend, I showed my man a recipe in the book for Johnny Cake, an early American staple food. Of course, neither of us knew what to expect, but we wanted to try it anyway. Matt mixed the ingredients, poured the batter into the pan, and tossed it in the oven. 25 minutes later, were were looking at something resembling a crumbly, dense cornbread.



It's not bad. Goes pretty well with a little honey and my morning coffee.

P.S. Note the newest addition to our mug collection. ;-)

Johnny Cake
3/4 cup cornmeal
1 1/3 cup flour
3 1/4 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup sugar
1/4 teaspoon allspice
2 eggs, beaten
1/4 cup cream
1/4 pound butter, softened

Preheat oven to 425°F. Grease a 9x13-inch baking pan.

Place all of the ingredients in a bowl and mix thoroughly for 90 seconds. Pour batter into the baking pan and spread evenly. Bake for 25 minutes.

Wedding Wednesday

When I tell people that I want to make lots of little crocheted flowers for our wedding, they usually give me the ol' smile-and-nod. I'm not sure what they're picturing in their head when I say crocheted flowers, but this is what I think of:

Debee Campos - Flickr

Cute, right? I'm sure I could make hundreds of these with the amount of cream yarn I have stashed away. And I'm hoping to enlist a little help from my hook savvy friends.

{Will trade dinner and wine for crocheted flowers!}

I actually plan on incorporating lots of crocheted things into our wedding. For instance, I finally put Lola Nova's tutorial for Mary Go Rounds to use this week. I love making these. They're so simple, and can be used in lots of different ways.

For now, I'll probably hang them on our walls as picture frames for some of our old classroom doodles. That's the great thing about most of the wedding crafts we find ourselves drawn to... they're all things that we don't mind having around the house. I wouldn't want to spend time making something pretty just to stuff it in a closet until the big day arrives. That would be way too wasteful, I think.

I still have a few more crocheted wedding ideas in mind, but these will keep me busy for now.

Have a happy Wednesday! :)

Show and Tell Monday

This week, I'd like to Show and Tell some of my favorite thrifty finds from December 2010. The holidays were so busy that I didn't have the time to mention them before, but I was super excited about everything that made it home with us. I found second-hand linens in our wedding colors, a couple wooden boxes, a 'coffee' and 'candy' tin to match our old 'sugar' tin, and lots of vintage lace and doilies.

I also found a footstool with potential. I'll need to give it a makeover at some point because it's a little too ugly for me, but it remains as-is until the weather warms up.

That's it for now! If you'd like to join in on the fun, visit Katy Keuter over at KT40 to let her know. Have a happy Monday!

Obsession: Wooden Crates and Boxes

As far as storage goes, you can't beat wooden crates and boxes. They're super durable, versatile, and a lot nicer to look at than most of the other options out there. You can use them as extra storage in your closet (not that you'd want to hide them or anything), drill them on your wall as bookshelves, shelf your plants near a window... endless possibilities.

Only problem: where can they be found? I've managed to spot a few here and there at local thrift stores, but I'm always on the lookout.

 1, 2, 3.

 1, 2, 3.

1, 2.

Wedding Wednesday

It's time to think cake!

We've decided that extensive research will be needed to ascertain the perfect balance between flavors and textures in our ideal subject. It's a good thing we have a whole eight months of experimentation to look forward to! Indeed, last night we whipped up a burnt sugar cake that, while delicious, was not quite up to our standards of durability.

Bummer. Guess we'll just have to keep trying.

Anyway, we're leaning toward the idea of a smaller, cream colored cake, accompanied by lots of colorful little cupcakes. And, of course, we'll bake them all ourselves (with a little help from our friends).

These are some images of cake-y inspiration that I've found around the internet. The last one, of course, is my favorite. I really like the idea of decorating with herbs, daisies, and dandelions.

One, two, three, four, five, six.

Show and Tell Monday

So guess what? Katy Keuter over at kt40 thought up an amazing idea - Show and Tell Mondays - which is reminiscent of that Show and Tell thing we all took part in from our elementary school days. If you're interested in joining the fun, visit Katy's blog to let her know, and she'll add you to the list.

For my first Show and Tell, I'd like to share a few mugs that my fiance and I have picked up on our thrifting adventures over the last month or two. If you don't already know, we have a tiny mug obsession. No big deal. We just can't help ourselves.

So, without further ado...







The two in the last photo are my favorites.

Your turn.

Heart-Shaped

I made this for lunch yesterday. I know it's a little early for Valentine's Day, but I'm already in the spirit of things.

Have a happy weekend!

P.S. Follow my blog with bloglovin

Wedding Wednesday

Hello, hello!

I've been looking into d.i.y. projects for our wedding, and I'm happy to say that I've stumbled upon some really great ideas. There are even a few I'd like to get started on this week:

1. These DiY Pinwheels are super cute, and they come with a template. I especially like these because I think crafts like this cut down on our need for real flowers. Also, I've been hording paper in our wedding colors, so paper projects are a must.

2. I think these vintage wallpaper envelopes are an awesome idea for housing our wedding invitations. Luckily, a good friend of mine is helping me out with the invitations themselves, but I could totally spruce up some envelopes to make them extra special. All I need is some luck at the thrift store, or maybe some cute wrapping paper.

3. And last, but not least, I'm extending my obsession with burlap into our wedding. I'm hoping to incorporate tons and tons of neutrals and natural fibers.

DiY Lavender Flower Pot

Burlap wrapped vases

DiY Jute Table Runner

There are seriously so many more ideas that I want to try, but I think this is enough to get me started for now.

Whew!

Have a happy Wednesday. :)

Chicken Tortilla Soup

We had friends over yesterday evening for an exciting game of Rook Shanghai, so Matt and I made some chicken tortilla soup for dinner.



This was the first time that I've made (or had) tortilla soup of any kind, but I've obviously been missing out. It's really good stuff. You can find the recipe here.

P.S. My new camera came in the mail yesterday evening! I'm still working out the kinks (in my brain), but I can already tell I'm in love.

P.P.S. They said it was supposed to snow today, but... where's the snow?

Obsessions: Burlap

I can't help it. My eyes have been drawn to natural fibers lately - especially burlap. I love how versatile it is, and how it gives a rustic feel to everything it touches.

1. Bird nest banner 2. Jute and leather journal 3. Chairs 4. Wine bottle wraps 5. Table runner 6. "Home Sweet Home" banner 7. W.I.P. bucket 8. French burlap bolster 9. Lampshade

Homemade pizza inspiration.

Whenever anyone asks that question, the one about being stuck on an island for the rest of your life and having to choose one food to eat until death - yes, that question - the answer is always pizza.

Pizza, pizza, pizza.

And I totally agree. It's versatile (almost to the point of cheating), perfect for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, and it tastes amazing. Even sub-standard pizza is delicious, though I prefer homemade pizza most of all. After making our pizzas from scratch for a couple years, I can honestly say that I don't ever miss that other stuff. The kind that comes from grocery store freezers or huts.

Lately, I've been finding all sorts of mouth watering homemade pizza inspiration on the internet:

The Kitchy Kitchen

PFE Photo

Smitten Kitchen

What Katie Ate

Tartelette via Pinterest

Now if you'll excuse me, I have a breakfast pizza to make. Yum!

Wedding Wednesday

Hello! You may have heard me mention it before, but my fiance and I are getting married in September.

Yay!

We were officially engaged March 19th, 2010, after Matt asked my father's permission. It was cute, old-fashioned, and maybe a little awkward, but we were all very excited. We wanted to get married that summer, but we were still in the midst of our last term(s) in college, so it made sense for us to push the date back another year.

Although we are both so ready, and, I'll admit, a little impatient, we don't regret our decision to wait. We're running this operation on a tight budget, which means that most of our decorations, centerpieces, food, stationary, etc., will be homemade, handmade, and thrifted. Honestly, a small, intimate wedding with just our closest friends and family is perfect. Shoes: optional.

So now that the holidays are over, I'm going into full-on wedding mode, and I'd really like to share some of the process with you, be it inspiration, findings, or makings. To start, I'll show you our wedding colors:

Both Matt and I are usually drawn to earth-tones, but because we are having an outdoor wedding, we decided to go for colors that would stand out. My vision is mostly creams, with pops of the other three colors.

It looks pretty in my head.

Anyway, I'll be back next Wednesday for more wedding talk. There's so much to share. I'm overwhelmed! I'd love to hear what you think, or any ideas you may have.

Happy Wednesday!