Little Black Dress

So I have been going through my closet, trying to mentally prepare myself for our inevitable move in 3 months and realized that I have SO many clothes.

Among all those clothes 27 skirts!
And I am not even going to tell you how many dresses I have.
Ridiculous right?
I know.

But in my defense I have made at least 7 and have found half of the rest at thrift stores.
Still that is a lot.
And a lot of my dresses and skirts are from high school. I have a serious issue with throwing things away. (one reason why I am dreading this move so much)

One of my dresses is zebra print.
Not sure what I was planning on doing with that one.
Another one (black), I had only worn once.
Sad huh? Poor dress.

I have to throw it away. My mom would be mortified. I have been holding onto a dress for 4-5 years! But the idea of it is so cute, I can't just throw away a perfectly good dress that I won't ever wear....
...So while justifying why I still need it (to avoid wasting a dress)
I came to the magical solution of using it to make a dress for my daughter.





I think it turned out pretty good.
I figure if I don't like it on her, I can just toss it.
I don't have as many issues with throwing away her clothes.

Do you have any clothes you can't part with but never wear?

Hope to see you around!

Kale Soup

Kale.
hmm....what? No thanks.
Lets just say that I wasn't a huge supporter or Kale before this soup.
In fact I was so nervous to use kale that it took me a week to try this recipe.
A full week wasted, shame on me.

This is the best soup I have ever had.

For those of you who don't know what kale is or its benefits, let me give you a little insight.
"Kale eases lung congestion and is beneficial to the stomach, liver and immune system. It contains lutein and zeaxanthin, which protect the eyes from macular degeneration. It also contains indole-3-carbinol, which may protect against colon cancer and is an excellent source of calcium, iron, Vitamins A and C, and chlorophyll." cite

Pretty awesome huh?
If your not a huge fan of Kale you need to try this soup.
I promise you will be in love.





Ingredients
2 T. olive oil
1 onion, diced
3/4 c. diced carrot
4 cloves garlic, minced
6 c. broth
3 potatoes, diced
1/2 t. chopped rosemary
1/2 t. chopped sage
1/2 t. chopped thyme
1 (16 oz) can cannellini beans, rinsed and drained
2-3 c. finely chopped kale leaves
* 1 small red chile pepper, seeded and chopped fine (if desired, gives a real kick)
ground black pepper to taste OR 1/2 t. chipotle chili pepper

1. Heat the olive oil in a large pot over medium heat, cook and stir the onion, garlic and kale until softened, about 4 minutes. Stir in the carrot and potatoes and cook for 5 minutes more.

2. Pour in the broth, rosemary, sage, and thyme. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to medium-low, cover and simmer until the potatoes and carrots are tender. Add cannelini beans, chile pepper and black pepper. Cover and simmer for about 20 minutes.


Enjoy.
See you around.

Roses

I love fresh roses. A new love really.

I used to hate getting flowers.
They just die and then I feel bad throwing them away because someone spent money on them and so I keep the dead flowers in the vase with the yuck water until all the peddles have fallen off.
But now that I have a rose garden outside my kitchen window I have found a new love.

It is even better when your husband cuts them fresh from the garden and puts them in a super cute vase on your night stand for you to wake up to.

Has that ever happened to you?
Me neither.
A girl can dream right?

So. After waking up to a very empty night stand I decided to step in for my hubby.
I know he was thinking about doing it. He is sweet that way.










Here is where they are now,
and tonight I will put them on my nightstand again to wake up to.
Maybe my hubby will leave a sweet note tonight. ;)

What made you happy today?

Curly Hair #2

Here is round two of curly hair.
No heat, no hassle, overnight curls!

This one may be a little more tricky so make sure to practice.
It may take a few tries to get it just right.

Step 1: Lightly dampen hair and place an elastic headband over hair across your forehead continuing down to the base of your neck.


Step 2: Taking small stripes of hair, wrap around the headband. (I have found the best way to do this is to pull the headband away from your head with the chunk of hair where you are starting and use your opposite hand thumb to come under the headband pulling the hair down. this will keep it clean without pulling whispies.)After the first wrap take a little more and wrap around the headband behind the first. Continue until you get to the base of your neck, then wrap the tail (end of hair) around the headband until it is gone.(make sure to keep the end of your hair on the side you wrapped first. You will need room at the base of your neck for the other side.)

does that make sense?


Step 3: Repeat step 2 on the other side.


This is what your hair should look like when you are done.
And no I wasn't punched in the eyes. I just have dark circles. It's a curse.


Back view.
Step 4: Once everything is wrapped. Spray lightly with hairspray and head off to sleep.


Step 5: Remove headband, finger comb and apply addition product. I like herbal essence shine serum and dove medium hold hairspray.

Hope this works for you.
Let me know if you have an questions.
See you around.

Tea and Zucchini Bread

Hmm.
I love me a hot cup of herbal tea.
Especially on a cold stuffy morning.
And coupled with zucchini bread.

I have been nervous to try zucchini bread but feared my precious home grown zucchini would go to waste. So in a desperate act to use every ounce up I decided to try it and LOVED it.
Holy cow!
Who knew zucchini in bread could taste so good.


Ingredients:
3 c. spelt flour
1 t. salt
1 t. baking soda
1 t. baking powder
3 t. ground cinnamon
3 T. flaxseed (dissolved in 9 T. water)
1/2 c. olive oil
1/2 c. agave
3 t. vanilla extract
2 c. grated zucchini
1 c. chopped walnuts

Grease and flour two 8 X 4 inch pans. preheat oven to 325 F (one bread pan would probably work, I haven't tried it, but the bread in my two separate pans didn't even reach the top, so one pan should hold all the bread.)

Combine flour, salt, baking powder, soda, and cinnamon in a bowl.
Mix flaxseed with oi,l vanilla, and agave. Combine with dry ingredients and mix well. Stir in Zucchini and nuts until well combined.
Pour into prepared pans and bake for 40-60 minutes.


Super delicious
Hope you like it, see you around.

Beach Toys

I was in Boarders a couple weeks ago and found a super cute sand toy kit.
I naturally wanted it for my Florida trip but realized it may not be the smartest item to spend money on. (especially living in a land locked state and the fact that winter is knocking at my door)

So instead I went to the local thrift store and picked up some fun mix matched items to use at the beach.
It only cost a couple of bucks and
I love the diversity and color scheme of my homemade set.






I know winter is coming but a girl can dream right?
I am so homesick for the warm weather, love, beach, and friends.
I hope it is warm where ever you are.

See you around.

Home

Well I am home.
Coming home always feels good, until I wake up a realize all my luggage is still on the floor and will be until I put everything away. Depressing.

And coming home always makes me realize that I have WAY to much stuff.
If I can live out of one suitcase I certainly don't need clothes enough to fill two closets, and stuff everywhere!
How do I have so much stuff? And where did I get it all? I wonder how much money I have spent total on all this stuff? I have lost my appetite for shopping.

And I am not going to lie, I miss Florida so much...perhaps a little too much.
My brother has the best set up. A gorgeous home, so neat and organized(something I fear I will never accomplish), with a pool, gym, tennis courts, playground, and field all right next door.
My heart aches just thinking about it.
Someday I will live the life my brother lives.
I hope.

For now I am taking it nice and easy, getting back in the groove of running a house and actually having wifey responsibilities. blah!

I will post something more interesting soon, once I am settled.
wish me luck.
hope to see you around.