an icy day means it's time to refashion a dress!

before and after
frumpy to fashionable!

It has been a cold, wet and icy day here in Iowa which means that we have spent the day inside finding ways to keep busy. Jordan is taking his Praxis Exams tomorrow and Tuesday so he has been studying up all day for those...I didn't want to add to his distraction (because studying with a golf tournament and basketball game on always helps) and be watching a movie or TV show so I quickly knew how I would stay busy and out of his way. A refashion project!!!! I picked up this dress from Goodwill last week when I was on a hunt for a blazer and button down for my interview. Which, I found a perfectly new blazer for $4 and a purple button up to go under it for $2. Awesome! AND then I spotted this dress just in a blob hanging by its lonesome....and it happened to have a blue tag which meant it was only $0.25. Yes, a quarter!!! I sized it up and figured I really had nothing to lose since it was only a quarter! It was a 16 so I knew I would have to size it down quite a bit, like 12-14 sizes, and that it would be my first time sewing with silk. 

But! Nonetheless, I stuck it out and completed my project! I took it from ankle length to right above the knee. Then with the scrap material from the bottom that I cut off, I made a sash for around the waist and had a perfect oval jewel ring that I used to secure the knot around to keep the sash on! I took in the sides under the sleeves and then put darts down the back in two spots to take it in a little more. And that was it! I love cowl necks so I left the neck line as is but after taking it in, that helped pull it up and together a little bit more. I got some much needed practice sewing with silk, perfecting a hemline and making something out of nothing! All in all, I would say it was quite the successful little project and now I have a new Spring dress to wear... I can't wait until it warms up so I can wear it! 

sash with the jewel ring 

crochet infinity scarf: broomstick lace

After starting one project and then giving up on it a few too many rows too late, I switched gears and found a different pattern that I wanted to follow. And turns out, while it looked a lot more difficult to do, it proved to be significantly easier! I worked on this over a three day span while lounging at home and watching some movies! It was a perfect side job to be working on between napping and relaxing! I found the pattern on All Free Crochet (thanks Mom for leading me to this website...I'm already looking for my next pattern!) and I followed the Broomstick Lace Collar pattern but I extended it to make a chunkier full scarf instead of just a collar! The pattern looked intimidating at first but if I can figure it out and successfully make an entire scarf for my first ever crochet project, I think it is pretty do-able for anyone else then too! Happy crafting and have a good week!

my first finished crochet project!
Broomstick Lace Infinity Scarf

Glitter Wine Bottles...and a very lazy Sunday

What quickly went from being a very productive day between crafting, decorating and grading papers, has now turned into a very lazy Sunday. I'm not sure what just hit me but damn, it does not feel good. There's been a stomach flu bug going around work and in the office and I think it finally caught me. Woof. I'm glad I got one craft in and finished earlier though so now I can be posted up on the couch in the fetal position the rest of the night between trips to the bathroom. Here's what I made for my first Christmas craft of the year! I have been saving wine bottles each time I finish one and waiting to use them for various crafts so I finally decided it was time to put some to use! This was a very easy, quick and cheap project that turned out really cute!

Glitter Wine Bottles!

so festive for our mantle!

Here is what you will need:

-wine bottles of any shape and size

-mod podge

-loose glitter of any color

-sponge brush

cost: about $4.00! I already had the wine bottles and brush along with the mod podge but it is usually $4.99 at any craft/hobby store (and always make sure to use a 40% off coupon!)

Directions:

1. soak the bottles in hot soapy water for about 30 minutes to remove the labels. This took the labels off entirely for the most part then I wiped them off with a sponge where it didn't come off. Dry bottles entirely.

2. mix mod podge with loose glitter. Make sure there is plenty of glitter in the mod podge (pour in so much that you'll almost think "wow that's way too much glitter!") You want to make sure it is heavily concentrated otherwise you'll end up doing ten layers!

3. paint on one layer and make sure it's even other wise it will dry and cause bumps and clumps of glitter

4. I rotated bottles so I painted one layer of gold, then moved onto red, and then green...and just rotated them around. I ended up doing two full layers and then touch ups where necessary!

I can't wait to try out some more Christmas crafts and projects that I have seen online and obviously on Pinterest! Maybe this year everyone will be getting homemade projects for presents...made with lots of love of course!

Carved pumpkins & Roasted seeds!

Now that Halloween is getting closer, we thought it was finally time to carve our Great Pumpkins!!! After the search we had for these bad boys, we obviously couldn't let them go to waste! And with the perfect weather we had today and a lazy Sunday, there was no better time in our mind to carve them than today! 

And there's the finished products after lots of concentrating and carving, perfecting the cuts, and cleaning the seeds! I went with a monogram and Est. 2012, which is no surprise. I love monograms and since it's our first Halloween as a married couple, I couldn't pass it up! Jordan likes to carve out a challenging design so he went with Hades from Hercules! I think they look pretty awesome and now our porch is ready for Halloween! 

Now for the pumpkin seeds recipes! I made these in two separate batches today because I didn't know if cooking them in the oven at the same time would mix the flavors or have them end up tasting funky and since I was home all day anyway...I figured, why not! So the two different flavors I did were salty/spicy garlic and cinnamon-sugar apple cider! Yummmy they are tasty! I know it might seem like a lot of work to separate the seeds from all of the pulp and goop, but one taste of the seeds, and you'll know that it was worth the work! The first thing to do for whichever seasoning you decide to go with is to soak the seeds in a bowl of hot water then rinse them off and pay them dry. That really helps to get the pulp off easily!

Salty-Garlic Seeds:
2 cups pumpkin seeds, cleaned and rinsed
1 1/2 tablespoons melted butter OR olive oil
1/2 teaspoon salt (I like using corse salt)
1/2 teaspoon garlic salt
1/8 teaspoon garlic powder
2 teaspoons Worcestershire Sauce
1/8 teaspoon cracked black pepper

Directions: **Same directions for both flavors of seeds!**
1. Preheat oven to 275*F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper 
melt the butter in a mixing bowl then add salt, garlic powder and garlic salt, worcestershire sauce, and pepper. Mix this up well then add in the seeds.
2. Once the seeds are fully coated, spread evenly onto the parchment paper in a single layer.
3. Bake for 1 hour, checking occasionally and tossing them around. Bake until the butter mixture is dried and until they are  nice and golden brown.
4. Take out from the oven and take the parchment paper with seeds still on it off the baking sheet to cool. Store in an air tight container!

Cinnamon-Sugar Apple Cider Seeds:
2 cups pumpkin seeds, cleaned and rinsed
1 1/2 cups apple cider
1 1/2 tablespoons melted butter OR olive oil
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon brown sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon nutmeg

mmm fresh roasted pumpkin seeds!
Salty and Sweet!

Aside from the Hawks losing terribly yesterday, we still had an enjoyable weekend! It was beautiful fall weather here, we spent time with friends and each other, and got to carve our pumpkins! Next weekend our good friends Jared & Heather are getting married we're really looking forward to celebrating with them!!! Eeek and that means that my girl friends Leah and Hilary will be coming to town on Friday for the weekend/wedding! Really looking forward to next weekend already so let's hope that doesn't make the week drag on, isn't that the worst?! Enjoy the last few hours of the weekend and here's to a not so manic Monday! :)

Sunday Snuggles

snug as a bug.

It's been a cold and drizzly day here all day long so that calls for some Sunday Snuggles! I actually had to work this afternoon at the hospital so I made the most of the morning and got a good snuggle session in with Paisley. I spent the afternoon at work checking on some kiddos and making sure that they have enough activities and games to keep them busy for the day. Then I hung out with the sweetest and sassiest 7 year old I know! She is a recent relapse but her spirit, sense of humor and big bear hugs would definitely make you think different. It's hard to complain about an afternoon at work when I get to spend it being inspired by such amazing kids.

Once I got back home though, it was right back to the sweats and hoody to enjoy the rest of this lazy Sunday! The afternoon NFL games were still on so I got to catch the second half of the Vikings game....as well as Jordan freaking out excitedly one minute and ranting the next. Always hate to see the Vikes lose but at least our Hawkeyes won and pulled off a huge upset over Michigan State! And since it's so cold and crappy out, I opted for some go-to comfort food tonight and we had the rest of my homemade beef stew. Yummmy! I whipped it up after making a pot roast last week then with the left overs, I added a packet of dry onion soup mix and a can of beef broth....just like my Grandma does and it was just as delicious! Now it's time to settle in, snuggle up and enjoy some of our favorite Sunday night shows, Dexter and Homeland! Hope everyone had a good weekend, enjoyed some R&R and are geared up to start another week!

About that baby bandwagon....

Lazy Sunday loungefest with T & K

So. I know I've said it several times how bad I want a baby and kids sooner than later. After having my niece and nephew stay with us the past three days, I still stand by that thought, mostly, and I'm not sure about Jordan. Shortly after the kids left, we both just passed out on the couch and recliner. For about a solid 3ish hours. We had the kids for 3 DAYS and were 100% exhausted and worn out! Not that I would trade it for anything because we had an absolute blast, but still!!!! It all started out Friday night with the electricity going out. Scott got here with Kat and the kids so we got a movie going for them and just sat down to eat dinner and every light went out. And then I quickly realized I don't have a single real candle anymore because all I have and use are Scentsy plug-ins!!! Damn it!!!!! We found about 8 tea light candle and used those hoping they would hold us over.....thankfully as Scott and Kat were walking out the door, an hour later, the power kicked back on and we had lights!! Ahh crisis averted!

Saturday morning rolled around and Teagan came into our bedroom wanting milk and to watch cartoons. Naturally, because the sun was up, she determined it was time for all of us to wake up. Until I realized it was 5:45AM so I convinced her that it was so early cartoons weren't even up yet, hung a blanket up in the extra bedroom window to darken the room and convinced her to sleep until 8:00. Now that's what I'm talking about! Once the kids woke up, we lounged all morning and watched cartoons then we got cleaned up to make a trip to the mall to see the movie Brave and to play at the playground. The movie was pretty good but kind of disappointing for a Disney/Pixar movie. It didn't have the classic "adult humor" in it like the Shrek movies and it actually had some pretty intense and scary parts that freaked out Teagan...Kemper was too busy chowing down on his popcorn to be scared! After the movie, we played at the mall playground then stopped at Target quick before coming home to pick up some new bath toys because my plastic cups just weren't cool enough or fun enough they said! On the way home each of the kids passed out for an afternoon nap and slept for about an hour once we got them inside.....looks like we do know how to watch, entertain and take care of two kids for a full day! We got them to eat an entire dinner and take a bath and they were asleep again by 9:30! Oh yeah, go us!!!

Sunday was our typical Lazy Sunday only with the kids this time....we had cinnamon rolls and watched How To Train Your Dragon and UP. Teagan and I played dress-up with all of my jewelry and some dresses and tank tops I let her play with. She is such a little diva! We did that while Kemper climbed up on and jumped off of everything in the living room with Jordan just laughing and encouraging it all.....boys will be boys I guess! It was the perfect lazy sunday just hanging out until Scott came back to pick them up! All in all, it was a fun and amazing weekend with the kiddos and I'm so lucky they live so close to us! Can't wait til our next fun weekend and sleepover in the future!

zero tolerance

I hate to admit that I have little to no tolerance when it comes to drinking. Zero tolerance might sum it up actually. Especially when I'm trying to drink with the guys and apparently my girl friends. And keep up during power hour. And trying to make it to century club. My body is hating me like whoa today. I don't know why I do this to myself. Luckily, this isn't a very often event but when I do drink, it's like my subconscious is telling me to drink enough to make up for the last few dry weeks. I guess that means my body is punishing myself for not enjoying a couple of cold ones more often. That's obviously the only logic to this situation. So naturally, I suppose, that means it's okay to have a beer or two each night. Maybe I'll try that route for a while.....


Thanks to trying to keep up with the guys and not wanting to appear "lame and weak sauce" also led to the night ending something like this. Me passing out in the recliner. Jordan carrying me to bed. Me getting tucked into bed. Jordan continued to drink in the living room with our friends and watch football. Jordan hearing weird noises from the bedroom. Me puking in the bed. On the bed. On the floor. And on my arm. While still passed out. Jordan holding a trash bag below me. Me missing the bag and still hitting the bed and floor. Jordan getting me to the bathroom and shower to wash off my arms and face. Jordan put all the bedding in the wash, remade the bed with a new set of sheets, and tucked me into bed. Again. Thankfully, that was the end of the eventful night and we both slept in past 10.


I have gathered three things from this:
1. Jordan is great at cleaning up puke and dealing with it. Which is awesome news because the thought of cleaning it up, even my own, makes me gag. He'll be on puke patrol for sure when we have kids. 
2. We needed to change the sheets anyway. What better way to remind us to put on the flannel sheets and put away the summer sheets than a little puke. 
3. I actually think I might be getting sick for real. So I'm not blaming all of this on the drinking. It merely is a coincidence. A big coincidence perhaps. But I have been feeling really achey and feverish for the past few days so I rest my case.


I love Lazy Sundays. I get to spend the whole day lounging in sweats with Jordan and Paisley with football on. And since I'm feeling a little under the weather that means some napping will happen too...Jordan already caught me and Paisley taking one nap. So this is how I will be spending the rest of my day....

Paisley is the best little spoon

I hope everyone fully indulges in lazy Sunday. Rest up, kick back and relax. Why work on the to-do list today when it can be done tomorrow!