Tag Archives: do it yourself

And the Best Costume Goes Tooooo…

3 Nov
The best darn "elly" in all the land.

The best darn “elly” in all the land.

Remington Arnow!

aka “Memy Aahhhno”

As a mom, there are a few things that I look forward to being able to experience with Remy, that I never really had the opportunity to enjoy when I was a kid. Halloween is probably the biggest one.

I was raised in a VERY conservative home, with parents who chose to have “Glory to God parties” instead of celebrating halloween. Yes. We were the family who passed out bible tracts and popcorn (cuz you could do that in the 80’s) to all the neighborhood kids who were dressed up, celebrating “satan’s birthday”. Cool, right?

Regardless of my own personal beliefs, my parents did what they thought was right, and I can’t judge them for our differences of opinion, or practice. But, I can choose to do things however I please with my own kids.

The year I found out I was pregnant, I had JUST started working for Dailey. In October, I was just out of my first trimester and not too many people knew me, let alone knew I was pregnant then, so I dressed up as a bank robber. My belly was my bag o’ cash, and no one really “got it”. I thought I was hilarious.

YEAR ONE:

Belly Smuggling Bank Robber

Belly Smuggling Bank Robber

The next Halloween, Remy was just 8 months of bubbling baby chub and I put some thought into our costumes once again. I found an amazing monkey costume and decided to become a banana tree… He was still nursing A LOT, so I had bananas in the appropriate place. Again, hilarious… to myself. I don’t have any great photos of my costume, but COME ON. Look at that face. A funny thing about this costume, was that my sister and our friend brought Remy to meet me in the office. With a BRIGHT GREEN WIG on, my baby still knew exactly who I was, from across the room. Mama baby bonds are pretty incredible.

YEAR TWO: 

Baby Monkey in his Banana Tree

Baby Monkey in his Banana Tree

This year, I decided to look for costumes in line with Remy’s favorite animals and liked the elephant costume best. Originally, Grant and I were both going to be elephant trainers, and he would be a baby elephant, but on Sunday, I changed my mind. He would be the trainer and I, once again, would be a food item… maybe it’s time to wean.

Here we are as a baby elephant and a bucket of peanuts.

YEAR THREE:

Baby "Elly" and his big ol' bucket of peanuts.

Baby “Elly” and his big ol’ bucket of peanuts.

I plan to continue this habit of mine for as long as he can stand it, or stand me. Halloween is becoming one of my absolute favorite days of the year.

***Thank you, Don Lupo, for the great pictures! 

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Adventures in Breakfast

4 Jun

I’ve got a new obsession. It’s called “Whole Living” and it’s a lifestyle magazine that comes in both print and an interactive iPad version. Of course, I have both the print and the iPad version, so like I said, I’m obsessed. What I love about the magazine is that it’s just hippie enough to feature the organic, hormone-free, all-natural type of cooking and products I love, but not so hippie that the articles make me feel goofy when reading them. It’s like the perfect balance of healthy eating, meets gourmet, meets really fun things to make in the kitchen, meets organic face/body products.

That said, I’ve decided to challenge my culinary adventures by broadening my horizons into the recipes featured in Whole Living, while making some of my own adjustments to suit my own foodie interests, likes and creative prowess.

This is what I made for breakfast this past Saturday. I got a couple “oohs” and “ahs” from Grant and our roommate, but I didn’t think they were sincere until I took my first bite.

RECIPE – Baked Eggs in Whole Roasted Tomatoes, by Whole Living.

I followed the recipe for the most part, but made a few additions to make it “me”.

  1. Add Polenta
    • I buy my Polenta from Trader Joe’s.
    • Cut into cubes and add to Step 1 from the above Recipe.
    • Baking the Polenta with the Tomatoes gives it a nice crisp, toasted-ish flavor/texture
  2. Add Truffle Salt
    • When salting the eggs with coarse sea salt, add a little Truffle Salt to give it an even more dynamic flavor
  3. Add Goat Cheese
    • Towards the end of the cooking process, add a little Goat Cheese to the top of each tomato
    • I also think this would be great with freshly shaved Parmesan, or Gorgonzola
  4. Crisp the Top
    • If you’re not getting the crisp you want, add change the temperature from 400* to Broil and let the dish sit until it gets a very quick and nice crisp to the top
  5. Don’t be afraid to let the eggs spill over onto the Polenta
  6. I served this with an organic multi-grain toast from Wholefoods, but I think this would also be great with a side of bacon. 🙂
Here’s the work in progress: 
Here’s my final product:
If you try this recipe, I’d love to see your pictures! Also, let me know if there are any other ways you’ve found to broaden the horizons of this delish dish. 🙂
Enjoy!

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DIY “Designer” Chairs

27 Mar

I was trying to keep this as a surprise for Grant, but being that he won’t be here for 2 more months, I couldn’t wait and spilled the beans already. For me, doing stuff myself is kind of a way of life. I love the challenge of seeing something cool and knowing that there’s a possibility to do it myself. Here’s an easy DIY guide to making old, nasty thrift-store chair, personal and magical, because they’re “made” by your own hands!

1. If you’re not re-doing your own chairs, you can find cheap chairs at a consignment or thrift store – When looking for chairs, make sure they’re made of real wood and that they have parts that can be removed, ie. cushions. In this case, I will end up sanding the chairs down and re-stainging them eventually, but for now, I’m just fixing the cushions.

Red Chair

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

2. Have tools on hand –

–  Screwdriver (power or manual)

–  Staple Gun (preferably a heavy duty one, but crafting guns work too)

–  Sizzors

– Fabric (I happen to have lots of fabric in storage, so I just used one that I liked. You’ll want to make sure that the fabric has some “stretch” to it, so it doesn’t pop the staples when someone sits on it.)

Tool Photos

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

3. Remove the old cushion from existing chair frame – It can be a little tough, depending on where the screws are located, but it just takes a little elbow grease and you’ll get it off of there. (You can also replace the cushion entirely by buying new foam, but the chairs I got had pretty good foam already.)

Cover Removal Photo

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

4. Measure and cut the fabric to fit the seat cover.

Measure Photo

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

5. Using your staple gun, staple the edges with the least curve first, then work your way around the cushion. Try to avoid stapling the spaces where the screws have to be re-used, or you’ll have a mess on your hands.

Step 6 Photo

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

6. Re-Screw the screws into the the seat cushion connecting the seat to the chair. You may need to buy longer screws, depending on how much fabric is used.

7. Be stoked. The best part of this process is that you can completely change the look of your old chairs in an afternoon!

Final Product Photo

Dining Set Photo

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