Button Ware Hair Clips

Tonight I finished my latest button craft. What do you think? I wore one yesterday to work, Penny and Aunt Carolyn liked it but maybe I'm to old for button hair clips. You could pick any you like and I'll send you them or you could have one custom maid to match an outfit if you want. I finally sorted all my buttons and chose the ones I liked to work with first. I have lots more ideas for my button collection so beware! I only made 16 clips. I thought you might be able to choose better from 2 photos.

The Brown Skirt Day

Hey girls her I am in the brown skirt for my next to last work day for the accountant! I thought you might want to see me in one of my new outfits. Did you notice the hair clip? I know its hard to see but I've been creating so if you would like one let me know. I can't believe how easy this is with my new computer. Wish I had more to say, work today wasn't that bad. I left 15 minutes early because of the snow. I went to shovel a little at Gramme and Papaps and took their mail up to them. They haven't been out since last Thursday, Papap has a nasty cold. Maybe call them if you get a chance.

Resolutions

Well I haven't really thought about my resolutions a lot but here are a couple things that I would like to work on. I don't really have any set plans just general ideas which I think are sometimes better for me than specific things.

1. Get more solid. I'm not too worried about weighing less but I would like to be more toned.

2. Learn more. I want to take some random classes in cooking or crafting just to try new things.

3. Do things. I am going to try to do all the things I need or want to do instead of just thinking about doing them or making lists that I never finish.

Thats all I have for now. Maybe there will be more later. I'm starting to knit a new cardigan from a lion brand yarn pattern. Hopefully it turns out like the picture!

Resolutions

My 2011 resolutions are pretty clear.

1. Create weekly.

2. Be a better wife, daughter, mom and friend.

3. Walk 5 miles at least 3 times a week.

4. See my daughters more often.

So far I'm doing okay. Its 9 days into the year and I'm quitting the part time job that has robbed my of too much time and energy. I'm looking at my parents in a different light. I need to be with them more so I'm trying to see them everyday and really listen to them. I'm planning on coming to Orlando the first week of Feb and hoping to come to Memphis early in Mar if thats okay? I'm still walking it seem so calming anymore. And the creating is working wait till you see my next post!

Sticky Pork Tenderloin

Saturday Jan 8 we had some old friends, Patty And Dwight over for dinner. Crazy we haven't seen them for at least 3 years. One of my resolutions was to be a better friend. More of that later. Anyway I looked through some cookbooks and magazines and found this sticky pork tenderloin with balsamic grilled onions out of a cookbook Abby bought me last Christmas. It turned out great! I will definitely make it again. Well I'm sorry I can't seem to rotate my picture. I need to add improve my computer skills to my resolution list. Bare with me I'll get better. As you can see (sideways) I wore a plain black dress with an antique fur collar. I forgot I had the collar and love it with the dress. I wore my black flat boots and felt great. The dinner turned out perfect I wasn't rushing around like a nut either. The menu was goat cheese dip with veggies, martinis, winter fruit spinach salad with my dressing, sticky pork tenderloin/ balsamic onions ,cauliflower and green beans. We had sauvignon blanc with dinner. Dessert I bought some pistachio gelato and served the christmas cookies we also had coffee with baileys. And they stayed late! Long Nights and Log Fires is the cookbook and here is the recipe:

Sticky pork Tenderloin with a pecorino crust, mustard mash, and balsamic onions

2 x 14 oz pieces of whole pork tenderloin

3 T olive oil

1 1/2 c finely grated pecorino cheese

a small bunch of rosemary, chopped

salt and pepper

mustard mash

2 heads cauliflower

2 T spicy mustard

2 cloves garlic crushed

4 T buttermilk

3 T olive oil

balsamic onions

2 T olive oil

4 red onions

1/3 c balsamic

serves 4

Preheat to 400*

Rub the pork with olive oil. Mix cheese with rosemary spread over a sheet of parchment. Roll the pork in the mixture, pressing down well so they are evenly coated. Put them in a roasting pan and drizzle with olive oil. Roast in the preheated oven for 30 to 40 minutes. I did just 30. I hate dry pork. Let rest 15 minutes before slicing.

To make the mash, steam the cauliflower. I just used the florets. Drain and mash with the garlic, mustard, buttermilk, and oil. Cover and roast with the pork.

To make the onions, heat the olive oil in a cast iron skillet and add the onions. Cook for 4-5 minutes until light golden and starting to soften. Add the balsamic and 3 T water. Cook slowly about 10 minutes. Season with salt.

I sliced the pork and plated the onions kinda drizzled over the meat and the mash. Enjoy!

New Year's Resolutions

This year I have sewing, home improvement and every day resolutions. Here we go:

Sewing resolutions:

• Buy a vintage dress pattern and make a vintage dress
• Cape and pencil skirt 'suit'
• Lined pencil skirt
• Lined jacket
• Start all Christmas and birthday presents early (like today)
• Men's button down shirt
• Try to focus on quality not quantity

Most of the sewing resolutions are trying to focus on the last one. I would like to become a better sewer. This year I want to make a smaller number of quality items I will want to wear everyday that fit perfectly rather than a ton of ill-fitting poorly made items. I'm going to an antique store this morning to look at vintage patterns. I'm hoping to find a couple vintage dress and suit patterns to start my collection. I probably need to buy a book on fit and altering the patterns so there is not need to 'fit' the garment each time I make it. It would be great if in December I'm not rushing to finish Christmas presents like this year. I think the garments could have been better made if I had had more time. (and I wouldn't be making repairs on fit issues on the returned garments) I would love to start making my husband shirts. It's really hard to find him shirts that are fitted enough and have long enough sleeves. It I could make them and they looked nice, he could have any pattern I could find!

Home improvement:

• Tile the bathroom
• Build an entry table
• Build the rest of the entertainment center
• Revamp the pew
• Add quarter-round to the bathroom cabinets
• Install an attic fan

The home improvement resolutions are for both my husband and I.

First tiling the bathroom. When we first moved into our house in March 2008 the bathroom was carpeted. One of the first things we did was tile the main area of the bathroom. At the time, we decided to leave the closets concrete, I have no idea why. Almost 3 years later, we still have concrete. Luckily the tile was from Lowes, so we should be able to still get the same kind. 

Last year we built an Entertainment center for our media room off a Pottery Barn inspiration and using plans from this website: http://ana-white.com/2010/01/plans-logan-media-base-unit-pottery.html . The same website has plans for a table I would love in our entry and the side and top units for the entertainment center. I'm not sure when but this year I would like to get our media room looking more adult, i.e. organized.

Also last year, Kellen's parents gave us an old pew from their church that closed down. One of Kellen's friends revamped the pew by removing the finish, burning the wood grain and then sealing it and it looks fabulous! This year I would like to refinish our pew and find a place to put it! Right now it's in the dining room but you can't slide it because of the hardwood floor. We might move it back to the hearthroom after it is finished for extra seating in there.

The quarter-round on the bathroom cabinets should have never been a problem we had to solve. When we were tiling, we removed all the cabinets so we could tile the entire floor and then place the cabinets back on top. Then we ran out of tile. We decided to tile around the cabinets instead of just buying more tile from Lowes. Bad idea. Now around the cabinets you can see the uneven cut areas of the tile. With a little quarter-round no one will ever know our mistake!

The attic fan is a must here in the South. It probably gets up to 150 degrees in our attic in the summer. We already purchased the fan, we just need to install it before this summer!

Every day:

• Walk the dogs once per week
• Buy golf clubs and play 2 rounds of golf before the next scramble
• Weigh less at the end of the year than I do now (153 pounds)

Kellen and I are off to a good start on walking the dogs once a week. The dogs run around in the yard everyday but I think they would be better dogs if they had a little training once a week. Last week we made the loop around our neighborhood and it was a success. Hopefully we can make ourselves walk them every weekend, even if it is cold like today!

Last year I borrowed golf clubs from a guy at work's wife and loved it! I'm going to buy golf clubs with my Christmas money and have a goal set to play 2 rounds before we have another work scramble. I loved playing in the 2 scrambles last fall and I think they will have a couple in the spring before it gets too hot. 

I saw the last goal on a blog I read and thought it was a good one to have. Instead of focusing on losing 10 pounds or a 3 inches on my hips, I would like to weigh less at the end of the year than I do now. This will make me go to the gym all year long and work towards long term weight loss.

Those are all my resolutions for the year, quite a list. What are yours?

Back to work

Going back to work after a 5 day holiday weekend was a little tough. I started with an easy outfit. (Sorry about the blurry pictures)

 I gave my hair a little fluff and that wasn't a good idea.

 Dress: Ann Taylor from Rach for Christmas
Boots: DKNY Macys
Necklace: from Rach from London

Overall cute easy Tuesday outfit. The dress has really fun ruffles around the neck and pockets!

For Wednesday, I was thinking pants. I haven't worn pants in awhile to work since I'm loving my new black tall boots!

 Pants: Banana Republic
Sweater: Kohls from my mother-in-law for Christmas
Shoes: still my slippers! oops! Luckily I remembered to change before work.

 Daisy even snuck in these pictures. Looks like I was running a little late. Normally Duke and Daisy don't get out of bed until Kellen is up around 7. I normally leave at 6:40 if I'm going straight to work and 5:15 if I'm going to work out. That's way too early for the dogs!

On Thursday I was trying to remember when I wore all my new clothes and if I could wear them again already! I couldn't remember anything, so I just threw this outfit on again.

Friday was moving day! My work headquarters is moving from downtown closer to my house! Soooo excited to have a shorter drive to work. Most people wore jeans, I didn't think about it since we are not really moving ourselves. All we had to do was put everything in boxes and I had already done that earlier this week, so not too much moving for me!

I got a ton of compliments on this outfit!
Dress: Boutique in Atlanta
Sweater: Macys
Belt: Polka dot scarf
Boots: Uggs (super comfy for 'moving')

This outfit was a nice way to round up the week. Although I think the dress is a little too short for work, no one said anything to me. I guess the sheer top layer covers the short layer pretty well.

Not a bad first week back. Next post will be my New Year's resolutions. This weekend we are taking down the Christmas decorations, kind of sad. Hopefully soon we can put up Valentines!

Belated Baking Day 3 and New Year's Eve!

I wanted to wear this outfit to work on Thursday, but thought it was just a little too casual. 

Cape - made by Rach
T-shirt - Target
Jeans - Buffalo from Macy's
Boots - Nine West

I went to the Antique store near our house to look for vintage patterns and of course they were closed. Maybe I'll get to go on Saturday and see if they have any fun ones. I went to the car dealership to see what the deal is with the airbag light and it was packed. I had to reschedule for Monday because I had lots of baking to do before our little New Year's party!

I actually made the Cranberry Pistachio Biscotti last but here they are listed first. These are great for the holidays and everything tastes better homemade! They are super easy to make just take a lot of time in the oven. Here's the recipe:

1 1/3 cup (1/4 lb) dried cranberries

2 1/2 cups flour

1 cup sugar

1/2 t baking soda

1/2 t baking powder

1/2 t salt

3 eggs

1 t vanilla

1 cup pistachios

egg wash (1 egg and 1 t water)

In a bowl, combine cranberries with enough hot water to cover. Let soak 5 minutes. Drain and pat dry.

In the bowl of a mixer with a paddle attachment, blend flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Add eggs and vanilla. Stir in cranberries and pistachios.

Knead dough a couple times. Half the dough. Form into a flattish log 13" x 2". Arrange 3 inches apart on a baking sheet. Brush with egg wash. Bake in the middle of the oven at 325 degrees for 30 minutes. Cool 10 minutes. Cut into 3/4" thick slices. Arrange back on a baking sheet and bake at 325 degrees for 10-12 minutes on each side.

Enjoy with coffee!!!

I'm not sure if the next 2 cookies turned out the best. But here are the pictures for you to see.

First Cranberry Turtle Bars. Kellen doesn't think the crust is cooked the whole way through. They still taste good even though it looks like a mess. They look better in the last picture.

Next is Chocolate Mint Brownies. The green layer is Creme de Menthe and ended up being really gritty. I'm not sure what went wrong. There is a brownie layer on the bottom that you can see better in the next picture.

Here's the cookie tray we are having now while watching the football game. I'm sure Kellen and I will both be bringing cookies to work this week unless we want to be 300 pounds.

For New Year's we had a low key party at home. We invited a couple over from Kellen's work. Here's my New Year's dress. I was going to remake a vintage dress I bought at an Estate sale this summer, but didn't have time.

 My aunt got me this dress at an estate sale a couple year's ago. It's really fun for New Year's and I LOVE getting dressed up! I just wore my Uggs to be comfy.

Kellen made chicken with figs for dinner and we had cookies for dessert. We set off fireworks at midnight since it was 70 degrees here in Memphis! Then we played rock band until 4 in the morning. We are such dorks. On New Year's morning we made Panetone french toast! It was so nice to just stay home and have an easy New Year's!

Belated Baking Day 2

Thursday was the last day before a 5! day weekend that I had to work, so I wore jeans. We never get to wear jeans at work, but hardly anyone has been in the office for 2 weeks, so I thought it would be okay. And if I needed to change, they could just send me home!

 Vintage tweed jacket - Estate sale
White t-shirt - Leopard print sheet from Express from my sister
Jeans - Buffalo from Macy's
Boots - Nine West

Now I have to work on my face in pictures. I think the posing is getting better, but my face...not so much.

Alright onto the baking. I got a lot accomplished on New Year's Eve Eve. Without work the next day I could stay up late, but didn't need to! The first batch of cookies was Kourambiedes (Greek Butter Cookies). We tried to make these last week at my mom's house but didn't have the original recipe. I tried to look it up online and I guess Gourmet deleted the page from the Christmas cookies last year, so the cookies did not turn up as well as last year's originals. As soon as we got back to Memphis, I knew I had to try and make them again. Here's the recipe:

4 sticks butter (softened)
1/4 cup powdered sugar
1 egg yolk
1 T orange liqueur
4 1/2 cups flour
1/2 cup finely ground blanched almonds
cloves

In the bowl of a mixer, cream butter for 8 minutes. Add powdered sugar 1 Tablespoon at a time, egg yolk and liqueur. Blend in flour and almonds, 1/2 cup at a time. Form into 1 1/2 inch balls and top with cloves.

We didn't have whole cloves so I didn't put anything in at the beginning. I added ground cloves to the powdered sugar you roll them in at the end.

Bake at 350 degrees for 15 minutes. Cool 5 minutes. Roll in powdered sugar.

 They are delicious and buttery! You probably won't like them if you don't like cloves though.

Next on the list were Chocolate Cookies with Gin Soaked Raisins. It might sound gross (and I don't even like gin) but they're really good! They taste like moist chocolate cookies with just a little something extra. Here's the recipe:

1/2 cup golden raisins
1/3 cup gin
3 cups powdered sugar
2/3 cup cocoa powder
1 t espresso
2 T flour
1/8 t salt
3 egg whites
1/2 t vanilla
8 oz pecans (2 1/4 cup) toasted and chopped (I didn't toast them  and it worked out fine)

Combine raisins and gin. Let stand at least 8 hours.

Preheat over to 350 degrees. Butter and flour 2 baking sheets. Shake off excess flour. (I just used parchment paper)

Mix powdered sugar, cocoa, espresso, flour and salt on low speed. Add egg whites and vanilla.

Drain raisins without pressing. Add to dough with pecans. Drop 1/4 cup dough onto baking sheets 3 inches apart (I just used a small ice cream scoop). Pat down to 1/2 inch thick (this is messy).

Bake in the middle of the oven, rotating sheets half way through 15-17 minutes.

Next were gingerbread. I cooked them a little less than normal so they weren't dry but nice and moist. No time for decorating tonight, just naked gingerbreadmen!

The last cookies were Glittering Lemon Sandwich Cookies. These are a nice break from traditional cookies with a little tang. Here's the recipe:

Cookies:
1 1/3 cup flour
2/3 cup cornstarch
1/4 t salt
2 sticks butter, softened
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1 T grated lemon zest
1 t vanilla
colored sugars

Filling:
1 cup powdered sugar
1 T grated lemon zest
1 T lemon juice
2 T light corn syrup
1/2 stick butter, softened

Preheat oven to 350 degrees with rack in the middle of the oven. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.

Whisk together flour, cornstarch and salt.

Beat together butter and powdered sugar until pale and fluffy. Then beat in lemon zest and vanilla. At low speed, mix in flour.

Roll a teaspoon of dough into balls and then roll in colored sugar. Place on baking sheet 3/4" apart. (Flatten a little bit, they don't rise in the oven and you want to be able to make sandwiches out of them) Bake 12-15 minutes.

Beat together filling ingredients with mixer at medium speed. Transfer to sealable bag and snip corner. Pipe onto the flat of the cookies and top with another half.

I made half red and half green and made Christmas sandwiches!

 They are nice and sour and delicious!

 Here's all the cookies so far (and decorated gingerbreadmen!).

More baking tomorrow!

Christmas Morning 2010

Guess what? I'm posting from the new computer! Heres a picture of us in our darling christmas pjs. We had such a fun time with everyone together.

Tomorrow everyone leaves and the let down begins YUK!!!!!!!!!