Casa Granolé

Not long ago I was invited to a friend's Holiday Gingerbread House Party.  I could hardly contain my excitement.  You see, my dad gave me this book years ago:

and I just couldn't wait to make a real gingerbread house out of it!

The "Pueblo House" was perfect since my family had just gone to visit Casa Grandé National Monument during the Thanksgiving holiday

But my excitement was tripled when my husband and son both put their architects' caps on and sketched me out this:

I made sure to pick up some extra materials I would need, and didn't think my friend would have thought of for the more "traditional" gingerbread house.  Assorted sizes of pretzels and a few graham crackers was basically all I needed but that didn't stop me from buying gourmet marshmallows, fruit bars, chocolate chips, coconut flakes, and granola!

When I arrived at my friend's house, she was still in the midst of setting up and I helped her in the kitchen.  We made a simple Royal Frosting/Icing out of:

2 egg whites

1 cup of powdered sugar

1 tbsp lemon juice

All beat together-but found we needed to add 1/2 cup more powdered sugar to get the consistency right.

Then the other guests started to arrive and so I found myself a spot at the table and set up.

I mixed crushed up graham crackers into my icing to give it that "stucco" or "adobe" look.  Then I just spread out the mixture with a knife on the rough side of the modified IKEA kit walls.

I started with the typical four wall base, added a roof/entry from a piece of wall with a window.  Then built a smaller three wall box to fit over the roof top entry.

Next I added skinny pretzels to make a ladder (to climb the wall to the roof/entry of course!), half pretzels on the sides for the ends of adobe-style framing beams (I'm a practicing architectural engineer mind you), and a large pretzel door header (strictly architectural façade here, not doing much structurally for the opening ;-).

I tried my best to add some color by making a cactus out of large pretzels and green icing, but it looks pretty sad leaning against the house in the corner.  

Going back to my architects' plans:

A marshmellow "Peep" Snowman was provided by another guest to the party, so that took very little effort on my part.  (My husband DID think I made it myself though when he first saw it...he gives me far too much credit)

Red licorice and red gum drops came in pretty handy for a side yard fire pit.  And Mr. Frosty felt a bit lonely so he asked over his friend Giant Rambo Man to come frolic in the coconut snow!!

I hope you enjoyed reading about my fun holiday activity~Merry Christmas!

If at first you don't succeed, Tie Dye Again!

I have wanted to try my hand at tie-dying for months now.  My eye was on a pair of purple jeans that I always wore with a solid top, and I thought the pants would look great in a fun tie-dye pattern on the bottom.

So the term "tie-dye" is not correct usage in this project.  There was no "dye" involved, only a "taking out" of dye by using bleach.

WARNING-SIDE RANT::  Who knows why I kept putting off completing this project...it was so EASY!  A few months back, when the idea first came to me, I picked up a bottle of hydrogen peroxide at the drug store (thinking I would use that as my beaching agent).  Why H2O2?  I don't now know why.  My brother used to use it back in high school to lighten his hair, but I don't know why I just didn't go straight to using bleach.  DAH!  :FINISH RANT

I found what I was looking for yesterday when surfing blogland: Katherine at MakingChickenSalad, tutorial for bleaching out denim.

As soon as naptime commenced, I was gathering up my materials and starting on my project.

Problem is, I have a real deficiency in following directions.  As soon as my pants were ready to go in to the washing machine, I threw them in and then turned on the water.  Wrong!  By the time I added the bleach (and I threw in the H2O2 for extra power, not sure if adding that was really was worth it) the jeans were already soaked with the hot water...I didn't allow for them to properly soak-up the bleach solution.  DOH!  As soon as I realized my mistake, I went back to the tutorial and read everything sentence by sentence.  What I decided to do was just finish out the wash/rinse cycle, post wash with detergent, and throw in the dryer to see what I got:

Some parts were not bad, but the good areas were mostly up at the waist and nothing done to the legs.  Well I did manage to get one star-burst on the leg, but it was much more subtle than I wanted.  So next naptime, back to the beginning (which included a trip to the grocery store to purchase more bleach) .  I re-banded and this time I added the bleach (I used maybe one quarter of the bottle) to the hot water BEFORE adding the jeans.  I left it to soak for about 2 hours.  When I went to check on it, what came out was entirely pink!  "Oh no!  I've OVERDONE it this time"  But, again, I went through the rest of the steps (wash, rinse, repeat with detergent, and dry).  I'm pretty happy with what I got in the end.

Now I can't wait to wear these and show off my handy-work!  :-)

Closet Wrap-Up

So over a month ago I decided to join the DIY Bloggers in their summer challenge.  I failed at completing the project on time, but eventually it did get finished.  I think I managed to have it at 98% by two weeks past the original date.  I still have some sewing to do at the top, but here it is-in all it's glory...

My closet is now a place of inspiration for me.  I'm not the best photographer, so maybe this picture doesn't do it justice, but I love the combination of gold, hot pink, and tomato red.  The white molding just pops, although I can see it sort of clashes with my off-white dresser a bit.  I finally have a shelf to keep my purfume bottles and earrings up away from my little explorer's hands.  I did leave some items on a tray though that he can get into.  I have a case filled with plastic bead necklaces, big ol' shiny plastic rings and braclets, and bright sunglasses that he loves to play dress up with me.

Some "in-progress" pics:

It's very important to have a "spotter" in case you miss something:

My first time painting stripes on my walls!  More Pinterest inspiration for that:

Source: None via Petra on Pinterest

I painted the shelves as well and installed contact paper on the tops:

I'm so happy with the result!

Before

After

Goodbye Summer, Hello Autumn...

Oh boy.  Summer is usually my favorite season-just not this year.  I laugh now to see an old copy of InStyle magazine in the bathroom with the headline: "Your Best Summer!"

Should have clued me in to have picked up the magazine at PHX returning home from my grandfather's funeral- not off to a good start.  But after my family of three makes it to the emergency room four times this summer, I think it's safe to say this one was not my best.

So HELLO Autumn!  Thank goodness you have arrived.  I was about lose it.

With the fresh start of a new season, I feel the need to begin again-specifically back to blogging and getting my projects completed.  Now where'd I leave off?

Oh yeah, my closet.  A post will be arriving soon to show off the completion (almost).  I asked my husband last night what he thought of me blogging, and he said it looked like I needed to concentrate more on my projects-less on getting a blog together-and I think he's right.  I noticed during the Pinterest Challenge I was more busy trying to write the final blog post, when where I should have been was with him working on the closet project.  As the blog was finished and posted, I realized my mistake.  I guess that maybe is why I haven't posted anything since.

But I want that to all change and I've got a plan.  I will set longer deadlines for myself, to give ample time to complete projects.  I will limit my projects to one large one a season, with maybe a handful of quick ones throughout.  I will not work on writing the post until the project has been completed.  

What I decided to work on first -my large project- is not another @em_henderson challenge (although this does sound like fun), is a bookshelf for my son's room.  I've wanted to make one for some time now.  I thought maybe I'd go to the home improvement store and buy some plywood and brackets to start, but then I saw this blog post by The Thriftress:

She used her old laundry room cabinets and repurposed them by adding legs and molding around the top edge.  We scored some old kitchen cabinets from my father-in-law, and they have been taking up valuable space in the garage for way too long.  My husband already used what he wanted and was just going to haul away the leftovers.  So tomorrow I'm planning on going to check and see if I can turn them in a child's bookshelf.  We will soon see if they'll even work (keeping my fingers crossed!).

Another project I had in mind involves cut outs.  Our walls are in desperate need of artwork and I got inspired by the cover piece to the AIASF event booklet I've been carrying around with me in my purse:

I'm pretty sure this one was made with a high-tech laser cutter tool.  I'd love to do the same San Francisco map as this one, but that is just too much for lazy me.  But see the Ferry Building sketch in the background of the cover?  I think that is much more attainable.  Plus, I ate there for lunch today so it was meant to be!

Alright Blogland, as if anyone other than myself will read this, I'm back.  Bring it on Autumn!

Husband is Out of the Closet

I'm so excited to be joining in on the one week design challenge, title above, hosted by the following lovely ladies...

I've been following all of their DIY home design blogs for some time now (Younghouselove.com,BowerPowerBlog.com,stylebyemilyhenderson.com,JoeyandLana.com) and when I heard that the four of them teamed up for this challenge-well, I had to get on board.

What I didn't expect was my husband to get a whiff of my excitement and want to help out.  "Help out" turned a bit into "take over" and has stepped up the project into something much more than what can be accomplished in one week.  Or at least, when you get started Friday night-will not be complete by Monday night.

I digress.  Let's get into the inspiration for this project...

Source: bhg.com via Petra on Pinterest

Oh how I yearn for an organized closet like this one. I have the good fortune to have a pretty large closet all for myself in our spare room, but it is a disaster!

(BEFORE)

Soon after we bought this house and moved in, I had my husband take off the triple, heavy, sliding closet doors and replace them with this white steel rod and shimmery gold curtains I found at a discount linen store.  I have an extra panel of curtain that *we* (husband) have been meaning to make into a transom for filling the gap above the vertical panels, just haven't gotten around to doing so.  So both Thursday night and Friday night, after the babe was laid down to rest, we hashed out our plan.  My plan: to add some boxes to the shelf and have better organization for my jewelry and knick-knacks, and also get objects (like my perfume bottles) up high out of reach from MVP (our active 1 year old, who likes to come into Mommy's closet and pull everything down).  His plan: to completely gut out the entire closet and rebuild it all back up with unfinished lumber, which he can manipulate (with cuts, curves, and routing tools) to his hearts content.  His motivation-my love pouring over.

My Plan-Storage boxes via Target

His Plan-rip out shelves and build fresh ones with plywood

It is really coming along...he is actually still cutting, drilling, installing, and cutting some more as I type out this posting to have it done for tomorrow.  He really wants to meet the deadline tomorrow and I think he'll make it.  Just I won't have my part completed, you know, the painting of the shelves and ofcourse the filling back up of the closet.  Also, I've got further plans to sort through all my stuff and purge purge purge!  Man, I sound like my mother right now.  She's always getting into projects and losing track of time.  My husband laughed when I just read those last two statements to him.  He had just uttered in the same moment "Man, I hate it when home owners leave their furniture in place and you have to work around it" (referring to my dresser) He sounded just like his dad-the general contractor.

testing the strength of his manny-work

So for the next few days, I'm going to be living from my closet on the floor until I can find the time to paint, buy wallpaper, and more boxes, oh-and rope lights (excited about that plan=husband's).

But I will NOT admit DEFEAT!  Oh no, I have a backup project in my Pinterest board:

My mom's crochet purse from her hippiedaiz

 and some silk flowers, wah-lah!

WIWWW #6 & Anniversary Date Night

I'm linking up with The Pleated Poppy today for What I {WILL} Wear Wednesdays.  I'm quite proud of myself when I look back at these photos now.  Maybe thats because this post-surgery body has me in pajamas for the past week, so next week there most likely will not be a WIWWW post.  :-( so sad.

Wednesday:

Ric-Rac white top - BCBG

tank - Old Navy

Cosmetic Pink pants - Victoria Secret

Silver snakey skin loafers - Anne Klein DSW

Thursday, Pop-O-Raspberry:

Striped cardi - Anthro

tank - Old Navy

grey skirt - American Apparel

bright tights - American Apparel

flats - Nordstroms

*this picture does not do these tights justice, I wish I would have got my husband to take a picture of me outside before I left for work.  I got alot of comments on them at the office!

Thursday Night, Our 4 year anniversary dinner:

please don't hate me, but this was the dress I wore to senior prom(13 years ago).  felt far more sexy wearing it now then I ever did back then.  so glad I kept it.

"yummy dinner hon, but what's this 'Fire Kitchen' on our bill-yo!"

No joke, I thought maybe my creme brulee may have started a small fire, but our waiter explained to us is had to do with orders in the kitchen.  In keeping with tradition, we went to our favorite local restaurante, Italiano, and were served by my favorite waiter Giovanni.  My favorite niece is friends with his daughter, and I always want to bring that up when I see him, but alas I get too shy.  Not only was Giovanni our head waiter, but we had a server that I recognised from the cafe (same owners) and we briefly chatted about how long it had been since I came in Friday mornings with my son for an espresso.  He didn't even recognise me at first without my yoga pants and sans makeup face! HA!

So I found out that we have the same Anniversary as Young House Love, do you follow them?  If not, you should start right now (well, maybe after you leave me a comment to tell me you were here ;-)  I love their DIY wedding story and it made me want to share a bit of our 7/7/07 day with you all, so here it goes:

We got married on a hilltop overlooking my family hometown of Santa Barbara

sorry, not this hilltop (but this is my fav spot on earth)

This one!  Pretty Matilija Poppies, Elings Park

my own DIY touches (from top left clockwise): Ribbon board to hang name cards,  covered picnik tables that were already part of site for an awesome BBQ, our friends make their own wine-really good too- and they made pretty labels with our engagment photos, i hand made these pouches of jelly bellys for our guests (coin envelope, paper punch, ribbon, and I found these perfect hand dyed hydrangea petals with paper wrapped wire to hold it all together)

I'm so proud of how it all came together!

Laying Low (Post-surgery)

Two days ago I gave my husband quite a scare by telling him to call the advice nurse.  He will tell you, I never complain about not feeling well (he tells everyone about the smile on my face all through childbirth-and I had a 10lb baby!)  I was having stomach pains far greater than anything ever experienced before (and that includes labor pains).  After speaking with a RN and her with a doctor, we called my sister-in-law to come over to stay with the baby and we hit the road for the emergency room.  At 7:30am on a Sunday morning, we were the only ones in the department.  After the ER doctor came to ask me questions and poked around my belly, it was pretty certain...I was having an appendicitis.  My husband is the only person close to me that has gone through this (at the age of 12, poor little guy!) so I was glad to have him right by my side.  The surgery took about an hour and about 6 hours later I was discharged to go home, about 12 hours total.  Here I am (was totally unaware my husband took this photo) sitting up, drinking juice, and proveing to the nurses that I'm okay to be sent home.  They made me stay till dinner.  Yum.

The appendectomy was laparoscopic (video monitor), which means only three tiny incisions are needed BUT (and this is a huge *but* because of what I go through later) the surgeon needs to pump the stomach full of gas in order to have some working/viewing room.  This gas sits around in your stomach even after the surgery is finished.  I was told that the side effects from the gas could be felt in your neck and shoulder muscles.
That night, after I was discharged, was so hard.  Every time the pain medication wore off I woke up and had the worst pains shoot from my stomach all the way up to my neck and shoulders.  Way worse then the stomach pains before, but maybe it was because happening in the present (and I had forgotten about the earlier pains).  The next morning I was still taking pain meds every 4 hours and trying to rest.  Only this time my chest hurt and I was having trouble breathing.  I also had a high temperature reading.  I waited for my husband to return home, who had taken the baby to his daycare, but after another 20 min. I called him to return home (he was out buying groceries).  When he got home he looked very panicy.  He knocked on our next door neighbors (the husband is a ER nurse) but he didn't answer.  Came back and read the discharge papers which stated "if you are having chest pains or shortness of breath, call 911", so thats what we did.  The paramedics got to us super fast and began assesment.  I was given oxygen flow, and had me connected up to the machines.  My husband was asked to try and reach my surgeon, which he did and she said it was best to come bring me in.  So off I went in the ambulance back to the hospital.
Monday morning is very different from Sunday morning in the ER.  Why does everyone get sick on Monday?  I can answer that, stupid question.  Anyways, to make a long story short...it turns out the chest pains and trouble breathing were again due to the gas and causing me some pretty bad acid reflux (I remembered feeling this way during pregnancy, but ofcourse didn't run through it as that what was happening to me).  Blood tests, X-rays, Urine samples all came back negative and I could finally go home again, this time 4 hours in Emerency is all it took.

Now I'm laying low at home, catching up on my favorite HGTV shows and laughing at my little girl kittie trying to get my attention to let her inside.

WIWWW #5

What I WILL wear Wednesdays began after I got kind of excited following this lovely blog by Lindsay (I discovered her through Etsy), after she decided to host a "linky" party.  At the time, I didn't even know what a linky party was-but now I get it and it's a great way to get more involved and find similar bloggers to yourself.  I added the extra W (WILL) because I'd like to decide on great outfits ahead of time, so I don't have that nagging voice telling me every morning as I stand in front of my closet: "I have NOTHING to wear!".

Basically, I have two standard dress codes: "for the office" and for "my days off" (not really off, being a mother is a 24/7 job).  I need to work on adding in "for date nights" because I feel the need to get dressed up from time to time, and my husband could really use some of that "me time" that I so selfishly steal away from him whenever I please.  With our 4th year anniversary coming up (7/7/07 baby!), now's my chance to really kick it up a notch.  But you're going to have to wait for WIWWW #6 to see what I come up with! ;-)

This week,
Wednesday:  To the office

Pink bowtie shirt - Banana Rep

Brown slacks - Express Editor

Black & white flats - Cynthia Vincent

Burberry trench - Nordstroms (my first real splurge)

Funky brown wrap scarfy thing - gift from BFF

Thursday & Friday, I had a sick baby to take care of and then doctor's appointment (turns out to be an ear infection).  Not a single pic either day, and I can't even remember now what I wore.  Had my mind on more important things.

Saturday:  Family Birthday Baanaannzaa!

Tank - Ann Taylor (hand me down :-)

White linen pants - Target

White wide brim hat - Target (also see)

Sunnies - RL Nordstroms

Gold and Sparkle sandals - Sole Society

Sunday: Hike with my baby love

White shirt - handmedown

tank - Old Navy

Jean shorts - Levi's

Sandals - Chacos

Monday, 4th of July parade:

Navy tank - Gap Body

Khaki shorts - Old Navy

Red ribbon - sewing basket

and for white I wore...
 my birthday candle necklace - Anthro
"Happy Birthday, America!"

Tuesday:   Work at the office

tank - handmedown

cardi - Banana Rep

Skirt - Anthro

Sandals - Target

Last but not least, other than wearing the candle necklace on the fourth, every day I've enjoyed my teenie tiny initials necklace by Lisa Leonard Designs.  I love it!  Perfect way to carry my family with me wherever I go.

How do you put together your outfits?  This morning I just grabbed a bottom, a top, and a sweater-but really not enough thought went into it.  It worked out, but I really want to work on the complete look rather than rush to get dressed.  So I'm curious how does your morning work when you open your closet or dress drawer?