see.top.5

Before we left for Florida, I put together a craft for a special trip I made while down home.

Mike is such a sweet fiance to put up with my endless desire to craft... he is extra sweet because he ALWAYS helps, cut, paste, glue and so on. AND he doesn't mind when I insist that it HAS to be perfect and I create a huge mess in the process!!!
While in Florida, I (along with my mom, sister, Mike's mom, Mike's Grammi, my sister-in-law and her mom + 4 nieces and nephews) went wedding dress shopping... yes for our wedding.
I wanted the day to be memorable, informative, and special so by inviting my entourage of ladies it was both memorable and special... as for the informative, well that is where the craft comes in...

I started with fun printed craft paper + really bright coordinating card stock paper, white card stock, glue, olfa knife, straight edge and my printer.I printed out 6 copies of large black numbers 1 to 5
Cut out (6) sets of five- 4x6 inch white + bright card stock paper and glued them together.

Cut out (6) sets of five- 2 inch wide strips of fun printed craft paper for the edges of the cards.

I coordinated the fun printed paper, colorful card stock, and number for each set of cards and glued everything together.

Front and back view of each card. So number 1 in each set was pink with a swirly purple and pink paper edge. The back is a blank white sheet of card stock for notes.

Inexpensive key chain hoops to link numbers 1 to 5 together!

Once I was complete I had visual voting cards numbered 1 to 5 so the ladies could vote on which wedding dress they like the best (no. 5) to the least (no. 1).
With each dress, I could walk out and instantly see what each person felt about the dress.
The blank paper on the back was used for notes about each dress so later I could remember which dress style looked the best, fabric choices and so on.

A big thank you to everyone who came along!!
Let the planning begin!

see.lauren.wed

Two weeks ago, Mike and I flew down to Florida to visit family. For me this was a much needed, long- LONG overdue trip!
One very important highlight of the trip included my dear cousin Lauren's wedding. Lauren and I are very close in age and share many fond memories of Summer days spent at the beach. We would make doodle castles, play in the surf, and always have a blast!!
Lauren is an avid surfer and so it was only natural to have a beautiful beach wedding on her favorite beach: Cocoa Beach.

Jeremy and Valerie on the play set at Lori Wilson Park. How fun is that? Beach and slides at a wedding!! Cousin Christa, Aunt Jo-Ann, Aunt Lisa and Gramma all waiting in anticipation for the bride!Cousin Lauren, all grown up and looking stunning!!

Lauren and Todd Holland!!!

Sweet married kiss on their way to party!
The wedding was fun and food was delicious!
Thanks for another fun time at the beach Lauren!!!

see.July.4th!

Happy 4th of July!!!!

Boy does time fly!!!
Here we are on the 4th of July 2009!
Camping in California.
Hopefully in about an hour we will be on Lake Michigan eating veggie burgers, grilled jalapenos stuffed with cheese and yummy pasta salad with some friends.
Hopefully this big fat rain cloud will go away!
Hopefully you are enjoying this day as much as we are!
:0 )

see.summer.okra

Hello blog.
Sorry I've been away... the World Cup is on and I've been pretty busy...
Have you ever spoke with someone you haven't heard from in a few months and just talking to them brings back a memory or a song in your head or a feeling??
Well... for me, it's usually food.
My friend Katie called me the other day just to catch up and chat.
I love talking to Katie. She has a way of just making me smile. After I got off the phone with her I had this incredible craving for okra and tomatoes.
Katie makes this dish (or at least has in the past) and for some reason just talking to her brought on an urge to prepare some for dinner... and that's what I did.
Okra- like many veggies, is in season from June till late September so now is the time to buy!

Okra is prepared in different ways and (I feel) that it is delicious no matter how it is served... pickled, fried, in stew... it's just delicious.

Fresh from the market. Bright and green with few blemishes.

Most (Southern) Okra and Tomato dish recipes call for bacon or bacon fat. And since we are fresh out of meat around here... I had to alter the recipe (only slightly)
1 lbs. Okra - cut into 1/4" pieces
1 lbs. fresh tomatoes (you can also use canned) - skinned, cored, and chopped
1 onion - chopped
1 bell pepper (we were fresh out of bell pepper on this night) - chopped
1 cup veggie broth (you can always replace this with chicken broth if desired)
1 - 2 cloves garlic - minced
1 - 2 jalapeno (depending on heat preference) - chopped
1 - 2 tbsp. butter (yep! butter, to substitute for the bacon fat)
fresh sprigs of oregano
salt and pepper Well seasoned cast iron skillet... this is crucial. OK, it's not crucial but it sure makes food extra tasty!!

Add the butter, onions, bell pepper, jalapenos and garlic into the hot skillet and let them mingle and chat for a while in the hot pan!
When the onion has turned a nice golden color, add the okra, tomatoes, and veggie broth. Cover and let simmer for about 30 mins.

Now if you have read this entire post... I will give my thanks by letting you in on an okra cookin' secret...
1 - 2 teaspoons sugar! Add it to the okra and tomatoes before you let them simmer. This will cut down on the common okra "slime".
Serve over a steaming bowl of rice and enjoy!
Thanks Ms. Katie

see.slug.sluggers

Our shared garden is such a sweet space. We have herbs, broccoli, tomatoes, cucumbers and much more!
It's so nice to step outside and garden with our neighbors (Mike) and/or just hang out and enjoy the yard (Mel).
When sharing a garden... it is best to contribute a little or poke around in the leaves to look like you are contributing... or you could find intruders -like I did last week!
I found slugs- slimy, gooey, slugs!
This is a slug.

This is what slug snacking looks like!
Slugs love spinach!They eat their broccoli.

And snack on mint for fresh breath!

We couldn't let this feast go on much longer. So we took action and googled it!
Slugs come out and eat at night, they are attracted to beer and corn meal so for the first few nights we set traps! Cups of beer and piles of corn meal. Except... our traps were not that great and instead of dead slugs we had fat, drunk, happy "hugging" (trying to keep the blog G-rated) slugs that were making more slugs!
Our next line of defense- slug hunting!
(note: this contains some graphic slug slaughtering... viewer discretion is advised!)Around midnight, last night we filled a bowl full of salt (slugs dissolve in salt), got out our slug collecting sticks and flashlights and went to work.
It was like a slug street party in the garden. They were EVERYWHERE!!
I have never visited a garden at night. There is so much going on! Did you know flies rest at night much like we sleep? Well they do, and I found where many of them do it... on leaves in the garden.
We also found worms "hugging", tons of centipedes, and other creepy crawlies!
Our next step is to buy some Slug-O to fend off the slugs... but until then each night around midnight we will continue to slug the very hungry slugs.

see.paper.bag.pop!

One of my favorite memories as a kid consists of my mom, a basket of fluffy clean laundry, coca colas, buttery popcorn and Oprah. My mom and I would enjoy this delicious snack while watching Oprah and since then, snackin' on popcorn always brings back pleasant thoughts.A few years back, I started making popcorn at home. The good ol' fashion way. On the stove, hot oil, pop corn, and melted butter. It is SO tasty that way and you decide how much salt and butter to put on the popcorn! This is a fun way to make popcorn except some nights, you just want to throw a bag into the microwave and 2:00 mins later have hot delicious popcorn ready to be snacked on.
This was my dilemma until: my moment of eavesdropping enlightenment!!
While in Columbus, I visited a craft fair. The Columbus Etsy Craft Fair to be exact. While in line for fresh lemonade I overheard 2 ladies talking about brown bag popcorn (this is what craft fair people gossip about by the way).
"It's so easy" she said "you just put the kernels into a brown paper lunch bag, roll up the top and put it in the microwave!"
My mind was literally blown away!

And so we tried it! 1/4 cup popcorn kernels, salt n' pepper, and a little bit of oil or butter for taste (you can also flavor after it has popped)
I like to jazz it up with crushed garlic too!

Put all the ingredients in the bag, and fold the over a few times (be sure to make a nice firm crease)

Set the timer to about 2:00 mins depending on your microwave or just listen for the popping to slow, and the result...

Delicious, fluffy, slightly salty, buttery popcorn!!

Yum!!

see.n.smell

We headed over to Columbus, Ohio this past weekend for an interview Michael had with DART. Miles and I tagged along for moral support and to get out of Chicago for a little while. When we go anywhere with the dog... the trip soon becomes very dog centered.
Hotel for the dog, day trips planned with the dog. oy.
Luckily, the Columbus Park of Roses, allowed dogs and was quite beautiful.

The Park of Roses was on the list of 'Top things to do in Columbus' and it is easy to see why. The grounds were perfectly cared for and this was the largest Rose Park I had ever seen!

The roses don't officially bloom until mid-June but we still saw and smelled our fair share.

Miles, taking it all in...
actually he is hunting. Miles discovered chip-monks in Columbus... they happen to be smaller and more twitchy then squirrels (the twitchier the better). We had 2 fall from a tree right in front of us, then they started play fighting... I thought Miles would have a heart attack (from the excitement) right then and there.
All the roses are named and many people have donated money for small sweet memorials, here are some of my favorites.

Next to the Rose Garden there is an herb and 'other' flower garden. This is where we ran into a plethora of bumble bees. Humming and buzzing along, working each and every flower.

I chatted with this bee for a little while. I think it took my advice to relax from time to time and enjoy the flowers... it stopped what it was doing, flew closer to me, landed on a leaf, and just sat there.
We both took a moment to just bee, then afterward I was all a buzz with excitement...

sorry honey, i cant help myself.

see.laundry.day

We have a side porch. To get to the side porch... you have to climb through this window that is located in our bedroom.

The porch is perfect for drying laundry, hanging out porch sittin', potted plants and spying on neighbors.