me, joann & the machine

This weekend I went to hit up the holiday sale at JoAnn Fabrics (yes, I'm very cool).  It was one of those mega sale on sale items events and honestly, I could have really done some serious damage.  I'll post pictures later of what I got: a wreath for the front door, materials for cafe curtains and brass curtain rods.  What I didn't get that I wanted: numerous picture frames to create an art wall, fabric to slipcover our dining chairs and ceramic color-glazed planters.  Regardless, I filled my cart, stood in line, read some fine print on a sale flyer and realized that the sale-on-sale was too good to be true.  The catch?  It only applied to those who have served in the military.  Seems fair on Memorial Day I suppose, but I really wonder, how many soldiers frequent JoAnn Fabrics?  Wasn't it a good bet by JoAnn to make a flashy sale that none of their regulars (65+ year old quilters and me) would be able to take advantage of?  Tricky, JoAnn, tricky.  Alas, no military service ID no 20% discount.

On a related thread (bada ching), a couple months ago I rescued a 1952 sewing machine from the dumpster.  It weighs a lot (a lot!) and has lots of fifties charm to it; the Sewmor 606 has cool red accents, a handy chrome wheel and neat lettering.  What a sharp looking machine, and yes, it works!

what we ate

Lately, I've been eating like it's summer, sure that if I do, the weather will cooperate.  It's been so great to have hours of daylight after work and we've taken advantage of them by grilling and eating en plein air out on the lawn.  Below are a couple recipes we use weekly:

Summer Greens with Lemon Pepper Dressing

Inspired by Jamie Oliver's "Food Revolution" cookbook, I've been making homemade salad dressing in canning jars for a couple months.  I'll never buy store versions again, especially because you won't find high fructose corn syrup in my ingredient list!

3/4 c. olive oil

1/4 c. lemon juice

1/3 c. parmesan cheese, grated
crushed peppercorns to taste
1 garlic clove or powder

paprika or red pepper flakes
1/4 t. oregano (or 2 rosemary sprigs)

optional: 3/4 t. sea salt

optional: 1/4 t. sugar

Everything about this recipe can be adapted; well, except for the oil!  I don't like extra virgin olive oil's strong flavor, so I use straight olive oil.  Also, many of the recipes I've found include salt and sugar, which I omit.  I either pair garlic with oregano, or add rosemary on its own.  And I push the limits with the amount of lemon juice and parmesan I put in, because I love both so much.

Anyway, add all ingredients in medium Ball jar, add cap and shake.  Serve over romaine lettuce and pair with grilled chicken, which for heightened flavor can be marinated in the salad dressing before grilling.  Be sure to brush on the dressing too while its on the grill.  Dressing keeps refrigerated one week.


berry smoothie

Nothing is better than a smoothie.  And considering it's easy to make, gratification is almost immediate.  Really no need to measure or be finicky with ingredients, there's just too many great options.

1 mango

6 strawberries

1 small banana

1/2 c. pineapple

1 1/2 c. vanilla yogurt (or frozen)

optional: splash of orange juice

{or}

1/2 c. raspberries

1/2 c. blackberries

1/4 c. blueberries

1 1/2 c. vanilla yogurt (or frozen)

{or}

2 T. almond extract or honey

1 1/2 c. vanilla frozen yogurt

optional: chopped lavendar

Last week, I broke my blender with frozen fruit, so be patient and let them thaw before blending!  Boo.  Also, the last smoothie is my summer take on milk steamers, don't you love almond?  Yum!

teddy girl at {one} year

Today my little puppy… who just happens to tip the scales at 60+ pounds, is a year old!  Bah!  Makes me very nostalgic, but happy.  As you all know, I’m very, very attached to my dog.  Obsessive really.  She’s really given me no reason not to be, she’s so darn cute and eager to please.  I love her dearly and I am so thankful for her.

I just can’t believe it’s already been a year.  Finding Teddy was kismet and impulsive; we’d been back from our honeymoon all of a week when we found and answered the craigslist posting for six week-old golden retriever puppies for sale.  She was one of twelve and when we went to see her, I must admit I had no idea which puppy I wanted.  Actually, initially I wanted a boy so I could say “come here, boy!”  Teddy, who at that time was coined, “Naughty Katie” was very sleepy when we first met her and attached herself quickly to M.  Because I couldn’t choose, I felt like a horrible person if I did, M decided on Teddy.  Good thing!  Teddy hasn’t really been very naughty with us.  I can’t say that I’m very strict with the dog.  We always joke that she knows M is her owner, while she just considers me another dog to roughhouse with.  I still remember taking her away from all her siblings in the car, with literally nothing for her.  We didn’t have a blanket, a bone, collar, nothing.  Poor girl had a hard time.  She was about 10 pounds when we met her and we’d spend all day outside attempting to run in the grass, which was as tall as her legs.  She’d fall, get tired, sleep; I’d let her go free, because she couldn’t get anywhere.  I’d take her for a walk to the lake to socialize her and I’d end up carrying her the whole time.  She was so freaking cute and got some much deserved adoration.  Especially when she’d fearlessly jump in the water and roll in the mud.... nothing's changed:  teddy and the creek



{stop with the pictures!}



I let the dog do anything she wants, but somehow, she’s incredibly good natured and behaved.  She’s grown up to be a big, quirky dog who still seeks approval and gets into everything.  After a year, she still lays down on the sidewalk for every approaching dog, nose dives into grass/snow/water to itch off her gentle leader, jumps on strangers and thinks they like it, hunts down squirrels and bunnies thinking she actually has a shot at them, carries entire tree branches home, and lays on her back while she sleeps, hoping for a stomach scratching.  She still follows us like a puppy and watches for us from the window until we return home.  Once a cute little thing, Teddy is now a very regal, elegant-looking dog, who seems to get better looking with age.  At least on walks, I can confidently say I’ll always get compliments for how she looks;)

Happy Birthday, Teddy Girl!

A year with Teddy in pictures: 

 

the {style} bike

When we arrived home to our Cape Cod, there was a 1966 Raleigh roadbike sitting in the garage.  This bike denoted style and I couldn't help imagine what might have been.  If I had been a twenty-something Modern girl when this bike was young, I would've dressed for my bike.

On my way to class or the boardwalk, I would've worn cropped cigarette pants with a striped shirt, scarf around my neck and sunglasses covering my face.  I would've had confident red lipstick, a loose bun and a little leather purse, just because it looked good.  I'd have obviously been pedalling in espadrilles, chicly, humming Tapestry.  And I would've known that I was the "It Girl."  All because of this bike. 

We sold the "style" bike.  I must come to terms with the fact that I don't ride bike, though when I watched it ride away, I was convinced that I would... for this bike.

what a dame!

On Friday, I had a tremendous life event.  I met Dame Julie Andrews; you know, Mary Poppins, Maria von Trapp, and Queen Lillian (Shrek).  What the!

She was exactly how I thought she'd be, most notably she spoke royally, using the word "delicious" frequently and other British quips.  Julie, as I now refer to her as, was very beautiful and put-together with her cropped blonde locks and a flattering navy pants suit; we'd all been guessing she was in her late sixties, and she's seventy-five!  I must say, she seemed genuinely pleased to be in Minneapolis and didn't try to shortcut answers to crowd questions, even when she was asked "What is your favorite movie?"  People, she's been deemed a dame by the queen!  A humorous antidote she shared was when she was working with her late husband on a movie and as the director, he took her to the side after a love scene and said, "Darling, that was OK, but I know you can do it better."  Polished Julie was funny too.

Anyway, a really good part of the whole experience was that I got there pretty early and found myself first in line to meet her.  Can you imagine walking on stage to say "hey" to Julie Andrews?  We exchanged multiple sentences (I may have, as a typical Minnesotan, said something about the weather... but we actually had a good chat) and she hugged me!  It was a real hug too, not half-hearted or anything.  I just can't believe that I was that close to Julie Andrews!  When we were taking a picture, she gave me a bit of advice.  Every time she poses for a photo, she says the word "money."  If you say it, it really works out well that by the end you're smiling when and how you're supposed to.  So Julie and I said "money!"  We hugged, you know, me and the Oscar-Grammy-Golden Globe-Emmy-winning Dame Julie Andrews.

I too have a signed book, "The Very Fairy Princess Takes the Stage."  She's been writing children's books for a long time and claims she started the celebrity-author trend... I tend to believe her!  The Dame would never lie!

Money!

green(ish) thumb

Unfortunately, Blogger had a meltdown last week and this post was deleted... I've tried to recreate it!
Ok.... so my ability to garden has yet to be seen.  In our first month as yard keepers, we've mostly done the post winter-thaw maintenance... picked up sticks, racked up very wet leaves, cleaned off bushes, re-seeded patches of the lawn, fertilized.  (Oops I confess, we've yet to fertilize but we've bought the supplies!  The eco/pet friendly kind, though we may not need it after looking at the health the rain has brought to our grass.)  My life is a glamorous one and suspect it'll get even more glitsy, and by glitsy, dirty!

Our local Ace hardware store loves us, or they should.  We've been frequent visitors.  When you buy a house and sign over the next x amount of years of your life to attentive home keeping, you walk out of the mortgage office all, "Yay!  We're done!  We win!"  only to realize that your washer and dryer vibrate so much that when in use you must duct tape their doors shut to get a load done, or that much of the fresh paint on all your walls were poured down your sink, or that all your outlets are two prong and you need three.  But, seriously, all in all, houses are fun and any little trials are learning opportunities... right?

Well I have a lot of learning to do about gardening, but I'm eager.  A dear friend gave me this book:



{adorable cover, right? very thumb-printy}



So far I'm loving it.  Did you know that there are growing "zones" and that you should know your zone before picking out your plants?  No use to buying something beautiful that won't survive in your soil, climate, or sun conditions.  Essentially, the book gives you a breakdown of all the very helpful things to know before committing time and money to your garden.

Here's a bit of an intro to our growing environment.  Welcome to our backyard!











  

When I initially posted this, I received numerous comments on our push mower.  Yes, it's pretty old, but yes it works!  And yes it was free!  And it's sustainable chic!...Right?  I actually love it, though this praise is coming from the one who hasn't mowed the lawn yet.  It's really wonderful to not worry about gas and maintenance only requires an ACE visit every few seasons for blade sharpening.

As you can see our backyard is sloped to the west, which is great for viewing the sunset from the house each evening.  There's a couple levels of retaining walls that greatly define the yard and I'm really excited to figure out our landscaping and patio plans this summer.  I'm waiting to do most of my planting until I see just how shady the yard gets with our two big elms filled out with their wonderful green canopies.

The extent of my gardening at the soma home has been potting herbs.  I've read that growing herbs is just about the easiest thing in the world, yet, I've already made (and corrected) some screw-ups.  Firstly, I've broken a Dirt Cheap Green Thumb rule by starting with plants and not seeds... for what I spent on a single plant, I could've bought a packet of seeds and had dozens of plants.  But I needed herbs for cooking now, and wasn't too confident I do a great job with starting from scratch.  So I bought young plants.  The second mistake I made was to buy a couple plants that looked a little ill, because that's all Home Depot had and I was impatient.  Well, they ended up having bugs!  G-ross.  So, I started over.  Also, huge blooper; I had it in my mind that I was supposed to put rocks over the drainage holes in the bottom of my terra cotta pots to "slow down" excess water leaving the herbs' soil.  What a brilliant idea!  No, not really.  Apparently, this promotes mold in your soil and plants... I have evidence.  Anyway, I'm finally on the other side, with healthy plants and a bit more green thumb knowledge.

My next green thumb challenge is taking a stem from one of our hydrangea bushes and creating new plants from my cutting.  I may or may not update you on the success of this endeavor, depending on how embarassing the result!