Tie One On

When we were unpacking, I came across Colin’s birthday outfit, from his baptism romper to his birthday “suit”. God, he was dashing that day, in his red seersucker bow tie and blue checked button down. Luckily, I managed to snap a few photos (read: 3 photos, exactly)  to remember it by.  But the truth is, I’ve got a tiny man bow tie hanging around for which I have no real need.  And trust me, as the mother of a 1 year old, I’ve got plenty of miniature things hanging around. Quite enough really.  And I’m not one for clutter. But this puppy has sentimental value to this mama, so I knew I wanted to do something with it.

So when I was cruising the aisles at Target and saw a shadow box, I recalled a project over at Aubrey & Lindsay’s Blog and knew I had to recreate it for myself. So I grabbed a shadow box, some scrapbook paper and headed home to frame Colin’s first birthday bow tie. For posterity and the like. Ya know.

I just measured the paper to fit the back of the frame, grabbed my glue gun and centered the bow tie and glued away. I had to do this quick, because I was starting to have second thoughts. I mean, Colin could totally rock that tie again on Christmas, Valentine’s Day….I could go on. But truth is, as well as he worked it, he didn’t love the tie as much as I did. So I glued. And glued a little more. And I ended up with this:

Easy peasy. Just the kind of “craft” project I like. Mostly because it’s nearly impossible to screw up. 😉

Things to do today

1. Head to Trader Joes and buy mini pumpkins

2. Head to party store and buy vampire fangs

3. Head to stationery store for red map pins, whatever those are

4. Make these:

Fat Tuesday [Quinoa with Turkey Sausage and Mushrooms]

Happy Fatty!  Speaking of Fatty, mama finally got herself back to the gym for real this week. I belonged to a gym in Boston, but after the move I took my dear sweet time joining and eventually going back to the gym. And while I’ve been going for a few weeks, it’s time to get serious. Couch to 5K serious. That’s pretty serious. That’s post-partum body issue serious. So in addition to working out, we gotta clean up our act at home. Which is where quinoa comes in, and pasta promptly exits the room.

I’ve read about quinoa, the super grain, what have you.  Sounded yucky.  Besides, its Dr. Oz stamp of approval reeks of superiority. Also, I don’t know how to cook it.

Turns out, it’s super easy.  Basically, if you would use pasta or rice, just substitute quinoa. So I’ve entered the realm of KEEN-WAHHH (and I say it just like that, cuz it’s fun). And I had some random ingredients on hand, so I threw together a random kinda meal that turned out, in Kase’s words, “Awesome”. Here we go:

Ingredientzes:

3 links Turkey Italian Sausage, de-cased, crumbled

1 Red Bell Pepper

1 Cup Cooked Quinoa (follow directions according to package)

2 cups Chicken Broth

1 CupBaby Portabello Mushrooms

1 Clove Garlic, mashed and minced

1 can Diced Tomatoes, with juices

Jane’s Crazy Salt

Parmesan Cheese

Directions:

1. In saucepan, cook quinoa according to package directions (I use chicken broth in place of water, as per Trader Joe’s instructions)

2. De-case and crumble turkey sausage, place in separate pan to brown.  Add garlic.

3. Once sausage has mostly browned, add bell pepper and mushrooms to pan and allow to soften.

4. Once quinoa has cooked down with broth, add to pan with sausage, etc. and add tomatoes with juice. Allow to cook down. Season with Jane’s Krazy Salt or other seasoned salt.

5. Plate up and top with parmesan cheese (optional)

Extreme Quinoa Close Up. Mmmmm.

We went to pick a pumpkin

Last year this time, we had a tiny baby. And I had grand plans for a pumpkin patch excursion with said baby. We ended up going to a place that was a hit with my then 2 year old niece the year before, but turned out to be a bit commercial and crowded for a new mom with a brand new baby.  This picture pretty much sums it up:

Yup. Stroller parking. Kill me now. There is nothing worse than a place designed for children, but where you have to park a stroller anyway. But I would not be deterred. Oh no. I was getting a picture of my sweet baby resting among the pumpkins.  Which were not in a patch mind you, but already picked and waiting for you at the gift shop. Expectations were not quite met by any member of our family. See?

That there is Colin’s patented “Bitch, please!” look. But the infant version. He has perfected a new one now that he can fully control his facial expressions and they aren’t confined to changing simply when he has gas. He’s a very gifted child. But I mean, really. What in the heck was I thinking, taking a wee little 6 week old and PROPPING him up against some dirty ass pumpkins. New moms. We are insane. Just ignore us until the kid turns one.

But this year, I have a one year old. Which changes the game entirely. Duh. However, I do learn from past mistakes, so this year I was determined we find a nice *real* pumpkin patch, complete with tractor ride TO the pumpkins.  That was a necessity. My sister recommended we go out West to a little farm called “Great Country Farms”. And I’ll say it- that is not an exaggeration. That place was great. In fact, I was hesitant to even mention it by name because I don’t want everyone from the commercial farm *Cox Farms, Cough, Cough* going there next year.  Because it was really perfect. Picturesque setting, a real working farm that rotates crops and participates as a CSA, and owns real animals that are not trucked in for the occasion. A totally family friendly atmosphere. And they even had their own “Beyonce”.  Nuff said.

And now, I commence my photo dump:

Matching Father- Son Puffer Vests. Had to be done.

Discovering Grasshoppers in the….grass

Tractor rides are big hits with one year old boys. Colin repeated “Vroom” over and over the entire ride to the patch.

Almost there…..

The search for the perfect pumpkin. Ooooh, dirt! Let’s play with that.

And just when you thought the pig racing, tractor-riding, animal petting couldn’t get any better, this happened:

BEYONCE!!!!!*

Yeah, I’d say it was a perfect day.

*Editor’s note: I texted my dad the picture of Colin interacting with “Beyonce” as he is familiar with the Bloggess’ most famous post to date. His reply? “Tell me you didn’t buy that!”.  Well, as a matter of fact, I didn’t. But only because it wasn’t for sale.

Looking forward to the weekend!

I’ll go ahead and tell you: I had wine with dinner last night. Yeah, I’m glad it’s Friday.  Looks like the weather will be nice (and Fall-ish, FINALLY!) which is a good thing- we’ve got a visit to the pumpkin patch planned, and are thinking maybe we’ll hit up the National Zoo on Sunday for their annual Halloween event “Boo at the Zoo”.  Enjoy your weekend!

Fat Tuesday [Pumpkin Chili]

Happy Fatty!  More importantly, Happy October Fatty.  As you can probably tell, we’re on a pumpkin kick over here.  And being that it’s the Fall, why the hell not, right?  When I was picking up my canned pumpkin for last week’s recipe, I remembered last fall I cooked up a pumpkin chili that was fab-u-lous. And I must have promptly lost the recipe, or maybe it was on my work computer, but all’s I know is it’s gone, which is a damn shame.  Anyway, I scrounged up another recipe off the interwebs, changed it up a bit as is my wont (using Cinnamon!), and am here to share.

I should warn ahead, this makes a wholelotta chili.  I was making up a batch to taste test for a party. And I am sure it would have been more than enough to share with the group. So if you are cooking for just two or three, go ahead and make this and store the rest in the freezer. I hear chili gets better with age.  Just like me.

Ingredientses (not all pictured):

2 tbsp vegetable oil

1/2 cup chopped onion

1 clove garlic, finely chopped

1 bell pepper, chopped

1 lb ground turkey (feel free to use ground beef if that’s your jam)

2 cans (no-salt added) diced tomatoes with juices

1 can tomato sauce

1 can pumpkin

1 can kidney beans, drained

1 can pink beans, drained (or you can use black beans, or no beans.whatever. I like beans. )

1 bag of frozen corn (I used Trader Joe’s Roasted Corn, which I think was a goooood idea)

1 1/2 tbsp Chili Powder

1 tbsp Adobo seasoning

1 tsp of Brown Sugar

1 tbsp of ground Cinnamon (I used this to bring out the pumpkin, and also I like a cinnamon tinge to my chili, so use less if you don’t)

Sour Cream & Scallions for garnish. Add cheese too!  I just didn’t have any on hand. Oh, and Tostitos. They go real good, too.

Directions:

1. Heat up oil in large saucepan (I used a large cast iron pot).  Large is the operative word.  Cook up onions, bell peppers, and garlic.

2. Add in ground turkey and brown. Drain once cooked.

3. Add in remainder of ingredients: tomatoes, tomato sauce, pumpkin, corn and spices.   Bring to a simmer and allow to simmer for 30-40 minutes to allow liquids to cook down. Try not to be alarmed by the sheer amount of chili you have just created:

(That’s a wholelotta chili!)

4. Serve up with sour cream, cheese and scallions. And grab some Tostitos. Cuz they gooood. Ready to drool? Do it:

Happy Pumpkin Fatty!  Enjoy.

PS- Because this was a less spicy, more brown sugar/cinnamon based chili, Colin loved this!  And I love anything I can share at the table with him. But if you prefer a spicier chili, I would switch out the amount of brown sugar/cinnamon and add green chiles. But then, that would be a whole different recipe!

It’s Fall, Y’all

How’s that for a witty title?  And I’m not even Southern!

Sometimes, Kase and I just feel like hitting the open road with the despot in tow (and sleeping in the carseat) and travelling to Confederate Country to celebrate all things Fall. Like antique cars. And Llamas. Er, I mean, Alpacas. This post is really just an excuse to feature alpacas. Since we met some very nice fluffy ones this past weekend at the Bowling Green Fall Festival.  Wanna check it out?  Okay then. Let the photo dumping commence.

After parking, we hit up the antique car show, which kicked off the Main Street festivities. And I have to say, it was awesome. I love me some classic cars. No, I’m being serious. When I was younger, I was very knowledgeable about cars. I could even tell the make and model based on tail lights in the dark. You can ask my parents. Now? Not so much, but I do love looking at restored cars. Especially candy apple red Mustangs from the late 60s.  I told Kase if push came to shove, I would take a hard top over a convertible, in case he couldn’t locate a candy apple red convertible. Because in my opinion, you shouldn’t do a Mustang unless you can do candy apple red. Naturally. I was too busy ogling to take any pics – which was a shame, because there were some pretty impressive cars on display, like the Model T Speedster from 1928 or something like that- but we did take this pic for Kase’s mom, who always wanted a Triumph:

I love cars. Moving on.

So we meandered along the Main Street which resembled a sort of street fair in NYC- lots of fried food stands, Italian Ice, homemade lemonade, honking turkey drumsticks. You get the drift. I finally tried a Fried Twinkie.  And I say this with the utmost respect for twinkies and anything fried: NOT. WORTH. IT. Not even close to being worth it. See? I’m not Southern.

We hit up the local antique store, which apparently considers itself the Pottery Barn equivalent of Bowling Green (read: overpriced, but cute):

Loved this crate, but $35 seemed a bit much. Right? I don’t know. I always think antique stores should sell things for 25 cents. I’m delusional like that. Cute though.

Part of me really wanted these for Colin. Either set would have been fine, though I do have a soft spot for anything Muppet related. We had juice glasses like this growing up and I loved them. But again, the set seemed a bit pricey. So we went without. Bye, Betty. It’s been real.

Colin was beginning to get feisty, so we decided to hit up the petting zoo, which naturally, was in front of this. So meta.

I like how it says, “A Pauley Jail”. What the what?  It sounds like calling something “A Speilberg film”.  Who is this Pauley and why is he the go-to person for a jail? I need to google that shit.  But I probably won’t. But I should….

So we took a little look-see at the jailed animals. Er, I mean, “petting zoo”. I think I want me an alpaca. Decent animals, alpacas.

And calves:

And then all hell broke loose because we tried to remove Colin from the petting zoo area and instead he acted like a wild boor and the Caroline County Agricultural people thought we were trying to smuggle one of their animals away in our Maclaren and took us to the jail where they booked us for animal cruelty.  Just kidding. They booked us for child endangerment. Kidding again. But he did have a massive meltdown, so we moseyed on out of there.  But we felt like we had a nice little day of animal-pettin, car-oglin and twinkie-eatin, southern style. Which is to say, it was a good day.

The Bendel Stripe

I was recently at the mall and noticed Henri Bendel opened up a little boutique. I kept walking. Right on by. You see, I remember hitting up Bendel’s when I lived inNY for a grab bag type present- we got an expensive candle and called it a day. I never really explored the store since I was poor poor poor. So darn poor.  And even though I am still relatively poor, I decided to check out their wares online and was pleasantly surprised. Nothing that I had my eye on was insanely out of the question. Except for the $15,000 trunk. That might have been a little splurge-y.  For this month. Kidding.

So what did I do? I sent my loving husband an email with a bunch of stuff I liked. You know, just in case the mood struck and he wanted to buy me a pressie. Hasn’t happened yet, but I’m an optimist.

I am hooked on the Bendel stripe. I can’t help myself. I love a good stripe. But summer is over, and most stripes to me are reading “let’s hop on the yacht, starboard side. Ahoy!” (What? Is that not proper yacht lingo?). But the brown and white Bendel stripe is winning me over. Hard. Check it:

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And here I thought Kate Spade had the market cornered on cute fun wallets. Wrong! There is a really cute clutch they have that matches this, but let’s face it, I need a mom wallet, not an “I’m 20, hitting up the bars till 4 is my job” clutch.  But if you are 20, then I say go for it, cuz it’s totes cute girlfriend!

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You know I love me a cute iPhone case. And a stripey one? Fuhgeddaboutit.

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First, let me say I love how fingerless gloves are hot right now….because of texting! Stop it right now, fashion. But I’ll go ahead and put these striped gloves on the list- look at those awesome gold buttons on the side. Love.

Can’t forget about our home, now, can we?  Loving this graphic candle holder. I’ll go ahead and pass on the expensive candle they put in it and place my own version from Tar-jay, but for $15, I’ll take the base.

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Annnnd back to me. I love this bangle, mostly for the hidden little treat on the inside of it.  It’s classic with a twist and I think would work well with my new style overhaul. Don’t you? (say yes, and we’ll all get along fine.)

So that’s it. Anything catch your eye? Right now, it’s free shipping on orders over $150.

*I was not paid or compensated by Henri Bendel to write this post. I’ll be paying them, most likely, in the near future.

Dress it up

Little known fact: Back in high school and college, pretty much every shirt or top I owned was black. Literally. Every. Single. Item. You see, I am abnormally Irish pale. The kind of pale where your new boyfriend’s parents ask you if you are feeling ill. And then when you tell them you aren’t, that you are just normally this icky pallor, the mom offers you “rouge”. You read that right. ROUGE.  Which is a long way of saying I felt like wearing any sort of color could be risky, and if I was going to look pale anyway, black was a safe bet.

Well the other day I was looking through my closet and noticed I only own one black top these days, and it doesn’t really count since it’s a cardigan. But still. Even with all these exciting colors in my closet, like navy and cream and red and green, I’m still having trouble dressing myself. Like the way a toddler has trouble deciding what to wear when mommy allows him full access to his wardrobe. Except the toddler probably takes more risks and looks more fashion-forward.

Which is another long winded way of saying: I am a horrible dresser. Well, not horrible. But boring. I’m a boring dresser. Even for a stay at home mom.  I like basic tees and jeans paired with comfortable shoes. Which means not only do I look frumpy most of the time, but really boring. At least my hair is cooperating these days. Thank God for small miracles.

But I was on Pinterest the other day and came across some awesome outfit inspiration for the fashion challenged.  And the more I took in what I pinned, the more I realized, I’ve got most of the basic pieces. Which is good when you’re broke. So why is this so hard? Who knows, but I’ll go ahead and cheat and copy these instead- they’ll be my little daily cheat sheets. Shhh, don’t tell!

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What I love about this outfit (besides the fact that I own some of these basics) is not only how simple and comfortable it is, but it’s pretty stylish as well. The key is layers and dressing it up with accessories. Perfect for a Saturday afternoon. I think I can do that. (I think I can, I think I can, I think I can….)

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Again, a basic tee with jeans, which is usually my staple look.  But in this case, I’ll work in some accessories, like a nice fall bag and some really pretty jewelry. I’d wear this out to dinner. Earrings and heels? Night out in my book.

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Are you sensing a theme here? Girlfriend likes herself a basic long sleeved tee with some jeansies. It’s a free country, I can do what I want. The key here is to dress it up and make it stylish, which is where I am lacking.  A lot. But again, I’ve got me some pearl earrings as well as the cream scarf. I also love the idea of pairing grey with a camel strap watch. Who woulda thought? Oh. Someone with style. Apparently, they call this color combo charcoal and cognac. I call it gray and brown. See? So sad. This outfit is a great go-to for trips to Target, the grocery store, the playground, etc. Which is pretty much what we do around here. And I love every minute of it. But maybe now I’ll feel a little more stylish.

Fat Tuesday [Quick Easy Pumpkin Bread]

Recently, a conversation went down in my house like so:

 Kase: Well, is that so, Grouchy?

Kate (eating a Kit-Kat while simultaneously opening another): Did you just call me Pudgy?

Kase: What? N0! I called you grouchy.  (to be fair, I was being slightly disagreeable)

Kate: Oh, I thought you called me fat. I’m going to make a cake.

So naturally, that is what I did. Well, a cakey bread, really. Whatever. I’m sure a lot of you have seen the 2 ingredient pumpkin bread recipe floating around the interwebs, but I decided to change it up and bake it up! So while not maintaining the “ease” of using 2 ingredients, I think it’s worth the extra 5 seconds of your time.

Ingredientses:

1 box of Spice Cake mix

1 can of Canned Pumpkin

1 tsp of pumpkin pie spice

Walnuts (optional)

Cream Cheese frosting (optional, but you’d be a fool not to. Just sayin’)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine cake mix, canned pumpkin, spice and walnuts with hand mixer.  Spread into greased baking pan and bake for 30-35 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean.

Allow to sit for 30 minutes and cool, then frost. And then. O.M.G. You’re welcome.

So…that happened

This past weekend, I spent Saturday driving up to Wilmington, DE to meet up with some pretty awesome organ harvesters fellow bloggers. You see, back in May, one of my favorites bloggers, Shannon, invited her fellow bloggers to spend a weekend in Philadelphia, but Shannon, being Shannon, meaning, being awesome, decided to name this event, “Always Bloggy”, like so:

How can you turn down an invitation like that? I couldn’t. So off to Philly/Delaware we went. A couple of things about the weekend, which was awesome:

1. My fellow lady bloggers are quite a cool and fun bunch. Not to be confused with a “funky bunch”. That’s Marky Mark Wahlberg’s posse.

2. Philadelphia has a slight cat population control issue.  And I’m not talking live cats.  Ceramic, wood, metal, you name it. It was feline.

3. I can now give you a recommendation as to where to get your cheesesteak “Whiz Wit”.  And it was delicious.

4. Little known fact: Betsy Ross was a mass murderer.  Black Widow style. At least that is what the (un)guided tour we took led me to believe. She married three times before thirty and they ALL DIED.  Don’t you worry though, CSI: Revolutionary Edition is on the case.

5. Bethany can play a mean pipe flute.

6. Raw cocoa pods are not suited for small children, as they are slightly pornographic. I do not recommend.

7. The Wilmington Target still has Missoni items. And even though my hostess calls the line “Fug” I may have purchased these:

 

So…that happened. And then my camera died. Which is why I only got this pic:

The Look for Less [Pebble Rug edition]

Was cruising the aisles at Target yesterday and noticed they have a new selection of rugs which look mighty fine if you ask me.  One in particular caught my eye as it closely resembled one of my favorites over at West Elm the Pebble Rug, in gray. Check it!

West Elm Pebble Rug, 5X8, $349

Target Popcorn Rug, 5x7, $179

Fat Tuesday [Baked Turkey Teriyaki Meatballs]

Happy Fatty!  This week’s recipe is an ode to Shaw’s grocery store, and more specifically, their ready to go a la carte hot bar. Yeah, I’m fancy. You see, they have this Teriyaki meatball that is legendary. I say legendary as it reached that status in my mind because in the entire time I lived in Boston, I ordered it once and then never saw it on offer again. Which was a shame really, cuz they was delicious. Especially with their fried rice. Yummy. So I decided to cobble together a few recipes found on the old interwebs and came up with this deliciousness. Try it out.

Turkey Teriyaki Meatballs

Ingredientses:

1 lb. Ground Turkey

3 stems of scallions (green onions), chopped

1 tbsp Ginger (if you’re not a fan of ginger, I’d go ahead and skip this)

1/4 cup of teriyaki sauce (I cheated and bought it)

1 cup of plain bread crumbs

1 tsp soy sauce

1 egg, beaten

Cooking spray

Glaze Sauce:

1 cup of Teriyaki Sauce

1 can diced pineapple with juice

Directions:

1. Combine ground turkey, teriyaki sauce, egg, scallions, bread crumbs and ginger. Combine well.

2. Line baking sheet with aluminum foil. Form 2 inch meatballs and place onto baking sheet, like so:

3. Place into 375 degree oven for 20 minutes.

4. Pour glaze ingredients into large sauce pan. Add partially cooked meatballs and simmer for 10 minutes. Remove from heat and serve over rice.

Yummy!

Enjoy!

I need sleep. And I’m cheap.

The despot is cutting FOUR teeth at the moment, so I am quite tired lately. And what’s worse?  I have a crappy bedroom set up right now. We got rid of our Ikea upholstered bed frame fearing it would not make yet another move (which it wouldn’t, let’s be honest), and so we are currently sleeping on a mattress on the floor like college kids. And then there is the tiny but annoying issue of the off-center windows, making it hard to find an appropriate spot for the king size bed and making it especially hard for me to find a balanced floor plan. Which is all to say, I’ve pretty much given up.  I’m tired, give me a break. 😉

But it’s time to get this thing done, and even more important, done on a budget, which is where one of my favorite bloggers saved the day for me.  Take in The Simple Things, and Carly’s new bedroom re-design:

Carly is my girl, because she loves Ikea as much as I do. Which to be quite honest, I didn’t think was possible. But it looks to me like she has our old rug, and the Hemnes side tables, and a Pottery Barn old fashioned phone, which we also own, natch. Top it all off with simple and serene white bedding (Check!) and  you have a very calming bedroom, in my opinion.

On the to do list is buy a metal bed frame to bring our mattress up off the floor, a bed skirt and new blinds. I really love the bamboo blinds she hung, which add a bit of dimension and texture and tie into the rug quite nicely. And I know I can score those drapes for cheap at the ol’ Ikea.

Well done, Carly! And thanks so much for the inspiration!