Bridesmaid Jewelry aka Will Work for Nut Butter

This weekend I went to the awesome wedding of Curly J.  I will give you some more details about the wedding later this week.  But first, let's talk about my big project...

J decided she wanted some "fun" jewelry for the bridesmaids to wear.  She showed me some pictures of things that I didn't really know how to make but I said if she picked out all the beads, I would string them together for us.  She had some flower beads made by a seller on Etsy (whose name I cannot remember right now).  Then we selected other beads that we thought would go well with them and then I attached everything together.  I though they ended up looking pretty good.

Each necklace was little different which I thought was nice.

As my reward for being a jewelry consultant, Curly J got me this awesome gift basket filled with some locally made nut butters and accompaniments (crackers, apples, chocolate, etc).  The nut butter was made by Big Spoon which is a local roaster and nut butter company in Durham.  This stuff was good.  We had cashew, almond and peanut.  I enjoyed the peanut the best.  It was just a little sweet and had a great nutty texture.  I liked putting some of the peanut butter and some honey on a graham cracker as a snack.

I'm still recovering from all the food and dancing this weekend, so I will get back with you on more details of the wedding soon.

What do you think of the bridesmaid jewelry?

Have you ever had fresh nut butter?

HandMade Birthday Presents by Me!

Because I like a good challenge, I decided that this year I would try to make all my friends their birthday presents.  Isn't that what most people want for their 30th birthday (most of my friends are turning 30 this year)??

So we started off with $hanzles back in February.  This was when I had a lot of motivation and decided I could make hard/awesome stuff for everyone.  So I sewed her this little pouch in NC State colors (yay WolfPack!).  It only took me a billion hours to make.  (That might be an exaggeration.   The pattern is pretty simple).  I also made her some earrings.  I thought that I'd promised to make her yellow earrings.  Turns out I was supposed to make her green ones.  Oh well, now she has some yellow ones and still no green ones.  It's the thought that counts, right?

Then it was off to Curly T and Beezus5, the late April, early May birthdays.  This was when I really got into making t-shirt scarves.  I tried really hard on Curly T's and ended up with something pretty decent.  That is me modeling it below.  It looked much better when she wore it.  She put the flower part up around her neck.

Beezus5's was made at the last minute.  Her t-shirt scarf was still shedding a little when I gave it to her.  But she couldn't be mad because I spent most of my time on her graduation present which I gave her the same week as her bday.  Again, thought that counts, right?

So far, I have been able to make all the birthday gifts.  Don't feel bad though if your birthday is later in the year and I end up making you something really terrible or giving you a gift card.  I'm not sure how long this creativity can last.

Do you like handmade gifts?

PS-The t-shirt scarf is actually pretty easy to make if you want to give someone a handmade gift. 

Race for the Cure and Tie Dye...

This weekend was the Komen Race for the Cure 5K.  I was the team captain and since I have such a passion for t-shirt decor I decided to go all out on my team t-shirts.  I wanted something awesome with no puffy paint so I decided to go for tie dye.  Fortunately AC Moore did not have all the sizes I needed in white so I ended up buying gray t-shirts.  The gray t-shirts ended up being awesome once they were tie dyed.

How To Make Awesome Inspirational 5K T-shirts....

1-Buy shirts

2-Wash shirts

3-Tie Dye shirts with a tie dye kit from the craft store

4-Wash shirts again

5-Stencil shirts with stencils, a stencil brush and fabric paint (I stenciled a big T and G on each shirt)

6-Write on the shirts with a fabric marker (I wrote out the rest of the team name in fabric marker)

7-Let the shirts dry for 3 days and then wash them again so your friends get tie dye all over their bodies while running.

Now here are some pictures.  It was a great event.  There were thousands of people there.

harassing Hobie at 6 in the morning

pre-race

look at all those people and look at the starting line way up there

post-race, looking good

doesn't B look great in tie dye?

post race team pic

riding the shuttle back to the cars

My time for this race was 55 minutes.  I know what you are thinking.  That is really slow.  Well it took us 15 minutes to get to the starting line and about 10 more minutes before we could actually start jogging.  There was so many people there...which is good.  My team ended up raising over $1300!  Thanks to everyone who ran with me, raised money and donated money.  Go Team Gumby!

The Graduate and/or How to Make a Graduation Present Out of Old Emails

This week is a big week for Beezus5.  Yesterday she graduated from grad school and today is her 30th birthday.  But she has a birthday every year so let's focus on grad school.  Three years ago, she decided that she didn't want to spend the rest of her days "making copies and moving commas around in documents", so she decided to go to school for Speech Language Pathology. 

This was a long and trying road for both of us.  For her, it was because she actually had to go to school and do homework and take tests and do projects and stuff.  For me, it was because I had to constantly inspire her with witty emails, quotes, and pictures.  At some point in the Fall of 2008, I decided to start sending her inspirational emails.  At this time she was taking undergrad pre-req classes in order to get into the graduate school program.  She was also still working her day job.  My inspirational emails included....

Song Lyrics......
such as, 'I Believe I can Fly' by R. Kelly.

Pictures.....

Inspirational Quotes

"Once you say you're going to settle for second, that's what happens to you."

John F. Kennedy
"The only place where success comes before work is in the dictionary."
Vidal Sassoon
"It takes a great deal of bravery to stand up to our enemies, just as much to stand up to our friends." Dumbledore

Quotes from TV Shows....
I won't bore you with these but The Office, 24 and Lost all feature their fair share of inspirational quotes.  I even typed out the "Live Together, Die Alone" speech from Lost one day.  I really think that got her through some tough tests.

You might be wondering why I felt it necessary to send these types of emails out several times a week.  It was mostly because Beezus5 went all Hermione (Harry Potter reference) on me and started acting mildly crazy for a few months.  This mostly occurred during 2009 when she was waiting to hear if she was officially accepted into the graduate program.  Here is some background info...she made straight A's in all her pre-req classes,  all her teachers jumped at the chance to write her recommendations, she did volunteer work, she is fluent in Spanish (which made her a hot commodity in the SLP field), etc.  However, she convinced herself she wasn't going to get in based on the following reasons....

"If we are annoying and have bad personalities, they won't let us in"
"I talk a lot in class.  Maybe too much.  Maybe they think I'm a kiss ass"
"I turned my observations in really late"
"I got an 84 on a test"

Amazingly, in mid-March, B5 got the glorious news that she had been accepted into the program and was also offered a Graduate Assistantship (aka money).  I'm pretty sure they only give those to the smart kids.  After that it was semi-smooth sailing.   There was still lots of work (for her) but I stopped having to send the inspirational emails every day.  I guess if I had to add it up, she gets 90% credit for her degree while 10% goes to me.

To celebrate the occasion, I printed out a bunch of our old email correspondences and gmail chats and turned them into a memoir.

I also ordered her this owl picture from Etsy because she likes owls and because owls are wise, like her.

So congrats B5 and oh yeah, Happy Birthday!

PS-And congrats to my brother (who I'm pretty sure does not read this blog) who is graduating from grad school today also!  I never had to send him inspirational emails so I can't really take any credit for his degree.

British Food and the Royal Wedding

In honor of the Royal Wedding, I decided to British it up a bit this weekend.  I wanted to make a Shepherd's pie so I browsed a few recipes on the Internet and they all seemed complicated so I  decided to make one up.  I knew Shepherd's Pie was a meat pie with mashed potatoes on top so I based my recipe on that.

Easy Shepherd's Pie

1/2 small onion, chopped

1 lb ground beef

1 8.5 oz can of corn

1 8.5 oz can of peas

1 8 oz can of tomato sauce

1 tablespoon of tomato paste

salt, pepper, garlic salt, Italian Seasoning

mashed potatoes (I used the pre-made kind from the refrigerator section because they were on sale)

Cook the onion until it is tender then add in in the beef.  Once that is cooked, add in the veggies, tomato sauce and tomato paste.  Add whatever seasonings you want.  Then let it simmer for a few minutes.  Place that mixture at the bottom of an 8x8 pan and then top with mashed potatoes.  Cook for about 30 minutes at 350 or until the beef mixture is bubbling and the potatoes are starting to brown.

Remember that Friend's Episode where Rachel tries to make an English Trifle but accidentally adds "beef sauteed with peas and carrots"?  Yeah.  That is what I was thinking about the whole time I was making this.  I wanted to make a Trifle but without actually having to look up a recipe.  So I just mixed a few things together that I thought would taste good.  I think trifles normally have jam in them but I didn't have any jam.

My fake English Trifle (also this is low-fat)
fat-free pudding mix
milk
small container of Cool Whip
carton of strawberries
a couple spoonfuls of sugar
pre-made angel food cake


Make the pudding according to the package.  Then add half of the Cool Whip to the pudding mix.  Save the rest of the Cool Whip.  Cut the strawberries into small pieces and add a little sugar and water.  Layer small cubes of the cake with the strawberries and pudding.  Then add a layer of Cool Whip to the very top. 

We needed a beverage and I did not feel like making hot tea so I went with beer.  I found this Oatmeal Stout at the grocery store and it said 'product of England' on it so I knew it would be the perfect compliment to my meal.

Overall, my English meal was really easy and pretty tasty, if I do say so myself.
Now on to the Royal Wedding.  My favorite fashion from the Royal Wedding was obviously THE DRESS.....I thought it was perfect for a princess.  Very classy, simple, elegant, awesome.  I liked Pippa's dress too and also the name, Pippa.

pic from people.com

I also love these hats.  Yes, they are crazy, but when else would you have to opportunity to make such a fashion statement?  I think they are kind of awesome.  Curly J's going to love it when I show up at her wedding in one.

pic from people.com

Did you watch the wedding?
What did you think?
What is your favorite British food?