house tour

i love real estate. therefore, it should be totally unsurprising that i started this blog as a diary of my house hunting journey.  even though i have been living in little orchid for a year, i still have a slight obsession with home-buying.  enter my DVR, overloaded with house hunters, my first place and property virgins; thank you HGTV.  while i still feel there is so much more i want to do with my home, i originally intended to document the transformation process, and so here is the first sneak peek:

in first looking at pictures online of the listing, i was in love with the purple walls!  in person? not so much...  so in came my paint brush, down came the shelves anchored into the wall, and i ushered in some new furniture courtesy of my favorite store ever - ikea!

i was most excited about getting bookshelves to display things on and add color to the room; i went with pecan sandie as a base color for most of the house, and it was perfect for adding pops of color!  you will notice (if you know me personally) that those are not the original couches that i moved in with...

these two decided to eat them!

obsessed with sichuan

after living in lovely Japan for a good chunk of my childhood, i have {obviously} developed quite a taste for asian inspired foods.  if you saw my pinterest boards, you would understand.  anywho, remember that lovely bbq we went to where i made boozy sangria?  well, i decided to triple stamp a double stamp and make an amazing pinspired recipe from kalyn's kitchen, and try out her spicy sichuan style green beans.

keeping true to form, i did modify and tweak this recipe based on ingredients i had at home; therefore, i present to you:

recipe necessities {yields: 4 large servings}:
1 lb. fresh green beans, trimmed and cut into halves
1 tbl. soy sauce
1 tbl. unseasoned rice vinegar
4 Splenda packets
1/3 tsp. red pepper flakes
1/4 tsp. black pepper
1 tbl. canola oil
2 tbl. minced garlic

you'll want to steam the beans in a pan on the stove, and I added about 1/3 cup of water to speed the process along.  i let them cook for about 4-5 minutes on medium-high heat, until they were slightly tender and a bright green.  then, add the garlic and oil into the pot and stir until the beans are well coated; cook another 2-3 minutes.


in a separate bowl, combine the remaining ingredients and adjust to taste {i ended up adding a bit more soy sauce and vinegar to the sauce}. add the sauce into the beans {most of the water should be evaporated by now}, and stir until well coated.  let simmer for another 2-3 minutes until the sauce thickens.  serve!

these bad boys were gone PDQ, and they were simply amazing and delicious... hope you enjoy!

knot your average tutu...

omg guys. my craft skills {and i use that term loosely} continue to expand! my dear friend venessa had asked me to help make her beautiful daughter a tutu for her first birthday.  she found an amazingly helpful tutorial at mammalicious finds that we attempted {quite successfully} to replicate on our own...

it is with great pride i present to you:

 the "knotty" tutu tutorial!

crafty necessities {yields 1+ tutus}:

3 spools of tulle {25 ft each}, minimum

1" wide elastic 

sewing kit

the entire project cost us only about $25, which isn't too bad considering what these babies go for online and in specialty stores!  we ended up purchasing pink, aqua and purple tulle, plus 2 smaller spools of glitter tulle for added flare; this is a first birthday after all!

we used this handy trick from treasures for tots to cut the tulle.  we decided we wanted about an 8" long tutu, so we doubled the amount of tulle and added 2 inches {18" total for those who can't add like me}.

measuring a squirmy baby's waist proved less simple, but that is the easiest way to determine how much elastic you will need.  the original tutorial said not to stretch it, but we found that the more tulle we added to the elastic, it naturally stretched it out; in this case, i would pull the elastic slightly taut for your measurement.

then we starting knotting away!  use a simple knot tying in opposite directions to form a "pretty" knot {i.e., tie it once left to right, then up and down to form the knot}.  we then rotated the tulle so that the knot was on the bottom of the elastic waistband.

we continued in this fashion, alternating colors and intermittently throwing in some glittery pieces...

we did push the knots closely together to get more fullness in the tutu, and this is what caused the elastic to stretch out; we ended up having to sew an overlapping piece together to get it to fit correctly...

how cute is this thing?! it only took us about 2 hours to put it all together, which isn't bad for the first time... 

i think there is going to be one very adorable and colorful 1 year old who will be very excited to get cake all over our hard work!

a hangover is the wrath of grapes...

i get real excited when it comes to cookouts and bar-bee-que, because not only does that mean good food, but good booze!  i had been severely craving a good glass of sangria, so rather than overpaying for a smaller bottle of the good stuff at the store, i made my own!

just a fair warning: this recipe is dangerous.  or at least it was for me after a few rounds of cranium...

libation necessities {yields: good times}:

1 bottle of sweet red table wine {or your wine of choice}

sprite zero

triple sec

cherry vodka {or flavor of your choice}

grenadine

assorted fruits

i used everyone's favorite friend a plastic red cup to make my drink.  i filled the cup 3/4 of the way with ice, then 3/4 of the way with the wine.  i added about a 1/2 a shot of triple sec, a splash{ish} of cherry vodka and a splash of grenadine before filling the cup almost the rest of the way with sprite zero.  i squeezed some yummy fruit into the mixture, added a straw and sipped away!  i think this recipe would also be good with raspberry, strawberry or pomegranate vodka as well...

needless to say, it was a great night with great friends!  we are hosting the next game night, and i've already started planning like crazy! more to come on that front...

little black blazer...

this week's pinspiration post comes to us in the form of fashion.  behold:

THE BLAZER!

i definitely feel i'm one of those people that comes into the latest fashion trend two seasons too late, because it takes me 6 months to figure out how to pull it off with pasty skin and bowed legs.  needless to say, i'm a little heartbroken it's about to be 207 degrees in a month, and i'll have to shelf my little blazers.  i own {now} 3 total blazers, all black... including this little number:

BOYFRIEND BLAZER from Lauren Conrad's line at Kohl's

however slimming black may be, i'd like to expand my horizons.  LC also has an adorable white blazer that i am wanting to snatch up from kohl's as well...

of course this look will also have to accompany a full-body spray tan and new highlights...

looking back...

my father asked that i put the link up to my old blog, as i had originally deleted it due to its {almost} utter horrid-ness.  nonetheless, you can access the house diaries v.1.0 here.  just don't judge a girl...

meet my new friend, modge podge...

like i was saying in my popcorn post, i've been using others' special occasions as an excuse to craft and cook!  earlier in the year i attempted tile coasters for my bestie amanda's birthday! however {like a true noob} didn't take a single photograph to showcase my minor victory over the DIY world.  so naturally, i made more!  i credit Jordan over at blueprint crafts for the original tutorial, and you can see her lovely work over at her blog!

crafty necessities {for 4 coasters}:
4 white ceramic tile coasters {home depot for $.16!}
4 sheets of scrapbook paper of your choice {also uber cheap}
modge podge {$4.99 @ hobby lobby}
clear acrylic spray, glossy coat {$5.99 @ hobby lobby}
16 felt backings
sponge brush

rinse and dry your tiles.  cut the scrap book paper into 4x4 sqaures; the tiles i used were about 4.25x4.25 and i wanted a slight white edge.  using the sponge brush, apply a thin layer of modge podge to the tile then place the paper over it.  smooth out any air-bubbles to the best of your ability; apply another thin layer of modge podge on top of the paper, coating evenly.

repeat this with the remaining tiles; you will apply 2-3 more layers of modge podge to each coaster, waiting at least 15 minutes between coats.  once completely dry, apply the felt backings to each corner of each tile.  let the tiles sit overnight, then the next day apply an even layer of acrylic spray to each tile to seal them completely.  and voila, a super-cute and thoughtful hand-made gift!

i brought the pink and green coasters featured above to my friend kiera for her birthday, and now she wants to learn how to make them too!  i wrapped them up with a bit of ribbon and brought them over to her place for a birthday celebration {with my cake batter popcorn in tow} with some of our friends.

not too shabby i say...

poppity pop...

i've realized that other people's special occasions have yielded many opportunities for me to continue to craft my culinary skills.  for this, i am grateful! keep being born, having babies and getting engaged... more chances to bake and make for me!

now this recipe was discovered {surprise, surprise} on pinterest via bakergirl.  once again, this recipe was tweaked due to a chocolate melting faux pas on my part.  didn't realize how easy it was to overheat chocolate, but apparently this is a common rookie mistake that i walked right into...  just fyi: overheated chocolate becomes thick and chalky, and almost impossible to work with.  however, {thanks to Google} i remedied my error, and yielded a different take on bakergirl's birthday cake popcorn and discovered...

woop woop! i will say, this stuff was gone in under 10 minutes... it was the perfect combination of sweet and salty goodness!  yum-o!

recipe necessities:
2 bags popcorn, popped {i used orville redenbacher movie theater butter popcorn}
1 bag white chocolate chips {i used an 11oz bag of godiva}
2 tbsp. of butter
2 "capfulls" of canola oil
4 tbsp. of yellow cake mix {heaping}
Rainbow sprinkles {a #$@! ton}

pop your popcorn however you prefer, then pour it out over paper towels and pick out any unpopped kernels.  i took generous liberties with salt at this point, and took it up a notch to help contrast the sweetness. i also worked in two batches, using 1 bag of popcorn at a time...

You can melt the bag of chocolate chips in the microwave or by double boiling it on the stove.  because i effed mine up, that's how the butter and canola oil came into the picture, but i think it actually made it better!  it was easier to drizzle the chocolate over the popcorn as well since it made it thinner...  

once your chocolate and butter are melted and you've mixed in the oil, add the cake mix and stir until well incorporated.  i added a lot of sprinkles to the mixture and stirred them in as well.

transfer your popcorn onto a wax-paper lined cookie sheet, and drizzle the chocolate over the popcorn with a  fork.  i tended to also mix the popcorn with my hands and move it around to get as much of the kernels coated as possible; add more sprinkles!  refrigerate for up to 30 minutes, then break up the kernels and serve chilled!