Tuesday, November 27, 2012

Tippy Tuesday

As I mentioned on Facebook last week, my dad saw a cat hanging out in the parking lot at Food City.  When he got home, there was the cat!  Yep, the cat managed to climb underneath his truck and "hitch" a ride home with my dad.  That's why we call her Hitch.  We are not cat people but we've all taken up with this cat.  Unfortunately, Hitch can't come inside because of the dogs so we're still looking for a good home for her.  She's sooo sweet and sooo cute too!  Anyway, here is a little video of Tippy meeting Hitch for the first time......Tippy's not a fan.

Tuesday, November 20, 2012

Tippy Tuesday

Let's look at the elements of this photo:  A piece of sausage.  Rocky with his eye on the prize.  Now I ask you....Do you think Tippy is A) smiling with excitement or B) about to rip his head off?


Monday, November 19, 2012

Cooking Challenge...Pinterest Style: White Chili

Hey, what's cookin'?!  I had some White Chili cookin' over here!  Yep, that was my latest recipe in my Cooking Challenge.  I found the recipe here and I actually thought it was pretty good!  It was very beany but I didn't mind because I looooove me some beans! 


There was only one thing I did differently.  In the recipe, she said it was a little soupy and it's probably because the recipe said to not drain the beans.  Since I'm not big on soupy stuff, I drained one of the cans and mine turned out perfect!  Oh, and adding a bit mozzarella cheese made it even better!!!


Using my rating scale:

1 - Dear recipe, RIP. Laters, Shari
2 - I'll cook it again....if I'm cooking for someone I don't like.
3 - Eh, if I already have the ingredients, I may whip it up.
4 - I like you, but I'm not in love with you.
5 - Get in my belly!

I give the White Chili a.......4.5

I would've given it a 5 if I didn't eat it for 4 days in a row and got slightly burnt out on it. 

Tuesday, November 13, 2012

An Ode to Mila....but not Kunis

Here's one you can file under I-meant-to-blog-about-this-4-months-ago.  My friend, Karmen had a baby back in June and I decided to let The Crafty Bachelorette come out and whip out a gift.  Maybe I shouldn't say "whip it out" because that makes it sounds like it didn't take much time.....but it did.  Like I did in this post, I drew out the design on graph paper (sorry, forgot to take photos).  I bought a book of some fonts and I had to decide what fonts I wanted to use based on how bold they were and how many stitches tall and wide it would end up being.  I wouldn't want the baby's weight and length to be a bigger font than her name!  Most of the fonts I used from the book but there were some that I created on my own.  I wish I could remember which fonts I created but since I made it 4 months ago, I really can't remember.  Sad, I know.  I'm thinking it was the line with the weight and length then the font in blue that says "Proud Parents".  I really didn't think it was going to take as long as it did but I didn't mind it because I was making it for someone else and gee, I sure do miss cross-stitching! 


I know it doesn't photgraph well so in case you can't read it, it says:
Mila Katherine (I love that name)
June 15, 2012 5:49pm
7lbs 8oz  20.5 inches
Proud Parents Karmen + Travis


Here's a better close up.


And here is a pic she posted on Facebook that shows it hanging in the nursery.  I love the yellow matting with the blue walls. 


And if you're wondering, I was able to get in to see the nursery beforehand and took some pics of the bedding and pulled out all of the colors from it. 

I think it turned out pretty....But not as pretty as that baby she popped out.  I swear, she makes some of the prettiest babies!

Tippy Tuesday

If this isn't the look of guilt, I don't know what is.


Sunday, November 11, 2012

Artfully Yours....or Mine

I'm sure you've heard about all of these cute little painting studios popping up where you can spend an hour or two painting a particular painting.  Some of them you can even bring in adult beverages!  There's one in Louisville called Sips n' Strokes.  Doesn't that name just scream a good time?  Get your minds outta the gutter!  Anywho, there's a new studio that opened up here in Richmond called Artfully Yours.  I don't think they actually advertise that you can bring beverages but we didn't need to because we spent 2 hours at Casa Fiesta before going to class.  Holla!....or should I say Hola!

It was super fun and I definitely want to go back!  Here's my masterpiece. 


I had a problem with my leaves....I kept making them to where they looked like they were flipping the bird! (Subconscience talking?) First, it was the one on the bottom left and I tweaked it so that it didn't look so crude.  Then I'll be darn if I didn't do it again on the very top one!  I decided to just leave it.  I mean, don't true painters paint what they feel?  That must have been what I was feeling so why cover up my true emotions.  Plus, it's kinda funny.

And here we both are with our paintings.   


We definitely plan on coming back!  Perhaps to the paint your pet class.....

As if Tippy needs any more shrines in my house!

Tuesday, November 6, 2012

Tippy Tuesday

Yesterday, I was sitting at my vanity putting my makeup on when I saw this going on behind me in the reflection of the mirror.

A couple of things to note:
1) Yes, that is Justin Bieber playing in the background.
2) Watch til the very end because the best part begins at the :24 mark.


Monday, November 5, 2012

It's here!! It's here!!

What's here, you ask?  Only the book written by my very favorite blog in the whole wide world Young House Love, that I pre-ordered on July 1st!  It's the same blog that I talked about here.


I received an email last week that it would actually arrive today but the UPS man (or was it Fed-Ex?) decided that Christmas should come early for me so he delivered it on Saturday!  Unfortunately (and ironically), I couldn't dive into it right then because I was getting dressed to drive 2 hours to Cincinnati to take a trip to IKEA.  Why is it ironic?  Well, IKEA is "their jam" and also Cincy was the very first stop on their first ever book tour....because this is their first ever book.  Sadly, I didn't get to make it to their book tour stop because I had already planned a little weekend girls' trip to Myrtle Beach.  I was sad that I couldn't be a part of their first stop on their book tour but I'm hoping I can catch them somewhere else even though all of their other stops aren't exactly close.  I think they're in the process of scheduling one in Atlanta so you can bet your britches that I'm gonna drive the 6 hours down there to see them! 

Before I get into my love affair with this book, let's back up to last week.  I stopped in Barnes & Noble to say hi to a friend that works there and thought that maybe I would just walk by the Interior Design section and just SEE if they already had it in stock.  I strolled by and look what I saw!


I was torn.  Should I "cheat" on my exclusive copy and look at one of these other books?  I didn't know what to do.  So I casually picked one up and my breaths were getting very short and shallow.....then I got light-headed because of my lack of oxygen.  I have to say that I've never reacted this way over a book.  A book, people.  A book!  So I rubbed my hand over the cover.  Turned it over and rubbed my hand on the back.  Should I open it?  I didn't know what to do.  I took a deep breath (still feeling light-headed) and opened the cover.  


Ahhh!  This may just look like a meaningless pattern to you but it's not.  They designed it themselves based on a little heart logo of theirs and turned it into a pattern that screams Young House Love!  When I saw saw this pattern, I knew this was fo' real.  I basically just slowly fanned the pages out so I wasn't technically cheating on my copy.  I was just getting a preview.  I mean, anytime Justin Timberlake comes out with a new movie, I know I'm gonna spend my money and check out his fine self.  Just because I watch the preview on TV and rewind it over and over again doesn't mean I'm not gonna enjoy every single second of the full-length movie.  

After my little rendezvous with the book, I put it back on the shelf and then hoped that all those people around me didn't actually see what had just happened with me and this book.  It was a private moment.  

Back to my copy!  I got home late Saturday night, slept in til about 9 but when I got up, it was on like donkey kong.  Before I even had my breakfast, I set up shop on the couch.  Stretched out on the couch with blanket....check.  Book....check.  Post-its to flag projects I want to do....check.  Tippy pouting because this book is going to more attention than her today.....check!


I seriously wanted to read every. single. word. of this book.  I even read this page....the page that nobody reads.  I'm tellin' ya.....I was serious about this book.  Oh, did I mention that I've never pre-ordered a book in my life?....And I ordered this one 4 months in advance.  


One page into the book and Tippy had the mentality of "if you can't beat 'em, join 'em."


Soooooo.....how big of a loser would I be if I told you about 6-7 hours later, I read all 336 pages.....all 10 chapters....all 243 ways to paint, craft, update & show my home some love.  The only thing I didn't read was the 10 pages of resources because I knew I could easily refer to those pages if I needed to know where something in their book came from.  Thank God for that extra hour we gained yesterday because that allowed me more time to park my butt on the couch and only get up to pee and eat.  Right before I was about to start reading chapter 5 about organizing, I realized it was 1:28pm and I should probably go brush my teeth for the first time today.  I'm not kidding.  I had this day completely blocked off for Young House Love.  I didn't even take the time to play with my new stuff I got at IKEA the day before....actually, it's still in the car. 

So my opinion of the book?  It's great.  It's cute.  They're cute.  I love how their sense of humor is all over it.  It was exciting.  It had great ideas.  Leave your house right now and go buy it....or just get on your computer and order it.  Actually....scratch that.  You'll have to wait for it to be delivered.  Go.  Right now.  Get it.  Oh, and check out their blog when you get back. www.younghouselove.com.  (Like they actually need my help in getting followers....Ha!)  But I'm not doing it for them.  I'm doing it for you.  You're life (and home) will be better.  Promise.

Update: Look who commented below!  Ahhhhhhh!!!!! 

Another update:  One of the photos I posted above made it in today's Young House Love post! This is the greatest day of my life!