I've Moved!

My blog has moved! Please visit  MY NEW BLOG for more posts on creative fashion and home decor ideas as well as living a thrifty lifestyle. I hope you'll subscribe to my new site and continue with me on my journey!

Towanda!

Just sharing a recent photo of my oldest.  This photo reminds me of the "Towanda!" scenes in Fried Green Tomatoes, one of my favorite movies of all time. Which reminds me, it will be time to make some fried green tomatoes soon! But, I digress. May this picture serve as a reminder to never give up on your inner "Towanda". Hope the week is getting off to a good start for all of you!

10 Things You Might Not Know About Me

I got the idea for this blogpost from a Facebook post that was going around a couple of years ago. The post suggested that you make a list of 25 things about yourself and post it as a note for others to see. I had so much fun doing this. When I had my list ready, I printed it out and saved it for my kids to have one day. It was so easy to come up with 25 things too. I could come up with several of these lists. So, here are 10 things you might not know about me:

1) I am fascinated with ghost and angel stories. I don't really know why.

2) I like to eat peanut butter straight from the jar. Sometimes I like to add chocolate chips.

3) I occasionally wonder why I don't just buy Reese's instead but I don't wonder about it for too long.

4) My Stepdad took me arrowhead hunting when I was little and hid one for me to find. I was well into my 20's before I realized this.

5) I love reminiscing on why God put me in a certain place at a certain time. It's like having a word on the tip of your tongue but you can't quite think of it.

6) I love going to estate auctions and sometimes I go just to watch the auction and have a hot dog or some homemade pie.

7) My favorite kind of excercise is turning up the radio and dancing around the room. The radio pictured here is the radio I had as a kid. Sadly, it doesn't work anymore.

8) I am torn between wishing I could go back and do some things differently and wanting to leave them the same because I learned a valuable lesson.

9) I was named after the character Beth in the movie "Little Women" that my mother saw as a child. We named our first son Elliott after the character in the movie "ET" that I saw as a child.

10) I have experienced an earthquake, tornado and flood but not a hurricane.

I apologize to those who may have already seen these on Facebook, but I will be doing more of these posts! Hope everyone has a wonderful Saturday!

How I Accessorized

As a stay at home Mom, I have a limited number of opportunities to get dressed up. When I worked, I remember setting out my outfit each night, along with my accessories. I remember having fun with that. It's so easy now to just get up and put on something comfortable. Plus, in their first couple of years, the kids enjoyed trying to rip everything off of me that wasn't attached. So, I take advantage of each opportunity to get out of the house and have fun putting together my accessories, even if my outfits may be a bit simpler now. By opportunities, I mean errands. A trip to town to go to the bank? I can accessorize. Grocery shopping? I can accessorize. I trip to the dentist to get a filling without accessorizing? Crazy! And of course, there is always Sunday Mass. So this past Sunday, here is how I accessorized. With my khaki capris, silky burgundy top and ivory sweater vest, I wore a vintage yellow pendant from Ebay that I attached to a gunmetal chain. 

I carried a vintage handbag in a matching shade of golden yellow that I found last summer at an estate sale. Love, love, love this handbag.

It's good for us stay at home Moms to dress up a little when we get out. It's good for the soul!

Featured!

My  collection of my Grandmother's antique hats was recently featured on the blog UpscaleDownhome and I wanted to share it on my blog. Sarah is a sweet gal that I met through Etsy. I regularly read Etsy's blog and love their "Get The Look" series where they showcase someone's home and decorating style. They always include links to Etsy products that are similar to the items in the showcased home so that you can "Get The Look" too! Sarah's home was recently featured. I loved her style and started following her blog. She also runs the Etsy shop UpscaleDownhome which you can find by going to http://www.upscaledownhome.etsy.com/.  I love her curtain tie backs. They are so unique! Many of her items are upcycled, which you know I love. So, here is the link to her blogpost featuring my collection of hats: http://upscaledownhome.net/2011/06/07/collecting-series-vintage-hats-from.aspx.  The photo to the left is just a few of the hats. You can see the rest on her blogpost. Thanks Sarah!

Kitchen Adventure Of The Week- I'm No Pastry Chef!

So this week I decided to try making cherry turnovers. I was really excited to try something with pastry. The last pastry I tried my hand at was a pie crust almost 10 years ago when my husband and I started dating. It really didn't turn out so hot, but hey, I still got the guy! Turns out, I still stink at pastry. I tried this recipe from the web: http://www.grouprecipes.com/68289/cherry-turnovers-from-scratch.html. It had pretty detailed instructions which I thought would help me out. It suggested cutting in the shortening in halves instead of all at once for a flakier crust. It also suggested chilling the shortening which I'm pretty sure I didn't do last time. It was flakier than last time, but still nothing to write home about. I planned on using a pastry cutter to cut out squares, but once I got started I realized it was pretty hard to get them all the same size. I forgot to set them in the freezer before cooking them. I forgot to sprinkle on the sugar and had to take them back out of the oven to do that (did I mention I tried this toward the end of the day? I don't have much brain power left by then). Oh, and I cheated on the filling and used the canned version. I decided this was justified as I was working on learning the pastry part. One step at a time! My family liked the turnovers, so I guess it wasn't a complete failure. I thought about not posting this and trying something else, but this is my cooking journey and I want to document it as it really happened. I'm not ready to give up on pastry yet. Maybe I will try something else with pastry next month. If you have some pointers, let me know!

Thrift of the Week

 I mentioned in a recent post how I had started looking for some vintage aprons for myself. I already came across another this past week at the thrift store. I think it is about the cutest thing I've ever seen. I discovered that this type of apron is called a "cover-all" apron as it covers one's entire front and wraps around to the back. The other apron I wrote about is called a "half-apron" as it covers only from the waist to about the knees. This one buttons and ties in the back and has two heart shaped pockets in the front. I thought the button might be kind of a pain, but it wasn't hard to reach at all and was easy to fasten. The material is a sweet flower print. I love to imagine who wore these vintage aprons and what they must have cooked while wearing them. I can't wait to wear this for one of my kitchen adventures! Do you have any favorite aprons?