Homefront: Plants and Pixies

This leaf is shaped like a heart. LIKE A HEART! adorableness.

Our lawn is crunchy and brown in most places, but at least I have some very drought resistant hedges. And since I am lethal to any house plant that enters my abode, these bush trimmings make for a dandy fresh, no guilt it it dies plant. And, it lasts for well over a week or two, just add water as it evaporates.

 Select cuttings with nice, crisp, green leaves and several little branches for fullness. Remove any leaves with brown spots, cuts, bird poo, spider webs... and the lower leaves that would otherwise be rotting in the water.

I love my thrifted urn. $2 or something.

I like to stack things on books. Especially awesome vintage books with charming illustrations and titles. Like my, They Marched with Spartacus (amazing cover, why didn't I photography it?) and Pound Foolish ones.

This little elfin pixie boy was found with my mom at my fav. antique mall before I moved. He is clearly vintage, I'm thinking 40's? It is only stamped with it's place of origin, Japan. I've seen this collection once online but do not know anything about them. Does anyone know?

I love these polka dot curtains, $5 at Home Depot on clearance. I wish they had an army of them, to add in our living room, but this was the last set.

What a cutie patootie.

Upside Down Pizza Recipe

Upside down pizza. I remember my mom making a Pampered Chef Pizza in a Jar recipe that was delish. So when I found this recipe in a Family Fun magazine this week, I HAD to try it. I made a few changes to the  recipe, added more veggies like the zucchini, more onions... I'll write my changes below, and the original in ( ):

* 2 tablespoons olive oil
* 1 cup chopped onion
* 1 cup chopped mushrooms
* 1 large zucchini cut in 1/2 inch chunks
* 4 cloves garlic, minced
* 1 lbs shredded chicken, I used leftovers (or 2 lbs ground turkey)
* 1 jar pizza sauce, 1 small can tomato paste ( or 2 (15-ounce) cans Italian-style tomato sauce)
* 1/2 c fresh basil, chopped (or 2 teaspoons dried basil)
* 1 cup mini pepperoni or chopped pepperoni
* 1 teaspoon pepper
* 3 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
* 1 (13.8-ounce) package prepared corn bread mix (or prepared pizza dough mix)

Instructions

1. Heat the oven to 400°. In a large skillet, heat the oil over medium-high heat. Add the onion, mushrooms, and garlic and cook, stirring frequently, until the onions begin to soften, about 3 minutes. Add the turkey and continue to cook and stir, breaking the meat into small pieces, until it is no longer pink, about 8 minutes.

2. Stir in the tomato sauce, basil, and pepperoni and cook until heated through, about 5 minutes. Add the pepper, then transfer the mixture to a 9- by 13-inch casserole dish.

3. Scatter the cheese on top and layer on the pizza dough. Bake the casserole until the dough is golden, about 20 minutes. To serve, spoon out portions with a large serving utensil.

Yes, I left it in the oven a little bit too long, but it was still so. good.  If you make it, I'd love to hear your changes or if you liked it!

Personal Style: Layering Bling

Just a quick little fashion tip. If you look in my closet, you will probably see about 3/4 of the shirts I wear are similar to this, in varying shades of brown or gray. My clothing manifesto mentioned that I was tiring of experimenting with all the trends and bright colors and such. So, to not be totally boring, I layered two statement necklaces. The winged lion is one I made using an amazing vintage pendant. I do have more available if you want one! The pink acrylic waterfall necklace is forever 21. I think they go kind of perfect together, and I love the cool, jingle feeling as well. Pair the boring 'ole top with some skinny jeans, faux leather leggings and sassy shoes and you're good to go.

 But the best accessory is a cutie hunk of a man...

 ... and two adorable offspring on their best behavior.

Sweet Treats: Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies Recipe

 
I got this recipe from a church friend. These are sooo good. I first thought they wouldn't be, but oh man, was I wrong. Soft, moist, flavorful but not overwhelming. I crave this weekly... they. are. amazing.

1 cup oil (I used applesauce, they will be extra moist. Or you can do 1/2 oil, 1/2 applesauce)
3 cups sugar
2 eggs beaten
1 TBS vanilla
5 cups unbleached flour
2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp nutmeg (I was out, so added an extra 1/2 tsp cinnamon and 1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice)
2 tsp cinnamon
2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
1 3/4 tsp salt
1 large* can of solid pumpkin (not the mix)
1 bag semi sweet chocolate chips.

Mix together the wet ingredients. Stir in sifted dry ingredients. Mix well. Glop on heaping spoonfuls on your cookie sheet. I do about 3-4 spoonfuls per cookie, so I get 9 cookies per cookie sheet. (They don't need to be this huge, but I like them to be this huge! Almost like cookie/cupcakes) Bake at 375*F for 12-13 minutes or until cookies are cooked through. (You can tell by looking to see if the tops still look mushy and uncooked).

*I have made this using the regular sized can of pumpkin. Still good, but not as good. Get the large 29 oz can.

* Linked to Sweet as Sugar cookies Recipe Linky
*Linked to Remodelholic Recipe Swap

Inspired Home: Table Tonic

I'm loving Louise's blog, Table Tonic right now. From her health food/juicing kick to her lovely home and online shop, there is a little bit of it all.

I love her colorful, clean simple lines approach to style. 

And if I wasn't already married, I would want to marry this sofa.

Mustard. On a stool, one of my favorite colors. She even painted her front door this color. Adore.

I love how the acrylic barstools have a clean and uncluttered appeal. I could so use that. Wouldn't it be great to have a clear spray paint?!

 More feather juju hat ideas and a tutorial on making one here via nester. Or purchase from Louise here.

Personal Style: Blue vs Gray Manifesto

madewell

Say Yes to Hoboken did a say no to jeans campaign earlier this year. I don't think it's that hard right now with the soaring heat to be wary of jeans, but being a fall kind of gal, that's attracted to simple, comfortable lines and colors (namely, gray and camel) I am still in love with the following outfits she chose as inspiration.

shirt: abercrombie   dress: kohls  necklace: handmade by me

I wore a blue maxi dress the other day that got lots of compliments, but when I took pics for my outfit post, it just didn't feel right. Getting out of the car in the long lengths of soft drapey fabric, didn't feel right. Having a lacey empire waist... didn't feel right. I've been feeling that way for a while now. I'm just not cut out of bright colorful cloth or long flowy things, or cute rolled capris, or partial tucked blouses that are the fashion rage. I may love it on you, but not on me. Maybe it's my coloring, or my petite, apple shape and chicken legs that just doesn't work well. 6 years ago with a 20 inch waist, I could do some of it... not now. So, instead of trying to dress differently or more fashion forward, I'm going to retreat into my soothing grey vnecks for a while. Maybe even pair one with my faux leather leggings for a fashion kick, (or those awesome madewll pants above) but being more true to my style none the less.

 

madewell

I love this... reminds me of Elaine's awkwardly adorable long skorts.

 via pintrest

Do you have some sort of dressing manifesto to be the real you? I'm not talking about giving up altogether and wearing pjs and sweatpants or horrible 80's tapered jeans and tweety bird t-shirts~ but what are some styles you decided to say 'no' or 'yes' to, while still feeling beautiful and comfortable?

Personal Style: Fancy That

I got these faux leatha leggings on sale at Marshall's. They so reminded me of Wendy Nguyen's styling video with her faux leather leggings. Which if you haven't seen her ideas, you must watch! Wendy's legging pairing ideas are fall oriented, but I wanted to wear these now, crazy in this 104 degree heat, I know. I remembered this adorable idea on Cut Out n Keep by Selena, on how to wear a button up shirt all adorable and tunic like by just folding it, no cutting/no sewing, and thought I would give it a whirl. This striped shirt is much bigger than what Selena uses, and I'm okay with that.

So, the pants look way better on Wendy and the top looks way more adorable on Selena, but in public, people aren't comparing me to them so I'm okay with that.

 And I got these sparkly flats at a garage sale, brand new. I had to roll the leggings under, I'm considering cutting them and hemming them around the lower calf, what do you think?

.

 I also got these amazing vintage buttons at a garage sale. I turned this one into a necklace pendant.

shirt: craft shirt at Michael's
button up: Ralph Lauren, goodwill
leggings: Marshall's
shoes: garage sale
necklace: handmade
bag: goodwill

Horses are our Friends

Severely emaciated? No, but emaciated none the less. It happens all. the. time. Am I a horse expert? Certainly not. But the conditions of these horses struck me as pretty pathetic and having ridden on healthy horses before, these did not strike me as healthy or nourished. These three horses are right by the road, the fence is so shoddy and open at points they just had a large tree trunk thrown around one hole to keep the horses in, and barely enough grass to eat.

The stable looks as if it's about to fall down and yes, there are a few horses in there. So, I did call and complain to the proper authorities about a week ago. I drove by today and one horse is gone, though perhaps he has just been moved to a farther field. This is a stables company after all. The other adult and baby remain.

 I wish I had gotten a picture of the other side of this baby, it had a scaly looking welts all along it's trunk.

 Rib cages and hip joints are not supposed to be so prevalent in a healthy, well fed horse.

Be an animal friend! Especially in this hot weather, where I see countless animals chained outside with no water or shelter, or locked in hot cars That's like putting your pet in a microwave. You better believe I will bash in your window if I see a dog or cat or CHILD locked in there. People don't realize that the temperature rises severely in cars and can and DOES lead to death. I adopted a kitten the same day (I saw these horses) because it was being given away outside a store. The poor thing was panting. Kittens don't pant unless they are having heat stroke. Come'on people, it's well over 100 degrees out right now.

If you witness something amiss, don't be afraid to contact the authorities! In the case of the horses, I don't know if they are severely being mistreated or what. But by calling it in, I leave it in the hands of the experts. So, no harm done if all is well. If it isn't, than hopefully steps will be taken to provide a safer and healthier environment for these magnificent creatures.