Happy Halloween!!

We ran off to join the circus! We all opted for leading roles too of course, The Ringmaster, The Conductor (it's a traveling circus), and me the Tightrope Walker. 

Initially the costume theme was based on this lion suit. But naturally you should not rely on the will of a 21 month old child. His will was very much against this cute little suit. So about an hour before we had to leave for the party we came up with Plan B. It worked out just fine.

The party in the park was a lot of fun despite the cold wind and rain. The kids didn't seem to mind one bit. After all, there was pizza, creepy cookies, and donuts hanging from a string!

I was cold much earlier than this guy even cared. He and his bff loved the wet ground and puddles to splash in!

The three-legged race was comical, and there was a mummy wrap contest too! It actually made me so dizzy I thought I was going to fall on the ground.

Thanks to Andy Warhol, we got an invite to a really fun party! Our Trick or Treating was postponed due to the storm so I'm not sure what we'll do tonight to celebrate! But I wish you all a spooktacular night!

Double Announcement

Woohoo! I'm pleased to announce that I am now making hair bows for little ladies too! It started with a request from a friend for a bow for her. Then I made one for myself and then it just happened.

This is the first bow ever.

Then I got to thinking about packaging and display. I have a few shows coming up this holiday season and i wanted a complete look. Here's my first sketch of the hangtag, please note this is where the huge error started. That's not my Etsy address...but I printed about thirty before I noticed. Oh well.

And here we are! Bows on display cards! I'll have more in the shop this week for sure! I hope you had a great weekend! I'll be posting Halloween party pics soon. Happy Monday!

The Pressure of Halloween

So many people call Halloween their favorite holiday. It is indeed mine as well. My husband and I share that sentiment and for five awesome years we hosted a fabulous Halloween party at our old house. The costumes were always impressive and the running for Best Dressed was always fierce. We even started setting up a photo booth in our side room that always promised wild and hilarious photos! My appreciation of this day is deep rooted in my Dad's love of dressing as Frankenstein almost every year! Here are some of my favorite costumes.

This is our second Halloween together as Bonnie and Clyde.

Our first ever party. I was a Devil with a Blue Dress on.

The year of the infamous Teen Wolf costume! My brother in law has gone down in history for that one. And Superheroes too!

This year we had two totally separate costumes, the first was Day of the Dead inspired and thrown together in about an hour. We had all of the tools on hand! The next day the entire crew from Masters of the Universe showed up to pose with the ever famous Andy Warhol.

These two never disappoint with incredibly elaborate and handmade costumes! Chinese Take Out and MacGruber.

And then last year, with the babe, we were karate champions from the Kobra Kai Dojo. What's my point exactly? That the pressure of having a good costume is serious business over here and I'm feeling it hardcore this year. What will we be?? What are you going to be? We are attending a party tomorrow so we'd better settle on something now! Hope you have a spooky weekend, friends!

Just Because

Sometimes I come across something that is just too good to keep to myself. Look at these milk bottles! They are just so super cute! I don't even drink milk but I'm pretty sure that I can find something else to fill these with. I mean eventually Oliver will be old enough to use these, right?!

Images: milk bottles via pinterest

Give Me A Beet

I decided to branch out of my normal range of cooking and bought some beets. A friend told me that she makes beet chips for her kids and they love them. I was impressed so I decided to give it a try. 

Now I'm going to be completely honest with you and say that these didn't turn out all that great. I think the mandolin slicer that I used didn't cut them thin enough and we had some issue, burned edges and soggy centers. But the few that survived were very tasty and Oliver wouldn't eat a single one...but the beets are incredibly beautiful and I couldn't stop taking photos of them.

I based my recipe off of Martha's and this one too. I added salt, rosemary, and garlic to the sliced beets and cooked them in a 350 degree oven for about 30 minutes. My goal was to get Oliver to try something new but that didn't work. I'm willing to give it another go but I think I need some tips. Anyone have any thoughts? If nothing else it's sparked my interest and most likely means that I will get a mandolin of my own one day. 

Birthday Weekend

It's a birthday weekend photo dump! We had so much fun celebrating this weekend and I just had to share. I'm the luckiest duck in town because I have the best friends and family. You guys are all so very amazing and really know how to make a girl feel special. Here's what we did.

Friday night we got a surprise date night thanks to friends offering to stay with Oliver so we could enjoy a nice dinner out. We even caught a quick jazz show at The Bottlehouse!

Saturday morning we were up and at 'em and it started with me getting this awesome necklace that I've been wanting since forever. My boys are good to me. Then we hit up the farmer's market and got all the greens and squash that I wanted. This rainbow swiss chard was my celebration chard.

JJ was amazing and cooked all sorts of tasty foods for a little party in the new place. He made all of these black bean sliders with teriyaki sauce. Yum!

Grandpa was in heaven sitting with all the babies. He's the baby whisperer for sure.

 I had a balloon wall as a you entered the apartment that also served as very fun photo backdrop. That's me and my fabulous mama.

Sunday was relaxing day of naps and football. Oliver got to hang out with hid bud and I snapped this sweet moment while they gazed out of the front door. Then we took a moonlit walk home. Happy Monday friends!

364 Unbirthdays

Tomorrow is my birthday. Usually I am very excited about just about anyone's birthday. It's their special day and I like to celebrate. Mine included, I am that girl that counts down. But this year I let it slide and didn't even mention it until like 15 days out! That's ridiculous. So to counter my foolish oversight I've been busy making decorations for a fun little get together with kids tomorrow at the new place. I'm super excited about this bunting pattern that I found so I wanted to share it with you! Her's is so colorful and fun, and here is my humble rendition.

Materials

1/4 yd of fabric

Double binding edging, cut to desired length I used about 1 1/2 yds.

Trace a circle onto a thick stock piece of paper and cut out to use as a guide, iron fabric. Cut out circles (or whatever shape you'd like) and fold the fabric right sides facing and cut through the middle. Sew along the outside edge, leaving the top open.

Turn right side out and iron flat.

Tuck the raw edge of the circle into the double binding and secure with pins to sew.

Sew the bunting into place. I placed mine six inches apart. I wanted to use the accordion folded fans, inspired by this pin, too for the wall decorations so the spacing worked perfectly for me. Happy Friday! And have a good weekend too!

An Encounter

Yesterday was a day. Baby boy wasn't feeling his best so we had to make due just hanging out together. When he woke up from his nap we ran some errands that included stopping by to see Papa at work. All was well and we were on our way to pick up four tablespoons of miso from a friend that I needed for a recipe, aren't friends grand? Anyhow, Oliver started in on an incredibly out of control coughing fit so I stopped the car and pulled over. I turned around to check on him and stuck my hand out just in time to catch vomit (just as FYI try to avoid doing that because then you have NO way to clean up with a hand full of puke). Oh no. I jumped out of the car to assess the messy situation and to make sure he was ok. As I stood there wondering what exactly I should use to clean him up, a woman stopped raking and came over to help. She brought me out an old towel and reassured me that in her experience, he was probably feeling better and would make it home. After all, she had six kids of her own plus grandchildren, so I believed her.

It was so kind of her to make sure we were ok and to offer a towel instead of the diaper wipes I was using. People are nice and I really appreciated the help. Good samaritans are a blessing and I'll be sure to return the kindness when I can.

Mean & Green

Here's how my life goes. I do my very best to eat responsible, leafy green meals multiple times a day so I can then go for short walks with the family for cookies. Luna Bakery, you call my name but I counter it with tasty green smoothies and stir fry kale. French fries on the weekend, I see you too...we're all good.

Tuesday Tropical Smoothie
Large handful of spinach
1 banana
1/3 cup frozen mango
1 diced frozen kiwi
1 Tbsp ground flax seed
1/4 avocado
Water

Put it all in the blender and blend until smooth. Share it with the little one and start the day!

It's in the Sauce

Back on the quest of sneaking in extra veggies here. Yesterday while we were out and about I was trying to decide what we'd have for dinner. I still had half of a butternut squash in the fridge that needed to be used and when I thought "I wonder if I can make a pasta sauce with this." Being the way that I am, I just started to make something up on my own and then looked a recipe up later. And of course Ms. Martha Stewart had one at the ready for me. Here's hers. And now I'll tell you how I didn't really follow all the directions (read I never have all the ingredients on hand so I wing it).

Forgive me, I know these aren't the best photos...anyhow.

Ingredients
Butternut squash (and if you'd like sweet potato)
Garlic
Parmesan cheese
Olive oil
Rosemary or sage
Whole milk
S&P

Cooked pasta

Heat oven to 350. Dice the vegetables and peel the garlic, toss in olive oil and S&P and herbs. Roast the butternut squash (and potato) for approximately 20 minutes or until tender. Let cool slightly and put in Vitamix (or just any blender but you already know about my love of it) add cheese and milk and puree in to a sauce, adding milk as needed until you reach your desired consistency. I kept ours on the thick side. Add to cooked pasta and serve warm.

Baby boy was pretty sold on it being macaroni and cheese but it wasn't! We really enjoyed the roasted flavors too! It was the perfect meal for a chilly Monday night!

Let's Party

We had such a fun night at the Best of Cleveland Party on Friday night! The event was sold out and the crowd was ready to celebrate all that is lovely in Cleveland. I brought along my two "employees" to help me out and we had a lot of fun! Here are the best of the best photos that we took that night!

Another great weekend under our belts. Hope yours was good too! Happy Monday!