Red, White and Blue Headband

I had the idea to make myself flag bows, glue them on a barrette back, and clip them to my flip flops for the Fourth of July. So I went to the craft store and got all the supplies - along with bunches of other things cuz there's no way I can go to the craft store and only get what's on my list! - and set about making them.

Sounded easy enough...but...all went ok until I tried to actually clip them on my shoe - the metal part was against my foot and it hurt! The solution would have been to just hot glue them to my $3 Old Navy flip flops but I don't like that much commitment and want to wear them without the flag bows the rest of the time. I also tried to attach them to a pin back but that hurt even worse digging into the top of my foot. I sat there trying to figure out a way to attach them that wasn't painful and that led to my thinking I should just wear them as a barrette, and that led to the idea of gluing bows to a white plastic headband that I bought today (3/$1 - I didn't have a plan for them in mind, just bought them to have them for the future) instead and scraping the whole idea of putting them on my shoes!

Now that I've spent an hour on a 5 minute craft I'll share a very simple fun patriotic headband idea with you :). I've saved you all that time!

25" red and white striped ribbon
9"  blue ribbon, cut the ends on a diagonal
6" thin wire
1 white plastic headband
hot glue


Starting with the red and white ribbon I made a bow by folding under 3" then making loops back and forth that are 4" total across. I hot glued the ends down so they wouldn't slip out of the bow. Twist the wire around the middle (so there are 2" of bow on either side) to hold the bow in place, then tie the blue ribbon around the wire - I put the blue knot on the top of the bow, so the underside of the bow is flatter for glueing it down. I made three bows total and hot glued them to the headband.

You can turn these bows into barrettes or pins if you prefer - I just recommend not putting attaching them to your flip flop unless you can figure a way that isn't painful!

Oh, and yes I like quirky cutesy stuff - if this headband isn't your speed then you could either make it for a little girl you know or tailor this for yourself toning it down a bit so it's not quite so silly!

loop the ribbon back and forth totaling 4" across

glue the ends down to hold in place

twist a short piece of wire around the middle to form the bow

my first idea was to attach it to a barrette back

then my idea changed into a headband

first I put it on my model but she's just kinda creepy so then I selfie'd it on me...;)

Patriotic Potato Salad

Dave doesn't love potatoes (gasp! I could live on potatoes alone) but he does like potato salad - he
likes it so much that when I don't have time to make it for him he'll go buy it at the grocery store for himself. A couple months ago he "accidentally" bought a different kind that had bleu cheese and bacon in it -  he said it was an accident but I'm pretty sure he saw bacon and just wanted it - and it inspired me to make a patriotic red, white, and bleu potato salad for July 4th this year.  I haven't googled it but I'm sure there are tons of recipes, I just winged this one.

Red potatoes, celery, mayo, a dash of mustard, salt and pepper, bleu cheese. No bacon (sorry Dave), I figure the potatoes, mayo, and cheese make it "red, white, and bleu" so bacon not necessary as far as I'm concerned, I'm sure it'd be a delicious addition if you want it!

I know this is unusual for me but I actually measured things this time so I could be a little more exact in my recipe! I don't know how many servings this makes, it's a pretty big bowl of it so I'd guess around 6-8.

2.5 pounds red skin potatoes
2 tablespoons white vinegar
1/4 cup olive oil
1/2 teaspoon each coarse salt and pepper

• Boil the potatoes until soft when pierced with a fork but not mushy, and drain. Break them up into big bite sized pieces (I use a fork and knife and roughly break them up) and sprinkle with white vinegar and olive oil, coarse salt and pepper. Let them stand until cooled to room temp. (If you love potatoes as much as I do then you'll put a little bit of this mixture in a bowl and have it for a snack, it's really good...just sayin'). 

1 cup diced celery
1 1/4 cup mayonnaise (I use light mayo, can't tell the difference), or as much as you like
1 tablespoon spicy brown or dijon mustard
6 oz. bleu cheese crumbles

• When the potatoes have cooled mix in celery, mayo, and mustard, then fold in the cheese. Adjust seasonings if it needs it.

I have parsley growing in my pallet herb garden so chopped some up to sprinkle on the top, not necessary but nice if you have it.

And of course feel free to add bacon if you want - don't tell Dave though cuz I didn't put it in his and he'll be jealous :)

Final Day in Goodwood

I'm a little late posting this, we are actually back home now but I wanted to finish up my travel log for this trip! I came down with a stomach bug or food poisoning (remember Nag's Head dinner from my last post? Not blaming or anything but...) so our last day wasn't so much fun for me but everyone else had a blast. 

All the other days were leading up to the grand finale - all of the car entries had a big timed event, one at a time they raced like a mile circuit around a couple curves and up a long hill...fastest time wins. There were tons of different cars from very old roadsters to current Formula 1 cars - we were there supporting and rooting for our friend Mike Skinner who competed in a Nascar truck and took 3rd place overall. So much fun (even not feeling good I still really enjoyed watching the spectacle)!

For a fun, different, unusual DIY project check out this idea - after Mike got done racing and was in the winners circle he popped open the trunk of his race truck and there is a bar built into the back! Haha, a "car bar" - how great is this? I'm trying to get Dave to let me do this in the trunk of my car but so far he isn't going for it...;)

PS: we had a very long trip home and ended up having to rent a car and drive from Toronto, yep that was a long day. Here's a pic of everyone stuck inside the jetway for about 20 minutes before they could load us onto the plane, not fun - I've never had that happen!

Another Track Day at Goodwood

Our group is quite large and our hosts rented out a few houses for everyone to stay at - we are at Hollingsfield Lodge waaaay out in the countryside about 30 minutes from the track. I'm talking way out - one lane dirt roads, brick cottages with ivy and flowers growing on them, huge fields of sheep, birds and bunnies everywhere - just like a movie setting. 

There are 9 people staying here, none of us knew each other when we got here but are now fast friends and of course have our own  "team" name ... our group texts are titled "hollingsfield cool kids" haha. 

Yesterday we were set up in a large area with umbrellas and the weather was decent so our location was perfect; today it rained and was quite chilly and we were lucky enough to be in an enclosed tent all day - nice. They had a huge lunch buffet, complete with multiple puddings for dessert and then later on brought out afternoon tea - finger sandwiches, scones, etc  and set up this really cute cookie display where they hung decorated car cookies up using clothespins - I'm stealing this idea for sure. I'm including a picture of the view from our room at the house, the cookies, and a couple of our view of the track today.

Last night we went into Chichester and ate dinner at the Nags Head Pub and Carvery. Overall the people have been very welcoming and friendly here but not so at the pub, it sort of became a joke counting how many times we could catch the wait staffs eye and order food and more drinks! If we were playing a drinking game and had to drink every time one of the waitresses literally looked over top of our heads and wouldn't make eye contact we would all definitely have been drunk! Anyway - there's a point to my story hahaha -  we ordered "chips" as a starter (very thick fries, crunchy and hot, with or without some kind of white cheese overtop - gotta say they are so far the best thing I've eaten here and I'd love to learn to make them when I get home). My housemate and new friend Annette asked for mayo to dip hers in (mmmmm mayo and fries) and they brought her an entire big jar of mayo but of course we couldn't get any plates. She had what I think is a smart solution, I told her I wanted to post her great idea and took her picture to pass on to you -  she squeezed mayo on her knife and dipped that way. It worked great and didn't make a mess - I think you could prob do this with ketchup too (which they didn't have by the way!) but obviously ranch or runny sauce isn't gonna work so good, maybe put it on your spoon in that case...individual dip bowls :). Genius, right?

Second Day at Goodwood

Today was the first day at the track - I've been to lots of racing events but never anything like this. It's like a throwback race track, people are literally lining the track and the only thing between them and the race is hay bales and some posts. We were standing at turn 2 and every time a car came around drifting or fish tailing I couldn't help but wonder what happens if a car goes off the track! There are people everywhere and no guards except hay (pretty sure that isn't going to protect anyone!), you can see the bales lining the tracks in these pics - crazy. Anyway, it's so charming and quaint I absolutely love it. 

Here's a few pics: first is the track where we were all day - ferris wheel...hay bales...old Richard Petty car going by - you can see by this how close the cars are to the spectators! There was a 9 plane show that was incredible - they were doing so many stunts it was just amazing. I took a bunch of video but only got this for a still shot. Third is of the Start line - old school right? Felt like we were in an old movie :). Last is my favorite shot of the day - this sign propped up against a hay bale "warning: motor sport can be dangerous". Uh yeah, especially if the hay bale doesn't work haha!!

First day at Goodwood

Woke up to a big ole thunderstorm in this cute country lodge and would have been perfectly happy to read and lounge all day! But we have things to do and places to be so...

First stop was the Goodwood hangar and airstrip located right on the grounds of Lord March's estate (the Rolls Royce factory is also here, and a 3 mile race track, horse paddock, restaurant, etc - the place is humongous). There were probably 50 people there with our group, 8 guys (including Dave) got rides in old Mustang and Spitfire war planes - so cool! At first I thought there would be absolutely no way I'd want to do that but then after they took off I changed my mind and wished I could have gone. And then they got back and said they weren't able to do any "arobatics" like barrel rolls because of the weather - as soon as I heard there was the possibility of doing arobatics I reversed to my original position, no way do I want a ride in one haha!!

The rest of the afternoon was free time - we ate lunch on the property at the "tower" (I had fresh locally made Brie cheese and cranberries on baguette - they asked if I wanted it on "white or brown" - and someone else at the table had a "jacket potato with various fillings" which was a stuffed baked potato with chicken salad on top). Yum.

Here's a couple pics from the morning:

Drive to Chichester, England

We just realized that Brooke is away at camp this week at the same time I'm on vacation so she can't guest blog - since I didn't plan ahead and leave any fun things to show you I'll just try to do travel log again :).

For the next few days we will be in Chichester, England for the Goodwood Festival of Speed - Google to see what it's all about if you're interested, I've never been but it's a 4 day racing event at Lord March's estate (apparently it's a huge estate and our driver Danny said they'll have a million visitors over the 4 days - wow!). Some new friends invited us and we couldn't pass up the opportunity to experience this! We arrived at Gatwick Airport, south of London by about an hour I think, on the red eye - man I hate taking a red eye. No sleep!! (especially with a baby by us that literally cried from take off to landing - I felt bad for the mom but felt even worse for me trying to sleep haha!!) Then we drove over an hour to where we are staying. I don't have pics of the house yet (we just got here but will show you later, it's beautiful). What I do have to show you is this picture of us driving thru one of the little villages on the way to Chichester - they drive on the opposite side of the street you know, and have tons of round-a-bouts, the buildings are super close to the road, chaotic and crazy. I took this pic to give you an idea, our driver is on the ride side of our car, and traffic is coming at us on the right side - really, I just tried not to look! More later...

Packing Tips

We are going on vacation soon and I'm stressing over what to pack. Last year we went away with friends and I panicked at the last minute and just started throwing things in - and of course ended up not wearing like half of it - I overpacked so much that I left a big note in my suitcase that says "DO NOT PACK AS MUCH AS YOU DID LAST TIME" to remind myself! This isn't a long trip but it's the kind that I need to pack like one of everything, from super casual to black tie. Oh, and it's probably going to rain so I was advised to bring rainboots and a cute raincoat. Along with black tie and heels? Not easy to do!

I made myself a list (of course) and have everything laid out - then I got an email this morning regarding the trip and what other people will be wearing...one woman said she's wearing dresses like "Julia Roberts brown polka dotted one in Pretty Woman" complete with a hat - oh no, I don't have anything like that in my pile. Ugh. Now I have to revise the list and find some sundress thing if I want to blend in with the group hahah...I'm not much on blending in though so maybe it's all good. It is what it is and all that.

I think I'm a pretty good packer and have picked up some useful tips thru the years.

• When figuring what to take I try to do neutral separates that can mix and match with other pieces - for example I'll take a top that can go with a couple different bottoms, etc. so I can change things up without having to overpack. 
• if you pack basic pieces in plain colors (not a lot of pattern) and take lots of different accessories, you'll save space and be able to change your outfit easily (like scarves, jewelry, etc).
•  I roll all the pieces up (I think it saves space and decreases wrinkles); if they are thin shirts I'll stack 2 or three of them and roll together. 
• Put the larger heavier items at the bottom of the suitcase (the bottom when you stand the suitcase up, not when it's laying open on the floor) and work up to the lightest things at the top. I put my makeup and toiletry kit at the top so it doesn't get crushed, and if there is anything in there that I think might spill I put it in a plastic bag first. 
• Shoes usually go around the edges with socks or small things stuffed inside - although this time I am going to try this idea I saw online, they put the shoes into plastic disposable shower caps so the soles don't touch anything. Like it, what a smart idea.

Once I get there it's going to be a fun trip, but deciding what I need (and want) to take is so hard!! I'm just repeating to myself over and over to not take too much, it'll be fine. And if I don't take so much with me that my suitcase is super stuffed like last year then I'll have room to do a little shopping if I need (or want!) anything :).

Garage Sale Signs by Brooke

Today Brooke is having a go at guest blogging - Dave and I are going on vacation soon and I asked her if she'd like to cover for me...she thought she should try it first and see before she commits haha.  Here is her first post - I'm not editing or helping at all :)

we had a garage sale last weekend and i helped my aunt make signs! we put them all around the neighborhood so everyone could see. it was very simple, we just got poster boards and used stencils and traced the letters, then painted them. i wanted too just use regular writing but since its my aunt jill it has to be bubble letters with a stencil. i think they turned out great! ps. we had all the materials at home, and didn't have to buy anything!

Gnocchi with Tomatoes and Peas

Made this for dinner and it was so good I thought I'd share, if you're looking for quick dinner ideas this is a keeper. We don't eat gnocchi very often, I kind of forget about making it - but when I do we love it so much you'd think I would put it in the rotation more often but then I forget again!

Bring a big pan of water to a boil, carefully add 1 package of gnocchi and gently boil until they float - it doesn't take very long. Drain. Heat a tablespoon or so of butter (and/or olive oil) in a saucepan, add halved sugar snap peas and cook for a couple of minutes, add the gnocchi. Season with coarse salt and pepper, saute for another couple of minutes until the peas are done to your liking (I don't like them too well done) and the gnocchi are well coated, then stir in halved cherry tomatoes and top with parmesan. We had this as a side dish with marinated pork tenderloin that Dave grilled - such a delicious, simple, easy dinner.

this is one package of gnocchi, gently
boiled until they float to the top 

plain gnocchi are a little bland, like pasta before you
add anything. If I'm not making a sauce and serving them this way,
 I season well with coarse salt and pepper while cooking in a
little butter or olive oil. 

chop up a handful of sugar snap peas and cherry
tomatoes - of course you can experiment with
other vegetables too!

Garage Sale

Just a quick post - it's the last day (whew!) of the garage sale I'm having with my sister and 4 nieces, it's at my house and things have been a bit chaotic here the past few days! I do not love to have garage sales but they had lots to sell and asked if I'd help - of course, especially since it's great incentive to clean out some things (and spend time with them) and force me to think about getting rid of stuff (remember that whole "does it bring me joy" thing? click here for that post). I'm still working towards that goal).

I don't really have any tips or tricks for garage sales, I think we set it up and run it pretty much like everyone else. I did start making what I'm calling "look at me" signs yesterday for some things that weren't getting attention, in addition to the little stickers that we have on everything - just to catch peoples eye...they were making fun of me of course but hey, can't hurt right?

Since I don't have any garage sale pics right now (I'll take some today if I remember), I'll leave you with this little picture to make you laugh - I'm trying, I'm trying!

Rock Photo Stand

I made this awhile ago but it's such a cute and easy idea I wanted to share it with you now. Super simple, just find a big rock and wrap some wire around it! Seriously, doesn't get much easier than that and look how cute it is. I coiled the top of the wire so a picture will stay in it.

Planting a Scottie Topiary - Fail.

So I've had this spaghnum moss filled Scottie topiary thing for years, I decided to try planting it to change it up a bit. The moss has compacted down and is super hard - we are having a garage sale this weekend and I contemplated putting this in but then decided to give it a chance at new life haha.

Dave went to the nursery with me and picked out this scotch moss because he thought it would look like a chia pet :). I did not think this idea thru very well - how was I going to get the plants into the moss thru the small openings in the wire frame? I poked holes in it with a screwdriver and then broke the plants apart into small pieces and stuck them in...I did that for 4 plants until I threw in the towel realizing this is looking like a "fail" for sure and I should stop torturing the plants! I'll water it and see what happens but do not have high hopes - I'll keep you posted if anything happens (other than the plants dying!).

looks like it's wearing a grass hula skirt!
Apparently Sarge has had enough of
this project and is resting while I finish...

With the left over plants I made this cute little hanging basket - much better use of the scotch moss!

at first I decorated the hanging basket with
these cute little flamingo and fence picks but then...

...it turned into an Avengers super hero garden instead :). 

Mini Fruit Pies

My niece asked me to make her favorite mini pies for graduation last week, she wanted to share them with her co-workers/students on her last day of school. I made 48 total and that wasn't nearly enough, she said they were gone in like an hour and a half! Oops, I didn't plan that very good - but she said they were delicious and everyone loved them - yay.

This is a very easy shortcut way to make cute little mini pies using refrigerated pie crust and canned pie filling.

Roll out the crust so it's a little thinner than you would use for a full pie, then cut circles using a 2.25" round cookie cutter - I've also used a small juice glass before and that works just fine. Gently press the dough into mini muffin tins that have been lightly sprayed with non stick spray.

Using my small cookie dough scoop I fill the cups about 3/4th full, too full and they'll bubble over (which makes a mess in the oven, trust me). Bake at 400' for approx 12 minutes until the edges of the crust are browned. Cool for a few minutes in the pan and then carefully remove to a cooling rack (I use a small knife to help lift them out).

I made blueberry using canned pie filling, after they were cool I drizzled them with powdered sugar mixed with a little milk (put in a small baggie, snip a bit off the tip and drizzle away).

She also requested apple and of course I forgot to buy apple pie filling...so I was all set to drive to the store for some when it occurred to me that I have apples and should just whip up my own apple filling. I peeled and diced 2 apples, put in a saucepan with a little bit of flour (like a tablespoon), 2 tablespoons of sugar, a dash of cinnamon and a small amount of water. Cook for 5 minutes or so at medium heat until the apples have cooked a bit but aren't mushy. To finish the apple pies I made a crumb topping  from 1/4 cup flour, 2 tablespoons of sugar, a dash of cinnamon, and 4 tablespoons butter - using a fork I cut the ingredients together until it formed coarse crumbs - and then sprinkled on top.

Dave gave the blueberry pies a 10+ and the apple a 9.5...apparently canned pie filling tasted better than my made up apple pie filling. Oh well. Paige said she loved them both so that's good :)

Here is how her decorated station for her graduation turned out - she was happy with everything :)

Bath Salts

I have a big jar of Epsom salts next to my bath tub, I've been buying them already scented but I decided this time to make make my own - I'm asking myself why haven't I been doing this all along? There are lots of "recipes" online but I didn't want to do anything fancy, just plain old scented salts - so I put about 6 cups of salt in a big glass bowl and added 30 drops each of eucalyptus and lavender essential oils, mixed it all up and then realized that the eucalyptus wayyyyy overpowers the lavender so I added more lavender until it smelled like both scents. Just like my cooking, I just added more until it was what I wanted :). So easy!

Tip: I keep a small plastic scoop in the jar and add a few scoops to the running bath water. I made the mistake of keeping a pretty wood scoop in there before but the salt destroyed it! Lesson learned - I recommend using plastic.

If I make this as a gift in the future I'll probably tint it a pretty color using dye that's ok for your skin - I have a bunch of colors for when we make soap.