Sugar & Spice Aprons.

I couldn't get the whole apron in the self portrait.

So I saw these aprons posted on the blog Take Heart. It's a sweet little blog (a little too Jesusy for me) where she posts links to cool shops and what not and the photos she takes of her family. Anyway, she posted about some aprons and I immediately fell in love with one. I mean, head over heels. It arrived in my mailbox today. Woot!! It's from Sugar & Spice Aprons on etsy. S&S makes vintage reproduction aprons from the 1920s to the '50s. They're really freaking cute and make cooking a lot more fun. I love mine because it has tulip pockets and tulips are my favorite flower ever.

Mom, Here's Your Present.

I kept asking my mom what she wanted for Christmas. She wanted a Kindle, instead she's getting this photo. Sorry mom but I am anti e-readers and anti Amazon. Talk about a shitty company. If you're anti wikileaks, I'm anti you. (My siblings got her one anyway, what is wrong with them?) By the way, we're wearing these ridiculous hats because Jake needs a haircut but we keep forgetting to get him one and I wanted the picture in front of the tree but our tree is going to catch on fire at any moment because it's so dry the branches are snapping off under the weight of our super cheap plastic ornaments. So we had to take the picture asap, hence the stupid hats. Also, I'm pretty sure we both have lice now, Santa hats creep me out.

Click on image for larger version.

Agenda.

I found an awesome agenda online but it was only available in Australia, unless of course I wanted to pay $70 in shipping. Maybe for some things, but not for an Agenda. So I got to work searching etsy and I was really disappointed that I couldn't find a very big selection of amazing agendas. Usually I find 20 of whatever I'm searching for but this time I only found one. The Artful Agenda is based out of Portland, Or. She collaborates with other artists and then compiles all of their art in a planner, so each week has it's own drawings that aren't duplicated in any other weeks. I got it in the mail and I love it. The other cool thing is that it's not dated so you can start it whenever you want and 5% of the proceeds are donated to arts education.

Sam the Chef.

This is my friend Sam. I've known him since high school. Sam is a chef and he helps me with ideas and knowledge on my new found cooking journey. Basically, if this was WoW, he'd be the cooking trainer. Anyway, I keep trying to get him to start a blog about cooking so I can stalk it but he says no. He did however offer to make a recipe of my choice as a guest post complete with photos and instructions. Now I just have to figure out what I want him to make. It has to be something awesome and slightly difficult that takes some skill. Any suggestions?

Favorite Cake.

I know I've posted about this cake before. This definitely isn't the prettiest one I've ever made but I was craving it so badly that I was kind of in a hurry to put it together. It doesn't matter to me what it looks like because it is delicious. It's probably one of the easiest cakes ever. It's made from the ingredients found in a box, add a little oil, water and eggs and voila! Don't forget the cool whip. Anyway, it had been a long time since I had one of these so I'm a very happy girl. Now if only my mama had made it and I wouldn't have had to put out the effort. :)

What Should I Be When I Grow Up?

So I'm about a year out from a Bachelor's in Anthropology but I really don't think I'm going to do anything in that field. I want to find a career doing something I'll love but I'm not sure what that is. I love making things, and if I could perfect something enough so that I could sell it, and people would want to buy it, that would be awesome. I'm also considering learning medical transcription so I can work from home on my own schedule. I would really like to be able to balance my work with my crafting time. I don't want a job where I work 60 hours a week and come home exhausted all of the time. If only I will be this lucky in life. Anyway, what should I be when I grow up, any ideas?

Sugar Cookies.

I made sugar cookies. I didn't roll them out enough, they were a little thick so my gingerbread men look a little bloated. I was decorating them and I decided to make one be Jake, and then I gave him chicken pox, except I told him that they were herpes. haha. So then I made him a WoW cookie to make amends.
It's a druid thing.

Foood.

I don't eat meat, but my boyfriend does and so therefore I made him some ribs tonight. I remember this recipe from my childhood. My Aunt Daisy (Dae-dae) used to make it and I just remembered how good it smelled and how obsessed with it my little brother was.
It turned out to be a big hit here too. Jakes excited to try the brown sugar and soy sauce marinade this summer. He likes to grill.
I found a recipe online for something called "almost parmesan risotto" and it is amazingly delicious and easy to make. The only thing I had trouble with was finding the arborio rice.
I used more garlic than the recipe called for, of course, my family always goes garlic overboard. Also, be sure to cut the onions into little pieces. I tend to go for larger chunks of onion but it's really much better if these are small pieces of onion, which totally sucks with the whole crying thing. With the amount of onions I use in cooking, I need one of those slap chops.

EDIT: I got a slap chop for Christmas, completely useless except for chopping mushy bananas.

O Christmas Tree, O Christmas Tree...

Here is our Christmas tree. There are few tree lots here so we went to Lowe's, but it was fun and we found a very very round tree; he's plump. Jake didn't have any tree stuff since he never puts one up so we went to WalMart and bought a bunch of cheap ornaments. I'm slowly collecting good ornaments. My mom has a lot of ornaments that were given to me while I grew up from my Aunties that she's going to send me, someday.
I really really love our star. It was $10 and I'm pretty sure would break the first time it even thought about falling but I love it so much. Jake wants to try and find a similar one made out of better materials.
That's our heart ornament for our first Christmas together.

Piece of Shit Human Beings.

So we have this roommate. He's one of Jake's friends, he lives here for free, and he's a giant loser douchebag. I feel like being petty and making my facebook status be something like, "how about you don't wake me up at 8 am asshole. Nobody gives a shit about your laundry. Shut the fuck up!" but I won't because I know it would frustrate my boyfriend.

So, let me give you some background on this guy, we'll call him Pancho the piece of shit douchebag or PtheD for short. So PtheD had no job, was running around with some druggies stealing radios out of cars to pay for pills and what not. Jake says he can live here for free as long as he knocks that shit off and finds a job. So he stops stealing radios, helps out around the house, and takes a year to find a job. Not too great, not too bad. But PtheD has two little girls he's not really helping out with. He takes them for the day every now and then but it's really not anything worth writing home about and he doesn't support them financially at all. Jake's been feeding him, clothing him, and keeping a roof over his head for over a year.

So he finally got a job in May or June. It took him a year, and instead of being a model employee, he gets customer complaints about him and he shows up late all of the time because of this skanky girl he met. She comes over, is rude to Jake, lets her bratty children break things and then expects everyone to cater to her. Not happening. So PtheD is one time being late away from being fired from the job he barely just got. He finally ditches the pinhead skank face but his paychecks are now being garnished for child support and oh, did I mention his fines. He has fines in several local cities that he hasn't been paying on.

So, Jake makes him pay his fines if he wants to keep living here. He gets all butthurt, stops helping out around the house, and is, in general, a total loser douchebag, just like I could've told everyone he is. So now he finds this new girlfriend who everyone thinks is super nice. I think she's just another chick who can't keep her legs closed and lo and behold, she ends up stealing a bottle and a half of pain pills from Jake's mom. Personally, I think PtheD had something to do with it. He, of course, denies it.

Anyway, I'm about ready to throw a fucking meat cleaver at his head. How about, go to work on time, stop eating my fucking food, take some responsibility for your actions, and shut the fuck up when we're trying to sleep.

Fucked Up Thing About Utah #4.

Okay Mormons, enough with the no caffeine thing. Worst rule ever. This state has very few coffee places, I think I've seen maybe one drive thru coffee stand. Coming from Oregon where there is one every 5 or so blocks, this is killing me. I am a huge iced chai fan. I would go to Dutch Bros. or the Human Bean several times a week, get my chai, and be on my way. I'm not a huge fan of Starbucks (because their chai tastes like asshole) but they do have a couple here so I caved and got a chai because my craving was so bad I was about to kick babies. So I get an iced chai and it was about 90% milk. Gross. I ended up tossing it out. Later, I came across another random coffee shop and tried again. They made me a hot chai and added ice cubes. Umm...what? Iced chai is not a difficult concept. It's approx. half chai and half milk but apparently math is really hard in Utah or something. Luckily, I have recently discovered that Wal Mart sells Oregon Chai so I will be making my own iced chais at home. 

Cata Release.

Hello world, sorry I've been MIA. You see, Cataclysm came out on the 7th and Jake and I went and stood in an absurdly long line at GameStop to pick up our copies at midnight. We haven't been seen since. No search parties please, we've returned, and yes, it was everything I'd hoped it would be. Cata is awesome! It's so fun and makes the game feel brand new again. There is so much to do I didn't even know where to start. So I went to the brand new underwater zone and got a seahorse mount and rode my seahorse around at 450% mount speed. Hell yeah! 

Making Music.

This is one of the coolest things I've seen in awhile. 

Baby Lana.

I have the cutest niece ever. I mean, she is freaking adorable. My mom and sister send me pictures of her and they brighten my day every single time. For more Lana adorableness visit my sister's blog. 

Christmas Yarn Wreath.

So, my sister posted about these cute yarn wreaths. The instructions are here. I made a Christmas one. The flowers are super easy to make so I'm going to make a ton, in different colors and put them on head bands, and pins to wear as a brooch. They'd look super cute on a cardigan. Yeah, they're that cute. 
We still have to get something so I can hang this on our door. Our door is metal so you can't really pound a nail into it. 

Christmas Cooking.

So, I had my mom send me a couple of recipes for my favorite Christmas food and from there it spiraled out of control. Jake and I went shopping to get the ingredients and he kept getting ideas for other things he wanted me to make. Haha, I ended up cooking until 1 in the morning, it was fun. 
I don't like white chocolate but Jake was stoked for these pretzels. Something about the sweet and salty together. That's why I just eat a bag of potato chips after gorging on reese's pb cups. I guess he doesn't know that little trick yet. 
Batch number one of Chex Mix. Batch number two came out a lot better. Not enough seasoning on batch one. 
This is Jake's mom's food processor/mixer/blender from 1970. It's like, a super early version of a Kitchen Aid. By the way, I want a Kitchen Aid, hardcore. I never thought about buying one because they're super expensive but Jake actually brought up getting me one. I don't need it anytime soon but I'm definitely hitting him up on that one in the future. There are about a zillion colors to choose from, that will be tough. Anyway, this is cookie dough for the oatmeal choc. chip cookies I made, but I forgot to take a picture of the finished product. 

Who knew muddy buddies are ridiculously easy to make? It involves microwaving chocolate chips and that's about the hardest part. They're so yummy too! 
Batch two of Chex Mix. Well, really this is batch one with a makeover. I cooked it again with extra extra seasoning for Jake and he had me put it in a bag so he could hide it from everyone else and not share. It's a little on the salty side for my taste. 

Umm...What the Hell?

So, I understand that everyone likes to decorate their tree differently, and some people do themes and what not. I actually don't mind the bird shown above, it came in a fairly pretty gold color but what the hell is up with the doll heads? Who decorates their tree with freaking doll heads?
I'm guessing this is an old person thing? Maybe? I hope.

Photos of Utah.

Technically, this might not be Utah. It was on the drive back from Havasu, when we were driving at about 1 mile per hour. 
Yeah, this happens everywhere. On houses, underneath cars. It's kind of creepy because I always think one is going to fall and impale me through the eye or something when I'm looking up at it. 
This was the view I was met with on my craft store quest. Have I mentioned that Mormon women are obsessed with crafts? There are craft stores everywhere. Literally, I drive by 3 or 4 a day. It's insane. It'd be fine except all I needed was some damn felt and all the crazy Momo ladies bought out all the Christmas colored felt in 3 stores. THREE stores. What the hell? Crazies. 

The London Bridge.

Other than lots of old people, Lake Havasu City has the London Bridge. Yep, from London. When the bridge was being replaced in 1968 in England, they disassembled it piece by piece, every granite brick was numbered and was then reassembled in Lake Havasu across a man made canal exactly the same as it was in London. This is the second most visited tourist attraction in Arizona, right behind the Grand Canyon. 
We fed some birds too, like we used to do when I was a kid at Mingus Park. Except that these birds weren't rabid and covered in slime. 
Around the bridge is a little tourist village that has a bunch of souvenir shops. This one had a cute door, but all the stuff inside was crap. You know, bumper stickers and shot glasses. There was a candle factory though that was pretty cool if you like candles. They make really elaborate candles right there in front of you. I'm not much of a candle fan. My mom was really paranoid about fire when we were kids and she passed on her dislike of candles to me. Plus, most candles smell like ass. I prefer Bath & Body Works' wallflower smelly things. They smell so good and are about half the price right now during Christmas. I just went and stocked up yesterday. 

Whimsical Art.

I saw this image and I absolutely love it. In fact, I love pretty much all of the art in this shop. Her style is adorable.

That print reminded me of a book I read awhile ago and have passed along to my sister. It definitely isn't the greatest book I've ever read but Hector and the Search for Happiness was cute. Hector is a psychiatrist from France (the author is apparently also a psychiatrist) who is wondering what makes people happy. In his search he travels the world, finding questions and some answers. He has a one night stand with a call girl, he gets accidentally kidnapped, and he has other misadventures on his search. This is a little book, it only takes a couple hours to read, great for a wait at the doctor's office or if any of you are subjecting yourself to the TSA, for a flight. The thing about it though is that it's written in a childlike prose which can get a little annoying after awhile, and Hector is pretty naive, so it's good that the book isn't long. If it were longer, it'd stop being charming and start being really annoying. Overall, it's like a self help book on the lite side.

party hat.

I'm not sure why this hat would ever be necessary in Arizona. It's nearing the end of Nov. and is still 65 degrees outside. I think I would make a great lumberjack though and therefore believe I should go back and spend the 10 dollars on this hat. Plus, it would be perfect for Utah's weather where it's snowing already and it matches my coat. 

Kingman, AZ.

Jake and I are down in Lake Havasu City, Arizona visiting his sister and her family for Thanksgiving. Today we went to nearby Kingman so I could buy a new power cord for my laptop and to run some other errands. We were going to stop by an animal sanctuary but it's closed on Tuesday of all days so we're going to go back on Friday. Anyway, we ate some of the worst "Mexican" food I've ever had in my life at El Palacio. Seriously, if you ever happen to be in Kingman, avoid that place like you would the plague.

After lunch we stopped by a museum we had noticed that is all about Route 66. It had the cool little miniature towns that are seen below. There were also some photos by a local photographer and a gift shop that was clearly geared toward the elderly. I haven't seen anyone under the age of 65 wear a visor in years, especially one that had a license plate design all over it. Yay for sequins. 

Someone has a lot more patience than I to make these things.

They should probably dust them once a decade though, you know, to keep them looking fresh.

half birthday.

Speaking of birthdays, my half birthday was on the 20th. Jake took me to see Harry Potter 7 and I got these awesome cupcakes. There was more frosting than cake, just how I like it. I love cupcakes, but only if they're chocolate cake. White cake is a waste of time. 

I love my half birthday. It's awesome! 

I also got a new tomtom gps from my mama. More on that later. 

Happy Birthday Brookie!

My sister turned 30 years old on the 18th. She is now officially old as fuck. Happy Birthday sissy. I've figured out what I'm getting her but she doesn't get it for awhile for two reasons. One being that I don't have a job, and two is that it's a Birthday/Christmas gift. 

card found here. 

The Fancy Lamb.

The Fancy Lamb is an etsy shop that sells all kinds of awesome vintage items. Below are a few of my favorites. 

Potato ricer.

Candy cane striped mugs.

Book spines.

Soup mugs.

Snakeskin Samsonite Suitcase.

Cake carrier.

Metal scale. 

Framed print.