San Francisco Zoo.

Jake, my mom and I went to the zoo while we were in San Francisco. It's right on the water so it was windy and cold but we still had a great time. I always love seeing such beautiful and exotic animals. I think it's great that zoos take care of these animals, especially because a lot of them are hunted in the wild by humans and are endangered. At the same time though, I wish I could open their cages and let them run free. I would hate to be trapped in a cage all day everyday with weird humans looking in on me as I live my life, making noises at me, taking my picture, trying to get me to turn around.

Excellent hair days, every single day.

He reminds me of women who wear just a little too much makeup.

Hip, hip hop, hip hop anonymous? This guy was so cool. I felt bad because his pen was so small.

I love peacocks and it made me happy that this one was just wandering around the zoo, having the run of the place.

This guy looks like he could be straight from the World of Warcraft. 

I love these statues that were all over the zoo. I really wanted a photo of me riding on the back of the lion statue but it was being swarmed by little kids. Sad.

My mom took a really blurry photo of us but I still like it because of the hippo statue. 

This photo is blurry because I had to zoom in as far as I could to get the chimp. It was a cold and windy day and I thought he was just so cute. After laying out his sleeping pad he wrapped up in a sheet. Such an intelligent little guy. 

Projects in Progress.

Today was family craft day. I think tomorrow will probably end up being family craft day again. It seems like we all just have so many projects to do. It's nice having people to bounce ideas off of. Jake got in on the action too, so awesome!

Here are some sneak peeks of what I was working on. I'll give you a full update after we return home.

I could not get a good photograph of these. The colors kept turning out weird but the colors are so cute in person.

Damsel In The Dress {7.27}.

This is one of my favorite shirts to wear. It's so flowy and comfy. 

Shirt: Macy's

Skinny Jeans: Forever 21

Boots: Vintage, gifted from my Auntie

Necklace: coin necklace

Here are some out takes from our quick little photo shoot. I had gotten Jake some finger steaks so he wanted to hurry up and go eat them. 

My face is glowing. I like it. 

Cartwheels...

...and twirls.

Linked up at The Pleated Poppy. 

Shoe Heaven.

I just checked my email and had a lovely little message from Anthropologie about shoes. I considered deleting it since I don't have money to be spending on shoes but I decided to look instead. Now I'm going to go sell a kidney to buy these shoes. (can I do that on ebay?) Actually, they're only $98 which is a great price for Anthro.

I love the detail down the back and the gorgeous autumn colors. *swoon* I wear a size 6.5. You know, just sayin'. 

I've linked up at Lollipops. 

New Friends.

We made it to California! It was a long drive but we made a new friend along the way. I named our tumbleweed Randall. It's a nice name for a tumbleweed, don't you think?

I also inherited this sweet pair of acid washed, elastic waistband jeans. I'm digging how high the waist is from the crotch of the pants. These things are killer. You know you're jealous. Sorry ladies, they can't be found in stores.

Leaving on a Jet Plane (or in my Compact Car, Either Way).

We're leaving soon to go visit my family in California and celebrate my Auntie's 95th birthday. I am so excited! I miss my family a lot and I can't wait to have a little summer fun with them.

Plus, I get to see this beautiful girl!! She's 9 months old and I haven't seen her since she was about 1 month old. I miss my little niece. I can't wait to play with her, now that she's old enough to play.

We've planned a big BBQ, a dinner out with the entire family, a trip to the zoo, and to just take our time and have fun. I think my sister and I might get to have some crafting time together too!

Our Kitty Babies.

I just realized I've never really written a post devoted to my sweet kitties. As you can see from the photos above and below, Ahimsa is a cuddler. We call her Ahi and I've been known to call her princess sometimes. Her favorite thing in the world, other than cuddles, is cat nip. She goes crazy over the stuff, she rolls in it and eats it and then walks around all day with it in her fur. She's kind of an elitist and doesn't like being around other cats. She'll hiss and swipe at them, which I totally love about her. 

All my good Ahi photos were on my cell which got wiped when it froze. 

This is Riff (Riff Raff) on the left and Rocky on the right. Don't worry, we left that ugly couch back in Utah when we moved. Riff is a hellion brat child of a cat. He's obnoxious, mean, kind of dumb, and completely adorable. Sometimes when you go to pet him he gets mad and whines but then starts purring at the same time. It's hilarious because he fights against the purrs so hard but always caves in to the cuddles.

Rocky is like an old man cat. He's just really chill. He wants to lie around and he wants the occasional cuddle. Mostly though he just wants to play with cupboard doors. He's obsessed with getting them open, it's hilarious. He'll play with a cupboard door for hours and all you hear is *thump* *thump* *thump* because he has the hardest time getting it to open far enough for him to squeeze in.

Do you have a post about your fur babies? I'd love to read it! 

How To: Yo Yo Brooch/Headband.

Today I finally got around to making a yo yo brooch. I've been meaning to make one for about 2 years now. I guess today was finally the day. Either that or the really cute fabrics I had inspired me. You can find tons of these on etsy if you don't want to make your own. 

What you'll need:
fabric (if you don't want to purchase any, cut up old t-shirts)
felt/wool
thread & needle
beads (optional)
pin backs
something round (I used mason jars/soda cans/etc.)
scissors
a pen or chalk

First you'll want to trace around a circular object on the backside of your fabric. The larger the object, the larger your yo yo flower will be.

Next you'll want to cut along your traced line so you have a circle of fabric.

If you'd like, you can sew on some beads. One larger bead in the middle of each yo yo looks really sweet and adorable as well.

I left the back messy because it's just for personal use so it's not a big deal. If I were to give it as a gift or sell it in a shop, I would cover my work with another layer of felt and just sew the two layers of felt together around the outside edges, to give it a polished look. I would then add the pin backs. 

If you wanted to make a headband, instead of sewing on the pin backs just simply sew the entire piece onto an elastic headband. 

Note: instead of sewing the yo yos to the felt, you could hot glue them. 

The reason I wanted to make this is because a few years ago I purchased a cardi from Old Navy with the cutest little flowers. One day it accidentally made it into the wash and the flowers shriveled up and died. I wanted to make something similar that I could take on and off my clothes without it having to go through the wash. I tried once before but I couldn't quite figure it out at the time. Turns out, it's really easy to make a yo yo flower. 

I was trying to take a self portrait. This one cracks me up! 

Here's a fun story: When I was a wee little child my mom used to take us to this Asian lady for haircuts. Apparently her name was Yo, but I always remembered it as being YoYo. Yo gave my poor little 4th grade self a mullet. It was awful! 

Did your mom ever "accidentally" give/get you a terrible haircut? 

Damsel In The Dress.

{Technically I'm not wearing a dress in this photo but I've decided to do a weekly outfit post, a damsel in the dress post. It won't always be on Wednesday but hopefully it'll inspire me to at least shower and brush my hair.}

I wore this outfit to jam night last week. I was joking around that I'm in my hippie vest, hence the peace sign. I actually really love this outfit because it's so comfortable and the only thing I paid full price for was the flowy vest which was from H&M so it was incredibly inexpensive to begin with.

Tank: Hollister

Vest: H&M

Jeans: Gap's clearance rack (these jeans are super comfy)

Shoes: Kenneth Cole via Ross

Necklace: Lucky Brand (it's hard to tell but the top pendant is a peace sign)

Bracelets: gold bangle - mini storage auction, leather braided - American Eagle, green stones - Lucky Brand

1/2/3

If I had extra money I'd definitely go shopping for some fun summer clothes. Luckily for me, I have plenty of clothes, enough to tide me over for another 10 or so years. Not that I won't buy more in the future. After all, who doesn't love a new dress every now and then?

I'm linked up at Lollipops and The Pleated Poppy. 

Please, May I Have Your Vote?

Hey guys, I'm up for best in category: crafts for a cool new feature that For the Love of Blogs is doing. I would really like your votes as my blog would be displayed for 3 months which would be amazing. If you could do me the favor of popping over there and hitting the "like" button under my blog name I would really appreciate it. Vote for some of your other favorite blogs while you're there. Tons of categories and great blogs are listed.

Thanks so much!

*I think you can vote once per day, per blog.*

Cherry Berry Pie.

Doesn't it look like an evil face with a creepy beard?

We made sure to pick enough berries that we'd be able to make jam and still have enough for pie too. I've never made a pie before (aside from the kind made with chocolate pudding, yum!) and after making two batches of jam and removing all of the cherry pits by hand, I was tired, so I opted for store bought crust. This pie was so good that we immediately ate all but 2 slices. Yeah, we're piggos.

Ingredients:

4 cups fruit (cherries, blackberries, raspberries, blueberries, whatever suits your fancy)
3/4 c. white sugar
1/4 c. all purpose flour
1/2 t. cinnamon
1 t. vanilla extract
1/2 t. lemon juice
1 T. butter
your favorite pie crust, homemade or store bought. You'll need a double 9 inch round. I used Pillsbury because my mom said that sometimes the off brands dry out really badly.

Mix sugar, flour and cinnamon in a bowl.

Add fruit, vanilla extract and lemon juice. Stir until you can no longer see any sugar or flour and it looks like you have wet fruit.

After placing your bottom pie crust into a 9 inch pie dish, pour fruit mixture into pie crust.

Dot the top of the fruit with butter.

Add the top pie crust. Squish the edges together, make slits in the top.

Here is a slideshow on decorative pie edges. Side note: Why does Good Housekeeping's website look like it hasn't been redesigned since the 1970s? Not feeling the color combo.

Bake at 375 degrees for 1 hr. It might be good to place a cookie sheet underneath just incase your pie bubbles over. Mine did a little tiny bit.

Let pie cool for a bit and then dig in and enjoy!

Ours was made from cherries, black raspberries, and raspberries. I want to go pick more cherries to make a cherry pie. Cherries are my favorite!

I'm linked up at FTLOB for Tasty Tuesday. 

So Long ~ Winnie The Pooh Soundtrack

{via}

I haven't seen Winnie the Pooh and I most likely won't but I am stoked that She & Him contributed several songs to the soundtrack. They are one of my very favorite bands, I have a huge crush on Zooey D. and I am absolutely smitten with the song "So Long". It just puts a big smile on my face.

I love how their music is described on their website:

"She & Him make music for an eternal springtime, when the temperature is warm enough to go riding with the top (or at least the windows) rolled down and the radio turned up. They occupy an alternate universe where the saddest of songs feel as warm as sun showers; the rain may be coming down, but somewhere nearby, everything looks bright."

An Afternoon at Kelley Orchards.

When we first moved here I noticed a sign on the edge of the road heading into town advertising an orchard. It was March, it was still snowing sporadically, was very cold, and gloomy but I knew that someday soon I would become acquainted with that orchard and we would be best friends. I was right. I immediately googled it and signed up for their newsletter and then waited impatiently for news of fresh fruit. This weekend we finally got to go pick some berries and cherries and I was in love. It's such a magical place. The owner's children picked raspberries with us and regaled us with their stories of kindergarten and Disneyland (they're 4 & 6). The bees buzzed happily around and we were able to see thousands of trees slowly growing and nurturing their fruits. I can't wait to return later in the season for nectarines, peaches, plums and apples!

It seems like some people ate more than they picked. 

It was really warm outside but when your arm, head and shoulders are in a cherry tree it doesn't seem quite so hot.

In addition to the u-pick fruit, Kelley Orchards also makes the most incredible dried fruit. It's all natural with no sugar added and it is seriously delicious and surprisingly sweet. Luckily for everyone that doesn't live in the middle of nowhere, Idaho, it's available for purchase through their website.

We got away with 2.5 lbs. of raspberries, including a handful of black raspberries, and 3 lbs. of pie cherries for around $8. We should've picked a few more raspberries but it's difficult to gauge how much you already have when it's sitting in a cardboard box. 5.5 lbs. of fruit may not sound like much but I was able to make a small batch of both cherry preserves and raspberry jam and still make a cherry berry pie, and this is after we nibbled on them throughout the day!

I've decided that making small batches of jam is a great idea, rather than large batches. We eat jam but we don't inhale it and who wants to have a ton of extra pints in the cellar that they aren't going to be able to eat through by the time canning season rolls around next year? So I put up 2.5 pints of cherry preserves and 2 pints of raspberry jam. I love how pretty they look!

What is your favorite flavor of jam?

I Got Bit by a Wasp & Now I Want to Move to the Country.

Not even an hour ago I got bit by a wasp. All I could do was let out a mini scream and stand there because it hurt so badly and the wasp was still on my arm. Jake was at the other end of the house, he heard me yell and didn't know what was going on. He stared for a second and then ran over, walked me inside and got me a bag of heart shaped ice and a hug. I was bawling. I couldn't tell you the last time I got stung but I know it was back when I still went to daycare so I had forgotten how badly they hurt. Tomorrow I'm going to commit wasp genocide.

To be fair, I was invading his home territory but I didn't know he and his waspy friends lived there. Well actually, I was more like Fern Gullying his territory. I guess one of our landlord's friends had emailed her that it looked like we hadn't, "watered or cut the grass in awhile." Well, that isn't technically true. I have had a sprinkler attached to a hose for weeks but the only water spigot in the front of the house is to the secondary water. In our town, during the summer, secondary water is turned on, and free to use (straight from the river) but for some reason, it doesn't work well in the front yard. I think perhaps the pipe is clogged. The water pressure can change drastically depending on how many people are using it as well. So, I have a sprinkler set up, it just doesn't work sometimes. I attached a bunch of hoses together and brought them from the back of the house (where the secondary water works great) around to the front. It's been working well and the grass has perked right back up. Jake didn't want to mow when the grass was yellowish, something about a fire hazard.

So tonight we decided to finally mow the lawn, which wasn't even that long, I mean, it is way shorter than the empty foreclosed house next door. While Jake was mowing, I got my gardening gloves and a pair of scissors and went down the fence line cutting weeds. They were getting pretty tall. We don't have a weed whacker and can't afford one since Jake's pay was cut. I don't really mind cutting it down with scissors, it takes forever but I feel good about it when I'm finished. I was about 85% done and that's when I got bit. I didn't even notice the hive until after Jake patched me up and I went back out there to get the remaining 15% of weeds. I got one snip in, saw the nest, and decided I'll be back tomorrow with a big can of wasp spray.

Someday I want to live in a more rural area, on about 5 acres. I keep pointing out areas I like when we drive past and say to Jake, "I just want about that much land, how big is that?" and they're always about 5 acres. In this rural area, my neighbors won't be so close, and they can shut up about my overgrown yard. In fact, I might not even have a yard, just a big garden in the back and a field of wildflowers in the front. I want chickens that can roam and maybe a tire swing too. Jake's dad has some land for us, 10 acres, but there isn't a house on it so we'd have to figure that out. Plus, it's in a place I refer to as being dead. It just feels dead to me there but that's because it's a desert area full of sage brush and I'm from a place full of leafy green forests similar to the Great Valley on The Land Before Time. I'm curious to see how long I last until I decide to just move there. I can always plant some trees, right?

Seeing Stars. Well, a Moon.

Riff's glowing eyes remind me of lightsabers.

Jake bought this telescope for our first date. I know you're thinking, "what? that's crazy!" Don't forget, Jake and I met in an online video game and had been talking for months before we met in person and had a lot of time to talk about fun things we wanted to do together. Anyway, we never ended up setting it up. We finally used it tonight to look at the moon and it was so much fun! Hopefully soon we'll use it to find other cool things in the night sky.

DIY Chalkboards.

I have made several different chalkboards for the house and I'm a little bit obsessed. I love chalkboards. I love how they're not permanent decoration and I can change them whenever I want to suit my mood.

This particular chalkboard is 2x3 ft. We went to Home Depot and bought a 2x4 ft. piece of MDF and had them cut it to the size I wanted it. Then I bought a can of chalkboard spray paint from JoAnns (using my 50% off coupon). This was my first time using the chalkboard spray paint and I'd have to say that I am not a huge fan. I felt like the chalkboard surface isn't as smooth as when you use a can of paint and a brush which is what I did when I made my other chalkboards. To hang this we used a drill bit that was bigger than the screws to bore a hole into each side of the board so I can easily put it up and take it down to change it.

I have two chalkboards like this made from a picture frame. I simply removed the glass and painted it with chalkboard paint and then reassembled and hung it. The only issue I have with using a can of chalkboard paint is that the brush kind of leaves little lines on your chalkboard. Perhaps using a small roller would be the best way to go about it. This piece hangs in my kitchen so I can easily add to it when I'm cooking and notice I'm running low on something. You can see where Jake has erased the word "chickens". I really want to raise hens and Jake is against the idea. He'll come around.

So for those of you who have made chalkboards, how do you apply the paint and which kind of paint do you use?