g-ear up for the holidays

Sorry I've been MIA.  I just got back home from a WONDERFUL week-long trip back to home home in CA (woot woot!) and then I got sick.  :/  It's it always like that?  It was like IL was punishing me for coming back.  :P  Just kidding, I probably over did it when I was home.  Anyhow, this fabulously unemployed person (Target rejected me!) is dreaming of Christmas and beautiful holiday parties with sparkling pink champagne ("An Affair to Remember", anyone?!).  Here are some dazzling earrings from Charm & Chain that I would wear to such a soirée.  

[1] Esmerelda Earrings, $58

[2] Navette Earrings, $62

[3] Carly Earrings, sold out :(

[4] Double Teardrop Earrings, $148

[5] Small Pearl Rhinestone Studs, $120

[6] Somerset Disc Earrings, $70

book review : little old lady recipes

Full disclosure I received a free copy of Meg Favreau's new book published by Quirk Books, "Little Old Lady Recipes" in order to do this review.  You can purchase it here.

Once again, thanks to Eric at Quirk Books for letting me review so many awesome books.  

I really wanted to review this book because in my experience the best tasting dishes have been made by people who are "little old ladies" and I always find myself asking them for their recipes.  This pocket-sized book is packed with everything from everyday recipes (like pancakes) to dishes you'll want to take to your next potluck (like tuna surprise casserole).  You won't find the latest and greatest in gourmet food here but you'll find the oldies but goodies that you'd find from your grandma's kitchen.  Well...not MY grandma since she's a 1st generation Korean woman but you know what I mean. 

The recipe I decided to tackle was the one for frosted cinnamon rolls.  I've never made cinnamon buns before and to be honest I was a little nervous about making it.  Any time I work with yeast I feel a little nervous.  I always feel like I'm going to 'hurt' them or kill them somehow and nothing will rise.

So the way the recipes are written are very much in the voice of a little old lady.  As in, there are specific measurements but there are also generalities written in to the recipe.  For example, the recipe calls for the first resting period of the dough to last "until doubled."  So basically what I did was what an episode of Castle on On Demand and guess when it looked like it had doubled.  I kind of wished it had given me some kind of timeline like an hour or whatever but in the end the buns came out fine and it wasn't a big deal.

So the cinnamon buns came together pretty easily and I have to say that they weren't the loveliest of all cinnamon buns that I have seen but they were yummy just the same.  Mark had one after work and he said they were "delicious" so I guess my first time with these babies went a-okay.  One bonus of making these is that they made the apartment smell divine.  :P

unsolicited wedding advice wednesdays : straws

via thesugardiva.com

So for my wedding we couldn't serve alcohol and we didn't want to just serve water either so we went the trendy route and had bottles of colorful soda that we got at Restaurant Depot (what a wonderful place to buy stuff).  And since we were already being trendy I thought I'd by those cute striped straws that you see everywhere nowadays.  Unfortunately something got lost in the measurements (either I measured wrong or didn't measure at all or maybe the bottel change, who can tell....) and the straw was about the same height as the bottle itself.  Which isn't an issue when there's soda in the bottle because the fizz makes the straw float a bit but the funny thing with soda is that you tend to want to drink it in which case the straw would sink and become useless INSIDE the bottle.  Anywhoo...I returned the straws and we served the bottles as-is because I couldn't find longer straws but I thought I should share this cautionary tale in case you decide to buy those cute straws for your wedding or your next party.  Measure, measure, measure.  Most cute straws are 7 3/4" or somewhere around there.

HOWEVER, in my recent research (5 min ago I googled 'stripped straw') I discovered that The Sugar Diva now sells LONG 10 1/2" striped straws, here.  Not in every color sadly but they do come in hot pink, aqua, and grey.  Yay!

via thesugardiva.com

belated happy halloween!

Here are some point and shoot shots on our walk yesterday.  Technically it was Monday but it's considered our Saturday because Mark has been working Wednesday–Sunday lately.  I'm going to press some fall leaves to take home to give to my mom.  She loves ginko leaves.

tip of the day

via ikea.com

Tip of the Day:  Next time you have a jar lid that you just can't seem to open but you feel like it's a funny situation because YOU were the one to close the jar last time so you think to yourself, "Well if I'm strong enough to close it this tight I should be strong enough to open it?", try wearing a rubber kitchen glove on the hand that is doing the turning to grip the lid much better.

lolz

image via Pintrest

My hubby's man crush: Maurice Moss from the British show, The IT Crowd.    You will recognize Chris O'Dowd from the movie,  Bridesmaids.  If you have Netflix you can watch streaming episodes online.  Oh those crazy Brits....

unsolicited wedding advice wednesdays : real life

image via google.com

So I'm a planner.  I like to think ahead and have a plan in place.  My co-worker is the same and when her daughter was a senior in high school she started getting together somethings for her to take with her to college.  The typical stuff like bedding and stuff but she also got together a medicine/first aid kit.  She said that young people just don't have the wisdom of life to do something like this for themselves.  As in they wouldn't think to buy band-aids unless they cut themselves really bad and have to drive to Target to buy a box with their bloody finger.  I thought this was a really good idea and I also think it would be a really nice gift to give or receive because when you're getting married you're not thinking about the next time you might get sick.  This maybe not the most "aww"-worthy gift but very practical one (which I like).

So here are some medicine cabinet/first aid kit ideas:

• band-aids (technically bandages), different sizes
• cotton balls
• rubbing alcohol/antiseptic
• antibiotic ointment 
• Q-tips
• gauze with tape
• cold medicine
• thermometer
• Alka Seltzer
• TUMS/antacid 
• Advil/ibuprofen 
• Tylenol/acetaminophen 
• Tiger Balm (is rumored to cure cancer...just kidding)