Saturday Blogger Love #6

For this week's Saturday Blogger Love I want to highlight this YouTube video on how to make a gingham pattern in photoshop.  The music is perfectly cute, and it's an extra helpful photo editing trick.  Pugly Pixel made this little tutorial.  She has a fantastic website with great blogging, and photoshop tips and tutorials.  I don't have photoshop (yet), but I find I can adapt most of her tutorials to GIMP (which is free).  I usually figure if I can't adapted her photoshop tutorial to GIMP, it's not because it can't be done, but because I'm not completely GIMP or photoshop proficient.  

I've been having fun creating my patterns, and layering them together.  For my new Saturday Blogger Love banner I layered together a plaid pattern I made, and a polka dot pattern I made.  I lowered the opacity of the top layer to reveal the bottom layer until I was happy with the mix.  I want to replace all the terrible free patterns GIMP gives me,  with my own awesome creations!  I'm so happy I found Pugly Pixel's video on how to do this!

I also love her tutorial on making detail circles.  I still have some learning to do, but It really adds something to the whole photo.  

She also has some great freebies too, like these tape strips.  Which I used for last weeks Saturday Blogger Love pic.  Makes me want to read her blog back to front, and tool around in GIMP all day.  I'm not sure sitting in front of the lappy for extended hours is a great idea though.  :)  My bum and hubby would be happy for me to get up and move around.  On that note I'm off to do something fun, which could be thrifting/antiquing before I have to work this evening.  I have to take pictures of a communion confirmation for work.  I'm not Catholic so I'm always mixing those two ceremonies up.  Have a happy Saturday ya'll, happy DIYing, chris.  

Fun Friday Fascinations #3

Happy Friday.  Sorry there has been a lack of DIYs.  I have a lot on my plate lately.  Plus, I haven't been in the right mind frame.  I'm going to kick myself into gear this coming week.  I have a bunch of ideas running around my head.  Anyway on with my Fun Friday Fascinations!  

With our house searching I've been thinking about furniture a lot.  Now I couldn't afford to buy this piece, but maybe I could make a similar piece someday.  I love the texture of reclaimed wood pieces.  

I've also been thinking about owning chickens.  I'm not sure our first home purchase will it be legal for us to own chickens, but I can dream.  This chicken coop is ultra stylish.  

This DIY is fantastic.  I love plastic animals, and this would put them to great use.  I love making cute tchotchkes functional.  Little Gray Fox is a beautifully designed blog to boot.  

This is a great combination of charms for a necklace.  Swallow's Heart makes beautiful jewelry, but the owner is currently on vacation until May 8th.   I just found her, and her sold piece are so lovely, I can't wait to see what see puts in her shop when she comes back.  

Loving this scarf from ModCloth.  The colors are perfect for spring, and I love any print with cupcakes.

Hope ya'll had a great week, and have a fun weekend!  Happy DIYing, chris.  

Old Photos of Me

Last month I did a post of some scanned photos of me as a little kid up to the end of high school.  I said I was going to make a post of photos of me after college, and here it finally is.  

I took this photo of myself during my second year of college.  I don't seem to have many photos from my first year of college.  Near the end of my first year a friend cut my hair short, and it stayed that way for awhile.  

This photo is from my first time abroad in London.  I'm not sure when I dyed my hair blond.  I started experimenting with dying my hair when I was 13.  I've tried greens, blues, pinks, purples, reds, and black.  

This is from my last year of college.  My hair is half red and half black.  I loved this dye job.

   

This photo is the perfect representation of me in college.  Those are really glasses, not for a coolness factor.  I'm simply not that hip.  :)

I got mono during my second to last semester of college, and had to leave school a couple weeks before the end of the semester.  i almost didn't graduate on time.  It was a super stressful time, and this photo is from the night before I left Vermont to go home to Delaware will mono.  Those are my friend Adriana's arms, helping hold up the necessities of mono -- saltines and graham crackers.  

This photo is from my last semester at college.  I cut the collar off of this t-shirt, and made it a pretty v-neck, and I free-hand painted the 'C' on the front.  I'm wearing the pink scarf from the mono photo on my head.  

This is my hair while I was working at Idyllwild Arts Summer Camp after college, where I met Aaron.  My hair actually dreads pretty much on it's own.  I just need to wash it every day, and not condition or brush.  Though the side of my hair that I was dying black stayed silky, so I had half a head of dreadlocks.  This hair style didn't last long though, because my scalp got so itchy. Not because I was dirty, but because it was too hard to wash out all the shampoo, and it would dry my scalp out.  

This is me driving across the states with my mom.  Aviators and Wayfarers are my favorite style of sunglasses.  I miss that t-shirt.  It was the perfect softness, and I got it for free.  In college the houses on campus had what we called 'free piles', and it was stuff students living in the house didn't want, but thought was still useful.  I loved walking around campus and checking out the free piles.  Best thrifting ever!  

Aaron took this photo of me when we took a drive up to San Francisco one long weekend.  This is how my hair looked not long after cutting my dreadlocks off.  Those are sea lions in the background.  

Once my hair grew back in I just kept letting it grow.  I kept dying half of it black for a long time.  I really like asymmetrical hair.  

Then I realized I could save some money if I stopped dying my hair. I let my hair go all natural, as seen in the above photo.

Then I couldn't take it, and cut off one side.  I took this photo of myself with my work equipment for our Spring photo setup from 2010.  I started getting my hair cut asymmetrically like this back in 2009.  With the first cut I got a little blond patch dyed in my bangs and a bit on the long side, but I haven't dyed my hair since then.  The short side grows way too fast, and I'm cheap so I mostly keep that side shoulder length now, and the long side comes to my mid-back.  I've been feeling like it's time to change my hair, but I'm not sure what I want to do with it.  

Hope ya'll enjoyed seeing some old photos of me, happy DIYing, chris.  

Photo An Hour #2

This past Saturday I did another Photo an Hour.  

7:30AM -- We woke up earlier, but I didn't get my fist photo off until the bed was made.  The painting above the bed is super creepy, and from my childhood.  I mostly keep it there to creep out my husband.  

8:30AM -- Sitting drinking coffee, and checkin' my BlogLovin' list.  

9:30AM -- Thinking of some DIYs for these guys.  I found the rock a while ago.  It has a natural hole through it, and I'd like to make a new necklace for it.  The white bow is a hair clip from ModCloth, and the lil' pink doggie is a pin I've had forever.  It went with a whole outfit I had as a kid, I have the faintest memory of it, and it envolved a black and white houndstooth skirt. 

10:30 AM -- Checking out one of our lovely patches of Thyme.  It's blooming and beautiful.  :)  This is it's second year back.  I think it enjoyed the mild winter.  

11:30AM -- My last paper pulp seed cups.  All the seedlings have been transplanted.  They did well in the paper cups.  They did best in my cabbage pulp cups.  

12:30PM -- My current favorite shoes.  Converse makes them.  The thing I love most about these shoes is that they aren't identical. I wish I could buy more shoes like these.  

1:30PM -- This tree stump knot has been drying out on a bench for a couple years in our backyard.  I think it's about time I planted something in it.  I love it's shape and texture.  

2:30PM -- Procrastinating getting my blog entry done.  I spent some time looking at my rock collection.  This guy guards all my goodies.  I've been thinking of getting the rocks and their friends a new home.  We'll see ...

3:30PM -- Getting my blog work done, while watching TV, and keeping a snack by as motivation.  I like to reward myself for getting stuff done - with food.  Ya know like you do with dogs and kids?  :)

4:30PM -- Gathering my stuff together to go over to our friends' Kristen and James' house.  My sunglasses are either from Urban Outfitters, H and M, or Target.  I've purchased them at all three places.  Sometimes in this color,  sometimes in other colors.  This is my current favorite color.  I got my cell phone case at my favorite farmer's market.  I don't have an iPhone.  I have T-Mobile's  3G My Touch Slide.  The keyboard is essential.  I like the phone a like, I'm not looking forward to the day I have to replace it.  

5:30PM -- Kristen and James' cute kitty.  Her name is Avie.  It's taken her a bit to warm up to Aaron and I visiting, but she's our buddy.  I'd like to get a younger kitty when we are ready.  Maybe one that likes to jump or get in water!  

6:30PM -- James made Emeril's yummy Spicy Barbecued Shrimp Skewers.  I just ate dinner, but looking at these pics makes me want to eat again!  Mmmm, James is a great cook.  He served the shrimp with a cold bean and corn salad, which was awesome too.  I'm definitely stealing these recipes.  

7:30PM -- Kristen mixed up this tasty Cherry Beer Margarita she found on Pinterest.  I generally go for whisky and cola, but this was delightful.  I have a soft spot for maraschino cherries, so this was right up my alley.   

8:30PM -- Playing with Avie after dinner.  Kristen has another cat, but Lenore is very shy.  She usually hides the whole time we visit.   I always enjoy hanging out with Kristen and James.  I'm glad they are our friends.  We left their house around nine,  and went to bed shortly after we got home.  We aren't night owls, we're early risers.  I rarely sleep past seven AM.

Hope you enjoyed this Photo an Hour!  Happy DIYing, chris.  

What I Wore ...

On our mini staycation two weekends ago.  

Dress -- H&M

Sweater -- T.J. Maxx

Tank-top -- H&M

Leggings -- American Apparel

Sandals -- DSW by Mix No. 6

Bag -- Jo Totes

I mentioned in Sunday's post that Aaron and I took some outfit pics on our mini staycation for our anniversary.  I'm wearing the same dress from this outfit post, but I've paired it with different layers.  I've also worn that sweater a ton, maybe a bit too much, as seen by my header ... I love layering!  Aaron makes fun of me for how many layers I usually have on, but I love mixing colors and textures!  The color and pattern of this dress is so girlie and cute, but it's super low cut, and short in the skirt, so I'm always pairing it with things to cover myself up.  This pair of leggings and tank top match perfectly, and there are bits of this color in the dress' flowers.  American Apparel calls this color Evergreen, I would normally think of evergreen as a darker color with less blue.  I'd call this color dark teal or aquamarine.  Whatever color this is, I love it!  

I wear my hair down all the time, but sometimes I like big curls in my hair.  I'm not one to spend too much time on my hair, so this is how I achieve that look.  I put my hair up in a messy bun while it's slightly damp.  To make it cute for our little anniversary date, I wrapped a vintage cloth belt around the bun.  I've kept this belt since I was a kid to use solely as a hair accessory.  I found it on a dress in my grandparent's basement when I was probably about seven.  Not sure what happened to the dress, cause it didn't fit me at the time I didn't pay it much attention.  

This bag from Jo Totes is amazing.  I can't rave about how awesome it is enough.  I love these leggings too.  I got them more then six years ago, and they've held up well.  The little white buttons are just perfectly adorable.  I'm not a foot person, and I generally like to keep my toes covered, but I couldn't resist the flowers on these sandals.  Plus strappy grecian or gladiator style sandals are my favorite.  

Yay for jumping, the beach, mini staycations, Aaron, nice weather, and the ocean!  Happy DIYing, and have a great tuesday, chris.

Vegetable Tian

Font by Miss Tina

Welcome back to Nom Nom Mondays!  Today I made this fantastic Veggie Tian.  I found the recipe on Pinterest, and made it for the first time about a month ago.  Everyone loved it, and it was so easy to make I wanted to make it again.  I can't emphasis how easy this is to make, and it's healthy-ish while staying tasty.  

WHAT YOU'LL NEED:

- 1 large yellow onion

- 4 - 5 cloves of garlic (this is my addition to the recipe)

- 3 large roma tomatoes

- 2 medium sized russet potatoes

- 1 zucchini

- 1 yellow squash

- 2 tablespoons of olive oil

- 1/4 cup parmesan cheese

- salt and pepper

- dried thyme

Heat the oven to 375ºF.  If you'd like to prepare this dish ahead of time, just leave the oven off :).  Dice the onion into small squares, and mince the garlic.  Clean your veggies, and cut into quarter inch thick slices.  Leave the skin on the potatoes.  I liked to cut the potatoes a bit thinner, and the tomatoes a bit thicker, so they both come out the right consistency.  

Heat a skillet with one tablespoon of olive oil, and then lightly brown the onion and garlic.  Then evenly spread over the bottom of a greased pie dish.  

Arrange all of the veggies in a spiral on top of the browned onion and garlic.  Make only one layer, you should be able to fit everything in.  The first time I made this I doubled the ingredients and baked them in two pie dishes.  

Drizzle the other tablespoon of olive oil over the top, and season with the thyme, salt and pepper.  We had tons of fresh thyme, and none dried which worked too.  Cover with foil, and you can either refrigerate until you're ready to bake, or stick it directly into the oven for 35 minutes.  

After baking for 35 minutes, remove from the oven, and coat the top with parmesan cheese.  Make sure to use the shredded kind, and not the powdery kind.  Stick the dish back in the oven uncovered for another 25 - 30 minutes.  

When the cheese is bubbly brown over the top the veggies are ready to be served!  

Here's a close-up of the yummy bubbly cheese.  Hope ya'll are having a good Monday, happy DIYing, chris.  

Mini Staycation for Our Anniversary

I've been working on the blog a lot today.  I thought it was time for an update, and time to learn some new tricks.  I have a few more things I want to learn/make on my To Do List.  Then I want to post about how it all came together, and what brought about the changes.  For now I'm way behind on my stash of photos for posts.  These photos seemed appropriate to post today.  This is what Aaron and I were up to last Sunday, which is when we celebrated our anniversary.  Since the actual date was on Monday, and we both had to work ::poo::.  Aaron had to work on Saturday until five, so we drove down to the beach around seven.  

This is Aaron pretending to use the awesome old style phone in our hotel.  We stayed at The Boardwalk Plaza Hotel in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware.  The hotel was Victorian and they had parrots.  It was amazing!  I can't believe I've never stayed at a hotel on the boardwalk in Rehoboth before.  I grew up going to the Delaware beaches with my family, but we'd always rented houses outside of Rehoboth.  It was fantastic staying on the boardwalk!

I made Aaron take some outfit pics of me, which I'll show later this week.  This is me showing Aaron how'd I'd like him to frame the photo.  I usually use a tripod and timer.  However, I spent all the time I was supposed to be packing making/scheduling blog posts, and in my rush out the door I forgot my tripod!  This was a pretty successful technique though, and it might have been even faster then the tripod/timer routine.  

He's so cute!  I love that he plays along with me and all my silly blogger games.  :)  Even on our anniversary date!  It was a great way to kill some time.  We are early risers, and we were waiting for 10 to eat brunch.  I had the most amazing frittata from our hotel's restaurant.  They called it a Delmarva Frittata, made with eggs, Canadian bacon, tomato, baby spinach, and Swiss cheese baked into a puff pastry.  The cheese was melted to perfection, and mmm, just talking about it I'd like to eat another right now!  

We took a walk down the boardwalk, and Aaron asked that I take his pic with this famous Dolle's sign.  He loves that sign.  I took his pic with it once before, but it didn't turn out too hot.  This sign is super iconic of the Delaware seashore, famous for their saltwater taffy and caramel popcorn.  Though Aaron's never eaten anything from the store before, or even stepped foot through their front door!  When I was a kid my Grandmom would always have us grab a box of taffy before we headed home from the shore.  

After brunch we sat on the beach for a couple hours.  Aaron was terrified I'd get burned, which is great, because I'm terrible at remembering to reapply sunscreen.  I ended up with some strange little splotches, but they didn't hurt too bad.  

This was our view from our towels.  The water was too cold to get in, but it was perfect for laying out.  I love pics of the beach like this. 

Me on our drive home.  I love my hair after being in a bun all day.  I've always wish for naturally curly or wavy hair.  I spent ages 3 through 12 constantly curling or perming my hair trying to achieve this effect.  Good thing I learned to let my hair dry in a super messy bun, otherwise I'd have some damaged and tattered hair!  

Hope ya enjoyed our little staycation as much as we did!  Have a lovely Sunday, and happy DIYing, chris!