top knots

images from Pinterest

Do you like the top knot?

I, like most women I know, have a love/hate relationship with my hair. It's actually more like a love/jeez-why-is-there-so-much-of-it-and-why-does-it-feel-like-a-horse relationship, so it's no surprise that I put off washing it as long as I can. Which of course means I need to do some careful maneuvering a few days every week.

I have yet to figure out how to make the top knot work for me (I have a giant forehead that typically needs some "softening"), but I love it! Here's a good tutorial, or you could use these.

Would you try it? Maybe this weekend?

wish list wednesday

What am I wishing for this Wednesday?


photo from HowSweetItIs


* Dry shampoo for curly hair. Is there such a thing?

* The J.Crew No.2 pencil skirt. How great is the citron color?

* That this humid weather would hit the road! It's too early for frizz like this.

* That these shams came in king-size. This king bedding stuff is hard!

* Garlic Bread Pizza Crust counts as breakfast, right?

What's your wish?

re-do to do

What’s the deal with Daylight Savings Time? (Doesn’t that sound like the opening line of a bad Jerry Seinfeld act?) I totally get why we did it in the beginning, but is it really necessary in 2012? This pretty much sums up my thoughts on it:

PC? No. True? Yes.

While I was lying awake last night at 11:30 p.m., I put together a to-do list for my bedroom makeover and even set a deadline for myself: Memorial Day = installation day. Why then you might ask? Supposedly that’s when the mattresses at Miskelly go on sale. Who knew? Kell did. And since I have not heeded his opinion on anything décor-related yet, I decided to give him that one little nugget.

3 Euro shams

Ivory king shams

Throw pillows (one of which is my beloved Chiang Mai pillow)

Mattelasse bedspread - ivory

Paint walls

curtain panels

Sunburst mirror (I got one at Big Lots!)

headboard

Lamps for bedside tables

Painting above bed

Bedside tables

Art above bedside tables

And I will say that for me, the best way to get started was to choose a color pallette. Fortunately, Chiang Mai Dragon has so many great colors, Shumacher did that for me.

So, now there’s no excuse but to get to work, right? Oh, and there’s that little hurdle called a “budget” to get over, but shoot first, apologize later, right?

a challenge...or maybe not

Well, Pinterest sure has taken off like wildfire, yes?

I myself got sucked in months ago (all the blame rests on Laura Merrill), and I. Love. It. It's like shopping, but you don't have to actually pay for the stuff. And it's like hoarding. but cuter and you don't end up on TLC clutching old Target sacks and dented canned goods.

Always having been one of those people who had to be "in the mood" to get creative, Pinterest seems to do the trick most of the time. But how many times, myself included, have we pinned with the best intentions, only to do nothing with it? Is the road to shoulda/woulda/couldas paved with good pin-tentions?

So here you go, readers (all five of you). I'm taking part in the Pinterest Challenge that I spotted on Hi, Sugarplum! blog (that's where I got the banner, too). The rules are simple: find something you pinned, actually do it/make it, and blog about it! It can be a DIY, an outfit or a recipe; just do something! Oh, and don't forget to tell me about it, and I'll mention it here. Let's share some blogger luv!

Today I'm off to Gulfport to help host a baby shower for my dear friend, Morgan. What are your plans for the weekend? I hope it's pin-credible.

You like those pin puns. Don't lie.

wish list wednesday

What am I wishing for this Wednesday?

* A brightly-colored jacket. Doesn't this one just scream "spring?"

* More gorgeous weather like yesterday!

* Wouldn't these wedges (spotted on A Cup of Jo) be a great everyday, wear-with-everything shoe for spring and summer and maybe even early fall?

* A free yard makeover by an actual professional (read: not me).

* I need this for March 23.

What's your wish?

chicken and mushrooms in a garlic white wine sauce

Can you guess by the title what this post is about? I'm hilarious.

I recently mentioned I’m back to square one on Weight Watchers. My eating has gotten a little out of control, and I’d gotten lackadaisical about the whole thing. So, I’m getting back on the wagon – counting points and tracking and everything. It’s tedious, yes, but I’ll admit my personality thrives under such structure.

WW does a great job of informing you of generic food values and even the points of restaurants, but their recipes on the website are iffy at best. They have weird ingredients and almost never look appetizing to me. No thank you, I do not care for any Autumn Fruit with Tofu Whipped Topping (yes, that’s a real recipe). But I would love a Nutella-Banana Wonton.

As you know, there is no shortage of cooking websites out there, but not too many are healthy, and the ones that actually figure out the points for you (this lazy girl’s dream come true) are even harder to find. Enter SkinnyTaste. This is one of the best blogs out there for healthy cooking if you ask me, and her recipes are delicious. Even better, the ingredients are totally normal! No tofu!

Here’s a new favorite at my house…

image from here, too!

Chicken and Mushrooms in a Garlic White Wine Sauce
Gina's Weight Watcher Recipes
Servings: 4
Serving Size: divide between 4
Old Points: 4 pts • Points+: 6 pts

8 chicken tenderloins, 16 oz total
2 tsp butter
2 tsp olive oil
1 tbsp all-purpose flour* (use rice flour if gluten free)
3-4 cloves garlic, minced
12 oz sliced mushrooms
1/4 cup white wine
1/3 cup fat free chicken broth
salt and fresh pepper to taste
1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley

Preheat oven to 200°. Season chicken liberally with salt and pepper. Lightly dredge in flour.

Heat a large skillet on medium heat; when hot add 1 tsp butter and 1 tsp olive oil. Add chicken to the skillet and cook on medium heat for about 5 minutes on each side, or until chicken is no longer pink. Set aside in a warm oven.

Add additional oil and butter to the skillet, then garlic and cook a few seconds; add mushrooms, salt and pepper stirring occasionally until golden, about 5 minutes.

Add wine, chicken broth, parsley; stir the pan with a wooden spoon breaking up any brown bits from the bottom of the pan.
Cook a few more minutes or until the liquid reduces by half.

Top the chicken with the mushroom sauce and serve.

What’s your favorite foodie site?

yip yip yippee yay

he even had his own stamp!

It’s Dr. Seuss’s birthday!


We all know his books, but how much do we actually know about the man? Here are a few facts I dug up on one of my favorite author…

* He came from a family of German brewmasters, which is probably why he loved to throw a big party in his Dartmouth days.

* His widow says he wasn’t crazy about kiddos, but they wanted them and couldn’t have them. He made up a fake child to reference when his friends bragged about their own kids.

* He wrote Green Eggs and Ham on a bet! His editor bet him $50 that he couldn’t write a book using only 50 different words.

* He’s an Oscar winner! He won an Academy Award for a documentary called Design for Death, about the US occupation in Japan after World War II.

* Horton Hears a Who was written as an allegory for America’s treatment of the Japanese following World War II. (he must have loved the Japanese like I do!)

* The Butter Battle Book was influential in the anti-arms race during the Cold War.

* He’s not a doctor, and his last name isn’t even Seuss! He’s Theodore Seuss Geisel, and the name got started as a pen name when he was the humor editor of his college newspaper.

* He created many words, but the word “nerd” is all his own. It first appeared in If I Ran the Zoo.

* The voice of Tony the Tiger sang the song “You’re a Mean One, Mr. Grinch” in the original cartoon special (the only one that matters), but he didn’t get any on-screen credit for it. Dr. Seuss wrote letters to editors of newspapers all over the country to correct the mistake.

* He wrote Cat in the Hat because he thought the Sally, Dick and Jane books were boring.

What do you think? What’s your favorite Dr. Seuss book?