Ano-der Smoo-die

Since I got my ninja, we started on meal replacement instead of the full blown juice diet.  Something about being a meat lover means that you can't suddenly go to an all liquid diet without crying into your pillow every night (for the boyfriend).

Better Berry Smoothie: 
1C milk
1 Tbs honey
1 tsp coconut oil
1/2C raspberries
1/2C blackberries
juice of half lemon OR 1tsp lemon juice
Total Calories: 286

Woven Chain Bracelet

via honestlywtf 

Blue is my favorite color.  Most crafts I do, end up being blue.  I'm not terribly diverse that way.

Personally, I didn't want to shell out $40 for the base bracelet on this (link here), so one 11pm trip to Walmart I found a base I liked for only $3 (and I have 60% of the chain left over, shazam!).

I think mine turned out decently well, and I'm getting better at taking pictures with my camera.

Materials

• bracelet small one here
• embroidery thread (some here)
• bobby pins
• skizzors

Cut 2 sets of 15 strands of embroidery thread.  I had 5 various blue shades, so I used 3 of each per side.  She recommends to make the length of each strand 4x bracelet length, but since my chain wasn't as dense I only needed about 3x.  Knot all the threads at the top, leaving about 2" of slack (which you'll trim down when you're done with the braclet).  so I wouldn't have to separate out my strands again, I bobby pinned the sides before I knotted at the top.  

Lay the threads on the left side of the bracelet.  Pull the first color (set on the right) from under the first link and over the top of the left side.

Lay the second color (left side) over the first.  Pull the second color under the same link and over the top again.  Continue until you reach the last link.

I didn't want mine to be quite so chunky, so even though I used a smaller bracelet I wove through each link twice, but if you're using a smaller chain like mine, she has another picture for weaving once through each link - 

I think that looks very pretty too :-)

Mine turned out decently thick, imo.

At the end, finish with a knot and trim the ends.

It's November!?

So I don't have a guide or anything to put together... other than OMG how is it November already!?

I'm still working on the shoes.  When my fingers and arms start aching and tire out after about 15 minutes of intense work, projects like that tend to take months unless I get on several multi-hour fun project days.  Each shoe looks like ... maybe 20% done, and I've been trying to figure out what kind of modge podge I should use to cover the rhinestones once they're done.  I have a Christmas wreath, and now that I have my own spacious apartment I'm wanting to decorate for the holidays more.  I would visit houses like that when I was a kid, and I've always loved the idea of doing it.  

This particular wreath was inspired by my Aunt, here's hers:

She used tulle and fall ribbons to make hers.  When I went shopping today, nobody had tulle.  Sad face for me.  But because it's just a couple of days after Halloween, and all of the Christmas decorations are out in full swing, eeeeeeeeeverything fall is on super clearance.  This was my ribbon success:

The two rolls on the right were about $7.88 (I know, very exact for "about") each from Sam's, and each roll to the left were around $1 each.  

After about 30 minutes of Castle and wrangling with the glitter tape and autumn leaves, the ribbon took another 10 minutes for tying and voila! 

I keep trying to tweak the colors settings on my phone so that my pictures come out in better light, and I know I should've taken it during the day... but oh well.  The leaves are mostly red with gold glitter, once I hang it up on the door I'll take some more pictures! :-)

shhh a NINJA!

So as you totally won't have guessed from the post title, I got a Ninja Professional blender from my boyfriend as kind of a "moving to our new apartment" housewarming gift.  Or at least, I'm choosing to think of it that way.  Because of this, he's also interested in going on a "smoothie" diet, which I will turn into a juicing diet and hide all the solid food.  I need to cement the pantry doors shut...


To keep my sanity for trying to keep track of all the smoothies I'm making (and liking) I'm going to put them here :-D


I've updated all of them with calorie counting, and originally denoted each line item with the # of calories, but I'll abbreviate here:


1 banana: 110 calories
1 cup strawberries: 50 calories
1 cup vanilla yogurt: 110 calories
1 cup milk: 130 calories
1 Tbs honey: 60 calories
1 cup blackberries: 62 calories
1 cup raspberries: 50 calories
1 cup cherries: 80 calories 
1 cup blueberries: 70 calories


Strawberry-Banana
1 banana 
1 cup strawberries 
1/2 cup vanilla yogurt 
1/2 cup milk 
2 tsp honey 
pinch of cinnamon
cup of ice
Total Calories: 320


Triple-Berry Blend
1 1/2 cups mixed blackberries, strawberries, and raspberries
1 cup milk 
1 cup ice
2 tsp honey 
Total Calories: 251


Cherry Delight
1 cup cherries 
1 cup strawberries 
1 banana 
1 cup ice
2 Tbs honey 
Total Calories: 360


Banana Raspberry
1/2 cup vanilla yogurt 
1 cup milk 
1 cup raspberries 
1 banana 
1/2 cup ice
squirt of honey 
Total Calories: 355 


Summer Smoothie
1 banana 
1 cup strawberries 
1 cup blueberries 
1 cup cherries 
1 cup vanilla yogurt 
1 Tbs honey 
1 cup ice
Total Calories: 480


The strawberry banana summer smoothie is by far my favorite.

Resurfacing

Wow.  I finally graduated from college with a Bachelor of Science.  YAY!!


I've been interviewing for several jobs in my field, and the boyfriend and I picked out an AMAZING apartment that we'll be moving in to next month.  It's 1,161 square feet, we have a screened balcony, and a fireplace.  I'll actually have room just to BE in that apartment, so I'm very much looking forward to it.


I've already picked out my next project, and it's going to be electric blue. Awesome shoes.  Based on the original design, I'll need 3000+ 4.5mm, 200+ 3mm, and 200+ 2.8mm rhinestones.  I'm not sure where I'll be able to find that many very bright blue rhinestones. I have a pair of black shoes that I'm retiring (just bought a cute pair of replacements), and they will be subject to this project.  


I recently found my old camera again... and since we'll also be moving, I'm hoping we'll get very far away from the poor lighting pictures I've had to post previously.


Oh, and I GRADUATED!!!!!!!!

Your Grandmother's Charmer

After I did the two necklace posts last week, I had an insatiable itch to make another one.  Here's my description on Etsy:


Inspired with charms and popular colors from the 1940s and 1950s, when my grandmother was young, beautiful, and in her prime (in her mid 20's).  My grandmother is very delicate, and wears only the lightest of jewelry in her elder years.  She collects Swarovski crystals and bird sculptures of every color, size, and species all over her home.  If I had to turn some of the most rememberable things about my grandmother, her beauty, delicate nature and features into a necklace, this would be my grandmother.


And here are a few pictures - 

Cheesy Italian Baked Bread

taken from the boyfriend :-D

My boyfriend loves to cook anything that involves meat, as long as it's on the grill.  Not long after we started dating I talked him into cooking us steaks on the stovetop, since we didn't have a grill at our apartment.  One night when he cooked me a steak, I was told to busy myself in the living room while he cooked me dinner.  I tried very hard not to sniff in the general direction of the kitchen, but they're right next to each other so it was pretty much impossible. 

I was wonderfully surprised when he told me to open my mouth and take a bite, and I was excited when I tasted crunchy bread and cheesy goodness.  Here's the recipe:

Ingredients

• Fresh Mozzarella (I prefer pearls, the pictures are using slices)
• Black Pepper
• Salt
• Dried Oregano
• Dried Minced Garlic
• Italian loaf
• Olive oil

Instructions
1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees, and cover a pan with tin foil (I have a small round one that I use).

2. Cut two slices about 3" thick from your italian loaf, and then cut them evenly in half with a bread knife.

3. Drizzle the tops of each slice with olive oil, and then turn face down and put in the oven for 2 minutes, 30 seconds.

Post oven.

4. Add a dash of salt and pepper to each slice.  I have a double salt/pepper grinder, and I do 1 grinding of salt and 2 grindings of pepper per slice.

5. This is where the mozzarella pearls come in handy.  If you smush each pearl, you'll use a few per slice, if you use sliced mozzarella... then you have to shred it by hand.  I use about 2 slices for this, and quite a few pearls.

Mozzarella!!

6. Sprinkle a tiny amount of the garlic on each piece of bread, and drop a few sprinkles in between all the slices in the center of the pan.

Mmm... don't befriend any vampires with this dish.

7. Put back in the oven for another 2 minutes, 30 seconds.

Melty-amazing-ness.

8. Then sprinkle on some oregano, and enjoy!