Seriously?

So I know I haven't posted in a while, but I can't think of anything more post-worthy:

PARIS VACATION GIVEAWAY!

And if you win, you'd better bring me back some macaroons or something. ;)

Lovely

Sweet little animation video. The result of a collaboration between two BYU professors - one dance, one animation.

Thought of You from Ryan J Woodward on Vimeo.

Victorious!

Just won a gift card to Communal from Rachel over at Black Eiffel!
I can't wait to go try their breakfast. I love going out to breakfast. It feels so luxurious for some reason. And you'd better believe I'll be having a cup of this with whatever I order! I'll be sure to let you know just exactly how delicious it is. Promise. :)

Umami Yummi

Last night for dinner we tried out a new recipe I found while tastespotting.

Marisa's Beef Chow Mein

picture via The Creative Pot

It was easy, TASTY, and didn't have any random, wierd ingredients that require a special trip to Many Lands. I think the only thing I'll do differently next time (because there will be a next time) is season the beef a bit before cooking it. Thanks, Marisa, for sharing!

p.s. Tomorrow I'm totally gonna go to this. And while there I will get the world's most delicious donut.

For Cute!

They're totally out of my price range, but aren't these book ends sweet?

From Etsy Seller Graphic Spaces.

{Trying to} Welcome Fall!

(apples from the Farmers Market)

I am a summer girl all the way. I love the sun, the heat, the long days, all of it. I'm from Arizona, what can I say? BUT, I'm trying to be better about embracing the here, and now. And here and now, I live in a place that has all four seasons, and cooler weather. I've been enjoying fresh apples from the farmers market and we took our customary drive up Payson Canyon to see the fall leaves, and I took NO pictures! I know, how could I? I'll refer you to this song for explanation:

O, love that song. (Sorry the video's a little shaky, but the audio quality is pretty good.)

Anyway, another fall activity I look forward to is making delicious butternut squash soup. And this year is extra special since I grew my own butternut squash! (remember how it took over my back yard? Suffice it to say, the takeover is even more complete these days!) I have a fantastic recipe my mom created that I love (and will definitely be making soon), but yesterday I decided to make up a recipe of my own. I'm not gonna lie, I'm really impressed with myself. It turned out amazing, and you're going to want to try it. So here it is:

Roasted Butternut Squash Bisque

1/2 a large butternut squash, peeled and cubed
1 small shallot, minced
1 small clove garlic, minced
3-4 cups chicken broth
aprox. 2 tsp. rubbed sage
salt and pepper to taste
oil

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a large bowl, toss squash cubes with sage, salt, pepper, and oil to coat. Spread out cubes on a cookie sheet. Roast squash until tender, about 25-30 minutes.

In a large dutch oven, saute shallot and garlic until soft. Add roasted squash and chicken broth. Puree with an immersion blender until smooth. Add more or less broth depending on your desired thickness. You'll notice from the picture that I like mine thick. My husband says it reminds him of baby food, but baby food is not nearly this delicious. If you prefer something thinner, you can add more broth or evaporated milk, regular milk, whatever you like.

That's it! So simple, and so delicious. The only thing this soup was missing was a nice crusty roll to enjoy with it. Let me know if you try it!

Vote for Austin!

Okay folks, my twin brother Austin is competing for an amazing job in Los Angeles, and is very close to getting it. But he needs our help!

It takes literally 5 seconds to vote for him - Click Here to VOTE!

Etsy Wish List

One of the blogs on my reader is CraftGossip, because they have about a bajillion posts daily linking to craft blog awesomeness. You can tell they like the good stuff, because they linked to Nancy's Post Here.
And in a continued display of awesome, they're doing the best giveaway ever! Here's how it works, I post my etsy wish list here (spending up to $100) then comment on their giveaway post, and I could win my wish list! Yeah, I'm down with that. Although, I gotta tell ya, it was HARD to pick a list that was under $100. There's so much on etsy to love! I decided to limit myself to things for Jane (which was still hard to pick). So, here's my list of baby cuteness:

Handmade crayons for little hands from kittybblove.

Cute wooden woodland toys from ImaginationKids

This sweet hand-knit jacket from Zarina2009

And finally this fun dress from Hopscotchavenue

Keep your fingers crossed that I win!!

The Fruits [And Leaves] of Our Labors

At the beginning of the season we planted a vegetable garden in our back yard. We've done this in the past, but two years ago pretty much nothing produced anything, so we didn't do it last year. This year, things are different. Here's what the garden looked like when we first planted.
We planted 4 different heirloom tomato varieties, 2 cucumber plants, 1 crook-neck squash, 1 butternut squash, 3 different bell pepper varieties, 4 hot pepper varieties, sugar snap peas, cilantro, and basil. Notice all the empty space covered with bark? Here's what it's looking like lately.

It's filled in beautifully! Most of what you're seeing is the butternut squash vine that has taken over the back yard, but I don't care because I already have a few big squashes on the vine. I'm pretty excited about it. See what's coming along.

We've eaten some sugar snap peas, and I've already had two BLT's with my fresh tomatoes. Fa-Nominal! But I was too busy enjoying them to take a picture.
One of the things I'm most excited about is the basil. It's thriving, so I finally made some pesto. Oh man, it's beyond good! I picked about three cups worth of leaves off the bush, and you can't even tell I took anything off the plant (I'll have to make some more!). Here I am (in my new Anthro shirt, told you you'd see me in it soon!) cutting off some leaves.

I brought them in the house and put them in a big bowl of cold water to wash off any dirt and/or bugs. I put them through the salad spinner to get them dry, then I put those in the food processor with about 2/3 cup walnuts, 2.5 oz Parmesan cheese, 1 clove garlic, 1 cup canola oil, and salt and pepper to taste, and voila!

Put it on pasta, bread, a cracker, a fork, whatever! I've eaten three meals of whole-wheat pasta and pesto in as many days. And I might just have it again for dinner tonight. It's that good. Or you can come over and have some with me. The Rockstar doesn't like it (He's crazy, but we love him anyway) and I need someone to enjoy this with me!

Cup 'O Tea

Saw these nifty bracelettes and thought of my mom.

I think she'd be into them.

And now, I'm off to the beach...

Tipping

Wow, I didn't know the star feature in Reader was going to be a novel thing for you all! I'm so glad I could help out, although, I apologize if I've only further fed your addiction. To make up for it if I did, here are a few more awesome tips:

• Baby Shampoo is a cheap, yet effective eye make-up remover. Just rub a little with warm water on your eyes and voila, clean eyes, and no tears!


• A grapefruit spoon is not a grapefruit spoon when it's a peeler for fresh ginger, or a strawberry huller, or a great tool for getting kiwi out of it's fuzzy skin.


• Newly shaved legs + Baby Lotion = Silky Skin Perfection


• This makes for a great summer foot exfoliater. The next best thing to getting a pedicure, but way less expensive.

And coming soon, another shirt to cardigan tutorial, but with more pictures this time...

Gold Star!

Do you use Google Reader? It's kind of, totally addicting. WAY worse than email. With email, I constantly check back and am disappointed, because no one ever emails me. With Reader, there's always something new, because it loves me more than email. I love it too, because it allows me to "Star" posts that I like, and keeps them all in one place for me. That Reader, so thoughtful. Here are some posts I've recently starred in Reader:

• Recipe for Homemade S'more candy bars. Yum...
  
• Ingenious new use for broken clock.


• Cute [free] softie pattern with tutorial.


• Delicious Melt Aways recipe.


• How-To for cabinet knob wall hanger.


• Gorgeous and inspiring table before and after.

Have a lovely weekend!