Blogs

My sister, Jessica, showed me Google Reader a while ago.  I love it!  All your blogs in one place, so you're not searching all over or filling up your bookmarks.

Anyone else follow a ton of blogs?

I do.  A LOT.  I've actually had to delete some from my list because I'm bad about reading them every day.  I get on sometimes and have over 100 entries to read.

Here's how mine looks:

I'm a Google girl as you can see.  It has a ton of great features that I love to use.  I use the Google Chrome as my browser.  I don't know why, but I love it.

So, the blogs I follow:

• Joy the Baker- a blog about baking that I have stolen A LOT of recipes from.  I love that she's a fellow single-girl baker and talks about it.


• Little Birdie's Nest- unfortunately she hasn't been blogging because she's been diagnosed with cancer.  She's got some great stuff on there, though.


• Sean and Nicole- she does AWESOME redo's on clothes that she buys at Goodwill and thrift stores.  It's inspiring, although I've yet to follow in her footsteps.


• Just Something I Made- she is probably one of my favorites because she does a lot of vintage stuff.  Like using old cigar boxes for organizing- that's awesome.


• Centsational Girl- she has an amazing house and decorating ideas, sometimes I can't even read her blog because I'm too jealous.  You should see her pantry- OMG!


• Confessions of a Pioneer Woman and The Pioneer Woman Cooks- I'm obsessed with The Pioneer Woman.  My sister would tell you that I want to be just like her, but...yeah, that's true.  I love her.  She's turned into a country girl but still goes back to her city girl antics every once in a while.  She has great recipes too.


• Craftaholics Anonymous- this one is great for some cute and fun craft projects.  And it features other blogs too, which is cool.


• Creative Itch- she does some really unique things, like jewelry made from candy wrappers or pop cans.


• Free Online Recipes- well, that's pretty sell-explanatory.


• Kevin and Amanda {blog}- she takes really fun trips, which make me jealous.  And she makes yummy-looking cupcakes.


• Maize in Montana- she has fun little projects and she lives in Montana, how cool is that?!


• Redhead Recipes- she posts some yummy-looking recipes.  And she has the cutest little girl. Plus, her name is Sarah :)


• My Baking Addiction- she makes delicious sweets, like cupcakes and cookies!


• Recycled Lovelies- she does fun little crafts with stuff she finds around the house.


• Jessica Claire Photography- she does AWESOME photography!  I love what she does.  And she inspires the pictures I take.


• The Nichols Blog- this is the blog of a husband and wife team that do photography and they are great.  They take great pictures and have a great little family.


• a pretty cool life- I just discovered this blog and she has some cool little projects.


• My Mother's Apron Strings- I just recently discovered this blog too.  It's actually the blog of the wife of my step-sister's business partner.  My step-sister told me about it and I love it so far.


• Oopsey Daisy- she has some super cute little projects and has a cute little boy.


• Skip To My Lou- she has awesome little sewing projects that I love to try.

So, those are my blogs and I'm sure I will add more in the future.  As you can see I love crafting and food blogs.  On my sister's Reader she has a ton of photography blogs and a few cooking ones.

Sewing Projects

Is a blog all about what a person does when they're bored?

That's what my blog is about.

I cook when I'm bored or other people want me to make something or I'm just hungry.

I sew when I'm bored.

I crochet when I'm bored.

I write when I'm bored.

Yeah, I'm bored a lot.

Anyway, I've been sewing a lot.  I've made three camera/cell phone cases, a Kindle case, and a reversible tote bag.  I have to admit I steal the ideas from other blogs.  I'm not that original.

This fabric was meant to reupholster my wicker trunk, but now it doesn't match my room, so I decided to use it for other things.

This project is from Skip to My Lou and was really easy.

I'm totally obsessed with these.  I could make a million.

I didn't quite measure the button hole right and ended up having to put the button way to close to the top of the opening.  This was the second one I made.  The first was worse.

This was the first one I made.  The zebra-print fabric was too think, and I was having issues.  Then I forgot how to use the button hole feature on my sewing machine, so I definitely messed that up too.  Oh well, I always mess up the first time.

The cell phone/camera cases can be found at a pretty cool life.

Tomato Basil Pizza

I had a "girl's night" the other night while my parents were off having fun WITHOUT me.  Yeah, I know they're married they need "alone time," but they went to California...I want to go to California.

Pouting aside.  Let's talk pizza!

Let's talk homemade pizza crust!

Let's talk homemade pizza crust covered in basil pesto, tomatoes and cheese!

I have your attention.

So, for my girl's night, I actually made BBQ Chicken Pizza and Potato and Leek Pizza, which I'm not posting.  Why, you ask?  Because I'm a dork and I forgot to take pictures of them.  But because I love you I will put the recipes on here.  Along with the pizza we had some Zinfandel (not sure how to spell) that one friend brought.  Yeah, we're not wine people; I don't know what to drink with pizza besides a cold beer, but wine is more sophisticated.  For dessert we had Triple Chocolate Espresso Cookies.

We watched a girlie movie too.  "Summertime" with Katherine Hepburn.  It was good.  However, it lacked the usual happy ending.  Oh well.

So, pizza.

Let's make some dough.

Sprinkle the yeast over some warm water in a bowl and let it hang out.

Put a couple of cups of flour in the bowl of your mixer...wait...what???...you don't have a mixer?  Well, how do you expect to watch TV, text, or slack off while your dough mixes?  You don't?  Ok, well you bulk those mixing muscles, I'm gonna use my mixer.

Sprinkle in some salt.

Side note:  I follow The Pioneer Woman.  And she takes her pictures kind of like this.  Although there is one difference: her nails are always painted and lovely.  Mine- not-so-much.  I love you Starbucks, but I hate your dress code rules and not letting us have nail polish.  Ok, end note.

Now slap that dough hook on the mixer you don't have.

Or grab that trusty wooden spoon and prepare to stir.

As the hook turns, drizzle in some olive oil.

After giving the yeast and water a light stir, add it to the mix.

A blob of doughy-goodness!

Drizzle some olive oil around the inside of the bowl.  Probably just twice around.

Place the ball of dough in the bowl then cover it with a moist and place it in a warm place for a couple of hours.  My oven wasn't on, but sometimes it's just the warmest place to keep the dough.  However, this day the apartment was A LOT warmer than the oven so after a little while when the dough hadn't risen at all I took it out and set it on the stove.

After a couple of hours it will be large enough and you can knead it down into a smaller ball.  I put mine in the refrigerator since I wasn't going to use it until the next day.  If you do this too, expect it to keep rising in the refrigerator.  Mine did.  And I had done this before with dough that was only wrapped in plastic and it busted out the sides, so I suggest putting it in a bag that's big enough so it has a little room, but small enough to keep it contained.

If you do put your dough in the refrigerator, make sure you take it out a couple of hours before you're ready to use it, so it has time to get to room temperature.

So, now you're ready to make a pizza.

Toss some flour on the counter and cut the ball of dough in half.  Half of the dough makes about a medium-sized pizza.  Press your dough out to a circle, or something that resembles a circle.  If you make holes, like I did, just use some water and press it back together.  Then drizzle a lit olive oil on your pan, and lay down the dough.  Then add the desired toppings.

I made a Tomato and Basil Pizza yesterday  because I had extra dough and it tasted good in the middle of the day.

I don't really like tomatoes usually, but for some reason on this pizza it's heaven.

And because there are tomatoes my step-dad won't eat it...muahahaha!

This recipe was stolen from the cookbook of The Pioneer Woman.

Culinary Adventure of Sarah and Jamie

When I was in Tacoma visiting with Jamie we got to make some great meals for the family.  Jamie has a great kitchen in her cute little house.

The eat-in kitchen (with my dad's head on the side lol).  There will be other pictures to get more of a sense of the kitchen.

Jamie with her friend, Maryland, making some yummy food.

I was snapping green beans and playing camera shy for some reason.

Mushrooms.  She put some balsamic vinegar, butter, and some other things in with them.  I don't know.  I'm not a fan of mushrooms.  It was Maryland's job to watch the mushrooms while Jamie seared and cooked the filet mignon (yeah, we don't mess around, if we're having beef we're going big).

The Fam, gathered around, waiting for some yummy food.

Jamie, serving her son, Dylan, and friend, Sam.  Sam lives in Jamie's guest house out back and they're good friends.  He was walking by the kitchen window to his place and she invited him in for dinner.  What a nice "land lady."

Next: dessert!

And that's where I step in.

Peanut Butter Chocolate Pillows from that amazing and inspiring Joy the Baker.

They disappeared quite quickly.

And now...in true Sarah style...

But wait!  There's more...

Any volunteers for clean-up??  Anybody??  Anybody??

Score!  Some willing volunteers ( no they were not forced...ok maybe Dylan was, sucks to be the youngest.  I know I've been there).

The heights she'll go for a picture.

The next night we also decided to make dinner.  It wasn't as special as filet mignon, but we made spaghetti and meatballs special.

With fresh herbs.

Apparently this is the only picture I took of cooking that night.  I think because we had limited time so we rushed through it.  But, we had homemade meatballs and spaghetti.  I made the meatballs with a cute personal trainer in the room.

Alright, alright, that does imply story-time.  He's someone that Jamie knows from her gym and he came over to get a tour of the house because he was house-sitting later that week.  Yes, he was cute, but did you hear the personal trainer part?!  Plus, I lurked him on Facebook- he's younger than me.

Oh my gosh, I just admitted lurking someone on Facebook.

Jamie, if you read this- what is said on the blog stays on the blog.

Anyway, back on point.

The night after that we made dinner, as well, but it was just leftovers.  Well, Jamie made it up.  I supervised with a gin and tonic in hand.  I'm 24 for those of you who were questioning.

So, those are our culinary adventures.  I hope there are more to come.  And especially more messes to be cleaned up.  We both need a man like the one I talked about here.

 

Blogging...

I apologize to everyone.  I'm a terrible blogger.  I'm trying, really.  Even though I've been away from here, I've been thinking about it.  I've been keeping myself busy, for sure.

Since my sister went off and left me I've been doing A LOT of crafts and some cooking.

I went to the Tucson Gem and Mineral Show at the end of January/beginning of February.  There's also a bead show, which is really where I went.  A friend of mine makes glass beads.  She's awesome. ( I was trying to find a picture of her and I have none.  Probably because she hates to have her picture taken.)

This is some of what she does.  We went to another show last year and this was her table.

The bookmarks all have beads on them that my friend, Tennessa, made herself.  If you want to check out more go here.

So, because I was with her at a place overflowing with beads and jewelry-making supplies, I had to buy some.  And I got some cute things.  I haven't done too much with what I got yet.  Actually...

I did make this.  The glass disks were made by Tennessa's mom,  who is also a glass bead-maker, and the cord was purchased from Sonoran Beads.

This one was also made with cord from Sonoran Beads and amethyst stones from another vender.

Another necklace made with cord from Sonoran Beads and amazonite stones.

I also got some silver from Somerset Silver, some decopage beads from Jewels By Jules, and a silver ring and pendant base from Amate Studios.  I got some other pieces too, but I can't remember who I bought them from.

So, that kept me busy for a few days.  Then, of course, making the jewelry when I got home.

I also took a vacation last month.  I went to Sacramento first.  My mom, step-dad, grandma, and I are thinking about moving to California and so, my mom, step-dad, and I went to check it out.  We liked it.  Well, a small town in between Sacramento and San Francisco called Vacaville.  We just now need to find jobs and a place to live before we can move out there.

My mama :)  I love her.  She's my best friend.  And she'd kill me if she saw this on here.

Donyvan.  I dare you to find a better step-dad.

After Sacramento, I went to Tacoma, WA.  My step-sister and step-brother, Jon, (my step-mom's kids) live there.  My step-sister, Jamie, (now I would call her my sister, though because we jumped over all the "step" boundaries while I was there and got closer than ever) has an eleven year-old son, Dylan.

The three of us had our first beer together.  It was the first time we had all been together since I was probably 16 or 17.

It was a great visit.

I also got to see my uncle- my mom's brother- who just happens to live in Seattle (about 30 minutes from Tacoma).

Me, with my Uncle Greg, and my dad's on the other side of him.  Two great men!

(A culinary adventure with Jamie post soon to come.)

Now, since I've been back from that trip I've been working a lot.  And sewing a lot.  Those posts soon to come too- the sewing, not the working haha.

So, stick with me.  I've got some good stuff coming.

 

Real Italian Meatballs

The cookbook I mentioned in the last post had some great recipes.  I decided to make some meatballs from it.

These are not your average meatballs.  They're authentic.

They have potato.

Yes, Potato.

That's a big a potato.

Peel and cut the potato into small pieces and cook in boiling water until tender.

While the potatoes are cooking, chop up the onions.

Mash the potato with a fork.

 

New Cookbook!

My step-dad was sick for a couple of days and stayed home from work, and my mom being out of work they were both home.  My step-dad being the big, sick baby that he his was driving my mom crazy!  So, when I came home from work the second day she asked me to go to Barnes and Noble with her to just do...something.

After rifling through the travel section, we headed to the discount section and I found:

It's probably the best cookbook I've ever seen and one of the best I've owned.

It has great stories.  And comes right from a "mama" in Italy.

She put in little tips and fun stories.  And recipes that make me gain weight just looking at them.  I love it.

The first recipe I've made from it soon to come!