Tag Archives: domesticity

three doable diys, no. 2

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Hi hi hi!

I don’t know about you all, but I get discouraged by DIY projects with lengthy lists of materials and long, detailed directions. Projects that have an unfussy list of materials and don’t require a mammoth investment of time? Yeah, those are way more up my alley. Even better if they can be made from stuff found, where else? At the thrift store.

Here are three I’ve liked lately that fit the bill…

♥ Even though I kind of dislike hate the game itself (two words: childhood overload!), I think these Scrabble-tile push pins are too cute. All you need are some thrifted Scrabble tiles, push pins and a hot glue gun.

(via A Little Bit of Nonsense)

♥ Jill from Lune Vintage comes up with the best DIYs. Take this ’70s-inspired slasher scarf, for example. Materials needed? A thrifted T (make sure it’s 5-10% lycra or spandex) and a sharp pair of scissors.

(source Lune Vintage for Elsie’s sweet trick-or-treat series on A Beautiful Mess)

♥ When it came to the over-sized pompoms donned by the models in Sonia Rykiel’s fall 2011 show, it was love, love, love at first sight. In fact, I saved this pic in my inspiration files way back in March!

So, imagine my delight, when nearly eight months later, I found this cute Dutch blogger, making her own mighty pom headbands at home! Wouldn’t one of these in cream, black or red be the perfect whimsical addition to a holiday party get-up? Yeah, I think so too.

(via Fashion Zen)

Quick and simple DIYs. Do you dig?

I hope y’all have had lovely Mondays!

<3,

Meghan

P.S. In case you missed my first round-up of simple DIYs, you can check it out here!

wish list: a blue-eyed kitty

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Last week, my roommate moved out of my house, taking her fluffy cat with her. Ever since (OK, even before), I’ve been enchanted with the idea of adopting a little blue-eyed, white-furred kitten. And by enchanted, I really just mean obsessed. It doesn’t help that pics of cutie cats keep popping up in my blog roll left and right.

Sources: 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 / 6

I haven’t brought myself to start actually looking at rescue websites. My willpower. It’s not that strong.

Are you suckers for cute kitties? Or are you all more puppy people?

xo,

Meghan

family traditions: plate walls

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I’ve got home on the brain. Not my home for once, but my mom’s. I’m heading there for a quick visit next weekend, and I can’t wait. I always get a ton of fantastic ideas for decorating when I stay with her. Every wall is packed full of beautiful art—some by her, some by my aunt and grandma, some from her time living in Europe and more from her many years of thrifting.

One idea that was passed down to her by my Grandma Mary, is the plate wall in her bedroom. (Both my grannies had plate walls, now that I think of it!) I wish I had a picture of it, because it’s so pretty. Vintage blue & white plates, hung in a pyramid shape, look divine on her buttery yellow walls above her bed. Seriously dreamy, like this pic.

via on dressing up

Anyway, unlike my dear Marmee, I’ve still got primo wall real estate up for grabs in my humble little house. And the fact that I’ve been stumbling upon charming vintage plates at thrifts left and right, is getting me to think I should carry on the family plate wall tradition.

My first order of business? Beefing up my plate collection. You all remember this one I got during last week’s Savers adventure?

Well, I got it’s sweet little buddy, too, which also came ready to hang. How adorable is that little border made of hearts??

Lotsa truth on that plate there. This was $2.50 at the Savers on Lake Street. (Read my review of that shop here!)

I’ve gotten a lot of ideas from newly wed blogger Christina of Down and Out Chic, who documents her big-time obsession with plate walls. Browse the inspiring archives here.

via Down and Out Chic (original source)

Hanging a collection of these quirky altered vintage plates like those found in this Etsy shop is a cute idea.

This one is awesome.

Anyway, I’ll have to figure out which wall to start with. Once it comes time to start putting holes in the wall, I’ll be needing some help. It didn’t surprise me one bit that Design*Sponge has a DIY for hanging your own plate wall. Freakin’ geniuses over there, I’m telling you.

Anyway, it’s been a big week, and I’m fixin’ to hit the hay early. As in now.

Nighty night, lovelies.

Meghan

how to: make pineapple upside-down cake

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Hello, hello!

So, for last week’s nacho night, I decided to earn extra hostess-y credit and make dessert. Since I was already turning the oven and stove on for the nachos, I figured, what the hell? Let’s get sweaty and then we’ll get full.

I’ve been wanting to try a recipe out of this little, circa 1963 cookbook, found at a thrift up in Cambridge, Minnesota.

It’s hard to swing a spatula in a thrift-store book section without whacking a Better Homes & Gardens cookbook. They’re everywhere, and usually pretty cheap!

Anyway, back to the dessert. Pineapple Upside-Down Cake is sooooo yummy and as I found, easy to make. (It’s filed in the kids-can-make-it section of the cookbook, that’s how simple it is!) I love how this beauty basically frosts itself! Here’s how to do it…

You’ll Need

3 T. butter

1/2 c. brown sugar

4 canned pineapple slices (save pineapple juice from can, too!)

7 maraschino cherries

1 box of yellow cake mix

How To

Step 1: Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Melt butter and pour into round, oven-safe cake dish. Blend in sugar with melted butter, pat out evenly.

Step 2: Place one canned pineapple slice in the center, and arrange three halved slices and the cherries around the whole slice. This is the “frosting.”

Step 3: Prepare batter according to package directions, but instead of using water, use pineapple juice (add water if there’s not enough). Pour batter over fruit.

Step 4: Bake 45 minutes. Cool in pan on rack for 10 minutes. Turn upside down on big serving plate. Cut and serve warm, ideally with vanilla ice cream.

Recipe found in “So-Good Meals,” part of the Better Homes & Gardens Creative Cooking Library.

If you give this recipe a try, let me know how it goes!

xo,

Meghan

how to: make horchata popsicles

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Happy Monday, lovelies!

Remember back when I introduced you to Erica, owner of Foxy Falafel? I’ve been helping the busy gal out from time-to-time at the stand and it’s been fun. Side note: Come say hi! Just promise you’ll be patient, as I’m the slowest change-maker known to man.
Math = hardness.

Anyway, last Sunday, I had the pleasure of working the Uptown Farmers’ Market stand with foxy Foxy employee Tasha. And, boy, was it hot. Like really hot. And humid. So, when I saw person after person stroll by with dripping popsicles, I thought: I gotta get me one of them. Sadly, by the time I made it to Dandelion Kitchen‘s stand they had already sold out of their flavor of the day: raspberry-horchata. (I did wind up with two fists full of their homemade sodas—basil-lime & lemon-ginger. Both were insanely refreshing!!) Ever since then, I’ve been itching to try making them at home.

And so I did.

WHAT YOU’LL NEED

♥ 1 bag frozen raspberries (Thaw them a little bit, which, in this heat, will take approximately 30 seconds!)

♥ A tablespoon or so of sugar

♥ 3-4 cups of fresh horchata (I bought a ginormous cup from Tacqueria La Hacienda at Mercado Central for $3.99.)

♥ Popsicle molds (I found these at Target.)

♥ Food processor or blender

HOW TO MAKE

1. Blend up the softened raspberries in the processor or blender. Add the sugar as they’re whirring around.

2. Plop a spoonful of raspberry puree into the molds.

3. Top with horchata.

4. Fit sicks in the molds, and pop in freezer.

Results: 12 cinnamon-y, creamy, fruity, sticky, delicious popsicles.

Yum.

Did you all have great weekends? Mine was, in a word, amazing, and hope yours was, too.

xo,

Meghan

how to: make sweet & spicy pink sangria

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Howdy folks!

Ugh, it’s steamy here in Minneapolis today. Once it gets hot like this, I stick to four food groups: sushi, salads, grilled food and fruit. To be accompanied by any and everything liquid. Water, sweet tea, Mexican Coke, La Croix, cold press, bubble tea, beer—I swear I can’t get enough to drink June through August.

And one drink that tastes like summer in every sip is this little beverage. I’m not sure whether it’s sangria or spritzer, so I just call it drink. (Not to be confused with Drank.) The ginger soda adds some sass to the sweet combination of berries and peaches. Yummmmmy.

WHAT YOU’LL NEED

♥ 1/2 Bota Box of White Zinfandel

♥ 2 bottles of Goose Island Spicy Ginger Soda or any other kind of ginger soda or ginger beer

♥ 2 peaches, chopped, frozen

♥ a handful of fresh raspberries, frozen

♥ a pitcher or insulated water cooler

HOW TO MAKE

Put frozen fruit in pitcher.

Top with ginger soda and wine.

Easy peasy!

I enjoyed some on the stoop last night.

Finnie giving it a sniff.

If you give it a whirl, let me know what you think! You can also mix up what fruit you add—frozen nectarine chunks and sliced, frozen strawberries are both good.

What are some of your favorite summer drinks?

xo,

Meghan

diy: doily table runner

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Hello there!

How are your hump days going? Awesome, I hope. Today was the first day of my “staycation” (how lame is that word, btw?), and I’ve been going non-stop since 9 a.m. The whole point of taking time off work was to get stuff done, and get stuff done I did.

A bazillion is number of errands I ran, and by 4 p.m. at Cedar Small Engine Repair, I had reached my breaking point. My poor PMS-ing ass came close to tears over the cost of an effing lawn-mower repair, and I have to say, it was not the most fun of times. Anyway,  two things: 1. It’s tough being a girl. 2. I picked up a new-used mower for $65 tonight, and I’m super happy, as are my neighbors, who will no longer have to put up with knee-length grass in my front yard.

Aaannnnyway, I found this beautiful DIY and a mother lode of cheap doilies at Bibles for Missions all in the same week. Serendipitous, don’t ya think? I won’t walk you through the process, since the original tutorial does a good job of that, but here are a few pics of my finished product.

My sweetie and I are grilling shrimps tonight, so I have to dash and get the rice rolling. By the by, do any of you own Isa Chandra Moskowitz’s Vegan with a Vengeance cookbook? If you don’t, you should, even if you love meat, as I very much do. If you do own said book, make the Coconut Rice with Toasted Coconut as soon as you can, if you haven’t already. It’s so damn yummy and makes any barbecue-esque meal 100 times better.

xo,

Meghan

i’m growing stuff!

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Happy Friday people!

Here’s something else I’ve been working on the past few weeks.

Meet my lil veggie patch.

Here’s Finnie. Please note that he’s inches from trampling my Thai basil. His shamed-face, down-turned expression indicates he knows he’s being a naughty dog, being in the garden in the first place. Tsk, tsk.

Anyway, here’s what we have going on here.

I have beet seeds planted and Thai basil and a pattypan squash plants in the ground, too, but they’re out of this pic.

I’m pumped.

After taking a year off from gardening, it feels good to get back to it, even on this lazy of a scale. My thumb is not green, but I can pull weeds. I can water. And you can call me naive, but it seems like that’s all you need to keep a veggie bed rolling. A little plant porn for you…

Itty bitty rainbow chard…

Lettuce…

I did my weeding for the weekend (see, I told you I was a lazy gardener), and now I’m off to whip up some cheesy biscuits from this oft-referenced cookbook.

This book is a little gem, all the way back from 1956. My honey and I are grilling up some barbecued spareribs and I think cheesy biscuits are in order. Baked beans and fresh cucumber, too.

I love summer!

xo,

Meghan

riley, the rocker

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Wow, afternoons with two-year-olds are tiring like whoa. Today’s weather was perfect and my pals’ daughter, Riley, and I were outside nonstop. We picnicked and parked it. Strolled, swung, slid, sat. We made sticky messes, sidewalk art and veggie nachos. She thought my spoon in the ear joke was hilarious. (Because it is.)  And, she jammed the crap out of my piano. It was pretty special.

Just like her.

Parents of toddlers, major props.  I have no idea how you do it.

I’m pooped.

xo,

Meghan

P.S. This post has nothing to do with thrifting.

garage sale outfit

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I scored a handful of dresses at the Bryn Mawr Festival of Garage Sales a few weeks back. Most will eventually wind up on Etsy, but this is one I’m a keepin’ for myself. Any dress with pockets is A-OK with me, plus I love the coconut shell buttons at the shoulder. A dress, boots and a bun is pretty much my go-to look for work when I’m running late, as I was the day these were taken. Three steps and I’m out the door. Easy peasy.

Dress: Sears, found at garage sale, $4

Boots: $5, garage sale

Silver & stone cuff: Handmade by my aunt in 1970s

Other silver bracelets: I’ve had since I was a wee one

Silver & opal ring: $15, bought at a jewelry shop in Manitou Springs, Colorado in 2000

Hair bow: Red Velvet Art

Bubble Up soda: Bobby & Steve’s on Washington Avenue

Photo credit: Rachel Anderson

Today was simply gorgeous, wasn’t it? I’m looking forward to a night of unadulterated domesticity. Already since work I’ve busted out a strawberry rhubarb custard pie for my newish neighbors across the street. I’m not the most skilled baker by any means, and this was my very first attempt at a lattice crust. I think it turned out OK…

Also on night’s agenda: cooking up a simple supper of  shrimp, rice and veg and then sewing some, writing some and reading some.

Until next time,

Meghan