Tag Archives: how to

how to: thrift for records

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This past July, my forever-long wish to own a stereo was granted. And ever since, I’ve been obsessed with hunting for records. Like anything else, looking for records at thrift stores, garage and estate sales can be a crap shoot. And an overwhelming one at that! Here are some super basic things I keep in mind when I’m out and about.

♥ Before you you get your heart set on a specific record, check the condition of it first. See deep scratches, scuff marks, chips, cracks or gouges? Skip it. And be sure to inspect both sides too!

♥ Make sure the record isn’t warped. (Warped records = distorted sound.) The easiest way to check is to hold the record up at eye level.

♥ This is a total no-brainer, but while you have the record out, make sure that it matches the jacket. How sad would it be to go home thinking you’d found a rare Kitty Wells record, only to discover some crappy Billy Joel album inside.

♥ Keep a running list of what you’re looking for. I have a friend who keeps her record wish list on Pinterest, I personally keep a running list in my notes on my phone. Either way, just like thrifting for clothes, I find it helpful to keep tabs of what I’m hunting for.

♥ Take a chance! If you come across an intriguing cover, artist or song, and the record’s in good shape, where’s the harm in taking it home for a listen? I picked “Mustang Jazz,” a recording of the Southern Methodist University Marching Band out of a $1 bin at a record fair last month and it pumps me up every time I listen to it!

♥ And last but not least, it’s OK to thrift records just because you like the cover art! Inspired by this Easy Record Cover Art DIY I spotted over the summer, I painted over a pin-up-y instrumental album cover. It sits on my vanity now and I love looking at it when I get ready each morning.

Some other good resources for learning more about thrifting records:
♥ Thrift Store Vinyl: “Listening to used records so you don’t have to.”
♥ The Thrift Store Record Collector: “Collecting records the cheap way.”
♥ How to Clean Old Records

Do you have any tips for thrifting records you want to share? If so, let us hear ’em down below in comments!

xoxo,

Meghan

revolutionary recipe alert: microwave apple crisp

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I’ve been missing my oven a lot lately. It probably has to do with the fact it snowed today, meaning my least favorite season, pre-winter, has arrived. I’m trying to be positive about the cold weather, but it’s hard. Especially when you can’t even cope with it with a cozy night spent at home baking. One thing I’ve been dying to make all fall is a good old-fashioned apple crisp. Which is why this recipe for microwave apple crisp caught my eye when I stumbled on it at work the other day. I was skeptical at first, but after reading the positive reviews, my mind was made up to give it a try.

I stuck with the recipe pretty closely, but did substitute one of the apples out for a sad little pear that was languishing in my fridge. My 1.5-quart
oblong Pyrex turned out to be the perfect size.

After mixing up the topping (a straight-forward combo of oats, brown sugar, Bisquick, melted butter and spices) I thought it was going to be too thick, but it turned out to be just right.

This is when I started to have my doubts…

Skeptical as I was, it only took one bite to make me a believer. It was everything I had missed about baked apple crisp—sweet, warm, sticky, cinnamon-y, apple-y, good. I was so happy, I almost forgot about the sad state of my broken oven.

You can find the recipe (and read all the rave reviews) here. Let me know what you think if you give it a whirl!

xoxo,

Meghan

beauty school sunday

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Quick background: I’ve spend many an indulgent Sunday morning propped in bed, surfing You Tube and Pinterest for cute beauty tutorials to try in the upcoming week. Along the way, I’ve found some helpful gems which I’ll be sharing here with you on the odd Sunday. 

Late this summer, the French twist was top on my list of hairstyles to master. It’s a polished style that’s works well with second-day hair, making it an ideal ‘do for weekday mornings when I need to look nice for work, but don’t have time to shower and blow-dry. It took me a little while to get the hang of it, but bits and pieces from each of these tutorials were helpful so I figured I’d share ’em all.

♥ I found this how-to via Capital Hill Style, a good blog to follow if you work in a formal-ish professional environment. This gal’s non-traditional twisting method wouldn’t work with my thick hair, but if you have shorter or thinner locks than I, it could be a winner.

♥ I loved the messy, fuzzy end result of this Beauty Department tutorial, but found the chopsticks element totally unnecessary. The tip I did steal from this how-to was no. 5: teasing the middle ends of your hair before you roll it up makes for a meatier, bulkier twist.

♥ And last but not least, the tutorial that made it all click! I’ve shared this link with a few friends who were wondering how I fixed my hair…I think what makes it super easy to get is the clear shots of the back of the model’s head.

Some other Frenchy tips I’ve picked up along the way…

♥ Using the correct pins will make doing this ‘do so much easier. Make sure to track down big (three-four inch) bobby pins (for running vertically up the back of your hair) and open hair pins for securing the roll.

♥ It’s better to tease too much than too little when you get started. You can always comb out extra volume, but adding it after you’ve started smoothing and pinning is a pain in the rear.

♥ A handheld mirror will be your best bud when you’re learning this style. Use it to make sure the back’s not looking too ratty or bumpy and that your twist is centered and even.

♥ Don’t sweat it if it takes you a few tries to get the twist down. Give yourself plenty of time to mess around while you’re learning, i.e. don’t try it out for the first time if you’re on a tight schedule or worse, running late.

♥ If you do this right, you shouldn’t need to use a ton of pins or hairspray. I usually do a quick spritz of Extra-Strong Elnett and get on my way.

Do you have any tried-and-true tricks for French twisting to share? If so, leave a comment and let me know! I hope you all have had fabulous Sundays so far. I went to a dear friend’s baby shower this afternoon and now I’m off to hop on a bus to see this dreamboat.

Heck. Yes.

xo,

Meghan

P.S. The beautiful Bruce photo’s from here.

guest post: summery quinoa salad recipe

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Hey dearies, happy Monday!

To kick off the week, I’m turning the blog over to the lovely Jen Cortez, co-owner of The Hive Salon and blogger behind Midwest Vaygun. I asked Jen to share one of her favorite healthy dishes with us this week and the menu she came up with sounds downright divine, especially considering my recent barbecue bender in Kansas City. I’ve really been scaling back on the amount of meat I eat since my trip, and this protein-packed quinoa salad would be the perfect for toting to work for lunch. I hope you enjoy!!

xo, Meghan

Summer is closing in on us fast, and with the soaring temps comes one of my most favorite things—outdoor eating! The only problem is that picnics and barbecues are often filled with repetitious staples. I believe you can only have so much potato salad, right? I love Asian cuisine, but far too often my love of far-eastern goodness takes a back seat in the summer (except for those nights where take-out is the only retreat from a hot stove, or hotter backyard) for more seasonal fare. I decided to put an end to the monotony of usual summer stamples by “summer-izing” some of my favorite Asian flavors. These are perfect for bringing to any outdoor get together!

Cold Quinoa “Fried Rice” Salad with Tofu

Quinoa doesn’t harden when cold like most rice varieties, making it great for chilled salads. although mangoes and avocados aren’t traditional in fried rice, their textures and flavors compliment the spicy and salty flavors of the quinoa and add extra heft to the dish.

What You Need

1 1/2 c. quinoa, rinsed well
2 1/2 c. water
1 20-ounce block Wildwood Tofu, cut into 1-inch cubes
1 large mango
2 avocados
1 bundle scallions
2-3 t. Sriracha hot sauce
3 T. gluten-free soy sauce
1 1/2 t. palm sugar, or regular sugar
2 t. fresh ginger, grated
1 T. coconut oil
1/2 c. loosely packed Thai basil and cillantro
bean sprouts, peanuts, and limes for garnish

Begin by bringing the water to boil in a tall pot. Add a few pinches of salt and the quinoa. Reduce to a simmer, and cook until all of the water has been absorbed, this should take roughly 15 minutes. Let stand for 5 minutes and fluff with a fork. Spread the quinoa out on a cookie sheet and pop into the fridge to chill,  or the freezer if needed ASAP.

Next, take the tofu and place in on a lightly oiled cookie sheet and pop it into your toaster oven *if you don’t have a toaster oven you can use the regular oven but you’ll really heat your house up. otherwise, you can pan fry the tofu if you don’t mind the extra oil. Crank your toaster oven onto it’s highest setting and bake the bejeezus out of it, or until golden brown and lightly crispy. Place the tofu with the quinoa to cool it down.

Halve and pit the avocados and the mango and cube before tossing into a large, portable bowl that has a lid. Thinly slice the basil, cilantro, and scallions and add them to the bowl as well.

Now you can go ahead and whisk together the soy, ginger, sriracha, sugar and coconut oil (melt first if needed).

Toss the chilled quinoa and tofu with the rest of your prepped ingredients, and fold in the dressing. Taste and adjust to your preference. Sprinkle with with crushed peanuts, bean sprouts, and lime wedges. Serve with spicy grilled pak choy.

Spicy Korean Grilled Pak Choy

Feel free to swap out the pak choy for larger bok choy  or another bitter green, like broccolini.

What You Need

1 lb. pak choy/baby bok choy
4 T. gluten free soy sauce
2 t. tamarind paste
1 T. sesame oil
3 T. rice wine vinegar
2+ T. garlic chili sauce

Rinse the pak choy and cut in half length wise. Whisk together remaining marinade components, taste for heat, and pour over the pak choy. Marinate up to a full day. Grill vegetables until tender, basting occasionally with leftover marinade. It was raining when I last made this so I used my cast iron grill pan, but I think it tastes best when it’s made outdoors.

Get more of delicious vegan recipes like this over on the Midwest Vaygun!

how to: make the best beans…ever!

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Seeing as Memorial Day weekend marks the official start of summer, I thought today would be an appropriate time to share my favorite recipe for toting along to barbecues and potlucks: Susan Crawford’s “Best Beans…Ever!” This gem of a recipe’s been in my possession for 11 years now, passed on to me by Susan Crawford, mom to one of my dear high school friends, Jane. In the decade-plus since high school graduation (!!!), I’ve brought this dish to more barbecues than I can count, and it always nets mad compliments. Enough rambling though…here’s how to make it yourself.

WHAT YOU’LL NEED

1 lb. ground beef (or a little more), browned & drained
1 lb. bacon, browned & drained
1 large and 1 small can Busch’s Baked Beans (don’t drain)
1 can great northern beans (rinsed and drained)
1 can butter beans (don’t drain)
1 can spicy chili beans (don’t drain)
1 cup brown sugar
1 envelope Lipton Onion soup mix
1 cup barbecue sauce

HOW TO MAKE

Stir all ingredients together and bake at 350° (or 325°) for 1-1/2 hours, stirring occasionally.

So. Super. Easy.

Here’s what it looks like before baking.

In truth, it doesn’t look that much different when it’s done. I haven’t fiddled with the recipe much, seeing as it’s pretty perfect as is, BUT, I do want to give The Pioneer Woman’s bacon-topping technique a try on them some time. Bacon on top, bacon on the inside…bacon, bacon, bacon, bacon, bacon.

If you give this recipe a whirl over the course of the summer, please do tell me what you think!

xo,

Meghan

how to: make crepe paper bunting

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It seems like before any of our Mighty Swell sales, Rae and I are always finishing something up at the 11th hour. Take, for example, this bunting, which Rae whipped up out of leftover crepe paper that was lying around from our sneak peek photo shoot. I’m pretty sure our first customers were walking through the door while Rae was finishing up hanging it! Since we raked in a ton of compliments on it over the course of the weekend, I thought I’d have Rae share the how-to so you can make your own. It’d be a cute addition to any shower, birthday party or backyard barbecue, right?

“What do you do with a lot of extra crepe paper from a photo backdrop? Make a bunting to hang in the windows, of course. This simple decor came together in a snap, and the crepe paper looks lovely when light shines through it.”—Rae

WHAT YOU’LL NEED

♥ Rolls of crepe paper in several complementary colors—we ordered ours through Papermart.
♥ Yarn (we used white)
♥ A stapler and staples
♥ A pair of scissors

HOW TO MAKE

1. Cut a 2-foot long piece of paper off of the roll and fold it in half length-wise. Cut down the fold, so now you have two pieces. Fold both of the pieces in half and lay them on top of each other. Now cut those pieces into 3-inch strips. Since I wasn’t measuring (and was in a hurry) my pieces were quite irregular, but I think this added to the charm of the bunting! Repeat with remaining colors so you have piles of strips in every color.

2. Grab your yarn and stapler and start making magic! Cut a piece of yarn the length you want your bunting to be. Slip a strip over the yarn and staple just under the yarn (this way your buntings can be moved and spaced out. If you want them fixed, staple your folded-over strip right onto the yarn.). Repeat with alternating colors and voila—you’re done!

Many thanks to Rae for walking us through it step-by-easy-step!

xo,

Meghan

P.S. Yesterday was a happy day for Karissah, winner of the Girls Got Rhythm fest ticket giveaway. There’s still time to get your tickets online; a limited number will be available at the door tonight and tomorrow.

how to: make tea-tin candles

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I have this horrible tendency to hang on to way too many things, vintage tea tins being one of them. Which is why, in the course of the past week, my kitchen has been transformed into a veritable tea tin candle-making factory. If you, too, find yourself in a last-minute gift-making frenzy, here’s the how-to.

WHAT YOU’LL NEED

❤ Miscellaneous vintage tea tins—all of mine were from thrift stores, where you can find them easily, priced anywhere from 25 cents to $2.

❤ Microwavable soy wax—a four-pound box of microwavable soy wax ($10 at Michaels’s with a coupon) flakes made three average-sized tea tin candles.

❤ Wicks of the extra-large variety (tea tins are pretty big in diameter, so you need a fat wick)—also available at Michael’s

❤ Silicone chalk (for the tins that are not water-tight)

❤ Wick holders (optional)

❤ Newspaper (not optional)

 

HOW TO MAKE

1. Test your tins. Fill your tins with water to see if they leak. If you find some are not water-tight, seal the inside bottom rim, corners and sides with a silicon chalk. Do not be an eager beaver and skip this step! (Unless scraping a counter-full of wax off with an old credit card sounds fun—then by all means, skip away!) Follow chalk dry time instructions before moving on to step two.

2. Cover your work space with newspaper. (Again, please learn from my mistakes!) Center your wicks in the middle of your tins, making sure the bottom of the wick is flush with the base of the tin. I prefer to use wick holders to accomplish this. (If you don’t want to buy holders, you can dip the bottom of the wick in melted wax and then stick/center in the bottom of the tin.)

3. Melt your wax—fun! I melted four-plus cups at a time in my glass liquid measuring cup. Four cups took about 4-5 minutes to melt entirely, quite a bit longer than the box o’ wax predicted. If you have a thermometer to test the temperature (per package instructions), feel free to do so. I did not and everything worked out just fine.

4. Fill your tins on up with wax, but not all the way up, just close to it. Wicks will need adjusting after you pour the wax; this is totally normal. It’s also normal to run out of wax before a tin is full. Just get going on nuking the next batch right away and add it when it’s done.

5. Leave your tins alone for 45 minutes to an hour. Go watch a Golden Girls episode, read a magazine or take pictures of your cat…I’m not one to judge.

6. After an hour or so has passed, poke a few holes near the wick, going all the way to the bottom of the tin. This allows air to escape and makes for a more evenly topped candle. Top off your candles with a little more wax.

7. Leave them alone again, this time for a while. In a few hours time…boom. Tea tin candles are ready to go. Cozy on up and enjoy your handiwork.

xo,

Meghan

how to: bake pumpkin bread like tammy wynette

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I’ve been thinking about Tammy Wynette a lot lately. Maybe it’s because I changed my work computer’s desktop to this last Friday, or maybe it’s because I’m saying her name 100 times a day, scolding my naughty kitty, her green-eyed namesake. So last week, when I came upon a couple handwritten recipes of hers on the Country Music Hall of Fame’s website (check them out here), I decided her pumpkin bread would be the perfect baking project. Like most of my go-to recipes, it’s pretty simple and pretty delicious.

WHAT YOU’LL NEED

♥ 3 1/2 cups self-rising flour
♥ 1 teaspoon nutmeg
♥ 1 teaspoon cinnamon
♥ 4 eggs, lightly beaten
♥ 3 1/2 cups sugar
♥ 2 1/2 cups mashed pumpkin
♥ 1 cup vegetable oil
♥ 1 teaspoon vanilla
♥ 1 cup chopped nuts

HOW TO MAKE (ACCORDING TO TAMMY)

Mix dry ingredients, blend other ingredients, except nuts. Mix alternately and add nuts. Grease two Bundt pans and fill. Bake approximately 45 minutes at 350 degrees.

Then try to fend off your cat and dog while you enjoy a slice and a glass of milk.

Obviously, I’d recommend baking these babies with Tammy on. I’ve been listening to her “Another Lonely Song” album a lot. Every song is a winner.

xo,

Meghan

Top photo c/o: country dreaming

how to: care for vintage pyrex

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I love vintage Pyrex. Hardly a day in my life goes by when I don’t use a piece or two from my collection. Right at this minute, a bowl holds ripening nectarines on my kitchen counter and two covered casseroles are keeping a fruit salad and some leftovers fresh in my fridge. In the sink there’s a princess bowl from last night’s post-swimming popcorn snack. They’re adorable little workhorses, they are. Like chocolate lab puppies…what’s not to love? Through my years of thrifting Pyrex, I’ve picked up a few tricks and tips for the proper care of it…tips I’m more than happy to pass along to you!

First, some DON’Ts….

♥ DON’T put your Pyrex pieces in the dishwasher. Just. Don’t.

♥ DON’T clean the colored outside portion of your Pyrex with abrasives or cleansers with bleaching agents (ex. Comet, Bon Ami, some Soft Scrub versions, oven cleaner, etc.). The white insides can handle a tougher clean, but the colored parts cannot.

♥ DON’T stack wet Pyrex. It can stick together in the most terrible fashion and pulling pieces apart can cause a piece (or worse, both!) to break. Sadness will ensue, believe you me.

Some DO’s….

♥ DO buy a can of Bar Keeper’s Friend and a pack of Mr. Clean Magic Erasers. Both are multi-tasking wonder products that are both bound to be your new BFFs in the kitchen.

♥ DO try cleaning your Pyrex in warm, soapy water with a non-abrasive sponge before moving onto any other method.

♥ DO use Bar Keeper’s Friend to get out stains on the inside or non-colored parts of your Pyrex. Sprinkle a bit of the powder on a wet cloth or sponge, then rub it in gently. Let the paste sit for up to a minute before rinsing off with warm water.

♥ DO use a Magic Eraser to safely remove baked-on crud or stains from the colored parts of your Pyrex. Be gentle! Not a lot of elbow grease is necessary.

♥ DO test (in an inconspicuous spot!) any other types of cleaners, chemicals or abrasives before going all out.

♥ DO clean your Pyrex regularly. It’s amazing how much dust and grease and other nasties will find their way to the bottom of your bowls, casseroles, etc. Give pieces that haven’t been used in a while a little soap & water bath.

Curious about the history of Pyrex, the value of collectible vintage pieces or about what a certain pattern is called? Pyrex Love has everything you need and then some!

If you liked this how-to, check out these…how-to get out stains, how-to clean vintage luggage and how-to clean thrifted jewelry.

I hope you all have wonderful days!

xo,

Meghan

DIY day at beauty bets

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Do y’all remember John Frieda’s beach blonde sea salt spray? I rocked that stuff out like crazy in high school! Sadly, the geniuses at JF discontinued it eons ago. (Bring it baaaaack!) Happily, I’m a make-do kinda gal and have been whipping up my own version in my kitchen for ages. It’s ridiculously easy to crank out at home and costs next to nothing. And really, why would you pay more than a few bucks for glorified salt water!? Anyway, you’ll have to hop on over to Beauty Bets today to read my whole how to. I hope you enjoy!

xo!

Meghan