Portlandia: we can pickle that

it wouldn't be a family gathering without some strange food. for me, anything that isn't a pickle or a pepper that has been pickled i think is extra weird. but this is just too much:


ps, what foods do you find strange?

an easy, fast and inexpensive way to clean your microwave {without any chemicals!}

it can mean only one thing {besides the being thankful part}with thanksgiving coming up: so. many. left. overs. yayyyy! my fav part. a fridge full of yummy home cooked meals, without having to actually cook anything.

via

but the problem is, i'm not all that good about putting lids on things in the microwave. and greg isn't much better. so our microwave can get borderline toxic pretty gross sometimes....and i don't notice how bad it is until it gets really bad, then i rationalize that it can't get much worse......then it gets gross, and sometimes smells funny, yikes! {oh please don't look too closely}

so once it's gotten to that point, i pull out my handy-dandy white vinegar! in a microwave-safe mug{or small bowl} combine 1/4c white vinegar and 1/4c water and a splash of lemon juice.

put that in the microwave on HIGH for 3 minutes.

when it's done, DON'T OPEN THE DOOR! i repeat, DON'T OPEN THE DOOR!! just set the timer for 2 minutes. you want all of the steamy vinegar-lemon-water to work its magic.

after your 2 minutes are up, open the door and step AWAY from the microwave. a face full of the steamy vinegar-lemon-water is not fun times. then use a potholder to {carefully} remove the hot bowl/mug.

grab your cleaning cloth, remove the spinning plate thing, and get to wiping!

look how shiny and clean! and no more weird smell, yay!

and then proceed to put a broccoli and spinach puree in there without a lid..... :/

ps, what is your favorite cleaning tip?

november love, love, love!

1. knit throw // 2. tall socks // 3. running vest
4. cutting board // 5. gold washi tape // 6. My Favorite Ornament

currently: november 2013

rolling my hair in the a.m.

laughing at greg

struggling with the shorter days

in love with grasshopper

drinking cake vodka and grenadine

watching too much Ally McBeal

falling behind with this months goals

making progress on my dress

wearing the barcode off my library card

figuring out twitter {finally}

layering leggings under my dress pants

pumpkin spiced out

pinning wedding stuff

thankful to have someone that understands me and is still willing to put up with my crazy ass.... <3

diy mitered cloth napking tutorial

so i love greg to death, he's my fav. but, anytime there's food involved, you can tell where he's been. in the kitchen making a sandwich,  at the coffee table eating the sandwich, or just packing his lunch. there are crumbs/shredded cheese/sriracha sauce EVERYWHERE. and bless his heart, he knows he makes a mess, so he takes a handful of paper towels/napkins with him. just to wipe his face.  so when i stumbled upon this tutorial from Sewbon, i knew what to do with some leftover NY Giants fabric.

step 1: ignore my super old and dirty ironing board cover.

step 2: cut your fabric to size+2.25" and fold/press 1/2" from the edge.

traditional napkins are somewhere between 16"x16" to 22"x22"; what ever size you choose, just add 2.25" to that measurement. to maximize my left over fabric, i cut it to 11.75" x  16.25", which gives me a 9.5" x 14" finished napkin. then flip it wrong side up and fold it over 1/2" and use lots and lots and lots of steam. you want a nice, crisp edge.

step 3: make the adjacent edges touch, with right sides in:

flip the fabric right side up, and fold the top edge down and over so it meets the side edge.

make sure its evenly folded by pulling the unfinished corner tight and lining up the cut edges. pin through all layers to keep everything together.

step 4: stitch your miter.

you want your stitches to be at a 45* angle, from where the raw edge of your 1/2" fold meets the rest-of-the-napkin fold {at the arrow}, to the outer edge.

the easiest way to do this is by lining up the fold horizontally/perpendicular/at a 90* angle to the needle. then you just stitch to the edge. make sure you back stitch at the beginning and end.

then snip off the end and extra thread, and stitch the other 3 corners.

step 4: turn 'em right side out and press

turn your corners right side out, use a chopstick {or very carefully the tip of your scissors} to make the corner pointy. if your 45* angle was spot on, then you should automatically have another 5/8" of fabric turned under. tada! if not, no big deal, your corners might be a little wonky, but it will still get the stickies off your face. press the magic 5/8" so there's a nice crisp edge.

step 5: top stitch around the edge

and your done!

around here: november 2013

tomatoes straight from the garden // mixed with homemade gf pasta // last warm fall day // had to celebrate with beverages // yes those are frog legs // pan-fried with a sriracha, lime, cilantro sauce // drafting the top for my party dress // in my disaster of a studio space // what my mornings look like

a bike riding revolution!

i'm such a sissy when it comes to riding my bike.  i live in a super bike-able city, and i still drive my poor old jeepy around way too much. i blame having a fancy-pants customer service-oriented job for driving the 1 1/2 miles to work {lame excuses}. but with the FlyKly Smart Wheel and the Hövding Airbag for Cyclists, no one will have excuses for much longer.

ummmmm how effin awesome is that? no more sweaty-tired-grossness when you get to your destination. also, i think this may be the real-life Copenhagen Wheel from Weeds. {whoops, i guess it was a real thing before Weeds, apparently i didn't take it seriously.}


aaannnnddd no terrible helmet hair?!?! no looking like a goober? better protection? i'm in love. if i didn't have so many stupid student loans, i would totally get in on both of these.

the blahs

so i got up early this morning, the first time in weeks. i've been sleeping in and dragging my butt out of bed juuuusssst in time to make greg breakfast. and i mean draggin.

i've been such a lazy blob lately. i haven't been feeling sad, but tired and blah.  i had to bribe myself out of bed with peanut butter m&m's this morning. yikes!

i haven't painted my nails in two weeks, i haven't gone for a mid week run in two weeks, i haven't written a blog post in almost two weeks, i'm falling behind in cleaning the house, i haven't even thought about or checked in on this months goals. 

ugh, i thought having more sunshine in the am would help, but apparently not. either, ither, or, i just need to pull it together!

so ready, set, reboot! see you friday!

hello november!

once again, this month we have a few repeats. last month i fell short {again}.  kinda. well to make excuses rationalize it, i did establish some routines and became more consistent, but still pushin hard in the last week. oh well, i'm getting more done than ever before, and feeling pretty good too. win.  UPDATE: overall this month kicked my ass. i spent way too much time on the couch. being cranky and lazy. ugh.

>i've become so much more consistant with my running. i've switched to a tues/thurs/sat/sun routine, and moved my weekday runs to after work. and that seems to be working pretty well for me.  this month the interval has been pushed up to 1:30 run/:30 walk. its not cold/nasty/snowy out yet, so no whining about the weather. UPDATE: and i finished with.....9.4 miles, bleh. i didn't run any weekdays and took thanksgiving weekend off. i can't handle running in the dark AND cold after work. i'll have to figure something else out....

>ugh, this one has been kicking my butt for the past few months. i always come sooo close.  scheduling my runs for tues/thurs has worked pretty well, so now i think i'm gonna schedule my walks for mon/wed/fri.  once again, its not cold/nasty/snowy out yet, so no whining about the weather. UPDATE: excuses, excuses, excuses, i don't think i walked to work once. lame

> i'm still sticking with the goal of posting 3x per week, but now i want/need to start some networking.  in my wanderings of the interweb, i've come across gussy and her how to network via email really struck a chord with me. i'm sooooo introverted {which doesn't bother me}, but i need to get myself/blog/ideas out to others and actually interact. talk to people, ugh ;)  UPDATE: well i didn't end up sending out any emails, but i have been leaving comments, posting links on fb, and tweetering a whole lot. putting this lil bloggy out there

>i haven't actually designed a fun party dress in quite a while.  i've made some elaborate costuming/corset/garb stuff for my mom and her husband, but it's been quite some time {2010-ish} since i've made something fun to wear for myself. and there's a big Long Island-wedding-extravaganza coming up..... UPDATE: well this one did get done, otherwise i was going to the party nakid. after 3 different design changes and finishing it by hand the day before, it turned out pretty well.

ps, what are your goals this month?