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Monday, August 29, 2011

Music Monday



Ahh nostalgia. I used to listen to lots of punk bands, and I was even in one (blogged about here). The Briefs are so fun, upbeat and catchy. I still listen to them occasionally, and my son LOVES them. He will dance and sing and play air guitar anytime I play one of their songs. :)

I got to see them play in Chicago in 2005, in a really tiny club. They were great and I kept yelling at them to play "New Shoes". They eventually did. :)

Here's that song:


Poor and Weird:


Ain't It the Truth:


Happy Music Monday!
xo, Jenna

Saturday, August 27, 2011

What's the story, morning glory?

Remember that Oasis album? Brings back memories of being an awkward 14 year-old, listening to that album over and over in my bedroom. :)

However, this post is not about the band or the album at all.

It's about this:


This beauty decided to pop up this year, for some odd reason. Which is why I ask, what's the story? I planted morning glory seeds in our backyard by our shed 2 years ago, and they didn't grow. I was a little bummed, but sometimes things just don't grow, right? Well.. The other day me, B (my son) and I (my daughter) were playing in the backyard and I spotted them. Just a few beautiful morning glories! I thought for a moment that they were called stargazers. That would be completely appropriate, in my opinion. They are just gorgeous and I had to share.

Sometimes things bloom later than we expect. Even in life. :)

A good reminder for a new day.

Hope yours is great!
xo, Jenna

Friday, August 26, 2011

Friday Finds

Friday Finds are a bit late today because this morning I decided to pack up the kids and head out of town to go shopping. All I got was a pair of shoes and an iced mocha latte, though. :) Its a bit tough shopping with a 4 yr. old and a 1 yr. old. Especially when they are both exhausted, you spill your entire said iced mocha all over the ground, and there are constant bathroom trips needed. Haha, I know my kiddos wont be little forever, so that makes it a bit easier to handle challenging days like this.

That all being said, on to the finds! All of these (but one) are recent Etsy finds I L-O-V-E! ♥

This shop has the most awesome wood necklaces. I would love to own this one.


This headband is super cute, and the perfect shade of green.


I would absolutely love to buy my daughter this adorable hat!


This reminds me of Fantastic Mr. Fox. Great artwork, great movie!


I am the BIGGEST fan of green, especially for kitchen items. This vintage Pyrex is GORGEOUS!!



This book ring (and photo!) is so flippin cute. I can hardly stand it.



I NEED this shirt for my son. I'm using the word need here.



I cannot remember the source for this, but I would LOVE to have a playroom for my kids that looks just like this! The modern bookshelf, the books on the wall- PERFECTION!


Well I'm off for some much needed shut-eye. Have a fantastic weekend!

xo, Jenna


Thursday, August 25, 2011

Yum.

Since becoming a vegetarian again, I wanted to be able to have a burger alternative when my family is cooking out. I love black bean burgers, and Gardenburger makes a pretty yummy one, but they are quite expensive. I saw this post over at Food Coma, and thought, NOW is the time to finally learn how to make these! (p.s. I LOVE Emma's blog, she has pretty pictures and yummy recipes, plus I think she is HILARIOUS.)

So I went to allrecipes.com, thats usually where I head when I need a recipe, and found this one. The only thing is I didn't really want to use eggs in it, and I didn't have a few of the spices. So I kind of went with what I DID have and came up a tweaked recipe, all my own. :)


I didn't measure anything so I can't give you exact amounts of everything. I followed the basic structure of the recipe, but changed these things:
A squirt of ketchup instead of an egg, yellow and orange peppers instead of green, garlic salt and pepper instead of chili powder. I also made my own breadcrumbs with leftover hot dog buns by toasting them and then throwing them in my food processor with some thyme, pepper, and salt. A BIG thing is to really dry the beans after you rinse them. That made it much easier to mush everything together and for the patties to hold their shape. I just used my bare hands to form them, and it made 5 good-sized patties. :)

This was super easy to make, and REALLY cheap. The can of black beans was maybe 75 cents, at most. Score.

Being a vegetarian is cheap. I think that its a common misconception that the lifestyle is expensive. If you search around on the internet, you can find TONS of recipes, there is even the site http://vegweb.com/. Check it out if you are interested, they have over 15,000 recipes!

Happy Eating!
xo, Jenna

Wednesday, August 24, 2011

First Craft Show

This post is long overdue, but I wanted to share a bit about my very first craft show I had back at the end of June. It was so much fun, and a great learning experience. I sold quite a bit, more than I even expected. That was really nice and I'm so grateful to all of my great customers and my awesome God! :)

I met a lot of people, ate some yummy fair food and drank gallons of lemon shake-ups.

:) Not really. But wow, were they good! I HAVE to have a lemon shake-up at least once a year.

Anyway, on to the pictures! (you can click on them to view the larger version)

These were bags that I used to package up orders. Stamps were made by me.

View from the outside of my tent.

The Russian Nesting Doll Softie spot.

Coasters and bow rings.

Dish cloths. Quite the popular item at the show.

Makeup bags, pouches and wall art.

My table at an angle.

I was so excited to participate, and I'm looking forward to doing more many more craft shows in the future. It was a lot of work, but very rewarding. I'm so thankful that I have a supportive husband, and family. :) They are a blessing!

Thanks for letting me share!
xo, Jenna

Monday, August 22, 2011

Music Monday

So Long Forgotten



Their album, Things We Can See and Things We Cannot, is just amazing. It evokes a lot of emotion within me. I can honestly listen to "Wonderers or Wanderers" on repeat. Although the album is from 2009, it is new to me, and I am just in love with their music.

Fun Fact: They are from the same area that I am, and they played a show in my Mom's basement for my brothers birthday in 2006 :)

Here is that song I can't get enough of:


Check out more about the band here.

Happy Music Monday!
xo, Jenna

Sunday, August 21, 2011

Hello Hello, its a Cupcake post!

I can't believe its almost been a month since I blogged! Wow. Time is flying by like craziness!

My daughter turned 1 at the beginning of the month. This past year has gone by way too insanely fast for me. Now that little gal is attempting to pull up and cruise on every piece of furniture in the house. My gosh. She needs to SLOW DOWN. Right now! :) I wanted to share the recipe I made for her birthday cupcakes. I decided to make them from scratch, and wanted them to be a little more fun than just vanilla or chocolate. No offense to vanilla or chocolate (I still love you!), just sometimes I like to mix it up a little bit.. So I made....

Lemon Blueberry Cupcakes!


My brother came up to me after eating his and declared "This is the BEST cupcake I have ever eaten!". Hooray! That made me feel so good. :) I found the recipe for the cupcakes here. The only thing was I wanted to make a sweeter frosting for the top, because cream cheese didn't sound so great to me to top them with. So I used this recipe for its "lemonade" frosting. (It's just like buttercream but you add fresh squeezed lemon juice.) Um, can I just say YUM! We had a lot leftover and the hubby and I just kept sneaking licks of it out of the fridge the next week. I used it to ice some sugar cookies as well and that was really delicious too! :)

My daughters party was fun, we had family over and Barry set up a tent in our backyard. He also grilled hamburgers, hot dogs and chicken. I became a vegetarian (again) the week before and totally forgot to get something for me to eat, so I ate a lot of chips, veggies and fruit. Haha, oh well :)

What did it for me this time (going back to being a vegetarian) was I was eating some venison and kept thinking about it being an actual deer, and it grossed me out so much that I threw it away and vowed to never eat meat AGAIN. This time its for good. :) I did it for quite awhile before (approx. 5 years) and I know I will be able to easily continue for the rest of my life. I will feel so much better health-wise and conscious-wise. I don't bash anyone who eats meat, I promise. I was telling my son about my decision and I said "I like animals, I don't want to eat them", to which he replied "I don't like animals, I want to eat them"... And I started laughing so much. I knew my husband would LOVE that he said that. :) hehehe.

But enough about all that. :) I just wanted to share another cupcake recipe because its been awhile.

Hope your weekend was great!

xo, Jenna