soccer is funny

More pictures from when my brother in law and i were playing soccer on the beach.

i like how it looks like we're dancing.

p.s. i had NO idea what i was doing the entire time.

Tomato & Basil - two ways

Holy cow! I can't believe its the end of August. But hooray, that means almost the end of the hot weather. We only have to tough it out for a few more weeks. Then we'll be leaving here in september to make the long trek to weed california, where josh will be recording with the band for a month and I'll be heading up to washington with our kitty and we'll spend most of the trip there. (the recording process isn't cat friendly)

But anyway! On sunday I got a super strong craving for a tomato and basil bruschetta, and i immediately went to the store to pick up a baguette. It's one of my favorite things to eat... EVER. I really should be making it more often. A sunday lunch/dinner doesn't get much easier than this.

Bruschetta

6 or 7 ripe plum tomatoes, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
1 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil (plus more for bread, optional)
1 teaspoon balsamic vinegar
6-8 fresh basil leaves, chopped.
Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

1 baguette

Preheat oven to 450 degrees F.

Put the tomatoes, garlic, olive oil, vinegar and basil in a bowl and mix together. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Slice the baguette in 1/2" slices and lightly brush one side with olive oil. Place on a cooking sheet, olive oil side down. Toast for 5-6 minutes, until the bread just begins to turn golden brown.

Spoon the mixture onto the bread.

(And be prepared to eat it all.)



Or you can also spoon the mixture on top of some pasta, like i did the next night. It was amazing. And just as easy.

All-purpose cleaner

This all-purpose cleaner is amazing. I cleaned our entire place with it this morning. I had just run out of this and i'm here to tell you, you can't tell the two apart. I decided on the peppermint castile soap, and i'd highly recommend it. It smells so good and refreshing. They sell it, along with a few others, at target and its on sale often. I'm looking forward to using it in more of my DIY cleaners.

All-purpose castile cleaner
Use on kitchen and bathroom surfaces.

2 teaspoons washing soda
4 teaspoons borax
1 teaspoon castile soap
4 cups hot water
10 drops of essential oil (I used tea tree, for its anti-bacterial properties)

and you'll obviously need a 32oz spray bottle.

Pour all ingredients into bottle and gently shake back and forth until the washing soda and borax has dissolved. Thats it!

Happy (safe) cleaning! and weekend too!

that one time i ALMOST met..

I have an old story to tell...

Rewind to march (wow that was 5 months ago). She & him was playing in savannah. five of us headed downtown early in the afternoon to kill time. On the way there we kept saying we were going to find zooey and talk to her, hug her..ect.
That turned into us (jokingly) pointing at random people/objects and saying 'there she is!'.
A few minutes later, we were walking down the street and stopped outside of a store, debated whether or not we wanted to go in, when someone (again, jokingly) said 'this looks like the kind of store she'd go into'. so we laughed and started heading up the stairs.

about halfway up the stairs i heard a familiar voice, and looked up and there was miss zooey and her band coming down the stairs. I turned around as she passed us and vanessa says 'i have no shame, i'm going after her'. So the two of us, ran back down the stairs (leaving the other friends in the dust), tried to quickly compose ourselves and make a plan for how we were going to approach her all while walking about 5 feet behind her.

Apparently we aren't so good at making plans. we followed her for probably ten blocks (if not more) and we we're even stopped at a crosswalk with her and still nothing. It seemed really awkward to approach her from behind. We started walking faster so we could pass them, just in case they noticed us and thought we were creepy.
A few minutes later they walked into a store, we debated.. then decided to go back and head in to the store and make our move.. tell her we are big fans and ask for a picture, then be on our way.

Then we got in there.. she was in a corner looking at clothing racks, then a few girls pulled out their cell phones and started sticking cameras in her face. LIKE RIGHT IN HER FACE. not 'hey can we get a picture with you' but straight up let me get a paparazzi picture of you. then she ran (quite literally) out of the store and took off down the street.

and just like that, we missed our chance.

and believe me, we didn't stop talking about it for HOURS.

but the concert was amazing.. her voice is angelic.

And yes, she is every bit as stunning in person as she is in photos.

Curry chickpea burgers

Need a healthy summer dinner?

These are so easy. And so tasty, I ate them plain. Although I'm willing to bet they'd be even better on a bun with some fixins.

1.5 cups cooked chickpeas
1/2 cup regular oats
10 baby carrots or 2 carrots
1 tbsp coconut oil (or oil of your choice), melted
1.5 tsp curry powder
1/2 tsp Paprika
1/4 tsp Tumeric
1/4-1/2 tsp sea salt, to taste
1/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper
1 tsp Parsley flakes (optional)
3 tbsp sunflower seeds

Preheat oven to 375F. Grease a baking sheet or line with parchment paper and set aside. In a food processor, process the oats, carrots, and all the spices/seasonings (sea salt, black pepper, curry, paprika, tumeric, ) for 30 seconds or until somewhat smooth. Now add in the chickpeas at 1/2 cup increments and coconut oil (melted), stopping to scrape down the bowl as necessary. Once the chickpeas are mostly processed and smooth, take the mixture and place in a medium sized bowl. Stir in the sunflower seeds. Wet your hands and shape patties. Makes about 6-8 patties depending on how big you want them. Note: You can also pre-bake these for about 20 minutes and them pop them on the BBQ to finish them off.

raspberry love

a handful of frozen raspberries (or any berry, but raspberries are my fav) is my go-to cool you down summertime snack. YUM. And they also tint your lips the prettiest pink.


Also, i had to share this amazing engagement photo shoot. it was inspired by the notebook and I can't get over how perfect they are. Read more about it and see tons more photos here


(source)


Edit: oh yes! i made a formspring for vanilla and lace. if you have a silly (or serious) question that you feel isn't email worthy, there is handy dandy little question box on the right.. or can go here.

homemade laundry soap

This is my first try at a homemade laundry soap and i'm really happy with the results. I did a little bit of research since there are quite a few different "recipes" on the internet, and i heard great things about this one. When this runs out i'll probably try a couple more "recipes" for comparison sake, and i'll be back to tell you what I liked best. But for now I wanted to share this one! The ingredients are easy to find, and quite cheap. Maybe not initially, but the product you buy makes a few batches and the total cost per load ends up being about ONE CENT! You can't beat that..

1/3 bar of Fels Naptha soap
1/2 cup Borax powder
1/2 cup Arm and Hammer Washing Soda
Water
a bucket to mix/store

Grate or dice 1/3 of the fels naptha soap and put it into a large sauce pan. Add 6 cups of water and heat until soap melts. Add the washing soda and borax, stir until it has dissolved.
Pour four cups of tap water into your bucket, add your soap mixture and stir together. Add another 2o cups of water and stir to combine.

Let the soap cool and set up for about 12-24 hours. The consistency should be somewhat jello-ish and somewhat liquid.

Add a 1/2 cup to each load.

The role of the ingredients:

Washing soda helps to deodorize, but fighting grease and stains is the primary purpose. Look for it in the drug store or supermarket, in with the laundry and cleaning supplies.

Borax is awesome! It’s a natural stain remover and an excellent alternative to bleach, because it’s an anti-fungal/anti-mold and all-around disinfectant. Coupled with regular soap, it greatly increases cleaning power. Look for it in the drug store or supermarket, in with the laundry and cleaning supplies.

Fels Naptha is a stain remover. Also, in the laundry aisle.



more homemade cleaners to come this week.

farmers market

Hello!

Vanessa and i have been doing the farmers market every saturday since june, (I can't believe its the first time i've mentioned it!) and it makes saturday a blessing and a curse. A blessing since I get to bake plenty of treats and sell them but a big curse because it means waking up atleast a few hours before normal and sitting outside in the awful (horrible, disgusting, crappy, dreadful, ect) summer heat.

Ha! Okay, its not that bad. Actually, its super fun. Just somewhat exhausting. Saturday afternoons usually consist of a nap and plenty of couch lounging for the rest of the day (while watching tv show box sets of course).

Oh, and some pictures of our treats.

hope you're having an awesome weekend.

i have some DIY household cleaner recipes to share soon. exciting, yes?