Scavenger Hunt Sunday 4.28.13

Walking

My daughter and her model walking at her first runway show.
Yummy To My Tummy

I found this blueberry apple butter while we were visiting our daughter this weekend.

Favorite Toy

My telephoto lens got a lot of use at the runway show.

What I Did This Week(end)

 Visited my daughter and her beautiful college campus.

Anything

My daughter and her model after the show.  Her interpretation of the 7 Deadly Sins "Sloth".
What a fun and exciting weekend!!

Linking up with:
Scavenger Hunt Sunday
Alphabe-Thursday

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{Recipe} Hungry Girl Squash Stuffed Portobellos

I tried out another one of Hungry Girl's recipes.

This one looked interesting.

Ingredients:

2-3 large Portobello Mushrooms (she calls them Portobella..I looked it up and either way is acceptable--the smaller ones are sometimes called Baby Bellas)

1 Summer Squash-Green or Yellow, finely diced

2-3 wedges of Laughing Cow Light cheese, room temperature

 1 tsp Minced Garlic (I used the jar)

 1 tsp Dried onion(I used fresh)

1/2 tbs Parmesan Cheese (she called for reduced fat, I used regular Parmesan/Romano but used less)

Salt (to taste)

Ground Thyme (dash or more to taste)

Olive Oil Non-Stick Spray

Preheat oven to 375F.

In a bowl, combine cheese wedges, garlic,  dash of thyme, salt and onion. Set aside.

Remove stems from mushrooms and finely chop. Add chopped stems to bowl.

Place a piece of foil onto a baking sheet and spray with non stick spray. Put the mushrooms, rounded side down on the foil and lightly mist with spray.

Back to the bowl.

Add squash and stir to combine, coating the vegetables with the cheese mixture.

Spoon the vegetable cheese mixture into the caps, there will be a lot. Pack it in!

Sprinkle with parmesan.

Place another sheet of foil over the mushrooms and seal the foil together around the edges to form a packet.

Place baking sheet in oven and bake 23-25 minutes until mushrooms are soft, tender and juicy.

Allow packet to cool a few minutes before opening.   You can cut to release the steam first. Be careful, it will be hot!

Serve immediately. Season with more salt and thyme if you like.

I served ours with brown rice and green beans.

They are filling and only 2 Points+/each!

Linking up with:
Catch a Glimpse
Sugar & Spice
Feature Yourself Friday
Sunday Showcase

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{Scrapbooking}WOYWW 4.24.13

In case you don't know what WOYWW stands for, it's What's On Your Workdesk Wednesday.  

You can link up whatever you're currently working on and see what everybody else is up to.

If you follow me on Instagram you may have seen this photo.

@heather_ourlife

I was organizing pages in my many scrapbooks, in preparation for this project.

The last time I added label charms to my scrapbooks was way back here.

It was one of my very first posts ever!

Since then, I've filled a lot more albums and rearranged pages so it was time to redo the labels.

That's what I've been working on.

Hopefully I will be done soon!

Linking up with:

WOYWW

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Where's George?

Have you ever gotten a dollar bill with this writing on it?

I was intrigued.

You go to the website and log in the serial number for your bill and you can see where it's been (as long as other people have logged it in). I sent it across the country with my husband so hopefully it will take a good long journey.

So far, I haven't had any updates as to where it's been since but we shall see.

Here's another fun thing to do with dollar bills.

{Dollar Bill Origami Bracelet}

Linking up with:
Inspired Tuesday
Wordless Wednesday

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Scavenger Hunt Sunday 4.21.13

Happiness

 I was excited to see my photo (from this shoot) made into a poster at a family member's wedding shower this weekend!

Spring in Black & White

These azaleas are gorgeous in color but look pretty stunning in black and white too.

Fuzzy

Catching a fuzzy glimpse of Manhattan as we left the city.

Family or Faith

Lots of family this weekend!

Gathering/Provide

Amazingly cool Indiana Jones cake at a special 4 year old's birthday party this weekend.  It gathered everyone to the table and provided a sweet ending to the party.

Linking up with:

Scavenger Hunt Sunday

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{Recipe} Homemade Potato Chips

These are so easy and delicious!

Healthy potato chips?

No oil or frying required?
Yes and you're welcome.

 It's not really a recipe,more like a technique and it's similar to my Baked Zucchini Chips (but these get crispier and don't take as long in the oven).

 Slice the potatoes with a mandolin and put them on a baking sheet sprayed with olive oil non stick spray.  Spray them tops of the potatoes and sprinkle with Kosher salt.

Bake at 400F for 30 minutes, rotating the pan(s) half way during baking.

 Bake until crispy and golden.

Serve them warm, out of the oven.

They won't be around long!
Linking up with:
Alphabe-Thursday
Kitchen Fun & Crafty Friday
Weekend Wonders
The Cottage Market
Welcome To The Weekend
Sunday Showcase
Clever Chicks
Tuesday Tutorials & Tips
Tuesday To Do & List Makers
Wow Us Wednesday
Sugar & Spice
What I Whipped Up Wednesday
Catch a Glimpse
Thursday Favorite Things
Feathered Nest Friday
TGIF
Inspire Me Tuesday
Feature Yourself Friday
Efforts & Assets

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Staircase Gallery Wall

YES and FINALLY!!

I really dragged my feet on this one..so many decisions! I finally just laid out all of the {Ribba} frames I had been hoarding picked up at Ikea(last November) to get an idea of what I wanted to do. Obviously this wasn't working--maybe for a flat wall but not for a staircase.

I cut out templates the same size as my frames (and the K) and started putting them up on the wall with painters tape.  This really helped me visualize how the wall would look.  I learned this method from the amazing Young House Lovers.
The plan was to measure the distance on the back of the frame to the hanging apparatus on the frame (this varies from frame to frame), then transfer your measurements onto the template on the wall and mark an "x".  Hammer the nail right through the template on the "x" and then remove the template, you've got a perfectly placed nail waiting for your frame. We used a combination of a few methods for hanging our frames but this one was helpful to learn.

Drawing it out on a piece of paper also helped me remember where we were going to put everything because our templates quickly fell down (that's what happens when you go away during the process).
 I swear it was the leprechauns.

We tried out the template method with our first frame,

making sure the nail was level

and then checking...always checking!
Yay! One down...err..up!

 For keyhole type hangers like this one, we used a piece of painters tape and marked the holes right through the tape.

Put the tape on the wall where you want to hang your object,

Checking that it's level, make the holes in the wall and remove the tape.

 Bam!

 The larger frames came with clips and wire for hanging.

We should have paid more attention to the instructions when putting the backing back into the frame after wiring it up..because....

Boo!
{It didn't break on my lap but I was holding all of the broken pieces waiting for a bag to dispose of them properly..yikes!}
Big shards of glass=scary!

 From then on, it went pretty smoothly with the frames going up.  The frames themselves are extremely slippery and a few popped off of the wall so we brought in reinforcements.

The velcro Command strips really helped stabilize the frames.

We hung the frames up before we had the photos for them.(and I even loved them that way!)

The photos were another big decision and I had a lot to go through. I tried to pick a variety of family photos from big events, everyday moments, trips and just favorite shots.  My handy dandy drawing also helped with this and ordering the correct size for each photo and frame. 

I had to take a trip to Ikea(mentioned here) to get a few more frames and then the photos arrived (I used Shutterfly).

 It was really getting exciting now!

 This was one of the frames that broke so we had to replace it (and check the level again). That part of the wall is a little wonky too.   The chewing gum-looking stuff on the wall was museum putty that we used until I could pick up the Command strips.  It worked but you could see it because the frames are black and the putty is light.

 A close up of some of the photos.  I was going to do black and white to make it more unified but I'm so glad I kept them in color.  They go together well, I think because they are all outdoor photos (except one).  I didn't plan the colors or anything as involved as that.

 

The wall and carpeting are so neutral that the colors really pop on the wall and give it a lot of interest that it was desperately lacking.  I was going to paint the "K" black to go with the frames but I really like how picks up the red of the curtains in our dining room so I think I might keep it that way.

Now that we've got one gallery wall under our belts, we are ready to conquer some other walls in the house...maybe an all black & white one this time?
We shall see...
How about you guys, any gallery walls in your future (or present)?
Let's hear the details!!
*My heart is hurting for our country, the people of Boston, the runners, their families and our first responders.  Really there are no words.*

Linking up with:
Inspired Tuesday
Too Cute Tuesday
Clever Chicks
What I Whipped Up Wednesday
Wicked Awesome Wednesday
Wow Us Wednesday
Kitchen Fun & Crafty Friday
Weekend Wonders
The Cottage Market
Welcome To The Weekend
Sunday Showcase
Whatever Wednesday
Tuesday Tutorials & Tips
Sugar & Spice
Tuesday To Do & Listmakers

Catch a Glimpse
Thursday Favorite Things
Alphabe-Thursday
Feathered Nest Friday
TGIF
Inspire MeTuesday
Feature Yourself Friday
Efforts & Assets
I Heart Organizing

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