New Blog!

So, I joined the ranks of the many before me that finally got their own site!  I feel like a real blogger!  I hope you all will continue to follow me there because I’ve loved reading all of your comments and appreciate all of your suggestions and advice.  It’s been so helpful!!  You will need to update your RSS reader with my new site, which is www.mintedlife.com

Just to entice you over, here’s what the layout of the new site looks like:

But, I know that’s not good enough, so quick, come over.  Click here!  Hope you like it!

Gift bags

So either I have a cold or I have the worst allergies ever.  I can’t tell.  It started off really differently from a traditional cold so I’m hopeful that it’s just allergies.  Which is really possible because on MLK day Sean and I raked leaves, cleaned the gutters, and probably stirred up all kinds of allergens.  Sean even climbed a tree to get on top of our roof since we don’t have a ladder. 

See?  Crazy.

But, the point of this post is not to talk about my allergies/cold or cleaning gutters, it’s to talk about the gift bags I made for my sister’s baby shower.  So, I went to Michael’s with an idea of what I wanted and just started looking down the aisles.  I stumbled on some blue gift bags, Martha Stewart stickers and the tiniest clothespins I have ever seen.

The stickers came in a variety of items, not just elephants as is my theme.   But, they were just too cute so I couldn’t leave them out.  And, the “Thanks so much” stamp was something I already had from Impress  So,  I just put them together and got this:

So there you have it, my little thank you bags.  Now I just need to fill them.  What would you want in your bag?

“Ice Cream”

It’s the new year and I know a lot of people are probably on a health kick to start the year off right.  However, I think that every good meal should end with some sort of dessert.  Unfortunately this philosophy can be challenging when I’m trying to be healthy, so I’ve had to get a little more creative.  Three of my favorite things to eat are peanut butter, bananas and honey.  I’ll often make myself a little sandwich with these ingredients.  And, at this restaurant in Dallas called Purple Cow, I like to order a peanut butter and banana milkshake.  Mmmmm…

Ok, I got sidetracked momentarily, but back to being healthy.  So, keeping with this banana, honey and peanut butter thing, I made some “ice cream”.  Here’s what you need:

• 2 ripe bananas, frozen and cut into one-inch pieces
• 1 teaspoon of honey (or more if you’re like me)
• 1 tablespoon of peanut butter
• 2 tablespoons of milk

So, the one part of this recipe that stinks is that you have to plan ahead.  You have to cut your bananas up and put them in the freezer.  But, it’s so worth it, so just do it.  Then, when they’re nice and frozen throw them into your food processor:

Mix those around for a while until you get something that I think looks like Dippin’ Dots:

Don’t worry, I promise it will start to look like real ice cream soon.  Then, add the remaining ingredients:

Then, mix it around some more until you get something so deliciously rich and creamy you’ll swear you’re eating ice cream:

The great thing about this recipe, is that you can add anything you want.   Try some chocolate chips, or anything else that you like with your bananas.  Enjoy!

Baby Shower Part II

Well, I talked about this previously, but the baby shower for my sister is really soon!  The last time I chatted about this, I was wavering between tricycles and elephants as the theme for the shower.  Most of you all chose the elephant route, and I agreed!  But, I am obsessed with bunting flags too so I knew I needed to figure out a way to incorporate them.  Well, my friend Morgana offered to design the invites for me.  I sent her some information and a few samples of what I was going for and she got to work.  I loved the way they turned out.  What do you think?

So, keeping with the theme, we’ll have an elephant cake from Dallas Affairs.  And then to throw in some of the bunting, I’m making signs for each of the different food items with these bunting flags:

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For those of you planning a wedding, it’s actually from a wedding invite, and there are a lot of other cute free downloadables too. 

Ok, so now that you know how I’ll label the food, what will we actually be eating?  Well, I’m still deciding, but I have some ideas.

Prosciutto and Fig-Spread Sandwiches (cut in cut bite-size pieces):

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Endive with crab and avocado:

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Artichoke-Parmesean Crostini:

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Veggies and dip:

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Goat Cheese-Stuffed Mushrooms:

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And for drinks, I’m thinking lemonade for the non-alcoholic drink and Prosecco Sangria for the ladies that want to have a good time:

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It’s not blue though, does that matter?  I tried to find a tasty blue drink and I came up empty-handed.  Pink ones are a lot easier to come by. 

And, for a parting favor for the guests, I’m thinking about elephant cookies:

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I think I want to package them in little bags sealed with a mini clothespins.  Sort of like this, but smaller and for a boy baby shower:

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And, I would love to put them out on display in one of these adorable little suitcases:

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So, what do you think?  Any suggestions?

Spending $100

So, I have a $100 gift card from Christmas that’s burning a hole in my pocket.  Here’s the thing…I am having a hard time deciding between 2 things.  One of them in is in the fashion realm and the other is home decor.  What’s the better way to spend my money?

In the fashion realm, I really want these boots:

Source (please don’t buy them in a 6.5)

I have these exact boots in brown, and I wear them all the time.  Those are grey by the way.  So, I’m pretty sure that I would wear the grey ones too.  Plus, I’ve been on the hunt for grey boots for some time now.  The problem is that it’s already January, and I feel like I won’t really be able to wear boots much longer.  For those of you in cold climates, I’m sure you’re disagreeing with me, but in Texas our cold season is on its way out.  On the other hand, even if I don’t get to wear them much longer this year, I’m sure I’ll still wear them next fall and winter.

As for the home decor, I want this:

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Or maybe this:

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I think it would look really good above my fireplace.  And, if you need a visual, here it is:

I know this is trendy and I probably won’t want it forever, but I think it’s cute for now. 

So, if you were me, which item would you go for?  The boots or the ceramic animal?

Goodwill Finds

I felt like I hadn’t done any updating of our house in a while.  I wasn’t really inspired and couldn’t find anything I wanted, so there wasn’t a lot of activity around here.  I think I was using all my energy on recipes and Christmas gifts and whatnot.  Now that I don’t have that stuff eating away at my time, I am anxious to get back to home decor.

I decided to head to Goodwill because I usually have good luck there.  It was during one of their auctions so the store was pretty crowded, but people were congregating around the auctioneer.  This meant that I had free reign of the rest of the store.  I stumbled on some cowboy boots that I really wanted.  I tried to squeeze my foot into them, but sadly, they didn’t fit.  Which is pretty shocking because I wear a 6 or 6.5.  No luck though, so I continued on to the home goods.

I’m always looking for a birdcage because my friend Morgana has a plant in her kitchen that she put inside a little birdcage and I think it’s the cutest thing ever.  Well, I didn’t find a birdcage, but I found this instead:

I’m pretty sure it’s for candles, but I thought a plant would fit nicely inside of it.  As if it were fate, I also found little terracotta pots at Goodwill.  So, I brought them home too and re-potted one of my plants in it to complete the look:

Then, I hung it right in my kitchen window:

I also found some really great oval and round frames.  I plan to spray paint the two larger ones, and leave the little one as is. 

I think for the larger one, I want to use chalkboard paint to make it its own little chalkboard.  What do you think?

So, for a grand total of $12 I got all of these great things.  Oh, and one other frame that I’m already using for wedding pictures. 

Do you tend to have good luck at Goodwill?  What’s your favorite find?

Refurbished Wood

So remember when I was talking about wanting to make my own floor mirror and I made Sean carry discarded wood down our street?  Well, this weekend we finally got to work on it.  It’s not entirely finished because I need to figure out how to hold the mirror part in place, but I was too excited to wait, and I thought you all might have some ideas for what I should use to keep the mirror attached. 

We started with the wood and attached metal brackets all the way down to connect the boards together.  We just hammered them in place.  And by we, I mean Sean while the dogs and I watched:

So here’s where things got interesting.  The wood was split in one spot.  I was trying to be positive and pretend like even though there was a huge gaping crack, this could work.  Finally, I remembered that we own a circular saw, so I suggested that we just use that to cut off the unsightly part.   Sean grabbed it, cut it, and we were good to go.  Here’s the aftermath:

Iused a damp cloth to wipe off the wood. And that was it.  We were totally done.  Oh, right except for that part about attaching the mirror which I still haven’t done.   But before we could drag it inside, we needed to figure out where to put it.  I canvassed our house and decided that it would fit perfectly in our dining room.  So in it went.

And here’s Sean trying to hold the mirror in place so that I could snap a few photos:

He got tired of that gig and left me alone, so the mirror is sitting lower in this one, but you get the idea:

So, it’s coming together and I’m really happy with how it turned out!  Best of all, the entire budget for the project was just the cost for the brackets which were around $2/each and we got 3 of them for a grand total of $6.  But, I still need to find something to hold the mirror in place.  Any recommendations?

My Life with Pets

Today I was watching an Oprah rerun.  It was an episode I heard about when it originally aired and I really wanted to see it, but I’d missed it.  It was about animals–how smart they are, how they communicate, what they can learn, and a couple of feel good stories for good measure regarding their companionship with humans.  And, I most definitely cried during some of the more heartfelt stories.  Not all that shocking because I hold a special place in my heart for animals. 

When I was a kid, I thought I wanted to be a veterinarian because of my intense love for animals.  My grandma lived in Mississippi and always had a ton of animals on her property including cows, horses, goats, chickens, a rumored alligator and a fox or two.  And of course cats and dogs.  But, I remember one particular cow that I spent hours with trying to get it to trust me enough so that it would take the feed directly from my hand.   I would make a lot of progress, get to the point where I thought it was just about to eat from my hand and then someone would come out and tell me lunch was ready or some other comment, and the cow would get nervous all over again.  Finally, I got it to trust me enough to eat from my hand. 

Growing up we always had animals at our house too.  We had cats, dogs, hamsters, ducks, turtles, frogs, rabbits, and of course some fish.  But we didn’t have all of these at the same time.   I’m pretty sure we asked our parents for a new pet monthly.   Most of the time they said no, but every once in a while we would break them down and they would say yes.  Then we’d spend some time contemplating names for our new pets.  My brother was the youngest and would often come up with what we considered ridiculous names, like toothpaste.   We still make fun of him for that.

So now we have our pets.   Sean says they lucked out big time since we picked them from the shelter.  Molly has what you might call a wee bit of an anxiety problem, and we work with her to ease it.  She’s also the smartest dog I’ve ever had.  And Belle came from a high kill shelter.  And now they get to things like this with their white lab friend:

So, this was my long-winded way of saying if you’re contemplating a new pet, I highly recommend getting a rescue.  They are the sweetest, snuggliest pets!

Feliz Cumpleanos a Mi

So I mentioned recently that I’m turning 30 this year.  Well, it’s right around the corner as in about a month away.   For a while I had mixed feelings about embarking on the next decade, I mean it’s a little scary. 

So how am I coping with it?  Um…contemplating a Mexican vaca of course. 🙂

Maybe the Riu Palace Las Americas?  Perhaps you’d like to see some photos?

Maybe at night?

Or more of the beach?

Source for photos

I want to go to there.   How do you celebrate milestone birthdays?

Woah, Photoshop

I know this is probably old news for most people, but I just stumbled on it so I had to share.  So, I love the Pioneer Woman as most of us do.  But, I typically stick to the food posts and don’t peruse the rest of the site often.  However, her photography is amazing to me, and she has a great way of explaining things in layman’s terms so that even I can understand all the new lingo I’m trying to learn regarding my new camera.  Well, between reading about Christmas recipes and what the heck is an aperture on her site, I stumbled on several Photoshop Actions that I love. 

I’ve dabbled in Photoshop for a while, but I would in no way call myself Photoshop savvy.  I don’t even know how to create Actions on my own (can you even do that?), but what I can do is click a button from downloaded actions I got of the PW website. 

So I started with this photograph and played around with the actions I downloaded.  I’m in love.

Original:

Seventies:

PW’s B&W

Old West:

Boost:

Colorized:

And finally one crazy one where I combined 3 ( burned edge, seventies and sharpen):

And best of all, there is a button that let’s you start all over when you mess something up, or if you just want to try something different.  I barely even scratched the surface with the options you have in front of you with this download.  So go play!  I hope you have as much fun with it as I have!