A Handmade Christmas

I know, I know..it's June. But last year my hubs & I decided to do a handmade christmas for all of our gifts (except I bought him dirtbiking pants-but besides that-oh and the glow in the dark basketball for my younger brother.) But all  the majority of our gifts were handmade, which I will post pics of later because right now all I can focus on is this Christmas :) One thing at a time around here. So why in the world am I thinking about Christmas in June? Well we didn't start the making of gifts until November last year. Bad Plan. I mean it all worked in the end, but we seriously cut it thisclose. As in finishing on Christmas Eve and giving gifts within like 2 hours of finishing the making of the gift. Yeah. It was bad. And I want to do it all over again. So that is why we are starting our thinking now and then we can accumulate the necessities & maybe even do some trials of our ideas and be almost DONE making our gifts this November instead of just beginning. There's so much craziness in December just in parties & baking & christmas tree cutting and the list goes on. So here are some cool ideas I'm dreaming of right now (psst-I have all these on my pinterest account if you wanna get mo'info!)

Circuit board becomes belt buckle! Totally nerd-cool.

For the manly-men. Will have to pair this up in some sort of "kit"....

Personalized Tea Towels + Painted Serving Utensils = Hostess Set

And SOMETHING dip-dyed. A scarf? T-shirt? Mittens?.....

I usually give baked goods out to like everyone, so these re-purposed Pringle containers will really come in handy!

I love this idea! Every year I make LOADS of peppermint bark and last year I made chocolate dipped pretzels--maybe this will be a way to do both all at once?!

And then there's this beauty. Such a cool idea.

Any of you done a homemade Christmas? I really enjoyed doing Christmas with the hubs last year, instead me shopping and he finding out what everyone gets as they're opening it. I'm hoping I can continue to carry this tradition on with him every year and not run out of ideas/be able to make things our families will actually like! Nothing worse than a scratchy funkily knitted sweater that your dad has no idea what to do with....

Lemon & Herb Chicken Dinner

Finally remembered to take a picture of dinner last week. I get all into my chopping & mixing & baking & boiling in the evenings and go into my own little world of herbs & olive oil that I forget to include a recipe here everynow and then. Here's an easy, nutritous and oh-so-good weeknight meal for y'all!

1) Place chicken breast in gallon sized baggie in the AM drizzled with your oil of choice (usually olive or grapeseed oil for me). Sprinkle with oregano, thyme & garlic and stick it in the fridge for the day.

2) Preheat oven to 350, place chicken in it w/ freshly sliced lemon atop of it. Cook times vary depending on how much you're making, but usually it takes around 30 minutes.

3) While the chicken is cooking whip up a salad. Mine usually contains spinach, iceberg & butter lettuce, carrot, tomato (I always slice an extra and sprinkle w/ salt for the inescapable making-dinner-munchies), sugar snap peas, broccoli and avocado (unfortunately I was out on this particular evening). And a healthy sprinkling of freshly grated parmesean is always needed for cheese lover like myself.

Oh and my hubby made that cutting board, isn't it a beauty? 

Yes, you are jealous and its ok :)

And look at that, the chicken is done! Maybe it was the camera, but I was feeling a little extra pumped and made some pasta and alfredo sauce to go with our meal also.  And it was so very, very good, I think I shall make this again tonight after seeing all these photos again!

You can't always win...

Being "bargain brained" can be a severe handicap. A couple weeks ago I saw a bikini that I just had to have for $27.90 at H&M. Great deal right? Well I didn't think so..I've conditioned myself to have too high (or is it low??) standards for outstanding prices. I put the suit back on the rack because I have a giftcard to Westfield malls & a *new* H&M just opened in one nearby. So I justified that I would be getting the bikini for free by going to mall and buying it there. So I convinced my hubby to make a quick stop at the mall (HAH! Is there such a thing?), he only agreed because it was a BIKINI that I wanted to buy...I had no doubt that my stroke of luck (getting the hubs into the mall without complaining) would result in a win for me, the bikini and my hubby. WRONG. Apparently I have good taste because the sizes available were so not mine. So the clerk (obviously feeling compassionate that I had gotten my "I stick out like a sore thumb at the mall" husband into this frivilous store and was going to leave empty handed and which means I no chance of ever getting him back into a store with me ever, ever, ever again) called the first location I saw the bikini to see if they still had my size. No luck. So he gave me the barcode numbers and I dragged my feet and moped alllll the way out of the mall. Now, I called both locations daily to see if they had gotten more in their shipments. Took 4 days. Got the top at one spot, bottoms at the other. Moral of the story: Don't be so much of a penny pincher! And after all that work....here she is! It was soooo worth the pain & suffering to get this into my hot little hands.

Goodwill Furniture Finds

Yes, I was at the Goodwill again. Missed the flea market over the weekend due to 1) me forgetting and 2) it poured down rain (in JUNE mind you...). Anyways, the Goodwill helps me get through these tough times, here's what I spotted:

Coffee Table $18.99

I really like the block pattern, and that it was pretty low to the ground. It would be fun for one of those exotic lands inspired dining rooms where you sit on amazing floor cushions and eat amazing food and have an amazing time...

And then there's this chair $32.99 (what's with the big prices this time around?!). Anyways this shape is super cool, it's permanently semi-reclined. Perfect for reading or dvding. And while the fabric isn't in that poor of condition, I would want it re-upholstered because 1) it's a bit bland and 2) you never know where it's been or what/whose butt has sat on it...

Ok, so who trusted me & visited the Goodwill all on their own???

Sneaky Stripes

Everytime we move I get to really go through and look at everything I own and reassess what is worth keeping. You can learn a lot about yourself or anyother person just by noticing what is in their home--or junk drawer or hall closet too. I have realized that I really like stripes. Looking back on some of the things I've posted here, I probobly should have known that already, but I guess I take a little more convincing. It's actually pretty exciting, usually you come across a decorating theme and it seems like nothing you own fits that. Well folks, I like stripes and I already own some striped items :)

Striping on the foot of my trifle bowl (sadly, I forgot I even had this till I pulled every last piece out of my cabinets...)

And my very own plates that I've stared at every dinner for the past (almost) 3 years! HELLO! WAKEUP! (p.s. I know that pic is super yellow--the plates are ivory..still working out a cooperation agreement with my camera)

Clearance Couture

Annnnd Target does it again! For $8.72 (+ CA ridiculous sales tax of 9.25%....ugh) I got two great pieces on C-L-E-A-R-A-N-C-E! First I snagged a super soft dark green t-shirt with slightly longer sleeves than normal tees and a nice loose fitting shape for $3.74. Yes, you did read that correctly, I said $3.74!!And then I just so happened to pass the shoes aisle where I found these super fun heeled sandals for $4.98.

This tee and the sandals are great jumping off point for jeans (long, capri or even shorts if I can muster up the guts to wear those things). Which means these items will be perfect for Summer, Fall, Winter & Spring! And I can definately wear either of the $5 jeans (dark wash bootleg and gray skinny) I bought a Target on a previous trip. And as I was trudging around the house, actually it's my husband's family vacation home that's been in the family for almost 3 generations! Notice the awesome wallpaper above ;) which actually made a fun background for this shirt!The green ties right in and shows this outfit could go vintage real easily with some flea market or family jewelry. Ok back on track here, as I was experimenting with taking pics of my clearance couture finds, I remember I snagged these bangles for just 2 bucks at the flea market.

Mmhhmmm. I think I'm in love.

 This outfit is coming together nicely....What would you add to this ensemble? Do you have any to-die-for jewelry that would take this over the top?

Purse Purging

After moving & sorting our belongings for storage/road trip supplies, I finally tackled my purse...It was pretty bad! This was after I had gotten started throwing things away (before I remembered to take a picture!):

And my exhausted purse enjoyed the break.

It's amazing all that I got to fit in there, it was literally a Mary Poppins bag. So it made me start to think,  I obviously have a thing about filling up all available space possible in my purse...so maybe I should use a smaller purse? Genius! Here's my current purse (ok technically a wristlet), hopefully I can stick to it!

The only bummer is that my glasses don't fit inside, which leaves me with the following debate:

1) start wearing contacts or

2) Remember to grab them out of the car when I get where I'm going before I need them.

Hmm...decisions, decisions...