Snippets

 

 

In an effort to take a break from social media, I am focusing my energy on the every day around me and trying to better myself- make myself more whole.  Some of that includes reading, working on puzzles, bible studies, hoping to take a watercolor and photography course, more conversations and less tv, launching a new business, vacations, trying new things. I hope to post photos every now and then in an effort to remember the days that seem to fly by so fast around us.

> We traveled back to Montana to visit family this past week and I was a nervous wreak flying out of Kentucky, we even saw a UPS plane that slid off the runway... and we still took off!
> There was an epic snow storm in Lexington while we were gone and Wes was in heaven, that North Dakota dog loved it.
> I took a quick day trip to visit my cousin at my alma mater
> Saw a beautiful sunset in Big Sky Country
> The boys went hunting and I found it kind of comical watching them filet their birds on the kitchen counter
> Spent lots of time with family and all the boys wearing buffalo plaid
> We were delayed in Louisville for a couple hours waiting for my brother to get in so we decided to grab a coffee and check out Churchill Downs (aka the Kentucky Derby). We walked around the grounds and gift shop and met the sweetest hours Puddin
> Spent the weekend with my brother having a winer bon fire on our deck while they drank Kirk Light with clean snow as ice- real classy over here.

Artful Venture Collaboration and Interview

I had the pleasure of collaborating with Artful Venture, an online boutique that specializes in selling products that were created by by artists around the globe. They partner with Arte del Mundo to encourage creativity in youth and donated part of their proceeds to the organization, you can read more about them here.

I partnered with them to paint their logo in calligraphy on a piece of wood they could use in their pop-up shops and product photos.  They wrote a nice little piece about me and my creative process over on their blog, check it out! 

My Week with No Added Sugar

I am writing this for my own sake to look back on, but I also decided to make it public because I was searching for something similar to this a couple weeks ago when I tried to plan out my week without sugar. I decided to do a week without sugar for a couple of reasons: I have never done anything like this before and thought it would be a good challenge and because I ate way.too.many cookies in the month of December. I had never done an extended diet, cleanse or work out regimen and wanted to prove to myself that I could do something healthy for myself. I tried to research different meal ideas that I could eat for Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner, Snack and Drinks and pre grocery shop as much as possible.

My goal was simply to not consume anything that has sugar or some form of sugar (anything ending in -ose) or a sugar substitute in the ingredients panel of foods. If the food naturally contained sugar (like fruits) then it was ok. I also inadvertently gave up breads and pastas for the week too.

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Monday: This is my first day of no sugar and I had to work. I was craving sugar and felt a little crazy that I couldn't have it. Everywhere I looked I wanted to eat whatever it was. I thought I didn't eat that much sugar but Monday was a huge wake up call.  I also had small pep talks with myself about how it is ok to be hungry, and that I have plenty of back up fuel in my body to sustain myself.

Tuesday: I was also craving breads or candies but I also felt like I was crashing too. I worked and had to cut bread for a sample (!) and make cinnamon swirl pancakes and just casually wanted to stop myself form popping a bite in my mouth. I didn't realize how much 'trying something' was part of my reflexes.

Wednesday: Today was okay. I was hungry but sustained myself during the day and was pretty proud. I didn't have the crash feeling like Monday and Tuesday. I did have to go grocery shopping, and even though I normally love grocery shopping, that was one of the hardest things I had to do all week. I found myself almost reflexly adding things to my cart that a. I didn't need and b. sounded good (cinnamon rolls, flavored yogurts, chewy granola bars). Everything went back on the shelf except for the granola bars, those I bought for Scott... and for when I am done with this whole thing. I also bought some popcorn to help fill the void between snack and a meal.

Thursday: I didn't plan dinner and had to try and figure out something for Scott and I on the fly. We also had to make a last minute run to Lowes before they closed and that was the only hour we got to spend together.  So as Scott is ordering something from Sonic, I am trying frantically to search their nutritional information for anything without sugar (or a sugar substitute) and came up with a Jr. Breakfast wrap and French Fries. I ate about half of both and realized how stupid I was and that both of those really did have sugar without listing them... I should have been smarter. I instantly got a stomach ache and was so frustrated with myself but then decided to be nicer to myself and say 'this is your first week ever doing something like this, its ok'.

Friday: I had a big breakfast and was stumped for dinner again. This time I was alone for dinner and really really wanted something warm but was too lazy to make it. It is right around 20 degrees outside and I just wanted to eat something without looking at a label. A friend came over, and we brainstormed dinner ideas and when she left, I made a potato soup type of meal. I mashed up potatoes and mixed with a bit of vegetable broth, butter, garlic, steamed broccoli, rotisserie chicken and some cheese. It was actually good. I also ate a banana and some apple sauce. Today, I also started dreaming about what my first food with sugar was going to be... chocolate chip cookies? Bagel? Mmmm....

Saturday and Sunday: Scott was around for these days and they weren't nearly as bad.  I did go to the grocery store and buy ingredients to make cookies for Monday but I had some good dinners planned. On Saturday, we ate curry with left over rice from earlier in the week and Sunday I made Chicken Tortilla Soup. We also did go to a friends house to watch the football game on Sunday and I brought this sauce (which is so good by the way) and ate it with some tortilla ships, hummus and vegetables.

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Some meal ideas I had on hand were...
Breakfast ideas:
Oatmeal with fresh fruits (raspberries, bananas, blackberries) and/or applesauce and cinnamon (the photo above)
Greek yogurt with fresh fruits
Egg scramble with zucchini, sweet potato or white potato + Ezekial Bread

Lunch ideas:
Rotisserie chicken
Tuna
Salad (I just haven't been into salads lately-- I have to change that)
Really, I just ate breakfast late so I kind of just snacked for lunch

Snack ideas:
Carrots and hummus (I ate a lot of this!)
Banana
Apple
Popcorn

Drink ideas:
Chai tea with splash of milk
Peppermint tea
Green tea with or without lemon
La Croix

Dinner ideas:
Mexican Stir Fry (butternut squash or sweet potato, corn, black beans, rotisserie chicken) with lime-cilantro brown rice, some cheese and avocado over chopped spinach and some salsa. I served Scott's in a burrito
Potato 'Soup': mashed potato with garlic, salt and pepper, vegetable broth, steamed broccoli, rotisserie chicken and cheese
Meatball Sandwiches: I made a homemade red sauce and cooked some meatballs from Trader Joes in the sauce. Then I served Scott's on ciabatta bread with fresh mozzarella and served mine over zucchini noodles with mozzarella.
Chicken Tortilla Soup: I will have to post about this recipe soon because it is so good and easy to make.
Curry: with vegetables, and rice noodles.
*I realize that there are so many other things to eat then what I put, these are just foods I naturally gravitate toward and usually have on hand so I made a list of what I could find in my home

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All in all, I think I did pretty good. I had some slip ups like Sonic on Wednesday and some spices that I learned had sugar in them that I used once or twice. I realize this round wasn't perfect but it wasn't meant to be- it was meant to be a learning exercise in discipline and educating myself about what foods I bring in my home and I learned a lot.

I learned that it is so easy, almost too easy, to reach for something with added sugar rather than a whole food when eating.  I also learned that planning for success is key- which is a goal of mine for this year: I would like to do more meal planning. I did also learn that my body, in some way, has become dependent on sugar and that is a bit scary to me. I hope to complete one of these weeks every six months to try and restart and actually listen to my body a bit more. It is interesting what your body tells you when you don't give in right away to what it is asking.

My first thing with added sugar after... my chia tea lattes that I just love in the mornings. I use the 'Spiced Chai' tea bag from Trader Joes and brew that with hot water.  Then, I discard the tea bag and add a teaspoon of sugar and a splash of milk.  Seriously soo good.

Julia Child Calligraphy and Watercolor Print

I have a new print in my shop!  We needed something to fill a large frame in our kitchen and I didn't love a lot of what I was finding online.  So I took out my watercolors and painted some rosemary I found in our garden and put one of my favorite quotes in calligraphy.  The print is 8x10 and can be found here!

What would be your favorite quote in print?? Thanks for looking!

Our Christmas Card 2014

I thought I would share a bit about our Christmas cards this last year. We make cards every year (see 2011, 2012 and 2013 here) but this is the first year since we were married we had some professional pictures taken.  All the photos were taken by Kate at Birch and Pine.  It was fun to have Wesley in these photos and have our new life in Kentucky documented.  The photo above is the one we chose for the front of our card, all I asked to include was something about Kentucky. This fence above is an old horse fence which are literally all over the city... Lexington is the 'Horse Capital of the World'. Below is a clip of what we put on the back of the card and I also included some more of our favorite photos from the shoot below too.

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Knitted Baby Sweater

One of Scott's cousins just had a baby girl and I had asked what she would like or need.  Her only request was something homemade.  I was so happy!  I had found this baby sweater pattern online and knew it would be perfect.  Since she was born in February, I decided to make the sweater for next fall/winter so she could get a little more use out of it then just for a month this winter/spring.  

The pattern is the Wyatt pattern on Ravelry and I could not recommend it enough.  This was my first time every knitting a piece of clothing or anything for a baby before and only had to restart about twice.  The pattern was very easy to follow and very very easy to make adjustments to if you needed to.  For example, why I love this pattern so much is not only is it unisex you could add rows in the chest area to make it longer and a dress for a little girl rather than a sweater.  They also recommend holding it up to your babe as you are knitting to get the length and arms right.  I decided to make it in a white super wash wool, or how the lady at the knitting store called it "mama friendly yarn", so that it is washable and won't shrink.  I figured that was a must when making baby clothing.  Also, she could possible use it again for another child later on.  I would highly recommend making one! Just took me a couple weeks off and on to make.

Welcome To The New Site!

Hiii! Welcome to my new site! This has been a long time coming a lot of work but I am so so happy that it is ready to finally show you all!  Take a look around... I updated the look of it, added a new logo, added a whole new portfolio site that showcases all of my work, updated my Facebook page and Etsy site with my new look and there are lots of fun buttons to click on.

I have been wanting to update my site for quite awhile but it took lots of learning and researching to be able to put it all together.  I wrote out a logo awhile ago and as I went to upload it, I was unhappy with it.  So back to the drawing board and I finally came up with something I love.  My other big step (and one that probably brought me the most anxiety) was to design a line of stamps that I will be launching soon along with a giveaway (you can get a sneak peek from my shop and portfolio).

Photo from my instagram.

Around Here

It is worth noting that it is freezing around here, like they said on the news you would legitimately freeze and get frost bite within minutes if you spent much time outside.  The air temperature hasn't been anything crazy around here... just in the -20s (like -25 this morning).  I say it isn't crazy because it has happened before and we frequently have weeks in the -10 to -15 range.  What is crazy is what they call this 'polar vortex' which has brought this arctic air down with wind chill temperatures in the -50 to -70 range... yeah, crazy.  Some people I know don't believe in 'wind chill', but I can tell you first hand that wind with anything this cold cuts through any sort of barrier you try to wear and feels like it cuts you.  The wind chill is what closed churches and schools today and canceled almost all forms of transportation (airplanes, buses and cars).Picture above from when it was a bit warmer outside here in Fargo.  We frequently take Wesley on walks alongside the frozen river and Scott and Wesley love to race each other on the path.

New Year 2014

S and I went out to dinner to celebrate on New Years Eve. Even though our meal wasn't the best, we still had such a great time. We bundled up, since the whole day was -17, and pretended we were all dressed up even though were in long underwear and turtlenecks.  I tried a bunch of different braid and hair up dos and just couldn't get it to work! Anyone have any secrets?! It was a fun excuse to wear some red lipstick and have a martini. 

We came home and decided to camp out in our living room with Wes and watch a movie. Stripes on stripes.  The next morning, we had probably the best January 1st day ever and laid in that flannel and down comforter bed all day long taking naps, watching bowl games and S played lots of video games. It was glorious. I then found a recipe for 'Mormon Scones' and we decided it is our new favorite unhealthy fried food, probably surpassing our homemade doughnut tradition.  In high school, we frequently ended up at a friend's house and his mom was usually always cooking these scones. I have still remembered (8 years later) how good they were and was happy to find such a good recipe. Hope you had the best first day of the year too! Happy New Year!

Top photo from my instagram

DIY: Use Pictures as Ornaments

We had some friends over the past weekend and decided to break out our new fujifilm instax camera I just bought.  We had the polaroids just laying around and our friend had a brilliant idea to clothespin them to the tree as ornaments (since we don't have many ornaments).  I love the idea of using pictures as ornaments! You could even use them at a party or a way to collect memories over the years... so fun! Photo from my instagram. Merry Christmas! 

Happy Thanksgiving!

I sit here writing this feeling completely stuffed and slightly embarrassed I encouraged/ was the one cooking so much food tonight, but am oh so thankful to be here with family and a full stomach. We have had a great time here so far playing lots of guitar, eating lots of food, meeting up with friends, spending incredible amounts of time with family and enjoying this amazing weather. We sure do miss our little puppy but are so happy to be able to count so many blessings in our life.

 

Happy Happy Thanksgiving! Oh and if you are looking for the most amazing pecan pie recipe, I think you should make this one. I am a huge fan of pecan pie with pecans all the way through and let me tell you this was so delicious. The only thing I changed in the recipe was adding more pecans then it called for. Making this, we almost ate the filling not leaving enough for the pie; then when it finally came time to eat pie, there wasn't enough to go around (I had to start hiding pieces so everyone could have some!). I think I found my staple pie recipe. I also made a pumpkin roll and think I also found my other staple recipe- for my first time making it, I found it easier then I thought and it didn't crack when I rolled it! Success!

Wesley Prays

We recently taught Wesley to pray before all his meals. Its pretty cute... I set his food down and he sits and looks at me as I pray. I thank the Lord for his "puppy food" and usually either pray for whatever is coming up in the day or for a great night sleep if it is in the evening. He has been a fairly easy dog to train simple tasks to, and this has probably been my favorite. Even though when he first learned to shake I was pretty ecstatic. 

Oh ya, that picture below. Some of his dominant traits have kicked up a notch with Scott out of town. If he catches his reflection in the TV screen or the mirror he gets a little upset and lets out his big beagle howl. Its pretty cute and funny... until its a little annoying. -- sorry neighbors!

Letters For Scott

Scott left on a big trip, or vacation as I would call it- he definitely wouldn't call it that. He is traveling almost every other day for interviews but we get a break to be together the week of Thanksgiving (thank goodness! I miss him!).  Last minute before he left I decided to put together this project for him.

I was inspired by it here, but didn't have the time to put that much effort into it. I wrote him a letter, added a quote at the bottom and printed off a bunch of pictures that most of the time coincided with the topic of the letters. I also wrote on the back of the pictures. I figured enough cute pictures of Wesley sleeping and of us would hold him over for a while and so far he said he really liked them. I found the letters much easier to write then I thought they would be, and since I didn't include a bunch of other stuff then pictures it all came together really quickly. The topics for my letters were: open when... you are happy, you are done with your first day, you are feeling sad, you are bored, you are hungry, you miss me, you are almost done with traveling, you need my love. I miss you baby!

Ella

One day while I was nannying we were all playing around drawing and writing and I ended up doodling this floral wreath with one of the little girls' names in the middle. I was so touched because she liked it so much too that she put it on the front cover of her school folder. 

Calligraphy

I have been working hard on my calligraphy lately and have really really been enjoying it. I feel extremely intimidated and nervous about the whole thing, but I continue to try and push those negative thoughts out of my mind and remind myself that if I like what I am doing then I am blessed and that even though there are a lot of other people out there who do amazing calligraphy, I still have something to share- little pep talks I give myself multiple times a day.

I signed up to take a Skillshare class that really forced to me dive into calligraphy and get the supplies needed to start- I am so happy I did this.  I am still not done with the class but it has helped me not be as intimated by the whole thing and now everything I touch has to have some sort of calligraphy involved. 

These two images were things that were on my mind for awhile to write out. The Abraham Lincoln quote has been a favorite of mine for years and I have been looking for some new bathroom art so it was a win-win. I saw the 'Enjoy It' quote and it felt like it was something I needed to see at that moment... so I wrote it out, messed up the lower half of the quote with my calligraphy, cut the bad part off and just wrote the rest of the messed up part in under the good calligraphy. I then hung it by my desk near a bunch of photos clothes-pinned to twine. What I love about both of these pieces are that they are my very first two written things with nibs and ink and they are imperfect but I am so happy with them. 

Cable Knit Headband

I found this free knitting pattern for a cable knit headband and couldn't get it out of my mind. I have never cable knit anything before but after a couple times of taking it out and starting again (plus a you-tube video), I found it really easy to do. The stitch requires you to transfer some of your loops to a different needle and either hold them in front of or behind while you work on your other loops, I didn't get that every other transfer had to be held behind so it didn't look right (I realize that you would have no idea what I am talking about if you are not familiar with knitting the cable stitch).

Anyways, I altered the pattern a bit by making it five stitches wide for each cable instead of three to ensure that it would cover my ears when out in the wind and cold up here in North Dakota. I need to flatten it out a but but love how it turned out, a great alternative to a beanie if it isn't too cold outside.

Ties

When Scott and I got married, I took on a load of projects I did myself. My bridesmaid dresses came from a shop on Etsy and somehow I found the same fabric she used at our local craft store and I was able to buy a bunch of it to add straps to the girls dresses and I made matching ties for the groomsmen. I found this tutorial on Purl Bee and was so excited. Little did I know that making seven ties (Scott's included) was a lot of work, and I also had plans to make a couple for the fathers too but scratched that plan in the end (I still wish I would have and regret it to this day). The tutorial was easy to follow and I actually enjoyed making them in the end. They have since changed the tutorial a bit so make sure to do measurements to get it the right length.

Anyways, I made these ties for our wedding and didn't think anyone really liked them, actually I thought that all those guys (Scott included) thought I was a bit nuts for making them but they went along with it.  Well almost two and a half years later, one of Scott's groomsmen mentioned that the tie I made is his favorite tie and how he loves that it is cotton and not shiny like other silk ties. So he gave me a couple colors and a little while ago I made him a couple more custom ties to go along with his work wardrobe. He picked 'burnt orange' and 'a-little-darker-than-royal-blue' (ties in first picture). It felt a bit nostalgic making ties again but I enjoyed it and hope that I get to make them again in the future.

Halloween 2013

I know I am a bit behind in posting but I wanted to post this really because of the recipe and food we ate Halloween. I am a huge fan of homemade costumes, this year Scott dressed up as Sherlock Holmes (he usually is a ninja) and it was pretty funny because one kid who came to our door told him he looked like a disco ball... ya. He was sad that the kids didn't understand his costume but the adults loved it!- once he told them what he was. I thought it was clever. I made a cat mask the afternoon of and we got Wesley a Frankenstein costume for cheap. Next year though I am going to make him a lion's mane and I think that will be his costume every year from now on- he just gets so sad in costumes, or really anything.

I bought my first halloween decoration- a spider that you put a pumpkin in. I thought it was cute, I have never seen it before. However, we have critters around here and everyday we would see a little more bites in our pumpkin. The day before Halloween they broke into the core of the pumpkin and threw the seeds everywhere. I was bummed because I wanted to roast those seeds the day after Halloween, Scott was happy because he thought it looked creepy enough that no more decorations were needed.

Halloween isn't really my favorite holiday but I do love cooking a good meal the evening of, it always seems like the best time to make some good chili. We made homemade chili and put them in homemade pretzel bowls. I have to say it was one of my most favorite recipes. It turned out great.

We made the chili with this recipe from Food Network, except we substituted homemade pinto beans for the pinto beans part and accidentally substituted my mom's homemade salsa for the tomatoes part (which what I am convinced made it so delicious).  I think this recipe is worth it to try and make without the substitutions, it really had the best flavors. We topped it with green onions, cheese and greek yogurt.

We then served the chili in these pretzel bowls from A Beautiful Mess. These are really so easy and I would absolutely make them again, they would be great with any soup. Since there were only a few of us I only made four bowls but they were a hit.

Getting Legitimate

I'm taking myself seriously and updating like crazy around here. I finally updated and wrote my About Page here on my blog and used my favorite photo from Baylee Jo Designs. You can click the link to the right over there on the top.

I also updated my shop, AMEdetails,'s about page and information.

I wrote out a process so when people contact me for projects I can send them to give them an idea of how the custom design process goes while they are working with me.

Pretty fun right?! Well if you are interested in working with me or have any questions you can email me at amedetails at gmail dot com.

ESPN College Game Day

So yesterday was a really big deal... ESPN College Game Day came to Fargo! They shut down most of downtown and set up their big screen and all the frills right in the middle of the street. There were people on top of buildings and hanging out of the windows and it was really hard to get up close to see what was going on, but it was cool.