Friday Finds

I’m resurrecting Friday Finds! Here’s a collection of things that I found interesting from the week–happy reading and weekend!

“A Harlem school teacher attempts to catch snowflakes while leading her students to a library, on Jan. 10 in New York City.” From NBC’s Week in Pictures

• 20 unexpected pictures of Andre the Giant, including one with this kind of wonderful quote: “I don’t like to speak badly of people. I have grown up being told that if you cannot say something nice about someone, you should not say anything at all. But I must break that rule in this case because I hate Hulk Hogan very much. He is a big ugly goon and I want to squash his face.”

• Asher has brought so many things into my life, but of particular note is his borderline-encyclopedic knowledge of dinosaurs. Apparently it’s infectious, because I actually made some kind of awkward happy noise when I came across this Nat Geo article about reconstructing dinosaur battles. If you like paleontology, archaeology, or Dinosaur Train, you will like this.

• A beautiful post about the importance of being eccentric from my friend Rob.

• Gorgeous portraits of Pigeons. I’m serious.

• This video of Yo-Yo Ma and dancer Lil Buck is weird and wonderful:
  

• I haven’t thought about American Eagle or its sister company Aerie in many years, but I saw their new ad campaign featuring real models that haven’t been photoshopped. Their hashtag is #aeriereal with the tag line, because the real you is sexy. It’s a small step, but considering they have the ear and eyes of the tween-teen set, it’s a move in the right direction. It still bums me, and likely you, out that this is revolutionary.

And on a person note, we’ve had a snowy week, but more than that, it has been COLD. Dreaming of warm mornings and green leaves, but still having some fun in the snow in the meantime.

 

Friday Finds

1. This asparagus tart with walnuts and parmesan caught my eye.  I think this would be delicious with an easy salad or some cool gazpacho. Speaking of, anyone have a great gazpacho recipe?

2. I’m re-reading Anne of Green Gables for the umpteenth time (summer reading comfort food) and day dreaming about our one-day trip to Prince Edward Island. I started poking around and came across a ton of information about bike tours of PEI and this one stood out.  PEI bike tour, consider yourself bucket listed.

3. This is a quick post about using baking soda to exfoliate your skin.  I’m all for inexpensive skin treatments…although I’m still not ready to start brushing my teeth with baking soda.

4. My agent won’t allow me to confirm or deny that we may be thinking about Walton 2.0 round about the time that the pumpkins start getting harvested, but just in case that happens, and just in case it’s a lil lady, I’ve been collecting sewing patterns, and I love the simple ease of this apron dress.

5. The picture pretty much says it all.  Class up 4th of July cookouts with a simple blueberry and watermelon salad.  (My watermelon problem is in full effect.  I may or may not have eaten half of one on Wednesday night).

6. This post for a great and simple tea recipe to beat the summer heat and a nice reminder that not all tea in the south has to be laden with sugar.  Full disclosure: the writer is my awesome aunt Vicki, check her out!

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We’re spending the weekend with friends, Drew and his buddy are starting another batch of beer, tomorrow we’re hoping to tackle some organizational projects around the house and head to the sprinkler park to cool off.  It’s supposed to be in the 80s all weekend, there’s fun to be had.

Friday Finds

1. This sweet DIY is for an easy Memory game made with wood chips. I want to make this for Asher with family and friend’s pictures (and no offense to ya’ll but he more than likely wants me to make it with pictures of trucks and airplanes) so we’ll see…

2. This cool new Tumblr site called Dear Photograph has old pictures being held up against their current location with sweet succinct captions. Worth a look!

3. This is a recipe for homemade bug spray/yard perfume. I’m going to give it a shot!

4. This is a DIY tutorial for a no-sew jersey wrap.  If you know me you know I love a good wrap, and will be making this immediately.

5. Yum. Recipe for a cilantro lime dressing.  Not for my Uncle John, but for those of us that love cilantro, this looks delicious.

6. Technically that’s a picture of Anais Nin, but it’s really to this quote by Anais Nin after being named Woman of the Year by the LA Times in 1976.  It rocked my week and I recommend it as food for thought to all women.

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I didn’t dye the couch last weekend because they didn’t have the dye locally that I wanted, but I ordered it and it should be arriving today so I am planning on tackling that project tonight!  How’s that for a sexy Friday night?  I did however make the soap that I linked to last week which was a fun and quick project.  A word to the wise though: with a pre-made olive oil and glycerine base, my formerly green herbs that are suspended in the soap have turned brown over the course of the week which maybe wouldn’t happen if I kept the soap in something air-tight or just started using it right away?  Either way it makes for a less attractive bar of soap, although I am pleased with the mint/grapefruit combination, and now I’m getting curious about making my own base.

Other than that, we’re looking forward to celebrating Drew’s second Father’s day on Sunday (as well as our own fathers!) and we each have a ladies night/mens night planned for Saturday which will be a nice break from the ordinary…a girl can’t spend every weekend night doing fun things like dyeing couches, after all!

It’s been deliciously cool after a viciously warm spell (see what I just did there?) so we’ve been sleeping with windows open and the quiet hum of the fan.  Unfortunately I think that Summer is coming knocking again this weekend, but Asher has discovered that he likes to play in the hose so we’ll cool off with some splashing and giggling.  And speaking of Asher, he has declared his undying affection for airplanes ever since our trip to the beach and now starts every morning yelling “airpee! airpee! airpee!” from his crib the very second that he wakes up.  That kid loves himself some airplanes.  As I have only woken up on my own about 8 times in the last 2 years, I have no earthly idea what I might yell from bed first thing in the morning, but I admit that I am charmed by Asher starting out his day by calling for that which he loves best; imagine what our days might be like if we all started the day with such zeal.

Happy Friday!

Friday Finds

 

Here’s a list of some things that I’ve been thinking about this week from around the web…

1. Ruffles and Stuff posted this tutorial for re-purposing an old shift dress into something that one might actually wear.  I see these dresses in thrift stores all the time, but mainly I liked the reminder to take a second look at things that I might be giving away to see if I can re-purpose a second life into them.

2. Speaking of sewing, Embroidery Rocksea has great easy-to-follow embroidery tutorials (with pictures!) that are inspiring.  I have pillow cases that I have been planning on embroidering and this site got me excited about picking that project back up.

3. This recipe is for Strawberry Cream Cake kebobs with a strawberry glaze. Yes. Please. (Although to be honest I’m kind of a cream girl when it comes to cake and strawberries…I could easily omit the glaze for a bowl of cold cream to dip my kebob in.  Just a thought.)

4. This DIY herbed soap tutorial is very easy to follow and is on my must-make list.  The soap pictured is made with basil, rosemary, mint, orange, and lemon, although I really want to make it with rose geranium.  My stepmother Ruth always had rose geranium in her garden and it is one of absolute all time favorite summer smells.

5. I am hoping to finish this book, My Name is Mary Sutter, this weekend.  Set during the Civil War, the book follows midwife Mary Sutter in her quest to become the first female surgeon.  There are too many things that I like about this book to list, but briefly I will say that it seems to be exceptionally well researched and the story is captivating.  I highly recommend it.  Penned by Robin Oliveria.

6. This frozen chocolate dipped banana bites recipe just might save me from my usual summer-induced ice cream cravings.  Maybe.  I’m actually not much of a banana fan these days (pregnancy fall out?) but these look intriguing enough to give it a shot.

We have plans to beat the heat by the water this weekend and I’m looking forward to hanging with my parents tonight while Drew is at work.  I’m also tentatively thinking about tackling the couch dyeing project, but that all hinges on how courageous I’m feeling.  Have a great weekend!