Wednesday, February 29, 2012

If you like Instagram as much as I do


I wanted to share a really fun website that I happened upon awhile back.  Stickygram is a website that turns your Instagram pictures into magnets. (If you don't have Instagram on your iPhone yet, I highly recommend it.) I tried it and my magnets are pretty darn cute.  I took this picture of my magnets as soon as I got them out of the mailbox, I was so excited about them!  I think they would make a super fun gift.  I sound like a cheesy commercial, but I'm ok with that.

Tuesday, February 28, 2012

Food for thought


This is going to be another one of those posts that has nothing to do with the picture.  Although, I guess I could try to make them relate somehow.  I'll just tell a quick Willa story before I tell the other story.  As you know from previous posts, we have been seeing all kinds of pregnant friends and brand new babies lately.  So Willa's new thing is that she has a baby in her tummy.  I thought she would get over this idea quickly, but its been going on for a few weeks now.  She just sticks out that little belly and tells us all about it.  She will be naming it Ocopus. (Which is "Willa" for Octopus.  Not just a typo.)  It will come out through her bellybutton.  And it dictates what she will eat.  If she doesn't feel like eating what we are eating for supper, she simply tells us "it isn't good for my baby."  Its starting to get a little weird.
Now on to the other story.  I had lunch the other day with a few friends and I keep thinking about something that happened at lunch.  The friend who carried out the kind deed will remain nameless, but if she's reading this, I'd like her to know that I really admire her kindness and thoughtfulness.  There was a man in a military uniform eating alone in the restaurant that we were in, and one of my lunch buddies asked our waiter to put the man's meal on her ticket and tell him that his meal was taken care of and to thank him for his service to our country.  How awesome is that?!?  I think we sometimes tell ourselves that we want to do more things like that, but don't always follow through. I hope to keep this in mind, and try to follow in her generous footsteps.

Monday, February 27, 2012

I am so in love with that yellow "V"






I feel like it has been ages since we have done anything fun in the house.  I guess I don't consider the new well pump as fun.  I certainly don't consider the cost of it fun.  Replacing our used washing machine with another used washing machine wasn't a party, although I do really enjoy being able to wash a load of laundry that consists of more than 5 t-shirts without there being a tiny flood in the laundry room.  A million thanks to Bev and Leo Benes for the great deal on the washing machine:)
So, after spending a few hours outside today enjoying the amazing February weather, we finally were able to hang our new kitchen shelving!  These shelves were uber-difficult to obtain.  At Christmas time, Brad tried his darndest to order them for me as a Christmas gift.  If you have ever tried to order something from Ikea, you know that its complicated and expensive.  As it turns out, the matter that complicated the ordering of the shelves was a change in Ikea's suppliers.  We found this out from our new favorite friends at Omaha Modern, who were finally able to bring us our shelves a few weeks ago.  Do check out their website, they have a really good business going.  They travel to Minneapolis every few weeks or so and bring back Ikea goods to those of us here in Nebraska who are deprived.  I think they charge about 1/3 of the cost of the item as their service fee, but sometimes that is just so worth it.
Finally, they are up and I think they are really pretty!  I'm sure I will tinker with their layout a few times.  I think I need a really cool clock to sit up there somewhere.  Now I also have to consider the aesthetic of all the alcohol bottles that I buy.  Only 3 of the current bottles were pretty enough for the shelves today.  Guess I better empty out the rest of the ugly bottles this week and restock.  Anyone want to come over and drink alcohol from ugly bottles with me??  Its an open invitation.


Wednesday, February 22, 2012

The babies are here! The babies are here!

Willa, Mom and Baby Samuel

My favorite little nephew.

Baby Evie and I

After months and months of waiting (and not offering their mom's drinks when we get together:), Samuel and Evie are here!  And they are, of course, perfect!  I always get a little nervous to hold other people's newborns because seriously what if I dropped one?!?  But these little peanuts were so sweet and I didn't drop either of them.  If you'd like to see more pictures of Samuel, here is brooke's blog. More pictures of Evie?  Here is proud Aunt Amy's blog.  Geez, babies are fun.  But no, its not making me need one.

Monday, February 20, 2012

Maybe I decided to like Valentine's Day



These are my two favorite pictures from our 2 day Valentine celebration.  Monday night, Brad and I joined our friends Tosha, Jared, Xander and Adah for sushi.  I can't even blog about sushi without having my mouth water.  Its a serious condition.  Then, Brad and I went downtown for drinks at Jakes.  If you don't know about Jakes, it is one of the few establishments in Lincoln where you can still smoke indoors, as it is mostly a cigar shop.  Much as it smells bad to smoke indoors and it is horrible for your health, it is also a total blast from the past and reminded me of being 21 all over again.  So, we sipped some Guinness/Jameson and smoked some cherry cloves.  It was a lovely evening.  Then Tuesday night, we gave Willa a few gifts (tulips, nail polish and a book about hugs) and cooked a very tasty supper of shrimp scampi, linguine, and chocolate covered strawberries.  I was a horrible vegetarian this week, apparently.  Another great night!  I think I will give up my dislike for the holiday, and embrace it for all its tasty food, mushy feelings, and pinkness.  I can love anything that starts a sushi tradition.  Plus, once Valentine's Day is over, I can start thinking about Easter, which has always been my favorite holiday.

P.S.  If you're wondering about the socktopi (thank you, Marty:), I bought some socks but haven't had time to create them yet.  If I get around to it, and they turn out at all cute, I'll post some pictures.

Sunday, February 19, 2012

P-p-p-p-pins

Print from here

Found this print on Pinterest.  Fell in love.  Its like the holy trinity of a picture.  Its got bold typeface, the color pink, and its fluorescent.  I have to admit that neon colors weren't my idea.  They were the idea of two of my favorite people that I have never met named Emily and Orlando.  They have such good ideas.

Recipe from here
And this little ball of heaven, she is called a coconut lemon meltaway.  I'm fairly certain that if I can locate some coconut flour, I will make some of these this week.  Does anyone know if coconut flour is something I can buy, like, anywhere?  Maybe Open Harvest?  I will hand-deliver a package of coconut lemon meltaways to the first person to tell me where to find coconut flour.  

Thanks again, Pinterest.  We made it through another night shift.


Saturday, February 18, 2012

Let's Pretend This Never Happened: (A Mostly True Memoir)


A very big and important moment in my life just happened.  I preordered The Bloggess's book.  How on earth am I going to pass the time until it ships in April???  I guess by just living my life, and reading less-than-amazing books.  I am aware that some of my readers (there are about 9 of you) are also fans of The Bloggess, and so I have decided to host a "book club" of sorts as soon as the book has been out long enough to have read it, and maybe loaned it to a friend to read.  So maybe sometime in May.  Keep this in mind.  Pretty much it would just be an excuse to get together and drink a lot but that's OK, right?!?  Maybe have some snacks, share our favorite part of the book, drink some more...oh my goodness I can't wait.
For now, just in case you haven't discovered the magic that is Jenny Lawson, I am going to provide you with a few of my personal favorite posts, to get you hooked so that you want to come to this special "book club" meeting, too:)
These puppies weren't my fault
How to make your husband think you're a witch
Its like a hoodie but with fangs
Phone koozies
And then I saw a Sasquatch on the road
That's why I'm not allowed to be here unsupervised
It kind of feels like a hollow victory
And that's why you should learn to pick your battles

OK, that was way more than I intended to provide and I didn't even go back that far.  I was just having lots of fun rereading the posts.  Enjoy!!

Monday, February 13, 2012

Grandma and Grandpa Christensen



We traveled to Grand Island today to visit my Christensen grandparents.  We love seeing them!  This weekend was the celebration of Grandma's 89th birthday, and also their upcoming 71st anniversary.  71 years of marriage!  That is amazing to me.  When we arrived, Grandpa had just finished getting his hair cut and Grandma said to me "Doesn't his hair look nice?  I  told him I would marry him all over again."  It just doesn't get any sweeter than that.

We were also lucky enough to arrive on time to meet our newest little cousin, Baby Kelsey.  What a beautiful little girl.  And boy, she is little!  Brand spankin' new.  Sometimes I am able to fool myself into thinking that I don't like babies.  Then I see one...

And speaking of babies, I keep waiting for the phone call that either brooke or Mel has gone into labor!  Or maybe both at the same time!  I am so excited that I was seriously tempted to call each of their husbands on Friday to tell them to, um, do something to make their wives go into labor.  You know...maybe cook a spicy supper, rub their feet, um, try that one other thing that is pretty much guaranteed to get the job done.  Am I allowed to ask them to do that?!?  We will never find out because I didn't do it.  But if either of you (Chris or Brian) read this...do your part!

Maybe if there were friends to visit in the hospital I wouldn't have to think about the fact that we now haven't had running water in our house since Friday evening.  Maybe I could shower in their hospital rooms.  Maybe they wouldn't mind if I just did some dishes in the sink there.  Uuuuuggggghhhhhh!  Something is wrong with our pipes.  Or our well.  Or something is frozen.  It is, to say the least, very inconvenient not to have water in your home.  It is starting to make me very testy.  Enough complaining, Allison.  Water isn't required to drink wine.  Or whiskey.  Life isn't that bad.

Friday, February 10, 2012

A little socktopus, a little wine. Valentine's Day is great.

Ok, normally I think Valentine's Day is a pretty lame excuse for a holiday.  It just doesn't really have enough depth for me, or something.  And we all know that I'm a pretty deep person...But I'm kind of looking forward to it this year.  Maybe because this year, Willa seems to be old enough to grasp the concept of a holiday being kind of a special day.  Before you go getting all concerned that maybe I fell and bashed my head on something during the night, or that I should be tested for multiple personalities, I am still not going to be romantic.  I promise.  Brad and I are going to use the holiday as an excuse to eat sushi, but we are going to do it the night before and not alone.  Not romantic, see?  And we aren't going to buy each other gifts.  Although, I would never turn down a tulip or two...Cough, cough.  Hint, hint.  BUT, I do want to make Willa a gift.  She has mentioned finger puppets a few times lately in casual conversation so I looked at a few options on Etsy.  Found some really cute ones.  But I put off ordering them for too long so now its too late.  So here's my idea.  Socktopusses.  Socktopusi?  If a word isn't really a word, how do you make it plural?
Yeah, how much do these guys rock?  And wanna know where I found them???  I'll give you three guesses. Pinterest!!  I think I might try to put a little VDay spin on them and buy some cheap, cute, heart-themed socks to make the Sockto-bodies.  I can't wait to see how they turn out.  
Maybe I will also attempt some sort of heart shaped dessert.  Or last year, I made heart shaped pancakes.  Man, I love pancakes.  I hope everyone has a great Valentine's Day!

Sunday, February 5, 2012

Pinterest didn't disappear from the www yet.


Here are a few more of my favorites from the depths of my Pinterest files.  This first picture was one of my very first pins.  Cupboards don't get any better than that.  You could never, ever, ever wake up in the morning, walk into your kitchen, and maintain any sort of grouchiness after you looked at your cupboards.  Fact.  And you wouldn't have even touched on your pretty wood floors, mismatched white chairs, and sexy white pendant lighting.


I'm not sure where I first saw this chair, I'm gonna guess Design Sponge awhile back.  It really puts me in the reupholstering mood.  I don't think my new/old chair would wear the heart pattern well, but this chair certainly does.  And it reminds me lots of the Alexander Girard print that I have always wanted.  Carry on with your pinning, peeps!


Saturday, February 4, 2012

Oink


 We went out for dinner tonight at Bison Witch's.  That place is so good that I almost don't have words for it.  The veggie sandwich, the queso, mushroom soup.  I want to eat it again and that was only like 8 hours ago.
I'm talking about food because we have been cooking at home quite a bit lately, as part of the money saving plan.  Also, I love grocery shopping.  I would rather be in a grocery store than a mall.  Give me a really good grocery store and I might choose it over an amusement park.  I heard a rumor that Lincoln is getting a Whole Foods.  If this happens, and I go missing from time to time, you can bet that's where I am.  Just gazing at things like soy flax seed chips and vegan chipotle sausages.  Sometimes I wonder how I even have human  friends.
Anywho...Thought I would share a few of the new recipes that I have tried and loved, in case anyone else is on a "cook at home" kick!
Through Pinterest and the advice of kind friends, I have discovered the blog Oh She Glows, and my two favorite new recipes came from there.  First being the Creamy Avocado Pasta and second being the Sweet Potato Enchiladas.  Both were delicious.  I might have used a touch too much garlic in the pasta sauce, as it was a little heart-burny.  Next time I would just use one small clove instead of the giant clove that I chose.  Also, I just used whole wheat pasta and not the spelt or kamut pastas that the writer of the blog used.  Those sound fun to try though.  As for the enchiladas, man were they good!  The recipe says that it makes 4, but I think I made like 8 and put about 5 of them in the freezer, minus the avocado sauce on top.  Although my cousin Mandy taught me the other day that if you leave the pit in with the mashed avocados, it is supposed to keep them from turning brown.  Not sure for how long, but that's a fun little tip for avocado freaks like myself.  I also made a double batch of raspberry almond thumbprint cookies.  I took a few to wine night, as they just sounded like something that would go really well with a good red wine.  And they were.  The rest are in my freezer to take to dinner tonight, as I think I made a few empty promises right after Christmas to deliver more of them to certain friends.  I also have plans to whip up a big bowl of avocado/feta/tomato dip and maybe even play around with some buffalo wing tofu for Super Bowl Sunday.  I'm not exactly sure which teams are playing, but I hear there is going to be a cute dog in some of the commercials, and Madonna is performing at half time.  Sometimes looking at Madonna's 60 year old arms inspires me to do lots of push-ups.
Now you know what I have been eating for the last few weeks.  Cool, huh?  Maybe next week I'll tally up how many times I floss my teeth and then go on and on about it.