Been playing around with different head shapes this week.
Sometimes it's fun to not have to draft your own pattern.
Excited to play around some more with these and make them my own.
I'm also excited that Garage Sale season seems to have begun! Have a great weekend!
This past weekend was probably one of the most fun Easters I've celebrated in a long time. Why? Because that's what it felt like. A celebration! It started on Saturday. We decided to make it to church that day. And boy howdy, what an amazing experience it was! *Let me just clarify that I don't think I've ever actually said the phrase "boy howdy" out loud...sometimes my head words are different than my mouth words.* The husband and I left feeling so filled and moved and excited to be celebrating the most important event in the history of the planet!
So, then it was time for the Sunday festivities. Now, for a long time I haven't been one for using the Easter Bunny in our celebrations. I don't judge others that do, it's just something that we as a family have decided isn't important for us to include. We do love to have fun, though, and so we still hunt for eggs. In years past we've made 11 sheep eggs and one shepherd egg. The shepherd egg is in charge of finding all his lost sheep. This year, however, I had grand plans of coloring the eggs because that's fun, too. But sometimes? Plans fail. And so we just had boiled eggs for the kids to hunt and find. And then consume. It was simple, laid back and the kids still loved it.
And then? Instead of cooking up the traditional ham and fixin's, we headed out with some of our good friends to one of my favorite places in the Chicagoland area. Mistuwa! *cue heavenly music here*
Mmmm...Beef Curry Udon Noodles. YES! PLEASE!
Mama D had the Korean dinner. The presentation lacked nothing. Beautiful!
The husband and the boy had some after dinner drinks with the huge tapioca balls called Boba. They're like little gelatinous balls of fun for your mouth! Feel like so!
Viddy Cent and Mama D. Love that family! Viddy Cent had Matcha ice cream and Mama D had lychee and red bean. Yum!
The girl with her mango ice cream. It tasted exactly like a frozen mango on a cone. With a little frozen milk and sugar thrown in. So good.
Me? I had to have the red bean ice cream. You see, I'ma splain something to you, my dear friends. I love beans. In any shape or form...except maybe for butter beans. Those things scare me. But other than that I don't think I've met a bean that I immediately didn't drop on bended knee and propose to. I. Love. Beans. So yeah. I kinda enjoyed my ice cream.
It was so great to take our time and sit and chat and break bread and enjoy LIFE with one another. That's what Easter's all about, after all, isn't it? Jesus told us He came that we may have life and have it abundantly! *John 10:10* I love that! And that's what we try to celebrate every day as a family.
So after dinner we took some time to wander around the supermarket and pick up some goodies.
Those right there? Those are red bean cakes, or as I like to call them "Mine". They don't last very long in our house. As of the typing of this post, there are only two left. *ahem*
Another must do while at Mitsuwa, is the visiting of the Pastry House Hippo. That's where you'll find all kinds of super fresh and delicious pastries filled with custards, chocolate and yes, bean paste. Guess which ones I get? Okay, I usually get one filled with chocolate,too. My love for chocolate is equal to, if not even a bit greater than *shhhh...don't tell the beans* my love for beans. But, seriously? I ALWAYS forget to take a picture of the happy hippo treats, and they NEVER make it home. Generally, they are eaten in the car on the way back or immediately consumed upon arrival. Which is too bad, because some of them are really cute. So, you'll just have to make a trip yourself and taste the yumminess for yourself. You will not be sorry you did!
And that was our super laid back, super filling and super fun Easter as a family. What did you do?
Over the past several years, I have changed how my family and I eat dramatically. We eat as clean as possible, buy pretty much only organic produce and have now switched over to eating only grass fed beef and "fresh air" pork from local farmers via Wallace Farms. If they deliver in your area, I would HIGHLY recommend adding yourself to their email list. But when you have a sweet tooth as big as Australia, sometimes? You just want a brownie.
A couple of months ago I stumbled upon this recipe while in a desperate fit of chocolate deprival. It rocked my world view. So I thought I'd share it with you, my friends. You're welcome.
1. Preheat oven to 350 F (175 C) and grease a 9x9 pan. (I use organic virgin coconut oil to grease it because a) it's good for you b) it smells YUM c) I can and d) it smells YUM! Also? As a bonus, you can just rub the rest into your hands as a moisturizer! )
2. In a medium bowl mix together the melted butter, sugar and vanilla. Beat in the eggs. Combine flour, cocoa, baking powder and salt in another bowl. Gradually stir the flour mixture in the egg mixture. At this point you can add nuts if you so desire. I have never liked nuts in my brownies. I like my brownies to be nothing but pure unadulterated pieces of gooey chocolaty heaven. But I won't judge you if you like to add walnuts. I'll still love you. I just won't eat your brownies.
3. Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until brownie begins to pull away from the edges of the pan. Let cool on a wire rack before cutting into squares.
I love love LOVE this recipe! It comes together so quickly, which is always good when you have those gotta-have-chocolate-in-my-mouth-NOW moments. And I don't feel so bad about having it as a treat every day of the week now and then because I know everything that's in it.
So give it a try! And then invite me over to share in your efforts!
So I have been loving all the embroidery hoop art frolicking around the webosphere lately. It made me want to try my hand at it. Odd Dotty style.
I wanted to make a 3-D effect, like a dolly that's coming out of the fabric, so I stuffed the head. Also, this is my first attempt at scripting in embroidery. It's a simple backstitch.
party girl.
And then I wanted to make something to herald the arrival of spring.
I searched for quotes about spring, and this one by Emma Racine DeFleur stuck out to me. Also, I discovered stem stitch for the lettering. I lurrrv it!
I'm also very pleased with how the happy springtime love couple came out!
It makes me happy to look at, and with the typical Chicago-land "spring" we're having I need all the happy I can get!
And talking of happy, I discovered that the sound of the needle pushing through the taut fabric with the muted hiss of the thread that follows makes my soul sing a little. There's something quite therapeutic about it. I hope to have much more embroidery experiences in my future!
This post is partying over here:
