Fantastic First Father's Day

Earlier this month was Jon's first Fathers' Day!  We celebrated the day and great weather with Emberlie's first hike.

It was a 2 mile hike at Shingletown Gap, just outside of State College.  Although Emberlie slept through most of it, I'm pretty sure that she enjoyed it.

After the hike, we went to Deb and Richard's house for some swimming.  This was also Emberlie's first dip in a pool.  It was still a little cool, so I don't think she really enjoyed it and only lasted about two minutes, but we did it!

The last bit of fun was some delicious paella prepared by Deb and Richard, which included chicken, shrimp, calamari, clams and mussels.  And, of course, the most important step of allowing the paella to "get to know itself" after its done cooking.  There were also some killer mojitos made with chocolate mint.  What a great meal!

Rock N' Roll

This weekend we took our first road trip with Emberlie to Cleveland O-H-I-O.  Of course, it was about three and a half hours from State College because all major cities, magically, are about that far away (NYC, DC, Buffalo, Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, Baltmore, and now Cleveland).  Emberlie was so excited for the trip to the city of Rock N' Roll she decided to roll over the Friday before we left!

We attended my friends wedding during the day.  Emberlie made it through the whole ceremony with just a little crying in the beginning.

Then we went to Panini's for some gigantic corned beef, french fry and cole slaw sandwiches.  Our good friends, the Handley's, were conned into babysitting for us and my college roommate Cara and husband Matt also joined us.

We finished the day at the reception with a few adult beverages and CAKE POPS!  So smart and so delicious.

The next day we ventured to Lucky's Cafe, featured in Diner, Drive-in and Dives for breakfast.  Awesome menu with homegrown veggies used when possible.  There was definitely some sausage gravy served, as well as curried tofu, eggs and spinach, and homemade jam.  A great place to check out if you are ever in Cleveland.

And then the ZOO (...sorry Rock and Roll Hall of Fame)!  The Cleveland MetroPark Zoo was a wonderful spot to explore and well worth the twelve dollars.  The habitats seemed more realistic than most zoos and there was plenty of walking and greenery.  We had a great time!

 

A Dress to Impress

Do you have some scrap fabric you'd like to transform into an adorable dress?  There is a great tutorial on how to make a pillowcase dress from The Mother Huddle blog.  Start with five fabrics and end up with one cute dress.

The dress is made by sewing four strips of fabric together and one along the bottom, resulting in two panels.

 

I learned a new technique called "top stitching" or "edge stitching".  Top stitching is used to hold the raw edges of a seam in place on the back of your work by running some stitches on the front or "top" of your work.  It also makes it look sharp and finished.

The top corners are cut off and the panels are sewn together.  Elastic is used on the neckline to make it easy to wear.  And  I made bias tape to use as straps, so they would match the bottom of the dress.  I can tell that Emberlie is very excited!

Mmmmm...Memorial Day

It was a Memorial Day Feast!  Jon and his friend Eric created a BBQ buffet inspired by the Summer Wegmans Menu magazine.  The highlight was three types of sliders:  cracked pepper, jalapeno cheddar and crumbled bacon with regular rolls or glazed donuts.  Followed by a dessert of grilled bananas and ice cream.  Thanks for all the hard work, boys!

And here's one more pic of our weekend with Auntie Cortney all the way from Hillsborough, NC.  Thanks for the visit and hope you liked the Thai peanut mussels from Ale House!

Ring Around the Wreath

Living wreaths are so beautiful, but look tricky to make and even more expensive to buy.  Because my sister Cortney is visiting, I decided two crafty heads and four crafty hands might be able to handle the project!

We started by gathering supplies from Michael's, a local Amish greenhouse and Lowe's.  We came home with: one bag of moss, two wreath frames, two packs of coated floral wire, two pots of hens and chicks, two wooly thymes, two ogon sedums, two angel tear plants and two packs of different sedums.  The total cost was thirty dollars.  Which is already a deal considering a real wreath frame is about twenty five dollars.

The first step was to create a base with the moss.  I wet the moss so it was easier to place in the frame.  Cortney placed the wire pieces around the base to eventually attach the second frame at the end.  Then I layered on some moist soil in the center of the moss and place the second frame over the base materials.  I started placing the plants with extra moss around the wreath, working the roots into the soil and moss.  Finally, Cortney tie wrapped the moss-soil-moss-plant sandwich all together.  And the final result is beautiful!

Thanks for the help, Cort!  And Emberlie was so happy to get to spend time with her auntie. 

Spun, Plied, Washed and Dried

For my first Mothers' Day, I got the totally portable, totally fun HitchHiker spinning wheel from The Merlin Tree.  Learning to spin was a lot like riding a bike - once you figure out the rhythm its pretty straightforward after that.  To practice, I bought some beautiful Lincoln Longwool locks a sheep named Claire at Knox Fiber Farm in Buffalo, New York.  Thank ewe, Claire! You have to hand card the locks as you go, but the colors are worth it.  

This is my first hank of yarn with the HitchHiker!  Spun, plied, washed and dried!  It is pretty uneven in places, but I was excited to just give it a whirl.  There is a great tutorial at Knitting Review describing the steps to finishing your yarn.  Because is was such a small amount, I used the Andean bracelet method for plying. 

Eat Your Heart Out, Chobani!

A 32 ounce container of Chobani yogurt cost $4.99.  Thanks to my handy neighbor Greg, I have just learned that I can make about 30 ounces of Greek style yogurt for the cost of a half gallon of milk (about $1.79).  And it tastes better than Chobani.  All you need is a half gallon and milk and a little yogurt to start:

1.       Slowly heat half gallon of milk to 180 degrees – do not let the milk burn.

2.       Once the milk is 180 degrees pour it into a glass container and let cool to 105-110 degrees

3.       Mix the 2 tablespoons of plain yogurt and 2 tablespoons of milk – to thin out the yogurt.

4.       Stir in the yogurt/milk mixture into the cooled milk.

5.       Cover the pot or glass container.

6.       Heat your oven for 2 minutes just to get it warm.

7.       Wrap a dish towel around your pot or glass container and put it in the oven.

8.       Leave the light on to help maintain warmth in the oven.

9.   I leave it in the oven for up to 12 hours.

10.   Once out it’s yogurt!  Just drain for about 3 hours in fridge using a colander and cheese cloth.  

So easy, delicious and money saving!  Thanks Greg.  And Emberlie says, "I like eating bird legs better than yogurt".