Randomness

It took sooo long for spring to get to us, so when we finally had a nice sunny afternoon we had to take advantage of it by heading to Lindley Park . . . after stopping for a red velvet mocha. But of course.

 

  

 

 

 

You may notice Karen's fantastic sweater here. Yes, it's a DIY! We got the idea from Sincerely, Kinsey.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Etsy shop

We finally got our Etsy shop up and running!! And we're slowly working on adding more art to sell.  Here's a peek at what we're doing:

Spokane road trip

So a couple of weeks ago Kelly and I and another friend of ours did a little girls' road trip to Spokane, WA for a friend's baby shower.  Here are four random facts about our trip:

1) I found out I was pregnant at about 11:30 the night before we left.  So I was possibly in a state of shock the whole trip.  Also, I learned all sorts of fascinating facts about pregnancy from our friend who was having the baby shower (like did you know babies actually play with their umbilical cord while in the womb? Crazy, huh?).

2) Kelly got super sick basically the moment we left. So, needless to say, she was not at the top of her game that trip.  She slept in the back seat the entire way back to Montana. And she didn't appreciate the omelette bar we went to... pretty sad.

3) We met up with a friend at the baby shower that we hadn't laid eyes on in fourteen years! And she brought with her photos from the good old days when we all lived in Wyoming, so that was a fun surprise.

4) We went to the omelette bar at Huckleberry's Natural Market twice in two days!  I figured out the art of the omelette bar the second day, and it was quite delicious.  Our friend Rachel's omelette even had a little spinach heart on the top.


And now for some iphone photos:

Sweater pillow

It is so important when starting any craft project to fuel up first. On this particular snowy (aargh!) April day, our snack of choice was blueberry muffins. Really just my snack of choice as they were already in the oven when Karen came over, so she had no say in what I made.

She contributed some ginger tea, in hopes of alleviating her recently acquired morning sickness. Yep, surprise! She's preggers!!! This was her first day of morning sickness, and my solution for everything is food, hence the muffins. They helped slightly, as did the tea, but let's just say her stomach wasn't stellar today.

So here was the sweater I started with. You can't tell, but there are holes in one of the elbows, so it was no longer wearable. However, I didn't want to throw it away as it was a gift from my brother, so it gets to be repurposed as a pillow.

I turned it inside out and sewed the bottom and the sleeves shut, to make a three-sided square. Then I turned it right-side out and trimmed off the shoulders until it was about an inch bigger than my pillow form.

(This is my "concentrating face".... Also, how do you like that shirt of mine? I thought so. That's my latest Goodwill score.)

I tucked the pillow form into the sweater case, folded the unfinished edges in, and hand stitched across the top.

Then, for a little interest, I cut a heart out of some light blue fabric and stitched it on to the front of the pillow with red embroidery thread. I left the edges of the heart unfinished.

I like to call this "rustic", which is an appealing word to describe anything homemade that doesn't look perfect. So you can expect to see that word used frequently on our blog.

--Kelly

Cranberry walnut granola

We regularly make our own homemade granola for quick breakfasts... it's easy to make and tastes way better than the store-bought stuff.  This is my go-to recipe, but it's easy to adapt if it doesn't suit your taste or if you don't have all these ingredients on hand:

5 cups rolled oats

2 cups chopped walnuts

1 cup chopped pecans

2 cups unsweetened shredded coconut

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

salt to taste

1 cup coconut oil

1 cup agave nectar

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 cup dried cranberries

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.

In a large bowl stir together the oats, nuts, coconut, cinnamon, and salt.

In a small pan over medium heat melt coconut oil and agave together. Remove from heat and add vanilla. Pour over oat mixture and stir to coat evenly.

Spread in an even layer on one or two cookie sheets (depending on their size). Bake for 30 minutes, stirring once halfway through, or until nuts are toasted and granola is golden. Remove from oven and add cranberries.

Let cool completely before storing in jars or plastic zipper bag. Store at room temperature for up to two weeks.

The walnuts or pecans are easily substituted with chopped almonds, macadamia nuts, or pepitas. I've used olive or canola oil instead of coconut oil, or honey instead of agave nectar. The vanilla is optional...almond extract is also good. Dried cherries are beltacular (head nod to "Two Weeks Notice") in place of cranberries. I love eating mine with coconut milk, but it's also delicious served with Greek yogurt and fresh fruit!

--Karen & Kelly

Road trip

Spring hit and Laramie and I decided to get out of town.  So we road tripped down to St. George, Utah, where my parents and my brother and his wife live.  I love road trips (though I'm told I'm not the best road tripping buddy because I just bury my head in a magazine for the whole drive)!  And the weather was great.

We stopped for one night along the way in Salt Lake City, just to break up the driving and have a little time to ourselves.

Southern Utah is beautiful.  Really beautiful!  Gorgeous landscape and awesome colors.

We took a short hike to see some ancient Anasazi petroglyphs.  

The highlight of our trip was a hike to the top of Angel's Landing, in Zion National Park.  While the first couple miles are a fairly typical hike, the last section is treacherous enough that a chain has been installed to hang on to as you climb over the steep rocks.  You are hiking a narrow ridge with drop-offs on either side.  It may sound scary, but it really isn't.  It's a lot of fun, and the view from the top is incredible.

And finally, because we were with my Dad and he can smell out a good piece of pie anywhere...

--Kelly

Hectic life...

 

 

Life has been a little crazy lately, and thus we've been neglecting this space. We took a couple of trips that we'll be writing about soon. In the meantime, a pretty picture or two can't hurt.  Be back soon!