Delayed Crafted Gift Reveal

Engagement Picture vs. Portrait

For the past month and a half, all I wanted to do was blog about the following topic.  However, I had to keep my keys quiet because it needed to be a surprise.  More specifically, it was to be joint birthday surprise for my brother and future (less than three months!) sister-in-law.  Because both birthday’s are in early March, I had to wait to blog until later in the month.

As a side note, I have decided to refer to my future sister-in-law as my ToreSIL.  I haven’t run this past her quite yet, but it distinguishes her from my other sister-in-law when the time comes when I can no longer call her “future sister in law”.  Toresil it is.

A couple of weeks ago, I finally mailed the surprise to my brother and Toresil and they were thrilled.  Hurray.  Commence blogging!  However, it is hard to blog about something when one goes out of town for a week and forgets to save the necessary blog pictures for the post to the laptop that was packed.  Whoops.  Hopefully my weekly post wasn’t missed too much.  Actually, it probably is worse if the missed post went unnoticed because that means no one is reading this but Toresil, my Mom and Kerry at work… and all three of them knew I was out of town.  Sigh.

I think I like Charlie best.

Moving on – the delayed and heavily “built up” surprise reveal:  cross-stitched family portraits!  Cross-stitching is the new knitting – you’ve heard it here first!  Great entrepreneurs sell modern and quirky (!) patterns on Etsy and through various websites.  My favorite has to be Wee Little Stitches on Etsy.  Check the store out.  There also was a “how to” in a Martha Stewart Magazine about a year ago.  I decided to take on the challenge and designed a little pixel brother, Toresil and Charlie the dog.  Since the lovely couple’s nuptuals are right around the corner, I designed them wearing the outfits from their save the date picture.

On its way to Chicago!

The designing of the pattern is what took the longest.  The easiest way is to block out your stitches on graph paper.  I found out that perfecting the hair color and layout is the most important aspect of making the pixel people recognizable.  After the design was solidified, I ran out to JoAnn Fabric’s for embroidery floss (at 10 cents a color, it is such an economical project), an embroidery hoop, and aida cloth.  The design stitched up quickly, which was a requirement for a project tackled during busy season.  I would assess it as a 10-hour project.

Toresil also loves personalized and unique stationary, so I put a picture of the cross-stitch portrait on the front of some postcards.  I like to think they will have this for years to come.  Who says cross-stitch has to be frumpy and old fashioned.  I think I am hooked and plan on making more!

Phew - I'm glad I got that post off my chest.  On a related note, I'm home for the weekend before going back out of town next week.  Stella was pretty peeved at my absence and was wary regarding my return (see below).  Who wants to tell her I'll only be home for two days?

That's it!  I'm raising the drawbridge!

What are some good gifts you have given recently?

Springtime Sunday

I have mixed emotions about daylight savings time. On one hand, it means spring is just around the bend and the sun won't be setting at 4:30. On the other hand, the lost hour really sucks when your busy season weekend is only 36 hours to start with. Boo.

This year, Cleveland put some salve on the wound of the stolen hour by providing a 60 degree day with blue skies and sunshine.  Everyone was outside soaking in the long awaited vitamin D nourishment in whatever way struck their fancy.  I elected to head south to the Brecksville Reservation and get my hike on.

For those of you unfamiliar with Cleveland or those that are unaware a great perk of Northeastern Ohio living - I am surrounded by the "emerald necklace", which is the Cleveland Metroparks network of parks that encircles the city of Cleveland. Dirt paths, paved paths, bike routes, horseback riding trails, creeks, rivers, hills, valleys, grass fields, so on and so forth.  Whatever a person is in the mood for in order to "get her nature fill", there is a park for that.

After my hour hike, which was accompanied by Bone Thugs-N-Harmony in the ear buds (don't ask, I'm reconnecting with my high school self), I headed to Target to grab a few necessities.  Like all Target trips, these necessities morphed into a basketful of impulse purchases.  It truly isn't my fault this time because no one told me that CBS TV has each season of I Love Lucy on DVD. I had always been tempted by the full series in a box set that cost an arm and a leg, but each time the desire to buy it swelled up, I would quickly quash it.  However, this time there was no need to "be reasonable" because with each individual season on sale, I only had to buy a couple to get a fix!  Seasons one and two ended up in my basket before I even knew it.

 As I sat on my couch eating an early dinner and legitimately laughing out loud by myself to Lucille Ball's antics, I decided these DVDs are to be free from buyer's remorse/guilt.  She was a genius.  Growing up, my favorite part of each summer was Nick at Nite's Block Party Summer marathons.  Did anyone else watch this?  Or was I, at age 7, already foreshadowing my future obsession with all things vintage and classic?  I Love Lucy Tuesdays were my absolute favorite.  As I watch these episodes now, I am transported back to when the sticky July night air would set in, the lightening bugs would come out and my Mom would make us kids come in from playing for dinner.  We would eat around our glass top table on our screened in porch so that my parents could get their share of the summer night after long days at work.  Afterwards, I would take a bath, put on my pajamas, and while my family watched more grown-up (read: boring) sitcoms downstairs I would curl up in my parents' bed to watch Lucy.  Sometimes my Mom would come up to check on me and we would watch together.  She loved Lucille Ball as a little girl, too.

Source: buzzfeed.com via life.com

I realize now that, as a child, it was lost on me what a female trailblazer Lucille Ball was in 1950's.  For goodness sakes, she was a producer on a show that, since premiering in 1951, has NEVER gone off the air.  Think about that for a second - for the past 62 years some television station somewhere has I Love Lucy in the line up.  She is, posthumously, still kicking business butt in a game people didn't think women had a place in when she joined.  She was classy, yet willing to get her hands (and feet... in grapes...) dirty to get the laugh.  She was beautiful, yet wasn't afraid to compromise that beauty by scrunching up her face awkwardly to portray her signature quirkiness (quirky!).  Did you know she was a model and was one of the final girls in the running to play Scarlett O'Hara in Gone With the Wind?  She embodied everything I strive to be, yet she had to do it when women weren't supposed to strive for such things.  That is why, ever since those Block Party Summer marathons, I have considered Lucille Ball an idol.  Both in business and in character.

I'm going to go back to my I Love Lucy now.  How did you enjoy your Sunday?  What transports you back to age 7?

Friday Pizza Night

I am a creature of habit. I think it is my Type A personality that causes me to find comfort in rituals. A new ritual is busy season Friday pizza nights.

It all started because Friday is the day, especially in busy season, that my fridge is the most bare. After working on Saturday, I run my errands and go grocery shopping. On Fridays, my team works a "normal" 9-10 hour day and when I come home I need a dinner that is quick, easy, and made from ingredients I still have within my hardly stocked kitchen. Pizza night was born.

I found an online pizza dough recipe that only takes about fifteen minutes to rise:





Easy Pizza Dough:

• 2.5 cups bread flour (or all purpose but add a tad more yeast)
• One packet of instant yeast (I buy a jar and keep it in my fridge so I always have it)
• 1 cup of warm water
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 teaspoon salt
• Seasonings (optional: I like to add Italian seasonings like oregano and basil)

Stir the yeast and sugar into the water and allow to proof for five minutes (will foam up- if it doesn't, your yeast is dead!). Whisk flour, seasonings and salt together in large bowl. Add olive oil and yeast mixture. Stir until combined. Dump onto floured surface, knead for five to ten minutes, place in an oiled bowl and allow to rise in a warm place for ten to fifteen minutes.

This dough is a fast and perfect base to my Friday pizza. I usually cut the dough into four pieces and freeze three of them. Preheat the oven to 450-500 degrees. I am the proud new owner of a pizza stone and allow it to preheat for about 20 minutes and can bake my pizza directly on it. The thing is awesome and I wish I had bought it sooner. Prior to the pizza stone, I would preheat a cast iron skillet - it makes a perfect personal pan pizza! Bake for 12-15 minutes depending on your bubbliness and crispiness preferences.

I'm so brain dead by Friday, I can't muster the intellectual capacity to get too creative with my Friday pizzas. Usually, it is just a mixing of cheeses and a local Italian restaurant's jarred sauce. I cut it into small pieces and wolf it down while catching up on my DVR. I really should let it cool slightly before eating, but apparently I love burning the roof of my mouth each week, which heals just in time for me to scar it all over again the following Friday.

I justify my weekly pizza nights by saying "at least it's homemade" and "whatever gets me through busy season". Whatever my rationalization is, whenever I fire up my pizza stone and smell melted cheese, I know that I only have 5 hours of work left for the week before my Saturday evening and Sunday of freedom.

Do you have any food rituals?