I-have-no-idea-what-I'm-doing-but-I'm-hungry-and-I-have-canned-chicken salad!

Happy Friday! 

I have today off (woo!) so I'm doing work around the house. Right now my parents are on a "we're not buying anything but milk until we eat everything in the fridge kick", which is awesome for someone who has no culinary talent what-so-ever. Boo. Well I'm too poor to go buy things and I'm out of leftovers (mom is sick and didn't cook last night. double boo.), so I took one look in the fridge and came up with this:

I-have-no-idea-what-I'm-doing-but-I'm-hungry-and-I-have-canned-chicken salad.

(appropriate title right?) 

Basically, I just grabbed everything I could see that looked like salad material, threw it in a bowl, and hoped for the best. And it actually turned out to be quite delicious! The point is to use stuff you already have, but if you're culinarily challenged (yeah i made that word up) like me, here's what I did.

The I-have-no-idea-what-I'm-doing-but-I'm-hungry-and-I-have-canned-chicken salad recipe!

Ingredients:

Canned chicken

Lettuce

Cheese (I used cheddar, pepper jack, and feta)

1/2 Roma tomato

1/4 Green apple (any kind is fine)

Balsamic vinegar

Directions: 

1. Wash and dry the dirty stuff (lettuce, apple, tomato)

2. Chop now clean ingredients, throw in bowl

3. Shred cheese (or use your already-shredded-from-last-nights-omelet cheese like I did!), throw in bowl

4. Open can of chicken, drain

5. Shred chicken a little and throw on salad, tupperware what you don't use!

6. Add some pepper, drizzle (or pour) balsamic vinegar, mix and devour!

If I had them I would have added: dried cranberries, walnuts, pecans, and/or sunflower seeds.

TIP: if you're going to take a picture, do it before you add the dressing. It looks weird after. ;)

Buon Appetit! 

<3 L

P.S. Maybe I did inherit one or two cooking genes from my mom... :)

TGIF

Happy Friday :)

As a followup to my last post, my room is nearly finished after a long week of sorting, trashing, and garage-sale-proclamation(ing). I would love to post pictures, but unfortunately my computer decided it really hates me, and my USB ports are no longer working, and I can't plug in my new fancy shmancy camera. 

In other news, I had a fun and exciting (and in the end very sad) week, because I found a baby quail! He was struggling in my neighbors yard only a few hours hatched, and there was no family to be seen. Poor little guy got ditched. Anyway, I took him home, set up a habitat, got some food, and spent a few days teaching him how to eat, drink, and run. He only made it to day six, and then I guess wasn't strong enough to go on. RIP little Norbert <3. As sad as it was, I'm comforted in knowing that he lived six times as long as he probably would if I had left him, I got some great lessons and memories, and he got a temporary momma bird. Thankfully I snapped a few pics on my webcam. :)

Cool Bird likes Sepia

He would not sit still!

Whatevs. I got a burd.

On to more (potentially) good news! I auditioned for a new theatre today (new to me and new to the valley). It was probably the best audition experience of my life, and I'm so excited to see what happens with it! I met lots of great people and I'm really hoping I get to work with many of them soon :) I got a call from the director but we're playing phone tag so I'm not sure what it's about yet. Prayers and fingers crossed for good news! <3

Love and glitter!

   -L

Happy 4th of July!!

I live in Arizona, which means it's hot in the summer. Like, REALLY hot. Which makes doing things outside pretty much impossible. I'm used to it, but it gets a little sad on fun days like today, where you just want to go outside with a frozen drink and soak up the rays. 

Today, however, IT'S RAINING! 

Which is awesome. 

It also means that monsoon season is starting, and if you've never felt hot rain... You're missing out. :)

Anyway, I went outside and sat in the rain for about 20 minutes earlier, and it was spectacular! And that is my little rant about the rain.

In other news, I decided to dedicate myself to a huge project this week.  After 2 years of mostly living on campus, I've moved back home to my parents house.  I never moved my stuff out in the first place since I was home every weekend and day off, so when I moved back, I ended up with doubles of a lot of stuff. In fact, I just ended up with a ton of stuff in general. It's been piling up in my room and our spare bedroom, and finally I decided I've had enough! My 'rents went on a spin through Hungary (cool!), and I decided to take advantage of that by putting everything I own in sorted bags and boxes in the hallway. I'm nowhere near finished... BUT I can see almost my whole floor, and that's definitely something. So that's what I'm doing today! How are you celebrating?

Happy Independence!

  L

Hello blog. It's been awhile...

I've decided as my half-year resolution (this is not an annual tradition, but I thought it was appropriate this year) to start blogging again.  I've recently graduated college (woo!), got a spiffy new camera, and spend at least an hour or two every day reading blogs. 

Translation: I'm out of excuses NOT to post.

So here I am, and I'm hoping to keep it up this time! To celebrate, I've decided to post a list of goals for this blog. In a few months I'll check back and see if I've done my part. 

Bloggy Goals:

1. Post at least 2-3 times per week

2. Make a bomb tutorial

3. Do a "DIY" review on Pinterest trends

4. Post pictures from craft nights

Alright, four goals... I can do that! Hey, gotta start somewhere right? Let's dive in to those goals a bit more.

1. Post at least 2-3 times per week

Pretty self explanatory.  I tried keeping up diaries as a kid, but looking back all I see are posts that start with, "Hi diary. It's been awhile..." (Apparently nothing has changed.) The first step to recovery... hi, I have a problem. There, now we can move on.

2. Make a bomb tutorial

I love getting my craft on, and I love trying new things. I especially love just diving headfirst into a project without having any clue of how it's going to turn out. Too often I see people repeating things over and over again, and I would like to offer new and inventive things to make! I love teaching and encouraging my friends to pick up new hobbies, so (when I get readers someday), I plan on making some easy to follow directions on new ways to stimulate your right brain. Love it.

3. Do a "DIY" review on Pinterest trends

Alright, so here's the thing. I work at a craft store (in the fabric department), and every day I hear, "so I saw this on pinterest...", usually accompanied by, "do you have ________?", "what do I need for this?", "what does this mean", or my favorite "how do I make this?" .... yep. Sometimes Often, people see things on Pinterest with the words DIY; easy; under $5 and they run to the store only to get stumped when they realize it's not as cheap or easy as they thought. So I simple want to give some filters so you can get Pinspired without getting Pinstuck or Pinbroke.

4. Post pictures from craft night

This is a fun one! Every three weeks, I host a ladies craft night at my house for anyone who wants to come (no boys allowed!). I post a project on Facebook, post a shopping list (and a price for anyone who wants me to buy their supplies), and we get together and make something awesome. It's super fun, and it's been great to see busy girls and new moms come together, relax, and enjoy some crafty therapy together. Not to mention it's great to see the look on someone's face after I have them answer the question "where'd you get that?" and they get to say with great pride, "I made it!". Pictures will come for sure. 

So there you have it! A post accompanied by some goals. I am pleased, and quite tired from an extremely long day.

With much love and hot glue,

  L

Happy Coffee Day!

Short post today... School is keeping me quite busy! But today I will stop to say... Happy Coffee Day! (Totally didn't mean for that to sound like a poem... but I like it. hehehe.)

This could quite possibly be the best obscure holiday ever. I love coffee!! And I love that they dedicated an entire day to its yummy goodness! How are you going to celebrate? :)

Go forth and caffeinate!!
<3

What to do with a box of t-shirts?

So my little brother has this "quirk" (obsession?) and has to wear a brand new white t-shirt every day. (Waste of money? uh, yeah.) - which means that he ends up with a TON of white t-shirts in great conditions! Me, having the oh-so-crafty cheap mind that I do, I asked him to hand over some of his leftovers. Great idea, right? Well lets just say, I have a terrible time keeping myself organized, and I like to take on projects and then finish them a year later. So there's a big box of t-shirts taking up space in my room. What to do with them? Do you have lots of spare t-shirts that you really don't need? Well here's a collection of great t-shirt tutorials to get you started! Mind you, I haven't actually done any of them... yet. But I will! And then I shall post pictures. I hope. Happy Crafting! <3

Hipster Scarves

Braided Headbands

ADORABLE Sweetheart Shirt

Ruffle Rosette Pillow

Rug!

And finally, this really cute fabric Wreath!

There are so many fun things do do with a t-shirt! What's your favorite t-shirt re-purpose? :)

Blanket WIP!

There it is!! My glorious blanket :) I love it... I just wish it were about 5 feet longer. Goodness, crocheting takes a long time! I'm back at school now and moved into my cute little apartment! (Hmm, I feel like a tour is in order once I get totally settled in.) Choir council elections are today, and I'm running for el presidente! We'll see what happens :) Now, back to stitching!

<3 Lauren