shoooot! has it really been since february that I last posted?!

Sorry, Y'all… guess my move to Austin has kept me too busy to keep up to date?! It's not been for a lack of fun times & experiences here. In fact I loved it here so much I stayed much to the dismay of my island friends back in Friday Harbor. 

shoe-spirations: fluvog love

As ya'll know by now, I Love Fluevogs. I also have a blast with Instagram on my iphone. When I took this pic of my favorite 'Vogs with my biggest nightmare (spiders) I did a hashtag (#) to connect with Fluevog. And well.... they loved my pic & asked if the could "regram" it to their page! I obviously said Yesssss with pride!

It's official Fluevog likes me too!

Fluevog and the Beast... 

sshhhhhhh..... silent sundays: austin art tagging

fun in the kitchen: slow cooker

For years my mother has tried to gift me a slow cooker. She had only good intentions, wanting to make my busy life easier. I being the stubborn child always thought it was not a appliance that a young adult needed and kept telling her I did not need such a thing. I finally came to my senses this Christmas and let her give me a gift card to Target so I could pick one out. What changed my mind?! Stupid Facebook, I know... I'm shaking my head too! In the past few months articles have been posted showing the fabulous meals that you can create whilst at work. Here is the HuffPost article that changed my mind: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/11/26/slow-cooker-recipes_n_1029031.html?ncid=fcbklnkushpmg00000063
To my defense I only recall one meal ever being created in our family crock pot growing up, sorry mom. It was stew over mashed potatoes and it was created by Soup Starter. 

Any one else remember this 80's staple?! It was a good meal, I do love hearty comfort foods. I just didn't think I needed an appliance for creating this one meal. Thanks to those articles my life with a slow cooker has been filled with delicious options. 

This is my new bff of the kitchen!

Here is a few of the tasty dishes I've created thus far! I did some tweaking to remove my arch nemesis, allium, from all the recipes but to my taste buds delight everything still turned out delish. I just added more of the other spices in the recipes to keep the flavor high. I'll put a link to the recipes used under each, enjoy! 

Turkey Taco Chili. This was the morning after when it became Breakfast Turkey Taco Chili w/ 2 eggs!

http://www.gimmesomeoven.com/slow-cooker-turkey-taco-chili-recipe/

Honey sesame chicken. 

http://www.thecomfortofcooking.com/2012/08/crock-pot-honey-sesame-chicken.html

Beef stroganoff, this was my favorite so far!

http://www.myrecipes.com/recipe/beef-stroganoff-10 

Creamy chicken with biscuits (slow cooker pot pie)

http://www.realsimple.com/food-recipes/browse-all-recipes/slow-cooker-creamy-chicken-with-biscuits

kitty shenanigan's: traveling with cats

Traveling with cats is.... an event. I wish I could say I've figured it out or "got it down pat" by now, but no. We have moved from Phoenix to Friday Harbor & now Friday Harbor to Austin together. All I've truely figured out is how difficult it is and how much cats hate moving vehicles. I hope they're getting a little bit used to it as they do snuggle up and sleep for most of the travels now instead of meowing the whole way.

Jasper hates his crate. He hides under covers to avoid the reality of it.

Doris in the driver seat while parked on the ferry.

Safety of the hotel bed covers. 

Doris happy to no longer be in her cage in a moving car.

Jasper exploring the room in Amarillo, TX.

Where the heck are we?! Checking out their new home. 

Doris & Jasper did make it here like little troopers. Doris did get car sick twice, poor thing. They have settled into their new home and are back to their busy schedules of eat, sleep, poop, repeat! 

crafty shtuff: snowflakes

The weekend after Thanksgiving I attended the Renegade Craft Fair here in Austin.  Not only was it wonderful to see all the creative hand made items on a weekend where most people are elbowing for new tv's and trampling children for the latest toy, but the Austin Public Library was teaching how to make a new kind of paper snowflake. And ya'll know I love crafty shtuff! 

The Library used book inspired paper for this crafty project.

I of courese took artistic liberty to use both small & large petals to make my snowflake.

Here's how it's done....
you'll need scissors, clear tape, and any paper any size as long as they are square. 
I decided to recycle my latest Anthropologie catalog, the colors are always so beautiful.

Simple supplies.

Fold the square in half to make a triangle.

Fold inhalf once more to make a smaller triangle.

Time to cut. Cut on the single fold side. The number of cuts will amount to the number of swirls, so cut as many as you want.
 I did 5 in this demo. 

Cuts should go right up to the edge but NOT through. 

Unfold gently.

Unfold to the original square.

Start w/ the middle, tape ready. Roll the 2 loose points together, place tape to hold.

Flip the whole paper over. Roll the next cuts two points together, tape.
you should now have a curl on each side of the paper. 

And keep on flippin', rollin' & tapin'!

Till your outta flips and rolls! Your done with the first "petal" for your flake!

Ok... now make six to complete a full swirly curly paper snowflake. Tape the "petals" together at the center & mid-points. 
 Then hang them everywhere for all to see your craft winter cheer!

These small snowflakes look great with my faux-dermy!!

I've even seen them in the window display for South Congess Books. And if it's on South Congress... It's Fuckin' hip & cool, ya'll!

South Congress Books window.

Merry, Merry everyone!!!

tasty holiday break...

We've finally had a few chilly evenings here in ATX. I love Abuelita's hot chocolate when it's cold outside!

Abuelita choco-puck & milk!

This pot needs to be watched...

Boil, whisk, & serve!

Happy Holiday drinks to ya'll!