HELP!

I bought some figs on sale at Publix and I have no idea what to do with them! They are Kadota figs and they are totally throwing me for a loop. But I know that y'all could help me out :)

Aren't they cute on my plate? Lets get them into my tummy!

Apronista

I love love love aprons. A little too much. To put it this way, I am only 20 and already have 4 different aprons that are mine... and I'm working on making/collecting more! This one from Anna Marie really caught my attention and I just really want it. But I'll have to settle on gazing at it and saving for it. And maybe working on using this tutorial to dress up my dish soap (because why not?!) It made me laugh so I think it would be a perfect addition to my apron collection!

Cookie Experiment

I have been ACHING for an opportunity to make these Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies, and so when our church's small group started up again for the semester, I had my opportunity!

Yum! They were so delicious :) I made them with this recipe from the Hungry Engineer. I changed it just a little by using Hershey's Dark chocolate chips instead of regular semi-sweet chips and it was uber-delicious. So go make yourself some "healthy" (or at least a little healthier!) cookie!

Come on, you deserve it! Its almost the weekend and the whole cookie process only takes about 20 minutes! Don't say I didn't warn you about how delicious they are!

Shirt I Embellished

I had been waiting to fix up this plain black shirt that I got at Wal-Mart and used Teresa Collin's post as inspiration. The little button on the right side of the picture is actually a butterfly that I got from a local fabric store for 25 cents. It inspired the color scheme of green and blue and a little white. Sorry the picture is not the best- I used my phone camera because I almost forgot to get a picture before I went to bed yesterday!


Oh, and yesterday when I was flipping through the Wall Street Journal, I noticed this article:

Food That Looks So Messy, It's Irresistible. It had some awesome pictures and I think it's pretty interesting how they compare food photography from 20 years ago to today. They also have a slideshow online that has a couple of more examples. Just thought my food bloggers would get a kick out of that article :) Its a quick read so jump on over if you can! 

Obsessed: FEED

I am now officially obsessed with this charity: FEED. They sell their bags to give funds to the World Food Programme.

I just noticed a girl on campus with one of the bags on Monday so it peaked my curiosity (I love food and I was wondering where she got such a cool FEED bag made of burlap).

The bags are super awesome. I'm officially wanting one. Or two. It is just such a great and simple concept- you buy a bag, it tells you on the bag how many meals you are providing to a child in Africa or Guatemala or Haiti or the US, and you get a bag to share your involvement with others. And then start a process that keeps on getting people interested in their project.

I really want the one in the front that Lord and Taylor sells online- I'm a sucker for Latin American prints :)

Hopefully, I will get to order one soon (too many school expenses at the moment)! 

I just wanted to share this awesome initiative with y'all because I think they are just so cool and the mission is so needed right now. A big plus for me is there is also an option to buy a US bag, where the money stays in the US. I just feel like so many people forget that hunger is not just a problem in third world countries; it happens here at home as well.  I just thought I'd do my part as a blogger and share something that I really love at the moment!

Food Reading List

In honor of starting classes (boo), I went to the library to pick up some food books that I've wanted to read because if I have to read for class, why shouldn't I read something I'm actually interested in?! 

The Sweet Life in Paris: Delicious Adventures in the World's Most Glorious - and Perplexing - City by David Lebovitz

Real Food: What to Eat and Why by Nina Planck

My Life in France by Julia Child

My Kitchen Wars by Betty Fussell

The Omnivore's Dilemma by Michael Pollan

The San Francisco Ferry Plaza Farmer's Market Cookbook: A Comprehensive Guide to Impeccable Produce Plus Seasonal Recipes by Peggy Knickerbocker

I hope that will keep me entertained :) I read David Lebovitz's book in a day because it was just a fun read (so go get it from the library!)

Have a wonderful week- now I'm off to read!

National Lemonade Day

I hope life has given you some lemons because....

Today is National Lemonade Day?! I found out when I looked at CNN's new website, Eatocracy, this morning. Man, do I LOVE lemonade! It's one of my favorite things to make over the summer, like my blackberry lemonade and just plain lemonade.

Here are some recipes that I've been dying to try, but haven't gotten around to yet. I hope they inspire you to make some lemonade! (The pictures are GREAT but I don't want to take any from their blogs... but trust me. Go check them out!)

Strawberry Basil Lemonade

Fizzy Lavender Lemonade

Watermelon Lemonade

Brazilian "Lemonade"
(made with limes because I am assuming that there is no word for "lemon" in Portuguese, like there wasn't in Ecuadorian Spanish because they don't grow lemons- but really good anyways)

Well, I am off to buy some lemons to celebrate! Have a wonderful Friday!

Favorite Pictures

I have had a lot of fun taking pictures in the last month but I haven't been able to weave them into a blog post (yet)... so here they are!

From a town fair

Taken at Cypress Gardens before a friends' wedding

McClellanville, SC

Riverwalk in Columbia, SC

I hope you enjoy these pictures :)

Rewind: What I've Been Up To

I know I've been away for a while, but I've been working on going through a few tutorials I had bookmarked and just getting my room at school all set up for the school year.

A canvas I created for a collage swap based on "Happiness"

Awesome scones that I made according to this recipe. It was a perfect recipe- it only made 8 instead of like 2 dozen!

Awesome mac & cheese I made in my vintage Pyrex. It was pretty simple and I just threw some noodles, cheese, bacon and a little condensed milk into it and baked it until it looked right. Experimenting actually turned out wonderful!

Not something I made, but a coffee my mom enjoyed on our last day out before I went to school. Its a honey latte made with real honey and it was fantastic!

And I made these flower pins from inspiration from this post. I love T-shirt projects!

A bib necklace inspired by the same post. I can't wait to wear it!

I covered my old bulletin board with fabric to make it my jewelry holder this year. And I can't wait to look at my jewelry every morning while picking out my outfit!

Cool vintage costume necklace I found in Missouri in an antique store.

New necklaces- the left is a pendant and leather necklace from Hobby Lobby and I made the pearl necklace on the right.

Close-up of the mehndi hand pendant I picked up in Asheville. LOVE it. Its a hand painted ceramic pendant I got for $2. And I got the strands of freshwater pearls at a gem show at the beginning of the summer.

Camera cover and technology pouch made from a pattern in One Yard Wonders for the PDA cover (the technology pouch was the original and the camera case was scaled down).

TV cover my mom and I made for my room at school. There is a backing of muslin on the sides and felt on the top part so it is more stable. We just measured the TV and winged it.

The door dec(orations) I made for the ladies on my hall. Each one was painted differently, but I can't show you mine because I already filled it out with personal info! But it's really cute too! Our hall theme is "Create a Better Campus."

A cigar box I picked up at the Gourmet Shop and am going to recover soon. More to come!

I just wanted to show y'all that I haven't been just sitting around! I will be back to posting regularly soon!

Full Speed Ahead

Hey y'all! I am back at school for RM training on campus, so I will be running around and doing a lot of work for the next two weeks before students move in, but I wanted to let you know why I'm going to be MIA for a little while longer.

But I did manage to score some peaches (about 13 to be exact) for $5 at the farmer's market on campus in between training and lunch this afternoon, so I plan to make something special with those soon. But does anyone have any good peach recipes? Most recipes only call for a couple of peaches and I have waaaaay more than I can eat raw before they go bad! I can't wait to hear your responses!

I promise I will be updating regularly again soon, its just a crazy time of year!  Have a great week :)