Garden Update, or, "Plants are taking over my yard"

Ok, my garden has taken over. I left for a week and it went nuts with Trusty Boyfriend watering it. Just a reminder, this is what it looked like right after planting:

Here it is a couple of weeks ago:

Aaaaaaaaand here's what it looks like now:

Veggies are staring at me, saying, "You really should be eating better."

I have teeny little squash, tomatos and bell peppers growing! It is, without a doubt, the most exciting thing to ever happen in my yard. However, the cucumbers are taking over, so I've got to get a trellis to stick the ground outside of the raised bed so it will have somewhere to go and quit hogging the sun from the other plants (cucumbers are very selfish). I've also realized that the tomato plant I bought is something called "indeterminate," which means that, basically, it keeps growing and growing and growing all summer, so I've got to fashion a new cage and tie the stems with cut nylons (my mom's idea, not mine). I'm also apparently going to have about 8,000 squash, so if you live in the Birmingham area and like squash, let me know and I'll give you some. I mean, I'm a farmer, people.

Also, I made my first meal with something I've grown: fresh mozerella, tomato and basil stacks. Just add a little olive oil and salt and you're golden:

Culinary excitement

So, that's that. What do you think? There's still time to get some plants in the ground, if you're so inclined.

Book Review: The Last Song

I just finished reading my very first Nicholas Sparks book, The Last Song.

From Amazon:
Seventeen year old Veronica "Ronnie" Miller's life was turned upside-down when her parents divorced and her father moved from New York City to Wrightsville Beach, North Carolina. Three years later, she remains angry and alientated from her parents, especially her father...until her mother decides it would be in everyone's best interest if she spent the summer in Wilmington with him. Ronnie's father, a former concert pianist and teacher, is living a quiet life in the beach town, immersed in creating a work of art that will become the centerpiece of a local church. The tale that unfolds is an unforgettable story of love on many levels--first love, love between parents and children -- that demonstrates, as only a Nicholas Sparks novel can, the many ways that love can break our hearts...and heal them.

I'll admit, it was a slow start. Even though I hadn't seen the movie, I felt like I knew what was going to happen. It didn't help that I've seen The Notebook 874 times, because I just sort of... anticipated what was to come. Also, I didn't like having Miley Cyrus' image in my head from the trailers. But I kept reading, and by the end, was left in tears, as you're apparently supposed to be with a Nicholas Sparks novel.

Yeah, you know what's going to happen - it's the same old story of boy meets girl, girl doesn't like boy, boy tries to win her over, boy succeeds, boy screws up, etc, etc, etc, but Nicholas throws you a little curve ball at the end that's really moving.

Bottom line: if you've got some time to kill at the beach or lake this Memorial Day, give it a read and bring some tissues.

New Favorite Trainwreck: HGTV's Battle on the Block

A lazy Saturday introduced me to a new show (well, new to me) on HGTV - Battle on the Block, where three neighbors compete to renovate a room in their house.

From HGTV:
Battle On the Block is a fun, character-driven home makeover show where three neighboring families compete against one another in an effort to design and build one new room from scratch, all in the span of a single weekend! The winner not only gets $10,000 but also bragging rights in the neighborhood.

So what's so great about this show? Is it the amazing transformations and lovable characters? Well, contestants in the Daytona Beach backyard renovation truly seemed to hate each other. And this is one of the three spaces before and after:

Before: Ginormous Tuscan-style home with stacks of cement blocks.

Aaaaand, after: Ginormous (seriously - do you see how big this place is?) Tuscan-style home with cement blocks broken up and spread out so that when guests come over they trip and fall.

Ok they spent FIVE THOUSAND DOLLARS on this. And yeah, they bought some porch furniture and did a little landscaping, but, really - with $5,000 they could have fancied that up waaaaay more.

So basically, the joy in watching Battle on the Block (besides host Genevieve Gorder, who is one of my favorite HGTV-ites), lies in seeing a person who hasn't slept in three days using a power saw in their kitchin at 3 in the morning. And then watching the most anti-climactic reveals ever on HGTV. I mean, the reveals on Designed to Sell are better. But somehow, I think I'm going to keep watching, hoping that someone eventually gets it REALLY right (or that there's a tragic power saw accident caught on camera).

Goldie Oldies

Don't let all the Japanese text discourage you: this is a cool site. From what I can tell, it's called Bakumatsu Koshashin Generator, and you upload a photo and they "oldify" it. See the little button that says "Browse?" The only button in English? Click that, and select a photo off your computer. It will automatically make the photo look old, and then you can right click it and save a copy. I just think this is something different to do to photos that might otherwise be neglected.

Here's the original picture I took of a bar in Ireland:


And here it is "oldified":

Here's one of some street musicians in Dublin:

And here they are 100 years ago:

Cool, right? Go give it a try. It's addicting.

*UPDATE: Idiot here didn't see the English option in the upper right corner when I wrote this, so go ahead and click that and save yourself some time.

...And, we're back!

Well folks, I'm back from Ireland and had a great time! Once I go through all 927 pictures I took I'll post a few here, but for now, here's a shot of Blarney Castle...

...and a brief overview of Ireland in bulleted format:

• Despite weeks of wishing, all the men in Ireland do not look like Gerard Butler.
  


• Guiness tastes completely different in Ireland than it does in the States. Apparently shipping it across the pond doesn't do great things to it, so I was actually able to enjoy the darkest of beers, and I hate I won't be able to over here.


• Riverdance looks dorky on TV, but in person, it's the coolest thing you can see.


• My new favorite band is The Fureys. Take my advice and go listen to their song "The Green Fields of France." It's about WWI and really amazing.


• The greenest green you could ever see is rolling along the countryside in Ireland.


• Irish food is like English food: scary and in need of salt. Mushed peas? No thanks.


• There's a town in Ireland called Dingle, and its most famous inhabitant is a solitary dolphin named Fungie the Dingle Dolphin.


• The Irish take their bathrooms REALLY seriously. I'm not kidding about this. Every single restroom I visited in the entire country, whether in a new hotel or a centuries-old pub was immaculate and had the best lock money could buy. It was quite refreshing.


• Sheep owners in Ireland mark their sheep with spray paint so they can know which ones are theirs. So even though a sheep has a big red mark down its side, it doesn't mean it's going to be used for a red sweater.


• No matter what kind of beer you drink in Ireland, it's served in its corresponding glass. Guinness in a Guinness glass, Smithwick's in a Smithwick's glass, Harp in a Harp glass. I like that.


• I think my ancestors probably played the harp. I'm kinda bummed about that.


• I kissed the Blarney Stone, and have now been given the gift of eloquence. So, I'm sure the quality of these blog posts will go up exponentially.


• Claustrophobic? Get over it if you want to go in any old castles in Ireland.


• Some things are universal, like walking into a bar and hearing "Sweet Home Alabama," which we did. However, it's far less cheesy when you're 3,000 miles away from Alabama (even though the bar we chose looked exactly like Innisfree, for you Birminghamians).

I'll tell you more about my vacation later, but for now, I'm tired, I'm jetlagged, and I missed the season finale of Gossip Girl, so I've got to take care of that. I hope everyone had a great week while I was gone!

Very Mary Kate

Sometimes you run across a video that is so funny, you watch it, oh, 15 times. Enter Very Mary Kate by Elaine Carroll, a series of 19 videos that make fun of everybody's favorite Michelle Tanner, Mary Kate Olsen. I've posted my favsies below, but you really should start at the beginning (Moving Out) and work your way to the end (Gun). But don't blame me if you lose several hours laughing at Vera Wang Snuggies, Mango-Klonopin smoothies and Venti no-whip Paxil Lattes.

I'm going to take a little blogging break next week while I'm in Ireland, but I'll be back on the 24th with hundreds of vacation pictures! Kidding - I won't subject you to those. At least not many. Don't forget about me while I'm gone! See ya kiddos!

DIY: Recover an Icky Lampshade

My friend Kate is going to be a mommy soon, so I recovered a tacky lampshade in a fabric she picked out to match her nursery. It's amazing how much of a difference new fabric on a lampshade can make. It's also amazing how easy it is to make it look professional.

You'll need:
A lampshade
Fabric
Stitch Witchery (or another brand of iron-on fabric adhesive)
Glue gun

Step 1: Start with an icky lampshade.

Step 2: Remove the outside fabric, including the top and bottom edging. Leave the lining intact.

Step 3: Unroll your fabric and trace around the edges, leaving about an inch of extra fabric on each side.

Step 4: Cut out your fabric, so you have four pieces.

Step 5: Use your hot glue gun to attach the side panels to the lampshade frame.

Step 6: Turn top edge of fabric over shade frame and glue it down.

Step 7: Repeat on front panels and trim off excess fabric so that the seam where the front and side panels meet is close to the corner of the shade frame.

Step 8: Cut a strip of fabric 2 inches wide by the height of the shade plus 2 inches for each corner.

Step 9: Press the two sides of the fabric so that they meet in the middle lengthwise. Then cut a piece of Stitch Witchery the length of the fabric and press it inside the fabric so you end up with finished sides.

Step 10: Glue the pieces you just finished to the corners of the lamp, making sure you glue down the edges and turn under the top and bottom pieces.

You're all done! This isn't the lamp base that Kate is using, but I just wanted to see the shade on something. Lampshades can be expensive, but recovering one saves money and doesn't take that long.

Ireland: What I'm Packing

With only a few days until I hop across the pond to Ireland (assuming that pesky ash cloud is gone), I'm trying to get my things together. The weather over there is going to be cold and rainy - much different than it is here in Birmingham, and as with any trip, there will be a lot of walking involved. Wanna take a peek into my suitcase?

Marmot down jacket - Ok, this might be overkill, but with highs in the mid-50's, I might need this. Plus, it stuffs inside its own pouch, so it won't take up much room.

Universal adapter - Oh, foreign countries and their weird plugs. A universal adapter is a must for keeping all my electronics charged.

Reebok workout top - I know it might seem weird, but I like to wear workout tops when I travel. They're not bulky, they keep you warm, and if you need to wash something in the sink at night, it's dry by the morning.

Pretty in Plaid by Jen Lancaster - A 7-hour flight leaves a lot of room for reading when you can't sleep on an airplane. This is one of Jen's latest books I've been waiting to read.

Excedrin Migrane - Because, you know, Guiness and whiskey.

A light scarf - It's surprising how much wind a light scarf can deflect. Plus, you have to wear something green every day in Ireland, right?

My Canon PowerShot - There are lots of pictures to be taken. I will capture them.

Kavu purse/backpack thing - This bag is great for traveling because it leaves your hands free, but isn't as touristy as a traditional backpack.

Dramamine - Because I get uber car sick.

iPod - Sometimes when abroad, you just need to hear some Lady Gaga.

Bose noise-cancelling headphones - When you sit next to a Chatty Cathy on the plane, these help. A lot.

Journal - I keep a journal every day while traveling, because it's so easy to forget some of the little details of your trip. Then when I get home, I put pictures in with descriptions. It's a great memory of the trip.

Short-sleeve workout top - It's a good base layer when the wind's blowing.

Reebok EasyTones - I've decided to do it. I'm going to wear the EasyTones for the entire trip and see if my butt's any higher when I get back. I'll report how it goes.

What about you? Any tips for things you always take with you when you travel?

Springtime Mix

It's time to have people over to grill out, drink wine, and generally enjoy being outdoors before the intense heat of summer sends us all back inside again. So to ensure a fun mood is set, I made a playlist you can steal with a wide variety of "come enjoy being outside with me" tunes. And with everything from Don McLean to Widespread Panic to Garth Brooks, there's something for everyone. Of course, if you're sitting in your windowless office right now, you can always pop out this player and wish for better times...

So hit play, grab your vino and go enjoy the best time of year!

A Well-Appointed Bar Cart

I love a good bar cart. There's something so elegant about sashaying over to one to fix yourself a cocktail after a hard day at work (or shopping). And with a good bar comes good tools. If I had the bar cart below (which isn't coming up on Porter & Plunk's site anymore, but suffice it to say it was WELL over $2,000), I would appoint it with lots of fabulous goods, such as:



Pier 1 Chalk note stemless wine glass, $3 each. Never again will you misplace your glass or have to deal with those little dangly charm things. Plus, I like a good stemless glass - they're easy to bang down on the table while you say, "get me more wine!!"

Target 10-piece happy hour set, $49.95. Keep your martinis chilled and salty snacks at hand. This is a unique little set that I love!

Pier 1 Martini Pitcher and Stirrer, $19.95. Cocktail shakers are too collegiate. Get this sleek pitcher and stirrer instead.

Pretty ice bucket. Pretty silver ice buckets can be found anywhere, even flea markets. Pick one up for a few dollars and clean it up - they're timeless and elegant.

Liquor. No bar is complete without it! If you entertain a lot and your friends are complete lushes who will drink you dry, have bourbon, vodka and gin on hand. Bonus points for sweet tea vodka in the freezer for when I come over.

Oster electric wine bottle opener, $12.99. I like that our engineers are working on perfecting the wine bottle opener instead of doing things like building bridges. This thing just pops the cork right out of the bottle, all fancy-like.

Urban Outfitters recycled beer bottle glasses, $8 each. These are a fun way to recycle AND serve up some brew.
Vinturi wine aerator, $40. My mom gave me a Vinturi, used to turn cheap wine into drinkable wine, not too long ago. And believe it or not, it actually works! It's fun to put one glass of un-aerated wine next to a glass that's been poured through your aerator and taste the difference.

Pier 1 ceramic bottle stoppers, $4.95 each. For those of you who don't finish a bottle of wine in one sitting, you should invest in fun bottle stoppers. I, however, do not require this.

Mojito Company muddler, $29.95. If you're into cocktails that require a little muddling, don't subject your guests to the wrong end of a hammer. Pick up a proper muddler.

And just for a little inspiration, here are a few fabulous bar carts in some even more fabulous interiors:

flickr


flickr


Veranda via Flickr


Lonny via Flickr


Domino via Flickr

Sexcited

Some people think that Sex and the City should have stopped with the series. Others think that one movie was enough, and that a sequel is going to ruin things. I am not of this school. If Michael Patrick King made a new Sex and the City movie every year for the rest of my life, I would be a happy camper. I can just see it now - Sex and the City 41: The girls join AARP. I would watch that. But for now, we have the sequel trailer. I'm sure most of you have seen this, but just in case...



I mean - the fashion! The set decor! Penelope Cruz! AIDEN! Camels! Spikey shoulder pads! Stanford's wedding! Every kind of SATC goodness imaginable!! This is why, on the day of the movie's release, my friend Heather and I are taking the day off work to watch a few select episodes of the series, the first movie and then heading to the theater for numero dos. All why imbibing in cocktails, of course.

I hope everyone has a great weekend! Anybody doing anything fun?

Too-soon Fitness Gear Review: Reebok EasyTones

Last week was a long week for me. So when Friday came around, I decided that ol' Katy needed a little treat. And while normally that involves a trip to the Great American Cookie Company, I thought better of that and decided to make a purchase I'd been meaning to make for a while: Reebok EasyTones.

You may remember that EasyTones were on my list of three things I needed for Spring. So I bit the bullet, went down to my local sporting goods store, where I found...

The whitest shoes ever.

I feel like Reebok is marketing these shoes to girls like me, but the marketing department and the design department aren't exactly holding hands on this project. The whiteness of these shoes almost made me not buy them. But then I remembered: "Tone your butt 28% more with these!" So home with me they came.

I wore them all day Saturday while I baked bread, potted some plants, played with Molly and generally moved around the house. And hot diggity dog - by Sunday morning, my calves, hammies and butt were sore. And I didn't even go on a walk in them!

Since then, I've walked a few times, and maybe it's just because I WANT them to, but it seems like they are, in fact, working my legs a little harder. So, upon first wear, I think they may be the real deal. My plan is to wear them during my trip to Ireland so that I can hopefully come back with a firmer butt to compliment my new love for dark beer and whiskey.

I'll update you more on them after I've had a chance to really take them out for a spin. But the bottom line is that they make you WANT to walk more, which is never a bad thing.

Follow-up Recipe: Rosemary Butter

If yesterday's recipe for homemade bread had you salivating, get yourself a drool bag when you slather that beautiful bread with homemade rosemary butter. Yep - it's a recipe just for butter. OK, so it's not COMPLETELY homemade, since you'll never see me churning my own butter, but it's KIND OF homemade. It takes 5 minutes to make it, and it's worth every second. And calorie.

Rosemary Butter
Fresh rosemary*
Salted butter**
Kosher salt
Garlic powder

You'll notice I didn't put measurements of everything here. That's because you may want to make a little rosemary butter just for one loaf of bread, or you may want to make a vat of it to swim around in on a free Saturday. Make a little or make a lot - I won't judge.

Step 1: Barely melt your butter in the microwave so that it's soft but not melted. A full stick of butter takes about 15 seconds to get to the right consistency.

Step 2: Go outside and pick a couple twigs of rosemary.

Step 3: Pull the little leaves off the stem.

Step 4: Chop the little leaves so they're teeny tiny - just the right size to get caught between your teeth.

Step 5: Mix the rosemary with the butter and a pinch each of garlic powder and kosher salt. Serve room temperature.

Step 6: Yum.

*I've quickly learned that having a rosemary plant within walking distance of your kitchen is indispensable. Dried rosemary flakes just won't work for this recipe, so go out and spend the $3 on a rosemary plant, stick it in a pot and reap its benefits.

**Don't you DARE use any kind of "butter substitute" for this. Only REAL BUTTER will do. Some things in life are just worth the calories, and rosemary butter on warm bread is one of them.

Recipe: No Knead Bread

Baking bread. It's so completely domestic and Aunt Bea-ish I can barely stand it. But, other than an occasional loaf of banana bread, I've never made any before. I mean, yeast? I didn't even know where to find yeast in the grocery store. And I prefer my arm workouts to come from the bicep curl machine at the gym, not kneading dough. I love a good crusty piece of bread as much as the next carb-loving girl, but baking bread myself was out of the question.

Until.

Until one of my high school English teachers (OK - he wasn't officially MY teacher, but I claim him just the same) introduced me to no-knead bread via his Facebook page. Apparently the New York Times ran a recipe several years back for no-knead bread, the Internet went crazy, Cooks Illustrated ran a version of the recipe and Max the Teacher expounded upon said recipe. So I asked him if I could share his version with all my fab readers and he was cool with it and wished me luck. Here ya go:

Max's No-Knead Bread
Ingredients:
3 cups all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon instant or rapid-rise yeast
1 tablespoon Kosher salt
7 ounces room temperature water
3 ounces beer (use fancy pants beer or Natty Light - either way. I used a Corona since Cinco de Mayo is coming up.)
1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar or white vinegar
1 tablespoon honey

Materials you'll need (that you might not have):
Parchment paper
skillet or cake pan
Dutch oven

Step 1: Whisk dry ingredients together. Add remaining wet ingredients and fold everything together with a rubber spatula until you have a ball of dough, like this:

Step 2: Cover bowl with plastic wrap and let it sit at room temperature for 4 to 18 hours.

Step 3: Get out your skillet or cake pan and line it with parchment paper (enough so there's plenty of paper on the sides to allow you to pick up the dough with the paper later). Spray the paper with Pam and plop your dough right down in there, like so:

Step 4: Cover loosly with plastic wrap, and let dough rise for 1 to 2 hours, or until it doesn't spring back when you poke it with your finger. Meanwhile...

Step 5: ...get your oven ready that beautiful dough. Position your rack to one of the two lowest positions, depending on how hot your oven gets, place your Dutch oven WITH lid inside and preheat to 500 degrees so the Dutch oven warms up with the oven.

Step 6: Your dough should have risen noticeably. Flour the top and add a little Kosher salt and cut a slit in the top so that it looks like the backside of a woman who hasn't been doing her lunges (sorry to be graphic, but it's important for you to have a good visual aide).

Step 7: Remove the Dutch oven, drop your dough down in it by holding the parchment paper, and recover with the lid. Reduce your oven temperature to 425 degrees and make covered for 30 minutes. Then remove the lid and bake uncovered for another 20-30 minutes until it's golden brown and your house smells like Heaven.

Step 8: Holy crap, you just made bread.

And, umm, it's GOOD. It's Heaven. Plus, your hands never touch the dough in this recipe. The outside is crunchy, the inside is soft - it's as European as it gets, and when you tell your friends you MADE that bread they're noshing on, they're not going to believe you. But then you're going to show them this blog and tell them how easy it was and you're going to be the hit of your already fabulous party.

Pretend I moved those skanky papers out of this picture. But look how fancy you can be when you bake your own bread! And you see that little dollop of goodness on the side of my plate there? That, kittens, is homemade rosemary butter, and I'll have the instructions for that tomorrow. But really - flavored butter or olive oil on warm homemade bread? That's what life's all about.

A BIG THANK YOU to my bud Max for sharing this recipe and being cool with me posting it to this blog.

Closet Envy and Tips

Ahh, the closet. Every girl's inner sanctum, where she transforms to her best self each day. There are some really great closets out there, and even though you may not have 400 square feet to dedicate to yours, you can get some hints from some of the biggest, fanciest closets on the internet.

I'm sure this is barely a quarter of Jessica Alba's closet, but take a tip from her and organize your shoes so that one faces out and one faces in. I do this in my closet, and it actually saves a lot of space and allows you to see what sort of heel height you're dealing with before you put them on.

Paris Hilton, always the ambassador of the understated, has a fantastic, fully mirrored closet. And while you and I might not be able to dedicate an entire bedroom to closet space or be able to see our reflection literally everywhere, we CAN organize our clothes like the heiress - she's got everything in color order, hanging on the same kind of hanger. This helps you avoid losing clothes you hang on wire hangers (remember: NO WIRE HANGERS!) and makes flipping through everything much easier.

See how neatly one of Oprah's minions folds her clothes? Using a folding board ensures everything is folded the same width, which makes stacking your foldables much easier and neater. Poor Oprah - let's hope she can find some work so she can afford a pair of shoes or two.

Nobody says your closet innards have to be white. Take a cue from Christina Aquilera and add some fun carpet (or a rug) and paint it a cheery color...

...or add some wallpaper like this closet from Domino. Wallpaper is expensive, but you only need a little to give your closet a pop of color.

Kim Cattrall shows us that your closet doesn't have to be huge to be functional. Add a chest or dresser in even a narrow closet to free up space in your bedroom and give you extra storage for things you don't wear often. And her stool is great for putting on shoes.

Another nice closet accessory is having someone around to bust through a wall and create the closet of literally everyone's dreams, ala Mr. Big. Oh to have the closet in real estate heaven.