Summer, Where did you go?

This summer has flown by! I have filled almost every weekend with fun! Here is my summer in numbers: 

1 weekend with NO Plans

2 weddings

3 weeks at Barstow

4 road trips 

5 states visited

6 flights

7 books read

8 Hochevar's at the lake

9 crazy ladies in Vegas

10 more days till I go back to work to cram anything else in! 

11 weeks of fun, sun, family & friends! 

12 kinds of veggies in my garden

Here are a few of my favorite pictures! 

I'm taking a short blogging break to get caught up! Be ready for some back to school posts soon! 

Boston- tracing a photo with the Silhouette

My friend Ashley loves her dogs! Her dog Boston passed away a few months ago and it was really hard for her.  She is expecting a baby girl in October, and decorating her little girls room in yellow, and Boston Terriers.  I thought baby T needed a Boston onesie. 

 I looked for a good picture on the Silhouette store, and online, but couldn't find one I liked. So I decided to make my own!

 This was a first for me! 

                              

First I imported a picture of Boston into the program. Then I used the tools on the right to trace the picture. I used the line tools and the closed shape tools (the ones that look like an hourglass). 

Then, once I had an outline that I liked. I cut it with the Silhouette using heat transfer vinyl. I added a cute little red heart to give it some extra love! 

I know she is going to love this! 

Bruschetta with Grape Tomatoes

My grape tomatoes are going crazy right now! I pick about 20 a day! That adds up! I made this quick and easy Bruschetta. 

Ingredients:

1 pint of grape tomatoes, halved 

2 cloves garlic, minced

16 basil leaves, chopped

2 T chopped red onion

2 T olive oil 

1 T balsamic vinegar

Salt & pepper to taste

Directions:

Heat the olive oil in a pan and add minced garlic. Cook for 1-2 min, or until garlic is slightly golden. Let cool. 

Mix tomatoes, basil, salt, pepper, onion, and balsamic together. Add garlic once it has cooled. Allow to sit for at least 30 min before serving. 

Serve with toast or crackers. 

Ryder the Fighter

Ryder is a special little baby that was born at 26 weeks weighing in at 1.8 pounds!! Ryder's Mommy Cristina is a friend of mine.  His parents have been calling him Ryder the Fighter, so of course I had to make him a onesie with that on it! Because the onesies come in packs of 4, I had to make him a few! Preemie clothes is hard to find! 

Ryder has a lot of battles ahead of him, so keep him in your thoughts and prayers! I hope that soon he will be sporting the "NICU Graduate" outfit! 

Follow his story at https://www.facebook.com/RyderTheFighter

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Pinterest Projects & Adorable Accessories Class

Last week I had the opportunity to teach Pinterest Projects & Adorable Accessories to 4th-8th grade girls at Summer at Barstow. We had a lot of fun! Here is some of what we accomplished! 

Paint Chip Art


Tote bags- We sewed the whole thing! 

Dots and lines dandelion canvas paintings

Yarn wrapped wreaths-- The molds were pool noodles! 

Jewelry picture frames with felt flowers

No-slip headbands

Plywood signs with the Silhouette

Another version of the wreaths

Dollar Store Plates & Sharpies

T-shirt bags

Coaster Post-it holders

Bacon Wrapped Serrano Peppers

The Serrano peppers are going crazy in my garden. You can only make so much guacamole, so I did a little Pinterest search and found this 2 ingredient snack!

Cut the bacon in half, and wrap around the peppers.

Bacon & Serrano Peppers! 

We threw them on a skewer and threw it on the grill until the bacon was cooked.  They were yummy, but SPICY! 

This whole spread was the result of a neighborhood pot luck. We were all hungry, so we went to our fridges and brought back something. Pretty darn good! 

Tomato Basil Mozzarella Sandwich- Paris style!

I have a feeling that I will be having a lot of these sandies with the amount of tomatoes and basil I am growing! They are a great light sandwich, that takes me back to my days in Italy and France!

In 2005, I traveled to Italy and France for a study abroad program. One day we decided we wanted to have a picnic under the Eiffel Tower. So we went to the local market and bought tomatoes, mozzarella, and baguettes.  We took the train to the Eiffel tower, and set up camp! We were ready to eat. However, we did not think that we would need a knife. So we got resourceful, and used a credit card! I sure hope we cleaned it really well first! :) As you can tell, Cody was very proud of himself!

This was one of my most memorable nights on the whole trip! 

"It's All Coming Back To Me!"

 Ingredients: 

Ciabatta bread, fresh mozzarella, fresh tomato, fresh basil, and sandwich sprinkle.

 Directions: 

Drizzle olive oil on the bread and toast for a few minutes.
Add fresh slices of cheese.

Add tomatoes, basil, and some sandwich sprinkle.

Press on panini press and enjoy! 

Growing Garden!

I love my garden! I love seeing it grow, but most of all I love harvesting fresh veggies from it! If you remember a while back, this is what it looked like. It's amazing how different it can be each summer. Last summer was so hot. I had about 2 weeks where I got a ton of stuff, then it died and was eaten by bugs! 

I am growing: lettuce, strawberries, potatoes, tomatoes, cucumbers, zucchini, squash, basil, serranno peppers, jalapeno peppers, and Poblano peppers in my raised beds/fenced area. 

This is what happens to green onions, if you let them grow!

This year, I splurged, and bought grafted tomatoes, SO worth it!
They are producing like crazy!

My tomato plants are as tall as me! 

Love picking a sweet treat, grape tomatoes

Zucchini

Bush cucumbers

potatoes!

Serrano Peppers