Mindy Project Quiz!

I'm such a nerd.  My hubby was out of town and I made a bunch of quizzes on Buzzfeed.  The first one was "Which "The Mindy Project" Character is your Soulmate?" 

Source:  Fox

 And guess what?  It got promoted to the front page of Buzzfeed yesterday!  As of right now, it's gotten 206,139 views which I think is kind of amusing.  Who am I kidding, my inner nerd is FLIPPING OUT.  ACK!  What accolades do I get for such an accomplishment??  Nada.  Zip, zilch.  Pbbbt.  Notoriety for having a good quiz?  I'll take it!  If anyone from Buzzfeed wants to hire me, hit me up.  I'm the biggest pop culture junkie you'll ever meet.  Ok, maybe the 3rd biggest.

 Buzzfeed did change a few of my answers, but in retrospect, I guess I understand.  For example, my question was "Describe Yourself", and one of my answers was "I'm a caramel princess", a direct quote from last week's ep, "Caramel Princess Time".  But it was watered down to "I'm a princess".  I get it, Buzzfeed, I get it.

Anyway, take it, and if anyone is still reading this thing (since I haven't posted in like 2 years), comment and tell me who you got!

P.S.  I have a big post scheduled for tomorrow...waiting to see if I can offer a free download from someone.  I am gonna give this blogging thing another whirl.  

Crafty Valentimes

I go in spurts with my Valentine's craftiness.  Some years I've bought boxed Valentines, sometimes not.  I was pretty early this year in my planning.  Q (she's in second grade) picked these out from Pinterest:

They actually turned out pretty good!  Here are ours:

Here's what we did:  1.  Take string (I used white embroidery floss & pink/red baker's twine), cut 2 pieces into 6" length and tie in knot about 1/3 of the way down.  2.  Tape to box at longer end.  3.  Cut scrapbook paper (I used one pack of Target's Dollar Bin paper) down to box size (ours ended up being 3.5" x 8").  4.  Wrap paper around candy using tape to adhere on back.  5.  Print out labels.  6.  Cut & stick labels on front (side without tape seam).  7.  Attach Hershey kisses on to string using small heart stickers (tape would work too).  8.  On back or sides, write To and From info.

Here's another site that includes a printable and uses Reese's miniatures.  She includes a color printable which would be way easier, but I didn't want to use all that ink, and I liked the patterned paper.  I didn't want to do the Reese's because of nut allergies in my daughter's class.

Next will be V's daycare Valentines!  She wants to do heart-shaped crayons.  I've been furiously scouring the crayon bins for broken crayons to melt down, and I don't know as if I have enough.  We may have to go with Plan B.

Averting a Pinterest Fail

How is your 2013 so far?  Did you have any fun New Years Eve plans?  We have been lazing around the house with the girls for the last two days reading new books, watching fluffy movies, and playing card games with the girls.  It's been lovely!  Oh, and eating.  My husband has decided that he is really into cooking lately (which is great for me!).  He made a whole mess of appetizers, my favorite being parmesan puffs (mmm  fried!), fontina fondue (with green apple was best), and bacon wrapped dates filled with goat cheese.  YUMZ.  Last week, he made Moroccan Chicken with Lemons & Olives, and it turned out very good!

We've been so lucky to have great neighbors on our old street AND our new street (which is right around the corner from where we used to live).  Our neighbors across the street brought over wine & two little stuffed bears for the girls the day after Christmas.  I decided I wanted to make some cute Pinterest New Year's Eve cupcakes for them.  Here are what they were supposed to look like:

Here is what the clock faces looked like after simply following their instructions (not good):

Those Wilton food writers they say to use?  They don't work.  At all.  Maybe they would work better on fondant, but they do NOT work on Oreo cream.  And they were expensive too. 

First off, you need to use a sharp knife to cut off the top layer of cream & Oreo crumbs.  Good thing I bought Double Stuff!  Luckily, I am a huge hoarder of sprinkles & baking products in general.  I pulled out my bottle of Halloween sprinkles containing confetti & tiny nonpareil sprinkles & pulled out all the black ones.  Then I sent hubby out in the snow to a candy shop to get black licorice strings (I'm not that mean-- he had other stuff to get, and it was on the way to the grocery store). 

Here's what I ended up with!  Did not nail it, but not exactly a Pinterest disaster either.  Give-worthy I'd say.

And here are the little labels I made to attach to the top of the cupcake box:

Feel free to use.  You can save these at the original size then paste them into a Word doc or otherwise.  Print out on cardstock or full sheet label sheets and attach to hostess gift bags, boxes of treats, wine bottles, etc., and I left a place to sign your name!  Voila.

Q's Bedroom & Marvin's Marvelous Mechanical Museum

We took the girls to Marvin's Marvelous Mechanical Museum. It reminds me of some cool place that Heidi might find and explore with her kids. It is literally 20 minutes from my house, and I had no idea that it existed.

It's a zillion old timey coin-operated machines-- some from the early 1900s and some from Coney Island. There are some newer games like Dance Dance Revolution and such, but of course, I was loving the oldies. And there were some CREEEEPY machines! I could not talk Q into having her bday party there in November. Booooo. Their favorite was the very realistic-looking dude who pukes. I know it's only fake puke (it's some sort of brown liquid), but I can only imagine how nasty the inside of that machine smells. Ew...now THAT creeped me out big time.

Here are some of my favorite pics:





And a video of Wally & Wanda, the Polka Babies:

Besides that, I completed my first Craigslist transaction!!! I got this super pretty French Provincial nightstand for $20 (!), and it's wanting a beautiful coat of turquoise paint for Q's room (like this).


Speaking of, here is the design board for Q's room:


Inspiration was taken from Lay Baby Lay's Little Girl Wonder inspiration board! I couldn't work the peach in there properly and Q wasn't feeling the peach anyway (she was allllll about the purple-- I could barely get the teal in there at all). But I think it will be good. I am bummed that her forest-themed room is already defunct, but once we get the attic playroom finished, those items will be transferred up there.

Hope everyone's weekend was swell!

I'd Say I'm Due for a Bit of Ranting...

One great thing about my blog and Girl Land is that I don't really rely on either for making a living. It's always simply been a hobby that if I happened to make money from, it's simply a bonus. That's a segue into justification for my complaint of the day...

Have any of you ever watched Cash and Cari on HGTV? For various reasons, I've never been a fan. But definitely not now. Yesterday, at my place of employment, one of her producers thought it would be a great idea to bring their TV cameras in to have a "gotcha" moment with my fellow co-worker and friend, a great guy who does his job and does it WELL. They placed their estate sale signs illegally and the signs were taken. They came in to confront my friend because they apparently thought it would make for some great TV. You know what, Cash and Cari?? Maybe follow the rules like everyone else and read the ordinances and don't try to make people look stupid who are trying to make an honest living and don't have the luxury of being on TV. ARGH.

On a nicer note, I stumbled upon the cutest site the other day when I was looking for a couple fiberglass elementary school chairs for the new house called Bianca and Family!

The site is in French, but I'm thinking I may be able to muster up enough of my 6 years of French to maneuver around at least a little because I HAVE to have this metal cotton candy jar:

And these woodland animal paperboard suitcases:

And maybe even this wallpaper (I told you-- I'm on the precipice of caving in to wallpaper for the new house)!!!!


Le sigh. Thanks for bearing with me. :) The house is coming along. Framing starts next week. Yikes.

P.S. Although I'm not a C&C fan, I LOVE LOVE LOVE HGTV. Don't get me wrong. Sarah, Candice, Antonio, etc...I could watch them all day long.

CAKE TREASURY!

Maisey's Daisey's was sweet enough to feature Girl Land's Buttercream Love earrings in her cake treasury (I want some right now) and even sweeter let me know about it! This plus a very sweet email from a satisfied customer made my day a bit brighter. Especially after having a sick kid (at least we just found out she doesn't have mono...phew) and having my car break down and get towed today. This weekend can only get better, right?????!!!!

P.S. I want that Let Them Eat Cake necklace like stat...

Ready for Snowmageddon?

V has strep. I'm still in my PJs. Getting ready to be snowbound here in MI tomorrow. I have no energy. What the heck is wrong with me? Just realized I never posted a winner from the last contest. EMILY ANNE, since you were the only person in the U.S. to enter, YOU WIN! :) I don't have your email though and I can't get on your Blogger profile, so get me your mailing addy!

I have done a few tiny crafty things in the last few days. I've had these God awful looking ice cream parlor chairs for like 10 years. I covered them in this God awful looking sage toile circa 2001, and they are all dirty and faded, so I decided to recover them since I've been HGTV-obsessed lately what with getting our house ready to be put on the market and all.


Took me the longest to pry out the industrial staples I used when I recovered before. Bought some upholstery-weight crisp-looking gray and lemon modish dot at Joann's for cheap. I think I bought 2.5 yards, but I could have gotten away with 1.75 easily.


So here's what it looked like after I pulled the fabric off-- basically plywood with a foam cushion:


I placed the whole thing on the fabric and freehand cut a circle about 2" larger than the base:


Stretched and stapled as I went:



And voila! New chairs!



Probably could have used a new coat of spraypaint, but I like the distressed cream, and I don't do spraypaint in the winter.

Here's what we're doing for Valentines this year. For V who is pretty much the only girl in her daycare classroom, we're using this idea from Design Mom:



The jungle animals came from Michaels and were under $4 after my 40% off coupon (for 12). I had the cello bags, and I printed Design Mom's .pdf at 130% to have it fit the cello bags. My mother and I went back and forth with some good ones for the crocodile and camel (think 'You're a crock of sh&t Valentine!" and something about humping for the camel). Niiiiiice, right?

Here's Q's which came from Alissa of 24*7*365:


Cute, right? Beats the cruddy selection of boxed valentines anyway.

Hope you all get snowed in somewhere good as opposed to bad! xo

Jean Louise Finch & CONTEST

I have three favorite movies, two of which go together-- one of which does not: 28 Days Later (zombies), To Kill a Mockingbird & Patch of Blue. My favorite books are To Kill a Mockingbird, Geek Love (circus freaks) and The Help. I see a pattern here.

Mary Badham, who played Scout in the 1962 film, appeared last weekend at an old theater in Detroit-- the Redford Theatre. I was SO EXCITED to be able to meet her and get my book signed! Then Ryan and I watched the movie on the big screen which was incredible.


I tried to not get too emotional. I admit I had to choke back some tears when I talked to her. The book has been a favorite of mine, my mother's and my grandmother's for as long as I can remember. I remember watching the movie with my mom as a kid. I received my book copy when I was 15 years old. I cannot watch the movie without crying-- no matter how many times I see it. Needless to say, it will be an experience I will always remember.

A nice lead-in to MLK Day, I must say. I had to laugh when Q brought this home last week.

Isn't it awesome? And who thinks up this stuff? "Let's do a connect the dot that creates Martin Luther King's head!" She did a great job though. Although she said someone had the red crayon, so she had to color his lips purple.

Last but not least, I am cleaning, decluttering, and trashing a TON of stuff in my house getting ready for it to go on the market February 1. Did any of you put a comment in to win Grosgrain's Little Red Riding Hood jacket back in '08? Well, it's up for grabs again! Q wore it once or twice, I think. I think it's about a 3T-4T. I don't know if V will ever wear it, so I will choose a number at random on Friday night.

{photo courtesy of Grosgrain}

So cute, right?? Here's how to win (each method gives you one chance):

• Leave a comment here saying who will wear the jacket.
• Blog about it and leave another comment with a link to the post
• Tweet a link to this post; comment here and give me a link to your Twitter
  
• Become a public follower; comment here and tell me you did

Please only comment if you are within the Continental U.S. Be sure that you either leave an email or that any profile I can link on has your email in it so I can contact you if you win. Happy commenting! :)

Happy 2011!

Last night, I imbibed several "pointsettias" (aka cheap champagne and cranberry juice). We had a wonderful dinner of lobster tail and finger foods-- brie and pear phyllo purses, cheese, salami, bruschetta, crab cakes, potato skins and cocktail weenies. Mmm! We had movie night in (we rented Cyrus and Cache...) and will be living in our PJs for the next 24 to 48 hours. Bring on the laziness!

So I only did something mildly crafty this season. Got my inspiration from the awesome Ez of Creature Comforts and made up a gift wrapping package for my sister in law. I also included a roll of Snow & Graham wrapping paper and a few sheets of individual paper from Shine. Everything (besides the rolls, of course) were packed up in cello or glassine bags with Hobby Lobby scrapbook paper and tags. I thought up the color scheme from cute dollar bin stuff at Michaels-- aqua, yellow, red, black and orange!


Here's what I included:

1. Green mushroom refrigerator notepad (to jot down gift ideas or upcoming birthdays) from Target.
2. Glassine bag filled with round envelope seals. I made these with my Xyron sticker maker, Hobby Lobby scrapbook paper and two different sizes of round craft punches.
3. Paris gift tags I had in my stash. I pulled out the appropriate colors.
4. Some downloadable gift tags from Camilla Engman via Creature Comforts.
5. Post It Notes from Joanns.
6. Bakers twine in mint green/white and brown/white from The Cupcake Social's Etsy shop.
7. Binder clips from Michaels.
8. Decorative tape from Michaels.
9. Gray/yellow handled scissors (not pictured) from Target.
10. Scotch pop up tape dispenser, Target (not pictured).
11. Decorative paperboard suitcase, Land of Nod (and I have two more for myself!).
12. Five rolls of ribbon, Michaels.



Hope you all have a wonderful New Year's Day! Off to gets me some mimosa!

Catching Up...

This one's for my friend, Danielle, who said, "If I click on your blog one more time and see 'Happy Lemonade Day'..." :)

HELLO!!!!!!! HOW ARE YOU!!!! I'VE MISSED YOU ALL SO!!! As you all may have been able to tell, I am easily distracted and overwhelmed. This fall has been CRAZY. Lots of newness-- a new boss at work (with him, lots of new work), kindergarten, a 2.5 year old who FINALLY (after almost a year of speech therapy) has started talking a mile a minute (whoa and yay at the same time), and designing a NEW HOUSE.

So in the words of Glee, here's what you missed...

The first day of school:


Halloween (my girlfriend, Karen, made the pirate and Bo Peep costumes!):


My creepy Facebook profile pic (I love Picnik!):


A birthday (5!):


And yes, we are slightly nutty in that in this completely horrible awful economy, we are building a new house. It's actually right around the corner from our house now which is great because we are walking distance from downtown, we love most of our neighbors, and we love Q's school.

I never thought I would want to do this because "new house" in my mind means cookie cutter, no character, thin walls, brass fixtures, bleh houses. Then a house was built a street up from us. It's beautiful. Then I found out the builder was building on 8 vacant lots near our house. THEN I found out that the architect he works with regularly lives in my most favorite house of all of Royal Oak. It was kismet.

More later, but here are the exterior shots we gave our architect for inspiration. Straight outta the 1923 Sears & Roebuck kit home catalog. He loved it. A connection was made. :)



And I'm a DEXTER FANATIC!!!! I am seriously loving this season and Julia Stiles, and if I wasn't already done having kids, I'd name my next-born daughter Lumen. :)

Hope you all had a wonderful fall!!! Are you gearing up for Xmas? Let me know! Say hello! I'm sorry I'm such a stinky friend. I think of you all often. xoxoxoxo

Happy Lemonade Day!!!

That's right, today is National Lemonade Day. So hope you had a moment to sit in the sun and sip a tall glass. Here are a few lemon-inspired Etsy picks:

row one (L-R):
Lemon Cookies by Tickle My Tummy
Refrigerator Magnet by Defiant Damsel
Lemon Felt Favor Bag by woobiNwawa

row two (L-R):
Lemon Drop Cafe Half Apron by Sunday Afternoon
Shabby Lemonade Cards by The Paper Place
Fresh Squeezed Lemonade Bath Bombs by Bath Bomb Confections

row three (L-R):
Pink Lemonade Bunny Maryjanes by Em & Sprout
Lemonade Stand Print by Urban Pink Photography
Vintage Lemon Yellow Frosted Pitcher and Glass by Slo Fabulous

I prefer my lemonade with a splash of raspberry vodka and some mint leaves thrown in. Know what else I like with my lemonade? Chocolate chip cookies. I think it's because I have fond memories of swimming at a neighbor's pool then coming home to lay in the grass and eat chocolate chip cookies with lemonade. If you haven't tried it, I'd recommend it. The sour and almost-too-sweet tastes are heavenly together.

If you'd like to make a pitcher (there's still time to celebrate!), here are some lemonade recipes from Martha Stewart. I've always wanted to try the lavender lemonade. Maybe I will this weekend!

Happy weekending all! xo

Happy Belated Birthday to Me!

You all may remember how much I Luhuvvvvvv my birthday. This year I seemed to skip over it entirely in the Blogoverse! What the what??!!

I spent the day with my parents and Ryan and the girls at the Michigan State Children's Garden. I love it there. We walked around then we plunked a big blanket down in the grass by the gardens. The girls played bubbles while I opened up my gifts then we went to Dusty's Cellar for lunch. Absolutely perfect day.





I have to share with you some of the loot I received because it was all too perfect and Girl Land-esque.

From my hubby from my new favorite store in Royal Oak (that I've still never visited), Scout:
A lovely new Pare umbrella from mes parents:

A super duper cute book illustrated by my fave, Marc Boutavant (yes, I love receiving children's books as gifts and have a stash that is OFF LIMITS to the girls-- but this one I share):

More Scout loveliness. This time Shinzi Katoh!!! Sigh. I love how the translations area always a bit off:

I'd never read this book before. If you knew my Q, you would know why my mama chose it for me. I love this book so much!!!

Look how creepy cute!!!! GACK!!!!

Wrapping paper from hubby courtesy of Scout. How perfect is this? Wait, the perfection gets even better...


THE CARD.
...and it was.