Meatless Monday // Asparagus

Guess what is in season, Asparagus!  I love asparagus but I had never cooked it before so I decided to just attempt a really easy side. 

Ingredients: 

asparagus

extra virgin olive oil

kosher or sea salt

Parmesan cheese 

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

Wash the asparagus. Bend each stalk so the tough ends break off. Discard the ends.

Place the spears on the baking pan in a single layer.

Drizzle asparagus with olive oil, roll the spears around so all are coated. Sprinkle with salt and Parmesan cheese. 

Roast for 8-10 minutes depending on how thick the spears are.

I served them as a side with some veggie paninis for a quick easy lunch and it was a hit! 

Happy Earth Day!

Use a reusable shopping bag, learn how to make a cute one here! 

Re-purpose glass jars and tins to store bulk food items in. 

Use a reusable glass bottle for water.

Walk or ride you bike, not only is this good for the environment its good for you too! 

Collect the cold water while your shower heats up, then use it to water your plants! 

Get off junk mail lists. GreenDimes can get you started. They’ll even plant a tree for you!

Buy locally. Find farmers’ markets, family farms, and other sources of sustainably grown food near you at LocalHarvest.

1.Sunflowers Girl  2.Tea Tins  3.Mason Jar  4.Audrey  5.Bucket  6.Envelopes  7.Farmers Market Print

Tricking Birds

We started our little garden a few weeks ago and i'm really crossing my fingers that I can not only keep it alive but get some fruits and vegetables out of it! 

So I read the trick that if you paint rocks to look like strawberries the birds will peck at them and then when you have real strawberries they will leave them alone because they will think they are rocks! 

I am testing this out in my little strawberry pot, we will see if it works, if not at least it looks cute.

(I like that we have so many advances in technology but we still have to make scarecrows and paint rocks to trick birds into not eating our food.)

Candy

Roman Coppola, Wes Anderson, and Lea Seydoux (who I wouldn't mind being) got together and made these cute little commercials for Prada's new fragrance Candy. Its like watching a french movie but none of the main characters die*! 

*I love foreign movies especially French ones, but seriously they have no problem killing main characters, its very hard on me. They make up for it though with their overly dramatic love. American love movies are way to realistic and logical. We need to get more into the mentality of "I will kill myself because I love you and you don't love me back" because healthy relationships are so last year. 

Critter Dress

Today I did a charity fashion show for the Daily Harold newspaper and Turning Point. It was and event that was for about 150 women from the Utah County Chamber of Commerce. I tried to look professional by wearing a blazer but I think I canceled it out by wearing a dress printed with woodland animals that realistically carry rabies.

I ran up six flights of stairs all day in heels dragging an overly full clothing rack so I got super sweaty which was really cute, but none of the models fell or exposed themselves, the only two criteria that need to be met for me to consider a fashion show a success. 

Real Beauty

This has been circulating around the internet the past couple of days, but I just love it two much not to share. 

Heres my little rant: It is not a sign of vanity to love yourself it should be encouraged. In our society too many beautiful people inside and out feel just the opposite. We need to love ourselves because it is contagious and gives other women permission to do the same. There is no one kind of beauty (although sometimes it can feel that way) and thank goodness because if everyone looked the same I would be so bored, and all of the curve loving men in the world would be seriously pissed. 

I love this little clip of Eve Ensler creator of the vagina monologues*, Communicating loving ourselves in a more entertaining and succinct way than I ever could:

* if you haven't been to the Vagina Monologues it is a must see,  look to see if V-Day happens in your city, because nothing makes you happier your a woman. 


Unfortunately men are less attractive than they think... 

Sweet Potato Stamps

Earth day is coming up so here is a little project that makes 'going green' a little more fun. 

I have been looking for cool reusable shopping bags for a long time and It is really hard to find any that are cute and not super expensive so I decided to make my own, well print my own using a hand carved stamp. 

What you will need:

Canvas Tote Bag

Sweet Potato 

Paint

Paint Brush

Pencil

Sharp Kitchen Knife / Exacto knife

Cut a sweet potato in half long ways ( try to keep it as straight as possible so that the stamp will transfer evenly)

With a sharp pencil draw out what you would like your stamp to be, I chose an arrow because it is simple, but if your design is a bit more complicated or you don't trust your drawing skills you can always trace an image. 

Trace your drawing with an exacto knife making sure to cut straight down 

Then score out from the design making cuts that extend from your design out to the edge of the potato straight down into the pros. 

After you have finished scoring take a sharp kitchen knife and shave off a layer of potato all the way around your design. The scores you made will help a ton because you can cut around your design in small manageable pieces. 

Once you have removed all of the excess potato around your design, with the exact knife, you can go in and add extra details and smooth edges. 

When you stamp is complete take some paint and with a brush paint it onto the raised part of your stamp. I recommend doing a few practice stamps on some scrap paper to make sure that it looks how you want and how much pressure to apply. 

Then stamp away!