New Blog

Ok. I have migrated over to wordpress and started a new blog. It is a lot easier for me as far as uploading pictures and I am even able to update it from my phone with my app, since blogger does not have one yet. I haven't really been able to update that blog yet because, yes, I am still very busy! But I do have a project going on right now with decorating my daughter's room a bit! I hope to have it done by the end of today!

Well, here is the link to my new blog as I will not be updating this one anymore! Thank you for following me!

A Day in Steph's Life

Busy Bee

I have to apologize that I haven't posted here in a long time! I think it's been at least a few weeks! But I've been terribly busy! I started school and work at the beginning of this month and trying to find any down time to post has been pretty tough.

"So how are you finding time to blog now?" you ask. Well, my hubby just left for a training on the ship for a week yesterday, and my parents came and picked up my daughter so they can watch her for two weeks. Yes I said it. Two WHOLE weeks. Yes. I am going crazy!!! I miss them both so much, but at the same time I really need to get myself on a proper schedule with school and work so that when my husband finally deploys I won't be so overwhelmed with everything.


I do have a few pictures I need to post up and a recipe that I have for you. I just haven't gotten around to doing it yet, but I plan on getting them up as soon as I can... I just have to figure out where I left my camera......

And since I'll have a little more free time on my hands this week and next week, hopefully I can sneak in a project or two that I can post up for you!

Well, just wanted to keep you updated blog world. Until next time (and hopefully that next time isn't a few weeks from now!).

-S

Flower Crazy!

My husband refuses to buy me flowers. He has not once bought me flowers ever since we started dating, but he has picked me flowers from the planters in front of restaurants (if you'd like to consider that cute or sweet. :P). Now, I'm not really the girly type who needs flowers all the time, but I do appreciate a beautiful bouquet every once in a while. I would love to come home one day to a vase filled with gorgeous flowers, or even have one delivered to my front door. It's just something about receiving flowers from your special someone that just makes you feel all good and tingly inside.

But anyway, back to the main point of it all. Like I said, my husband does not buy me flowers and I have been dying to have some sort of flower in my home! So, I came across this lovely wallflower tutorial that is literally super easy, super cheap, and super fun to make!

 I seriously couldn't stop at just making one...

 

I bought my paper napkins at the party aisle at Target. They conveniently have large and small napkins so you don't really have to trim down the center part of it.. I did make my flowers a bit fuller than the tutorial shows, but I sort of like it that way... except, the napkins were really fragile (and I might have a few tears here and there... SSSH! Don't tell anyone.) and accidents do happen with fragile stuff...

Now I have finally satisfied my urge to fill my house with beautiful flowers! At least I think they're beautiful... hubby isn't very fond of them (who wouldn't have guess that...). But hey! The bright side about my flowers are that they are vibrant, colorful, beautiful... and the very best part about them is that they wont die! Unless someone decides to be very mean and rip them into pieces. Ugh. That's just mean to do though, so lets hope that never happens!

Hope you enjoyed this and if you feel the need to create some of these.. go crazy and have fun like I did!

Oh, by the way... I made some very delish beef shish kabobs! I'm going to share the recipe with you, but I am so bummed that I didn't take any pictures of them first! Guess I'll just have to borrow one. Lol.. Unless you trust my judgement that these are really yummy! Just trust my judgement! ;)

Beef and Pineapple on a Skewer

• 1lb sirloin steak
• 1/4 cup soy sauce
• 2 teaspoons brown sugar
• 1 clove garlic clove, minced
•  1 teaspoon fresh ginger root grated
• 1 teaspoon peanut or sesame oil (I didn't have either so I skipped this part. Still came out yummy.)
• 1 cup pinapple, cut in cubes
• 1 green bell pepper
• 1 red bell pepper

Directions:

1. Cut the beef and bell peppers in bite sized cubes (about 3/4" x 3/4"). Mix the remaining ingredients, except pineapple and bell peppers (make sure bell peppers are clean of seeds and the stem). Marinate beef overnight, or for at least an hour (I forgot to prepare ahead of time so I probably only marinated for 15-20 min). Remove from marinade. Reserve marinade.
2. Thread meat on skewers, alternating between beef, pineapples, and bell peppers (my skewer was threaded this way from bottom to top: [green bell pepper, pineapple, beef, red bell pepper, pineapple, beef] x2). If you are using bamboo skewers, be sure to soak them in cold water for at least 20 minutes before using. Broil or barbeque until meat is cooked until desired doneness (I broiled mine for about 16 minutes since I'm cheap and don't own a grill.). Baste with reserved marinade while cooking. 

Hope the skewers taste just as good for you as they did for me!

-S

P.S. Btw, I used rubberbands to tie the center of my wallflowers. I thought they worked pretty well and they only cost about $.50 for a bag at Target. :)

Fabric!

Ok. So I'm superrr excited because I was able to go to Joann's today and buy fabric! After seeing the post on Made about Joann having a sale on their seersucker fabric, I was dying to buy some! Luckily, we needed to go to the city to pick up N's brother from the airport, so we left a little bit early so I can fulfill my wants and needs at Joann's! I wanted to hit up the thrift shops too to see if I could find any cheap goodies, but I took a little too long shopping. :P So here are the three fabrics I got for 50% off $6.99/yd!

I'm so excited to start sewing projects with these! Like a crib sheet for Nani's crib mattress...

 ...a dress for Nani, a shirt for me, or a skirt or shorts...

...or even a table topper. And I know I will definitely be using the scraps to make the no sew flowers!

But I seriously love the Made website! There are too many things she has on there that I want to make, and I am going to make them (at least, I'll attempt to. Lol). But seriously though... I really want to!

And to close this post off, I will leave you with a Nani photobomb. I put her in her new outfit we bought her for her birthday and she just looked so darned cute in it that I couldn't resist but take pictures of her! Enjoy!

I warned you. Photobomb!

-S

Chocolate Chip Cookies... Success or Fail?

I have to admit... I am on a blogging roll!!

Well, I finished baking my homemade chocolate chip cookies from scratch. All I have to say is, please do NOT be like me, misread the recipe, and melt 2 cups of butter when all you need is 3/4 cup of butter. Yeah. I totally did that, which in turn caused me to try and alter everything to make it work.....

You guessed it. Although the cookies are pretty tasty, I'm sure they would have turned out perfectly if I actually made them the way you're supposed to. But, to no further ado... here is the recipe!!

Chocolate Chip Cookies!!!

• 2 cups all purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 cup unsalted butter, melted
• 1 cup packed brown sugar
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 1 egg
• 1 egg yolk
• 2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C). No need to grease cookie sheet, the cookies should be able to come up on their own (but if you feel the need to, feel free to lightly grease or line cookie sheet with parchment paper).
2. Sift together the flour, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.
3. In a medium bowl, cream together the melted butter, brown sugar, and white sugar until well blended. Beat in the vanilla, egg, and egg yolk until light and creamy. Mix in the sifted ingredients until just blended. Stir in the chocolate chips with a wooden spoon. Set cookie dough in the refrigerator for about 30 min (you don't need to do this, but the cookies will come out better if you let them sit and chill for a bit). Drop cookie dough 1/4 cup at a time onto the prepared cookie sheets about 3 inches apart.
4. Bake for about 14-15 minutes, or until edges are lightly toasted. Cool on baking sheets for a few minutes and then transfer to cooling rack to cool completely.

The last batch of cookie dough waiting to be cooked!

The yummy cookies baking in 325 degree F oven!

The cookies cooling on a cooling rack!

The finished product!

Hope you enjoy, and I sure hope your cookies come our better than mine (I am NOT going to tell you my alterations, so don't ask! :P)

-S

Nani's First Birthday Photoshoot

Today is your lucky day... because I have two posts in a day! Lol. I'm on a roll...

But, I've been lagging and I finally finished editing Nani's 1st birthday picture photoshoot that I did a while back (before her birthday mind you. lol). So, although this is going to be a short post, here are her pictures! Enjoy!


-S

P.S. I'm baking homemade cookies from scratch and I totally messed up the recipe that I was using.. so i had to tweek it.. hopefully it works out.. and if it does.. I will post up pictures and the recipe for you!

Diaper Cover

Sooo... I finally finished making Nani's diaper cover from the left over fabric I had when I made her dress for New Year's. It was superr simple and I plan on making more for her (once I can find an easy way to obtain fabric since there are no fabric shops within a 20mi distance from me). Anyhoo, I tried it on her today and I think I need to make a few adjustments for it to fit her perfectly! The size I made was for 6-12 month old babies. It seems to fit her ok. I adjusted the elastic for the leg holes to 11 inches instead of 12 inches and I should have probably adjusted the elastic for the waist as well since she has a tiny waist! Or maybe I should just try to make the size for 3-6 month babies. Lol. Trial and error I guess. I still have extra fabric, but I was hoping to make a crochet needle case out of it.. Don't think I have enough fabric for that though...

Anyway, here are the pictures of my very first diaper cover! You can find the tutorial and pattern here! Enjoy!