This week’s Flavors to Follow is inspired by a sweets calendar I won on love ardently’s first giveaway! Each month is illustrated by 12 delightful desserts, cakes, candies, or pretty much anything sweet!  It’s packaged in a protective acrylic jewel case, which also functions as an easel stand, and also wrapped in a clear cello sleeve.  It’s a perfect addition to my work desk.    Here’s a peak at the monthly illustrations… so very very cute!

And here are my “sweet” finds for this week!

craft: paper candy gift topper on nice package found on creature comforts
decorate: candy colored dining chairs on down and out chic
eat: olympic cupcakes on poppytalk
wear: petit plat earrings on blush!nk
wed: enjoy cupcakes mobile cupcakery shot by jose villa and seen on style me pretty
inspire: ice cream found on design crush
see: frozen yogurt on i art u
sew: paperchase oven mitt on print & pattern

And speaking of giveaways, don’t forget to check back Monday as I will be hosting

MY FIRST GIVEAWAY

of some handmade items made by my talented friend!  I’ll give you a hint…

jewels, gems, and whimsical delights

Have a delectable weekend!  xo

Back at my recent girl’s craft night outing, my friend Amy, who owns Pura Vida Nutrition, made this awesome Greek Quinoa and Avocado Salad for us and I just had to try it for myself again.  I’ve had quinoa once before in a restaurant and then this salad and that’s about it.  A now for a little history lesson, quinoa is a small seed that has been cultivated in South America for thousands of years.  They consist of all eight amino acids, are packed full of protein and are perfect for a gluten-free diet.  It also provides fiber, iron, magnesium, calcium and vitamins A and E.  I’d say the texture of it is similar to couscous and a little bit crunchier than rice.  It has a slight nutty flavor and blends well with lots of other foods.  Quinoa can be found at most health food stores and Costco (that’s where I got this big bag shown above).  Oh, how I heart Costco.    OK sorry for my little Costco plug there.  Moving along, as you read this, I bet some of you are pronouncing this as “Q-Noa” in your head, don’t worry that’s what my husband called it the first time…and I kind of accidentally scolded him for it and he won’t let me live it down (sorry babe!),  but the actual pronunciation is “Keen-Wa”.  And now I bring to you this delicious and healthy recipe using quinoa.

Ingredients

• ½ cup uncooked quinoa
• 1 cup water
• 2 Roma tomatoes, seeded and chopped (I cheated and used canned)
• ½ cup shredded fresh spinach
• 1/4 cup finely chopped red onion
• 2 tablespoons lemon juice
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• ½ teaspoon salt
• Spinach leaves
• 2 avocados, pitted, peeled, and sliced
• 1/3 cup crumbled feta cheese

Directions

1. Bring quinoa and water to a boil in a small saucepan. Reduce heat; cover and
simmer for 15 minutes, or until liquid is absorbed.
2. In a medium bowl, stir together slightly cooled quinoa, tomatoes, spinach, and
onion.
3. In a small bowl, whisk together lemon juice, oil, and salt. Mix with quinoa.
4. Place spinach on plates with avocado slices and quinoa. Sprinkle with feta.

Here’s a little before/after for you.
On the left we have uncooked quinoa and on the right we have cooked quinoa.

Mmmm and here’s our finished product.  I really think the avocado and feta cheese make this dish stand out so please, I beg of you, do not skimp on these ingredients!  Enjoy, and have a lovely day!

When my friend Sheena first told me that she bought a $9 table from Target only to be refinished and redesigned, I squealed with joy and asked her to take pictures of the process so I could share it with you all.  And I am so happy she did!

Her first step was to give the demode wooden table some new life with a bright white color transformation.  The easiest way to do this is with some trusty ole spray paint!

Here are the materials she used for the main feature of the table:

• Victorian Baroque Wall and Floor Stencil from Hobby Lobby
• Elmer’s Multi-Purpose Spray Adhesive
• Colored Acrylic Paint
• Clear Acrylic Gloss
• Paintbrushes

And here we go!  Cover bottom of the stencil with the spray adhesive.  Set your stencil down on the table (I think this would probably be the hardest part for me b/c you have to make sure it’s lined up properly)!

Fill in the stencil with the desired colors.  I love how she decided to use green and black and carefully picked out which areas would be in those colors.  You can use a paintbrush, roller, sponge or rag for this part.

Tear off the stencil, spray on the clear acrylic gloss to finish it and TA DA!  Here we have a super cute side table which is totally a la mode! 

I could totally see this table in a room that has a black, white, grey and green color scheme.

1. better homes and gardens 2. apartment therapy 3. good housekeeping 4. great interior design

Great work and thanks for letting me share, Sheena!

So if you haven’t realize it yet, I’m not the most savvy person in photo editing. I’d love to learn how to use Photoshop but I feel like the only way I will really learn it is by taking a class! I find that’s the easiest way for me to learn anything these days… yes, I’m in my mid-20s but I still need hand holding. The extent of my photo editing knowledge has been Picasa editing, which consists of “I’m Feeling Lucky”, “Auto Contrast”, and “Auto Color”, oh, and cropping too! Lately, I’ve really been obsessed with all things vintage and that also includes photos! So for all of you photo editing handicapped individuals like myself, I have the perfect online tool to make your photos look vintage – Poladroid!

Remember back when we were kids , using Polaroid cameras and buying those huge film cartridges were the THING to do? This is back when digital cameras were super expensive and not something that was a part of every household like it is now. Polaroids were the only way to see how your pictures looked, instantly (well maybe after 2 minutes of shaking)! And the pictures generally were not the clearest of things, had a bit of yellow hue, and were dark around the edges. Well, I think this look is perfectly in line with what probably a Photoshop Action Set called “Vintage” would give you (but mind you, I am still Photoshop challenged). Anyhow, the Poladroid application can help recreate this look on any of your online photos. It is a program that you’ll need to download to your computer (don’t worry, it doesn’t take up a lot of memory). Basically all you have to do is drag and drop your photo onto the Polaroid camera image and then you wait for your photo to develop (takes approximately 3-4 minutes). They say you can “shake” it like a Polaroid picture as well which entails clicking on the image and moving your mouse around, but I’m not quite sure if this really speeds up the process or not. You can right click on the photo at any point during the processing time and click on “I want a sample now!” I really like this feature because I think some photos look more “vintage” when not fully developed. Also, the results will vary each time, creating random Polaroid like color variation. Perfectly imperfect.

Last Monday morning as I was on my way to Minneapolis for a business trip I took a picture while in the air. The sun really does come out every day… we just don’t always see it!

Here’s the original picture I took paired with the finished Polaroid look.

And here’s a look at how the photo developed, in approximately 30 second intervals. I’m kind of digging these last two pictures more than the finished one.

And while I was at it, I decided to Poladroid some other travel photos I’ve taken in the past couple of years. Many of these are the non fully developed photos because I thought they looked better that way.

St. Martin/St. Marteen
September 2008

My parent’s timeshare needed to be used by the end of the year. My husband and I said, we’ll take it!

New York
October 2008

Lady Liberty doing her thing.

Bahamas Cruise
January 2009

Cruising is a biennual activity that my A.Crew friends and I like to do. Midnight chocolate buffet, yes please!

Amsterdam
January 2009

I did not stop at the Red Light.

Hong Kong / Taiwan
April 2009

Sightseeing, shopping, glamour shots, visiting old friends, eating, milk tea with mini bubbles.

California
April 2009

It was my last crazy, fun celebration of singledom!

Michigan
May 2009

This is the Museum in which I was wed. <3

Hawaii
May 2009

This is where we honeymooned. Oh how I wish I was back there now!

Italy
July 2009

Gelato, please come back to me!

Vancouver
September 2009

Oh how I miss the food.

London
November 2009

Was quite the 24 hour layover.

Egypt
November 2009

This was considered my second home last year and is the reason I have status on Delta. This is probably my favorite Poladroid out of all of them!

Pretty cool, huh?? Now you go try it!

Ever since I won “The Birds” print on This Lovely City, I’ve generated an insane obsession with these feathery, colorful creatures, nests, and birdcages.  They remind me daily to fly and aim higher with my blogging goals.  This past month and a half that I’ve been blogging have flown by and the blog has soared far past my original expectations.

sew: chirp pretty ditty apron on pretty ditty
wear: sharon clancy designs on lovely clusters
see: two 8×8 print giveaway on town above water – enter to win through 2/20/10
wed: birdcage centerpiece on stephanie williams photography
inspire: cathy nichols images on victoria bennett beyer
craft: nest craft and necklace on hostess blog
decorate: bride&wolfe’s timber cut silhouettes on my owl barn
eat (or drink): sweet little blue bird on a pale blue cup on sassy smolak

*click on links for the sources of these lovely inspirations

I just wanted to THANK each and every one of you from the bottom of my heart for reading my blog, leaving me sweet comments, and pushing me to keep on flying!  Have a chirpy weekend all!

P.S. YAY for feather fingers Evan Lysacek for taking home the Gold Medal in Men’s Figure Skating for U.S.A.!  Like what I did there?  His costume is perfect for this post!