Thursday Night Unwind

This is Florence and the Machine. This is the one artist I obsessed over for the entire 2011 year. And guess what, I can obsess over her music for 2012 as well since she just came out with a new album called Ceremonials. The song above is from her first album called Lungs. This particular song is called You've Got The Love. I love it because anytime I'm frustrated or angry at life I listen to that and realize no matter what, I can make it through this because I'm surrounded by love. So I thought since we are about to head into a new year I'd share this song first to hopefully help inspire you to look for the love in your life.

Now, if you are interested in more of her music, read on after the jump and you'll be taken to 2 more music videos!

DIY: Fire Starters

This is a simple and cheap gift idea for anyone with a fire place or outdoor fire pit. I made a bunch of these for the people I know with fireplaces. I was nervous since I don't have a fireplace to test them out, I didn't know if they would work until Christmas Eve! And yes, they do work! They are very easy to make and also very quick to make a bunch of them.

All you need is:
News paper
Lint from your dryer
Hemp
Pine cones

Optional:
Dried herbs (I used dried orange peel & whole cloves)

Christmas Wind Up!

Since Christmas is literally around the corner, I thought it'd be nice to do the Thursday Night Unwind featuring Christmas music! My favorite tunes of course. And no, they aren't your traditional Christmas songs because that's not how I roll! I'm really excited for Christmas to be over so I can share with you all the homemade gifts I made this year. However, since most of my friends and family view my blog it would ruin the surprise for them if I posted it now. So you'll need to be patient! On to the Christmas music!

Let's start out with some Charlie Brown music.

Knitting Pattern: Basketweave Cowl

This is the first knitting pattern I have created! And it's an easy one. Even if you are just learning to knit you can knit this. Why? Because it's fast so you don't get bored. It uses big needles which makes it easy to learn to knit. Kind of how when you were learning to write you used a big pencil. It uses 2 balls of thick yarn. And it teaches you the 2 basic stitches and how to knit in the round. The other bonus? I'm including videos of how to do each stitch in case you need it. These aren't my videos, but they are good videos!

What You'll Need:
Size 13 circular needles in a length of 29"
2 balls (or 218 yds) of a bulky 12 ply yarn. I used Loops & Thread Charisma in a charcoal. You can even use an extra bulky yarn if you want it to be really thick.
A stitch marker

What you need to know: (click on the links if you need a video to show you how)
Long tail cast on
Join in circle
Knit
Purl (continental) Purl (throwing)
How to add another ball of yarn
Bind off
How to weave in the ends

Merry Christmas!

Merry soon to be Christmas everyone! It's a busy holiday season for me trying to get all the presents wrapped/made/bought. So until after Christmas, when things die down, I will return to posting on this blog. I have a lot of new projects lined up for all of you and some new recipes to try. I've got some knitting patterns in the works and plenty of new music for you to hear.

To sum up my pre-Christmas posting, here are the links to the tutorials for everything on my tree!
Glitter Ornaments
Shimmering Paper Ball Ornaments
Wood Bead Ornaments
Wine Cork Garland
Shimmering Paper Star Tree Topper

DIY: Shimmering Paper Ball Ornaments

After all my ornament making, my tree was still a bit barren. So I had one more ornament to make to help make it complete! I used the same non breakable ornaments since I have cats who just can't resist a ball on a tree.

What you'll need:

Ornaments

Hemp

Glitter

Mod Podge

Book Paper

DIY: Glitter Ornaments

Since I'm going all Martha Stewart on my Christmas tree I decided that I needed some ornaments to help tie in my tree topper. Now, I have cats, so that means I have to have non breakable ornaments, because you just never know when the tree will be turned into a jungle gym. I don't know if you've ever seen a non breakable ornament, but they are pretty simple and cheap looking. Definitely not the look I'm going for. So needless to say my cheap ornaments needed a face lift.

Here's what you'll need to get started:

Ornaments

Hemp

Glitter

Mod Podge

DIY: Shimmering Paper Star Tree Topper

Since I made everything for my tree, I decided that I needed to make the tree topper as well. This was fairly simple to make once I got the technique down and learned how to hold my hot glue gun without gluing me.

This is a very time consuming project so patience is mandatory! Find your zen! Also, you will have glitter EVERYWHERE. There is just no getting around that. 

What you'll need:
Mod Podge
Glitter
Hot Glue Gun
3D Cardboard/Paper Star
A Knife
Book Pages

Thursday Night Unwind

We have made it to another Thursday! And not to mention we are getting closer and closer to Christmas! I actually took tomorrow off so I have more of a weekend to finish up some Christmas presents. So I'm spending my evening watching some Doctor Who, and drinking a dirty martini. By the way, making a dirty martini is super simple. here, check out this video if you feel like indulging:

Yum! But onto the music now that you've got your drinks (or are dreaming of one). Tonight I'm going to share a new indulgence with you. A band I recently stumble across called iron & Wine. They are pretty chill, so they go great with a martini. First up is their song called  Boy with a Coin:

Recipe: Chocolate Chip Bacon Cookies

So this is the time of year for baking, and you know what my favorite thing to bake is? Chocolate Chip Cookies. However, lately I noticed that my chocolate chip cookies were missing something. You know what they were missing? BACON. You just have to trust me on this one and dive in and try them.These cookies are really soft, and to tell you the truth, if you are scared of the bacon you can leave it out, although I wouldn't recommend it!

Chocolate Chip Bacon Cookies

Ingredients: 

4 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking soda

2 cups butter, softened

1 1/2 cups packed brown sugar (for the cookies)
2 cups brown sugar (for the bacon)

1/2 cup white sugar

2 (3.4 ounce) packages instant vanilla

pudding mix

4 eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

4 cups semisweet chocolate chips

2 packages worth of caramelized bacon (see directions below) (also, when I made these with the bacon I only used one package of bacon, still good, but it totally needed more bacon. Two packages worth should be perfect!)

Recipe: Green Smoothies

Recently I have acquired a single serving blender for making smoothies. This morning I was inspired to use it seeing as I'm up way earlier than I should be. If you want to know more about green smoothies and their health benefits you should check out http://greensmoothiesblog.com/. This lady has a lot of valuable information as well as tons of recipes! Making a green smoothie is really simple. It's basically greens + fruit!
Here's what I made this morning:

Recipe: Zuppa Toscana Soup

Do you like the Olive gardens never ending soup, salad, and bread stick days? I do! And you know what soup I always order? The Zuppa Toscana Soup. and you know what else? I know how to make a version of it that is just as good as what you get at Olive Garden. So I'm going to share it with you!

Ingredients:

• 2 bunches Kale, Picked Over, Cleaned, And Torn Into Bite Sized Pieces
• 12 whole Red Potatoes, Sliced Thin
• 1 whole Onion, Chopped
• 1-1/2 pound Italian Sausage
• 1/2 teaspoon Red Pepper Flakes (more To Taste)
• 2 cups Low Sodium Chicken Broth
• 2 cups Whole Milk
• 4 cups Half-and-half
• Splash Of Heavy Cream
• Fresh Or Dried Oregano 
• Black Pepper To Taste

Thursday Night Unwind

Oh yes! We've made it to Thursday again! And as usual I have an action packed weekend planned. First on the list is after work. I'm going to a bar with some coworkers called The Lazy Oaf Cafe. I've never been there before, so it should be a good time. After that I'm going to the Crossroads Coffee House to see a friend's dad's band play. Then of course there will be some crafting and good food as well throughout the weekend. good times indeed. First step is to get through tomorrow at work... actually, that's the 2nd thing. First thing is to get to sleep tonight. So I think it's time to unwind! Up for tonight is a band that isn't as good recorded as they are live. Cause lets face it, you don't like The Flaming Lips because they have an amazing singer... you like them because they put on an AMAZING live show!

The first time I heard of the Flaming Lips, I was at a live concert thrown by Southern Comfort. I was there for the band that came on before them, so I was already up front & center. Then the band I went to see got off the stage and the Flaming Lips started. I was gonna walk away... but I'm soooooooooooo glad I didn't!

First up we have their song called the Yeah Yeah Yeah song... live (of course) :) Enjoy!!!!