Welcome, October!

  October got off to a bit of a rough start (a toddler who couldn't sleep because of a bad dream....something about someone taking his muffin....sounds awful ; )  But it was nothing that a Pumpkin Spice Latte (the first of the season) couldn't fix.

 That, and a sushi lunch date with Daniel. Things are looking up now : )

I'm working on a list of fun goals for this month. After all, this is MY month. And it's going to be awesome : )

Arian

Vintage Striped Dress

The little Armstrong boys and I made a brief trip to my grandpa's house yesterday to say hello and spend a little bit of quality Labor Day time with more family. Since Granny passed away and the sorting of her belongings began, I rarely return home from a trip to their house empty-handed. There are always boxes to sift through and vintage treasures to be discovered. Last night I came home with this dress.

It's comfy and sweet and still smells like their house (that's a good thing).

Working on a new print today based on a line from a Sky Sailing song that runs through my head a lot these days...just haven't been able to get a good visual representation of it on paper yet. It'll probably be a free download when I'm done, though, so be sure to check back. And I'll give away a signed one too.

Chocolate-covered strawberries....Hudson's contribution to last night's potluck. So good.

Well, time to pick Hudson up from school so I'm off to test this dress's bike-riding capabilities : )

Arian : )

Brought To You By Green, Orange, and Omega

While purchasing this 25lb bag of organic carrots at the grocery.....

Guy in produce section as he rushes over to help me wrangle the bag into my cart: WHOA! Let me help you with that! Shew!
Guy near deli counter: WHOA! Getting the BULK bag, I see!
Me: Yep, just got a juicer. Gonna juice some carrots.
Lady at register: WHOA! I didn't know we sold a bag that BIG! Do you have HORSES?!
Me: No, a juicer. They're for juicing.
Boy bagging groceries: WHOA! I've never seen so many carrots!
Me: Yep, yep... it's a lot of carrots.
...tap on my shoulder...
Lady behind me in line: Excuse me, but do you have horses?....

Nope, no horses, just a sweet new JUICER!! It's our new bundle of joy and we're happy to welcome it home. We've been going juice crazy around here and are having fun coming up with all sorts of combos. Daniel's fav-- spinach, celery, apple. Hudson's fav-- orange, pineapple, carbonated water. Jude's fav--he'll eat/drink anything. And as soon as he hears the juicer humming, he "runs" into the kitchen to help. My fav?-- I just love seeing my boys getting excited about fruits and veggies and seeing our fridge stocked full of produce. I'm also a fan of fresh grapefruit juice, carrot/apple juice, and the melon/cucumber combo. Fun stuff!!


We also just finished our first round of alfalfa sprouts grown in our new sprouter. It's way easy and fun to watch them grow every day. We've been tossing them into wraps, salads, sushi, even the boys' mac & cheese at lunch today.



Green is sprouting up everywhere! Our kitchen is currently incubating dozens of tomato seedlings and a small selection of herbs. It's going to be a good summer for home-grown food!

How 'bout you guys? Do you have any garden plans this summer?

Arian : )

(more fun with green and orange here)

The Happy Janssens

I can't remember how I first came across the lovely and talented Sara Janssen. Maybe it was the Apartment Therapy house tour of their RV or perhaps it was while looking for raw food recipes. Or it could have been through her Etsy store...or maaaaaybe it was her flickr page. Who knows, she's everywhere!! But I'm just glad I did!

Her family's new travel blog just went live and features the little banner illustration I did for her. I was happy to be able to make a small contribution to the Janssens' efforts of spreading their healthy-living, healthy-planet, "smaller is better" message all across the country. I love her "Walk Slowly, Live Wildly" philosophy on life and she definitely has inspired me over the past couple years since I've been follow her blogs.

Hopefully their travels will bring them to the Cincinnati area some day and we'll get to meet in person!

So if you haven't already, set aside a couple hours and explore all of Sara's links. You will definitely be inspired!!

Resolutions

I don't really make concrete New Years resolutions. But like most of you, I'm taking these first few weeks of the New Year to regroup, reorganize, re-evaluate, and several other re's. After December's busy schedule, late nights, and less than ideal food choices literally made me sick, I'm setting work boundaries and making good health a priority again. Yay for sleep, yay for fun veggie recipes, yay for getting to watch HGTV while working out!

Today has been all about cleaning, reorganizing, and researching raw/vegan food recipes. I don't intend to go fully raw or vegan, but I LOVE finding new ways to prepare vegetables, fruits, grains, nuts, etc. And the more processed or animal-based foods we can replace with vegetables, the better!!

So here's a little raw food inspiration! (Many are from the lovely Sara)

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Take care of yourselves! Have fun! Rest well! And fuel your body with good food!

Arian : )

Night Owls

It's 2am (yep, A.M.) here in the Armstrong household yet the house is abuzz with "Thanksmas" preparations. The lights are bright and warm and the whole place smells like chocolate and cinnamon.
One Armstrong is baking apple pies.
One is sketching by the light of the Christmas tree
One is making truffles.
Another is finishing up some Thanksmas (Christmas at Thanksgiving) presents.
And I am taking in the sights and smells and the faces...
...and crafting. I just made this little winter hat ornament. It's so easy and fast. If you can tie a knot, you can make this. I'll show you how soon!

Happy Thanksgiving!! And if you're not from the U.S., no worries, you're welcome to spend time with family, over eat, and count your blessings too! : )

Night,

Arian : )

A Quiet Afternoon...

...practicing his alphabet sitting on the high chair my mom and her sister used growing up and in front of the hoosier cabinet my grandpa bought for my grandma when they first got married---yay for family treasures!

a moth....just hanging out...
...first fruits from the raspberry bush...
...picking basil for this recipe (made with baby portobello mushrooms instead of expensive fancy ones)...

...and more of the same today. Have a good one!

Summer Salad

I love salads! I try to eat one almost every day. And I'm not talking about a bowl of iceberg lettuce drowning in ranch. I'm talking about mixed greens, fresh herbs, veggies, toasted nuts and seeds, sliced fruit, marinated tofu, feta cheese, avocado, red onions, homemade dressing... the good stuff!

My friend made this salad for us the other night and I had to have it again! So I made it for friends last night. It's just cucumber, red onion, fresh dill, fresh mint (from our yard : ) ), and feta cheese. I added a little pepper and a dash of olive oil too. It's addictive!



This guy loves salad too, AND the dirt from which it comes. Seriously, I don't know what his deal is. He loves eating mud. And when we sweep, it's a mad rush to keep him from eating out of the dust pan. It's disturbing. But we love him anyways.

Snow.

We, like many in this part of the country, are snowed in today. You know what they say--when life gives you snow, make snow cream! There are quite a few different recipes floating out there on the interweb. For ours, we mixed half and half, sugar, and vanilla in a jar then poured it over a giant bowl of fresh snow, stirring til we got the right consistency. A little blueberry sauce on top--good stuff.

I hope you're nice and warm where you are. And I hope they lift the driving ban before dinner or we're having kidney beans and wheat germ for supper.

NA na na na na na na na NA na na na na na na na BATMAN!

We had Hudson's party this past weekend-- a blur of cake, presents, a Christmas parade, face painting, sword fights, cookie decorating, and broken crayon bits. This was my first attempt at making a layer cake. For the top, I just printed the batman logo out on some printer paper, cut it out with a craft knife, and gently but completely laid it on the icing as a stencil as I poured on the sprinkles.


We tried our hand at recycled chunky crayons....although I got distracted with all the cake cutting and serving that I left the crayons in the oven for too long. They melted all together and came out the same purplish brownish color. Oh well.

Happy 4th, Hudson : )

You Put WHAT In It?!

We're all battling some sort of stuffy nose, coughy, achy something or other combo. So I'm taking my mom's advice and sipping on her hot lemonade recipe. She wise--she's from the country.

She says " Squeeze half a lemon into a mug (though I used a whole lemon---big mug I guess), Also cut the rind into slices and add. Mash in lots of honey and/or sugar. 4 t or more. Add hot water and a pat of butter and sip. A couple of mugfuls a day for a few days.

And, yes, that IS a pat of butter. Just goes to show I was right in what I said about the Midwest. I did try it without the butter and it's just not as good. Dang you, Midwest, and your oh-so-delicious butter!

Representin'

We took our first crack at peanut butter Buckeyes in honor of the home state--Ohio (a moment of silence as I pause to salute : ) ) These peanut butter and chocolate nuggets of goodness are supposed to look like Buckeyes (Ohio's state tree).

Here's how:
Peanut Butter Buckeyes

1 3/4 C creamy peanut butter
1 C butter, softened
4 1/4 C powdered sugar
2 C chocolate chips
1 TB vegetable oil
toothpicks

In a large bowl, cream together peanut butter and butter until light and creamy. Add sugar, mix well. Roll into small balls, place on wax paper and chill for 8 hours / overnight (although mine only chilled for about 3 hours and it was fine). Melt chocolate chips and oil in a double broiler or in the microwave. Using toothpicks, spear each ball and dip lower half into chocolate and return to wax paper. Refrigerate to harden and keep stored in the fridge between layers of wax paper.



mmm...nothing says "Midwest" like butter and sugar...

How To Catch A Fish

We just got back from a big (14 people) family vacation to Outer Banks, NC. With 14 people, 2 kayaks, a stroller, and a weeks worth of luggage in a 15 passenger van/8 person condo---it was like a game of human tetris.

There was fishing, boating, swimming, body boarding, surfing, 90's hits sing-along-ing, baking, eating, sight-seeing, hot tubbing, reading, sketching, song writing, and exercising.

You can see a handful of photos here as well as Hudson's expert fishing instructions here.


Also, the Tea Towell show I entered opened last week. Check out more photos here.

Shew! That's a lot of links! I've got some fun projects going right now so feel free to check back often for details and pics!

Tabboul...eh?

I tried my hand at making tabbouleh this weekend and paired it with some experimental flax seed and garlic flatbread. The flatbread is super easy and has endless possibilities. The base is just flour, a little salt, a splash of olive oil, and enough water to make it into a manageable dough. Roll it out into 1/4" thick pieces and bake on a lightly greased cookie sheet at 375 degrees for 10 minutes or so until they are lightly browned. You can make a ton of variations-- I added garlic and flax seeds. You could try herbs, cheese, nuts and chopped dates, whatever! Pair it with quacamole, hummus, curry, soup, chili, etc, etc. So easy!

I'm working on several freelance jobs at the moment a well as a couple things to add to the shop. So check back soon!