This week has been pretty insane. We were placed under severe thunderstorm warnings/tornado watches/flash flood warnings repeatedly. Last Tuesday, we had a huge rain and hailstorm. I don't think it stopped raining from then until yesterday. (None of these photos are mine; I was too much of a pansy to take our really nice, expensive camera out in the rain, and couldn't find the charger for the smaller camera. Le sigh. I really regret not getting any photos of the storms and the aftermath. In lieu of my own photos, all photos are from 40/29 News of northwest Arkansas.)
And it kept raining. Yesterday, we were issued another flash flood warning, and my sister's apartment flooded again. We spent two hours last night getting everything paper out of her soggy apartment because even with dehumidifiers and industrial fans running at full blast since the first flood, her apartment is starting to mildew. And Emily last night, "I'm a freaking art major. EVERYTHING I OWN IS PAPER."
Finals start in ten days. Emily and her half a dozen friends who live in the same apartment complex are basically homeless, and are going to have to move all of their stuff out during the last week of classes and finals if the complex has to rip out all the carpeting- which it looks like they'll have to. What a mess. Emily has been staying in a friend's apartment, but her friend is getting married next week, so Emily will be coming to live with us for a while.
Anyway, this post was just an explanation why I haven't posted very much this week. Things will be back on their regular schedule shortly.
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| Hail from the April 19th storm. |
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| Weird bumpy hail from the April 19th storm. |
On Monday, after so many days of heavy rains (something like 19 inches), Fayetteville basically turned into a lake. Seriously. You couldn't see our parking lot, the access road to our apartment complex had about two feet of fast water rushing over it and there was a police car and police tape blocking off the road. People were still trying to drive in the water, even when it was coming up over the hoods of their cars. We spent a lot of time on Monday slogging through the rain and helping people whose cars had stalled out.
My sister's apartment flooded. Lindi's mother's school flooded. The law school at the University of Arkansas flooded. Bella Vista (a city about 30 minutes north of us) issued a boil order to their residents because their water had been contaminated by the floods.
The police shut down a dozen major roads in Fayetteville because there was so much water on them, and so many people had gotten into wrecks by washing off the roads or stalling in the high water that there were no rescue teams left to help anyone. And it was still raining. And then, on Monday night, we were issued another tornado warning. Tornadoes touched down in several places in Arkansas and Oklahoma. My parents were trapped where they live outside of Tahlequah, Oklahoma, because the Illinois River rose 37 feet and completely covered the highway. For the Illinois, 14 feet above normal level is considered flood stage. Our friend Becky's family had three feet of water in their house- so much that they couldn't actually get out, and the fire department had to come to do a water rescue. I said to Lindi, "We're that town. We're that town you see on the news where people are camping out on their roofs and using kayaks to get to their mailboxes. That's us."
And it kept raining. Yesterday, we were issued another flash flood warning, and my sister's apartment flooded again. We spent two hours last night getting everything paper out of her soggy apartment because even with dehumidifiers and industrial fans running at full blast since the first flood, her apartment is starting to mildew. And Emily last night, "I'm a freaking art major. EVERYTHING I OWN IS PAPER."
Finals start in ten days. Emily and her half a dozen friends who live in the same apartment complex are basically homeless, and are going to have to move all of their stuff out during the last week of classes and finals if the complex has to rip out all the carpeting- which it looks like they'll have to. What a mess. Emily has been staying in a friend's apartment, but her friend is getting married next week, so Emily will be coming to live with us for a while.
Anyway, this post was just an explanation why I haven't posted very much this week. Things will be back on their regular schedule shortly.
Every week, Lindi (the other half of Bettencourt Chase!) brings you a collection of awesome things with a theme for your viewing pleasure. Here's Lindi:
It has been raining for days now! The only thing I want to do is eat yummy soup, drink hot tea, and curl up on the couch with our cat.
It has been raining for days now! The only thing I want to do is eat yummy soup, drink hot tea, and curl up on the couch with our cat.
1. Books. From A N I T A ∞ on Flickr.
2. Creamy ham and rice soup. From Kitchen Simplicity.
3. Louisa May Alcott quotation mug. From Say It Again Design on Etsy.
4. Kittens. From fofurasfelinas on Flickr.
Okay, we seriously don't eat THAT much quiche- probably only about once a month- but for some reason, it's the one thing I always feel inspired to take photos of and post about. So, lovelies, here's another delicious recipe for quiche.
It is loosely based on this recipe from Closet Cooking. The original recipe called for gruyere cheese, which we didn't have, so we used cheddar and parmesan instead. Also, we completely left out the milk that the original recipe called for (oops!), so we ended up with a deliciously fluffy quiche. It would have been denser and creamier if we had remembered. Hah. (If you would like, add 1 cup milk to the mix.) We added more bacon (because bacon is delicious) and left out the green onions, which we didn't have in the fridge at the time.
Ingredients:
5 strips bacon
10-12 stalks of asparagus, trimmed, cleaned and cut into ~1 inch pieces
2 teaspoons minced garlic
2 cups fresh spinach, sliced into smaller pieces
6 eggs, lightly beaten
1 cup grated sharp cheddar
1/2 cup grated parmesan
pepper to taste
1 9-inch pie crust, refrigerated or homemade
-Preheat the oven to 375F.
-Cook the bacon in a skillet, then remove, drain on paper towels and crumble/cut into pieces when cool enough.
-Remove some of the grease from the pan, then use the remaining grease to saute the asparagus until tender (about 5 minutes).
-Add the garlic and saute until lightly browned.
-Add the spinach and saute until wilted.
-Press the pie crust into a 9-inch pie crust.
-Mix the eggs, veggies, garlic, bacon, cheese and pepper (and milk, if you choose to include it) and pour into the pie crust.
-Bake the quiche until set and the edges of the crust are golden, about 30-40 minutes.
It was delicious! We ate half of it, and froze the rest for a quick weeknight dinner. It seems odd to me that eggs still taste good when they've been frozen, but hey, I'm not going to argue.
I know how to knit and crochet, but I mostly make things like rag rugs, which are awesome, but also big and clumsy and not at all delicate. Therefore, I have a kind of fascination with people who make lace or doilies. My dear friend Rachel tats, and she makes the teensiest, tiniest beautiful stuff. It's beautiful. This week, I put together some items made with doilies, in various forms:
They're all so pretty! I love that one thing can be used in so many different kinds of art.
Vintage cotton clutch. From Bird Trouble on Etsy.
Linen camisole. From Sandmaiden Sleepwear on Etsy.
Vintage doily and linen cushion cover. From Betsy Bell on Etsy.
Mint Green Crochet bowl/basket. From On The Hook on Etsy.
Mandala Doily Earrings. From McCord Works on Etsy.
They're all so pretty! I love that one thing can be used in so many different kinds of art.
Another week of photos. I love doing this project- it reminds me to constantly have the camera on hand, or to jump for it when something interesting happens. Today (this photo will be in next week's post) we had a sudden, intense hail storm, and I grabbed my camera and ran to the safety of the porch to take some photos. I can also tell that I know so much more about our (relatively new) camera, as I'm constantly playing with settings, adjusting the flash, etc. I also think I'm sticking to my "rules" pretty well: at least one black and white photo per week, and at least one photo of something I've made. Along with that, I try REALLY hard to get pictures of people (because you can only take so many pictures of plants. And teacups. And, as much as I adore her, our kitten.) I did pretty well this week.
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| April 12: The flight home. |
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| April 13: It was so good to be home again! |
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| April 14: Custom-made necklace for Darby Gieringer. |
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| April 15: Vintage perfume bottles at Lindi's grandmother's. |
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| April 16: A VERY chilly morning at the farmer's market. |
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| April 17: Kelsey. |
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| April 18: The Dickson Street Bookshop, one of my favorite places ever. |
Yesterday we took the trip to Prairie Grove, AR to do a photoshoot with the lovely Kelsey. I love Prairie Grove Battlefield Park- there are so many beautiful places within the park to take photos! It's one of my favorite locations for country photoshoots. The weather was pretty perfect, too, though rather windy.
Every week, Lindi (the other half of Bettencourt Chase!) brings you a collection of awesome things with a theme for your viewing pleasure. Here's Lindi:
As much as I love spring, I hate the allergies that come with it. One of the best things for that early spring, scratchy throat is a nice cup of tea. My favorite is usually a black tea or a chai, but I also love flowering teas. Together, Helen and I have amassed quite the collection of mugs and cups. We have an entire cabinet taken up with our tea obsession. After this week's swatch, we may have to expand our collection even further!!
1. Collection of tea. From Green Kitchen Stories.
2. Tea cozy. From KnitStorm on Etsy.
3. Teapot charm necklace. From ForevermoreCreations on Etsy.
4. Madame Butterfly tea cookies. From ButterBlossoms on Etsy.
5. "Kiss the Baker" spoon. From SycamoreHill on Etsy.
6. Jane Austen mug. From audreyeclectic on Etsy.
As much as I love spring, I hate the allergies that come with it. One of the best things for that early spring, scratchy throat is a nice cup of tea. My favorite is usually a black tea or a chai, but I also love flowering teas. Together, Helen and I have amassed quite the collection of mugs and cups. We have an entire cabinet taken up with our tea obsession. After this week's swatch, we may have to expand our collection even further!!
1. Collection of tea. From Green Kitchen Stories.
2. Tea cozy. From KnitStorm on Etsy.
3. Teapot charm necklace. From ForevermoreCreations on Etsy.
4. Madame Butterfly tea cookies. From ButterBlossoms on Etsy.
5. "Kiss the Baker" spoon. From SycamoreHill on Etsy.
6. Jane Austen mug. From audreyeclectic on Etsy.
So, I really like shopping. I adore clothes. I am constantly buying and giving away clothes, and my cousin-in-law Olivia is pretty much the luckiest girl ever, since she's just a teensy bit smaller than me and a teensy bit shorter and now most of her wardrobe has come from me over the last 3+ years. However, I can't actually remember the last time I bought something full price- I almost always buy things on sale, or (even better) clearance, or at thrift stores/yardsales. I get a sort of thrill buying lovely things on super sale, something I think I get from my thrifty mother.
When I was unofficially laid off from one of my jobs in January, I made the decision to buy no clothes for a while, because we were barely scraping by. And that lasted nearly four months! Whoo! Now that I'm working again and the weather has gotten warmer, I decided to buy a few skirts and shirts for the summer (although I am now back to sticking to my buying no clothes- or at least very few clothes- plan). I wear a lot of black, and was trying to introduce more color into my wardrobe, which I think went pretty well. I ended up with more than I was aiming for, because there were so many beautiful things for so little money (sigh) but hey. ONE OF THESE SKIRTS COST 45 CENTS. BRAND NEW. FROM OLD NAVY. I don't even know how that happens. 45 cents. Seriously. (That did actually beat my previous record, which was a brand new, really nice linen skirt from a real store for $.95. Yard sales don't count in this game.)
So, just for fun, I put together everything I bought in the last week (during a sale at Old Navy and a thrift store here in Arkansas, along with our trip to Texas, where there are Ross stores about every two miles. If you don't know what a Ross is, it's very similar to a Marshall's or TJMaxx but mixed with 200% extra heaven. It is good for my wallet but sad for my soul that there are absolutely no Ross stores in Arkansas. Le sigh.) Everything but three items were brand new, and for those, I estimated the "original price" by finding something similar from the company which is for sale now.
Before you scroll down, I just want to say that it looks like I wear plaid all the time, and although I really like plaid, this week actually more than doubled my selection of plaid clothes. Before, I had one jacket, one shirt and a winter scarf. And now I have... more plaid things than before.
And here, you see my purchases, as modeled by our lovely couch. (The couch's name is Matilda, by the way.) Sorry about the super wrinkled pencil skirt- I just pulled it out of my suitcase.
TOTAL: $489.39 worth of clothes for $79.91. Not the absolute best it could have been, since it wasn't yardsaling, but still not too shabby. At sixteen items (including two pairs of shoes), that comes out to an average of $4.99 per item. It probably would have been even more impressive if I had only included the super amazing things (like the skirts for $.45, $1.49 and $3) but still.
Also, if I hadn't included everything, I wouldn't have looked like a total weirdo that buys nine skirts in one week. Ah, well. Do I need to mention again that I, who am addicted to clothes AND sales, went for four months without buying even a single pair of socks? So there.
When I was unofficially laid off from one of my jobs in January, I made the decision to buy no clothes for a while, because we were barely scraping by. And that lasted nearly four months! Whoo! Now that I'm working again and the weather has gotten warmer, I decided to buy a few skirts and shirts for the summer (although I am now back to sticking to my buying no clothes- or at least very few clothes- plan). I wear a lot of black, and was trying to introduce more color into my wardrobe, which I think went pretty well. I ended up with more than I was aiming for, because there were so many beautiful things for so little money (sigh) but hey. ONE OF THESE SKIRTS COST 45 CENTS. BRAND NEW. FROM OLD NAVY. I don't even know how that happens. 45 cents. Seriously. (That did actually beat my previous record, which was a brand new, really nice linen skirt from a real store for $.95. Yard sales don't count in this game.)
So, just for fun, I put together everything I bought in the last week (during a sale at Old Navy and a thrift store here in Arkansas, along with our trip to Texas, where there are Ross stores about every two miles. If you don't know what a Ross is, it's very similar to a Marshall's or TJMaxx but mixed with 200% extra heaven. It is good for my wallet but sad for my soul that there are absolutely no Ross stores in Arkansas. Le sigh.) Everything but three items were brand new, and for those, I estimated the "original price" by finding something similar from the company which is for sale now.
Before you scroll down, I just want to say that it looks like I wear plaid all the time, and although I really like plaid, this week actually more than doubled my selection of plaid clothes. Before, I had one jacket, one shirt and a winter scarf. And now I have... more plaid things than before.
And here, you see my purchases, as modeled by our lovely couch. (The couch's name is Matilda, by the way.) Sorry about the super wrinkled pencil skirt- I just pulled it out of my suitcase.
The details (not including tax) for four shirts, one shirt dress, nine skirts and two pairs of shoes:
1. Old Navy flower tank. Originally $14.50, clearance price $7.49, extra 50% off= $3.75
2. Old Navy ruffle tank. Originally $19.50, clearance price $12.99, extra 50% off= $6.50
3. Zenana Outfitters shirt (from Ross). Originally $18. Ross price $9.00. Clearance price= $2.99
4. Walmart plaid button up shirt dress. Originally $14. Clearance price= $7
5. Cato yellow shirt (thrifted). Original price guess: $19.99. Thrift store price= $3
6. Ellen Tracy skirt, new with tags (thrifted). Originally $89.50. Thrift store price= $5
7. Express pink stripe skirt (thrifted). Original price guess: $49.90. Thrift store price= $4
8. Black pencil skirt (Ross). Originally $28.00. Ross price $16.00. Clearance price= $4.49
9. Old Navy blue pinstripe pocket skirt. Originally $26.50, clearance price $6.99, extra 50% off= $3.50
10. Old Navy brown skirt. Originally $24.50, clearance price $16.49, extra 50% off= $8.25
11. Old Navy linen pocket skirt. Originally $24.50, clearance price $9.99, extra 50% off= $5.00
12. Energie red plaid flannel skirt (Ross). Originally $24.00. Ross price $12.00. Clearance price= $1.49
13. Old Navy wool plaid skirt. Originally $29.50, clearance price $.97, extra 50% off= $.45!!!
14. Energie blue plaid flannel skirt (Ross). Originally $24.00. Ross price $12.00. Clearance price= $1.49
15. Enyce Clothing Co. stripey boots (thrifted). Original price guess: $50.00. Thrift store price: $10
16. Blowfish flats (Ross). Originally $45. Ross price= $13
Also, if I hadn't included everything, I wouldn't have looked like a total weirdo that buys nine skirts in one week. Ah, well. Do I need to mention again that I, who am addicted to clothes AND sales, went for four months without buying even a single pair of socks? So there.
Who am I kidding? I ALWAYS love earrings. I have this thing about earrings: I wear them ALL the time, and if I forget to put a pair on before I leave the house in the morning, I feel kind of naked. Really. As if I were missing pants. (Okay, not that embarrassing or serious, but still.) I even carry an extra pair around in my wallet most of the time... just in case. I've been this way since I was about 13, and in the time since then, I have amassed quite a collection, so I have a lot to choose from. I don't actually own any of the ones I've listed here, but I do think they are rather pretty.
Tiny silver pomegranates! From SigalitAlcalai on Etsy.
Mixed metal dangly earrings. From lpjewelry on Etsy.
Aren't these lovely? From brailsford on Etsy.
I always love anything with origami, especially paper cranes. From CMCCreations on Etsy.
I rarely wear gold, but these are beautiful. From JewelryDeli on Etsy.
As promised, here are some of the photos from Angela and Phillip's gorgeous wedding last weekend.
Let's just talk about these for a second. Huge, amazing tree? Yes, please. The bride changing into purple converse for the reception? Awesome. Homemade gourmet caramel apples for the groom's cake? Very cool. Bridesmaids and groomsmen playing on swings? Totally. Perfect weather? All the way.
Exciting news! I'm guest posting over at the awesome blog Budgets Are Sexy today about being an Etsy seller. He does this awesome "Side Hustle Series," which has featured such excellent side jobs as waitressing, gun permit instruction and chicken farming. I am apparently the first creative one. Awesome!
Click on over here to read the post!
In all fairness, this mini "engagement shoot" was actually the day before the wedding, but hey, they were still in the engaged phase, right?
I've known Angela for nearly five years. When I put my name into the random housing lottery my freshman year of college, she was who I was placed with. We stayed roommates through multiple dorm halls and a four-bedroom house, save one semester when she studied abroad in Manchester, England. I can honestly say that being placed with her was one of the absolute best things to happen to me in college. We got along, both loved tea and books and art, and held an equal level of distaste for the loud parties that happened on frat row across the street from the first dorm room we shared.
Phillip, her boyfriend of 6+ years who went to college in Georgia while we were in Arkansas, proposed after she moved back to Texas last summer to work as a chemical engineer. (Hence the shoot so close to the wedding- this was the first time I'd seen her in nearly a year, which is tragic!) We were outside the church and reception hall after the rehearsal, and there was the most beautiful green grass and a playground, which seemed perfect. We had about ten minutes to play around, and here's are a few of the photos I got of this adorable couple.
I've known Angela for nearly five years. When I put my name into the random housing lottery my freshman year of college, she was who I was placed with. We stayed roommates through multiple dorm halls and a four-bedroom house, save one semester when she studied abroad in Manchester, England. I can honestly say that being placed with her was one of the absolute best things to happen to me in college. We got along, both loved tea and books and art, and held an equal level of distaste for the loud parties that happened on frat row across the street from the first dorm room we shared.
Phillip, her boyfriend of 6+ years who went to college in Georgia while we were in Arkansas, proposed after she moved back to Texas last summer to work as a chemical engineer. (Hence the shoot so close to the wedding- this was the first time I'd seen her in nearly a year, which is tragic!) We were outside the church and reception hall after the rehearsal, and there was the most beautiful green grass and a playground, which seemed perfect. We had about ten minutes to play around, and here's are a few of the photos I got of this adorable couple.
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