This Is Me #5

#1.  I grew up in Delaware. 

 It's the second smallest state, but I'm certain most people think it's a town in Pennsylvania or New Jersey (unless they remember Wayne's World).  I currently live here with my husband.   Delaware is a great state to live in, because it's centrally located to a lot of great cities, and it is vastly diverse.  In a short car ride I can get to Philadelphia, Baltimore, D.C., and New York City all in less than two hours.  Sure there is a lot of suburbia, but there is also city life, beach living, and a rural atmosphere.  

#2.  I have three brothers named Christopher (one spells his name with a 'K' though).  

left to right: Helmerson, Kery, me, Meanor

I come from a blended family.  I have two half brothers, and a step-brother.  To make things easier, we call the Chrises by their last names a lot.  Chris Helmerson is the oldest, and we share the same father.  Kris Kery is the middle Chris, and we share the same mother.  Chris Meanor is a few months younger then Kery, his father and my mother have been together since I was 12.  They are all about 6 years older than me.  

#3.  I graduated from Bennington College.

  Bennington is a tiny liberal arts college tucked into the hills of Vermont.  It has an awesome alternative educational program.  A student starts off at Bennington like any freshman in college, and they leave Bennington as a person they could not have become at any other higher educational facility.  I wouldn't trade my time at Bennington for anything in the world.     

#4.  After college I moved out to California, and met the love of my life!

Aaron and I worked at Idyllwild Arts Summer Camp together.  I was the camp photographer, and Aaron was the assistant technical director.   That was the summer of 2006, and we got married April 16th, 2011.  I'm so happy to be able to spend the rest of my life with him!

#5.  I want to kiss and hug all animals!  

It's rare that I don't get along with pets.  It breaks my heart when they don't want to be my friends.  I smoother my pets with love, maybe a little on the Elmyra side of things.  Just kidding.  I do educate myself on healthy pet care.  

Hope you enjoyed, and happy DIYing, chris!

Fun Friday Fascinations #12

#1. A great idea for storing fresh herbs over winter from The Gardner's Eden.  

#2.  I recently discovered that I love baked kale chips, and I hit google up for a good recipe.  This yummy concoction from fitsugar looks delicious!  

#3. Fancy chocolate covered Oreo's from Tikkido, need I say more?

#4.  Great tutorial on how to make a strawberry necklace from The Quiet Lion.  

#5.  PaperMatrix's tutorial on how to make a paper hot air ballon.  I love a good paper craft.  

Hope ya'll are having a great Friday! Happy DIYing, chris.  

Iced Coffee

For today's thirsty thursday I am straying from the alcoholic path, and making an Iced Coffee.  Even before I became a coffee drink I liked a creamy cold coffee in the summer time.  It's a fun drink in the middle of a hot afternoon.  

Typically I make iced coffee with the coffee that has been leftover in the pot from the morning.  I usually add a little sugar and creamer to a cup, pour in the leftover coffee, stir, and then carefully add a few ice cubes.  Today I tried a new technique.  

I made coffee creamer ice cubes.  I began by making a strong pot of fresh coffee.  I grabbed an ice cube tray, and poured a little creamer into a couple.  Once the coffee was prepared I poured that into the whole ice cube tray.  I stuck the tray in the freezer for about four hours.  

When the ice cubes where solid, I spooned a bit of sugar into a glass cup.  Then I dropped three coffee creamer ice cubes into the cup, and poured the remaining coffee over the ice cubes, stirred, and tried not to guzzle my sugary drink down in two seconds.  So yummy!  I'm going to go enjoy my sugar high.  Have a lovely thursday, and happy DIYing, chris!

LBI Part 2

Hey all, Happy fourth of july!  Just a quick post today.  Trying to relax, and have quality family time.  Here is the second part of my LBI trip.  If you want to see more photos you can check out Part 1.

Hope ya'll are having a great day!  Happy DIYing, chris.

June Wrap-up

Another month that ran right past me.  Wow.  It's already July.  Here is my June Wrap-Up, some of my favorite posts from this month.  

The crafty DIYs were super slim this month.  Though, I'm thinking this might be my favorite DIY yet.  Part 1 and Part 2 of my wide macramé bracelet.    We'll see what July holds for the crafty side of things.  I have big news, but I'm waiting until next week (hopefully!) to share it!  Super excited.  

I made some yummy Reese's Nutella Cookies.  They were a big hit at my niece's baptism.  I made about 70, and only a handful survived the party.  

I started a new series called Thirsty Thursday.  I've only made two drink thus far, but I loved the Strawberry Mojito I made last week.  

Actually, I started two new series this month.  I also started a series called This Is Me.  My favorite one this month was the first one.  I love this photo of my second tattoo.  It will be nice to have when I'm old, and you can't tell what the heck I have scribbled on my wrist.  That might be one of my favorite parts of tattoos.  Watching them age.  

Aaron and I visited Bennington, Vermont, and saw Peter Dinklage talk.  Amazing speech.  More than happy we took the time off for that.  

I wore this dress on the trip.  This is definitely my favorite piece of clothing currently.  I want all the things I own to be this bright and colorful, while making me look good at the same time.  I have a habit of buying things that I'm attracted to on the hanger, but do not complement my body at all.  I want to try to end that habit, and only buy quality clothing, that makes me feel and look beautiful.  

We took a trip at the end of the month, and celebrated our buddy's bridal shower.  We went up to the Adirondacks, and camped out for the night.  

We had to deal with another death this month.  The lovely dog we inherited back in May, Moose met his untimely demise.  He is in a better place.  I miss him everyday, though.  

That was my June.  Hope you all had a lovely June, and I hope everyone has a fantastic July!  Happy DIYing, chris.  

Cheese for Breakfast & Lunch

Happy Nom Nom Monday.  I love cheese.  You could add cheese to just about anything, and make it taste five times better, in my book.  For today I have three cheeses, and what I made for breakfast and lunch with them.  

Breakfast was a simple sunny-side up egg.  I love a well cooked runny egg.  First heat a frying pan on high for a minute, add a little oil so the egg doesn't stick.  Warm the oil.  Carefully crack an egg or two into the pan, lower the heat down to medium.  Add seasonings, this is what makes the eggs taste yummy without anything on them, so choose wisely.  I generally go with a little garlic powder, seasoned salt, and some freshly grated parmesan cheese.  Cover the pan so the whites cook through, and the bottom of the egg doesn't end up burnt.  Keep your eye on the pan.  When it's cooked to your desire of slurrpiness your done.  I like gooey eggs, so it only takes five minutes at the longest.  So yummy, easy, and quick.  No reason to skip breakfast if you have some eggs and seasonings in your house.  If I'm really hungry, or only want one egg, I will eat this with toast.  I love soaking up all the runny yoke on my warm bread.  

For lunch I made grilled tuna fish sandwiches.  One for me, and one for Aaron.  I made the tuna with a tablespoon of mayo, half a tablespoon of vidalia onion mustard, 10 basil leaves torn into small pieces,  two tablespoons of shredded cheddar cheese, and a tablespoon of relish.  Mixed that all together, I added a tiny bit of mayo to some potato bread, placed a single slice of american cheese on the bread, and spooned half the tuna mixture on.  The tuna mix made two sandwiches.  

Next, I warmed and seasoned my pan with a pat of butter, a little garlic powder, and a little seasoned salt on high heat.  Fresh garlic and some basil would have been nice too, but I was lazy.  After the pan warmed for a couple minutes I carefully placed my sandwich in the frying pan.  With the cheese slice on top, that way it didn't melt too fast.  After about a minute, I flipped the tuna squish (as Aaron calls it), and let sit for another minute.  Once both sides are lightly browned, dish up!  I like to cut mine in half,  and let it cool off  before I take the first amazing gooey bite.  The fresh basil was a great accompaniment to the tuna, and mayo, and mustard, and awesomeness.  I will be making this again, my new favorite grilled cheese!  

Hope ya'll are having a great Monday, happy DIYing, chris.  

Long Beach Island, Part 1

I went to LBI on thursday, and hung out with my good friend Mamie, her family, and her new roommate, Hannah.  They rent a beach house there every summer for a week, and lucky me, they invited me over for a sleepover for the  night! :)  Mamie's family is really awesome, and I look forward to visiting with them whenever I get a chance.  I'm really glad I made this trip, I had some much needed girl time, and I'm really glad I got to meet Hannah.  I can't wait to visit them in their new apartment!!!

The house they were staying in had two giant butterfly bushes, with big purple flowers, and the beautiful lacy winged creatures flocked to them in hoards. 

Seafood at the beach is the way to go.  I love me some yummy shellfish!  Oh, and I must say, Mamie always has thee best stack of bracelets on.  It's a rare site to see a bare wrist on this stylish lady.  

After dinner we went down the street to a dock in the bay, and we took some great sunset photos.  Actually, I have so many I'm going to save a few for later in the week.  

Good times with the Schillers and Hannah.  Indie is the Chesapeake Retriever, and Charlie is the lil' Cockapoo.  Sadly, I didn't catch any pictures of Mamie's cute kid sister, Katie.  She's awesome too. :)  She came to the shore with a gaggle of lady-friends, and they were busy having quality girl time, while we were watching the sunset.  Also not pictured here was the awesome tandem bike Mamie and Hannah were riding together for their stay.  I'm kicking myself in the butt for not getting a shot of them riding together.  Very disappointed in myself!  Sometimes lugging a giant camera bag around the sandy beach is the last thing on my to-do list though.  I totally loved riding bikes at the beach.  I could do that everyday for the rest of my life.  I came home looking up prices for beach cruisers, and wondering how hard it would be to find a cruiser with gears.  

Well I want to work on some other blog stuff, and go outside for a bit.  Have a great Sunday, and happy DIYing, chris!