The Lovely Fall

Hello lovely readers.

Well, now that it's officially started snowing here in Utah I thought I'd share a few moments from my Fall! (I'm just a little bit late.)

I really wanted to get out and do all sorts of things this fall. I think I achieved that for once!

I went out on several hikes to enjoy the fall colors and leaves.
These I took when I did Dry Canyon trail.
Secret: I was so antsy this morning I went out by myself. I know it's a bad idea. Don't do it. (But I was fine, of course.)

 awkward eys? yes.

 These were taken up Provo canyon. Ok. I can't even remember what trail it was. I went with my mom and dad and it was so lovely!

I hiked the Y at night. Truth: I've never actually hiked the Y until now. Even though I'm a BYU graduate. Shame.

xo
s

The Weekend Thrift.

Take a look at this beauty.
I picked up this Art Deco-esque shelving piece for three dollars at a charity yard sale last week. 3$!!
It's a little rickety, but after tightening all the screws, I think it will hold up just fine. Well I hope so. But I've already gotten three dollars of use out of it. (because, how long does that take?)

xo

Adventures with bleach

Inspired by these blogs (1,2) I've tried bleaching a few of my old things.

This was a t-shirt that my friend Amy gave me for my 16th birthday. (thanks amy.) Well, we could just say it isn't quite my style anymore. I still really liked the fit of the tee. So I thought to myself, "Hey, if I could make the whole tee be tan colored, then you wouldn't be able to read the words quite so much!"

Good thinking, self. 

 So I put it in a plastic bin and poured straight bleach over it. (I know you're supposed to use water too, but I didn't.) All the black seeped out and man it smelled horrible!

I left it in the bleach for a couple of hours. 

Washed it by hand in the sink. And hung it up in the shower to dry.

 This is the result! Holy smokes!

I love the new color.

According to this color chart, I think it's either "jasmine" or "Naples yellow." I'm good with that. they're both exotic! Just my style. 

What do you think? Would you ever try bleaching the crap out of something you own?

xo steph

Tomato Basil

I love the Tomato Basil soup at Zupas. (Who doesn't.)  But I really dislike tomatoes. I've tried a recipe before, but it came out to tomatoey for me. Tonight I tried to get as close as I could to the Zupas Recipe!

This is what I came up with:

Zupas Copy-Cat Tomato Basil Soup
4 diced tomatoes
4 cups tomato juice
3 cups water
3 chicken bouillon cubes
14 fresh basil leaves
1/3 cup orozo pasta
1 pint heavy whipping cream
1/2 a sick of butter
1/3 cup brown sugar.
(no judging)
Salt and pepper to taste.

Put tomatoes, juice, water and bouillon into a large stock pot. Simmer or Boil until mixture is thick. about 30 min.
Puree in blender with basil leaves.
Return to pot.
Add orozo, cream, butter and brown sugar and cook until pasta is tender. (Do not boil.)
Add salt and pepper as desired.
I served mine with bread crumbs to give it some texture.

It came out pretty darn close to the zupas original. I have noticed that theirs is very sweet and creamy.
If anyone out there tries this please let me know how it goes! I'd love to hear about any other ingredients used!

The new format

Dear Readers,

I've missed you, and perhaps you've missed me. 

I've been debating what exactly I want my blog to be, because it can no longer be a place for pretty pictures -  we now have Pinterest for that. (Follow me)

So I've decided I want to share all my projects with you. I've been a little hesitant because so many bloggers have such amazing tutorials and projects. But I'm going to do it anyway. 

I will share all my creative works here. The ones that succeed and possibly the ones that fail. 

I will post whenever I do something creative or unique.

I will post basic steps on some things. 

I won't post detailed, step-by-step tutorials on how to re-create my projects yourself. Not because I don't want to share, but because sheesh I don't have time for that. And you can probably figure it out for yourself anyway. 

I won't post amazing pictures, because I'm not so good at taking them. Also, I have no good lighting at my house. 

Ok So here's a project I worked on a little while ago.

RECREATION WEDDING CAKE. 

You know how newlyweds are supposed to freeze the top layer of their wedding cake and eat it on their first anniversarry? Well here are my thoughts on that: Ewww.

Since my good friend Paige made my wedding cake I enlisted her into helping me re-create one layer of it.

And I got to help!

I've never done any cake decorating, so working with fondant was quite fun. 

Here's the basic  steps. 

1. Melt marshmallows.

2. Stir color into melted mallows. 

3. Pour into a well of powdered sugar. 

4. Knead until it starts to feel like something. 

5. Put fondant in the fridge for a couple days. 

6. Frost cake with buttercream. Roll out Fondant. 

7.  Cover cake with fondant and smooth.
8. Cut edges.

We had such a lovely first anniversary! Somehow I kept this big project form Husb, and he was totally surprised when our waitress brought out cake out to us! (seriously so nice to let me bring in outside food- Thanks Carabbas.)

A thought about pinterest.

-Too many pictures of women in sports bras for "getting that body inspiration"

-too many cupcakes. WAY TOO MANY CUPCAKES.

The two don't mix well, you know?

Hindi Zahra

I love to give myself challenges. I hardly ever follow though completely, but I am considering doing a week or two where I listen to and watch only foreign music, movies and TV shows.
Would you do it?
Would you want to do it with me?