Spring Fever

I love Spring!  It's my second favorite season after Fall.  One of the reasons I love Spring so much is that it carries such a sense of renewal!  Even though our winter was very mild it is still nice to leave the doors open in the house and roll the windows down in the car.  (Of course you have to close it all up after awhile or everything will turn yellow .. haha).  Everything is just so fresh and bright and it simply makes me happy. 

I love nail polish and last weekend I decided it was time for me to update my current hue.  Do you guys have a seasonal favorite?  My Spring/Summer go-to shade is OPI's "Cajun Shrimp".  It is the perfect combination of red and orange and I.Am.Obsessed.With.It.  I decided to click around on Pinterest and assemble other fun Spring/Summer colors.  Of course I probably am not bold enough to wear some of these but the sentiment is there ;)

Jessie's Summer/Spring 2012 OPI Collection

What are your favorite Spring/Summer shades?  Do you have a go to color?  This nailpolish lover wants to hear from you!

Microwave .. Potato Chips?!

Yep.  You read that right.

Microwave.

Potato.

Chips.


While perusing pinterest (don't get me started on that obsession) I came across this nifty little pin claiming I could make potato chips -- at home -- in the microwave.  At first I had a "yeah right" reaction but once I went to the source it seemed legit.  Then I thought "well now I have to try this out"...

I am here to tell you .. it actually works!! 

If I have piqued your interest and now you want to try it out for yourself .. here's what you do:

Take a potato and slice it very thin.  I used a regular baking potato but I will be trying a sweet potato next.  You can slice it with a knife or a mandoline.  I would personally use a mandoline if you have one just for ease sake and uniformity.  The thinner the slice the quicker the process but, truly, you can do as thick as you want (at least while staying in the "chip" realm .. no hockey pucks).

Take the potato slices and toss them in olive oil and salt and pepper.

Get a microwave-safe plate and spray it with non-stick spray or rub it down with the same oil that's on the potato.

Lay the potatoes out in a thin layer on the plate.

Microwave on high for about 4 minutes.  Flip the slices and cook for 4 more minutes.

You should be able to tell they are done because the edges will start to get slightly wavy (like a potato chip) and they will lose their transparancy.  Lay them on a cooling rack and, after a minute or so, they should be crunchy.  Voila!

Side note:  The cooking time will vary depending upon how thick your cuts are.  Just start with 4 and then adjust.  You might have to flip a couple times but no big deal.  Also, don't worry about "over cooking".  The only thing that happens if they go too long is that they turn dark brown (like a burnt chip) and are extra crunchy.  This may or may not have happened to my last batch and, honestly, I kind of preferred those. 

This is one of those easy trial and error experiments and it was really cool.  Have fun with it and happy microwaving!!

Organizing Kitchen Chaos

As you all know, I love me some Pinterest.  I have compiled some tricks and tips regarding one of the hardest-working rooms in your house.  I hope you discover something new today!

I love the idea of using a magazine rack to organize pot lids!  This article has several great suggestions for using containers to organize your kitchen and make it aesthetically pleasing.

 

Short on cabinet space?  Have too many canned items stacked on top of and behind each other?  Check out this tutorial on how to DIY a great cabinet.  This particular cabinet fits between the refrigerator and the wall and holds canned goods.  I think this could also be a great option for a large spice collection. If you shrink it down you could even install it in a cabinet!

 

I love a good cleaning trick and, since it is sort of food related, I had to throw this in! There are a ton of stain and spot removers on the market.  I have had experience with many of them and only some of them actually live up to their claims.  I am a big supporter of OxiClean products but this tips is even better (and much cheaper!).  Mix one part of Dawn dish detergent and two parts hydrogen peroxide.  Either dip the stained material into the mixture of pour it on top.  It will disappear!  It's awesome!  I saved two shirts doing this.

First I want to apologize for not having the source for this pic.  I found it on Pinterest and when I clicked the source there it took me to someone else's blog ... who then acknowledged that they got it off Pinterest .. so there ya go.  If you know the REAL source .. let me know and I will update and give credit asap.  Any way .. moving on..

I do not currently have a proper pantry but I can guarantee that this will be happening in my house when I get one!  I think this is such a great use of space.  I love that the "peg board" idea, typically reserved for garage spaces, is transformed for something useful in the kitchen.  The hanging baskets is great too because you can reposition them based on what's inside.  Love it!

OK .. this is just perfection!  I LOVE a good before-and-after and this certainly did not disappoint!  If you go to the source you will actually see a kitchen overhaul .. which is quite fitting for this post!  So much inspiration!

So if you are harboring some clutter in your kitchen and can't seem to find anything .. check some of these tips out!  A little organization can go a long way!!

Pinterest, where have you been all of my life?

I have a new obsession.  I can not lie.

Pinterest.

What is Pinterest, you ask?  It's an online bulletin board where you pin pictures and links to all of your interests .. thus Pinterest.  I had heard about this website a while back but never thought I could utilize such a tool.  Then, a few weeks ago, it was referenced on the same day by two separate blogs I follow.  I took it as a sign that I needed to revisit the issue.

I went to the website and requested an invitation.  (By the way, if you are interested in joining, let me know and I will send you a direct invitation.  It's faster that way.)  As I awaited the evite, I began to click through pictures and figure out how everything worked.  I started to grasp how others were using the site and began to realize it could be a wonderful tool and not just a social outlet.

As you probably know by now, I would thoroughly love to be Martha Stewart (sans the jail time) and so I am constantly brushing up on my organizing, cooking, reading and general homemaking skills.  Since I work full-time out of the home and I do not have an unlimited budget or time, I tend to plan more than create.  That's not to say I don't follow through, because I do, it's just that I take a little longer to get to the final result.  I like to break things down in stages, versus completing an entire project outright, because it's generally faster and cheaper that way.

Up until now I kept all of my ideas stowed away in my brain, flagged in emails, etc.  This has worked for me thus far because, as it turns out, I have the ability to store large quantities of inspiration in my head.  I do have a limit though.  A couple months ago I arbitrarily decided to start planning SEVERAL projects .. some large, some small, some for now and some for a year or two down the road.  Crazy, right?  Probably.

I had been trying to think of ways to manage all my plans when I landed on Pinterest.  I realized I could just create a board for projects and store the information in one location.  I can tag pictures or articles or anything.  So this is how I have decided to use it.  I have a board for each room that I want to decorate, recipes I want to make, outfits I want to wear, ways I want to store future belongings, etc.  It's wonderful!  I know there are a ton of reasons and uses it would be good for but, personally, it was a simple decision.

I encourage you to check it out.  Maybe it's not your cup of tea but just maybe it is.  If nothing else, you can at least spend a few minutes looking at pretty pictures :)