Thankful Thursday

Today I am thankful that.........

• I finished my taxes
• John and I don't exchange gifts for Valentine's day (I don't have time to find one anyway!)
• I can have wine tomorrow
• This weekend we're going home to hang out with family
• Football season is over
• Vacation planning mode has begun
• Our new living room furniture is being delivered soon
• I might have time to sew next weekend

What are you thankful for today?

Wine-y Wednesday

This past weekend John and I stopped in at our favorite chocolate/coffee/wine shop, Winan's, before we had dinner. This place smells so delicious you want to fall over when you walk in. Their chocolate is smooth, the coffee divine. And the wine, d'vine....get it? There are always a handful of both reds, whites an dessert wines for tasting as well as a number of fun martinis. I was on a white kick and chose the $3.00 pour (half a glass) of the Montevina Pinot Grigio.

The bottle says: "With aromatics of ripe pear, summer peach and lotus blossom, our vibrant Pinot Grigio offers refreshing flavors of juicy Bartlett pears and citrus with subtle traces of nutmeg and spice. Well-balanced and approachable, this wine is the ultimate palate-pleaser."

I have to agree! It was a palate pleaser. Even though we're in the dead of winter, I appreciated the crispness. I think I'll really appreciate it this summer in my backyard. If you come across this very reasonably priced bottle, pick it up!

T-shirt to Halter in no time flat!

A couple weeks ago my instructor hosted a Zumba Beach Party at the studio. I got to guest instruct 4 songs along with a few other folks too. We had a great turnout and an awesome time! SO great that we're going to do another one in April. YEA! I wanted something fun to wear, even if it wasn't super beachy.


I bought this shirt for $4.00 many years ago at Gabriel Brothers. It's just a boring old workout shirt and actually it kind of makes me hotter when I wear it. It's brushed cotton. Not the best choice for running outside. (Read: sweaty mess)




I cut off one of the sleeves (It doesn't matter which you choose) and then cut a curved diagonal from just outside the neckline to the armpit on the other side. DO NOT go crazy with the diagonal or it will be too low cut in the back. I speak from experience the first time I tried to do this. I didn't blog about that because it was an awful, unwearable mess.




This is the armhole that is now the new neckhole. See? The side seam is now a seam down the front.

I forgot to take a picture of the back before I cut it up. Also, I got too excited and forgot to take a picture of the little tabbies I cut before I tied them. I wanted the shirt to be pretty fitted so I cut it up the side, now back, seam. Then, I cut fringe a little less than an inch wide and probably 2 inches long up the back. If you've ever made one of those fleece tie blankets, this is the same concept.


Sorry about the detail but see those little tassels? It looks like ruching but they really are strips of fabric tied in knots.

That's wear I tied each strip to the corresponding one on the other side. Again, sorry for the lack of pictures in this department.


Here it is from the front! I think it's pretty cute for a basically free shirt. I didn't have a halter sports bra but I thought the purple straps looked okay because I had matching purple pants on with. I was beachy! Well, sort of. I was ready to party anyway. :)

Recipe Re-Blog #5

Hey! I made it through the month of January and kept to my resolution. How are you doing on your own resolutions? Not to rub it in, but so far, mine is going swimmingly. I tried two new recipes this week. I was cooking my books. No, I'm not laundering money. That's what I call it when I comb through my extensive library of cook books to find recipes that I haven't made yet.

Sauteed Chicken in Mustard-Cream Sauce: This one was actually not scheduled for this week but when a trip to the grocery store did not include the cranberries I needed, I had to substitute this guy in. It had the added bonus (luckily) that I already had all the ingredients in my fridge/cupboard. LOVE when that happens. It's by my girl Martha and is in the Everyday Food cookbook. This was delicious! It's a keeper for sure. I try not to buy heavy cream very often but I have a handful of recipes that call for it. This will be a good way to use up the half carton that's sitting in the fridge. Try it!

Vegetarian Chili: John and I take soup to work for lunch approximately 4 days a week. I used to be really good about making homemade soup for us and then freezing the leftovers. My freezer was stocked. Then, life happened. I haven't made any soup or chili for awhile but I want to get back into it. I also didn't feel like buying ground beef so, in another "cook your books" effort, I pulled out my Better Homes & Gardens Slow Cooker cookbook and selected this Vegetarian Chili recipe. It is chock full of veggies and fiber-y goodness. I love my crock pot. This link is not exactly the same as the one printed in the book. I used regular diced tomatoes because that's what the BHG recipe in the book called for. For a veggie chili, this was tasty. It filled me up for lunch and only had 200 calories. I don't know how often I'll make this but it was worth trying at least once.

A Reliable Wife

I have actually checked out A Reliable Wife by Richard Goolrick from the library before but had to return it. When I saw it at my new to me library as one of the few books that interested me, I thought it must be library fate.

A Reliable Wife takes place in Wisconsin during the turn of the century. Catherine Land has answered widower Ralph Truitt's want ad for "a reliable wife." After some courting by letters, Ralph sends for Catherine from Chicago. He is the richest man in the small Wisconsin town he basically owns. In his 60's, his first wife and daughter dead, and his son missing, Ralph is looking for companionship. He hopes to find this with Catherine. Catherine has other motives. Motives of a monetary nature.

A tale of deceit and sadness, A Reliable Wife was not really what I was expecting. I'm not really sure what I was expecting and I'm leaving out a key ingredient of the story so I don't give away too much about the plot. I didn't really like any of the characters and the plot kind of plodded along. You can probably skip this one.

Rating: * * 1/2

Bringing back the grape!

I haven't talked about wine in awhile. High time I got back to that, I think. Sad to say this may not have been the best bottle to reinstate my wine reviews on. Oh well, we must press on. I have often seen the House Wine label and thought, "How clever!" A label that's bold and catches the eye will, well, catch the eye in an aisle full of bottles. That, and, it was on sale. I think I paid $10 for a bottle of House Wine Red. The store I bought it at claimed it retailed for $14 full price. I doubt it but, let's press on even further.

House Wine Red by the Magnificent Wine Co. is a blend of the following: Cabernet Sauvignon 54%, Merlot 30%, Syrah 11%, Malbec 3%, and Cabernet Franc 2%. Sounds pretty good, right? All except for that 30% of Merlot. That should have been a dead giveaway for me. Oh, I drank it all right but it's definitely not my favorite. No flavors really stood out. They sort of just muddled together. I shan't be purchasing this again anytime soon. 88 Wine Spectator points or not!

Happy February!

I'm so glad it's February! January is a horrific month. The sun barely shines. It's cold and brutal. Not to say that February is that much better but at least we have Punxatawney Phil to help us stay optimistic that spring is somewhere around the corner. The other bad part about January, to me, is that I don't really have a holiday to decorate for. I don't have "winter" decorations. Truth be told, I skip right over the icy decor and hang up the hearts for Valentine's Day. I don't have very many Valentine's decorations but I also have a hard time committing to the purchase of any. I'm not sure why. I don't, however, have a hard time using free scraps of fabric.

You may recognize this gray and white wool from my recently sewn cowl scarf. I cut out two hearts to stuff and stitch.

Here's the pink one with the crude stuffing I came up with. It's batting scraps.

I stitched around the outside because I wanted them to fray a bit to give it more
of a handmade look.

I stitched in some hot pink ribbon loops. BTW - the ribbon was the only thing I really purchased for this project. It was only fiddy cent. Here are all my baby hearts lined up.

Then, I attached them to the main ribbon so I could string them up.

This is kind of a rough picture but I strung them up on my dresser mirror. Too cute, right? I love how they turned out. I don't normally decorate the bedroom for a holiday but I thought this mirror was the perfect spot.