yummy chicken salad

Something about summertime makes me a bit, how do you say, laaaaaaaazy in the kitchen. When the leaves begin to turn and temperatures drop in the fall, I'm a power house. But triple digit temps mean that I'm not really bringing it in the cooking department. Eh, such is life.

Enter another delicious and not at all intensive recipe perfect for lazy summer people like me. It's based on the world's best chicken salad in the world, which is obviously from Potbelly.

If you're feeling extra lazy, you can buy a rotisserie chicken and just cut it up. No judgement here. But just in case, I'll tell you how I cook my chicken.

sunday stitch vol. 5 - pencil bag

I like to pretend that I know my way around a sewing machine. I've been using one since I was about 8 years old, after all. There is this one thing, though, that I've never done and kind of hate to admit.

I've never sewn a zipper.

Gasp!

Oh wait, we're talking about sewing. It's not that dramatic.

But alas, it's true. I've been intimidated by zippers for some reason for another. But it's time to be a big girl and figure it out so I can make clutches and pillows and dresses. My crafty friend and former neighbor, Nicole, was sweet enough to drive all the way out to the burbs and teach me her ways.

It was pretty simple. A couple of rectangles of sturdy fabric, a couple of rectangles of felt, thread, and a zipper.

Pin it up.

Quilt a couple of rectangles for stability.

Make a cool chevron pattern because we're cool like that.

And sew in the zipper.

OK, I skipped the photos of the actual zipper step. That's because you need to click here for the full tutorial. Give credit where credit's due. We skipped the gathering part and just sewed 2 rectangles together.

I can see 2 years into my future, sending sweet Henry to Kindergarten with an awesomely color coordinated pencil pouch/lunchbox/backpack combo. The other moms are going to hate me, aren't they. Ah, screw them. These pouches are adorable.

Thanks Nicole for getting me past my irrational fear of zippers.

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tara's house salad dressing

Fact: homemade salad dressing is far superior to store-bought salad dressing.

Fact: I only ever remember this 3 minutes before dinner will be ready.

Fact: This dressing can be made in under 3 minutes.

monogrammed quickie quilted blanket

As I mentioned in the Sunday Stitch a week or so back, I recently finished a quilted blanket for my cousin Raegan and her new hubby, Jake. I love giving handmade things for weddings. The item is slightly less likely to end up in a garage sale in 5 years.

The happy couple got engaged in May and decided in June that they wanted to marry in July. And no, calm down, no shotguns were involved. Well, there were some in the decor (they got married in a beautiful barn) but nobody was wielding them at the groom.

I had already decided when they got engaged that I wanted to make them a quilt, but with only 3 weeks until the wedding, I needed to whip one up in a hurry. This was the perfect project because it's wonderful and personalized and able to be knocked out in a short amount of time. It's a lap sized quilt, so it's big enough to be usable for couch cuddling but small enough to not make you hate your life.

If you've never made a quilt and want to get your feet wet, this is the perfect project to start with.

quilt club: process driven quilts

Hey y'all! Last night was quilt club at City Craft and I couldn't wait to share all of the pretties with you.

This month we focused on Process Driven Quilting, which is to say, using a process to cut up your fabric and then reassembling it. It's a really fast, easy way to create a quilt. You kind of make up the pattern as you go. Way less measuring. I was sold. You can read more about it here under study guide #2.

My green block above was my homework this month. My plan is to make a block of a different color each month and assemble one hella cool ROYGBIV quilt at the end of our 12 month club.

Michael is making a strip of quilt each month. This month was the blue.

megan & kevin's breakfast nook makeover

My sister-in-law Megan and her hubby Kevin (the only other Dallas Cowboys fan on that side of the family - solidarity) moved into their Houston, Texas area home about 2 years ago. A definite pro was that they got to select their finishes since it was a new home development. The con, however, is that you still have a very limited palette to choose from...unless you want to spend BIG BUCKS.

The result of that is the dreaded builder-beige walls E-VE-RY-WHERE. M&K focused their dollars on fitting out the most important spaces first - the living room and master bedroom. The little kitchen nook is outfitted with relics from Megan's first apartment. The space is nice, new, and large, but needs a bit of personality. 

Enter their Interior Designer sister-in-law (me) to the rescue!

Their style is warm, casual, a bit rustic, and colorful. They are naturally drawn to warmer colors like rust, orange, and tans. One danger of loving earth tones is that you can get sucked into a brown vortex from which you never emerge. You wake up one day and everything around you is a shade of muddy beige. 

To prevent this beige-coma you need to infuse some cool colors into the mix. Aqua blue works great with their earth tone palette. Once you've got a bit of aqua in there, aqua's cool sea glass toned friends feel welcome at the party. 

I've mixed rustic elements (the farmhouse style table, bench, and classic ladder back chairs) in with some more lush pieces (velvet nail head chairs, anyone?) alongside fun patterns and geometric shapes to keep it all from seeming too fussy. It has the feeling that these items were collected over time, when in fact they could all be purchased in the span of a weekend.

All of the items above are pretty budget friendly. The happy couple is at that all too familiar life stage of your late 20s - you don't want everything in your house to be made out of particle board and assembled yourself (ahem, IKEA), but you don't quite have the stomach to spend 3 grand on a kitchen table either. Here's the happy medium.

M&K - hope you like what I've done with the place. Now get shopping.

WHERE TO BUY

Curtains - World Market

Pendant lamp - Shades of Light

Napkins - World Market

Glassware - West Elm

Ladder back chairs - World Market

Upholstered chairs - World Market

Table - World Market

Runner - Anthropologie

Bench - World Market

Dishes - Anthropologie

Cheese Board - CB2

Rug: Rugs USA

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sunday stitch vol. 4 - quickie quilted blanket

What a crazy couple of weeks it's been with family in town, us out of town, family in town again, and a family wedding. Even with all of that activity, I happily made time to knock out another cute project.

My sweet cousin Raegan married Jake yesterday at a gorgeous ceremony in the fanciest barn you've ever seen. Being an artsy girl herself, I thought (hopefully) she would appreciate something handmade to mark the occasion.

I made this quilted throw and personalized it with a large monogram. Super cute, right? I'll share a tutorial later this week. It's a great beginner quilting project. If you've never made a quilt before, this would be a great place to start.

I actually finished the quilt over a week ago, but didn't want to share it on the blog so I wouldn't spoil the surprise in case Raegan popped over!

And, because I am shameless about the cuteness of my kids, here's a couple of photos of Ring Bearer Henry and boot scootin' Max.

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summer bucket list #9 - jalapeno margaritas

This post requires very little introduction. If margaritas are good, jalapeno margaritas are better. Especially poolside. 

Enough said.

THE GOODS:

• 1 cup sugar
• 1 cup water
• 1-1/2 cups good tequila
• 1/2 cup orange liqueur (Triple Sec or Grand Marnier or similar)
• 3/4 cup lime juice
• 1 sliced jalapeno
• lime slices for garnish
• Kosher salt (optional)
• ice

STEP ONE: Make your simple syrup. On the stovetop combine the sugar and water over medium-high heat. Stir until the sugar dissolves. Don't let it boil, otherwise you will have carmel, and that's not great for margaritas. Allow this to cool.

If you are impatient, just use less water in the pot and add a bunch of ice cubes after. I'm a lazy genius.

STEP TWO: Combine all ingredients into a pitcher. Stir it around and rough up the jalapenos a bit with a wooden spoon. If you only want a hint of heat, strain out the jalapenos before you serve. 

STEP THREE: Rub the rim of your glass with a sliced lime. Pour your salt onto a plate. Swish the glass rim into the salt. Fill the cup with ice, pour over your delicious concoction, and serve. Serves 3-4.

I'm a Texan girl who used to eat jalapenos straight off the plant as a child. My stomach can't quite handle that much heat now, but I do like things spicy. About 10 minutes into this drink I did want to die just a little bit. I took out my jalapeno slices and was good to go again. You could also use less jalapeno or take the seeds out.

Word to the wise, if you have any left over, for the love of God don't store them overnight in the fridge with the jalapenos still in the pitcher. Not that I did that.

Another item checked off our summer bucket list! This was the most delicious, by far.

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summer bucket list #2 - nature and science museum

We are tracking along nicely on our summer bucket list. Last week my sweet (albeit moderately insane) friend Kristi agreed to accompany me and both boys to the Perot Nature and Science Museum here in Dallas. I didn't even have to pay her. She'll never make that mistake again. 

In my infinite wisdom I misread the member hours online and we were there an hour early. This would not have been a big deal normally since they have outdoor things around the museum, except that it was raining. Well played, Tara.