Guess what…

I changed my blog layout! Yay! I found this lady on etsy and presto! After about a week of exchanging emails and proofs, I finally have it to show to you! I hope you like it! Here’s her website if you are interested, I highly recommend her. http://designsbylee.blogspot.com/

In other news, I have decided to come clean about something. After 100 posts and 10 months, and nothing terrible happening, I know it is time. My name is Katy Shea, not Blair. Blair is my favorite character on gossip girl and thus my great nom de plume! You should check out my pinterest board dedicated to her style!

 

Plus exciting news:

MY FIRST CHECK FROM GOOGLE!

An Explanation

       I haven’t posted in a week, which is weird for me. I was doing so well, I even went to Boston last week and you guys didn’t know. But that was something I had planned for, this past week caught me by surprise. There is no easy way to say this and I read somewhere that a good blogger is honest with their audience, so here is my attempt. My brother died this past Monday. He was only 19. Starting his first semester at college. We had the service this past Saturday and nearly 500 people showed up to support my family and it meant so much to us. This week has been a blur but I am slowly trying to pick back up the pieces to my life and this blog is one of those important pieces. I promise to post something this week, I know you will all understand if it’s not my best post. As well, I really want to share with you some of the most interesting things I have learned this week.

Austin and I at Versailles in Summer of 2010

Halloween Mini Pumpkins

 

     After finding these cute/scary pumpkins, I just knew I had to make some of my own. I love carving pumpkins, I have such fond memories of carving pumpkins with my family. One time, we were all in LA for Halloween, I was about 8 and my uncle, who lives there, snuck in the BIGGEST pumpkin I have ever seen into the hotel. It was massive and we carved it right there in the hotel room. I am sure the maids weren’t as happy as me and my brother but we put that pumpkin proudly on display next to the window. My mom snuck down and gave all the hotel staff candy, so that when Austin and I went “trick or treating” in the hotel, they had candy to give us. ANYWAYS, back to my current dilemma. I wanted to carve a pumpkin but not really do a large one. I don’t really have the space to put it outside, thus mini pumpkins it was!

Materials:

Googly eyes

Vampire teeth (find at Target or Walmart in the Halloween Party section)

Black pipe cleaners

Mini pumpkins or squashes

Directions:

Scary Pumpkin

1) Hold up the teeth to the pumpkin and figure out how much area you need to carve. It’s better to carve the area too small than big.

2) Once carved make sure you angle the insides downwardly, so the teeth have more room inside.

3) Shove the teeth inside. Seriously, shove them. Then attach the eyes!

Spidey Pumpkin

1) Take 8 black pipe cleaners and fold in half. Then twist them.

2) Attach them at the top using hot glue. Attach eyes and bend legs to suit.

* You can also carve out the top and insert a tea light candle!

 

 

What’s your favorite way to carve a pumpkin? Have any funny Halloween stories? Please share!

Help!

Does anyone know someone interested blog design? I want to update by blog for you guys and am lost on how to change everything! I am willing to pay!

THANKS!

~Blair

P.S. Email me at Bfirstapartment@gmail.com

Bedroom Art Update!

So remember when I did this? And then finally, like 3 months later I put it up? Well I have done more things! First I did some more of this:

Which took some time and more painted arms. Though I am not finished yet I thought I would give you guys a sneak peak!

So please ignore the fact that they aren’t symmetrical, I just wanted to get them up before they sat around for another three months. Also, all you readers who diligently read my posts (tell me, its not just my mom), what color do you think I should paint the small ones? I was playing around with a few browns in the upper corner but I can’t decide.

Weekly Wonderings: October 12th, 2011

It’s really October, which means I can start planning Halloween things! I love Halloween, I love the dressing up and eating tons of candy. That’s really all Halloween means to me, much like Easter means Peeps! Anyways, here are some of my inspiration for this Halloween.

This looks like such an easy way to carve a pumpkin, and their small size means it would be great for a dorm!

I wish I had someone to carry me around all night, or a pot big enough.

A party trick that is easily mastered!

How I wish my party food displays would look. One day….

Possible Halloween costume: Madeline. Thoughts?

 

So what are you most excited about with Halloween? Do you already have your costume picked out or am I the only one who still likes to dress up?

All images from here

Handy House Tip #2: Pasta Layering

       I hate using tons of pots to do the same thing: boil water. So when I have to cook pasta which takes about 10 minutes and broccoli which takes 4 minute, I simply layer them. I put the pasta in first, then place the broccoli on top. In four minutes, I scoop out the broccoli and let the pasta continue to boil. Ta-Da saving water and dishes!

What’s your favorite tip to keep pan count low?

Housewarming Gift

Here is another cute idea for a housewarming gift: just find a pretty bottle and fill it with scented bath salts! You can make your own or buy some. Either way it’s a lovely gift! (And yes, that is a bottle of Nuvo)

Homemade Breadsticks

I have to admit, after realizing how easy and yummy these homemade biscuits were, ones from the frozen aisle at the grocery store started to look bad. I knew I could make some on my own and thanks to pinterest, I had tons of ones to pick from. I finally decided on these, because it’s top with butter and garlic, yummy! These were quite the hit at dinner, I had over some friends and somehow we managed to eat all of them in one night. OOPS. Not only that, but they only take 45 minutes to rise, so you could make the dough. Let it rise, and start dinner. Then just pop them in the over a few minutes before you want to serve dinner, which is perfection for me.

Ingredients

• 1 package active dry yeast
• 1 1/2 cups warm water
• 4 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 1 tablespoon salt

Plus for the topping

• 8 tablespoons butter
• 2 teaspoons garlic powder
• 2 teaspoons salt

Directions:

1) Dissolve yeast in a bowl with sugar and warm water. Let it sit for about 10 minutes till it’s frothy/foamy

2) Mix flour, butter and salt in to the water mixture. Start to knead dough. (fyi, just cause it says four doesn’t mean you wont need more flour, you have to add it until it feels right. The dough should stick to itself.) Don’t over knead it, just enough so it’s doughy.

3) Then tear off pieces and make little breadsticks and place on a greased cookie sheet to rise for 45 minutes. Cover with a cloth and place in a warm area.

4) Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Place breadsticks in heated oven.

5) Melt butter, garlic powder and salt together. Halfway through the bake time (about 6 or 7 minutes), pull breadsticks out and brush (or spoon) with garlic butter mixture.

6) Once breadsticks have finished cooking (12 to 15 minutes in total), take the breadsticks out of the oven and brush (or spoon) with the rest of the garlic butter mixture.

7) Eat them while they are hot and enjoy!

What’s your favorite type of dinner bread? Or do you just not discriminate like me?

Cake!

Just thought I would take a moment to show off what I learned in my cake decorating class! This was my final cake, and if you have about 50 dollars to spare, I would highly suggest taking one of these Wilton classes at your local Michael’s or other craft store. They are so much fun and I definitely learned a lot. Plus, it’s a great thing to do with some friends one night a week.

Weekly Wonderings: October 5th, 2011

So last week I posted some of the bigger blogs I follow, well I realized I follow some equally great smaller blogs ( I just love Google reader). I thought then this week, I would share my favorite of these!

1) La Petite Fashionista
     Such an adorable blog, I have actually met Lauren and she is just as nice in person as she comes across on her blog! She has a great sense of fashion and the editorials she chooses are always beautiful!

2) Fat Girl Trapped in a Skinny Body
    She cracks me up. As if the title of her blog isn’t catchy enough, I am always laughing from her ramblings about food, and often feel the same way. Her recipes are delicious and some look downright sinful!

3) Charade Style
    Want to feel inspired to be a better person? Want uplifting quotes? Look no further than Megan as Charade Style. I always come away smiling from reading her posts and want to change my life for the better!

4) The College Prepster
    Carly at the college prepster fills my need for OCDness and sticky notes. When she writes about her lists and more lists, I just feel so at home. I have to admit I am not as preppy as her but she does know how to pick cute clothes. And she is an avid reader like me!

What about you? What are some of your favorite blogs to read?
P.S. Excuse my self promotion here, but you should add me to your Google reader!

Handy House Tip #1: Brown Sugar

      I hate it when brown sugar gets all packed together and stiff, it’s super annoying to deal with it. Brown sugar is already a pain because you always have to pack it down and its super easy to eat it raw. Anyways, here is a neat trick to keep brown sugar fresh: Just put a few marshmallows in the bag! Tada, fresh brown sugar all the time!


  
     What’s your favorite handy house tip? Do you eat brown sugar raw too or is that just my affliction?

Martha Stewart Monday: Chocolate Chip Cookies

I feel like chocolate chip cookies are one of those essential recipes, like a good chicken roast or biscuits. These cookies were made with love to send to my boyfriend because yes, I can be that cheesy! Anyways, these cookies were pretty easy to make and pretty yummy too. I might have eaten a few before I shipped them off ( I had to taste test them, obviously).

Ingredients:

• 1 cup butter, softened (I zap it for 10 seconds
• 1 cup white sugar
• 1 cup packed brown sugar
• 2 eggs
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 teaspoon almond extract (OPTIONAL unless you are me, who adds it to everything!)
• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 2 teaspoons hot water
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 cups semisweet chocolate chips

Directions:

1) Preheat oven to 350 degrees and grease a cookie sheet (or two if you have them)

2)  Cream (which means mix with a stand or hand mixer) butter, and sugars. Then add one egg at a time. Then stir in the extracts. Next dissolve the baking soda in the hot water. Stir in and add the salt and flour. Lastly, add in the chocolate chips, and make sure the chips are distributed evenly.

3) Spoon the cookie dough onto the cookie sheet in medium sized globs. Bake for about 10 minutes or until edges are golden. 

What’s your favorite cookie recipe? Or are Chocolate Chip Cookies your favorite?

Housewarming Gift: Cake Platter

        
  A cake platter can be a great gift, especially if there are some home baked goodies inside. I highly recommend Brie Bites or Strawberry Cookies. I got this cake platter for my birthday, when I got this also! I decided though beautiful the cake platter was a bit to dull for my tastes. It need a touch of gold. And out came my handy dandy paint pen! I watched an episode of trash tv (Don’t judge me on my RHOBH obsession), while carefully painting the outer edge gold. It took a few layers (3) but in the end it gave it that perfect touch of class! Now the cake platter looks more expensive too, and you can’t beat that!



   
   Happy First Day of October! How do you plan to celebrate the coming of fall?