blue city

{Photos from a recent walk on the waterfront}

 

Lake Michigan looks a different color everyday and lately it's been dark turquoise blue for late summer.

Did you have a fun Labor Day weekend? Ben and I got into the city for some shopping (I have discovered Sephora for the first time, and love using our wedding as an excuse to buy lots of fancy makeup!) and went to a low key and delicious cookout.

I'm very excited it's September, and very very excited that we're only a month out from the wedding. On the other hand all the little wedding details that you really never considered are starting to pop up, yikes! I've been working on my veil and I think it's going to turn out! When you attempt DIY projects for a wedding it's always stressful until the very end.

On another subject, if you have a gas stove that floods your apartment with smelly gas and won't light, it means the pilot lights between the burners have blown out, and you can relight them easily without blowing up the kitchen. That's my favorite thing I learned today, other than that apples and peaches are in the rose family. I like roses better now.

summer quinoa salad with goat cheese

I go on kicks when it comes to certain foods like avocados, eggs for breakfast, and particular salad dressings. Currently I'm on a huge goat cheese kick! It started when we were moving to Chicago and Ben's sister and boyfriend took us out to dinner at The Bad Apple, which apparently has amazing burgers, but I was just coming off a moving-induced burger kick and wanted something a little lighter. I got the quinoa salad with goat cheese, and was immediately obsessed. So this is my version, that uses up all the summer produce you have sitting around the fridge!

Summer Quinoa Salad with Goat Cheese

Ingredients:

-chilled quinoa (make a large batch and keep it in the fridge!)

-summer veggies

-pine nuts and golden raisins if you have them such as red peppers, cherry tomatoes, arugula, etc.

-goat cheese! or feta.

-fresh chopped basil and/or mint

-your favorite dressing

(I made one with raspberry balsamic, brown mustard, honey, salt, and olive oil)

Mix all ingredients in a large bowl and enjoy!

I'm super excited when I discover something like this that is quick and easy to throw together for lunch, which is my least favorite meal of the day. It's also very portable if you make it in a big tupperware! And of course it's super healthy so you can indulge in a brownie later in the afternoon.

melted crayon art

I’m sure most of you have noticed the melted crayon art fad sweeping Pinterest, and for my bridal shower my best friend Ashley actually gave me the supplies to make because she knows I like fun crafts. Dare I say best bridal shower gift ever??

My goal was to create something that actually looks artsy, not grade-school, and luckily I found this post by Jenna Brown that shows it’s possible!

Here’s my “studio.” Just lay out a lot of newspaper on the floor and blast those crayons onto a canvas with a blow dryer set to “hot.” I found that if you move the crayon back and forth (like you’re coloring) while blasting it at close range on “low” it will release the most wax. When I had a blob of wax, I set the crayon aside and blasted the blob on “high” to spread it around and let it seep into the other colors.

No fancy supplies needed—a box of 64 crayons is about $2.84 at Target right now. Thanks, back to school sales! I had a fork handy to spear the crayon per Jenna’s advice in case my hand started burning but it really wasn’t necessary. A little bit of wax goes a long way and I didn’t wear any crayons down far enough to burn my fingers. Some colors definitely melt better than others, and silver was my favorite!

I highly recommend this project. It’s fun, super easy, and VERY relaxing to watch crayons melt into rainbow swirls. And the result makes a fun Rorschach-style conversation piece. Personally I see a snail-dragon on the bottom of mine. 

 

Or if I rotate it this way maybe a hot air balloon?

 

I think I’m going to hang it above the kitchen sink.

Seriously, have a glass of wine tonight and try this, and send me the link or picture if you do!
And check out my etsy shop to see more of my art :)