Winner, Winner, Chicken dinner!

We have a winner for my 100th post giveaway!

To choose a winner, I put every person's name in Random.org's list generator twice, since all of you are followers. It gave me this list:

List Randomizer
There were 12 items in your list. Here they are in random order:
1. Tim and Tracy
2. Cara
3. Carol
4. Julia
5. Carol
6. Amy
7. Strand family
8. Tim and Tracy
9. Julia
10. Strand family
11. Cara
12. Amy
Timestamp: 2009-09-19 13:26:23 UTC

Next, I used Random.org's random number generator to pick a number 1 - 12. It came up with:

Result: 9 ( It wouldn't let me copy/paste the whole widget thing. Bummer, because it looks cool!)

Congrats Julia!

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend!

<3
Hattie

Fresh Fashion Friday - old is new again

Fun fact: Libraries are cold. All of them. I start each school year in denial of this fact, but now that I've been back for almost a month, I'm ready to admit that wearing a skirt everyday is not an option unless I'm willing to experience goosebumps on top of goosebumps. So, I bring you the first Fresh Fashion Friday featuring pants! And another first, almost everything I'm wearing is several years old at least. The challenge I gave myself was to use one newer piece to bring everything else up to date.

I decided to use a long t-shirt to add some freshness to my old shrunken sweater. Since chinos are fairly classic, they work with just about any look. I put two necklaces together to tie together the blue/brown sweater and shirt combo. I'm also wearing brown satin flats the same shade as the t-shirt.

Here is the breakdown:

-blue beads (Target Dollar Spot) intertwined with vintage brown beads (Bygones)

-Baby blue cable knit sweater from Abercrombie by way of Rugged Warehouse purchased eight years ago during my freshman year of college.

- Brown t-shirt from Forever 21

- Tan chinos from Banana Republic by way of Goodwill. I don't know the exact age on these, but the tag is not the one they use currently.

I little close up of the intertwined beads and the sweet cable details.

Trying to get a good shot with my camera's timer feature, I manged to get about fifteen really great butt shots. I kept this one in the post because it shows the little ties on the sweater sleeves. I love them!

Happy Friday everyone!

<3

Hattie

p.s. I'm thinking of adding a mclinky to my fashion posts in the future, if enough people would be interested in linking up. Thoughts?

Brain Food

I'm stepping outside the box a little for this DIY Day post and bringing you my new favorite dinner recipe. Way back in January I shared my super easy and cheap salmon recipe, which we still eat almost once a week. After repeatedly hearing how good fish is for you, Brad and I decided we should try to eat it twice a week (OK, I decided and Brad said he would eat it.) but we knew we didn't want to have the same meal both times. A little research into the fish with the best health benefits and lowest mercury risks led us to tilapia. Tilapia is a mild, almost sweet fish with only 100 calories per fillet ( I am not kidding!) that has been described as the fish for people who don't like fish.
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Here is my super fast, super easy, super cheap tilapia recipe:

You will need
- Tilapia fillets (Wal-mart sells a bag of 4 - 5 fillets for just under four bucks)
- Pam ( I like the organic olive oil version)
-Pepper
-Garlic salt or garlic powder
- Italian seasoning
- About 2 -3 Tbs. butter ( I like Smart Balance 50/50 blend)
- A handful of fresh parsley or a few shakes of the dried stuff
- A squeeze or two of lemon juice if you like it with your fish

Here's what you do:
Preheat your oven to 375 degrees. Lightly coat a baking dish with Pam. Season both sides of each fillet to taste with pepper, garlic salt (or garlic powder ) and Italian seasoning.



Bake for eight minutes. While fish is baking, melt butter and add parsley. I do this in my Pyrex measuring cup with a spout.


Pour butter/parsley mixture over fish and return to oven for two to five minutes or until fish flakes with a fork.

Add a squeeze of lemon if ya like it, and serve with your favorite side. We like smashed baby red potatoes with a little low fat shredded cheese. I am NOT a food stylist, so believe me when I say this tastes way better than it looks! It is super yummy and my very, very picky husband loves it! Plus, it does not make your house smell fishy.

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Don't forget to enter my giveaway before midnight on Friday!

<3

Hattie

Happy Birthday, Mom!

Today is my mom's birthday. She is one awesome lady and has pretty much taught me everything I know about how to live frugally and hunt down deals.

I can't believe that the most recent picture I have of us is from Christmas! I guess I need to take more pictures with people in them!
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My mom and I love to get each other special presents that just scream, "us" we also love to wrap them up all pretty. I'm not usually a gift bag user, but when I found this mini reusable shopping bag at Whole Foods, I knew my mom would love it (she did!).



The Dick and Jane collages are just too cute! I filled the bag with boxes of tea (where do you think I learned my three cups a day tea habit?) wrapped in brown paper, because who doesn't love having something to unwrap?



because I am a nerd, I decided to make a card to match the Dick and Jane bag. A little google image search action and some editing later, and I came up with this:



Isn't coming up with a special present to give every bit as good as receiving one?
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My mom has given me lots of special gifts over the years, but some of the best things she gave me weren't tangible items. In honor of her birthday, I thought I'd share some of the best home related things she's given me.

1. Joy in bargains - Family lore has it that during show and tell in Kindergarten, I proudly stood up and announced, "My Mommy went yardsale-ing on Saturday, and she bought me this sweater!" Clearly, I understood from and early age that bargain hunting is nothing to be ashamed of and should be celebrated. So thanks for taking me to yard sales and thrift stores and flea markets and teaching me that if you're meant to have it you'll find it some day at the right place, for the right price.

2. Room to develop my personal style - Thanks mom, for letting me display my antique bottle collection in my bedroom window (which happened to be on the front of the house) even though the look didn't really jive with the early colonial vibe of the rest of the house!

3. But not too much room! - Thanks for deciding that painting my room hot pink or lavender or bright blue would have been a bad idea. My Lisa Frank loving 12 year-old self would have been sick of those colors in less than two weeks! Of course now white is one of my favorite home decor colors, so I've come along way from middle school.

4. Time to create - Not every mom keeps a fully stocked craft room and is willing to let her kids make messes with bits of fabric, string, glitter, and glue. Thanks for letting me disappear into my room with the glue gun and beads, thanks for letting me build a newspaper geodesic dome in the middle of the living room, thanks for always exclaiming over every project, even if it didn't turn out as expected.

Happy Birthday Mom!

<3
Hattie

p.s. Don't forget to enter my giveaway, your odds are pretty good!

100 posts and a giveaway!

It's kind of hard for me to believe that I've written 100 posts for this lil old blog I started back in January as a New Year's resolution! I have to say that I've loved every bloggy second. To celebrate this only-momentous-to-me occasion, I think it's time for a giveaway!


I made this cute little duct tape clutch just for one of you. . .


The base is a man's shirt, which makes for some pretty spiffy lining on the inside.



You have two chances to win this baby:
1. Post a comment below letting me know what you like best about this blog and/or what you'd like to see more of.
2. Become a follower ( no Kool-Aid involved, I promise!) or subscribe by RSS or blog about the giveaway on your own blog. Just come back here and post a comment letting me know what ya did for your second entry.
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I'll keep this open until midnight on Friday. For my own post office sanity, this one is open to US residents only.


Wouldn't this make a cute date night purse? Or pencil case, or makeup bag, or tissue/advil/lip gloss bag inside the mammoth purse we all really carry?



Good luck, and thanks for making my first 100 posts a ton of fun!

<3
Hattie

Paper Treats!

Time for some thursday fun! As usual, I'm join all the cool kids at Kimba's DIY Day Party and Gina's Transformation Thursday party. I'm also having a givaway this week in celebration of my 100th post. Be sure to put your name in the hat by midnight on Friday!



I know it's still September, but I caved and put up one tiny Halloween decoration over the weekend.



I always like to do something a little campy and vintage looking in the kitchen for holidays, so when I stumbled upon these cute banner templates at The Toy Maker, I just couldn't resist!

My family never really did Halloween, so these are about as spooky as I get!



I made my banner out of construction paper, but you could use felt if you wanted something a little more sturdy.



Not feeling a banner? You could use these templates on luminary bags leading up to your door. Or, how about as a really cute applique pattern for a child's shirt? You could even hang one in each window with an electric candle shinning behind for an eerie glow.



The owl is hands down my favorite - big surprise there! Which one do you dig the most?

<3>

Hattie

Fresh Fashion Friday - sew sweet

I'm loving starting the weekends with some fashion fun. As promised, this outfit features my newly created skirt turned shirt. Without further adieu, this is what I wore on Thursday:



From top to bottom
- Vintage brown beads from Bygones (A super fun vintage store in Carytown)
- 3/4 length cream cardigan from h&m
- Skirt (from Ann Taylor Loft) turned fab strappy top, hand sewed by me
- Bronze ribbon belt from h&m
- Navy skirt from h&m

Clearly, I am a fan of h&m! Here's a closer shot to give you a better look at my new top:


Click to enlarge the photo for more detail.

I hope y'all are enjoying my fashion challenge half as much as I am! If you do any fashion posts of your own, please link up in the comments. I'd love to see your style.

Happy (almost) weekend!

<3
Hattie