Keepin' It Local

I have been really noticing how great Valparaiso, IN is. There is always talent and inspiration wherever you turn! On this blog post I am going to talk about some places and people that I am lovin' right now!

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Yesterday I went to my first ever trunk show. Melissa Mentzel from Rockwell+Oakley did a WONDERFUL job! I was thoroughly impressed and inspired by all of her wonderful goodies. This gal has an eye for creativity and her unique sense of style is unstoppable! She had handmade earring, necklaces, bracelets, dresses, shirts, shrugs, aprons, cards, rings, keychains, kids clothing...the list goes on and on! Everyone that came left with some sort of pretty to show off! And this gals sewing skills were off the chart. Just seeing the hard work she did really made me see where I would like to go with my sewing. Like I said before, very inspirational. Check out some of her stuff:

          

Above pictures via: Rockwell+Oakley 

Funky Earrings

Beautiful Necklace

             

More Fun Earrings

Cute Bracelet

Here is what I bought!

I LOVE this necklace and have worn it everyday since I bought it! The bead is so cool and my favorite part .

These are Melissa's Demotivational card line.

*I actually bought three, but I already sent the other one to my friend!*

There is so much more cute stuff  to her collection, it's insane! Melissa is such a ray of light and so sweet too! What is also awesome is that she will make anything to your liking! I HIGHLY recommend supporting this local designer. Check out Rockwell+Oakley's Facebook page too!

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Located at 24 Washington Street in Valparaiso, IN, this cafe is a breathe of fresh air for this town! The food is Mediterranean and could not be any better! The foods I have had are felafel, tabbouleh, paprika chicken, salad, spiced potatoes, and of course the turkish coffee. I have eaten there twice and loved it and left feeling just the right amount of full. Everything is made fresh and served beautifully! I don't feel all yucky and guilty after eating a bunch of food there. I feel healthy, happy, and smiling. My husband (who can be a hard sell for new restaurants) LOVES their fresh gyro. So ladies, take your man out to a new place and let them know my steak and potatoes man loves the gyro!

What is even better is that they are open from 11:30-9:30, will deliver (with a days notice) and caters also. They are working on getting beer and wine in there too. You can't ask for a better spot! Go there today, and if you do pick me up some felafel because I am craving it!

Check out Meditrina Market Cafe's Facebook Page

And their menu!

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 *To appreciate my post, please play video while reading, and feel free to dance :)*

Via: Youtube.com

 If you know me, you know I love me some dancin'! And dancing to local music is the best! Chesterbrown was the first band I heard when I first moved to Indiana. From their own description found at Chesterbrown.org "...they draw on elements of Rock, Funk, Country, Blues, RnB, and Jazz. While they are not your atypical Jam-Band, they can and do indeed jam!" And Jam out they do! My husband and I have so much fun seeing them play and they are growing a bigger fan base with every show. 

They play all over in Northwest Indiana, Southwest Michigan, Illinois, and even Arizona! They are so fun, so nice, and really great at what they do. 

For the past 2 years they put together a local music festival called Brown Town that features all different types of musical acts at the beautiful Izaak Walton in Michigan City, IN. The date is set for this years so don't miss out! What could be better than camping local while listening to local music??

Check out Chesterbrown.org to buy a CD, t-shirt and to see where they are playing near you!

You can also check out their Twitter and Facebook to keep up to date even faster!

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Got any local fav's? Send them my way, maybe they will turn into my favorites too!!

You Should Love It Too

 I have a lot going on right now and thought I would do a photo post of what is keeping my interest.

Florence and The Machine

I cannot get enough of this song right now. Please play and browse through the rest of my post. You will not be disappointed.

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Rose Tattoos

Via: Tumblr.com

Via: decoratedskin.tumblr.com



Via: Pinterest.com

Via: glamash.tumblr.com

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School Christmas Party/Room Parent Crafts

Via: ReadingConfetti.blogspot.com

Via: Pinterest.com

Via: meetthedubiens.blogspot.com

Via: EbertsExplorers.blogspot.com

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DIY Doggy Sweaters

Via: MarthaStewart.com

Via: CraftyStylish.com

Via: MarthaStewart.com

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Wearing Dresses with Jeans

Via: Tumblr.com

Via: Chictopia.com

Via: 365DIY.blogspot.com

Via: Lookbook.nu

Via: Chictopia.com

Via: Chictopia.com

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These are things I love right now. You should love them too! If you don't, then tell me something you are loving right now!

Music Heals The Soul

I was told that in the least, it takes 2 years to begin to fully go through and begin to accept grief associated with loss. I just hit the one year mark and I feel like all of my emotions are beginning to start up again. I miss my Mom so much! It is nice because so many family and friends called or wrote to let me know they were thinking of me on May 24th, which was the day my Mom passed last year.

My Mom was always the life of the party. Although she wasn't a major music buff, she was always up for dancing to some good tunes! I feel as though I inherited that from her! I love music and I have been turning on the radio and hearing songs that my Mom loved to dance to. I have been wanting to just listen to those and laugh and remember her fun dance moves and how she would always get the party started. Hence the nickname "Crazy Mary".

I am going to share a Crazy Mary playlist with you in this post. You may know the songs already, and if you know my Mom you will laugh and turn it up and shake your rump as though you are dancing with her!

 

Scrubbin' for Christmas

Sooooo, you know those awesome bags that I made for the school's Jingle Bell Shop? Ya- you know, the ones I spent a long time sewing? Well, you wanna know how many sold at the Jingle Bell Shop?




Zero.



I feel like I was sabotaged! The woman putting it together was a little confusing when explaining to me as to what the prices should be for the items. When I finally understood them, I thought the price we agreed upon was fair. Well, when I took the kids to go buy presents at the Jingle Bell Shop, I only saw one of my bags laying out. I thought "Wow! Everyone must really like my bags! All but one sold!" Well, to my surprise when I came to pick them up, I was told not one sold! I was totally bummed! I said "Well, I only saw one out the other day. I wondered where they all were." And she said "Yah we just put them out today." Which was the last day of the shop and was only open for like an hour! Weird.....Well, needless to say, at least my friends and family will be happy with them! I guess I just psyched myself up for everyone else liking them! *tear*

That evening of disappointment deserved a breakfast of champions!

 

Chocolate Chip Pancakes and OJ, I know your mouth is watering right now :).

I had the busiest day yesterday! Just so much running around getting everything together for The teacher presents because Christmas Break is upon us. Now, I always have these good ideas (i.e. the soup in a jar) and really only follow thru with 50% of them. Telling you about it does help me because then I have the idea in my head and I feel I need to follow thru for this blog, but I just wasn't feeling the soup jars. I found something WAY more fun and easier to make.

I have always wondered about sugar scrubs and how to make them. I did some research and found this wonderful blog called Under The Table And Dreaming By Stephanie Lynn. She has a lot of great ideas! One is the Lemon Sugar Hand Scrub.

Stephanie Lynn's Version.

This was a very easy-on-the-wallet gift idea. I made 5 jars of hand scrub and still have a lot of the ingredients left over. I used a little different variation from her recipe, but followed the same guidelines.

My ingredients are 2 1/2 cups of Granulated Sugar, 1 cup of Olive Oil, 5 tbsp. of  Lemon juice, 2 tsp. Lemon Extract, and 1/4 tsp. Lavender Oil

You can use any essential oil that you have. I thought peppermint might also be a fun one for a variation of this hand scrub.

You can get essential oils at your local health food store

I found these 15 oz. glass jars at Michael's. They were about $3 each (They only had 4, so I bought all of them!). I also purchased some plastic containers from the dollar store which I will use for future batches.

Begin by mixing Sugar with Olive Oil. Add in the Lemon Juice, or essential oils to your liking.

This is the point where I smelled the mixture to see how "lemony" it really was and all I could smell was Olive Oil. I purchased the Lemon extract because I was afraid of this. I mixed in 2 tsp. of lemon extract and tested it on my hands. Still smelled like Olive Oil, so I then added a 1/4 tsp. of Lavendar. That made a big difference! Now it turned into...

Lemon Lavender Hand Scrub!

This mixture made enough to fill my 15 oz. jar, but I left room for the lid to fit on so it didn't spill everywhere.

My version after mixing.

I filled my jars and cleaned them up a little bit so they were not too slippery. (That oil tends to get everywhere, so do not do this on your best table cloth when making. Washable surface preferred)

The mixture will settle after a bit, and that is ok because we will be topping these off with something to mix it with.

I found a website with the most amazing FREE templates! Ruffledblog.com . It is actually a wedding website. I have been married for 6 years so I wasn't looking for anything for a wedding, but it was still dreamy to see all of the unique, amazing photographs and ideas she has!

Anywho, I downloaded and printed up these free templates on regular computer paper.

I purchased contact paper from the dollar store and after cutting out the labels I wanted to use and writing with permanent marker what type of hand scrub this was, I measured the contact paper larger than the label. I put some alcohol on a cotton swab and rubbed where I wanted the label to be ( just in case there was any oils left over). I positioned where I wanted the label and stuck it to the front. I topped it off with this pretty ribbon, which was also on sale at Michael's. It was tricky to find spoons that would go with what I was making. But I actually found some in a set of forks, knives, and spoons at the dollar store. I used all of the spoons, but my kids added some forks and knives to their utensils.

Finished product!

When I packaged these for travel, I wrapped them in tissue paper and added a decorative plastic bag around it. I also used the left over tag's from the brownie oreo gift bags.

I gave them to L's bus driver's and his kindergarten teacher. I hope to make different variations and maybe body scrubs for Christmas gifts. I know, I only really do 50% of what I say. So, we'll see!

Here's a little playlist to play while you are making these, because as I said before, after awhile the Christmas music gets to me!

   

It's Beginning To Smell A Lot Like Christmas

We decorated out first "real" Christmas Tree tonight. It smells AMAZING! in my house.

We are currently having a crazy snow storm here in Indiana. I mean, 30 mile an hour winds and the craziest snow squalls I have ever seen-white out city! The theme for this post will be Getting Ready For Christmas! We do all of these in our household to get us in the Holiday mood.

Well, you can't get into the Christmas mood without watching Elf.

"I just like to smile, smilings my favorite!"

We cozy up, laugh our butts off, and talk all about our belief in Santa :)

The best Christmas decorations are the homemade and handmade kind. They are the ones that you can do with your family and have to cherish for a long time. It's so much fun to start a tradition of making something to hang up every year or to bring out a lasting project from previous years. Most of these projects are free or cost next to nothing. Here are a few that we have done this year:

Construction Paper Chains

These are so easy, fun, and cute to put anywhere. You can use any color or size and hang them on a tree, doorway, or around a window. All you need is construction paper, scissors, tape or glue. Cut the strips to your liking and glue the ends together in a chain.

Cinnamon Ornaments

These will leave such a fragrant scent in your house while they are cooking, you cannot help but feel in a cozy Christmas mood!

All you do is heat your oven to 200 degrees. Then you mix:

• 1-4 oz. can of cinnamon
• 1 T. cloves
• 1 T. nutmeg
• 3/4 cup applesauce
• 2 T. white glue

Mix dry ingredients and add to wet ingredients Mix thoroughly. If the dough feels too dry add a little more applesauce. Too wet? Add more cinnamon. Spread a small amount of cinnamon onto a rolling space and roll out dough. You want to make sure you leave the dough thick enough so the end results aren't too thin because will break easily after baking. Then cut shapes with Christmas cookie cutters. We like to use gingerbread men. I then take a plastic straw and poke a hole where I would like to add a string for hanging up. Place them on a lined cookie sheet and bake for several hours. Do Not Eat! When they are all done baking and dry, put a string thru the hole, tie, and hang for a delicious smelling Christmas decoration. I hung ours on our tree, but you could have the kids, or you, paint them and give them as gift tags on Christmas gifts. You could also place them in a basket and put them where you want the smells of Christmas to bring some cheer.

Christmas Stick Puppets

If you have kids, then you more than likely have some popsicle sticks laying around for one thing or another. You can either print out already colored pictures, or pictures that the kids can color themselves.  I chose to print pictures that we could color in. I printed thepictures onto heavy cardstock paper. If you do not have this available, you can print them up on regular paper and glue them onto cardboard or other stiff paper so they are sturdier. After the kids colored them, I cut them out and hot glued them onto the sticks. We had little Christmas plays using high voices when we were all done making them. You can also add them to a plant to jazz it up for the season or you can  use them as place settings or gift tags for little ones.

As I am setting up the tree or trying out one of these fun crafts, I usually want to put on some Christmas music to help me feel that holiday cheer. I turn on a local radio station (that has been playing Christmas music since Halloween)  and it's nice to listen to the songs for a bit, but I get so tired of listening to the same songs in different forms over and over again. For a break from the "normal" annoying tunes, I have compiled a playlist that will get you in the Christmas mood without wanting to rip your ears off.

Now that you have decorated to you hearts desire, you may feel a little Christmas'd out. Here's a little something to give you a different point of view of Christmas.