The Nakamol jewelry is here!

Here is a sampling of some of the Nakamol jewelry that will be available through TrAsh Trunk. We will post more photos next week! Happy weekend!

Summer is almost here...

art camp 2009...

I was just reading the Whatever blog (www.megduerksin.typepad.com) and it dawned on me that our summer is almost here!!! So, you are all asking about summer art camp 2010... aren't you? Last years 3-day camp was such a hit that I think I will host another "I Love Me" art project for young girls. I will keep you posted on what it entails. For now, enjoy one of the photos from last year. I am proud of these girls loving themselves!

- Tracy

Egg on your pizza

via Sunset Magazine

The February issue of Sunset Magazine included a section on pizza. The article said that a top trend in the pizza world is cracking an egg (or 4 in my case) on your pizza just before it comes out of the oven. Never to be one to shy away from a "Top Trend" I figured it deserved a try. Sunset made some suggestions that would combine well with the eggs; things like potatoes, pancetta, fontina, and rosemary.

I didn't make my own pizza dough....I cheated and used Trader Joe's plain crust pizza dough (available in the refrigerated section.) I preheated the oven to 400 degrees, and then rolled out the pizza dough. I used olive oil brushed on the dough in place of pizza sauce. I then added some minced garlic and rosemary. On top of that I put a layer of thinly sliced red potatoes. The potatoes cook up really nicely due to the high baking temperature. I fried up a 1/4 lb of diced pancetta and added that on top of the potatoes. I also added a small amount of diced tomatoes. I used a mixture of mozzarella and parmesan cheese for the top. You could also add some green onion like in the top picture. Bake the pizza for 8-10 minutes. Pull the pizza out and crack 1 or 2 or 3...my pick was 4 eggs on top of the pizza (I broke the yokes too) ... put the pizza back in the oven for 2 or 3 minutes. Remove pizza and enjoy.

This pizza is delicious!

Ashlyn

Gum drops aren't just for kids...

Gum Drops.... a sweet memory of childhood...

... imagine them on a cake!

Gum drops.... a candy we all grew up with. Sweet. Chewy. Happy colors. Such fun to eat. I was grocery shopping the other day and ran across the candy section (go figure). And my eyes spotted these gum drops (spice drops). Immediately I wanted to put them on a cake. I don't know why. I just did. So I grabbed two packs and then proceeded to the cake mix aisle. I bought a white cake mix (with pudding in the mix.... so moist) and two cans of ready made frosting. It was white frosting with whip cream in it. I had never seen it before. I baked the cake according to the package. Cooled it. Frosted it. Then decorated it all over with the candy. And refrigerated it until ready to eat... although I snuck a few bites of the frosting and gumdrops. It was the most fun cake I have seen in a long time. It made me feel like a kid. And it tasted absolutely amazing!!!!!
- Tracy

Peace Love Mom

It's great to be a Mom and even though we are well past Mother's Day, I ordered a new Peace Love Mom shirt for myself the other day. I got the brown tee with the yellow lettering. I really wore my old shirt a ton.... couldn't wait to get another. In case you haven't seen these great t-shirts before, check them out here.

Ashlyn

reminders for Monday

via swiss miss

Do you Polyvore??

Well, before I explain what it is....you should just know that I hear comments like, "Can I go on Polyvore?" and "I need to check my Polyvore!" many times a day. As I mentioned before I have three girls. Two of my daughters loveeee Polyvore and can spend many hours wasting time on it. Kind of like when I spend all that time looking at Blogs... sigh:) They create new sets daily and then compare their sets with their friends sets, and then make comments about their friends sets. Oh yeah...again like blogging.

Anyway, Polyvore.com is a site that lets you create fashion or decorating collages. Basically, you are creating different "sets" or outfit combinations virtually. There are clothes, accessories, shoes, from all differents web sites and stores to choose from. Images of perfume or lipstick, quotes, celebrity pictures, can be added too. You just create a profile and start making your perfect sets, and then looking at other "Polyvore-ites" sets and adding them as contacts. You can even buy the things you see off of the site. I think there are even contests to create the best sets.

My Polyvore-ers are the teen set over here, but apparently all age groups love it. Over at Junkgardengirl, she blogs a Virtual Weekly Wardrobe...the clothes are always so cute.

One of my twins was sick today...and I just heard, "Ohhhhh.. my friend just created a get well set for me!!!!!" Sooooo much better than a card or some flowers people.

Ashlyn

Memory Boards

I love a good memory/inspiration/mood board. My memory board is just a big bulletin board that I got at Office Depot, and fits in right above the desk area in our kitchen. It is mainly filled with pictures of the kids. There are some pictures of other family members, some words of wisdom, pretty paper, cards, postcards, etc. I like having new things to add, so I can change it up and move things around.

I think a memory board would be a great graduation gift....images from babyhood to graduation. Awards, cards, notes, programs, tests, concert tickets....mixed in with the photos. Great memories of all the bad haircuts, braces, soccer games, and best friends. Anything that has meaning for the graduate!

Below are some of my favorite memory/inspiration boards.

Ashlyn

Via Wisteria

Via House and Home

Via Elizabeth Holcombe

Via Apartment Therapy

Via StacyStyle

Via Flickr

Via Simple Mom

Via Home Design with Kevin Sharkey

I love My Mom, Bella and Emilie Sloan....

Emilie Sloan.... where have you been all my life?

I met my mom for lunch yesterday and she asked if I would like to go to UpTown(http://www.uptowngigharbor.com/) with her. Are you kidding me? Shop or work??? Hmmm... I said I would go for a few minutes and look around as she shopped. That way I wouldn't feel so guilty. I had just told my kids we are not buying anything until after our Mexico mission trip. There is a new shop opening in UpTown called Bella Kitchen Essentials (http://www.bellakitchenessentials.com/). I heard it was opening up on Thursday. At least that is the word on the street. The door happened to be propped open and all I could see was this fabulous Emilie Sloan bag. The owner invited us in. We took a peek. Boy oh boy... this shop is going to be fun. There were starfish candles, outdoor rugs, place mats, amazing table settings, etc, etc, etc,... you get my drift..... a girls store!!! And to my surprise, while I was walking around and making my mental list of how I would like to redecorate my home (actually I thought of just buying a new home... haha), my mom got the owner to sell her this purse... and my mom handed it to me. You should have seen how happy I was. Thanks, mom.... I love my new Emilie Sloan bag! They come in all sorts of colors. I believe the owner will even special order your requests (I saw the catalog). So ladies, next Thursday... put on your shopping shoes, grab your lattes and head on out to Bella..... and have a great time! I know I did.

-Tracy

Shrimp Dip recipe.... gotta try it!!

The ingredients are key. I add Frank's Hot Sauce to just about anything (unless it's dessert of course). I'm addicted to it. My son is addicted to it (might be because I craved the Super Hot Tamale candies while pregnant with him) and my daughter is learning the love for it. My husband is still on the fence... but he is a meat and potatoes kind of guy (salt is his spice of choice). Fresh parsley and fresh lemons are also important. And I only use Philadelphia brand cream cheese (I am a brand junkie...). The recipe does not call for garlic salt, but I notice in the photo that I used it this one time (in place of the salt). I remember it tasting really yummy.

My aunt's cabin on the water makes the whole thing taste even better. Do you ever notice that seafood is fresher with a waterfront view? And it doesn't hurt that Bill Gate's beach place is next door. We should have invited him over for the shrimp dip. Oh well,... next time!

Shrimp dip complete. I doubled the recipe so we could have it two nights in a row.

Enjoy the recipe below...

New Year's Eve Shrimp Dip

(named after the millennium party. just the fishers and the barbers. the girls were so young and the siblings weren't born yet. life was simple. just like this dip)

8 oz. cream cheese
(original recipe calls for 4 oz. but I use the whole package.... yes, all 8 oz.)
1 T. mayonnaise
1 c. fresh baby shrimp, chopped
(it's even better with 1 1/2 cups)
1/4 t. Worcestershire
2 t. sweet onion, chopped fine (or grated)
2 t. fresh parsley, chopped fine
(i tend to use a little more)
1 1/2 t. fresh lemon juice
1/4 t. salt
5 (or more) drops of Frank's Hot Sauce
(original recipe calls for Tabasco)

Mix cream cheese with mayonnaise. Add remaining ingredients and mix well. Chill for at least two hours if you can wait that long. It's hard to resist. Serve with Pepperidge Farm Butterfly crackers (or club crackers) and celery sticks (counts as a veggie).

-Tracy

Inspiration

via Cakies

I saw this image on Cakies, and fell in love with the French Poster. I think it really makes the little girls room.

One of my daughters loves anything Paris (though she has never been there.) I found the poster here, and we planned her room (below) around it.

Have you been inspired by a picture?

Ashlyn

Rainbow cake aka "Roy"

I have been an avid follower of Meg's blog "whatever...." for quite awhile and love her pictures of the Rainbow cake that she made for her kiddos. Tracy and I decided that the Rainbow cake was pretty cool, and would be perfect for our getaway "13" birthday celebration. I volunteered to make the cake! Sigh! Let me just say that this cake really tried my patience. I made it the day before we left for the trip. Each layer of the cake is only about a cup and a half of batter. I started out with the ROY portion of the ROY-G-BIV cake. (by the way...I only did 6 layers....I skipped Indigo.) I put the red, orange, yellow cake pans into the oven and baked them for the allotted time. Meg mentions getting them on the cooling rack right away...so, of course that is what I did. Well, orange and red looked o.k., but the yellow portion started to crack and fall apart. I thought, o.k. that really stinks but the yellow is in the middle of the cake, so I can make this work. I think this is about the time I started to call the cake ROY as in ROY-G-BIV (Rainbow)...and it was in the voice that Seinfeld said NEWMAN! I needed to move the orange and red layers to make room for G,B, and V layers on the cooling rack and then those layers decided to fall apart. Uggghhhhh!! Of course this sent me back to the store to get another white cake mix to re-do ROY. My OCD might have sent me back too..ha! Also, to get the vibrant colors in the layers, you need to use the Wilton icing colors that you can get at places like Michael's. The colors are definitely vibrant, and make a beautiful cake....but the crap gets everywhere. This is a very messy cake.

I took the layers to the Resort in separate freezer bags for each layer and assembled the cake when we got there. I cut off a little of the top off each layer, so the layers could stack well....and again...ROY's very vibrant crumbs were everywhere. I think this was about the time I might have poured a highball....we were safely at our getaway spot, so I figured it was well deserved. Well, that took the edge off, and ROY got frosted and looked not completely super fug. We had plenty of laughs and used "ROY'S" name for the rest of our trip. The cake was really delicious and the girls loved it, thus making up for any ugly. You can get the full rundown on how to make it here - click here for cake recipe. My problems making this cake were most likely my incompetence...because I know Meg's turned out great:)

Ashlyn

A few more photos from our fabulous "13" weekend..

Moments shared with friends are moments to be remembered forever.

Swimsuits on the ledge.... time to get ready for the photo shoot by our amateur moms...

ok, ok.... only one more photo.... seriously!

Running back from the dock.... did we hear there might be cake and presents?

13 fingers for 13 years..... yep, it's official... they are teenagers!

These are the days.

The moments we will treasure.

These are the days.

Hold on to them forever.

These are the days!!!

-tf

It's Great to be 13!!!

Our digs.

The view.

Tracy taught us the right way to work with streamers. No tape! It was amateur hour until she took over.


The girls primping for dinner.

Cheers...we are teenagers!

Picture frames to remember the day.

Bathing beauties.

friends.

Last weekend we went to Alderbrook Resort

to celebrate!

My twins, Tracy's daughter, and a friend, all turned 13 recently.

So, it was three moms, four 13 year olds, and my youngest daughter.

Tracy's fabulous Aunt let us stay at her cottage at the resort!

The 8 of us had the best time. It was really sooooo nice to just have girl time.

On the way to Alderbrook...we stopped at Forever 21 and did some shopping and had lunch.

When we got to the resort the girls swam, and the moms decorated the cottage, frosted the cake, (more on that in a later post) and made some appetizers.... you can't have a girls weekend without great food!!

The resort was gorgeous!!

We all got to relax, have lots of laughs, act crazy, reconnect.

It was a great weekend.

Ashlyn