Confessions

I am a want to be foodie. Okay, I am not a full-out "cruncher", but I am pretty-close to a foodie.

I have a love for Gwyneth Paltrow, and Coldplay. Equally, I love Gwen and Chris Martin together. The odd love I have for Gwyn started when I went to London last year and my sister introduced me to Goop. Sophisticated, gorgeous and great taste, even for food.  How can you not love Gwyn, Chris, and their cute little family {even though the names Moses and Apple aren't on the top of my list}?

Even better? Gwyn's {we are on first name basis} latest cookbook.

Over the last week, Robert and I were a able to relax and spend time with my aunt and uncle in Salt Lake City. While I was there, my Aunt Julie checked out this book from the library. I pretty much spent every moment at the house with my nose in the book. Obsessed. 

This morning I woke up and, surprise! My sweet aunt bought it for me as a gift and sent it to the house. {Thanks A.J.!}

The book is full of amazing {mostly vegetarian and low-fat/low-sugar} recipes, and the first on my list is the home made Root Beer, and butter-nut squash ravioli {with fresh pasta}. 

I hope every-one has a happy new-year!

picture(s) are worth a thousand words.

express christmas and more

The past two weeks have been some of the craziest weeks of my life.
First, we had finals. That is a story in and of itself. Needless to say, I survived with all A's, and a scholarship!
Second, we moved. Ta-dum. We are back in Vegas for three months for Roberts internship. A broken dresser, some cut fingers and short tempers later,  all of our belongings were moved into two storage units in Rexburg. Note to self, I am NEVER moving again. {Remind me to tell Rexburg they need a medical school, within the next twelve months.}
Third, we had express Christmas. All of my married sisters and I are on the same holiday rotation (ex: This year we all had Thanksgiving with The Wixoms , and Christmas with our in-laws) and since the Sunday before Christmas was the only time we would be together, we celebrated express Christmas.

We had our traditional Christmas Mexican Fiesta, dad read the nativity and we played our chimes. It was a lot of fun, and I was glad we got to have a Wixom Christmas before my parents, Layne and Micah went off to Florida & the Bahamas, and the rest of us went to our respective homes to celebrate Christmas.

Lastly, real Christmas in Logan! Robert and I traveled up to SLC with my sister Collette, where she had Christmas with her in-laws. We met up with Roberts parents and headed up to Logan! We had a blast, but, I will have to wait to blog about this one until I have pictures. It deserves a post of it's own.

Fear

"Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others."

- Nelson Mandela 

DIY: Fabric Magnet Boards

This past weekend was a rather eventful weekend. 

First off: Saturday morning Robert and I were able to get our bountiful baskets! What was in it you may ask? A gajillion pounds of these little beauties: 

Okay, it was really only like three pounds. But what was I supposed to with three pounds of persimmons? A girl can only eat so much fruit. I did a little googling. Who would have thought, persimmon jam! {okay, it isn't that unusual. fruit= jam} We whipped up a batch. mmm, it's good. 

If any of you have 3 lbs of persimmons on hand, by all means, I would love to give you the recipe. But, I am assuming most of you have a more normal fruit on hand, so I'll save the blogging space. 

Second: 

WE ARE MOVING BACK TO VEGAS!

After possible internships in U of U, Boston, Rexburg, UCLA, and Nevada Medical School, Robert found an awesome internship in Las Vegas. He gets to do a part pediatric research internship,  part occupational internship, and he is thrilled about it! We will be living back in Vegas for the Winter semester, and are both stoked. {big city and no cold, I'm a happy camper}

Third:

DIY Fabric Magnet Board. A few weeks ago I came across a cute fabric magnet board! {the one above is almost an exact replica} It was an Etsy shop, selling them for $60. Um, ridiculous. I made mine for a measly $5. 

Materials:

- Sheet metal. You can get pre-cut sheet metal at a home store like Lowes, but it's a little pricey. I just ran to DI and got a cookie sheet for $1. 

-Hot Glue Gun

-Drill/ Hammer & Nail: With the metal I was using Robert was able to just hammer a hole at the top for the ribbon. If you are using the pre-cut sheet metal, you will need a drill.

- Fabric: It depends on how big your metal is, but you can get away with a 1/2 yard of fabric, no matter what size you do.

 -Ribbon


The process is rather simple, just time consuming.

Lay your metal over the fabric, and cut the fabric, leaving about 1" on each side.

I measured and marked for two holes at the top of the metal, then hammered the holes with a nail. {well,
Robert did that part}

Hot glue the fabric to the metal, making sure to NOT let the glue dry too quickly. We had to go about an inch at a time.

Use scissors to poke a hole through the fabric and pull the ribbon through, leaving enough at the top to hang!

hair by claire

This morning I woke up feeling like Cindy-Loo-Hoo here:

Why, you may ask? The latest "no-heat-curl" fad. For all of you Pinterest -ers, you know what I am talking about. Every time I log onto pinterest there is a new "no-heat-curl" solution. {which usually involve socks, if you haven't noticed} Last night I attempted my sixth no heat curl solution. Success rate: 1 of 6, or 16%. Today, I untied the four socks on the top of my head, to only look like this:

Really though.

For all of you who don't have the greatest success with hair fad's, this blog post for you. Let's just review the basics of hair that seem to have been lost in the commotion of  new hair fads:

The original "no-heat-curl":

 

Believe it or not, it works! If you want a little volume with some curl/ wave. These little bad boys are just what you need. 

The "never-fail-curl":

 A few people have asked me how I curl my hair like this:

The secret?  You guessed it, a curling iron! Instead of clamping your hair at the bottom and twisting up, you just wrap your little hairs around the iron and hold. 

The "never-fail-bun" {and it won't go out of style}:

This my friends, is a good, classic, bun. If T-Swift can do it, so can you. Surprisingly, the "sock-bun" does in fact work for this. {this is where the 1 of 6 took part}

     

This friends, is a not-fun-bun. The only fun part of this bun is people looking like they are walking around trying to balance an oversized cupcake on their head, and in turn spectators having a fun giggle. This is the attempt at making a "I'm going to hit the gym with a messy bun on the top of my head so my hair doesn't get sweaty from my neck" into something worthwhile. {then again, this is coming from a girl who refuses to let the 70/80's come back into style. The classics are a classic for a reason. Just sayin'.}

The Pony-Tail:

Last but not least. The pony-tail. All you need is just a  hair-elastic and oh! the places you'll go. The perfect hair-do for a formal evening, or working out at the gym. Throw it up straight, curly, short or long. The beauty of the simple things in life that never fail.

There you have it, my two-cents {which you may or may not care for} about always having a solution for your "I don't know what to do with my hair- hair days" when the fad hair-do's just aren't cutting it for you.

Happy Thursday :)