Something Blue > Bachelorette Gift Idea

 

One of my friends had her bachelorette party this weekend, so I wanted to post some of the fun I had wrapping her gift. I love keeping an enormous roll of kraft paper handy because you can personalize and spruce it up for any occasion - birthdays, Christmas, you name it. And you don't need to keep a zillion different types of wrapping paper rolls taking up precious closet shoe space.

Since I bought her something blue, I thought it'd be fun to play off the "Something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue" saying by writing it directly on the kraft paper and tying everything up with a few fresh flowers and white ribbon.

I think it makes it all a bit more special, but maybe I'm just a sucker! What about you? Are you a sucker for packaging?

London Eats > Barrafina

Chicken thigh with romesco sauce

This is a long overdue post, but I'll keep it short since the photos do more justice than words. I went to London last month and went to the lovely Barrafina for dinner in Soho. Teresa and I sat outside and went to town on the tapas menu. Every dish was more delicious than the last, and it was made even better with never-ending glasses of wine, sitting outside and people watching. If you ever find yourself in London, Barrafina is a must!

Razor clams

Pan con tomate

Octopus with capers

Classic tortilla

Brill

Chocolate tart 

German Pancake Recipe

I'll pretend like I haven't had german pancakes 7 times for the last 2 weeks for dinner. If you haven't had these, you have to try them. My mom, who is not a breakfast or brunch person at all, makes exceptions for this, and it is SO easy to make. They always remind me of her because she always makes these for me when I'm home! They're light, thin, chewy and perfect with simple lemon and powdered sugar. They turn out wonderfully in a trusty cast iron skillet, but I've made them in a pizza pan too. The best part? You can make them with only six ingredients that are most likely to already be in your pantry.

I halve a recipe I've adapted from All Recipes and it's perfect for a single serving in a 15-inch cast iron skillet. 

Ingredients:

• 3 eggs
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1/2 cup all purpose flour
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
• 2 TBS butter, melted

Recipe:

1. Place your cast iron skillet in the oven and preheat to 400 degrees F 
2. Whisk eggs and milk in a bowl.
3. Add flour and salt to the egg and milk mixture and stir until mostly smooth
4. Once oven is preheated, add the 2 TBS melted butter to the cast iron skillet and roll the butter around to cover the bottom and sides of the skillet
5. Pour batter into the skillet and bake for 20 minutes. The sides and middle will pouf up and may be bubbly, but that's ok - it's the best part!
6. Remove from oven, and garnish according to taste.

To serve, I always opt for squeezing a lemon and dusting with powdered sugar, but butter and syrup, pumpkin butter, mixed berries and powdered sugar all work too!

I Am Voldemort

Hey guys - know I've been MIA for awhile, but oh how I've missed you so.  Thought I'd fill you in on some of the things I've been up to during my dating hiatus/winter hibernation from snow and boys.  

My beloved Michigan Wolverines made it to the Sugar Bowl and won (don't blame me, blame the BCS ranking system).  Michigan Football is back, baby - GO BLUE!

I joined a new team at work (three guesses who the client is) and they quickly found the key to my productivity...easy access to SNACKS!!

I woke up at 6 am on a Sunday to hit up the Jason Wu launch at Target. Picture the running of the bulls, except with women and fashion. I did things I'm not proud to admit, but pretty impressive haul, huh?

 

Oh you know...TGIF

Another less fun thing I've been dealing with is the rando re-appearance of Harry Potter Boy (HP Boy for short).  For those of you just joining us, he's a guy I had a brief summer fling with and then he just fell off the face of the earth - no text, call or explanation.  He resurfaced this winter, out of the clear blue, via text message. At first I didn't know who it was because I did what any normal human would do after being screwed over and I deleted his number from my phone.

Try as I might to deflect/ignore him, he kept popping up (ergo my Voldemort reference - why won't Harry Potter boy just die??!!).  And I would get messages from him at random times in the morning/afternoon, so he couldn't even blame it on the a-a-a-a-a-alcohol.  I thought that I had finally lost him until I woke up early on a Saturday to hit up my Dailey Method class to find another one from him..this time, late night.  His latest text had me scratching my head again until I realized what holiday was right around the corner (oh yeah, Happy Valentine's Day all!).  It was like a light bulb went off in my brain....HP Boy has turned into the Holiday Bandit!!! 

As you'll see from the incriminating text chain below (identities have been concealed to protect the guilty), he always texted me before a major holiday, which all of us single folks know can be a breeding ground for crippling feelings of loneliness and seemingly endless despair (oh ok, just me then??). 

Members of the jury, I give you Exhibit A:

A few weeks before Thanksgiving, sometime in the am

(Can't tell you when because I had deleted it)

Is it too late to apologize for not getting back to you?

A few days afterwards

(again I deleted it, so don't know exactly when)

I'm probably going to regret asking this, but who is this??

Nov 27, 2011 - 1:22 pm

Should prob just leave it at that but this is [bleeep] from eharmony

Nov 27, 2011 - 2:27 pm

Got it - mystery solved

Dec 10, 2011 - 7:51 am

So Is it safe to say u forgive me for being a dick?

NO RESPONSE, but TC's internal monologue:

Ummm....no - that would NOT be safe to say. Leave me alone, please

Feb 11, 2011 - 3:18 am

Can u at least think about giving me a second chance? I have a pretty significant reason for going MIA on you earlier

****

So now I'm not only annoyed that he just won't leave me alone, but I'm PISSED that he thinks he can just come crawling back to me whenever he's feeling blue. So I do what any self-respecting girl would do...I text him back that I'm seeing someone now (total lie) and tell him to stop texting me/delete me from his phone.  Because I do not want to be dealing with this sh*t on President's Day.

How about you guys? Any exes that still try to text you whenever they're alone?!

TC out :) 

A Neat Pinterest Trick!

Did you know you can plug in your website into the below to see what photos and content other people have pinned from your blog? I love it! It's fun to see what other people find interesting of yours. And also, it really is embarrassing how much time I can spend on that website. PINTEREST. ADDICT. 

Here's ours! http://pinterest.com/source/twentysomethingtestdummies.com

You can check yours by plugging in your blog here: http://pinterest.com/source/INSERTBLOGNAMEHERE.com

"Happy pinning!" :)