Anything is possible when you smell like a monster

This is the cutest parody video of the infamous Old Spice commercial starring your favorite blue Muppet--Grover

Vintage Monday: Penguin baking soda holder

Like a model crazy bird lady, I love penguins.  Desperately.  When I was little, I would tell anyone who would listen how much I wanted a penguin and that if I had one, I would keep him in the refrigerator.  Well... my dreams have come true.  This little guy was spotted at Hog Wild Vintage, another great store at North Loop, and the best part is that he's actually supposed to live in the fridge! 

According to the directions, you pour in the baking soda and through the little holes in his back, it helps absorb odors and keep your fridge smelling fresh. (or at least not like Chinese food all the time)

I would've posted a picture of him in his new home in our fridge but found it much too incriminating.  I mean, I have a shelf just for chocolate...

Heart picture frame art, this time in blue

Similar to the heart picture frame we made for our bedroom,  B and I put together one for baby A to celebrate his arrival.  His initials and birth date are recorded on the lower corner hearts.

Favorite Friday Recipe: Zucchini bread

This recipe was recommended by one of the gals on Fashionism.  I figured it was a good way to try to sneak vegetables into B's breakfast (except for the fact that you could see some of the green peel that I missed while grating).  It turned out really well and tasted very much like banana bread.  I loved the addition of raisins in it as well.

Non-dairy zucchini cake/bread

Ingredients:

• 1 3/4 cup all purpose flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 3 eggs
• 1/2 cup of canola oil
• 2 cups of shredded zucchini (about 2 medium zucchini, grated finely)
• 1 cup of mashed ripe bananas (2 medium bananas)
• 1/2 cup of raisins (optional: I think I used close to 1 cup) 
• dash of vanilla

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 350F
• Grease two loaf pans
• Mix flour, baking powder, soda and sugar
• Whisk eggs, oil & vanilla
• Stir eggs and flour mixture together. Add zucchini & bananas & raisins. Mixture will be lumpy.
• Bake for 45-50 mins or until toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.

DIY Before and After: vintage metal lamp

We spotted this little lamp at the Room Service block party (along with the metal flower wall hanging I posted about earlier in the week) and decided to bring it home and give it a little love, aka spray paint.  A sunny yellow glossy spray paint was chosen and it took quite a few coats and all afternoon to finally cover the surface adequately. 

Before

After

In its new home in the bedroom, perfect as a reading light!

Wishlist Wednesday: More Baggu please!

Over the past few years, I've developed a tic.  It only manifests when I am at a store, any store...like the grocery store or Target or Home Depot (ugh) or elsewhere.  It happens at the checkout lane, after all my items have been rung up, and right when the salesperson pulls out the store plastic bags and starts to bag my items.  That's right, I'll come out and say it: I hate plastic bags.  I detest plastic bags.  I dislike them so much that I actually start twitching when I see one (told you I had a tic).

Over the years, my shopaholic tendencies and general appetite for food has guaranteed a mountain of plastic bags in my home.  And I've always puzzled over what to do with them.  I bought a handy container to stuff them in but then realized I needed about 10 more said handy containers to contain them all.  I'd stuff them into other like-sized plastic bags until I had a closet full of large plastic balls just waiting to attack me when I opened the door. Sure, we'd try to reuse them as much as we could--and they are handy for puppy walks and cleanups and such.  But really, the ratio of bags in to bags out was too great and not only was I overwhelmed by the sheer amount, I also felt guilty.  Guilty for having so many of them as evidence of my shopping exploits, and guilty that I wasn't able to reuse them quickly enough.

Enter the reusable bag.  I guess other people became worried about these mountains of plastic bags suffocating households in America and subsequently the earth, because there suddenly was this huge initiative to "go green" and start eliminating plastic bags.  Ha-le-lu-jah!  I hopped on the wagon, drank the kool aid and became an immediate convert and that's when Baggu entered my life.  They are *the* best reusable bags and here are a couple of reasons why:

• They are portable: they roll into a tiny 5x5 pouch that fits into your purse.  If it's more convenient, you'll use it more and that has been so true in my case
• They are lightweight: made of ripstop nylon so the only thing you're hauling is your purchase
• They carry a lot: the regular Baggu hold up to 50lbs and there is plenty of room to fit cereal boxes, bags of chips, 2 shoe boxes (I've tested this before) or all the candy you'll get for Halloween
• They are stylish: they truly are!  Now first of all, they are competing with plastic bags so yeah, I get that they do have an edge.  But now Baggu comes in so many different colors and patterns and I am especially excited about the ones here at the top of my wishlist:

Elephant print

Constellation print in collaboration with the No.6 store 

Side note: I love the No.6 store and soon I will also be 

skipping along when I obtain both the Baggu and the clogs

And there are also these fabulous zip cases that I'm itching to get 

(look how organized I could be!)

I'm certainly not changing the world in any great manner by using my Baggu bags.  But I do know that there are very few plastic bags lurking around in my house now and I feel a tremendous amount of relief knowing that I can open closet doors without ducking.  And because I need to reuse my bag (there is always more to buy after all!), I am more likely to take out purchases and put them in their proper place instead of letting them languish on the kitchen table.  Oh and I also like my 5 cents credit I get back from Target when I do bring my own bag to use.  Win-win-win.

(This is the part of a post where bloggers would state if they are affiliated with the company (I'm not) or if they have received any items courtesy of the company (I haven't but would certainly never look a gift Baggu in the mouth).  So yes, I really am a huge fan of Baggu and I think they're a great way to help simplify your life, reduce clutter, get that 5 cents kickback at Target, and reduce tics*)

*only my tic

DIY Before and After: metal flower wall hanging

Another post on our adventures with spray painting!  We went to a fun block party a few weeks back at North Loop and scored some amazing items at Room Service.  Almost everything I picked up, I'd say to B "...and we can spray paint this!"  Incredibly he agreed and we took home this little metal flower wall hanging--I have a soft spot for cherry blossoms.

A before picture: we placed it on some cardboard in the middle of the yard (last time I spray painted, there was a curious outline of cardboard on the patio--whoops!)

After quite a few coats of paint, the completed work:

A closeup:

We found a home for the hanging in the hallway between the bedrooms upstairs

There are more spray painting adventures and sore index fingers to share so stay tuned!