I want something else…

Hmmm.

So here are the front room curtains that I currently have hanging look like. I hate the color and I hate the sheerness. No likey these curtains one bit.

And this is what the front room looks like with just our boring old side of the road couch looks like.

And this is what I just did to the couch and the curtains. Not sure that I love it though.

I want the room to have BRIGHT RED ACCENTS. Our walls are a pale yellow in that room and Mark likes the color. Plus the front room is sort of his *workout* studio room for the most part…the couch is only used if people are over so he wants to keep the color he likes, I’ll just add the red. I bought a sheet set with a 40% off coupon and made the makeshift slipcover. I like the pattern. I am not sure about the curtains though. I need a valance? I like the heavy fabric but is it too dark? Do I just do two rods and put the sheers underneath and tie back the left and right and the middle panel?

The pillows are just thrown there, they will eventually be red square throw pillows.

Or should I do something like this in red instead? Too sheer? What about in red?

Help?

Daring Bakers June Challenge: Danish Braid

Welcome to AllThingsJennifer’s very first Daring Bakers Challenge. Hosted by Kelly of Sass & Veracity, and Ben of What’s Cookin’?

June Challenge: Danish Braid

Holy heck? DANISH BRAID? What’s a danish braid and how on earth am I going to make this beast!!!

Yeah, that’s what I thought when reading through the recipe. Laminated dough? Detrempe? Beurrage? I don’t understand, how am I going to do this folding thing? And the braid? And do you know how much vanilla beans and cardamom cost? Oy! (How did I ever dream I could be a pastry chef when I know so very, very little!)

Breathe…breathe...

Oh wait, there’s a video of the *turning* process.

And while Wegmans offered me a single vanilla bean for the cost of $10.50 the Lexington Co-op had 2 available for that price. Heck, I’ll splurge it’s my first challenge. And the Co-op always offers spices by bulk so I bought only one serving of cardamon for $.40. Not too bad.

I started my challenge after many, many other Daring Bakers did and I reaped the rewards of their questions and trials and tribulations reading through the message boards. THANK GOD. The braiding process made much more sense after seeing photos.

I was also glad I waited because my sister-in-law Dayna started her first challenge as a Daring Baker with me on the same day. Of course neither of us had a clue even after reading the recipe multiple times each, how long it would take us to complete!

While I was out fetching spices Dayna emailed me and said…

“HOLY CRAP – This dough smells amazing…It is like Orange Julius in my kitchen!”

Of course, mine did not smell like Orange Julius in my kitchen. But that’s a different story. Let’s start at the very beginning. Shall we?

Thank you for sharing!

From today’s Buffalo News: Thank You For Sharing: For women, blogs are becoming as essential as lipstick

And in case you’re wondering, my blog is as essential as deodorant. I rarely wear lipstick. (But enjoy my Dr. Pepper lip smackers thank you very much.)

Also mentioned in the article: Erin, my friend from day one at Allegheny College who I sometimes hang out with and Jen my friend who one was a just a blog friend…who now still invites me to her fancy parties with her husband even though I might not deserve the invite.

Update: Oh. Um. Yeah, the dead tree version is a little more illuminating. Yikes. There I am a little All Things Jennifer bobblehead complaining about the heat! Cute touch.

<waves> Oh and hello co-workers from my two new places of employment in the last 6 months who might not have known about this blog before, not that I keep it a secret. I promise I don’t write about you. Most of the time. </waves>

Wheeee!! Margaritas!!!

Erin’s NIGHT OUT!

Let the fun begin

She doesn’t know the theme yet…tee hee. And I can’t tell you because she is standing over me right now with her GIANT glass of Asti.

Friends :)

MY MOOD EXPLAINED!

Yes. My mood is somewhat proportional to the painting of the Orange Room (as mentioned in one of my posts somewhere last night!) But not because of the COLOR. (Although wow, maybe I was thinking Orange for a reason after all?)

But because the one simple routine Mark and I love the most has been broken all week!!

WATCHING ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT on CBC at 5:30 when we get home from work!

No matter where we go…or what we have to do later in the evening, I’d say over 90% of the time when we get home from work we sit together and watch a rerun of Arrested Development together. It’s just what we do. And in all honesty, it’s one of the very few things we do that is consistent. Other than wake up and drive home listening to NPR every morning/afternoon.

Arrested Development makes us laugh!

Arrested Development helps us to decompress!

Arrested Development is *our* show the one that Mark and I bonded over a few years back when we realized after watching all the episodes from Season 1 and Season 2 together that we were super comfy cozy nesting…and in a serious relationship! Gulp!

Arrested Development is one of the first parties that I hosted that Marky got to hang out with me and my peeps (and scare the hell out of my brother when he gave him a very long hug) and be silly and fun and a scarily accurate Tobias. Mark started signing off on emails with just -T for Tobias after that.

“O-kay, who’d like a banger in the mouth?”

AAAAAAAAUUUUUgh!!! My mood is broken because our routine is broken!!!

Ding Ding Ding!

Michael Bluth: Why are you squeezing me with your body?
Lucille Bluth: It’s a hug, Michael. I’m hugging you.

Thank you Arrested Development for hugging me. I will make sure to return the TV to the proper place in the newly orange room so I can plug in the cable and watch thee at 5:30. In fact, when Mark gets home tonight? I may even pop in the DVD’s.

Ow.

Harnessing the untapped power of breast motion.

I recall being quite young and feeling the bouncy bouncy boobies while riding my bike up the street. Ow. They just kept getting bigger. And yes, they do bounce and yes finding a sports bra is not easy (and can get expensive.)

That said…I wonder how many people will get this post looking at the tag I used and end up sorely disappointed.

Waves!

Never a bridesmaid always a…

HUH?

EBAY AUCTION? BE A BRIDESMAID IN MY WEDDING

Winning bid:

US $5,700.00

No? Really? REALLY? A stranger bid $5,700 to be in a wedding?

Oh not a stranger a corporation. And they gave her $10,000 too!

Dr Pepper Snapple Group Wins ‘Be My Bridesmaid’ eBay Auction and Promises Bride-to-Be Kelly Gray $10,000 for Her Dream Wedding

“Weddings are about families, and we have a large one … more than 50 different brands from Dr Pepper to Rose’s Mojitos,” said Greg Artkop, spokesperson for Dr Pepper Snapple Group. “In fact, you can find us behind the bar at most weddings, so we’re looking forward to being up at the altar for once.”

Ugh. Now according to this article: Bridesmaid auction closes on Ebay

Without a doubt, weddings can be a bit pricey, especially if you and your groom/bride to be only make a combined salary of $32,000 a year…23-year-old Kelly Gray says she wanted to have a nice wedding and needed to make up for the costs.

Ok, sounds reasonable.

Kelly says, “[She] was contemplating doing a bake sale and [her] bridesmaid said, ‘we need to auction something, there’s Dr. Pepper cans and Cheetos bags for sale, so let’s just go ahead and do a bridesmaid.’ And I did not think anything would happen out of it, nothing.”

Gray and her fiance plan to keep the wedding budget under $7,000 by using an iPod, instead of a DJ and baking their own wedding cake.

So she was going to do a BAKE SALE for a wedding budget that’s $7,000?

Not that it matters now because everyone there will be a pepper shes a pepper hes a pepper be over peppered with Dr. Pepper corporaty goodness, but wow.

Isn’t it time for reality TV to die?

I mean really…it has to be about that time right?

Baby Borrowers

Baby Borrowers is a unique social experiment that takes five teenage couples on a rollercoaster ride of adult responsibility, allowing them to experience parenting firsthand. Desperate to have their own life and family, our lovebirds are thrown in at the deep end. They’re given real houses and real responsibilities the most important of which is to look after children from a range of age groups. They’ll begin with an infant, followed by a toddler, pre-teen, young teenager, and lastly a senior citizen.

5-4

Supreme Court Rules That Individuals Have Gun Rights

The court’s 5-4 ruling struck down the District of Columbia’s 32-year-old ban on handguns as incompatible with gun rights under the Second Amendment. The decision went further than even the Bush administration wanted, but probably leaves most firearms laws intact.

The court had not conclusively interpreted the Second Amendment since its ratification in 1791. The amendment reads: ”A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.”

Of course I want to read the OPINION not the news report about the opinion. As Scotty mentioned...when it’s Scalia…well. You know Scalia.