vegetarian chili

This past week we've been eating a ton of chili and my crock pot is getting a work out!  For a few days there I was feeding six large, full grown men (and me!) who were working long hours, so I knew that I would need some heavy duty food to keep us going through the day.  I had my lunches planned pretty well, and uh, pretty much all of them were some iteration of chili.  I made the White Chicken Chili and Chicken Taco Chili, which I've featured here on the blog before, my standard bbq pulled pork recipe (I always add a splash of whiskey for flavor), and then this Vegetarian Chili.  I got a six pack of boxed Jiffy Corn Bread and made corn bread muffins to accompany each chili meal, which was the perfect addition.  Crock pot meals were a great way to feed a lot of mouths a warm, filling meal, which is exactly what we needed for lunch to warm us up and keep us energized to power through the rest of the day.  Plus, chili is a pretty inexpensive meal since it's mostly comprised of canned beans.  This veggie chili recipe is super cheap, simple, and quite filling.  I have to say, I'm used to cooking for just me and Dan, but I have a whole new respect for people who cook for big families!  So time consuming and expensive!  The older I get, the more I understand why some ladies choose to be full time housewives/moms.  It's a ton of work to run a household, especially (I imagine) if you've got little ones running around!  Props to you moms and dads out there, mine included!


(recipe via Betty Crocker's Slow Cooker Cookbook)

Ingredients:
1 (15 or 16 oz) can spicy chili beans in sauce, undrained
1 (15 or 16 oz) can pinto beans, undrained
1 (15 or 16 oz) can dark red kidney beans, drained
1 (14.5 oz) can chili-style chunky tomatoes, undrained
1 large onion, chopped (about 1 cup)
2-3 tsp chili powder
1/8 tsp ground cayenne pepper

1.  Mix all ingredients in your slow cooker
2.  Cover and cook on low 5-6 hours, or until flavors have blended
3.  Stir well before serving.  Tastes great served with cornbread! Yum!

You can also play around with the kinds of beans you use in this recipe, just sub in something like great northern beans, black beans, etc to give it a different taste!  Or if you'd like to make it non-vegetarian you can throw in some shredded chicken or browned ground beef.  Chili is super easy to play around with, recipe-wise.

brb...

I'll be back to regular blogging in a couple days.  Right now we're banging out this huge project from dawn to dusk and then passing out, and repeating the next day.  I'm super happy with how things are looking so far!  A much improved look to a house that used to have nasty old shingles with thick layers of paint chipping off.  This project has made the whole homeowner thing really sink in, and it's awesome.  I'm so thankful for my amazing Dad and Uncle who came down to help us take on this project.  And my brothers and cousin came up to help as well!  It's a family operation here at the house!  Isn't it looking so smart?  We still need to finish half the house and then paint, but it's coming along!

life lately

Life lately?  Lots of house work!  My dad, uncle, and brother arrived on Tuesday and so far we've hauled away all the old shingles that Dan & I removed last week, took out/pounded in the thousands of nails that held on all those shingles, and reframed the base of a window and a weird part of the wall that had been shoddily framed.  Today we're putting up Tyvek and starting to put up the new siding!  Many hands do make light work, and I'm glad to have the expertise of my dad and uncle as we undertake this project!  My other brother and cousin arrive tonight and they'll be here through the weekend to help us out as well.  We'll be a lean mean siding machine.  

a favorite spot in our house // i am woman, hear me roar // naked house! how lewd! pretty lipstick from radiant cosmetics // pretty lipstick on the lips usual breakfast, as of late // up in the [kitchen] a workin' on my fitness, be my witness the most awesome necklace from I Dream I Can Fly // pallet wall/towel hooks DIY
Fun links!
I was laughing so hard at this blog.  Couldn't stop reading.
Got a mega interior-design boner from this design studio.  Also, can I please work there?  Perfection.
ModCloth has their Cabin Fever sale going on right now.  Super discounts on some really cute stuff.  I got this Dainty June dress. Love!
Absolutely love this whole shop (local Tacoma peeps too!), but this tote is gorgeous.

living room inspiration

After we finish cleaning up the exterior of the house, the next big project in my sights is a huge DIY bookshelf in the living room.  We've got a sort of awkward wall that I haven't been able to figure out what to do with, but after seeing these images of Mattson Creative's studio space, I knew that I wanted to make a shelving unit out of pipes and wood shelves to hold art, books, and cool knick knacks.  Not only will it function as a great way to make that space beautiful and interesting, but it'll also be an awesome way to display prints!  I've got a few prints of my own, and some prints from other artists that I love, and I think a cool shelf like this would be the perfect way to show them off.  I love how the shelving at Mattson Creative has that perfect balance of art, books, and interesting, eclectic pieces to fill the space just right.  

ampersand light

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sunshine print

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camera print

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teepee print

the earth laughs in flowers print + winnebago print are my work

I've been slowly acquiring prints and artwork, and a few of the pieces I know I'll want to display are the ones above.  I just got the "I love my family" print for Christmas, and got the camera print a few years ago.  I just got the ampersand lamp and sunshine print the other day and I'm excited to see them in action.  I love big letters saved from old signage, and while the ampersand is new, not salvaged, I think it still has that vibe.  I definitely want to find some more big letters/numbers as I absolutely love the graphic, bold look that they have.  The Winne print is one I made a couple years ago during my Brave trip, and I made the "earth laughs in flowers" print back in college.

We're planning on doing a small test run version of this in our bedroom that looks more like the smaller version below.  I want to thrift a little dresser as the base and start the shelves on top of that, and then go for the bigger, living-room version after we've figured out all the kinks!  

inspiration images via

Mattson Creative

+

Hindsvik at Home

unseasonable crop

Remember what I said about my mid-winter crop top obsession?  More evidence.  It makes no sense, as temperatures are in the mid-30s lately.  I'm pretty sure my crop top obsession was seeded by Jen when I saw her wearing a super cute crop top back at TXSC last March.  I immediately went out and bought it.    Well, immediately being a couple months later.  But I wanted to buy it immediately.  One of my favorite summer outfits included that crop top.   Man, my hair's grown a lot since that post!  I'm excited for my hair to be huge and long and crazy again.  Short hair has been fun and spunky, but I'm kind of in this place where all I want is long flowerchild hair with feathers and flowers stuck in it, flowing in the wind.  Also: mega braids and beehives.  I think by summer it'll be long enough for hippie hair-do's.  Not quite as long as it used to be, but long enough!
top/courtesy of spotted moth :: jeans/courtesy of modcloth :: shoes/courtesy of blowfish necklace/courtesy of moorea seal :: jacket/courtesy of asianicandy :: photos by Dan I'm convinced that sometimes when Dan takes my outfit photos he enjoys taking photos of me mid-sentence.  Hence the above photo.  Pretty sure I'm mid-sentence in that one.  Either that or I'm on the cusp of smiling.  Both are awkward.  Make no bones about it, there are hundreds of photos that go in the trash for every one you see here on the blog.  I have my tripod & self timer set up to take 6 photos in a row every time I hit the shutter button, and usually only one from those 6 gets chosen.  I like taking 6, though, because I have a better chance of getting just the right pose, especially with motion shots, like jumping photos.  And it takes just as long to take 6 as it does to take 1, so why not?  I was super excited when I finally got a camera capable of doing multiple self-timer shots.  Even though I've been told many times that a remote is a pretty great tool, I'm so used to the self-timer, and I hate seeing the remote in photos.  Do I awkwardly hide it?  Can I use it with a self timer?  Plus, I find that I have more control with setting the focus manually, rather than trusting the autofocus to get it right.  I think my lens is getting worse at autofocusing (I've only had to send it to get fixed, oh, three times now for dropping it and breaking the focus motor...), so manually setting it seems to result in sharper photos.  Anyway.  Impromptu little discussion on the behind-the-scenes of taking outfit photos.  I wrote a post a while ago with some tips for taking your own outfit photos, so if you're interested, check it out!