Poncho, Poncho

I love the way ponchos look...on everyone else.

But every time I put one on I feel like I can't quite get it right.

Hence I have had this poncho for 4 years and couldn't figure out how to wear it:

So I decided to just call a spade a spade, I cannot wear ponchos.

So I made it in to a sweater!

Step 1: Remove cowl neck, veeeery carefully so the neck hem remains in tact.

Step 2 Put poncho on inside out, and pin where you have to sew to make sleeves.

Step 3: Sew the sleeve seam, then carefully cut along it

Step 4: Sew the seam closed that will now be the body of the sweater on both sides.

Step 5: Turn right side out.

I added a Step 6: Sew fabric to pockets because I had this fun fabric and loved it.

And if you have a two year old girl I recommend Step 7, which is sew a piece of fabric around the bottom of the cowl neck, insert elastic, new skirt!

"Diva in Training"

At my little cherubs weekly sing a long today there was a girl with a shirt that said "Diva in Training".

There are many, many things that I wanted to say to her mother but I didn't because I was trying to stay in the confines of polite society and I was too busy moving Belle away from that girl lest she inadvertently become friends with her.

Following is a small rant of the things that are wrong with calling your daughter a "Diva in Training".

Self-confidence is wonderful, all little girls should have it, we should all do our best to teach our girls to be proud of who they are.

Self-importance is something entirely different. It is a horrific attitude that basically amounts to "I'm better than you, more important than you, and you should do stuff for me". This is dismal behavior in an adult, in a child it's so grotesque that it inspires a physical reaction in me, blood pressure rises, and I find myself wanting to assault the parents who cultivated that attitude.

I imagine that these Diva-children end up being the kind of self-absorbed horror shows that expect people to hold umbrellas for them (I'm looking at you Beyonce), who want people to see them work out in high heels (I'm looking at you Mariah), and who think that all the rules of society apply to everyone but them including silly little things like laws (Paris Hilton, your turn to get the evil eye).

But, the thing that really bothers me the MOST about a mother being proud that she has a "Diva in Training" is that this poor child is going to grow up without knowing the joy of what it means to help your fellow man.

I know that probably sounds a bit extreme, but it is this kind of attitude cultivated at a young age that causes children to lose their innate abilities of empathy, caring and compassion. If this little girl starts out now thinking that others are meant to serve her will she ever know what it means to serve others? To make a meal for someone, to help a friend, to give a stranger change for the parking meter, to hold a door open for a woman who has an arm full of groceries, to assist an elderly person in the grocery store.

It is time that we stopped teaching children that they are the only important thing in the world, that there needs come before anyone else's. It is not only severely detrimental to them, but to the vast majority of our future society if we continue to cultivate Divas.

Pumpkin Cinnamon Rolls

This summer I was fortunate enough to stumble across a cinnamon roll recipe that I have had since probably 2002 or so. It was from Vegetarian Times magazine, and I remember ripping it out and thinking "Wow, that's the only cinnamon roll recipe that has ever seemed easy enough for me to actually try making".

Apparently after saying that I never made it.

Until this summer.

And they are in face glorious, and easy cinnamon rolls.

However, since it's fall, I had to do them up Autumn-Style!

Honestly, at the moment I don't have the energy to type out the whole recipe, I promise I'll update that part soon.

But the important part is:

If you're making cinnamon rolls with any recipe, even pop-open-the-can, you can make the delicious pumpkin frosting that really makes these special.

Whisk together:

2 Tbsp canned pumpkin

2 Tbsp whipped cream cheese

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1 - 1 1/2 cups of confectioners sugar

Spread over the rolls while they're still warm after they come out of the oven.

Heaven.

Gratuitous Outfit Shots

Ok, it's official.

I need a new location for my outfit shots.

I hate them.

They look so posed and ridiculous. Suggestions please!!

But I will share these with you because I love the outfit I wore today to showcase my zebra heels!

Cinnamon Sugar Butter...aka Stepha's Seven

I love my friends, I really do.

Until they do something evil like post a picture of Land O Lakes new Cinnamon Sugar Butter on their Facebook pages.

Then, I kind of hate them.

I present to you a super easy recipe to make the butter at home, with ingredients I bet you already have in the pantry.

I'm titling this recipe, Stepha's Seven in honor of the approximately 7 pounds I expect to gain this week from the butter.

In a bowl stir together:

1/2 stick of butter, softened (room temperature, not out on the counter for 5 minutes)

1 tsp olive oil

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1 tsp cinnamon

1 1/2 tsp brown sugar

Mix it all together in the bowl using a regular metal spoon. You can try to get fancy and use silicone or some other snazzy utensil but it won't work as well as a regular soup spoon, because you can smush it, and meld it, and beat the bejesus out of the butter. Don't get fancy.

Yes, it tastes just like the butter at Texas Roadhouse.

Of course, I also had to make a batch of pumpkin muffins to go with this, which incidentally I highly recommend, great combo! Since the teaspoon of olive oil really makes this spreadable you don't abuse the muffin at all.

I also plan on mixing it in to some roasted sweet potatoes, and maybe trying it on a grilled cheese filled with brie and apple slices.

Stepha, I love you.....and I hate you.

Purple and white Zebra print shoes DIY!

The inspiration for this came from Pinterest, where I feel like 90% of my inspiration as of late has come from!

A friend tagged this fantastic pair of zebra shoes and I knew that it was a DIY waiting to happen.

First, I had these horrendous white pumps in my closet, I know, I know, why? If for some reason you don't have a shoe travesty of this nature lurking in the back of your closet I bet you can get them REAL cheap at a thrift store:

Step 1: I took painters tape and ripped it. I think that this is key. Most zebra print shoes are on dyed on to calfskin or a similar (albeit synthetic) material to make them look more like "hide". This cuts back on the super clean lines that could make zebra look like striped, which is not what you want. Painters tape (it turns out) tears in a really great asymmetrical way giving exactly the right look. I did NOT push down on my tape too hard on purpose, I wanted some random bleeding to soften the edges and give more of a water color look to the shoes. If this is not your style, then push hard on the tape to make sure it gives you a clean line.

Here is the taped off shoe:

Next I used acrylic paint (I prefer Martha Stewart's all purpose acrylic in this case I used the Pearl finish for a little shimmer), and painted two coats on the shoe. I would have gone with black for a more traditional look except I don't wear a lot of black, I wear a lot of grey, brown, green etc. Believe it or not I will get more wear from a purple shoe.

I only let the second coat dry for 15 minutes before removing the tape because I didn't want to fight the "dry-paint-clinging-to-tape" battle.

And Voila!

They aren't perfect, but I like them that way. Truly, if the water color trend wasn't in I might have done a touch up to sharpen them but I like the softer lines personally.

Outfit post coming Tuesday! I'm wearing these bad boys to WORK!

Wonderful Bookstore

I was given an amazing opportunity today.

8 Cousins Bookstore in Falmouth, MA hosted a local authors day with 24 authors represented.

It was absolutely packed to the gills, and an enormously wonderful experience.

Sure, we only sold one book.

Oh wait, I've never mentioned my book on here so just a touch of background, I wrote a children's book that my aunt was kind of enough to illustrate, titled Bellerina.

You can visit our website here if you're so inclined, and this is one of the lovely sketches:

So back to today, we only sold one book but I had so many lovely conversations with wonderful people who were genuinely nice, and informative.

I got some amazing tips from a guy who has written four adult novels on how to get moving with mine, and what to do about organization and follow through.

All in all I left there a few business cards shorter, and a thousand thoughts richer.