Now that school is out I have had more time to prepare for the wedding. Here are a few little sneak peek looks at some DIY crafty goodness I have been working on.

Now that school is out for the Summer I have way more free time to complete the stock pile of projects i’ve been aching to get crackin’ on. Here is one little fun and easy DIY I did yesterday. I made chalkboards!

The main idea was so I could use them for our wedding next month, but now that they are finished I am for sure using one in the kitchen.

I just used Krylon Chalkboard spray paint and some Plywerk blank panels. You can also find some neat pieces of wood that have some old painting on it at Goodwill, like the one above, and just paint over it. I added some embellishment with white paint on one of them, but it’s not needed.

The paint can go on just about any surface, so get creative!

This morning Piet spoke with a few friends back home in England. Hobnobs, a European biscuit, came up in conversation due to the fact that you can purchase them in the US at import stores, but they are incredibly overpriced. Temped by his friend Steph’s comment about home made Hobnobs, I got right to work making some of my own. They turned out just right! Recipe after the cut.

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Piet and I went up to Hood River / The Dalles and camped for the night. The weather was absolutely beautiful, here are a few pictures we took.

Today is a good day. My order of cotton came in, what will I use it for? Stay tuned!

Also, I made these delicious little stuffed potatoes the other night. Aren’t they pretty? Better yet no dairy involved! Just Broccoli, garlic and red pepper flakes! So good.

At least I think it’s week 6. I lost track, life has been a bit hectic the last few weeks. I’ve been stockpiling fun DIY ideas for the wedding in July, many of which involve succulents, my favorite of plants. So I headed to Pistils Nursery where I buy all my plants, and bought half a box full. Lucky for me, they had a Groupon for 60% off today! So I can buy more guilt free!

I’m buying them early in hopes they grow in size a bit before July. Now i’m on the hunt for dried cotton plants…

In other news, the herb garden is still growing. Although I think something isn’t right. They have true leaves, but they just don’t seem to be maturing very quickly. Is that normal? Also the lavender doesn’t seem very lavender ish yet. Anyone have any thoughts?

Last night and today has been a cooking frenzy for me. I really should be studying and getting caught up on reading, but apparently the kitchen calls! I started out last night making my first ever tamales! So yummy! Piet and I are going to a Cinco De Mayo party on Wednesday, and I shuttered at the thought of mounds of delicious food covered in cheese. I really wanted an alternative to eat guilt and bloat free. So I went out on a limb and made vegan tamales which will be served with Tofutti Better than Sour Cream.See this recipe and others after the cut below.

Next was Bran Muffins. This only came about when cruising the Winco bulk (our favorite place in the world) and discovered whole wheat bran, so I snatched some up. This recipe of course uses apple sauce in place of eggs and since they are on the healthy side, I decided to top them with a sprinkle of Sugar in the Raw mixed with cinnamon.

And last is another loaf of my French Bread. It is the newest addition to my bread repertoire and the most simple. I think everyone was getting sick of my rosemary olive oil haha.

Recipes and a note about veganism and me below.

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Its moving right along! Nothing new to report really, the cilantro exploded upward and got a little too big for its britches because it started to get droopy. Really looking forward to cooking with fresh basil and driving my cats nuts with catnip!

Speaking of cats, Eskimo has an upper respiratory infection, which he is prone to. But this time our vet gave us Greenies Pill Pockets for his medication. They are amazing! Eskimo loves them and gobbles it right up! I highly recommend them to anyone who need to feed their cat a pill.

Week 2 of my windowsill herb garden and all my seeds have sprouted and  been planted! Basil (on the left) was the first to sprout, Lavender (on the right) was second runner up, and Cilantro and Catnip and Sage are a little behind but have all poked their bright little faces through the dirt to say hello.

Also, heres a cute picture of my cat and the little succulent Piet surprised me with when I got home from work the other day