Tasty Tuesday: Baked Tomato Mozzarella Salad

Baked Tomato and Mozzarella salad

6	Roma tomatoes; thinly sliced
3 tbsp	Olive oil
	Sea salt and ground pepper to taste
8 oz	Fresh mozarella ball; cubed
2 tbsp	Fresh basil; chopped
1 clove	Roasted garlic ; mashed into paste
1/8 c	Balsamic vinegar (original calls for 1/4 c; I only use a few splashes...this is the trick between good and great)
1/2 c	Sliced olives (my spin on it...not original recipe)

Boutique: Results Are In

Well the boutiques are over and I'm still stocked up on hooded towels.  So as you can guess the results were not too great.  The first boutique felt like it was honestly a waste of time but at least it was free and only 3 hours long.  And I did run into some old friends from my old job.  It was a backyard boutique with the majority of vendors being the multi-level marketing type vendors (that's Utah for you...I think my husband says we're #1 for this in the nation).  My friend and I were two of possibly four that were hand crafted items.  My feeling is that this scared off a lot of shoppers with a more craft oriented target.  Who wants to go to a boutique crowded with pushy and sales strong people.  I would just skip it if it had been me getting the invite or seeing the advertisement.

I sold four towels.  All to other vendors.  Not one went to a customer coming through.  The traffic was so slow and low that I honestly think it was under 20 people who came through...probably less.  So it wasn't much of a win situation but....

Our booth set up for the official boutique

Grilled Chicken Marinade...

*aka Hello Summer!

I don't know about you but for me summer equals grilling.  I love a tasty burger, flavorful chicken or a juicy steak on the barbie.  I grew up with a full grill but came into a marriage with a husband who's family is not big on grilling.  We had a small camping type grill but I dreamed of bigger.  Well a couple weeks ago we got this beauty at Home Depot on a reported "Black Friday" deal for summer.  Nothing super fancy but better than I was hoping for.

We christened it with hot dogs and chicken.  Not my ideal but I was too excited to use it to wait for our next trip to the grocery store.  We used a friends' chicken marinade recipe with some "ooops..crap" mistakes.  I'm including their version and ours below for your grilling fancy.  Both are delicious.

First Boutique...

...followed quickly by second!  Oh my!  I have been making hooded towels for friends and sold a few on my Etsy shop but then I listed them on a Facebook page for boutique type and small business stuff in my area and was invited to participate in a boutique in my area.  It was commission free and free to enter...of course I was in.  I asked to invite a close friend who has done boutiques before...namely because we have discussed doing a boutique together.  During the decision process my friend suggested doing a professional style boutique which runs a few days after this one (cost to enter and commission based)...I was game for that too.  Why not?  Always room to learn and try things.

So we are both signed up and have been working towards both of these events.  We constructed a backdrop for the professional one, which we'll share and split cost.  We've discussed plans on set up.  Mostly I don't feel prepared on that end.  This friend has done boutiques before and has some of her own things she plans on using to set up the professional table.  I feel like I don't know how to contribute there, even though I offer.  We talked about sharing a table at the Facebook boutique and also about doing our own.  Today it was decided to do two.  So less than two weeks to go and I need to prepare a set up for myself.  It's not professional level so I'm not going to fret too much if it's homemade looking.  At any rate I'm realizing maybe I've bit off more than I want to chew at this point but the little extra money would be nice as well (I've got a few pre-orders already).  Will have to touch base again once I've survived or failed at this new venture.

*below is a trial run of my boutique tags...what do you think?

Do What You Know...

...and love what you do.  I think that's how the saying goes.  I try to love what I do but sometimes there is a lot to do and that love for "things" can get spread thin.

We completed our bed frame.  It isn't 100% ideal but I still love it and it's still totally worth it over buying an expensive frame.  I will be sharing pictures soon once the room comes back together.  A few other projects to do before the happens.

On a silly note we are preparing to potty train our twin girls.  I stepped into it once for a couple days and I wasn't ready (most likely they weren't either).  At any rate on the second day I found that potty charting was a pretty good motivator for my kiddos.  They loved picking out a sticker to put on the chart.  So it may not be elaborate but honestly what 2 year old or 3 year old needs elaboration.  It's simple and I think that does the trick for little toilet training bodies.

Unfinished Basement Pitfalls

We moved into our new(er) home in October 2012.  We love it but it has needed some love (not much just your usual move in projects) and so we are still settling in.  It doesn't help that the basement is unfinished and so being the DIY groupie I am the basement has been headquarters for projects.  Really it's been awesome.  Except it's littered with projects.  Namely our Farmhouse King Size Bedframe (ana-white.com), a bathroom step stool for the girls bathroom (also ana-white.com), a $5 thrift table I've been promising myself to refinish/paint and an old entertainment center I want to turn into a kitchenette.  Okay...see a pattern here?  Lots of projects in the works and I'm sitting here telling you about them instead of working on them.  Oh and how about I add on another project (or two).

Refurbished: Toddler Table

We were on kind of a tight budget this Christmas.  So I did quite a bit of shopping at thrift stores and watching the sales.  During my trips to a local thrift store I came upon this table and chairs.  You know the kind with padding and vinyl seats (usually some cartoon all over them).  Well it was in horrible shape and all the vinyl was ripped and padding falling out.  But it was $5 so I gave it a second thought.  I wanted to do a table for our twin girls and this price tag screamed "take me home and fix me".  So I did.  It took a few nights and a couple of naps and an extra $15-20 in supplies but in the end it saved me over the $45 price tag of a "cartoon table" and gave my girls an original without it being branded (which I absolutely love).

Materials:
- junk table and chairs set (I have seen these at thrift stores a couple times since)
- wood filler/putty (large container $10 at Lowes)