A Moveable Feast.

Correction: A Moveable Persian Feast.

I'm reaching into the Shelbylicious picture files for this one.... I've been gone for a couple of weeks. I'm sorry. Two words= Finals week.



Then I had to clean and move out of the apartment.
But that's more than two words.

I digress.







So... the week before finals week, Mrs. Y (T's Ma) came over to the Sassy Pineapple to cook my roommates, friends and I some Persian food.

Mrs. Y's Persian food is legendary in my mind. I had it the first time I went to Buffalo to stay with her and the rest of T's family.




I'm a big fan of Buffalo. And Mrs. Y.
The whole family, really.

This is their dog, Hershey. She's really good at 'stay.'

And she has a pretty watermelon bandana. I love this dog!




















T's little brother really likes her, too. A boy and his dog! There's no better bond!



Anywho...
Not only does Mrs. Y make really good Persian food, she arranges pretty flowers!

But today is about Persian food.

Lubia Polo, to be more specific.

What is it? Well, to my non-Persian mind, Lubia Polo is kinda like Spanish rice....
Except for without the tomato-ey taste.



And there's chicken in it.


And green beans.


And it gets all warm and delicious.....and crusty on the bottom.



Now that I've peaked your interest, I'll tell you how to make this delicious dish of Persian-y goodness.

i.) Don your snazzy apron with your name on it.

1.) Attain some lubia polo mix from T's grandpa. 

This contains the secret, yellow-y/red-ish sauce and vegetables used as the base.

2.) Add some butter, water, and salt. Put the pot on the stove let the butter melt for awhile.

3.) Next, be sure to re-have the discussion with your roommate and boyfriend's mom about how you STILL can't make rice successfully. 

Even after going through a WHOLE BAG of Basmati rice.

If she's anything like T's mom, she'll smile sweetly at you and tell you it's going to be okay.

A.) Wipe your tears, and proceed onward with the rice portion of the dish.... Letting Mrs. Y do that part, for quality control purposes, of course.

F.) Let Mrs. Y explain to you the next part of the plan:

7.) Measure out the rice, rinse it, and let it soak for awhile. 

12.) Add the green beans into the increasingly-happy mixture.

C.) Add the drained rice to the party. 

CC.) Breathe. You just added the rice to the pot. It's going to be okay. Mrs. Y is here. 

3.) Let it get all happy and cook down....

U.) then cover it (with a paper towel for moral support!) and let it go!

That's right.

Walk away.

Don't stir it. Don't open the lid "just to peek."

I know, it's hard! You can do it!

The result is a scrumptious dish (on the left) that has crunchy rice on the bottom. That's the best part! They call it Tadeec. 

It's.... everything you could ever want in a rice dish. 

And more. 

I'm in love.

Going to scour my cupboards for some Persian food,

SL

Shelbylicious

A Budding Horticulturist?

The crocuses were out last week.



I went on a run with T. After deciding to turn the run into a walk, we got to enjoy the beautiful gardens of those who own their homes in the University area.



Well... I decided to admire the beautiful gardens around us.

Oh my gosh, T! Look at those pretty flowers! And those! And those!

I'm still not sure how much T really likes flowers. He's more of a tree guy.

(Spruce!)

But he's a great man. He humors me. And lets me run around with him to look at all of the pretty flowers...

And steal his camera to take pictures of pretty flowers...

And pretty tall grasses....

(Sedum!)

And fights away vicious bumblebees with his lightsaber...

And lets me tell him "Did you know you can plant one of these and it'll grow a new pineapple?" every time we eat a pineapple, acting surprised by this information EVERY time.

But I digress. Back to my story!

T was sweet and on our walk back picked some of the flowers I was ogling. I immediately came home and put them in the only container small enough to be suitable...

A fun little terra cotta pot! These flowers just make my heart sing!

This week continued to be the week of flowers.

Some twine Pinterest-ed up my pig vase and made these "reject" tulips (sold for cheaper because their blooms were more open than the others) from the store a lot more fun!

This little bud vase makes a great holder for all of those little flowers that you find outside on walks. 

Flowers can certainly brighten your day. Anyone's day, for that matter! They don't have to be expensive, either. That goes for potted plants as well. I can remember my mom telling me "that's what your grandma does. She buys the 'reject' plants at the store for like 80% off, gives them a little bit of TLC and they come right back to life." 

I decided that would be a good motto to embrace. 

So... embrace the beauty that's around you!

To me, flowers serve as a powerful symbol of how awesome our God is. 

Perhaps that's why I'm so fascinated with them. 

He foreknew each plant, each bud, each blossom.

He caused all of the fun, sciency things behind flowers to work together for us to glorify Him by saying, "wow, Lord! You're so cool! Thanks for making these!"

Most significantly, though: he knows what in the heck these are, because I sure don't! 

The Lord is good.

Enjoy the flowers and the sunshine!

Love,

SL

Containers, Containers Everywhere...

I'm a very container-oriented person this year.

Just look at my desk!

I also realize that's an odd statement for a person to make.

But it's true! Every time I finish a cool glass food jar of some sort, I ask myself, "Self, is there anything you can do with this?"

Pinterest answered my questions. Love you, Pinterest. Bless your little pin-filled heart. 

I wanted to use my FAVORITE little Olive Tapanade jars for something. So I decided to use them to store tea bags, using this as my inspiration:

source

They are relatively simple to do! My advice: Use SPRAY chalkboard paint for small items, but buy this  magical substance for EVERYTHING else! I simply adore it! It allows you to make a chalkboard in any color you could ever imagine. And while I haven't had the occasion arise in which I needed to create a lime green polka-dotted chalkboard, you never know.

I also created these fun jars with writing on them to hold items for my desk.

 It was really inexpensive because I used paint I already had. Total cost= $1. And that's only because I decided to modify the original instructions. Which were ridiculous.

Is there actually a person on the planet (besides the original pinner) who has a glue gun that is capable of putting out such a perfect stream of glue? And do you know how impossible it is to write things with an awkwardly-shaped hot glue gun?

Take it from me. After a first attempt ended in disaster, I went to Wally and bought some puffy paint in white. 

It's worth the $1 to save yourself the aggravation. 

I put "graphis" (Latin for "pencil") on an old green olive jar to use for pencils.

Next I put "stylos" (French for "pens") on an old Smuckers jelly jar.

This one is my favorite. I like how "clean" and fresh the white looks. 

Other container ideas:

tin cans are very "in" right now and make a cool catch-all for your extra utensils. 

But make sure you actually put your stuff in them. 

I can't find either of those pairs of scissors anymore.

This pesto jar from my aunt makes a wonderful paperclip holder.

Also, if you're not into the potential torture and heartbreak that comes with attempting the puffy paint writing, you can do what I did here and simply spray paint the plain jar. This one had pretty writing on it. I think that all Classico items have this jar.

And those little tiny flower pots...

 You know, those little tiny flower pots that boast "Grow Your Own Strawberries" or "Grow Your Own Forget-Me-Nots" that don't actually work?

They make excellent paperclip and Q-tip holders. 

I hope this has inspired you to take a second look at the things that you normally throw out or recycle! Re-purposing these things has saved me a great deal of cash in office supplies.

And when all else fails....

...Put some acorns in a jar and call yourself an ESFr.

Have a great day, all!

Shelbylicious

SL

Thrifty Wall Art #1: Nature is Free

I have a thing for peacock feathers. 

Also, my roommates say that I'm a wannabe ESFr.

In this case, I'm not sure which is more prevalent.

Such wonderful colors!


I needed SOMETHING to fill in this huge space on my wall in my new bedroom at school. I was also on a tight budget, being a college student and all.



T was wonderful and got me some peacock feathers from the Zoo, and the wheels started spinning. This was the end result:

I used a beautiful picture that my friend painted for me for my Birthday, framed it and placed it center-stage. A few dollars got me a pretty frame at Hobby Lobby!

I used some of the leftover ribbon from my Reed Letter project and tied some of the feathers together. 

About a week later a friend showed me how you could braid willow branches. While we were at the park, I got some willow branches and made a big long "swag" of them. I hung them on my wall and let them dry. The leaves curled and are beautiful!

Lastly I dried a rose that T gave me and tied everything together next to the painting.

I made sure to stab myself on the rose a couple times before I managed to get it tied.

Those things have prickers, ya know... 

Why do I like this so much?

-It was nearly free to make.

-It has some sentimental value.

-It took advantage of things I already had.

-It's nature, so it's "disposable" if I don't have room to pack it up at the end of the year. That's a really tough thing about being a student. You have to pick up and move at the end of the year. Doing crafts like these allow me to make it seem "home-y" while not weighing you down with 4 extra boxes of decorations.

Hope you took some nuggets away from that!


Also, I hope that everyone had a wonderful Easter. I leave you with a picture that my friend Meghan (@mcokeefe1) sent me over the weekend. Apparently this is how Massachusetts does Easter.

What an awesome bunny. I've done Santa Bread, but never bunny bread. He is simply adorable! Looks like I'm going to Massachusetts someday. Apparently it is a hotbed of delicious carbohydrates. Yum!




He is RISEN!

Blessings,
Shelbylicious
(SL)

Crafty Monograms #2- Reeds!

To continue on about how I'm in love with monograms, I'll show you another monogram I've made. This one is my monogram and it's currently in my room at school.

Honestly, here's how it happened: I finished T's moss monogram and said "Self, if you were to make a monogram representative of YOU, what would be on it?"

After deciding that covering my monograms with gummi bears and Reese's would be a bad idea, I was left with the only other thing I could think of: Bassoon reeds.

Bassoon reeds? What's a Bassoon? Isn't that the Oboe?



Ahh, let me show you.


I graduated from high school essentially a self-taught bassoonist. After finding a teacher who would give me a chance, I headed off to college to become a music educator.

That's me. And my bassoon-not-oboe. (You'd be shocked at how many think it's an oboe!)

So here's a bassoon (not oboe, friends...) reed:

Long story short(er,) they're two little teeny weeny pieces of cane, shaved and tied together in a very specific way to make everything vibrate and "speak" and such. 

How do you know if your reed works right? 

You "crow" them! You basically blow into them and see what kind of sound they make. 

Exciting stuff! 

Anywho.... back to the monogram.

There was no online inspiration for this monogram, so I relied on my own ingenuity to get the job done.

How-To:

1.) Scour the craft stores for wooden letters. This was more difficult than I thought, because typical wooden letters are A) small and B) expensive. I wanted neither. 

2.) Find a letter at Hobby Lobby and rejoice when it's on sale.

3.) Come home to discover a website that allows you to make any font/size/thickness of letter you want and shed a tear.

4.) Buy some snazzy ribbon. I got mine at the Dollar Store, actually. They had a pretty turquoise and a pretty bright pink!

5.) Rule of thumb: If you're covering the letter in something solid, you don't have to paint the letter. However if you're going to cover it with bassoon reeds, peanut butter cups or gummi bears, you're going to need to paint it. I recommend a bright, happy color. I chose some lime green paint that I already had on hand. 

6.) Rinse your bassoon reeds in a hydrogen peroxide-water solution to get them germ-free. No one wants germy reeds on the wall!

7.) Attach your reeds to the letter with hot glue.

8.) Rip the reeds off of the letter because they're not all at the same angle. Then re-glue the reeds.

9.) Burn your fingers on hot glue as you rip the reeds off the letter once again. Make sure you've planned out how everything is going to look BEFORE you glue it. You'll save your fingers this way!

10.) Attach a ribbon to the back with a staple gun or hot glue.

Or, if you're me, both.

11.) Run your fingers under cold water and take celebratory pictures!

The different color threads make this reed letter so fun! The possibilities are LIMITLESS with what you can attach to a letter. 

Here are some of my other favorites:

Yarn-Wrapped Letters

Glue-Designed Letters

Pearl-y Letters

There are more crafty posts to come!

Until next week, friends.

-Shelbylicious

SL

Crafty Monograms #1- Moss

Okay, I'll admit it.

I fell for a trend. I'm absolutely sold on monograms.


I'm not sure why, either. Maybe it's because I think my first initial is cool? Nah, probably not. Maybe it's because Pinterest has shown me that the world of wall-hanging monograms is a vast one; you can make your monogram as fun or as timeless as you like!

I'm going to show you two monogram letters that are currently hanging in my room. There have been many, many more that I've made, but I'll start with these two beauties for today.


Let me start off by saying this: When I first started dating T, a majority of our time on dates (usually walking through the park) was spent ogling trees, flowers, and moss. But mostly moss.

I learned SO much about moss that year!


For example.....

Look! A Club Moss!

A Bryophyte? Who knows. Anywho....

I took the inspiration for T's moss monogram from this blog. 

I simply love this idea! I would post the step-by-step, but they already did so I'll recommend that you go there and try it! 

I have some tips though: 

1) They really DO have sheets of moss with webbing on the back at the DOLLAR STORE! This truly is a remarkable discovery! We have a Dollar Tree here and they had the sheet moss readily available. 

2) A little goes a long way! I had a 10" letter and I used 2 packages of moss with a bunch left over.

3) If you want a more "unkempt" look, you should try the loose Spanish Moss that can also be found at the Dollar Store! It'll make a mess, but spraying hairspray on the finished product will help hold the moss in place. 

Here's the finished product!

Stay tuned for Crafty Monogram #2!

Lotsa Love,

Shelbylicious

(SL)

A Brave Walnut's Journey

I'd like to tell you a story!

Here goes...

Our Freshman year, T would always bring me sweet bundles of wildflowers from his Biology labs in the woods.

Fields.

Bogs.

Mountains.

Lakes. Come to think of it, I'm not exactly sure where his labs were.

Anywho... One day, he brought me half of a black walnut shell instead of a bundle of flowers. 

He sure is sweet!! Just look at him! 

I stared at the walnut shell for a couple of days and excitedly told T my idea: 

Let's take advantage of the fact that this walnut shell looks like a heart, dye it red and hang it around my neck!

After showing him an online example, he was on board and we began to ponder the concept. How do you take something so rough (and dirty... and rough.... and did I say dirty?!?) and make it wear-able while maintaining that "rustic" ESF-y feel? 

That's a good question. 

We've got it down to a science now! Here's the short-of-the-long of how we do it:

Step 1:

Don your "Shelbylicious" apron that your boyfriend's mom and Grandmom made for you.

Step 2:  

Use your extra toothbrush and scrub all of the dirt out of the inside of the walnuts.... making them squeaky-clean for step 3!

Step 3: 

Put your walnuts in the microwave to dry them out... But that's another story for another day. Don't try it at home, I'm pretty sure that I just got lucky that time!

Step 4: 

Burn your fingers on the hot (but now dry!) walnuts. Hand them over to the ESFr who is eagerly waiting to use his shiny Dremel tool. 

Step 5:  

Use your shiny Dremel tool to sand the roughness off of the face of the walnut, revealing the beautiful patterns in the shell of the nut. 

Step 6: 

Pretend your Dremel tool is a light saber. 

Step 7:

Switch your sand-y Dremel to a drill-y Dremel and do some kind of angled thing that allows you make it necklace-y. This is the hard part: The Lord doesn't make every walnut the same thickness, so most of the time they splinter off and break. 

Which makes T and I want to cry. 

And by T and I, I mean just me.

Step 8: 

If it broke- cry. If it didn't- take celebratory pictures!

Step 9: 

Do some things to make it colorful, sealed/protected, and hang-y (I can't reveal ALL of my secrets!)

Step 10:

Ta-Da! We did it! Make T cookies to celebrate the success (might as well while you have your apron on...)

There it is, in all of its glory! Want one? Check out our Etsy Shop for more information. 100% of profits go to a good cause! More on who the proceeds go to will be posted soon!

'Till then,

Shelbylicious

(SL)