Melissa Jarquin

Anthropologie’s Possibilites Cardigan has fulfilled my current retail therapy session. At $78 I think I may have saved a bit of money this time around.  Put the fabric in the front around your neck to make it open and hang at the sides.  Twist it around your neck to get the crisscross effect.  This sweater is feminine, unique, dainty, bold, soft, casual, and elegant.  It can be everything you are and want to be with a twist here and pull there.

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So you want to jump on the Green Wagon and want to, eh, kill two birds with one stone (so to speak, of course)?  The Grama uber eco-friendly is going to hit the spot.   You will be able to grow your own law abiding herbs on the green roof and even filter water for drinking! The sporty VW-looking car utilizes the under carriage solar panels and wind turbines to power lights and more. This unique car looks cool enough from the front and it’s definitely not as spaceshipesque as the Mazda Kiyora.  You won’t look like a weirdo from the shape of the car but the grassy knoll on the roof is sure to attract a lot of attention.

The first thing I thought of was not, “wow, nice looking hybrid!”  I wondered how to pronounce the darn thing.  I’m not too sure how a car that might sound like “Grandma” will trend.  I checked out “Grama” on wikipedia and got a few things.  There’s the grass, the Halacha (Jewish Law), and the government party in India.  It’s obviously got to do with the grass but it’s a bit funny to be driving a Grandma car  that might have some negative religious connotations.  That grass on the roof is mighty long so I’d be sure to keep a Tide-to-go pen handy. 
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If you’re a Star Wars fan then you are sure to love Forced Alliance (2007). I had the privilege of finding this 15 minute fan film via Facebook, which never ceases to bring friends, old and new, together.  The film is shot with great care and quality, making it one of the most professional fan films around.

As recipients of multiple awards for their film, the creators Gerry Santos and Randy Bookman share the trials and tribulations of creating Forced Alliance on the “Official” Star Wars Blog.  This was interesting to me from the perspective of a fan as well as sharing in the film making experience.  Hearing their enthusiasm makes me want to get back into that game again.  However political it may be there is always excitement and new adventures to be discovered. Checkout the producers’ website, http://www.spearshield.com , for tons of pictures, news, creator bios, and more.  You can even download the film for your iPhone or iPod here. 

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While checking out Barefoot Military Mommies today I came across Operation Hug A Hero and several cool giveaways that will make for a happier and safer baby!  The idea of the Operation Hug A Hero program is to provide children whose parents have been deployed, or children who have lost a parent in the line of duty, with a Daddy Doll.  Being a Military family, with a child, the question of deployment is always, in some shape or form, in the back of our minds.  Luckily the risk of deployment is slim for the area of service that my husband is in.  However, that may change in the near future.  I think Operation Hug A Hero is such a wonderful idea, I can see how it would easy bring a lot of comfort and added security to a child whose parent has been deployed.  The comfort of being able to hug your Hero surely has tons of psychological benefits, both for the child and the parent back home.   

What is recipe etiquette? Does it even exist at all?  With a myriad of recipes on the Internet would you bother to ask the host or hostess of a party for the recipe or just go look it up on the net? 

I haven’t found much on the internet about standards for this sort of thing but I’m big on etiquette and think there should be. Maybe it’s the estrogen talking or perhaps I need to take a yoga class, or two, but you just don’t go to a party and throw strawberries on the host’s fancy schmancy recipe and put it up as your own. I’m not talking mac n’ cheese at one party and then the next party planner throws broccoli in to make it their own.  My dish was more unique and definitely stood out.  

I’m not one to hide anything, especially something as mundane as a recipe.  The recipe was not my property nor did I even come up with it on my own.   However, it was nonetheless very surprising to see it sitting on the countertop when arriving at the gathering.  Don’t get me wrong, it is a nice compliment to think that the hostess enjoyed it so much that she wanted to recreate it herself.  I think the hostess should have asked for the recipe or asked if I thought it would be a good dish to serve at her party.  Even asking me to make the dish and bring it along would have been a bit more proper than just making it. 

It was a low-blow “keeping up with the jones” recipe etiquette move.  But hey, it was way under cooked and not really up to par anyhow.  Off to my yoga class I go. Namaste.

Toppings shown here are maple syrup and guava jelly.

There aren’t many other breakfast treats out there that are as simple and delicious as a Dutch Baby.  I first learned about this delicious treat on simplemom.net and have been hooked since the first moment I laid eyes on the recipe. It’ll leave your french toast lost in the dust and you no doubtedly already have everything you need to create these gems. Eggs, milk, butter, flour, sugar, salt, and vanilla are all you need. 

When I make this recipe I am cooking for two and use the following amounts:

• 3 eggs
• 6 oz (0.75 cups) milk 
• 6 oz (0.75 cups) flour
• slightly less than 1/2 teaspoons of salt
• 1 1/2 tablespoons of sugar
• 1 teaspoon of vanilla
• 1.5 tablespoons butter

So my crazy Husband got me into this pushup and sit-up thing. I’m supposed to be able to do 100 pushups, consecutively, after six weeks of training.  I will also be able to complete 200 sit-ups, consecutively, after just six weeks of training. 

We have both committed to doing the challenges and heading into week two I’m feeling pretty darn strong already.  I’m very excited about both challenges for several reasons.  I have never been really good at pushups but am committing to doing the challenge the standard way and not via one of the alternative methods.  Meaning, no girlie pushups here!  Okay, so let’s just forget about the benefits of becoming stronger both physically and mentally, I want to look good!  I just recently had a baby and although I manage to get cardio workouts into my day, nothing is strengthening and toning my abs like sit ups.  I was able to do 88 sit-ups during the initial test and think that’s not a bad number seeing as my abs were basically in a cast for about 6 months from being pregnant.   Even though I have muscles under there, somewhere, having the challenge helps me consistently work them out is helping them show!  

He grabs onto other objects like books and blocks well but he concretely decided that he wasn’t having a teether. He’s never been into pacifiers and while he would start to enjoy gnawing on one to help soothe his tooth/gum pain, he would eventually hurt himself from biting down on the plastic part of it.

One day while putting him in his crib for a nap I remembered that I had a bunch of stage one nipples from his Bornfree bottles, and that they might make a good teether. Initially he had a scowl of confusion from getting milk out of it but thoroughly enjoyed chewing away on all sides of the nipple. He is also able to stick his little hand on the inside of the nipple and push down onto his two front teeth. Thus far it’s been perfect for him since it’s not just one side or the other than he can chew and it’s never too cold to hold.  You might be able to get away from purchasing teethers altogether, and that could mean $10-$40 (or more) savings.  I think that using old bottle nipples earns them the title of “Old New and Improved Teethers.”

Spice up your library with pixel book jackets!

These pixel book jackets are a great way to get crafty on the weekend!  All you need is some white paper and a black marker, or colored marker if you are so inclined.  In the original posting of this idea on icoeye’s blog it describes printing the book jackets if you have a bunch of books that are the same size, then arranging them to create your own designs.  That sounds neat but also pretty time consuming or perhaps even difficult managing the grouping of the books and arrangement to create a workable design.  

Going off on a small tangent I think I’ll just get some printer paper and make book jackets for the books, which are of all sorts of different sizes, then draw squares on the spines of the books.  This will give you a more uniform look as all of your books probably are not the same height and width. I plan on writing the titles of the books on the cover.  Since I already have my books arranged by genre it won’t be too difficult to pick out the one I want to read when the time comes.

Just received this information in a monthly newsletter, Juice 100% Pear Tree, that I receive from Pear Tree Greetings. I ordered birth announcements from them and was extremely pleased with both the quality of print and speed of service!

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This is truly a great company that is pleasing on the eyes and wallet.  When I was searching for place to purchase birth announcements from I was swimming in websites that were pretty hideous with slow and difficult frame works to upload pictures. Hope you win one of the gift certificates and get to take advantage of the free shipping!