THURSDIY: Canvas Art!

Our living room walls were looking pretty scarce for awhile and we finally got our acts together and decorated them! We went through several ideas for the walls. At one point we wanted to put up posters that represented us, but it just didn't work out. We finally decided making custom canvas art. My idea was the quote painted over newspaper while Phaedra's idea was the melted crayon art. So, in a way we ended up doing exactly what we hoped to do with the space. Creating both are super simple there are millions of tutorials about them online.

All it requires to make this is a canvas, newspaper, some sort of adhesive (hot glue or mod podge work best), and paint. The hardest part of this was choosing neutral newspaper clippings to use for the background, but I managed. I snagged this idea from one of my favorite blogs A Beautiful Mess. I chose the sentence "Revel in it" partly because "revel" is my favorite word and partly because the phrase promotes just being foot loose and fancy free, two things I don't do enough of.

Crayon canvas art is so much fun and so easy to make. All you need is a pack of crayons (Note they have to be crayola and we suggest getting the 64 pac) hair dryer, and a canvas. First you you hot glue the crayons on the canvas in whichever way you want, some people get fancy and glue them in shapes. Let the the crayons dry you take your hair dryer and hold it over your crayons until they start to melt. Some girls bleed faster than others, your reds will go pretty quickly. If that happens just move the blow dryer over the areas that aren't going as quickly. You can blow the melting wax around to blend colors and create a pattern. Be careful not hold it under the blow dryer for too long or else some of your colors will start thin out or blend into brown. 

Our living room feels so much more complete now! Happy creating :)

~Turtle & Bunny

WENSDOM: Staying connected to campus

(One of my favorite walkways on campus.)

Moving off campus brings on a lot of changes, some pretty obvious like having to budget time for cooking and being respectful to neighbors. Amongst the obvious changes come quite a few I didn't consider namely staying connected to the comforts of my campus. The luxuries of having a postal service nearly a yard away, easy accessible meals, more free time in between classes, and most importantly my friends at an arms reach. I'm a pretty sociable person, so I'd like to think. Last semester I lived in a dorm that housed my core friends while I'd see the bulk of my friends in the dining hall for meals or around campus as I hung out during the day. When I started school last week the first thing I realized was how quickly the distance of my new apartment could drive a wedge into my friendships and social life if I wasn't careful.

In efforts to prevent this I had to create systems that blended the old ways I interacted with my friends with the much needed new. Every day I eat at least one meal in the dining hall, normally lunch. I try to sit with different groups and really spread my time evenly. I visit my old dorm weekly to catch up with the lovely folks I left behind there. I don't hesitate to invite people over to the apartment, nor do I use the distance of my apartment as an excuse as to why I can't participate in something...no matter how tempting. I also have figured out that including my friends as much as possible in my new change helps keep them close. I keep them updated on apartment happenings that are funny or silly through texts and photo messages. Pics of my cat are always crowd favorites. In addition to joining my friends for lunch I initiate grabbing meals out around town and hanging out in other ways off campus.

Even though all these new systems of keeping up with people are great I still reserve some good old traditions. Every Saturday I have make sure to have brunch at noon with friends, I bask in the sun on my friends couch in her dorm when I need to think things over or pass time, I read in the Lit House in between classes, and nothing will ever beat just walking around my beautiful campus talking with someone.

~Turtle

Taste Test: Stewed Chicken

I watched my mom prepare this meal one night over the summer and was shocked to see how easy it was, yet how gourmet it looks. If you like chicken and want to impress people with your cooking skills I'd whip this up. 

What you need: chicken breasts (enough for however many people you're feeding), a can of stewed tomatoes, four different color peppers, and a dish to put it all in. You'll also need to budget about an hour and a half for this meal's preparation and cooking time.

Step one: Season your chicken. I used garlic powder, season all, and poultry seasoning. Don't be stingy either, it's okay to get a little heavy handed when applying them. 

Step two: Place the chicken in the oven to bake on 375 for 30 minutes. 

Find something constructive to do while you wait but hang around the kitchen to check up on it. 

Step three: When there's about five minutes left for the chicken cut up your peppers. 

Step four: Combine the stewed tomatoes and the peppers with the chicken. 

Step five: Place the dish back in the oven for additional 30 minuets.

And you wait some more...

And voila! You may want to serve it with rice to add a little something else to it. Easy isn't it! It'll be a hit whether you're just looking for a colorful dish to try or perhaps trying to impress that special someone. For a vegetarian spin kick out the chicken and add beans. Enjoy!

~Turtle

Heading back to school with a bang!

(Our kitchen chalkboard is a crowd favorite. Loved waking up to all these silly notes.)

To kick off the beginning of the fall semester, Phaedra and I threw a back to school party. Marking it the first major bash our little apartment experienced. Despite a few chaotic moments, the night was amazing and whether good or bad it was definitely one to remember. I blame the hard lemonade recipe a friend gave us. I was surprised at how in order the apartment was post party. I think cleaning as the party is in flow keeps the workload for post night much smaller. We had out clearly visible places for our guests to dispose of their trash as they saw fit, that helped tremendously.

(Phaedra and I on our balcony.)

We also put a drink cap on for the night so at one point we weren't having to worry ourselves with constantly cleaning. In addition to the drink cap keeping down on trash it also keep down on things getting to out of hand. Before the party even got started by way of enforcing a cap we encouraged BYOB. You never want to wakeup to find $40 dollars worth of alcohol down the drain in one night.

 (Jacki, me, and Em in my room.)

 (The much missed Mike who's finally returned from studying abroad and Phaedra.)

(What too much fun looks like.)

Since we live off campus now we don't live with a major friend group anymore and with our differing schedules during the week it's hard to see one another so the party was a great place to catch up. We had a good time and most importantly all of our attendees did too.

~Turtle & Bunny!