I want to tweet you.

by Natasha on August 17, 2011 in Uncategorized

Heehee. I love coming up with post titles that might get your attention.

So I’ve been tweeting for probably close to a year now & while I don’t do it every single day, I’m more of a tweet when I have something good to say kind of girl, I really do love it. The problem is I don’t have that many friends that are on Twitter who I can follow so then I got to thinking, what about my lovely internet buds?

Do me a favor, if you’re a regular here on the blog then please leave a comment with your twitter name & what you like to tweet about. I want to follow you. But not like stalker follow you, just friendly want to know what you’re up to follow you. Although that still sounds a bit creeper.

My twitter name is ‘samstermommy’ & you can follow me here.

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DIY Colored Mats

by Natasha on August 16, 2011 in decorating, tutorials

I’ve been seeing colored mats allover the home decor blogs lately & I just love them. Since I’m trying to gradually change the color scheme of my livingroom I thought this would be a great place to start. I used mats that were already in my frames & cheapie crafts paints that I mixed until I had just the right shades of navy, beige & hot pink.

Yes. Hot pink.

I think if I slowly add pink accents it will satiate my need & P won’t see it coming…

Here’s the before/after:

I should probably also mention that I changed my photos over to black & white, the color images competed too much with the mats. A simple, free photo editing program like Picasa or Picnik does a great job. And did you notice that I finally added some pictures of Sophie?? She’s turning 1 this week & I’m quite sure that if I didn’t start adding pictures of her around the house it could cause permanent damage.

These are my inspiration colors that I tore out of magazine. LUV them. Except I think I’ll have to swap out grey for sage green so that my curtains will work…

What’s your dream livingroom color scheme??

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{Sunday Love} MiFi Review

by Natasha on August 14, 2011 in Sunday Love, Uncategorized

This little contraption has truly become a golden nugget in the pink monster arsenal. P said he wanted to get a MiFi awhile back & honestly I had no clue what he was talking about, but he works hard so if he wanted to get a new little gadget than by all means, gadget away. When we went to Palm Island however that little gadget & I became BFF’s. Mifi is a cellular Wi-Fi hotspot you purchase through your cellular carrier. Basically portable internet in a box. In fact, right now it’s saving my butt because we’re in the middle of a 5 hr drive home from Connecticut, the kids are sleeping, hubs is driving & I’m due for a blog post. Normally the best I’d be able to do is type out the text for my post & transfer it later when I got home but with Mi-Fi I have full internet access wherever I am.

Now yes some could argue that there’s such a thing as too much technology & the internet is overtaking our lives & replacing family conversations with high speed surfing. To you I say, “tthhhhbbbbtttt.” I’m pretty darn sure you’re on the internet right now to be reading this & as a mom to 2 kids under 3 I have to take the quiet time whenever it shows it’s beautiful face. A gadget like MiFi makes that possible & to me that’s worth it’s weight in gold.

(I have not been paid or compensated for this post in anyway, it is strictly my opinion)

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Chinese Hot Pot & the Mystery Plant

by Natasha on August 12, 2011 in dinner 101, Uncategorized

Have I told you before that my stepfather-in-law is from Hong Kong? I love when he & my mother-in-law visit because yes, the kids love to see them & yes, visiting with family is lovely & all but really, I get so excited because he cooks the most amazing dishes for us & it’s totally broadened my cooking horizon. I went to pick up the ingredients to make Hot Pot like he taught me & while I was at the Chinese market I found this little bazarro plant.

At first I thought there were flowers growing because there are purple ones in there but upon closer inspection they seem to be peppers. I asked the cashier what the plant was & she said, “Pepper.” Ok, is it an inside plant? “Pepper.” Aha.So I guess I’ll just take my cues from the plant & figure it out as we go. Please if anyone knows what the heck this thing is please tell me!

There’s a reward.

Ok, not really, but if you’ve got knowledge share the wealth with your girl.

Hot Pot was delish as usual ps.com…

{I realize those shrooms look kind of creepy but they’re actually tasty delicious}

If you missed my Hot Pot tutorial then here’s the link. It was written over a year or so ago so pardon the crappy images…

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Dear Tom.

by Natasha on August 11, 2011 in Uncategorized

Dear Tom’s,

I know you & I haven’t always seen eye to eye. When you first came to town I could not understand what people saw in you. You’re just so big, bulky & well, remind me of the reusable canvas grocery bags all the greenies at Whole Foods use. I’ve bought them, but that’s just because they had cute smiling tomatoes on them & I always forget them in my trunk anyway. But I digress, I didn’t get you & honestly, I still don’t.

After awhile however I started to see you on all my friends, & of course there’s that whole “buy a pair, give a pair” thing. I mean, how can I hate a such a philanthropist? So I tried you on, first the canvas peep toe wedges, they seemed like a nice compromise. But I was between sizes. Then I decided I could really use your grey slip-ons with the elephants on the inside for the summer. After all, who doesn’t like a good elephant motif? It took me months of convincing but I actually thought maybe we could finally work. Then I tried you on, I looked like someone had wrapped Ace bandages around me feet. Seriously? This is fashionable?? After that bad run-in I decided to put you down in my mental black book as just a fleeting trend that would be gone faster the resurgence of pleated pants.

But then I heard the news…you’ve married my friend Sketcher’s. That means you’re not going anywhere! And you’ll be in all of my regular places…Macy’s, Bloomies & even,*gasp* Nordstrom! You’re not just quietly sticking around either, oh noooo, I just got an email from Mr. Zappos that you have a new fall line out! Well isn’t that just dandy. An entire new collection of shoes I don’t like, which I guess is a good thing because they don’t even fit! Even when I tried to accept you, YOU denied me!
Whewwww, deep breaths.

Perhaps I’m holding onto a little more hostility than is healthy to feel towards a shoe.
That’s why I’m writing you Toms, I thought it would be healing to let you know how I feel.
Oh, & I also wanted to tell you that I just bought a pair of Hunter rain boots & we’re very happy together.

Tthhhhhbbbbbtttt!

Best to you & yours,
Natasha

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No Sew Superhero Cape

by Natasha on August 9, 2011 in tutorials

This Wednesday, moms and kids across the country will come together for a national day of action to ask our Senators to be superheroes for kids and support comprehensive chemicals reform. To help demonstrate their cause the lovely ladies from Mom’s Rising asked if I would create a quick & easy cape tutorial for their readers.

Um, a reason to craft AND for a good cause? Yes, please!

Here’s the easy, NO SEW, superhero cape I made for them:

All you need are a few basic supplies from your local fabric store.

1 & 1/2 yards of red knit fabric, (knit is like t-shirt material & the ends won’t fray) 1 yard of red ribbon & scissors.

Lay your fabric out & along one of the long ends fold the edge of the fabric over 1″. With your scissors make several snips in the fold, 1 inch apart, down the length of the fabric. Open the fold & you’ll now have several slits to weave your ribbon in & out of. After the ribbon is woven through all the slit gather the fabric towards the center. Take each end of ribbon & loop it back through the last slit & knot. To keep your ribbon ends from fraying you can quickly run the edge over a flame & it will seal them.

That’s it! Very simple, very fun & for a very good cause!

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{Sunday Love} Pinterest

by Natasha on August 7, 2011 in Sunday Love

Do you pin?

I had heard of Pinterest here & there but for some reason never really gave it a try. It just seemed like work to me. I was the same way with Twitter & now I’m a total addict. Well I can now whole-heartedely tell you that Pinterest=Awesome!

Basically Pinterest does two things. 1.) It replaces bookmarks with “pins” & 2.) it allows you to share your pins with all your friends & vice versa. Before Pinterest I was constantly bookmarking webpages & then never actually taking the time to go back & look through my bookmarks, it’s such a pain that you can’t see what they are & I totally forget. With Pinterest though you’re able to see thumbnails of everything you’ve pinned. And even better you can organize your pins onto “boards”. Your “boards” can be anything your little heart desires.

Here’s what mine look like…

As you can see it’s everything from shopping finds, to recipes to my new favorite, “Eye Candy”. (Heehee)And all my friends can see what I’ve found & like! If you ever need any sort of creative inspiration Pinterest is the place to go. Whenever I’m feeling creatively bleh I spend a few ~~hours~~ minutes on Pinterest & immediately the ideas start flowing.

So give it a try, I’m sure you’ll love it & it’s totally free so what do you have to lose? Mr “Latino Brad Pitt” is there…& you can’t leave him waiting now can you?

Follow me on Pinterest here

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Making Children’s Modern Art

by Natasha on August 5, 2011 in tutorials

Awhile ago I read this post on Lil Blue Boo where Ashley gave a guide on how to get your pre-schooler to create some fabulous art. Not only were her tips great but she really inspired me to not be intimidated by the possible/probable mess of paint & just let Sam go for it! As long as you’re using washables then what’s the big deal? They’ll have fun, you’ll have a keepsake & you’ll be inspiring their inner budding artist. Win, win. I picked up this huge canvas at Michael’s. (every week or so they put their canvases on sale, you can also sign up for their online coupons & they’ll send you 40% off coupons all the time.) We went through about 3 or 4 painting “sessions” over the last 6 mths where I’d set Sam up with 2-3 colors that were all in the same color family, that way when she mixed them (which is inevitable) they didn’t turn to brown. First time we did blue, purple & pink. Then the next session we did warm tones, yellow, orange & red. Every time I’d also give her different tools to use as brushes so we had a lot of texture. One week a roller, another time a sponge, sometimes big brushes & sometimes little. The key is to mix it up, give them LOTS of paint & also keep turning the canvas so they not only cover the entire surface but it also helps to keep them interested. This doesn’t have to take you months like it did us, Sam just wasn’t always ‘feeling inspired’ to paint.

I don’t know about you but I think I see a person. He has a pensive look on his face as if he’s seeing his future with a newfound clarity that has rendered his expressive arms motionless. Either that or it’s a cow.

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Pasta with Chicken Sausage, Peas & Mushrooms

by Natasha on August 4, 2011 in dinner 101

This is what Giada calls a ‘sauceless pasta’. Upon hearing that phrase I almost immediately said, ‘no thanks lady’ & flipped the page, but then I was intrigued. How could a pasta without sauce be anything beyond a pasta princess’ nightmare?? So I gave it a skim…apparently we here in the states have been doing Italian cooking all wrong. We drown our pastas instead of letting the flavors of the noodles, meats & veggies stand on their own. So I thought, what the hey, I’m 1/2 Italian so I suppose I should at least TRY to not disgrace my country’s heritage. But if it tastes like crap disgrace away! And you know what, it was AMAZING! And it’s super guilt-free. Italian flavored chicken sausage, tasty sweet peas & a light tossing of EVOO & sharp Parmesan is an awesome combo. This ‘sauceless’ dish will definitely be sticking around. Although you can’t shame me into not drowning my spaghetti with meat sauce.

Love me some meat sauce.

Pasta with Chicken Sausage, Peas & Mushroom

{Taken from: Everyday Italian: 125 Simple and Delicious Recipes}

Ingredients:

1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
1 pound ground turkey or chicken italian sausage, removed from casing
salt & pepper
10 ounces cremini mushrooms, chopped
1 (10 ounce) package frozen peas, defrosted slightly
1 pound farfalle pasta
1/2 cup freshly grated parmesan cheese

In a large pot, bring well salted water to a boil. In a large saute pan over high heat, add 2 tablespoons olive oil, add sausage and saute breaking any large lumps until golden brown. Season with S & P, remove meat from pan and set aside. Add 2 tablespoons olive oil to pan and heat. Add chopped mushrooms and season with S & P. Saute until all the liquid from the mushrooms has evaporated, about 5 minutes. Add the peas and saute for 4 minutes. Return the meat to the pan and cook for another 3 minutes. Remove from heat and set aside.

When the pot of water has come to a boil, add pasta and cook until al dente, about 8 minutes. Drain in a colander. Return pasta to the pot and add the meat mixture. Combine thoroughly and gently cook over medium heat for 5 minutes. Drizzle in remaining olive oil. If the mixture is dry, do not hesitate to use more olive oil if necessary. Check the seasoning. Turn off the heat and add the grated cheese. Stir well and serve in large bowl.

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Something Blue… {a wedding DIY}

by Natasha on August 2, 2011 in tutorials

I was going through my closet over the weekend trying to decide what I could bear to part with (it was an epic disaster) when I pulled these sweeties off the top shelf…

My wedding shoes, sigh.

I used some hotfix Swarovski crystals to embellish the bottoms & also double as my “something blue”. Although if you don’t have a hotfix tool you could easily use flatback blue crystals & super glue them on. I distinctively remember tweezers coming in handy.

Come to think of it, I never crafted too much until my wedding & then those darn issues of Martha Stewart Weddings sucked me in. I’ve been an addict ever since. But hey, I guess it’s served me pretty well. Did you/are you doing any DIY’s for your wedding??

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