Summer Hair on a Saturday - Knotty Braids

For the second part of the series, I decided to show you how I did my hair in this post, since some of you asked. I don't really know what to call it, but it's a braid tied in a knot essentially.
This is a fun and fast up-do that you can wear fancy or mess it up even more for a casual look.

Incase you missed it, here's another way to style. Saltwater spray!

Friday Senses

Making: (already made) Beet Cake! Recipe here

Seeing: Pretty new pointe shoes, new tights, and new ballet slippers!

Hearing: the gentle click, click  of my needles while knitting up linen.

Smelling: carrots, celery, garlic and onions boiling in chicken broth

Tasting:  noodles out of chicken soup, to decide how much longer the soup needs to boil.

Feeling: grateful! my sister and mom drove 4.5 hours with me yesterday for new pointe shoes, and she sewed them this morning!

Loving: beets! I really missed out all these years!

Reading: (rereading) The Home has a Heart.

Wishing:  I didn't feel sick every weekend. 

Natural dyed yarn

 

I picked up this yarn at a farmer's market, it was so pretty, hand-spun and ready to be dyed whatever beautiful color I chose.

I found this really helpful tutorial online and thought I would try to dye my yarn with red cabbage and blueberries. 

I started by soaking my yarn in lukewarm water.

Then I chopped up the cabbage in my food processor, until it was really fine and boiled it for 45 minutes with 2Tbs of salt and 1.5Tbs of baking soda.

  

Then I strained the cabbage and let the yarn boil for about an hour.

 

Next I boiled 1/2c of blueberries for 30 minutes with 2Tbs of salt

Then I boiled 1/3 of the yarn in with the blueberries (I didn't strain so the yarn would have a deeper color and it's easy to pick the berry skins out of the yarn)

 

I put the opposite 1/3 in a bowl with the cabbage water. I let this sit overnight.

 

I put the skien in our bathroom to dry.

 

It took almost two days to dry completely.

Here's the finished yarn! It didn't come out exactly how I thought it would, but it was really exciting to see how I could change the colors by adding salt or baking soda. 

Have you ever made natural dye?

A knitted gift

Top: AE, Leggings: Windsor, Shoes: Aerie

My sister knit this tank top for me for my birthday! Isn't it beautiful?! It's made out of linen and it fits really well. This was definitely one of my favorite birthday gifts!

Thanks Beth!

Pretty Pink

Top: Element Style, Skirt: F21, Sandals: Bakers, Necklace: Gift

Hi, I'm Elise, and I have an addiction with pink. 

Exhibit A - this outfit. One of my favorites, the type I could wear everyday because 

1) it's cozy

2) it's a skirt

3) it's pink

Those are all the criteria I need for a great outfit. Not helping my case? My husband likes me best in pink.

What's your color addiction?

Celebrations

These are just some pretty pictures from my birthday! I enjoyed a yummy strawberry and pink champagne cupcake, steamed mussels, and lots of sunshine!

Summer Hair on a Saturday - Saltwater Edition

To celebrate the first week of summer, I wanted to kick off my Saturday series, Summer Hair. Hair that will be styled beautifully without any heat at all! Doesn't that sound lovely? In WI, we have been having 95 degree days alongside humidity.. there is no way I am pulling out the curling iron until next fall, (but I'm not making any promises!) 

This is one of my favorite ways to wear my hair in the summer, my hair is pretty straight naturally with a strange wave at the bottom, it needs some help. I make a bottle of salt water solution and then keep it near my hairspray when I need some extra texture.

Here's how you can make your own!

  

Please share photos if you do this. What is your favorite way to wear your hair in the summer?

Friday Senses

Top&Shorts&Belt: F21, Shoes: AE, Scarf: Thritfted, Glasses: Bonlook

Making: Natural dyed yarn. (making the dye.. not the yarn.) Blueberries and cabbage are everywhere!

Seeing: Pink balloons and pretty confetti

Hearing: Chats and laughs with my dear friend

Smelling: Deep dish pear and gorgonzola pizza

Tasting:  dark chocolate beet cake with dark chocolate frosting!

Feeling: Loved, thank you family and Emily for making this birthday REALLY special.

Loving: Sunshine and sand.

Reading: #Shereadstruth

Wishing:  Emily would stay here forever!

5 Summer Reads

1} 2} 3} 4} 5}

These are the books on my summer reading list. 

An Everlasting Meal - is about cooking with economy and grace. It's not really a cookbook, but stories on how to feed your family and guests economically.

Plenty - A veggie cookbook. Beautiful photos and recipes that seem like they were written just for me.

Radical - is challenging christians to move away from the american dream.

The Home has a Heart - *currently reading* A guide from a swedish homemaker on, cooking, cleaning, serving, and stewardship.

Cupcakes and Cashmere - A guide for entertaining, styling and living pretty. 

Have you read any of these books? What are you reading?

Guest Post // An Opportunity

Today the lovely Chelsea is here to tell you about an amazing opportunity for you and her!

I love ballet and this film looks beautiful, and it's amazing how passionate Chelsea is about her work. 

Chelsea:

First, I want to thank Elise for including my film on her blog. I remember a few weeks ago, she posted photos of herself with her pink ballet tights under her outfit. Immediately, I thought kindred spirits. It is amazing how ballet connects so many people.

I feel that there has never really been a film that examined what it meant to be a ballerina. Traditionally, ballerinas are very mysterious and their world seems secretive, but I learned that is far from the truth. When I was interviewing any of the three featured ballerinas they were so sweet and forthcoming. I felt as though I became instant friends with all three of them. They never held anything back and were so willing to talk about their life choices.

But, whenever I saw them dancing I would once again be in awe of their talent. They are all so beautiful and have their own unique qualities that make watching them dance such a special occasion. I am so excited to share their stories and want to get the film out in way that as many people as possible can watch it.I usually self-fund my films, but I really want this one to be the best it can be and want to take it to a post-production house to really fine tune it. So I have put together a Kickstarter campaign to help raise the funds. The great thing about Kickstarter is that the smaller donations can really add up fast. The most common donation over all of Kickstarter is only $25 and there are people who raise tens of thousands of dollars through the website. So please don't think any donation is too small. Kickstarter works with Amazon to collect donations so you will be using a trusted source to pledge.

Lastly, if you have any ideas to help with the fundraising for the film (or would just like to hear more about the film) I would love to hear from you. So please don't hesitate to contact me.

Contact Chelsea at wayantchelsea@yahoo.com. Here is the facebook and blog if you want to visit the production updates. Please head over here, if you wish to support her project.

One of those meals

 

This is one of those meals that I revert to. One of those meals that I never become tired of eating. One of those meals that most everyone likes.

It starts with chicken. A perfectly roast chicken.

Ingredients:

whole chicken

salt

1 stick butter (room temperature)

thyme

rosemary

sage

Recipe:

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Rinse chicken, and pat dry. Stir together butter, thyme, rosemary, and sage. Spread all over the chicken, under the skin and on the top. Then season generously with salt to create a crust. Roast for 1 and 1/2 hours.

Then you add a little something to drizzle over it. Kirstin gave me this idea.

Pomegranate reduction:

Ingredients:

1c pomegranate juice

2tbs cane sugar

Recipe:

Bring pomegranate juice and sugar to a boil. Reduce to simmer and stir occasionally until sauce has reduced and thickened (about 20-30 minutes).

Normally, we make this recipe with roasted potatoes or mashed. Today, we wanted to add some cheese and make a gratin. We followed this recipe.

Lastly, we love brussels sprouts. We eat them a few times a week.

Brussels Sprouts:

Ingredients:

1lb of brussels

s&p

olive oil

peppers or any veggie you like or omit

Recipe:

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Arrange cleaned brussels sprouts and peppers on a baking sheet. Coat with olive oil, salt and pepper. (sometimes I throw, thyme or rosemary on top as well, maybe some garlic). Roast for 30-40 minutes.

What is your go-to meal?

P.S. I'm over here today, sharing what inspires me most.

Farmer's Market

Sometimes I think I would like to be a farmer. Well, a farmer's wife, mainly the one that takes care of the home, cooks the fresh vegetables and maybe tends to the bees? It's a fantasy world - on the other hand, I love NYC and wish to move back there stat. Back to my rural dream, I would knit, raise chickens, and since it's a dream, I would have a humane sheep shearing room, and a studio to spin and dye my own wool. Also, there would be a target nearby. That's not too much to ask for? Well, since I am a farmer's wife, I would also bring our fresh produce and honey to the farmer's market, and chat with all the friendly people in the morning. 

I love farmer's markets! Do you have the same obsession as I do?

P.S. I'm over here today, talking my favorite summer items.