Today's Refashion.

This week has been busy. Christmas parties, cleaning, decorating and the like. I was going to post a recipe since I haven't done that but it didn't get done. And it is hard to take a decent photo of our dinner when it gets dark at 4:30. Flash food photography isn't pretty. But my new dress is!

It started out looking like this.



I found it at our local thrift store for $2. I liked the sheerness. Is that word? Anyway, I started to go one direction with this dress months ago. But I just didn't like it. I cut the sleeves and tried to make it into a v-neck. It wasn't working. So, I just put it in my closet and then forgot about it. A friend of mine came by and (I was bragging about how cool I am that I refashion clothes) I was showing her some of my ideas and she was the one that said I should make it into a baby doll dress. And so that's what I did. I turned it around, so there is a little button in the back, and made it into an empire waist baby doll dress and I love it. I have worn it twice now. You can't tell in the picture but my tights are brown with flowers all over them. It looked really cute with my pink flower pin. I think that I am going to have to retire it for the summer though. I wore a sweater, tights and a slip and I was still cold.



Don't you think I just sparkled in it? Oh wait that's just the flash. And trust me this was the best picture. I think I need to figure out the timer button on my camera because this picture in the mirror thing just isn't working.

RE-fashion Friday on a Saturday.

"I went to sleep with gum in my mouth and now there's gum in my hair..." Not really of course, but I do feel a bit like little Alexander. It's just been a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day. And I can't even explain why. Some days are like that I guess. So I know I am a little behind with this post. And I also promised you more blog worthy photos. I lied. Moving on.

Before



This dress really wasn't too outdated. I bought it because it was such a great color. It's so bright and cheerful. And I also knew it would be an easy fix. This dress took me all of an hour to refashion. I took off the collar, adjusted the length of the sleeves and the hem. And removed the awesome plastic silver buttons and replaced them with simple black ones.

After




I really liked the way it turned out. Even if my face looks awkward and scrunchy. And you can see my laundry in the mirror. I think if you look closely you can see the same laundry in last week's photo. It's like a virtual scavenger hunt. Can you find Waldo too? I digress. My bad mood is showing. I apologize. Come back next week.

If I'm not here, I decided to move to Australia.

Not a real post.

This isn't a real post because I don't have a real recipe. I don't have anything real important to say. And Jason says a baked potato isn't a real dinner. So. You get this picture of a potato. And I know that looks like an unholy amount of sour cream, but I assure you, the potato was heavenly.



Baked Potatoes
4-6 Idaho potatoes
1-2 T. kosher salt
1/4 c. olive oil

Preheat your oven to 450 degrees. Wash and prick your potatoes. Next dump the salt onto a plate and pour the oil on top. Take your potatoes and roll them around in the oil and salt until they are covered. Next, and this is the most important step, place all your potatoes in a cast iron skillet. It must be cast iron. If you don't have one, go out an buy one. Because no self respecting cook is without a well seasoned cast iron pan. Lodge is a really good brand, if you need to know. And don't even think about using aluminium foil, just place your pan, uncovered, in the hot oven and bake for an hour or until they are fork tender. The skin will be crunchy but that's what makes these so great. Crunchy and salty on the outside, tender and moist on the inside. Serve them with all your favorite toppings. I added chopped, pickled jalepenos to mine and it was unreal. ;)

RE-fashion Friday!

First off wanted to mention the new Gatsbyesque header photo. If you are getting this in your reader, you won't see it. So click on over and tell me what you think. I found the photo op on our trip to Granbury. I love it. It's just creepy enough to be cool. And the word on the street is that they are doing a remake of 'The Great Gatsby' with Leonardo DiCaprio as Gatsby, Tobey Maguire as Nick and newcomer Carey Mulligan as Daisy. Baz Lurhmann is directing and he is a GENIUS so I am excited.

Anyway, onto re-fashion Friday. I love to sew. And thanks to my mother, I know how. Her mother taught her. So I guess I am thankful for my Grandmother too. And fairly recently I was inspired by this talented lady and her blog. So while in Houston over the holiday weekend, I did a little thrifting. I found several dresses including this one.



I hope to make this a regular feature on the blog so I promise to have more blog worthy photos next time. Needless to say, this photo does not do the dress justice. It is a deep navy blue with vibrant purple and pink flowers. Here is how I wore it.



Though you can't see because of the sweater, I detached the sleeves, changed the neckline and the hem. I also took it in several inches on each side. I really liked the way it turned out. I feel it is still a little big at the waist and plan on bringing it in some more. I went with a bright pink tight which Jason questioned, but I feel turned out really well. I wore it on Wednesday to a sub job, and got quite a few stares from the kids.

But it's just because they never had a substitute teacher who dressed so cool. That's what my story anyway. And I'm sticking to it.

Aimless

I was going to post a recipe tonite but something happened instead. I took the dogs out in the front yard to do what dogs need to do and I looked up. I don't know about you but I often forget to do that. To just look up and marvel at creation. The stars. But it wasn't the stars I saw. First a preface.



This is a picture of me and my best childhood friend Carmel. We were born exactly one year and one day apart. It was like we were meant to be friends. We grew up in the same town but grew apart as our lives took us down different paths. We remained friends and every year I would think of her and sometimes talk to her on our birthdays. Almost 7 years ago Carmel had a heart attack and passed away.

One year when we were in our teens we took a trip to Taos. Our favorite thing to do was to take a blanket out late at night and lie down and stargaze. On one night we looked up and saw something different. It looked like a star but it was moving very slowly in an arc. We knew it wasn't a plane and it was much to slow to be a shooting star. Since we didn't know what it was, we named it an 'aimless wanderer.' It was childish and romantic and perfect. That is until my mom burst our bubble and told us it was just a satellite.

When I looked up tonite I saw one. An 'aimless wanderer.' And it made me miss her. But I know she waiting for me. And the day when I am called home and we can stargaze together again.