Lots of new goodies at...

www.bungalow.etsy.com

Frida Cat

Frida, originally uploaded by appleschloss.

this is a test to see how to get pictures from flickr to blogger without loosing my mind

Something Borrowed Something Bungalow

Something Old Something New

Else Headband

Cecile Headband


Marta Headband

Volume Twenty Five

I love finding new shops on etsy... sometimes I feel like I spend so much time on there that I've seen everything there is to see

...not so!

Tonight i discovered Volume Twenty Five - a great shop filled with adorable uplifting art... one of my favorite pieces is this one...

write it in your heart

Such great words to remember! I think this would look so cute in a craft room or computer room. I'm pretty sure I'm going to need it once I start renovating my craft room (which currently looks like a hurricane hit it!). 

A Bungalow Bride!

I love weddings. Obviously, since I photograph them, film them, and I've decided I want to plan them. Also, wedding headpieces are pretty much my very favorite thing ever to design. It's such an honor having someone decide to wear one of my pieces on their wedding day! One of my customers sent me pictures from her wedding where she wore the blake headband!

Here is Alisa singing Heart's "Barracuda" at her wedding while her husband's old band played... so cool!

Thoughts of a sick girl

So I'm stuck in bed sick with the worst cold and my laptop is my big source of entertainment (that and leaving the window open, enjoying the fresh breeze, and trying out my future career as a neighborhood gossip by listening intently to everything I can catch my fellow 209ers saying... but anyways, thats besides the point). My real point was, I've exhausted myspace, facebook, etsy, stalking random profiles on myspace, you get the picture. After getting an e-mail from urban outfitters that said "Dear Amy, we hate you so we're holding our annual yard sale this week that we know you love while you're sick. ha ha. Enjoy thinking about all the fabulous finds you could have picked up between '$10-$20' if you weren't sick with the devils own cold"... or something along those lines. Well... after my heart shattered in to about a million pieces I decided to comfort myself at urban out(wait.... someone is talking outside... what was that?!)fitters big sister store. My soulmate of a store. My one true love. Anthropologie.

Menswear Top

How amazing is this top? I mean really... with a pair of little white shorts and these shoes...

Waves & Waves Espadrilles

oh and then if I was going to decide to go on a spontaneous vacation somewhere fabulous for the weekend I could pack my new fabulous shirt in this!

Hydrangea Weekender

I'm pretty sure all of these goodies would instantly heal me! I can't swear to it but I'm 99% sure.

Tarragon Salad

Summer is finally here full force and when it gets this hot out two of the things that I always crave are grapefruit and avocado. I finally got inspired to try putting them together and let me tell you, it was magical! This is officially my summer salad! I added thin slices of avocado and slices of grapefruit over a bed of organic baby greens with the most amazing tarragon vinaigrette!

I found this recipe for the life changing vinaigrette over at Green Colander

1/4 cup white wine vinegar

3/4 cup olive oil (I'm hooked on Safeway's O Organic brand)

1 large clove garlic, minced

generous grind of fresh black pepper

1 tsp sea salt

1 heaping Tbsp chopped fresh tarragon

1 tsp chopped fresh chives

Whisk together ingredients and you're set!


Really... if you're not already slicing your avocados... get to it! You will fall in love! I guarantee!

Career Options?

So today I've been struck with a few possible career options and these are the top 3...


Scientist: More specifically a disease curing scientist.... I decided that would be awesome this morning. I could really see myself doing that. The world would be a much better place without disease! I'm pretty sure it will just happen as soon as I become a scientist... I mean I'm already half way there.... I'm a social scientist. I just need to stop being so social and get down to bizz.


Country Western Singer: Well... ok it's true... I really don't love country music BUT I think I have Jolene by Dolly Parton down pat (that is one countryish song that I just adore). Plus I've been developing this love for big blonde hair.... I'm using my scientific ways to learn to make it bigger every day. I'm pretty impressed with myself.


Chocolate Truffle Maker: Lets just say this... I make Godiva look like a fraud!


The girls in class told me I was way to chipper and cheerful and positive to be a social worker..... so... looks like thats out and one of these is in. Any votes? Possibly I could do all 3! As I'm curing someone's disease I'll sing them Jolene and then hand them a truffle as a parting gift!


I think it's all solved! Now what major would this be under?

Hott.

I lovvveeeee Jenny Lewis 

7 deadly...plates?

I want these plates from www.trixiedelicious.etsy.com oh so bad. I can't decide whether they would be better hung on the wall or used to serve salad with a surprise message at the bottom! 

I thought this might be fun!

Who was the last person you spoke to before you went to sleep last night?
M


What is something you currently want right now?
Happiness... pure drama free happiness


Aside from waking up, what was the first thing you did this morning?
Check my phone

Do you have a friend that you can literally run to at three in the morning?
My mama


What color was the last pill you took?
Pink


What are you craving right now?
Organic Strawberry Poptarts=Love.


When was the last time you were told you were cute?
Hmm.... This girl at Bacchus told me I looked so cute dancing with my martini glass on Friday


Are you someone's best friend
I've got a few of those : )


Did you laugh a lot at something today? If so what?
I was mostly sleepy today... sleepy and mad

Any current problems?
nothing that won't be okay.


Is tomorrow going to be a good day?
Lets hope so!

How often do you drink water?
daily.


Do your initials spell out a word?
AES

What do you do when you're having a bad day?
Write ranty blogs on myspace lol... aparently that makes me passive agressive or just "passive"


Was this new years enjoyable?
Can't remember what I did


If you had to delete one year of your life completely, which would it be?
Oh geez.... right now if I could go ahead and skip to 22 I'd do that... this year has been kinda sucky.... I mean there has been a lot of great stuff.... like starting Bungalow and getting in to Phi Kappa Phi and spending time with great friends... but relationship wise and sadness wise... it's been kinda ehh


Is there someone who meant a lot to you at one point, and isn't around?
yes.


What do you plan on doing this upcoming weekend?
Phi Kappa Phi induction/Dancing=Friday, Filming a wedding=Saturday... not sure about Sunday yet


Has anyone ever cheated on their boyfriend/girlfriend with you?
Yes.


Are you looking for a boyfriend / girlfriend?
No boyfriends right now.... especially after last night....

Who are the past 5 people to send you a text?
Kelly, M, My daddy, Sheri, and Jen


Have you ever showered with someone?
Don't you wish you knew! : P


Do you wish you were somewhere else right now?
I'm good where I am but going to New York would be fun!

What were you doing 12 AM last night?
Dancing at Speakeasy!!


What can always put you in a good mood?
Hmmmm.... I can't think of one particular thing


When was the last time you cried from laughing so hard?
Oh gosh it seems like it was recently but I forget now!


Who was the last person to make you cry?
Doesn't matter anymore.

What are your plans for Thursday?
Day off! Probably going to be working on my make a game exam like a crazy woman..... or going to the city : )


What are you wearing?
My lovely silk tank top from J. Crew


Have you ever thrown up from drinking?
No thank goodness


Have you had your birthday yet this year?
Nope, it's almost here!! yay!


Have you ever driven without a license?
When I was like 7 hahahaha

Whats your favorite thing to do on the weekend?
Dance dance dance!


How do you feel about your siblings?
I love my kitty sister <3


When did you last eat Chinese food?
Long time ago


Have you ever kissed someone that was high?
I can't remember.... I think I was too angry that he was high to kiss him... yeah I'm like 99% sure I didn't.


Do you take compliments well?
Sometimes lol : ) Depends on who they're from


Do you think you've changed over the past year?
Always changing


When was the last time you threw up?
Long time ago


Have you kissed anyone in the past week? Who?
Yes

Are you playing hard to get right now?
No


Is there someone you don't ever want to be out of your life? Who?
My family and close friends

Did anyone see you kiss the last person you kissed?
No



Are you wasting your time on someone?
Yes I should be sleeping


Last two people you texted?
Jen and M


Did you get 8 hours of sleep last night?
Close


What will be the next thing you will write down?
Gonna change my headline on myspace... it's no longer fitting


Last missed call?
Monica I think


Where's your best friend?
They're all probably sleeping


Last thing you drank?
Organic Apple Juice!


What will you wear tomorrow?
Good Question! I'm thinking the skirt I made tonight would be fun to wear


Will you kiss the last person you kissed again?
Never again.


Do you get jealous easily?
Sadly, yes.


Do you miss anyone?
Yes

Are you happy?
Actually, yeah I am.

Have you dyed your hair?
Just did!


Last person you were on the phone with for more than 20 minutes?
Oh geez I don't know.... I'm not a huge phone person


Who was the first person you talked to on the phone when you woke up?
haven't talked on the phone today oh wait yeah I talked to my dad for a bit


Is there something you need to get off your chest?
Yes yes yes


Have you held hands with anyone in the past week?
Yeah : ) But no more of that either. Done done done.

Your phones rings in the middle of the night who is it?
Probably someone who has drank a bit too much.


Last person you sent a rude myspace message to? and why?
no one?

What color shirt are you wearing?
Turquoise


Would you kiss anyone on your friends list?
Which friends list??? Goodness, so many lists!

What did you do for your last birthday?
Sex and the city party!

What's your main ringtone on your phone?
I love Rock n Roll- Miss Britney Spears

What were you doing two nights ago?
Dancing at Bacchus


Do you like having your hair pulled?
hahaha.


What is one thing you wish you could change about yourself
not a damn thing.


How long have you worked at your current job?
Forever


What's the last piece of clothing someone borrowed from you?
Sheri borrowed a white tank



Have you been to Europe?
no.


If someone you hated died, what would you do?
I'd probably be sad... hate rarely lasts


What were you doing 30 minutes ago?
*shurgs*


Honestly, who was the last person to tell you that they love you?
my mama

Who was the last person you talked to on the phone?
my daddy


What do you spend most of your money on?
Clothes and bungalow supplies


Who is someone you wish you could fix things with?
Things break for a reason


Are you a cuddler?
Yes : )

Will this weekend be a good one?
i hope so.... kinda nervous


Are you a kissable person?
lol well I think so


What do you think of love?
I love love!




Do you think that you’re a good person?
Yes

Is there one place you'd like to visit?
Lots of places!


Do you lead people on?
I hope not

Do people underestimate you?
yes.


Ever been kissed under fireworks?
No but that has always sounded so sweet.... one day... one day : )


Have you ever felt like you hit rock bottom?
Kinda... but that feeling didn't last long

The perfect summer bag

So maybe it was a goodshare the name... San Tropez Sunday.... or maybe it was the big white bow.... or the organic fabric.... or the super cute lining and pocket...what ever it was, it is love.

I bought my pretty little bag this morning when one of my headbands was featured in a treasury along side it. Anyways... I think it will be perfect for summer and I just adore the shop it came from... I'm sure this wont be my last purchase from shecological.etsy.com

When I think of your kisses my mind see-saws

Oh I love you when I forget abooooout meeeeeeeee
I want to be strong I want to laugh along
I want to belong to the liiiiiiving
Alive, alive, I want to get up and jive!
I want to wreck my stockings in some juke box dive
Do you want - do you want - do you want
To dance with me baby
Do you want to take a chhhaaance
On maybe finding some sweeeeeet romance with me baby
Well, come on : )


How much do you love that song? Seriously! I have listened to it about a million times... well sometimes I alter it with California... I'm obsessed!

This is my other favorite bit...

Iwanttohavefun,IwanttoshinelikethesunIwanttobetheonethatyouwanttoseeIwanttoknityoua sweaterWanttowriteyoualoveletterIwanttomakeyoufeelbetterIwanttomakeyoufeelfreeeeeee

I can tell my summer music will be all Joni Mitchell.

Undomestic Goddess

So as many of you know, or are about to find out, I am not so great around the house. My blog about my fear of gas stoves and knives may have given you the slightest glimmer of that idea a few days ago (although tomorrow night I am cooking a glorious dinner of vegan ribs, organic corn, and buttermilk biscuits. Anyways, thats besides the point. Just felt the need to brag before completely embarrassing myself.). I was the little girl who thought parading around with my feather duster was down and dirty cleaning and putting away the silverware was an exhausting afternoon of doing the dishes. I never had really put much thought in to how they got done, I was a whimsical child and my best guess was it was probably all thanks to a magical dish washing fairy. Sadly, I can't say as I aged I found out the dish washing fairy wasn't real (well, I have this suspicion that it may be my dad... but, how crazy is that?!). I had more important things to do with my time than laundry or vacuuming or any other domestic mystery. So when I found this video tonight, I found a kindred spirit (and when I found it I swear I wasn't searching how to do dishes out of idle curiosity... I swear....). 

Fellow undomestic goddesses, rejoice! I have found an informational guide for us!

How To Do Dishes In 1 Min - For more amazing video clips, click here

Penuche Frosting

Cook Book, originally uploaded by appleschloss.

Ever since I was little I have been addicted to Penuche frosting. I would save the left over frosting until it hardend and it would taste almost like maple sugar candy but I guess it would be more like brown sugar candy. Either way... it's amazing... and life altering... and you must try it!

The wonderful recipe is from the Better Homes and Gardens cook book from 1976 (passed on from my Dad)

Melt 1/2 cup butter; add one cup brown sugar. Bring to boiling; cook and stir for one minute or till slightly thick. Cool 15 minutes.

Add 1/4 cup hot milk and beat smooth. Beat in enough of 3 1/4 cups sifted confectioners' sugar for spreading consistency. Frosts two 8 or 9 inch layers or a 9 x 13 sheet cake.

As usual this cake went very quick. My dad thought it might be a good idea to cut him one of the last slices this morning, all for the sake of the photo shoot, of course.

Oh and for those of you wondering how to pronounce Penuche you can learn how at http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/penuche and listen to an audio clip. This will help you to not spend 21 years of your life mispronouncing it like someone I know... *cough*

Amy + Rosa

Today I was inspired to start a new line called Amy and Rosa (no, Rosa is not a partner in this, she's my invisible donkey friend! You see, I have always wanted a donkey... but since I don't live in the country I just have to dream about my future donkey, Rosa, who inspired these clothes!). I'm waiting to list anything in the new shop until I have more items finished. So far I've made a few embellished women's shirts and a bunch of adorable baby onesies! This one is my favorite...

California Love!

It was also the most labor intensive! It was my first attempt embroidering on t-shirt material. Not as easy as embroidering a dish towel!

After a long and fun night of working on Amy and Rosa I rewarded myself with some of the best ice cream I have ever had. Has anyone else tried Haagen-Dazs 5? I am completely addicted to the brown sugar variety! Only 5 ingredients... so great!

I imagine this is what heaven tastes like! Go try it yourself!

Chocolate Dream Sandwich Cookies

After being inspired by the Red Velvet Sandwich Cookies on Bakerella I decided to make the chocoholic version of them! They were all gone within the day! Apparently I have a chocolate loving family too! To make these delicious cookies all you need is...

1 Box cake mix (I used a triple chocolate mix)

1/2 Cup butter, softened to room temperature

2 Eggs (or 3 t ener-g and 4 T warm water)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Mix ingredients until combined.

Drop spoonfuls of cookie batter onto baking sheet about two inches apart.

Bake for 10-12 minutes.

Cool.

For the filling I didn't bother to measure anything out. I melted a bunch of organic chocolate squares for about 2 minutes at 50% , added a bit of butter and enough powdered sugar to make it a fudge like consistency. When it got a little too thick I heated it a bit more and added some milk. Then it was perfect for spreading between the cookies!

Enjoy!

Lets Cook!

Cooking to do:

-Start making more from scratch

-Get over my fear of knives (although my plastic knife I joyously picked up at whole foods is great for some things... you really just can't beat the real deal)

-Learn to "zest" things... that word always makes me flip to the next recipe in the book that involves things like chocolate! Or cinnamon! Or some sort of fruit that doesn't need to be "zested"... it really can't be that difficult. I'm going to attempt it.

-Get over my fear of gas stoves (When buying our new convection oven *woot woot* I wouldn't even get near the gas stoves in the store... yes thats right, the ones that didn't even work. After being told the story of how my mom burned her poor roommates eyebrows off by not knowing how to use a gas stove has forever freaked me out. I'm sure stoves have come a long way since then but I'm still playing it safe. Especially since she always says I remind her of that roommate. I can't help it! I'm very attached to my eye brows!).

-Learn to garden so I can grown fresh herbs and veggies and such... lets ignore the fact that I've never been able to keep a plant alive in my life. Well, other than what I so kindly referred to as the "love fern" which I tried and tried to kill but it just kept on survivin.

-Try out that thing that sits on top of the oven with all the circles on it.... now I am pretty sure it is used to make things other than ganache but I couldn't swear to it!

-Make these delicious looking recipes... listed in order of most do-able by Amy appearance:

Walnut Blondie with Maple Butter Sauce that I spent hours staring at on Bakerella



Smashed Chickpea Salad from Smitten Kitchen (just discovered this great blog today!)



...and last but certainly not least, Farfalle with Zucchini. A Yummy Summer Meal! From The Pioneer Woman (one of my favorite reads)!

Can you tell I'm hungry?

Sick

So I am at home, sick yet again, cursing the names of all who come to class sick (not that I know their names, but if I did, oh would I be a'cursin them). I just don't get it, well I mean I guess I do, but I most certainly don't agree with it. I understand it can be a challenge to not come to school for 2 weeks while a cough lingers on, I wouldn't expect them to go to those lengths. All I expect is that if you're coughing so much that I mistake my favorite sociology class for a TB ward.... just go ahead and take it easy for a few days. No need to be a hero, most professors will gladly update you on what you missed so they don't have to catch your freak cold themselves. Have some respect for your fellow people in the class room for goodness sake!

Colds are contagious for the first few days. It's not brain surgery to figure out how to stop spreading them.

Thats all.

Mushaboom

Today I started my 4th spring semester, the semester they suggest you should graduate. Because I fall madly in love with every subject... and I've switched majors more times than I'd like to admit, it looks like I'll have a couple semesters left which in all honesty is just fine by me. I like exploring my options, and today in class a good share of us announced that we were lingering in school awhile more to pick up another major as long as the economy is this bad. It was kind of a relief to hear so many other people have the same plan I do. I was feeling a little adrift not having a solid plan, I have more of a solid feeling. It's hard to explain, it's like I have all these images, sounds, feelings in my mind of what I want to do. I come up with so many different ideas but they all pretty much revolve around the same feelings. The only job that fell outside of that vibe was to be a health educator... however after I tried out the medical sociology class tonight I'm thinking that's not for me after all. Instead I would LOVE to own my own shop, work for Anthropologie as a buyer, work for an amazing magazine like (RIP Domino) or Real Simple, be a stylist, anything like that... it's like I have all this creativity that wants to come out but it's going in every which way. In addition to creative things, I also love Anthropology, Archeology, and Sociology.... which I guess I could tie in to that in some strange way. I'm trying not to push myself to pick too quick. Someone once told me do what you love and it'll all work out. I think that is so true, you only live once. I feel so happy where I am right now with my business and my life and all that good stuff : ) I think I'll just keep goin where I'm goin and see where it takes me! No need to rush in to a masters program I'm not crazy about, no need to pick a major I hate just because it seems like the right thing to do.

Every time I watch this video I think "Oooh that is just creepily me"... it might help this whole crazy blog make more sense : )

Feist - Mushaboom


On a side note.... I had the greatest late valentines day today/yesterday : ) Matthew gave me the cutest gift from my very favorite antique shop! I'll post some pictures along with all my vacation pictures as soon as I get enough energy to get them off the camera : ) haha

Anyways! There's my rambling thoughts for the day... it's so hard writing sometimes, I'm never sure what I'm saying is coming across the right way... this whole thing was said in the most cheerful optimistic tone : )