Get Rid of That Vintage Smell

Love getting a new vintage frock, but hate the stench that comes with it? Well, today is your lucky day! Husband is sort of like the Goodwill Whisperer. While getting his MBA, he also acquired a closet full of sport coats from the finest tailors in town–all for a going rate of about $5 each. But the vintage smell (don’t act like you don’t know) was a bit much, so, after doing some research, he found a great solution.

The secret? Vodka. It’s not just for martinis anymore…

smell-vintage-goodwill-clothing-secrets

Mix 2 parts vodka with 1 part distilled water in a spray bottle.
Spray on your garment.
It will dry quickly. Then, just take it to the dry cleaner for cleaning.

On second thought, the real Secret of this Belle may just be to get yourself a husband that helps with the laundry after making you a martini.

Homemade Strawberry Jam

Huzzah! Strawberry season is here! Every year, I look forward to The Market in Maryville getting the first shipments of strawberries in from South Carolina, and last week it finally happened. Over the past 5 days, I have eaten more strawberry shortcake than most Americans will eat all year long. No regrets. So today, I thought I’d share with you one of my very favorite recipes: strawberry jam.

strawberry jam

Strawberry Jam

Ingredients:

2 lbs strawberries (it’s usually 2 containers)
1/4 cup sugar
3/4 of a peeled green apple (a natural pectin… i.e. the stuff that helps it turn to jelly)
1 tsp orange rind
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon

Instructions:

Top & hull the strawberries.
Use a food processor to chop berries into smaller pieces or just squish them up with your hands.
Throw the green apple into the food processor as well or finely chop.
Stir in sugar, orange rind, & cinnamon.
In a heavy-bottomed saucepan, bring the entire mixture to a boil.
Turn down and simmer for 30 minutes to an hour, stirring every 5-10 minutes.*
Once your jam reaches the consistency you desire, place in jars and let cool completely. Once it’s completely cool, store it in the fridge.

*For the first 20 minutes or so, you’ll need to remove the foam that accumulates on the top. The foam is really just a result of the boiling jam. It won’t really affect the taste, but it will prevent your jam from reaching the right consistency.

The best thing about strawberry jam is that it will make your house smell like the perfect Spring evening. It’s equally as yummy on toast as it is on shortbread, and while I’d suggest canning it, I can almost guarantee your batch won’t last that long. So turn on some Nat King Cole, curl up on the couch with your honey, and enjoy the natural aphrodisiac of Strawberry Jam. You can thank me later.

Is making jam just not enough for you? Consider heading to Dayton, Tennessee this weekend for the annual Strawberry Festival. Just looking for a new dessert? Might I recommend Alton Brown’s shortcake recipe? It is delish!

Hello, Gorgeous!

If you’re a new reader, “Hello, Gorgeous!” posts are a round-up of beautiful, random links that are making me smile this week. Enjoy!

Read:

This article made me laugh out loud. If you have experienced Brooklyn as an observer over the past year and a half, you will love reading “How I Became a Hipster” in this week’s New York Times.

Listen:

The first thing I wanted to share is an episode of Fresh Air with one of my very favorite authors, David Sedaris. In it, he talks about journaling which I found particularly interesting. Also, I’m putting his new book, Let’s Explore Diabetes with Owls, on my Kindle for a little weekend reading.

Listen Part II:

Have you heard the soundtrack for Baz Luhrmann’s new Great Gatsby? It’s incredible and also makes it very apparent that this version of Fitzgerald’s classic is going to be very Baz–i.e. a super modern telling of a well-known story set to a surprising soundtrack. Want to hear it now? Click over to NPR music.

Look:

I recently came across this tumblr called: Walt Disney Doing Funny Things. Given that, in real life, I am completely obsessed with Mr. Disney, I cannot stop clicking over to this little happy spot for a laugh.

Drink:

Mint Juleps, of course! I’m sure it goes without saying because, in the South, Derby Day is basically a regional holiday. We get dressed up, we gather with friends, and we make lots of cocktails. This week, over on Made + Remade my friend Deanne & I posted on the 2 Derby Day essentials: Mint Juleps & Derby hats!

Wear:

Need a little inspiration for your headwear? I’ve got you covered. Here are a few of the hats I’ve pinned throughout the year in preparation for Derby Day…

What else have you seen around the interwebs this week that you’ve just loved? Do tell!

Do You Have a Pen Pal?

Do you find the idea totally antiquated? This is something that has been on my mind of late because of the desire to stay in touch that I mentioned last week.

I remember when I was young exchanging letters & packages with 2 of my very best friends–one in Ohio and the other in Virginia. I couldn’t wait to get home each day after school to see if there was anything waiting in the mailbox. In return, I spent hours putting together random pictures and doodads to send with letters about what I’d been up to that particular week, where I’d been, and how I was feeling.

Then, when we all got Facebook in college, the letter writing turned into simply ‘liking’ photos or commenting on random updates shared with the world. What happened to those letters? Have we really become so self-absorbed that we don’t have time to sit down and personally address the people we care about?

The funniest thing to come out of the constant social media stream? I’ve gained the most unexpected of pen pals! The people I’ve found myself writing to most recently, be it an email or an actual hand-written note, are people I’ve met on social media. Sure we talk in 140 characters or less several nights a week, but I’d be lying if I told you that a letter didn’t make me giddy each time it was received.

So this week, I challenge you to get a pen pal!

Whether it’s getting in touch with an old friend, writing a note to a shut-in you know in the neighborhood, or finding someone else who just loves to write–find someone and stay in touch! Looking for a pen pal? Let me know. We could start a trend!

My Love Affair with Ella

It was on this day, in 1917, that the First Lady of Song graced the earth with her presence, and so I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to tell you 2 stories about how Ella Fitzgerald has made my life more beautiful.

It starts in the mid-1990s when my parents and I moved to East Tennessee and the next couple years proved to be those weird, awkward ones between elementary kid-dom and the unmistakable hormonal rage all middle-school girls possess. On top of that, I was a pretty quiet (to those who didn’t know me), sheltered kid who spent a lot of time reading and not so much time listening to the Backstreet Boys. I had several friends in the neighborhood I liked to play with, but I really loved just hanging out with my parents. And I was pretty sure (as I still am) that I was born in the wrong era.

So one summer, while vacationing in Ocean Isle, my parents got me this cd that changed the entire course of my life forever; it was a compilation of the best of Ella Fitzgerald. Suddenly, I’d found a music that was mine. I carried my disc man everywhere listening to the songs play over and over until I could recite all the words to “A-Tisket, A-Tasket” and every bit of skatting in It Don’t Mean a Thing. I listened to that cd when I was happy, when I was sad, when I was moody–anytime I didn’t know what I wanted to listen to, I put on Ella.

There’s something about her voice that I can feel in my bones, do you have any musicians like that?

Fast forward, almost 9 years. I was finishing up my junior in high school, still pretty awkward, still listening to music none of my friends knew, when a *handsome* curly-headed boy that had started coming to our church and playing piano with me in our worship band. People had been trying to set us up for months and, both being quite stubborn, we’d respectfully declined and instead opted to pester one another in what was, I’m sure, a very annoying display for everyone around us.

Finally, one night after church, when the parents were out of town so there was no one to ask us questions, we decided to go out to dinner. The evening went off without a hitch: no dead air, not too many awkward pauses. Finally, on the ride home, the conversation turned to music.

“What music do you listen to?”

“Probably nothing you’ve ever heard of.”

“I know a lot of music. Tell me, what is it?”

“Don’t worry about it. You wouldn’t know any of it.”

“Seriously, you’re being ridiculous. What’s in your cd player right now?”

“Ella Fitzgerald.”

{pause}

“…Really?”

“Yep. Do you know who that is?”

“I named my dog after her.”

I am happy to report that next Saturday will make 10 years since that night, we have an adorable pup namaed after another jazz great (Dexter Gordon), and we still dance in the kitchen to Ella on a regular basis. So on this, her birthday, I gift you with this little mix I made of some of my favorites from the Queen of Jazz in hopes that they brighten your iPod and your week…

Click here to listen on Spotify.

Are there any musicians that you connect to like this? Anyone I should add to my playlist this week?

The Latest Big Project or… Why I Really Like My Job

Over the past year, I’ve gotten to be a part of 3 specific projects at work that made me go, “Really? You’re going to pay me to do that? Awesome.” You can find #1 here and #2 here. (#2 just won an award that got the whole office really stoked.) While, I usually don’t talk about my day-job, this third project gives me the unique opportunity to share it with you because… I’m blogging on this crazy, cool new blog on DIYNetwork.com, and you’re seriously going to love it!

The cool thing about working for Scripps is that it’s a really encouraging environment for creatives. We all really like to make things. We’re curious about how things work. We find beauty in the process, we love collaborating, and we really like trading secrets. That’s what Made+Remade is all about. There are several bloggers from inside the office and several others from all over the country, but the underlying factor is that we all really love living the DIY lifestyle.

So, pardon the commercial, but if that sounds like something you’re into as well, hop on over and look around. (I’ve put a link in the right sidebar to make it easy to remember.) My first post is all about finding and caring for vintage costume jewelry, and I’ve got a couple more in the works. I’d love to know if you have any ideas for posts. Is there a question you question you want answered? Something you’d like to fix or a project you’re dying to try? Shoot me an email or comment below!

What sorts of things do you want to DIY?

Stay in Touch

Let me preface this with: I promise not to be a Debbie Downer despite this doozy of a first sentence…

Since my aunt passed in January, I’ve been trying to seriously evaluate some things. Said things have run the gamut–from appreciating my wonderful husband to enjoying more time outdoors. But perhaps one of the most influential things has been making a concerted effort to stay in touch with people I genuinely like.

You’ll meet thousands of people over the course of your existence. The question is: will they be better because they met you? In a world of Twitter, Facebook, fast food and online-shopping, it is a piece of cake to be anonymous. We can leave work, ‘Like’ our ‘friends’ (read: acquaintances) statuses via a mobile device, and pick-up food at a drive-thru window made by people we’ve never actually met. So empty.

With that in mind, I’ve challenged myself to put more value on the people around me. Can I brighten a cashier’s day? Drop a friend a note just to say ‘hello’ when they pop into my head? What about spending a night out with friends celebrating a boring Thursday?

Let me tell you, it’s quickly changing my life for the better! In the past couple of months, Twitter friends have turned into fabulous pen pals, I’ve reconnected with people I haven’t talked to in years, and I’ve found myself talking about how crazy life is with the girl at the spa and the cashier at Target. We’ve been spending more time out to dinner and traveling to see our best friends. An added bonus? I find that as I concentrate more on the people I really like, the people that drive me crazy just aren’t as important anymore–& this is coming from the cynic who loves to nitpick.

So I hope that this little lesson that I’ve learned can perhaps serve as a challenge to you. Go like people! Care about them. Genuinely take interest in their lives. It’ll rock your world for the better. I promise!

Television’s Southern Sage

Last week, with all the unspeakable things found on the newsfeed every night, the only thing I wanted to do was curl up on the couch and watch a little Andy Griffith. I know it may seem silly, but it was just nice to escape for a little while into a time when everything seemed to make a little more sense–happy families and friends in a small town just gives me a little more faith in humanity. Doesn’t it you?

So tonight, I thought I’d share a few of my favorite lessons from The Andy Griffith Show in hopes that it warms your heart and brings a little smile to your face.

1.) Anytime you can, take an afternoon to picnic with family & friends.

2.) Parent + child bonding time is of the utmost importance.

3.) When someone you love makes you something inedible, sneak into the kitchen and secretly exchange the terrible something for a tastier something. Then, you won’t have to lie when she asks what you think.

4.) You’re never too old for a little dress-up.

5.) Be ready for action at all times… & always dress the part!

6.) Always be willing to offer your friends a place to stay when they’ve had a little too much.

7.) When your best gal wants to run for council, your time would best be used just making posters with your mouth shut.

8.) If you want to feel better about the state of the world, put the Christmas episode from the first season in your Netflix queue. (It’s episode 11.) You can thank me later.

9.) When in doubt, go fishin’… or, at if you’re anything like me, just lay out by the lake.

10.) There is no better way to end an evening than with a little singin’ on the porch.

So tell me: What television shows do you use for a little escape?

Words Worth Remembering

Normally, I would post a snapshot from our weekend but, quite frankly, I blew up Instagram so I thought we’d do something a little different. After the events of last week, we could all use these wise words.

Sneak Peek

Just wanted to share a snapshot from a little photo shoot Husband & I did today for an upcoming project. You’ll love it; get excited!

Hannah and Husband

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Get Rid of That Vintage Smell