This is George. He was a good little monkey and always very curious.
If you love this little guy as much as we do at our house, you will be excited to learn that you can watch all 9 seasons of Curious George, now streaming only on Hulu. Our friends at Hulu asked us to help them celebrate by decorating these easy Monkey Cupcakes. We did it with just a few ingredients from the grocery store. Curious? (ha) Here’s how to make some at home.
All the travel plans we had for spring break fell through at the last minute, so I decided to hop in the car and take Scarlet on a road trip to Vegas. Las Vegas is amazing for kids, and we had a total blast. And I didn’t have to bother with drinking or gambling, it was all shows, food, and games for us. We packed a lot into about three days, here is my recommended itinerary for families. Prepare for exhaustion, but also extreme fun.
Day 1
-Arrive in Vegas and check into your hotel. We stayed at the Signature by MGM Grand, which was great because it was a suite with a kitchen, a great view, close to everything, and no gambling so no smoky smell. Ask to be in Tower 1 to save yourself some walking distance. The Mirage, the New York New York, and the Mandalay Bay are all great for kids.
-Go for a swim in the awesome hotel pool (the MGM and Mandalay Bay have the best pools with lazy rivers and wave pools, etc.).
-See a show. We saw Love by Cirque De Soleil at the Mirage (the Beatles themed show) and ADORED IT.
Day 2
-Eat a buffet at your hotel. The kids will love it.
-Head over to Siegfried & Roy’s Secret Garden and Dolphin Habitat at the Mirage.
-Cross the street to have lunch and a gondola ride at the Venetian.
-Walk a little further south and stop at Serendipity for crazy ice Cream treats in front of Caesar’s Palace.
-Head back to your hotel for swimming/chillin’.
-In the afternoon, head over to the Bellagio to see the art exhibit and coservatory (amazing flowers) then catch the fountains.
-Spend an hour at the arcade at the New York New York, and ride the coaster if your kids are into thrills.
-Dinner at Rainforest Cafe (my kid loves Rainforest Cafe).
Day 3
-Have breakfast at Le Village Buffet in the Paris hotel. It’s adorable. Make a reservation so you don’t have to wait on line.
-After filling up on crepes, head up the Eiffel Tower at the Paris Las Vegas.
-From there, grab a taxi or uber to the Shark Reef Aquarium at Mandalay Bay. It’s awesome!
-Take the free tram from the Mandalay Bay to check out the Luxor (maybe see the Bodies exhibit, we passed on that) and/or the Excalibur (maybe see the Tournament of Kings, we had just been to Medieval Times so we skipped it).
-If you dare, take the Las Vegas monorail out to the Circus Circus. You can go to the Adventuredome for rides, or if they just like games then head into the hotel and play at the midway.
-To get your bearings back after all that, drag the kids across the street to the SLS for sushi at Katsu-ya.
-Head back to your hotel on the monorail
Day 4
-Pack up and head to the Las Vegas Natural History Museum
-You may want to stop for the Ethel M Chocolate Factory tour
-Head home!
Bonus, if you are driving to/from the West Coast, stop in Calico Ghost Town. We spent about 4 hours there, it may have been Scarlet’s favorite part of the trip!
This basic bi-atch Pot Roast might not be pin-worthy but since I care more about knocking my sweet little meat and potato lovin’ family back 10 feet with the most amazing smell of garlic, onion, and beef roasting in red wine, broth and fresh herbs than some pretty online food porn (well, sometimes) the Pot Roast is culinary perfection.
I didn’t grow up on the classic recipes of my Irish-American ancestors, my parents were hippies, but the idea of combining fresh and healthy (but affordable) ingredients to create something totally satisfying, comforting, and delicious is totally what I was raised on and I’m happy to pass this way of cooking on to my kiddos.
Heat olive oil in a Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Coat chuck roast with salt and pepper. Add roast to pan; cook 3 minutes on each side and brown all edges.Remove roast from pan and set aside. Reduce heat to medium, add onion to pan; sauté 8 minutes or until tender.
Return browned roast to pan. Add the red wine, thyme sprigs, chopped garlic, beef broth, and bay leaves to pan; bring to a simmer. Cover pan and bake at 350° for 1 1/2 hours or until the roast is almost tender.
Add carrots and potatoes to pan. Cover and bake an additional 1 hour or until vegetables are tender. Remove thyme sprigs and bay leafs from pan; discard. Shred meat. Serve roast with vegetable mixture and cooking liquid.
Serve with fresh bread, and follow with a Sunday nap.
A duvet cover is the most practical bedding solution for families, pet owners, and those who like to eat potato chips in bed. Seriously, what’s with the potato chips in bed? Sewing your own duvet cover can be a costly and cumbersome feat but with these tricks you can create perfectly unique and prudent custom bedding.
The easiest way to make a duvet cover is to simply sew together two flat sheets, one for the front and one for the
back. But we wanted a bit more pizzazz. We cut up and sewed together small amounts of designer fabric with multiple flat sheets in different colors and patterns to make our striped duvet.
We’ve provided two ways for you to assemble your desired duvet. As you can see by the chart below, these large dimensions require some creative fabric piecing. For our queen-size duvet cover, we created a striped panel to make the front, and a solid panel to make the back. Of course you can make both sides striped, or solid. The choice is yours!
My tangerine tree is covered in fresh fruit and I just can’t keep up with it. In addition to my old standby, Tangerine Vanilla Bean Marmalade, here are some of my favorite Tangerine recipes I’ve tried, like these dehydrated citrus wheels from Spoon Fork Bacon.
Honey Tangerine, Avocado & Quinoa Salad from Season with Spice
Persimmon and Tangerine Smoothie from Bojon Gourmet
Glazed Tangerine Cake from It Bakes Me Happy
Tangerine Souffles from Martha Stewart (haven’t tried these yet, but plan to this weekend)
Tangerine Chicken from The Novice Gardener
This week we will be sharing how to make a beautiful duvet cover with stripes of coordinating fabric but before we do, we want to give you a quick refresher in three ways to create impressive (and durable) finished seams. Finished seams will keep this duvet (or any DIY Home Decor) going strong after many washes. It also will make an item look totally professional for gifting or selling.
Here are a few ways to finish your seams:
SERGE: If you have a serger, use it to serge all the raw edges. Then straight stitch ¼”–½” (6 mm–12 mm) in from the serged edges to make sharp, sturdy seams. (a)
EASY OVERLOCK STITCH: You can fake an overlock stitch by setting the sewing machine to the zigzag stitch. Normally, the needle moves from left to right and back again, sewing through the fabric each time. This time, align the fabric so that when the needle moves to the right, towards the outside raw edge it doesn’t sew through the fabric, but just falls off the edge. Follow with a straight stitch ¼”–½” (6 mm–12 mm) in from the serged edges to make sharp, sturdy seams.(b)
FRENCH SEAMS: Rather than placing your two pieces of fabric with right sides together to sew a seam, place them with wrong sides together. Sew with a ¼” (6 mm) seam. Trim the seam allowance to ⅛” (3 mm), then turn the fabric so the right sides are facing. Using a ½” (12 mm) seam, sew a second seam, parallel to the first, that encases the first seam in the fold. (This second seam will lock in and hide the fabric’s raw edge.) Turn the fabric right side out. (c, d)
Illustrations by: Sonya Benham
We love a good summery nail tutorial! And this year’s hot new trend of “deconstructed” nails is easy to DIY and looks so hot! You can do it in neutrals, 
or crazy colors, and you will always look amazing. I rock this look almost every day! 
Find out how to get the DIY Deconstructed nail look after the jump… (more…)
Before I met my husband, I didn’t even know what Cornhole was, but once I had my first taste of it I couldn’t stop. In the backyard, at tailgate parties, even at a family reunion, I was obsessed with Cornhole. From Indiana to Kentucky to Texas, I realized that everyone had grown up practicing with friends, a favorite relative or even their grandma. When Rick and I got married we got our own set and the fun continued until this past winter when I left it out in the rain and surprise, I learned that the bean bags where actually filled with corn! I learned this because a family of mice chewed through the bean bags and enjoyed a hearty winter snack. If we wanted the Cornhole fun to continue, I would have to replace the bean bags. 
Read on for how to make a basic bean bag for Cornhole or any of your other bean bag needs. (more…)
