Fairs and Festivals

On Saturday, May 20th Jerod and I drove up to Tulsa to check out the Blue Dome Arts Festival (it's part of Mayfest) a friend of ours had a booth (more about that later) we wanted to check out her stuff and see what else there was to see. It is a really big festival, compared to Dustbowl! I did see a few of my fellow Dustbowl venders and lots of new and cool things . . . we went on a little sending spree . . . for us that is. So I am going to get right to the goodies and show you what we bought.

First, the lovely and talented Jeanine Copeland/Dirty Birdee (the friend I mentioned) had her first art festival booth and we picked up a couple of things from her:

 

 this adorable magnet is already making my fridge cheerier

 

I wore this pin last Tuesday and got tons of compliments!

 

This little coin purse is going to our niece, Emma who is turning 12 in June. I will probably fill it with a few extras before sending it to her.

One last thing. . .not to plug too hard but Dirty Birdee has a facebook page if you want to find out more info or look at products. Jeanine make adorable birdnest headbands that I am dying for someone to get. . .unfortunately my giant, bucket head has never worked well with a headband.

Second, we did some shopping for the yard. . .yes we are on a yard sprucing kick!

 We got these great birdhouses to hang on our fence.

 

 They are small but precious and will be perfect in a corner of the yard we are devoting to birds and bird paraphernalia.

The vendor does not have a website or online presence thus I can't pass his info along:(

We also picked up this sun-catcher/garden stake.

 

It is made from a gear and glass and we both think it is perfect for the front bed. I, of course, wish we had about 15 of them in all different sizes.

Maybe I will call this the start of a "grouping"

Also, this vendor does not have a website or online presence so again I can not pass along her info.

Third, I WON SOMETHING!!!!!!!! I never win anything so I was pretty stoked about this. While walking around I heard one of the vendors say he hid two ruby slippers in other booths at the festival and if you found one you could bring it back for a prize. Coincidentally, one of the ruby slippers was in our friends booth. I did NOT cheat, though. I saw it ask if was one and was told it was, other peoples overlooking was my gain. I won a 4x6 photo of my choice from Death of a Witch by Evan Taylor. I am going to pre-apologize because the following picture is horrible but the actually photo is cute. I was having reflection problems when I took it!

 

Thanks to Death of a Witch. I think I will add this to the bedroom collage wall.

Fourth. . .and this is the best part. . . . .
Okay, a little back story and a public apology. When Jerod and I shop we always check everything out, then discuss the things we like, think about them, and then decide if they are worth buying. At Bluedome we had already perused everything and were considering the bird houses and the garden stake when we came across the next item, I instantly fell in love but it was more than we had planned to spend, so we walked away. Later in the day Jerod excused himself to get us drinks and find a bathroom, he was gone for awhile but I didn't think about it as it was super crowed. So, later as we were deciding on our items I could not let the following item go and kept insisting we think about it and consider buying it instead of the other items, I was so obsessively talking about it that Jerod finally had to tell me that . . . He had already gone back and gotten it for me for my upcoming birthday!!!!!! I need to say that Jerod does not usually plan gifts ahead or do big surprises so I feel/felt especially awful for blowing this one BUT now I get to enjoy it longer.
With no further ado here is my new and most beloved Water Buffalo

 

Isn't he beautiful. 

The super nice man who makes these has no contact info besides a telephone number(which doesn't seem like something to give out online) so yet again I can't do anything to help promote his work.

I LOVE THIS MASK AND MY HUSBAND FOR BUYING IT FOR ME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

The cats love it too and were very happy once I got it on the wall. Can't you feel the joy in their eyes?

On Saturday, May 26th I volunteered for the PAMBE Ghana Market at the Paseo Arts Festival for a few hours in the afternoon and showed up a bit early so I could check out the vendors there.
I picked up a couple of small but cool items.

First up are these tiny and precious ceramic vases and bowls, none of them are more than two inches tall!!  

How cute will they be with a single flower in them? 

The artist is Cobos Leon, he is part of Paseo Pottery.

Secondly, is this small (5x7-ish) paper cutting to add to the collage wall in our bedroom. 

 

I thought is was very pretty and would fit in nicely with some other bits and pieces we already have.

The artist once again does not have an online presence so. . .no info to pass along

Lastly, I picked up two friendship bracelets to add to our nieces birthday gift. 

 

They are so bright and cute. Plus, they seemed perfect for a twelve year old. 

I purchased these from Pambe Ghana, the organization I volunteer for, so I know they are fair trade and benefit a good cause. You can check out info on Pambe Ghana here and here.

And such are my weekends of festivals!
Have any of you all been to any fun festivals or fairs yet this summer?


*It needs to be noted that I was not payed or perked for this post. My promotion or mentioning or these products or vendors is solely because I think they are cool.

366 Project: Week 21

Whoops! All day yesterday I thought it was Sunday thus my 366 Project post is a day late. . .sorry. . .I know you all are pretty broken up about it.

 

 May 20

  

May 21 

 

May 22 

 

May 23 

 

May 24

  

May 25

 

 May 26

366 Project: Week 20

 

May 13

 

May 14 

 

May 15 

 

 May 16 

 

May 17 

 

May 18 

 

 May 19

It's Frittata Time

I love Sundays and one of the things I love about them most is making a big breakfast/brunch. I make something almost every week and it can range from sweet to savory. . .I like it all. This week, as I knew we were going to be working in the yard all day I figured I would make something that would stick to our ribs and use up some vegetables we had on hand.  I also thought I would try something I haven't made before . . .thus a Frittata (I know it's crazy I haven't made this before since I love eggs so much and we eat them regularly).
I looked up some recipes online but didn't use one in particular and kind of made it up as I went along. Although, I think I used this one the most.

Veggies!

 
Drained Tomatoes.

 
Cook onions, garlic and pepper until tender. . .


Add potatoes and tomatoes and cook for about 5 more minutes.


Beat eggs with a little seasoning



Add cheese, pour the eggs over the vegetables and pop it in the oven
(Sorry I somehow managed to miss getting a picture of the cheese and egg step)


Cook until eggs are firm but not brown and . . .it's ready!

Top with whatever you like and eat up.  

Super Sunday Frittata (or use what you have frittata)

1 cup onion (I used half of a large onion)
1 cup bell pepper (I think a hot pepper added in would be delicious too)
1 clove garlic minced
1 can potatoes (you could use fresh and just cook longer. . .we happen to have a couple can around so. . .)
14.5 oz can of diced tomatoes with liquid drained (fresh would be great too we just didn't have any)
6 to 8 eggs (our eggs were fairly small this week so I used 7)
1 cup cheese (I used cheddar but again use whatever you have)
salt (to taste)
pepper (to taste)
1 T. olive oil for pan

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees

Chop onions, pepper and potatoes into smallish pieces, mince garlic. Add olive oil to large (oven safe) skillet and heat on medium to medium high. When oil is hot add onions, garlic and peppers cook until tender (if using fresh potatoes you would need to add them now too) approximately 5 minutes. Add canned potatoes and tomatoes (drained), a pinch of salt and pepper and cook for about 5 more minutes make sure most liquid is gone.
During this time whisk eggs with an additional pinch of salt and pepper.

After veggies are tender, top with a layer of cheese pour the beaten eggs over top and put in the oven for approximately 10 minutes or until eggs are set (when you make a slit no liquid should run into the slit).
Remove from oven. Can be served hot, room temp or cool.
I topped with slice avocado and sour cream, Jerod added hot sauce.

Enjoy! Do you all have any weekend traditions? Any great way to use up the random bits and pieces of vegetables in your fridge or the random can of potatoes?

Planting . . .FINALLY

Ages ago . . .meaning last summer. . .Jerod and I extended and reframed a flower bed running along the front of our house (check out what it looked like before we worked on it here). Unfortunately, by the time we finished building it we were well into the hottest, driest summer since the Dust Bowl so we decided to wait to do any planting until this year AND I must say I am super excited about it and think it really jazzes up the front of the house. . . here are some pictures! I can't wait to see what it looks like after it fills in a bit.

This is our little house before the planting. The mums were there when we moved in and are lovely in the fall but may ultimately get transplanted elsewhere. I will have to see how they are looking as the rest of our plants grow some. It was hard to get up the nerve to remove the one thing growing.


 A corner shot of the flower bed. Yes . . . I know we need to weed-eat.


All my happy little plants ready for planting:)


Everything planted and mulched! Doesn't it look great? . . .or maybe it's just me?


Again, I think it is a major improvement to have some living things in front of our house.
Oh. . . you can also see the attachment for the soaker hoses Jerod put in. This will make watering and upkeep sooooooooooooo much easier.
Now I am going to give you a run down on what we planted starting with the perennials:


1: Pampas Grass- We both like ornamental grasses and it should give us some much need height and look
good for the whole growing season.



2: Russian Sage- This is supposed to fill out nicely plus it smells delicious AND it helps in attracting butterflies. . .which seemed to be true as I was surrounded by them while planting.


3: Tickseed- It's pretty it's yellow what more do I need to say!?!?!?
Now for the Annuals:


4: Celosia- Jerod saw these and loved them (and I have to agree they are pretty cute) so we thought we would fill in with them (at least this year) and add a pop of color to the bed.


5: Sweet Potato Vine- This is very popular in Oklahoma. It loves the heat, covers big areas and Jerod and I both think it is good looking so. . . we bought the green and purple varieties and staggered the planting. . .my thinking is it will overlap as is fills out and create a cool two-tone ground cover.

Don't worry I will take pictures as the summer progresses.

So what is everyone else planting? Do you love bedding plants as flowers as much as I do? I hope everyone is having a happy late Spring.

366 Project: Week 19

 

May 6

  

May 7 

 

May 8 

 

May 9

  

May 10 

 

May 11 

 

May 12