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Scenes from Christmas 2013

December 31, 2013March 27, 2018

Before we head into a brand new year tomorrow, I wanted to wrap up 2013 with a few scenes from Christmas:

I’m really glad I got to be home to spend time with family and friends–cooking, eating, shopping, visiting, laughing, playing games, opening gifts, and surprising my dad with a retirement party–even if it was just a few short days and although I was sick in bed with a cough/cold/stomach bug the majority of the trip.

Now I’m back in New Orleans wishing those Christmas days could have been longer.

Hope you all had a lovely and merry Christmas! Now for a Happy New Year as well!

P.S. The abstract paintings pictured above are ones I painted for several of the ladies in my life. They are abstract color portraits, each painted with colors I associate with the person the painting was made for. All are painted on stretched, patterned fabric. They are part of a new series that I’m working on. More about that later. 🙂

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Christmas Cards 2013

December 23, 2013

Merry Christmas from the Rowland’s! May your days be Merry & Bright!

Our Christmas Card, this year and last. I just love Christmas Cards. A great way to send a cheery message to family and friends during the holiday season.

We’ve got a nice little collection so far:

Do you send out Christmas cards every year? It is one of my favorite Christmas traditions. I especially love the photo ones. So nice to see how everyone changes from year to year (as if we don’t all keep up on Facebook anyway!).

Merry Christmas! Hope everyone has a safe and happy holiday season!

P.S. The cursive font on our cards this year is actually my handwriting! I’m enjoying doing more things with my Wacom tablet!

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Christmas Decorating

December 17, 2013March 27, 2018

I just love how cozy our house is at Christmastime.

We kept our decorations really simple this year, only putting silver/gold/white ornaments and beads on the tree, snowflakes on the windows, and my favorite Christmas print up. Our apartment doesn’t have a ton of storage space, so we can’t have too many seasonal decorations. The beads on the tree are all ones we have caught at Mardi Gras parades here (most are from our first Mardi Gras in New Orleans).

This year, in addition to small, normal tree lights, we also added some bigger globe lights as well, which gives the tree a really pretty effect. I saw the idea on Vintage Revivals. We used these bulbs from Target. The glass jar candle luminaries on the TV console are from our wedding.

My glittery, metal snowflakes that I hang from the curtain rods might be my favorite part though. I did that last year too (you can see them a bit in this photo from last year). It is the closest thing to falling snow that we get in New Orleans!

On one side of our French doors, I’ve been taping up our Christmas cards (we’ve gotten a few more since I took these pictures). I had visions of clipping them up onto a string with pretty gold, glittery mini clothespins, but that never happened. Maybe next year. It is strange. This is the first year that I haven’t had a Christmas break/vacation. I get a couple days off work, but that’s it. I’ve never worked right up until Christmas Day before. It is definitely different. I miss having those weeks off before and after Christmas to decorate, bake cookies, shop, drink hot cocoa, spend time with family, wrap presents and sit by the fire and crochet. There was always a peacefulness surrounding the slowing down during that time (often because we were snowed in at home). I feel like Christmas this year is so much more rushed without that down time.

In front of that door, I pulled out a basket (that usually lives behind the door with magazines in it), and made it into a mini wrapping station. It is holding all our wrapping paper, boxes, tissue paper, etc.

Speaking of wrapping presents, my wrapping has also been simple this year. Paper from Target and simple stick-on name tags. This doily wrapping I did a few years ago would have been pretty with our simple, neutral decorations this year, but that didn’t happen. They are all just going to be ripped open anyway (and we have to transport most of them back to Illinois with us), so I’m not losing sleep over the fact that there aren’t any bows.

Wrapping up the tour is my favorite Christmas print from Lindsay Letters (she now has it available in white/gold too, here and a canvas print here).

I only put up decorations in our living room, since that is where we spend most of our time when we are at home in the evenings. In past years, I’ve also put decorations in the foyer and some in the kitchen as well. I like the simplicity of our house this year though. Are you a whole-house decorator? Maybe one day when we have our own house and more storage for decorations I’ll decorate more rooms.

Here are a few other past Christmas posts:

Merry Christmas 2010! (the Christmas we got engaged) and Christmas Eve that year (Here is our engagement post in case you are interested)

Christmas Shortbread Cookies (from before I was Gluten-free)

Christmas Decorating (our first year in this apartment)

Doily Christmas Wrapping

Our First Rowland Family Christmas Card (last year)

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P.S. Linking up to The Nester’s 2013 Christmas Tour of Homes

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Snapshots from Thanksgiving Weekend

December 2, 2013March 27, 2018

I hope you all had a lovely Thanksgiving! I really love Thanksgiving and think it is such a needed holiday. Everyone needs to be reminded of all they have to be thankful for and I’m happy that Thanksgiving gives us a chance to focus on our blessings from God.

Isn’t that table gorgeous? I love it! My dad just put it into the kitchen of my childhood home and it is over 100 years old! It is the old meeting table of our local Moose lodge that my great-grandpa Wallace was a part of. I love the imperfection and character of it.

As I get older, it seems our Thanksgiving traditions seem to flux and change with different family needs. I really love tradition though, so I’m happy that it seems I’m still able to cherish traditions while also making way for new ones as well.

My younger sisters, my husband and I made Thanksgiving for our family. I love cooking and we had a great time getting everything together. We made most of the traditional Thanksgiving foods, but the majority of everything we made was gluten-free. Mashed potatoes, homemade turkey gravy, baked sweet potatoes, roasted asparagus with Parmesan cheese, caramelized broccoli with garlic, GF cornbread, baked ham, deep fried turkey, sweet tea, and my Mamaw’s apple salad. Kelsey and Jill also made crescent rolls, apple dumplings, and pies that weren’t gluten-free. I was traveling there the day before or else I would have made GF pies (I just didn’t eat any, I ate apple salad for dessert instead).

My younger sisters and I with my grandpa (above) and my dad (below).

It was also nice to get to visit and chat with one of my best friends, Tonya, and her mom while I was in town.

I also made a leftover turkey pot-pie complete with a homemade GF pie crust, rolled out with a can of tomatoes. I also got to visit Fergus, my little sister, Jill’s, goat, who has packed on a little winter weight since I saw him this summer.

That weekend we also had a wedding celebration to help out with and attend for Drew’s brother, Wes, and his wife, Trang.

Drew made (and hauled all the way from New Orleans) two different home-brewed beers and a homemade Root Beer.

It was a lovely and fun evening with friends and family under glowing twinkly lights.

Since we live in New Orleans, ten hours away from the rest of our families, it is always such cherished time when we are back in our familiar hometown, back in the country where you can see all the stars at night. I’m so thankful for my family and I’m so happy I got to spend much-needed time with them. I only wish it was longer! Christmas will be here soon though!

How was your Thanksgiving?

What I Wore #3

November 27, 2013March 27, 2018

I’m back with another outfit post. Time for “What I Wore Wednesday:”

I feel like my outfits this month better describe my personality (simple, lots of jewel tones, neutrals and patterns) than the ones in the last outfit post I did. I also have been embracing the whole “natural wavy/curly” hair look more and only curled my hair once this month. I’m starting to like it better natural. I feel like it feels more “real” or something. Not that I seem fake when I curl my hair, but I like the low-maintenance but still pretty sort-of thing (plus I haven’t felt like waking up earlier to curl my hair!).

In general, I’m pretty boring when it comes to my hair. It is either down or in a ponytail. Any hair suggestions for naturally wavy/curly hair that has a lot of volume?

See past outfit posts here and here.

P.S. Most of my outfits are put together with pieces I’ve had in my closet for years, so I’m not including sources for that reason (most wouldn’t be available anymore), but feel free to ask me in the comments if you have any questions about where I got something, I’d be happy to answer!

linking up here for What I Wore Wednesday

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Maple Pecan Pancakes (gluten-free)

November 24, 2013March 27, 2018

One of Drew and I’s favorite homemade weekend breakfasts include pancakes and crispy bacon. I had a good homemade pancake recipe down pat that I had used for several years, then I found out I needed to eat gluten-free. I’ve tried a ton of GF pancake recipes since then and this one is one of my favorites. These pancakes really have a delicious, sweet, nutty flavor all on their own, but are great topped with maple syrup as well. They are fluffy, but also really filling, and are so much better than normal gluten pancakes, in my opinion. One thing I also love about this recipe is that it uses pretty basic GF ingredients that I always keep on hand (pecans, oats, brown rice flour) rather than a million different flours or expensive all-purpose GF flour mix.

Maple Pecan Pancakes (gluten-free)

Recipe adapted from original, here. Makes about 6 normal-sized (but very filling) pancakes.

Ingredients:
-1/2 cup chopped pecans
-1/2 cup oat flour (you can use store-bought or pulse oats in food processor until it forms a flour)
-1/2 cup brown rice flour
-1 tsp baking powder
-1/2 tsp baking soda
-1/2 tsp salt
-3/4 cup sour cream or plain Greek yogurt
-1 large egg
-2 Tablespoons pure maple syrup
-1 Tablespoon water

Directions:
1. In a food processor, pulse chopped pecans until they form a course, meal-like consistency. (Don’t pulse too long or you’ll end up with pecan butter/paste!)
2. In large bowl, mix pecan meal with oat flour, brown rice flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
3. In smaller bowl, stir together egg, sour cream/yogurt, maple syrup, and water.
4. Add wet ingredients to dry and mix well.
5. Scoop about 1/4 cup batter out for each pancake onto heated, buttered, pancake griddle or skillet.
6. Cook several minutes on each side, until done.

Enjoy!

P.S. Best and Easiest Way to Cook Crispy Bacon

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Loaded Potato Soup (gluten-free)

November 17, 2013March 27, 2018

I absolutely love potato soup and although I had tried several recipes over the last few years, none really blew me away. Then one day, a few weeks ago, I threw this one together, spur-of-the-moment, and it turned out great! I’ve made it several times since then. It’s a simple, easy, delicious, gluten-free, and inexpensive meal.

Loaded Potato Soup
Gluten-Free. Makes about 5 servings.

Ingredients:
-3 Tablespoons butter
-1 medium/large onion, diced
-4 cloves garlic, diced
-4-6 large russet or baking potatoes (2 1/2 – 3 lbs), cubed
-5 cups chicken broth
-1/2 cup heavy cream
-salt
-pepper
-Italian seasoning
-shredded cheddar cheese and crumbled bacon, for topping

Directions:
1. Melt butter in soup pot.
2. Stir in diced onion, cook until soft.
3. Stir in diced garlic, cook a couple minutes longer.
4. Add in cubed potatoes and chicken broth.
5. Add salt, pepper, and Italian seasoning to taste.
6. Place lid on pot and cook until potatoes are soft (about 30-40 minutes).
7. Once potatoes are soft, use a handheld potato masher to break up some of the larger potato chunks. You don’t want to turn it into mashed potatoes, but rather you want to break up some of the potatoes to help thicken the broth, while still leaving some larger potato chunks.
8. Stir in heavy cream.
9. Serve with shredded cheddar cheese and crumbled bacon pieces (best & easiest way to cook bacon).
10. Enjoy!

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The Best and Easiest Way to Cook Bacon

November 3, 2013March 27, 2018

Seriously, I used to have a love-hate relationship with bacon. As in I loved the taste of bacon, but hated getting popped by grease standing over a skillet to fry it. That day is no longer. Now I can officially love bacon with all of my being (well, part of me can wish it was healthier, can’t it?). And you will too once you give up the skillet and the popping grease and try this.

The Best (and Easiest) Way to Cook Bacon

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
2. Lay desired number of bacon strips out on a cookie sheet (foil-lined if you wish).
3. Cook bacon in 400 degree oven for 12-15 minutes, depending on thickness of bacon, until it is at your desired crispness.
4. Remove from oven, lay cooked bacon slices on plate covered with paper towels to absorb extra grease.
5. Enjoy!

Serve with a stack of (gluten-free) pancakes, crumble on some loaded baked potato soup, serve in BLTs, the possibilities are endless…

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What I Wore #2

November 2, 2013March 27, 2018

I got such positive feedback on my first outfit/fashion post, here, that I thought I would share more outfit posts on here occasionally. So behold, what I wore the last two weeks:

Unlike my first post, which were all work outfits, this post includes some outfits I wore on the weekends as well. Although I would hardly consider myself a fashion anything, I do like these posts because photographing them (and sharing them with the world) makes me consider my outfits a little deeper and encourages me think outside the box, to try to not wear the same exact thing everyday. For instance, that pencil skirt–I’ve had it for several years and never worn it. And that raspberry striped button up that I’m wearing under the polka pot sweater–it was one of my speech suit shirts from high school that I haven’t worn a single time in the last five years. It is seriously making me reconsider my closet, y’all.

How much thought do you put into putting outfits together? Where do you find fashion inspiration?

I really can’t believe I actually look forward to getting ready for work in the mornings. I never thought I’d say that!

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Container Garden Fail

October 27, 2013March 27, 2018

The last couple summers, I’ve grown basil and other herbs in my kitchen window box (Just do a quick search in my search box, there are several posts about it). Basil, especially, has always done really well in there. This summer however, we decided to try doing bigger container gardens outside the front of our apartment. We started last January with growing all our plants from seeds–cucumbers, green peppers, lettuce, tomatoes, rosemary, cilantro, basil and parsley.

We had a couple seeds that either didn’t sprout or didn’t make it, but most of our plants did really well for the several months that they were inside. Once they outgrew their tiny little seed pots, we re-planted them in 5-gallon plastic buckets. Drew drilled several holes in the bottom of each bucket for drainage.

Once it warmed up outside, we slowly transitioned each plant outside, letting them stay for a few days underneath the small porch roof in front of our house, so that they could slowly get used to the outside environment.

Several weeks later, we ended up with our only crop of the season, this one tiny cucumber:

We made sure they got enough sun and watered them every evening or two, but after being outside for a month or so, they all just sort-of stopped growing or started to shrivel up. I know the New Orleans summer sun is pretty brutal, but other people’s plants survive here? I’m not sure exactly what the problem was. The sun was too direct? Too hot on them after being inside so long? They didn’t have adequate drainage? We didn’t fertilize them?

I was traveling a lot this summer, so I can’t say I was the absolute most attentive plant mom, but they definitely weren’t neglected and Drew looked out for them while I was out of town. I just don’t know why they weren’t at least slightly more successful. I grew up in the country and my family always planted a huge vegetable garden that I would help out with, but this was my first time trying containers. I’m used to the Illinois planting season, but still new to when to plant outside in New Orleans. Maybe I should have just gotten them outside a lot sooner, so they got used to being outside before it got so hot?

This is what they looked like as of today, right before I dumped them out:

They obviously look bad here, I hadn’t even touched them the last several months since they stopped growing/producing anything for me. But see those green peppers in the front? They weren’t even dead, but hadn’t grown even an inch the last five months they’ve spent outside!

Anyone else had success with container gardens? Any fellow New Orleanian gardeners? Any advice for me?

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