How to Have a Good 4th of July

Independence Day, one of my favorite holidays. Everything about it is so quintessentially a celebration of summer. Well, except for the Revolutionary War part.

Life, liberty, and the pursuit of a perfect flag cake. I’m sure that’s what old T. Jeffs was talking about in the Declaration of Independence, right?

I think I found it, you guys. I found it on the Smitten Kitchen blog: a vanilla pound cake, cream cheese frosting, and a patriotic array of blueberries and raspberries. I really don’t know what else you need. 

4/5 family members agree. (The 5^th not being in favor of fruit on his cake, the little rapscallion.) 

 

I attempted to level the cake to make a more even surface for decorating. It was hard to do with the cake still in the dish. I wouldn't recommend it.

Not that smooth & full of crumbs, but who cares? It's about to be covered in fruit!

Use powdered sugar to make the "white stripes". Pro tip: when the directions say to dry the berries, seriously DRY THE BERRIES. Because if you don’t, the white stripes will look really sad. Check out the picture from Smitten Kitchen’s blog for what it’s supposed to look like.

But fear not, it will taste just as delicious. Which is what really matters. Even if it means I won’t be opening a cake shop unless I find someone way better at decorating than me.

Dip Dye DIY

File this one under: Pinterest Fail. sort of.

You guys, it would be so easy to just never share this project but this is just a reminder that sometimes, despite our best efforts, things just don't go the way they are supposed to. Plus, I don't want to be THAT blog, you know the one that only shares beautiful pictures of cakes and custom built shelves and never lets you see when things go sideways. 

If we can get real for a second, life feels sideways sometimes. 

But you just have to make do with what happens, you know?

With that said, here is the tale of the time I tried to dip dye some tshirts.

I found the tutorial over on Wit & Whistle and nothing against that blog (which is beautiful and a great source for DIYs and inspiration!) but this particular guide just did not work for me.

I mean, I thought I followed the instructions to the letter.

I carefully mixed hot water, salt, and a packet of deep blue RIT dye. 

Then I patiently dipped the shirt by degrees to achieve the ombré effect.

I tried exceptionally hard to not get any dye on the top of the shirt because I wanted that crisp white to deepen into blue without any wayward spots.

After letting it dry in the laundry room (which is where the top photo came from), I rinsed out the dye using warm water in the sink. Again, I was super careful not to let any dye run into the top of the shirt.

Then I washed it with a small amount of detergent, just like the instructions said.

BUT THE DYE RAN ALL OVER.

The beautiful deep blue dissolved into a boring periwinkle that bled into the rest of the shirt.

Color me sad, y'all.

Here my sister is modeling it for you: 

The ombré effect is still there but it's pretty subtle. And have you met me? I don't do subtle.
Ok sometimes I do subtle.
Just not with ombré.

Originally I was planning on using these shirts as another Creative Pay it Forward giveaway but because I wasn't super happy with the result, I let my mom and sister have them as sleep shirts.

I still have a box of bright fuchsia dye and if I find a different tutorial, I'll try again.
Maybe with like an old tablecloth or something.
Because that's what you're supposed to do in life when things don't go as planned: try again. 
With an old tablecloth.

Have you ever tried dip dye? Any tried and true techniques I should be aware of?

Pennsylvania and One Hundred Pictures of the Sky

Recently my brother and I took a quick trip to eastern Pennsylvania to spend a much needed weekend hanging out with friends. It's been an age since I hopped in the car for a good old road trip and it was only a couple of hours in when I remembered why. 

I have the world's tiniest bladder.

Seriously. I'm like an old man with a prostate problem. 

I'm sorry for sharing, it's just, if you ever want to take a trip with me, you should probably know that.

Bathroom stops aside, it was a lovely drive. Sam doesn't let too many people between him and the driver's seat of his beloved car, so I did zero percent of the driving. But I didn't mind. We listened to Stuff You Should Know podcasts and I took pictures of the sky.

And the tunnels that cut through the mountains. 

We got there on Friday evening and it was a relief to pile out of the car and sit around a crackling fire and catch up under the stars. We told stories and jokes and riddles and laughed until my eyes were crossing from fatigue. 

Happy Weekend

Future Ballerinas, American School of Ballet, 1937, by Alfred Eisenstaedt

Happy weekend again!  It's my favorite flavor of early summer outside today. My sister is bringing me lunch at work, the sweetheart. It's a rare treat indeed!  My brother-in-law flies in tonight so we are having a small gathering tomorrow to celebrate summer and being together. I hope the weather holds out for a day of swimming, sunshine, and barbecue.  There have been a few troubling things in the atmosphere lately but it has only served to make me appreciate the good days even more.  It's a reminder to be grateful for what you have (and what you don't) and to never let an opportunity to be loving and kind pass you by.

Anyway, here are some things from around the web that I've appreciated this week:

+ "The truth is, most of us discover where we are headed when we arrive." - Some very wise words on creativity and life purpose from the creator of Calvin & Hobbes (only the best comic strip of all time, mind you)

+ Welcome/survival kit for a house guest. Would be ideal if you live in a big city or for out of state visitors.

+ At the Museum of Modern Art in San Francisco, the Blue Bottle Coffee Cafe serves desserts made to look like famous pieces of modern art, like Mondrian Cake. This awesome video shows how it's made.

+ Spicy Roasted Vegetable Macaroni & Cheese. Love a good one dish meal. Even though I'm supposed to be avoiding dairy, I can't resist this yummy looking recipe.

+ I could stare at this gif all day. I find it oddly soothing. (via tumblr)

+ "Carried Away" by Passion Pit (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DiEwJTOderQ)


I love and appreciate you, my friends and readers. Have a beautiful weekend. :)
xx

Food for Thought

Source

“Everyone who terrifies you is sixty-five percent water.

And everyone you love is made of stardust, and I know sometimes you cannot even breathe deeply, and the night sky is no home,
and you have cried yourself to sleep enough times that you are down to your last two percent, but
nothing is infinite,
not even loss.
You are made of the sea and the stars, and one day
you are going to find yourself again.”

- Finn Butler