Tag Archives: Friday

Morning Photo Op and a Juicy Friday Five

1 Jun

I woke up this morning and my hair looked like this:

The result of falling asleep on wet hair. All those gorgeous waves that my hair will never hold in real life will be gone the second I hit them with a brush. Not exactly appropriate for a day at the office, but if I were going to the beach I would be all set.

Lest you think I always fall out of bed with beach-ready tousled hair, usually I look like this in the morning:

what? this is what i look like before coffee.

Given that I woke up with the first one, I’m taking it as a sign that this Friday is going to rock.

On to the Friday Five!

Life is just a bowl of….

cherries!

Told you I was cherry mad right now. I have a ton of them hanging out in my freezer right now, so I wanted to look for interesting ways to use them. I know many of you won’t have the experience of picking boat-loads of cherries this summer, so everything on my list of things to do with cherries can be done with frozen ones from the store.

Of course, you could always just make tons of cherry lime granita. So far that’s working for me! Ok, here’s five things I want to do with frozen cherries. Click the photos below for links. Here we go!

cherry-cubes

This totally isn’t my photo, but I did put some of my cherries in ice-cube trays and made ice cubes. Everyone who comes over to our house gets a glass of sparkling water with cherry ice cubes. It’s very fancy. Unlike above, if you choose to make cherry ice cubes I would highly recommend you stem them and pit them first. It looks cool to have your stems attached, yes, but having stems in your glass when you’re trying to enjoy a tasty beverage isn’t fun. And give your guests a break and take the pits out. No one wants to break a tooth on a harmless-looking cherry floating innocently in their glass.

frozen cherry mojitos

Um, yes! This recipe is very similar to my granita, but slushier and boozier. Both are a win for a hot summer day in my book.

almost instant cherry frozen yogurt

almost instant cherry frozen yogurt – gluten free!

I want to make this so badly it’s not even funny. Four ingredients, all healthy enough that I could legitimately eat this for breakfast and not feel bad, and ready in less than a minute? I’m sold.

Fresh berries with sugar and cream has been a guilty pleasure for years. So when I saw this simple dessert with frozen cherries, coconut milk, and dark chocolate my mouth began to water. Apparently the coconut milk freezes on the cherries and makes a texture like ice cream. I’m going to the store tonight to pick up some dark chocolate.

cherry vanilla pops

No matter how hard I looked, this Pinterest dessert didn’t have a link to a how-to. However, the concept seems is simple enough. Vanilla pudding, greek yogurt, frozen cherries, Trader Joes Tart Cherry Juice. Blend in a blender, pour into molds. Yum!

Do you know any ways to use frozen cherries I should try?

100th Post and a Giveaway!

23 Mar

image from the interpreter

100 POSTS!!!

I can’t believe it! When I carved out my little cornet of the internet on November first, 2011, I didn’t honestly know if I would stick with this more than a month. I didn’t think anyone would read or care, but 100 posts later we’ve had some good discussions, I’ve had an essay published on a major online community, and I’ve made friends I never would have met otherwise. I know it’s not as big as, say, a year’s anniversary, but for a lady notorious for starting projects and not seeing them through, 100 posts is a pretty big deal. On this auspicious posting occasion I feel like it’s a good time to looking back on all that’s happened in the last 4.5 months. Oh, and celebrate with a GIVEAWAY!

I’ve gotten tons of questions and comments on the rotating art gallery I use as my header. I’ve talked about how much I love the artist, the lovely Nidhi Chanani of San Francisco, and even dedicated one of my favorite Friday Fives to how her art perfectly illustrates my life right now. Nidhi has graciously agreed to help celebrate my 100th post by giving away a signed copy of her gorgeous book Everyday Love. It’s an 8×10 soft cover with 96 pages of over 98 of her gorgeous art prints. Help me thank her for her generosity by heading over to her etsy shop and checking out the book for yourself. See below for how you can win a copy of this gorgeous collection of some truly unique art.

It’s Friday, boys and girls, which means that 100th post or not, it’s time for a Friday five. I wanted to share five of my favorite experiences since November first, when I started this blog. Here they are, in no particular order:

Going away with A before tax season started, and starting a new tradition.

Visiting my little sis and seeing some seriously amazing art.

Going on a spiritual retreat (sadly without A) and further cementing some already amazing friendships.

Writing this, and having some amazing conversations with my girlfriends as a result.

Joining a gym and committing to make time to put my health first. (Btw I found out last night that I’ve dropped 4% of my body fat in the last three weeks. I’ve lost 7 pounds of fat and gained five of muscle. Boo yah!)

So that’s my Friday Five. Now, on to the GIVEAWAY!!!

Enter to win a signed copy of Everyday Love by Nidhi Chanani up to four times by doing the one or all of the following:

  1. Leave a comment below telling me one of the best things that’s happened to you since November first, 2011.
  2. Follow my blog via a reader or email. (Enter your address in the field on the top of the right sidebar for an email subscription.)
  3. Tweet a link to this giveaway.
  4. Share a link to this giveaway on Facebook or Google+.

If you choose to do any of options two through four, please include them in your comment. (If you already follow my blog through a reader or email, include this in your comment as well.)
For example, here’s a sample comment:

One of my favorite experiences has been crossing three goals off of my life list since November. I already follow Bigger in Real Life by email, and I tweeted about your giveaway and posted about it on my wall. (Or whatever the Fbook lingo is. Ya’ll know I’m not down with the FB.)

This person would get four entries into the drawing for Nidhi’s book. Comments will be open until 9:00pm PST on Monday, March 26th. The winner will be chosen through a random drawing, and I’ll announce the winner on Tuesday, March 27th.

Good luck everyone! And may the odds be ever in your favor.

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