Vintage Inspired Cute Girls' Dresses

How cute are these vintage inspired clothes?! Loving the pinafore! When I learned I will be having a daughter I told myself that my daughter will grow up wearing pinafores. I actually have a pattern for it, but haven't had the time to sew it. Looking at these cute clothes makes me want to take out my sewing machine again.


Blue Pony Vintage (U.S.A.)
Olive's Friend Pop (Australia)
Belle and Boo (England)

Little Seouls Casting Call

Little Seouls are having a casting call to find a new face to represent them on their website. Here is their announcement:

We are super excited about our newly designed website which is going to launch very soon! We are also looking for a fresh new face to represent Little Seouls. So from now till the end of April, we will be having a casting call to look for the new face of Little Seouls!


We are looking for a baby under the age of 3 years old. Please send your photos to info@littleseouls.com with subject heading "Casting Call." By submitting your photos, you are agreeing to allow Little Seouls to use images of your baby for advertising, website, and other promotional items. If you are submitting professional photos, please get approval from the photographer.

The winner will be announced on May 1st, 2011. Winner to receive a $250 gift certificate for Little Seouls plus be the new face of the Little Seouls website!

Please include in the email: name of the child, birthdate, parent's name and address.

Get Organized! Do Five Things At a Time

I have four very good Pottery Barn file cabinets, but they are in the basement and this is how I choose to file my bills and papers. Yeap, ghetto Amazon flat boxes in a basket.

I tried to be super organized and separate them by type/company/months, but that lasted one day, the day I separated them. This grouping works for me as I have realized I don't really ever look back on my bills, but I need to have them saved for just-in-cases.

How I filed my bills and documents

I was at Target the other day and saw these plastic bins. It was 11x14x3.5 and I thought "Hm, these bins would be perfect for my bills!" I bought some and it was! Look!

Perfect! Large envelope fits perfectly inside the container!

So I put the bills and papers in there. These are for 2010. Looks much better, no?

Bills and documents for 2010. Busting at the seam, pretty much.

I have come up with a plan to be more organized and clean. With the helpful "Out of Milk" app, I make a list of to-dos. Everyday I will attempt to cross off at least five things off the list. It wouldn't have to be in order, but seeing the list being crossed off will be a great motivator. I will also "put away five things", that means where ever I am, I will put away five things in their rightful place.

2 down and 3 more to go!

Free Angry Bird Rio from Amazon App Store

You can download Angry Bird Rio for free for limited time!

This time the birds are freeing the captured birds.

Recipe: "Great" Pan-Fried Flounder

Another easy recipe! This one came from the back of the frozen flounder we had in our freezer. This was easy to make and it used almost the same ingredient as the Lemon Rice. You could use the lemon zest for the Lemon Rice and the lemon juice for this recipe, a perfect pair!

"Great" Pan-Fried Flounder

"Great" Pan-Fried Flounder and Lemon Rice

Ingredients:

• 2 lb. flounder fillets
• 1/16 tsp salt and pepper (each)
• 1 tbsp flour
• 1 tbsp butter or margarine
• 2 tbsp lemon juice
• 2 tbsp minced parsley
• 4 thin slices lemon for garnish

Directions:

1. Rinse and pat thawed flounder dry.
2. Season flounder lightly with salt and pepper and coat in flour. Shake off excess.
   
3. Heat butter in a nonstick skillet in medium-high heat, making sure not to burn butter.
   
4. Add flounder fillet and cook until fish flakes off.
5. Move fillet to plate and add to fish bit in the skillet, lemon juice, parsley.
6. Pour sauce over fillet and serve hot.

Online Storytime by Barnes & Noble: Green Eggs and Ham

Every month Barnes and Noble offers free read out loud stories for children on their website. This month's book is "Green Eggs and Ham" by Dr. Seuss, read by Rachel Ray. It has been hinted that next month's book will be "The Very Hungry Caterpillar" by Eric Carle. I wonder if this program is tied to the local Barnes and Noble children's book reading program, because they just read "The Very Hungry Caterpillar" at our local Barnes and Noble last Saturday.

Recipe: Lemon Rice

We have a rice cooker recipe book and this recipe, for some unknown reason, caught our eyes and has become our "go to" recipe for those days when we are feeling uninspired. It is really simple to make and surprisingly tasty.

The recipe says to toss out the cooked garlic, I like to mash it in there while I'm fluffing the rice after it's done cooking (it breaks up easily); it adds a nice flavor to the recipe. I also highly recommend making sure lemon zest gets in there; I have concluded that best tasting food always needs to have two flavors, the lemon adds a nice zing to otherwise bland buttery/chicken flavor.

Lemon Rice
Yield: Serves 3 to 4

Lemon Rice with "Great" Pan-Fried Flounder

Ingredients:

• 1 cup long-grain rice
• 1 1/2 cups chicken stock
• Pinch of salt
• 1 large clove garlic
• 2 teaspoons grated lemon zest
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh Italian parsley leaves

 Directions:

1. If using basmati rice, place the rice in a fine strainer or bowl, rinse with cold water twice, and drain twice.
2. Place the rice in the rice cooker bowl. Add the stock and salt, stir just to combine, then place the garlic in the center on top of the rice. Close the cover and set for the regular cycle.

   

   Yeap, you read that right, I make 3 cups of rice.

   
   
3. When the machine switches to the Keep Warm cycle, add the lemon zest, butter, and parsley; stir to combine. Close the cover and let the rice steam for 10 minutes. Fluff the rice with a rice paddle. Before serving, remove the garlic and discard. Serve hot.

   

   Add salt, lemon zest, butter, parsley in there after it's done cooking.