burlap pennant banner & full alphabet stencil

one of my most-pinned posts, this DIY Burlap Banner Pennant tutorial, features a banner template and stencil download which is so easy to print at home. my stencil has just been updated and now contains EVERY letter in the alphabet, not only the Christmas words that it previously did. now you can truly customize every special occasion with a burlap banner. (thank you for your inquiries and suggestions on this!)

visit my shop for the full details.

give a basket full of sunshine

my friends and i wanted to give something bright & cheerful to another friend of ours. after some brainstorming, we came up with this sunshine basket!! each of us had only a short time to shop, so we split up and went shopping on our own, taking iphone pictures of our loot so no one purchased repeats. i loved going grocery shopping with only a single hue in mind, sunny yellow!! finding brightly wrapped treats and gifts turned out much easier than i had imagined. it was a fun scavenger hunt of sorts to see the sunny items we had each collected. the basket came together beautifully. even though the items may seem like a random grouping, the cheerful color scheme creates a cohesive sunshine vibe, which is exactly what we were hoping for!

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hooray for handmade print available in my shop.

i hear / feel / watch my thoughts rumbling around in my soul (tumble dry) and i know i need to write them. just write them. just get them down. it's simple. easy peasy. i'm a self-proclaimed writer, i do this. this should not be hard. hurry and write something decent; a pretty prose or something completely imperfect. just write. you know you know how. you know you've done it before. (oh how full of writer's guilt i've been.) and then another must-do pops up, or a nose needs to be wiped and dishes need to be done or beds need to be made or naps need to be taken and the rhythm of my to-do list shoves out my last thoughtful thought and therein i miss a moment to reflect, write and learn something from the process. letting things spill from my head to my fingers to the page. often, words i wish to be written down are not unlike the loner striped socks that remain loosely out of place, scattered and without a proper home. yet they are still persistent enough not to be thrown out entirely. they lurk in the laundry room and elsewhere. my loner socks and tumbling thoughts (admittedly) haven't been properly lined up, paired up or folded into neat drawers for what seems like months. i'm calling myself out on this.

not to say that i haven't been living a fulfilling, exciting, filled to the brim, joyful life these past non-blogging months. oh i have!! there's so much to tell. no way i can catch up. i've been so fulfilled and busy and happy, i wondered if i really needed blogging at all in this season of life. i've thought a lot about that. honestly however my mind gains clarity when i write things out. to me, crisp keys on a typewriter is as calming as lapping waves of the bluest water on the beach. sitting here, my cluttered brain sits still for awhile and i remember what discipline and practice and vulnerability and creativity mean again. frankly i am more frightened of writing it all out there like i used to. i'm out of practice and feeling vulnerable to opening up. so stay with me. i'll braven up as i type along, i'm sure (i hope).

ever thanks for the encouragement and amazing connections i still feel from you. (so thoughtful to receive emails from those of you who were concerned about little ol' me!!) i can't even begin to tell you all the good things that have come from blogging. here i am, to start anew.

xo.

my favorite tropical dessert: mangoes with coconut rice

it's a rare sight to see; me choosing a dessert that does not involve chocolate, custard, gelato, cake, cookies, brownies, etc. however, i do have a major crush on rice pudding (when done right) along with this delicious duo: coconut rice with mangoes. this is a delectable pairing, you cannot go wrong. basically if the word coconut is on a menu, i usually order it without hesitation. i'll eat a ramekin of this for breakfast (while my family has frozen waffles) and for a moment i imagine i'm on a tropical vacation. i justify the sweet and carb combo because we're headed out to the surf soon to catch the first waves of daylight... i snap back into reality as i sign paperwork, oversee homework, and push lego guys out of the way on my kitchen table. still, the mangoes and rice are the real deal. this recipe is so simple, you might start making it on a weekly basis. that's not so much a warning as it is an invitation.

Mangoes & Coconut Rice
Thanks to my darling friend Jamie Anne for this recipe!

1 1/2 cups white uncooked rice (Basmati or Calrose short-grain work great)
Cook rice according to directions and set aside. Then transfer rice into a larger bowl.

3-4 Mangoes (ripe, deeply colorful, firm but not too firm - like an avocado) **
1 (14 oz.) can pure coconut milk (I buy the 'light' version)
1 cup sugar
1 tsp. salt

Combine coconut milk, sugar, and salt into small saucepan and simmer over low to medium heat until sugar is dissolved. This takes about 5 to 10 minutes, stirring frequently. The milk will turn from milky white to a more clear color. Remove from heat.

Pour coconut sauce over your sticky rice. Stir to combine and allow to rest. The rice will continue to soak up all that coconut sauce and the flavoring will be infused into every grain. Do this at least an hour (or longer) to absorb the coconut milk. Meanwhile, remove skins and slice mangoes into bite-sized bits and place into separate bowl. Dish it up into pretty bowls; serve at room temperature. Add a few raspberries for a kicky, bright garnish.

Serves 6, approximately.

**The great news is they now sell mangoes by the jar!! I've seen them near the packaged salad kits. They are tasty, juicy, and ripe and take ALL the work out of this dessert. Seriously worth your money if you're short on time or terribly impatient when cutting mangoes (and / or have a toddler at your feet).

Note: Ladies especially seem to love this dessert. Take it to bookclub, a buffet or girls night out. It travels well, assembles easily and is a fun change from the usual monotonous sweets scene. Enjoy!

simple & delicious chicken pot pie

when the april showers turn on and days don't feel quite like spring, i always feel like devouring something warm and packed with cooked veggies and homebaked. once i learned that the boxed up, processed frozen pot pies are possibly the worst thing available in the grocery store, i've been going through major pot pie withdrawals. and i imagined i'd have to buy pie weights to wrap my brain around a from-scratch pot pie recipe. however, this one is simple! no pie weights necessary. this features normal ingredients and you can easily find store bought crusts. i am going to try Trader Joes brand next time (i hear they are delicious)! ready set go, lets make chicken pot pie.

Simply Delicious Chicken Pot Pie
source: all recipes

1 pound skinless boneless chicken breasts, chopped
1 cup sliced carrots
1 cup frozen green peas
1/2 cup sliced celery
1/3 cup butter
1/3 cup chopped onion
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. black pepper
1/4 tsp. celery seed
1 3/4 cups chicken broth (saved from cooking chicken)
2/3 cup milk

Two (9" unbaked) pie crusts

 Preheat oven to 425 degrees. In a saucepan, combine chicken, carrots, peas, and celery. Add water to cover and boil for 15 minutes. Remove from heat, drain (saving liquid for broth) and set aside.

In the saucepan over medium heat, cook onions in butter until soft and translucent. Stir in flour, salt, pepper, and celery seed. Slowly stir in chicken broth and milk. Simmer over medium-low heat until thick. Remove from heat and set aside.

Prep a 9.5" pie dish with your bottom crust. Place the chicken mixture in bottom pie crust. Pour hot liquid mixture (should be thick like gravy) over and stir lightly to combine. Cover with top crust, seal edges, and cut away excess dough. Make several small slits in the top to allow steam to escape. Bake in the preheated oven for 30 to 35 minutes, or until pastry is golden brown and filling is bubbly. Cool for 10 minutes before serving.

Note: This is a super easy recipe to double. After adding the top crust and slicing little air holes, allow the pies to rest and cool, then stick one in the freezer before baking!