Little Pick me Up!

Been sort of depressed lately, and needed a little mood booster. With that said, when I'm feeling down I watch this. Enjoy! And with that, the Merriest of Christmases to you!

Cookie Monday!

Monday is Cookie Day here in Hagen-land. In lieu of this, I have been tweaking my classic Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe, and testing them out on my "food critic" (yeah right!) Husband.

I have finally perfected my Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe, and I would love to share it with my lovely readers! Here goes!

2 1/4 All Purpose Flour 

1 tea. Baking Soda

1 tea. Salt

1/2 tea.  Ground Nutmeg (thats right suckas!)

1/2 tea. Ground Cinnamon

1 Cup Shortening

1 Cup Butter - Softened

3/4 Cup Granulated Sugar

3/4 Cup Brown Sugar - Packed

1 1/2 tea. Vanilla

2 eggs

12 oz. Baking Chips ( I like Ghiradelli 60% Cacao, but any Semi-Sweet Chips works)

Cream together the shortening, butter, brown sugar, granulated sugar, and vanilla.   In a separate bowl combine the flour, salt, nutmeg, cinnamon, and baking soda. Add one egg at a time to the sugar mixture, and mix well. Slowly add the dry mixture to the batter, about 1/4 cup at a time, making sure it is blending well. After all the dry mixture has been combined, add the chocolate chips.

Refrigerate 2 hours.

Preheat oven to 375. While oven is heating, make 1/2 in. balls of the dough, and place on lightly greased cookie sheet. Bake 8-10 minutes. The cookies should look pale in the middle, but lightly browned on the edges and bottom. Let cool for 5 min. on the cookie sheet, then place on a rack to complete cooling.

Now stack them up on your counter top and take pictures of them err ... umm I mean ... eat 3 or 4 with a nice glass of milk. So tasty!

Hello Christmas!

So, after mourning my loss of Thanksgiving for a few days, I picked myself up by the boot straps (okay, a little dramatic) and dug out the Christmas decorations.  I must admit, I feel way better!

Shaul's sis Tiffany lent us her tree this year, and I managed to scrounge up enough stuff to call it decorated. I must say that I'm freaking awesome because it only cost us $6 to decorate this tree! Everything else I made, or stripped from something else I bought ages ago (note the strands of Capice Shells - They were snipped of one of those tacky curtain rods you hang in your doorway!)

The garland I dug out of my Mom's trash last year, and the yarn hanging from it I bought last year at Unique Thrift Store in Aurora, and re-dyed it. Since its not the softest yarn, I had no plans with it, so for now it looks great with the garland! I love decorating with yarn! :) (Sorry about the cluttered kitchen shot, not my proudest moment!)

Finally, the paper trees are something I made the other day while Shaul was working and The Honey-Facer was napping. Not at all how I planned them, but I'm still relatively pleased. I don't even know what that means, I just really feel its like something grown-ups say.

Later!

I heart Thanksgiving!

Oh why is it over! 

We ate Thanksgiving dinner with Shaul's family and our friends Jesse and Renee. So fun and especially tasty! (Note the pumpkin pie ... made with a real pumpkin!) Friday we headed up to the family cabin for the weekend, where Harpsicle had his first sledding experience. 

Oh Thanksgiving please come back!

Saturn Flowers

Here is my first attempt at redrawing all of my little doodles. I like to call these "Saturn Flowers" because I think they kind of resemble Saturn's Rings. I think they could make a really great textile, or just one of them would be a super cool logo. I used an adaptation of one for my new banner, and I'm totally digging it!

On a more personal level, Harper had his first bad accident tonight!  He tripped and hit his upper lip on the corner of the coffee table (OUCH!). It was so heartbreaking. And Scary. His mouth was full of blood, and it was gushing everywhere! Luckily no stitches. So we cleaned him up and let him flip the light switch a few times, and he was back to his old self! I'm still shaken up though!

I'll try and post one more time before Thanksgiving, and then we are going up to the Cabin for a few days of board games and internet-less-ness!

Amy Butler's Midwest Modern

I have such a girl-crush on Amy Butler! And I especially love her book Midwest Modern!

I finally got this book from my local library (I ALWAYS check books out before I buy). Let's just say this book has definitely made the "must purchase" list. Here are a few reason's why:

1) It is full of incredibly original design.

Plain and simply said, She designs what she likes. There is so much freedom in design that is made for one's own pleasure, not to simply make money.

2) There are TONS of beautiful photographs showcasing her designs in everyday use. 

Her equally talented husband, David Butler, shot all of the photographs for the book. Most of which are of their own home.  Bottom line is, I admire a designer who loves their design so much that it has a prominent place in their own home. Amy's fabric is on hundreds of surfaces in their home, which says so much more than any "set" could.

I took a few low quality snap shots of some of my favorite patterns ( I could LIVE in those bottoms!), and one of her beautiful sitting room. Please enjoy, and please find a way to thumb through this book on your own. You will understand, and perhaps even share my new crush! : ) (ps I love you Shaul!!)

New Banner and Cross Fit

Short post today. Basically (pathetically) I'm too sore to type! Shaul and I have been sucked into the Crossfit abyss. Crossfit is a workout system based on military training. I know it sounds silly, and most of the time I feel like an idiot doing it, but dang it works!  I love how my heart pumps the entire workout, its so intense!

So this is why Im so sore today: one set consisted of a 1/4 mile run, 12 pull ups, and 21 squats with weights. We had to do 3 sets. It took me 20 minutes to do the whole workout. It felt awesome to be completely done so quickly, but my body hates me today! I seriously feel like every fiber in my legs is screaming at me when I take a step. Needless to say I'm on the slow train today!

Oh and I have been going through my sketches and getting excited about archiving some of this stuff! I redrew a doodle that I made this weekend while at the conference, and used it to make my new banner! What do you think?