Daylight Savings annnnnd...

Not a bad idea at all.

By Natalie Dee.

A Small Collection

These simple necklaces from Alyson Fox are so simple and lovely!

These look like necklaces you just throw on and wear for weeks at a time.

I hope you have a restful Saturday!

xo.

Spring.

I've been getting a little freaked out for a nanosecond for the past few mornings the moment I exit my house and rush to my car on my way to work. The sky will be light and glowing, not the pitch black frigidness I've been stumbling through to my car all winter. I get anxious because my circadian rhythm says, "Great. You are so totally late! Look how light it is outside!"

But as soon as I start my car, its little digital clock blinks comfortingly that I am actually on time. I get so excited about the thought of spring and warmth and sunshine and walks outside that my little heart does a somersault on the trampoline of my diaphragm...

I am so lucky to have my birthday on the cusp of spring (and spring break, for that matter)! It's really difficult to be a grump when spring is just around the corner!

Are you excited for spring where you live?

Pretty Plum Sugar

I love these printed pieces from PrettyPlumSugar!

They make me wish for spring!

Recipe of the Week: Shepherd's Pie with a Vegan Option

I'd never even heard of Shepherd's Pie until I was in the middle of the 4th grade lunch line. Stepping out of the queue to see mounds of grayish ground beef speckled with the lonely carrot or pea and covered in instant mashed potatoes sail by on my classmates' lunch trays did not make me excited that I'd forgotten my lunch that day. I still curse that day, come to think of it...

This Shepherd's Pie is not comprised of instant anything or even leftovers. If you have a few more minutes to bake this, I highly recommend it! It's filling and if there's just two of you, the leftovers taste great for the next few days!

Shepherd's Pie with a Vegan Option
Serves 6-8
Ingredients:
1/2 lb ground turkey breast OR tub of extra firm tofu*, crumbled
2 T extra virgin olive oil
4 stalks of celery, diced
4 large carrots, peeled and diced
1 large onion, peeled and diced
Salt and pepper
1 t rubbed dry sage or 1 T fresh chopped sage
1 t crushed dried rosemary or 1 T fresh chopped rosemary
2 pounds new or red potatoes, scrubbed clean and cut into large chunks
Healthy drizzle of extra virgin olive oil
1/4 cup of milk or soy milk
1 can cream of mushroom soup, gluten free
Hungarian paprika for garnish

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees. Get a pot of generously salted boiling water going with the chunked potatoes in them. While your potatoes are boiling, brown the ground turkey breast in a dry skillet, breaking up the meat as you go. Cook until there isn't any pink left and set aside.

*If using tofu, let the crumbles sit in a marinade of 2 crushed cloves of garlic, 3 T soy sauce, 1 t hot chili sauce, 1 crushed piece of ginger, and 2 T extra virgin olive oil. Let this sit until ready to assemble your pie.

In a large saucepan covered in extra virgin olive oil, saute the onions, carrots, and celery. Add a little salt to help the onions caramelize a bit. Add the sage, rosemary, and pepper to taste. Once the veggies have softened, add the cooked turkey or the drained tofu crumbles. Once well combined, add the can of condensed mushroom soup. Stir well and turn off heat after the mixture is heated trough.

Your potatoes should be done, check to see if they are easily pierced with a knife. Drain and mash with the 1/4 cup of milk or soy milk, healthy drizzle of olive oil, and salt and pepper to taste.

In a large baking dish that's been drizzled with a little olive oil, cover the bottom with your turkey or tofu mixture, making sure it's level. Add the mashed potatoes on top, sealing the edges. Sprinkle some Hungarian paprika on top, cover with tin foil, and bake for 30 minutes until piping hot in the center. Remove the foil for the last 10-15 minutes of baking to crisp up the potatoes. Remove from oven and let sit for another 10 minutes and then serve! This is the furthest away from a school lunch you can get!

P.S. For all you vegan kids, I found a great mushroom soup that you can use in this recipe! It's Imagine Creamy Portobello Mushroom Soup. It's gluten free, too! You won't have to use the entire carton for this recipe, but the soup is so great on it's own. Since this isn't a concentrated soup, you may have to simmer your tofu/veggie/soup mixture a little longer to thicken up the sauce!

Our Wedding Invitations

Well, it's been over half a year since our little wedding

and our invitations are still one aspect of our special day

that I am so very proud of!

Shug designed the invitations.
Tuesday Mourning did the portrait.
Mandate Press did the letterpress.

They were perfect!

While letterpress is a little spendy, Shug and I saved money
by purchasing small manila envelopes online.
We made sure they matched well with these cute stamps.

We had perforations made on the bottom of the invitation
to rip of the RSVP card to drop in the mail.
This saved us from printing an entirely new RSVP card,
saved paper,
and cut down on costs!

It also saved money to have your husband-to-be design the invitations...

I'm basically the luckiest girl in the world!

'Stache

I love these little mustache cups!

They are from a mother and daughter team on Etsy called

UptownAvenue.

So cute!