Growing Sprouts

                            What you'll need:                                    

 

To get started you'll need a jar, some cheese cloth, whatever you want to sprout (lentils, legumes, beans, wheat, etc) and a rubber band.

Step One:

 put seeds/beans in glass jar

Step 2: cut out a piece of cheesecloth and cover jar, using your rubber band to seal it. 

Step 3:

Add water to jar and soak for about 8 hours 

Step 4:

strain water from jar and prop up so the sprouts don't retain excess moisture (this can cause mildewwww)

Step 5:  Rinse your sprouts about every 6-8 hours (or every 4 hours if you're using chic peas- these take forever to sprout so you want to make sure they stay really clean throughout the long process).  After you rinse your sprouts remember to prop up your jar to remove excess moisture!

After 2-3 days, enjoy your sprouts!

tips: a little goes a long way so don't overfill your jar.  start out with a thin layer of seeds/beans.  do research on what you want to sprout- some items take longer than others and you need to be more careful with those to prevent mildew.  If your sprouts smell funky, don't eat them.  duh. :)

food and hulu

It feels like everyone I know is out of town right now so I've been spending a lot of time with my dog, watching episodes of Degrassi High on Hulu and trying out new recipes.  I'll get to the hulu in a sec, but let me tell you about my experience thus far with cooking.  I have never really cooked, unless you count pre-made patties that you throw on the George Foreman or bowls of cereal (I'm an expert at cereal).  I suck at following directions.  Not all directions- I'm excellent at microwaving tv dinners.  In fact I follow those directions maybe a little too closely, like to the second.  But when I have a recipe that yields 12 veggie burgers and I only have the ingredients for 2, the directions go out the window after the first equation involving a fraction.  Of all the valuable life lessons my mother imparted on me during my childhood, cooking was certainly not one of them.  We had a wooden carved pig that hung on our kitchen wall with the quote "never trust a skinny cook" printed on it.  My mom, a size 4 for most of my childhood years, was definitely not to be trusted. 

Given my background, I was pleased at how this (solitary) veggie burger turned out.  True to form, I did not follow the recipe but I did use the ingredients and roughly the cook time. 

Ingredients:
toasted bread crumbs
cooked lentils
egg
salt
pepper
chopped onion

I just threw in what I thought looked good (please don't ask for a calorie count) and I ground this all up in my mini food processor and put it in some oil on a pan on the stove (is this called frying?  see, i'm a culinary idiot).  I paired it with an arugula, goat cheese, almond and dried fruit salad.  My favorite.  I have to say that it's the second best veggie burger I've ever had. 

Now back to the hulu.  I'm obsessed with Degrassi- not the new ones, but the ones that came out in the mid to late 80s.  Caitlin is my favorite.  Please comment if you have any idea what I'm talking about.

double trouble

So, here are my 2 final outfits for the 30 for 30 challenge.  I'm so happy to be done!  One thing this time around has taught me is that no matter how much I want to blog,  real life priorities/desires frequently get in the way.  Part of me wanted to be completely dedicated to this challenge, but other parts of me were more excited about running, books and planning my vacations.  I'd like to try to incorporate some of that other "stuff" into future posts.  I feel a little one-dimensional on here and, after all, the title of this blog IS Multiple Factors.  :)

Happy shopping, everyone!

Yes! Paris.

 

Guess what? I am technically done with my 30 days as of yesterday, just still behind in my posts.  I have no money though so I'm not rushing out to Target or anything.  My birthday is on Monday and I'm hoping the birthday fairy finds my mailbox by then and I can afford my upcoming shopping trip.  (I just found out that my mom is actually the running shoe fairy when she told me she would treat me at the Nike outlet this weekend).

The shorts in this post are my absolute favorites.  So much so that I'm sure all my friends are really sick of seeing them.  I haven't been posting much of my casual/weekend outfits this time around.  I try to stick within my 30 pieces (though sometimes I have to wear athletic shoes) and it ends up being these shorts and one of the few t-shirts (like this one) I included.  I will never retire these shorts though.  They are the most comfortable things I own!

Cold front

 

The other day a cold front came in and it was actually nice enough out to wear jeans and a summer scarf.  I bought this scarf in Mexico on my honeymoon and am so happy I finally got to wear it!  The cold front is gone now and this post is making me nostalgic.  This is the hottest summer I can ever recall!

A familiar look

 

Okay, so this is almost exactly the same outfit I wore in a previous post, minus a different color cami.  I'm sorry.  My creativity seems to be stunted these last few days of the challenge.  How about everyone else?  Are you almost done?  My friend Jenee also took the challenge and she speed through and is already finished while I still have 4 more outfits to post.  She better not go shopping without me!  

It's the humidity

Thanks to the wonderful humidity here in Georgia, occasionally I get really BIG hair.  And when I get big hair I like to wear things with poofy shoulders so I don't look like a shaved poodle or something. 

I'm 2 outfits behind somehow.  What I mean is that I have the pictures all ready, but no posts to go along with them.  This photo was actually from two days ago (so if you saw me on the street today, no, I'm not cheating, you'll see photos of this outfit on Monday- assuming I don't slack off between now and then.)  I still have a shirt and a pair of shorts (is that all?) that haven't made it into my mix and with only 3 outfits left to go- and not much desire to wear said shorts and shirt- you may not see them.  I'm sure you're crying about it now.  It's okay, really. 

Do you ever get the desire to just throw out all of your clothing and start from scratch?  If I had $3,000 to spare I might just do that after this challenge is over.  I'm so sick of it all!

SAT prep

No, I'm not about to take a test designed for highschool students who are trying to get into college.  I'm just getting ready for the weekend.  In preparation for Saturday I've got my most comfortable maxi dress on with sandals.  I threw on the blazer to make it work appropriate.  Hurry up, Saturday.  

Bench seating

This outfit is okay.  It's actually almost a repeat of an outfit last week, save the scarf as belt and different shoes.  My friend asked if that wasn't considered cheating.  I don't think so.  What's better than okay however, is this bench that my husband and I made.  Okay, we didn't make it so much as painted it.  The assembly required was minimal in that we just placed the painted board on top of cinderblocks.  We aren't exactly handy.  But now we have lots of outdoor seating!

night moves

 

I really hate taking my outfit pictures at night.  I feel like the flash makes me look like a plastic zombie.  right?  But sometimes time is not fair and other times, time is perfectly fair, but you spend the first half of your day in your pajamas.  Oh well.  :)  

Summer School

I feel like tying knots in your clothing is like Summer 101 or something.

In other news, this is my 100th blog post.  Who wants cake?

rust and purple

I would've never thought to pair rust and purple together, but thankfully J.Crew thought of it for me when they made this skirt.  Thanks, J. Crew!
10 outfits remaining in the challenge!  And in 3 weeks I'm going on a birthday shopping spree.  I can't wait.

falling behind, running ahead.

So I've obviously fallen a little behind in my posts recently, but I have at least been taking my daily outfit photos! 

On July 4th I completed my first 10K!  It was amazing.  So much fun, in fact, that now I'm planning on training for a half marathon.  I started running about 6 years ago and couldn't even make a half-mile (or more truthfuly, could barely make it from one mailbox to the next).  I was determined though and moved my training inside to a treadmill where I ran for a few years, finally able to accomplish around 3 miles.  I started running outside just 2 years ago and last fall I ran my first 5k (I believe there is a blog post on here about it somewhere).  I can't believe how far I have come!  And that I want to run even farther!

How was your 4th of July?

Fifteen!

Halftime

13 going on 30

Guys, help me out.  My computer won't let me leave comments for my fellow bloggers... it just keeps sending me back to the google login page.  What am I doing wrong?  I need to share some love!

day to date

As promised, here is the Tucker for Target dress styled forward (yesterday I wore it backwards and no I did not wash it).  I think this is probably my only piece that can reasonably be worn both ways, but this definitely factored into why I bought it. 

This is probably my favorite date night piece right now.  It's so easy, comfortable and can be styled so many different ways (though this way is my favorite).  And the detail in the back is such a nice plus.

My husband was sweet enough to take these pictures for me today.  But then, I was sweet enough to marry him, so I guess we're even.

Secrets

So I have two secrets for you today.  1. This shirt is actually a dress, but it is a dress that is too short for work, hence the jeans.  2. This shirt that is actually a dress is on backwards.  The other side is simple and has a higher neck.  I like wearing it either way and I'm sure I'll be wearing it forward soon on here. 
In other news, tgif.  This week has been hell.

improper mixing

A younger version of me would never have thought to pair a black skirt, brown belt and a dark blue top together.  But somehow it works.  I think what's more important about these pieces is their shape.

I bought some mousse today for my hair.  So hopefully my days of frizz are behind me.  I'd go into more detail about my hair, cause I'm sure that's what you're dying to read, but I'm off for a run.  Can you believe that we're a third of the way through this challenge!  Where does the time go?

Goodness

Today was good.  Really good.  Except it rained and my wavy hair turned into a ball of fluff.  Oh and I ate way too much at the Farmer's Market and feel like I might explode.  Otherwise, things are perfect.