Steel Cut Oats- Jamba Juice Copy Cat

So I was telling you all how much I love steel cut oatmeal. Today, I have your recipe for the yummiest oatmeal ever. Please remember you must buy STEEL CUT the quick oats and old fashioned oats will not give you the same results. If you buy the wrong stuff you will have a warm oatmeal smoothie. 

Quaker makes some in a blue container but I have had luck at Trader Joe's. It is more expensive than the "regular" oatmeal but so much tastier and a texture that your mouth will just not believe. For those of you who have had the Jamba Juice oatmeal, you know what I am talking about. You could do a Christmas morning oatmeal bar. A perfect bowl of oatmeal on a cold Christmas morning. Just remember when cooking, it expands like rice.

Enjoy. Until next time,

Nicole

Steel Cut Oatmeal

2 cups steel cut  (NOT Quick Oats!)
8 cups Vanilla Soy Milk

Toppings

banannas & brown sugar
dried fruit
pecans
rasins
nuts
cranberries
blueberries


Combine all in slowcooker and cook on low for 8 hours. Alternative method : cook in the rice cooker in porridge mode or regular. Stir in more soy milk to your liking and top with your favorite toppings. If you prefer plain, just top with some brown sugar.

The Perfect Christmas Tree

Photo: South Coast Plaza tree

Many of you are overachievers when it comes to Christmas decorating. Some of you are already done but I have not even started my Christmas tree. Lucky for us, we have a professional Christmas decorator giving us some tips. May I please introduce Sophia Mirasol with her handy Christmas tree decorating tips.

Christmas has to be my favorite time of the year. Amidst the hustle and bustle, I find a moment of peace when I sit beside the Christmas tree. It is a joy when my boys sit with me and discuss which is their favorite decoration on the tree.

Here are some tips that will make holiday decorating as simple as pie. . .

1. Start with a thick pre-lit tree. One that has mixed leaf textures and wired pine cones is even better.
2. If it is not a pre-assembled (fold up) type, arrange all the layers in ascending order.
3. Use the pointed plastic attachment of your vacuum cleaner and vacuum your tree.
4. Assemble and fluff all leaves pointing upward and up. This will make it easy to balance any decoration you will hang.
5. Add fancy lights to match your theme. I love star lights or icicle shaped lights. You can scatter them or bunch them for greater impact. Add your lit tree top. Always use proper extension cords and plug them into an AVR or fused outlet strip.
6. Add vines or leaves. Then add berries or a second color of leaves. Play with a coordinated pallette for a playful look or go a range of mono chromatic for a more elegant look.
7. Add Christmas flowers. Poinsettias are the most popular but you can use any flower. Remember that the flowers must be in proportion to the size of the tree. The larger the tree, the larger the flowers.
8. Add your most special ornaments first to be able to position them in the most noticed places. Add different shaped balls, snow flakes, gilded pine cones. You can work these in inner portions of the tree. Secure your ornaments with green florist wire.
9. Add your ribbon and bead garland. Secure with green florist wire.

In between every step, step back and check from various angles of the room for balance and symmetry of your work.

A typical 7 foot tree will use a minimum the following...
10 sets of lights
12 vines or branch picks
12 berry picks
12 flowers
48 balls
24 special ornaments

At the end of the season, make sure to clean decorations and remove all wires. Store glass ornaments in acid free containers. Take photos and list the items in each container. Do not keep broken ornaments. This will make it easy for you the next year.

--Sophia Mirasol

For those of you lucky enough to be in Metro Manila, Sophia is available for your Christmas decoration needs.

Decorate away my friends, decorate away. Until next time.

Nicole

Yellow & Grey Elephant Baby Shower Brunch

Hi friends. I sure missed blogging for you all. Here is a shower I did during my move week. So awesome ladies at church helped to it together with me to bless the mommy to be and her blessings.

So here is a yellow and grey baby shower that we threw for TWINS.  Please note all I had was my camera phone, so the pictures are far from professional.

The cupcakes were topped with Cricut elephant toppers. I covered a large foam board with yellow fabric and made paper rosettes like I did for my Man's Party (http://31wifefolife.blogspot.com/search/label/man%20party)

 The elephant stuffies were hand made by a friend of mine who does craft fairs. She is so talented that she does not even use a pattern to make them.

 A gluten free chocolate cake graced the table with a large elephant topper.

 The brunch menu included quiche and a make your own parfait bar. We used 6 oz. baby food jars as parfait containers.

 We also had a steel cut oats bar. The recipe I have is exactly like the Jamba Juice oatmeal. I will share that for you later this week.  We also had a waffle bar (but I have no pictures) off to the side with a waffle maker and batter for the guests to pour and make waffles.

 Last but not least the favors. We got cute yellow boxes from Dollar Tree and Hand Sanitizer.  I used free printables from Pottery Barn kids (http://www.potterybarnkids.com/design-studio/invitations/sunshine_templates.html). You can check out my Pinterest board for my thought process in planning this shower (http://www.pinterest.com/31wifefolife/twin-baby-shower/)

Until next time friends.

Nicole

Pimp My Cozy Coupe: Top 10 Ideas

Hi friends. I realize that Christmas is right around the corner because I am starting to see the Christmas decorations and publications of the "hot" toy list. However, my favorite toys to purchase are the classics. Today, we will explore the Cozy Coupe, a true classic. Except today, we are going to explore ways to revamp and take the old, used, and Craigslist disasters and pimp 'em just in time for Christmas. Here is my Top 10 Pimp My Cozy Coupe Ideas. So, start searching for them janky Cozy Coupes to pimp out for your little ones. Or take the boy one you have and make it girl friendly and the girl one and make it boy friendly. A little paint and imagination goes a long way. 

 10- Volkswagen Lady bug. Source: Pinterest

 9: Woody's Pimp Ride. Source: Pinterest

 8:Minion Mobile

 7: Minnie Mouse Motor Car. Check out the details at:  http://supermessysupermommy.blogspot.com/2012/09/averys-birthday-party-recap.html

 6: The Herbie Heap for the Mama's and Papa's who remember elementary school and the Herbie movies. Source: Pinterest

 5: The Ice Cream Buggy. Check out the deets at http://www.dwellingsbydevore.com/2013/06/cozy-coupe-makeover.html#.UmXjS_lQHTp

 4: Fire Truck. See the how to at http://www.sweetcsdesigns.com/cozy-coupe-fire-truck/.

 3: Batmobile. Check out : http://nikkisnacs.blogspot.com/2013/02/henry-turns-3.html

 2: Dukes of Hazzard. Classic just like the car. Source: Pinterest

 1- The Super Pimped out Echto-1. Source:chickslovethecar.com

You can see these and the other Pimp My Cozy Coupe ideas I have on my Pinterest board: http://www.pinterest.com/31wifefolife/pimp-my-cozy-coupe//

Happy pimping. Until next time,


Nicole

A $64 Dollar Desk

Hi Friends. I wanted to show you today how I restored an antique desk.

The desk style I liked was the Whitney desk from Pottery Barn. But seriously? $999 for a desk? Me thinks NOT.

Here is another one at ONLY $949 plus tax.

Enter the Craigslist disaster. For $35 I got antique, missing pulls, scratched, and even stickers.

Here are some close ups:

scratches and dings

Look at those scratches on the top.

Talk about your fixer upper. This thing looked like it was in need of stripping to restore.The saving grace is that it is sturdy with good bones. Confession: I used this for the past two years in this condition. How unsexy. In our new home, this will be the man's desk. I want him to be able to use a nice desk when he works from home. We need to bring sexy back to this desk.

Solution: A trip to Home Depot for Restor-A-Finish ($8.98) and staining pads ($3.98).

I followed the directions on the bottle and purchased new pulls from Ebay ($15 with shipping). Make sure you measure ALL the pulls' distance to center. This baby was at 2.5 inches for the top pulls and 3 inches for the bottom. 

Look at the top, it removed those scratches. Best of all, this took me under an hour to restore. Really amazing stuff I tell you. 

Ta-da! the after, bringing sexy back! Don'tcha wish your desk were hot like mine?! Restor-A-Finish people. If any of you restore any old desks, please show me. I will do a round up of all your desk projects.

Here is the comparison:

BEFORE:

 AFTER:

Total Cost:
Desk                        $35
Restor-A_Finish         8.98
Staining Pads              3.98
Tax                             1.04
Ebay knobs                 15

Total                           $64
Pottery Barn Desk  $999 plus tax

A total savings of  $935 (plus tax)

Until next time friends.

Nicole

Fixing Chipped Wood Veneer

Hey friends. This is my first tutorial. I will be showing you the ghetto fabulous way of fixing chipped wood veneer. I love all things vintage and love thrifting unique pieces. Sometimes I come across less than perfect pieces. This sewing desk came with the vintage Singer 500A (review to come) that I purchased. The desk is sturdy and functional but there is a big chip in it.

 As I was at Home Depot today, I saw that they had free laminate flooring samples. I snagged a few that I thought matched the desk. 

I had the Man pry the laminate off the floor sample so that I was left with just a thin piece. He said it was hard to do. I think I should have told him to iron it first so that the heat would loosen the glue (oops!).

Those are his man hands double checking that what he cut fit . (Hey, real men can rock their daughter's princess bandages because their "31" wife (*said with sarcasm) cannot find the adult ones.)

He also pried off some of the wood on the desk so that the laminate piece would fit on there since it was a little thick. Then I used E6000 (the best glue ever) to glue what the hubby cut down for me.

I attempted to have a clamp hold this down for me but the clamp was too thick. So I had to hold it in place for a bit until the glue dried. (Yes, I need a manicure.)

There you have it. Not as big an eye sore as before.  Now if I can just find nicer pulls. I hate the brass.

Until next time friends,

Nicole

A Purple New York Themed Wedding

Hi Friends. Today I wanted to showcase a wedding that I did the planning and day of coordinating for. The bride and groom are from New York but their wedding was going to be in California. Since they met and fell in love in the East Coast, we incorporated a New York theme.

Here is the invitation. We incorporated the New York buildings and the couples custom made monogram. The monogram is inspired by the I love NY t-shirts. Our wonderful graphic designer is Arlene from Madjaz & Love Creative (http://madjazlove.com/gallery.html)

The ceremony was an beautiful outdoor ceremony. We used made sure that we could reuse the flowers from the ceremony at the reception.

 Rose petals were scattered on the walk way to match the couple's monogram.

Here is the reception. We had custom lighting made to project on a dark wall. The graphic design used in the invitation was used for the light as well.

We stuck with square shaped vases to keep consistent with our theme because they have the silhouette of New York sky scrappers.

 I wish I could tell you the person who did the flower arrangements but she might kill me. Maybe after this post she will decide to do weddings. ;)

Custom favor tags made by me were created with the logo along with the date of the wedding. We used packaged purple macaroons from a local bakery.

The cake topper was custom made by eBay seller cakebling. It is wooden but custom to match the couple's monogram.

Photography by : Gresham Visuals (http://www.greshamvisuals.com/)

Until next time friends.

Nicole