from the bar: diy ginger liqueur


Last Christmas I made some peppermint liqueur, and at the time I wanted to make more fun tinctures, but the time flew by and here we are a year later.  Maybe I'll make it a holiday tradition.  But anyway, I love the flavor of ginger (whisky gingers are one of my favorite drinks!), and I've made some easy homemade ginger beer before to make whisky gingers with.  Ginger liqueur seemed like the perfect holiday spirit to make this year.  Bonus?  It's totally easy to make and only requires a few days to sit and steep!

For my peppermint liqueur recipe I used vodka, but for this one, I wanted a bit more flavor from the alcohol I included, so I used dark rum (I thought spiced rum would add too many other flavors), though you could try brandy too!


What you'll need:
2 oz ginger, peeled & diced
1.5 cups water
3/4 cup sugar
6 cloves
zest of half a lemon
1 1/2 cups dark rum (or brandy)

1. Peel the ginger and dice it into small pieces.

2. Bring the ginger, sugar, cloves, and water to a boil. Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer until ginger is soft—about 20 minutes. Let this syrup cool, and don't strain it yet!

3. While you've got the ginger syrup on the stove, zest the lemon and place the zest in a sealable glass container (I used a mason jar).  Once your syrup is cool, add it (ginger chunks, cloves and all) to the container along with the rum.  Seal and shake, and then let this mixture steep for two days.

4. Strain mixture through a coffee filter or cheesecloth into your bottle or jar for storage. Let it sit for one more day before using to let flavors mellow.

Want an awesome recipe where you can use this tasty tincture?  Head over to Making Nice in the Midwest, where I'm sharing a fun holiday riff on a Cosmopolitan today!


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we're homeowners!


So, if you guys follow me over on instagram and twitter, you probably already know this, but... we're homeowners!  Hooray!  It's been a long, arduous, exciting, exhausting, frustrating process the past 6 months, but we feel like we ended up with our dream home and all the hassle was totally worth it.  It's pretty bizarre to be sitting inside our home.  Like, these our our walls, we can do whatever we want to them!  I can knock that one down if I want.  I can paint it, I can tear up the floors, I can do... anything!  I'm almost paralyzed with the freedom, I'm not sure what I want to do now!  For now, we need a few items that will require an Ikea run.  We went on a thrift adventure yesterday to look for a few things and got some necessities.  I have my very own studio space that have absolutely no furniture for, so I'll have to design that space from scratch, which is pretty thrilling, actually.  The Winne has it's own special parking spot, too, which is so much better than having to park it in the backyard with a nasty tree right over it, making it all gross and dirty.  The poor girl need some cosmetic TLC, as she got a bit grimy, but there's a faucet right next to her, so I can give her a bath and a good scrub now!

I feel like we're still in that "new parent" stage where we're afraid that if we leave the house for more than an hour we'll come back and it'll be burnt to the ground or something.  Oh, the heavy weight of responsibility.  I'm excited to get to know this house, though.  I'm certain we'll have to fix many things, and we already know that we need to replace the siding as it's in pretty rough shape, but there's something about fixing up your own house that just feels so rewarding, even if it's hard work.  I can't wait to show you guys some peeks at the house.  It's a total wreck right now, with all the empty boxes still laying around, but things are coming along.  Oh!  And we have a living room that has a perfect spot for a Christmas tree!  Christmas tree farm, here I come!


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a wishlist for a new space


Every time I move, I daydream about decorating the new space.  My brain thinks that mentally designing rooms is a perfectly appropriate thing to do during the hours of 2-4 am, keeping me awake until the wee hours.  I can't help it though.  It's so exciting to envision a new space, making new arrangements and putting up new artwork.  In this new place I really want to invest in some beautiful prints from artists I love.  Hanging artwork and photos in groups, gallery style, is pretty "in" these days (from what I can tell, according to pinterest), but I really do love making little collections of framed art and photos on my walls.  It's like having little collections of pretty things, like a shadowbox, but more grown-up and chic.
  
We have pretty much everything we need, practically speaking, but it's always fun to get a few new things when moving into a new space.  We'll have double the square footage, so we'll probably need a couple new furniture items, but nothing too major.  Our new bedroom will only be big enough to hold our bed and maybe a hutch, for a bit of storage.  It'll be nice to have a room that is only for sleeping, as our bedroom is super tiny right now and half of it is devoted to housing our clothes.  I'd love it to be really simple and relaxing, but also cozy and homey.  We're making a walk-in closet out of a room that's attached, so it'll be great to have a whole separate space for hanging clothes and such.


Our bathroom is pretty small and simple and doesn't have a lot of storage.  Thankfully there is a built-in right next to the bathroom door, so we can store things in there, but I'd like to get a little unit for storing things we use frequently.  I like having a see-through shower curtain, to let in as much light as possible into the shower (and, you know, so murderers can't hide behind it), but this zig zag curtain is so fun and graphic.  I also like that it's not super girly, which I feel like shower curtains (and curtains in general) can tend to be.



A big ticket item on my wishlist is a new couch.  Right now we only have a little loveseat and a couple chairs because absolutely nothing else can fit in our current living room.  I adore the clean, midcentury couches that Thrive has, but they are waaaay out of our price range.  This one from urban outfitters has the same look and is a lot cheaper (though still pretty spendy... compared to thrifting), and it has the added bonus that you can fold the back down to make a bed.  Since we won't have room for a guest room in this new place, it'd be nice to at least have a couch that people can sleep on comfortably.  Dan hates futons, so I think this is a good solution.

I really love the coffee table with the glass top, too.  I like having cool coffee table books, and having them displayed underneath the glass table top is a great way to have them visible, but not taking up valuable space.  I'm also totally and completely in love with the honeycomb shelves that Josh & Sarah made.  I wanted to buy them back when they were selling them, but we weren't moving for a while and I didn't have space to store them.  Maybe I'll have to use their tutorial over at A Beautiful Mess to make my own.  Oh!  Yeah, and we'll have a garage/shop, so I can finally have space to make stuff, woo!



Something I'm absolutely thrilled about?  Having a table that is just for eating.  No more coffee table/desk/dining table!  We won't have room for a full dining table, but we really don't need that much, since 99.9% of the time it's just Dan & I.  I really like a bar height table, so I'd like to get something like this Ikea table.  And I've been coveting that Ikea cart for quite a while.  I think the first time I saw it was on Rachel's blog, and I've been dreaming about it ever since.  Cooking in a bigger kitchen is going to be dreamy, though I will be sad to no longer have a gas range.  I've never cooked on an electric stovetop, so hopefully that doesn't mess with my cooking too much!  It'll be way easier to clean though!



Something I'm REALLY excited about is finally having my own craft/office/studio space!  I have so many ideas that my brain is nearly exploding, so that space will probably require a post all it's own.

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The Clover Club

Dan and I have been having fun learning how to make drinks, so we've been getting one type of liquor  at a time to make drinks with, and this past week we got to gin.  We have a big book with tons of drink recipes that we're going through, and I found this tasty looking recipe of a drink called the Clover Club.  The book says it's a traditional recipe from the 1920's cocktail era, named after a celebrated nightclub in Chicago, how cool is that?

What you'll need:
2 measures Gin
1 measure Grenadine
Juice of half a large lemon
1 egg white
Ice
Cocktail shaker


Shake all the ingredients in the cocktail shaker with ice for at least 30 seconds to make sure the egg white is thoroughly mixed with all other ingredients.  Strain into a glass and garnish with a slice of lemon.  It's super delicious!  The egg white gives it a nice texture and the lemon and grenadine are such a perfect compliment to the gin.  Gin has such a strong and unique flavor that sometimes I think it overwhelms what it's paired with, but these two work so well with the gin.

Dan made me another gin drink that I just love, and it's super easy.  Just mix equal parts gin and freshly squeeze orange juice!  Last week we got a ton of really ripe oranges which make the best juice and mixed with the gin it's perfection!


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Classic Summertime Mojito


Mojitos are such a delicious summery drink. I've been really craving refreshing summer drinks lately, even though summery weather is at least another month away. I can't wait until we can sit around our fire pit in the backyard with chips, homemade salsa and fresh mojitos!


What you'll need:
Light rum
Mint leaves
Limes/Lime juice
Simple Syrup
Crushed Ice
Club soda

In a highball glass, muddle ~12 mint leaves with 1 tbsp simple syrup and .5 oz lime juice. Add 2 oz rum and nearly fill the glass with crushed ice. Fill the rest of the glass with club soda. Garnish with more mint leaves and/or a slice of lime!

I wanted to fill my 16 oz mason jar, which is about twice as big as a highball glass, so I sort of doubled the recipe, (using more mint leaves, 1 oz of lime juice, 2 tbsp simple syrup, and I only used 3 oz of rum as I didn't want it too strong, but you can add more to your taste preference).


Yesterday it was a rare beautiful and sunny day outside, so Dan & I enjoyed the sinking sun with our Mojitos in the backyard. They're such a refreshing, cool drink! Plus, they look so pretty and festive with all the bright green mint leaves floating in the bottom.


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DIY // Chalkboard Cabinets


For a long time I've wanted to change our kitchen up a bit, but since the space is teeny and we're renting, there's not too much we can do. In my old kitchen I freshened things up by putting woodgrain contact paper on my fridge, but since the cabinets were already wood, I didn't really want to put a clashing woodgrain on our fridge. When I discovered that chalkboard contact paper existed, I knew exactly what I wanted to do! I'm of the firm belief that contact paper is a renter's best friend. It's such a great way to update and make a space your own, without having to paint or do anything too permanent. Moorea actually just posted a tour of her apartment in Seattle where her and her roommate put up removable woodgrain wallpaper! So awesome!

What you'll need:
Chalkboard Contact Paper
Scissors


All you have to do is: measure how wide and tall the area is that you want to cover, cut the contact paper to size, peel & stick! An easy way to measure your contact paper is to flip it so the back is showing and then just hold it up against the area you want to cover, and then mark with a pen or pencil how wide & long you need it to be. Contact paper is nice in that the back is covered in a grid so it's easy to cut straight lines. Once you get one piece cut, you can use that piece as a template for the rest of the cabinets you're covering, as long as all the cabinets are the same size.

To stick it on, just peel a bit off from one end and line it up, then start working your way up slowly, wiping with your hand as you go to get any bubbles out. If you start getting bubbles or it turns out you've stuck it on crooked, you can just peel it back off and start over.


I had a bit left over, so I covered the freezer door on our fridge too. I can't believe how much more I love our kitchen now that I've added these little chalkboard panels. Plus, it's actually useful for writing stuff down, like groceries we've run out of and ideas for meals. That, and pretty doodles & sneaky love notes...


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DIY Tassel Garland

I made a ton of garland for my wedding, and the most time intensive to make ended up being these little tassel garlands, but I loved them! I actually put them up for Christmas too. They take a while to make, but they're relatively easy to put together.

What you'll need:
Fabric
Scissors
Yarn (or twine, to hang the tassels from)


Cut a pile of strands for each tassel. I think I used about 10-12 strips for each tassel, appx. 2 ft long (though you can make them longer or shorter depending on how long you want your tassels). While this is easy peasy, it takes a while if you want a lot of tassels. Enlist netflix or hulu to help pass the time.


Here's the more complicated part. Set aside 1 strip out of the bundle. Twist the center and fold in half, pinching right below the loop so it doesn't come undone. Take one of the strips you left out and wrap it around and around the twisted loop part to secure it and then tie it off at the base of the loop to finish it off. It's not completely necessary to wrap the loop, but I found that it kept the twist from getting loose and made it sturdier.

Now just take your yarn and tie on each tassel. Yarn tends to stretch when it's hung with the tassels, so make sure to keep that in mind when figuring out how long to make your yarn. My tassel garland was various shades of white, but they'd be super cute to make in fun bright colors or pastels for a party! I also think it'd be fun to include a couple strands of metallic ribbon for a little bit of glitz...

1st & last photo by arrow & apple

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Bedroom Sneak Peek


Our bedroom doesn't quite look like this anymore as I took down the fringe. It felt way too feminine for our room and though it was pretty magical, I've got more practical things in mind for our bed. If you've seen my 25 before 26 list, you probably have an idea about what that may be...


quilt/urban outfitters :: throw pillows/target (last year) :: lights/target

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