Grapefruit Simple Syrup

When we moved to California two years ago, we were lucky enough to rent a home with an incredible garden already established: four planting boxes, one grapefruit tree, and one young peach tree. Our first year here, we did nothing with the grapefruit except eat a few and give the rest away. This year, I wanted to try and get the most out of the harvest.

I think I picked about 60 grapefruits. I'm still giving some away.  ^^ that's a lot of grapefruit.

I stumbled on the idea of making a simple syrup and loved the idea for cocktails or lemonade. Here's the recipe I used (modified from Real Simple - they add ginger peel):

1 cup grapefruit juice (turned out to be the juice of 2 grapefruits)

3 cups sugar

2 cups water

6-12 sprigs of Rosemary (depending on your taste)

Zest of grapefruit

1. Heat the water, sugar, and grapefruit juice on medium until the sugar is completely dissolved and the mixture is somewhat clear.

2. Rub the Rosemary with a spoon to release flavor. Add it and the zest to syrup. Leave and stir on medium for a few more minutes - 5 is good.

3. Remove from heat and let cool. Store in a glass container/s overnight. It will be ready to use the next day.

I left the Rosemary sprigs in the jars:

My friend, Michelle, gave me some mint from her garden that I used in a grapefruit mint margarita a few days after this.

YUM!

XO,

Erin

My Love Story: Part 3

I had met my roommate and soon-to-be best friend, Megan, while auditioning for Chapman's theatre program. We decided that day that if we both got in, we'd be roommates. So unlike many first-time college goers, I actually knew who my roomie would be. It took some of the stress off of moving to a new state where I knew absolutely no one.

When we started school in 2008, both of us had long-distance boyfriends, but both of us would break-up with them by the end of our freshmen year. Now, I wasn't as smart as Megan. I was on again, off again for four years with the same person. It's not a slight to him, please don't misunderstand me. Megan left her guy in the dust and understood she wasn't meant to be with him. I, on the other hand, needed some heavy-handed, long-term God-hitting-me-over-the-head-with-a-bat intervention.

It is insane how hard God worked to put Kyle in my life and even more disturbing how long I ignored God speaking directly to me like, "hey lady, would you just look at the man right in front of you!?" Look, it wasn't a Moses and the burning bush kind of speaking, so cut me some slack. It was subtle. Persistent. 

So here we go, let's restart the story. 

We drove cross-country with all of my stuff packed into a Ford Focus. I had purchased a new college appropriate wardrobe of Chapman t-shirts, baseball hats, sweatpants, tennis shoes, flip flops, a wide variety of bathing suits, and basically all summer clothes. I didn't pack anything nice - no dress shoes, no professional clothing, nothing fancy - at all. I was living California casual now, baby! Plus, I was a serious actor. I needed clothes that could move.

It was August 2008. Move-in day at Chapman University. We had parked in a weird spot not really near where my dorm room was (newbies). The campus, unlike the day I took my tour, was cluttered with people. It seemed like everybody knew somebody but me. And all the young women were drop dead gorgeous. And they were all wearing designer clothes and perfectly put-together outfits. Looking back, this was probably not the reality, but it was all that I could see. I was intimidated and scared. I was wearing jean shorts, a t-shirt, not a drop of make-up (seriously, not one drop), no straightened or curled hair (it was probably blown dry at least), and flip flops (no pedicure, cracked heels). Put yourself in a Kansas girl's shoes for a second: no make-up, comfort casual (aka no fashion sense whatsoever), walking onto this pristine campus with a totally different definition of beauty. I thought college would be relaxed and casual. After going to Catholic school for years, I was pretty excited to not be in uniform or dressed-up, but Chapman was NOT any more casual than Catholic school and it was a bit more on the skin-bearing side of the pendulum.

As we walked across Walnut from our odd parking spot near Argyros towards the dorms through swarms of beautiful people, a golf cart full of orientation assitants/leaders drove past. I swear it was like a clown car, but on a golf cart. And that golf cart carried a familiar face, my tour guide, David! Hey, I know him, I thought. I waved shyly. Then a bald guy hanging off the back end of the cart screamed at me, "WOOOOOOOO!!!! WELCOME TO CHAPMAAAAAAN!" Tongue out, shades on.

Oh my god, they're yelling at me, what do I do, I thought. This was my introverted nightmare. I'd made a mistake. Someone turn the car around. I stopped dead in my tracks. I had to say something. Think, Erin. Dammit! "Uhhhhhh....WOOO!" I yelled back, voice cracking, cart speeding away. Oh, boy.

Let me introduce you to my future husband. He was the bald, screaming dude hanging off the back of a clown-cart.

No wonder I wasn't able to pick-up the first hint.

(I'm going to take a little break from this story to get to some other topics that have been on my mind, but I promise part 4 will come before Valentine's Day. I'm not sure how long it's going to take to tell this story, so buckle-up!)

XO, 

Erin

My Love Story: Part 2

Welcome back, readers. If you read last week's entry, you know that basically the only reason I fell for my now husband was because he and his friend, David, saw a "UFO" and filmed their entire conversation about it.

I have to pause that story for a moment and provide some context that, albeit lengthy, is worth reading. We're going to travel back to when I was visiting colleges, circa 2005/2006. I grew up in a Disciples of Christ (DOC) church and had a youth leadership position that enabled me to earn a large scholarship at any DOC affiliated college in the country. At the time, I was convinced that I'd win an Oscar and a Tony by the time I was 30 (I actually made a bet with my cousin, Dena, that I would take her out for a lavish steak dinner if I didn't do those things. Folks, that bet is up in June. I could use a movie role and a starring role in a Broadway play right about now). Chapman University was DOC affiliated, had a great theatre program, a dynamite film school, and it was California - my dream - so I was determined to visit and apply.

Even though Chapman was my top choice, I visited other schools closer to home in Texas, Illinois, and Missouri. I loved everywhere I visited, but I saved the best visit for last: Chapman. The summer after my junior year of high school, we went on a family road trip to California. The trip was not entirely for the college visit, but it was on our to-do list.

We had the most fantastic drive out west; we stopped at amazing sights and enjoyed taking our time driving cross-country. The trip turned south, though, the second we hit Southern California freeways. I remember my dad was driving and cars were literally whizzing by us at dangerously high speeds. The whole car was on edge with me, my sister, and my mom all becoming back seat and passenger seat drivers. None of us knew what the heck was going on. We were fish out of water.

We finally reached Hermosa Beach late in the day where we had planned on staying that night. In our family, reservations were for chumps. You leave finding the best hotel to fate. It was always a fun challenge. Dad would drive up, mom would rush in, work her magic negotiating skills, and we'd end up in the perfect hotel room. I never remember being disappointed, except on this trip.

It seemed every decent hotel was full. Everything close to the beach was luxury priced. We were tired, hungry, and worst of all, angry. When we finally landed in a hotel room (which was our penance for so many years of good luck in finding last minute hotel rooms), we were spent. We were fortunate enough to be a few blocks from the beach. We changed and walked down to relax in front of the ocean. I was scheduled to have a campus tour at Chapman the next day.

I remember distinctly what it felt like laying on my towel that late afternoon. It was a warm, gray day. I was torn up inside. We had just come from this concrete chaos and here was this beautiful, vast, majestic thing in front of me. I should have been glad to be there, but I just felt sick. I remember saying to my parents, "I can't live here. It's terrible. I don't want to tour Chapman tomorrow."

My parents listened, but they suggested I visit to "rule it out." Plus, I had "scheduled a meeting with that Dan Oliver, guy, remember?" Mom and I would go to Chapman in the morning, take the tour, then meet my Dad and my sister for dinner, and then we'd all go to Disneyland the next day.

I was so relieved. I knew that I could never in a million years live in this crazy place. Thank God for tomorrow - I would be ruling Chapman out.

Our car ride from the Hermosa area to Orange was much the same as the previous day, but instead of ending with an exhausting hotel hunt like the day before, the second we exited off the 22 onto Glassell, I relaxed.

Orange, California was beautiful. Picturesque. 1950s, even. Be still my romantic heart - the aesthetic of Orange was so me.

We found the campus quickly. It was pretty dead during summer, but it was more of the same beauty.

Before I knew it, we were climbing up the stairs of Argyros Forum towards the admissions office on the 3rd floor. It was a friendly office. Again, kind of dead with summer time. There was one other family from Chicago there for a tour.

My tour guide was hilarious. He was down-to-earth, fun, and from Colorado! I felt so at home. I thought to myself, "if everybody at Chapman is like this guy, sign me up." I went from wanting to rule it out to unpacking-a-bag-wanting-to-stay-forever obsessed with Chapman.

Look, I know my tour guide convinced lots of impressionable young minds to apply and attend the university, but this was different. I didn't know it at the time, but my tour guide, David, just happened to be one of my future husband's best friends.

RIGHT???????

To be continued...

My Love Story: Part 1

It was all perfectly timed, really. I had just gone through a series of ridiculous, sad, and frustrating break-ups, fizzle-outs, and flat-out weird dating experience when God sent my husband to me via a Facebook video titled, "Kyle and David's UFO sighting."

Le sigh.

If you know anything about me, you know that this was the start of a beautiful, beautiful love story. The key to my heart, apparently, is this video.

On Christmas Eve, 2008, the video below popped up on my Facebook newsfeed. I clicked play, watched this video, and I immediately started falling in love with Kyle.

Kyle and David's UFO sighting
No joke. Has anyone seen anything like this before?
Posted by David May on Friday, December 19, 2008

Top 3 Ways to Tackle Craft Supply Storage

I wish I had a before picture to show you because my craft storage was ridiculous. It was like a toddler had tried to organize my craft supplies...wait...

Anyway, this space needed help. This was my failed attempt to prove to my husband that I need an entire craft room. I thought surely all this crap wouldn't fit on the one dedicated wall shelving unit for craft supplies. I was wrong.

Here are my top 3 fail-proof suggestions for tackling craft supply storage, sure to keep wives everywhere from having a dedicated craft room. Get organized!

#1: Install shelving

My husband installed these shelves the week we moved into our home (two years ago) and I'm just now organizing them. I think we got them from Home Depot for around $15. Easy to install and heavy duty!

#2: Pick-up a few Dollar Tree clear plastic containers and bins

I bought several Dollar Tree containers (spent maybe 10-15 bucks) plus a set of drawers from Target (about 6 bucks) to organize tape, glue, paper, pens, scissors, etc., and it was a wonderful decision. I created labels out of my scrapbook paper and attached with simple scotch tape.

#3: Purchase a few square canvas  containers

These are kind of expensive, which is why I have four and why only two of them are the really nice faux leather ones. I keep extra outlets and electrical supplies in one of the leather ones, sketchbooks in the other, current projects I'm working on in one of the cream color boxes, and fabric and felt pieces in the other.

I've seen a lot of convoluted ways of organizing craft supplies, but this method is 3 steps and takes up one wall space in the house.

Next on the agenda for this office/extra bedroom space is a makeover. Watch out for a future post on this room redesign. I'm going to attempt to sew a duvet cover.

XO,

Erin

Let's Talk About THE FORCE AWAKENS!

Well, the last time I wrote here the Star Wars teaser had just been released and I analyzed a bit of it, made some predictions. Most of my predictions were wrong. Ha! I thought it would be fun to go through my entry and talk about the things that we did discover and how they lined-up. I'll also share my thoughts on the movie in general.

MAJOR SPOILERS AHEAD STOP NOW IF YOU HAVEN'T SEEN THE FORCE AWAKENS!


My Previous Predictions

I thought this ---> was Tatooine. WRONG. This is Jakku, but I did guess partially right that this was either Luke or Rey on the speeder (original entry I misspelled Rey's name "Rae")

I conjectured that maybe the ghosts of Anakin and Obi-Wan would be in the film. They weren't. But I still think they could come around for Episode 8. The door is open, especially because we heard Obi-Wan's and Yoda's voices in Rey's vision at Maz's.

Where is Luke!? We didn't find out until the end, but I'm excited to see what happens between him and Rey.

I thought Luke was living in an old star destroyer. This was proved WRONG, but I was right that he was secluded and/or training new Jedi

I thought that this --->  was Leia handing Rey a lightsaber. I also thought that Leia and Han were Rey's parents. More on that later.


 I was right here. I knew Poe would be a central character and yes, he is very Han Solo - ish.

Han Solo, Ben Solo, Leia, and Rey

I originally made a big prediction about Han back in April: "Final thought: we see a whole heck of a lot in the Falcon. I think Han is going to play a big role. I also think he might die."

Boom. Not much else to say here, other than to discuss Ben Solo (I don't like calling him Kylo). I'm just not sure if Ben can come back from the evil he's done. I think there's a possibility he is completely torn between light and dark, but we've only seen one side of him. I'm excited to see more in 8. I want to see more of Carrie Fischer in 8, too, perhaps to confront her son.

I was so convinced that Rey was Leia and Han's baby girl. I still might be right, but after seeing episode 7 I'm leaning more in the direction that she's Luke's daughter. Leia and Han looked awfully guilty/happy/whatever when they see Rey's face reappear, but not the way you would look if you were seeing your daughter again for the first time in years. Especially from a mother's perspective. Sure, Leia looks delighted and misty eyed when she's hugging Rey, but if that were her daughter, she'd be sobbing. No question. End of debate. So my vote is on Luke being the daddy.

Luke

We see Luke for maybe a minute in episode 7. AHH! I can't wait to see more of him. I think we're going to see a torn-up guy. I mean, he trained these new Jedi only to have one of his students betray him and murder his pupils. Yikes. Sound familiar? That can't be healthy for a person's self-confidence. 

Rey and the Mary Jane argument

Just stop. She's going to be a powerful Jedi. Luke barely had any training and became a Jedi master in very little time. I saw an amazing article about this that sums up my perspective: http://io9.gizmodo.com/please-stop-spreading-this-nonsense-that-rey-from-star-1749134275

Finally, let's address the argument that The Force Awakens copies the story and structure of A New Hope.

Look, JJ did what he needed to do to set up a new wonderful Star Wars trilogy that felt right and good. He made a movie that included everything that we love about the originals and eliminated everything we hate about the prequels.

Kansas Gal Crafts Gets Organized!

Hello, lovely readers!

It's been awhile, I know, and I've missed you. I'm glad you're here, though!

Happy New Year - almost! I thought this was a good time to hit you with some of the changes I'm implementing this year.

Budgeting and Meal Planning

I know. I'm basically Martha Stewart. (Please, please think I'm Martha. Except no jail time, but really I don't care. I love her anyway!)

We're hoping to purchase a house in 2016, so we're pinching pennies wherever we can. That means we have to run a tighter ship budget-wise. All of this is connected to staying on top of weekly meal planning and shopping and bill paying (etc., etc.. etc., all the boring but important stuff).

My best friend here in Chico and fellow mom of a toddler AND an infant (she's a superhero), Michelle, started a spreadsheet with meal ideas and make-ahead items for us and another local mom. This was so helpful in creating a database of meals to choose from each week.

I also have a recipe box with display holder that has become useful in planning meals and keeping it organized by day. I just put the recipe cards in order of days of the week and change the order as the days go by.

All of this was working nicely, but I kept leaving things off of my grocery list, or missing a day of the week, and not realizing it until the night would arrive, only then, elbow deep in toddler poop, would I scramble (eggs, literally) to come up with dinner options.

I needed a new planned with a meal planning insert!

I love my Erin Condren planner for teaching, but spending seventy plus dollars for a family planner seemed crazy. So I set out to make my own. I used MS Word and created this gem using a font I downloaded online! It cost me $15 at Office Depot to print and bind like a notebook. AWESOME.

Spending less on stuff and investing in friendships

This one is hard for me because well, shopping. Not the friendship part. Or, at least I hope not. I love shopping and I'm constantly seeing things that I "need". Plus, I work part-time in retail and it's nearly impossible not to take advantage of my discount.

Plus, well, shopping, okay?!

I discovered a way that for me is going to be really fun to avoid "stuff" that I "need" (don't need). Card making. (What is she talking about!?) I know. This sounds crazy. But it's actually been quite a fun way for me to spend my time during naps doing something productive, with pretty "stuff", making crafts, which I love, and thinking about my friends I'm going to give them to.

I made one set of Valentines cards.

And then I couldn't stop. I ended up with close to 80 cards in 2 days. I was a maniac, so I put the ones I don't plan on sending out on Etsy. You can buy them here: https://www.etsy.com/shop/ErinKHorst?ref=hdr_shop_menu

An old school alarm clock...and no night time cell phone use

My husband bought me an old school alarm clock so that I won't look at Pinterest late at night before bed...and during the middle of the night, at 4 am, and when I wake up. The phone has now been annexed to the kitchen at bedtime and can't come out until I peel myself out from under the covers.

FREEDOM!

I'm excited for a wonderful 2016 full of family and friends. What are your resolutions?

XO,

Erin