dressing a salad

It's weird to post about salad dressing and be serious about it but in all honesty this post is for Kate. She visited me a few weeks ago and we baked tasty good things like quiche and pumpkin bread buuuut somehow we also had fried chicken and salad. I don't even... anyway. The salad dressing is pretty quintessential "Gail" if you know my mom at all. It's a basic lemon vinaigrette that happens to taste good on EVERYTHING you put it on. I haven't tried it on cereal... but I would. It's THAT good.

Well, Kate texted me for instructions/ingredients and I told her what I thought it was. When I reported back to my MOM what I texted KATE she... told me it was correct and incorrect all at the same time. Then she let it go. Then she brought it up the next day some ingredients I forgot. Then she dropped it. Then she admitted, finally, THE NEXT DAY, that I needed to give Kate CORRECT ingredients for the vinaigrette.... and THEN said it really didn't matter to be honest. She's miiiildly obsessive. And I pretty much love the stuffing out of her. 

So... even though I am acting on command from my mother this is seriously the most simple and amazing salad dressing ever. My favorite salad is romaine hearts, finely chopped, dried cranberries, walnuts and radishes. on a good fall day I'll add a tart, crispy green apple. and add this simple yet effective vinaigrette? this salad SINGS. 

this... coming from a girl who thinks french fries are hardcore vegetables. (kidding! mostly...)

Ah! addendum. already haha... My mom likes to see little flecks of green in the dressing, it gives her subtle satisfaction of sorts. She will put either dried parsley (which you cannot taste) or dried cilantro (which gives it a very, VERY subtle boost in flavor) in the dressing. Also that "sqwidge" is more like a teaspoon or less. Dijon can be very overpowering so you have to make it a team player. Actually all the flavors threaten to overpower one another which is why it's so brilliant in it's simplicity. You can definitely leave out the onion powder if that isn't your cup of tea but don't leave out the garlic powder. Just sayin'. You'll want it present. 

This is the ONE dressing that makes me CRAVE salads and saves me money because I will never buy vinaigrette again. It's perfect for in between the constant carb loading holidays and a good reminder that good food doesn't have to have golden arches on it. : )

Happy eating!

The Villafuerte Wedding (finally! tang cups!)

So you know my love of hipster friend weddings right? Please refer to Katherine's amazing wedding for proof. All my friends keep getting married and having babies! For the most part I'm cool with that cuz a) i like to dance and b) i love babies! it just... works out.

Well I have yet another insider scoop on an awesome wedding. Can I share something with you? (read: "...with you, Sarah?") I was wary of this wedding. Sarah had a VISION... like no joke this girl is brilliant because to talk about it I was confused. It seemed like a lot of cool elements that made me really happy and then really sad cuz I didn't understand how they were coming together. Guess what?! Didn't matter cuz I wasn't the one getting married! And they did come together! it was GORGEOUS and totally Sarah.

The wedding was AMAZING! Take... equal parts fabric from all walks of life, plates from everyone you know's house, lyrics from hipster love songs, Hollowine (oh yes.), a secret chapel hidden in the trees, and the most beautiful custom made dress you've ever seen (for real this is a beautiful dress Sarah literally DREAMT up. I can't even...)and WA-BAM. Sarah and Manuel twenty-eleven. Sarah took "do it yourself" to a whole other level. There was handmade bunting, wood burned tree (with the ink pads so you put your finger print on it?! so cool!), her cake stands were tree stumps! Gah. It's hard to explain. I feel like I can't do it justice.

Her ceremony was at Funks Grove and it was the most idyllic place I've ever been. There were leaves falling slowly the whole time, it felt like a dream. And of course while I was there I tried to justify my place in the world and how life in general functions and tuuuurns... but the place makes you do that! It's all golden trees and white picket fences and love! WHY. It wears off after a few days. Don't worry.

Also I was "in" the wedding and had no idea. Like I had a little corsage made for me! Her Aunt Chris walks up to me and hands it to me and I'm like 'oh! um... no?' and she looks at me and goes, "You know your name is Abby right? You're the only Abby here." *crickets* sometimes... I'm kind of slow... hahaha

My camera was my iPhone and I did all the editing/photo framing on Camera + and Photo Frame (both $0.99 in the App Store. WORTH IT) I think it turned out pretty cool! The video is still a work in progress but it's almost dooone yaaay! I'll be putting all the photos you see smashed together up in a Facebook album too... unsmashed. let us move on : )

Sarah looked so beautiful it almost didn't make sense. She looked like Adele meets someone way more awesome that I can't think of haha... and I'm still HARDCORE in love with her dress.

Oh wait! That's not all. I didn't even get to the DANCING. First of all Get Me Bodied by Beyonce is... probably the best dance song ever made. There's instructions! You can't NOT dance. It's like... a commandment to dance. Love it SO HARD. Annie and Brent are probably THE MOST coordinated white people I've ever met. Okay... confession? I'm not a good dancer! I'm all shoulders and hips and booty bumpin'. Sometimes that gets you no where. But I DO bring da noise. Sometimes I bring da funk just to keep it interesting. But they... brought the house down. Highlight? Me and Katherine changing into pajamas before leaving... theeen hopping onto the dance floor for Ms. New Booty. Cuz you can't not dance to that. So much fun.

Quick letter to all my friends, I friggin love you. I love you and your amazing weddings. Please keep having parties in the future. Please don't forget to invite me. I will show up with my iPhone ready to party.

blast from the past!

I'm not a girl who saves things for ever and ever. It's possible I throw away birthday and Christmas cards a week after getting them. I mean, please, can someone tell me what exactly you're supposed to do with those? Look at them with longing and nostalgia? Ack. Well somehow something stood the test of time...

MY CABOODLE. 

yeah. i said it. not only is it a Caboodle is a KIDZ Caboodle. When I was little my sister had this amazing black and turquoise one with so many compartments! when you opened it there was a mirror and then the sides stacked THREE HIGH on EACH SIDE to reveal tiny drawers, little compartments, and areas of imminent surprise. and then the BOTTOM was CAVERNOUS... filled with anything you could DREAM of! Make-up, hair accessories, more hair accessories and old bobby pins! *wipes tear* man. you never know how good you have it til you don't have a Caboodle anymore. Luckily I still have mine. It's pink and orange with a yellow handle. A 90's girl's DREAM. No joke I still use it to hold hair stuff but I think the last time I cleaned it out was circa... 1994. because I got my Caboodle in 1994. yeah.

Since deciding to go natural I picked up a few things at the store and realized most of the stuff in my Caboodle (man, it's ridiculous that I still use that word AT ALL) is pretty outdated. I had no idea.

BEHOLD. figures 1-7.

1. the category of the butterflies. this was right around 7th to 8th grade for me. I got butterfly hair accessories as birthday presents, I had a butterfly that changed from clear to purple in sunlight, they were in my barrettes i mean they were EVERYWHERE. and i friggin LOVED IT. What I would do is put my hair in a bun then stick a winged butterfly at the top of the ponytail/bun and it would flutter... all day. in my hair. people would compliment me. I no joke started hair trends in grammar school. Private school kids are NUTS.
2. Ribbons. i don't even understand why I have these and then I remembered high school band. *shakes head slowly* I mean I know where I'm going with this but man do i NOT wanna go there! I was super into pig tails and two pony tails. When we had games I would wrap the ribbons all up in my hair and feel amazing. People would marvel. People would MARVEL. (in a good way! for shiz!)
3. Headbands part 1 - people still wear headbands today. I still wear headbands all the time because of my CRAZY HAIR but these in particular made me look like I was trying out for a coveted part in EVERY EXERCISE VIDEO EVER MADE. Look at your life. Look at your choices.
4. Tiny trinket trends - here lie three things that were made to make your hair look awesome and cool but I never used. Those little jeweled pony holders there? Okay somehow I must have forgot about being black but those things NEVER held my hair. I couldn't get them around a ponytail not even once. Why. When did I forget that my hair is NUTS. The flowers... omg those flowers. They came in a pack of 400 I swear to bob I maybe used one. They were supposed to hang at different points in your hair and like... i honestly don't know. I don't even remember or understand what the little "u" shaped things are. I made no sense!

5. a torture tool - this handy dandy thing is supposed to help you learn how to french braid. also I really wanted the Topsy Tail. this was the next best thing. I used it on my dolls all the time but never on myself. I just... figured out how to french braid my own hair without pulling out my own hair because of this thing. that counts for something right?!
6. SCRUNCHIES - they DOMINATED the 90's. this is only a sampling of the amazing selection I had. I used to layer them, I perfected the sock bun WITHOUT USING A SOCK (heck yes). Side bun? SCRUNCHIE. Low ponytail? SCRUNCHIE. Naked wrist?? PUT A SCRUNCHIE ON THAT WRIST.
7. Headbands part 2 - this one is made from a bra strap. i bought this with that knowledge. this was a paid for product. i can't say anymore about this cuz it hurts too much. it hurts. too. much.

not pictured:
clips! i used to LINE the pockets of my school uniform of clips of all shapes and sizes. no joke this started a trend. girls everywhere at Calvary Academy were wearing clips on the pockets of the skirts and the pockets of their shirts. I was the REAL DEAL y'all.

For a girl that really never holds onto things from her past, this was a hilarious journey I went on. Turns out, I was pretty awesome back then. w00t!

p.s. - Happy 300th post to me! aaah! haha