Vintage giveaway

how cute is this business card!?

Way back in, oh I don't know, maybe February I was looking around Twitter when I came across a tweet by a local fashion blogger who mentioned a giveaway at another fashion blog. I think I just had to retweet the blogger's info and hope that my name was the magic one chosen. I never win anything, so I put it out of my mind and headed over to the blog to see what the fuss was all about.

I had never heard of Odelma Vintage  and was happily surprised at stumbling upon it through a friend's tweet. I found the blog and then a link to an Etsy page. I immediately saw a few pieces of jewelry that I thought were just perfect and at a reasonable price. Then, checking twitter again, I saw that I had won! I won a beautiful gold and rose necklace. Mattie, writer of Odelma Vintage blog, asked for my address and promised to send the necklace my way soon.

Well, I forgot about that promise until my birthday when I received a package from an unknown return address. Inside was this. I love it. Today I wore it paired with my J.Crew elephant necklace.

So thanks, Odelma Vintage! Without your giveaway I might not have found your blog or etsy page..and i'm so glad I did.

bookmaking by bida

Wanna see my new journal? So nice, right? I love this gold and turquoise swirly print. Guess where I got it...

I made it! 

I sometimes get these crazy ideas to try something new. Most of the time it's in the kitchen. Today I went out and bought silver and shiny-white card stock paper, cardboard type stuff, and this pretty covering paper. I talked to owners and staff in different art stores who all said I should not try this on my own but instead I should take a class at a community college or something. Well, I went home and tried it on my own. I sewed together a bunch of pieces of paper- which is called a signature. Then I sewed all of the signatures together. Then I looked at the mess I had made. 

After that, I created a spine and two hard covers. I fashioned this cover on. I made nice gold sheets for the inside. And then I put all of the signatures in there, hoping they didn't stick together or rip out or just look all uneven.

It is definitely not perfect. But I'm pretty pleased with how it came out on my first try. I measured nothing at all and I had no method to my sewing madness. Next time I'll think through the sewing a little better- and i'll clip the papers all together while I sew (it was so hard to hold them in place!) 

Here's some more photos, courtesy of a dark room and my iPhone camera.

glittering white pages

oh jeez my sewing is crazy- it's so much harder than it looks!

it looks grey here but this is a shiny silver

sometimes it has both colors on a spread

I can't wait to come up with a plan for how to make this a little neater and try again. I'm thinking a ruler would help. I wonder what i'll fill this with?

Books By Bida...i like it :)

Lemony Coconut Date Treats

I never follow recipes. I just can't bring myself to do it. Measuring things out and having to make sure everything goes in at the right time is just not for me. I always glance at one to get an idea and then do things my way. So when I saw how easy this lemon treats recipe from Whole Foods was I was excited that I could just throw all the ingredients into a food processor and voila, which is actually following the recipe! 

Now, you may not find a simpler recipe. Just chop some dates. Throw them in a food processor with lemon juice, sesame seeds, walnuts, some lemon zest and bam you're done. Roll them in coconut. Or don't. The sesame seeds in this are soo good, if you like sesame seeds the way I do. 

You can even shape them into hearts! Which I did, with one of my fondant cutters.

I am working on creating a recipe for some kind of energy ball/bar/treat for Ben and the boys. They're so active and sometimes forget to eat properly. I'm thinking peanut butter will have to go in there. The rest is still coming along. For now, these super easy but yummy lemon coconut date treats will have to do. 

Biggest News Ever

Wow...it has been weeks since I've updated my lovely blogeroo with a new post. 

Since then, big things have been happening in bidaboo's life! Big Big Things!

I just spent 16 days in a canyon in Santa Barbara at a yoga teacher training program. 

Really! I flew over to California, a state I had never been to but always wanted to visit, took a cab ride that wound up and around a mountain, and arrived in the woods with 29 other yogis. I stayed in a yurt, hiked (okay walked on an elevated dirt road where I almost stepped on a 3ft snake) up and down every day, spent a lot of time in a jacuzzi and a sauna, and learned how to be a yoga teacher from the West's most influential yoga couple. 

It was incredible. Much more so than I thought it would be. It was such a breathtaking environment I know that my words wouldn't do it justice. The people were all so inspiring. We were cooked three big veg meals a day and even had dessert a few nights. We slept in yurts (or cabins) with spiders and other wildlife, getting up to pee in the middle of the night with a flashlight and a bathroom with a glass wall. We practiced for ourselves and then we practiced to break down poses. We learned some thai yoga massage by giving and receiving it. We adjusted each other. We definitely laughed. I cried. The girls got rooster feathers clamped in their hair. We drove to town to shop (so yogic!). We had some therapeutic snuggling with a sweet pitbull named Maizy. And, while a lot of people had experiences with ticks- for once, I did not! Now that I'm home I have some classes to teach but I'm done with my 200 hour training! I'm so glad to be home with Ben, we hadn't been away that from each other for that long since we started dating 5 years ago...but I miss everything about where I was too. I'm so glad that I let myself do something out of my comfort zone and I know it will change my life, it has already!

The other news is that yesterday while I was having my 27th birthday we...got...engaged!! Ben chose the perfect ring all on his own and surprised me with it as soon as I woke up yesterday morning. Some people have been waiting for this for years and while we've talked about it a lot before, now was actually the right time. Everything about it was so perfect. We're both giddy! Now, if people will just stop asking me if we have set a date. We're both just basking in the happiness that is our engagement. 

ew my hand looks scary, but the ring is so SPARKLY!

isn't it the best ring you've ever seen!?

(iphone photos of the ring taken yesterday while freaking out so i'm sure i've emailed and texted it to most people! since i came home to a broken computer i don't want to take the photos off my camera and trust my computer to not die completely. these meh photos will have to do for now, you get the idea).

Also I really appreciate all of the loving words and congratulations from everyone. I don't think I've ever heard so many Happy Birthday's, and we both love how happy everyone is for our engagement. I am really missing friends and family right now and can't wait to celebrate our great news in the future when we can get back up north...someday. Thanks everyone for your love! 

beads, beads, and more beads

all of our plain beads so far... 

Carnival is going strong. Rain and issues with the police being able to keep everyone safe made the parades have to change some routes, times, and days. Today Krewe of Tuck moved up to 10am and Krewe of Isis followed them immediately after. The rain started coming down pretty heavy during Isis but that only made it more fun!

The rain kept us inside watching movies, snuggling, practicing yoga, making snacks, and also sorting through the hundreds of beads that have piled up on our floor. There are so many I can't even count. But, I did sort them into three piles: plain, cool shapes/colors, and super fun ones. So, before we go out tonight I thought i'd show you how awesome some of the mardi gras beads are. We've caught some good ones. 

i like the crown, beer bottles, die, fleur de lis, and ones that spell muses

the dancing with the muses square flashes but i love the pink necklace with clear high heel

oooh my favorite is the black and gold footballs & fleur de lis!!

Babylon one lights up in 4 different colors. Also the blue high heels from Muses rock.

how awesome are these beads?! crawfish hot sauce, oysters!

And it's only Saturday...Tomorrow Endymion and Bacchus both roll out!! I'm overwhelmed just thinking about that. Plus there's Thoth, Okeanos, and more. We'll probably have double this number of beads by tomorrow night. Then it's Lundi Gras and then Fat Tuesday!!! Mardi Gras!!!!

#FF

It's follow friday on Twitter so I thought i'd make it follow friday on Blogger too :)

If you read my blog please click follow and leave me a comment here. Let me know what you like, dislike, want to read more of, or just say hi. I was thinking the other day of what I would say this blog is about and basically it's just about life. Pretty much mine. But, I hope it can be interesting to others and that you do enjoy reading it.

Last night three parades crashed down St. Charles...and one of them was Muses! I'm so excited to post about my Muses experience...soon.

Have a great weekend everyone!  And Thanks!

February flowering trees outside my window

Krewes of Oshun and Pontchartrain

Well, Carnival is upon us and going full swing. Starting tonight there is at least one parade that I want to catch every single day until Mardi Gras (next Tuesday). Tonight we're taking it easy with Krewe of Druids. Tomorrow, however, there is Knights of Babylon, Krewe of Muses, and Krewe of Chaos going through Uptown. There's also Krewe of Rokkus going through the French Quarter with Better than Ezra and Pat Green rocking out on their floats. But, since i'm probably going to pee my pants I'm so excited over Krewe of Muses I'm going to stick Uptown. Plus, the parades are literally two blocks from my house so I can run around anywhere I want and still make it home very easily.

Now that we've gone to our fair share of parades I am beginning to work out a system. It's complicated. Do I bring my camera and be that girl who takes photos and gets hit in the face with a string of beads? They really hurt! Also who can get a good photo with all the movement and excitement? Actually my friend Jeffrey Dupuis definitely can and I suggest you check out his page! Back to me, if I have my camera i'm super concerned the whole time about beer splashing onto it or me dropping it to catch a stuffie. So, I've only taken photos of a few parades. To get ready for the craziness coming up i'll post a few photo of Krewe of Oshun and Krewe of Pontchartrain. Enjoy!

Krewe of Oshun...

Krewe of Pontchartrain...

This last photo is me wearing only the green, gold, and purple beads that I caught. Every single other color went to Ben to wear. That should show you how many beads one person catches at a single parade. There are literally hundreds on my living room floor right now. Annnnd, those are the cups we caught after giving away a handful to friends. Can't wait to catch myself a sparkly high heel or vuvuzela at Muses tomorrow!