I joke with friends that Martha stalks my blog for ideas.
For instance, last year when I made feather eggs for Easter, I googled it to see if anyone had tried it before. I didn't find anything.
Yesterday I was scrolling through my instagram feed, and I spied this post from Martha... with feather eggs!
Sometimes I wonder....
I saw this suggestion in Martha Stewart to dip radishes in a mixture of butter and peanut butter. I love radishes and I love peanut butter so I thought it was worth a try. I really like celery and peanut butter so why not this?
I didn't bother with the butter/peanut butter mixture but went right for it and dipped chunks of radish right into peanut butter. I like it! The peanut butter tempers the bite of the radish. Good one Martha.
In January I made a list of things i wanted to do in 2011 and #1 on the list was "roast a chicken". I was torn between Martha's Crisp-Skinned Chicken with Rosemary Potatoes and Garlic-Butter Rubbed Chicken with Roasted Oranges and Red Onions. I liked the idea of crispy skin but also BUTTER. I have fresh rosemary growing on my counter and oranges didn't appeal. So I combined the two recipes.
I mixed butter, cornstarch, garlic, salt and rosemary and (here is the key part) rubbed it not only on the chicken skin but UNDER the skin. I scattered potatoes with olive oil around the chicken and popped it in the oven for 450 degrees for an hour.
It turned out delicious. Yay for first roast chicken. Next time I want to try Martha's Paprika-Rubbed Chickens with Roasted Garlic.
I was a big winner on Twitter! I entered the @CraftsDept #MarthaBlogger Sweeps and won this Martha Stewart sewing book!
It will be put to good use!
I also entered the @dailywag #marthablogger sweeps and won a box of goodies for Oscar!
Oscar was beside himself with his good fortune. Aren't the colors nice? Now he can nom nom in style!
I was very excited to learn that I had won the Daily Wag Twitter Sweepstakes! I love the Daily Wag - a blog from Martha's French Bulldogs, Sharkey and Francesca. I was really hoping they would be at the Bloggers Night Out (which they weren't), but this makes up for it.
Oscar is pretty excited to get the pet feeding accessories prize package. After all this twitter activity he was inspired to redesign his twitter page.
Stewie isn't one to be left behind so he started up a twitter account too.
As a huge Martha fan, I was over the moon when I got an invite to the Martha's Bloggers' Night Out party at the Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia offices. My eyes were popping out of my head the entire time. Aside from the party, I kept peeking at test kitchens, storage rooms and craft areas. Some display boards were covered with craft paper and my little brain could only imagine the secrets behind them.
The party itself was fabulous! There were stations dedicated to different areas of Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia. Weddings, food, crafts, paint, pets, whole living... and often the magazine editors that specialized in that area were manning the tables. I gravitated to the craft table because I was curious how the "around the corner" craft punches worked. I got to try one out and see how they are designed to line up. Happy dance went down when I discoverd there was one tucked into the gift bags given to us when we left!
Mini cupcakes! There were also other finger foods and drinks that can be found in the latest issues of Martha Stewart Living and Everyday Food. They were making smores like the ones on the current cover of Everyday Food.
I just blogged recently about Martha's line of pet products. There was a sneak peek at the Halloween themed items coming out.
Ok. Here is where I really Martha geek out. I read every issue of Living from cover to cover. I have 10 years worth - I know that for a fact because we just moved all of them from the old house to the new. Because I read them so much and have been doing so for so long, I recognized a few of the contributors. I spotted Kevin Sharkey immediately. I have been reading the segments on redoing his NYC apartment in recent issues. He was kind enough to post for a photo and sign the next issue of Living.
I did however, only realize today, that Martha's French Bulldog, Sharkey must be named after him. Right?
I also spied Darcy Miller from Weddings. I really loved the shadow boxes she did for a recent issue of Living, so I had to say hi. (it's completely my fault the pic is blurry, I had been messing with the settings) I think it is awesome that these folks were all there and sharing their passions. I think it is so great when a company recognizes their own rockstars.
To top the night off, I got to share it all with my bloggy buddies Lady M and FourthBreakfast! Can you tell which one of us sat on on top of a tour bus in the blazing sun for 4 hours? Um yeah - I got a little toasted. I feel myself wrinkling before my very eyes. But not even that could dull my Martha high!
Martha has always had lots of pets... cats, dogs, mini donkeys. I enjoy reading The Daily Wag - a blog from her French Bulldogs, Francesca and Sharkey. Martha is a huge pet fan so it makes sense that she has a line of pet products.
PetSmart is carrying her line and you can find a lot of the items on the PetSmart.com website.
I love the blue color that is used on many of the pet products.
Oscar totally needs a bathrobe. He is always shivering after his bath. His birthday is coming up in September.
Oscar isn't a big fan of stuffed toys anymore - only takes a fit now and them and chews on an old squirrel. I love this cupcake though! I would set this around as decoration!
In the January issue of Martha Stewart there was a list of 9 things to do in January. I wanted to do as many as I could. Here is how it went.
1. Dress your bed with pretty sheets - I put our flannel sheets on the bed. They have sledding penguins on them. That's pretty right?
2. Make a big pot of soup - Aaron made a cold cucumber mint soup for detox, but I don't think that is what they meant.
3. Recycle old electronics - I meant to recycle my mom's old computer but I left it at their house.
4. Try a new winter vegetable - We tried a lot of new veggies on detox - is Swiss Chard a winter veggie?
5. Visit a historic home - well we moved into a house built in 1900. Does that count?
6. Take one closet - I totally did this! I organized our downstairs coat closet and my upstairs clothes closet.
7. Switch to eco-friendly cleaning products - we already used eco-friendly products so we didn't have to make a switch. I do want to try the new Method laundry detergent though.
8. Peruse seed catalogues and plan spring plantings - we looked through my grandma's seed catalogues, I think we are going to try beets this year.
9. Spend more time with family and friends - definitely tried to do this.
Ok so I was a little off on some but I gave it the old college try.
After indulging over the holidays and in Las Vegas it was time for Aaron and I to detox. I decided we would start the Martha Steward body + soul magazine Whole Body Action Plan. We bought a juicer and Wii Fit Plus and we are on our way.
The plan starts with a four day detox diet of soup, juice and smoothies. The smoothie at the top is a mango smoothie... or so they claim.
The liquid on the right is how the mango smoothie we made turned out. Seeing as how it also has avocado and swiss chard in it, that shade of green is not surprising. I don't know how they got theirs to be such an appealing color. On the left is the cold cucumber and mint soup we had for lunch on day two of detox. It wasn't horrible - but I won't be craving it anytime soon. We are sticking with the plan - it is only four days. Four days of things like carrot/beet/cabbage/watercress juice.
UPDATE: Here is the juicer we bought - a Waring Pro. It is affordable, works great, and is easy to clean. We have now been using it for two years and it's still going!
Martha Stewart now has a green line of cleaning products. Everything from toilet bowl cleaner to glass cleaner. You can only order it online though so I doubt if I will be trying it soon.
I just had to go and take a peek at the Martha Stewart Xmas ornaments at Kmart. I liked this one the best, a teeny little sewing basket. It would be great to do a tree of just craft ornaments.
When I heard the stores were already stocking Halloween items I was indignant.
But they must know what they are doing because like a big sucker I bought a pack of Martha Stewart skull cupcake wrappers...
and a super soft Hallowen t-shirt from Target. Sucker I tell you!
I am a big fan of these Martha Stewart clear stamps that you can arrange how you like on blank acrylic blocks.
I used them to make gift tags.
This year's designs included some acorns which matched my Christmas theme "nuts".
I used the huge Christmas tree with some other stamps to decorate our gifts.
I even used some of them to stamp the back of our Christmas card envelopes...
... because they matched the motif on my Martha cards from the Kodak Gallery.
These are my new favorite Christmas tree decorations. CUPCAKES! They are so cool, they don't hang, they have clips on the bottom so they sit on the tree branches. Disgustingly cute! Blech!
Oh and they are from Martha! The Kmart collection.
The owl obsession continues. My mum found these three little guys that I zip tied to our gate.
And look at this owl lamp! He's missing two beads, but I think I can find replacements. So cute.
I picked up this owl ornament at Kmart from the always fabulous Martha Stewart collection. You can sorta see one of her mini kitchen utensil ornaments I got on clearance after Christmas last year.
There were some amazing Martha products at Michaels for Halloween and Christmas, so I was looking forward to seeing what they had for Valentines Day.
Not a whole lot is the answer. Usually there is an entire freestanding display of holiday craft goodness, but this holiday only got an endcap.
I am hoping it's just because they are busily working away on Easter stuff!
Sometimes I feel like she is watching me.
I am so enamoured with the Martha Stewart line at Macy's. I liked her stuff at KMart, now this Tiffany blue at Macy's... it's got a hold on me. I can hardly stand it.
I am also pretty excited about the Vera Wang collection at Kohls. Her clothes are so elegant. I could definitely get used to this high end designer at everyday stores trend.
