7.24.13 Laugable Wednesday

Laughable Wednesday

So this version of Laughable Wednesday could also be called Drool Wednesday. Why you ask? Because it features Channing Tatum.

Your welcome ladies. This man really is the whole package. He is good looking, muscular, a talented dancer, romantic, and very funny as you will soon see.

Here he is doing a skit with Jimmy Fallon from Jimmy Fallon's late night show. I love him in this because a) his young, ditsy girl impression is impecable, b) he kind of looks like Chloe Kardashian, as pointed out to me by my little brother, and c) he dances like a dorkus

Here he is doing a renactment of a scene from Dirty Dancing with Charlyn Yi. This is funny even if you're a hard core Dirty Dancing fan, like me, because he impersonates Patrick Swayze so well! And they don't cut Dirty Dancing down at all, it's more of jokes only people who have seen the movie would understand. Here it is:

And lastly, a skit from the Jimmy Kimmel show, "Channing All Over Your Tatum". Everytime you watch it, you pick out something new and funny you missed before.



And after you've seen the official music video, you have to watch the outtakes to "Channing All Over Your Tatum" :)



Post It Mondays

The BEST Sloppy Joes

Whenever I'm feeling lazy when it comes to making dinner, my go to recipe is always this sloppy joe recipe. My mom's been making them since I was little, and my boyfriend devours them. He says these sloppy joes put Manwhich to shame. Which makes me feel like this:

So here it is, fast, easy, cheap, and sure to please.

Ingredients
1 lb ground beef (for hunters out there, this is a venison-friendly recipe)
1 can tomato soup
ketchup, mustard, and brown sugar (I've never measured it out, always just gone by taste)


Directions
Brown the ground beef so it looks like so:

Next, drain the fat. A neat little tip I learned from my future-mother-in-law is to line the inside of a little bowl or cup with tin foil, and then pour the fat/grease into the tinfoil. After it cools, throw it away. No dirty dishes, no mess, and no clogged sink drains!

After you drain the fat, add the can of tomato soup and stir in with the beef. Add ketchup, mustard, and brown sugar until you get the taste that you like. I've never measured these 3 ingredients out before, but if you want something more tangy, add more mustard and brown sugar. If you want something a little more salty, add more ketchup and mustard and less brown sugar.

That's it. Serve on a bun or with bread. I like my either plain or with pickles. My boyfriend puts peanut butter on his (yuck).

7.19.13 DIY Friday

DIY Friday, I mean Sunday

Hello guys! It's only the second week into my blogging experience, and I'm already falling behind schedule. Oh boy. Anyway, I was trying to decide what to do for a DIY Friday this past week, when BAM, all of a sudden, I had a billion different projects at once.

Okay, not a billion, but I am working on building a bar for my brother to take to his college house, some rustic pallet artwork for my sister's wedding, and gold metals for the first annual Beer Olympics with some friends (we got the idea for Beer Olympics from the wonderful blog of Team Studer. Check it out at http://studerteam.blogspot.com/2012/07/4th-annual-studers-invitational-beer.html). Not to metnion, I just got a bunch of hand-me-downs that I need to alter.

So out of these projects, this DIY page is going to be about pallets. Yes pallets. It seems they are everywhere on pinterst. I just saw a link for making a teepee out of pallets. Seriously, what don't people do with pallets? Anyway, so here are some tips for those who want to try some pallet projects, but don't know where to start.

1. Don't pay for your pallets. There are so many places you can get your pallets for free. I get mine from the local John Deere. But any construction/manufacturing/etc. place will have pallets, and if you ask nicely, I'm sure they'll give them to you for free.

2. Remember that although pallets are free, they take time and work. Depending on what your project is, you'll more than likely have to disassemble each pallet and sand each plank of wood. Here are some tips for disassembling:

So here is your basic pallet. This one would be a really nice one because it doesn't have any stains or markings other than the nails pounded into it.

• Things you should have are a crowbar, a large hammer, a long big flathead screwdriver, and a regular size hammer.
• Start with the middle. Carefully wedge the tip of the crowbar between the two pieces of wood by tapping it in like a nail with the large hammer. Use the crowbar as a lever to loosen the nails. If the crowbar is too damaging to the wood, use the long flathead screwdriver and small hammer instead.



• Do the same thing to the outside ends until the board comes off.

• Do this to all the boards. Remove the nails from the boards you want to keep with the small hammer. Remember to keep the nails in one spot so nobody gets a flat tire or a nail in the foot.

3. Try to pick out pallets with the least amount of work. This one seems obvious, but if you're like me, you go a little overboard on free stuff. And then you have piles and piles of dirty pallets sitting around that you don't have time to do anything with. Look for holes in the pallets, knots (these are very rough and will take a power sander to get smooth), the roughness of the wood, and how dirty it is. I would actually probably choose something with a little bit of mud on it rather than a really rough pieces of wood if you are hand sanding, since the mud will come off much easier than the rough edges on the wood.

Those are the tips I have for you. Hopefully by next week I will have at one of my many projects done to share with you guys.

Happy Friday Sunday!

7.17.13 Laughable Wednesday

7.17.13 Laughable Wednesday

I was lucky enough to grow up during the 90's, mainly because Lion King was released June 15, 1994. It's one of those movies you watched over, and over, and over again when you were little. And your parents didn't mind watching it with you because it had a pretty kick-ass soundtrack, featuring music from Elton John (no wonder I grew up to have impeccable taste in music). People who grew up watching Lion King are still in love with this movie, as you can tell by these pictures:

I might come up with a tutorial to make this shirt, or if you just can't wait, you can buy it for $33.99 at http://skreened.com/ffp/lion-king-baseball

I think this one would be easier to make, but you can buy this one as well for $26 at LookHuman.com

Anyway, so I found this video and it made me laugh. It's an animated version of Lion King bloopers. Most of them are the original audio bloopers that were later animated. Some I think were added just for fun. So without further adieu, here it is:

Happy Laughable Wedesnday! Hope this helps you get through you week!

Tips on Recreating Baby Pictures

Happy Monday :\  . . . . or at least as happy as a Monday can be. It's mid-July, and what do I spend my free time doing? Preparing for Christmas. That's right guys, I've made my Christmas shopping list already and I've even started making/buying a few things that are on sale. One of my ideas for Christmas this year is giving family members recreated baby pictures of my sister, my brother, and me.


"What do you mean, Mandy?" you might be asking right now. So here's an example:

Me as a baby                                                                                      Me as an adult

Lots of fun these pictures are. 

Anyway, my brother, sister, and I take more pictures, I'll post them and add to my list of tips for recreating baby pictures. 

Tips for Recreating Baby Pictures:

1. Pick pictures that have a simple background. Cupboards are a simple background, or a monument that is still standing that you plan on revisiting or is close by. Don't pick that picture of you standing by the Statue of Liberty if you live in Missouri, because it's just too hard to recreate and it will take away from the picture. The whole focus is supposed to be on how you've changed and grown. 

2. Pick pictures that are interesting. This may seem like an obvious one, but once you start picking, you'll know what I mean. When you're going through pictures, imagine how it would look as adult posing. Pictures where you're wearing a goofy outfit or making a funny face are the funniest.

3. Don't get too hung up on perfectly recreating the picture, especially clothes. More than likely, you're not going to find the same Miami Vice t-shirt or acid wash denim skirt. Get as close as you can, but don't sweat it. Check your local thrift store and be creative. You may have to refashion or make some of your own clothes. In my first picture, I found an old lady fleece nightgown and made it into a onesie by adding a 2 seams to make legs. And the background doesn't have to be perfect either. Remember, people are going to be focusing on you and not the brand of cereal in the background.

4. Don't be afraid to feel stupid. If you're an adult acting like a baby on camera, you probably should feel at least a little silly/stupid. But it'll be worth it in the end.

5. Edit your photos to get the same color tint, brightness, and saturation as the original. It helps make the picture look more identical. I used the basic photo editing tool that came with my computer, so don't worry if you don't have Photoshop. 

7.11.13 DIY Friday

Love Lace Sweatshirt With Cut Out Heart

Another Breakfast At Mandy's first, DIY Friday! I decided to post a diy project on Friday's for any of those who have nothing to do over the weekend (Sadly, that includes me). Anyway, here it is-a sweatshirt with love written in lace on the front and a cut out lace heart in the back. 

I picked the sweatshirt up at a local thrift store for 25 cents. Not bad. The lace I used in this project is actually from an old table runner my dad was getting rid of. If you don't have a table runner lying around, you could check you local thrift store or buy some lace fabric at any fabric/craft store. For this project, you'll probably only need a foot or so. 

Materials: 

-sweatshirt

-lace material

-paper and pencil

-marker 

-scissors

-pins

-needle and thread (if doing this by hand) or a sewing machine 

Step 1: Using your pencil, draw out the word "Love" on a piece of paper. I started with regular cursive writing and then drew around those letters to make them into bubble letters. Use the marker to make the lines of your bubble letters more bold. If you want a specific font, it might work better to print out your letters and then trace over it with a marker. Do the same thing with the heart. Remember to make these images the same size you'd like the lace to be on your sweatshirt. Here's what mine looked like:

Step 2: Lay the lace over top of your "Love" stencil and your heart. Pin the lace to the paper. It helps if you put the pins on the "inside" of the stencil. In other words, put the pins in the area in which you are cutting around, if that makes sense. Look at the heart for an example. *note: I made a heart within a heart to allow a seam for sewing. The outside heart is where I cut, but the inside heart was to mark where to cut my sweatshirt. If I did this project all over again, I would definitely make that outside heart a little bigger. It's hard to keep the lace pinned in place, at least for a beginner sewer, so you might want to give yourself more room to work with. 

(this is the "Love" stencil)

(this is the heart stencil)

Step 3: Cut the paper and the lace at the same time. The paper provides a cutting guide and also keeps the lace from moving too much. Be careful when cutting out the inside of the 'o' and 'e' in the "Love" stencil. Don't cut the paper, only cut the lace, and cut conservatively. Make slightly smaller cuts than the stencil has to help the lace keep it's shape. This is what they will look like when you are done:

Step 4: Pin your "Love" lace to your shirt and sew away!

Step 5: Cut a hole for your lace heart to go. Make sure it's smaller than the actual heart, so you have enough room to sew it into the shirt. Pin the lace into place and sew away!

(Sorry I forgot to take a picture of this step. But this is my first blog, so forgive me)

Step 6: Take out your pins and enjoy your new shirt! I'm thinking about adding some lace elbow pads in the shape of a heart! or maybe put some lace in on the sides, in the oblique area. Here's how it turned out!

What I really like about this sweatshirt is that it's perfect for summer nights. The lace in the back actually cools your back down enough so it's not too hot. As you can tell, it goes well with a bathing suit (notice the bikini strings right above the collar ha ha). Let me know what you guys think. Also, let me know if you need any clarification on the directions. I know sometimes it hard to understand someone else's directions. Don't be afraid to ask! Thanks for stopping in!

7.8.2013 Laughable Wednesday

Wednesday Laughables

This is the first laughables post. Ever.             Applause, applause!
And the reason I think it's so important to devote a whole section of my blog to laughter and fun can be summed up by Charlie Chaplin:

             "A day without laughter is a day wasted"

 That being said, let me introduce someone who's been making me laugh since I was knee high to a grasshopper. . .Robin Williams. I could probably make Laughable Wednesdays in Robin Wednesdays, but that wouldn't be fair to the other laughables out there. Why does this guy crack me up, you ask? I'll show you. 

1. Robin Williams put this picture on his Twitter and then tweeted, "I think I wore it better"

2. Because of this commercial. I've seen it a million times, and I still laugh every single time.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0DxlOWVVQWE

Add caption

3. Not only is he an extremely talented comedian, impressionist, and actor, but he's been through a lot in his life and he's survived it all. I think he deserves all the respect he gets for being able to overcome drug and alcohol addiction while living in the public eye. We always focus our attention on the ones who fail at this...cough cough Lindsay Lohan...but we don't realize the people who suceed. So hats off to you Robin Williams. 

So if the first 1 and 2 made you laugh, check out his stand-up show "Weapons of Self Destruction" released in 2010. You can buy it off amazon.com, get it off Netflix, or you can watch it for free on Youtube :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DiCxqbT2Ru8

You're welcome for the most enjoyable ab work out ever. 

Happy Wednesday!

My Post-Virginity

Hello everyone! This is the very first post of the hopefully successful blog, Breakfast at Mandy's (fingers crossed!). I'm a little late jumping into the world of blogs, so forgive me in advance for any mistakes, lumps, or bumps along the way. It's so crazy how much society has changed. Before blogs, people wrote in a diary or journal, which was seen as personal and private property. Now there is hardly anything private, with blogs and social media, every thought can be shared, which can be both good and bad.

Anyway. 

My name is Mandy, I live in one of the most beautiful parts of the state of Minnesota. I am a twenty-three year old with the soul of a seventy-three year old. I love my family, I love my pug, I love the Beatles, I love Dirty Dancing, I love to paint, I love to sew, and I love my life (most of the time!). This blog will be focused on food for thought, actual food, and helpful tips from myself and others. Look forward to starting this new adventure with you!


Chau, 
Mandy