Capsule wardrobe: Fall

It's raining outside. Rain is one of those things that just make me happy. It's my favorite type of weather. I'm instantly energized and productive. (Hence the reason that both bathrooms and master bedroom were clean before noon, thank you cleaning schedule).

 I'm soaking up the gray, cloudy bliss by drinking a cup of Earl Grey tea and working on my capsule wardrobe for the Fall. What is a Capsule Wardrobe, you ask? According to Susie Faux, the owner of a London boutique back in the 1970's and who coined the term, a capsule wardrobe is a collection of a few essential items of clothing that don't go out of fashion.

I think that definition can be interpreted by individuals, but I like the idea of a small, wearable wardrobe. I'm pretty terrible at walking into a store and putting pieces together in my mind. I will walk out with 6 or 7 shirts and a couple pairs of pants and not be totally in love with any of it. So I sat down with Pinterest and a few favorite capsule wardrobe instagrammers and built my whole wardrobe. Before purchasing anything! I figured out how I wanted everything styled, which brands and stores to buy from, and how much everything would cost. Now I'm slowly making the purchases and storing them in my closet. My rule is that I can't wear anything until the whole wardrobe is complete, which is pretty easy. It's still hot here most days.

Sneak Peak:  Biker Jacket

I have made 4 purchases so far. We are working to streamline all of our possessions. Minimalism is another thing that can be individually interpreted. I don't desire cold, sparseness. I want a visually appealing, clutter free home. This sentiment extends to my closet. I want useful pieces that I love. That I will actually wear. Having less helps me value what I have more.

Want to know what I'll be wearing this Fall? Follow along as I continue collecting, and see how I put everything together!

Sneak Peak: White Sweatshirt

Currently reading: The Complete Sherlock Holmes Vol. 2 by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

5 minute no knead bread

Love the taste of fresh, home baked bread but fear that you don't have the time, or that it's too difficult a craft to learn? Not anymore! This simple recipe taken from the book "Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day" by Jeff Hertzberg and Zoe Francois will help you create beautiful loaves of artisan bread.
Show them off to friends and family. Pretend you're fancy. I won't tell.

This dough is stored in the fridge for up to two weeks, but I doubt it will last that long. It's so simple to whip together so you can bake a fresh loaf daily and quickly mix up another batch for a never ending supply. I hear the longer you keep it in the fridge, the more it develops a sourdough taste. I like to leave it for at least 12 hours in the fridge before baking my first batch as the chilled dough is easier to work with.

What you will need to yield four 1lb loaves 

3 cups lukewarm water

1 1/2 tablespoons granulated yeast (or 2 packets)

1 1/2 tablespoons kosher salt (or any coarse salt)

6 1/2 cups unsifted unbleached all purpose flour

Directions

Preparing the dough for storage:

Warm the water slightly, just warmer than body temp. Warm water will rise the dough more quickly, about 2 hours as opposed to 3-4 hours with cool water.

Add the yeast to the water in a 5 quart bowl or lidded container (not airtight). Don't worry about getting it all to dissolve, just sprinkle it in.

In another bowl, mix the flour and salt. Be sure to accurately measure your ingredients. Baking needs exact ratios, no guess work here.

Add the water/yeast and flour/salt together in a heavy duty stand mixer fitted with the dough hooks. You can also mix the dough by hand using a wooden spoon. Mix until everything is uniformly moist without any dry patches. The dough should be wet, loose, and sticky. Don't knead.

Allow to rise. I covered the mixing bowl with a thin flour sack towel and left in a warm place in my kitchen. Leave for 2 hours, or until the top begins to flatten. Rising up to 5 hours will not harm it.

You can now use a portion of this dough for baking, but I prefer to let it refrigerate over night. Place it in a plastic lidded container (not airtight).

On baking day:

Prepare whatever you will be using for baking; loaf tin, cloche, tray, etc.
I like to shape my dough into a boule, so a tray or cloche works best for this. Sprinkle the surface of your refrigerated dough with flour. Pull about a grapefruit sized portion of dough out (about 1lb). Tear off from the sides. The dough will have risen and we don't want to expel the gas in the center of the portion you will be working with today.

Add a little flour as needed as it might be sticky. The top of the dough will look dome-like, so gently flip over and begin stretching the bottom on all four sides. The bottom will look like a collection of bunched ends, but all will be well when baking. This step should take no more than 30-60 seconds. We don't want to release too much gas.

Rest the loaf and let it rise for about 40 minutes. The rest of the dough should return to the fridge. It may not rise much this time around. That's ok.

20 minutes before baking, preheat the oven to 450. Place an empty pan or broiler tray at the bottom of the oven.

Dust and slash. Dust the top of the loaf liberally with flour. Slash a quarter inch deep cross, diagonal lines, or pound sign on top using a serrated knife.

After a 20 minute preheat, you're ready to bake. The oven will not be fully heated; that's ok. Put your loaf in the oven and pour 1 cup of hot water from the tap into the empty tray on bottom to create steam. Close the oven immediately.

Bake for 30 minutes, or until the crust is browned and firm.

Be sure to use up the rest of the dough within 14 days. This bread is great with a smear of homemade butter! Be sure to check out Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day for sweet and savory variations, what to do with stale bread, and many more tips!

Cabin in the woods

I grew up in the Texas panhandle, slightly over an hour to the New Mexico state line. A lot of people picture New Mexico as a yucca strewn desert, but a heavily forested mountain wilderness stretches over a large portion of the state. Up north, the Sangre de Cristo Mountains* (the southernmost part of the Rockies) reach along a vast wonderland of pine trees and wildlife. It is here that my family built a log cabin in the early 90's for vacation stays and escape from daily life.

I wish I could describe to you what it was like. I don't think I can accurately put it into mere words. It was a densely forested mountain land, purchased from the owner of Christmas Tree Canyon Ranch, outside the Mora Valley. He was a grumpy old man, retired Navy Captain, Top Gun commander, fighter pilot ace, and WW2 decorated veteran, but his wife and I had a bond by our shared love for wolves.
Here was a community of mountain lovers. Every 4th of July, the "canyon" neighbors would get together and hold a parade down the tree lined dirt road. The free range horses and burrows at "headquarters" would roam into our yard and beg for carrots. My sister and I would wander the woods alone, true "free range" kids ourselves. Black bears, deer, foxes and squirrels were frequent visitors. The occasional wolf howl would keep us up at night. Bonfires in our fire pit, snuggled up with blankets among the trees in the crisp mountain evenings, were nightly rituals. Here is my childhood.

Then, when I was a teenager, it was sold. I was obviously upset. I loved this place more than anything. But I was just coming of age, and had so much more on my mind. I buried my grief and struck out on a long rebellious rampage. Hello high school. Sorry mom.

Now that my head is clear, and I've grown up, I grieve for this place. This was a place of magic and wonder. I grieve for my kids who will never experience this life. Not here. Not where you can watch a bear right outside your window roll boulders over with one paw. Not where you can watch water bugs glide over the creeks and lake nearby. Not where we would dump our dinner leftovers on a board to feed "the critter" in the night. Not where you're awakened by the piercing howl of a lone wolf in the pitch black night. Not where you wave to your neighbors and stop for a chat during one of the many jeep rides through the trees. Not where a kid can scale jagged boulders in search of animal bones to add to her collection. Not where Sunshine Mountain greets you each morning through the huge triangle windows.

I have fond memories of walking "the loop", watching baby squirrels in a birdhouse, holding injured humming birds, deer watching, jeep riding, listening to my Papa caw at the crows, collecting bones, fishing, hiking, playing wolf, and building dams in the creek.

My soul longs for this place. I am not content until I'm surrounded by mountains and forest. My dream is to return to the area and build our own home. I want my kids to experience this. Some day. Some day.

*The mountains in my header

Currently reading: Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad (1899)

Meal planning for the family

I admit, I am not an organized person by nature. I was not gifted with that natural talent like some people. That's why I love that so many people are out there to help us disorganized slobs!

I have gained so much order using a home management binder. I keep so much info in it for easy reference. Lists! Calendars! Doctor info! Cleaning schedules! I like taking a few minutes in the mornings after my workout to go through my binder, reading and adding to lists, refreshing the calendar, etc. Throw in an enormous cup of coffee* and you have yourself a comfy little moment of domestic bliss.

One of my most favorite things in my journal is my meal planner. Though I do like to switch up my printables, I'm currently using the meal planner by Organizing Home Life. So many free printables!
I create my meal plans weekly. I'm a collector of cookbooks and LOVE to cook from scratch, so perusing my books and coming up with meal ideas for my family is one of my favorite things to do.

Current favorite cookbook: This Williams-Sonoma cookbook. The pictures alone are to die for. 

So anyway, I come up with breakfasts, lunches and dinners for a whole week in my meal planner, write out the grocery list (also in my binder!) and shop on my errand day. No more panic at dinner time. Plus with 2 young boys around, I can prepare them ahead of time for what awaits them at meal time. Oh the joys of picky kids. 

* Seriously, this cup is the size of my face.

Currently reading: Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad (1899)

On my bookshelf

As I said previously, I love reading. I consider it an important fact about myself. My favorite types of books are classics, though I have a long list of genres I will read with pleasure.

Every so often, I will list the three books on my "to read" shelf.
I began the Goodreads 2015 Reading Challenge back in January. Though I have always loved books, I hit a period of time where I only churned out maybe 3-4 read books a year. That was right around the time I had my first baby. *cough cough*
I decided to right this terrible wrong and make it a point to do something I enjoyed. Plus, a public goal is always good motivation. I took it easy on myself and challenged myself to read 25 books before December 31st.

Here is my list of the next three books on my "to read" bookshelf.

• Heart Of Darkness by Joseph Conrad (1899)
• The Complete Sherlock Holmes vol. 2 by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (1903-1927)
• Vanity Fair by William Makepeace Thackeray (1848)

Heart Of Darkness will be my 25th book to read since the beginning of the year, so I'll be completing my challenge soon!

Have you ever participated in a reading challenge?

Portrait

My name is Lani. "Lani" is Hawaiian for Heavenly Skies and no one knows how to pronounce it correctly. Upon my first visit to Hawaii, I also learned that Lani is pronounced differently there, too. Maybe I don't belong anywhere. 

I grew up in a medium to small sized town in the Texas panhandle. I've been asked on numerous occasions if I had horses. No, I didn't. I also don't have cowboy boots or a cowboy hat, and you will never catch me in them. (Is this still a stereotype? Because I hear it often..) I can, however, tell you all about the Alamo and Texas history. And yes, Texas is the best state. 

I stayed in Texas for 22 years, but then through a series of odd events, I married and left with my husband, who is in the Navy. Nothing about our meeting, marriage plans, wedding, first year as a married couple, or really anything else about us is considered "normal", but those are stories for another time. 

I have two boys. One born in 2011 in Colorado and one born in 2014 in Florida. In the year 2010, I became a housewife after leaving Texas and following my husband to a short term school so he could cross rate from one fancy Navy job to another high tech, fancy Navy job*. Anyway, I had this typical Lucy Ricardo/Laura Petrie image of a stylish housewife in my mind as I skipped out of my job as a child development teacher**. Let's just say... uh no. But that's a story for another time. 

So now I'm a stay at home mom. I LOVE it! Talk to me about how stay at home moms are not fulfilled, need job experience, or lazy and I will hit you with a brick. In my, at the time of this writing, 4 years of experience as a mom, I have accumulated a few tips on parenting. Parenting styles, sleep tips, introduction to food tips, baby transport tips, postpartum depression tips, mom uniform tips, how not to go insane tips, how to sneak chocolate in the bathroom before the kids see and steal it tips. The list goes on! But those are stories for another time.

I will leave this gem of a tip: a mom needs interests. Hear that? A mom needs interests. Something that does not involve the kids. Something that defines you. Being a mom totally defines me. It's what I was put here to do. I love it. But I also love other things. Things like:

• Reading 
• History
• Antiques
• Writing
• Hiking, camping, and anything to do with mountains and forests
• Cooking
• Tattoos
• Fashion
• Classic movies and sitcoms
• Learning crafty skills
• Planning my dream home (Ehh, it's called a dream home for a reason. Sigh.)

See that? That's me. Here you will find stories of our lives, parenting and life hacks, egotism, sarcasm, and truth.

Wait, what?

* Please don't ask me what he does for a living. I don't comprehend military terms.

** Fancy code word for menial daycare worker/diaper changer/nose wiper