These kids are ready to go!

Umm you see these two kids?...crazy beard and myself...well these two are actually ready to go. Yes, it's very rare for us to not be rushing around before a trip out of town. But this time we planned well I guess. Plus it's Springtime...and everything works better in Springtime. And for the Spring sunshine I've got a fresh pair of new sunnies...which I just adore. They say "Cross My Heart Hope To Die Stick A Needle In My Eye". I Totally remember saying that as a second grader on the playground. I saw these about 6 months ago on a fashion blog and was searching all over for them. Then one day I was very psyched to see them pop up on Instagram. There's a few color ways and they're available in the Lucky Cupcake Hairclips shop. Get 'em while you can!

So, we're leaving in the morning for our teaching trip down to Art is...You in Memphis. And right up to the last possible shipping day we had been working like mad to get out as many orders as possible before we left. Well, we are pretty happy with the amount of boxes that shipped. Very heavy towering loads went to the post office all week. We took the above pic just before our trip to the p.o. on Friday. We walked there since the weather was nice and Aar's shoulders ached from the weight of the boxes. One thing that rules is that the boxes that we shipped down to Memphis have arrived there safely. They're full of our class supplies and samples. Irreplaceable stuff. As teachers it can be pretty nerve racking when shipping all that important stuff.  

I can't believe we are officially all packed. I have lists of lists. And then more lists telling me to look at those other lists...(not kidding). And even with all those precautions in place I still have that feeling that I'll be forgetting something major. And by the way, Aaron's suitcase looks like he packed the same clothes as me, minus the leopard print.

We are so so excited for our classes. It is going to be so much fun! We worked on some step by step samples of cute girl faces that each fellow artist can use as a starting point for their own mixed media piece.

It is going to be so much fun seeing this template in the hands of each student. Of course no two paintings will be the same...and I'm not just talking about hair color choices. Each painter wields their paint in their own way. What we did here was try to break a girl portrait down to simple steps. This girl will be for a smaller warm up canvas. And then we'll all move on to a larger mixed media piece with all sorts of layers and texture. 

And here is another version of the same gal...but a bit outside of our natural color palette. After class we plan on abandoning her somewhere in the hotel. I know...that sounds much more cruel than it is. We're abandoning her as part of Michael DeMeng's awesome Art Abandonment movement. It's easy, just make art and then leave it somewhere so that a new owner can find it and keep it. Just include a little note letting the finder know that it's theirs to keep and maybe put your email in there so they can contact you if they want. I wonder who is gonna find her?

We even had time to make these pretty girl brooches for a couple of very special gals. These gifts are only a drop in the bucket of what these gals deserve for their friendship and dedication to the art community. We love them!!

It really does feel like I'm forgetting something even though the house is clean, the bags are packed, and the lists are checked and rechecked.  But I'm pretty sure we're all good.

And after checking everything off the lists we made an early dinner that was amazing! So light and healthy and energizing. We made the  Nourish + Glow Miracle Bowl from Oh She Glows. Besides being vegan, raw, and packed with veggies, it's also got a homemade sun dried tomato hummus, a faux tuna salad that's actually made with almonds, and a creamy lemon dill dressing...and the "cream" is actually cashews that were soaked and blended smooth. Wow is the dressing good! Fresh dill smells so amazing. And then we topped the bowl with pepita and hemp seeds. We love so many of the recipes from Oh She Glows. 

To wind down the rest of the night we're going to watch maybe 2 or 3 episodes of True Blood. Then we'll be up early for our flight. We promise to take lots of pics, and we will do our best to pop in here or facebook, and definitely Instagram! 

Cannot wait to see our Art Is...You friends and family!

xo Jenny & Aaron 

Recipe Review: Roasted Sweet Potato, Wild Rice, and Arugula Salad

Easter Sunday was quiet for us, and this was a welcome change of pace. Its very very rare for us to take a day off. And even when we say we're taking a day off, a little bit of work will sneak into the day...like packing some orders, or priming boards for the next day. But this Easter was an actual day off. And being that it was a sunny day we decided to go for a walk. All of the boardwalks and amusements parks up and down the Jersey Shore open up on Easter Sunday, including our very own right here in town. So the two of us walked up there to check out the festivities. It was very crowded, which is great. All of the boardwalks are still in the rebuilding phase after hurricane Sandy, so the more business the better. But at the risk of sounding like a downer, it was sad to see that so much of the old charm was gone. Everything is rebuilt and new, so the kitsch value is lost. The owners of the stands definitely did their best to add some fun with bright paint colors, but for me, so much of what I love about these sea shore fun spots is their vintage appeal. But I'm confident that with time it will all be restored to its former glory. A couple things did not change at all. The signature smells. The pizza stand smelled exactly the same...and so did the French Fry stand. But as great as those smelled to us, we weren't going to be stopping for a bite. Why? you may ask...

Well, because we really couldn't wait to get home to make our dinner. Which was Roasted Sweet Potato, Wild Rice, And Arugula Salad from Pinch of Yum. 

Now make sure that you don't take the word salad at face value. I guess the underlying bed of greens makes it a salad...but this dish is real hearty and bursting with flavor! It is so bright and fresh and comforting. And it was perfect for the day! When you get glimpses of sunny Spring weather you instantly start thinking of fresh, healthy meals. This was a great dinner but would also make a fantastic lunch. I know this because we had it for lunch the following day! The star of this recipe is the homemade lemon dressing. It is just plain magical. The big dose of lemon zest is wonderful.

Ok, first...can we pause to acknowledge the awesome size of this organic sweet potato. Aaron instantly was striking Heisman trophy poses with it. You could totally round up the kids to play a game of Easter touch football with this. 

So the recipe started off with peeling this beast.

And then after you dice it up you get it coated with some olive oil and the spices. Roasted sweet potatoes are just sweet and buttery and work great as the foundation of a meal.

And once the potato is seasoned and oiled it goes for a ride in the oven to roast until it's tender and the edges brown a bit. Would you believe that a single potato filled this entire cookie sheet?! 

And while the potato was roasting we whipped up the awesome dressing in the food processor. I don't know about you...but I get absolutely invigorated when I zest some lemons. That's probably the element in this dressing that makes it far superior to any dressing you can buy already bottled. The fresh lemon zest! It's all about the Zest!

And while I was doing the dressing Aaron was getting the wild rice made. We added some classic spices like sage, thyme, pepper, etc...And once it was ready we added some of the dressing to it in order to marry the flavors.

When everything comes together it lays atop a bed of Arugula and other favorite Spring greens. The warm wild rice and roasted sweet potatoes make the dish so comforting...and by gosh, it's topped with a handful of cashews. The cashews are the perfect finishing topper...and then you drizzle the whole bowl with the dressing.

Oh my goodness! I can't get over how good the dressing was. Our mouths were so so happy! It was the perfect meal for our Easter day. It was just us two, a nice walk in the sunshine, a quiet calm day, and the punctuation of this fab meal to cap the afternoon and bring us into a relaxing evening. We wouldn't change a thing!

If this recipe seems even a tiny bit your style, you just have to try it!

So, bolstered with this fab meal we finished our night with a few episodes of True Blood...yep...we are late to that party. We just never got around to watching it. The two of us aren't the hugest vampire fans. We definitely consider ourselves zombie people. ha! So we honestly weren't sure if True Blood would be for us. But after 2 episodes we were hooked. Its really entertaining. We also thought we were watching a show that was over and done with. So when we saw a commercial this weekend for a new season we were shocked. We have a whole lot to watch in order to be brought up to speed so that we can watch the final season in real time with everyone else.

But yes...to stay on topic. Huge thumbs up for this recipe. Make sure to go and check out all the details on Pinch of Yum!

Hope you all had a wonderful Easter! Happy Spring! 

xo Jenny & Aaron