Make These for Breakfast Tomorrow. Thank Me Later.

I have artfully tuned and worked at my recipe for buttermilk biscuits for a couple of months now. Tweaked it. Gone through several boxes of delicious salted sweet cream butter. Made them several times. Devoured them willingly each time.

Now I believed I've reached biscuit perfection. Biscuit euphoria. My mission in life is complete. Culinary wise anyway.

We happily ate biscuits and gravy for dinner last night. It was yummy. I paced around the kitchen waiting for David to get home because I was hungry and the food was ready. I hate waiting! These biscuits were calling me.

In order to share my happiness with the world, I must also share my recipe. With great power comes great responsibility. Buttermilk biscuits must not be kept to myself.

My pastry cutter and I have become friends while making these biscuits. We used to occasionally quarrel over pie crust, but now we have reconciled to make biscuits.

I like to cube my butter, just to make less work for the pastry cutter.

This is what your dough should look like right before baking. Flaky, with chunks of buttter.

Recipe:
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 tsp kosher salt
3/4 cup ( 1 1/2 sticks) real butter, salted
1 egg
1/2 cup buttermilk

Preheat oven to 425. In a medium bowl, combine flour, baking powder, and salt. Cut in cubed butter until coarse crumbs are formed. Do not overmix it, you want flaky biscuits. Mix in buttermilk and egg, just until moist. Again, if you overmix it, your biscuits will be less flaky and tougher. Less is more with the mixing people. At this point you could drop the dough onto a sheet by the spoonful, or roll it out and cut it into circles, but I like to shape it into a 10 by 5 rectangle, then cut it into 8 - 10 pieces, depending on how big I want the finished product.

Put them on a greased cookie sheet, or line it with parchment paper. Make sure whatever cookie sheet you use has a rim around it, because the large chunks of butter are going to melt, and if it spills over into your oven your house will fill with smoke, then you will have to eat outside. Bake for 8 - 10 minutes for smaller biscuits, or 11 - 13 for larger biscuits. You can brush the finished product with melted butter, but they hardly need it. They have 1 1/2 sticks of butter in them already people, adding more butter is redundant.

If you wanna change things up a little bit, add 1 cup grated cheddar cheese, 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder and 1/2 teaspoon parsley flakes. Yummy!

I snuck a bite. Mmmm.

We topped these with some sausage gravy that I whipped up, but they're also good with a little egg or what-not on them, as a breakfast sandwich. Or just eat them as leftovers the next day. I do.

Conflict of Interest

My head and heart are engaged in a heated internal debate. They are fighting with each other, no end in sight, over whether one more kid is a good idea.

My head says Hey lady, you remember how Ava acted at the grocery store yesterday? She won't ride in the cart, she's too heavy to carry around and push the cart, and she wants to run around everywhere like a crazy woman. You wanna do that again? I don't think so!

My heart says But look at your two ladies, they're so cute! And they are so well-behaved!

My head responds Well-behaved? Whose kids are you looking at? They might be nice now, but take Ava out in public, she's a houligan!

My heart says You can't even watch a little baby on TV without gushing over it's cuteness! And you just got a brand new fancy camera, it would be outright wasteful to not use it to take pictures of a newborn baby.

My head weighs in with Do you really want to buy diapers for another two years of your life? And nurse another baby, who considers your boobs their personal property?

My heart is waiting with Look at Ava's feet. They're hardly baby feet anymore. They're chubby toddler feet, with chipped purple nail polish and bonafide dirt on them. Remember how much you love baby feet, then give me an answer. Don't forget how much you also love baby hands, baby necks, baby smell. The way they nestle their little heads into your chest to go to sleep. The way they sleep everywhere, in any position, when they're brand new. And they're so soft!

My head says Isn't it annoying eating with one hand? Wouldn't you prefer it if no one fished around in your drink for a piece of ice when you're at a restaurant? Remember how much of a handful Ava was at Disneyland? She threw up on the way there, and back. She wouldn't ride in a stroller, a leash proved ineffective. Wouldn't it be nice if when she gets through that phase you never had another headstrong 18 month old to deal with? Don't you want to be able to go on vacation on a regular basis while your girls are kids? Only having two kids makes that a whole lot more doable.

My heart doesn't listen. It says You know you like being pregnant. You don't have to share that little baby, you get to feel their kicks and have a constant reminder of them for 9 months. Plus you never have to suck in your stomach!

My head says Then as soon as you give birth you feel pressure to be skinny again. You need to wear your regular jeans again, have a flat stomach again, weigh 125 lbs again. Nobody warned you about that the first time, or the rock hard boobs for that matter. Don't forget about the stitches. Ouch!

My heart says No matter what your head says, can you live with yourself if you only have two kids? Sure you can always hold another baby, but that's not the same. You can't go back in time to have one more kid.

My head says You already have two healthy kids. Be happy with what you have. It's much easier to provide for two kids than three. You don't have room in your car or house or dresser for anymore people. Just be grateful for your girls.

My heart and my head will not agree. It's a standoff. My head is practical, but it's not really the boss around here. I am a woman after all, and my heart and hormones are usually in charge. My head is winning the debate right now, but Ava is helping it make that decision. God forbid she start behaving, then I'm in trouble. The odds of that happening are pretty slim though.

My Strongest Genetic Trait

I have passed something down to my children that is inescapable..........my incurable sweet tooth. Hopefully they also inherited my fast metabolism.

They have spent the two days since Easter eating their candy non-stop, at an even faster pace than me, which is impressive. Despite me forcing them to consume normal food with nutritional value, the candy has reigned supreme. Even David, who usually has more willpower than the rest of us, ate all of the Almond Joy eggs on Easter. No one else got any, just him. They are his Achilles heel I guess.

I know what you're thinking. What kind of parent would let their kid eat candy all day for two days? Are you trying to make them diabetic? The answer is me, and no. I've eaten some of their candy, plus David took some of it to work, and it's practically gone.

They didn't get tons and tons of candy, mostly small toys. If it weren't for the Cookies and Cream eggs Ava probably would've lost interest much sooner. My logic, and I don't think I'm alone here, is that the sooner it's gone, the sooner they won't have any candy to eat. I could ration it out, but they'd still eat it all eventually.

To help battle the candy gluttony, I ate all of the Hershey's bunnies. Bit their little ears right off. But I stayed away from the insanely popular, at least in our house, Cookies and Cream eggs. Not a fan of white chocolate. As long as no one gets me another bag of Sour Patch watermelons I should be okay.

These guys are all now extinct in our house. They will be missed. By my sweet tooth, not my waistline or scale.

Easter Overload

The Easter Bunny may have gone overboard at our house. With several trips to Target and Walmart over the course of a month, the candy and toys piled up so high that they overflowed into a second basket for each of the girls, then a basket for David and me, to prevent us from eating the kids candy. It mostly worked.  

We colored eggs on Saturday, which Alana loved and Ava lost interest in after a little while. I was worried that one of the girls would make a big mess or spill some of the dye, but it ended up being me that spilled the orange all over the table after coloring two eggs. Good thing I bought that $1 ugly tablecloth to protect the ugly table! The next day I made all of our masterpiece Tinkerbell eggs into devilled eggs, which I kind of find depressing. We just colored those and Alana slaved over the placement of each fairy sticker, and here I was peeling them and cutting them up. At least they were delicious.

Sunday morning Ava got up an entire hour and a half before Alana, so the poor lady just kept looking at the baskets and pointing. She was determined to have candy for breakfast! When Alana finally dragged herself out of bed they went through their baskets, back to back on the couch. The Easter bunny spoiled them!

After a big breakfast, we pretty much took it easy around our house till early afternoon. Or David and the kids took it easy while I made cheddar biscuits and devilled eggs. Holidays are way more work when you're an adult!

Then we went to my dad's house, where my ladies had an egg hunt. Alana was picking up every egg in sight, but Ava just looked at them all nonchalant, and refused to pick any up for the first five minutes. Ater some coaxing from my brother Josh, she was on board with the whole egg hunt idea. Too bad Alana had already picked up most of the eggs. We cheated a little and put some back on the ground for her to pick up.

After we ate lots of ham and biscuits and the girls burned off some energy on the swing set and picking lots of flowers, we headed back home. Of course we had to stop at David's parents so my kids could get yet another basket of stuff. They are spoiled!

It was a good, and very quick holiday. I ate too much candy, but not as much as David. He has a weakness for Almond Joy eggs. Today my kids think it's their job to finish up all of their candy. They are doing a good job, but not quite there yet!

Alana is an egg coloring expert.

Ava tenderized the eggs before dying them. Alana supervised.

I spilled a whole cup of dye. Whoops.

Ava supervised David coloring eggs.

Unloading the baskets.

Ava was patiently waiting to dig in. That Easter Bunny brought so much stuff, two baskets for each kid.

Ava is on the hunt.

Alana was sharing her eggs. She probably figured she's just take them back later.

Swinging the day away.

Obligatory family pic.

She picked a flower for everyone, what a nice girl!

A Ban on Scissors and a Cookie Intervention

Alana has done what I've been told every kid does: took scissors to her own hair. The sad thing is she had my permission to use scissors, and I was no more than ten feet away at the sink. She chopped of a chunk on the side of her head, then tried to sneak past me to hide it in the trash. When I looked in the trash, after a little digging, I found a big chunk of brown curls. I suppose it could've been worse, it could've been at her hairline. At least her curls disguise it a little bit. Now scissors have been banned, if not for life, at least for a while.

While she was doing that, I was doing something super important. Making delicious cookie ice cream sandwiches. I might be addicted. They are so good! Even David, who doesn't have 1/3 of the sweet tooth that I have, loves them. As long as I make his with cookies and cream ice cream.

There are a few handy tricks to keep in mind when you're making these, or you'll end up with a cookie you can't bite through, or ice cream squishing out on to your hands.

Important tips:
Underbake your cookies. Try this recipe. Our Best Bites rules! They should be barely set around the edges, and still super gooey in the middle. If you don't do this, your cookie will be too hard to bite through when it's frozen.
Pre-freeze your cookies. After they've cooled, put them on a plate in a single layer, till they're nice and solid. That way when you put your ice cream on them they won't break.
Soften your ice cream. Don't let it melt or microwave it till it's all runny, but let it set at room temp for about 10 - 15 minutes, so you can spread it on your cookies without too much effort. No one tell my dad, but sometimes I microwave ice cream, he hates that!
Freeze the entire finished product, individually wrapped in plastic wrap, till the ice cream is solid again. If you're impatient and don't let them sit, ice cream will come out the sides everytime you try to take a bite. Then you'll have it all over your hands instead of between your cookies.
Eat it. It will be delicious.

My personal favorite. Plain old vanilla with a chocolate chip cookie. Yum.

David prefers the cookie, plus cookies and cream. Whatever floats your boat.

Zoo Adventures

 Yesterday was Ava's first trip to the zoo, and I have to say I think she was a fan. Sometimes we avoid the zoo because the heat not only makes us tired, it makes the animals tired. We decided to make a trip before the weather was too hot, it was only 90 yesterday. The girls both loved the animals, and I love that they still sell the awesome coloring posters that they sold when I was a kid, and for the same 25 cent price tag!

Ava was a Daddy's girl yesterday. Maybe she thought he would protect her from the animals.

Staring at the awesome, lazy animals.

Quick photo op by this awesome vine covered wall.



Feeding the very friendly giraffes. Ava got a little scared at the end, he was looking for more carrots.



Looking at the lazy lion.

Not pictured: the bearded dragon "hugging" this one from behind. Maybe it was a piggy-back ride.

Cooling off in the water. Ava looked like a wet rat the rest of the day.

That tiger was asleep when we got there, and still asleep when we left.

We'll have to make another trip in the fall, when it's cooler outside again!

Love Thy Neighbor?

Oh, the joys of shared-wall living. We never seem to get real winners for neighbors these days. In the last year we've had people who were regularly arrested for domestic violence and who borrowed our hose, much to my annoyance, a genuinely crazy person who complained that we were banging on the walls, and our newest neighbors, who words cannot quite describe.

About one week ago, a seemingly normal-ish, though slightly creepy man knocked on our door. He introduced himself as our new neighbor. The details were vague, but we managed to learn that he is living next door to us, with a roommate. He mentioned a wife and kids, but who knows where they are? Then he began a nightly routine of asking to use our microwave. No fewer than three times he knocked on our door, cup-of-noodles in hand, asking us to cook his dinner. They had no electricity yet, it was supposed to be turned on Friday, but as of right now there is still no meter out there.

Cup-of-noodles aside, he was nice enough, since we were so grateful to be rid of the crazy guy.

On Tuesday when we tried to check our mail the key wouldn't work. A small annoyance, but we were waiting on a Disney movie that we really wanted to watch. We have some connections in the post office, and I called wondering why we couldn't get our mail. It was a mystery. The next day when I went to the post office they said someone else had filled out paperwork claiming to live at our address. Our new neighbor. He must not of known his own house number, because he gave them ours. Luckily we caught it before our mail and Hercules were sent back!

Last night, around 1 am, there was no shortage of noise coming from their side of the duplex. If they would just move to the front bedroom we wouldn't have an issue, but they were on the other side of our bedroom wall, and some of us need our beauty sleep.

It was a predicament. David didn't want to knock on their door, in the pitch black of their powerless house, when who knows what they're doing. We couldn't sleep with them making all that noise. I'm still clueless as to what the heck they were doing, cause nothing good ever happens after 1 am. So David called a mediator, the Benson police. They came by, just to tell the noisy people to shut the heck up, it's one in the morning!

We didn't realize they'd be leaving with one of the neighbors in the back of their car. Apparently he had several outstanding warrants, and making noise in the middle of the night got him caught.

After unintentionally getting the neighbor arrested, although if there's anyone to blame it's him, for breaking the law in the first place, we were kind of uneasy. We don't know these people, and we don't want them to be all pissed off and mad, possible wanting some type of revenge.

After hours of wondering whether they'd yell at us, let air out of our tires or even break the windsheild on the car, that totally happened to me one time and it was such a pain in the butt!, we had an answer. David opened the door this morning to a hand-written note. An apology.

Dear neighbors in 851,
We are sorry for disturbing you, it will not happen again.
Sincerly, (spelled that exact way), insert neighbors names here, including the one in jail.

Also enclosed: a Dallas Cowboys sticker, with a second note.

We thought you would like. P/S. Sorry.

I hope I'm not alone in thinking this is so weird. It's just bizarre. What the heck were they even doing up? They have no electricity. Don't you need electricity to make meth? Why would they give us a weird sticker? David likes the Cowboys, but he also likes sleep and we both like not living next to weird people who get arrested in the middle of the night. I think my landlord is exclusively renting to crackheads these days.

I Solve Mysteries

Mystery #1: The Case of the Missing iPod

For Christmas Alana had one major request: a real iPod. Not a fake one, a real one.

I had one major problem with this: she is four. I'm not buying her a brand new iPod. So instead, right after Christmas, I gave her mine. I never use it, she may as well. We loaded it up with all her favorite pop music, plus a few songs from the Tangled soundtrack, and she was ready to go.

Day and night, our house was filled with sounds of her off-key singing. Her favorites were the Tangled songs, especially the "lantern song". Its possible she's the next American Idol.

As time has passed her interest in her iPod has not decreased. I even bought her two new songs from The Little Mermaid. We should own stock in Disney, we give them all of our money anyway.

Then one day when she asked to listen to it, I couldn't find it. I had the headphones, but not the iPod, which made it that much more mysterious. Where was the iPod if the headphones were where they belonged? I remembered untangling the headphones for her, then I put them in a basket on the microwave. That was the last time I'd seen the iPod. My worst fear was that Ava had thrown it away, because that's how she rolls, and that the garbage had already gone to the dump.

I searched EVERYWHERE. I emptied every toy basket, laundry hamper, garbage can in our house. I looked on, underneath and in the couch. I checked every closet, the pantry, the kitchen cupboards, the fridge. I had to not only think of places Alana might put it, but places that a bratty one year old might shove it. Days passed, and no sign of the iPod. I was kind of mad, but it was more because I hate lost things. I have to find them. Especially when they cost $200.

After one week of no singing, due to the lost iPod, our house was very quiet. It was the day before grocery day, so I was cleaning out my fridge. I hate a dirty fridge. It's gross. That's where you put your food people! I pulled the empty crisper drawer and saw a flash of pink. It was the iPod! Hooray! It was cold, but it still works. Alana is grateful and our house is once again filled with off-key singing.

I think the real hero of this story is me. If I didn't keep my fridge clean, the iPod would probably still be in there. Think about it.

Mystery #2: Where's That Popsicle?

Ava cannot eat an entire popsicle. Blame it on physical limitations, lack of motivation, whatever. She typically brings me her half-eaten pop, shaking her head no. I take it back and put it in the freezer, for the next time she wants one. Or she throws it away and wipes her hands on me. Either way works.

Yesterday she was eating a white mystery Airhead popsicle. If you like Airheads, you'll like these pops. I give her the white kind for obvious reasons, it's white. Just as sticky as the other ones, but non-staining.

After Alana had finished her pop and thrown away the stick, I went looking for Ava. There's no way she was still eating hers. She wasn't. The popsicle was nowhere to be found. I searched her typical places. Toybox. Garbage can. Couch. Living room floor. No dice. It wasn't valuabe like the iPod so I gave up far more quickly.

Fast forward to today. While putting away laundry in the girls room I went to close the drawer on the play vanity and made a fascinating discovery.

One melted white mystery Airhead popsicle, complete with stick. Congealed overnight and aged to perfection.

If Ava hadn't left that drawer open I never would've seen it, because I don't keep my kids toy vanity as clean as I keep my fridge.

I can't take any real credit for this one, I was just in the right place at the right time. Dumb, popsicle finding luck.

Procrastination: Friend or Foe?

Ironically enough, I've been putting off this post for a couple of weeks. My best ideas for blogs are when I'm laying in my room at night time, just me and Ava, but I just can't tear myself away from my chubby lady or Sex and the City reruns to write anything.

I try not to postpone important tasks. Try. Really. I vacuum my house, at least the living room every day. Can't rationalize postponing it when I can clearly see chip crumbs on the carpet. I wash the dishes several times a day to avoid having them piling up. Except last weekend. Stupid Sunday and my lack of motivation. I paid for it Monday.

There are some things I can't put off. And shouldn't. Dirty diapers. They aren't going to improve with time. Hungry children. They aren't getting any less hungry. Doing laundry. It starts to overflow onto the floor, which I hate. Doesn't mean I have to fold it right away though. Grocery shopping. Got milk? We do, because I never put off buying it. Removing chipped toenail polish. I cannot stand messed up nail polish. It has to come off immediately. I've already registered for the fall semester. Check that off my to-do list.

The list of things I don't usually procrastinate about is much smaller than things I regularly put off. I never fold laundry until at least 2 days after I wash it. I don't shower everyday. I don't always change out of my pajamas. Sometimes when I do these things its not until at least 3 pm, so its pretty much pointless. But at least I feel clean. I try to do my homework in advance, but if I don't do it way in advance I do it practically when its due. There's no middle ground on this one for me. I had a 2000 word paper due last Saturday that I didn't start till Thursday. Some days I don't decide what to cook for dinner until late afternoon. Its 3:01 and I barely got out some meat to defrost, but not at room temperature! Don't leave meat just sitting out on the counter! I feel very strongly about this! You might as well put out a welcome mat for germs!

I should probably wash the car pretty soon. And get the oil changed. Haven't done either since we went to Disneyland 2 months ago. I need a haircut. Also hasn't happened since before Disneyland. But my fridge is clean, I never put that off!

Some stuff is time sensitive. It must be done. Some stuff is me-sensitive. I can't stand not to do it. But some stuff, who cares? No one is hurt by my not folding the laundry. My kids are okay if we all stay in our pajamas everyday, which isn't everyday, just to clarify.

This stay-at-home mom lazy day laidback lifestyle I have right now isn't forever. Someday my kids will have to go to school, which means we all have to get up before 8 am, although thanks to Ava I'm getting up at 6:30 these days. Not only will school require us to get up early, it will also require us to leave our house. Gasp! We never leave our house. That's what enables my laziness in the personal hygiene/appearance department. Privacy.

Someday I will have to get a job, because why would I want to sit and home when my kids are at school, when I can be earning money? That will also require showering. Well, most jobs. And my future job of choice would be impaired by body odor.

For now I will sit on my butt and blog, instead of doing homework. Because I can.

Artistic Flair

My children are talented artists. Not that I'm biased or anything. Spending 79 cents on a tray of watercolors is money well spent. Sidewalk chalk gets played with more than enough. Markers are picked up off the floor several times a day. And I'm left with several hundred drawings, paintings and masterpieces to save from their childhood. Another unintentional souvenir: really dirty feet from sidewalk chalk. But it always washes off.


These are some dirty little girl feet.

Alana is concentrating on her art.

Ava's first masterpiece ever. She was jealous Alana was painting, so she climbed up and grabbed a brush. She's a natural. And every good artist needs a bowl of Cheetos within reach.



Marker masterpieces. The left one is Alana, the right one is me. I look good in red.



Ava's working on her technique.

Alana's sidewalk chalk works of art. Fun, but messy.

We're a Hungry Family

 Around our house we eat a lot! I love to cook, we love to eat. I swear half of the pictures I take are of my kids looking cute and chowing down. Ava just looks so cute with a cookie!

Throwing in the Towel

Since shortly after Alana's birth I've been an avid scrapbooker. I have filled half a dozen books, to the brim, with scrapbook pages documenting her life. I scrapbooked everything. I was privileged enough to go to the scrapbook store at least once a month, to buy stacks of patterned paper and embellishments. I cannot even begin to estimate the amount of money I put into this hobby. If I'd saved that money instead of spending it I probably could've bought a new D-SLR camera years ago. A giant fancy one.

I invested money and countless hours in documenting every waking moment of my only child's life. Then things got different. First: I had a second baby. Less time for scrapbooking. Less money for developing pictures. Less money for monthly trips to the scrapbook store. Second: We bought a new car, so for the first time in almost 4 years we had a car payment. Again, less money for scrapbooking.

For awhile I managed to stay at the top of the mountain that is scrapbooking every event in the life of two children. I managed to scrape enough money together to develop pictures on a regular basis, although getting 3 copies of stuff to go in Ava's, Alana's and the family album was getting expensive. Then something big happened. Disneyland pictures 2010. There were so many that I didn't have money to get them all developed. I seriously didn't get them developed until this February, which was one year later.

The pictures piled up after that, accumulating on my hard drive. Easter. Mother's day. Fourth of July. Ava's birthday. Alana's birthday. I tried to get them developed in small amounts. I even used some Disney movie rewards points to send some to snapfish, but the shipping ended up costing me almost as much as just sending them to Walmart. So scrapbooking was pushed to the back of the closet.

With my tax refund I managed to get all my pics from 2010 developed. Well, most. I just developed pics from holidays and birthdays. The rest got mostly ignored. Then last week I hauled out my stuff to try and catch up. After sorting through my things and realizing I didn't have enough cardstock to tackle even half my to-do list, I came to a decision. A decision that I didn't even wrestle with. An easy decision. I'm throwing in the towel on scrapbooking. I quit.

When I thought about the last year, I realized I hadn't really missed scrapbooking. I had only been to the scrapbook store twice in all of 2010. I still took one-million pictures, but they weren't getting the attention they deserved. I can't scrapbook every single picture, so the extras were getting neglected.

In my decision to retire from scrapbooking, I've decided I'm going to continue to take one-million pictures. Hello people, I just got a brand new fancy camera and I take pictures every single day with it. I take more pictures of everyday activities than I ever have before. I still want to document my kids lives, just through pictures. I don't need all my fancy paper and scrapbook layouts to appreciate all my pictures. I didn't say I'm getting rid of all my paper though. I'll keep it to make the occasional mini album.

The future destination of all my pictures will be on my blog and in giant photo albums. This way every picture can get some attention, and I will spend way less money on paper. Not that I won't ever go back to the scrapbook store to buy some pretty paper once in a while. Or like once a year, when I have money.

Last Will and Testament

I've made the decision to never own a dog again. I hate the hair, the poop-scooping, the barking, pretty much everything. The problem with this is that my kids, mostly Alana love dogs. Like, really really love. I dream about never picking up dog poop again in my life, Alana dreams about owning a dog.

In her quest for dog ownership she politely asked when she could get a dog. I replied, in a somewhat morbid fashion I admit, You can get a dog when I die. She took this quite literally. Now she is awaiting my death so that she may one day own a dog.

Besides wanting to own a dog, she has other dreams of things she can do after my untimely death. More specifically, things of mine she would like to own.

Mommy, when you die, can I have your chapstick?

Mommy, when you die can I have your shoes?

Mommy, when you die can I have your (insert random item here)?

When I die, she will at least have my things to console her. But how could I tell this pretty face no?

Spring Fashion Tips from Alana

The latest edition of Alana's fashion tips is brought to you by this lovely, but windy, weather we're having here in AZ, when some people still have to deal with snow.

1) You can never own too many Rapunzel shirts. They pair nicely with a skirt, shorts or leggings. Rapunzel rules! Go watch Tangled!

2) It doesn't matter that its spring, you can still rock Christmas tights if you have the right amount of confidence. Go ahead and pair them with green jelly sandals. You will thank me.

3) Three headbands at a time is not only fashionable, its cutting edge. I bet you'll be seeing it on all the runways. And cat earrings really showcase how big of an animal lover you are. P.S. This is number two out of three in the Rapunzel shirt collection. I'm hoping for number four soon!

4) If your butt is in need of a fresh spring breeze, let it hang out. In the privacy of your own home of course. What better time to show some crack then when playing with your Rapunzel tower?