Another year has come and gone-it’s amazing how fast they fly by!

This was another good year, surrounded by fun, busy at work, and amazed by my kiddo. I look back with a combination of wishing I had done more, but not sure where I would have fit it in.

On the work front, 2014 brought my 11th year at my company, and the start to feeling like the new program is starting to settle in (that one only took a year!), as well as a lot of growth and change.

On the fun front, it brought Nick and I the chance to work with a local brewery to host fun events. I was able to curate art events with local business and breweries, and it brought the 10th annual South Park Art’s Art Under $100 event. That event was attended by 2400 people!  I did crafts, I grew food, I raised chickens.

2014 brought an exciting road trip to Yosemite to spread my Dad’s ashes, as well as a few short trips here and there. It also sent Nick to the ER and ultimately to surgery for a ruptured Achilles tendon during a soccer match.

The biggest and best part of 2014? Watching my daughter eat on her own. I could have done nothing else, but that and been perfectly content with the year. After so much hard work, we feel good about where we’re at with her eating. Sure, there’s work to be done, but it’s just amazing to be able to eat with her.

What’s on tap for 2015?

Much of the same, hopefully minus injuries.

I’m planning out some camping trips, a trip to Kansas, and lots of trips out eating with kiddo.  I can’t wait to just do more this year.

What are your hopes and plans for 2015?

Yours in happiness,

Raina

I don’t know about you, but I’m beat lately. Maybe it’s the change in weather, being a mom-who knows.  I love the idea of a long luxurious bath, where I can take the time to exfoliate, and buff and do all the good for my skin things that I know I should do, but sometimes there just isn’t enough time.

Enter, my sugar soap scrubs.

I’m telling you, these double duty bad boys are just what the tired momma ordered. This is soap, scrub, oil and scent all in one. I can start my day with my Wake Up scrub, or rest in a hot bath with my Simmer Down scrub. 10 minutes either way, and my skin is soft and I am feeling ready to either take on the world, or take a nap, depending on what scent I use. I also love quick crafts and it’s super easy to put together if I need a gift for a friend.

Interested? Read on! Too tired to craft? Leave me a comment below and you could win a jar of Wake Up or Simmer Down shipped to your house! Just tell me which is your favorite and why!

Tired Momma’s Wake Up Scrub

Gather the goods-includes affiliate links where you can get them and have them shipped straight to you-could it be any easier?

Pint jars with plastic lid-plastic is best if you’re going to keep them in the shower
Dr Bronner’s Organic Castile Liquid Citrus Soap
Plain white sugar-go store brand on this guys
1 Tbsp Olive Oil
Essential Oil-10 drops each of: Lemongrass, Wild Orange, or any other citrus type oils-I really love the oils from doTERRA and Dandelion Botanical Company (yay for supporting local business!)
Glass mixing bowl (pro tip: if you use essential oils in a plastic bowl, your bowl will smell like that forever….stick with glass!)
Spoon

The hardest part of this whole craft is accurately measuring out the sugar. As you add the soap and the oils, the sugar gets a little melty, so keep this in mind when  measuring it out. Fill your pint jar with the sugar and pour into your glass mixing bowl, fill the pint jar 1/4 of the way up again with sugar, and add to your bowl.

Squeeze out 1/3 cup of your Dr Bronner’s soap, add your oil and the drops of essential oil and mix, mix, mix until incorporated. I like using a spoon, since this mixture sticks to you, but it sure is fun to get my hands in there and squish it all together (plus I get a little beauty treatment)! The end result is that you want something fluffy and goopy, and throughly mixed, so it’s not dry. Like this:

Spoon back into your jar and slap the lid on. That’s it, you’re done!

To use: Scoop some out while you’re in the shower, and scrub away gently. Rinse as you would regular soap.

Some of my other favorites are the Dr. Bronner’s Lavender soap with lavender essential oil. This stuff is a nap in a jar-so lovely.

The disclaimers, just in case: Your eyes don’t like soap, so avoid that area. It’s smells delicious, but don’t eat it. Also…there’s a touch of oil in this, which means your tub could get slippery, so be careful. 🙂

Scrub on guys!
Raina

First off, what is it?  Does it have butter?  Is it good??  Fruit butter is like thick apple sauce. It’s a spreadable fruit paste that is so good!  There’s no butter in it, and it is delicious!

I learned a few lessons from this one.

One: Crockpots didn’t give me the texture I wanted.

Two: Time isn’t something a crockpot cares about. I cooked the butter on high for about 36 hours before I gave up and blended it, then used the stove top to cook the pear butter down. I think that had I used the stove top, there would be more of a caramel flavor too. Good lesson learned!

Bottom line, would I make this again. Yes!  It is so good!!

Recipe:

• 9 lbs of ripe pears, peeled, cored and chopped (do this after you gather all of your ingredients, so you don’t end up with oxidized fruit.
• Booze. (it is me, after all). I used 4 tablespoons of dark rum
• 1/4 apple juice (I used non-filtered)
• 6 tablespoons lemon juice
• 3 heaping and packed cups dark brown sugar
• 4 teaspoon vanilla bean paste
• 2 teaspoons cinnamon
• 2 teaspoons nutmeg (fresh grated)
• 2 teaspoons ground ginger (dried)
• 2 teaspoons ground cloves
• 1 star anise
• 2 teaspoon sea salt

The spices I used were to taste and fall-oriented. If you like more, put in more!

I combined the sugar, spices and liquids together in the crockpot and turned it on high while I prepped the pears. Once they were all chopped, I threw it all together and mixed it up, making sure I scraped the bottom of the pot and that the pears were coated. I out on the lid and waited. And waited.

And waited.

Oh, how I waited. After 36 hours, I was tired of waiting, and blended it all up, and put it in a dutch oven and cooked it down until it had the consistency I wanted.  I sterilized 9 pint , filled with a ¼ in head space, and did a water bath boil for 10 minutes.

It has a rich, caramel color, smells like fall and taste like happiness! It is so good on Greek yogurt, but would go well with chicken, as a glaze.

How do you celebrate the start of fall?

Raina

Today is the anniversary of 9/11.

I remember my then husband running into our bedroom-I had the day off of work, but was scheduled for classes in Seattle. I was groggy, wondering why he was yelling about planes. He said, “A plane. A plane just hit the World Trade Center”.

I remember wondering why a plane would hit the tiny banking building a few miles from us, also called the World Trade Center.

I remember that I had never heard him sound that panicked as he explained that a plane, full of people, had flowing into the World Trade Center, also full of people. I was fully awake, but still couldn’t comprehend. I didn’t get why someone would do that. It must have been a mistake, something wrong with the plane. That couldn’t happen on purpose.

We watched, eyes glued to the screen as smoke billowed up. Then, the second plane hit.

We wept.

We watched as people ran, people fell, people…We watched as the buildings came down. Just a matter of minutes, but it felt like hours.

The world was quiet for days, if not weeks, after that. People were gentle, kind, a little more patient.

I fear that as we get farther away from that horrible event, we’ll forget. We’ll forget what it meant to come together as a nation, as a people.I fear that it could happen again.

Here’s to never forgetting, and remembering that connection to each other.

Raina

Oh, Tiny.

She makes me laugh, makes me want to pull out my hair, and makes me question everything I do and know. In short, she’s pretty amazing.

Yesterday, she ran around with her rubber duck held high in the air, making it “fly” while making pterodactyl noises. She’s very big into dinosaurs right now and couldn’t have been more excited and proud of herself for mimicking the noises on the documentary we watched and the book we looked at. She’d zoom the duck around, squawking, and then look at me, cheeks flushed and smile wider than the whole world.

Oh my sweet baby.

We later went to Lincoln Park to the beach for a friends birthday-the sun was warm, and even though Izzy wouldn’t sit still, it was a great time. I was able to get some fun pictures of her. Oh my Sunshine.

Well, Hello 🙂

Welcome to my new home! All of my old posts from Tigerlilydesignsseattle.blogspot.com are here. Heck, there’s even some OLD stuff from my old days with tigerlilydesigns.wordpress.com.

I needed a change. I needed a cute site. I needed my own URL, darnit!  And here we are.

Welcome to Make Mend Grow. My new site on making things, mending things, and growing-both as a gardener, and in terms of learning.

Thank you so much for joining  me!

~Yours in Craftiness~

Raina

Burdick Brewing – South Park (Seattle)
You guys. I love this place. Max is a genuinely awesome guy and a great brewer to boot. I could stop here and just tell you to go, but I won’t. Sadly, it’s been a while since I have been, despite this gem being walking distance from my house. The space is large, with high ceilings and cool vintage lights. Local art curated by yours truly adorns the exposed brick walls. A giant projector screen rolls down to watch games. If that’s not enough, there’s even local musician events. This is a one-stop date night, rolled into a place that just feels like home. This, my friends, is my replacement for Baron Brewing. What’s good? Yes. I loathe IPA’s, but Max makes an IPA that is actually good. The Honey and rye, which was one of his first and a low alcohol beer danced in your mouth. The Pale was solid, as was the Stout. Ah heck. What are you doing still reading? Stop and go!
Parking? Street.
Noise level? Depends on what is happening. When local heroes Fluffer played, the place was packed! On a given Thursday, the vibe is super relaxed.
Beers on a scale of 1-10? 8-9.
Food? Nope, but you can grab something from Napoli or Muy Macho our local tasty food places.
Playtime? Max is baby friendly, as is the brewery. There’s room for the littles to stretch out.
Website: http://burdickbrewery.com/

Lowercase Brewing – South Park (Seattle)
These new(er)-comers to the hood are genuinely sweet guys, too. And the best part? They share a wall with Burdick. It’s not uncommon to see the two brewers comparing notes. The space is small, but looks super cool, with upcycled furnishings and pallet walls. You have to see it to get it. The Mexican Lager is darn tasty, and they also make a good root beer. The beers aren’t hard core, and are lighter alcohol. The best part? They also show Game of Thrones! 
Parking? Street. Stay parked and go to or come from, Burdick.
Noise? Since it’s small, it can get noisy, but it’s likely to be South Parkers, so it’s cool. We’re a raucous group. 
Beers on a scale of 1-10? The Mexican Lager? A 9; The others? Nick says a 7. 
Food? They have snacks and mighty tasty hot nuts.
Playtime? If it’s crowded, it’s babes in arms level of space
Website: http://www.lowercasebrewing.com/

Tin Dog Brewing – South Park (Seattle)
Yet another local gem. Lisa and her hubby Erik are pretty darn awesome. They are friendly, fun, and brew some good Bavarian beers. Izzy loves Lisa, and Lisa is always quick to grab Izzy for us, so we can enjoy part of a pint. A few months ago, I got sick, and Lisa emailed to make sure I was ok. It’s that kind of place! The brewing set up is pretty slick, and you can get a quick tour. The taps rotate pretty frequently, but a food good standby’s are there regularly. Another upside? It’s a few blocks away from the Lowercase and Burdick.
Parking? Tons! They are in the industrial plaza at the West end of South Park.
Noise? A good consistent hum of locals chatting and laughing, great background music, but it’s nothing overwhelming.
Beers on a scale of 1-10? If you like hops, you’ll have a happy day. If not, fret not-there’s still more to choose. The beers also have a higher alcohol. The saison is super good, the Jaggery Belgian had tropical notes and the Hefe’s are banana-y. The beers for me, range from good, to holy pants. I give the Jaggery a 10. 
Food? These guys do it right! They have small plates of snacks made from local eateries.
Playtime? Super kiddo friendly, but note that there’s a garage door that opens to a parking lot by a busy main drag. Lisa is an awesome beer-Aunt. 
Website: http://tindogbrewing.com/

West Seattle Brewing – West Seattle
This place was great-tons of seating, both at the bar and at tables. There’s big screens for great game watching, and the building itself is pretty great. It was an old quick-E-Mart converted into a funky new business. The guys that were pouring were friendly, and really loved the beer. They were happy to talk to us about it, and asked what we thought about them. All in all, a great joint. It was HOT that weekend, and so they were one-third of their beers, but as you can see in the picture above, there were still quite a few beers to try out. I liked the red and the American Wheat. Nick really liked the Imperial Stout and the Red.  So, what’s the run down?
Parking? Plentiful, with a small shared lot, but a lot street parking available
Noise level? On a weekend afternoon, there’s music and quite a few people, but you can carry on a conversation without raising your voice
Beers on a scale of 1-10? 8. Nick says 7.5, but he was distracted by our Tiny Beast.
Food? None, but they do have a BBQ joint right next door
Playtime? Fellow parents bring their kids, too.
Website? http://westseattlebrewing.com/