post no. 49 -- Game Day Goodies

Today, as you all know, was game day for Super Bowl XLV. Kris' parents and friends came over for the festivities, and I was busy in the kitchen all day prepping food for the masses. Overall I vote it was a success. I made  my famous (well at least to those who have tried them) deviled eggs and broccoli salad. They're both fairly easy recipes to make for parties and little get togethers. Take a look and judge for yourself!

Broccoli Salad

What you need:
Two large stocks of broccoli
1 cup mayonnaise (maybe a tad bit more)
1 cup Craisins
1 cup Shredded Cheese (I use cheddar for this)
1 tbsp. (give or take) of Sugar
A splash of vinegar (and by splash I mean toddler sized splash, not 400lb. grown man canon ball)

Step 1: Gather Ingredients.
Step 2: Chop up broccoli into fine pieces.
Step 3: Mix everything together.
Step 4: Add extra ingredients to taste.
Step 5: Serve!

Told you it was easy!

Ashy's Evil Eggs

What you need:

A dozen eggs

Mayonnaise

Dijon Mustard

Smoked Paprika

**I apologize in advance -- I don't use any measurements with this recipe, just eyeball everything...

Step 1: Hardboil eggs and let them cool (I usually just stick them in the freezer for about 10 minutes)

Step 2: Remove shells and slice the eggs in half. Should have 24 half eggs. 

Step 3: Peel egg yolk out of egg white and toss into bowl. 

Step 4: Use about 4 tbsp. of mayonnaise and like 3 tbsp. of dijon mustard and mix everything together with a fork. You should notice the mix turning a little bit lighter of a yellow. You want a fairly smooth texture, so add more mayonnaise to get this down pat. 

Step 5. Once you have the perfect taste and texture, grab a ziplock bag and put mix inside. Cut corner of bag and force mix towards opening. 

Step 6. Fill eggs in circular motion (to make them look pretty of course) and sprinkle  smoked paprika on top. Serve and enjoy!

Let me know if you have any questions on these short little recipes! I apologize for the lack of pictures, both recipes went faster than I expected, so I never had a chance to snap some pictures before they all disappeared. Also **Week in Pictures will be tomorrow... I'm too tired to keep posting tonight. 

post no. 48 -- Family!

Today's the big day for Kris' parents coming into town :D

Clean house...

Check!

Clean dog... 

Check! 

Manicure... 

Yikes! G2G...

Have a great Saturday!!

post no. 47 -- Overboard?

It's official, I'm addicted to Polyvore... I have been toying around all afternoon making outfits that in my opinion are adorable. I have little themes to each one. Let me know what you think!

Summer Swim

Coffee with the Girls

Winter Travel

Date Night

post no. 46 -- Easing into Outfits

I really want to start getting some outfit posts out there, but the Blackberry ain't cutting it as far as pictures are turning out, so for another week or so I'll be using Polyvore for all of my Fashion Spreads. Since it's Friday, and I'm ready to start running errands for the weekend I've gone ahead and made a Weekend Errand look, complete with Jack the Boxer tagging along for the ride <3

post no. 45 -- Ch, Ch, Ch, Ch, Changes

So I'm sure  by now you all have noticed the changes around the blog. I just wasn't feeling the cotton candy colors anymore, so I decided to opt. for a more neutral approach. Hope you like it!

Today and tomorrow are going to be crazy! Good thing I had a yummy cup of Jamba to start the day off right! Kris' parents are flying in on Saturday, so in the meantime I'll be deep cleaning our house like no other. Something, we both have been neglecting since Kris got home from surgery. I can't believe it's already Friday!! Last night was date night +one. Kris' friend Tinker (Tinker is his last name, with all these military guys I never honestly learn first names) tagged along to our favorite little sports bar, Buffalo Wild Wings. We all played Buzztime Trivia and had a blast. I won, as being the female I am naturally most knowledgeable. Actually, I got every single question wrong up until the third round where I had a 5 question winning streak. Go me! I hope my left overs are still in the fridge by the time I get home this afternoon... This weekend should be fun though. I'm excited for the Super Bowl. I have a bunch of little menu items planned, because I just love parties. I am a master of deviled eggs and yummy cupcakes, so expect pictures Monday!

With Kris' parents, comes the return of his ship from deployment. That means he will be able to get all of his gadgets off finally! He's concerned about his skateboard, but I want the camera, at least to use until I get my Rebel this April. So much has changed these last several months it's unbelievable, and with this next year before us, I want to document as much as possible, both for the blog, and also for our memories. Glad you are all here to tag along for the ride!

post no. 44 -- Deadlock FAQ

I've had my dreads for about a year and a half now and over that period of time I've gotten a ton of questions about them. So this is me, finally getting around to answering those questions!

What do you call that hairstyle and what is it?

Dreadlocks! You have no clue how many times I have gotten asked by older folks what my hairstyle was called. I'm shocked that more people don't know what dreads are. To keep it short and to the point, dreadlocks are matted/dreaded locks of hair.

How do you make dreadlocks?

My best friend Martha made my dreads. Back in September 2009 we rented a ton of movies, I bought her dinner, and we sat in my living room ALL night (literally til midnight) one Saturday and backcombed sections of hair for hours. Now this is not how all dreadlocks are formed. Some, like my brother-in-laws one random dreadlock on the back of his head... are formed form neglect. Neglect is usually not brushing or combing. If you have normal to oily hair, the odds are you can't form dreads just by not washing you hair. Oil causes the hair to become slippery and then it won't dread, it will just look nasty. Dry hair, creates friction when rubbed together, and knots up to become matted hair. That's how dreadlocks form. Other methods of dreadlock creation included palm-rolling and crocheting.

Can you wash your hair with dreadlocks?

Yes, yes, and yes!! Shockingly I'm actually quite prejudice about some dreads. When I see someone with dreads that do not look taken care of I cringe. Contrary to popular belief, people with dreadlocks do bathe. Now, do I know if all of them bathe... no. Do I wash my hair regularly? Yes! I have oily-normal hair, meaning that if I did not wash my hair consistently my dreads would over time just start to work themselves out. One thing to avoid though is overwashing dreads. Because when fully dreaded you hair becomes like a sponge, it can take a LONG time to dry naturally. Make sure that you either dry them fully or wait a day or so between washing to ensure that all of the water has had a chance to clear out. If your hair stays consistently wet, mold will grow, and that is disgusting.

What do you use to wash your hair?

I use solid shampoo bars from LUSH. You can find them here.

I currently am using Seanik because the sea salt is great for dreads. When choosing a shampoo you want to make sure you have something all natural. Most soaps will eave a gunky residue on your hair, that's what makes it so silky smooth. Lush products are great because they leave your hair clean and smelling fresh without the chemicals you can't pronounce.

What are you going to do when you don't like them anymore?

It's truly hard to think of myself without dreadlocks. It seems as though my dreads have been with me through all of my leaps and bounds of life. It sounds weird to talk about them like a person but they kind of are. This hairstyle has taught me a lot about me and embracing every little quirk. The original plan in my eyes was for me to have dreads until Kris and I decided to have kids. But even envisioning kids in the picture, in my eyes at least, I still have dreads. When that day does come to shed the dreads I will simply cut them off. Not all people do it this way. A random lady approached me in Target one day asking how I could get rid of them and that's what I told her, but truthfully there are many ways to remove dreadlocks, it just depends on how dedicated to the task you are. For guys, just shave your hair. For girls, you can condition your hair for a good day or two, but there is no telling what shape your hair will be in afterwards. I will probably just rock the pixie cut for some time and then slowly regrow my hair out, but I don't even want to think of that yet. We'll cross that bridge when we get there :)

What did you look like before you had dreads?


Exactly how I look now, just with straight hair! But on a serious note. Holy cow. For this one I had to go back through my oldddd MySpace!! But here you go... oh what memories!

Well those are my dreadlock adventures! If you have any other questions, shoot me an e-mail at thepeablossom@gmail.com and I will do my best to answer them, or just leave a comment!

post no. 43 -- Giveaway Program

First off: Welcome to Pea Blossom! 


I've noticed a good chunk of new viewers perusing the blog lately and I want to encourage you all to get involved! Not in the cheesy Disney Channel Save the Environment way, but just a gentle nudge way. That is why I have come up with a Giveaway Program! Yayy! Each month I will pick something, either from my store, or near and dear to my heart to give away to one lucky viewer.


All you have to do to enter is:
Be a follower of this blog with Google Friend Connect (Click "Follow" over to your right and follow with Google/Blogger, Twitter, Yahoo, or AIM!) and then leave a comment with your email address! (This will get you in the door for one entry!) You need to jump through this hoop first, before you are eligible for added entries.

To gain additional entries, you can blog, tweet, update your status on Facebook with a link over to the giveaway! Just be sure to leave a separate comment for each entry and leave the link to each one! (You can tag @AshleyMPearson on Twitter) and to really boost your chances of winning you can comment on any post on Pea Blossom for an additional entry for the prize! Overall that's five chances to win!!

One winner will be announced at the end of the month! And the giveaway program will be starting this month!! Look for the February Giveaway soon!