Pinteresting Successes: Hard "Baked" Eggs and Hairstyle

Remember, Pinterest is a time waster unless you USE what you pin!  Don't be an idea hoarder.  Be an idea implementer!  Then you can maybe justify the silly boards that don't have actual ideas pinned... ;-)  Self control!

Alton Brown's Hard "Baked" Eggs

I love hard boiled eggs.  I don't love heating up and messing with an entire pot of boiling water and a bowl of ice and peeling the eggs and... It's just not worth it to me.  But I saw this idea someone posted that Alton Brown (a Food Network chef/food scientist...talk about a cool job!) bakes his eggs.  Now, this is near and dear to me as I also learned from Alton to bake yer bacon.  That transformed my chef life.  Really and truly.  Anyway, bake eggs too!  Preheat oven to 325, place eggs straight on your mid-level oven rack to fit with the wires so they are cradled, and bake for 30 minutes.  Remove with spring-loaded tongs or a hot pad.  Submerge in ice water 10 minutes.  Peel under lukewarm running water (if desired) and ice them until cool.  These eggs were definitely easier to peel than boiled eggs AND they have a softer texture, less dry.  I'm sold.  :-)

Greek Goddess Hairstyle

Our church recently had it's annual Sweetheart Dinner.  Such a lovely time with the Hubz having a meal with friends and then dancing.  Because of my health and current arm jewelry (an IV line!), I really didn't feel up to getting all decked out like I usually do.  I admit, it's been nice to not care as much!  :-)  So we went nice casual, and I decided that I would try to play up my hair to fit my semi-Grecian cotton oh-so-comfy maxi dress.  I found a Pin, watched the YouTube video...and attempted.  :-)  I got as far as the "lace braids" which were easier than I anticipated...and then gave up and did my own thing.  My hair is SOOO much longer than hers, and it just didn't work for me to do it by myself with an IV hooked to my arm.  :-P  So this is a half-success but success kind of Pinterest trial.  If you watch the video...

1) Like her, I side parted the front sections and did put up the rest to keep it out of the way for the lace braid part.

2) I did the lace braid on BOTH sides of my part towards the back of my head rather than doing one all the way around and pinning.  Once I got to my ear, my hands had no idea how on earth to hold the braid and keep going.  :-P  So, at each of my ears, I just braided the tail by itself and tied it off.  It looked pretty funny.  Pippy, anyone?

3) This is where I abandoned her tutorial.  It ended up looking fine after I took all the rest of my hair and finished it with a messy ponytail pinned into a messy-bun look.  Then I swept the tails of the lace braids back and pinned them under the messy bun.  Added some good ol' hair spray.  Realized later that this style would lend itself beautifully to a thin shell/beaded necklace tucked in!

The BoNuS??  When I took it out after we got home, I realized that the lace braids can simply be swept up with the rest of my hair in a regular ponytail!  Such a cute, practical, and easy summer do!  I LOVE that none of my fly aways are brushing (read: itching) my face and that it's not just another humdrum ponytail "mommy" do.  I slept on it...and didn't have to do a thing this morning.  The sad part?  I didn't get a picture of the real up-do.  Ha!  There were others taking pictures, though, so hopefully someone will email me a few!  Here are several of my around-the-house day-after do.