Vegan(ish) Cinnamon Rolls

I am not a morning person. Neither is my husband, really, but he generally wakes up much more like a human than I do. In fact, I would say that I resemble something like a zombie with a toothache and a broken foot who just crawled out of a bog of negativity mud. Don't talk to me in the morning. Fair warning. 

This morning, however, I woke up with my mind racing and my stomach growling. I have been so busy lately with home decorating projects and I keep thinking of these great things that I can do to make my already awesome ideas even more awesome! It's a bit of a problem. No project is ever simple for me. 

So, I wake up this morning to a wet puppy nose in the eye and decide I might as well get a start on my day. Apparently I had been dreaming of pastries or danishes last night because that was literally ALL I COULD THINK OF. I had to have something. Enter the yummy Vegan(ish) Cinnamon Rolls.

Maybe not pretty, but definitely tasty!

Vegan(ish)? No...we're not trying to make a statement or eat healthier. We're just too lazy to go to the store. (It's approximately 2 miles away...I mean, it's just too far.)

Here's how we ended up choosing this recipe: 

The aforementioned pastry craving has now taken over my entire thought process. So I go on the magical world of Pinterest and look for ideas. Yum...cinnamon rolls sound delish. Here's a recipe...do we have what we need? Milk? HA! No milk. Before you think that I'm a horrible wife and that my husband must be starving, you should know that Evan actually does the grocery shopping and he does a great job. We just happened to use the last of the milk last night making "It's time to go shopping" mac and cheese. 

So I start searching for milk-free recipes. There are tons, but for some reason, the internet seems to think that if I don't have milk on hand, I must surely have BUTTERMILK. No thank you. Search changes to dairy-free recipes. Apparently, if you don't have any sort of dairy, you certainly have about a billion eggs...nope. We only have one. (Well, that's not technically true. We have 4 more, but they expired right before our wedding. 3 months ago...been there, done that, had the food poisoning to prove it.)

Ok...here we go...what do we have? Yeast? Yes! Sugar? Yes! Flour, butter, cinnamon, maple syrup, vanilla and brown sugar? YES!!! 

I know what I have to do. I go onto my favorite "what's in your pantry" recipe collection website. Yummly. I love this site because you can put in ingredients you have as well as what you don't and it will bring up things you can make! I searched for cinnamon rolls with no dairy or eggs. Bam! Done! 

Vegan Cinnamon Rolls! Only 1 1/2 hours and a big old mess in the kitchen (sorry, babe. I would have cleaned it up, but I was running late for work! My bad!) and you've got some delicious breakfast goodies! I consider ours Vegan(ish) because we didn't have vegan butter on hand. I used regular butter. Other than that, though, it was totally vegan. 

For the icing, I just mixed up some powdered sugar, vanilla and water. Super simple. 

They weren't the prettiest cinnamon rolls, but they were tasty! Mission "Avoid the Grocery Store" was a success. Now...what to make for dinner? Hm...

A Little Bit of Old in the New...

So, a lot of people have those grandparents that are just such amazing people that you can't help but think of them long after they're gone. My Nana was this kind of woman. Sure, she could be abrupt and she might interrupt your story to tell you about the amazing thing that your cousin just did, but you always knew that the next time she was talking to that cousin, she'd interrupt their story to tell them your news. She was a strong, willful, passionate woman who did crossword puzzles every day, played golf well into her late 80s and firmly believed in the power of a strongly worded letter. She was a pioneer in her own right, banning smoking inside her beauty shop long before people were aware of the dangers of second-hand smoke. She was an all-around amazing woman. 

Nana and Bopa in Hawaii

When Nana was still alive, she and I found an old book of hers that made my inner word-nerd squeal with delight: Chief Modern Poets of America and England. It was from 1936. It was an English Major's dream come true. I mean, it had WHITMAN! Anyway, I digress...Nana and Mom and I totally geeked out over the book and at the end of our visit, Nana told me to take it home with me. It has been sitting on my nightstand ever since. It is, by far, my most favorite possession. 


When Nana passed away, I got this amazing chair that was in Nana's formal sitting room. I had always loved this chair and it looked perfect in my bedroom. 

I seriously love this chair. It's so pretty!

I probably should have researched the
Stratford Company to see if this was an
"Antiques Roadshow" worthy chair.
Oh well...

Over time, the chair had gotten some minor scuffs and scrapes. The fabric desperately needed a good cleaning and was getting slightly itchy. One weekend, my adorable 2 year old nephew accidentally flipped over it backwards and put the final nail in the coffin of the back right leg. Since then, we've had it ghetto-rigged with books and pillows. 

Yes, we actually use it like this.
Beats not having it at all!

I had been thinking for some time that I wanted to get it reupholstered, but I just couldn't afford it. Then I found this blog...http://www.threeboys.net/2011/10/anthropologie-inspired-upholstered.html


Can I just pause for a moment and thank Sarah from Three Boys for posting this? She detailed every step of the process and made it so easy to understand! She really inspired me to try this project. And I am so proud of myself, honestly. It was such hard work, but I'm so excited to say that I did it by myself. Completely. 


I'm not going to post every detail of my journey. If you want to find out how to do this yourself, please hop on over to Sarah's Blog. She put a lot of time and energy into her helpful videos! They're super helpful! Instead, I'll simply share the photos of this reupholstering rollercoaster I was on! 

Awesome...this is what was inside Nana's chair.
It literally fell apart in my hands. Gross. 

Deconstruction begins

Skeleton chair

Cali thinks I'm crazy at this point, but is
intrigued by this fluff coming from the chair.
PS...don't let your dog eat this stuff.
She threw up on that blanket shortly after.
Yeah. Cali's not that bright sometimes. 

This is where I decided to go to
bed on the first night. I was pooped. 

Cushy, right?

We found the fabric on sale for
half off at Hancock Fabric! I love it!

Here you can see the covered buttons and
that the back is still completely bare! 

And here is our finished product! Piping and all done!!

It's not perfect. At some point I'll need to replace
the tack strips (I just reused the old ones...)

And that leg is still broken, so Evan is going to Lowe's to pick up some new, sturdy ones!

I have to give my wonderful husband credit for his moral support. I was determined to do this on my own and he cheered me along from the sidelines (until I needed his help with one really mean screw that just WOULDN'T go in!!) and let me get frustrated and cranky and sore. And then he rubbed my shoulders. :) Am I lucky or what?!


Anyway, at the end of this tiresome project, I have to say that it may not look the same, but I know that I'll always have a piece of Nana in my home. As the years go on, I will continue to reupholster this chair and fix it when it breaks so that I can always have some old in my life. Nana will always be in my heart, but now she will also have a place in my home. 

White Wedding

As previously mentioned, we just got married. 3 months ago to be exact. I could go on and on about how magical and amazing this day was for both of us and how emotional it was, but that would be boring. I mean, it was magical. And it was amazing. And it was emotional. I mean, I married my best friend. I've waited my whole life to find someone who makes me feel like I can be myself and who really truly loves me, faults and all. In that way, this really was the most amazing day of my life. 

But, honestly...I don't remember very much of it. No, I wasn't drunk. But you know how everyone always tells you to "soak up every second" and that your wedding day will "fly by?" They were right. It did fly by. I really felt like it was a dream. 

The day started off like any other, except 2 of my bridesmaids had spent the night. One of them had a little too much fun at the rehearsal dinner and didn't wake up so "bright-eyed and bushy-tailed" as I'd hoped, but I also woke up at the crack of dawn. I wonder why? 

When the girls did wake up, I had a momentary moment straight out of "Friends." You know, the one where Monica comes running out of her room saying "I'm getting married today! I'm getting married today" and then falls on her face? That one! 

Anyway, the rest of the day seemed to just fly by. Everyone else showed up at the apartment. They promptly made me a mimosa and put Bridesmaids on. That wasn't awkward to watch with my mom. We got our hair done, did makeup and headed out to the venue. We got dressed, took some pictures (we're getting to those) and had a few more glasses of champagne. Now, I'm sure you're thinking "glasses? plural? You sure you weren't drunk?" but I assure you, when you've got that much adrenaline pumping through your body, champagne turns into bubbly water. 

I was doing really great. No tears. No panic attacks. I was calm. Next thing I know, everyone is out there and it's just me and dad standing in the bridal suite, waiting to go. 

We walk down the aisle to the Vitamin String Quartet version of "At Last." Dad gives me away. I'm still good. And then it happens. Brett, my other big brother and best friend's husband, is standing up with us. Oh, did I forget to mention that he was our officiant? He got ordained online. Neither one of us has a church affiliation in Atlanta and we wanted something super personal. The first person we thought of was Brett. 

Anyway, he's standing up with us, welcoming our family and friends to celebrate our wedding. And then he looks at me and I look at him and he gets a tear in his eye as he calls me his "kid sister." Thanks, Brett. I was golden until that. 

If you know me, you'll know I cry. A lot. Easily. All the time. And this was no exception. Somehow I managed to repeat my vows, exchange rings and get married all while sobbing happy tears and constantly wiping my nose. At least, I'm pretty sure that's what happened.

To be honest with you, everything was pretty much a blur from here on out. I remember smiling a lot. Kissing a lot. Taking deep breaths and saying "oh my gosh...we are actually married." I remember having to ask for help every time I needed to go to the bathroom. 

I remember being really happy. And exhausted...but so happy! 

I will admit that after 6 months of intense planning, crafting, diy-ing and pinterest-ing, the moment I realized I had nothing else to do, I felt a little bit of post wedding-day depression. But then I realized I was on my honeymoon and I got a mojito and moved on! ;) More about that later! 

Here are some of my favorites from the wedding. I have to give a huge shout out to Pete Collins Photography, Texture Photographics, Lethal Rhythms Entertainment, Park Tavern, Flowers by Joanne and Diana Murphy for the huge roles they played in our wedding day. If Evan and I ever decide to renew our vows, I'd like to have this exact same team in place. 

That's my best friend...dancing? 

FYI...sparklers hurt. Bad.