« August 2012 | Main | October 2012 »
This month we barely got a photo in time, but Mac's dad snapped this for us as we waited for Mac's first high school IEP. In September...
Last weekend we worked on a tiny makeover of our guest room that's almost finished. The little pops of color are my favorite...
The something old is the "stay" canvas I made back in 2006. Then there's a new duvet cover, the tin can craft I mentioned the other night, and a little print I put together. Can't wait to share more when the room is all finished...
My green couch came from my grandmother's living room in a northern suburb of Chicago. I coveted it since I was a teenager, so it is one of my most cherished possessions.
Since it came to our house nine years ago it has been hanging out with the couch Sean and I bought in college, hidden by a slipcover. However I just knew one day I would stumble upon a more suitable companion for it. I believed it was out there at a thrift store or maybe waiting for me on Craigslist.
It turns out it was waiting for me at my mom's best friend's mom's house...did you follow that? She is moving soon and working on cleaning out her house. When I was there last week I asked about the plans for her floral couch in pristine condition. She actually didn't think anyone would want it. Um, yes please...
It came home with us today. To me it feels like these two couches can hang out in their retirement here...chatting and drinking tea together, surrounded by Ikea furniture and other random hand-me-downs. They just need to be willing to move around a little bit every once in awhile, because my obsessive rearranging habits do not seem to be going away anytime soon.
But for now my living room and my vintage loving heart are very, very happy.
Today I finally cleaned up and updated my old recipe blog. I decided five years ago to create a seperate place to store the various things I love to cook, but it's slowly become an abandoned space. Despite this, I have been been trying new recipes as much now as I ever have (thanks to Pinterest) and am eager to share more of what I've found.
Speaking of Pinterest, I recently realized that recipes were being shared that had super lousy photos. There were even a few cases where I had just scanned in the recipe from a magazine in order to share them. Granted, I am never going to be an amazing food photographer, but I certainly could try a little harder.
For now I have cleaned out a lot and made myself a cooking to-do list so I can try to get more appealing images of some of our favorite things to eat. Eventually I would like to move these recipe posts back here to my main blog, but that's going to take a little more work.
One of those favorites recipes that I recently took new photos of is a Creamy Caramel Apple Dip...
You can see more of my recipe sharing work in progress here.
This is my go to recipe when hosting a luncheon. It can be served with fresh sliced strawberries in the spring, but in the fall I like it with mandarin oranges and dried cranberries. The dressing is the simplest I have ever made and is often asked about. I used to think I didn't like paprika, but this vinaigrette completely changed my mind. The candied pecans are a recipe from Melinda Lee. You will be lucky if you have enough left to put in the salad because they are an irresistible snack all by themselves.
Cranberry Orange Chicken Salad
Ingredients:
Small can of mandarin orange segments
¼ dried cranberries
¼ crumbled feta cheese
¾ cup shredded chicken
½ candied pecans (recipe below)
6 cups chopped romaine lettuce
¼ cup vinaigrette (recipe below)
Instructions:
Combine all ingredients in a large bowl and toss with vinaigrette.
Vinaigrette
½ cup extra virgin olive oil
¼ cup white vinegar
¼ cup sugar
¼ teaspoon paprika
¼ teaspoon salt
Instructions:
Pour all ingredients into a jar and shake vigorously.
Candied Pecans
1/2 cup, granulated sugar
1/4 cup (1/2 stick), unsalted butter
1 tablespoon, water
11/2 cups, pecan halves (or substitute another type of nut, if you prefer)
1 1/2 teaspoons, salt
Instructions:
On a counter top, spread out a large piece of foil or wax paper generously sprayed with cooking spray to avoid the pecans sticking.
In a medium-size saucepan, combine the sugar, butter and water. Heat over medium-low heat until the butter has melted, then add the pecans (or other nuts). Continue to cook the nut mixture, stirring constantly, for about 10 minutes.
Pour the nut mixture onto the prepared foil or other surface. Immediately (working quickly) spread the nuts apart to separate each one. Sprinkle the salt over the nuts and allow the nuts to cool for 30 minutes or until completely cooled.
The finished nuts can be stored airtight for up to 2 weeks.
1. On Friday I bought a roll sequin ribbon. As someone who avoids anything remotely glittery or sparkly I really don't know who I am now. When I was joking about this with some fellow moms at Mac's JV game on Friday afternoon, his coach just said, "Welcome to cheer leading".
2. There was an iOS 6 phone upgrade done around here on Saturday. The new panoramic camera feature is no fun at all...
3. We celebrated the first day of fall by once again cranking down the air conditioner and cooking up Creamy Chicken and Wild Rice Soup and Cheesy Beer Bread...both are amazing recipes.
4. I am, admittedly, an awards show junkie...so I was shocked when Twitter ended up reminding me about the Emmy's tonight. Thankfully I was still able to see the all-important red carpet. Please tell me some of you love watching it too.
5. During the Emmy watching I quickly crafted up a little something with an empty can, strips of fabric, and a glue gun that I haven't used since 2001.
6. The gun proceeded to spit out molten glue continuously whether I was using it or not. Do all glue guns do that or do I need to invest in a little higher quality one? I would love any suggestions...thanks.
The cardigan sat in my purse tonight waiting at the football game just begging to be needed, but there was absolutely no chill in the air.
It happens every year around this time the torture of a complete and total lack of anything resembling fall weather. So I hunkerdown, as grateful as ever for air conditioning, and continuously burn fall scented candles...today it was apple pumpkin, caramel pecan pie, and vanilla cupcake altogether in one of my favorite candle holders.
One of the deciduous trees we have in the front yard has decided to play along with my fake fall pursuits too...
That or it's crying over the heat like I am.
Years and years ago now we decided to paint the back of the guest bathroom door with chalkboard paint.
Best. Decision. Ever.
It's fun to leave our guests a thematic message when we're hosting a party...like Mac's twelfth birthday. It is even more fun when friends and family write notes for us. Back in 2008 I shared one of my all-time favorite notes we received after hosting a sleepover..."I totally didn't realize this was here 'til my 3rd trip to the bathroom, but I saw the chalk and was like that's a weird place to keep it."
For awhile there was a frame hanging on the back of the door inviting people to write, but eventually it fell off and broke. Finally yesterday I took a few minutes to craft up something new...
I happened to have a 5x6 inch canvas waiting to be used for something, so I put together a digital print for it. I used the same idea from the frame we had hanging before, a list of the various possibilities of what people could share on the door...questions, comments, drawings, jokes, limericks, notes and so on. I printed out the design on card stock, trimmed it down, grabbed a glue stick, and adhered it to the canvas. Then I refilled the little basket of chalk so it's all ready for our next party.
I have a PDF of the 5x6 inch print to download in case you would like to display a sign by a chalk board in your house... Download Bathroom Chalk Board Print
I'm guessing there aren't too many of you who are as crazy as we are to have a chalk board in the bathroom, but if you do have one I'd love to hear that we're not alone.
Although the majority of my life is spent with no fashion sense whatsoever (I'm currently typing in my pajamas), I got to share in a little scrapbooking with a very fashionable blogger today over at Making Nice in the Midwest. I have loved Amanda's crafty style forever so it was extra fun to get to work with her on this...you can see both of our outfit inspired layouts here.
I know it's getting close to the end of grilling season for many of you, but that won't be the case for awhile here in Southern California. Over the summer, when we had a meat waiting to be barbecued, I tossed together these ingredients and discovered it makes for some pretty tasty grilled steak. This is my recipe, so please keep in mind all measurements are my best estimate...I'm the worst at keeping track.
Honey Garlic Marinade
Ingredients:
Top Sirloin Steak or desired cut of beef; one pound
Honey; 3 tablespoons
Balsamic Vinegar; 4 tablespoons
Soy Sauce; 4 tablespoons
Worcestershire Sauce; 4 tablespoons
4 garlic cloves; minced (or 2 tablespoons from a jar of garlic)
Dijon mustard; 3 tablespoons
Instructions:
Place meat into a zip lock bag and add marinade ingredients. Marinade for several hours or over night in the refridgerator and then it's all ready to barbecue.
Mac's bedroom was put together years ago now, so starting high school seemed like a good time for a little updating. Here's how it looked before...
And here it is now...
Fresh gray walls, a new desk, and a new simple bed frame (that Sean built). Then there's also the first piece of furniture Mac bought himself. A futon purchased with the inordinate amount of gift cards he had saved up.
The wall over his new seating area needed something, and Mac mentioned wanting to be able to display his favorite clothes (he has watched a few too many fashion blogger room tours) so a pack of wood hangers and some craft paint filled the space with a little colorful fun...
I think if you asked Mac what his favorite part of the room is, he'd probably say the lights strung over his desk and they're actually my favorite detail too. This room was a labor of love for both of us as we cleaned it out and discussed the various elements. For instance, if you scroll back up to the top you'll see super cool things like the huge "16" pinata his dad's family made for him this summer. Mac's is a sentimental guy and insisted that remain part of his new room (although they had to come down for a few minutes for me to take the room update photos). It's things like pinanta debates that remind me of the strong will and fierce love of creativity that we both share. Thankfully our collaboration worked and we ended up making a pretty darn good interior decorating partnership.
This is a cute emergency. At approximately 11:06am an idea to wrap washi tape around a tea light was discovered via Facebook. I immediately gathered supplies...
I don't want to alarm you, but my life has changed. My house will now be far more adorable throughout the fall and holidays.
And a smattering of patterned tea lights will help make watching football all weekend very romantic.
This now concludes the alert of the oh-my-goodness-is-that-so-cute emergency broadcast system.
Of course this time it's more the 12 from the 12th because I am sharing it late, but I didn't want to miss it entirely. Can't believe there's only three more 12th's for this year...where is time going?
1. High school drop-off 2. A little scrapbooking 3. Spending it before it expires 4. The best sliced turkey ever 5. Got a plant for our bedroom 6. I couldn't resist 7. Picked up a batch of photos 8. Mac came home for cheer practice with a scraped elbow 9. Super-duper happy day...new stamps 10. Leaving notes in Mac's locker during back to school night 11. Lost my phone for a nightmarish hour last night 12. Late night talking on the couch
{I'm keeping track of the 12th of each month in 2012...you can see all of them here}
Did a little plant rearranging yesterday.
Wanted to share a couple random things...
Super cute (free) wallpapers for various technological devices including iPhones and iPads. Click on anyone of them and on the item page to the left of the "add to cart" button is a link for "device wallpaper" click it and it will download. Then I e-mailed them to myself and saved them on my phone.
Then I'm a few years behind, and my mom has told me to do this several times, but I finally started watching Army Wives. I am thoroughly sucked in.
As usual, my mom is totally right.
Fourteen months ago I mentioned barely having scrapbooked in 2011...I only had finished six pages. Thankfully I ended up with a few more, but today I realized that Mac's most recent book has only nine pages in it total. I have to admit I was so sad about all the memories that aren't in there quite yet. Man, if I keep this up I don't know if I can call myself a scrapbooker anymore. At what point do you lose your scrapbooker membership card?
Well since mine is at risk, I took a couple hours this afternoon to start remeding this. I know I won't get anywhere without some serious organization so I gathered together the photos and memorbilia I had saved up. I also went through my blog making a list of everything to document...46 big and little things I want in that book for him. Now they're written out in a chronological list with my all-important check boxes...good thing I am not an organizational nerd at all, right? Hopefully my nerdiness will pay off and I can get his book overflowing sometime soon.
A graduation card I made over the summer (inspired by this card) with a gift card tucked inside.
We've had a great weekend...full of food and lots of football. Friday night we had Mac's favorite Umami burger before we went to an away game. We went down to the beach on Saturday morning for Mac's cheer teams photos. And today we ran super exciting errands...like finding school notebooks on clearance for nine cents at Target and buying 91 of them for Sean's students. Now it's late Sunday night and I have a few frivolous things I am dreaming of getting done this week...
A fall craft project of some sort.
Making a board background for taking photos of recipes because our black kitchen table and/or 1976 tile counter tops aren't really cutting it.
Taking some cute supplies and putting together a cheese plate.
Finding a houseplant that will thrive in our bedroom that doesn't get a lot of sun.
Hope you get a few minutes to working on a little something you might be dreaming about too.
I haven't worked on my little book for the year in almost a couple months, but it so much fun to get together with a friend today and work on it...
The Olympic themed card is a free download from Erica Hernandez and the neon wood grain card is from Life Love Paper.
{Project 36 is my small little take on Project Life. I am keeping track of a few details each week of my 36th year.}
We celebrated Sean at a concert in the park on his birthday eve. As always, it was filled with his favorite green and yellow, chicken curry sandwiches on croissants, and chocolate cupcakes with peanut butter frosting.
After hosting bridal and baby showers earlier in the year, I figured out that this little scallop circle punch and this star punch make cute little cupcake toppers. Tape a toothpick to the back of one and then sandwich the toothpick in between two circles with a little piece of foam tape holding them together.
A quick gathering that I put together on our mantle last Friday just in time to host a dinner.
The scrapbooking supplies go to comment #21...
Two of my close friends had their second babies this summer...one at the beginning and one at the end. I stopped by with dinner for each of them a couple weeks after they were settled back in at home and brought along a set of burp cloths that Sean helped me sew...he is far better than I am at keeping the sewing machine stitching in a straight line...
But at least I can wrap up a package all by myself...
A little belated, but in August...
1. Thanks to my mom we had an impromptu BBQ beef sandwich feast with family friends on Saturday night. She asked Sean and my brother to head to the local street fair to pick up the sandwiches and then she raided a nearby German deli for all kinds of salads. I think it needs to be a new Labor Day tradition.
2. These mini green shelves from Ikea are super cute. I need to figure out a twelve inch space around this house that needs one.
3. A one dollar sale over the weekend resulted in stocking up on a couple dozen fall scented votive candles...our house will smell like some version of pumpkin until further notice.
4. When Mac was little he would ask Sean to make posters like the cheerleaders would hold up for football players to run through at the start of a game. Here he is now...
5. In other football related news I am part of a fantasy football league for the first time. Since I know about four things total about NFL football this should be interesting.
6. I am totally behind on August's "G3" summary...time is just flying a little too fast.
7. I have been meaning to share that I have another package of scrapbooking supplies to share. If you'd like it sent to your house please feel free to leave a "pick me" and I'll do a random drawing on Wednesday.
