simplyMae

Proud Wife

2011-12-18T20:36:00.006-05:00

I want to share my congratulations to my husband on his recent graduation from Physician Assistant school. He had been in school ever since we have been together!!! So I'm pretty excited if you couldn't tell.

I have been so impressed with my husband all these years he has such huge desire to learn. He has always put forth his very best in all he sets out to do. His faithfulness to his studies and the excellence with which he completed his assignments spoke volumes to me of his character. I also must mention that he received an award for "Outstanding Clinical Performance." We had no idea he was receiving an award so it was pretty exciting indeed when his name was called. The words the program director had to say about him were so honoring and really showed his great character. He has worked so hard to get to this point and I am just so proud. I Love you so much Jordan and I am so happy to be continuing our life long adventure together.

CONGRATULATIONS!!!

Using Up Every Last Bit of That Can of Pumpkin

2011-11-20T07:33:00.006-05:00

I don' t know about you but I have found myself throwing away the left over pumpkin puree that my recipe didn't call for. This time I was determined to use it all up. I made 3 different recipes from one 15 oz can of pumpkin puree!! I was pretty excited...just ask my husband.

Recipe #1:

Neely's Whoopie Pumpkin Pies (from the FoodNetwork)

Ingredients

Cookies:

1/2 cup butter, room temperature
1 1/4 cups sugar
1 egg
1 cup buttermilk, room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
Pinch salt

Filling:

4 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
1/2 stick unsalted butter, room temperature
2/3 cup confectioners' sugar
1/4 cup canned pumpkin puree
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
Pinch salt

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

Using a stand mixer, add the butter and sugar and beat together until light and fluffy. Add the egg, then the buttermilk and the vanilla. Whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, and salt in a medium bowl. Add the dry ingredients in increments to the wet ingredients. Mix until just combined.

Drop heaping tablespoons of the batter onto parchment lined sheet trays, leaving a 2-inch space between each cookie. Put in the oven and bake for 8 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool on rack.

Beat together the cream cheese and butter, in a small bowl, until smooth. Slowly add in the confectioner’s sugar. Once smooth, add the pumpkin puree, the cinnamon and a pinch of salt. Beat until smooth and well mixed.

To assemble the cookie, spread a heaping tablespoon of the filling to the flat side of a cookie and sandwich with another. Repeat with the remaining cookies. Transfer to a serving platter and serve.

I would highly recommend putting these together just before serving as indicated. I however made them and left them at room temp. for about 3 hours. The cookie became too soft, but we had one the next day after it was refrigerated and it was way better!!

Recipe #2:

Pumpkin Pancakes

I got this recipe from a Krusteaz coupon, but I had bisquick at home so I just made the pancake recipe and added the brown sugar, spices, and pumpkin...it came out amazing!!!!

Ingredients

2 cups Krusteaz Buttermilk pancake mix
2 tbsp brown sugar
1 1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
1 1/4 cup cold water
1/2 cup canned pumpkin

Mix together and make the BEST pancakes you have ever had!!! I'm making these for Christmas morning this year for sure!

Also it suggests Maple Whipping Cream..yum I didn't have any heavy whipping cream at the time but I will next time:)

Maple Whipping Cream

1 cup heavy whipping cream
2 tbsp maple syrup
ground cinnamon

Recipe #3:

On this last one I didn't actually measure the pumpkin but it looked like a cup was left and they came out amazing!!!! I added some chocolate chips and I used dried cranberries instead, also I didn't have an orange so no zest (I wish I had cause I love orange zest in recipes).

Pumpkin Cranberry Cookies

Ingredients

1/2 cup butter softened
1 cup white sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 egg
1 cup pumpkin puree
2 1/4 cups all purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup cranberries
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tbsp orange zest
1/2 cup chopped walnuts

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 375. Grease cookie sheets (I used parchment paper)

2. In a large mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in vanilla, egg and pumpkin. Sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon; stir into mixture until well blended. Cut the cranberries in half and stir into mixture along with the orange zest and walnuts. Drop by teaspoonfuls onto cookie sheets.

3. Bake for 10-12 minutes.

voilà!

2011-09-04T17:51:00.005-04:00

I am very excited to show you my recent DIY project!!!

We were having dinner at my in-laws house a couple months ago just after they had replaced some furniture in their kitchen. As I arrived I spotted a beautiful table in their carport. I had seen this table for years now in their kitchen, but until now it never spoke to me. When I saw it sitting there all alone outside I quickly thought what a great project this will be. As it turns out Jordan's Mom told me that while he was in 4H he refinished this very table for a wood working project. I have always wanted to have a piece in our house with some character and pizazz and this was my ticket. Lucky for me they were giving it away.

Before

After

If you know me you know I'm in love with this color. I love the shell on the upper ledge (you can see it in the before picture). The clear knobs are my favorite. The original table only had one knob and the hole for it was huge. So Jordan's dad filled it in with wood putty and drilled 2 holes. Then I used metallic spray paint to refinish the door hinges so they would match the knobs. This has been such a fun and rewarding project. It's so fun having a furniture piece with some history too. I love the Queen Anne legs in the front. Decorating the table took some real thought and I had left it blank for about a week before deciding. I was nervous about it being too cluttered, thankfully my friend Maddie helped me to perfect it.

Also, below are some of my recent thrifting finds

Love the coffee mugs, somehow my coffee seems to taste better in them :)

This table cloth is so fun, the design is cute and the fabric is really soft.

Sweet white bowl

Summer Obsession

2011-08-06T16:51:00.004-04:00

Berries have been my obsession this summer. We have enjoyed berry picking twice this season so far. First we did some blackberry picking and today we picked some red raspberries....yum. It's so fun to pick them in their natural environment even if it does mean getting a little prick from the thorns every once in awhile. Growing up we had blackberry bushes all around our house. It was awesome all during the month of August as we got to pick our own berries, my favorite way to enjoy them was atop vanilla ice cream. Although ice cream is still one of the best ways to enjoy them I am broadening my options. When we picked our blackberries they were still a bit tart for eating plain. So I put them in a sauce pan, sprinkled on some sugar and added a couple tablespoons of water then cooked them till they were bubbling and changing color. I had some plain Greek yogurt in the fridge (for another recipe) and it seemed like it would work. I have to say this was a match made in heaven. The thick and creamy texture of the yogurt is complimented by the intense flavor of the blackberry sauce and I ate this pretty much every day for breakfast that week. I also made a blackberry cobbler which was tasty as well but it didn't compare to the Greek yogurt and blackberry sauce...just thinking of it is making my mouth water. Now I get to find yummy things to do with these raspberries!!!

Love of Owls

2011-06-09T19:14:00.004-04:00

I have a love for owls. There are so many cute owl doo-dads out there and I just can't help myself, I am becoming quite the collector. A couple years ago my friend Carrie found me a vintage owl cross-stitch for my birthday and I love it! She inspired me to find a cross-stitch pattern which I finished a couple months ago. Now, all that is left is to buy a frame. I think I want to buy an oval frame but I'm not sure what color frame to go with or how wide. Any suggestions would be much appreciated. Here is my lovely owl.

Enchilada Pot Pie

2011-05-31T20:17:00.008-04:00

I feel as if I am a guest on my own blog since it has been so long since there has been a post here.
I love to cook as you all know, but I am usually one to follow recipes fairly to the "T". Tonight I went out on a limb and am quite pleased with the results. Last night I went looking through my recipe stash for this weeks meals. I pulled out a Campbell's recipe for chicken enchiladas. As I looked it over I realized I was short several ingredients. So I started formulating a new recipe in my head...quite fun I must say. Throughout the day today at work I caught myself thinking of the different options I had to make this unique.
Below is what I came up with.

Enchilada Pot Pie

Ingredients:

2 Tbsp olive oil
1 red pepper
1 sweet onion
1/2 cup diced grape tomatoes
1/2 cup of salsa
1/4 cup sour cream
1 can cream of celery soup
1/4 tsp chili powder
salt and pepper to taste
3/4 cup shredded cheddar
1 1/2 cups diced cooked chicken
tortilla chips

Directions:

Preheat oven to 425. Heat olive oil in a large skillet on medium heat. Saute onion and pepper till tender about 4 minutes. Add diced chicken, chili powder and salt/pepper. Stir in salsa, sour cream, cream of celery soup. Heat through. Take four ramekins or one 9x9 pan. Put down a layer of tortilla chips then spoon in chicken mixture. Put another layer of tortilla chips and top with cheese and diced tomatoes. Bake for 15 min or until golden brown.

Enjoy, I know we did :)

And since the weather has been so nice lately here are some of our recent outdoor adventures.

On a hike in the Dolly Sods. This was on our Cabin vacation in wild and wonderful WV

And here we are on a hike in White Oak Canyon with our friends Aaron and Maddie for Memorial day. This hike is awesome full of swimming holes and waterfalls. In the picture at the top I was looking at all the little fishes nibbling at me...in case you were wondering :)

Happy Valentines Day

2011-02-14T21:11:00.003-05:00

This is what we had for Valentines dinner. I found this yummy dessert recipe in a magazine we have in the waiting room at work. Its so huge we decided to forfeit dinner and just go for dessert tonight. It was quite good I especially love the raspberry sauce!!

Also for Jordan I made this super cute accordion card, I got the idea from my Martha Stewart magazine. It was super fun to make. I added little gifts and sweet cards inside each envelope.

Best Birthday Ever

2011-02-14T20:37:00.008-05:00

I have just had the best Birthday week! It began with receiving wonderful thoughtful gifts and birthday wishes through the mail from my friends and family (thank you all :). Then on Friday, my actual birthday we went to sushi with our friends Maddie and Aaron.

It was so yummy and I tried something new, a mango roll and now it's my absolute favorite!!

Then I came home to some sweet gifts from my hubby. When I woke up the next day Jordan had the whole day planned special for me. We spent the day in Alexandria, VA. My boss told me that it is known to be one of the most romantic cities. It was so perfect...good choice Jordan. We arrived and went to this wonderful brunch spot and enjoyed a delicious egg dish followed by a delectable peach filled crepe, all while sipping on some yummy coffee. Then we ventured down to the water where we found a walking path which ended up being super long not sure how long it goes for but we were on in for about 3 hours. It was beautiful and sunny. The best day ever.

We ended the evening at a Spanish Tapas Restaurant. It was so tasty and fun to try new things!!

If you LOVE Jello...

2011-02-09T19:06:00.005-05:00

You should definitely try this...I am very impressed with this easy, yummy treat!

I like to make little jello snacks for lunches every once and awhile and last time I was making jello I noticed this "magic mousse" recipe on the side of the box and thought to myself that I should try that. So yesterday I did and today I ate one at lunch and it didn't disappoint. I LOVED it! All you do is mix in a tub of cool whip into the jello liquid and it sets as if you spent a bunch of time making the layers but really all you did was mix it and you get to enjoy fun tasty layers of jello.

Yum

Sucess!!!

2011-02-06T16:22:00.004-05:00

It's always the best feeling to actually complete a project. A couple weeks ago I finished a project that I had started back in October and never finished!! I made it my goal to finish all 3 in one week and I did (goals really do work). They have been mailed out to their little owners and now have loving homes :)

One of these bunnies has already made it to blog land in this sweet post. :)

Now back to working on the quilt for my parents...which I started in fall of 2009!! What a sweet success that will be when I complete it :)

A Breakfast For Champions!

2011-01-27T10:34:00.006-05:00

I will be posting a picture of this later. I happen to be at work right now with nothing to do, because of the snow none of our patients are coming in...but alas we are here. Why is it so hard to get a snow day as an adult??? I sure do miss snow days :)

I figured since we are so slow I would work on this post now and then post it later at home so I could add the picture but I accidently posted it early and I don't know how to take it off. So if you read this early come back later tonight to see the yummy picture, it will make your mouth water.

In my February Martha Stewart issue there is a section on healthy snacks. As soon as I saw this particular one it screamed BREAKFAST to me. I have already had it twice this week for breakfast and it is awesome, I made it for Jordan too and he loved it. I happen to LOVE breakfast and I'm always looking for new options to switch things up and this has been a great addition to our breakfast choices.

All you need is:

Whole Wheat Pita (I used the pocketless kind)
Ricotta Cheese
Apricots
Sliced Almonds
Black Pepper
Honey

The balance of flavors is perfect and the crunch of the almonds really makes the dish stand out.

Yummy Recipe and New Kitchen Stuff!!

2011-01-20T17:48:00.006-05:00

I just can't pass up sharing this recipe with you all. I made this for part of our Christmas dinner. Jordan and I got to visit my family out in WA this year for Christmas, it was so nice to see my parents and great friends :)

Before we left we had a little Christmas celebration just the two of us. I did a surf and turf menu...yum.

The recipe I want to share is Nona Luna's Rice. It is so amazing I even made it for my parents when we were visiting and they love it too. Give it a try! It is a very tasty and satisfying dish. Also Jordan bought a special drink called "Christmas Soda" it was fun, kind of a spicy drink.

Also...thanks to my Family and Friends our kitchen has become more equipped with fun things. So thank you!! Here are some pictures of our wonderful new kitchen goodies.

I am cooking up a storm with all these new additions!!

Crafty Bastards

2010-12-19T18:54:00.004-05:00

This craft fair will never be forgotten with a name like that. The Crafty Bastards Arts & Crafts Fair was the highlight of my fall; thanks to my friend Carrie for inviting me and introducing me to this amazing event! Its seems a little wrong to be writing about this now since it happened over two months ago but I just couldn't resist. I have had a lack of motivation to blog lately but this post has been in the back of my mind since I went.

The craft fair is in Washington DC and is completely packed with crafty people so I was hooked instantly. Carrie had gone before a couple years ago with her sisters and loved it. This is not your normal craft fair, well at least I had never been to one like this. There was booth after booth of inspiring crafts from clothing to purses made out of vintage book covers to jewelery, soaps, hats, photography and anything else you could think of. They even have a break-dancing competition going on. I had never seen one before it was awesome!!!

Carrie and I both left the fair with some great treasures, I have some pictures of mine below. I thoroughly enjoyed this and WILL be going back for sure next year!!

I was pretty excited about the short button scarf I had seen one on a blog that I follow and I thought to myself I would love to make one...but since I have forgotten how to crochet and I don't know how to knit I bought one :). I still would like to make one once I learn the skill. It's a great scarf, keeps your neck nice and warm without the extra fabric hanging down. The dish is hand made pottery, she had the most beautiful designs. The pouch is made with the cutest fabric. And the cuff bracelet is made from two materials, the bottom turquoise is seat belt material and then the top is like a tapestry, very pretty pattern. Below is Carrie and I with our memorable t-shirts.

Also I dyed my hair reddish...I guess you can say I'm all decorated for Christmas :)

Special Meal

2010-12-05T08:53:00.004-05:00

The tradition I'm about to share I got from my family, and now Jordan and I have adopted it. When Thanksgiving comes around, no matter where we spend it, we always have our own special meal together another day. As a kid I always enjoyed this. This year we spent Thanksgiving with Jordan's family and it was really fun, with just the six of us. Jordan's Mom wanted it to be just us since Jordan and I will be in WA for Christmas. Unfortunately, I took not a one picture of the family to share:(

So anywho on the Saturday after Thanksgiving Jordan and I had a yummy meal, just the two of us. I decided to go with:

Cornish Hens w/Cornbread Stuffing
Macaroni and Cheese
Green Beans w/Shallots and Toasted Hazel Nuts

I was pretty excited about the small menu, sometimes I get a little excited and make way too much for two people. I got the Cornish Hen recipe the day before by watching the Barefoot Contessa and she just happened to be making the Hen's as well. So I copied her. except I made my own cornbread and she store bought hers. This stuffing was the best I have ever had! The mac 'n cheese recipe I get from a Church cookbook I have, it is my all time favorite.

Hooray for Family traditions!

New To Me

2010-09-14T21:05:00.009-04:00

This summer I have found some great finds to place around our home. I have taken a couple trips to Lynchburg and stayed with my friend Carrie :). Both times we went to various places downtown, one being the famous Estate Specialist stores and I got great deals. We even stopped by a yard sale. It's always exciting to see what you might find that you can re-purpose from what someone else doesn't want any longer. Most of the pieces are white, as you will see I just love that white milk glass that is found in a lot of second hand stores or antique stores. My friend Natalie definitely gave me a new found love for white decor, it is so simple and pleasant.

Here are my finds.

This is a picture of my friends Carrie and Susannah who came to stay with me while Jordan was in Nicaragua...we had so much fun. My finds are the two mini vases which I found at a yard sale. The little flower was made by a child in Nicaragua and given to Jordan :)

This white piece was actually placed on top of the blue vase above which was actually a perfume bottle so I separated the two. The pear candle I found at the Farm Basket in Lynchburg which is a great shop.

On the left is a pinch bowl which I have used many times already for both prep work and serving, the piece on the right is on display above our kitchen cabinets.

On the left is a beautiful dark teal jar which is also on display above our cabinets. I found this at a yard sale which was on the side of the road when we went hiking 2 weekends ago. Also we got these amazingly yummy yellow tomatoes.

I saved the best for last...these are vintage Pyrex from the 60's and I am beyond in love with them. As you can see, they have a little aqua farm family printed on them. I love aqua! I found these at a little store in Woodstock, VA called, Three French Hens. Its is a wonderful store filled to the brim with fun finds and every week they have sale colors and if you purchase something in that color you get 20 % off! She has several other pieces I want. Also I found a matching butter dish on Etsy!!! Needless to say I'm pretty excited.

I hope you enjoyed my summer finds :)

Alarm clock: Off

2010-08-22T15:16:00.004-04:00

I love time off, I mean who doesn't. One wonderful thing about having time off is the fact that you don't have a schedule or at least you don't have to if you don't want to. I love days off and weekends for this wonderful fact. It's my favorite when I don't have to set an alarm clock. The sun wakes me up and I can do with my day what I will; which is such a great feeling. We just got back yesterday for a couple nights stay at Virginia Beach. Its was lots of fun and lots of relaxing. Playing in the ocean was my absolute favorite.

Also I want to tell you about my abundant Basil!! I'm so excited that it really took off. I had started out with; basil, rosemary, Italian parsley and chives. I followed the directions and started them indoors then moved them outdoors. Unfortunately I think I waited far too long to replant them in a larger pot so the other three didn't do to well. I decided to stick with the basil cause it seemed like it was going to make it. I sure am glad I did!

Look at it now...

It's huge and the flavor is wonderful. I find myself adding it to anything and everything. I have added it to scrambled eggs, pastas, and even a frozen pizza. Tonight we are having one of Jordan's favorites...Mediterranean pasta which calls for basil :)

Please send any yummy basil recipes you have my way!

Girl Time

2010-07-25T21:43:00.003-04:00

A couple weeks ago Jordan's Mom and I had some girl time planned. We were all set to go to West Virginia to take a bike ride on the C&O Canal trail. It is a path that goes all the way from D.C. to PA. Its a great trail where you can camp along the way. We were really excited and then it rained like crazy the night before and when I checked the weather in the morning it looked like more rain so I suggested we reschedule; which later was a big disappointment because it turned out to be a beautiful day!

Oh well, instead we decided to paint pottery. It was Carol's first time at a pottery painting place which made it lots of fun! She really liked it and now she has her own special mug to enjoy.

And I have a fun serving tray

Always good to have some girl time, thank you Carol.

Date Night...and a Bear

2010-07-18T17:09:00.006-04:00

Jordan and I most often get some time alone during the weekends. Most often I either plan something extra fun for dinner or we go out to eat. Then we usually finish up the evening with a movie either from netflix or we go out to the movies. We love movies! But needless to say we are doing a lot of the same. So we decided that each week we would take turns planning our "Date Night" this was the first week and Jordan planned it for us. We started out by getting some take out from Tropical Smoothie and then drove up on the Skyline Drive to the Visitors Center. There we chose a nice spot in the grass to enjoy our dinner while lounging in our Crazy Creek chairs. It was so much fun to get away and do something different.

Then after we finished up with dinner we took a little hike in the woods. It was so fun to get out in nature and unwind after our yummy meal.
Now for the Bear part. Right when we were finishing up our loop Jordan says to me, "Deb stop for a minute. " So of course I instinctively try to speed up because I'm guessing he saw a bear, this area happens to have a lot of them...lucky me. Turns out there was a cub to our right and Jordan was wisely trying to see where the mother was before moving on and he wanted to get a picture of it :) Well as my heart was racing I did my best to slow down and remain calm I am happy to say we did not cross paths with the mom.

Here is the baby bear running off.

Hooray for Date Night!!
Now I get to plan for next week :)

My Fabric Stash

2010-07-11T13:16:00.006-04:00

I have a little obsession with fabric. I am on JoAnn Fabrics mailing list so I often get coupons for 40-50% off a single cut of fabric or anything that is not on sale already. Sometimes I use those coupons to add to my fabric stash. I am very happy to say that JoAnn's has been getting a little better fabric selection which has been nice. There are some great websites out there too but sometimes its hard to really tell what the fabric looks like without seeing the design in person. I have so many projects that I want to start and some that I have strayed away from (yes I mean the quilt...sorry Mom I will be getting back to that soon :)!).

I have recently been given the awesome opportunity by my Mother-in-law, to set up a table with some of my handmade goods and an event she is hosting. I'm really excited this will be my first try at selling some of my jewelry and I was thinking of making some purses as well. It is in September so I will need to create a lot in the next couple months. I have debated for awhile about starting up an ETSY site to sell some handmade treasures but I really just haven't had the time to devote to it. I keep thinking I would start one once I became a stay at home Mom....which I can't wait for that day! Maybe this will give me a jump start on doing that...who knows what could happen.
Back to my fabric stash; here are some pictures of some of it. I recently got some fabric with these darling birds all over. I can't wait to use them for something!

Also here are some fun eye masks I recently finished. For our anniversary Jordan bought me this awesome book, "Sew Liberated, 20 Stylish Projects for the Modern Sewist". This was one of the projects, I modified what she did because I wanted to use patterned silk instead of solid. The silk fabric makes them so nice to wear. The inside is filled flax seed infused with lavender essential oil so they smell divine.

Feast for the 4th

2010-07-04T19:25:00.006-04:00

I always enjoy coming up with a menu for holidays. Jordan has lots of studying to do right now so we didn't have any extravagant plans for the 4th this year. This was the perfect time to make a fun meal; it gives me something to do with all my time and keeps us home for studying. It wasn't hard to come up with the menu because I got it from a cooking show...of course :)

Last week I was watching, 5 Ingredient Fix, and Claire Robinson was doing what she called a "Passport Picnic." It was a Mediterranean menu and right away I knew I wanted to make these recipes soon...what better time but the 4th of July?!

On the Menu:

Fresh Cucumber Salad

Toasted Israeli Couscous

Lamb Sandwich

The only ingredient I couldn't find was ground lamb, maybe if we lived in a bigger city I would have. I used ground beef instead. The ground beef patties turned out great the mint and feta really gave them the Mediterranean taste. The Fresh cucumber salad was so wonderful; the honeydew melon with the cucumber was a great match and the jalapeno and red onion really set it off with a nice punch of flavor then the Greek yogurt made it nice and creamy! The Israeli couscous was delicious. The crunch from the pistachios and the sweet chewiness of the apricots were the perfect textures; also I love pretty much anything with scallions in it. These recipes were a huge hit with Jordan and I. You should try them all out for sure.

Summer Bounty

2010-07-04T10:36:00.006-04:00

Summer is the time for lots of yummy veggie bounty.

We had a couple over for a game last week and to enjoy a wonderful strawberry rhubarb pie (any dessert with rhubarb is my favorite...so tangy and delicious). As a gift they brought with them some summer bounty. They have a friend who is growing some zucchini and they had lots to share. They brought us quite a large one; so I felt that I needed to try something new with this summer goodness. I have heard of zucchini cakes but have never tried them. I went to google and typed in zucchini cakes and tons of recipes came up I went with THIS one, very simple and I had all the ingredients. They were done in a flash and so tasty we just ate them plain. I'm sure they would be quite good with some sour cream and scallions on top as well.

Thank you Aaron and Maddie for this amazing zucchini!

A Girl Can Dream...

2010-07-03T15:39:00.007-04:00

I'm in love... with a cookware set and I must share it with all of you.

I love watching several different cooking shows that air on the Food network channel and I have noticed that each of them have something in common. They all use the same pot by Le Creuset. So after seeing these pots so often while amazing meals are being created it makes a girl want one. The other day I was printing off some recipes from the food network website and I happened upon this beautiful set in a wonderful Caribbean blue color...yes in love. Most of my kitchen is filled with red; which I like as well and it seems that most kitchen items are available in red which is why I have so much of it. I am getting a little tired of all the red and would like to add some splashes of colors from the turquoise family which seems to be harder to find; so it was nice to see this set in this color!! Now its time to save up!

Do you have any reviews on this product to share??

Scrumptious

2010-06-19T18:39:00.006-04:00

We just ate the most amazing dinner! A couple weeks ago we were visiting our good friends, Carrie and Jesse West, and we had the most yummy stuffed peppers. It was my first stuffed pepper experience and an excellent one at that. Carrie made a rice mixture with corn and beans for the stuffing it was so good. Then a week or so later I was watching my favorite cooking show and she happened to make, Couscous Stuffed Peppers with Basil Sauce. So tonight that is what we had and they were so delicious I can't wait to have them again. The stuffing was incredible; it was full of couscous, feta, dried currants, spinach and garbanzo beans. I had to improvise a little on the basil sauce because they were out of basil at the store and the basil I am growing is not yet big enough; so I bought chives instead. Also I could not find creme fraiche so I bought mascarpone cheese. When making the sauce I added a little more olive oil and lemon juice since the mascarpone is thicker than creme fraiche. The sauce taste great and went so well with the flavors of the pepper and filling!!

Snip Snip

2010-06-06T21:26:00.003-04:00

I cut my hair!! I have had long hair for awhile now and I have loved it. I actually didn't think I would be able to cut it and then one day I felt the urge for a change. So I made an appointment and found a picture of my new do.....take a look!

I still want to figure out what hair product to use, it's fun to wear it smooth too. It sure is a fun change for the summer!

Go Fish

2010-05-23T12:57:00.001-04:00

For awhile now Jordan has been encouraging me to cook more fish. For one he likes it, and also for the health benefits. I have been a little reluctant, not because I dislike fish, but because of the lack of good selection around here. Growing up in WA there was always a good selection of fresh fish because our location was so close to fresh water. I have decided to give up my prejudices and to cook fish once a week. Since I have a half day on Fridays I have decided Friday is the day for fish. After I get off work I stop by the grocery store and pick out whatever is wild caught and then go home and figure out what to do with it. So far I have done this for 2 weeks. The first week was wild caught Cod. It's a nice mild white flaky fish. I dipped it in an egg mixture then a seasoned flour mixture, it was quite tasty.

The next week I found some wild caught Sockeye Salmon. We love Salmon :). A little butter, lemon juice and herbs was all it needed. It was so delicious!

Next I want to make this Mahi Mahi recipe from a friends blog! I wasn't able to find fresh Mahi Mahi so I went with frozen, it says its wild caught but who really knows.

Time to Rearrange

2010-04-25T16:31:00.006-04:00

As a young kid I would frequently rearrange my room. I always enjoyed a fresh new look to my room and loved to reorganize. Since I have grown up so has my furniture. Instead of my twin bed and skinny dresser I now have a Queen bed and and very long dresser. So it seems there is only one way our room can be. I started thinking about other rooms in our apartment and our Living room came to mind. I began visualizing all the ways I thought our furniture could fit. Our living room isn't huge but for some reason we didn't feel very cozy in it and it didn't feel like a good conversational layout. Whoever was on our chaise lounger felt ages away from whoever was on the couch. One day a rearrangement idea hit me and although I wasn't positive it would all fit well, we gave it a go...and loved it!! Jordan and I were so excited we wanted to spend more time in this room. It felt fresh and new even though it was the same furniture.

Here are some before shot's. It's tough to get the whole room in one shot but here is an idea of how it was set up. The couch was facing the fireplace, which is not shown in any of the pictures. The chaise lounge was on one side and the TV is on the other side of the fireplace.

Here are a couple shots of how it is now! Our couch faces out our window/door to the deck, which is a wonderful view to look out at. Also with the rearrangement we feel closer together as well as feeling like a more conversational space. The new arrangement even gave room for a lovely new storage ottoman we bought, which provides easier access to our board games! Check it out.

Gifts

2010-04-10T16:54:00.002-04:00

It is fun giving gifts especially when they are a little homemade. My brother recently got married! I'm excited I have a sister now and I am very excited for my Brother too:)

I wanted to get her something special and I have had friends in the past who gave this kind of gift to their soon to be sisters so the idea came to mind. I got her a necklace with two tags one is round and has her new initials on it and the other is rectangle and has their wedding date in it. I found the necklace on etsy at this store. Then I went out and found a beautiful yellow bead (since yellow is her favorite color) and added it also I got some extras and made little earrings to go with. It was so fun to mail to her. And their wedding was beautiful!!
Here is a picture of the finished product

There is a First Time for Everything

2010-03-08T21:42:00.007-05:00

I am excited to share with you two very fun things that I have tried in the last two weeks.

1. I had Sushi for the first time...unless you count the California roll...This was my first raw sushi experience. I loved it! I always thought I would get the gag reflex as soon as it hit my mouth so I never would try it. As years have passed and I continue to meet more and more people who really like it I decided that next time we went to a Sushi place I was going to try some no matter what. Last weekend Jordan and I went out to a place called Mimosa's. There I ordered the Vegas roll which had salmon, cream cheese and avocado; Jordan ordered the Mimosa roll which had tuna, eel, a few other things and topped with caviar. I ended up liking his more but they were both really good and so fun to eat!

2. This past weekend we went Cross Country Skiing!! It was so much fun! Before this weekend the only snow activity I had ever experienced was tubing. For several years I have wanted to try Cross Country Skiing but it has never worked out. We went with Jordan's parents who have gone 4 times this season and love it; so they showed us the ropes. The whole day was gorgeous, full of sunshine and beautiful views. We can't wait to go again next season.

It's so fun to try new things!

Spring Time Here I Come!

2010-02-21T15:42:00.005-05:00

We enjoyed a small glimmer of warmer weather this weekend and it got me thinking of Spring! I am very excited for Springtime. This year I am going to get a few rectangular hanging flower boxes to place on our porch railing. This will be my first outdoor growing attempt so I am very excited. At the present time our porch is completely empty accept for a strand of Christmas lights we still have out. So it will be so fun to have some pretty flowers and plants to look at. Also this weekend I ventured out to Pier 1, a store that I love. For my birthday my husbands family gave me a gift card to this wonderful store and I was very excited to use it. After walking around the entire store not wanting to make a rash decision I stumbled upon a beautiful outdoor chair in a weathered dark teal/green color and then I saw the price tag and got super excited...this chair was normally $100 and is now marked down to $24.99!!! It so happens that it is from last year's collection how awesome is that!! I was a little nervous cause there was only one on the floor but after asking someone they had six in the back!!! Jordan and I have been looking for outdoor chairs for a couple years now, but the ones we actually liked were are always way out of our price range so we have just stuck with our camping chairs. Now we have chairs for our porch that are something we actually find attractive! I'm so glad we never settled :)
Here they are

Also I updated my wall sconce flowers for spring. The past 4 years I have had the same red Gerber daises in my sconces and I was ready for something different. So a few weeks ago I found these beautiful spring green hydrangeas; it's a fresh new look for our dinning room and I love them!

Then while I was grocery shopping I found these beautiful orange baby roses. I love bright baby roses they always brighten my day.

Happy almost Spring to you all. Please let me know if you have any growing tips for my new growing adventure.

Valentines Day Celebration

2010-02-15T20:46:00.005-05:00

I love days of celebration! Since Valentines day is just a couple days after my birthday it has become our tradition to stay in because we usually go out for my birthday. I love coming up with a special menu for dinner. This year I decided to crack open a cookbook we received as a wedding gift. It's called the "Newlywed Cookbook", and I found some scrumptious recipes to use. I made Roasted Chicken with Apples and Dried Fruit and then Scalloped Potatoes with Gorgonzola Cheese. It was simply delectable....mmm. We ended the meal with Chocolate Lava Cakes...also quite scrumptious.

We also gave each other sweet gifts
Jordan got me this beautiful Sugar Jar that I had my eye on. It's made with that pretty green opaque glass I love, and on the wrapping he wrote "Because your sweeter than Sugar"...Too cute, Thank you my Love :)

I gave Jordan a drink mixer. Often times for our celebrations we like to make special drinks and up until now we have been using Jordan's travel mug to shake the drinks in. So I found this in the Valentines section at Target and knew it would be the perfect gift. Also it has about 12 different drinks listed around the rim and in the circles below it tells you what goes in for the drink, how cool is that!

So we toasted to our Love with a Sea Breeze drink :)

Snowed in at the Watkins

2010-02-10T15:12:00.007-05:00

We have been getting a fair amount of snow which has caused our regular schedules to be put to a halt. Jordan has not been to school since last Thursday! He is becoming stressed as he is seeing the work piling up. Luckily he has been able to study with a classmate a few times. As for me; in the last 3 days have only been able to work 6 hours because of the snow. Today I was told not to come in at all because of the weather. I can't complain the time off has been fun, but today I was feeling especially snowed in... My loving husband gave me the brilliant suggestion to make a list of things I wanted to accomplish today. What an amazing idea...why didn't I think of this? Lucky for me I have Jordan in my life to give me these wonderful ideas. So I did just that. I made my list and have had a great time checking things off. It truly has made me feel super accomplished and not so snowed in :). Jordan and I are not at all prepared for the snow, neither of us even have boots!! Needless to say there has not been much exploring the outdoors as of late. The only time we have gone outside is to un-bury our cars :). This has caused us to feel rather unhealthy and because of another brilliant idea from Jordan, we have been using our kitchen stool to do step ups, running in place, running laps around our apartment, push ups and sit ups it has been pretty funny that is for sure.

I will leave you with a picture of our parking lot. This was taken on Saturday, it has been plowed and then we got more snow last night/today so now it looks similar to this again but not quite as bad
Well back to my list!!

Sweet and Sentimental

2010-01-31T11:49:00.003-05:00

When Jordan and I were planning our wedding a few years back we decided to write our own vows. So ever since our wedding back in 2006 I have wanted to do something special with our vows and put them on display somewhere in our home. This past summer I purchased a decorative glass frame and it has been on our dresser ever since we moved here in August with the store bought insert included. I was not wanting to put in a picture because I felt it would take away from the pretty design and then it dawned on me that this was the perfect frame for our vows!!! It had a somewhat small opening so I had to write our vows super small but I think it turned out beautifully!!

Take a look....

Sentimental projects are the best and just in time for Valentines day!

Painting Pottery Again?!?

2010-01-30T14:29:00.005-05:00

Yes it's true I went and painted more pottery :)

This time I went with a group of girls, only one of whom I knew. It was a fun evening for sure. Becki, who works with me, invited me to a girls night which is called G.N.O.M.E and stands for Girls Night Out Monthly Extravaganza. Each month they get together and do some thing different and they make it fun. She told me the event was started because they were getting married and having babies and it was becoming tough to hang out together. So one night a month they hang out just girls no husbands or babies. Becki told me one time they went bowling and I think she called it "Crazy Bowling." Instead of just bowling they would add different things to it each round the only one I remember was bowling with an oven mitt on. I thought that was a clever idea. Well she invited me this month and although I was a little nervous not knowing anyone but her I decided to go. Seemed like a good way hang out with some people and the added plus painting pottery which as you can tell is something I love to do. She rented out the party room and we enjoyed pizza and drinks while we painted it was a lot of fun! I ended up painting two things. They were smaller pieces so they were quickly done.

The first piece is a flower pot. I was really excited about this one because I just recently got a pretty pink African violet and I knew it would fit perfectly in this pot. I am not in love with how it turned out. I think I should have done the darker blue speckled color that is on the tray also on the rim on the pot, but oh well my flower still looks great in it.

The second piece I am in love with! It's so cute. It is supposed to be an ice cream dish but I'm using it as a little candy dish for now. It is a fun bright blue color with white speckles all throughout, it reminds me of tropical water. The speckled paints they have are super fun!

Stew by the Fire

2010-01-24T18:02:00.005-05:00

Friday's I get to enjoy a half day at work. Often I will do the grocery shopping and run errands before returning home, but I always make sure to get home in time to watch Giada De Laurentiis. Two Friday's ago on her show she made "Hearty Tomato Soup" and "Beef and Butternut Squash Stew". Both of which looked amazing and I knew I wanted to try. So yesterday I made the soup for lunch and it was so yummy (we will be having the left overs tomorrow)!! Tonight I made the stew and it too was delicious. It is a thiner stew but the melody of flavors was simply wonderfully delectable. Many times on Giada's cooking show she makes a meal for a certian event this time it was after her and some friends had spent the day skiing and had dinner by the fire. While Jordan and I didn't eat this after skiing we did have it while in front of a warm, cozy fire Jordan had prepared. It sure was a fun dinner.

Here is a picture so you can join in the fun with us.

Let me know what you think if you make either of the recipes!

Saturday Mornings

2010-01-16T12:30:00.004-05:00

I woke up this morning and I could not help but be reminded of all the reasons why I love Saturday mornings. Saturday mornings are so wonderful to begin. I am awakened by the sunlight streaming through our creamy white curtains. It's such a peaceful way to be awoken, much nicer than any alarm clock for sure. Once waking up there is really not much of a schedule, you can do what ever you want and take as long as you want doing it! This morning Jordan and I started our morning with a nice walk/jog then got all cleaned up and had a wonderful yummy brunch. We were given a waffle maker this Christmas from Jordan's Family and we are having fun using it...yum..

We also enjoyed a yummy cappuccino together in cute tea cups. I got the cappuccino maker for Jordan's Christmas present and they are so much fun to make and drink. It is a stove-top maker similar to a percolator but it also steams the milk and makes that fun loud pitched noise just like you're at a coffee shop.

I also love Saturdays because they are such a wonderful day to recharge and get ready for the week ahead. I love getting the house all clean and I love how the house smells after all the cleaning and laundry. Saturdays are also a great day for crafts and painting your nails. So many fun things can happen on a Saturday there are just so many reasons to love this day!

Happy Saturday to you all :)

Pretty Fun Things

2010-01-10T19:33:00.005-05:00

Last week Jordan and I went on a date, it was a snowy Saturday and we were looking for something fun to do. The pottery painting place in town "The Polka Dot Pot" also offers glass fusing and I had been wanting to try it for awhile so we decided to do that. I chose to make a pendant and Jordan provided wonderful advice on my piece. Working with glass was lots of fun. I got to choose from lots of colors for the base of my pendant. Then they showed me how to score and cut the glass into little fun pieces to decorate the pendant. Lastly they have you glue your pieces down and they send it off for fusing. I think I will go back and make some earrings to go with it!

New York New York!

2009-12-22T12:17:00.005-05:00

We just got back from our New York adventure late Saturday night after driving 7 hours through the surprise snow storm, it took us a little over 4 hours to get to NY mind you.

Our trip started Thursday morning when we set off on our journey. We decided to stay outside the city in New Jersey so that we could use an amazing Hotel coupon. We arrived just in time to check in, and change for Wicked. We were about to catch a shuttle into the city when the other family that was going changed their mind and the shuttle driver decided to drop us of at a bus stop instead. He informed us to take the 125. So we waited patiently for a while then after about 30 minutes became a little concerned that our bus wasn’t coming for us. So we went into the Dunkin Doughnuts and found out that the 125 comes once an hour. In total I think we waited for 45 minutes it was quite chilly. Then when we got onto the bus we didn’t have enough “singles” for the trip, so luckily the bus driver let us on despite our incomplete fares. The ride was quite nice and relaxing actually. After a quick bite to eat and a yummy Peppermint Mocha (at the most packed Starbucks I have ever experienced) we arrived at the Gershwin Theater! It was huge and so exciting. Our seats were spectacular and the play was magnificent!!! It was quirky and fun and we loved every minute of it.

The next day we were much more prepared to go into the city. We parked our car and took the Path Train. Our next adventure took us to the Museum of Modern Art. Jordan’s brother Jesse joined us there. Our big excitement for going is a Tim Burton exhibit they have there currently. It was amazing!!

And after we were done with that there were 6 floors of art to look at.
Look we even snuck into a piece of art!

We ended up getting coffee and desert at the Museum café and we just had to take a picture of it because it was so amazing!!

This was a yummy meal at a Japanese place, we were only given chopsticks and this spoon for the broth :) So we both became much better at using chopsticks.

That night we went to a really fun diner and then went to the Town Hall to see Prairie Home Companion; which is a radio show that is aired on NPR. It was so fun to be there and Norah Jones happened to be one of the musical guests, which was something we didn’t know when we bought the tickets. We were pleasantly surprised because we both enjoy her music. It was really fun to see everything live after listening to the radio program.

Our last big event before the drive home was waking up Saturday morning to go to the Bodies exhibit which is located near the World Trade Center. Jordan’s mom had gone to this exhibit a little while ago and raved about it so we were very excited. It was also really neat for Jordan because of his studies so he had a fun time pointing things out to me as we went through. The displays were truly amazing and fun to see.

We had a super fun time in NY seeing the sites here are some random pictures we took :)

Tis the season!

2009-11-29T20:39:00.010-05:00

I have thoroughly enjoyed this past Thanksgiving weekend! It has been full of fun with family and decorating!

First of all we hosted our first Thanksgiving meal, Jordan's brothers came over to our place. The past several years we have had Thanksgiving meal just the two of us because Jordan has had to work the Friday after. We had made it quite a fun tradition. I enjoy cooking so I always come up with the menu for the big day and then we would enjoy a Thanksgiving feast together. After the meal we would always put up the tree and watch Elf. This year we were honored to have Jordan's brothers over. I got a little stressed because sadly the turkey took a good hour longer than I had planned on; but in the end everything turned out fine. Here are some pictures of some of the fixin's (we are so bummed that we forgot to get a picture of all of us together).

Jordan picked up these beautiful flowers for me :)

Now for the decorating part. Yes we put up our tree!! Also my parents gave us a little gift money to buy something special for our new place (Thank you!!). So we got to use that for some new decorating items. Here are some pictures of our decorations!

Here is the our new country snowman with our stockings hung by the fireplace in the background :)

This is the cutest owl ever and our new ornament for the year!

I have saved the best for last...homemade crafts! So I love Martha Stewart Living magazine especially around the holidays. I recently picked up the December issue and it is full of yummy recipes and crafts. One of the projects in the issue were these beautiful star ornaments made out of ribbon. I instantly fell in love and had to give them a try. I tend to collect ribbons so I had a little stash and then I went out and bought a few more to have variety. Below is a picture of the finished product.

After I was done with this project I had some leftover ribbon scraps and decided to put our names on our blank stockings using the scraps. Here is how they turned out :)

Hooray for the Holidays!! I hope you are all having fun with your decorating too!

Sky Meadows...

2009-11-22T18:04:00.007-05:00

Doesn't that just sound like the most beautiful place?....Well I have to tell you it is! :)

3 Sunday's ago we had just finished a long dreary week it seemed that it was cloudy or raining every day. I actually like rainy, overcast days but even I was ready for some Sunshine. So that Sunday afternoon we decided to go on a much needed hike. It was a gorgeous day in the low 70's with a breeze and very sunny. So Jordan went online to find a location (still being new to the area we don't know all the great hiking spots yet). He found Sky Meadows State Park a great hiking find by Jordan as always. So we made our 30 minute journey there. We were so happy to find a place so close to us. As we arrived we found that we were not the only ones with this idea...it was packed!! So we knew it must be a good spot. Upon arriving you see several Historic buildings that you can tour, we will have to go back to do that another time. Being super excited to be out enjoying the great outdoors we headed straight for the trails. There are several different options of directions to go and paths to take. The path we chose started out very steep and quickly you are looking back at the most beautiful view. You can see so far over the rolling hills filled with trees, cows, horses and farms it was breathtaking. The trail eventually connects to the Appalachian Trail too so you could keep going if you wanted too. Here are some photo memories we took to share.

I can't say that the pictures do it justice but we sure can't wait to go back!

Crafting at the Polka Dot Pot

2009-11-07T09:32:00.008-05:00

About a month ago my friend Tosha and I went to paint some pottery at the Polka Dot Pot. I was very excited about this because back in high school this was a favorite past time of mine. I used to go to the "Dancing Brush" which was the local pottery place in Poulsbo, WA. I had many fun times painting gifts there. So needless to say it was fun to do again. I already knew what I wanted to paint before I even got there to pick out my piece. Awhile ago my friend Carrie painted a travel mug and that is what I chose. Tosha chose a cat treat jar as a gift for her Grandparents who happen to love the Redskins which is what inspired her color choices. My design choice was inspired by a plate that was on display in the shop, I just chose different colors that caught my fancy. So here are our finished products.

Then the following week Jordan and I went to paint too. I was very excited that he was interested in trying it. We had a lot of fun it was a rainy Friday and our outdoor plans to go to a hot air balloon festival with some friends had been canceled because of the weather. So it was nice to do something like this together in place of the festival. Jordan chose the mug and wanted to paint ornaments around the rim. He chose a really neat gray color for the base that was called Tin Man it turned out great!. Then I chose a ring tray and painted it a fun purple with little white polka dots all over...I love polka dots can you tell? :)

So this was my craft outlet for last month. I am getting back to my quilt project and will be showing a little progress soon!

Fall Faves

2009-10-18T18:47:00.022-04:00

My favorite season happens to be FALL! I love the crisp, sunny days, changing leaves and festivities that come with this wonderful season. I want to share with you some of my favorite things about Fall...

Starbucks Pumpkin Spice Latte

This is my favorite coffee drink and I get very excited to hear when the pumpkin spice latte is back at Starbucks. This year my friend Susannah actually called me the first day (September 1st) they started serving them this season to let me know because she remembered just how much I love them. So off I went to get one and it was so delicious!

Boots...Boots...and More Boots!

Yes I love boots, I purchased some boots while they were on sale this past spring and summer (thank you mom for the gray boots!!) and now I am finally able to wear them. They are so fun with dresses, skirts and of course skinny jeans (which are also a new thing for me:)) there are just so many possibilities. Also a big plus is that they keep me so warm. It has been quite chilly this past week and weekend for us and these boots have taken the chill away.

Festivities with Friends

This weekend we got together with some friends and the men did some pumpkin carving. Jordan did the cat pumpkin in honor of our Pazooki. Mark did the crazy monster. Matt drew his pattern freehand onto his pumpkin only to discover that it was rotten...it was very sad when he had to throw it in the woods. All in all we had a great night of laughs and yummy desserts.

Speaking of...

Apple Pie

There were so many yummy desserts there. Tosha made a wonderful pumpkin pie with a yummy cranberry mixture on top then brown sugar whipped cream to top it all off. Denise made some amazing pumpkin bread muffins and sent us all home with a loaf, so good! I brought this apple pie. Actually the Fugi apples were given to us by Matt and Tosha as a gift and they are the most scrumptious apples ever! My recipe called for tart apples and Fugi's are considered sweet so I reduced the amount of sugar in the recipe and it turned out great! I love baking in the fall. It's great cause you actually want the heat from the oven in your house and then you get all the fall aromas swirling around your home.

So I am toasting to all of you with my pumpkin spiced latte, a very happy Fall!

Yummy

2009-10-13T20:58:00.003-04:00

This blog has been a long time coming. I made this recipe about 3 weeks ago and took a photo of the finished product knowing my desire to share it with all of you and I finally have a second to sit down and tell you about this yummy recipe. So when I was jobless I had a few cooking shows that I loved watching one of them being Giada at Home. She makes such fun and things they are all Italian and also it's fun to hear all the correct pronunciations of many Italian words. A month ago she made a recipe that is called Stuffed Shells with Crispy Pancetta and Spinach and it looked so good. A few days later I decided to give it a go and make the shells. This was my first shell stuffing attempt and I was excited! I went to the grocery store to get all my yummy ingredients but sadly I could not find the Pancetta which is and Italian style bacon. I could have used American bacon instead but I decided to stick with the spinach and delicious cheeses. Making these shells was so much fun I loved the stuffing part. The only thing I would have done differently would have been to cut the recipe in half it makes a whole lot of shells which we were gladly eating for days. Here is a picture of how they turned out.

I must say that writing this blog reminds me of an amazing movie that I watched twice this summer once with my lovely Mom and then I made my wonderful Husband watch it with me again :). It is Julie and Julia if you have not seen this movie I highly recommend you watching it as soon as possible. It was such a fun movie that was first a book. It is about a girl named Julie who decides to write a blog about her cooking her way through Julia Child's cookbook in 1 year. So as she is cooking all the different recipes she blogs about them. It is so much fun to watch and actually the movie was one of my inspirations for starting this blog.

My Crafty Corner

2009-09-27T18:58:00.001-04:00

I am very excited to say that we have sectioned off a little space for me in our guest bedroom/office to do my crafty things! Right now it looks a little boring.

So I have a few projects up my sleeve to spruce it up a bit. That way I will be inspired to do more crafts, we all need a little inspiration, right? Okay so my first completed project are these wonderfully fun fabric covered cork boards. They are too cute. I decided to take a little break from the quilt. It was very fun picking out the fabric for these boards and better yet the project was done in 3 days! Really it is a 1 day project but I didn't buy all the supplies on the first trip to the store. It was nice to have quick results. This idea came from a very fun magazine called Stitch. I am in love with this magazine. It is full of fun sewing projects. There are about 7 other projects in the Winter 2008 issue that I am itching to do. I haven't even checked the other issues but I'm sure they are full of great projects too.

Here are a couple pictures of all the supplies for the fabric covered cork boards.

These were so fun to make you can really be creative with the kind of fabrics you choose. I only picked out 2 and I decided to go with plain colors for mine; so that I can fill them with fun clippings and pictures and whatever I feel like. This project has made my corner so fun to be in.

We also found and inexpensive shelf to store extra fabric and supplies. Also a stool to sit on I am very excited about this I was using one of out dining room chairs which for me was way too short, now when I am sewing I can actually see what I'm doing :). Lastly we decided to place the white cylinder lamp in the corner it was previously in the far corner of our bedroom getting no use. You can't see this in the picture but there is a nice space for my sewing machine under the desk so when I need it I can move the computer and in a snap I have a sewing desk. All these changes are vast improvements to the functionality of my crafty corner, and I'm so excited!!!

Stay tuned for future updates. I am considering recovering the stool at some point with a fun fabric :). But for now my craft time will be devoted back to the quilt.

Unexpected Finds

2009-09-16T10:03:00.005-04:00

I love antique stores. They are so inspiring full of unique treasures from the past. Most often I cannot come close to affording these treasures. Recently I paid a visit to a quaint little shop in Woodstock, VA. It was beautiful and full of fun things most of which were crazy expensive but I was able to leave with several beautiful finds that I want to show you!
I always tend to head straight for the jewelery in shops and at this store they had a great selection. I love Cameos but had yet to own any...until now, which brings us to the first finds. I was so excited to find these two pairs of earrings. They are both made of some kind of plastic which made them affordable for me, but they don't feel cheap at all which is nice. Both pairs are screw backs which is also something I have never had, I guess that shows their age.

Here is a picture of my fun jewelery finds.

Next are the buttons. I love unique buttons they can be so interesting and give extra interest to clothing. I don't have a big collection of buttons but this shop sure did, there were buttons everywhere I turned so I could not help but check them out and I am glad I did. I was able to come home with four special buttons. I can't wait to use them on something!

Here they are...

It's hard to see the wonderful detail and beautiful color of each button in these pictures. The ones on the right are a nice olive green with a little hint of amber in the etching, and the red one on the left has an intricate design around the rim, so fun..

I wish all of you could have seen this antique shop with me. Hooray for old things!!

Fabric!!!

2009-09-12T12:10:00.001-04:00

Yes it's true the fabric came. I was so excited when I received the email that they had shipped my fabric, but I was even more excited to find it in my mail box the very next day! I didn't realize but it was shipped from only 1 hour and a half away from me. I immediately pulled it out and started envisioning the finished quilt. I am still a ways away from a finished product but it was fun to daydream. I have made a just little bit of progress thus far. I have cut 3 yards of my white fabric into 12 inch squares and have begun the folding and ironing step. I am on my way to a masterpiece! So far this quilt has been tons of fun to make I have really enjoyed the folding/ironing stage it reminds me of that game fortune teller from our childhood, I can remember playing it for hours. I love that game!

Well here is what you are waiting for....fabric pictures of course!

Here is a picture of some of the folding progress of the quilt

Well I'm off to iron some more!

Special Visitor

2009-09-12T11:31:00.000-04:00

My week started out with a special "surprise" visit from my wonderful friend Carrie from out of town. The truth is that it was supposed to be a surprise but I actually knew she was coming all along. I happened to be sitting right next to Jordan when he received the email from Carrie that she wanted to come up for a surprise visit. Sadly he mentioned to me that Carrie emailed him before realizing what her email was about so it was a bust from the beginning. I still tried to pretend that I didn't know when Carrie arrived but she could see through me instantly...I wasn't the least bit convincing. None the less we had a wonderful time! She came up Sunday afternoon and we spent the day chatting and catching up then we had dinner at a yummy Thai place in our downtown mall. Then Monday came and we had a slow paced morning with a yummy breakfast and then we ended up at an amazing bead store which is also located in the downtown mall area. There Carrie and I both choose our beads and made a necklace, it was so much fun we spent the whole afternoon there. If you live near a bead store I highly recommend making something it's a fun experience for sure.

Here is a picture of Carrie's necklace, the beads she picked where a fun range of color's and I love her little elephant!

Here is a picture of mine, it is made with colorful Jade. I have been eyeballing this kind of Jade for awhile now so it was fun to make something with it.

So Thank You Carrie for visiting me I had so much fun!!

Quilting...Past.Present.Future

2009-09-04T08:37:00.002-04:00

I'm on pins and needles waiting for my fabric to arrive in the mail for my new quilting project! So In the mean time I have decided to write about all my past projects and on to what I am doing now.

Below is my very first quilt. I had decided to make a quilt during the summer after my sophomore year of college so I called upon the help of my best friend's mom who is an avid quilter and craft maker. She gave me countless quilting books to look through to find the perfect pattern. I finally decided on a windmill pattern. Then it was on to the fabric store for fabric this was my favorite part I love finding coordinating fabrics. The backing fabric is filled with cute little ladybugs I had to mention that since you can't see them clearly in the photo. As I made the quilt she guided my through the process sharing many tips from her years of experience. I pieced the top by machine and did the quilting by hand. I loved the whole process.
Several years went by before making another one. My next two quilt projects were just block quilts with stitching at the corners of the blocks to secure the quilt.

This one I made for my first apartment, instead of batting for the middle I used an imitation down blanket, which makes it nice and fluffy. Now it has made its home in our guest bedroom.

The last one was a Christmas gift for my Husbands parents. The middle used for this one was batting. I love paisley fabrics...

Now for my new project!! To start I want to let you know what spurred me on to do another quilt. The past 3 quilts were spread out by 7 years because of full-time school and then a full-time job. Well now we have moved and I have no job (trust me I am looking) but in the meantime I need a project to fill my time. My loving husband suggested I make another quilt, which I thought was a superb idea. I have decided to make a quilt for my wonderful parents. After a week or so of collaborating with my mom on what she wanted pattern and fabric wise, I am almost ready to begin just waiting on the fabric. My mom decided on the cathedral windows pattern, and I am so excited that she did because I have seen this quilt several times and thought it would be fun and challenging to make. So when I googled the "cathedral window quilt pattern" this wonderful blog post from 2007 came up with step by step instructions I couldn't believe it she makes it look so easy! Which made me even more excited about the project cause now I feel like it is very doable. I can't wait to start! Check back for updates on my quilting progress.