February 28, 2009

cookie and milk baby shower





Cookie magazine highlighted a cute idea for a baby shower for a boy.The color theme was shades of brown and white, which is a nice change from blue and pink. They made "safari themed" cookies from elephant ears (French pastries) to laughing hyenas (snicker doodles). They served all the drinks from (the watering hole) in old fashioned milk jugs.The invitations also had a safari theme tying everything together.

February 27, 2009

this young house




I love renovations of older homes. This young couple in their 20's bought this 1350 square foot, 53 year old home and have redone the entire house. The rooms are just beautiful and you can see them all at this young house.

February 25, 2009

yellow & gray



A few days ago I was reading about another great etsy seller, chasing elephants. She makes handbags and wallets in such beautiful fabrics for reasonable prices. I thought of my youngest daughter when I saw this one as her favorite colors are yellow and gray. So pretty!

February 24, 2009

pork chops, asiago potatoes and roasted asparagus



Wish I could take a photograph like the guys at The Bitten Word. Their picture of the potatoes is food stylish gorgeous. They were right though about the recipe it was delicious! My husband grilled the pork chops and I made roasted asparagus to go along with the asiago potatoes. To make the roasted asparagus you trim the ends at the break point, wash, dry and put them in a ziplock with extra virgin olive oil, add salt, garlic pepper and shake until combined.Then put it on a foil lined baking sheet and bake at 400 degrees for 20 to 25 minutes. Roasted asparagus is so delicious. I roast almost all my vegetables because the flavor intensifies as it cooks. So yummy!

February 23, 2009

pretty in pink



Natalie Portman looked stunning at the Oscar's last night. It seemed most everyone wore white with a few blacks and reds. Her dress really stood out in this beautiful shade of lavendar-pink. Something new that I loved was when the former winners gave beautiful tributes to the nominees. What a great idea! Another poignant moment was when they showed everyone who passed away this last year. Sadly Paul Newman who was my favorite actor since I was little was among those highlighted.

image: socialite life

February 22, 2009

meyer lemons



Here is a great tip from Stephmodo's blog. She found meyer lemons at Costco a few days ago. I just happen to be heading to Costco tomorrow so I hope I will be lucky and they will be carrying them at mine. If I find them I want to make some lemon squares. The recipe is from Martha Stewart. It is easy and I love easy.

February 21, 2009

asiago potatoes


Today I came across The Times Online 50 favorite food blogs. There was one called the the bitten word that was interesting where they take recipes out of food magazines and test them. You see a million recipes in magazines and I always wish I knew the good ones so I don't waste my time and money making a bad recipe. I am going to try these Asiago Potatoes first since I love potatoes and they say that they are super delicious.

February 16, 2009

artwork


I found this cute affordable art by Lindsay Brackeen on Poppytalk, a great blog about design and handmade items. A great point was made recently that there is a lot of affordable art on the internet but no major publication like the New York Times, Washington Post etc. has done an article on this. With the economy so bad off and stores closing right and left, people need information about sources where they can find things that are unique and less expensive.

February 14, 2009

hearty eggs and toast

This morning I made the Martha Stewart Valentine breakfast. You can see recipe here. My family loved it and what a cute look for Valentine's. One thing she did not mention in her recipe is that when you cook the toast on the first side the bread shrinks. She called for the heart cookie cutter to be put back in the toast when you flip it over but it wouldn't fit back in because of the shrinkage. So I just cracked the egg into the cut out in the toast without the cookie cutter and it came out perfect. I used sourdough toast which is thick and sturdy so it helped keep the egg stable in the cut out. The taste was so good that I am going to be using this recpie to cook my eggs all year long.

happy valentine's day

February 12, 2009

love rocks


What a great idea for boys on Valentine's Day from Bunny Cakes. I am always on the look out for boy ideas since my first grandson is a boy. She had a stamp made that said love rocks and stamped it on these little muslin bags and filled them with candy. They are ready to be passed out to their friends at school without looking to girly.

February 11, 2009

magnetic chalkboard


I love this. I found it on Design Sponge. What a beautiful frame for a magnetic chalkboard, which she chose because of it's use with photo's and words. The site has instructions on how it was made. She got the frame from Craigslist and then just spray painted it. So creative.

February 10, 2009

valentine's day breakfast


This cute idea for a Valentine breakfast comes from Martha Stewart. Valentine's Day is on Saturday this year so it's a perfect day for me to make this breakfast. It looks pretty easy (will see if that is true). I know even if it doesn't turn out quite as perfect as Martha's, my family will still devour it all since bacon, eggs and toast is one of their favorite things.

seven c's


I found this vintage boat paper on ella mcdoniels and it reminds me of our little sabot we had when I was growing up. There were seven in our family and our last name started with a C so my dad named it the Seven C's. I always loved that name, it fit so perfect. We had so much fun with my brothers and sister on it. My mom would take us to the bay five days a week in the summer where we learned to swim and sail. We didn't have a lot of money but our mom and dad gave us a lot of great childhood memories with simple old fashioned fun.

February 9, 2009

not so cheery news


This was upsetting to hear. My daughter signed up to be a Big Sister and we were really excited. We talked about all of us spending time together. Brittany, Noah, me and the little girl they assigned to her. She got word back yesterday that where she lived they no longer had a Big Sister program. They didn't have enough funds and had to cut the program in some regions and our region got cut. This is one of the sad facts about our economy not doing well now. Not only are people losing there jobs and their houses, but charities also are suffering. Brittany has another idea that she has talked to me about that we are in the process of exploring.

little boy's valentine shirt

I have been searching for a cute t-shirt for Valentines Day for my grandson and I finally found it on lil sugar. I have been taking a picture of him at every holiday since he was born 7 months ago. Valentine's Day is difficult because everything is so little girly so I was excited when I saw this t-shirt so perfect for a little boy.

February 8, 2009

heroes


There are so many soldiers away from home this Valentine's Day. Send them your love by joining
"I Heart Heroes", an annual event hosted by Herobox that allows the community to send cards, messages, gifts and more to our heroes.

Send a card to P.O. Box 3061, Peachtree City, G.A. 30269. The card can be a Hallmark card or piece of paper. as long as it comes from the heart, they'll love it.

What a great idea for Valentine's Day! You can send Heroboxes as well all year long. The site has all the details.

a darling birthday idea

Such a cute idea for a small child's birthday party on inchmark. Easy how to instructions.

here we go

I'm starting a new blog about the lovely ideas of many talented people who inspire me. I'm constantly sending things to my daughters and now they can come to my blog to see them. When I was working on birthdays, showers, weddings or getting ideas on mothering I realized how helpful all these great sources were to me.

image: flickr