pioneer projects for the modern girl

I saw this book The Prairie's Girl's Guide to Life on wide open spaces and immediately thought of my daughters. I regretfully did not teach them enough homemaking skills when they were growing up. Despite this they have both been getting quite domestic lately and learning themselves. Brittany just started taking sewing classes and is cooking up a storm. Danielle is making amazing dishes like this and is surpassing me in her cooking skills. This book is all about the homemaking skills we never learned from our grandmother's(or mother's) and how we can try to get back those simple pleasures in our lives. What a great book to learn from and pass down to our daughters.

potato basil frittata

I made one of my favorite recipes this weekend Barefoot Contessa's Potato Basil Frittata. It is so delicious, perfect for brunch and feeds a big crowd.
image 1: Zarbars image 2: my photo

nursery print

What a sweet print for a new baby via smile and wave.
print: FreyaArt

dreamy yellow doors

I love the color yellow, so these beautiful doors just caught my eye via hooked on houses.

grey & orange

We will probably be moving before to long and I have been thinking a lot about what color I want to paint our walls. I am really drawn to these grey walls with orange accents via coco + kelley.
images: Martha Stewart

refugee families

Danielle, my older daughter who lives in Washington DC is starting a volunteer position in a couple of weeks. She will be working with a refugee family to help them assimilate to their new life in America. It will either be an Iraqi refugee family or a Burmese refugee family. I have always wondered how the refugee families manage to start a life here where everything is so different from their old life. I know that a lot of them struggle and it is difficult transition. I will love hearing the story of the family my daughter works with.
image: (Ramzi Haidar/AFP/Getty)

vintage camping wedding

If you love the outdoors, how perfect is this wedding via Once Wed. Such cute details, especially the Save the Date card. The talented Bride and Groom did most of the wedding themselves. Amazing!
photo credits: Fritz and Victoria's flickr

i'm a big boy now

Toddlers favorite activity, pretending to be grown ups! Noah and my nephews little boy Liam talking on the phone. It appears they had some shocking news! Then there is Noah walking in Mommy's shoes, so much cooler then wearing his little shoes. I love this age, they have us laughing all the time!

cupcake frittata

Oh how lovely! I have to make this, it looks so good. Recipe here via sweet paul.
Photo: Colin Cooke

handmade wedding dress

When I saw these photos I fell in love with this gorgeous wedding dress. I couldn't believe it when I read that the mother of the bride made it. What an amazing seamstress!
via: e lucky me

9/12

The New York Times has an interesting article today A Fortress City That Didn't Come to Be about the day after 9/11. Everyone was worried that things would never be normal, that no one would want to visit New York, work in a skyscraper, or start a business. I am always amazed at peoples strength and ability to get through tragedy in their life and begin again. We have witnessed this many times over for all those affected by this day.
image: New York Times

book love

Loving everything I have read about these two new books. The first one What we eat when we are alone is by Deborah Madison and Patrick Mcfarlin. They went out to explore what people eat when they are alone. They found some interesting and funny stories about this, which she puts along with some recipes for eating alone. The other cool thing about this book are the illustrations. They are done by her husband Patrick Mcfarlin and they are amazing. You can see some of them here. The second book is I Love Your Style by Amanda Brooks. She shows us six catergories of style types, Classic, Bohemian, High Fashion, Street, Minimal, Eclectic, along with gorgeous pictures of the most stylish women for inspiration!

back to school sign

I love this back to school idea from Blonde Designs. I have been going through my children's school photographs and wish I would have done this. I have them on their first day of school but without a sign like this I don't know what grade they were in. A simple sign like this is so cute and would have solved my problem!

labor day weekend

We are heading out to my Mom's near the beach for Labor Day Weekend and to visit with family. I can't wait as it has been way to HOT here lately. I'm looking forward to a bike ride to the beach, delicious food and cooler weather. Happy Labor Day Weekend!
image: via vintage and chic

wishes tree

How adorable is this wishes tree and banner! The bride planned her wedding and made everything herself. More pictures and how she did it here.
via: StyleMePretty
photo by Alder Photography

my parents

On a visit to my Mom's about a month ago she showed me an album that she had kept of her and my Dad when they were young. There were quite a few photos I had never seen. The photos were taken in the late 40's and early 50's. I love that time period, the women's fashions, men's hats and the cars they drove. I took her photo's home (which were quite jumbled in an old ripped album) to edit them and clean them up. I made them all the same size and found a new album to put them in so our whole family could enjoy them. Most importantly I wanted to do this for our future generations to see. These photos are priceless! The first photo is my mother and father just newly married. They are so young, we kidded them they looked like they were playing dress up. The second one is my father in his national guard uniform. The last two are of my mother. I love her blouse and skirt, so pretty. She could be dressing for today as ruffles are back in style in a big way!

lemonade stands

Cute little lemonade stands for the last bit of summer!
via no biggie from Lacey and Amy