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Monday, April 30, 2012

Fave Five of April - and My First Giveaway!

I am so excited to announce my first giveaway!



Fashion to Figure is offering a $30 gift card. They not only have amazing clothing, but accessories as well. Certainly when I'm pregnant or after I have a baby,  I would fit into their clothes, but right now I'm craving this necklace. The nautical look is very spring appropriate, and how can you not love an anchor?


Or this top. As you can see from my master bedroom (keep scrolling down!), I'm really enjoying a pop of yellow!




Friday, April 27, 2012

Little Boy's Bedroom, the end of the nursery era

This is the centerpiece around which I'm planning a complete overhaul of our son's room. 


orange train decal



He is almost three and is ready for a big boy bed. It's possible that I haven't yet mentioned to you that before we lived here, with plenty of rooms (you can see the entire house tour here), we lived in a two bedroom rental where our son slept in our closet.

It was a big closet. 

With a window and everything.

But still a closet.

This blogger asked if I have a picture. Nope. I didn't want "evidence".

So when we moved we had almost nothing to furnish his new room with. We had the crib (from the closet) and the dresser (which used to live in his sister's room), and we bought an Expedit from Ikea and called it a day.

double sheeting a crib

Yes, I will most certainly be double sheeting his new bed to prevent accidents.






Then we added his name and some artwork that goes with the art in his sister's butterfly bedroom.

The wall over the dresser was blank, and after we took down our spring craft mantle, I was left with a few "boy" items that could potentially work in his room. So we purchased an orange train decal from Design with Vinyl, and the room is starting to take shape.

Good thing, since I just ordered that big boy bed and mattress. 

It's not quite as dramatic as the gigantic deer in the trees decal that we have in the loft, but clearly, he was happy with the result!



I'm hosting my first giveaway on the blog Monday, and I'm super excited about it, so make sure to come back next week to enter!

Jessica

Thanks for stopping by! 
Please feel free to follow me with all those nifty buttons in the sidebar:)




I link to these awesome parties:
Sunday: I Heart NaptimeNifty Thrifty ThingsInspired HoneybeeIt's Overflowing, A Rosie Sweet Home  Monday: Delectable Home, C.R.A.F.T.  DIY ShowoffBetween Naps on the PorchSumo's Sweet StuffThrifty Decor ChickAlderberry HillDebbie Doo'sHome Stories A to ZHome Savvy AtoZ , Evolution of Style Tuesday: Coastal CharmNest for LessTip JunkieMy Uncommon Slice of SuburbiaCarolyn's HomeworkOur Delightful HomeA Bowl Full of LemonsGet Your Craft OnKurtz Corner , Natural Nesters, Uncommon Designs, Centsational Girl  Wednesday: Savvy Southern StyleOrganize and Decorate,  Mommy SolutionsPower of PaintNewlyweds Recipe LinkySouthern Lovely , Home Happy Home, Crafty Sasse Wednesday, Grateful Belly, Gingersnap Crafts  Thursday: The Shabby Creek CottageMade in a DayHouse of Hepworthsthe 36th Avenue , Bloggeritaville Craft, Scrappy, Happy52 Mantels Friday: Blissful and DomesticOne Artsy MamaSerenity NowTatertots and JelloThe Shabby NestThirty Handmade DaysAddicted 2 DecoratingFunky Junk InteriorsFinancial FridayFurniture FridayAt the Picket FenceThe Rooster and the Hen, Classy Clutter

Thursday, April 26, 2012

At-Home Haircuts

Go figure, our daughter's hair grows at a normal rate and she loves getting her hair cut. Our son, who hates having a haircut has hair like Rapunzel. By four months old he needed a haircut, and he needs a trim every 4 weeks, 6 is pushing it. So we do occasionally take him to get professional haircuts (so expensive and painful for all involved), and in between, we (and when I say "we" I mean our nanny) cut his hair.

Here he is all wrapped up in a baby-blanket-turned-drape, looking very unhappy even though I've let him watch a TV show on the iPad.




Jessica

Thanks for stopping by! 
Please feel free to follow me with all those nifty buttons in the sidebar:)




I link to these awesome parties:
Sunday: I Heart NaptimeNifty Thrifty ThingsInspired HoneybeeIt's Overflowing, A Rosie Sweet Home  Monday: Delectable Home, C.R.A.F.T.  DIY ShowoffBetween Naps on the PorchThrifty Decor ChickAlderberry HillDebbie Doo'sHome Stories A to ZEvolution of Style Tuesday: Coastal CharmNest for LessTip JunkieMy Uncommon Slice of SuburbiaCarolyn's HomeworkOur Delightful HomeA Bowl Full of LemonsGet Your Craft OnKurtz Corner,  Centsational Girl  Wednesday: Savvy Southern StyleOrganize and Decorate,  Mommy SolutionsPower of PaintNewlyweds Recipe LinkySouthern Lovely , Home Happy Home, Crafty Sasse Wednesday, Grateful Belly, Gingersnap Crafts, A Crafty Soiree  Thursday: The Shabby Creek CottageMade in a DayHouse of Hepworthsthe 36th Avenue,  Craft, Scrappy, Happy52 Mantels Friday: Blissful and DomesticOne Artsy MamaSerenity NowTatertots and JelloThe Shabby NestThirty Handmade DaysAddicted 2 DecoratingFunky Junk InteriorsFinancial FridayFurniture FridayAt the Picket FenceThe Rooster and the Hen, Classy Clutter

Wednesday, April 25, 2012

Peanut Dipping Sauce

Chicken is pretty much a standard go-to dinner in most houses. Last night I made chicken tenders (just sauteed) but I let my daughter make the dipping sauce (which, incidentally, she did not consume). Easy, three ingredients, and so yummy.

OK, I know something is either really right or really wrong if, of her own volition, she is using her own camera to take pictures of food.




I used a 3-2-1 method which makes life even easier for a four year old who wanted to make the entire thing herself (the sauce, not the hot-stove-chicken-cooking part). 3 parts peanut butter, 2 parts coconut milk, 1 part lime juice. Mix.




Jessica

Thanks for stopping by! 
Please feel free to follow me with all those nifty buttons in the sidebar:)




I link to these awesome parties:
Sunday: I Heart NaptimeNifty Thrifty ThingsInspired HoneybeeIt's Overflowing, A Rosie Sweet Home  Monday: Delectable Home, C.R.A.F.T.  DIY ShowoffBetween Naps on the PorchThrifty Decor ChickAlderberry HillDebbie Doo'sHome Stories A to ZEvolution of Style Tuesday: Coastal CharmNest for LessTip JunkieMy Uncommon Slice of SuburbiaCarolyn's HomeworkOur Delightful HomeA Bowl Full of LemonsGet Your Craft OnKurtz Corner,  Centsational Girl  Wednesday: Savvy Southern StyleOrganize and Decorate,  Mommy SolutionsPower of PaintNewlyweds Recipe LinkySouthern Lovely , Home Happy Home, Crafty Sasse Wednesday, Grateful Belly, Gingersnap Crafts, A Crafty Soiree  Thursday: The Shabby Creek CottageMade in a DayHouse of Hepworthsthe 36th Avenue,  Craft, Scrappy, Happy52 Mantels Friday: Blissful and DomesticOne Artsy MamaSerenity NowTatertots and JelloThe Shabby NestThirty Handmade DaysAddicted 2 DecoratingFunky Junk InteriorsFinancial FridayFurniture FridayAt the Picket FenceThe Rooster and the Hen, Classy Clutter

Tuesday, April 24, 2012

Protecting a Linen Purse

I give all of the credit to my mother, who thought of this. We were together getting a few things for spring/summer and I got this lovely linen purse. I've had purses that were light colored before, and they all had really bad endings. A pink leather purse somehow got a black stain, a camel colored leather purse with a white stain, and a khaki baguette purse that just looked old and dirty by the end of summer. To avoid that outcome, I sprayed my new purse with Formula 303 Protectant, the scotchguard-esque fabric treater that I used on the dining room chairs. Works like a charm.

























I did the spraying outside on the deck, since it needs to cure in the sun and it's super smelly.





Jessica

Thanks for stopping by! 
Please feel free to follow me with all those nifty buttons in the sidebar:)




I link to these awesome parties:
Sunday: I Heart NaptimeNifty Thrifty ThingsInspired HoneybeeIt's Overflowing, A Rosie Sweet Home  Monday: Delectable Home, C.R.A.F.T.  DIY ShowoffBetween Naps on the PorchSumo's Sweet StuffThrifty Decor ChickAlderberry HillDebbie Doo'sHome Stories A to ZHome Savvy AtoZ , Evolution of Style Tuesday: Coastal CharmNest for LessTip JunkieMy Uncommon Slice of SuburbiaCarolyn's HomeworkOur Delightful HomeA Bowl Full of LemonsGet Your Craft OnKurtz Corner , Natural Nesters, Uncommon Designs, Centsational Girl  Wednesday: Savvy Southern StyleOrganize and Decorate,  Mommy SolutionsPower of PaintNewlyweds Recipe LinkySouthern Lovely , Home Happy Home, Crafty Sasse Wednesday, Grateful Belly, Gingersnap Crafts  Thursday: The Shabby Creek CottageMade in a DayHouse of Hepworthsthe 36th Avenue , Bloggeritaville Craft, Scrappy, Happy52 Mantels Friday: Blissful and DomesticOne Artsy MamaSerenity NowTatertots and JelloThe Shabby NestThirty Handmade DaysAddicted 2 DecoratingFunky Junk InteriorsFinancial FridayFurniture FridayAt the Picket FenceThe Rooster and the Hen, Classy Clutter

Sunday, April 22, 2012

A DIY Patio Garden

We have an expansive deck off of our main floor, but there was something missing, something green. I've been toying with the idea of a small vegetable or herb garden, but our natural soil here is solid rock, so growing anything in it is chancy at best. I could build a raised bed, but we have the benefit of living in the hills where deer and wild turkeys (no kidding I *just* saw one in my backyard) roam freely, and I've already seen what happens when I inadvertently planted some "deer candy" in our yard. Gone. Vamooshed (is that even a word?) Like the plant never existed.


diy patio garden

Surfing Pinterest one evening (oh, how I love you), I happened upon a kit to make a raised bed on a patio from Scout Regalia. A few clicks later and it was winging it's way to me through the magic of UPS.

This is the moment where I express incredible gratitude to my husband for being so handy. In graduate school (we both studied architecture) he was even a shop assistant, working a few hours a week in the woodshop in the basement of the building, helping other students to use power tools to build models of buildings. Anyhow, we don't have a complete shop set-up, but we have a pretty handy assortment of power tools, and he is oh-so-inventive, so we set up a makeshift sawhorse from the bags of soil and we were good to go.



We bought two 8' 2x6 boards, then cut them each down, giving us four long sides and four short sides for our rectangular bed.




Yep, that is totally the corner where our water table used to be. We will have to find a new spot for it come summer. Somewhere around this time the sky started to darken and it looked like this.



So, working quickly, we put down the special membrane that came in the kit (I bought an extra one too since we were making a larger bed that 30x40 which is the size of one membrane). In retrospect, we probably could have made this work with off-the-Home-Depot-shelf brackets and a shower curtain with holes in it, but since this is my first venture into gardening, I wanted something with a little bit more of a safety net. Although, if I really wanted a safety net, I probably should have read the directions, instead of just going with gut instinct:)

So, after we screwed the brackets into the sides (the deck is sloped for water drainage, so so we had to rest the corner on our tape measure to make it level), we put it in place and plopped the membrane in. Update: Read the instructions! You need to staple the filter fabric to the boards so the dirt doesn't spill out. I learned that the hard way.

building a raised bed garden


At this point our daughter, son and their friend decided to "help" put the soil in. Look how sunny it appears, as if we have all the time in the world...


dirt in a raised bed patio garden



We laid out the plants on top of the soil to get a sense of placement before actually digging them holes.  We chose (clockwise from top right) 4 tomato plants (which will eventually need cages or strings), 6 strawberry plants, 2 basil, 2 zucchini, 2 cucumber, and 2 artichokes. Slightly odd assortment, but it's all things that our kids will actually eat if they bear fruit (or veggies as the case may be).

plant layout in diy patio garden


Following the directions on the plants, we soaked each of them, dug a hole, tore off the bottom of the compostable container, place the scraps in the hole, planted the plant, then refilled the hole.


Our finished product:

finished diy patio garden

Then this happened:



Needless to say, we didn't need what I'm about to show you.



We got the kids watering cans, gloves and tools. Because it's just too cute, and Target is my friend/enabler.



Jessica

Thanks for stopping by! 
Please feel free to follow me with all those nifty buttons in the sidebar:)




I link to these awesome parties:
Sunday: I Heart NaptimeNifty Thrifty ThingsInspired HoneybeeIt's Overflowing, A Rosie Sweet Home  Monday: Delectable Home, C.R.A.F.T.  DIY ShowoffBetween Naps on the PorchThrifty Decor ChickAlderberry HillDebbie Doo'sHome Stories A to ZEvolution of Style Tuesday: Coastal CharmNest for LessTip JunkieMy Uncommon Slice of SuburbiaCarolyn's HomeworkOur Delightful HomeA Bowl Full of LemonsGet Your Craft OnKurtz Corner,  Centsational Girl  Wednesday: Savvy Southern StyleOrganize and Decorate,  Mommy SolutionsPower of PaintNewlyweds Recipe LinkySouthern Lovely , Home Happy Home, Crafty Sasse Wednesday, Grateful Belly, Gingersnap Crafts, A Crafty Soiree  Thursday: The Shabby Creek CottageMade in a DayHouse of Hepworthsthe 36th Avenue,  Craft, Scrappy, Happy52 Mantels Friday: Blissful and DomesticOne Artsy MamaSerenity NowTatertots and JelloThe Shabby NestThirty Handmade DaysAddicted 2 DecoratingFunky Junk InteriorsFinancial FridayFurniture FridayAt the Picket FenceThe Rooster and the Hen, Classy Clutter

Spring Break Photos

I'm sharing a few pictures of our spring break trip to Lake Tahoe, where we fit in a bit of skiing, and managed to snap a not-awful family pic of all five of us! I fully admit that this post is mostly for the enjoyment of my east-coast (read: far away) relatives. For everyone else, I'm back tomorrow with a very spring appropriate DIY Veggie Garden Planter!


On the gondola. We took a day off from skiing, so this was just a fun "ride". 
The weather was warm so no hats or mittens, and yes, they are wearing their pajamas underneath the snow jackets.


The snow finally came. It only took until mid-April, so we got lots of snowy pics.






My goodness, how can you resist babies dressed like animals? It is one of my favorite looks for them:)


Oh, and if this isn't the healthiest snowman ever! They used carrots and broccoli leftovers from dinner the night before.





Friday, April 20, 2012

A Modern Writing Slate

I am guest posting today for Spray Painters Anonymous over at Living Savvy, so stop over to see the whole story behind these frames!

Just a little bit of Little House on the Prairie, or Anne of Green Gables.



I spray painted the frames from the dollar store pink and navy, then sprayed the glass with chalkboard paint. 


The larger one ended up on the door of our pantry in our new command central for list-making and coloring, after it's run on our spring craft mantle.




Jessica

Thanks for stopping by! 
Please feel free to follow me with all those nifty buttons in the sidebar:)




I link to these awesome parties:
Sunday: I Heart NaptimeNifty Thrifty ThingsInspired HoneybeeIt's Overflowing, A Rosie Sweet Home  Monday: Delectable Home, C.R.A.F.T.  DIY ShowoffBetween Naps on the PorchSumo's Sweet StuffThrifty Decor ChickAlderberry HillDebbie Doo'sHome Stories A to ZHome Savvy AtoZ , Evolution of Style Tuesday: Coastal CharmNest for LessTip JunkieMy Uncommon Slice of SuburbiaCarolyn's HomeworkOur Delightful HomeA Bowl Full of LemonsGet Your Craft OnKurtz Corner , Natural Nesters, Uncommon Designs, Centsational Girl  Wednesday: Savvy Southern StyleOrganize and Decorate,  Mommy SolutionsPower of PaintNewlyweds Recipe LinkySouthern Lovely , Home Happy Home, Crafty Sasse Wednesday, Grateful Belly, Gingersnap Crafts  Thursday: The Shabby Creek CottageMade in a DayHouse of Hepworthsthe 36th Avenue , Bloggeritaville Craft, Scrappy, Happy52 Mantels Friday: Blissful and DomesticOne Artsy MamaSerenity NowTatertots and JelloThe Shabby NestThirty Handmade DaysAddicted 2 DecoratingFunky Junk InteriorsFinancial FridayFurniture FridayAt the Picket FenceThe Rooster and the Hen, Classy Clutter

Thursday, April 19, 2012

Pass it On, and a Piano

ruffle pillow

Do not be distracted by the adorable girl, focus on the amazing burlap pillow in front. 


The one with the ruffles.


The other two were from Crate and Barrel, just so you know.


I was a lucky recipient of the Pass It On Project.

it all started with paint

That means I got an "in real life" gift from a "virtual" friend, Linda from It All Started with Paint, which is pretty awesome. The pillow arrived while we were away, and by the time we got home it had been raining really hard (lightning even hit the Golden Gate Bridge!) for days. But the package was perfect, and inside I found a card and 2 (!!) pillows.



Obviously, I'm keeping one. The other, I'm passing on to someone else, to brighten their day. I haven't quite figured out who yet:) Part of this project is also that I will make something and pass it on to a few blog friends of mine, also not something I've managed, but it is on the to-do list. You can find a fabulous tutorial for the pillow right here.



What's that? You see a piano in that picture? And you remember that our entry used to look like this:                           


 z gallerie union jack rug

Lucky for me, my mother was doing a bit of a tweak in her own living room and her piano had to go. This is the same piano that I took lessons on for five years as a child and yet i still can't play. My sister didn't have room for it, so that is why the less-musically-inclined sibling wound up with the piano. Although my husband tells me that he played the saxophone for years and can technically read sheet music and play the piano. Time will tell.

Anyway, with dreams of children banging on the keys learning to play, we cleared the space out...




And three very unhappy movers pushed the piano up the driveway and then carried it up the 30 steps to our front door.

moving a piano uphill


Tada!

baby grand piano in the entry



The table that used to be there is now under our TV in the living room, in case you were wondering:)


floating 70 inch tv


Jessica

Thanks for stopping by! 
Please feel free to follow me with all those nifty buttons in the sidebar:)




I link to these awesome parties:
Sunday: I Heart NaptimeNifty Thrifty ThingsInspired HoneybeeIt's Overflowing, A Rosie Sweet Home  Monday: Delectable Home, C.R.A.F.T.  DIY ShowoffBetween Naps on the PorchSumo's Sweet StuffThrifty Decor ChickAlderberry HillDebbie Doo'sHome Stories A to ZHome Savvy AtoZ , Evolution of Style Tuesday: Coastal CharmNest for LessTip JunkieMy Uncommon Slice of SuburbiaCarolyn's HomeworkOur Delightful HomeA Bowl Full of LemonsGet Your Craft OnKurtz Corner , Natural Nesters, Uncommon Designs, Centsational Girl  Wednesday: Savvy Southern StyleOrganize and Decorate,  Mommy SolutionsPower of PaintNewlyweds Recipe LinkySouthern Lovely , Home Happy Home, Crafty Sasse Wednesday, Grateful Belly, Gingersnap Crafts  Thursday: The Shabby Creek CottageMade in a DayHouse of Hepworthsthe 36th Avenue , Bloggeritaville Craft, Scrappy, Happy52 Mantels Friday: Blissful and DomesticOne Artsy MamaSerenity NowTatertots and JelloThe Shabby NestThirty Handmade DaysAddicted 2 DecoratingFunky Junk InteriorsFinancial FridayFurniture FridayAt the Picket FenceThe Rooster and the Hen, Classy Clutter

Wednesday, April 18, 2012

Brisket- The One Pot Meal


Easiest one-pot meal ever. 


I buy a brisket from Trader Joe's (any roast works). Then I brown it in my Le Creuset dutch oven, add carrots and potatoes, stock, and let it cook, covered in a 300 degree oven for 4-5 hours.


I usually make this at lunch time with the kids, then I can take it out right before dinner to carve up and serve. Here are the many variations on this recipe:

1. Use beer instead of stock. Or a can of tomatoes. Or beer with a squirt of ketchup.
2. Spice it to your taste. I like chili powder and cumin (and salt, of course!), but you can make it more Italian with oregano and thyme. Anything goes.
3. Use whatever veggies you have on hand. I would have totally browned up an onion for this meal if I had one. I've also done a sweet version with sweet potatoes, dried apricots and prunes. Then it takes on a  Persian/Moroccan flavor so I add in a little ginger and cinnamon.

I know it is technically spring, but we are still having some colder nights and fog, so this really hits the spot on a Friday night.

Jessica

Thanks for stopping by! 
Please feel free to follow me with all those nifty buttons in the sidebar:)




I link to these awesome parties:
Sunday: I Heart NaptimeNifty Thrifty ThingsInspired HoneybeeIt's Overflowing, A Rosie Sweet Home  Monday: Delectable Home, C.R.A.F.T.  DIY ShowoffBetween Naps on the PorchSumo's Sweet StuffThrifty Decor ChickAlderberry HillDebbie Doo'sHome Stories A to ZHome Savvy AtoZ , Evolution of Style Tuesday: Coastal CharmNest for LessTip JunkieMy Uncommon Slice of SuburbiaCarolyn's HomeworkOur Delightful HomeA Bowl Full of LemonsGet Your Craft OnKurtz Corner , Natural Nesters, Uncommon Designs, Centsational Girl  Wednesday: Savvy Southern StyleOrganize and Decorate,  Mommy SolutionsPower of PaintNewlyweds Recipe LinkySouthern Lovely , Home Happy Home, Crafty Sasse Wednesday, Grateful Belly, Gingersnap Crafts  Thursday: The Shabby Creek CottageMade in a DayHouse of Hepworthsthe 36th Avenue , Bloggeritaville Craft, Scrappy, Happy52 Mantels Friday: Blissful and DomesticOne Artsy MamaSerenity NowTatertots and JelloThe Shabby NestThirty Handmade DaysAddicted 2 DecoratingFunky Junk InteriorsFinancial FridayFurniture FridayAt the Picket FenceThe Rooster and the Hen, Classy Clutter