The Little Red Chair

Hi, It's Friday

2012-02-10T09:08:00.000-08:00

Yesterday we made homemade brownies. They were so good. The kids brought home brownies the other day from day care that their awesome sitter made, I couldn't stop thinking about them, so we made some here.

You know, the snow really makes me mad, I mean I wanted it so badly all December, but we got nothing. Now in February, my sister is visiting, and I want to adventure, and what does it do? Snow!

Lennon's hair is long enough to put in a pony tail now, it's the coolest thing I've ever seen, he looks like Johnny Depp 10 years ago, when he used to be cool. I wish I had a picture to share... I'll work on that.

Jude's 4th birthday is next week, Im totally stressen, I'm probably going to make some insane cupcakes or something that will just completely blow her mind .. I can't wait.

I have the book Hello Cupcake ... I think I want to do the horse ones, I don't know why I make everything into a really intense project, but it's Jude's 4th birthday! She'll love these.

Did you see this pic I snapped of the kids yesterday on Instagram? Jude is completely in character when she wears a mask ... it borders on creepy. She snuck up behind me last night as I was making dinner, on her hands and knees and just waited for me to turn around to see her sitting there with the bunny mask on. At least this way I can get her to eat carrots.

I think Emily and I are going to go to Arthur and Tuscola today... check out the Amish people, see what goods they have to offer us. Then it's out on the town tonight ... yes out on the town of Shelbyville.

Happy weekending, my friends!

The Guest Room

2012-02-08T18:00:00.000-08:00

My sister is visiting this week, yay! I love having guests, especially when it's my sister. I have been looking forward to having her, but knew I had to get the guest room whipped into shape before her arrival.

For the first month we lived here we had nothing in the guest room, nothing. I didn't think we would ever be able to fill it. The room originally had wall to wall carpeting that we ripped up right away. We found a painted red floor underneath the old carpet. Brett and I decided we liked the red paint, but it had been destroyed with staple holes and was covered in paint drops from a careless painter. We bought a gallen of red floor paint and brought the floors back to their former glory.

Everything else in the room, including the green walls and the wrap around shelving, we left in place. We like the idea of the shelving, but don't like the cheap white stuff in place. We plan to (at some point) replace the boards with actual wood and replace the brackets with something wrought iron, vintage, pretty ... you know.

Here's a before and after (the before with our Lennon pictured). I'll take you through the way I filled the room, when I originally thought I had nothing.

Before | After

The first (and most important thing) we put in the room was the bed. The bed frame was Brett's grandmother's. Brett's mother gave the bed to us along with an extra double mattress that she had. We really lucked out on this one! I used a queen flat sheet to wrap the box spring instead of using a bedskirt, which I thought would show off the bed a bit better. I also made the bed like my grandmother always did, wrapping the pillows with the coverlet ... i love the granny style look it gives to the bed.

I had the suitcases in the room originally. I've been collecting old suitcases for a few years and thought that they would be fitting in a guest room. There's an extra chair that we had in the house with a throw pillow that wasn't being used.

In our last house we used these IKEA shelves and brackets in the kids' rooms that we had painted. We weren't using them here so I took three of them, painted them brown and hung two to act as side tables and one across from the bed to act as extra storage space/vanity area.

On the high shelving I used old bottles that we had saved to decorate the space without making it feel cluttered.

On the other bed side shelf I used an old window that is filled with sun prints I made last summer. The window hadn't found a home in the house yet, so it works perfect here.

You may remember the lamps from the spray paint post. An alarm clock and a living plant add to the sweetness of the space. I hung a little art piece that I painted myself on a scrap of barn wood.

We found this chair in the basement of the house when we first moved in. I painted it and it's as good as new. The mirror is from the bathroom that we redesigned.

I love the red floors!

Above the vanity is a vintage fan and make up box.

This room doesn't have a closet. I like the idea of offering guests a place to hang their things.

Extra blankets and pillows are functional and fill the space.

I hope you like the guest room! One day may be will do a little more to it, but for now it's a cozy place for a guest. Will you come stay with us?

Afternoon coffee

2012-02-08T13:34:00.001-08:00

This is a momentous occasion, so special in fact that I'm making my first mobile blog post to document it! Afternoon coffee with my sister, who is visiting from Seattle. She brought us Caffe Vita coffee and we French pressed it. This is going to be a spectacular afternoon.

Later tonight: blog post on the guest room, stay tuned!

10 Things I've Learned About Myself in the Past 6 Months

2012-02-06T14:45:00.000-08:00

Me. photo by Brett Beery. Taken this morning, feeding cows.

Many of you know that in September of last year my family and I moved from Seattle (where for a moment I thought I might live forever) to rural Illinois, where my husband was born and raised. I remember the first time It occurred to me that there was something else in the world for me, beyond Seattle. Up until that point I had always just assumed that I had all the opportunity and happiness that I needed and never really considered the possibility of moving across the country, or across town for that matter. The day I realized that I may not be satisfied living in the Pacific North West for the rest of my life sort of shook my world. I was driving home, on 85th, just off 15th in Ballard. I had been living in the area for about 3.5 years... and it hit me, this isn't it.

At the time I was actually thinking that I wanted to experience the east coast, somewhere in New York, Maine, or Massachusetts. I never really thought to myself that moving to the rural midwest was the next step in my life.

Just after Judith was born, Brett and I visited IL, it was my first visit ever. We talked about what it would be like to move and help Brett's parents with their farm. It was something that, at the time, sounded romantic but unreasonable. We continued living in Seattle, making amazing progress in our careers and lives until 2011 when we visited Brett's home again. Only for the second time ever (for me). I can't really tell you what made me feel like, after a collective 12 days spent in this part of the country, this is where we belong. It must have been something really big to make me drop my career, photography business, and friend base that I had worked tirelessly the past 5 years on growing.

During our second trip Brett and I explored towns that neighbored the Beery farm, but couldn't find anything that seemed to fit us. I told Brett at that point that if it was meant to be, then something would happen. He was frustrated, I was ready to go home. Our last day on vacation I was in Shelbyville with Brett's mom, she showed me around the town that Brett had neglected to (because it was the town he had rivaled in high school, obviously evil). I immediately felt at home, and on our way out of town we drove by a house with a for sale sign in the yard. When we got back to the farm I looked up the house on the real estate website and called for an appointment to view it. Yes, 5pm the night before we left town Brett and I viewed the house on the corner that we now call home.

We took a really big leap moving here. Call it what you like, but I believe the universe wanted us here, and I feel strangely at home, like I've lived here for years. In the past 6 months my life has changed dramatically. I left Seattle where I was successful, had a large network of friends and family, and had started a business from scratch, to come to Illinois where in many aspects I've had to start fresh. Here's what I've learned about myself in the past 6 months:

1. There are many things that I want to do with my life, I feel an overwhelming urge to accomplish as many of them as possible.

2. Im actually terrified of getting older and running out of time or energy.

3. I will probably never paint my nails again. I hate painted nails.

4. Will power and Self Control are two different things ... I have little self control but very strong will power.

5. I like working with my hands more than I like working behind a desk.

6. I don't hide my emotions from my family. Im open with my kids and husband about my feelings

7. I hate highlighted hair.

8. I love watching the sun set on the flat lands.

9. My stress manifests in impatience, exhaustion, and frustration. I didn't know how much my life would change once I took out the stress.

10. I do what I believe in, regardless of the support I get

That's all for now ... however I have decided to make an addition to the categories of my blog, I'll call it country living, and it will contain my confessions, dear diaries, and all things that I decide to randomly yammer about concerning the country.

Winter Sprouts II: Potting

2012-02-06T10:01:00.000-08:00

Remember my tiny baby sprouts from a couple of weeks ago? Well, they're not babies anymore, they've been growing every day at top speeds. My favorite thing to do in the morning is run downstairs and document their progress from the day before. It gives a girl something to think of. I realized at some point last week that most of these little seedlings would have to be transplanted into bigger pots right away. Several problems with this, including:

a. Garden centers are still closed, pots are scarce
b. If you do find a pot for sale somewhere, it's probably going to put you out at least $10.00.
c. I need 7 pots or more, Im not going to spend $70.00 on pots, you know me better than that.

I was at Lowes, feeling defeated by a, b, and c. As I was browsed through the paint aisles trying to lift my spirits, I found these little metal paint buckets, $3.00 each. They don't have drainage, but I knew I could come up with a solution for that ... Not only are these "pots" much cheaper than anything else you can find, I like them better.

I grabbed some plastic trays on my way out of the store for the pots to sit in once they are filled and holding by precious plants. This way I won't make a giant mess all over my dining room/green house.

The buckets are steel, rustproof, and leakproof. Make sure when looking for an item like this to use as a planter, that it wont rust or leak.

Within about 5 minutes we were able to transform our bargain find (rustic looking) buckets into planters.

What you'll need:

1. Drill

2. Large-ish metal drill bit (my technical terms are why the guys at Ace love helping me)

3. Husband, boyfriend, big burly man who likes to drill things (optional)

Once you've drilled holes in the bottom of your bucket, set it in your plastic pot tray and you can transplant your babies into their big new homes. Steal buckets = Double Wide trailers (in plant world).

Need more info on how to transplant your plant? Check out eHow. I used peat pots which are biodegradable and the roots grow right through them, you can plant the whole thing in your pot or garden, making transplanting easy on you and your young plant.

Done! Tutorial on my homemade trellis later!

Winter Blueberry Oat Crisp

2012-02-05T11:46:00.000-08:00

During the winter months it can be difficult to find fresh fruit at the market, but blueberries and blackberries can usually be found at a reasonable price and are still really delicious in the off season. I love blueberries, you can use them in so many different ways. This morning I made a lunch time blueberry oat crisp. It's a tummy warming winter treat that is really simple to make, check it out.

Ingredients:

2 cups old fashioned rolled oats

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon fine grain sea salt

2 cups milk

1 large egg

1 Tablespoon unsalted butter – melted

2 teaspoons vanilla paste (or extract)

1/3 cup maple syrup

2 ripe bananas – cut into 1/2 slices

1 1/2 cup blueberries

----------

Preheat oven 375 degrees.

Butter 8×8 dish and cover bottom with banana slices. Then sprinkle 3/4 cup blueberries over top bananas and set aside.

In medium bowl mix together oats, baking powder, cinnamon and salt. Stir to combines.

In another bowl beat together milk, egg, butter, vanilla paste and maple syrup.

Add oats to dish and gently pour milk mixture over oats. Gently rap pan on the counter to make sure the milk has gone all the way through the oats.

Sprinkle the top with blueberries and cook in oven for 35 to 45 minutes until the top is golden brown and the oatmeal is set.

Adapted from Nutmeg Nanny

Pin It

The Moo Moos

2012-02-04T08:45:00.000-08:00

Who would have thought I would love cows so much. They are gental creatures. The girls are preggo right now, I can't wait until they have their babies. I told Brett I want to be a midwife for cows ... that's a profession right? This girl is posing for me, or waiting for me to get my camera out of her face so that she can eat in peace.

Below are the boys, they are last seasons calves, they're smaller and more rambunctious. They are separated from the girls so that they can be fed more and eventually feed us.

and here's the hubs.

Sneak Peak #3 - The Mudroom

2012-02-03T12:11:00.000-08:00

We are closing in on the very final stages of the mudroom redesign, Im so happy to be using it again like normal. I have a few more finishing touches to put on and then I will present the great reveal! For now I will show you one of the projects that I have been working on that gives the room a slightly more personal feel. A homemade sign featuring our last name, made from reclaimed barn wood, and painted by yours truly. This sign was incredibly nerve wracking to paint because the sign was already hung when I started, and I just knew I couldn't mess it up! It's not perfect but it's hand painted by an amateur, so I am satisfied.

Im going to give it a second coat tonight and fix a few spots that Im not totally happy with (I think I need to beef up my r), but other than that is done!

So how did I do it you ask? I decided before hand on a font that I wanted to use (something that I had made up in my head) I then searched many fonts until I found one that was similar enough to what I had envisioned. I then printed out the name and sketched it on the sign with pencil, trying to match the printed version as closely as possible. I also had a very large eraser. The floor was covered in eraser shavings. You can't tell very well from the photos but our ceilings are 11 feet high, and this sign was hung at about 9 feet, so I was doing this all while perched atop a very tall ladder, one that Im not looking forward to climbing again for the final coat.

Here's a photo with a bit more context, but ignore the light because I desperately want to replace it. I mean it's not a bad light, but I really want something more our style.

All we have left to do is install new light fixtures and I had my heart set on building a bench ... and now I have been thinking of building another shelf (my husband doesn't know about this yet, so shhhh).

TGIF, my friends, happy weekending!

Pin It

smaze

2012-02-02T12:09:00.000-08:00

I woke up at 3am and rolled over, I thought for a moment that our windows were fogged up. Then I realized that a thick, murky film of vapor had settled into the streets of Shelbyville. It was fog so heavy that I couldn't see the houses across the street. It lingered in the air all night and into the morning. At 9am, when the fog still hadn't lifted, I bundled Lennon up and we adventured out into the mysterious brume. I have to admit that I was a little uneasy, we took a road that I'd never been on and I felt like I was on another planet, we couldn't see 10 feet in front of us in some places.

"droplets of water vapor suspended in the air near the ground"

2012-02-01T16:05:00.000-08:00

My dear friend Heather, In the weeks before her wedding. Check out the full post on my photography blog.

Grandiose Spray Paint

2012-01-31T17:08:00.000-08:00

Iv'e been procrastinating on this post because I keep saying to myself, "oh chelsea, don't be a noob, everyone knows the power of spray paint!" But the truth is, I didn't fully know the power of spray paint until last summer when Brett and I decided to use it on an empty frame I wanted to use as a photo prop. Long story short, we became obsessed to the point where almost everything in our house got a fresh coat of the stuff. I then started feeling guilty about it, assuming that it's actually not great for the environment, and we took a break. We now only spray paint in moderation, but we still love it.

We still love painting things by hand, and for bigger pieces, like side tables or chairs, a good old fashioned brush and bucket of paint will do the job best. But when you're talking about these smaller 'big change for little buck' jobs, that's when spray paint comes in handy. My favorite thing about spray paint is that it sticks really well to plastic or metal. The trick is to use primer, which if you're spraying, you may as well use spray primer. My other favorite thing about spray paint is that it dries so so fast. The primer will dry to the touch within 10 minutes, and you can begin the first coat within 30. The actual paint will dry to touch in 30 minutes and you can do a second coat within an hour. My least favorite thing about spray paint is that it pretty much has to be done outside, which means it's not really a winter sport.

Here's a couple items I transformed this weekend:

Lamp. I began to loath this lamp (I got two of them off the target clearance rack last summer for $4.00 each). I know it's border line hoarding, but even if Im not in love with something, when it's priced that well, I buy it. One of the shades got smooshed on the way home and I always neglected it, the other I started hating more and more until finally I just came home one afternoon, tore the shades off and whipped out a bottle of spray paint. I got two new lamp shades, and after a fresh coat of paint, Im happy with my lamps.

Before. Middle. After

Drawer. Brett (also borderline horder) was driving home from work and spotted an old wood filing cabinet in a neighbors burn pile ... he asked if he could take a few things (sir, can we have your trash?). Brett was only able to get one of the drawers out of the cabinet because the wood had swollen from being outside, the next day the pile was burned (I guess that guy didn't want any more beggars at his door asking to go through his trash). We did, however, get to save one drawer, it sat in our garage for like 6 weeks until finally I decided to paint it and put a pull on it. Now we can throw junk in it :D and it's really cute! I don't know what to do about the lock though, I didn't want to put the old lock back on it because it's silver and the pull is gold, and buying a gold lock doesn't seem like the answer ... ideas?

Before. After

Spray Paint = Easy, Cheap, Fast .... I love cheap thrills, what can I say?

Pin It

Today is Monday

2012-01-30T08:16:00.000-08:00

Whole wheat eggos + fresh blueberries + greek yogurt = super meal

guys, January is almost over, I should throw a good riddance January party. You're all invited.

Have you eaten breakfast yet? You should have what I had.

The sun is shining here, do you have sun? Am I the only one ready for spring? Winter is really starting to get on my nerves.

Have you figured out yet that I'm procrastinating? Yeah, it's the Monday morning, I don't really want to get started on work so I will write a rambling blog post, post.

ok ok ok, im done, stay tuned later for a post on some painting projects that I have been working on. I wish I could paint something right now, it's going to be 60 degrees today ... hello, spray paint weather!

bon lundi!

(not proper french, btw... don't quote me, ever, especially when I speak french)

Carrot Cake

2012-01-26T17:01:00.000-08:00

Okay, so something I haven't told you is that I've been failing all week at making carrot cake ... I've never made a homemade carrot cake before and it took some trial and error to find the right recipe. But finally, after force feeding my family with variations of carrot cake all week long, we've found a recipe that we all love, yippee! The recipe is adapted from an all recipes post.

2 cups white sugar
3/4 cup vegetable oil
3 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3/4 cup buttermilk
2 cups grated carrots
1 (15 ounce) can crushed pineapple, drained
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 cup chopped walnuts (optional)
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9x3 inch round baking pan. Set aside.

In a large bowl, mix together sugar, oil, eggs, vanilla, and buttermilk. Stir in carrots, coconut, vanilla, and pineapple. In a separate bowl, combine flour, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt; gently stir into carrot mixture. Stir in chopped nuts. Spread batter into prepared pan.
Bake for 55 minutes or until toothpick inserted into cake comes out clean. Remove from oven, and set aside to cool.
Once completely cooled, frost that bad boy! I recommend homemade cream cheese frosting, which is what I used, but any frosting will do.

It's the power of buttermilk, I'm telling you ... don't underestimate the power of buttermilk. You can also throw in a cup of raisons and/or coconut flakes depending on your preference. I hope you try it and enjoy it! I was so pleasantly surprised when both my kids snarfed it down ... They usually stay away from cakes with healthy things like carrots in them, even if it is cake.

Pin It

Household Hero: TEA

2012-01-25T13:09:00.000-08:00

10 tricks for fresh and used tea leaves (#6 is my favorite!)

1. Relieve Tired or Puffy Eyes
Give relief to your tired, aching, or puffy eyes by soaking two tea bags in warm water. Then place the bags over your closed eyes for about 20 minutes. The tannins in the tea will reduce puffiness and soothe tired eyes.

2. Dry A Poison Ivy Rash
With strongly brewed tea you can dry a weeping poison ivy rash. Just dip a cotton ball into the tea, dab it on the affected area, and let it air dry. You can repeat this process as necessary.

3. Stop Foot Odor!
No more smelly feet, give them a daily tea bath. Soak you feet in a strongly brewed tea bath each night for about 20 minutes and live a stinky feet free life!

4. Shine Your Mirrors
Brew a pot of strong tea and use it to clean your mirrors. Dampen a soft cloth in the tea and wipe it over the mirrors surface, then buff with a soft, dry cloth for a streak free shine!

5. Clean Wood Furniture and Floors
A gental and natural way to clean wood furniture and floors is by using freshly brewed tea. Just boil a couple of tea bags in a liter of water and let it cool. Dip a soft cloth in the tea, wring out excess and use it to wipe away dirt and grime. Dry with a clean, soft, dry cloth.

6. Give cloth an antiqued look.
Soak white lace or garments in a tea bath to create and antiqued ivory look. Use 3 tea bags for every 2 cups of boiling water and steep for 20 minutes. Let it cool for a few minutes and then soak material for 10 minutes or more. The longer you soak the darker the color you will get. This is a great way to hide stains on table linens or just to transform old linens to something different. Use colored herbal tea for light reds or blues!

7. Make a Sachet
You can make a sachet with dried tea leaves from your favorite herbal teas. Just open a few used herbal tea bags and spread the wet tea on some old newspaper to dry. Once dry, use the tea to stuff your sachet.

8. Give your Rose Garden a Boost
Sprinkle new or used tea leaves (you can use bags too) around the base of your plants, cover with mulch. When your roses are watered the nutrients from the tea will be released into the soil. Roses especially love this trick because of the tannic acid in the tea.

9. Feed your Ferns
Ferns like an occasional tea time. Every so often, water your ferns with brewed tea, your ferns will thank you by looking lush and exuberant.

10. Prepare your pots for planting
For healthier potted plants, place a few used tea bags at the bottom of the pot, at the drainage layer. The tea bags will retain water and leach nutrients to the soil.

There you have it my friends, 10 wonderful ways to make use of the tea in your cupboard! Of coarse you can always drink your tea too, that's always an enjoyable option :)

Pin It

via: readers digest

Sneak Peak #2: Progress on the Mudroom

2012-01-24T19:26:00.000-08:00

We have seriously been working day and night on this little mudroom re-design. I CAN'T wait to show you the finished room... errrr, I mean, I can't wait until the room is actually finished!! I feel like this project has made me at least 3x's handier than before, which is pushing me really close to the official title of "handy lady".

Anyway, one of my favorite things about this room is that it's undergone a huge transformation and we haven't spent a cent on it outside of paint. Being cheap is an obsession that I never thought I would have, but I have the bug, what can I say.

This room may have cost us next to nothing, but we did risk untimely death by climbing the barn ladder in Brett's grandparent's old barn to find some usable barn wood for the room. Death by rabies and rusty nail impalement was also risked during this process. It's a miracle that we're still alive.

Here I am pulling rusty nails from some old boards we found. Brett and I pulled nails and scrubbed the boards. Then Brett cut them to our pre measured dimensions and voila. Actually pretty easy.

And here's burly Brett carrying our cut barn boards, like a boss.

And here's the dog that lives on this property, she didn't help at all! sheesh.

Okay, this wasn't as much of a sneak peak as it was a reminder that we're working on something ... awesome! Stay tuned!

Winter Sprouts

2012-01-23T19:50:00.000-08:00

After the holidays the urge to start planting sets in. Obviously January's gale force winds and freezing weather make gardening in the outdoor space pretty impossible. This year I decided to start a little indoor garden and mature some plants, some that I may be transplanting to the garden in the spring. I planted a traditional indoor greenhouse but I wanted to experiment with planting in egg shells. Starting seeds in eggshells provide your seedlings with nutrients that help strengthen them as they develop. It also saves you from spending money on little pots, and gives you the perfect natural casing to use when moving to a large pot or garden. Here's a quick how to.

What you need:

egg shells (start saving now!)
seeds (I got mine for $0.09 per packet)
seed starting soil (About $3.00 at any store with a garden center)

Fill your saved egg shells about half to three quarters of the way full with seed starter, then sow your seeds (2 or 3 seeds) cover and fill the remaining shell with soil. Read the seed pack for additional instructions depending on what you're planting. Keep your soil wet by using a spray bottle, and find a place to keep your garden where it will get sunshine and stay warm. When your seedlings sprout and start to grow you may need to thin them to prevent crowding. Soon you will be ready to transplant into a garden or into a pot. When this time comes, crush the bottom of the egg so that the roots of your new plant come into direct contact with the new soil.

My basil seeds sprouted within four days of planting them! I used my egg shells to plant our indoor herbs which we rely on throughout the year to supply us with fresh parsley, basil, rosemary, and cilantro. I'll be moving them to pots soon

So easy .. I hope you try it!

10 fab light fixtures under $100.00

2012-01-20T09:06:00.000-08:00

After tirelessly searching for affordable light fixtures for days on end, I thought it only fair to share my findings with you. Retro barn lighting and classic schoolhouse fixtures are trending for indoor spaces. I like to mix it up with each room, but I can't deny my love for this retro/rugged/primitive look. The drawback is that lighting can be seriously expensive, and rightly so. You can make a really big statement with your light fixtures, not to mention, lights are sort of a necessity (unless you're Amish, which if you're reading this, you're not). The great thing about being on a budget is that it forces you to do the research and find exactly what you're looking for, at the price you need it at.

So here I present you with 10 beautiful fixtures for under $100.00

1.Barn House Electric Wall or Ceiling Light $25.95

This is what Brett and I chose for the sconces in our mudroom bath.

2. Brass Cage Pendant $99.00
3. Flush Mount Ceiling Lamp in Weathered Copper $95.40
4. Barn Pendant in Cherry Red $54.95
5. City Pendant in Industrial Yellow $69.00
6. Barn Loft Pendant in Green Enamel $61.00
7. Mini Colby Pendant in Raw Aluminum $99.00
8. Radial Shade Sconce in Weathered Copper $95.00
9. School House Pendant in Oiled Bronze $95.40
10. Cord Hung Pendant in Dark Green $79.00

Most of the above choices are available in a variety of colors to fit the look you're going for. Barn Light Electric Is also now featuring a vintage store, so if you're searching for something truly unique and willing to dole out the big bucks, that's a really cool website.

Don't forget the bulbs!

For a few extra bucks you can get beautiful retro "Edison" bulbs from a variety of different sources. If you are going to hang a pendant or sconce with an exposed bulb, I recommend upgrading to the beauty bulbs!

Happy Weekend-ing!

Sneak Peak!

2012-01-19T12:32:00.000-08:00

Have I told you that we're transforming our mudroom? I don't think I have, we've met the half way point and it feels really good to be making progress, so I had to show you a little tiny corner of it. It's complete with homemade shelves from old salvaged barn wood, real barn wood, the kind that you have to dig out from under raccoon poop while trying not to step on any dead animals or contract rabies. Then you have to pull out the rusty nails and clean the boards thoroughly. It's free, but it's gross. Brett said I need to toughen up, but raccoon poop is just always going to be gross to me.

I will show before pics when the room is complete and I do a full blog post. The room was painted a purple-ish blue and then touched up with a different shade and/or consistency of paint. There were also 300 holes in the walls, some with anchors stuck in them. The final straw was when our hooks started falling out of the walls and I new we needed to reinforce they by putting in a system (boards or shelves) that we could screw into studs, and then hang our hooks. The base boards and molding was also chipping away and looking awful. We decided when it was installed a few years ago it had just a single layer of contractors paint on it (some parts were still bare, *shutter*).

We love making our house happy.

Household Hero: the lemon!

2012-01-18T13:19:00.000-08:00

Three of My Fav Lemon Tricks For the Kitchen:

1.) Deodorize Your Garbage Disposal. Next time you use a lemon, save the peel. Drop them down your drain and turn on the disposal ... instant lemon zested disposal. (You can do this with orange peels too!)

2.) Clean Your Microwave: Mix 3tbsp of lemon juice with 1 1/2 cups of water in a microwave safe bowl. Then microwave the mixture on high for 5-10 minutes. This will soften all splattered soup and other things you don't really want to think about, and you can easily wipe it away with a rag.

3.) Make your Dishwasher sparkle: Do you have a packet of lemonade Kool-Aid hanging around the house from last summer? Put it to use! Pour the contents into the soap dispenser in your dishwasher and run through an empty load on a hot cycle. The acidity in the lemonade will combat the high iron content in your water and voila! Your dishwasher will be sparkly white!

Bonus Tip:
Write a secret message with lemon juice. Use a q-tip to and lemon juice to write your message on a piece of white paper. then give it to your secret agent (or secret lover) with the instructions to warm the paper by the heat of a light bulb, the heat will turn your lemon juice message light brown. (Please don't start a fire in your home trying to be a secret agent.)

Pin It
source: Readers Digest

Delicious Eats

2012-01-17T17:08:00.000-08:00

Without even realizing it I had 5 days of delicious breakfast sitting in my camera waiting to be uploaded. I decided to squish them into a quick scrumptious post for you, just in case you were wondering what to have for breakfast tomorrow morning, or if you're in the mood for breakfast dinner, which Im sure you are.

#1. The quickest and easiest. Toast, not just any toast, delicious french bread toast with butter (of coarse, please never forget the butter) and Brenda's homemade strawberry jam. I confess I ate a piece before i took this picture.

#2. Homemade apple sauce. When your apples start to near the end of their lifespan, use them for applesauce! My kids are 10 times more likely to eat applesauce than they are apples.

What you need: 4 apples, peeled, cored, and chopped

3/4 cup water

1/4 cup white sugar

1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon.

Make it: In a saucepan, combine apples, water, sugar, and cinnamon. Cover, and cook over medium heat for 15 to 20 minutes, or until apples are soft. Allow to cool, then mash with a fork or potato masher.

You can jar it too, for quick easy after school snacks or breakfast as you're heading out the door.

#3. Blueberry Pancakes. Brett made these. He drops the blueberries in perfectly when the are cooking on the griddle so they turn out beautifully. I prefer cream to syrup. Make you own cream, please make your own cream. Heavy wipping cream, confectioners sugar, vanilla, air. If you whip it by hand be prepared to whip for awhile, I like to use the beaters. Quick, easy, delicious.

#4. Porridge. The hardiest of all breakfasts.

Recipe from Can You Stay For Dinner. yum. You'll like this one, a lot. When its done feel free to spoon in a little brown sugar, or my kids like to request chocolate chips.

#5. Apple Bread ... Banana Bread except with homemade applesauce instead of bananas. We ate it hot out of the oven with butter ... it just doesn't get any better than that.

Happy Breakfasting!

Self Actualizing

2012-01-17T10:46:00.000-08:00

Brett's going to teach me how to feed the cows. I'm excited to learn and contribute in some way if i can, to the farm.

Living in the country has been a really big adjustment for me. When you live in chaos for long enough you feel an emptiness when the chaos is gone. I don't miss it, I hate it actually, but now I have to find a way to fill the void with something from within myself. It's a journey of getting to know myself and finding out what is important to me, and why it's important. I can't rely on being influenced by everything that is happening around me any more, I have to make it happen myself. I need to find the real reason behind why I do things, and stop expecting the world around me to offer superficial acceptance.

It's time to self actualize.

Dr. King Says ... Relax Today, Take the Day Off and Live it Up

2012-01-16T08:43:00.000-08:00

Except me, I have to work ... that's okay, I don't really mind it. I'll still live it up.

This weekend was productive and so much fun. It's funny how it works out like that because you really can't plan to be productive on a weekend, I mean, at least I can't.

On Friday night Brett and I were just sitting around trying to figure out what crazy thing we were going to do and decided to paint the back stairwell. It's something that we've been planning to do for a long time but haven't yet gotten to.

It's now Monday morning and the stairs are painted and beautiful, BUT they're not done. We are going to caulk them and I am going to add a stencil to the risers .. stay tuned :)

We ended up staying up until 2am that night, I made homemade egg mcmuffins at 1130pm for dinner.

On Saturday we journeyed to Decatur and went to Target. We got a new lamp. A wonderful older couple helped us find a lamp shade. We then saw them at Starbucks after leaving Target .. our new bffs.

We walked a mile of the snowy, wooded Dacey trail on Saturday night in the dark, it was lit with candles and we sat at a bonfire when we were finished. Kids were exhausted, walk was incredibly beautiful.

On Sunday we went to Goodwill in Effingham. I found two glass Ball jars with their original glass lids, $2 a piece, wow. Brett found a London Fog trench that he's all stoked on.

We went to Menards and found a huge mirror priced down to $14.99. I also bought 11 packs of seeds to start our indoor greenhouse .. again, stay tuned!

We did a mini photo shoot on the farm Sunday at sunset, and I talked with the cows for a while. Those girls are good listeners. We picked up some farm fresh eggs, I talked to the hens but they seemed a bit fussy.

Kids spent the night with the B's. I hung our new mirror and cleaned the kids room, Brett finished the stairs. We sat together for awhile. I realized I hadn't opened my computer since Friday, bliss. ... weekend is over.

Happy Martin Luthar day ... did you know Brett and I got married on Dr. Kings holiday? Well we did. Our anniversary is later this week. There's no significance around the fact that we got married on the holiday. We were (are) in love and didn't care what day we got married on, that, and it was the 2nd anniversary of our first date.

Here's a song to brighten your Monday. Please watch the video and get addicted to it's goodness.

Hi, It's Friday (Friday The 13th Edition)

2012-01-13T07:34:00.000-08:00

Im making a mess with my coffee.

This morning the snow shoveling truck woke us up at 5:45am barreling down and scrapping along the cobblestone road that runs in front of our house. When I first woke up I thought that the world was ending. I love how dramatic you can get when you are asleep and letting your subconscious rule your world. Then I laid in bed for the next hour, thinking... that's totally therapeutic.

Jude is a dog today. The only way I can get her to respond to me is if I say bark once for yes and twice for no.

We're pseudo snowed ... meaning that we could probably go somewhere if we wanted, but considering my antilock breaks kicked in 3 times on my way home from dropping the kids off, we're going to stay in. You should have seen me gun it up the drive way, im such a bad ass. You also should have seen me bash my head on my car door this morning ... the bruise on my head is going to make me look like even more of a bad ass, win!

What are you doing today? What should I do today? omg I have 100 things to do today. What do i want to do today? May be I should practice self control, or may be I shouldn't?

Here's a Happy Friday tune for all of you that have snow drifts today ... you can listen even if you don't have snow actually. Enjoy your friday, come over later for 80s revival, wine, and arts and crafts.

Breathe Owl Breathe

The Office Nook.. (a nook that makes full sized offices green with envy!)

2012-01-12T18:50:00.000-08:00

Getting up every morning and working from home can be a challenge, there are so many distractions. I've even caught myself procrastinating by doing laundry! I know, that's sad, but the truth is when you know you have stuff to do around the house, it's hard to buckle down and get to work. I went through a 4 month transitional period trying to figure out what my "work from home" style is. I worked from the couch (no good) from the bed (no good) from the dining room table (better) from the office (may be the craziest yet!). I finally realized what I needed, a space with plenty of light, a "view" even, and very few distractions. Here's what I came up with.

(before picture from the real estate site, before we moved in)

When we first moved into this house the entire upstairs hallway was covered in the ugliest blue carpet in the world. Brett and I got ambitious shortly after moving in and ripped it up and found these wide plank pine boards, stained dark but in REALLY rough shape. I nearly fell out of my chair when we had a flooring guy come in and quote us on the refinishing of the hall floor, $3000? May be next time (when we're rich) ... how about $30 for a pail of floor paint, now you're talken! I definitely think we made the right decision here, I love our charming white painted floors, they're perfectly imperfect.

FYI, we (and when I say we I mean Brett) also installed all new 1/4round on the base board, caulked all seams, and gave them a fresh coat of paint. This project from start to finish took us a good month, but it was worth it.

The "desk" is the Meltorp Dining Table from Ikea. This desk is huge but also budget friendly, it's also light weight (literally and figuratively). It was the perfect choice for my work needs. The side table that holds my scanner, paper, and other odds and ends is an unfinished wood shelf that I spray painted white. I've had it for years, but I believe it originally came from Target. The chair was found in my in-laws garage, salvaged, and also spray painted white. Im so in love with this pretty white girly chair.

Remember, before Pinterest, when people still had physical pin boards ... I know, I know, Im behind on the times, I still have one. I made this pin board out of a framed print from Ross, that I had from like 6 years ago, I took the glass and print out and replaced it with cork, then (you guessed it) I spray painted the frame white.

Oh ... did i mention my "office" is now filling the space at the top of the stairs, where there was nothing before. Ahhhh, using dead space ... bliss. This also frees up the designated office space for Brett to have a full on music/recording room.

Am I embarrassed to admit that the tiny magic mouse that has mediocre functionality was actually more expensive than the desk it sits on? Sort of, but then again, look at how sleek it is!

it's all about the details, even when you are going for a light and bright (minimalistic) look. Just a little personality can go a long way and make you feel at home in your space.

The End. Not really, but for now ;)

A Love Story, Starring a Sofa.

2012-01-12T10:47:00.000-08:00

My mother, in her infinite wisdom, says it's all about being in the right place at the right time when it comes to shopping for those perfect vintage items, which is why you should shop ... every day. Hello, so true, I totally need to get out more! In this case someone did the work for us. Brett's brother sent us word of this $50 sofa delight in a neighboring town, we knew it wouldn't last so we took a mini trip and snatched it up! It's being delivered to us, but the snow storm today might delay it a day or two ... can't wait to show you how it looks in our parlor! This is an iphone pic of it sitting in the store.

Do any of you shop vintage? If I had my way I would never buy a single new thing... besides the slightly more personal things, if you know what I mean. A couch isn't an easy thing to buy second hand, you sort of have to get to know it and make sure it's... well... clean. Once this pretty girl gets delivered I will take you through the steps of thoroughly cleaning second hand upholstery.

Stay tuned later today for a post on the new home office nook!

Live with what you love, get rid of the rest.

2012-01-10T17:05:00.000-08:00

Live with what you love and get rid of the rest, I think that's my new motto. Just stopping in tonight to say hi! I worked all day and am feeling sluggish, so im taking the night to drink wine and refuel by stuffing my brains with Pinterest. I'm such a gluten when it comes to Pinterest.

Tomorrow Im going to set up an office space for myself and license my husband with full rights to the current (shared) office space. We also got word of a cinderella blue, victorian style couch in mint condition that is for sale in the next town... for $51!! So that may be on the list to check out as well. Oh and Im working on a little Valentines present for my readers, squee!

Cheerio, my dear friends.

Chelsea

Making a Splash: The How-To!

2012-01-09T08:29:00.000-08:00

Im going to do a little tutorial on how to create a splash shot. When I first saw these splash shots trending on Flickr, I was so into it, I did a series of them a year or two ago and had so much fun! The thing about doing the splash shots is that they're not as hard as they look... it's really actually pretty simple. Here's what you'll need:

1. Digital SLR camera with a shutter burst setting. If you have an SLR, you should have a burst setting, some move faster than others. My current camera can shoot up to 7 frames per second, which makes doing a splash shot really easy, because it's all about capturing that perfect splashing moment.
2. Small Ball or Object. I've used bouncy balls, hard plastic balls, marbles, even candy. The size, weight and shape of the object that you use will effect the size and shape of your splash.
3. Cup ... or some vessel to hold your liquid
4. Coffee (cold coffee, don't scald yourself), milk, tea, some type of liquid ... I find that milk or coffee turn out best on camera
5. Daylight, and lots of it. You need to shoot this in a well lit room or even outside because your shutter speed will need to be really fast .. the faster your shutter, the less light your camera lets in, so the more available light, the better.
6. Towels. You're probably not going to get your best shot the first try, so bring a towel to your set because you'll be cleaning up you're mess a few times.

Today's objects:

So now that you have what you need you can begin to set up. A splash shot can have a fairly simple set because the splash will be the real subject anyway, but I always like to stage things up a little. Just remember whatever is in your set, will probably get splashed. I usually lay my camera flat on the surface that Im shooting on, sometimes I'll lay it on a book for a little more height, you can always use a tripod too, somehow I find that Im usually too lazy to bring mine out. You'll want to position your camera far enough back so that you can capture a fair amount of space about the cup, depending on how tall your splash gets. Once your set is up and your camera is in place focus your camera on the outer rim of the cup. You'll want to refocus between every splash you make.

Now adjust your camera settings. Your shutter speed should not be any slower than 1/800 of a second.

My settings in these shots were

Shutter: 1/800

Aperture: 2.8

ISO: 1250

Beware that an ISO this high can give you a really noisy (grainy) looking shot, depending on the camera you are using. If you are using a Canon Rebel or the Nikon equivalent I would NOT recommend using an ISO higher than the 600-800 area.

Also keep in mind that an aperture of 2.8 has a shallow depth of field, if you are going to use an aperture this wide open, pay careful attention that your focus is just right.

You can throw/drop your object and hold down the shutter at the same time, that's usually how I do it, however if there's an assistant available (husband, child, house guest, etc.) certainly use them! Hold down your shutter and then drop your ball, wait until the splash is complete before lifting your finger from the shutter. Now check out what you have captured! It usually takes about 5 splashes to feel satisfied with what you have, and you'll probably have several of these:

Here is a snap of my favorite assistant at work, drying some spilled coffee from our set. It's really important to clean you set thoroughly between shots, because the last thing you want is a perfect splash but coffee stains all over the front of your pretty cup from your last splash.

I will leave you with one last capture from today's splash session. I hope you have fun trying this one out... I have a feeling you will! If you have questions, please ask, and if you do try it, please share!

Pin It

Moistalicious Chocolate Cake (the recipe!)

2012-01-07T19:09:00.000-08:00

Yesterday we celebrated Lennon's birthday. He was SO jazzed on his cake, and Im so pleased that he was. My kids' birthdays are so important to me. My mom always threw fantastic parties for us as kids, with balloons and streamers and elaborate cakes. Kids love parties and deserve to be celebrated, so as I always say, "do it up right!".

I started making homemade cakes a few years ago and I just never went back to box. Homemade cake is like a totally different dessert than boxed cake, it's thick, and moist, and full of delicious flavor. The best part about it is that you are in total control, so if you want to use zucchini as a butter substitute, or agave as sugar substitute, or specialty chocolate or fruit, you can. It's a good thing knowing exactly what you're putting into your body, food just tastes better that way (because it is better).

So here we go, chocolate cake. I like chocolate cake but have had so many experiences when it has turned out dry. This normally happens because in most cases you will use cocoa powder for the chocolate flavor. Cocoa powder on top of the flour just makes for a dry cake. This, however, is the best and most moist chocolate cake that I've ever made, I followed a recipe, but I totally hacked it ... mostly because a. I didn't totally agree with some of the proportions and b. I ran out of some stuff. The secret to this cake is the buttermilk. Use buttermilk and you won't end up with a dry cake, or quick bread ... ever.

Alright, have I dragged on long enough now? Are you ready for the recipe?? Okay, you've earned it.

Ingredients:

2 cups buttermilk

2 teaspoons baking soda

3 cups white sugar

1 cup golden brown sugar

4 eggs

1/2 cup of cocoa powder

1 cup vegetable oil

3 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 teaspoon almond extract

2 cups boiling water

4 cups of all-purpose flour

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour three 9x1.5 circular cake pans. I always use cocoa powder to flour my pans when Im doing a chocolate cake.

In a medium bowl, combine the buttermilk and baking soda. Set bowl on preheating oven for warmth.

In a large bowl or in your trusty kitchen aid mixer, mix together your 3 cups white sugar, 1 cup brown sugar, 4 eggs, cocoa powder, oil, vanilla, and almond extract until blended. Stir in the two cups of boiling water, then gradually beat in the flour. At this point I transfer from the kitchen aid to an extra large bowl, which I recommend if you don't want chocolate cake batter all of your kitchen (which incidentally your kids may actually love).

Stir in the buttermilk mixture.

Pour batter into prepared pans. If you have a little extra, you can choose to do a forth cake or a few cupcakes. I usually do a mini cake in a small round pyrex.

Bake your cakes in the preheated oven for 30-35 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean and the edges of the cake have pulled away from the sides. Allow to cool for about 10 minutes. If you've buttered and floured your pans well, your cakes should fall right out of the pans. Once out of the pans allow to cool completely before stacking and frosting.

To make the cake that you see above, you will need to stack the three cakes atop one another, and frost between the two layers. If one of your cakes breaks in half (one of mine did yesterday) don't fret, just push it together (may be use a little frosting to help it stick) and use it as the bottom layer. The wonderful thing about cake after it comes out of the oven, it's never ruined, you can always mend a little mistake with frosting :)

Make it for yourself, your kids, your husband, your boyfriend, your girlfriend, your in laws, Martha Stewart ... they'll ALL love it. Seriously, Martha love's it when I make this cake.

How did yours turn out??

Pin It

Hi, It's Friday.

2012-01-06T09:00:00.000-08:00

Friday To Do:

Make grocery list for Lennon's cake and party.

Vacuum entire house ... the whole thing.

Go to Decatur and shop for party supplies.

Listen to music really really loud on the way to Decatur.

Sit in the sun for at least 15 minutes (hopefully the seat of my car will be filled with sun)

Load the dead tree and wreaths into Bretts truck.

Wrap birthday presents

Pick kids up from grandmas

Drink wine

Party, it's Friday after all

Hang streamers and balloons (try not to fall off table and break arm)

Write another blog post about what the heck we're gonna do with our ugly carpeted stairs

Hang out with Brett

Bring kids into bed for snuggles.

sleep.

startinnnnnnggggg, NOW ... you know the "in 10 minutes"now :)

The Bathroom Mini Reno (on a budget)

2012-01-05T15:05:00.000-08:00

When we first moved into this house we were ecstatic to be going from one TINY bathroom that we all had to share, to three legitimate bathrooms, two full, one half. So we have this fairy tale story of the happy family finding their dream home loaded with bathrooms ... is that the way it ever works? no. The one bathroom upstairs is spacious and has an incredible claw foot tub, original to the house. The problem? There was no shower installed in the tub, not such a big deal, but the drain looked like it too was from 1885 (not pretty) and the tub waste had no cover just a dark, gaping hole ... who wouldn't want to take a bath with a huge scary hole staring at them? Me, that's who!

We knew that making the upstairs bathroom functional was the first thing we needed to do to this house. You all know bathroom renos can be SPENDY, I watch HGTV like it's my religion and it's pretty nuts what kind of money some homeowners pour into their bathrooms. We knew for sure we wanted to fix the bathroom up and we knew for sure we wanted to do it for under $1000. I think we actually came pretty close.

Before and After:

The before picture is from the real estate listing, before we moved in. Now, don't get me wrong, I don't dislike the blue and white thing they had going on, it just felt a little tired. We decided on a mustard color for the bead board and buttermilk cream for the walls. We wanted the bathroom to look a little bit more rustic, but still clean and fitting to the house. Brett did the wall painting, and I spent about three days trying to paint the existing sink console, which actually ended up turning out better than I expected it to.

It's still not my favorite part of the bathroom, but we achieved our goal which was basically to just make it a lot less noticeable :) We also changed out the knobs which is always something that will give any piece a totally new look.

Storage was the next thing we had to tackle. There was an old, unused cabinet in our basement, it was really gross, but I knew it would work perfectly for extra storage in the bathroom if I could get it clean and painted.

I cleaned it up really well, painted it brown, and used some pulls I had picked up a few months earlier out of the clearance basket at Anthropologie. Hanging the cabinet was the most challenging part of this whole up-cycle, but we found one stud that we centered it on and screwed it into from top to bottom. There are other support screws on the sides, tops, and bottoms. If this thing falls, it's bringing the house down with it.

yes, im proud of the pulls :)

Oh man, I WISH I would have taken a before picture of the mirror and light fixture. The mirror must have been a $5.00 Dollar General find, and the light was one of those exposed bulbs fixtures, you know, from the 80's. It was also gold, but someone along the way had painted it white, haha, still makes me laugh .... if ya got gold, own it!

We found replacements for both the light and mirror at our trusty Lowes store and haven't looked back. It did take Brett and I one grueling night and then the next morning to get the light fixture changed out. We ended up having to change out the electrical box in the wall in order to get the fixture in place, but it's done and looks way way better. The mirror is also a medicine cabinet, which has been awesome ... we totally beefed up this bathroom's storage which I highly recommend to all you DIY'ers out there.

So then the shower, we're pretty serious about DIY around here, but when it comes to plumbing we leave it to the experts. New drain,waste cover,faucet, shower attachment, and shower ring ... I can't tell you how worth it this was.

So in total we spent about:

$50.00 in paint

$50.00 on a light fixture

$100.00 for the mirror

$50.00 for shower curtains/rings

$25.00 for a new rug

$20.00 on knobs

and

$850.00 for new shower parts and labor

grand total: $1,145.00

Not bad for a new bathroom!

Here's a few more pics

I moved this hook to the wall from the back of the door, I think it's charming.

So tell me about your bathroom renos! Big, small, expensive, inexpensive, dream reno? I want to hear!

Pin It

2.

2012-01-04T17:06:00.001-08:00

Lennon is officially 2.

We will have a 2 year old and a 3 year old for about 6 weeks, and then this one will be moving up as well... she just couldn't stand not being part of the photo shoot, so, of course, I let her sit in for a few frames... I don't think she's ever smiled so sweetly for me.

tomorrow ill be blogging about the house ... talk to you then :)
Caio. Chelsea

Happy Birthday Lennon!

2012-01-04T11:53:00.001-08:00

Good morning cupcake! Today is Lennon's second birthday, I got up extra early to bake him some special cupcakes to bring to day care with him. I originally was thinking of baking cake from scratch (I never buy the box stuff) but it's really hard to motivate yourself to bake cake from scratch before dawn... so I went with banana bread cupcakes.

I know what you're thinking, "Is banana bread the only thing she knows how to make?". I'm beginning to ask myself the same question. But, because Im making cake this weekend (for the actual party), and banana bread takes a fraction of the time whip together, plus when you do cupcakes the baking time is cut in half, It seemed like the obvious choice. Extra bonus of this treat is you can say that you're being health conscious ... and because these cupcakes are so healthy (obviously) you can even justify one for yourself.

The frosting is healthy too ... just kidding ... did you believe that? Im such a bad liar, but if you tasted one of these babies I think you'd forgive me. Come over and have tea with me this afternoon and Ill make another batch.

Now back to work... I'll be posting some photos of the birthday boy this afternoon, stay tuned!

Cheers, Chelsea

PS: The recipe I used for these is here only thing that is different for the cupcakes is that I mushed the bananas completely for a smooth and even distribution. Cooking time is 20-30 minutes rather than 60. Frosting on top came from a jar, (buttercream) delicious.

Pin It

the photog family

2012-01-03T10:53:00.000-08:00

One of the things that we make a point to do in our house is push ourselves to be adventurous. On New Years Day we decided, rather than starting the New Year by laying on the couch (which is what we wanted to do!) we would all grab a camera and drive somewhere we had never been. Jude brought a disposable camera and was SO into it! I brought my fish eye, and Brett brought his dad's old Minolta (which shoots GOOOOORGOUSE photos). And our sweet baby, Lennon, slept in the car the entire time.

This was Judes first role of film. I love that she loved shooting her first role of film. Here's her first shot:

yes of my crotch... but she did start to get the hang of it, here's one of my favorites that she took

and here's a cute one she snapped of her dad from her car seat pov.

Brett's shot of the day (imo) Is of this little old cemetery on a hill in basically the middle of nowhere, very spooky but the light that day made it feel so serene.

My fav shot from my roll has to be the heading image in this post, but what the hay, ill leave you with just one more. Remember... film is good for the soul. (i totally just made that up, but it sounds insightful. it's totally true.)

Pin It

Clutter Attracts Clutter

2012-01-02T18:57:00.000-08:00

Isn't that true? Clutter attracts clutter, If I let something start to get out of control, it instantly becomes the place to put stuff you don't know what do to with. Things pile up until your house looks like a page out of a Dr. Seuss book, sigh.

We moved into this new (old) house in September and it has taken about that long to actually get to the point where we can start organizing our things. We have a table in the kitchen that collects our bills, the kids artwork, pens and pencils, business cards, receipts, etc. Well last month it had got so out of control that I decided to clean it and discovered 3 bills that we missed because they were lost in the chaos! Being unorganized is one thing, but when you miss bills because of it... no bueno. Anyway, inspired by Better Homes and Gardens' cover story this month on organizing your paper, I decided to bring a little calm to the chaos. A small project that took about an hour and cost $0.00.

Here's the result:

I started by organizing, trashing, and clearing the mess. If you have bills or personal documents that you want to throw out, you should definitely use a shredder. We burn our trash ourselves so I don't use a shredder, but when we lived in Seattle I took all of our personal stuff to work and shredded it there. Better safe than sorry. I hung a calendar (it is a new year after all) and kept the up-cycled shutter on the tabel for displaying cards, keeping stamps, etc.

I found two baskets in one of our drawers, both filled with tea, some from literally 5+ years ago ... Brett and I had a good laugh about why the heck we still had it (and moved it 2500 miles!). Needless to say I was able to condense our tea options down a lot and use the baskets for a new purpose. The one on top is for the collection of stray crayons and coloring books. I put it high because I can easily take the basket down for the kids, but when it's not coloring time they don't have free access to their crayons and draw lovely murals on our walls. The other basket is for incoming mail. All unopened, unprocessed mail goes there. the vintage box on the table stores sorted bills, unused envelopes, checks, and our (very skinny) phone book.

I hung an old trowel on the wall to hang my cameras and next two it two clothes pins adhered with that gooey sticky stuff, u-glue (i think it is). It can be a challenge rubbing it off the wall, but it doesn't peal paint.

The best part is that I can put a rotary phone on the table and two charming pen jars and they will actually be noticed, not covered in incoming paper and catalogs!

Well I hope this little clean sweep keeps us organized for awhile, and our bills paid on time!

I know Bobo is happier:

and the flowers on the cill have a better view:

Cheers to a organized New Year and a happy home. Bon Soir.

Pin It

The Most Moistiest and Delicious Banana Bread

2012-01-01T19:40:00.000-08:00

We live off of bananas at my house, who doesn't? I mean they are a delicious snack that is packaged so perfectly in an all natural casing. Bananas rule. Anyway, always having them around means sometimes having a couple slip through the cracks and get a little too ripe. To be honest, when I see the last couple getting a little ripe i hide them away for a couple of days, just so I can make banana bread.

Banana bread, I could eat it for every meal. It's like the most frequently made, loved, and consumed quick bread in the world (that's not a legit statistic, but it should be). I make like 20+ loaves a year. heck, I've already made one loaf this year and we're only one day in. So here it is, after hundreds of loaves made, I have perfected the recipe... best banana bread ever (also not a statistic, doesn't need to be).

Here's what you need:

1/2 cup butter, melted
1 cup white sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup sour cream
1/2 cup chopped walnuts or chocolate chips (totally optional)
2 medium bananas, sliced
Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9x5 inch loaf pan. I always use one like this, and grease it with butter, none of that spray stuff. If you don't have a stick to spare, you can dip a paper towel into your butter tub and grease the pan that way.

Now stir together the melted butter and sugar, Add the eggs and vanilla, and mix it up. In another bowl, combine the flour, baking soda and salt, and then stir it into the butter mixture until smooth. Now you can add the the sour cream and bananas. If you don't have sour cream in the house, use greek or regular yogurt, you can even use a flavored yogurt for a different twist. I always slice my bananas for larger banana chunks in the finished product, but you can mush them up if you prefer a smoother distribution. This is the time to add a half cup of walnuts or chocolate chips if you like as well. Fold all parts together and pour into the prepared loaf pan.

Bake at 350 degrees F for 60 minutes, or until a toothpick, knife, fork inserted into the center of the loaf comes out clean. I never let a loaf sit in the oven unchecked for a full 60 minutes, but it usually always takes a full hour to bake.

Let the bread cool for about 15 minutes and then carefully take it out of the pan. If you buttered the pan well, then you should have no problems in this department.

Tada! Now lay it on a cutting board with a serrated knife and a little butter and watch it disappear :)

Pin It

Farewell 2011

2011-12-31T18:58:00.000-08:00