::would you rather

Dark, rainy Monday. No thank you. I'll stay here please.

::take it easy

We'll start off the week with a poll. Who's on board with this room? Too much? Too little? Love it? Hate it?

::the love of color

A few things I'm loving at the moment:

Party Time! Excellent! Clock - If I didn't already have a huge white sunburst mirror, I would stick this in my den.

Addie Pendant - *cue my schizophrenia* I can't help it. I just love all pendant lighting. And this light would be so cute over my sink.

Woodland Garden Curtain - for the upstair's window. I'm over the earth tones. I need to bust out some color in that room. It's dark enough already with just the one window!

Hope you all have a greak weekend!

::all things fabric

Made it to the fabric store finally to start on some pillow covers for the guest room. I may have picked up some fabric to use elsewhere ;) These are the first three I've gotten so far. Umm, I might be slightly obssessed. Now...be kind. These are my first three attempts ever and all by hand. I'm a little afraid of the sewing machine.

*My friend just told me Modcloth was selling the top pillow (in yellow and red) online if you love the fabric but don't have the time to make it yourself. :)

::my catdog

Anybody remember the show catdog, btw? Very annoying and strange. No idea who came up with that concept. Anyway, I feel the need to explain to you how Mr. B has decided to sleep at night. At first I thought it was just due to the fact that we keep our house a tundra during the winter and he was just looking for a warm body. Nope. We've had lovely weather here and he's still keeping up his routine. I've wanted to explain this, but nothing explains better than a picture. :)




I feel like if I told you, you wouldn't believe me. He sleeps like a person. Head on the pillow, body under the covers and right up against me all night. I've woken to this before where he's facing me, yet on his back so his arms are pushing into my face. Some days I'll wake up with my arm over the top of him like I used to do with my teddy bear back when I was a kid. It just cracks me up and you know...he just loves every minute of it. :)

::more for me

I didn't want to lose this recipe, so here it is for your viewing pleasure as well:

All-Crunch Cookie

1 cup unsalted butter (2 sticks), room temperature
2/3 cup sugar
3/4 cup light brown sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 large egg
2 cups plus 1 1/2 tsp all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1 tsp kosher salt
6 cups any variety of cereal crunches, loosely packed

- With a mixer, cream butter and sugars at medium-high speed, until fluffy
- Incorporate vanilla and egg
- Add all dry ingredients except for crunch. Mix on low speed, just until dough comes together and all ingredients are combined.
- Add crunches and mix on low speed until evenly dispersed throughout dough.
- Using a large spoon, shape dough into 12 balls of equal size; place 2 inches apart on a baking sheet.
- Refridgerate for 1 hour
- Heat oven to 350, bake 15 minutes. in oven, cookies will puff, crackle and spread, check halfway through baking and use a spatula to shape cookies if they spread too much.
- Let cookies cool completely before serving.

Yum! Thanks In Style.

::it's the little things

Well, I came home one day last week and Aaron had put up the star light I'd bought! I think this should become a new trend. One day a week I come home and some house project is just finished. :) Thanks baby. It looks SO much better. I don't have a before picture, but just imagine a brass, standard, builder-grade light (sort of a carriage light...the same light on every other house in the neighborhood).

Next up - new door mat. It's been a good 4 yr. run...but it's time for a change :)

::glitter on

Was looking for a top to wear the other day and I laid them all out to choose. Umm....I might have a slight problem. :)




Now I see why Aaron makes fun of me when I bring home "another sparkly" shirt. Just a perk of being a girl ;) Have a good weekend everyone.

::buried treasure

So, I forgot to tell you about my estate/garage sale-ing (can I make this a word?) adventures this past weekend. First of all, the weather was just beautiful. Second, I only spent $14. Yay me. Third, I found this guy (or girl, should I say. There's a bow on it's head on the other side which I did not notice til I got it home...Also feel the need to clarify that no, I did not spend the entire $14 on this).

She was sitting there, looking all brassy and kinda creepy, but I just knew I had to take her home. Give her some love and a prominent place on my shelf. Now, you might be thinking to yourself, "Wow, she bought something that wasn't white. Good job!" But hold on ;) While the brass was certainly rocking those 60's...it wasn't quite my taste (shock). So yah...I took the white lacquer spray paint to it. I know, judge me now. I can't help it. I think she looks much better:

I also bought a Baptist hymnal (got made fun of by the guy running the estate sale, guess he's not a fan) and a creepy blue cat painting for Aaron as a partial Valentine's gift. It's just so cute, I'll have to take a picture sometime. He thought it was funny, so score one for me. My friend made off with some really great things (pretty glass pieces, huge wood mantel, mirror, frames, etc). Next up, on the hunt for the perfect door. Keep your eyes open.

::on trend

I've been passively looking for a statement necklace but haven't found anything I've just loved. Well, I have...but they've been $200 or more. I've recently come upon some that are all under $50 (much better). Thoughts?

::for the wee ones

How cute is this clock? Sure, the glued on stuffed animals might frighten some children...but just keep the Teddy Ruxpins tucked away in the closets, and the kids will never think twice about elmo trying to talk to them.

::happy valentines day

Have a pink kind of day ;)

::it's the weekend

Have a good weekend everyone. I'll be hitting some some estate/garage sales with a friend :) I'll let you know if I find anything good!




I just thought this picture was funny. You can just picture the cat singing Hallelujah about Friday :)

::open forum

Found this picture and something about it struck me. What is your favorite feature of the room? Least favorite?

::8 days a week

A while back, I mentioned I was planning on making my own 2011 calendar. To be honest, the results were less than expected but the process was fun. I think the best part was the confused man at kinkos asking me how I was planning to use it: "Are you going to fold it? Or does it sit on something?" I just said I had an idea. :) Originally I was going to use a giant clip to hold it up and just hang the clip on a nail. Didn't work because A) The clip was far too small and looked funny B) The nail was far too high and the paper was way off center. Both these things could have easily been remedied, but who has the time. I had already made a trip to Kinkos and was done.

So without further ado, here is my first (somewhat lame) attempt at a homemade calendar.

And there's the ugly bulletin board that's been made over more times than Joan Rivers. I do plan on recovering it again with a printed fabric....one of these days. I feel like I say that alot...

::gratuitous kitty photo

Because I know you're not tired of seeing Mr. B on here...

He's practically been glued to the new comforter since we brought it home. :) He always warms up my side. And now for his emo shot:

Aww. Fuzzy kitty.

::not to brag or anything

I actually made an effort to be domestic last week. I looked up a lasagna recipe and decided to try to make one from scratch. Very time consuming (by very I mean an hour, which in my world means like 5 hours worth) but not difficult. I won't lie, I had a Harry Potter audio book on the whole time which made the process a lot more enjoyable. It's definitely a good recipe. I tweaked it just to suit my taste and what I already had vs. what I had to buy. I didn't use meat or kidney beans, but just a sauce with different herbs/garlic, etc. I also used only half the ricotta and substituted more mozzarella instead. The hubs isn't a huge ricotta fan. I added carrots, broccoli and mushroom and I used canned spinach instead (already had it) but next time I would try the frozen. All in all it turned out great!

If you try it out, let me know if you like it!!

::mood board

So, the unthinkable has happened. West Elm has put some linens on sale!! With that being the case, my guest room has gotten a HUGE overhaul in my imagination. Now, to see if it comes to fruition...we'll see. I'll have to crunch some numbers.

Here's what I'm thinking though. Here's the guest room now. All paint, and furniture stays.

I'm thinking of something like this:

I'm thinking about getting 2 large white lacquer frames for above the bed and framing out fabric. (The 2 framed panel options.) Either those or this yellow quatrefoil print that I LOVE but couldn't find a picture of. Then I love that first paisley print to tie in some darker blue and then possibly that gray and yellow. Either way, I'm just all over this. Maybe I'll have to wander back over to the West Elm site and see...

::happy friday

Have a lovely weekend everyone. I may or may not be at a few stores this weekend. I have my eye on a few pieces that just might warrant a visit... ;)

::who doesn't love a before and after

I was snooping around on my computer the other day and found a bunch of pictures from when we had first moved into the house. Man! I couldn't believe how much had changed in 2 years. Take a look:

Oh progress...nice to see you again...