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Friday’s Favorites

Flickr Favorites (please click link to see the source of these beautiful images)

Delicate quatrefoil earrings from Etsy
I admit that Pier 1 doesn't come immediately to mind when looking for pretty brooches but look at this pretty, vintage inspired one in lovely cobalt
I am waiting with bated breath for Besotted Blog's shop to open – in the meantime here is a teaser in the form of a drawing. Wait! Don't enter (and ruin my chances….)
Here is some inspiration via Flickr: Sweet little landscape painted on the back of a vintage postcard and some DIY lined envelopes (makes me wish I had a pen pal)
And finally, a lovely little reminder to slow down and enjoy the scenery

My goodness this week totally got away from me. And what is up with it being the last day of September?? Where did the year go? I really need to get that print in my last link.

In exciting news the deck is done! As are the new walkways and planting areas. I'll do a garden tour next week and share some before and after pictures. It took a bit longer than we expected but we are thrilled with how everything turned out.

Happy weekend everyone!

9.25.11

Saturday was one of those days where I didn't have a single thing planned. I love those kind of Saturdays.

I slept in and when I did finally get up I just sat in the living room with my cup of tea and caught up on my magazines. As I was sitting there, flipping through the pages, I started looking at my living room with a critical eye.

Things were looking a bit cluttered and fussy to me. Too much going on visually and not the soothing refuge I envision for it.

There are certain elements that I just can't change. Like the floral on the love-seats and the plaid on the Bergere chairs. But I can control all the stuff I have adorning all the surfaces.

I started off with this throw pillow. Perfectly serviceable and it certainly goes with the color scheme in this room. But I decided that three different patterns on one 14 x 24 pillow was too much.

So I headed to Joanns (where I advised a Nun on the relative merits of two different fabrics for her habit. Like I'm an expert or something….) and picked up some creamy white, bottom weight fabric. I wanted it to have heft to it but not be too stiff. I find bottom weight fabrics make good upholstery fabrics for smaller projects.

I basically just made the same pillow cover but in the creamy white. The only difference is instead of a zipper I put an overlapped opening in the back.

Then I took an antique tray scarf that I bought a few months ago and basted it to the front for texture and interest.

I think the entire project cost me $10. Half for the fabric and half for the tray scarf. The pillow was free.

Not a bad way to fritter away a Saturday.

Friday’s Favorites

Flickr Favorites (please click link to see the source of these beautiful images)

I love the sentiment and the sweet reminder
Kirstie Alley's Maine cottage is for sale. Gorgeous house and views (decorating is a bit over the top…)
Daily reminders on what it is to be a lady (I'm a bit surprised at the controversy her blog raises – when did being polite and taking pains with your appearance become synonymous with the disempowerment of women? Does being a gentleman make a man less manly?)
On to more frivolous topics…Adorable yet spooky gingerbread men
Poignant reminder about treating everyone with kindness and respect. Reminds me of the Plato quote "Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle."

Have a spectacular weekend everyone!

9.21.11

In an effort to quell my insatiable Diet Coke habit I'm trying to pretty up my water.

A couple of sliced strawberries, half a sliced lemon and a handful of mint do the job nicely AND it is very refreshing.

Sliced cucumber, ginger (fresh) and mint are also nice.

I'm keeping the pitcher in arm's reach on my table so I can just keep filling up my glass as I'm working.

9.20.11

I spent last weekend stocking my larder. I'm very intrigued (and impressed) by the idea of spending a couple of intense days cooking mass quantities of freezer friendly meals and stocking your freezer.

The idea is to stock up on the major, time consuming components of a meal so that during the hectic work week you can just pull something out of the freezer, add a salad and you have a nice meal with little effort.

Not everything freezes (or reheats to be totally accurate) well. So before I started assembling Coulibiac I did a little research and found some good online resources. Here are two links that I found very useful:

http://aturtleslifeforme.blogspot.com/2011/06/freezer-meals-on-cheap.html (cooking ahead and freezing tips)

http://joelens.blogspot.com/2007/01/freezer-friendlymake-ahead.html (freezer friendly meals)

I ended up making shredded chicken, chicken stock, taco meat, twice baked potatoes, pasta sauce, bean and cheese burritos (with home made refried beans – very easy) and chicken pesto stuffed shells.

I was careful to label each item so I wouldn't pull out mystery packages of food a year from now (something I actually just did this morning – lesson learned). Not only did I describe and date the item but I also included cooking instructions.

I also bought a book suggested by the first blogger listed above called "Don't Panic: Dinner's in the Freezer." I haven't had a chance to look through it but I'm hoping to spend another weekend cooking up more meals.

I'm also hoping to get my sisters together so we can do a big cooking session together. I've also heard of groups of women that each prepare a dish en masse and then share it with the others in the group. They keep one family sized serving for themselves and give one to each of the other women. So if you have five people in your group you end up with your own dish and four others that were prepared by the other members.

Do you have any freezer friend meals or tips? I will say the chicken and pesto stuffed shells are really good (you can find the recipe here) and that I made my burritos too big. Next on my list are enchiladas and lasagne.

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