Hello everyone! It really is a beautiful sunny day today, if not a little cold. We actually reached 60 degrees twice this week and I saw a few bunnies frolicking in the backyard. I've been seeing some pretty spring decoration out there in the Land of Blog and it is so inspiring. My bunnies and chicks are ready to be let loose, but not just yet!
I went grocery shopping the other day and was pretty disappointed that I couldn't find a corned beef that I liked. We usually make our St, Paddy's Day dinner on the Sunday before as that is the day of the big Southside Irish Parade. After a day spent outside in the cold fresh air watching the parade, maybe stopping in at the many "Open Houses", it's nice to come home to corned beef, cabbage and the works bubbling away on the stove or in the crock pot. So, I have to shop around today for that. While at my favorite grocery store I came upon this vase that looks like a white paper bag and absolutely fell in love with it. I found some Stargazer lilies, that I also grow in my garden and I think they look perfect in the vase. They are now all plump and ready to burst open!
Last week I stopped in one of my favorite stores, Williams Sonoma, and was just in love looking at all of the spring displays. It's always fun to look at their catalogs but when I am in one of their stores, I go into a trance. I fell in love with this gorgeous table runner and napkins.
And these cute little napkin rings. I think I am on my way to a pretty Easter table. 
I'm still on my sweet, er...baking binge. Raggedy Girl Vintage posted a recipe for chocolate chip cookies that are to die for. The secret in the recipe is a package of vanilla instant pudding. The Husband swore he had never had a better cookie, even from the bakery. 
You can visit her blog if you'd like the recipe. I have it written down in chicken scratch. 
They really are scrumptious! I used dark chocolate chips by Ghiradelli. Last night we had the masses over for pizza and to help Emily with a wedding project and the cookies were eaten up in about 5 minutes. 
Emily is well ahead of the game for her wedding wedding next May. These are the table numbers. She bought wooden numbers from a source online (not sure what it is) and she was able to choose her font. She then attached moss with a spray adhesive. These will be attached to a stick poked down in floral foam inside pots. Her wedding has a very organic garden theme. I'll keep sharing more, she has so many great do it yourself ideas. 
Aren't these wonderful?
Well, I have a lot to do today besides hunting down the most perfect corned beef. I'd like to go downtown tomorrow, just to bum around if the weather is nice. I have a lot of cleaning up to do from the Pizza/Gluing Moss On Wood Party. And as always, lots of laundry. Don't forget my giveaway that is still going on...just scroll down to the last post. Have a great weekend and see you next week! :-)
We had company for dinner Thursday which I mentioned in my last post. As usual, I was running to the store for flowers and wine at the last minute, but I made one of those spiral hams that only needs to be heated through. I made spicy chicken wings and a taco dip for appetizers and along with the ham we had mashed potatoes, corn, roasted vegetables, salad, baked beans and bread. And I made this devil's food cake with dark chocolate frosting for dessert. I'm not good with cake decorating but I did cut out some stars with a cookie cutter from the tops of the cakes and placed them on top. They mysteriously disappeared before I served it! 
Yesterday morning I made crepes for breakfast. Believe it or not, I learned how to make these in the 8th grade! Of course I don't have the recipe anymore, so I used one by Alton Brown of the Food Network. It takes a little practice, but after your first try flipping the crepe, you will feel like an expert. 
Stack them up and keep warm while you make them. I doubled the recipe and made eight. Meanwhile, heat up about 1 1/2 cups of apple sauce in the microwave. Layer two crepes and spread about 3 tablespoons of applesauce on the crepes and roll up. Sprinkle with powdered sugar.
Very easy and very filling. 
I gave up shopping online for Lent and I have really held to it. Just before, however, I saw a table runner that BJ from Sweet Nothings had bought from a blogger's shop and I fell in LOVE! I got in touch with Sonya, who makes these beauties and gave her the measurements of my table and before I knew it, it was here.
Isn't it beautiful? I put it on the table in the family room as I seriously worry about anyone eating near it!! ;-D
You can check out more wonderful creations at Sonya's blog, Beyond The Screen Door. She is such a sweet lady. My order came fast and packed just perfectly. 
Saturday, The Husband and I went off to the mall in a nearby suburb. I mentioned in my Beauty 101 post that I'd like to have a giveaway with some beauty products. I was going to do a follow up post on body lotions and potions, but was so excited to have the giveaway now. I went to Sephora in the mall and picked up some goodies!
I noticed from the comments that so many of you use Bare Minerals, so I found a package of some of their cosmetics {the box on the right}. It includes a cheek tint, eyeshadow, eye liner shadow, lip gloss and 2 brushes.
The second box is from Smashbox, my personal favorite. It includes foundation, concealer, foundation primer and powder.
The lucky winner will receive BOTH packages! You can comment on this post and my next post and for an extra chance, mention the giveaway in one of your posts, or include the above picture with the info. You must be a follower of my blog to win. Very simple. The winner will be announced in about a week. Good luck!
That's all I have for today. I am joining in with Marty for Table Top Tuesday. Remember to visit Sonya if you want a cute table top for yourself! See ya! :-)
What a gorgeous day it is! I woke up this morning with the sun shining through the blinds and the wind making them clatter. I just knew it was going to be a beautiful day. I've got the windows open now and the wind is gusty, just a perfect way to end February and bring in March. Then we can honestly say spring has arrived!
Yesterday was one of these days. The rain started about 7:00 and was spattering against the windows as the wind howled. I had one of my insomniac episodes from 1:30 to 3:30 a.m. It's funny that I can't hold my eyes open until the news is over {or The Real Housewives of Orange County, whichever is juicier}, and then I am wide awake in the middle of the night. A pot of coffee and a little reading or blogging helps me get back to sleep. Sounds strange but it works for me.
I want to thank everyone for a great response to my last post on beauty products and our daily routines. I think it was fun and I loved reading each and every comment. There are a lot of Olay and Bare Mineral devotees out there and so much was true inspiration. I love you ladies that get up and have a routine of making yourselves prettier as much as those of you that keep it very simple. I am going to get one more post ready where we can talk about bath and shower products, everything from head to toe, and then I will announce a giveaway that I hope you will love!
We didn't go to the dinner party that was scheduled for last weekend as the host and hostess had to cancel. It is pushed back to the end of March. I had to ask The Husband about that ballroom and he told me he thinks they use it for a big recreation room. My daughter Emily is currently designing several rooms for them, maybe I can get her to snap some pictures. Anyway, it turned out to be a quiet weekend, the husband went to a work related event Saturday night and I read and hopped in bed early. We did get out to our favorite little pub for a late lunch on Sunday, but otherwise we were homebody's and that was good to me. 
Last week I sent The Husband out for a small ham, we have a lot of beans and I wanted to make a soup with the ham bone. He came home with a 10 pound spiral cut ham! He must have Easter on his mind. So...I invited the whole family over for dinner tomorrow night, there will be nine of us. Tomorrow I will be off shopping for all the extras and some good wine. For my last dinner, I had a bottle of Paul Newman's Cabernet Sauvignon and it was not a big hit. Poor Mary Clare said, "It gets better after the first 3 sips" Oh well, at least my money goes to charity. 
That's about all I have for today. I have loads of laundry to do and I want to bake a cake for tomorrow. And, since it is 60 degrees {!!!!!!}, I just have to get outside for awhile! I hope you are all having a wonderful week! :-)
I thought it might be sort of fun to get away from the norm with this post {look...I am even using a different font color!}, and do something fun. I am always talking about cooking, or decorating or little trips and I thought this might be a post that included everyone and we could all participate in the comments. A BEAUTY post! I thought I would share some of my tips and products I use and then you could all join in.
We spend a lot of time on our homes making them beautiful, do we take the same time with ourselves? I will be the first to say it...I have the time but not so much the interest. I'm talking about cosmetics in this post. Do we wear make up? Where, when, how often? I'll be the first to admit that I have been in a slump. Why do I need to wear make up on my face to go to the grocery store or the library? Who needs the hassle? I finally reached an answer to that for myself and it was very simple: self respect. Being the best I can be. 
I wear so little most days, I probably am not qualified to give advice. But I thought I'd pass on to you some of the things I have in my make up bag and we could go from there. These are some of the products I love. I have very pale skin and if I could change anything, it would be the purple colored circles I have under my eyes {even if I get 12 hours of sleep!}, and maybe my freckles. So, for everyday I wear concealer and a little powder. If I am going out to dinner or a party, I wear foundation, too. Smashbox is my favorite. Back to everyday...I really have a love/ hate relationship with mascara, I despise taking it off at night. So my trick is to wear eyeliner. I use gray so it is not so obvious and it adds a little color. If you keep it close to your lashline, it looks like you have thick eyelashes and you don't have all the hassle of putting on and taking off mascara. My all time favorite eyeliner is Maybelline Unstoppable in Pewter. If you have brown eyes like me, it adds a tiny pop of contrast. 
Eyeshadow is a tricky subject for me. Since my eyes are brown, it seems odd to have a color, like blue on my eyes.
It looks so...blue!! Mostly colors like wine and rose looks best on me since those colors go with various shades of my skin. Peach colors, too. If you can get away with other colors, great. Share that with us!Another problem I have with eyeshadow is how much is enough? For Christmas I received a palette of colors by Urban Decay. Big, bold colors with sparkle, some almost black. Yes, there is a charcoal eyeshadow in there. Someone out there knows how to use this stuff but it's not me! I guess you just need a light touch. And blend. I do remember this from the 80's when we wore SO much makeup and didn't even need it then!
Blush and lip gloss are fun for me and the answer to the old "What would you bring to a desert island" question. I need some color on my face since I am so pale... I think we could all use a bit of color on our cheeks, it makes us look healthy and for blush, I love Laura Mercier {you can get her cosmetics at Sephora.com}. She makes these little quad palettes and you can use one shade or blend all four together. They make you glow! Physician's Formula also makes these blendable palettes, so check them out at your drugstore.
And speaking of drugstores, I think they have the best lipsticks and lip glosses that you can get anywhere. I love the long wearing lip gloss that Maybelline makes, again called Unstoppable. It's sticky but it stays on forever! It's been a long time since I actually wore lipstick, it just doesn't last that long and I thought it was a little much on me. But since Maybelline and L'oreal have come out with long wearing shades, I have been picking up a few here and there and I like them. Unlike department stores where you can try on colors {yuck}, you can still bring back make up to the drugstore for an exchange or refund. One thing I have learned...lipgloss always looks darker in the tube than it really is and lipstick always looks lighter.
I hope I haven't bored you to tears yet. In a nutshell, this is what I wear when I am not doing anything special: Powder
Eyeliner
Blush
Lipgloss
A smile
If I really need to look good, I pull out the big guns: Foundation
Powder
Eyeshadow/eyeliner
Mascara
Blush
Lipstick/lipgloss
A smile
Does this sound high maintenance? I have always been a girly girl and grew up poring over the make up counters at Marshall Fields. I studied Glamour magazine like it was a textbook. We loved our cosmetics in the eighties and wouldn't even go to school without our Wet N' Wild blue eyeshadow and Bonnie Bell lipgloss! But as I said, I have been in a slump. Somedays I have to make that extra effort to even put earrings on, but you know what? The Husband notices. He notices when I do my nails or if I am wearing perfume. My daughter's don't necessarily compliment me, but I can see it in their eyes that they are glad I spent some time on/for myself.
So, although this may have sounded like a lengthy post, everything I have talked about fits right into this little bag. Honestly. Including some good brushes, but that's another post.
I'm almost quite done...I have tried different products to take my make up off with at night. I used to just wash with Dove soap but then I discovered these neat little towelettes. Being ever inquisitive, I tried these, Neutrogena and Burt's Bees and these are the hands down best. Perfect for dry sensitive skin, but no oils. You will love them.
The end of my post has come around and I am leaving you with a look at my wretched vanity. I, myself am not so messy and unorganized but Emily and Abby and I share my vanity, share our products and makeup {share our shoes, too!}.
Keeping it neat is a never ending battle. Make up, hair stuff, nail stuff...it's all in here.
Ignore that reflection in the mirror of all my pillows and quilts piled up, I am reorganizing that, too. And I am reorganizing this vanity. And I will show you the results in an upcoming post.
If you found any of this interesting, informative or just plain fun, let me know in your comments. I want to hear how you ladies keep yourselves looking good, what your make up routines are. Have they changed over the years? Are your pressed for time or in a slump? What are your favorite products? What is your make up routine? Write as little or as much as you want. In an upcoming post we are going to talk about hair; our current styles, products we love, how we're dealing with the dreaded gray. And then I am going to move us on to our favorite body rituals and products for the bath and or shower, lotions and potions and all things that smell good!
Finally, after we have shared and shared and shared some more, I am going to have a giveaway with some beauty products that are tailor made for the winner. You don't even need to be a follower, just spill it. Write a book. Give advice to all of us. This will be FUN!
Now, let's get started! :-)
Hi everyone. It's been a few typical winter days here in my world. The sun is not cooperating today and I have nowhere to go so I thought I would sit down and do a post. These are flowers that are still going strong since Valentine's Day. They were given to Abby from her boyfriend, Tom. She also received chocolates, which I helped her devour. I received a chocolate rose from The Husband which was hollow...don't you hate that?
Things are very slow here this time of year. You really have to make your own fun. I go crazy if I don't get out of the house, just a quick trip to the store can give me a different perspective. It must be the fresh air. Alas, I couldn't get The Husband out of the house this past weekend. He is loving the family room and his new television. We are not people who go to movies so we rent them With the Academy Awards just around the corner, we got caught up on some newer movies...Moneyball, The Ides of March, Contagion and The Help. I read The Help over a year ago and I was so happy that the movie was so true to the book. The actresses portrayed the characters perfectly. So it was a very quiet weekend with a lot of movies and popcorn. 
Last week I had the whole family over for dinner. Have you ever heard of Irish nachos? I ordered them at our favorite pub a few weeks ago and took a picture. I then replicated it as an appetizer before our dinner Thursday. In a nutshell, you make waffle fries and then sprinkle chopped green onions and tomatoes over them, then top them with the cheese that you buy in the jar. Do not use shredded cheese, it turns to glue! I mound everything on a festive plate before I pour the hot cheese on. You can then garnish them with more green onions or even bacon bits as they did in the restaurant. Yum!
I had my butcher make up Polish chickens for me. I have no idea why they are called that. It is both chicken breasts stuffed with homemade sausage. One will be enough for two people. This is the before...
...and this is them out of the oven with the string cut off and sliced in half. This is how I serve them on the buffet. It's possible that your butcher can make these up for you or you can try it yourself. I take the easy way out!
I also made potatoes roasted with rosemary and butter. Corn, a simple pasta salad and a loaf of French bread finished off the meal. We had cheesecake for dessert. I usually set the table even if we are having a buffet, but this time I just stacked the plates and silver.
I found these pretty hydrangeas at a little grocery store. I don't usually shop there because it is so small and the prices are high, but they do have a nice floral section with things I don't expect. I found my rosemary plant there {which died...sob}. 
So, that is about all I have been up to. I made a trip to the mall with Abby last week and although I am not really a mall person, we had a great time. I was looking for a dress to wear to a dinner party we are going to Saturday night. I have a few nice dresses and some dressy tops that I could wear with black pants, but it's always nice to know you have something new on. I couldn't find anything I liked though so I have to resort to what I have in my closet. The couple hosting the party live in the oldest house in their town. There is a ballroom on the third floor that used to be used for town hall meetings. I was there for a Christmas party just after they moved in...I am wondering what they have done with this ballroom! I will let you know. I hope all of you are having a good week. Hopefully you are having nice weather. It is cold and really gloomy here...looks like rain. Well, I guess that is February for you! See ya! :-)
I am joining French Country Cottage this week! Pop over!
Today the sun is shining after days of gloomy weather...I hope it stays like this for awhile. Valentine's Day has come and gone. I hope it was a special day for all of you. The Husband brought home a sweet card, a chocolate rose and a gift card to Starbuck's. He knows me so well and he knows I love gifts! I didn't bake anything special as I usually try to do, but yesterday I was in the mood for something sweet and made a batch of shortbread cookies. I have to give you a close up shot because I ate quite a few!
Other than one small wall, I am pretty sure the family room is completed. These are the little chests I showed you in my last post. They were a lime green and now they are a pale dove gray. I have a lot of extra pillows stored in them.
I found this lamp at Homegoods and have it on an old chippy table I had. This is next to the corner chair and is a perfect place to curl up and read. To the right you can see the curtains that I found at JC Penney's. They are simple white linen panels and super inexpensive. 
I found these gates at Homegoods also. I wanted a pop of dark colors to go with the coffee table and I love how weathered these are. 
I found this tray at a website that is new to me, Antique Farmhouse. It's called a bulb tray. I haven't figured out what to put in it yet, God knows I have enough dried hydrangeas to go around. 
And here they are, on the sofa table! This pitcher is very much like the one on the coffee table, just smaller. And I have some of my favorite birds scattered around. 
FINALLY...these are the plates that I want to hang. I have one more wall with nothing on it. I have an old window at the lakehouse that I want to hang with the plates around it. I found these at Anthropologie. I was actually thinking of doing a tablescape with them before I hung them! Maybe I will.
So, this is the final reveal of the family room. I will show you that last wall when I get it done. Thanks for all the tips on hanging the plates, I have to pick up some of those wires the next time I go to Michael's. And thanks for being so patient looking at these pictures and leaving such nice comments. I can honestly say that every room here is done!! Now, as for the lakehouse...
I am joining the party a French Country Cottage. See you there! :)
Hello everyone! It really is a beautiful sunny day today, if not a little cold. We actually reached 60 degrees twice this week and I saw a few bunnies frolicking in the backyard. I've been seeing some pretty spring decoration out there in the Land of Blog and it is so inspiring. My bunnies and chicks are ready to be let loose, but not just yet!
I went grocery shopping the other day and was pretty disappointed that I couldn't find a corned beef that I liked. We usually make our St, Paddy's Day dinner on the Sunday before as that is the day of the big Southside Irish Parade. After a day spent outside in the cold fresh air watching the parade, maybe stopping in at the many "Open Houses", it's nice to come home to corned beef, cabbage and the works bubbling away on the stove or in the crock pot. So, I have to shop around today for that. While at my favorite grocery store I came upon this vase that looks like a white paper bag and absolutely fell in love with it. I found some Stargazer lilies, that I also grow in my garden and I think they look perfect in the vase. They are now all plump and ready to burst open!
Last week I stopped in one of my favorite stores, Williams Sonoma, and was just in love looking at all of the spring displays. It's always fun to look at their catalogs but when I am in one of their stores, I go into a trance. I fell in love with this gorgeous table runner and napkins.
And these cute little napkin rings. I think I am on my way to a pretty Easter table. 
I'm still on my sweet, er...baking binge. Raggedy Girl Vintage posted a recipe for chocolate chip cookies that are to die for. The secret in the recipe is a package of vanilla instant pudding. The Husband swore he had never had a better cookie, even from the bakery. 
You can visit her blog if you'd like the recipe. I have it written down in chicken scratch. 
They really are scrumptious! I used dark chocolate chips by Ghiradelli. Last night we had the masses over for pizza and to help Emily with a wedding project and the cookies were eaten up in about 5 minutes. 
Emily is well ahead of the game for her wedding wedding next May. These are the table numbers. She bought wooden numbers from a source online (not sure what it is) and she was able to choose her font. She then attached moss with a spray adhesive. These will be attached to a stick poked down in floral foam inside pots. Her wedding has a very organic garden theme. I'll keep sharing more, she has so many great do it yourself ideas. 
Aren't these wonderful?
