Vintage Pretties

Menu Planning

sources: southern living, savorysweet life, skinnytaste

Getting hungry?  So was I.  I've been really bored with cooking and what we've been eating recently. Last year was so busy with the move & starting school that I really slid into a cooking rut. 

Recently I realised that I love the feeling of coming up with a really good dinner. I feel so satisfied when we sit down together and I've put together a table full of goodness. It's like a little celebration on a regular night.

Taking time to plan a menu has really helped me get creative and devise great meals.  I've been trying a lot of new recipes as well.  Some are great, some won't get a second go-around. 

I'm sharing my menu for the current two weeks -- it helps keep me organized and maybe you'll take away a few ideas!

Chicken Marsala with Mashed Potatoes and  Sauteed Brussel Sprouts with Shallots

Spaghetti with Marinara Sauce, Steamed Broccoli and Baked Mozzarella Sticks

Ginger-Cilantro Pork Chops, Wild Rice and Squash and Chive Pancakes

Ham & Bean Soup and Salad with Dried Cranberries, Walnuts, Shaved Parmesan and Poppy Seed Dressing

Honey Spiced Glazed Chicken, Balsamic Asparagus and Buttered Noodles

Herb and Potato Chip Crusted Beef Tenderloin, Brussel Sprouts Braised in Butter and Orzo

My friend Cindy told me how to make balsamic asparagus and it is now one of my favorite ways to prepare asparagus.  And, it's so easy!

Balsamic Asparagus

1 pound asparagus

1 T. balsamic vinegar

kosher salt

olive oil (about 1 teaspoon)

Cut the asparagus into 2 inch pieces and place in a skillet that has been sprayed with olive oil (or about 1 teaspoon oil).  Sprinkle on balsamic vinegar and salt to taste.  Saute on medium for about 5 minutes or until asparagus is crisp but can be pierced easily with a fork. 

You can also make this on the grill by leaving the asparagus stems whole and tossing them with the vinegar & salt before grilling.

The Weekend That Was

I'm getting back to work after spending long weekend with Hope & Glenn.  We'd hoped that we would finally get snow this weekend, but the storm passed us by, again.  So, we had to think of other fun activities in lieu of sledding and snowball fights.

Hope has been a voracious reader for the past few months, so on Saturday we went to both the library & a used bookstore to load up on her favorite series, The Rainbow Fairies.  She lined them all up on a chair & dug right in.  On Monday, she declared that she wanted to build a library, so I helped her construct a "bookshelf" out of a cardboard box. She issued Glenn & I library cards and started calling herself "The Junior Librarian". She "checked out" our books by "scanning the barcodes" (complete with a beeping sound) & informed us of the due dates. I swear, I did not suggest any of this to her.

On Sunday, I took her over to the pool for her lessons.  She has really improved in swimming since we went to the pool so often last summer. Almost every day, she tells me that she can't wait until the summer, when she can go back to the pool.  As far as lessons go, I'm hoping that she will finally get the hang of it soon & we can be done with them.  But, whatever it takes.

On Sunday, I spent a few hours sewing new pillow covers for the family room.  I'm loving the crimson & polka dots. In the evening, I watched the season finale of Downton Abbey. Every Sunday night since the beginning of the year, I've sat in front of the fire with a candle burning & escaped to Edwardian England.  What shall I do until Season 3 starts?  Thank goodness Mad Men will be starting in just a month!

Girl's Night Out Book Exchange Party

It's been a busy week so far, with Valentine's Day on Tuesday, Hope's picture day on Wednesday, two grad school projects and volunteering.  It's good, though.  It's so wonderful to see Hope so excited about holidays and creating memories that I know that she will have for a lifetime.

Last weekend, I hosted a girl's night out book exchange at my house.  Everyone brought a few books or magazines that they no longer wanted and everyone got to take a few home.  I provided a buffett of mini desserts (so that everyone could try a bit of everything!) and a coffee and cocoa bar with a variety of add-ins. As a favor, I made up simple bookmarks with an image of a Victorian woman reading. 

The best part was being able to share time with my girlfriends without the obligation of children or distraction of spouses/boyfriends.  We laughed so hard and everyone agreed that we need to have more girls nights.

Valentine's Day

A Valentine's suprise was awaiting Hope at breakfast this morning.  Red & pink place setting, a bucket full of her favorite candies, a handmade card & a heart balloon. 

I think that she was more excited to find it than she was on Christmas morning.

Happy Valentine's Day everyone!

Decoupage Plates & My Bedroom Inspiration

I've been admiring decoupage plates on walls and as accents for years in magazines.  I love the mix of images and patterns under the glass.

When I found napkins (believe it or not) with these adorable birds a few days ago I thought that I'd give decoupage a try.  It was easier than I'd imagined and I'm loving the plates in our bedroom.

I've been sort of stuck as to what to do in our bedroom. We stayed with the same color as we had in the old house, Rejuevenate by Behr, as I find it to be so pretty and calm.  Short of that (and that we are keeping the same furniture), I've been uninspired.  Recently when perusing blogs, I found this bedroom:


This beautiful room is from the blog Nine & Sixteen.  I just love the feel of it -- elegant but not stuffy.  I'd love to find fabric similar to the wallpaper (the manufacturer unfortunately does not make a matching fabric, so I'll have to keep looking) for our curtains. It would look so crisp against the green walls, don't you think?

I've got several ideas that I'm going to work on to help me move closer to the feel of that room. Of course, I'll be sharing them right here!

Valentines for Insomniacs

Yesterday morning, I woke up at 5 and couldn't get back to sleep. I came downstairs to find that Hope was also up and couldn't sleep!  Since we had all of the supplies on hand, I suggested that we go ahead and make her school Valentines.

Please excuse the flash -- there wasn't much in the way of natural light at that time of morning/night.

This is the first time that we've made Valentines instead of buying ready made and it was really fun.  I cut out hearts from the patterned paper while Hope glued and went nuts with stickers. Here she is with the finished product, after the sun came up:

At first, I wasn't too thrilled to not be able to sleep, but it turned out nicely, being able to spend time with Hope with nothing us else to distract us. I find that crafting with her is one of our best times together.

A Room of My Own

One of my very favorite places in our new house is what I call my crafty-study room.  It houses all of my craft lovelies, my sewing goodies, my school materials, and basicly anything that makes my heart happy.  It also happens to be one of the only rooms that is already just about how I want it to be, so I'm going to share it with you.

First off is my little sewing space, with my new sewing/embroidery machine (sooo cool -- a subject for another post).  I just love having absolutely everything I need right there & being able to see my thread.  I only have my embroidery thread on the wall at the moment, but I'm planning on getting another rack for the regular sewing thread.

Beside the sewing table is a little bookshelf that holds my tiered basket of trims, glitter & crepe paper as well as vintage jars of buttons.  My inspiration boards hang above them, with my favorite quotes and poems, mementos from special events, small art pieces, and my number from the first 5K that I ran, to remind myself of what I can do.

A close up of my trims, just because I love them.

All of school binders & textbooks are below, within easy reach of my desk.  One of my classes this semester is 'Media for Adolescents', so you'll see a lot of young adult fiction on the shelf this spring.

On the other side of the desk is this little display case (in another life it was a medicine cabinet) with more mementos from special trips and memories.

Beside the cabinet, I have my Expedit bookcase, which is one of my favorite pieces of furniture, ever.  On top, I have my favorite vintage biscuit tins and other pretties including my wedding bouquet.  The cubbies hold all kinds of fun including my decorating and craft books, inspiration binders, collection of vintage children's books & primers, and a stack of vintage fabric.

When I get a block of time to putter around in here, I can be here for hours, creating and writing and researching and sewing.  I hope that you enjoyed my little tour.

DIY Library Book Container

I'm finally back!  After a crazy semester and a lot of soul searching as to whether I should keep up the blog.  When I started blogging, it was such a pleasure to discover other women my age who were interested in decorating and crafts, vintage and cooking, and all the little details that make life fun & warm.  Blogging has changed quite a bit and there is a lot of pressure to make your blog look perfect and your projects super creative and, for that matter, to be working on something at all times.  I'm not really up for that at this point.  However, I am up for continuing to share what I'm up to and to continue to connect with the amazing people that I've met & continue to meet!  Though, sometimes I wonder if you are still there...if ya are, could ya raise your hand in a comment, just so I know that you are still out there?

Having said that, I do have a project to share.  I actually finished this in the fall, but darned school got in the way of me blogging about it.  I saw this cute project on Pinterest:

(I'm sorry, I cannot find a link to the original creator, as my pinterest link says "Google".  If you know of the creator, please let me know & I will give appropriate credit.) We were always mixing up library books in our own books, so we definitely needed a special place for the library books.

Super cute, but I couldn't find one of those old magazine stands for less than $30 or $40.  Really???  But, walking through IKEA one day, I spied this:

$9.99. My little mind started going and thought "with a little paint and some lettering like she does, I might be able to work this out...."

What you need to do:

-take out the box pieces & spray paint the wood pieces whatever color you like.  Let the paint dry.

-print your desired text in a large font on a piece of paper & then rub colored chalk all over the back side of that paper.

-place the paper, chalk side down on the surface that you would like to letter & outline the letters with pencil (don't use a sharpie like I did at first -- it bleeds through -- whoops)

-pull off the paper & you will see the letter outlines in chalk.  Very carefully paint in the letters with craft paint & a small brush.  Let the paint dry. (for more detailed instructions on lettering, check out this link)

-put together the box as per IKEA's instructions & you have a box for your library books:

It's worked out really well -- we put all of our library books in the box, only keeping out the one that we are currently reading.  Before I go to the library, I ask her which ones she is done with and return those.  No more misplaced books!

 

I'm Still Here

I've been missing from this blog for quite some time & sometimes I think that I should give it up.  But, I can't.  It's the place where I share the me stuff, the stuff that makes my heart sing.  Unfortunately, I haven't been able to do that much recently.  Because right now, I'm a mom & a wife & a library student.  And not much else.  And, I look around my new house & wish that I could spend some time on decorating it, but I can't right now.  Because what I'm doing means too much too me to not give it everything.  So, it all waits.  The decorating & the pretty pictures & the projects & the crafts. 

But! I have a break coming soon & I am making a list!  It may be Christmas time, but my list isn't for Santa.  It's all about curtains and paint and bookshelves and accessories.  Please come around when I can tell you all about them, won't you?

Housewarming Party

We knew that our house wouldn't really feel right until we shared it with our  friends...and, we knew that they were so curious about the new place that they'd probably storm the place if we didn't invite them over!

Since it was the end of October, I went with a fall theme....

And, isn't it funny how you suddenly find the time to put up curtains and pictures when you know that people will be coming over in less than 24 hours????