Everyday Novelty

Meet the newest addition to my morning routine! Her name is Maxine and I look forward to using her everyday. I am ALL about everyday things in fun patterns and colors. My sister has the best knack for finding fun things for everyday use. Anything from lotions, little bottles of perfume, spatulas and keys. I love going to her house and rumaging through her bathroom and kitchen drawers. Its fun to find novelty items that make even the simplest thing like a flat iron fun. I recently shorted out 2 flat irons and was in the market for a new one. Not being too concerned with quality or cost at $17.99 and extremely adorable there was no way I was passing this beauty by! Have I mentioned I LOVE animal print? :)

Keep your senses alert for everyday items in prints, patterns and colors you love. If it makes you and ooo and aaaa chances are you'll get a little kick out of using it!

bakedbree.com

I ran across this little blog, on another blog I follow. It particularly caught my eye, not only for the beautiful photos, and not to mention the topic of food is always a good thing.... she's writing about meal planning. I've always struggled with grocery shopping and meal planning. I, like most of us, have picked up my eating and shopping habits from my mother. What I (she/we) do works I guess, but something about it has just never clicked right for me and hubbs. I've asked countless women what their techniques and tips are and they all seem to be similar, but each time I catch an article on it, I'm definitely reading. Here's an article from bakedbree.com. Meal Planning 101

The rest of her blog is pretty great too. What are your best tips?
















(Flickr-Todd Klassy)

Project Update

I have to apologize for the lack of recent posts. I don't want to get into complaining about my day job, but am sorry that when things get sressful for me, I tend to lose sight of things I enjoy (like blogging). Whining about it gets old and I was reminded today of just what usually perks me up. A project. I love to create things and put my own personal touch on, well... anything really. After a stressful day, focusing my attention on sprucing up an old dresser was just what I needed to get my mind off the negative.

We aquired this dresser from the in-laws and usually I turn down the hand me downs, but this one had potential.



















First I removed those boring old wood knobs and started sanding. Some by hand, but mostly with an electric sander. I used to wonder in college if my wood scultping and welding classes would ever come in handy later in my life... turns out they have! Once I had most of the stain and varnish removed from the dresser, I started painting. I used a white "pickling" stain. Its sort of mix between a paint and a stain. It has more of a traslucent finish than opaque paint. Its taken about 3-4 coats to get a good covering though. I applied the stain with sponge brush in long streaks - I like that look. You could use a roller for a smoother finish. I have a few more coats to apply and some final sanding. The addition of some cutsie knobs from Hobby Lobby and a cute sheet or two of contact paper to line the drawers and I'll call it complete. Here's where we're at so far!

Liberty of London

Anyone else out there loving the new line at Target? Liberty of London has the most beautiful mod floral prints in anything from dresses to bicycles! If you don't know what I'm talking about RUN to your nearest Target and get something in that adorable print! You can afford it! Mini picture frames and individual plastic ware starts around $3!

A Cup of Life

So this new little $2.99 purchase from Target inspired a thought today.


Wouldn't it be fun if when you went on vacation you and everyone on your trip bought a cup when you got to your destination. It could be a cup with the name of the place you're visiting, simple, complicated, plastic, glass, sippy style or just from Target... that cup is your cup of the week. You drink EVERYTHING from it. Coffee, tea, water, beer and cosmopolitans. You and your cup become companions for your time away. When vaca is over, you take the cup home as a keepsake from your fabulous get away. Use it on a daily basis or display it on a shelf. Hopefully you've built some good memories with your cup and the friends and family you were with. Sure beats a silly souvenir!

Here's a few things I've been fillin my cup with recently! Cheers to warm weather!

Menage a Trois WINE (please don't google... trust me)Discovered this at Woodhaven Farm. Its a mix of Zinfandel, Merlot and Cabernet... YUM!


















Magic Hat Beer - had this one on tap in Florida while on vacation. The Spring Lager is my favorite. They're logos are so darn creative too!

















And good ole' fashioned Sweet Sun Tea! Made in my own backyard. Another personal favorite is Cane's Sweet Tea.

A Little Piece of Heaven

I just spent the day at one of the most wonderful places I've ever been to and it wasn't the beach! What I thought would be another typical team building off site, was not what Tami Cecil had in mind for me or the people I work with. Chef Tami is the founder of Woodhaven Farm located in Johnstown, Ohio - just 20 minutes East of Columbus. Her 10 acre farm consists of a beautiful farmhouse/barn with a state of the art kitchen, green house, 2 ponds, an organic garden and all the peace and serenity you can soak up in a few hours spent there. The facility primarily hosts corporate gatherings for team building and social events, along with a varying array of cooking classes. Chef Tami has an incredible history and is charismatic and full of life. She kept cracking me up running around saying "My children listen and my children don't do that, or wonderful job my children." The funny thing is she couldn't even be old enough to be any of our mothers! :) Her cooking show on ONN airs on Sundays at 4:30 (this is when I watch, there's other times too). I've been a fan of this show for some time now, but didn't realize it was so close. When I found out I'd be spending a day at Wood Haven Farms I got super pumped... and I was NOT disappointed. Not only was the food our teams cooked DEE-LISH, but it really was a great team building event. And the facility...! Oh... just beautiful. So home-y, inviting and relaxing. The kind of place you hope your own home will ever look and feel anything close to. Any way, here's a few photos I took throughout our day. I HIGHLY recommend that if you ever get the chance to visit Woodhaven Farm or interact with Chef Tami that you take up the opportunity. Here is a link to Woodhaven Farm to check it out for yourself. Enjoy! (I apologize for some of the photo quality, we had been sipping wine all day!)

Chef Tami and I