If it weren’t for the fact that Winter was right around the corner, Fall would officially be my favorite time of year. But everyone who knows me knows that I just don’t like to be cold. But with that said there is something very comforting about Fall. I love to layer with new sweaters and curl up in my mom Aud’s cuddly quilts and put the girls in their warm fuzzy footsy pj’s! Don’t you just love the color change on a sunny Fall day and colorful mums on doorsteps? Just beautiful!
Posted in Thoughts | Leave a Comment »
We finally did it, we finally bought our first compost bin. After much research and back and forth discussion on what would work best, we settled on the (easiest & very affordable) compost tumbler from Costco. And I LOVE it!
Mainly our discussion was “What will the neighbor’s think?” Not that we thought it was weird or embarrassing to have a compost bin but rather the close proximity that we are to them. We just didn’t want to take the chance that our novice composting skills would lead to smell and little unwanted critters with an open compost pile. But we also didn’t want to pay an arm and a leg for an expensive tumbler. The other option that I considered was a worm bin. Luckily on one of our many trips to Costco we wandered down the seasonal aisle and saw exactly what we were looking for. I will keep you posted on how it does and how much black gold it produces for my garden next year!!
Here is a great quote from Mother Earth News on the benefit of Compost Tumblers:
For more reviews on different composting options and bins, check out these sites:
Come on, you know you want to have one too!? It makes the guilt of cleaning out your fridge so much less knowing that you are putting it right into your compost bin and right back into the garden.
Posted in Adventures in Gardening | Leave a Comment »
We have been busy. There is never enough time to do all the things I would like to do. That’s okay. I just do what I can when I can and in the meantime enjoy life in the fast lane with 2 toddlers! Blogging is one of the things I haven’t made a priority. Here’s a quick update!
In a nutshell, we have had tons of visitors and in between tons of yukkies! I am pretty sure we sent a few visitors home with the yukkies! Whoops!!
First a visit from our good friend Nettie! She is always so much fun!
And then a visit from Auntie Tay Tay, Papa & Nana.
Although we seemed to miss getting some pix of Papa and Nana, but we got plenty from Auntie Tay Tay
The worst feeling, 2 babies feeling blue!
But it didn’t take long for daddy to cheer them up!
Lots going on and lots to share. My to do list is a mile long but includes some fun things….sewing, composting, blogging, crafting, photographing…and some not so fun things….cleaning, organizing, renovating!!! Hopefully I can keep up on it all!
Posted in My Girls, Thoughts | 1 Comment »
This was a fun candid shot from our trip to the beach!
I have been really behind on blogging. Really behind on everything…..meeting new babies, projects, laundry, sending care packages to my friends who are recovering (sorry Paula), helping with Sweet “16″ planning (sorry Suzie), pretty much everything! I hope you all forgive me!!! We have had some yukky viruses. But we also have had lots of fun with our family from California. I will be sure to share some pix soon and hopefully get caught up with everyone and everything! In the meantime, here is another entry for the I Heart Faces photo challenge. This week’s theme is “Blue”. Be sure to check out all the other entries.
Posted in I Heart Photo Challenge, My Girls | 6 Comments »
This is my first time entering this fun contest. I have been lurking on their site for a while now. This week’s theme is “Contemplative”. I instantly knew which picture to choose. It was right after we had Lil S and we took the girls out for a walk in a nearby reservation. My husband caught this pix of my daugther, Princess M. Just beautiful. Still one of my all time favorites. Check out more amazing and talented entries at i heart faces blog!
Posted in I Heart Photo Challenge, My Girls | 7 Comments »
I think my passion for planning parties began at a very young age but I think it came to life when I planned my first major event, my wedding. I know some people get overwhelmed with planning such a big day but I LOVED every minute of it and if I had the chance I would do it all over again. Since it’s going to be our 5th Wedding Anniversary this weekend I thought I would share on some of the more memorable details of our big day. It was an amazing start to our new life together!
Happy 5th Anniversary Honey-Do, I love you!
Posted in Honey-Do, Modern Parties | 4 Comments »
We recently celebrated my MIL’s 65th Birthday! Stu and I had such a blast planning and throwing this party and it turned out to be a wonderful and heartfelt day with family and friends.
We really wanted this party to be a full DIY event and Ev insisted that we keep it simple, so we did. I found my initial inspiration at the local Salvation Army and it snowballed from there. I found all sorts of more goodies during my thrift shop run and was able to pull most of my resources from around our homes. A trip to Michael’s and the flower shop and it all came together beautifully!
This was the inspirational piece that brought it all together. Ev told me she loved this color blue and she loved pink flowers. How perfect are the 2 together? All the arrangements were simply done with fresh cuts from my local flower shop.
These cute little birthday tags were made with my Big Kick Cutting Machine. I mounted the printed photo on the back of some pretty cardstock. It came out perfect, nice and thick, good quality! Isn’t she a doll?
We hung various pictures of Ev with all of her family and friends around the trees. It added such a great flare and personalized touch for Ev to enjoy at the party. She loved it.
A handmade birthday banner for the guest, using my new cricut machine. What fun that was! I can’t wait to make more!
The best part of her day was celebrating with all 4 of her grandgirls!
These little pies were so much fun to make and super yummy!
Best wishes Ev for many more birthdays to come!
I usually use wedding resources as my main resource and inspirational guide. You can pretty much take any of those ideas and minimize them for smaller affairs. Here are some of my favorite sites:
Thanks to Stu for being the best party planning assistant! Ev…You’re Fired! 
Posted in Modern Parties | 5 Comments »
My adventure in gardening is still going strong! We have been enjoying the garden immensely and love planning our meals around our harvests. I have even enjoyed learning from all my mistakes, there are many.
A few things I plan on doing next year to improve the garden:
1. Expanding the garden–I have the perfect space to add 3 raised 4 x 4 beds. More beds=more veggies!
2. Add a timed drip system. With 2 little ones I think this will keep the maintenance lower and keep me happy and the garden happy too (for those days that I forget).
3. Keep all veggies in the square foot and not on the deck. The deck would just get too hot for the pots and also having 2 separate zones to water proved to be challenging with my time constraints. I will still keep all my herbs on the deck but keep all veggies in garden area.
4. Space out my tomatoes. I overcrowded them.
5. Plant the cucumbers in their own space. They had a choke hold on all the other veggies. I will also try them out on the trellis next year.
6. Start all of my own seedlings. I already started stocking up on next year’s seeds. This year I waited too late and had to transplant most of the garden.
7. Stake and trellis all plants immediately. I waited too long this year.
8. Build the trellis higher. Obviously 5 ft was not tall enough for my big tomato plants and corn stalks.
9. Experiment with new veggies: potatoes, squash, green/string beans, rhubarb…..and whatever else I can get my hands on!
Any other garden advice for the novice?
Overall this was an amazing experience and I look forward to keeping it up for years to come!
Posted in Adventures in Gardening | 4 Comments »
I haven’t posted much in a while, sometimes the priority of blogging falls well below the dozens of other things that are on my daily to do list. But there is much to share over the next few weeks. I will start out with how wonderful our weekend was. I cherish these weekends. The kind where everything just seems to go right. That was this weekend. Loved it.
The girls did art with their dad in the studio while I enjoyed some quiet cooking time. They both are really enjoying the space now.
Sa Sa enjoyed the meal. I will be sure to share the recipe soon.
Breakfast anyone? Ummm Yumm, even if they are a bit overdone.
We took a fun walk. I love how green it is here.
We ate again! We eat a lot don’t we? This time at our favorite Mexican restaurant. It’s the closest thing to good Cali Mexican food that they have here. It reminds me of home and the girls love it. The atmosphere and the food.
Also on the weekend bliss train…fabric stores, seasonal cleaning, and a trip to the town pool. Somehow we left the camera at home and missed some great shots of the girls enjoying the pool. Luckily we took the video camera. Maybe later I will add some footage to this post.
How was your weekend?
Posted in My Girls, Toddler Art Time | 1 Comment »
I grew up in a house where homemade jam was the norm. My mom, Aud, would make the best strawberry, honey, and pomegranate jams and jellies. The pomegranate was my favorite!!! I really never thought much about it, I sort of took it for granted. She even made some here for my sis’s shower. After a recent trip to the farmer’s market I picked up some pints of fresh strawberries and some long and luscious stalks of rhubarb. But what to make with it? After much googling I decided to turn into jam.
Luckily I had great resources to call for advice and after a quick trip to the hardware store, I was in business! I loved every bit of this experience and look forward to doing more jams, jellies, sauces, tomatoes, etc. You name it, I am going to try it. There is something very rewarding about this whole process and really embraced this domesticity that is running through my veins!! But the best part of it is that homemade jam is just so much tastier than store bought. Check it out!
Freshly cut rhubarb!
The strawberries in the pot are heating up!
In the meantime, I sterilized all the jars in lid in the sani cycle of the dishwasher.
Getting the canning pot ready to boil!
Giving the lids an extra dose of sterilizing!
Funneling the jam into the jar!
10 minute of processing in the boiling water!
The end result–tasty strawberry-rhubarb jam!
These make great gifts or party favors! Check out the recipe I used here!
Posted in Kitchen Capades | 2 Comments »
