A Beach Breakfast and Living Room Fabric Swatches for a Friend

Yesterday was my last day of work before a week of vacation - yippee!!  We're going to Aruba.  Look at the nice going away breakfast my office made for me:

Also, on Thursday I went to the "material store" as she calls it with my friend Beth.  She wanted to get new pillows for her living room.  I am beyond obsessed with the fabric she chose and can't wait to see how it turns out!!  I tried to annotate on the picture where what fabric is going to go where but you can't see it very well so we'll just have to hope Beth will reveal the "after" pictures.

Signing off til after vacay.  GO HEELS!!!!!!

Hi Ho Henry!

My dear friends Betsy and Rob had a beautiful baby boy this week.  I was tickled blue when they sent me a picture of the little man with his bunny that Aunt Camer made for him.  I can't wait to meet him!

Apples and Oranges

It has been a while since I've gotten anything done on my knitted kitchen project.  I finally finished a little orange and an apple core.

Eat In Kitchen Inspiration

In our new house we don't really have a formal dining room.  The previous owners remodeled and busted out the wall between the kitchen and the dining room so we have one large room (okay, well, this house is still small but you know what I mean) separated by an island.  The cabinets and appliances are in good shape but I am not a fan of the backsplash or the counter tops. 

Anyway, I've been looking for some inspiration and have found some of the coolest dining spaces on Pinterest lately and I thought I'd share some. 

Seriously, every time I start thinking I've read every design blog under the sun, read every design magazine, and shopped online at every store and that there can't possibly be anything new out there, I get proven wrong...I'm pretty obsessed with these spaces and they all feel so fresh to me.

This one is my absolute favorite.  There are two images so you can see it from different angles.  I want to move in IMMEDIATELY.  I'm wild for the artwork, the pattern on the chairs, everything.

Here are some other pretty amazing spaces...

Now I just need to get to work on my own...

All images via Pinterest.

Cougar Town

My husband and I recently started watching Seasons 1 and 2 of Courtney Cox's Cougar Town on Netflix.  One of the cutest shows I've seen.  I totally want to be in their cul de sac crew.

Oh, and I really want a necklace like Courtney's character. 

 I found one on etsy.  Adore.

Living with large Lighting

I am loving all of the recent changes to my living room - new color, new furniture and another new change that I hope to share with you all soon.  One downside that is really bugging me is the lack of light.  We have four lamps in here but no overhead light.  I've got an electrician and so I just need to pick my lighting and get it installed.  I'm having trouble deciding on a fixture.  This is my top runner as of right now:

 I like it for two reasons:  1) Just 'cause it's pretty.  2) I have a gift certificate from Christmas to Ballard Designs so it is practically free.

Only thing is, the room isn't big so I don't want it to overwhelm the space.  That said, I really like the larger version of the above fixture better than the smaller one.  So, I started looking around at smaller spaces with really oversized lighting.  It could be a statement...what do you think?

Here are some examples:

 via Glass Art

via From the Right Bank

 via Perch

via Design Shuffle

 source unknown

Last three images via here.

Stuffed Peppers

I made these stuffed peppers a day ahead of time and then pulled them out and finished baking them off during the week for a quick and easy supper.  It was my first attempt at stuffed peppers and I think I'm going to add them to my recipe repotoire. 

What You'll Need:
1 lb Italian sausage (I used hot)
1 cup of rice, cooked
1/2 red onion, finely diced
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 cup parmesan cheese
1 cup mozarella cheese
4 large green peppers
1 Tbsp olive oil
salt and pepper to taste

What You'll Do:

Heat the olive oil in a large pan and once it is heated, add the italian sausage.  Cook thoroughly and let it brown.  Cut the tops off of the green peppers and remove membrane and seeds.  Set the "bowls" aka the peppers aside in a baking dish.  Cut the leftover pepper part away from the stems and chop finely.  Add this pepper and onions to the sausage once it is fully cooked.  Let it brown.  Add in the garlic and sautee for another couple of minutes. 

Pepper "bowls"

Stir in the cooked rice and parmesan cheese.  Season with salt and pepper.

Fill the pepper bowls with the sausage mixture.  Bake at 350 degrees for about 30 minutes.

Remove the peppers from the oven, top with mozarella cheese and return to the oven.  Bake for an additional 5-10 minutes or until the cheese is browned and bubbly.  Deeeeelish!

Media Center and Bookshelves

Guess what we did this weekend?  Put together our new media center and bookshelves.  I love how the white of the painted wood stands out against the dark walls and how it shows off all of the colors of the different books and accessories.  I have some tweaking to do to the styling but you get the jist. 

First, a before shot:

Here's how it looks now:

I love how the mantle looks with all of the candles lit up also.  The room is starting to feel so cozy!