Shop Sugar Paper

My soon to be sister in law turned me on to yet another great shopping site.  Bad influence that she is!  :)

Sugar Paper NYC has got some cute stuff...goodness knows I love a stationary store.  Some great gift ideas as well.  Check it out:

Check out all of their products here.

It's Fall, Ya'll!

And it is official today!  Happy start-of-my-favorite-season-of-the-year day!

Images from Pinterest and from Jill Sauer art on UGallery.

Aunt Tucker's

Everyone has different styles that they lean to. I know what I like and can usually see how to replicate it. I was at my aunt's house the other weekend in Norfolk and I just love the vibe I get from it. Her house is small, nothing fancy, and filled with a great combination of vintage hand me downs from my grandparents mixed with TJ Maxx and consignment finds. It just hits all the right notes with me. I wish these pictures were better quality but they will give you the jist of things.

Vintage needlepoint art.

A teapot and cup collection

My grandmother's beautiful sideboard with a fabulous gallery wall.  Love the arrangement of everything from the plates across the lower level to the mix of art above.  She really has a knack for pulling Asian inspired art work together.

I adore this vignette and admire it every time I walk in the front door.  That old chest is a great storage piece and I love the beautiful picture of my great grandmother, Hun, that hangs above it.  A glass bowl of grapes sits to one side (those were my grandmother's too) and perhaps my favorite piece, are the two tall, slender amber colored vases on the left hand side, both of which she picked up for a song at TJ Maxx. 

 Note she still has another one of my grandmother's dining chairs to hand over to me.   :)

This is her little den area.  She hasn't progressed to the world of flat screen tv's but my husband is working on her hard core.  I love how she painted the fire place black and flanked it with the shelves from Ballard Designs.  We got the dog print from Decorum, one of our favorite furniture spots in Norfolk when we were shopping together one day.  Again, funnily enough, I think my favorite thing about the room are the two wheat grass bunches that sit on the mantle.  She claims those are also TJ Maxx but I am waiting to find something like that in the one near my house!

This picture of the kitchen turned out way too dark.  It is actually a really light space.  She put a regular dining table smack in the middle of the space and I love how instead of feeling cramped, it just feels homey and welcoming.  She positioned two of my grandmother's Tiffany decanters along side a flowering plant.

This is another interesting vignette she set up that I wouldn't have thought of:

She really took time to decorate her kitchen with art and accessories to make it feel very warm and lived in - but at the same time it doesn't feel cluttered to me.

I adore that over-sized plate above the stove.  She just pulls it down right off the wall when she needs it for parties.

The backyard and the guest house - aka the Shed.  I've spent many a night in there.  Thankfully it has heat and running water.

She'd slaughter me if she knew I posted pictures of her bathroom on my blog.  But, since she isn't super tech saavy and hasn't read a blog a day in her life, the chances of her finding me out are slim to none.  Shhh.  Don't tell.  Anyway, aside from showing you all of her beauty products, I just really like how she uses the shelf along the mirror and takes vintage glasses and vessels and mixes the in to give a room that serves a lot of function, great style as well.

Our family tree with family photographs lined up below.  My grandmother got a copy of the family tree made for all of her kids and the grandkids before she passed away.  It is something we all cherish.

Weeknight Inspiration: Grilled Chicken Salad with Champagne Vinagrette

For the Salad:

Grilled Chicken, sliced (we seasoned with salt and pepper and Italian Dressing and put on the grill)

Mixed Greens

Candied Pecans

Crumbled Bleu Cheese Dressing

Dried Cranberries

For the Champagne Dressing:

Whisk together 1 cup champagne vinegar, 1 Tbsp dijon mustard, salt, pepper, and 1/2 - 1 cup of olive oil - to taste.

Easy, quick and really satisfying!

Creamy Italian Chicken over Egg Noodles

I took recipe inspiration from here and LOVED how this turned out.  We were both literally licking our plates on this one.  Read on...

 What You'll Need:
4 thin sliced boneless chicken breast cutlets
Flour
Dried Oregano
Herbs de Provance
1 bell pepper - diced finely (I used an orange pepper)
1/2 bag of baby spinach, chopped
1 small yellow onion, finely diced
4 cloves of fresh garlic, chopped
Olive Oil
1 bag egg noodles
1/2 cup of heavy cream
2 cups chicken broth
1 cup Parmesan cheese

What You'll Do:
Chop your veggies.

Begin boiling a pot of salted water for the egg noodles.  Cook according to package directions.

Salt and pepper the chicken breast cutlets.  In a dish, add about a cup of flour and a generous amount of dried oregano and Herbs de Provance.  Mix around the flour mixture and then coat the seasoned chicken breasts.

Heat 1 Tbsp of the olive oil in a skillet.  Once hot, add the chicken and brown on both sides.  Finish cooking off in the oven if needed.

Add other Tbsp of olive oil in a smaller skillet.  Cook onions, garlic and pepper together for about 3-4 minutes.

Add 1 Tbsp of flour to the vegetables to help thicken what will become the sauce.  Add about a cup of the chicken brother and continue to stir.  Add the heavy cream and stir.  Add the spinach to wilt down.  If needed, add additional chicken broth until the sauce is the consistency you want.

Drain pasta and set aside.  Remove chicken from heat.

Add 1/2 of the Parmesan cheese to the sauce.  Put egg noodles on plate, serve with a chicken breast and liberally add the sauce with the vegetables over the top.  Top with remaining Parmesan cheese.

Deliciousness!!

Beachy Needlepoint Bargain

I went to a Consignment Store here in Alexandria recently with no intention of buying anything (cause that is the only time you find anything you HAVE to have).  I couldn't resist.  I just knew that this was one of those things that I'd regret if I didn't buy it.  It will certainly look fabulous in my beach house one day but for now I really like how it lightens up the mantel over the fireplace in the basement.

I seriously can't get over the intricate detail of this. This is a combination of needlepoint and embroidery but this lady designed it herself.  If I look closely, I can see where she outlined the shape of the shells with a pencil and then filled it in with her embroidery design.  SERIOUS skill and patience.

Did I mention this huge thing was $36 bucks?  I felt like I was stealing it!

She had some other pieces in there as well that were awesome but I just loved the carolina blue on the background and all of the shells.  Original?  Check.  Handmade?  Check.  Huge?  Check.  I mean, how was it only $36???  Pays to shop consignment is all I've got to say.