Bloggers Block

Happy Sunday Y'all!

 I'm taking a break from the Red Carpet Oscar shows to cuddle on the couch with Ry & Miss Izzy ((sweetest pooch ever!)) to blog a bit.
 I've just got some useless knowledge for you tonight, after a gorgeous weekend with my Daddy (visited for the day) and the Love Of My Life... it's finally warming up in these parts & I just can't seem to be outside enough! ((although if I were smart, the way pine and oak pollen are flying and affecting me, I'd be inside ALL the time right now)) With a headache and a guilty conscious for not having started my embroidery projects ... I leave you with some random little information about moi! I promise to post a project sooner rather than later!








 


What has been your favorite vacation?
My favorite vacation has been any & all vacations that involve going to New Orleans.  Most recently, the trip where I met the Love of My Life through mutual friends there. A trip to NOLA always includes amazing spicy and fried food, fabulous live jazz music, great shopping in the Garden District, and usually a festival of some sort! Ry + I are anxious to go back and do NOLA together as a couple!   
 

What is your favorite fashion accessory?
Absolutely is my collection of sterling silver monogrammed jewelry. Rings, bracelets, you name it, I've put my initials on it! 






What is your favorite meal to cook for company?
I am not the person to ask about choosing just ONE meal, if you ask Ry, he will tell you it was my "once in a lifetime - best ever- can't be repeated lasagna florentine. But, I am going to have to choose Chicken Marsala. And more specifically, the recipe by Mr.Emeril Lagasse (Mr New Orleans, himself). It's a hands-down favorite of mine!
What is your favorite room in your house?That would probably be my bedroom. I love my Euro pillows, throw pillows, fluffy duvet, all white bedding, chandelier over my bed ... it's easily the favorite room. And the hardest to decorate!!

If you could go back to college (for fun) what would you study?Eek! I just want to go back to have fun :) but, I think it would be for interior design. Although I think my love for decorating would be hindered by all the "rules" of design... but still could be VERY fun!
What is one skill/talent you wished you possessed or were better at?Probably sewing. I am decent, but I still have to call my Momma for questions when I'm working on a project! 

It's fun to make things that are custom to wear or have in your own house! 

Here's hoping y'all got a chance to get some sunshine this weekend, and spend time with the ones you love. 

I have a very busy week starting tomorrow, long days with Lil One and am already looking forward to next Friday/weekend! 

xoxo

B

Grocery and Romance ?!

Hey Ya'll ~ 

Whew! What a week this has been... I'm anxiously awaiting Friday afternoon, when I meet a close girlfriend of mine from high school to catch up on life and enjoy some delish food. And a weekend. Of relaxing.

On my recently concluded "Trip Around The State" - which found me in staying in 3 different cities in the span of 24 hours, I ran over hundreds of highways. And I passed numerous billboards. But just one stuck with me. Publix. I've always been a "Publix gal" - since before I knew of such gourmet groceries as Fresh Market & Whole Foods. The billboard simply stated:

"Publix Aprons School: Where Dates Happen"

photo to come: found one of us at Honeymoon Island !! 

As a sucker for trendy, unique packaging and a fresh approach on marketing, this billboard just brought back a super sweet and favorite memory of mine. About a year ago, Handsome Man & I were coming back from a day out at Honeymoon Island, and decided a lovely fresh dinner would be the perfect way to wrap up our date. So we headed to Fresh Market ((I know, you were thinking it would be Publix, but sorry!)) for ingredients.

Perhaps it was the dim lighting, the classical music, the abundance of gorgeously wrapped foods, wines and cheeses ... but either way, I found myself as giddy as a young girl, laughing my way through the isles of the grocer with Him. Then it hit me, we had only been dating for about a month when I realized that everything we did together was MUCH more fun than it had ever been before, prime example of grocery shopping. 

And this was the beginning of it all ((romantic sigh)). My grocery shopping trips have never been the same, week after week, usually on Sundays, we hold hands through the store like the cute little 80 yr old couples you see that make you stop and realize "Love doesn't grow old". Then you smile and carry on with your day. 

For those of you hoping to find a craft, cool blog about a project, or anything OTHER than romantic grocery store jabber, I apologize. Blame it on Publix's fresh take on billboards, but I'm a sucker for a fabulous grocery trip with my very own Handsome Man. Hope you find a smile in a something simple this weekend.

xoxo

B

Craftin' til I go Crazy

Hey Ya'll!

Whew, what a Sunday!
Spent the early morning at church and then home to make lunch and piddle around the house a bit.
I started a collage of sorts - for a present to my dear momma ((Mother's Day)), decided to yank out the sewing machine and figure out how to sew a dadburn ruffle onto my flour sack dish towels, and then took myself to the glorious antique mall that's literally 5 minutes from my house (T-R-O-U-B-L-E)
Admittedly, I was going in looking for antique hardware, like that you would hang things with. Find.
Then I was also looking for a biscuit cutter. Find

As always, sparkly things catch my eye and I had been desperate to fancy up my bedroom chandelier.
So, for $10 I snagged a baggy of 12 vintage crystals, all with hooks and the double charm thing'y that hangs. :)

Maybe asking to find some cute vintage buttons would be the big "Find" today. Well, thankfully I got a "1/2 cup for $2" and I was allowed to scoop them out all by myself. Yippee!
Then, after months of searching for it, I found the dresser that would soon be at home in my bedroom. My "Aaa-ha!" moment finally came.
This cute little mahogany high-boy dresser, in its distressed white paint, and VERY in my price range, was mine ALL mine. Being an avid purchaser of furniture, I knew it would fit in the backseat of my car ((you should SEE the pieces I've crammed in there! Quite the talent.)) I browsed a bit more, then headed out the door to pick up my little cute dresser. Since Handsome Man is still out of town, I'm glad that its a light weight dresser, as I was able to take out the drawers and tote it upstairs all by my very own!
Once I had the dresser in place, I was struck by the familiar need of my childhood.... RE-ARRANGE... my brain yelled. My room has been the same for about 6 months ((since I moved here)) & it just didn't suit me with this new dresser. Thus began the process of 4 hours, cleaning out boxes, re-doing the closet shelves, scooting things around, etc. I am happy to show ya'll the new placement of my bed
 under my now-sparkly chandelier, and the sweet little vignette+dresser.

I've been quite the busybee today and loved every stinkin' minute of it! Hope your Sunday was a fun day :)

xoxo

B

Islands Recouperation Part I

Hey Ya'll!
Well I made it back from the beautiful island of Providenciales, or Provo. . . where Grace Bay Club hosted me for 6 luscious days. I basked in the 85 degree sun, had a blissful massage on the beach cabana, enjoyed my "work" time with Lil One, and, despite it all I'm glad to be back home. Although I could do with a 20 degree increase in weather here. It's amazing to me how quickly I adjust again to loving shorts and tanktops, and bathing suits from 9A-9P, reeking of suntan lotion and salty air all day long. It won't be too long before we're back into the warmer seasons ... I'm anxiously awaiting them now! ((Remind me please, in August when I'm crying for cooler temps))

I came home only to find that Handsome Man needed to head out of town to be 

with his family at this time. 

Prayers to all. 

My weekend plans shifted and I was probably more productive today than originally planned.
Up at the crack of dawn, I was determined to unpack the luggage and in the process (my attention-span-lacking) - began to overhaul my closet. As quickly as I could, I tossed out clothes I hadn't worn. Or that I wasn't going to wear. Then I shoved all the dark, long-sleeve, woolen clothing into the deepest depths of closet-dom. ((I know, I know, now I have to wander there to get clothes for the next month or so)) It does something to my psyche to see nothing but bright and cheerful colors, tank tops, sundresses and Lilly Pulitzer galore in my closet. What can I say - I'm an easy girl to please :)

The afternoon was spent with my former college roommate, who lives just nearby. We made some cute Valentine'y crafts for our loves and then I came home, only to continue working with the craft bug having bitten me. Before I knew it, I'd whipped out a bunch of "scrapbook style" sweetheart cards to mail to family members.

Then came the bulletin board overhaul. 

I'm not sure about ya'll, but I'm such a visual person and having my goals and crafting projects listed out in my face reallllly keeps me on track :)  As all creative minds are prone to wander, we have to harness eventually, sit down and complete our projects. Besides that, I promised ya'll in my last post that I'd be crafting up a storm and so I know ya'll will hold me to it for pictures (aka: proof!)

Well, it's a quiet Saturday night for me. The bedroom isn't fixed up quite yet from my "unpacking" and "Goodwill pile making" so I am going to fix that up and call it a night. Church is tomorrow morning , which I've missed dearly while being on vacation.

I've taken Monday off from Lil One to fix a gourmet meal /& for Handsome Man & I on our  

Very 1st Valentines Day. 

What are ya'll doing with your family, friends or loved one? I'll be sure to post pictures from my cooking adventures on Monday.

Enjoy the rest of your LOVEly weekend!

B

I Love Fridays, Vacays & All Things Pink !

Happy Friday Ya'll!

This has been a whirl-wind of a week, as I nannied and packed for a "mystery vacation". Due to ice, snow and other random acts of nature in the mid-west, the Nanny Accompanied Trip to Mexico was canceled. Being completely bummed, I was ready to unpack my 70 pound Victorinox and pout.
Just then, I got a call from Lil'One's momma - telling me not to unpack, but that we were going SOMEWHERE. As long as it didn't require flying west of Alabama! So, off to Grand Turk we go! Tomorrow morning :) yippee!!

So on a quiet Friday night, the Handsome Man gone to visit his family for the weekend, and my bag re-packed and re-vamped for the "5-Star Luxury Resort" ((as opposed to 3-Star ClubMed)) ... I decided to put together a sweet inspiration board. One completely devoted to PiNk! I truly love all things pink, and especially the Kate Spade shoes below. Enjoy the pretties and feast on this month's colors ((pink+red)).
Don't forget this month is Women Go Red, raising awareness for women's heart disease.







I'll be home in time for Valentine's Day & wishing ya'll a fabulous love-filled weekend!

XOXO
b

From Shambles to Shiney New

Happy Friday & Hooray for Me!

I'm the first person to admit how non technologically intelligent I am, yet this is the first post on my newly re-designed blog here. Yes, I completely destructed my last layout without bothering to remember or research ((or save it, for that matter)) how to re-build it. But alas, two nights of frustration and my little blog has a face lift! As I told my Sweet Man, I am going to sign up for a class on creating blogs + website ((for dummies)) at the local community college at some point this year. I cannot be ignorant any longer!!!! :) 

Well, now it's finally the weekend and I've posted once this week about my upcoming projects and little jobs that I did in my house over the holidays. Next week I'm headed to Mexico for work ((rough, 8 days at ClubMed)) and I plan to bring the supplies for the little beauties below, with me to sew on the plane or at night / down time. So here's the upcoming project...

This week I ordered from www.cooking.com, a set of flour sack towels and in my greatest efforts to take an inexpensive ((but everlasting)) kitchen towel, I am going to sew ruffles on them and add embroidery in my own design. Momma couldn't make it sound any easier to draw my own design and using embroidery thread in various thicknesses & colors, to create something unique! After all, that's what I'm all about!! So I am taking hints and tricks from the EASY book + website "Sublime Stitching" and going to purchase some neat hand-dyed floss and give it a whirl. Now, I'm no drawing artist, so I'll stick to something with a simple shapes that will fit in with my kitchen. Perhaps a cupcake, cookie, or rolling pin doodle. These are some I'm considering trying to draw ...

Starting simple of course, I may need to buy a book until I can figure it out. Also, I've saved a lot of neat fonts from  the most awesome free fonts and should attempt to trace the letters onto my towels, and stitch over them. I'll be sure to post photos of the finished product! Here's hoping how they'll turn out: 

After these little buggers are complete, I am hoping to play around with transfer printer paper and some to-die-for images ((think, French, girly, whimsical, and vintage)) from the Graphics Fairy
I'm seeing pillows and hand towels for my bathroom, plus gift options galore!
Trust me when I say she is THE hot-spot for images to use. And they're free! Thank you fellow blogger Graphics Fairy! :) 

Well, I hope to blog another time or so before I head off in a week... if not, Viva Mexico and I shall return with pictures of projects :)

xoxo
 B

**Thanks to Fiskars Crafts  for ruffle instructions here!
**Follow http://graphicsfairy.blogspot.com/
**Ruffled Christmas towels here

No Shame - Inspiration Takes Time

Hello little world of blogging! Or rather, a big world (and seemingly growing bigger by the day)!

It's been about a month and a half since my last post, and I will not apologize for it. Between holidays, work, projects, traveling, and life in general, I've had little time to sit down and truly browse the blogs of the world while letting my own creativity thrive.


 Since my last post, I have done some small "projects" in my cottage ...

• While Momma visited one week, we made burlap wreaths for each of our homes. Simple enough, about 3 yards of burlap, some ribbon, and a coat hanger that is happy to bend in any shape you so choose. Momma added a finishing touch to hers with a gorgeous checkered brown velvet ribbon from Ballard Designs, and attached it to a shabby chic'd ((DIY)) creme gloss shutter.
• Meanwhile, my burlap beauty is perched atop my mantle, its neutral tones eluded itself to the remainder of the mantle being decorated in soft tones of  blue Mason jars, mercury glass candlesticks, as well as some cotton and wood architectural pieces from New Orleans. I'm quite pleased with my neutral mantle until mid-Spring when it will need some more color! 

• The pantry in my kitchen is host to a new organizational method, complete with the sweetest ((and most simple to make)) labels. Each cubby, canister, and snack bin has its own label. I was on a "whim" one afternoon and put together these labels from blank place cards. Admittedly, I smile whenever I open my pantry now, for a whole new reason!

 My dining room, with its ever so bold Robins Egg Bleu accent wall, has a new vignette atop my china hutch. While I'm debating on how and if to sell my antique china hutch for a smaller version, I went ahead and made it something I could live with. The wreath is a hand-me-down that graced my Momma's front door for several springs, paired with some mercury glass (can't help myself!), new dessert plates (from Mama B) and a garden finial. It's not quite spring yet, but I can't help but decorate as if it were.  . . or maybe it's just my love for pink and green!!






    

• And one final "DIY Re-Do" ... a simple ((ugly)) recipe box from the $1 spot at Michael's Craft Stores, met some pretty scrapbooking papers of mine, and some hot glue, and ribbon, and Voila! Cute recipe box that I'm not ashamed to have out on my counter :) 

Now, onto further projects and musings ... I have a list of about 10 things to try ... ranging from sewing simple buntings for upcoming holidays ((Valentine's Day in shades of pink were the starting point)) to a more complicated project of printing out images from the amazing website ((Vintage Graphics)) onto fabric transfer paper, giving myself the room to create neat vintage-y pillows and tea towels. And a few of the upcoming projects will require the Handsome Man to bring his drill and go on a "vintage hardware search" with me, I'm making an "Apron Rack". Time to display the heirlooms from grandmothers and great-grandmothers in my kitchen!

I'm traveling to Mexico for work in the next week and a half and will be gone for 8 days, so I hope to have plenty of time to muse on the planes and at the resort, for more projects. I have quite mixed feelings about the way my creative juices have been lately. On one hand, I feel that as a creative being, I should always be able to spill out ideas and projects. But on the other hand, I have the utmost respect for the creative side of my brain, as it works at its best when given time and space to freely create. We'll go with the latter, and call it a night.

xoxo
B

Fashion Show & Feels Like Snow

Writing By The Fireside ... 

I never do look forward to a warm December here in Florida, so as much as I've anticipated the arrival of cold weather, I shall do my best not to gripe about how frigid it is. At least until the end of February. By that point, I'm gearing up for bathing suit weather at the gym, and most certainly on the hunt for a bikini. . . much to my dismay, I never accomplish changing the weather that early in the season :( so I may as well not get my hopes up. 

On a more cheerful note, WINTER IS HERE, I've made 2 fires in the fireplace, put up a Christmas tree at my apartment and at Ry's.

I welcomed December on November 30th, celebrating the

Victoria's Secret Holiday Fashion Show 

on t.v. and had some of my sweet girlfriends over. 

We had cupcakes and watched the fashions, the amazing shoes, and of course, the models! Lots of fun involved, and even had a "panty swap" where each person brought a new pair of cute undies to "Secret Santa" / swap with each other! Of course, I went all out on my cupcake recipes + decorating for the party. My inspiration was a "candy land" meets "winter wonderland". Turqoise (T&Co.) + Hot Pink with Silver.  Here are a few peeks from the evening: 

 Chocolate Babycakes + Dollop of Peppermint Buttercream

Dining Room Table All Set Up For Victoria's Secret Fashion Show! 

 

Strawberry Babycakes Topped With Turquoise Homemade Buttercream Frost 

I am off to watch Gossip Girl, my vice! 

xoxo 

 B

Closet-Rummage

Well, I hope everyone had a marvelous Thanksgiving this past weekend!
I spent time with my family back home, and also did some short traveling to spend some of Thanksgiving with the Love Of My Life's family too! Lets just say that 5 days without an alarm clock, was quite glorious!

While my Love whiled away his hours in the library this weekend, I crawled into my crafting closet and decided to start a few small projects. First up - repurposing the cork board that my mother had found in my childhood closet, add a bit of ribbon, some burlap (because it's so french and country it's automatically chic!), and of course, my finishing touches! It will be an inspiration board, an "in the moment- what I love" board, just whatever I please :)

Next up, finishing some decorative touches to my 4th Annual Victoria's Secret Holiday Fashion Show party this Tuesday. The girls are coming over for cupcakes and bubbly, we'll watch the fashion show and have a panty-swap from V.S. ((a more FUN option to a "white santa" gift swap))





Okay time for bed! Good night ya'll - hope everyone's week is off to a fabulous start!

xoxo
B

For The Past 6 Months

My feet have been off the ground for the past half a year.
I've finally found what was waiting for me.
And it was certainly more than worth the nearly 24 & 1/2 years I had to wait to meet him ...