Musings + Monogram Winner

First things first, I know y’all are chomping at the bit to find out who won the fabulous wood monogram from Scrappin Plus!!!  Drum roll, please….

Lauren & Eddie said... I want a vine monogram for my front door!

Shoot me an email to claim your prize.  And then send me pics when you get it done!!!

 

Have you heard about the two Downton Abbey paint colors?  Empire Grey and Amber gray were created by Mylands paint company with recipes that are over 100 years old and use earth pigments and ground marble to create the deep and authentic hues.  They are used in Mrs. Patmore’s kitchen on the show.  I think both are divine and will do well given the modern day rage for everything grey and greige. 

 

I sure have missed John this week!  The baby, on the other hand, has slipped right back into being an only child during the days when he’s home.  We’ve been swimming as much as we can in an effort to eek out the last of summer.

I can’t remember if I’ve shared this new love or not… Vegetable Quinoa Salad by Carolina Charm.  For the last two weeks, I’ve made a huge bowl of it on Monday morning and then eaten off if it for lunch all week.  It’s SOOOO yummy and healthy!!  Even the baby loves it.  (pic from Carolina Charm… she’s super cute, in addition to this good recipe)

 

Honey and I make sushi as an “at home” date night every now and then!  The california rolls are pretty good, but this time we ramped up our game with dessert sushi to boot.  Think bananas rolled in nutella topped with rice krispies.  YUM!

 

Every now and then, and most recently yesterday, I get asked questions like these… When do you put all of your projects together and where do you stash your current ones before the big reveal to the littles? We are all curious when and how you do it. Can you possibly give us a little insight into your daily routine? So here goes…

• I usually think up a project driving down the road.  Then I mull it over for a week and make a list of a million ideas that I then narrow down to a  few best ones.  As far as actually doing the work for the project (like the Monsters Back to School Snack), I do it no more than a day or two before.  Otherwise, I would drag it out of the course of two weeks.  For the Monster party, I made the rice krispie cake the night before and I made the oreos and apples two nights before.  None of it takes very long… I’d say 20 minutes for the cake and 20 minutes for the oreos/apples.  Once they were off for the day, I set the table and got everything ready so that all I had to do was throw the food out and snap some pics for y’all before they came home.  When I do things like the back to school breakfast, I prep the food (I already had milk poured, plums cut, and pancake batter made and in the pancake pen) and set the table the night before. Honey is also a huge help.  While I made the rice krispies, he made the pancake batter.  That being said, most nights he just sits at the bar in the kitchen with a beer keeping me company.  :-)
• I generally use the guest room to cut and store things in the works before the “big reveal” because nobody but me ever goes in there except to do laundry.  (And seeing as nobody does laundry around here other than me, nobody but me ever goes in there.) 
• As far as when and how I do it, I work fast and I almost never sit down.  I don’t try to be this way, I’ve just always had an extreme level of energy and I sometimes wish I could just chill on the sofa doing nothing but watching a TV show.  (I drive Sister CRAZY.)  I try to be with the boys when they are home and then spend a little “me” time at night doing my thing.

John’s teacher is a girl after my own heart.  I swear, she just couldn’t be cuter!  At parent night, she gave us these apples. 

 

The next set of Disney World, Disney Cruise and Disneyland memory/autograph books, bag tags and note cards ship Monday for orders placed by this Friday 8/16. VISIT MY ETSY STORE HERE

I hate to end on a sad note, but my heart is heavy.  A little friend of John’s that’s been in his class for the last two years lost his mother this week.  Please please pray for this sweet boy and his entire family in the days and weeks to come.  Please.

xoxo