october ramblings

What a great weekend we had here! The weather was beautiful and made the perfect backdrop for dinner outside Sunday night at my girl Jen's house. The daughters had a blast playing together in the hose, flinging water everywhere and climbing up in the tree house. We had been meaning to get our two families together forever and I'm so glad we finally had time. Thanks for having us Jen, Jim and Emma!

On Saturday I made this recipe for Ina Garten's carrot cake ala Emily at Jones Design Company. It turned out really yummy but if you're thinking about making it my only tip would be to add about a 1/3 more confectioner's sugar to the frosting when you're mixing it up to make it thicker.

And there was lot's of slide time of course 

Now it's time to gear up for another fun week. My big 3-0 birthday is Wednesday and we have lot's more fun family time planned. This time of the year is the best! 

Hope you all have a fabulous week. {and try that cake it's seriously so good!}

stylish blogger award

A great big high five to Rene at Cottage and Vine for bestowing me with the stylish blogger award last week! It was such a bright spot in my week and I think it's such a fun way to share not only about yourself but to shout from the roof tops about some other truly rockin' blogs. 

If you’re not familiar with it, there are 4 duties to perform to accept the award:

1.  Thank and link back to the person who awarded you this award

2.  Share 7 things about yourself

3.  Award 10 (or so) recently discovered great bloggers

4.  Contact these bloggers and tell them about the award

about me

1. While i grew up mostly in indiana I'm actually from south haven, michigan and a true lake girl at heart. 

2. I love me some power tools. In college we were "forced" to craft our own stretchers for our paintings so I between that and the occasional sculpture class I became quite a regular in the wood shop. This has served me well in the home renovation department. 

3. I'm a homebody. We aren't much for going out in fact I think Nick and I have only been out by ourselves with out Lucy twice since she was born. Once for a wedding and another time for a fundraiser.  We love our Netflix, fire in the hearth and vino. We watched Miss Potter on Friday night. I had never seen it and I thought it was so cute!

4. I swear by Uggs. It started in college when the 100 year old + building I took many of my drawing classes in was always freezing. I got a pair for Christmas and it was like walking on a cloud. I don't care if they're not very stylish this is indiana and it's cold (18 degrees f to be exact at this very moment). 

5. Nick I met and were engaged six months later and married six months after that in July 2007. There isn't a thing I'd change about our wedding, it was beautiful! We honeymooned in Bermuda everything was absolutely perfect!

6. I feel like the luckiest momma in the world being able to be at home with Lucy. It's been a dream of mine since I was a little girl. It's what I always knew I was meant to do first and foremost in life.

7. Not too many days go by that I'm not busy with some sort of project. I not good at sitting still. Saturday and Sunday I repainted the yellow stripe bathroom and created 4 new pillows for the etsy boutique which I hope to get listed later today. 

Now I'd like to recognize some truly great bloggers and friends to pass this sweet award on to:

City of Dionne

The Cottage Nest

Flower Patch Farmgirl

Fitness, Food and Faith

Ticking and Toile

Three Men and a Lady

The Shabby Chic Cottage 

The Paris House

Sweet as Candy

Hope everyone has a fantastic week!!!

coffee table upcycle & new friends

I ran across the first awesome photo last week and almost died. I've been trying to come up with just the right piece for our living room coffee table and this was perfect. I immediately emailed my good ol' momma who is ever resourceful and BAM just like that I got the call today to go and pick up not one but TWO of them. Oh and did I mention they cost me nadda! Life is good. As soon as I get them in place I'll update you with new photos. 

On another high note today I had the pleasure of having coffee with Jen and Shannan and little L this morning. I enjoyed our time so much and it's funny I've only met Jen once before in person and this was first time meeting Shannan but I felt like I knew them both so well through the magic bloggy world. As Ice Cube would say Today was a good day.