A Pretty Night's Sleep

I've been looking for new bed linens for months now.

Our bed sports a white duvet.  So I like my sheets to be pretty. Fold over-able.  I prefer a pattern. It seems pretty clear to me after searching that I'm not the norm. Go figure. And honestly, I don't care that much about thread count and all that. The look and the price are the things that matter most to me.

The results of my research:

I first tried Target and T.J. Maxx first, hoping for some John Robshaw lookalikes or something. No luck.

(Please. John Robshaw. I beg of you a Target partnership. Love your designs. But my washer cost less than your sheet sets.)

Real deal John Robshaw:

Just shy of $500 for a Queen sheet set before tax and shipping.

Serena & Lily

$170 & $210 respectively for Queen sheet sets. I'm really loving the Pink Florentine on the left.

Anthrolpologie

$148 Queen Set

 

$228  / $198 Queen Sets

Garnet Hill

$92 Queen Set. I love both the sky blue and the driftwood colorways.

The Company Store

I was disappointed that these were only available in flannel. But a fresh take on flannel sheeting!

$172 Queen Sheet Set

$60 (on sale) Queen Set

I was about to put the last set in my shopping cart to purchase until my husband glanced over at me. 

And frowned. 

Crock Pot Girl: Slow Cooker Style

It's Crock Pot season. In actuality, a new era of slow cooking started here a month after baby Vivie arrived. We were beside ourselves trying to balance three kiddos and our basic human need to eat. The great take out food nightly debate was making us cranky.

Then one evening, after the babies were all asleep and Brett and I had dined with the toaster and some English muffins,  I noticed several friends "liked" Crock Pot Girls on Facebook.

Intrigued and hoping to overcome my self perceived status as a failed homemaker because I couldn't possibly mother three girls and cook nightly meals, I "liked" and made this:

Balsamic (Crock Pot) Chicken 

4-6 boneless, skinless, chicken breasts

2 14.5 oz can diced tomatoes

1 onion thinly sliced (Not chopped)

4 garlic cloves

1/2 cup balsamic vinegar

2 T olive oil

1 tsp each: dried oregano, basil, and rosemary

1/2 tsp thyme

ground black pepper and salt to taste

Pour the olive oil on bottom of crock pot

Place in chicken breasts, salt and pepper each breast

Put sliced onion on top of chicken

Then put in all the dried herbs and garlic cloves

Pour in vinegar and top with tomatoes

Cook on high 4 hours, serve over angel hair pasta

We haven't looked at a take out menu since!

Which means that at the top of my wish list there's a new crock pot of all things. If it's going to be sitting on my countertop every day, I want it to be prettier.  Unlike this bad boy, which we received for our wedding 14 years ago.

It could be the ugliest thing we own. It has a forest green ceramic insert and an ivy trellis, I do believe.

So, I'm dreaming about an upgrade. A crock pot  Slow Cooker that costs $175. All stainless steel and white ceramic yumminess.  Available at Williams Sonoma.

I wonder if they have a leasing program?

One of Those Days

I don't recall if I found this card or my husband did. 

He used to check out the postcards while I'd troll for treasures. But I love it. 

It makes me LOL as they say these days. Post stamped 1908. 

Halloween Decorations

I know, but I just can't! Even with my little ones. Bad mom? We do have pumpkins on the door step and all that. But nothing inside.

I do think though, that I might borrow an idea from my "idol mom" Meg of the Whatever blog and buy a few to paint.

Little Women

We have so many little women in this house.

There's Charlotte, above, our newest resident, having come from my grandmother's estate. She was made by my father's aunt, Garnet Moore Keeney, an artist who spent most of her adult life in Arizona. The figure's dark hair and delicate features remind me of photos I've seen of my Grandmother Charlotte as a young woman.

There's Zora.

She always had a spot in my maternal grandmother's home. I love her dreamlike quality. Relaxed, barefoot. Now, she looks out over me and the girls and my husband as we eat our meals in the dining room every day.

And then there are these two gals.

Vintage painted ladies, random Etsy purchases. The fair haired girl was first. I love how that painting is framed so low and off center. I love her pale blue blouse and the pink background. The blue lady up top came from the same seller and at first I wasn't sure....she looked more amateur...but I've grown to really like her too and she's a great companion. They're always hanging out by my secretary desk.

The true stars in the collection though are these three.

Look! I'm Back!

You've been on my mind, dear blog. But my youngest baby Vivie, well, she hasn't wanted to leave my arms, day or night, in the span of these past two months. And really, that's not so bad. Just a temporary glitch when it comes to hosting a blog.

My middle one Maren and I went downtown today to pick up my new Kate Spade glasses. Fine and dandy things extends to my eyewear. 

The inside of the frames is my favorite spa blue, a wonderful little surprise. 

And the pink case! Really, it's darling to leave out. Were it not for the six little hands around here who are constantly curious, that might be doable. 

Keep checking in on me. I promise I'll be home and have lovely things to share. 

Bathroom Redo

With the Imperial Trellis wallpaper off my upstairs main bathroom (still sad) I have been trying to come up with a new game plan.  Bed rest hasn't speeded this up at all. Saw this bathroom in the latest issue of Canadian House and Home and thinking the painted stripes could be a nice, fresh possibility, and doable within a budget.