David Hicks La Fiorentina Really is EVERYWHERE

  

 I was reading the girls their bedtime story last night.

 A Laura Geringer Book: HarperCollins Publishers

"Playing outside will make him cold. He'll want to go inside and curl up on the couch."

Wait. A. Second.

He'll want to go inside and curl up on the couch covered in designer David Hicks La Fiorentina!

"He'll ask you for a blanket."

(If the blanket is Hermes, I'll really flip.)

 Thanks illustrator, Felicia Bond, for infusing some good taste in my girls' nighttime read.
Intentional or not, made my night. 

Do It Yourself Christmas Wreaths?

House and Home/Janis Nicolay

Etsy/Blissful Meandering

YOU could do this! If you were inclined. And talented. 

Had lots of spare time, hot glue sticks and patience. 

Jenny from Little Green Notebook could surely do it. She is oh-so-talented. And she has kids. 

Three of them, like me. And a job. 

And yet she manages to do things like upholster head boards while her kids are sleeping. 

However, if you're like me, you are probably more prone to "buy it yourself" due to life logistics like three kids, a dishwasher to empty, gymnastics, music class and a house to Swiffer. 

Target and West Elm had some great wreaths that look "do it yourself"

Except, Cyber Monday is much, much too late to be thinking about purchasing them, because the ones I wanted are sold out by now.

By the way: West Elm, I'm loving most everything you did for holiday decor this year. 

As for me, with the current time predicament, its likely we'll end up with Home Depot evergreen wreaths on our front door and over the mantle. Dolled up slightly. But not painstakingly. 

I guess that will make them, "Modify Yourself".

Which might just make me the Sandra Lee of craft projects. 

Dear Santa

KarinLorenc on Etsy 

I would like to drink hot cocoa in these. 

Actually, they'd come in quite handy in making me feel special while drinking my morning coffee. 

This is becoming more routine, the morning coffee, since I've become mother of the three kiddos that you are watching 24/7 from your special Santa Spy Satellite. 

And if you were feeling generous, I see that Karin Lorenc, potter fantabulous,  has what might be some matching cereal bowls. That way, everyone in my family could feel special.  Perhaps she'd do matching dinner plates someday, with blue on the underside. 

They're so ME. Classic on the outside, with my can't-go-wrong-white. 

And smile-inducing blue on the inside. 

Found in Karin Lorenc's Etsy Store, here. 

Karin, you are my kind of potter, girl!

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.