Category Archives: Uncategorized

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THIS WEEK’S MENU

Breakfast

• Whole Wheat Banana Pancakes topped with Baked Chunky Applesauce

Lunch

• White Bean Chicken Chili

Dinner

• Pepper Hash with Fried Egg and Toast

Snack

• Spicy Moroccan Carrots

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Click on the photo for an AMAZING cupcake idea!

I am definitely not a diamond girl. I am a BIG TIME Cartier Love Collection girl, though...

Jeff and I are engaged!  We are on a tight budget, and being a creative person (ahem…control freak), I will be doing most of the stuff myself.  I plan on taking you through the whole process step by step in case there are other brides out there getting married next fall who want to see how I go about planning and crafting my wedding.   Feel free to pass on helpful info if you did your own too.  But for now, here is the proposal and the ring!    (Note: I have a rule that Jeff isn’t allowed to buy me technology before we are married because it is impersonal.  BUT, I admit that I forgot this rule when I saw this box on the coffee table…)

Wait...you got me a new super awesome computer?! What's the occasion? I've been kind of a bitch this week....surely I don't deserve THIS...

What?! No computer?! Is that a Cartier box???

YES! YES it IS a Cartier box! But...where is the computer???

Yes, we are geeks. Yes, Jeff's proposal involved tricking me with a computer box. But there is NOTHING nerdy about Cartier!

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THIS WEEK’S MENU

Breakfast

• Poached Egg, Asparagus and Buttered Toast

Lunch

• Ploughman’s Lunch

Dinner

• Veggie Indian Stew with Rice

Snack

• Coconut Chocolate Pudding

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From this to THIS!

Magazines are research and inspiration for lots of creative people, but the piles get overwhelming REALLY quickly!   Get into the habit of cutting out everything in your magazines and catalogs that you like, are inspired by, or want to keep.   Put everything into smaller notebooks organized by year and I promise you will use them more in this form than in the magazine itself.   Mine have color combinations, textures and my own sketches and notes.   This way, I don’t get sucked into a whole magazine I already looked at 10 times before.   Do this once a month with all your zines to maintain your de-cluttered lifestyle!

P.S.  Keep clipped recipes in a separate notebook from the one with that YSL bag you might want to splurge on one day!  😉

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THIS WEEK’S MENU

Breakfast

• Yogurt with Peaches and Crunch

Lunch

• Italian Chicken Sausage, White Bean and Kale Stew

Dinner

• Mixed Veggie Quesadillas
• Asian Pear and Orange Salad

Snack

• Rosemary Cucumbers

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Our first hike: 5 miles round trip to a great view of Waimea Canyon

I’ve been away on vacation in Hawaii, taking a little break from blogging, making stuff for the store and nervously awaiting the next issue this year may bring.   Before getting back into groceries, cooking, baking, making and fixing, I thought I’d share some of our photos in case you’re vacationing there soon or just want to live vicariously through us!

Okay, I’m obsessed.  Summer is moving on and fall is here!  Ah, the smell of pencil shavings, crisp apples, new leather penny loafers, the awesomeness of it all.

Here are some other things that are awesome…:-)

Dreams Never End: Vintage Sweatshirt

Brooklyn Rehab: Souvenir Pigeon Mug

Take Me Homeware: Brooklyn chinoiserie

Confetti Garden: Vintage Red Typewriter

From Soul: Pencils made of recycled paper!

I hate the gym.  I really, really hate it.  Luckily, I can’t afford a membership anyway, and I know a lot of people are giving theirs up these days to save a little money each month.   Here is how I mix up, using cable, Netflix and a few good apps!

FIT TV. Gotta love it.  I record “All Star Workouts” everyday so I can mix it up.  All Star Workouts are about 1 hour long, and feature everything from weight training to cardio dance workouts.  They are similar to the Crunch Gym DVDs, which leads me to the next thing…

Netflix. If you have an instant streaming device, like a Wii, you can stream workouts for free with your membership.  They rotate the options often and the Crunch Gym series are great workouts!  I love instant streaming for travel as well, because I can always stream a workout in my hotel room to keep up with my (hopeful) weight loss.

Apps. If you have a smart phone, you can buy the Personal Running Trainer and train to run anything from a mile to a marathon.   I use this app every other day and end with a nice long walk and do cardio and weights on the others.  Another great one is Lose It! which helps you enter your weight and food for the day to count calories and track your progress.  The app has a lot of restaurant foods in it as well so you can always double check before ordering!

We all need to exercise and eat well, but we can’t all be bothered with the gym or a trainer.   I hope my cheaper tips help you out if you’re looking to start your own personal program!

I’ve been getting excited about fall while making new hats, dresses, coats and bold jewelry as the temperature drops and warm breezes are replaced with brisk, chilly ones.   Not to mention the thrill of the holidays approaching and my ideas for Christmas flooding my brain!  But I thought I’d take a sec to show you something else I’ve been playing with.   These illustrations utilize my love for variations of white and cream, fabric, stitching and art.   The ferris wheel illustration was a wedding present that we framed simply in all white.  Look for more portraits like this one in my store soon!