well today is the first day of spring! around our neighborhood everything is blooming and it is just beautiful! i hope you are able to enjoy the outdoors and all the gorgeous spring blossoms! i may plant some veggies this weekend and work in the yard. mostly this time of year is garden clean up, and our yard is desperate need of that! ... continue reading...
Reusing Old Garden Pots
painting old clay potsi had a few old terra cotta pots sitting around and i also found a few at a thrift shop. i'm sure you have some hanging around your yard or garage! if you do, this is a fun project and you can make some cute containers for whatever needs to be organized. i have a few craft supplies that have now found a home in these cute containers. i hope this has inspired you to upcycle your old pots! thanks so much for visiting the happy happy ... continue reading...
Happy Friday!
happy friday everyone! thanks for stopping by, i plan to post my latest sushi recipe soon! i hope you have a wonderful weekend. ... continue reading...
Art Studio
our family room...our family room has been basically a storage room for all things that don't have a home! old picture frames, my current projects, recycle cardboard...you name it, we had it stored in this room! so, finally the other day my husband and i decided to convert it into a room that the kids can do homework, crafts, and games in. so, after figuring out the general layout we took a trip to ikea and purchased a great white table. it has two sizes and the ... continue reading...
Thrift Shopping
treasuresi love to visit thrift shops in fact i think it has become a problem for me! it is a fun pastime that sometimes holds some great treasures. i've been looking for a clock for my yellow kitchen and haven't had great luck at the retail stores. so this past weekend, i just happened to drop in to one of my favorite thrift shops and they were having a sale...75% off everything! actually, the prices are already pretty good at these second hand shops, so getting things on ... continue reading...
Kid Zone…
my latest project...here is my family room, it can't get any messier than this! ok, i just took everything off our shelves and i'm hoping to reorganize and redecorate our family room into a fun kid zone! my son is totally into playing a board game called, settlers of catan and so for the last month or so we have hosted his friends over for weekend games. we love having the friends over, but we thought it would be nice for them to have a space that they could hangout in. ... continue reading...
Chocolate Beet Cake
chocolate beet cakeit has been a whole year that i made this yummy chocolate cake. my son always requests this for his birthday! it is quite moist and rich and the beets make this all happen. since, it is always a crowd pleaser, i thought i would post it again. i think i'll have to break my new year's resolution today, thank goodness i went for a long walk today!!!1 cup cooking oil 1 1/2 cup sugar 3 eggs 1 can beets (16 oz) lightly drained and ... continue reading...
Shutter Window Treatments
window treatments...i'm not the greatest at making quick decisions...or any decisions for that matter, so finding the right window treatments for my kitchen has been a three year project. my good friend, monica and i found that we have a difficult time making big decisions, we get caught up in the research and then slowly become paralyzed! so, it has been easier to live with my awful kitchen window curtains then to come up with a better solution. after our big ... continue reading...
Spring Corkboard Placemats
spring...i had a few projects to complete, so this past weekend i finished a couple. a while back i made laminated paper cork board place mats. well, i made enough place mats to launch the project on my blog, but i never made four of the same color. so, i finally made four yellow ones so that we have a complete set that are all the same color. i have a few projects that i need to complete and this was one of them. it feels so good to have this one done and now we ... continue reading...
Gluten Free Coconut Macaroons for Valentine’s Day
gluten free coconut macaroonsperfect for valentine's day!hi everyone! for the last couple of days i've been trying a bunch of recipes for coconut macaroons. it all started when i bought some of these yummy store bought cookies for my daughter who is gluten intolerant. to be honest, i had never had a coconut macaroon...hard to believe. :o) so this week, i found some recipes and thus began my journey to homemade macaroons. this process wasn't a smooth one and i had 2 batches that ... continue reading...
Upcycling Tin Cans with Scrapbooking Paper
DIY Crafts: Kitchen Containers I love DIY crafts and especially ones that are practical and useful in our daily lives. Our Illy Espresso coffee comes in these canisters that I wanted to upcycle. They easily transform into cute kitchen containers with just a little bit of paper, glue and a fun knob. It is great to create storage in personalized colors that match your kitchen decor. This DIY craft is so easy that you'll want to make a few for your home! ~ A Note About the Nester ... continue reading...
Kale Salad
photo: anders norstrommonica's kale saladevery wednesday, i have a standing walking date with my friend monica. the whole time we walk we talk about everything that is going on in our lives but, inevitably we end up on the subject of food. well, the last couple of weeks she told me about this salad she created, so i had to get the recipe! of course she doesn't quite have the recipe written down so, i came up with my own measurements and directions. of ... continue reading...
Chole Coscarelli Cookbook!
love this cookbook!!!the other day when i was in the bookstore, i was on a mission to buy a cookbook. i happen to be ease dropping on a couple's conversation and they were talking about Chloe Coscarelli's cookbook. so of course once they left the area, i went over and looked for the book that they were talking about. the photos and recipes looked very yummy, so i was pretty interested in buying it. the thing that sealed my purchase was the information on her book flap, ... continue reading...
Decorating with Pillows
window seatwe remodeled our kitchen about two and a half years ago. we added this window seat that also holds additional storage drawers. ok, for the last two and a half years this window seat has stayed pretty undecorated, i'm sure you all have a project like this? finally over the holidays we took a trip over to marin and i visited the new West Elm store. it was love at first sight, everything about the store was awesome! so, i decided to make the plunge ... continue reading...
Jewelry Holder
jewelry standthis project kind of evolved from my initial idea of making a cake pedestal to a jewelry stand that i just love and use a ton! it all started with a rusty old candlestick holder that was popular in the 90's. one of my passions is to peruse our local thrift shops and on one of my trips i found this rusty old candlestick that had flakes of rust and candle wax on it. i'm sure the salesperson was glad to sell this piece of junk! i almost didn't buy it because ... continue reading...
Beach Decor
sunshine in january...just before christmas, we made a journey to san diego. it was a nice break in our hectic holiday season. we stayed in a lovely beach house that was two houses from a wonderful beach. i was inspired by the decorative touches in the house that i thought i would share them with you! hope this helps you through the winter days and nights! thanks for visiting and have a wonderful week!i loved these herbs, i actually used them for a ... continue reading...
Sugar Cookies
Sugar CookiesSince the holidays are upon us, I find that cookies are the best thing to package up and give to friends in family. Who doesn't love a delicious sugar cookie? I have a few cookies that are my favorites to bake this time of year. My requirement for a good cookie recipe is that they are delicious, easy and that they are consistently the same every time I bake them. I feel this cookie holds up to those three requirements. Don't you find it interesting how we find recipes? This one ... continue reading...
Moss Covered Letters
moss covered letters....similar to all of you, i've been really busy this holiday. thus, i've had a difficult time posting. i barely was able to get this project completed. i originally saw this idea in the garnet hill holiday catalog. of course their price was pretty expensive and i thought i could recreate it pretty easily. here is the moss covered letters from garent hill...here is what you'll need for the project... i bought these ... continue reading...
French Mayonaise
french mayo salad dressingon our trip to france, we found this very yummy french mayo that has dijon mustard in the ingredients. so upon returning home from our trip, i found a mustard in a local gourmet grocery store. i have ordered a few on amazon and bought a few at any grocery store i happen to visit. my kids are like, "what is with mom, she keeps buying french mustard!" anyway, the first one is still my favorite. what prompted me to ... continue reading...
Drying Persimmons
persimmonsautumn is not the same without my auntie Emy's wonderful persimmons. she has a humongous tree that produces so many fuyu fruit. fuyu is the type of persimmon pictured here, it has a flat bottom shape and is eaten when it is hard like an apple. this yummy fruit ripens in the fall and i always look forward to them every year. my auntie is now in a retirement home and no longer sends me her wonderful boxes of fresh fruit from her tree. i hope to plant one ... continue reading...
The Best Spicy and Sweet Appetizer
appetizers for thanksgiving....i've been busy lately, so sorry about the lack of blog post. thanksgiving dinner will be at our house this year, so i'm trying to prepare for it as well as planning a birthday party for my daughter and of course replacing the old worn carpets in all our bedrooms. i'm still working on my bar stools, and i have two more chairs to paint. but, anywhooo.....i did find this very yummy and unusual appetizers, so i thought i would share. i was ... continue reading...
