Sneak Peek...

I am still trying to figure out the best way to put the Wipe On Poly on the desk, but I am so happy with how the color turned out.  We decided to move the desk down into our bedroom hoping that the desk will get more use than it did up on the third floor landing!

I will post more pics once it is complete!

Happy Valentine's Day...

I got to spend Valentine's Day weekend with my oldest friends.  We were so honored to have Meagan, Joy and Blair come visit.  Saturday, we went downtown, walked through the Faneuil Hall area, and then onto the North End.  We saw a woman literally rolling one precious pasta noodle at a time...we all agreed...it looked very therapeutic and even more delicious!  We ate dinner at Euno and all the food was incredibly rich and flavorful.  I especially loved the complimentary champagne that they brought us while we were waiting for our table!  Then, of course, onto Mike's Pastry for some dessert.  By the way, canoli's make a good breakfast.

On Valentine's Day, we had a girls' afternoon out.  We went to Tea at the Taj, shopping on Newbury, cocktails at the Cheer's bar, and then back to the house for a night of southern food.  Sean made some killer fried chicken for us....yum.

I can't tell you how many times throughout the weekend I counted my blessings that I have these amazing women in my life.  To be living so far apart for so long now, and to be able to come together and have so many laughs, to reminisce, to speak of the past, the present and the future, and to feel like we never skipped a beat - it really speaks to the meaning of true friendship.  Girls - thanks so much for coming to see us...can't wait until next time.  Love you all!


The stunning flowers at the TAJ...
Breathtaking (thanks for snapping this one, MC!)
Tea sandwiches...scrumptious.  I need to make these little cucumber sandwiches.  Okay, and the prosciutto ones as well!
Here comes the sweets! 
Love the detail on the bottom of the strawberries...
Won't you be mine?
macaroons are the prettiest.
Back at the casa, we had champagne cocktails...
I made Brenda's delicious chocolate raspberry cake with ganache frosting.  decadent.
Happy Valentine's Day...
I am on a personalized straw kick, can you tell?  Fun straws make champagne taste better...
Bakerella's cake pops...this time I made them with strawberry cake.  I filled the vase with sugar to help them stand up.

Square Root Baby

So, Sommer has an awesome theme for her son's first birthday party.  He was born on 3/3/09, making him a rare "square root baby"...which turned into the theme for the party....LOVE IT!  (I already told Sommer I may have to sort of copy her and do a Friday the 13th theme for SP.)

She made adorable invitations, and is planning a menu where everything fits the theme.  She is going to take lots of pics...I am hoping I have convinced her to either guest blog here or I will link to her inspiring new blog when she posts all the fun details!

I asked if I could help from afar and make a few little fun accessories for the throwdown!  So, I kept with the theme and color scheme of chocolate brown and black.  I created some straws, food picks, and food labels.  They were all so much fun to make...thanks for letting me help, Sommer!

The front of the 'party picks'...
 
The back of the party picks...
  
 The straws...
 

Don't you think things are even more exciting when they come in cute packages?  I whipped these up, just for fun...


Simple tent cards to place near the food, if she wants them...

I was so happy to have the little glassine bags on hand that just happened to work for these!

Happy early birthday to the Square Root Baby!

Wish I had an eye for color...

I hope that I can get better at picking colors one day.  I am horrible, TERRIBLE, at picking colors.  It usually takes Sean and I about four tries to get a color right.  So, I need help.

I got this desk last year when we moved here on craigslist.  It was a steal, and I think it could be adorable with a little TLC.  It is currently sitting on our 3rd floor landing in a space that isn't very usable.  The ceiling is only 6 feet tall, so at 5'11", it feels a little claustrophobic.  Nonetheless, we will only be here for another 3.5 months (WOW...I can't believe we are leaving that soon!), and I am thinking that any projects I can get done now, I should.


I wish I was more of a risk taker when it comes to stuff like this.  I would love to paint the desk a bold red...I was inspired by this piece...by the way, Jenny's blog is my latest favorite.  She is incredibly talented, resourceful and tasteful.


As much as I love the piece above, I think I would go for something a little deeper...this is the red that I picked out today at Home Depot (Glidden Red Delicious)


The more conservative part of me says to stick with a color that could go with almost everything...a white or a cream.  For inspiration, I love this desk.  There is some detail work on mine that I could paint a contrasting color, but I don't think mine would look as good as this one.


And, wouldn't it be fun with a modern chair?  I have my eye on this one from craigslist:


Or maybe a chair from West Elm...or...maybe I should paint the desk yellow and get this gray striped chair!?


What to do, what to do? Suggestions anyone??

My favorite Ikea gadget

What is better than a fun coffee?  We have drastically cut back on going out to grab a coffee.  I love to stop and get a coffee but it kills me when we get two drinks at Starbucks, and I could have bought two pounds of coffee for the same price.  Thus, enter the Ikea frother.  For only a $1.99, it really brings a little bit of 'special' to my morning :)

I first heat up my milk and raw sugar...
Then froth...
 
Keep frothing!
  
Add hot coffee...
 mmmm...frothy goodness...
Okay, normally, our hearts look better than this, but apparently, I am not very good at taking pics and drawing with chocolate at the same time!
 
YUM.

My first Valentine for Sean...

Admittedly, my husband and I can get very 'lost' in the internet.  He is a news junkie (I wish I could say I was), and I am a blog junkie.  I learn stuff...just different stuff, right? :)

We have been joking that we need to divorce our macs at night so that we can hang out with each other, instead of zoning out with our computers.

Thus, Sean's 2010 Valentine...(I had printed it and forgot to snatch it off the printer, so he foiled my valentine when he found it this morning!)  Back to the drawing board...

I Do...

We got some fantastic news this weekend.  My brother proposed, and Jamie said YES!  We couldn't be more thrilled for them.  Here's to wishing them a fun engagement and a fabulous forever.  Cheers!

p.s. Ry & Jamie - keep an eye out for this package!

"It's all up here"

Years ago, I gave my dad a picture of a Pottery Barn bed, and said, "Dad, don't you think you can make this for me?"  In the next few years following that exchange, I would ask, "Hey Dad, how is that bed coming along?"  The response would be (while pointing to his head)..."It's all up here, Meghan.  It's all up here."  One day, the bed was finally ready, and let me tell you, it was gorgeous.  He did a fantastic job.


Once I knew Paddy was coming, I asked my dad if he thought he could whip up a kiddo-sized coat rack and one of those wooden changing table toppers.  Needless to say, he didn't disappoint!   Again, the quality of his work is amazing.  Sean Patrick is lucky to have such a handy grandpa.  I hope my dad will be able to pass some of his knowledge along to our little man.   I feel so blessed to have such a talented Dad...and one who is willing to go along with my ideas!

 

 

Sugar in the Raw

I love sugar in the raw.  I love to have my coffee with cream and sugar in the raw.  I bought this jar at Ikea last night, and I think the sugar looks pretty in it.


It Starts Monday.

If I can put off working out for one more week, one more day, one more hour, I would.  Now, I don't have a choice though.  Fear is my only motivation when it comes to running.  Sign me up for a race, and I train.  Not as well as I should, but I at least start moving.  I have never been one that loves to work out...I really wish I was.  I wish I was a person with really strong self control and discipline. 

Not working out becomes a problem when you love to eat as much as I do.  I seem to have this little sweet tooth that sits on my shoulder, constantly whispering in my ear, eat more chocolate!  more!  more!  more!  And, now that I have lots of baby weight PLUS pre-baby weight that I never should have had, it is time to do something.

So, my lovely husband signed us up for the Nashville half marathon.  So, of course, I leave training until the very last second possible. But now, my fear kicks in.  Fear of not being able to finish, fear of ever being able to run that far, fear of training during the winter in Boston (BOOOOO!), fear of not being able to keep up with a partner, fear of thinking that I can't train by myself...a whole slew of things. 

I have never trained alone.  I have always had some poor soul(s) to run with me.  I can't tell you how fortunate I am to have these people in my life because I am a COMPLETE nightmare to train with.  I am surprised any of them put up with me.  I complain the entire time, don't I, Sean, Sommer, Hallie, Brenda?  Don't try to tell me we are half way done if we are even 1/10 of a mile short of half way there.  Don't make me run up a hill.  Don't make me run in the cold.  I am a total baby.  This time, I am going to have to do this on my own.  YIKES. 

I wish I could come up with some really great reason to NOT train.  But I really don't have one.

So, here I go...it starts Monday.

Good morning, sunshine...


Sean brought me these tulips the other day, and they are making me crave springtime!  I like those flower arrangements that use bear grass or thick leaves to wrap around the stems, so I decided to give it a go with these.  I like less greens on the tulips anyway, so I usually take some leaves off...this time, I just ended up using the leaves I would usually toss....

Fiddle Leaf Fig Mourning

So, one of the trees that died en route to Boston last year was my fiddle leaf fig tree.  This was my absolute favorite house plant, especially with a can light behind it to illuminate the pretty leaves.  Down in GA, these would be sold at Home Depot for around $9.  $9!!!!  And they were a good size, very healthy...just perfect.  So, I have been searching for one here since we first arrived, and I have to say, the house plant selections at Lowe's, Home Depot, etc.  are terrible here.  Why can't they carry a fiddle leaf fig??

Of course, one of my favorite shops, Portobello Road, carries them; however, they are out of my $9 price range.  

I have scoured the internet, but being that I am a person who wants immediate satisfaction, I don't want to buy one of the little seedlings you can get online.  Hmmmm.  I wish I could road trip to GA to pick one up :)

Catherine and I are taking Paddy on his first trip to Ikea today, and we are also going to give Home Depot one more shot to come through on the fiddle leaf fig...my fingers are crossed...

*Updated 1/29/10 - I found a picture of my beloved old Fiddle Leaf.  RIP, FLF.



from Domino

from Flickr

Laurie's Shower

I had the honor of hosting my friend, Laurie's baby shower this past weekend. I had the best time getting ready for it. I wanted to make it an elegant and fun afternoon for Laurie.

I designed some simple invitations. Laurie has very cool, modern taste, so I wanted to try to create something that she would like. I wasn't sure about the yellow/gray color combo at first, but it totally grew on me, and I am starting to become obsessed.



Shower Prep...

A big thanks to Jamie as she helped me make the cake pops.  We couldn't find any gray candy melts (probably a good thing...these candy melt colors sometimes freak me out).  You just can't go wrong with Bakerella's cake pops!

Add tiny glassine bags, a cute tie (my new favorite, baker's twine), and a YUM sign, and they were all set!


I also made some little monogrammed flags to spruce up some of the food!



Then, I designed some tags and got them ready to wrap up the silverware...


All wrapped up...


I also made a strand of 'Caden' flags for the dining room...


Being that we are up on the second floor, I wanted to make sure everyone knew which door was ours...


The downstairs door window...


The entryway was a good spot for the favors - the cake pops, YUM.  I didn't want guests to forget to take one home!

 
 I like to place a coordinating piece of paper on top of the styrofoam b/c it is a lot prettier to look at!


I made some yarn poufs for the present wrapping...it always feels so good to use stuff that you have laying around the house, doesn't it?  Here is a tutorial on making the yarn poufs...


Onto the grub....

I was struggling with feeling like my ugly kitchen was going to ruin how cute I wanted the shower to be.  I tried to mask the ugliness, and thank goodness for the buffet Randy built us being in there (Randy/Brenda - it got compliments again :)).  I just had to hope that lots of food/drinks would distract everyone from the gray formica with blue detail.

Here was the menu:

DRINKS:
Coffee
OJ
Champagne
Mocktail - Sparkling Apple Juice with Raspberries
Lemonade

From the bar...a recent purchase that I am absolutely loving is this tiny carafe.  I actually bought 4 that are even smaller than this...Hungry Mother (that restaurant in Cambridge that we love) uses these itty bitty ones to bring cream out with coffee.  I ordered coffee just to have one of those tiny carafes bought to the table!  Yeah for China Fair! (Have you heard of China Fair?  They have EVERYTHING!)

My sweet husband helping me prep!  He was truly a huge help...
 

 



BRUNCH:
-Aunt Noella's coffee cake
-Banana Chocolate Chip Bread (Rene's recipe)
-Sausage Cheese Balls (Does anyone have a favorite recipe for these?  I always google one, and never use the same one...I want a good one that I can use time and time again!)
-Bacon
-Fruit with Yogurt Dip 
-Chili Puffed Eggs (Mom's recipe...this is our FAVORITE egg bake)
-Cheesy Hashbrown Bake


 

 


DESSERT:
-Sour Cream Caramel Cakes (Paula Deen's recipe)
-Cheesecake with raspberries (I overcooked it by accident! ...Krissy's Grandma's recipe)
-Homemade Turtles (thanks to Jamie's recipe!)
-Cake Pops




It was so much fun to meet all of Laurie's wonderful friends and have a nice afternoon to celebrate the upcoming arrival of Caden Lee.  We can't wait to meet the newest little Hoosier, Laurie and Brian!!

Canopy Chair spotting!!

I talked to Brenda today, and she spotted a Canopy Chair in Fort Worth, TX.  I don't even know if Canopy Chair is really the correct name, but I will roll with that until I learn otherwise!

I checked out the link for the restaurant that she saw the chair in, and I absolutely LOVE the decor.  When I think about how I would describe my style, I always struggle.  I feel like it is a strange mix, and it is also a mix of some things that I love but maybe don't actually have in my own home yet...can anyone relate?   The pictures from Tillman's Roadhouse really captured all my favorites...rustic, natural elements, modern victorian (can that be a category?) and mid century modern...ahhh, gorgeous!

Super cool, Brenda.  Thanks for snapping this pic, and if anyone is interested in seeing the decor in Tillman's Roadhouse, check it out here.

Another couch...

I love looking at Jayson Home and Garden - it was a place that i seemed to always whiz by in a cab while I was living in Chicago and would think, I need to visit that place! Now I can't believe I never went in.

Fine Art of Flowers

Winston flowers makes me feel like I walked into paradise. I have never seen such beautiful flower design. The containers are of grand scale, the flowers are unique, lush, and impeccably arranged. I wish I could live in this store (put Winstons and Anthropologie together, and it would be paradise on steroids!). I wasn't sure if they would allow pictures, and I am too chicken to ask...so I snapped a few with my camera phone. Please pardon the quality, but hopefully it will give a sense of how amazing this place is.

This was my favorite pot - only $2000! I'll take two... :)

Oh, sweet succulents...makes me miss all my plants in GA. Hallie/Sommer/Brenda - you all know what I mean! Lately I have been craving an enormous succulent arrangement like one that I saw at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum. mmmm.....
these shelves would be awesome storage for potting supplies...
such striking arrangements...
this makes me want to hang a chandelier in an outdoor living space.


love the log idea...I would take one of these tables too...
I wish I could have orchids in every room (and also have a good out of the way place to store them/allow them to stay alive when they aren't in bloom!)
i love birch wood (reminds me of the cottage). they have such fantastic displays.

Another potential project...canvas bag

So, along with the laundry cart misunderstanding, there was another one. Ryan had mentioned maybe I could attempt making him a canvas bag with a 'stained' M on it. I was thinking he meant a big weekend bag. I was immediately constructing it in my head...

Base it on bags like these...



Get some cool canvas/duck cloth in a neutral color, use some thick rope for handles...like this...


Make stencil out of cool font and do some fabric painting...like this tutorial.

The only question I have would be how to sew the rope on as my sewing machine couldn't go through it, so I guess I could sew on either side of it - similar to the bag above, but then how would I connect/tie the rope?

Anyways, what Ryan was REALLY asking was...if he built a wood frame, could I build a canvas bin (like the ones I want for the other potential project) to go around it. Wow, totally misunderstood. BUT...now we have ideas for new fun projects!

Potential Project

So, from an email misunderstanding has come a potential very cool project. Ryan was talking about wanting to build himself a laundry cart sort of like this one, but with a wooden top that could be used for folding, but could also be removed....


I misunderstood and was selfishly thinking he was talking about trying to build one for us out of my left over bowling slab from Paddy's dresser. So, he humored me, and we continued thinking about it...it could also be a cool toy storage piece for Paddy, or really anything - a cool mudroom organizer, laundry bins, etc. You know I adore furniture that can be multi-purposed.

Plus, these bins have been on my Amazon wishlist for a while now, so it would be an awesome excuse for having some!



Based on our email exchanges, Ryan did this great drawing...



We 'discussed' a few options, but we were thinking of adding another row of the canvas bins to maximize storage space. The legs would be wood or maybe iron...I think iron could be fun in keeping with the industrial feel.

So, now, either I need to become a woodworker, or I need Ryan to come back and visit. Oh yeah, and we need more room in our apartment to place a piece like this :)

Hopefully there will be some developments on this plot...