Ooh La La.....

Farewell to Ooh La La and Hello to........!!!

2011-02-28T05:30:00.000-08:00

I've done it, I've changed my blog!

Now don't worry I'm not really going anywhere, I just wanted my own domain name and a new look. This change has been in the idea and planning stage for a few months but I needed a little help from my computer techy husband to get things ready. My new blog will still have lots of the same stuff you guys come here to see, but it's going to include a lot of new and exciting things as well.

I first started blogging to document design and my life but blogging has turned into more for me. It's a place I've met people and made friends and I've shared ideas and my life with my readers. I love that I have blog friends, people I have never met but we feel like we know each other from reading and keeping up through our blogs. I hope you all make this change with me and continue to read my blog.

So I bet you were wondering what the rainbow colored photos meant right? Well my new blog is:

Like the name implies it is about color but it's all still related to design and life and being inspired by the world around us. Click over and check it out, all my old posts from this site will be there and more great posts will be coming. My first welcome post will tell you all about the new blog and what new things you can expect!

I'm so excited and I hope you are too. See you over at Affair with Color.

http://affairwithcolor.com/

6 Months and Our Love Story

2011-02-27T07:32:00.000-08:00

Today is my 6 months wedding anniversary! I have to say it's as good as I hoped and better than I dreamed. I know, pretty sappy but I still feel so lucky and so in love. I love the banter and teasing, the ease that we work together, the priority which give to the other and how well we communicate and laugh and enjoy each other. For those of you new to my blog here is how we met, oops I just went looking for that story and I guess I never posted it! Sooooo, I'm going to give you a quick sweet and short version of our love story, just because it's such a great one. Here goes:

Last January my roommate and I decided to go on a cruise. A few other girls joined us and in early April we packed up the car and headed to San Diego. A girl named Nikki (my roommates old friend) told us she had a friend in San Diego that we could stay at his house and her friend would drive us down to the port. We got to this friend's house around 11pm and I was tired (my roommate and I had been crammed in the back half of a small car ALL day).

We stayed up a while and Kolbe and I had a fun time chatting, the next morning he drove us down to the port. After we loaded the ship Nikki turns to be and says, "soooo, what about Kolbe?" and I laughed and said what about him? He lives in San Diego and I live in Utah." I pretty much didn't worry about that after and I had the best time on the cruise and came back nice and tan and relaxed. Kolbe picked us up from the ship and we went to In-N-Out for a quick lunch before Kolbe dropped me off at the airport (two of us were flying home). While we ate lunch I was sort of flirting with him (hey, I was tan and feeling hot! and he will say I threw myself at him, but that is SO not true!). He drops us off at the airport and unloads our luggage for us and I gave him a side hug and told him thanks for helping us out so much.

The next day I added him as a friend on Facebook and for the next few days every time I logged in he would start chatting with me. I started thinking that this guy might be interested in me! That was on a Friday and by Monday or Tuesday he would call me after work and we would talk for a few hours. We decided that one of us should fly to the other one and see if there was anything to this thing we were doing, with our schedules we figured it would be 3 weeks before we could do it. That Friday we were chatting online while we were both at work and I made some comment about how 2 more weeks felt like forever and joked that he should just fly out for this weekend. He responded that the last flight out of San Diego was at 6:45. I said really and he told me if he left right then he could make the flight, he then told me he had to go so he could catch a flight! I was so excited and a little apprehensive, I mean I had met this guy a week ago but still, he was flying out to spend the weekend with me, the whole weekend. I hoped that we would have fun, cause it could be completely awkward and painful! At 8:30 I was at the Salt Lake City airport waiting to pick up this sort of stranger!

Our first weekend together, hiking the Wind Caves

I won't go into all the details of the weekend but we had a blast and when I drove him back to the airport I honestly had no idea what would happen but I knew that I wanted to have fun and enjoy the ride. For my first trip to San Diego we had to wait 3 weeks. I had signed up to run my first 5K and I couldn't miss it! During this time Kolbe was really anxious to know where things were going. He was ready to be exclusive but I was more cautious, not because I didn't know if I liked him but I just wanted to spend more time with him and make sure.

My first visit out to San Diego, in the parking lot after a hike we had just finished

My first trip out to San Diego was easy. I could believe how easy and fun it was to be with this guy. We went on a motorcycle ride and Kolbe told me if I wanted to commit he would buy me a motorcycle helmet for our next ride (he had an old helmet so I was safe). I think I flew out on Thursday and on Saturday we spent the day at the beach and I told him that I liked him and I wanted to be exclusive and see where it took us. Later that day we went and ordered a motorcycle helmet! The next 2 days were equally as fun. We planned my next trip out to San Diego while I was there, it would be over Memorial day weekend! When I got home I kind of freaked out about him really buying me that helmet.

On our first motorcycle ride

Memorial Day weekend was so much fun. We drove up to LA and met Kolbe's sister and her husband, hiked, went on a motorcycle ride (with my new helmet), shopped for a sectional for Kolbe, cooked together and just kept falling in love. It was also the trip I told him I loved him, he was waiting for me to say it first, but he quickly said it in return. From the beginning he always told me I had the gas pedal and he was just along for the ride. We also joking started looking at wedding rings but there was also a seriousness behind it. When I got home from that trip I actually told him not to order the ring yet cause I was freaking out. He didn't listen.

I think we had gone ring shopping this trip out to San Diego, and of course we were on another hike!

I want to clarify for a minute that during all my freaking out moments it never had anything to do with Kolbe. It was about the idea of leaving my career, my house, my family- basically my whole life. I never once had any doubts about this amazing guy, everything was falling right into place but getting use to the idea of changing everything in my life was a little overwhelming, but an idea that became more and more appealing!

A midnight motorcycle ride

Kolbe came up for the 4th of July weekend (I secretly thought we would be getting engaged that weekend because I wouldn't be seeing him until the end of July for Kolbe's familys Bass Lake vacation) he talked to my dad and asked for his blessing to marry his daughter. I remember having a BBQ at my house with my whole family and there was this moment when my mom and sister and I were in the backyard chatting, my brothers were inside playing on the Wii and my dad and Kolbe were grilling together and chatting and laughing. It's one of my favorite memory pictures, from the beginning he fit in with my family and it just felt so natural. It felt like it was going to be FOREVER before I saw him again, but daily phone calls, online chats at work, and webcam dates kept us in constant contact, but it wasn't as good as being together.

In the middle of July Kolbe's dad and step mom and little sister were going to be in Logan. His little sister, Kelsey had planned some girl's retreat week at USU and they wanted to meet me. So I showed up to their hotel room on a Sunday night and while I thought it was weird to meet them without Kolbe they were really nice and excited to meet me. Before I left they said they would be make on Friday to pick up his sister and they wanted to take me out to dinner, I said sure and when Friday came they called and had me meet them at their hotel. My mom dropped Mari, my little sister, off cause I wanted her to come and meet Kelsey's since they were close in age. I knocked on their hotel door and Kolbe opened up the door! He had flown into town to surprise me! He told Mari to give us a minute and he shut the door, I figured he just wanted to kiss me some more or something without her there, but then he pulled out a little box and asked me to marry him! It was cool and awesome to Mari that she got to be the first person to know we were engaged. I called my mom and had her come and meet us at the hotel so she could be the 2nd person. We met up with Kolbe's parents for Kelsey's closing social thing and then we went to Cafe Rio and met up with most of my family for dinner and so everyone could meet. It was a lot of fun having most of our family there to celebrate with us. We spent the rest of the weekend getting some plans done and moving some things to my parents house cause we were getting married in 6 weeks!

Showing my dad my ring

The best part about taking Kolbe to the airport after this visit was we were engaged and I was going to see him in 4 days for 2 weeks! We had his family vacation for a week and then I had to be in Las Vegas with my students for a fieldtrip to the World Design Market.

Hiking in Yosemite, bad photo but we wanted to get this huge waterfall that we had hiked up to in the picture

We spent a week at Bass Lake which is in central California and then drove to Las Vegas for 4 very hot days.

In the Venetian

Did some sightseeing, and some entertainment. We also went to the Design Market, but mostly we were busy being engaged!

Obviously at the Blue Man Group show

So there you have it, how I met, fell in love with my husband. For wedding ceremony photos go here and here for our wedding pictures.

Healthy Bran Muffins

2011-02-24T07:47:00.000-08:00

Bran Muffins

My friend was making these tasty muffins when I was at her house, so I copied the recipe and now my husband makes me make them a few times a week!

Ingredients and Directions

2 cups water
5 tsp baking soda

Mix together and bring to a boil, let cool, just warm

1 cup melted shortening (I substitute 1 cup of applesauce or half and half)
2 cups sugar (I only put in 1 cup)
4 eggs (I sometimes use the egg substitute)
5 cups flour
1 quart buttermilk
1 box All Bran cereal, the bran nuggets not flakes

Mix all of these ingredients and then add the soda water, refrigerate overnight to let the bran nuggets soften. Bake at 375 for 25 minutes.

This makes a lot of batter, so I make a few muffins every morning so we get fresh warm muffins. Keep mix in the fridge, the batter lasts up to 6 weeks. If you use all applesauce and no shortening I figured the recipe will make 42 muffins, each being 125 calories! Yum and low calorie.

Big News

2011-02-22T06:18:00.000-08:00

I'm changing my blog around a bit and shortly I will have my own domain and new blog name! It will be the same blog you have been coming to for over a year now but I hope to have some awesome new features as well. With Kolbe's crazy season at work coming to a close we can finally work on the blog plans we have been dreaming up.

Once his game ships (he makes MLB11 THE SHOW for all you baseball fans out there) he gets 2 or 3 weeks of comp time, hopefully I will get enough posts planned in advanced that you won't even know I'm gone! We have been tossing around a bunch of mini vacation plans so needless to say I'm pretty excited, and if we end up staying home and working on some projects I'll be happy with that too.

So for now here are a few hints about my not new and hopefully much improved blog!

Doors

Rays

Pots

Vases

Boats

Paint cans

What could it be?! Keep checking back and find out soon!

Indesisive Me

2011-02-21T13:37:00.000-08:00

I know I keep changing my backgrounds but so far nothing "feels" like what I want my blog to convey. Possibly very soon there will be a very awesome new design.... just maybe, which means good things are ahead!

Fad or Fab?

2011-02-18T07:40:00.000-08:00

What do you think of these windows?? I very interesting take on architecture for sure, I can't decide if I like them. I definitely think they are cool and different but I wonder if I would get sick of them after awhile; however it would be cool to "set" the mood depending on how many shades you had open. My overall feelings is this would be a fad for me, over time I think I would get sick of them. What do you think?

Neutrals Need Color and Colors Need Them!

2011-02-17T15:27:00.000-08:00

I love the neutral greys and whites in combination with the bright turquoise and coral orange in this room. The neutral background really makes these bright colors more vivid and they become the main focus of the space. The grey gives these colors the backdrop to be seen and noticed. Imagine if the background was a darker shade of turquoise or a competing color such as green or purple, the effect would be completely different, it would dull and downplay the vibrancy that we see here. We need the juxtaposition (I love that word!) that a neutral tone paired with color gives us. If this room was all shades of grey it would be equally boring as a room with all color and no neutrals. These two opposites need each other to show off their strengths.

It's amazing to me how this concept is repeated through all design and nature as well. We need soft with hard and shiny with dull and rough with smooth. That contrast and those differences are what make design so unique and inspiring. Notice in nature and in the space around you, what kind of juxtapositions do you see??

The definition of juxtaposition:

a circumstance where two unlike things are next to one another. It has a quality of being unexpected. (from answers.com)

Childhood Memory

2011-02-16T07:05:00.000-08:00

My husband loves cars, he can look at any car and know a number of facts and whatnot about the car like the make, model, year and all sorts of engine stuff and features. We came across a car similar to this one and I remembered having one like it so we looked it up and I took a little trip down memory lane.

When I was a little girl, around 3, we had this really cool car. It was a limey green Pinto. I guess I loved this car because when my parents went to sell it I cried and cried; even though I don't really remember what I loved about it I guess I was really attached to it.

How could you not love this car. I kind of wish I had one again, but it would have to be the same lime green color.

My husband loves old cars, I guess I may be having one like this sooner then later huh?

Very White

2011-02-15T06:32:00.000-08:00

Wow, look at all the bright, spacious, simple, clean, white and light that describes this room. The sectional is perfect for entertaining. If this was my house (or anyone who actually lives in this house) it wouldn't stay this white for very long but it is very cool to look at and I would love to live in this space it would just be a little different to fit my design style and lifestyle.

Blog Funk

2011-02-14T12:42:00.000-08:00

Today is a blah day....

I sat down today to give a post on kitchens and nothing feels like it is cohesive or coming together right.
Somehow I deleted my huge file of blog photo files which has me frustrated because it represents hours of work and categories and post ideas.
My back is very slowly healing but I feel like every good day is followed by a few bad ones and I just want to be able to walk and exercise and feel normal again.
I have a sinus infection that I think is giving me these monstrous headaches for the last 2 weeks and I'm just tired of feeling so sick and lazy.
My laundry is stacking up and I have NO desire to do it, hahaha, I think that might be normal for everybody!
I want to have a good day but I just don't have the energy, hopefully tomorrow will be better (sorry for all the complaining).

So I'm postponing my kitchen posts and taking the day off and we will see what I come up with tomorrow. I found these super cute dog photos and thought I should share, they are from Beth Berry photography. The first one looked like it could be my dogs. I want to try this sometime.

I think if someone was behind the chair with a treat my dogs would totally pose for this!

So cute!

Waves of Blue

2011-02-10T11:56:00.000-08:00

Every time I see this kitchen I think blue, waves and stainless steel. Can you imagine installing all that tile and on curved walls?? It does look striking though. Stay tuned, next week is going to be ALL about kitchens!

Baby Shower Cake

2011-02-09T06:51:00.000-08:00

Here's the CAKE! So as you can tell I attempted the baby carriage and in between wanting to throw it and making sure I mixed the right color I think it turned out pretty good. I had never tried carving a cake and it is SO much harder than they make it look on TV. Some of the hard parts were getting the cake level, making sure I carved it evenly on both sides (pictures can hide what I don't want you to see!) and then making the canopy and getting it to stay in shape.

I thought about making a baby to go under the blanket but then sort of ran out of time. Overall I'm glad I challenged myself a little, and the cake was a huge success. I didn't take any pictures there but of course the inside was BLUE!

A Little Colorful

2011-02-08T13:52:00.000-08:00

What do you think of this wall arrangement?? I think it's fun and colorful and a little funky, maybe I should add a little bright and funky into my house!

A Day At The Beach

2011-02-07T08:12:00.000-08:00

There is a dog beach in Solona Beach and we'd been talking about taking the dogs. Kolbe FINALLY had a weekend off so we jumped in the car and drove to the ocean. It's still kind of crazy that we can go to the beach in shorts in February! Since moving to San Diego we've introduced the dogs to dog parks, we didn't have any of those in Utah, at first they didn't know quite what to do but as we've gone more they have started to get the hang of it.

Meeting and playing with other dogs, there were so many people and dogs out today, i think everyone is loving the warmer weather. Winter is officially over here.

Deja didn't know what to do when the water got up to her belly.

It only took a couple sips before Copper decided the water was NOT tasty!

They loved playing

Look at those blue skies and beautiful oceans!

Worn out after an afternoon of fun! (I love how Copper can't just go lay down like Deja, he has be as close to us as possible.)

We had such a fun afternoon, I think we plan on going more this year, I can't wait and I think the dogs will be excited too!

Bonus- VIDEO!

Here is a video that I'm sure no one but my mom and sister will care to watch but that's okay I'm posting it for them mostly, but if you are still curious go ahead and watch. It's so funny hearing your own voice. I love how Deja acts like the water is going to get her!

A Baby Cake??

2011-02-04T08:38:00.000-08:00

No, no this is not an announcement, well if you count announcing that I'm making a cake for my friends baby shower, then yes it can be an announcement. I just agreed to make this cake today and the shower is on Tuesday! I'm a little nervous and I have been scouring the internet for ideas. My husband thinks I should make a crib or bassinet, with baby and all! I think he has more faith in my abilities then I do, I'm planning staying fairly simple so I don't bite off more than I can chew. Here are a few ideas, I'll post the actual cake next week, wish me luck.

Wow, dangling figures and everything

I like simple! and chocolate :)

Who doesn't love rubber duckies?

Any ideas?? I would love to here them!

Sister Photo Shoot

2011-02-03T07:00:00.000-08:00

For those of you who follow my blog you might remember I went to visit my family in Utah, I went home. I got to spend a little over 2 weeks there (It was suppose to be shorter but I managed to get a horrible back injury the day before I was suppose to leave and I had to recover well enough to walk as well as make the 12+ hour drive) While I was there my sister wanted to go out and do a "photo shoot." So we piled the dogs into the car and set out on a nice cold January day. I'm no professional photographer but I think we did pretty good. Enjoy.

Copper is so good at his job! We didn't even have to tell him to be in the picture.

Plan on doing a little photoshop editing and taking out the ugly particle board window covering.

I can't believe how fast she is growing up!

Sexy!

Playful

I love this picture with Deja

I love this picture! But maybe she should have worn boots or shoes!

This is one of my favorites too.

There it is! Our sisterly photo shoot, it was fun spending time with Rue and taking fun pictures. Love that girl.

For Life

2011-02-02T07:04:00.000-08:00

"Sometimes just the tiniest allocation of time spent with a friend, imprints on your mind and gives you something to smile about for the rest of the week, month, or your life!"
-Marcia Lynn McClure

This is one of my FAVORITE people in the whole world! And I got to spend 2 whole weeks with her, 2 weeks of chatting, lunch dates, talking about boys, seeing her dance performance, tanning, shopping and sleepovers! This little girl (growing up WAY too fast) and all of the memories we have shared in the last 15 1/2 definitely imprints in my mind and I'm glad I get to be her big sister!

Stay tuned for more photos from our awesome "photo shoot." Aren't my dogs the cutest most photogenic dogs ever??!?

Laundry Dreaming

2011-01-28T06:14:00.000-08:00

In my old house I had a great laundry room, you can see it here. In California 99% (that might be slightly exaggerated) of the houses have the laundry in the garage, ugh. So you can see why I envy these awesome laundry rooms. One day I will have an awesome one too, AND one that is IN the house!

traditional laundry room design by toronto general contractor HARDROCK CONSTRUCTION

I could set up a big comfy chair and hang out in here!

contemporary laundry room design by san francisco interior designer tineke triggs

This fresh green color is amazing and bright

laundry room design by other metros interior designer Veranda Interiors

I don't necessarily love the colors here but I like the layout especially for a small space and I like the style of the cabinets.

traditional laundry room design

This looks like a gourmet laundry room with the big huge window. It makes me wonder what the size of the rest of the house is, probably huge!

traditional laundry room design by detroit architect CBI Design Professionals, Inc.

This probably doubles as a mud room but I like the laid back feel with the space to sit down or have someone visit with you while you work. Apron sinks are very popular and bring a tradional or country feel to the space. The terra cotta floors are a little busy but I think it works because the rest of the space is so simple.

This one looks very utilitarian and orderly and very proficient, ideal for a large family

I love how bright and open this laundry room is!

What do you love about these laundry rooms? If you have a great laundry room I would love to see it, if I get few rooms I would love to do a follow up post to show off your space!

Bathroom Retreat

2011-01-19T07:28:00.000-08:00

I need this bathroom!

The hexagon tiles shimmer, the shower has natural light, the roman shade in a geometric pattern, the huge soaking tub, the gray blue color on the wall, the large mirror leaning up against the wall, I could go on but I think you get the drift. This bathroom is simple and sophisticated, clean and classy, a perfect retreat. Nicely done.

Snow Days

2011-01-15T09:08:00.000-08:00

I live in a place that pretty much as awesome weather all year long. I use to dread January, when it was gloomy and COLD. So now that winters are nice for some crazy reason I decide to go visit Utah in January! Kolbe makes video games for a living and he is in his "crunch mode" right now, which means he works 12-14 hour days 7 days a week. Which also equals me not seeing my husband, so I decided I would take a trip, yes I drove, with the dogs and stay with my family for a little while. I've been going out to lunch with friends, visiting my old place of work and seeing everyone and having a good time. It started snowing tonight, but it's the pretty snow that is soft and powdery and I think I will enjoy it for the next few days while I'm here. I will also enjoy gonig for a walk in shorts and a t-shirt when I get back to San Diego!

A Gate?

2011-01-14T06:57:00.000-08:00

I want want want this front gate! It makes such a statement and yet it's so simple. You are drawn to the focal point by the bold bright color and it's inviting and welcoming.

Accessory Finds

2011-01-10T07:38:00.000-08:00

I'll take 1 mirror and 1 rug please.

Old with a Classic

2011-01-07T07:05:00.000-08:00

I love this old raw wood table combined with the classic Panton Stacking Chairs. These chairs were designed in 1960, during the Postwar era, there were easy to mass produce and were inexpensive. The chair was the first single-material and single-form chair, made from a strong flexible polypropylene (plastic) the color is fused into the plastic to be an integral color that won't fade. Now that I'm done with my history spill I can talk more about this room.....

The table decor is simple but the maize yellow and amethyst really pop against the white and natural wood colors. I like how the ornaments give just a little sprinkle of holiday cheer, not overdone, it's holiday decor done right.

I love the white exposed beams against the old rock, and driftwood looking floor. White combined with the wood tones is clean and striking, and the panton chairs and white slip covered section give a nice juxtaposition with the old feel of the room.

The raw wood table is amazing but I'll be honest, I've tried to buy one of these, I wanted to buy one of these but I can't! The raw wood is cool looking but I can't handle the feel of it, bummer. So here are a few tables I drool over, maybe one of you can get one and invite me over for dinner! I found them here.

Simple and long, I like when the top ends are finished with a perpendicular piece of wood

I like this weathered look

More refinished then the others but I like the color

Reclaimed and awesome

This one makes me really wish I liked the raw wood feel

Good with the Bad

2011-01-06T07:06:00.000-08:00

You’ve got to take the good with the bad, smile with the sad, love what you’ve got, and remember what you had. Always forgive, but never forget. Learn from mistakes, but never regret.

Unknown

Serene Bathroom

2011-01-05T08:22:00.000-08:00

Candice Olsen is one of my top favorite designers. I love her use of textures and materials. This bathroom is serene using blues and grays and brushed nickel. She contrasts the cool colors with the warm of the dark brown. I love the wall mounted faucets and, like usual, the skylight.

Desk Project Weekend

2011-01-04T08:27:00.000-08:00

Remember this:

I bought a super old, super heavy desk on craigslist and Kolbe and I spent the New Years weekend refinishing it. I have to stop here to say I've lived in the Rocky Mountains for all of my life up until a few months ago. Why do I mention this? Well living in Utah or surrounding areas also means SNOW. So I thought it was pretty cool that we could work on this project OUTSIDE and in t-shirts! Granted it rained one of those days, so we had to quit early and the desk isn't completed yet, it was still crazy to think I was doing this in the middle of winter. I sent a almost finished picture to a friend in Utah and she asked if we were working on it in the garage and I laughed and told her we were outside, I'm pretty sure she was jealous.

We started nice and early Friday morning and after about 2 hours of sanding I looked at Kolbe and asked him if we were almost done yet. He laughed and said, far from it. You see he finds the sanding and perfecting process relaxing and fun, while I find the staining and seeing the finished project as the fun part. We had a good laugh and I got back to sanding. Then Saturday comes and we sand and sand some more! I'll admit I figured I might as well enjoy it cause it was looking like we might be sanding this all month. Saturday afternoon we went to Lowe's and figured out stain color for the desk and the dresser we were doing at the same time.

When we got home I finally got to start staining the dresser, cause Kolbe felt like there was some more work to be done on the desk (I'll admit it was fun to watch him get so involved in working on my desk). We started staining and he was grumbling about how he didn't like this part and I was in staining heaven! We realized that the parts of the project we both like while different complement the other persons likes. He gets all OCD about the details while I get excited and crazy about the staining (or painting). He makes sure the project will be quality and I make sure it will be pretty. In our lives we work that way a lot too. We have the same goal but we like different parts of that goal which works really well at accomplishing a task or anything we do.

Ziggy, helping me, or not so much.

So back to my desk.... Finally on Sunday I got to stain the desk! We had watched weather.com and it said it might rain later in the day so after I had finished the staining I looked at the sky and we debated whether I should start the clear tip coat. Me being the impatient one wanted to start but we (mostly Kolbe) decided we should wait to make sure the stain was sufficiently dry, which for me equals not getting my office put together until next weekend, ugh. It ended up being a good thing because just as we got the desk back into the house and the tools and stuff cleaned up the first few rain drops began to fall.

We spent the rest of the afternoon inside hanging out. I made a pot roast (which I think was my first time making one on my own, and thanks mom for answering the phone and helping me out) we watched some TV and of course played some video games, which means Kolbe played while I got on the internet and caught up on some blog reading. All in all it was a great productive weekend.

I know this was a big story with no actual finished desk photos but they will be coming very soon (now that the staining is done!) I will however give you a little sampling of the finished product, pre-clear coat stain.

Ohhh, I think I'm going to love it!

Here is how Deja helps, and Copper just likes to be in all the pictures

The Green Green Color

2011-01-03T10:27:00.000-08:00

I saw this photo last night and loved the bright green color. We are working on a small dresser right now and we had stained it just hours before I saw this. I love the new dresser but I think this is so cute and fresh and lively. Pictures of the dresser redo will be coming shortly!

Breakfast Strawberry Crepes

2010-12-31T18:45:00.000-08:00

We made these for breakfast:

Photo taken from Closet cooking

Click here for the recipe!

Yum, yum YUM. But beware of the sugar rush that will follow! I didn't use whole strawberries just a strawberry filling from the cake filling I had left over. The cream cheese spread is so GOOD. Thanks Angie and Dixon for the yummy breakfast idea.

Architecture Dreaming

2010-12-31T13:43:00.000-08:00

This house make me go Mmmmmmm! I will probably never live in a contemporary modern house like this but I can dream.

Oh wait it gets better... there is a river all around the living room with a waterfall into the pool below, how cool! And look at all those windows, not good for privacy but they have slim window coverings that wouldn't distract from the view or the design in the house.

Doggy Fun

2010-12-31T11:30:00.000-08:00

This is a usual walk....

This is our walk this week, we are dog sitting our friends Cavalier, Ziggy. Our dogs have become fast friends and watching them play is fun but having 3 dogs is definitely more work then 2. They get along so well that it makes it easier even if walks get to be a bit interesting.

Deja just chilling

Desk Project

2010-12-31T07:34:00.000-08:00

I bought a desk! For $50!!!

I have been looking for a few months and for some reason the craigslist in San Diego hasn't had the awesome deals I here about online all the time. I just have to complain about how much IKEA stuff and super cheap fake wood stuff is out there and people want top price, it's kind of annoying, anyway... Patience finally paid off and I got this all wood, in great condition, huge desk.
I originally thought I might paint the desk a fun color but I hate to lose the grain because it's solid wood. I'm not sure how quickly this project will get done but as soon as I have more ideas and start working on it I will post pictures and then hopefully get my office all put together!

I love the ledger pullout. The roll out will hopefully work well for my printer and I like how huge it is, lots of room to spread out and make a mess, I mean get lots of work done. Any suggestions? How would you finish this desk? I would love to hear some ideas.

Brigadeiros

2010-12-30T08:11:00.000-08:00

I read somewhere about this simple Brazilian dessert that is suppose to be the up and coming dessert this next year, it's called Brigadeiros. So I tried it out last night. The recipe is super simple and the recipe is really easy to follow. It uses lots of sprinkles to cover the balls so I tried a few with sugar sprinkles and a few without anything. I think coconut flakes, peanut bits or crushed graham cracker crumbs would be yummy to try as well.

Here is the recipe:

Brigadeiros

Ingredients

1 can (14 oz.) sweet and condensed milk
3 Tbs. cocoa powder
1 Tbs. butter
Cocolate sprinkles (or covering of choice)

In a saucepan over medium heat combine cocoa, butter and condensed milk. Cook the mixture until it thickens enough to show the bottom of the pan during stirring (it will be firm enough to stay together and not spread) Pour into a greased dish and let it cool to room temperature (or chill a few minutes in the fridge). Grease your hands and take small amounts of candy and form into 1 1/2 inch balls. Roll the balls in the chocolate sprinkles. If the balls don't hold their shape cook an additional 5 minutes until it thickens up more.

Here are a few other ways to use this dessert.

Hmmmm, covering strawberries!

Can be used as a frosting or filling in a cake. To use as a frosting you can add some milk to thin out the mixture.

Shower Love

2010-12-29T08:09:00.000-08:00

I think I could spend more time in this shower then I should. I love the windows and the big bench and the rain fall shower head that drops from the ceiling. I think a few wall mounted shower heads would be nice. I also like the weaved tile on the floor. It might be a bit of a pain to squeegee all that glass after every shower though!

More Holiday Cupcakes

2010-12-27T08:21:00.000-08:00

Here is the last picture of my holiday cupcakes. These were my favorite. I used a yellow cake box mix, following the instructions on the back. Combined some strawberry filling and buttercream frosting and filled the inside of the cupcake. Frosted them with cream cheese frosting, drizzled some of the strawberry filling (without the frosting added) and topped it off with red sprinkles. They were so awesome.

My assistant, not being so helpful, just kidding. He was super helpful at the taste testing part!

Twas The Night Before Christmas

2010-12-24T14:03:00.000-08:00

......when all through the house not a creature was stirring not even a mouse. The stockings were hung by the chimney with care, in hopes that St. Nicholas soon would be there.

I hope everyone has a wonderful night!

Chocolate Carmel Cupcakes

2010-12-24T08:51:00.000-08:00

I am taking cupcakes to our Christmas Eve party this year. I wanted to do something fun and unique. So I'm going with this recipe, Red Velvet and then a yellow cupcake with a strawberry filled inside which (I will blog about once I make those). I found this recipe and decided to try it. I thought they turn out pretty good looking and they taste A.M.A.Z.I.N.G. I had a little bit of a hard time with the Carmel frosting, it didn't set up very thick so I added some buttercream frosting and it thickened right up and I think tastes better then what I had to start with.

I used cream cheese frosting and then drizzled some of the caramel filling over the top and then a few chocolate sprinkles

Chocolate Caramel Cupcakes (found on Cinnamon Spice & Everything Nice)
(Makes 20)

2 cups all-purpose flour
1/3 cup Cocoa Powder, unsweetened
3/4 teaspoon Baking Soda
1/4 teaspoon Salt
1/2 cup Butter, unsalted, at room temperature
1 + 1/3 cups Sugar
1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
2 Eggs
3 ounces Semi-Sweet Chocolate, melted and cooled
1 cup Milk, at room temperature

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Prepare the cupcake pans by greasing or placing paper liners in them.

2. Whisk flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt together in a small bowl; set aside.

3. In a large bowl with an electric hand mixer on medium beat butter until creamy, about 2 minutes. Add sugar gradually, beating until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes, scraping down bowl occasionally. Beat in Vanilla Extract. Beat in eggs one at a time. Beat in cooled chocolate.

4. Beat in the flour mixture in 4 additions alternating with the milk. Begin and end with the flour mixture and beat briefly until smooth on low-medium.

5. Fill cupcake wells 3/4 of the way. Bake about 22 minutes or until a toothpick in middle shows a few moist crumbs.

6. Cool on wire racks ten minutes. Then remove cupcakes to racks to cool completely.

Caramel Frosting (adapted from Betty Crocker)

1/2 cup Butter
1 cup Packed Brown Sugar
3/4 cup Milk, divided
3 cups Powdered Confectioners' Sugar, plus a little extra if needed

1. In a 2-quart saucepan melt butter over medium heat. Stir in brown sugar. Heat to boiling, stirring constantly, reduce heat to low.

2. Boil and stir 2 minutes. Stir in 1/2 cup Milk. Heat to boiling, remove from heat. Cool to lukewarm, about 30 minutes.

3. Pour the caramel into a large mixing bowl gradually stir in powdered sugar and milk. Beat with an electric hand mixer on low about 6 minutes until light and fluffy. If too stiff add milk a teaspoon at a time to get the right consistency. If too watery add additional powdered sugar beating on low until it reaches the right consistency.

4. Store in refrigerator for 15 minutes before frosting to help it firm up.

Zuppa Toscana

2010-12-23T10:57:00.000-08:00

Have you ever had the Suppa Toscana at the Olive Garden? My husband loves it and I found the recipe online the other day so I tried it for dinner. Huge success, huge! Here is the recipe, if you try it out I would love to know what you thought. A recommendations: etween the sausage and the bacon there is a lot of meat, I would cut it in half or double the liquid and potatoes for a double batch. Also I didn't put in the kale, Kolbe doesn't like it and while I was writing this post I googled what the benefits of kale are and the first link pops up "one of the the healthiest vegetables known to man!" Oh shoot, I guess next time I better put it in, just so we can have the healthiest vegetable known to man in our diet!

Photo via Cinnamon Spice & Everything Nice

Zuppa Toscana
(found on Cinnamon Spice & Everything Nice)

4 slices bacon, cut into a small dice
1 pound hot Italian sausage, ground or links with casings removed
1 large yellow onion, diced
4 cloves garlic, minced
4 cups (32 ounces) chicken broth or stock
3 cups Russet potatoes, cubed
sea or kosher salt and fresh black pepper
2 loose packed cups kale, in bite size pieces
1 cup heavy cream or 14 ounce can evaporated milk
Parmesan cheese, grated, for serving

1. In a large soup pot or sauce pan cook bacon over medium until crispy. Add sausage and break it apart as it cooks. Once sausage is browned and crumbled drain off the grease leaving a tablespoon or two to saute onion.

2. Push the sausage to the edges of the pot and add onion to center; saute until translucent; add garlic; saute until fragrant.

3. Stir in broth and potatoes, season with 3/4 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon pepper, simmer for about 20 minute or until potatoes are tender.

4. Add kale and heavy cream or evaporated milk. Bring to a simmer. Serve with Parmesan cheese and crusty bread.

My photo, I don't claim to be a great photographer, thus why I use others photos or stock photos instead!

Holiday Decor Fun

2010-12-23T07:39:00.000-08:00

You may have thought that I switched my blog to a cooking blog but don't worry I have some good posts on design coming up. For now I want to post some fun holiday pictures. I use to have a large holiday file and I can't find it. There have been so many fun holiday ideas this year that I got a little crazy saving a few and didn't keep track of where they came from so if they are yours or you know who they belong to let me know and I will give them credit. Happy holiday decor dreaming

Via 33 Shades of Green, and one of the best photographed Christmas trees I've seen

via Sweet Something Designs- So festive and fun!

I know this person is on my blog role I just can't find where!

via Sweet Something Designs

The best part was this gal made this ornament from a cool whip lid insert, very creative

Via Bliss Bloom

Via Martha Stewart

via Centsational Girl- I am going to attempt a version of this sometime soon!

Red Velvet Cupcakes

2010-12-22T08:26:00.000-08:00

I feel like lately all I've blogged about is food but holiday events require food so I think its a good thing right? I promise I will get back to décor soon, I do need to post some great holiday décor I have been seeing. As I've watched baking shows and read baking blogs everyone raves about Red Velvet Cake. I think I've had it before but I don't really remember if I like it or not and Kolbe had never tried it so I decided I would make it. Our consensus was that they were just okay. The recipe was easy to follow and the texture and moistness was good.We felt like they were too oily, and rightfully so, the recipe called for a cup and a half of vegetable oil! The friends I delivered them to all loved them which tells me they were a success in general. I've included the recipe and an awesome to die for cream cheese frosting recipe, BUT be careful after you have made this frosting you will NEVER go back to the tub of frosting again, never!

Via Food Network

Red Velvet Cupcakes (as found on the Food Network website)

Ingredients

2 1/2 cups flour
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 tsp cocoa powder
1 1/2 cups vegetable oil
1 cup buttermilk, room temperature
2 large eggs
2 Tbs red food coloring- (I recommend the gel, I just added it in until I like the coloring)
1 tsp white distilled vinegar
1 tsp vanilla extract

Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line muffin pan with cupcake papers, this recipe will make 24 cupcakes. In a medium mixing bow, sift the dry ingredients together (flour, sugar, baking soda, salt and cocoa powder). In a large bowl gently beat the wet ingredients (oil, buttermilk, eggs, food coloring, vinegar and vanilla extract). Add the sifted dry ingredients in to the wet mix until smooth and thoroughly combined. Divide the batter evenly among the cupcake tins, about 2/3 filled (I like using a 1/4 cup measuring cup not quite all the way full). Bake in the oven for about 20-22 minutes. Test with a toothpick for doneness. Remove from oven and cool completely before frosting.

Cream Cheese Frosting (I found this on the TLC website, the DC Cupcake girls did an online video demonstration, it is by far my husbands FAVORITE frosting)

6 oz. Cream cheese
½ cup of butter (1 stick)
4 cups (1 lb.) of powdered sugar
¼ tsp vanilla

Mix butter and cream cheese on med/high speed for 1 minute. Add 1 cup of powder sugar at a time until it is all mixed in. Right before last cup of sugar add in vanilla and scrape the down sides. Whip on high speed for 1-2 minutes to make light and fluffy.

No New House

2010-12-21T10:22:00.000-08:00

So we were suppose to close on our new house today but a few weeks ago we ran into some major repairs that needed to be done and changed our offer to the bank to have them help with some of these repairs since we wouldn't be able to get insurance on the house without them. They took FOREVER to get back to us and finally told us yesterday that their answer was NO. We kind of suspected this would happen so we weren't too shocked, but maybe a little bummed. I'm excited to get my office set up since I have put this off in lieu of the move. We are going to enjoy the house we have right now and I'm sure more pictures will come as soon as I wrap up a few other projects.

Cranberry Citrus Cream Cheese DELIGHT

2010-12-21T06:43:00.000-08:00

I was reading over on Sand & Sisal, and she has this great recipe. I made it and Kolbe and I loved it so I made some more and wrapped them up for gifts. It was easy and fun and kind of a gourmet thing that my friends loved.

Here is all you need to make it:

2- 8 oz. pkg. cream cheese
1/2 can of whole cranberry sauce
1 Tbs. frozen orange juice concentrate
2 Tbs. powdered sugar

Make sure the cream cheese is at room temperature, if not the spread will turn out lumpy. I accidentally put 2 tablespoons of orange juice concentrate and so I balanced it out with 3 tablespoons of powdered sugar and we liked the extra citrus flavor.

Holiday Baking

2010-12-20T07:29:00.000-08:00

Last weekend I went over to a friends house and we made Stollen. I had no idea what stollen bread was, so I'm betting most of you don't either. Stollen is a Danish bread that you put a bunch of stuff in, nice description huh? We had a fun time and made some pretty tastey bread. I don't know how my friend made the dough, all I know is she has a sour dough start named Fred.

We spread out the dough and covered it with our fillings of choice. There are walnuts, dried cranberries and apricots

Once we had all our fillings on it we rolled it up and then let it rest for a little bit.

Then we worked all the fruit and nuts into the bread and then let it rest again (apparently dough doesn't like working too hard.)

Here we are putting some almond paste to be a sweet surprise in the middle of the bread.

Here is the bread all wrapped up and ready to go in to the oven.

Yum, a slice of my freshly baked bread, tasty. Hope everyone gets a chance to do some holiday baking if they enjoy that kind of stuff!

Cake Time

2010-12-17T07:49:00.000-08:00

I took my last cake class last night. Our assignment was to bring an 8" and 6" cake to class with fondant on it already. We learned how to stack it and then we decorated. I had extra buttercream icing so I combined buttercream with fondant in the decor. The cake made it home in one piece but transporting cakes has to be a class all on its own!

So here is the final product...

A little argyle

A little scroll work

And a little design on the top.

Overall I really enjoyed taking this class, I learned a lot about cakes and baking in general. I think I'll enjoy making cakes for family and friends events but for now I'm making some Christmas goodies and then I'm taking a break from the cakes and permanently attaching myself to the treadmill. Seriously, even though I gave most of the cakes away, I cannot be allowed to have that much dessert around that often, I'll admit I have low self discipline.

Career Ideas?

2010-12-15T18:06:00.000-08:00

Maybe I could take up a career in toilet paper oragami. What do you think?

I found this picture on How About Orange, who knew there was was talent like this out there. For more ideas on livening up your bathroom, or maybe just something to do when duty calls, check out this place for some more toilet paper creations.

Winter Trees

2010-12-13T08:00:00.000-08:00

Here is a fun idea. Jute wrapped Christmas trees with white berries.

I took a green styrofoam cone

Some tacky glue

and a roll of jute,

I poured the glue and spread it out as I went and wrapped the jute around the cone.

Once the glue was dry I take a stick of white berries (kind of like this picture but in white, I couldn't find a single picture of white berries, Google failed me!) and wrapped them around each tree.

I am still deciding how to display the trees, I'm think of tile mirrors, we will see. Happy holiday creating .

Christmas Cake Part 2

2010-12-12T22:53:00.000-08:00

Here is the inside of the cake. It was a huge success at the party, yummy.

Saturday Holiday Fun

2010-12-11T00:42:00.000-08:00

I've linked to a great blog, take a look at all the fun Christmas decor ideas. I love seeing all the creativity.

Holiday Cake Time with Fondant

2010-12-10T08:14:00.000-08:00

Tonight was our first night working with fondant, here is the base of my cake. Inside the cake is 4 layers- red, green, red, green. I have a Christmas party this weekend so I figured I would take the cake to the party. Fondant has a consistency of play dough, minus the salty feel, and it needs to be warmed up a little but you can't work with it for too long because it starts to dry out. I bought a white base and I had to add in the coloring and knead it to make the coloring consistent.

And here is the finished piece, my first fondant cake! I kept with a pretty simple design so that I could get a feel for how the fondant works and to see how quickly I have to work with it before it starts to dry out.

The circles were really easy but I think they look fun and whimsical. I'm definitely a fan of fondant and I think I will keep decorating with it, I just wish it wasn't so dang expensive!

Fondant Day

2010-12-09T17:23:00.000-08:00

It's fondant night, I'm really excited to try this design medium, but I'm not sure exactly what I'm going to design. I made a cake that is red and green layers (I know I think I have gotten hooked on making the inside cool, maybe a little too much, but it's so fun,) and is going to be a Christmas cake for a party I'm going to the weekend. Here are some possibly ideas.

Simple, but maybe a good place to start?

Holy poinsettia!

Kind of busy and I'm only doing a 1 level cake.

As I've been perusing the internet,I found this colossal tree cake, for those of you who thought my bday cake was tall... I would have to say this one beats mine 20:1.

2, 6, 7, 11, 13, 16, 22, 24, 26, 31

2010-12-09T08:53:00.000-08:00

I saw this list on Heidi Claire and thought I would share, it gave me a good laugh, I can relate to 95% of them but my favorites, the ones that apply completely to ME, are numbered in the title of this post. Which ones do you relate to the most?

Truths For Mature Humans

1. I think part of a best friend's job should be to immediately clear your computer history if you die.

2. Nothing sucks more than that moment during an argument when you realize you're wrong.

3. I totally take back all those times I didn't want to nap when I was younger.

4. There is great need for a sarcasm font.

5. How the are you supposed to fold a fitted sheet?

6. Was learning cursive really necessary?

7. Map Quest really needs to start their directions on # 5. I'm pretty sure I know how to get out of my neighborhood.

8. Obituaries would be a lot more interesting if they told you how the person died.

9. I can't remember the last time I wasn't at least kind of tired.

10. Bad decisions make good stories.

11. You never know when it will strike, but there comes a moment at work when you know that you just aren't going to do anything productive for the rest of the day.

12. Can we all just agree to ignore whatever comes after Blue Ray? I don't want to have to restart my collection...again.

13. I'm always slightly terrified when I exit out of Word and it asks me if I want to save any changes to my ten-page technical report that I swear I did not make any changes to.

14. "Do not machine wash or tumble dry" means I will never wash this - ever.

15. I hate when I just miss a call by the last ring (Hello? Hello? **** it!), but when I immediately call back, it rings nine times and goes to voice mail. What did you do after I didn't answer? Drop the phone and run away?

16. I hate leaving my house confident and looking good and then not seeing anyone of importance the entire day. What a waste.

17. I keep some people's phone numbers in my phone just so I know not to answer when they call.

18. I think the freezer deserves a light as well.

19. I disagree with Kay Jewelers. I would bet on any given Friday or Saturday night more kisses begin with Miller Lite than Kay.

20. I wish Google Maps had an "Avoid Ghetto" routing option.

21. Sometimes, I'll watch a movie that I watched when I was younger and suddenly realize I had no idea what the heck was going on when I first saw it.

22. I would rather try to carry 10 over-loaded plastic bags in each hand than take 2 trips to bring my groceries in.

23. The only time I look forward to a red light is when I'm trying to finish a text.

24. I have a hard time deciphering the fine line between boredom and hunger.

25. How many times is it appropriate to say "What?" before you just nod and smile because you still didn't hear or understand a word they said?

26. I love the sense of camaraderie when an entire line of cars team up to prevent a jerk from cutting in at the front. Stay strong, brothers and sisters!

27. Shirts get dirty. Underwear gets dirty. Pants? Pants never get dirty, and you can wear them forever.

28. Is it just me or do high school kids get dumber & dumber every year?

29. There's no worse feeling than that millisecond you're sure you are going to die after leaning your chair back a little too far.

30. As a driver I hate pedestrians, and as a pedestrian I hate drivers, but no matter what the mode of transportation, I always hate bicyclists.

31. Sometimes I'll look down at my watch 3 consecutive times and still not know what time it is.

32. Even under ideal conditions people have trouble locating their car keys in a pocket, finding their cell phone, and Pinning the Tail on the Donkey - but I'd bet my *** everyone can find and push the snooze button from 3 feet away, in about 1.7 seconds, eyes closed, first time, every time!

Christmas Wreath Time

2010-12-08T08:07:00.000-08:00

I made this awesome wreath last year. I got it out the other day and remembered I have material to make another one, I'm working on it in between surfing and blogging while my husband plays his video game. This picture is in my Utah house and I haven't been able to find a spot for it this house yet so I thought it could at least be seen in the blog world. Enjoy.

Rainbows and Birthdays

2010-12-07T07:23:00.000-08:00

I've been planning Kolbe's birthday cake for months now, even before I signed up for the cake decorating class. I saw this fun rainbow cake idea a few months ago and I have been waiting for a chance to make it.

I made 2 cake mixes and divided them into separate bowls.

I mixed the food coloring GEL into each bowl. To get vibrant colors you have to use the gel not just the food coloring that comes in the little plastic bottles, if you use those the color will be really dull and since the cake has a yellow tint from the egg yokes it will be harder to get the color right.

Can you see the rainbow idea coming together? I made the cakes a few days ago and put them in the freezer. If you plan on making a cake a few days before the event the freezer is the best place to store the cake, the fridge actually dries the cake out. I took the cakes out of the freezer last night and let the thaw out over night.

Kolbe loves cream cheese frosting (the homemade kind, it rocks!) The cream cheese frosting was a little thick to do the crumb coat, a crumb coat is a thin coat you apply first and then let it set so that when you ice the rest of the cake you don't get any crumbs coming through, and lets just say they make icing a cake look like CAKE on the TV shows- it's so not fair!

Tada!

The final cake, and I love that the surprise is hidden in the cake! I wanted the outside to look simple and unassuming so that when I cut into the cake there was a wow factor.

The cake after the first few pieces were cut out. I took the cake to Kolbe's work (which is a 30 minute drive on 4 different freeways, I thought for sure the cake would end up on the floor!) and he shared it with his whole team.

Almost gone! The cake was gone within 5 minutes of me getting there.

I also made some cupcakes cause I didn't think the cake would go far enough for all the people he works with. I made a chocolate ganache with a yellow cake mix. The ganache was pretty easy and I like the shiny texture it makes, definitely going to try the ganache again.

The cake was a huge success and I stayed and hung out with Kolbe at work for the rest of the afternoon. I think he had a pretty awesome 35th birthday!

Birthday Fun

2010-12-06T12:38:00.000-08:00

It's my husband's birthday today, the big 35!

I'm busy making his bday cake extravaganza. Since my husband reads my blog I can't post pictures until he sees his cake first, but hopefully pictures will come later today.

And for Kolbe when he reads this post, Happy Birthday babe!

The Verdigris Pot

2010-12-03T08:30:00.000-08:00

In college I took a Surfaces class, which was a night class where we learned awesome faux finishes like marble, granite, crackling and sponging (hey it was like 12 years ago when sponging was the IN thing haha). I took a $1 Walmart special and made this dorky terracotta pot look pretty dang cool. I still have the pot, it holds our spare change on our entry table. I've included the recipe on this post too! If you try it out let me know, I would love to see it.

Verdigris

Patinated Metal

The results of naturally occurring corrosion affect brass, copper, and bronze.

Prepare the base surface by painting it with a bronze or brass colored paint. Spray paint works well for this base coat. Multi-colored metal tones make a good background for the succeeding layers of thick pastes and powders.

Tools and Materials:

2 verdigris pastes: 1 pale mint green (latex paint, one pale sky blue (latex paint).

Deep blue-green latex paint.

Yellow ocher spray paint.

Denatured alcohol.

Whiting (Art Supply Store).

Paint brushes.

Rough terry cloth rag.

Prepare the verdigris pastes (pale blue and mint green) by mixing the denatured alcohol and the latex paint to a 1:2 ration. Sieve in whiting until the mixture is the consistency of butter frosting. Denatured alcohol evaporates quickly, so you may need to add more as you go along to keep the mixture workable.

Step #1:

Brush a 1:4 mixture of deep blue-green latex paint and water over the bronze or brass colored base coat and allow to dry. Some of the bronze and brass undercoat will show through.

Step #2:

Work the pale blue and pale mint green verdigris pastes over the surface together. Vary the thickness and texture to create a random effect.

Step #3:

White the verdigris pastes as drying, use a yellow ocher spray paint to apply small, light patches of color randomly across the surface.

Step #4:

Flood the surface with water to expose the underlying colors. Apply with a brush, just let the water wash over the top of the mixture, do not work it in.

Step#5:

Take some whiting or plaster powder and lightly sprinkle it across the surface, pressing it into the damp and sticky mixture. Pay special attention to the recesses.

Step #6:

When the mixture is half dry, wipe some- not all- of the raised areas with a rough cloth to expose patches of underlying color. When perfectly dry, seal with clear finish.
(I got this recipe from my instructor at BYU-Idaho, that is all the reference I have for the recipes origin)

Christmas Traditions

2010-12-02T07:44:00.000-08:00

I've been debating about how much Christmas decor I want to put up this year since we will closing on our new house December 21st and moving shortly there after, so I decided I was going very minimal. Meaning no Christmas tree! I know, I know, I'm a designer after all and aren't designers by law suppose to go all out for holidays? Well this designer doesn't love decorating for holidays, I usually decorate for Christmas but that's it and even then I don't go crazy. Partly in the past the reason for this was because I lived with roommates and I was the one who usually set it all up and then I got to take it all down, not my idea of fun. Turns out I also kind of married a Christmas tree scrooge, his dad ran a Christmas tree lot every year when he was younger and he had to help which also equals that he is a Christmas music scrooge. Too bad he will still have to listen to Christmas music. Anyway, back to this post..... I'm not putting up a tree this year but I did take out a few decorations, one whole shelf full to be exact.

I love snowmen and vintage Santa's. The kissing Santa and Mrs. Clause are salt and pepper shaker and came from my mom (I'm going to say she gave them to me but her story might be different). I love these because they are old and because we had them out for Christmas for as long as I can remember, kind of sentimental.

Here is my favorite Christmas decorations, my nativity. The story behind this is special to me and the main reason why these are so dear. When I was little my mom painted 3 nativity sets, all alike, she kept one for us and gave one to each of my grandparents. When my grandma and grandpa on my mom's side past away all the kids were encouraged to take back the things they had given them over the years and so I claimed this nativity set. Not only do I get to think about the reason for Christmas when I see my nativity but I get to remember my grandparents and the amazing people they were and all the good times we had at their house.

Wintertime is Soup Time

2010-12-01T07:57:00.000-08:00

I'm a big fan of soup especially when the weather gets a little chilly, and even though it's not as cold here as other places (ummm Utah!) soup is perfect for a chilly night. This picture isn't as fancy as the blog I found it on but the consensus with our friends is that it was delicious!

Mediterranean Chicken, Bean & Pasta Soup as seen on Cookin' Canuck

2 tsp olive oil
1 large shallot, minced
2 medium carrots, cut into thin half-circles
2 large celery stalks, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
1 can (28 oz.) whole tomatoes, finely chopped, including juices
5 cups low-sodium chicken broth
2 bay leaves
2 cups chopped, cooked chicken
1 can (15 oz.) cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
1/2 cup ditalini (small, short pasta tubes)
1/4 cup finely chopped fresh parsley
8 fresh basil leaves, thinly sliced
Grated Parmesan cheese

Heat olive oil in a large saucepan set over medium-high heat. Add shallot, carrots, and celery. Saute until the vegetables are beginning to soften, 2 to 3 minutes.

Add chopped tomatoes with juices, chicken broth, and bay leaves. Bring to a boil, then lower heat to medium-low, partially cover, and simmer for 20 minutes.

Uncover the soup, remove the bay leaves, add cooked chicken, beans, and pasta. Increase the heat to medium-high and cook until the pasta is al dente, about 10 minutes.

Season with salt and pepper, add 1/4 cup finely chopped fresh parsley and 8 leaves fresh basil, thinly sliced. Garnish with grated Parmesan cheese. Serve.

Serves 6 to 8.

Family Traditions

2010-11-30T15:48:00.000-08:00

I enjoyed my holiday weekend in Utah, even with -5 degree weather, it did make me thankful for living in San Diego where I can wear flip flops comfortably all winter. I was also thankful to spend time with my family and a few friends. While eating lots of my grandmas amazing food is something we do every year we made a new tradition a few years ago, Gingerbread Houses! This year I didn't make a house but I helped the kids and thought it would be fun to display all their creations!

Nifty Craigslist Easy Button

2010-11-30T08:46:00.000-08:00

Do many of you use Craigslist? When I moved to San Diego Kolbe and I had a few duplicate things and a few things we wanted to get rid of and Craigslist was a great way to sell and get it out of our way. I've been looking for a new desk for my office. One thing I hate (and I'm sure I'm not the only one) is that you have to click on each post to see the picture, it is so time consuming. Well there is a new way to search craigslist in PICTURE.

Click on the link and it will explain further. Happy Craisglisting.

Rustic Home & (window) Shopping Day

2010-11-29T07:24:00.000-08:00

What do you do on a rainy weekend when your house projects can't be done because of the rain? You go dream shopping!

In our furniture searches Kolbe and I found this sweet store called Rustic Home. This store is PACKED with any wood furniture you could want, desks, tables, chairs, sideboards, beds, gaming tables and artwork. We were browsing for a dining room table and a hutch.

Here are some of the contestants:

I love the old carved doors, and the open shelf, although I need to use this for some storage so I'm not sure I want open shelves

I love the color! The camera doesn't do it justice.

Here is a better shot, it's a warm yellowish color.

But I love this blueish green one too! I like the idea of having the drawers, plus there is tons of storage.

I really like the metal ornament on this one and the drawers, I like the height too. I but don't like the idea of having my storage seen, I had an idea of putting something behind the metal, either wood or a hard paper painted a fun color.

This one is nice too but probably not my favorite. It's a little too short and there isn't much storage.

I love the multiple colors in this one and the there is so much storage, but it might be a little too big.

Here are a few other cool things in this store:

I like this armoire, it's a deep turquoise color, I wish I had a place to put it..... I'm sure I can find one right?

This table is VERY COOL, too bad the price tag is not so cool.

This was WAAAY in the back, I can't believe the shop owner doesn't display up front and center!

This chair is massive so we took a picture of me in it. All wood and with a matching gaming table.

Well that's all for now, I hope you had a fun time on our window shopping spree.

Going Home!

2010-11-24T10:31:00.000-08:00

We are flying to Utah today!

I have always loved Thanksgiving, I'm not really sure why (and no it's not because of all the food although that is a good part of it). We usually go to my grandma's house and everyone piles in and we eat and visit. Last year we went to the high school and played football and over the last few years my grandma has gotten the kids into making gingerbread houses. I usually help the small kids but last year I made my very own house. This year I think I'm especially excited because I haven't seen my family for 3 months! I think my little sister (she's 15 and my best friend) has the whole 3 days planned for us already, which included me hanging out with her the whole time (but I'm okay with that). Living far away from my family makes me more aware of how thankful I am for them and thankful that we get to go home and spend the holiday with them.

My grandma is an amazing cook, I can't wait to eat, visit and just hang out.

I hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving holiday.

Everyday

2010-11-23T01:34:00.000-08:00

I heard this song the other day by Rogue Wave and I thought I would share. Hope you enjoy.

Plain Terracotta Pot Turned Antique and Unique

2010-11-22T08:36:00.000-08:00

Remember this?

I decided I need a small, fun project to do in an afternoon. I found this blog, Stories Of A House and this girl does amazing projects! She also loves greens, blues and grays like me, which makes perusing her blog even more fun.

So I decided to try a technique I saw on her blog here. She took a plain terracotta pot and antiqued it. She used lightweight spackle, but I couldn't get it to adhere to the pot so I used vinyl spackle (she also said joint compound would work). I used a putty knife and smoothed it on the pot. I purposefully made it a little sloppy and very uneven so I could get an old worn finish look.

Here it is after I have applied vinyl spackle, waited for it to dry and then took a paper towel and just smoothed off the rough edges.

I changed up the end look of my pot but you get the idea. The coloring in the photo didn't turn out very clear but I took a burnt gold color and painted it all over the pot, then instead of using a dark glaze I mixed the gold color in with white and dabbed that color over the top in spots and then took a paper towel and blended it. By blending you can keep some spots lighter and then remove other spots so the dark shows through for a nice contrast. Once I've let it dry over night I will spray it with a clear coat finish, a matte finish will add to the old look of the pot. I haven't decided what to put in it yet but I think this turned out pretty good for an afternoon project. Thanks Christa!

Look for another cool finish to do to an old pot, a verdigris finish. I will post that one after Thanksgiving probably.

I Pretty Much Rock At Making Cake Flowers!

2010-11-19T08:15:00.000-08:00

No seriously, I made some good lookin' flowers. I'm think this cake should be called "Garden Delight" it's a chocolate cake with a cream cheese filling, yum.

Make flowers was fun and relatively easy however a few other things didn't work out so well:

my camera taking skills, I used my phone camera and it was night and the lighting doesn't really show the colors very well. The yellow has a harsher glare to it and the pink doesn't look so bright and fresh, but oh well in real life it looked great. And it didn't help that the husband was so excited about having a piece of this awesome cake that he was kind of impatient :)
Something went wrong with my base frosting, obviously. This happened to a few girls in class last week and the teacher didn't really have an explanation. It looks like little air pockets burst. If I had been making a space ship cake this would have been great, but we were working on flowers tonight and I didn't know how to connect them to a space ship theme. I love how the poor lighting quality fails to catch the details in the flowers but nicely captures the air pockets, nice, thanks camera.

So we worked on a few flowers in class. Primroses, ribbon roses ( I like this rose because it has a more contemporay feel to it, it's the yellow rose above) and regular roses (the purple one above). We used a basic buttercream icing which is a little softer then a royal icing so it's hard to get the petals to do exactly what you want. We are learning royal icing in 2 weeks. Here are some examples of what the flowers are suppose to look like, I included them cause again the camera didn't pick up on the details, but I have more of an "artistic flare" so they don't look as proper as these examples.

I wish you could see the yellow rose in the front of this picture, it was great! And for the record I had a really hard time cutting into this cake, I just wanted to keep my flowers!

The yellow flowers with the purple star are primroses, we also worked on leaves.

Here is a good shot of the pink roses. It's pretty cool to take a mound of frosting and create petals and whallaaa, a flower. You construct the flowers on what they call a flower wheel, you have a template and a piece of wax paper that you create the flower on and then you have to wait awhile so the flower will harden enough to lift it off the wax paper and place it on the cake, I got a little impatient with a few flowers so that look a little squished.

How Big is Too Big??

2010-11-18T06:41:00.000-08:00

I've been practicing make double layered cakes but this idea makes a 2 layered cake look like a baby. I think I'm going to try this the 14 layer cake found at the Bakerella, what do you think? Bakerella says to use aluminum pans so that you can cook a few layers at a time and you don't have to spend so much time cleaning the pans. Here is the recipe and a few pictures to show you how it's done.

It kind of reminds me of a huge pile of pancakes.

That is soooo much frosting, good thing I like frosting!

This might just be worth all the work!

14 Layer Cake

4 1/2 cups all-purpose flour , sifted
1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups (3 sticks) unsalted butter , at room temperature
2 1/2 cups sugar
6 large eggs , at room temperature
3 cups milk
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
3 cups sugar
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder , preferably Dutch process
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter , cut up
1 can (12 ounces) evaporated milk
1 tablespoon vanilla extract

Position racks in the center and bottom third of the oven and preheat to 375°. Lightly butter four 8 1/2- to 9-inch cake pans (you will bake the cakes in three batches) and line the bottoms with rounds of parchment paper. Flour the pans and tap out the excess.

To make the layers, sift together the sifted flour, baking powder and salt. Sift the mixture one more time, and set aside.

Beat the butter and sugar in the bowl of a heavy-duty electric mixer fitted with the paddle blade on high speed until light in color and texture, about 3 minutes. Beat in the eggs, one at a time. Scrape down the bowl and be sure the mixture is well-blended. On low speed, add the flour in 3 additions, alternating with 2 additions of the milk, beginning and ending with the flour, and beat until smooth, scraping down the sides of the bowl often with a rubber spatula. Beat in the vanilla. Using a scant cup for each layer, spread the batter evenly in the pans. It will make a thin layer.

Staggering the pans on the racks so they are at least 2 inches from each other and the sides of the oven and not directly over each other, bake the layers until they feel firm when pressed in the centers and are beginning to pull away from the sides of the pans, about 12 minutes. Cool in the pans for 5 minutes. Invert the layers onto cake racks, remove the parchment paper, and cool completely. Wash and prepare the pans. Repeat the procedure until all 12 layers have been baked and cooled.

To make the icing, bring the sugar, cocoa, butter and evaporated milk to a full boil in a large saucepan. Reduce the heat to medium-low and cook until the icing has thickened slightly (it will resemble chocolate syrup but will thicken as it cools), about 3 minutes. Stir in the vanilla. Let the icing cool until thick enough to spread, but still pourable.

Place a layer of cake on a wire rack set over a jelly-roll pan. Spread with a few tablespoons of the icing, letting the excess run down the sides. Stack the remaining cakes, icing each layer. Pour the remaining icing over the top of the cake. If you wish, smooth the icing on the edges to cover the sides. Place pecan halves around the top perimeter of the cake. Let stand until the glaze sets. (The cake is best served the day it is made. To store, cover loosely with plastic wrap and refrigerate for up to 1 day.)

Dark Chocolate Cream Cheese Buttercream Frosting

1/2 cup butter, softened to room temperature
8 oz. cream cheese, softened to room temperature
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder ( I used Hershey’s Special Dark Cocoa)
1 box (1 lb) confectioner’s sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1-3 Tbsp milk

Cream the butter and cream cheese with a mixer. Add the cocoa and vanilla. Add the confectioner’s sugar in small batches and blend on low until combined. Scrape down sides with each addition.

Add 1 tablespoon of milk at a time until you get the consistency you desire.

Bargaining Prize

2010-11-17T07:16:00.000-08:00

The other day K texted me saying he was going to buy a few video games, I thought cool he hadn't bought a video game since we started dating (he makes video games for a living so it goes with the territory). When he got home he said the "few games" turned into 10! So I said for every 3 games you buy I get to but a pair of shoes He thinks I have too many shoes and thinks buying more is crazy, kind of what I think of video games, so I figured we would be even. The next day we were at TJ Maxx and I see these pots. I saw them a few weeks ago but then they were gone the next time I was in the store. So when I saw them back in the store I was excited and they were on clearance! But I do have a lot of decor so I've been trying to not buy much. I told Kolbe we should probably get these just cause they are so cool and only $16 each. He looks at me and says are they worth 2 video games? Heck yes! So I got them! I'm down to only 8 games to bargain with which is only 2 shoes but Kolbe was pretty pleased that he worked me out of 1 pair of shoes, it was funny. And don't tell him but I would have traded 4 games for my vases. Now I just have to find a spot for them.... hmmmm.

Finally!

2010-11-16T08:12:00.000-08:00

I have finally taken a few pictures of our house (the one we currently live in). I still have a few more rooms to take pictures of but I have to clean them out to "stage" a picture and I just haven't yet. So this is it for now, but I think you will like what you see.

This is in the "dining room". We don't really use it for a dining room so it's just this random spot with some book shelves and a chair and the cat condo (more of those pictures to come).

Here's a close up, and yes I plan no putting a picture in that black frame (probably a wedding picture haha).

This is to the right of the table display. The front door is to the left of this picture and I'm standing in the family room to take the picture. I love the picture above the dog kennels. And I love the empty picture frame even though Kolbe thinks it's weird not to have a picture in a frame, I think it's very chic. Kolbe helped me choose the twisted wood candle holders and the green candles a few weeks ago at Kohl's, it's his favorite part of this whole area.

I love that picture over the dogs kennels.

The main bathroom. I love the blues and greens.

I hope you are excited to see how I apply all of this decor to the new house!

A New House

2010-11-15T07:40:00.000-08:00

This is the exterior taken by the realtor

So we made an offer on a house and the bank accepted it! I know, I know, I haven't even posted pictures from our current house; I just got it feeling comfy and homey and we are off to start a new project. We are really excited though. The house is on 1 1/2 acres and Kolbe is ecstatic about all its possibilities. There is a lot of work to do but the floorplan is great and the previous owners started to do some good upgrades. Ooh and it has a pool and a BBQ pit and grilling area and lots of palm trees.

Here's a few pictures.

This is the front view, taken from the driveway

The entrance, I love the plants!

The front door is on the left side and there is a door to one of the bedrooms on the right, this is going to be my office. It's already painted a bright skyish blue and there is a huge window. The window makes the whole room feel light, I can't wait to have a space to set up all my office stuff.

Here is the living room. Isn't the fireplace great? There are 4 windows with great views and lots of natural light (remember how much I love natural light??)

We will be replacing the carpet before we move in and I hope to paint the walls a color to complement the fireplace not blend in with it. I'm thinking something light and bright and welcoming.

I'm excited to put my cookbooks on these open shelves! Lots of space for barstools and to be able to spread out and decorate cakes, I mean make very healthy meals for my family.

The dining room, the dark tile inlays are not my favorite but they are growing on me.

Here's the family room. The patio door goes out to the pool and BBQ area.

I can't wait to buy a big soft rug and this awesome sectional from Room and Board (with the chaise piece too).

The master bathroom, since it was a bank owned house there are mirrors and light fixtures missing that we get to replace. I can see why someone would take those they are high priced items! I love the shower though.

Pool and outdoor living area. The patio door goes into the family room.

The outdoor grill area, with the fire pit to the right. In the tiki umbrella thing there are lights and even speakers, party time!

Fire pit on the left side and entrance to side of the garage in the center.

View from the front door (this is the circular driveway). We hope to plant grass and a few colorful bushes in this space.

This is the big circular driveway, the house is on the right and you can see a corner of the garage on the left side.

Here is the detached garage with the house off to the right). Kolbe is super excited about all the workspace he gets, there is even a bathroom in there although it needs to be gutted and redone completely.

I almost forgot the best part of the whole house... a half pipe!

So there it is our future house! I'm thinking we will be moving in mid December so I might be a little MIA again. But I will keep you posted on all the changes we are making.

Words To Aspire To

2010-11-14T08:18:00.000-08:00

I saw this quote framed in a doctors office and thought it was inspiring. I hope to be able to live my life so that others would say this fit me.

The First Cake is Here

2010-11-12T07:49:00.000-08:00

I started out icing my cake, the lighting isn't great but it is a light green color.

And here is the finished decorated product. My husband got a little excited about trying it and cut each of us a slice before I realized I hadn't taken a picture yet. He claims he will remember for next time so I think I'm training him right!

In class tonight we learned how to make stars, hearts and rosettes (which I didn't try on my cake but I will next week). We also learned piping edges with a shell design and a ball design- which is the pink on the bottom of the cake.

On the top of the cake the yellow design was a sunburst style star and then I made a few green stars. I put a few stars in yellow and green and some pink hearts around the rest of the cake. I felt like this was a good start in my cake decorating process. Bring on the Cake Boss, haha, no way!

Small but Still Cool

2010-11-10T08:08:00.000-08:00

I'm using this terracotta pot for my next project. Stay tuned.

Halloween Fun

2010-11-09T07:57:00.000-08:00

So I know Halloween was last week so I'm late in posting this but we had too much fun dressing up the animals to not share with everyone. Hope you have a good laugh, don't worry K and I didn't dress up- we saved all that FUN for the animals......

Copper the dragon
Deja the ladybug
and..
Precious the ghost!
The best part is she wouldn't move at all for like ten minutes and then she tried to hobble around like she was injured. It was too funny. (Don't worry we only left the cat in the costume for a few minutes, we started feeling a little bit bad after that)

Icing on the Cake

2010-11-08T08:40:00.000-08:00

So my new hobby is.... taking a cake decorating class!
I've been waiting to do this for awhile now but I haven't so I decided now is the perfect time.

My first class was last Thursday where we learned essentially how to put together a basic cake. I had a list of supplies I would need which included some stuff I'm not so familiar with like Meringue Powder and high density shortening I bought food coloring gel and lots of boxes of cake mix.

So my assignment for the week is to cook 2- 8" cakes and stack them on top of each other, I can choose to put a filling in between the 2 layers or not. I need to have it iced and ready to decorate for the next class. We will be making a kids cake. So I've been looking at cake ideas online and let me say they are either levels above my beginner abilities or they are just plain scary!
We are just working with butter cream frosting so none of the fondant type stuff will work- just piping, which I have never done.
I need a theme but it has to be fairly simple, any ideas?? Really give me some ideas.

Dinosaurs? Obviously just designed on a round cake, I don't think I'm ready for shapes. However my husband says he always wanted a dinosaur for his birthday cake, his birthday is in December... hmmm. He also read my blog so I have to make it a real surprise, but don't worry I have something cool planned.

Tropical ? The fish scales are made of fondant so I can't do it this time but I think but one day I will make this fish, I love the scales.

I'm excited to see how my first cake turns out. And don't worry I will post it regardless of how awesome or how horrible it looks!

I'm pretty sure after this class I will be making cakes like this

and this.

I'll basically be the cake queen, haha, it's a joke. But I think I might be able to make something like this one

or this one

PS on a side note there are some cool people in my class so I'm learning a new hobby and making friends- bonus!

Keeping Busy and Making New Hobbies

2010-11-05T07:44:00.000-07:00

So I've been married for 2 months! Wow, the time has gone fast. Our house is looking good (I know I am working on getting pictures) and I'm getting use to living in San Diego and all the changes I have encountered. One thing that has been rough lately is feeling like I have a purpose. I stay busy with the house renovations and Kolbe and I have lot of fun hanging out. We've been to a few concerts, Carrie Underwood (for me) and Taj Mahal (for him), we went to a Padres/Dodger's baseball game, my first pro baseball game, the beach and hiking and a few other things. But sometimes I feel like I just pass the day away waiting for K to come home. I knew going into all of this there would be some rough times like getting a little homesick and trying to make new friends.
Some days I feel like I'm doing great and moving forward and making progress and other days I feel lonely and lazy. I have been applying for jobs and it's frustrating when I don't even get any phone calls or interest in my resume. Kolbe is great at helping me stay positive and my dogs are great to take hiking and for walks. I've made a few friends but it isn't quite the same as my old friends. I guess this is just normal when you relocate which I haven't had to do in 10 years or so and even then I was always within a few hours drive from my family. But on a positive note it has been nice to have time to sit and read a book or sleeping in or taking my dogs to the dog park (which is cool because we didn't really have them in Utah). I am loving being married and I learn more about Kolbe and myself all the time. I love that he is the one person I love seeing anytime, that we can just hang out at night and make dinner (I love making dinner together), watch TV or I'll blog while he plays a video game (which is what is currently happening). I love that we can have a lazy Saturday or bum around and run errands together and it's better because we do it together. I love that when I'm grumpy or discouraged he knows just how to cheer me up and make me laugh (which will most often time include some form of tickling torture!)
This post is ending up into a novel, oops. But through all of this I'm overall super happy and loving my life, it's still a little weird to think that a few months ago my life consisted of living in Utah, teaching interior design, being close to my family and having a house full of roommates and now my life is in San Diego, married and living with a guy (which is so much better then 3 girls!) being 800 miles from my family, no jobs and only a small handful of friends. Regardless of all the changes I wouldn't change it. However finding a job is next on the list, but in the mean time I'm working on some hobbies and cultivating talents. One of these hobbies includes this blog! More info will come on that soon. But for now I'm going to give you a hint on what my next hobby is going to be.... Thus the Kitchen Aid.

Remember when I blogged here about trying to be domestic so I bought a Kitchen Aid mixer? Well I have found a purpose for the mixer, besides making chocolate chip cookies! Stay tuned and see what I am up to..... any guess?

Neutral With a Punch

2010-11-04T14:58:00.001-07:00

A neutral room can have lots of life by adding the right accents; take this room room for instance; it has a great neutral background with white trim, gray sofas and a light gray wallpaper. It is complemented by the bright accents of amethyst and chartreuse. Change is easy in this room, you can change some pillows and accessories and completely give the space a new look. Change for seasons or mood are relatively easy and can refresh and give new life to a space and give your space a nice punch.

Crazy Cool

2010-11-01T13:02:00.000-07:00

This has absolutely nothing to do with interior design but I saw it on Dooce and that I would share with my blog. There is some crazy col stuff people can do, it's amazing.

For Dining

2010-10-22T07:53:00.000-07:00

My house is ALL painted, it looks a lot like this dining room wall color. It is a grayish green color which gives a good neutral background for all my artwork and decor. I'm still working on getting everything put together but 2 bookshelves are set up and art is in it's place just waiting to get some help from my hubby to hang them up.

This dining room is soothing and welcoming,designed by Nicole Nee. The aqua glass gives a nice color punch and the monochromatic color scheme is relaxing and versatile.Tell me what you think about the glossy ceiling, I can't decide if I like it or not.

What Is A Subway TIle?

2010-10-20T07:55:00.000-07:00

About 5 years ago if I asked anyone what a subway tile was they would tell me they had no idea. Now if I asked that question more people would know the answer. Here is the answer for those of you who may still be in the dark. A subway tile is a rectangular tile, first used in subways, hence the name. One thing that has made subway tiles popular is glass tiles in a rectangular shape. I have coveted any glass tile for quite sometime now, however their price tag has kept me from using them in my house. Most glass tiles start around $25 square foot, and that's on the cheap side! So a small kitchen backsplash would cost close to $900, bummer! BUT last week I was making one of my daily trips to Home Depot and spotted this:

Glass tile for $4.99 a sq/ft!! WHAT, I was pretty excited, next to those specials were some tiles for $8 sq/ft. I realize that these few styles will be in everyone's home in a short time but I just love the translucent, glossy quality they give to a space. So here are some glass tile, a few subway tile designs for you to devour, enjoy!

A fairly common style an color scheme.

Here is a combination of small glass tiles and subway tiles.

Mixing up a cool pattern.

These are a mosaic tile, I've had this photo in my design file for close to 10 years and I still love.

Wooooo, I love the strong contrast in colors, and the vibrant red

These are a mini subway tile, I like them in small spaces but you would lose the wow factor with too much or in to big of a space.

I love this color and in a shower a very water open feel.

A Penny For Your Throughts

2010-10-08T17:42:00.000-07:00

I think this penny replica is really cool, unique and adds some personality to this space. I would have to say my house and design style is pretty eclectic. I love finding pieces that are one of a kind, that describe who I am at what I like. You have to be careful when combining different styles but I think the pay off can be worth a penny or two!

Something Besides Weddings and Love

2010-09-27T13:28:00.000-07:00

My mom commented on how my blog has gone from mostly design with very little about me to ALL about me and my life and very little design. I'll admit I have been a little distracted but not with just being married and love stuff. I moved to San Diego right after I got married and lets just say K's house was a little less then homey. So I have been busily making this house our home. Getting organized, figuring out paint and where my decor should go and planning what new decor we will need. It's been fun and overwhelming; it's not an easy task to combine two lives and two houses. I mean just figuring out which blankets we should keep, mine, his or just all of them to make it simple, can be quite the task and that is a relatively easy one! But it is coming together, the entry hall and dining room are all painted and carpet is ordered and I need to hurry and paint the master bedroom, office and family room before it can be installed, whew, then I can put everything back into place and decorate and sit back and enjoy. But don't worry I have taken a day off here and there to read a book or two. I have started the job hunt as well and applied for 2 more jobs today, hopefully I hear back from them.

Flowers have a way of cheering me up, whether it's a fresh bouquet or a well done artificial arrangement. I love bright colorful flowers.

I think this vase is really cool, simple and vintage looking.

I have a vase of forsythias in my family room and it cheers the room up immediately. I would love a fresh bouquet, soon, possibly after the remodel is done, hmmmm, yes I think I will do that.

The Happy Newlywed Couple

2010-09-23T14:10:00.000-07:00

Here are some fun couple pictures of Kolbe and I on our wedding day, Enjoy!

I love this picture!

This is a really cool spot behind a hotel in Logan and through some trees (our sisters found it in their exploring) there was this little cave with water running through it, very cool.

The Ceremony- Picture Store Book Style

2010-09-20T07:41:00.000-07:00

Here is the storyline of the wedding ceremony. I can't believe how perfect this whole day was, I loved it.

Pulling up in the carriageMy almost husband (I think he looks excited, haha)

Miles helping me out of the carriage.

Miles turning me over to my dad and me giving my dad a hug

Me and my dad walking down the aisle
Finally I'm next to kolbe!
The wedding group
The bishop talking to us, I love this picture!Giving us counsel and and talking about the importance of loving each other.
Exchanging ringsI now pronounce you husband and wife! You may now kiss the bride.And kiss me again, just to make sure.

We are married!

I love this guy!

So happy!Im now Mrs. Heidi Launchbaugh

Kolbe helping me in to the carriage

More kissingTaking a carriage ride as husband and wife

We are married!

On My Way To Get Married

2010-09-17T06:35:00.000-07:00

I love these flowers

Best sisters!

I love my dress!

In the carriage headed to the park

Here are my cute flower girls, Kelsey (Kolbe's sister) Olivia (my best friend's daughter) Mari (my sister).

First Big Purchase as a Married Couple

2010-09-16T13:18:00.000-07:00

We bought our first big purchase together! A coffee table. It came from this really cool store called Rustic Home. This store has some amazing furniture. Our coffee table came from Indonesia or Thailand and is made of Shesam or another name is Indian Rosewood; it weighs at least 150 lbs and we love it!
P.S. wedding pictures are coming soon.

Celebrate Halloween

2010-09-14T09:28:00.000-07:00

I think I'm a little bit ahead of the holiday season, but how could I not share this with you?

I Do

2010-08-27T09:55:00.000-07:00

I'm getting married today! (obviously I created this post a few days ago) I'm so excited to start a new life with an amazing guy. Kolbe is a perfect fit for me in so many ways, I would list them all but you all might stop reading because it would be too gushy. But I do know that I can't wait to go on this new adventure with him by my side. Pictures of the wedding and me and Kolbe will be posted sometime in the near future. But you probably won't see much of me for the next few weeks, ha, I'll be a little busy being the new Mrs. Launchbaugh!

Give Yourself Some Detail

2010-08-23T09:25:00.000-07:00

I love this idea of adding detail on the wall without art or mirrors. It looks like some simple molding was made to give the wall a panelled custom look. The strong rectangular shape gives comfort and strength to the space as well as drawing the eye upward which gives to the feeling of height and grandeur in this room. This would be a relatively easy and inexpensive project to DIY. If your budget is even tighter or you don't want the molding I think you could accomplish this look with paint too, but make sure you tape off really well or you might end up with a nice big mess!

An Aged Love

2010-08-18T09:46:00.000-07:00

This kitchen just seems to be reminiscent of the old life. Curved lines, rushed-cane seating, robin egg blue island, carved stone fireplace, and a romantic curved chandelier. Who else agrees?

Here They Are!

2010-08-16T07:11:00.000-07:00

So here is the finished product of my announcement, I'm pretty excited about them. It was a rush to get them done, I guess that's what happens when you have a 6 week engagement. We are down to 12 days and I can't wait!! For all of you close by I would love to see you there!

Engagement Photos!

2010-08-13T08:24:00.000-07:00

So here are a few of our engagement pictures, we went to La Jolla beach in San Diego, and had a blast! Kolbe's good friend Erica was our photographer and she did a great job! This is one of my favorites! I can't believe I'm getting married in 2 weeks!

Words of Wisdom

2010-08-11T13:55:00.000-07:00

I'm in the middle of wedding plans, packing, new roommates moving in and finishing up my job. Not to mention fitting some quality phone time in with my fiance! But I know everything will get done and look awesome and the most important part IS I'm getting married.

A Place to Eat

2010-08-10T09:37:00.000-07:00

What I like about this kitchen

Creamy white cabinets with lots of focus on detail to create a custom feel
Classic white and grey marble
Dark hardwood floors
Microwave and kid level
Tall tufted fabric barstools in the light blueish gray color I like so much
Big commercial range and hood
Pendant lighting over the island

The BIG 3-0

2010-08-07T08:53:00.000-07:00

Wow! I feel like 29 just cruised by and 30 seems to be en route to do be the same. I looked back to my post when I turned 29 and realized that 29 was all that I needed it to be. I accomplished some great bucket list things and had a lot of fun and learned some very valuable lessons and found myself a little more. I am also realizing that life is like wine, it gets better with time and I'm grateful I think I'm aging well and enjoying life. Now I get to experience life in my 30's! I'm a little freaked out by that but mostly I'm ready to keep cruising and see where life and my 30's will take me!

Blue and Wavy

2010-08-05T08:12:00.000-07:00

I feel like I post about kitchens more then anything else but I'm drawn to kitchens for some reason. It may be because I was a kitchen designer for 4 years or maybe its because you find kitchens like this and you can't help but be drawn to them. Now I don't think I would ever need to have a kitchen like this but it definitely keeps with my theme of being different and daring to let your style shine! Or wave or whatever your style feels like it needs to be. And again any space with big windows like this kitchen gets my vote.

Bold and Orange

2010-08-04T07:27:00.000-07:00

Dare to be bold and daring and different. Don't just design your home to appease a trend or to do what other people tell you is good design. Take a chance and be different, love the space you live in because it reflects who you are and inspires your to be happier and love life and living a little more. That is what design is all about, being more content with your surroundings, making the little things be the pieces that make you smile and appreciate your house.

Fieldtrip time!

2010-08-02T08:47:00.000-07:00

I'm headed to the World Market with my students. Where are we going you might ask? Oh just Las Vegas, one of the hottest places to be in July! There will be showroom after showroom of everything imaginable for an interior. Furniture, accessories, lighting, bedding, mattresses, rugs, and so much more. It should be lots of fun. And secretly I plan on sneaking out a few times and taking a nice refreshing dip in the pool.

Bass Lake

2010-07-26T08:04:00.000-07:00

I will be spending the week here. Kolbe's family gets together every year here, I'm excited. It's really close to Yosemite which I have been wanting to hike in. There will be lots of boating, swimming, games and I hope lounging around and relaxing.

A Note on Love

2010-07-23T07:05:00.000-07:00

"To love someone is to be the only one to see a miracle invisible to others"

-Francois Mauriac

A sweet guy wrote this in a note to me recently. And the more I expereince love the more I believe it to be true. I feel very lucky and excited to be able to keep experiencing this miracle every day! (yes I know a little cheesy an a little love struck but really can you blame me??)

Big News

2010-07-19T22:49:00.000-07:00

I'm Engaged!!!

So I haven't chatted much about this amazing guy in my life, but his name is Kolbe. And he has swept me off my feet (I know cheesy but that's okay). I met him the night before I went on my singles cruise. He was a friend of a friend. We got to chatting and had fun and when I got back from the cruise we became friends on facebook and chatted every day. He flew out to see me the next weekend and we've taken turns flying back and forth between Utah and San Diego every other week since then.

This last week Kolbe's dad, stepmom and little sister were in Logan and I met them. A few nights later they wanted to get together for dinner. We decided I would meet them at their hotel room and when I knocked on their door Kolbe answered the door! He had flown in and surprised me and then asked me to marry him. It was a perfect engagement and we spent the rest of the weekend spending time with family and making wedding plans. We are getting married August 27th in Logan, Utah. I'm so excited and happy that I have found an amazing guy to spend the rest of my life with!Me and Kolbe out on a motorcycle ride

A Little Gardening Time

2010-07-19T08:55:00.000-07:00

I got my flower bed planted, quite awhile ago, so I figured I would show some pictures. It looks different now, maybe I will have to take a current one to show how everything has grown and all the fun colors. I just wish the Utah heat wasn't so rough on it.

I have really enjoyed having these potted plants on the steps. I planted a tomato plant and a cucumber plant in 2 of these, yum!

A Walking Adventure

2010-07-16T20:43:00.000-07:00

What do you do when you have 2 kids, 2 dogs and you want to go on a walk?

Deja decided a few blocks in that she was done with the walk so I put her in this cool little spot, it worked quite well.