Category Archives: Home

Happy Thanksgiving!

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Hi Friends! Happy Monday! How are you? How was your weekend? Are you ready for Thanksgiving? Can you believe it is just days away?!

I am signing off early from blogging this week to prepare our home for family and friends. I hope you understand! My wish is for  you each to have a pretty morning, a wonderful week and a very special Thanksgiving celebration! xxoo

For each new morning with its light,

For rest and shelter of the night,

For health and food,

For love and friends,

For everything Thy goodness sends.

-Ralph Waldo Emerson

Organization System

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It seems that everyone has their own way of staying organized. To-do lists, calendars, and apps like Evernote should make it easy to stay on top of things. But even with all that, I recently felt like I needed more. So I just installed the Pottery Barn Daily System in our kitchen. And I have to say that I love it! I used the Linen Pinboard, Letter Bin and Office Organizer. And we now have a place for mail, magazines, car keys, school papers, invitations, cute pictures and more! How do you stay organized at home?

 {image: Pottery Barn}

Happy Monday!

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Hi Friends! How have you been? I’ve missed you.

I really enjoyed my two-week break from blogging, but I am excited to be back. I have so much to share with you!

Let’s start with an update on the Bathroom Remodel Project:

 This is the “before” photo.

 This was “demo day”.

 And this is about 8 days of work!

Yay! We’re almost done! xxoo

Happy “Haunted” Weekend!

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Hi Friends! Happy Friday! How are you? How was your week? Are you up to anything spooky or scary this weekend? It’s amazing to think that Halloween is just a few days away and October is almost over. Soon we will be planning our Thanksgiving menus and making holiday shopping lists! Wow.

Next week is a really big week at our house! Gabby starts school on Monday. She is so ready and I am so excited for her. And Alex’s birthday is on Friday. Fun! Plus we have a lot of Halloween activities, including a party on Wednesday night.  So, given all the action at home, I decided to use up some vacation days (yes, from that real job!) and have the week off work. I will also be taking the week off from blogging to make it a true “stay-cation”! This way I can really focus on family, work on some house projects and enjoy a little bit of down time (AKA “relax”)!

Have a great day and a pretty morning (and a fabulous week!). xxoo

 {image: pinterest}

Bathroom Remodel

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We recently learned that we have to gut our master bathroom because of some plumbing problems. This is rather bitter-sweet news. On one hand, it means that we get a brand new bathroom (yeah!), but on the other hand it means we are going to live in the middle of a construction zone for 3-4 weeks (fingers crossed!). But the good news is that is not our first master bathroom remodel project! About a year and a half ago (right before Gabby was born) we remodeled the master bathroom in our old house. So yesterday, I started pulling inspiration and also visited a few tile showrooms to get samples. We are still deciding on many of the components, but I love the idea of a blue/grey and white bathroom. Isn’t the image below just lovely?! Let the remodel begin!

 {image: google}

Chicken Soup

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There is something about Fall that makes me crave soup. It’s warm and filling and it just makes me feel cozy. Last week, I found a recipe for Chicken Tortilla Soup and decided to try it. I made some changes to the recipe (some were intentional, others not so much) but it turned out great! Here is the original recipe:

INGREDIENTS:

1 (15 ounce) can whole peeled tomatoes,
mashed
1 (10 ounce) can enchilada sauce
1 medium onion, chopped
1 (4 ounce) can chopped green chile
peppers
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 cups water
1 (14.5 ounce) can chicken broth
1 teaspoon cumin
1 teaspoon chili powder
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1 bay leaf
1 (10 ounce) package frozen corn
1 tablespoon chopped cilantro
7 corn tortillas
vegetable oil
DIRECTIONS:
1. Place chicken, tomatoes, enchilada sauce, onion, green chiles, and garlic into a slow cooker. Pour in water and chicken broth, and season with cumin, chili powder, salt, pepper, and bay leaf. Stir in corn and cilantro. Cover, and cook on Low setting for 6 to 8 hours or on High setting for 3 to 4 hours.
2. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C).
3. Lightly brush both sides of tortillas with oil. Cut tortillas into strips, then spread on a baking sheet.
4. Bake in preheated oven until crisp, about 10 to 15 minutes. To serve, sprinkle tortilla strips over soup.

And here are the changes I made…

-I used all the white meat from a rotisserie chicken.

-I used cream of chicken soup instead of enchilada sauce.

-I omitted the garlic, chili powder and bay leaf.

-I served it with crumbled tortilla chips, add some shredded cheddar and a dollop of sour cream.

It was DELICIOUS!

PS - The Cincinnati Zoo’s new baby giraffe has a name! It’s Lulu! xx

Clutter

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I recently read a great article (while traveling to Fishers Island!) in Time Magazine by Joel Stein. The article, titled Stuff and Nonsense, was all about clutter in the average American household. I was astounded and mesmerized by the facts included in the article…

  • The average family has 52 items on the refrigerator.
  • 78% of families have a TV in their bedroom.
  • 75% of families don’t use their garage solely for storage.
  • The US has 3.1% of the world’s kids and 40% of its toys.
  • The average family has on display 438 books and magazines, 212 CDs, 90 DVDs and VHS tapes and 139 toys.
  • The average family has 39 pairs of shoes.

40% of the world’s toys are in this country!? Wow. Excuse me… I have to go purge my basement!

{source: Time Magazine}

Moving Announcements

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Happy Monday! How are you? How was your weekend? We had a wonderful time with our friends in town! Even though we did not make it to the pool because of lousy weather, we enjoyed lots of delicious food and too many laughs to count. I love weekends like that!

I have recently been contemplating the idea of sending moving announcements. As you know, last month we moved to a new house, but still in Cincinnati. Most of our close family and friends are aware and have our new information, however I think it might be thoughtful to send out formal announcements. Functionally, a moving announcement is a printed way of telling friends and loved ones that you moved and how to get in touch with you. By sending a moving announcement, you are asking the recipient to keep in contact with you and your family. Plus I love pretty stationary! Here are some of my favorites…

{image credit: Tiny Prints}

{image credit: Boatman Geller}

{image credit: Minted}