Wednesday, October 12, 2011

lucky kids

Look at these fab bedrooms by Jan Eleni, a designer from NYC.

Remodelista posted this round-up awhile back.  Jan's method is to really get to know and understand the children she's designing for, to create a bedroom that's very nurturing and inspiring.  Looks like she's got it right. These rooms are all so different.

I love the top two. Whimsical and sweet.

I really have to get working on Henry and Sophies' bedrooms! I might just steal the cork board wall idea!






Thursday, October 6, 2011

Happy Friday

My new favorite 20x200 artist, Jennifer Sanchez. Image this poster size!



Tuesday, October 4, 2011

Paleo me

So my latest dietary experiment is with the Paleo diet (I know, it's always something!). I'm not sure why I didn't explore this before - it's basically all animal protein, almost all vegetables and most fruits. Sugar and grains and dairy are the big no-no's. This is easy for me - I've been doing something similar to this for awhile, except I would usually allow for non-grain grains like millet and quinoa. I've committed for a month btw.

I have to say, this diet is not that hard unless you're used to eating tons of sugar and carbs in which case you'd have to take time to ease into it. For me, fruit satisfies the sweet cravings and the heavy meat, healthy fat allowance fills me up. The key, as always, is cooking. You have to cook alot. So...you guessed it, that's what I've been doing. My crockpot and I are becoming fast friends! That said, I've already lost a few pounds and noticed an energy shift within the past few weeks. All good stuff.

Below is a great recipe by The Caveman Gourmet I found for a zucchini muffin for anyone who wants to sample a Paleo baked good. I had these recently when a friend brought them over and they were amazing. And they are basically protein which makes them even better. Very easy to digest as well. Enjoy, and let me know what you think!


 
Ingredients
Makes 30 mini-muffins
6 eggs
2 cups zucchini (shredded)
2/3 cups pitted dates (approximately 9 dates)
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon apple butter
3 cups almond flour
Directions
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
- Separate egg whites and yolks and set aside. Take your raw zucchini and shred them. For 2 cups worth – I used 4 small/medium sized zucchini.  Put shredded zucchini in a strainer and press or squeeze with hands to get excess liquid out. (Alternatively you can use paper towels but I find there’s so much liquid that you’re using too many paper towels and it’s a bit wasteful.) 
- Blend the dates until you get a finely chopped mixture.  In a large bowl, whisk the egg yolks, dates, cinnamon and apple butter. Once those are evenly mixed, add the zucchini and almond flour and hand mix thoroughly. Set aside.
- Take your room temperature egg whites and put in a VERY dry bowl.
- With a mixer, whisk on high until a soft peak forms and the egg whites are not liquidy. 
- Once you have a Cool Whip type of texture, fold the egg whites into the zucchini/flour batter.  I do this slowly – one cup at a time so that the egg foam air bubbles are incorporated throughout the batter.
- When you are done folding all of the egg whites and batter together, spoon the mixture into mini muffin pans. Bake for 30 minutes (you can always do the toothpick test to see if it comes out clean when you poke it in the center). Serve warm or at room temperature!

Tuesday, September 27, 2011

Happy Moms = Happy Families

This is so very true right? The tone, energy and happiness level of the mother in a family will spread into the lives of all the family members.  Cranky, uptight mom = stressed household. Happy, calm, in-tune mom = calm household. There are obviously many exceptions but I love this saying because to me, nothing could be more accurate.  So if this is the case, doesn't it make sense for all mothers to put themselves first in the priority line? I know - easy to say, hard to do. Which gets me to this book: The 10 Habits of Happy Mothers by Meg Meeker. I just love the title.



I noticed this last week on the shelf of my local bookstore. My instinct was to quickly scan the book to find out what the top ten list was and then move on, but upon further thought I decided I should just get the darn book. And I will but I wanted to tell you about the book first (I might download the book tonight as a matter of fact and just share the top 10 list with you all later).

In the meantime, and on this very important subject matter, here are two blogs I love that also help with the challenge of finding your personal centeredness and finding more balance in your life. Yes both are about yoga but regardless they are great websites filled with great information for busy woman.

www.pranamama.com
www.yogahealer.com (you have to dig around a bit on this site, but the good info is there. She has some great download-able interviews under resources too)

Enjoy! And I'll be back for a part two on the book once I read it!

Sunday, September 18, 2011

Paper Art

Oh my. This lady is creative. Below is the work of Elly MacKay of Theatre Clouds. She makes amazing theatrical three dimensional scenes from paper and paint/ink. You can view and buy her work on Etsy.


Here's a brief write up of her process: "I make these images by inking yupo paper and cutting it into layers that I set up in a miniature theater. I play with the lights and filters to create atmosphere and then photograph the scenes."

Each piece seems to tell a sweet little story doesn't it? I'm in awe!





 I love this one below called "With the Luck of a Rabbit"









Thursday, September 15, 2011

shopping with Vicky

Interesting site for fun pieces of vintage furniture &  accessories. Vickysyardsale.com. 

Not a ton of inventory but she has some cool art deco and mid century vintage yard sale'y type stuff at good prices. And the nice thing about this is that you don't have to go yard sale hoping yourself to score something cool.  Her inventory changes often so it's good to check in every now and then.

Here's a smattering of her stuff!


Cool chairs. 



Not going to name price on this. I have my eye on these mod little tables.

 
25 for a set of cool glasses.


Bright and fun vintage ice bucket. I think 30.


Bone salad tongs. 12.


Japanese deco plates. 35.

Sunday, September 11, 2011

Back Pack filter

Here we go. School has started so it's time to start thinking about school necessities. This year my son has an old lime green LLBean back pack from last year which I'm hoping will last but it's my preschooler who wants/needs her first pack. So I started searchn. 

Good news! LLbean no more. There are some goodies out there. Starting below with my favorite! 
And I love how these are all normal child-sized packs and not made for a giant's back!

Poketo back-packs! $58.






For the hipster. The Spiketus Rex from Madpax. Love these too. $28-60.





For the engineer. Herschel's, The Settlement orange back-pack. Lasts forever. Not too big. $49.
 For the new englanders. The NorthFace. Lots of colors and a perfect price of $29. Love the handle.
And finally...the fashionista pick. A Bakker Made with Love pack called The 
Mini Cartable Jouy Rose. $60.


Monday, September 5, 2011

Porch round-up

Been thinking about my little screened in porch these days. The one I inherited when we bought our new house. It's dirty and spider riden at the moment, but I'm starting to brainstorm ideas and thought I'd show you a nice round-up I found tonight on Remodelista.

These are cool, and I can't help but love the old fashioned porch all the way down at the bottom!











Saturday, August 27, 2011

Best of the best dining on Martha's Vineyard

We arrived home from Martha's Vineyard late last night with Hurricane Irene hot on our heels. Timing not so great for our week of vacation but we had five amazing days of sun, biking, the beach and good food. I will post more later about the Best of the Vineyard, but the most pressing news is regarding our favorite restaurant: State Road Restaurant located in West Tisbury. Farm-to-table, low-key casual, but amazing food. 

So much so, that the Obama's, the Governer and Vernon Jordan decided to dine there last Thursday night - the same night as us! Two tables over from us. What luck to see the President up close and in person. Barack and Michelle Obama are so tall and elegant the two of them - and both so handsome. We were in awe. Now I love them both even more.



But back to State Road. Some pics below from their site (we were there too late to take our own pics, but wish I could have snagged one of Barack dining. We were nervous to do so with secret service literally swarming the place). We had 4 courses each with tea at the end. Everything is fresh from the island or the sea around the island. They have an amazing garden you can walk through near the restaurant. They sell their own handmade chocolate bars. They are an earthy, classy, friendly staff too. 

I usually don't like to over promote or over sell anything, but this restaurant is one of the best. Note - if you want to go, make your res weeks or months in advance. You can also check them out or buy their chocolate at www.stateroadrestaurant.com.





Had to show you - The SALTY BUTTERSCOTCH WHISKEY PUDDING with sunflower seed brittle!!



Friday, August 19, 2011

New digs

Hello strangers! How's your summer going?

I'm back from my unannounced 2 month blogging hiatus. 

I feel guilty but let me explain. I posted my house "for sale" pictures and I think I tapered off soon after because we sold! Yay!! Long story short - we sold our house rather quick, found a house soon after that, and then began the herculean effort of finalizing the financial details and packing up a house we've been in for 7 years. Not fun and all consuming when I'd rather be at the beach ofcourse.  So it's been busy and crazy to say the least!

Here are some photos I wanted to share, for two reasons. I thought I'd show you what has kept me away all these months. And I want preview the "before" pictures of the house so I can show you the "after" pictures when I've made some progress on each of the rooms.

We love most of the house -  the fireplaces, the old-world detail and the nice big kitchen (as compared to my previous 'NYC style' galley kitchen). I'm not so crazy about the paint colors in the entire house inside and out (easily fixed), but also the overall heaviness/darkness in the front part of the house (much more of a challenge). The extra bonus of this transition for us is that it has renewed and reminded me how much I love design. It's so much a part of me that I've decided I will not deny it any more darnit!  I will start taking classes again and start painting again.

So, after a long summer of busy work, and alot of work ahead, it's been a fantastic and rewarding change already. 


I'm excited to blog again and can't wait to share everything I've been reading, seeing and learning!


New house - these are the realtor.com visuals before we moved in.