Green with Envy?

You should be!

I have had a recent obsession with green (1-3 years :). I've used it in my living and dining room a good bit and in the kitchen as well. I have a great set of green trimmed linen placemats from Williams-Sonoma that I LOVE and have been trying to collect this glassware from Anthropologie to go with them.

I received some of the tumblers for Christmas and am about to start on the juice glasses. I also have slowly been purchasing these goblets to match. They are $12 on-line...which I refuse to pay. Thankfully Anthro has had them on sale in the store for $7.95 the past few months. So, every once in a while I'll go pick one up. My collection has grown to 4 and today while perusing the sale section I thought I'd grab another when I noticed the sign above the shelf read $3.95. The sticker on the glasses was still at $8 so I asked the sales clerk for come clarification, trying not to get my hopes up. Well, my hopes shot through the roof as she told me that yes, they were $4 a piece. And with that I purchased the remaining 8 goblets to complete my set of 12!

I can't wait to get them home and set the table with linens and all.

"I'm a Yankee Doodle Dandy"

"...Born on the 4th of July"

No. I was not born on the 4th of July, but my grandmother was. Because of that (and my mother's love for all things patriotic) we always have a big 4th of July celebration. It usually involves my father's famous Bar-B-Q, good desserts, fireworks, compliments of my brothers, and sometimes a trip to the lake to celebrate with the extended family.

My parents are wonderful gardeners and this year my mother is growing blackberry bushes. They have produced a-plenty and so the birthday dessert this year is blackberry cobbler!

Another favorite that takes advantage of summer fruit is Martha's Cheesecake Flag!

Trash Collector

I have been wanting to get rid of my square kitchen table for a while and replace it with a round one, preferably one with a pedestal base. Like this one...

To my delight I received a call from my mother one day and she told me the following, "I was driving down the street and saw a great table sitting out by the trash. It's in great shape, it's just ugly so I grabbed it for you if you want it." Now my mother is a PRO at trash day shopping. I have a living room chair, a vacuum cleaner, two front porch rocking chairs, a planter and now a kitchen table from the trash heaps she has scavenged.

When I finally got home to see the table it was perfect...and it was UGLY (see picture).

Here is a close-up of the leaves...

I might live in the Magnolia State, but I do not want them on my kitchen table.

Always the seeker for affordable and easy solutions I grabbed dad's electric sander and a few bottles of ivory spray paint and went to work. It took a good while to get the maroon and gold-trimmed magnolias off the table (yes, there were metallic gold "accents" all over it), but it worked and was definitely worth it!

Caramel Dreams

So, I forgot to add the topping for the ice cream mentioned in the previous post!

I had been challenged by my supper club to bring something caramel for dessert. Not being a huge caramel fan and never having cooked it myself I decided to use it as a topping for the ice cream. So I bought the ingredients, found a recipe and headed to the kitchen.

Not to brag, but I am a good cook. I don't recall ever messing up a recipe. This one, however, was not so easily conquered. It took me not one, not two, but THREE tries. I actually switched to another recipe for #3. My first two attempts resulted in the following...

-a great thing to have on hand for fending off wild animals or if you are planning a weapons manufacturing business. The sugar re-crystallized (because the recipe told me to swirl the pot - a big NO NO) and when I poured it out it hardened into this lump of rock.

This is a picture of what is supposed to happen:

And here is the recipe for the desired results - Thank you Food Network!

Caramel Sauce

2 cups sugar

1/4 cup water
1/2 cup heavy cream

Combine the sugar and water in a large heavy saucepan over medium heat. Cook, swirling the pot around, until the mixture is a deep caramel color and looks like syrup, about 8 minutes. Carefully pour in the cream (it will bubble up) and continue to cook for another minute. Cool to room temperature.

Just Peachy!

"Life is better than death, I believe, if only because it is less boring and because it has fresh peaches in it." - Thomas Walker

I live in a peach-colored house.
I live on Peachtree Street.
My front yard has two small peachtrees in it.
And, thankfully, they have lots of peaches on them!

Here is a pic of one of the trees before the fruit was ripe.

Not much to look at, right? WRONG! This tree is now covered with peaches and they are soooooo good. (Sadly I forgot to take a picture of the trees before I left town.)

If you are in the mood for a peachy summer recipe, try the one below. I made it with peaches from the yard and it turned out great!

Peach Ice Cream

1 can sweetened condensed milk
6 eggs
1 qt 1/2 and 1/2
1 tsp flour
1 qt. peaches
Whole milk
Dash of salt
1 1/2 cup sugar
1 can evaporated milk

Combine sc. Milk, sugar, flour over medium heat. Add small amount of whole milk. Add beaten eggs and cook, stirring constantly till it starts to thicken. DO NOT boil! Remove and cool. Add other ingredients to make 1 ½ gal. Pour in freezer and add whole milk to gallon line.

Spellling Bee...

For some reason I have always been fond of letters. I've always wanted to spell a witty remark out on my walls. Unfortunately some have taken that a bit to far and now there is no shortage of signage for sale - everything from menus to wishes for a good night's sleep. These Anthropologie letters, however, I find charming for one's initials or to spell out a short direction or label.



But, since I refuse to spend $12.00 at the moment for one adorable fabric covered letter, I tried to find a way to make them myself. I didn't have to look far! I found paper maché letters at Hobby Lobby for only a few dollars. Some I covered with fabric and some I painted. So for those of you who would rather spend $48 on a pair of shoes, try making these yourself.

DIY! Got to love it!

I have always considered myself to be a pretty "crafty" person. This has come in handy while trying to decorate on a budget. I received a beautiful buffet for my birthday that was just screaming for a mirror to hang over it. I knew what I wanted..something along these lines.

However, since I can't afford this one...I made this one!


I inherited a huge mirror with an unfortunately ugly brown frame and happened to find this fabulous paint called Modern Masters. It's a line of metallics that aren't obnoxious. They have a great color called "warm silver". It's not quite gold, but not quite silver.

After two coats of paint and a clear finish I have a pretty decent copy-cat!

Yesterday's Near Tragedy

Yesterday's weather was absolutely gorgeous so a group of us decided to spend the afternoon out at the Reservoir. We came armed with quilts, a Frisbee, books and even a bottle of wine (which we forgot to drink). Anticipating a warm day in the sun I brought my favorite Nalgene Bottle filled with filtered water (it's not a good idea to drink the water here) and placed it in my bag along with the usual camera, ipod, day-planner, phone, book, etc... you get the point. Up until yesterday I believed all Nalgene products to be 100% leakproof...that is not true. After about an hour of springtime bliss I reached into my bag to retrieve my book and found it floating. Thanks to quick-thinking and helpful friends nothing was permanently damaged, although my day-planner is now wrinkled from April to June. This morning I looked up my favorite bottle and found that because of it's great design "this easy, one-handed access means the OTG can't be 100% leakproof ". So while I agree that this is a great buy, you should follow the advice of the folks from Nalgene and "don't put it upside down in your backpack".