Blueberries on my sandwich

I thought I'd share this cute moment from yesterday: my 2.5-year-old gingerly placing blueberries on his breakfast sandwich; basically toasted hamburger buns spread generously with Nutella and butter.

Happy 4th of July

It was a good kick-off to the 3-day weekend celebration. We began Friday with some refreshing watermelon slices for late morning snack followed by delicious homemade hamburgers for lunch. While my littlest one was having his afternoon nap and my eldest was playing with his Dad, I took the free time and watched Australia (thumbs up!). After the movie, we rounded up the boys and went out for sushi.

The fireworks event in our town tonight is definitely the highlight; the boys are so excited about it. Have a fun and relaxing weekend, everyone!

Tuesday's inspiration

I just found out about the Sky Planter. No mess; upside down. Imagine a row of these with ferns and fronds hanging above the patio. Love it. Want it.

Today's breakfast...

... actually a late morning snack... orange marmalade and Nutella on a slice of whole wheat bread. A quick fold-over of the bread and deliciousness awaits.

Tuesday's inspiration ...a day later

Today I am inspired by the interior of Restored in Amsterdam. Perhaps one day, in one of my dream homes, I will paint a room and its furniture like this.

Crafty sneak peek ~ altered picture frame

One of the Father's Day gifts for my husband this year was a picture frame which my boys and I had altered. My boys had specific intentions for the frame; "this is for you to bring to work, Daddy" they instructed him excitedly.

I covered the front and sides of the unfinished wood frame with Cosmo Cricket's Slim Jim paper from their Wanted collection. To embellish the frame, my boys chose some cute ready-made wood elements; we then adhered these onto the frame with extra strength glue dots. And to add a final whimsy touch, I stamped a vintage four-leaf clover image "like it's flying in the air" as my eldest son observed.

The frame turned out so cute! And it was such a quick and easy project to do with kids. We were thrilled to see my husband's reaction when he saw this gift, he simply loved it, yeah!

Tuesday's inspiration

I love the romantic feel of this corner bookmark and these tags; so sweet aren't they! See more at etsy store Seasonal Delights. I'm swooning!

Homemade French Vanilla ice-cream

I must have been in the boonies because guess what I found out only last week? Kitchenaid has an ice-cream maker attachment for their fabulous Stand Mixer! Wha-- since when? Shows you how much "on the know" I am, ha! Anyway, here's how we stumbled upon this prized information.

My husband had previously used EggBeaters (y'know, the pasteurized liquid egg product that comes in a carton) to make homemade ice-cream. But last Tuesday, he decided that he wanted to use fresh egg yolks to make a more custardy ice-cream. To do that, he needed to temper 8 egg yolks with heavy whipping cream. Since we both hadn't tempered anything before, we went seeking YouTube for step-by-step visuals. So glad we did because we came upon Scott Hargrove's video on how to make homemade French Vanilla ice-cream, and that is where we saw the Kitchenaid ice-cream maker and in action too! So thank you Scott for a terrific video and this invaluable piece of info. By the way, check out Scott's cooking videos, they're great!

The very next day I went to Target and snapped up the last remaining box on the shelf. My husband gladly boxed up our month-old Rival one, thrilled to be done with rock salt and ice forever, woohooo! We love this Kitchenaid attachment, it's so easy to use, no ice or rock salt to mess with at all.

We followed Scott's French Vanilla recipe and tempering technique; it turned out wonderful! Our homemade ice-cream is so incredibly creamy and flavorful. Speaking of which, I'm going to get me a bowl now!

Three cheers for XXX Cherry 'n Chocolate cookies

It's cherry season, and this year I've decided to invest in a cherry pitter simply for two good reasons:

1) My littlest boy is a cherry fan
2) XXX Cherry 'n Chocolate cookies

So I went and bought one this morning; so glad I did! Prepping cherries to feed my little 2-year-old cherry fan is no longer an ordeal. Before, I would slice each cherry in half and dig out the seed, in short--a mess. Now, it's a cinch! "You want cherries? Sure thing, let's go get Mommy's new cherry pitter!" And my cute cherry fan is chewing fresh cherries in seconds. *Love* it!

While I was on a cherry pitter high, I went and baked Mr Oatmeal Cookie Guy's XXX Cherry 'n Chocolate cookies. Delish! We loved the intense cherry flavor! Oh, and did I say it was a breeze pitting 2 cups of fresh cherries, yeah!

Tuesday's inspiration

This cute mixed media collage by Nicola Hart totally did me in. I want a beach vacation. Give me a beach hut, sand for the kids, sea breeze for my man, and lapping blue waves for us all.

Chicken peach salad

I made this quick and easy sweet salad for lunch today. I used store-bought smoked rotisserie chicken, chopped up the breast and added them to a bowl of mixed butter lettuce and green leaf lettuce, basil, peach chunks (canned), scallions, and thinly sliced shallots. This was tossed with some white pepper and balsamic vinaigrette. Simple ingredients but full of flavor!

Tuesday's inspiration

I've been a fan of mummysam for a long time now, and this framed piece is one of my favorites. Aside from the cute Mr. Fox and his house, what drew me to this piece was her idea of taking out the glass and having the frame as a shelf, and the fact that she drew on the frame! Very cool.

Farm fresh to our door

Guess what arrived at our door before 8 o'clock this morning? A box of farm fresh organic vegetables, our first Farm Fresh to You delivery! I can't tell you enough how glad I am to have such a service available in our area.

Yes we have two farmers' markets in our town every Sunday, but only one small organic farm stall to buy from. The local supermarkets have organic fruit and vege sections, but they're pretty expensive and choices are limited. So I'm giving this CSA home delivery service a try; I'm liking it so far!


Today's box contained:
2 braeburn apples
3 big heirloom tomatoes
1 bunch spring onions
1 bunch rosemary
1 bunch dandelion greens
1 head lettuce
1 bag of sweet gypsy peppers
1 bunch nantes carrots (so cute)
1 galia melon
1 pint strawberries


I like that I'm getting produce that I've never tried or knew about before, such as the galia melon, dandelion greens and sweet gypsy peppers. Can't wait to try them. By the way, aren't those small nantes carrots cute!

Homemade KitKat ice-cream

Fancy some homemade KitKat ice-cream? My husband, self-designated ice-cream maker in our household, made a sweet cream base and used the recipe from the Ben & Jerry's Homemade Ice Cream & Dessert Book. Our first homemade ice-cream was on Mother's Day when he made us some creamy Oreo Mint ice-cream, I'm still dreaming about that one! The mint was just the perfect amount, so gooD!

Tuesday's inspiration ...2 days later

I instantly fell in love with these beautiful collages at etsy store Sascalia. I'm so inspired by these Mom and baby themes; love the whimsy in them.


The blue in this spring flowers collage caught my eye right away; love the blue and the colorful flowers that pop out of it!

My new tin thing

I couldn't believe my good luck at Marshalls last Thursday. I was strolling through the outdoor decor aisle when this cute tin wall decor item stopped me in my tracks.

I picked it up, inspected it, and got giddy with glee as my brain shot images of different nooks in my house that would be perfect for it. So I bought it on clearance for $7! When I went home, I peeled back the red tag and was surprised that its original price was $28. Woohoo, score!

I still have no clue what I'd put in the adorable little buckets (not herbs or plants for sure), but this thing is so darn cute! It makes me smile every time I look at it.

Swimming and summers

Wearing their swimming vests... can you see how excited they are!
This past Saturday was the start of swim season for my family; I love our together time in the pool. Lots of splashes, laughter, and pride.

We ate an early breakfast, watched some cartoons, and around 10 A.M. the kids got super excited getting into their swim gear. This will become our summer Saturday routine. If you remember, we started swimming regularly late last year, so I'm glad we're doing it much earlier this year.

I've a friend who mentioned that she has *counted* exactly how many summers she has left until her wee kids head to college because she wants to be sure she makes the most of them. How wonderful is that! I am inspired.

Chips and pretzels in my cookie

Potato chips, Fritos corn chips, and pretzels in a cookie? I was intrigued. So yesterday I made Oatmeal Cookie Guy's Copycat Momofuku Compost Cookie.

I skipped the coffee grounds and replaced the peanut butter chips and chocolate chips with Reese's baking pieces (milk chocolate with peanut butter crème).

Can you spot the ruffled potato chip peeking out of this cookie? (I used Ruffles original potato chips)
This cookie recipe is now one of our family favorites! We enjoyed the chippy crunch and the salty-sweetness in each cookie. Loved it! Funny, my hub surprised me when he told me he really liked this cookie even before I had the chance to get his feedback (which is typically the case). And when I told him it contained potato chips, Fritos corn chips, and pretzels, his reaction was priceless! Yeah!

Thanks Oatmeal Cookie Guy for sharing another delicious cookie recipe!

Tuesday's inspiration

Aren't these a cute alternative to plain tin buckets! Me thinks me craft room needs some of these. See these and more at etsy store Tiny Decor.

Cherry chocolate-chunk cookies

Yesterday I made a batch of cherry chocolate-chunk cookies after watching John Barricelli make his on the Martha Stewart Show.

John's cookie recipe had good feedback, except I noticed one reviewer had mentioned that they were too flat. That raised the red flag for me; flat cookies do not appeal to me. So I decided to tweak his recipe. I used 1 cup of dark brown sugar and a half-cup of granulated sugar instead of light-brown sugar and granulated sugar from his recipe. I also skipped the toffee bits and replaced it with a cup of semi-sweet chocolate chips. By the way, I used whole dried tart cherries (Stoneridge Orchards) which I bought from Costco.

The cookies turned out incredibly good! They weren't flat either, yay! I loved the melty chocolate chunks and that cherry and dark chocolate combo ...oh me oh my, heavenly!