Objectified

Just got my new OXO salad spinner in the mail and it reminded me of this amazing documentary we watched last year about the creation of objects.  It is such a great film and I would recommend it to everyone, it really makes you think about the objects we all use.

I fell in love with shower curtains

As mentioned before I have been slowly revamping little bits of our house.  My Mom recently gave me a couple of old shaving tools that belonged to both of my Grandfathers and a light bulb of inspiration went off in my head for the bathrooms.  Later that day I stumbled upon these shower curtains and fell in love! One for Brad's bathroom and one for mine.  Both rooms still need a bit of work but they are well on the way now.

My Girly Bathroom Curtain

Brad's Old Fashion Barbershop curtain.  Now if only I had that bathtub too!

Key Lime Coolers

Last night we went to our friends housewarming Oscar party and everyone brought a dish.  I was asked to bring these Key Lime Coolers I made last summer for a sundayfunday and I was happy to oblige.  They are the perfect size mini cheesecakes and the lime in them just puts them over the top! Personally with the lime I like them best in the summer but they are a great any time party treat.  Hope you enjoy!

Ingredients

• 24 Key Lime Cooler cookies ( I can never find so I just use Nilla waffers)
• 8 ounces cream cheese, softened
• 1 egg
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 2 tablespoons lime juice, preferably Key lime
• 1 teaspoon lime zest
• Fresh sweetened whipped cream
• Mint leaves or lime zest, for garnish

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Fill 2 (12-muffin) mini muffin tins with paper cups and spray cups with cooking spray. Place 1 Key Lime Cooler cookie in the bottom of each cup, flat side down.

Prepare filling. Beat together cream cheese, egg, sugar, lime juice, and zest until well mixed. Fill the cups to the top. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes. Remove tarts to cool. When completely cool, fit a star tip in a pastry bag and fill with the whipped cream. Pipe the whipped cream on top of the tarts. Garnish with tiny mint leaves or lime zest.

A Paula Deen Recipe

My brother makes cheese

My brother makes cheese and I'm sure I'm a little bias but it is the best cheese in the world. I could go on and on about it but I won't, I will just say it is some of the best cheese you will ever have! Check them out and order online at sproutcreekfarm.org or if you live in the New York area go check them out, it's a beautiful place! Thanks Colin for sending me some, I can't wait to enjoy it!

February's Recipe: Hot Italian Sausage and Tomato Pasta

photo from Real Simple Magazine

Ingredients

• 1 pound dry fettuccine
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 medium red onion, sliced
• 1 clove garlic, smashed
• 4 hot Italian sausages, casings removed
• 1 pint red or yellow cherry tomatoes
• 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
• 3/4 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
• 1/2 cup fresh basil leaves, torn
• 1 cup arugula, torn
• 1/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan

Directions

1. Cook the fettuccine according to the package directions. Drain and set aside.

2. Meanwhile, heat the oil in a large saucepan over medium-high heat. Add the onion and garlic and cook until the onion softens, 2 to 3 minutes.

3. Add the sausage and cook about 5 minutes, using a wooden spoon to crumble it.

4. Add the tomatoes and cook until the skins burst, about 8 minutes. Stir in the vinegar, salt, and pepper.

5. Add the cooked fettuccine, basil, and arugula and toss gently to combine. Serve in bowls and top with the Parmesan.

One of my oldest and dearest friends Ange and I decided that we were going to find a day once a month to spend time together.  My husband had recently found a video tape that Ange and I had made when we were 13 of us dancing, making up talk shows, and just being silly so I invited her for dinner and to watch the tape.  I have to admit that morning, I was feeling very uninspired on what to cook that night for my NEW recipe.  I flipped through cookbooks and magazines and just wasn't feeling anything.  I decided to do a broad search on google for pasta recipes and I fell upon this from Real Simple Magazine. It actually was in a section labeled 40 great pasta recipes.  It was cold and rainy off and on that day and I felt like something comforting that night for dinner and something that would go great with a couple bottles of wine I had bought in Temecula a few weeks back. This recipe was perfect! I was so impressed that these few simple ingredients cooked together to be this rich flavorful sauce.  It was simple to make and tasted like it had been simmering in a pot all day.  The taste was so rich and flavorful but it wasn't heavy, which I liked. I served it with french bread and a simple salad and it paired perfect with all the wine.  We had such a fun time that night drinking, eating and laughing till our stomachs hurt! I feel so lucky to have such a wonderful friend to walk through life with.  This recipe is perfect for dinner with friends and I can't wait to make it again.  Hope you enjoy!        

Happy Birthday Penny Lane!

Today you are 3 and it feels like only yesterday you came into our lives and yet I can't remember what it was like with out you! You are the funniest, sweetest dog I have ever known and I hope you live forever so we will never have to know life with out you! Happy Birthday Penny Lane, I love you so much and I hope you have the best day!

Jay and Silent Bob Get Old

On Friday night I surprised my husband with an early birthday present, tickets to see Jay and Silent Bob Get Old at the Jon Lovits theater in LA.  Since we started dating Brad has always been a huge fan of Kevin Smith and his movies (Clerks, Mallrats, Dogma).  For the past year or so Kevin Smith (Silent Bob) and Jason Mewes (Jay) have been doing this pod cast recanting the old days.  We listen to it all the time and it is hysterical! I certainly wouldn't recommend it to everyone but if you are familiar with Kevin Smith you will like it.  So on friday night we battled the rain and traffic and headed to Universal City Walk.  There was a line that wrapped around the building when we got there (I did not expect that) and I was happy we had gotten there early! The show was absolutely hysterical and just the people watching alone was great! Happy early Birthday Babe, I'd say I hope you had fun but I know that you did!

My new old table

We have lived in our place now for almost 4 years.  Being the fickle creative person I am, that and the fact that I know we will stay here for at least a few more years, I wanted to freshen up our place and give it a bit of a face lift.  I have this old table in our entry way that actually use to be my Mom's vanity table when she was a teenager.  I had painted it years ago and had fallen very out of love with it.  I felt like it was this dark thing in the corner.  One day I was browsing online and I had two moments of inspiration that inspired the revival of this old sad table.  The first was this beautiful knob I saw at Anthropologie, and the second was a picture of a yellow table I had seen on some design blog (of course I don't remember which one). So that was it.  I went to Home Depot and picked out my paint, borrowed a sander from my Dad, and listened to the new Cold War Kids album on repeat.  3 days later I had a beautiful new old table to brighten up the room.  I am so happy with how it came out and I now have the bug to repaint a few more pieces.  Here are a few pictures from my project.

My picture inspiration and paint samples

The knob that inspired the project

The original table

My supplies

The color is Nutmeg by Martha Stewart Living

I loved this yellow color.  It is Solar Fusion by Behr

Watching me paint

I did 1 coat of the brown and 2 coats of the yellow

Ready to start sanding

This hand sander is awesome for small projects.  

The finished table! Not the best picture of it but this will have to do.  I love the yellow and how it just brightened up this wall! 

Weekend FUN!

We had so much fun this past weekend spending time with friends, relaxing, crafting, seeing one of our favorite bands, and celebrating Valentine's day! I fell so lucky to have such wonderful people in my life, I am truly blessed! Here's our weekend in pictures...

Friday night after work we meet up with the Snelson family for sushi date night.  We love U & I Sushi so much and being on a budget the last couple of years we don't go there nearly as much as we use to (seriously I could eat there every night). We had fun talking and stuffing ourselves silly!  We are so lucky to have such great friends like the Snelson's,  spending time with them is always the best!  And sweet Charlotte with her rosy cheeks was such a trooper to put up with all the adult time! She seriously is the cutest! 

Saturday I worked all day and it was so nice to have a relaxing quiet night after a busy weekend.  We ate BBQ, treated ourselves to Yogurtland, I did my February craft, we listened to Tom Waits and had a couple cocktails with good late night conversation!

Sunday was a beautiful day! We slept in, got bagels, and I spent the afternoon at a friends baby shower.

We met Matt and Molly (Yes it was a Snelson filled weekend and we loved it), and headed down to San Diego to see one of our favorite bands, The Decemberists. The sunset was amazing for our drive.

We stopped for dinner at The Corvette Diner.  It's one of those old 50's diners where all you order is a burger and shake, the waitress is crazy over the top, and it's always packed.  It was awesome! We played a couple rounds of skee ball while waiting for our table and walked around the arcade.  Molly and I often joke that we are married to the same man, they are big dorks, wear flannel, and laugh at there own jokes, we love them! You can only imagine the hysterics we are in when we all spend time together!  We ordered milkshakes, and burgers and cracked up at our waitress, she was crazy! Funny but CRAZY! We finished dinner and headed to the House of Blues for the show!

I love going to shows! We use to go to shows all the time and I really miss it.  It had been too long since my last concert and it was awesome to go to one after so long and see one of my favorite bands! The Decemberists always put on such a great show and their new album is AMAZING! It was such a great night!

Valentine's morning we showered each other in cheesy cards and drug store chocolate, it was great! We got dressed and went to one of our favorite breakfast spots "The Original Pancake House".  It reminds me very much of my first job,  a good breakfast place with tons of old people, an overwhelming smell of coffee and a fast pace.  I had my favorite there, crepes, and Brad his, a Dutch Baby.  We enjoyed our breakfast and people watched,  it was a perfect way to start the day!

After breakfast we swung back home, changed, grabbed the dog, and headed to my parents house to spoil my Mom and pick up my brother.  The weather was amazing and we headed up the Ortegas to the Cleveland National Forrest to do one of our favorite hikes. It's so pretty and green up there and I love this trail soo much and it was great to be out enjoying our February sunshine!  After a few hours of hiking and stopping to take in the view we finished and headed back down the mountain.  We dropped off my brother and headed home for a nice quiet Valentine's night.  I made a fantastic dinner and we watched The Fighter and 127 hours.  I am so lucky to be married to the love of my life and my best friend in the world.  It's not always perfect and thats what makes it so perfect.  We had a wonderful weekend and I hope you did to!  

Splurge

Stumbled upon this soap line and fell head over heals.  Being a Marseille soap (is required to be a minimum of 72% natural oil) it leaves your hands feeling soo soft and smelling like Heaven! It's a little pricy but I have been able to find it for under $10.00.  A must try if you ever run across it!

Let the canning begin!

Wanting these cute jars so badly for canning season.  I might just have to get my hands on a few!

Happy Love Day!

Hope everyone had a wonderful day spending time with the ones you love! Happy Valentine's Day!

February Craft

 I stubbled upon this cute craft on Design Sponge and thought it was so perfect for my February/Valentine's craft. It was really easy and it would make such a cute gift!

All you need:
-Wood
-Table saw
-Drill
-Wood Burner

On Design Sponge it says to use birch wood (birch wood is very soft and easy to burn), I couldn't find any so I just got a couple logs from the local farm.  I actually preferred the look of the darker wood but it was a bit harder so it took much more time to burn

Cut your log in half (hamburger way) and then cut each piece down the middle (hotdog way) making sure it is nice and smooth to be able to hang on a wall.  I used a hand saw at first and almost lost a finger so I definitely recommend a table saw for the entire project.  

Using your drill, drill a small hole (large enough for a nail to fit) in the back of the wood.

Chip off as little or as much of the bark as you want and figure out how you want to do your design. Let your  wood burner get really hot and start burning out your design.  I just love how they turned out!

I love the idea that they looked like tree carvings of love.  

What a perfect craft for Valentine's day!

Hope you enjoy! I had so much fun doing this craft! 

January Jones for Versace

Ran across the new Versace accessories campaign today featuring the lovely January Jones.  Love the style and the hair! Such a classic beauty!