What I've Been Reading ...

Although I've been fantastically busy lately, I've found time to pick up a few books and read. Usually during naptime, after the girl goes to bed or on lazy Sunday afternoons.

Most of what I read is, admittedly, completely for fun. Which more or less means a fairly low reading level - which after my days of academic reading, I'm slightly shy to admit.

But then when you throw in day after day after day of life with an almost 2 year old, then you understand what "mom brain" is and why I literally can't read or comprehend anything more than fun books.

That said, I think I forgot to mention the book I read over our June vacation.

The Story of Stuff has been on my list and it added a bunch of other books to my reading list (included the next one in line).

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Suffice to say, this wasn't fun reading, per say, (stats throughout the entire thing) but it was so practical and revealing. If you are interested in materialism, consumerism or practicing simplicity, it's a great resource to get you started!

Which leads me to 7.

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Another great, practical (and super funny!) resource on how families can participate in simpler living.

Totally switching gears ...

I've been wanting to attend a book club led by one of our church friends but I haven't gotten ahold of the books in time (too many holds at the library!), I couldn't finish it in time, or they were just too complicated for my mom brain at 8pm at night ...

Finally! I got one and read it through. 11/22/63 is a new Stephen King novel - quite long, but a fast read. We're discussing it at the end of the month and I can't wait to join up with the book club for the first time!

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I have to admit, there was WAY more language than I would prefer, but I really wanted to participate in this one. Past that, the storyline was SO interesting ... and I couldn't put it down! My penchant for the past made me swallow this one hook-line-and-sinker.

Another book club book, The Night Circus, I just finished about 10 minutes ago. And I loved it. In sort of an Alice in Wonderland way. The author, Erin Morgenstern, is incredibly talented ... the whole time I was reading it felt like a dream (completely intended by her, but totally believable!) It used beautiful, descriptive language without being forced. It was completely "magic" but still believable. That makes a good author if you ask me ...

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Honestly, the ending still eludes me a bit, but I'd read it anyway. This is a January book club discussion, so maybe I'll be able to understand more then.

Last one for this post is Room. I was intrigued by Jess' description so I reserved it for our trip to Nashville.

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I was VERY confused at first and found it difficult to read the nuances of a five year old narrator, but about halfway through finally started to understand his language and get into his story (which I think was, again, totally intentional by the author). By the end I was choked up - a hard story told in a way that didn't make it less horrifying, but put a perspective spin on it that made it readable. Pick it up, I do recommend this one.

*****

That's it! Have you read anything good lately?

CSA Week 19 - with a couple recipes

This week...

... a bag of lettuce, a bag of salad greens, several Asian eggplants, a lb of green beans, half dozen eggs, a pound of Roma tomatoes, and 2 large white/yellow peppers and a tiny red one.

I have to admit that with the Market frenzy in my head, I've had much less time to meal plan and think about how to use our produce. But, I'm still trying. :-)


I did have a new recipe success and thought I'd share.

Arugula-Cilantro Pesto
(*source is a CSA website I can't find at the moment...)

1 C arugula (or so)
1 C cilantro (or so)
2 lg garlic cloves
1/2 C olive oil
1/2 C grated parmesan
2 tbsp. pine nuts (or more)
salt and pepper to taste

Whirl it all in the food processor - and yummy! Freeze any extra in small portions for a quick meal.

** I fried some chicken pieces and we had chicken-pesto pasta. Then a couple days later, I made a pizza with the pesto as the sauce, chicken, green/red peppers and sliced grape tomatoes with mozzarella on top. Also quite good!


White Bean Soup with Winter Greens 
(*adapted from vegetarian version in From Our House to Yours cookbook with Italian sausage)

2 cans navy beans, drained (you can use lb of dried beans, but the process is so much longer!)
(1/2-1 lb Italian sausage, cooked and drained) 
2 tbsp. EVOO
1 lg onion
2 carrots, diced
4 garlic cloves, minced
3 tbsp minced fresh parsley
2 bay leaves
4 cups chicken stock/broth
2 cups water
salt and pepper to taste
3/4 lb winter greens like kale, chard, dandelion, collard or turnip greens
freshly grated Parmesan, optional

Heat EVOO in lg pot over medium heat. Add onion, carrots, garlic, parsley and bay leaves. Saute until veggies are slightly softened, about 10 min.

Add beans, stock, water (and sausage). Season with salt and pepper. Bring to a simmer, cover. Cook 20-30 minutes. If you choose, remove some of the beans and puree to make soup thicker (I skipped this part).

Wash greens, remove any thick stems or ribs. Stack the leaves a few at a time and roll into a log. Cut crosswise into 1/4-inch ribbons. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil over high heat. Add greens and boil about 2-5 minutes until tender. Drain. Stir into soup. Simmer a few minutes more.

Enjoy with freshly grated Parm (if you have any).

Probably the best soup I've ever made!! Wonderful the next day too.

a grey and yellow nursery (girl version)

While Asa's nursery was dark and boy, Ella's nursery is soft and whimsical. It's amazing that two nurseries of the same color scheme can be so different!

(Ella's room is on the side of the house without much light and I didn't have our tripod, so excuse the slightly yellow photos, please!)

The walls are a very soft gray. The curtain, a bright canary yellow.

Isn't the rocking chair sweet?

Custom art pieces fill E's house, and the nursery is no exception. Here is a dreamy painting of a tree (which has now been accompanied by several gorgeous paper flowers surrounding it! I wish I would've snapped another picture.)

However, in my opinion, the curtain is by far the show stopper of the room - handmade by E. Isn't the smocking gorgeous?!

Her crib linens are technically "mismatched" but they still go together so well! Mixing patterns is something I love but have a difficult time achieving.

Another art piece - this one upcycled and bunting-like streamers criss-cross the air. Something for sweet Ella to stare at in her crib... 

E included some vintage (chair, stool) and more whimsical decor. Recognize this?

E! Thanks for letting me feature Ella's nursery!

I love the contrast between both of the gray and yellow nurseries. Soft vs. bold, matching vs. mixing, dark vs. light, whimsical girl vs. graphic boy.

What fun decorating is!

Finished nursery linens (Asa's room)

Remember me talking about the nursery linens this summer? They are finally finished and being featured. Yay!

Before our family vacation, I made a couple of sheets, the crib skirt, and the curtain. (I love naptime.) But add a bumper, pillows and a quilt and an amateur seamstress?? I definitely was in over my head.

So along came my mom and my amazing, soon-to-be SIL, Erin, and they helped save the day. My mom pulled together the bumper and rocking chair pad and Erin and I whipped out the quilt top J&S designed. ("Whipped out" is by no means attributed to the amount of time it took - it was a LOT of work!) Then my mom also finished that off.

Family effort, right?

Don't forget the owl! Jenn says it makes a great back pillow. Hehe.

We pulled together a few re-covered, thrifted pillows in coordinating patterns and colors. Everyone's favorite is the minky, but I love the long yellow one too!

 Look at those cute owls!

Isn't chevron the best?!

And that's that! I won't be taking on a nursery linens project for a long while, but that sweet little guy was totally worth it, dontcha think?


Gray and yellow girl version coming up on Monday!

a gray and yellow nursery (boy version)

I have been waiting several months to do my boy/girl gray and yellow nursery features - and here is the first!

We finally met my nephew, Asa, a couple weeks ago and it was a family effort finishing up the nursery and prepping it for the photo shoot. ("Photo shoot" being used very loosely here, folks.)

There was still enough light when we finished up and snapped the photos.

Besides gray and yellow, you will quickly see that Asa's room is owl-themed.

My BIL, Shawn, is quite the artist and designed and painted the "Asa" mural above the crib. Three walls are a slate gray and window wall is golden yellow. Crib linens will be featured tomorrow, so I won't go into them but see the peek of gray rug? IKEA!

Several of the decorative owls were found at Hobby Lobby. I also had a few squares of wood from a failed decor project that I brought along with three wooden initials. We painted the squares yellow and the "AMH" white. Cute, no?

Shawn is also quite handy with a bottle of spray paint and perfectly coated this ceramic owl. I think he's my favorite one!

And, remember the 9-square shelf for Ladybug's nursery? My dad built another but this time a custom built-in window shelf and bookcase! So impressive.

Jenn fell in love with these prints on Etsy and I quickly told her I could easily duplicate them in InDesign. So I did.

The full-size dresser was a thrifted find that they painted and then my preggo sister helped haul it up the stairs! Sheesh!

While we were there J&S came across a discarded garage sale lamp on the neighbor's curb - in all it's floraly goodness. But, seeing past the flowers, they saw a great lamp and Shawn used his mad spray painting skills (seriously, I'm jealous. He's that good.) to get this lamp in tip-top shape. Doesn't it look amazing? Practically brand new!

(I just realized I don't have a full-picture of the built-in, but every picture I took facing the window is awful! The other half is up a few pictures.)

We had fun "staging" the shelves.

Even the littlest details were thought of, like fan pulls.

And that's it! What do you think? Didn't it pull together nicely?

I really, really like it - J&S the hard work was worth it!

CSA Week 18

Last month of CSA! (And if you are sick of the CSA posts, be happy ... only a few more to go.)

a bunch of radishes, 3-4 small heads bok choy, bag of arugula, 1-2 lbs green beans, bag of salad mix, 1 lg and 4 tiny sweet peppers, 1 medium butternut squash (and 4 small pears from the week half of ours were bad!) 

The first of the autumn/winter squashes. Oooo! What should I make?

Reclaimed Lumber Shelf

A DIY on the reclaimed wood shelf in the living room makeover...

So I was driving to my last piano lesson of the day one Monday evening and I spotted some fence boards on the side of the road. On my way back home, I stopped to pick them up. It was obvious that they had been replaced because of some defect, but I chose boards that were salvageable.

The next day I hammered out all of the nails (duh).

Measured a 38-in shelf...

Then broke in my trusty handsaw and cut the boards to the same length.

Then I took a wire brush to get any dirt, splinters, etc from them. I wanted to keep the rustic, weather-worn look, so I didn't sand, etc. I knew it would also be up high enough from wandering toddler fingers that I didn't really need to worry about getting it super smooth. (Dusting it, however, is a challenge...)

I cut two small support boards from the leftover wood and nailed/screwed them all into place.

We screwed the decorative shelf brackets (found at Hobby Lobby clearance - $4 ea - a couple years ago) into two studs and then screwed the shelf from beneath.

And, here she is! Even after some decorating friend consultation, I'm still not 100% satisfied with it, but I'm working on it. I know you saw it yesterday, but to complete the post - here she is! 

a little livingroom makeover (rental version)

Pretty sure it was way back in the spring when I decided to do a little living room makeover. It wasn't bad, but I just wasn't satisfied with it and really wanted something with more of my developing (vintage) personality in it.

Here's the Before:

When my Grandma passed away last year, I asked for some fabric and this blue/purple/gray floral on cream was one that I didn't sell on Etsy. I kept all five beautiful yards for myself. This came in handy when I decided to use it for curtains! I cut the length exactly in half to get the longest yardage I could for both curtains and then doubled it over to make my pleated look.

For the curtain rod faux pleated look I just sewed the largest button holes my machine would give me all along the top. I alternated the holes as I put them up and voila!

I love them.

I'm hoping to pull inspiration colors from them for future pillows, decor, etc. but this is all I have for now.

I  snagged this birdcage from a garage sale last year and I'm so glad I did! It was sitting on top of the tv cabinet but when Jeremy's electronic project took over it found a new home. In the basement (*tear!).

Then I had a stroke of brilliance and decided to remove the bottom and the feeding bottles and rework it into a hanging light. After a little bit of research, a lamp wiring kit from the hardware store, and a bit of wiring help from my husband, I had a new hanging lamp!

Jeremy is always saying that we don't have enough light in our living room at night and this was a small way of helping the problem. Since then I've moved around another lamp so we're left with the same problem for now. Oh well.

(I love it and its chippiness! And I'd love it more if it was hardwired into the ceiling, but renting makes that a non-option. Maybe some day.)

Finally, I switched out the three black and white European photography prints for a shelf I've been planning to make for quite some time. (Shelf tutorial to follow soon!) I wanted a rustic shelf to display some of my vintage finds out of the way of curious toddler fingers.

Here was my solution.

White pitcher (IKEA), faux flowers (Hobby Lobby), rustic wood frame (garage sale), metal letter "S" (vintage sale), brownie camera (antique store), vintage fan (garage sale), vintage books (free from library).


The Before (again):

The After:

Oh wait! I mean...

:-)