Wishing for Wednesdays.

As I told you all on Friday, I've recently been addicted to pintrest.com.

And today I'm just putting it out there that I'm equally addicted to Twitter.

I love being able to send and receive messages all day long with some awesome ladies! Many of those ladies, have handmade shops.. just like me! There is so much great stuff that I can't possibly purchase everything that I love..

but, here are the things I'm loving lately and hoping to buy for summer!

Purple Haze headband from Just*Lovely*Things - This is sold out and her

shop is closed temporarily (to prepare for Queen Bee Market) but it's adorable!

Love Much Heirloom Necklace by Amy Cornwell - How precious is this? I'd love to wear my family around my neck. And all of Amy's pieces are gorgeous!

I have a ring from her that I LOVE!

Pink Pinwheel Wine Cork by The Elephants Trunk - Fun for corking the bottle at girls night in!

Olive Green Tile Coasters by Alexandra Rose - Green is my favorite color.

I can already see my wine glass sitting pretty on one of these coasters.

Snip Snip Fabric Frame Necklace by Oh, Sweet Joy! - I have so many memories w/scissors! haha. From cutting hair to all of the sewing I'm doing lately.

Love this! And Kim is super sweet. I have one of her coffee cuffs and it's awesome and gorgeous.

Garden Fresh Market Tote by Gussy Sews - Such bright and fun colors for summer. Need this on my shoulder for toting things to and from the Farmer's Market, swim lessons, etc!

Personalized, Embroidered Key Fob by Hoot Designs - Aren't these cute?

I'm thinking they'd be great for a teacher!

Click Click Original Painting by Aisle to Aloha Studio - This painting makes me want to go grab my camera and start clicking away. And, it kinda matches my SheyB camera strap cover! Lindsay is a super sweet military wife, living in Hawaii. You really should check out her shop.. and buy something, to help her fund a trip to visit her hubby who is deployed right now!

Plus, all of her artwork is pretty much amazing.

Mini Luv Pleated Zipper Pouch (Abigail Wallet) by Hiya Luv Handmade -

The colors in this are so calming to me. Adorable. I'd love to have it to keep in my purse.

Hopefully before summer is here I'll have at least a few of these!

You seriously should check these shops out though, because all of these ladies make some incredibly beautiful things.. and ya know, Mother's Day is coming VERY soon!

What are you wishing for?

100 Things About Me

I've decided to link up with one of my sweet Twitter (and bloggy) friends, Stephanie from Polos, Pearls & Pacifiers to do 100 Things About Me! I've loved reading through Stephanie's posts these past 2 weeks and learning more and more about her. And, hopefully you'll all enjoy learning a little bit about me. So.. here goes. I'll post 25 each Tuesday for the next 4 weeks! Enjoy...

1. TV shows & movies make me cry. If it's sad or even remotely emotional, I'll cry. Crybaby, yes.

2. You will never see my toenails w/out nail polish on them. Promise.

3. I love Justin Timberlake. Yup.. I'll admit it. He's cute & he can dance.

4. I always thought I'd have 4 kids. The thought now makes me laugh hysterically. Clearly I was crazy to even think I'd like 4!

5. I had lots of Cabbage Patch dolls when I was little and still have them. Some are stored away and some are in Brookelyns room.

6. I hated eggs to the point of gagging when I'd crack one into a bowl for baking. Until I got pregnant with Cohen and I craved scrambled eggs in the morning.

7. I begged and begged to name (Cohen) Branson. Matt wouldn't have it. He hates the name.

8. My hair is naturally VERY curly and an ugly shade of blonde. I don't mind the curls, but the color is ick. Thank you Kristen! (My hairstylist)

9. I'm addicted to reading blogs. There are way too many and I love so many of them.

10. I have a hard time letting things/people go. A VERY hard time.

11. I heart wine. A LOT. And, I heart talking to my friends about wine, drinking wine with my friends and finding new delicious wine to drink.

12. I love Milwaukee. I've been there twice now and can NOT wait to move there.

13. Choosing new fabrics for future lines is SO hard for me. I am always in love with so many lines that I can never decide on my own and usually end up asking for help on facebook!

14. I want a basement.

15. If I could, I'd redecorate every room in our house like twice a year! Including new paint.

16. If a towel leaves fuzzies on my wet arms, I'll wash it until it doesn't leave them. If that doesn't work, I'll get rid of the towel (donate it).

17. In May my sister and I are going to Queen Bee Market and I can't WAIT!

18. I miss my Grandpa's and it makes me so very sad that my kids will never know them. I truly hope that Brookelyn will at least always have some memories of my Grandpa Arden.

19. One of my favorite games is Phase 10. Such great memories of playing with friends & family!

20. Coffee makes me happy. Very, very happy.

21. I have a small birthmark on the inside of my right arm. My mom thought it was dirt and tried to scrub it off when I was a baby.

22. Laundry is relaxing to me and instantly gratifying. It's a chore that I actually enjoy.

23. I once spent a month in Italy and never wanted to come home. I can't wait to go back.

24. On March 15, 2003 it poured and poured and poured. Why does that matter? Because it was my wedding day and my wedding was outside.

25. I take Lexapro for anxiety (and depression) and I'm ok talking about it. (This will soon be a blog post, because I've received lots and lots of questions/advice about it lately.)

Hope you're not bored to tears. If you made it this far.. thanks! And, tell me something about yourself.

Or, feel free to link up with Stephanie (and me)! The more, the merrier.

Today I'm linking up with a few of my twitter ladies for a Friday of Deliciousness. We're all a little bit completely addicted to Pintrest and can't get enough of it. And who doesn't love some great food? If follow any blogs online, then you've for SURE seen some tasty treats here and there. 

So, I decided that my contribution would be a meal that I'd feed someone super cool who was over for dinner.. which would be any of my friends pretty much. Cause, yeah.. they're all super cool! 

But, I'd also make this meal for my family as long as hubs did the dishes. 

We have to start with a little wine. That's just a must, no getting around it. My favorite lately is Santa Margherita's Pinot Grigio. I love a good Pinot Grigio and this one is definitely good. 

Next up would be salad. I love salad. I'm pretty sure that I could live off of it. And while I haven't made this exact salad, I know I'd love it... spinach, edamame, smoked tofu, almonds and a soy-ginger dressing? How could anyone NOT like it. This is on my dinner menu for next week actually! Yum. 

Recipe from Tribeca Yummy Mummy.

And the entree... Asian Glazed Chicken Breasts and Zucchini Carpaccio. Delish. Both recipes are actually from skinnytaste.com. We're big fans of that blog in this house. The recipes are all fairly healthy and she gives you Weight Watchers points info. Gina's actual recipe calls for chicken drumsticks, but I refuse to eat 

meat off of a bone.. so we do chicken breasts instead. The zucchini is so light and delicious! 

A definite favorite meal here. (Although my hubs and daughter refuse to eat the zucchini, whatev) 

And finally.. we can't forget dessert. My favorite dessert ever is creme brulee. 

The thought of making it scares the crap out of me, but I'm vowing to try sometime soon. 

This particular picture is from Jacob's Kitchen and looks absolutely scrumptious!

That's it.. those are some things that look absolutely yummy to me and I hope to

 make this complete meal very soon. Who's coming over?

Check out the posts from my friends for some more deliciousness! 

Alana @ Life On The Mom List

Lindsey @ Ottos Mom Blogs

Heather @ Mama Heada

Johnna @ Domesticated Delight

I Spy: Around the House

Today I'm linking up with Ashley at Little Miss Momma for her I Spy series. I love this series and it's been so interesting to see everyone's links! Here goes...

My Sewing "Area". I can't call it a studio, or room because.. well, it isn't. Sadly my sewing area is the spot on the kitchen counter/shelves on the wall between the kitchen and the family room.. also known as the kids' playroom. I'm constantly having to push toys aside, but for now it's the only real place I have to work. I've been collecting Mason jars and milkglass lately and am loving how it's looking. The pictures are from a trip to Italy that I took years ago, before being married and having kids. Those pictures make me happy though. Oh and see that little tote hanging there? It's awesome! You can get one here.

My Sewing Table. An old (small) dinette table, in the same little spot behind the couch in the family room. What a mess right? That's what happens when you sew all day and don't clean up. Oh.. and the little monkey, Cohen's bff. He carries that thing everywhere.

More of my milkglass collection! I LOVE how it looks, especially with fresh lilacs from our yard. Obviously this is our mantle. I mostly like it, but am ready for the (crooked) mirror to go! Just not sure what to replace it with yet. Any suggestions? I can't help but mention that aqua vase too. Isn't it gorgeous? I inherited that from Matt's Grandma Virginia when she passed away.

Ugh. This is one of my least favorite spots in our home. Our entry. It's about time it got a MAJOR makeover! The engagement picture will stay, though I'd like to repaint the frame.

And, we should probably put away our winter coats, since it's been in the high 70's the past week.

The joke of winter that we have here has surely come to an end.

My sitting spot view. I love this little nook of my house. I took this picture sitting where I sit most every morning and every afternoon. Of course, I don't get to sit here long, maybe 5 minutes if I'm lucky but I love this spot's view. Not only do I get to look out our huge picture window into our front yard,

but I also get to see my favorite newborn photo of Cohen (in his daddy's hand).

This happens to be my relax and calm down sitting spot!

I love this area in Brookelyn's room. It reminds me of what it was like to be a little girl and have so many little trinkets and goodies to love! I am seeing though that she has some laundry to put away and didn't make her bed. haha! Those adorable hanging flowers will be gone soon. :(

They don't match her new PBT bedding and she doesn't like them anymore.

My FAV right now! This garden window has of course always been here. Until recently I had NO idea what I wanted to do with it.. and we've lived here for 4 years. Yeah, I know.. but, look at it now! Finally I found something that I like. More milkglass, of course and a couple of other glass vases. This window brings so much light into my kitchen, I'm happy to be able to leave the blinds up and open finally. Although, it'll be sad in summer when they're closed most of the time (too much heat in an already HOT kitchen).

For now though, I'll enjoy the sunlight and my lilacs.

There you have it... I Spy: Around the house! Feel free to link up to Ashley's series!

Long Lost Love

This is my Grandma Jan.... 

My moms mother. For over 50 years she was married to my Grandpa Arden, the love of her life. I've never experienced two people so in love as they were. Of course, when I was little and I'd see them hug or kiss it'd gross me out and I'd cringe. But, as I got older I learned to appreciate the fact that they were still married, happily.. after so many years. Sadly, a couple of years ago my Grandpa's health deteriorated and he passed away. It was so sad to see my Grandma who'd always loved to travel, be social and spend time with him be so lonely and sad. Things took a drastic turn for the best though, this past October (2010).

In late October she received an email from a long lost boyfriend! They hadn't seen or heard from one another since they were teenagers. They'd been friends and dated until my Grandma met my Grandpa Arden. She fell in love with him and so began their life together. Her friend Bill was heart broken, but he too went on to find a wonderful woman, marry her and make a life with her. This last year, Bill's wife passed away. One of the last things she told him was that he'd marry soon, because he needed someone. Bill contacted my Grandma through reunion.com (I'm pretty sure) and they exchanged emails and eventually started talking on the phone. My mom and I would laugh because my Grandma was like a 16 year old school girl all over again. Talking on the phone for hours on end, giggling and happy every time he'd call.

Within the next month or so, they decided to get married! It's amazing that after SO many years, they found each other again, fell in love and went so far as to get married. The wedding was on New Years Eve, very small and in my Grandma's living room. Brookelyn was her flower girl. My Grandma and Bill danced down the "aisle". Afterward we ate, danced and enjoyed some yummy cake. The best thing about it all is seeing my Grandma happy again. Her and Bill are so happy together. They just enjoyed a couple of weeks in Hawaii for their late honeymoon. Their love story was actually printed in our local newspaper this past Valentine's Day. So so sweet. I hope that I'm as lucky in love for my lifetime as my Grandma Jan has been.

She's Crafty!

Friday night one of my BFF's (Teri) invited me (and our other friend, Lisa) over for a little Girls Night In. Her conditions: We had to bring something to "craft". She was going to be rhinestoning (is that a word?) a microphone for a friends birthday gifts and wanted us to have something to do too. I had great plans of making fabric rosettes to cover a mirror for Brookelyn's room, but Teri also bought some elastic headbands and we got on a roll. We started making rosettes with all of my scrap fabric and gluing them to the headbands and discovered that they were REALLY cute and we would actually wear them! 

So much FUN! And so cute. We even took some goofy pictures, that I can NOT believe I'm about to post.. Hope you're all having an awesome weekend!

Friday Favorites!

Ok, so I'm getting back to blogging today by sharing some of my current favorite things! I'm so obsessed with Etsy and crafty blogs lately. I've actually been doing some crafty things at home the past week as well. Sprucing up my sewing area is one of them.. So today's Friday Favorites are all things that I want, love or dream of for my sewing area (room hopefully, once we move).

Recently I've seen milk glass all over some of the crafty blogs that I follow and I fell in love. So, I've been scouring our local thrift stores and have finally found some. Then, I saw that my friend Karri at Living Out Loud pinned this on Pintrest and I knew I had to replicate it. Now, I need to find wider mouth vases like these to make this... So cute!

I'm also totally obsessed with Pintrest, thanks to my friend Alana at Life on the Mom List and have found some stunning things just looking at my friends' "walls" there. Another friend on Pintrest, Heather (who can be found here) pinned this adorable shutter/mail holder. I love it and it'd be awesome for organizing my orders. This would have to go in my "future" sewing/crafting room though... no room for it now.

This just makes me so happy. I am in the process of collecting vintage spools right now to make this. I think I'll use a light blue/aqua background though and frame it in a distressed square frame. I found it at www.fluffyland.com.

Ok, so those are my very favorite things right this minute! Of course I'll find more tomorrow.. but those I'll have to share next week, or something. Watch for some super sales coming this week and maybe even this weekend.

Poor neglected little blog.

Wow, my poor blog! I've completely neglected it ever since we came home from vacation. It's been a crazy busy week here getting back to life in the real world. Our vacation was wonderful. We had a great time and can't wait to move to Milwaukee.

I have to thank all of the ladies who guest posted here while I was gone!

 You girls did awesome and I really appreciate the help. Thank you all so much.

I promise to start blogging regularly again, starting tomorrow morning with some of my current favorites!

Here are a few pictures from our trip... Enjoy!

Kristi's Kool-Aid Play Dough

As you might know my family and I are away on vacation this week. We're hanging out in Chicago and in Milwaukee. Enjoying some much needed family time and getting to visit with friends!

Since I'm gone, I asked a few of my bloggy friends if they'd like to guest post

Hi, I'm Kristi of Schnitzel & Boo, we make cool stuff for you, your kids and your pets.  I love to sew, cook, bake, travel and read.  I am happiest when I am in the kitchen or parked in front of my sewing machine with a giant stack of fabric and a little classic rock on the Pandora radio.  Alyson was kind enough to ask me to write a guest post for her blog while she's away on vacation (lucky!!!!) and I happily accepted.  Since we both have sweet little children in our lives, I thought it would be appropriate to come up with a fun activity to do with them for the everydays of life that's not considered "vacation".  Just because we're not somewhere tropical and warm, or adventerous or new doesn't mean we can't have a little bit of old fashioned fun right here at home, right?  Right!  So, take a look in your pantry, grab your nearest kid, roll up your sleeves and let's make:

 

Kristi's Recipe for Kool-Aid Play Dough 

(because the ones I found online were horribly unsuccessful!!) 

 

1 1/2 Cups flour

1/2 cup salt

1 Packet of unsweetened Kool-Aid drink mix 2 Tablespoons vegetable or canola oil

1 Cup Boiling water

 

****(I used 1 packet "lemonade" and had to add a few drops of yellow food coloring. 

 The next time around, I would use 2 packets for a more vibrant color)****

 

Directions:

-Combine flour, salt, and Kool-Aid in a large mixing bowl. 

-Add oil and boiling water, stir with a sturdy metal or wooden spoon 

until dough forms and is too hard to stir any longer.

-At this point, it should be cool enough to knead.  I did this by folding the dough and squishing, f

olding and squishing etc until it was mixed and smooth.  The dough should not be sticky,

 but also not dry.  

If it is too sticky, add more flour and a little bit more salt (3 parts flour to 1 part salt).

 

 If it is too dry, follow the same guidelines with water and oil.  

 

Now, grab your cookie cutters, rolling pins, plastic utensils and anything else 

your child would love to use with the play dough and have a ball! 

 Remy played for 2 hours with hers and woke up this morning asking if she could play with it again. 

 

Be sure to store your play dough in plastic bags or airtight containers and keep them in the fridge. 

 This will help them last longer.  

 

Have a great time on vacation, Alyson! 

 

PS Take a look at my blog if you're interested in more of my musings, thank you!

-Kristi