Sunday, August 29, 2010

Her First Time




My BBF (best blogger friend) Janet at The Gardener's Cottage is doing her first giveaway to help me launch my new website.  The lucky winner will get one of my signature bracelets (above) with their choice of stone charm or $35 credit toward anything on my website or custom design.

Janet and I started chatting it up when she asked me if I could make healing jewelry.  I made her a few things and she has really enjoyed them. I was really motivated and inspired by her response. So thanks to her and her special request I've gotten in touch with my inner Dead Head (that I hadn't spoken to in a really long time). There's no reason we can't all be friends right?... I think the timing is perfect too, it kind of ties in with the earthy spiritual Eat, Pray, Love vibe. So my new site includes a list of my favorite stones along with their powers. 

That's right friends, I have a website again for my jewelry, and this time I'll be able to add pictures as I make pieces. I'm also doing a jewelry blog so I can feature my new lines, talk about my inspiration and hopefully feature some of my customers and their custom design requests.  


So, check out the very sweet blog The Gardener's Cottage and leave her a message to be entered in her giveaway. She'll be selecting the winner on Friday.


Thank you Janet for your support and inspiration!

Stay tuned because I think I'll follow up with another giveaway of my own. 





Wednesday, August 25, 2010

Girls Night






A friend of mine just got engaged. I'm so happy for her I wanted to have a little celebration. So last night we had a little girls night dinner party in her honor. It was a blast. 




I pulled out my favorite set of china.  I love that green! It's the one I registered for when I got married. I only have 6 place settings, so I don't get to use it very often.


The flatware is a set of Community Silver I found a few weeks ago for $20 at the flea market.  The vendor threw in the little forks as I was walking away. I just had to use them, so I served stuffed scallops as an appetizer.

For a table cloth I used one of the burlap panels that used to be a curtain in my sunroom.  Then I layered a couple runners from Crate and Barrel on top of that and sprinkled some fake moss stones and votive candles.

I think the table looked pretty, but not too formal.  Really, who cares if someone spills red wine on burlap?... (which I did by the way).


Even though we are all grown woman with kids of our own, it felt like we were little girls having a tea party.

I served my house salad which always get rave reviews. I thought I would share the recipe.


JL House Salad
Lettuce
Tomato
Fresh (raw) corn if in season. Or thawed frozen corn
Cucumber
Roasted flax seeds (Trader Joe's)
Sunflower seeds
Blue cheese

Dressing
Two parts olive oil
One part balsamic vinegar
Tbl dijon mustard
Salt
Pepper
Garlic powder

Tuesday, August 10, 2010

Gittin Figgy with it


I'm not a food stylist--I don't even play one on my blog
There's something about figs that makes people go a little crazy. But what's even crazier is that no one ever really talks about how much they like figs until they see a fig tree. Then they just kind of loose their minds.  I have witnessed this first hand. Just offer a fresh fig to someone, then sit back and watch them as they start shrieking in delight.



In an earlier post I mentioned that our neighbors told us we could pick figs from their tree while they were away.  We've enjoyed a few here and there. 

Apparently, they told some other neighbors the same thing.  Last night as I was grilling our dinner on the patio, I watched as the other neighbors (in a heated frenzy) picked the tree clean.  They brought a ladder and something that looked like an apple picker. They weren't going to leave until every ripe fig was plucked
  

In honor of the ripening fig tree next door, I thought I would share a recipe for a fig appetizer taste sensation.  I have to admit, it's not something that sounds appetizing to me, but one bite and I was sold. I've served this three times in the past six months.  Each time Matt said, people won't like that. Each time, it got rave reviews.

Simply layer following three items on a cracker or crostini (I've even made them into little finger sandwiches.)

  1. Carmelized red onions
  2. Fig jam
  3. Goat cheese
Try it, it's delicious!

Now get out there and make some friends by planting a fig tree :)

Thursday, August 5, 2010

Is it Perfect?

Not even close. But for me, it's good enough.


A while back I posted about the Waverly Sun n Shade fabric I finally found for my outdoor patio furniture redo.  I had priced the project to have the cushions redone professionally and decided,  I could teach myself how to do it and save some money.


So I just kind of winged it (or is it wung it?).  I'm happy with the cheerful green. I'm happy with the pattern even though I didn't match them up. I'm happy with the way I put in zippers (I hadn't done that before). I still have to do a few finishing touches. But already it makes me so happy to look outside at the cheerful green with birds. This very old furniture feels new and will be even better once it has a fresh coat of paint.  That probably won't happen until next spring though.


In case you're just joining me or didn't see the before, here is what it looked like. 


I'm looking forward to spending time out on the new cushions.



Even the bunnies like it.

(taken this morning through the window)

Wednesday, August 4, 2010

The kids are all right.

Last summer we took a vacation to a lake in NY.  I brought home some tadpoles and set them free in my pond.  I wondered about them through the winter.  In late spring I did a post about putting in a new fountain in the front pond  I was cleaning out the pond and just about jumped out of my socks when I found two HUGE tadpoles.  I wondered, had the ones I brought home turned into frogs and then had enough time to lay eggs.

Well after a visit to our local nature center I found out the toads take up to two years to turn from tadpoles to toads. All right then, I've got toadpoles :) I was still very excited.


A few weeks ago I was adjusting the fountain and something jumped from the side into the water.  Yeah! They turned into toads. I have since seen both of them.

I am so excited about these little guys I can't get into my car w/o peaking over the hedge to see if they're out sunning themselves.

Are they cute? Or is this the face only a mother could love?....