Finished kitchen update

Finished! Well mostly finished. There's still the dryer venting issue to contend with and I have to buy frames for the Etsy prints I bought, but the big stuff is done.

Doug spent a whole Tuesday night putting the island together. It looks great and has some nice storage space for some of my baking pans. The top is maple and the whole thing is super sturdy. We're really pleased with it and we'll be able to take it with us if we move. It's given me so much more space for prepping and making.

The shelves we were going to make ended up not being made. On one of our (many) trips to Lowes we saw some pre-made shelves and just bought those instead. So they aren't DIY but they look good and I think they'll hold up pretty well.

The counter tops finally got installed and they're so nice and smooth as opposed to the tile we had before. It's a hundred times easier to clean them too since we don't have to dig into the grout. I love the under-mount sink, it's slightly deeper than our old one and holds more.

I couldn't find any curtains I really liked and after searching for inspiration on the internet I thought it would be neat to do cafe curtains. I bought the hardware at Target and used a fabric shower curtain, also from Target, for the fabric. The shower curtain was $20 and made the curtains for the window and almost fit the back door. I did end up about 4 inches short on the back door curtain, so I picked up some lace to sew at the bottom to make up for the missing inches. Still not bad for twenty-ish dollars. Plus if we get tired of the pattern we can just grab another shower curtain (Target has some really great looking and reasonably priced fabric shower curtains).

Our new dishwasher was the final installation piece and it came last week. It's quieter and more efficient than our old one.

All and all we are very happy with the way everything turned out. The dryer thing is obviously something we didn't plan for, even though the installer knew about it beforehand he didn't take the lazy susan in the cabinet into account, but it has been our only major hiccup. It was hard in the interim between the cabinet installation and the countertop/sink installation and I probably whined about it more than was necessary but we are both glad we did it.

V-Day Treat

I don't really have strong feelings about Valentine's Day one way or another. I probably cared more when I was in middle school/high school and wished I had a boyfriend to send me flowers. These days though it's kind of off my radar. I did get a little card/print for us, my friend Lynsey alerted it to me on Etsy. It's hanging in our living room now.

Now to the treat part - I committed a cardinal 'sin' - I used boxed cake and pre-made frosting! If that's not bad enough I used it to make cake balls (or if you're more refined cake 'truffles'! Shameful, but I so do not care. Y'all they are good. I'm almost positive there is nothing 'natural' in them but you what? that's okay. Sometimes you just want junky things. I used the recipe from How Sweet It Is (she has some fabulous pictures and more obscenely good-looking treat recipes). I bought Duncan Hines Strawberry Deluxe cake mix and cream cheese frosting and used Ghirardelli milk chocolate chips for the chocolate coating.

The hot pink sugar is from Bake It Pretty. The best part about these is that the cake is pink, very fun. They are really, really rich and sweet and I say that knowing I have a high tolerance for sugar.

I did have a hard time dipping them into the chocolate, not all of the cake part got covered. So there you have it, one of the few times I have used boxed cake mix and I don't feel bad about it. 

I *heart* October

I love October so much I want to marry it and have its babies and it's finally here! The weather starts to get cooler around here, we can use our backyard chimenea, there are pumpkins and pansies and pretty ornamental cabbages and kale. You can start knitting with something heavier than cotton....

It's a lovely month.

Work is slowly starting to get a little less hectic as we approve the last of the holidays so I hope to get more blogging done this month. In celebration of this lovely month I did a little fall/Halloween themed Etsy window shopping.

Wolf Brooch from Oh My Cavalier

Tiny Ghost & Goblin necklace from A.N. Original Jewelry Shop

Judy Holliday dress from Thrush Iconic Vintage Creepy babyhand soap (a rec from Lynsey) made by Foliage Real Oak Leaf Brooch from Jeunebug's

Charcoal Rosette felt brooch from Soleil Girl

Vintage Frye Boots from Goodeye Vintage

We went, we saw, we bought, we ate

My friend Kenan and I made a pilgrimage to Chicago last weekend for the Renegade Craft Fair. Doug and I went two years ago and he was a good sport about it but it really wasn't his scene. The trip started out a little shaky because our flight from Memphis to Chicago was delayed for three hours, then it took us awhile to make it through the maze that is O'Hare and finally we walked around dragging our luggage in the heat because we couldn't find the hotel. Things got better after we made it to the hotel. I won't bore you with all the details but here are the highlights.

Chicago public transit is great. The train took us from our hotel in Rosemont to Division where the fair was. Plus there's knitting time since you don't have to drive! Aloft O'Hare has the cutest shuttle drivers

Margie's Candies gives you a cup or gravy boat of hot fudge sauce with your sundae.

Nina is a great yarn shop on the same street as the fair and the owner and employees are couldn't be nicer.Oak Park is lovely, lovely, lovely. The Frank Lloyd Wright home and studio tour was worth the 45 minute bus ride to Oak Park.Giordano's deep dish pizza is yum.
Cafe Milk & Honey = best bacon.

Lovely bake shop is exactly the kind of bakery I'd want to have if I ever had one.I'll have to do a separate post with pictures of what I bought, I was pretty restrained I think. There were so many great artisans/crafters there. We can't wait to go back next year!

A day made of fail

We all have them and today it was my turn. I'm under a huuuuge amount of pressure right now at work (deadlines, deadlines, deadlines) and it was just one of those days where nothing I did came out right - even in the kitchen. I made cupcakes last night for Doug's D&D gathering tonight, but I didn't make the frosting because I was out of butter. So this morning I went to the store on the way to work and planned on making frosting when I came home for lunch - hah! The baking gods did not find me worthy and my chocolate seized up and burned (I've never burned chocolate before!) the butter was mushy, I used every bowl/pot/utensil I could find, etc. The frosting was 'meh' definitely sub par, I was a little embarrassed to send them, but hopefully they'll eat them anyway.

The bright spot of the day was coming home and finding happy little packages. New cupcake papers from Bake It Pretty and earrings from Oh, Hello Friend.I just 'discovered' the Oh, Hello Friend blog (so gorgeous!) and her Etsy shop The package was wrapped up so nicely too, just lovely. The earrings are much bigger than I normally wear (I knew that though) but I really like them, the design is so sweet. I'm now lusting over these earrings.I'm spending the night listening to Iron and Wine, knitting on the Francis/Francie sweater and hoping for a better tomorrow.

Spring wishful shopping

With spring and the warmer weather I'm pulling out my clothes and taking a long hard look at what I want to keep, get rid of and replace. Realistically, my budget is pretty small but it doesn't stop me from stalking Etsy for things I'd really love to add to my wardrobe...

Fine & Dandy hat from Terry Graziano

Red Medallion scarf from maryink

Chaumont Sleevless Linen dress from tortilla girl

Little Bits Tee Dress from Ellaina Boutique

Team Spirit Dress from Parsimony

Emma necklace from Elizabeth Williams

Vintage Trench Coat from Marie's Vintage

Cameo Tee from Eliza+Axel

1950's vintage dress from A Touch of Vintage
(this is waaay too small for me but I adore the shape and the color, swoon.)

Vintage Embroidered Blouse from Plant Claire Vintage

I went ahead and bought this great pin from In a Frenzy, it's really lovely. I think I might ask the birthday fairy for some hairpins too.

And not that I'm going to actually be sewing it, but I if did I would love to make this dress (minus the beads around the neck) in this fabric.

Right now I'm a little obsessed with headwraps/bands/scarves. I found some great things for cheap at an estate sale recently. The orange one is my favorite. The polka dot one is almost too small for my noggin.

Fun mail

I love getting mail. Only fun mail though, the bills and insurance EOB's are not my idea of fun mail. I've ordered a few things lately and always get a thrill when I come home and I have a little package (this can be dangerous to my bank account however). Recently I got the following:

- Felt Circle necklace from Get Felt Up on Etsy (only $12.00!) Her stuff is so cute and affordable.- A collection of socks from Sock Dreams. I have been coveting nearly everything in this store for awhile and then a friend ordered some and that encouraged me to take the plunge and order. Most of their socks are made in the USA and shipping is free in the US. I really like all of the ones I ordered. There are a couple of pairs that are really, really long, but that is not their fault. I'm 5'2 and have short, stumpy legs.- Baking goodies from Bake It Pretty. She has got such a sweet collection of packaging, decorations, tools and little 'extras'. I bought two cookie cutters - a mushroom and a US map (I had a Inauguration day plan for this but ended up not having enough time), a frosting tip for cupcakes, cupcake liners and a package of old fashioned valentines. I'm contemplating ordering this candy mold, maybe for Easter? It looks very Spring-like.-Ball winder from Knit Picks. Doug built me a swift and he thought he could come up with some type of ball winder but I got impatient and just ordered one from Knit Picks. Now I make my own yarn 'cakes'. Sweet. (that's Fleece Artist Trail Sock on the winder)- This tunic dress from AD LOVE on Etsy. I love, love, love it. I don't know if I'm hip enough to pull it off but I don't really care at this point.

I did not get this in the mail but I downloaded some music from the Mountain Goats a few weeks ago. I 'found' their songs while watching Moral Orel on Adult Swim. It's hard to acurately describe Moral Orel. It's odd and sad/funny/beautiful and really twisted. The Moutain Goats had a few songs on the show and I dug around and found their music and was immediately drawn to it. Their Wikipedia page better describes the music and the songs.

My Etsy Wishlist

I've been doing a little Etsy window shopping lately. I've been good and not actually bought anything since our two vacations are looming and we should be saving. But I've been compiling a list for the next time my wallet is fat...

I heart you necklace from Chocolate and Steel

Constance earrings from Eliwill (Elizabeth Williams Jewlery)

Home Sweet Home print from JennSki

When Branches Meet tshirt from Muttsy Wonder (Harrilu)

Strawberry Cream laceweight kid mohair/silk from Yarn Chef

Lime and Lavendar Sweet Lil Wristlet from Jennifer Joy Creative

Sea Urchin vase from my fellow Memphis blogger Bridgman Pottery