In Honor of Design-100'th Sale Giveaway!

 

Who doesn't love giveaway's!? check out my friend anna's blog-in honor of design- and help celebrate her achievement of 100 items sold on her etsy shop! So exciting! enter to win a chance to walk away with an item of your choice from her shop! sounds like a good deal to me! She is such a great girl and i just love her whole family. her sister was one of my bridesmaids (model in the bottom left) check out her blog and her shop and support a fellow super-mom!

Here's a little taste of her shop! so cute.

    

anna of in honor of design. . .

Sugar Cookies from my Childhood

Ooo childhood...so many years ago. haha. jk. my mom is probably laughing at me right now. but seriously i loveddddd these cookies when i was growing up. they were a holiday staple. my mom will still bake some and bring them when she visits and they will immediately be gone. they are so simple and yet so tasty! I was so happy i thought of an excuse to make some!!

It is my nephew and God-son's 3 yr old birthday coming up! Isn't he just the cutest thing?? thats my sister and her fiance..love them. i'll share more down the road about my sister. she is an amazing entrepreneur..as soon as her business officially launches i'll post about it because it's something sooo awesome for anyone planning on giving birth anytime soon. haha. before and after. here's a sneak peak .

I am putting together a package to send to him. I wanted to throw in some yummy treats for him (and mama and daddy ;) But i couldn't just do plain sugar cookies!!! no way...i had to make them boy-ish and so i got to use my fun cookie-cutters that i got at Michael's this summer. Pulled out some boy animal shapes..we all know rhino's and turtles are only boys while cats and chick's are girls. haha.

INGREDIENTS

21/2 cups flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon nutmeg (optional but how can you resist nutmeg)

3/4 cup butter or margarine

3/4 cup sugar

1 egg

1 teaspoon vanilla

1/4 cup milk

Granulated or colored sugar or other decorations (optional..but again...come on...add more sugar. ;)

Sift together dry ingredients into bowl and set aside

Cream butter until light and fluffy. add sugar, egg, and vanilla and cream well.

add dry ingredients and milk, stirring until thoroughly blended.

wrap with foil, waxed paper, or plastic film, and chill in refrigerator for 2 or 3 hours. But you can't forget to put it into a corelle dish just like how my mom did growing up!! haha.. as i was doing this i was like aw tear mom. yeah who would of thought a corelle dish and wax paper full of cookie dough could bring back childhood memories but it did!!! hehe. i love my mom (especially when she made these!)

Sophia woke up from her nap and helped me pick out the best cookie cutter shapes. 

(washed before used)

roll our half of the dough at a time on lightly floured cutters.

arrange cookies on an ungreased baking sheet.

I told my hubby he could play with the scraps.......

it's supposed to be a snake.......(or goose poop....haha..)

 

can you even handle the cuteness!!

since becoming a mom i've gotten really good at being calm amidst the craziness at my feet......

bake in hot oven (400 F) for 6 to 7 minutes.

we had some "accidental" casualties. the turtle lost his head. (mmm. yummy.) the squirrel got a little burnt but i thought the little brown hands and nose were cute..but it crumbled. and i had to eat it.

cookies may be slightly lightly with granulated sugar or colored sugar before baking, or baked cookies may be cooled, frosted, and decorated as desired.

makes 3 1/2 to 4 dozen

Home Renovation - Entryway

Another installment of before and after photos! 

Love old houses..but they take a lot of work to update! good thing i love a good to-do-list. hehe.
One of the first things we did when we moved into this house was to knock down some walls and raise the drop down ceilings! We also put in new light fixtures in pretty much every room. This fixture might be too big for this space but i LOVE it. and most people who come in comment on how they like it too...only 1 person almost hit their head and he was ginormously tall. hehe. I love this paint color..it's called glass slipper from gliden. It changes throughout the day..sometimes it seems very blue and other times it's just a soft wash on the walls. i probably will use it somewhere in our new house cause i like it so much. We kept the slate floor because it's original if not veryyy old and it's so unique.

You know it's been a long day when. . . . . .

You know it's been a long day when. . . .

sophia is placing fig newtons on the ground and crushing them into a million pieces with her butt.

You know it's been a long day when. . . .

You look away for a minute and turn around to see sophia in the corner eating the sticky fig newtons off the pajama pants i had taken off her. 

You know it's been a long day when. . . .

You realize that it's been a hour and you still have the Home Shopping Network on in the background from when sophia stole the remote from you and put it on.

You know it's been a long day when. . . .

your container of wipes is completely empty and scattered across the floor.

You know it's been a long day when. . . .

it's 9 at night and you realize you only have 1 diaper left in the entire house.

i could go on and on...but my child is trying to escape. i love being a mommy. :)

photo from my niece's tea party. girl time!

Home Renovation - Kitchen

This space...was dangerous when we first looked at it. if you rubbed against the wall to the right, covered in rough wood, you would get splinters...drop down ceiling with foam beams..carpeted..only 3 cabinets up top.

When we finished the renovation in this space..got the plumbing going...we felt like millionaires with running water! haha. i had been washing fruit (thats all i ate when i was pregnant with sophia) in the bathroom tub (sink was having problems in there as well..of course...) I love the kitchen because it's just the right size..feels clean and bright. Renovations included..  tearing down the soffit that covered the transom window and opened up the space tearing down some walls that pushed into the space. knocked a hole in the wall to the family room..all new electric..new appliances..new cabinets and sink. new floors..put up trim around the windows...new light fixtures..paint. Worth the work.. i spend so much time in there. Looking forward to renovating the kitchen of our new house!! i might do the same cabinets because i love them so much.

this wall used to be covered in rough wood panels.

We knocked the opening in the wall to open up the space to the family room.

To the left is the back porches...and to the right is the hallway to the rest of the house.

Product list: Cabinets - Ikea, Farmhouse Sink-Ikea, Ceiling Fan - Home Depot, Countertop- Ikea, Wall Hanging-Ikea, Art Work-Burlington, Fruit Holder (it's actually an outdoor planter)-Pottery Barn Outlet..got it for like 10 bucks on sale..was wayyy more originally. Window Covering - Fabric from Ikea. (I love ikea can you tell? great prices.)

Home Renovation - The Master Bedroom

We have 6 bedrooms in this house and we've moved around to 3 of them...we ended up though in this room because i loved the sunlight that came in in the morning..it didn't have a closet but i turned a room into a walk-in-closet to make up for it. hehe. Here's some before and after Photos!  I took these when we first bought the house...gorgeous curtains and all. ;)

Product List: Curtains-Ikea, Light Fixture-Lowe's, Comforter-Target, Pillows-various local shops, Frames-Target, Flowers-Pottery Barn Outlet, Grass Flower Pot-Ikea, Mirror over Fireplace-Trash..spray painted.