Tuesday, March 27, 2012

LOVE This DIY, Cool Mommy/Food blogs, Recipes, and Feeling Mighty Fashion-less

Love this DIY I found on Pinterest.  Here are some photos and the link of how to:

http://www.zelophotoblog.com/91204/?cat=4

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Yesterday (Sunday) my impeccable diet consisted of 3 slices of pizza, 2 pieces (maybe 3) of cake and a couple of pints of Beltian Whites. That is a mighty wheaty day, and all I could do yesterday afternoon was lie on the couch and complain about how tired I am. O.k, so I am going to give it a go. I just made a quinoa salad, with roasted almonds, ginger, garlic, honey, soy sauce, orange segments (+ juice) and kale. It was really good...I added some fried tofu on top (which I love) and I am feeling full, and not tired at all.

I just found a couple of great blogs which have awesome wheat free (and gluten free) recipes and some great mommy wisdom. I love the people out there like me who know they are over-stressed and who try to simplify things by cooking wholesome food,  and who try to sneak some veggies to their children, on the sly...Women who are trying to eat better as they age (in my case it is becoming a must).

http://theveggiehouse.blogspot.com/
http://www.runningwithtweezers.com/black-quinoa-cherry-pistachio-salad/
http://glutenfreegoddess.blogspot.com/

This is from Running with tweezers blog/website. Love her musings about being good to herself this year, and giving herself more time...A different version of Quinoa, black Quinoa - gotta try it:


Black Quinoa Salad with Cherries, Pistachios and Cress – serves 4 as a light meal
  • 1 cup dried black quinoa – rinsed and well-drained
  • 2 cups water or lightly flavored vegetable stock
  • 1 cup pitted cherries, cut in half or quartered
  • 1/3 cup chopped roasted & salted pistachios
  • 2 cups red watercress – washed, dried and tougher stems removed
  • 3 tbsp. balsamic vinegar
  • 1 tbsp. good quality extra virgin olive oil
  • 2 tsp. honey
  • kosher salt & fresh ground black pepper, to taste
- In a small bowl, whisk together the vinegar, honey, oil, salt and pepper. Set aside.
- In a medium saucepan with a lid, bring the water/stock to a boil. Stir in the quinoa and return to a boil. Reduce heat to a simmer and cook, covered, until the water has been absorbed and the quinoa is tender but not mushy – this is about 12 minutes for me but depends on the quinoa you’re using. If it’s still got a bit of bite once the water has been absorbed, add a bit more liquid and continue to cook. Once cooked, remove from heat and allow to cool to room temperature. Fluff with a fork to break up the grains.
- Mix the cooked quinoa with the pistachios and cherries in a salad bowl. Drizzle over the dressing and mix to coat completely. Portion out onto plates and top with handful of the watercress leaves. If you’d like, grind a bit more pepper over the top & sprinkle with a tiny bit of kosher salt to garnish. Serve immediately.


Also check out this photo/recipe from my FAVORITE blog of a very dear friend, and amazing mom, vegetarian chef and photographer:

http://theveggiehouse.blogspot.com/

honey mustard dressing
6 ingredients:  dairy free

1 tsp. of honey
1 tsp. of tahini
1 tsp. of olive oil
1/2 tsp. of yellow mustard
1/2 tsp. of balsamic vinegar
1-2 tsp. of water



This is my favorite salad dressing.  I love honey mustard dressing but most of them have a ton of ingredients you can't pronounce and the ones that don't aren't that great in my opinion.   A lot of homemade honey mustard dressings use mayonnaise to make it creamy, but I've never liked mayo, so I use tahini instead.  It's still creamy but no dairy.  I also like the tanginess of balsamic vinegar and even just a small amount makes a difference in this recipe. The ingredients listed make enough for two small salads or one large one.  You can double or triple it if you need more.

Check out her blog, great recipes!
And my re-design of my living room is well, going slowly. Hopefully we can buy the paint this weekend (my sons birthday party/presents wiped us out this week). This week I have been thinking about who I used to be, back in NYC in the old days....I miss fashion, the streets of NY,  and all of my dear old freinds in Brooklyn and New England.  So I have been pinning on pinterest, wasting time perhaps dreaming of being able to wear high heels again (ha, thats funny), meet a friend for drinks,  go to my favorite galleries, perhaps dinner...Yes its been a while, my dear husband, we need a date. If I make you read this blog, (again)book the babysitter. xo.


Would love to look like this (not likely), dressed like this, somewhere in a city with nothing to do but explore....
Pinterest, Alexander Wang
 and shoes, oh would love to be able to wear a high heel again. Don't know if I actually could though. Oh, the pain.

And here are more shelves, and some more blue painted ceilings:

Blue Ceiling, Design Sponge 

I used to restore, paint and install these hand-painted wallpapers in NY, and all over the northeast. Miss you Joe and Patty!

The Velvet Palette


I will be writing soon with some serious home progress, and more photos of my completed floorcloth, almost done. Building my own website, hoping to be up by summer. So hard to find the time...

Thursday, March 22, 2012

Living room painted, Green with shelf envy and Before and After Fireplace pics


Well if anyone is listening, or reading, I deleted 2 blogs which I had just posted. Ha, the most technologically challenged person (me) is trying to be a blogger. Working on it...This is a bit of a repeat, but here are some photos of my new shelves:



Old yellow shelves, brown walls

White shelves...After the yellow I love the fresh look!

Still want to get some new things to add on to my shelves.  Love typography mixed with old books and some sort of a collection, like starfish, coral, shells or butterflies (see below). Here are some inspiring shelves:

Pottery Barn

Better homes and Gardens

Pottery Barn

Better Homes and Gardens


Yes, so I am inspired to re-arrange...Plan on working on some new floor cloths this weekend so I can get them out in the world. Starting local, at the farmers market here, and then hoping to get a website. 

Also, in my last post (which I late night deleted, whoops) I spoke about painting my ceiling blue. My husband is not on board with this idea; however, if I ever listened to him we would be living in a 2 bedroom apartment on campus, with tapestries for curtains held up with duct-tape, and posters of Jerry Garcia on the wall as our fine art decor. We probably would not have a mortgage, pets, or even kids for that matter. Ha ha. My point is that, well, I just go with my instinct and like to change things up...He takes a bit longer on these decisions, but I am going to paint our ceiling blue...Quiet moments by Benjamin Moore.  Here is an idea of my new color scheme:



Quiet moments on ceiling, Wheeling Neutal on walls, my living room

Look at the blue ceiling...

From TheNewlyWed Diaries

House Beautiful

From YoungHouseLove

New Brown couch that started it all...My living room with its new paint.Working on fabric for pillows, curtains and new floor cloth design for Lv room...

And then, much to his chagrin, I plan on brightening up our stone fireplace. It is such a dark grey/smoke stained color. We also have a brick fireplace in the basement which I plan on painting off-white.  Check out the before and after in these photos:



Plain old dark brick looks dated

Better, right?
O

Old stone fireplace looks dirty and dated

Better..This is what I am thinking for ours


Ok, thats it for today. My awesome sister reccomended I look at Hawaiian quilts for floor cloth inspiration. I think I will, check out these pillows.





Tuesday, March 13, 2012

Cool Blog to share, Lamp DIY, Entryway Lust...

Oh the living room. Still trying to get my shelves painted and at least one wall completed. Two kids home and almost impossible to get to it. They are fighting, playing, eating, messing up our house constantly. And we had another mini virus the last few days; we have been pummeled this year. I think I am trying a wheat free diet after having so many issues...Going to a homeopathic Dr. next week. If anyone is ever reading this (sigh) let me know if you have any thoughts. I have many friends who have gone wheat free.

The goal is to have one wall painted and shelves started by tonight...I am going to photograph my progress...

Here is an awesome blog/website called Young House Love. younghouselove.com.  I love their ideas and successful blog, and am completely inspired by them! Check out this light fixture they made:


Clothespins (their idea) and homeade lamp kit from Ikea!
You can make a lamp from anything...Good to know when the ones I like always cost $300.00! Full directions on their website

And some more entryways that are so organized; someday I would like to build a mudroom on my house and try to keep the mud in one area. People so often ignore their entryway, but what an important place to welcome people to your home!


Pinterest


I would paint directly on a wooden stairway, the stripes look so fresh
Pinterest

Here are some more blue/brown themed rooms; I am suprised how much I like the orange! Really trying to figure my palette out:


House Beautiful, am really liking blue and orange!

Brown and Orange look so modern

Would love to paint this as a flr cloth

so bright, and unlike anything I have done before
House Beautiful



Off to work out, get the house cleaned, go to the bank, grocery store, paint store then whoa, it will be time for dinner. Must stay up tonight painting...Next blog I will have some progress photos for sure. Wish me luck....

Sunday, March 11, 2012

DIY Projects, Fabrics, and room inspirations


Ah, finally the weekend. And spring break to boot! 60 degrees outside and sunny. But and all I want to do is paint my walls and order fabric. I'll go for a walk later....After I paint my living room shelves white. Here are some lusty images for the day:

cool mirror, great for entryway

Great color combo for pillows from House Beautiful
 
Better homes and Gardens - love the blue walls, oh and a brown couch too


Here are some fabrics I love:




favorite for my new lv.room!
Robert Allen

 

House of fabric

yummy aqua





house of fabric
House of Fabric
Robert Allen




 
Easy DIY cheap and fun:
casasugar.com

http://savedbylovecreations.com/2012/02/50-mason-jar-decor-ideas.html

weddingwindow.com

Okay, must clean my house and pay attention to my family...finally picked out the paint color for my living room walls, I think it is going to be wheeling neutral for the walls from Benjamin Moore, and Quiet moments on the ceiling. Now just fabric picks, could take me the whole year. Kids are home for spring break this week and I am already losing it. Must look into some playdates so I can paint and work on my floor cloths. Here are the colors I chose for the lv room, the light in our living room is so...precarious, every color looks so much different then the store. A lesson many of us must learn, and I have learned the hard way to always buy a pint/sample size to try in different spots of the room to make sure we like it - the whole family agrees on these colors (well my husband doesn't really a). notice, b). care, c) and also thinks I should leave it the brown color it is). But that has never stopped me before. It will all come together for him when it is done...It takes him time.

Quiet moments (on left corner) And wheeling neutral. Looks so different in our house than in this picture!

 


 
  



 
 

 


 











                                   
  

  
                               

 





 





























Wednesday, March 7, 2012

More Inspiring rooms and some DIY ideas

Have I mentioned I am totally clueless when it comes to blogging? 
love the pillows, Better Homes and Gardens
I feel like I am talking to myself which is why I am just going for it. (and sounding like I'm talking to myself). Although if anyone reads this (my friends on FB have been forced) thank you for listening. I will stop posting it so much on everyones page, I promise. Just wanted to get the word out. I am hoping to laugh one day at myself in my early blogging days (or cry, or cringe?).
But I am determined to keep a log of my house/projects, progress, and my sewing and painting adventures. Hoping my 3 year old will agree today on this point; yesterday he was yelling "MOMMY, get OFF the computer!". Yikes. I then made up for it making some homeade chocolate chip cookies, and let him eat some batter. Just a little...Yes, of course I had a bite. Cookie dough is my best frienemy. I have never used that word but it is incredibly appropriate in this situation.  We have been in a long term relationship and I am trying to break it off....Takes time.


  

Iron on transfer from BHG website
  
DIY Projects from Better home and Gardens (check it out for full directions and photos)

       Iron on transfer:

1.  First, find your image. This duck one is cool, but I am going to look for something else for my pillows. I found this project at Better Homes and Gardens website.
2.  Print it onto Iron-on transfer paper
3.  You may need to tile the photo (cut it smaller if it is too big).
4.  Trim the printout to size, and lie it face down onto a cotton pillowcase. 
  5.  Press hard, constantly moving the iron and do not use steam.
  6. Lift the corner and check to see if the transfer has worked; then you can peel off the backing.  If you have to use the tiling method, you may need to use another piece of transfer paper to protect the finished portions from heat. You can use a used piece of transfer paper. I am going to attempt this next week, so I will photograph my progress...Next week is spring break, so as I will be surrounded by children, I plan on DIY'ing as they watch netflix.  What in the hell did our parents do in the 70's? Oh, thats why they drank so much.

Dwell studio, love their stuff...Could I try to make this with a block print?
Just found an awesome link http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/how-to-make-a-b-138526 For some great DIY projects. (among other things) I am going to try the block print idea for a pillow (like above) or for a canvas floorcloths...We shall see how it goes...I will document, when I can get to it...So little time!

Above pillow is at: