not ready to play nice

school has made be cranky; these make me love~


















Be happy dear friends, and for goodness sakes be sun-kissed...it's summer.

~ I'll be in the student work room, writing.

It's one of those weeks....

My stomach hurts, but these make my eyes feel good.














Be happy, L.

Living in Heaven

it's all white!


I have dreams about someday owning a farm house, or a cottage near the beach... found this today. Just says sleep late and read a good book all over it!

Something more rustic? Here you are. I would love to have a sweet little farmhouse near Round Top of Canton Texas... I found this one currently listed- wouldn't it be perfect?

Pizza Pasta

My cute friend Courtney is looking for some easy new dinner recipes, and let's face it, who isn't? So I told her I'd post a couple easy delicious ones. This one is something I've made when friends come over because it's SO easy and a picky eater pleaser (um, Courtney). This is great to make when you have absolutely NO IDEA what to make.

8 ounces rotini pasta
1 pound lean ground beef
1 small onion, diced
1 (28 ounce) jar spaghetti sauce
1 small onion, chopped
8 oz mushrooms
2 T butter
1 packet of spaghetti sause (powder)
4 ounces sliced pepperoni sausage
2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
12 pepperoni saucers (optional)

Brown hamburger meat using Italian seasoning and garlic. Add spaghetti sauce and power packet. In separate pan saute onions and mushroom using butter and set on a plate lined with a paper towel to drain before adding to sauce. Season spaghetti sauce as you'd like but make sure it's delicious before adding combining in casserole. Begin boiling pasta, add a teaspoon of olive oil and a dash of salt. Cube pepperoni sausage and microwave for 15 seconds on a paper towel to get rid of excess grease. Combine sauce, noodles and pepperoni into a 9x13 inch casserole pan, top with pepperoni saucers and cheese then cook at 350 for 30 minutes.

Delish!

German Chocolate Oreo

I was looking for some fun recipes for Memorial Day the other day and found this fantastic recipe for German Chocolate Oreos...In a word, fab.

For this recipe you use half a bar of cream cheese and only part of the container of coconut pecan frosting, if you want to use the whole block of cream cheese you have to use two boxes of cake mix...freakin' enjoy these suckers.

(small batch-- makes about a dozen full Oreos)
For the cookies:
1 German Chocolate Cake mix
1/2 c. butter (or margarine) softened, NOT melted
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla

For the frosting:
1/2 cube (or stick) butter, softened
4 oz. cream cheese
1-2 c. powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla
2 tsp milk
1 container coconut topping (the kind in the plastic container by all the frostings)

Mix "cookie" ingredients together into cookie batter texture, roll into balls as big as desired (walnut size). Bake at 350 degrees for about 8-9 minutes. Do not over-cook (they may seem underdone but they aren't, you want them to be soft and chewy). Leave cookies on the baking sheet for at least 5 minutes after removing from oven. Allow to cool completely before adding frosting.

For the frosting: Mix butter and cream cheese with an electric beater until smooth. Add powdered sugar a little at a time, then add vanilla and milk. Keep adding powdered sugar to reach desired consistency. Mix equal part cream cheese frosting and coconut topping (you can do this any way you want- it doesn't have to be EXACTLY equal.. add more of the topping you like best). Assemble cookies by spreading with coconut/frosting mixture in the middle of 2 of the German Chocolate cookies. Serve with milk.

aaaand a Desk!

I'm telling you, this great room thing is tough! It's just so big- it takes a lot of work to make it all come together. Part of that process means a kitchen desk. You can see in this picture below, that over to the left there is a half a barstool sitting in a nook, that nook is fit for a kitchen desk or a dining hutch.


I decided I would rather put a desk there, because we would use it and I don't really see the utility in putting a hutch in a casual dining area. The desk would reduce my school clutter that ends up all over the couch- so we decided on a desk...but what desk?

Again, I turn to the "Greats," Brooke and Holly both have raved about Tritter Feefer. Actually Brooke bought the desk below for her own living/work space. It's the Natalie Desk

Doug things it's too plain, but that's what I love about it. I love that it's so simple and elegant. It is much more simple than my table, and I think it juxtaposes well with the industrial elements I'm adding in.

I also found this other table that is a little more involved from Nior. This is really great, too. I think I'm just going to use a dining chair for whatever I decide. Perhaps one of the end chairs that is slipped?

All of the above are a little pricey, so I started looking for some more affordable options. This one is from the Martha Stewart Home Collection, the Ingrid.

hmph...this one might be a little more difficult:)

Sofa Table....

Since we moved to the new house we have slowly been putting things together. I am currently putting the final finish on the dining table I re-did. I recovered the chairs in linen and am putting linen slip covers on the two end chairs for the table. I also got these barstools:These stools were a steal! I found them on overstock for $50/ea.

Much more wallet friendly than the dream stools I found at restoration hardware for $300/ea.


I have found some great silver pitchers and trophies here and there that I have incorporated around the house- inspired by Giannette et al., I wanted to add a little industrial-ness to the table I finished. Remember this?

Right, so the barstools are just behind this picture, and the sofa table will be just behind the brown couch.

I love the bar stools. they work perfectly. Recently, I was looking for a table to go behind our sofa. I found this:
I absolutely love this console- it everything. Soft wood, industrial chic...it's wonderful. Sadly, it's only 20 inches tall- really just for a TV...it's really long (72inches), but just not the right size for a sofa table.

It did give me the inspiration to find all of these:




I didn't realize it until after I posted this post, but these are all pretty similar to the Dutch Industrial Console table from Restoration Hardware...except smaller. This table is really big, almost 70 inches wide!


I am so excited about how everything is coming together. The great room concept in a home is pretty intimidating because it's such a large space that has to ebb and flow. It's so much stuff! It also makes things so much more exciting when they start coming together! I still have a ways to go, but I'm really happy with the direction we're headed! Which table to you like?


UPDATE:

I put my good husband to work, trying to find the perfect piece. He found a fabulous website called Wisteria...and I don't know why I haven't found it before! This is what he came up with:

This table is actually on clearance, still pricey-
But look at it in this room, doesn't it look great?

This one is a little more towards the industrial side, which is where I was originally headed.
Once again, I love this table in the room. It looks great with the softness created by all the white. This piece is really large- it makes a statement.



This next table was interesting, and seemed even a bit odd at first- it's pretty large (90" wide).I actually really like it in the room! Since our couch is so dark, it might be better to go with something light as oppose to a darker industrial table. It might be better to brighten things up, what do you think?




This next table is great, and it's also on clearance. I was considering this one even for the desk, it's the perfect size, but maybe the detail comes down too low to fit your legs under?
I'm going to make a follow-up post about all the other wonderful things I've found at Wisteria... There is a wonderful Swedish Repro headboard that I now covet; get excited.