Throwback Thursday

So I was reading through old posts and I found this 2 year old post.  I find it hilarious because I was sad that Addison was going to Jekyll Island for a week with his class.  This week Addison is at Walt Disney World with his orchestra class.  He is in a different state without me!!!  I said in the 2 year old post that he was growing up too fast and will one day go to Disney without me.

He's growing up so fast.  This is the start of sleep away camp when

 he's gone for a month.  And going to Washington DC

 or Disney World with out me. I guess I have to realize

 if he's going to compete in diving and swimming
 there will be out of state meets.  So this is the
 beginning of his independence.  I think I better start working
g on having another baby.  :)  Maybe a girl this time so she
 will really never leave me.  Wait!!!  Slap me please, I am not
 ready to have another screaming new born baby.
  And definitely not ready to be pregnant again.  UGH!!

LOL!!!  I was right! I wonder what I will be saying in 2 years.  Will he be in Washington DC with his high school class?  Well, I have 4 more years with him so they better go by slow.  :)

While my baby is away, I have just been cleaning and reorganizing the house.  Everyone is like go out, have fun, go wild.  I think everyone is forgetting that I am 40 now and fun for me is a great movie and an awesome dinner party.

I am just going to plan a dinner party for Saturday and go see the movie Pompeii.  That's crazy enough for me.

I would like to mention my Favorite Things this week that make me smile while little man is having a blast.

1. JCrew Jewelry

Deco Arrowhead Necklace

Hubby got this for me for Valentine's Day and I can't wait to wear it.  I just need to figure out what to wear with it.

They also have a matching bracelet.

Deco Arrowhead Cuff

 I wonder how good I have to be to get this also.  :)


2. Anthropologie Maxi Dress

Tamsin Maxi Dress

We all know I am a sucker for a great maxi.  

3.  Anthropologie Tops

Amaranth Tunic

Talula Popover

Splatter Sky Buttondown

Can you tell I am ready for Spring?  It is cold and rainy here in Atlanta.  At least we have not been having crazy snow like last month.  I was starting to feel like we lived up North for a second.  

Well, JT is going to pick up sushi and we are going to watch TV.  My life is so exciting.  :)

Talk to you soon, 

Autumn Wardrobe and Anthropologie

Autumn is almost here and we all know it is my favorite season. Alamanac.com states the Autumn Equinox starts September 22, 2013 at 4:44 P.M EDT.  That is just around the corner so you know what that means.  SHOPPING!!!!

I love Autumn because of the clothes.  Long sleeve shirts and blouses, long skirts, hats, boots and sweaters.  It's cool enough for great clothes but not too cold that you have to cover yourself up and all your incredible clothes with a jacket.  I can already picture it, jeans tucked into fabulous boots!

I have mentioned before how much I love Anthropologie.  I decided to post some of my Autumn favorites so you can start adding to your Autumn wardrobe as soon as possible. 

Here are my two favorite buttondowns right now:

They are just beautiful.  I am loving the embroidery.  And they seem to be thin enough that you could wear them now (since it is in the high 80s in Atlanta still).

Look at these fabulous tunics:

I love tunics because you can wear them with jeans or leggings but they cover up what I want to be covered.  These are really cute and I feel like you can dress them up or down.  I think I am going to be wearing a lot of tunics this Autumn.  

Now let's talk skirts:

Loving these graphic skirts.  I am thinking I need to bottom one now and my husband needs to take me out in it.  I love the top skirt because you could wear with sandals or a pair of boots.  

I am fortunate to live in Atlanta so it doesn't get that cold here.  We can get away with wearing a cardigan or sweater through Autumn and half of winter.  My staple during Autumn is usually a short sleeved shirt, a cardigan,  a pair of jeans, and my favorite Frye boots.  

These cardigans would be a perfect addition to my wardrobe:

They are truly beautiful!

Ok I am done with online window shopping for now.  I hope I got you excited about Autumn.

Talk to you soon,

French Cooking and Hand Pies

Sorry for not posting Monday. I received my Amazon books yesterday and I pretty much read all day. The main thing I have learned about food photography is natural lighting. Even watching the live classroom this weekend the number one lesson was natural lighting. All food photographers agree that food looks better with natural light and one should only use a flash or other lighting if it is totally necessary. Well, this isn't good for me. JT gets home late and with all Addison's activities I don't start cooking until 7 or later. By the time dinner is done and I would like to take pictures, it is dark outside. I guess I could start cooking dinner earlier and everyone would just have to reheat it. This would be better for me and probably Addison, I hate rushing to get dinner done and I feel like we eat so late. But I hate that JT has to eat alone sometimes. Well, this week I will try to start dinner earlier and see if it works with all of our schedules. Natural light here I come.

So I have dinner planned for the next two days but I don't know what I am going to make first. My favorite channel is the Cooking channel (of course). My favorite shows are Unique Eats and Unique Sweets. I also have a cooking show that I love too, it's French at Home. I like the others but this one relaxes me. I love french cooking and Laura makes everything look so easy. She has a sweet relaxing voice and the background music is relaxing as well. After watching many of her shows I have decided to make two recipes from her. I will be making a Butter Roasted Chicken with Roasted Vegetables and Beef Bourguignon. Both of them take about 2 to 2 1/2 hours to make so I need to work around activities and think about time. I think I will make the Beef Bourguignon tonight. Addison has diving and then dive team. So we won't be back until 8. I think I can set it in the oven to cook for 2 hours if I put it in by 6. We will let you know how it turns out. Thank God for oven timers.

Oh next I found this great recipe for Bourbon Peach Hand Pies from Smitten Kitchen. I have been wanting to make them for about 3 weeks. I think I am finally going to try today and tomorrow. The only reason I have waited so long is making the dough will take a lot of time. You have to chill it about 3 times. It's a very time consuming recipe but reviews have said it is totally worth it. So with me luck. I have about 5 hours of baking and cooking I want to do. I must be crazy.

Well before I leave you here's some kitchen and home things I like. I just love Anthropologie kitchen stuff. I have also found some stuff at IKEA that's cute for the home or kitchen also. I thought I would show you all some things. The white basket and blue pitcher are from IKEA. Can you believe it? The rest are from Anthro. I just love the cute bottle openers, the key and the little chairs.

Well I need to start baking. I will try to post tonight to let you all know how everything turned out.






Au Revoir!!

Hunting for Peonies

I love flowers in the house.  JT picks me up hydrangeas every Friday.  I love hydrangeas they are colorful, big and fluffy. But the main reason I love them is that they last long.  I can have fresh cut hydrangeas in my house for over a week.  We tried many different flowers like tulips but they just seem to last 4-5 days.  So I just emptied my vase and instead of getting some new hydrangeas I have decided I want peonies.   The problem is I can't find them.  Well, I have actually looked looked.  We buy our flowers at Whole Foods.  They have great flowers for a great price and they last.  Well, I saw peonies there last year but I haven't seen them since.  Every week I walk in there and look but nothing.  So today I am going to Whole Foods and if I don't find them there I'm just going to have to call the florist and see if they have them.  I'm not a florist type of girl and I don't have florist type of money.  I would love to be able to pick up an arrangement or two at the florist every week for my home but I haven't hit that lottery yet.  :)  It's like Addison's activities or flowers.  Hmmm, Addison has been a little crazy lately.   Flowers it is!  We all know I wouldn't do that to my little prince.  So I guess wish me luck on my search for peonies and pray they aren't expensive or this might be the last peonies I buy.

I just read oh happy day blog.  Jordan lives in Paris (jealous) and she says all the Paris markets have peonies right now.  Here are some of her pics.

Oh before I go it's Wednesday so it's my Favorite Things.  I got a new citrus juicer just to make the lemon bars.  I also realized I needed one when I made the lemon curd.  So i went to Williams-Sonoma (of course) and got this one.

i'm telling you now if you don't have one don't waste your time with others this is the one.  This one gets all the juice out of your lemons or limes.  You put the citrus upside down and it ends up turning it inside out.  They told me how wonderful it is at the store but I wasn't believer until I tried it.  We are going to have lemons and limes all summer.  

I also have to mention the Microplane graters.  I have had many graters and I thought they did I good job until I purchased the Microplane graters.   These graters make grating so easy and smooth.  I don't know what it is but I love them.  I grate a lot, freshly grated nutmeg,  cinnamon sticks, lemon, limes, and cheese.  When you cook and bake a lot you should have some good graters and these are the ones.

I have the rasp grater, a smaller one that does spices, and then a bigger one for cheese.   They have a different sizes for everything you need.  I just noticed they have a new one just for citrus.  I will be putting that on my wish list.  

Also go to the Microplane website and see all they have.  Williams-Sonoma doesn't carry everything.  I just noticed on Microplane.com they have a Sea Salt shaver.  Wow!  Fresh shaved sea salt.  That 's a whole other level. 

I know, I should just work at Williams-Sonoma.  I have a friend that works there and he told me I should work with him.  I might take him up on his offer.  Some part-time hours would be nice I just have to see about Addison's schedule.  But I'm worried once you work at a place you love, you end up not loving that place anymore.  And it's not like I would be bringing home any extra money, my whole paycheck would go to everything I want in the store.  :)

Bye for now.

Best Week Ever!

So far my first week out of school has been fabulous!!!  I have cleaned, reorganized, hung out with friends, caught up on my DVR recordings, and even baked.  I'm am so far loving all this extra time and no stress.  I'm not worrying about homework, lab or studying for a test.  I'm not freaking out about a grade.  It's wonderful!

Wednesday I had a late lunch with Ken and Addison.  We went to the Brazilian Buffet.  Mmmm Rump Roast!  And Friday Ebony and I went to Antropologie  and then had lunch at Taqueria Del Sol.  They have the best fish tacos.  I'm enjoying meeting up with friends for lunch.  I usually never have the time.


Here's what I got at Anthro.  It's one of my mommy day present JT asked me to pick up.  They are measuring cups.  Don't you love them?

Nu Shooz

So today I got bored and I couldn't believe it.  Class was over and I didn't have to rush home to take Addison to any activities.  It was 3 PM and JT wasn't going to be home for a while.  I didn't want to bake since I have baked for 2 days straight and working on cards just really wasn't what I wanted to do this afternoon.  So what did I do?  I went to Willlams-Sonoma.   I know I'm a dork.  I have no child and what do I do I go to a cooking supply store.  I felt like I should have called Princess Charles and had a cocktail in mid-afternoon.  I was going to go to a movie by myself but there's nothing out.  So the only thing I could think off was Williams-Sonoma and get some baking stuff.  See I really do need stuff.   I'm making Jay cupcakes for his birthday this Saturday and then I'm making Alisha and Alexis the Neapolitan cake for their birthdays this Sunday.  So I was just thinking ahead of time.  Also, there's something about the smell of cocoa, vanilla, and sugar that calms me. And making cupcakes and cookies for my class just put me in a great move.  Everyone was so happy and thankful.  There's just something about fresh baked goods.  It's pure love.

So since I am analyzing what a dork I am (and why I'm not going out to a club on a Thursday night since I don't have Addison and don't have class tomorrow),  I have realized how my life has changed.  I went into my closet and looked at all the shoes I used to wear.  I use to be all about heels and fashion.  Now I wear Uggs, Frye harness boots, and Anthropologie.  I do consider Anthropologie still fashion but it's not go out on the town wear.  More like romantic comfortable wear, mommy wear.  I think this change happen because of motherhood but I also think it was school.  When I am going to class, I want to be in the most comfortable shoes and clothes and since I still love fashion I will not be one of those people who are in class in their pajamas.  But, I do realize I have probably lost my fabulous fag hag card.  No shopping at Arden B and Bebe anymore.  I have switched out my W and Vogue Magazines for Martha Stewart Living and Architectural Digest.  Life is so funny.

From this

Wore these to the Police concert 4 years ago.

Still love these. Nice Platform

Cute but the most uncomfortable shoes I own.

My favorite shoes.  The Betsey Johnson I had to have.

Kind of comfortable because it's a platform but still not flip flops.

To This

Love my Uggs.  It's like wearing house slippers all day.

My favorite boots.  JT actually has the exact same pair.  

I know most of those are spring and summer shoes but once it starts getting warm I will be in sandals and flip flops.  I do have nice sandals though. And I'm thinking about buying these.

Definitely these.

Well, hopefully I won't be in orthopedic shoes anytime soon.  Addison will be home tomorrow!!!!

Shopping, Baking, and Studying

Happy Saturday!!!  It's a beautiful day here in Atlanta. The sun is out and it's not freezing cold.  We had to take Addison to Taekwondo and ice skating but now we are home and he's playing outside.  During, ice skating lessons I was able to meet up with Kenya at Anthropologie.  I bought a couple of bowls and mugs. I also purchased the cutest cookie jar.

Isn't she adorable?  See how I am trying to get artsy with my new camera?  :)  I'm so excited about my new camera.  I love that I can take great pictures for my blog now.  I was getting jealous when I looked at the great pictures other had on their blogs.  Well, I need to start baking for Larry's birthday I'll be back later with pics. 

Antropolgie dream come true

If you haven't found out yet, Anthropolgie and Urban Outfitters are starting a new bridal store.  I'm am so excited but the bad thing is I'm already married.  I need to renew my vows ASAP!!  Everyone who knows me knows I am obsessed with Anthro, it's the only place I shop.  So when I found out they were going to start selling wedding dresses I knew they would be beautiful.  It will be called BHLDN and the site opens Valentine's Day.

This one is my favorite.

Oh I can't wait just to browse the site.  I need to find all my single girlfriends men now so I can be in their weddings.  :)  JCrew bridal good bye, Hello BHLDN!!!

Stepford Wife

So The Chosen One said today I need to start making aprons.  She said I should branch out and start working on fabric.  Of course my husband replied by saying "She can't sew worth a damn".  But hey I think I could learn.  Wait don't I have enough on my plate with baking, cooking, card making, and getting a double major in Computer and Electrical Engineering?  Oh lets not forget being a mother and a wife. So since I can't sew and I love to cook and bake I thought I could show you my favorite aprons.

Here are some lovely aprons from Ice Milk Aprons.  

We have waist aprons.

Full Aprons

Children aprons

Mom and daughter aprons

 Next we have aprons from Anthropologie

This is the one I have.

Then we have aprons from Jessie Steele.  Which I think Antropologie sells this line. 

Love this one.

So buying this one.

Jessie Steele even has sexy aprons.  Hubba Hubba!

JT needs to buy me this apron.  :)

Or this one.

I was so born in the wrong decade.  I would love to be a 1960s housewife without the black and women oppression, of course.   :)

Ok this blog is not going to be long.  I had a long day and I'm ready to watch some TV and relax.  I did make Provencal Lamb Daube tonight.  

Well, it's in the oven right now and it had to cook for 3 hours so we will be eating it tomorrow night for dinner.  It will be served over roasted garlic grits.  You can get the recipe here.   I hope it turns out as good as the picture.  

Bye for now.