hearts

I haven't used my sewing machine in far too long. so with valentine's day coming up, I thought it would be fun to use a bunch of the leftover felt I had to make some little decorative hearts. I just cut out two hearts of the same size, sewed them together leaving a space at the bottom to turn them under. I stuffed them with batting & stuck in a wooden dowel that I colored with a gold sharpie. then I just threw a little glue gun on the bottom to seal them up. xoxo

renningers antiques- second visit

you may remember we took a mini road trip to renningers last year & found some great treasures. they held it again in january, so we made another trip to see if our good luck would continue. my mom went us this time, and in the car on the way there, asked us what we were hoping to find. I said, "a big vintage disco ball" and robert said, "a 60s bullet planter". pretty specific (not sure what my obsession with having a disco ball has been, but I've been wanting one for years. go figure). 

we walked around the entire day without really finding anything too exciting (minus the food booths!). and then towards the end of the day, I spotted it from a mile away - a big ol' disco ball, glistening in the sun (cue the hallelujah chorus). the booth owner was all, "well I know how much I have into this and I can't let it go for any less than that." so of course I walked away. right as I was out of her booth, she changed her tune. robert came & helped me negotiate the rest. we ended up getting it for a pretty decent price (I suppose... I have no clue what the going rate for vintage disco ball is these days). 

for the rest of the day, robert was the most poplar dude at renningers carrying this "party on a chain," as I like to call it. seriously- people's reactions were downright hysterical. people would come up to him & just start dancing. some took photos with him, some people shouted out things like, "hey man, I like your ball" & "I've got disco duck on vinyl- let me play it for you!" my mom & I were cracking up. it was such a fun day. oh, and on the way out, robert spotted his vintage bullet planter too! 

{giant disco ball = instant popularity}

  {I fell in love with these vintage travel books}

  {this jade collection totally reminded me of martha stewart}

  {printer's cabinet}

  {we're in love with this heywood hutch}

 {a successful trip}

all is calm

I cut the phrase "all is calm" out of pretty white glittery paper as part of our christmas decorations this year. I've packed everything away except for this & I've been thinking I might leave it up awhile longer. sometimes I just need a little reminder to stop, take a deep breath & tell myself that god is in control. hope you all have a restful weekend! 

2012

well, I'm not gonna lie. 2012 was a sucky year. nevertheless, I wanted to continue my tradition of wrapping up the year with some of the positive highlights. 

-I celebrated my 30th birthday. I am officially old
-we took a family day trip to check out peaches to the beaches
-there were lots of bike rides (thanks to my new bicycle basket) 
-some really great bands came to play in our city (beach house, wilco, jim gaffigan &mark kozelek)
-we celebrated our 6th wedding anniversary! 
-a mini vacation to the florida keys
-blueberry picking is now officially an annual tradition
-my mom & I had a fun road trip to see my sister
-fall happened in nyc & I got to see it
-hola costa rica! 
-fun times with friends exploring renningers antiques & finding treasures
-we shook things up & went to atlanta for thanksgiving
-I (almost) successfully completed a year of cookies (not sure what happened to june)

I sincerely thank each of you for taking the time to stop by here & read & comment. wishing you all a happy & healthy 2013! 

I couldn't sum it up better:

source

december cookie: peanut butter nutella cookie

peanut butter + nutella are like the best combination ever. I was skeptical about this recipe, because I've baked with nutella before & then felt like it was a waste of the precious condiment. it tasted better just sitting on the couch eating it out of the jar with a spoon (err, not that I've ever done that... recently). but these cookies are definitely an exception. they were very easy to make & turned out perfectly. you can find the recipe here.

november cookie: lemon snowdrop cookies

our neighbor brought us the most beautiful meyer lemons from her tree in november. not sure what to do with all of them, I juiced some & then decided to make some lemon cookies with the rest. bad idea. this recipe looked great & I'm really not sure what I did wrong, but these cookies totally sucked. they finally got crispy around the outsides but were still too wet on the inside. in reading the comments on the blog, they turned out fine for other people, so don't let me hinder you from attempting them. maybe I should dedicate 2013 to re-making all the recipes that I screwed up along the way. 

october cookie: flourless rocky road chocolate chip cookies

we had a cool day in october so I was looking for a meringue-like cookie that would go well with hot chocolate. I adapted this recipe slightly from here & added marshmallows, which was a great addition. 

flourless rocky road chocolate chip cookies

• 3 cups powdered sugar
• 2/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder (dutch if you have it)
• 1/4 tsp sea salt
• 3 large egg whites, at room temperature
• 1 tbsp pure vanilla extract
• 2 cups mini marshmallows 
• 1 1/2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips (or heck, just dump the whole bag in if you're feeling crazy)

1. preheat oven to 350.
2. in a large bowl, mix together powdered sugar, cocoa powder and sea salt. add in vanilla. whisk in egg whites until just moistened. add in marshmallows & chocolate chips. pop in the fridge for about 20 minute so that the dough becomes cool (this will keep them from spreading when they bake). 
3. spoon batter onto cookie sheets in small mounds.
4. bake for 12 minutes or until tops are glossy and lightly cracked.