Archive for April, 2008

Strike that, reverse it

Published by Sarah Bray on April 17, 2008 in Site Updates. 2 Comments

Today I had the most glorious, wonderful, filled-to-the-brim day with friends who had recently moved away and returned for a visit. We braved the beach even though it was chilly, went to Chick-fil-A (which Nolan lovingly refers to as Chickalay…emphasis on the “Chick”), played at the playground, and finally ended up at the mall play area. Needless to say, we had a blast. It was THE most fun I’ve had in a really long time, even though everyone was really worn out at the end.

I am telling you all of this because I had a really great post lined up for today’s Everyday Design spotlight, but it is still in my head. So it made me wonder. Whoever gave me the idea that every blogging day has to be about a specific “something”? I think it’s my own propensity toward self-flagellation. So tomorrow’s post will be the one that was meant for today, and I will be completely happy with that!

Unpredictability is a good thing anyway. Even though I’m sure it’s going to keep every one of you up at night…”What is she going to blog about tomorrow? I don’t KNOW! What am I going to do? Ahhhhh…!“

Inspiration Board

Published by Sarah Bray on April 16, 2008 in Inspiration Board. 10 Comments

Here are the things inspiring me this week.


Photo by Sandra Monat of Herzenart [via decor8]

 


Photo via Nicole Brown of Pink Loves Brown

 


Photo by Julia of Kingdom Jewels

 


Photo by Luisa Weiss of The Wednesday Chef

 


Photo by Jenifer Altman of Jenifer Altman Photography

 


Photo by Erin Gates of Element Interiors

 


Photo by Nicole Hill of Nicole Hill Photography [via Frolic]

In the garden: Perennials that make me look like I have a green thumb

Published by Sarah Bray on April 15, 2008 in In the Garden. 0 Comments

I’ve finally gotten around to taking my camera (which is still grasping at life by a cobweb-strand) out to photograph some of my favorite perennials that have begun to bloom in my garden. I really will invest in a fully functional camera soon - perhaps when we get that “economy booster” check from Uncle Sam. Until then, cherish these photo-filled posts, my friends. I am fully aware of their rarity.

Do not be fooled. I have done nothing to merit these beauties. They’re just doing their thing, which is why I like perennials. You order the right plants from a local garden center that knows what grows well in your area, plant them, baby them a bit for the first season (meaning: make sure they don’t get hit by a drought), and they’ll require little else year after year. Sure, it’s nice to weed every now and again, but if you plant them close enough and pour on the mulch thick enough, that won’t be much of a problem.

No, I do not know the names of these plants. When we planted them last year, I was so good. I wrote everything down and was determined to know the plant profile of every single genus, class, species…whatever they may be1. What happened to that list? I have no idea. I think there must be goblins in this house. That is the only reasonable explanation for me never being able to find ANYTHING.

It’s supposed to be warmer today at 58 degrees. I am starting to lose hope for anything better. And today is the magic day! April 15th! The final frost date will have come and gone by tonight, and I still do not have any tomatoes. Oh well. I’ve heard rumors that the longer you wait to plant, the better your harvest will be. They’re just rumors, but I always bank on them since I am perpetually running behind. It comforts me.

P.S. Twitter was breaking my blog when I posted this, so I took it down for a wee bit. My challenge for today is to schedule care for my dog. Colby needs a haircut so badly that I’m kind of embarrassed to take him in!

  1. Oops…my ineptitude at biology is showing, isn’t it? Ah well. There are worse things. [↩]

Fruits and veggies, happily ever after: A guest blog by the lovely Jen of Bliss Home Goods

Published by Sarah Bray on April 14, 2008 in Food, Glorious Food. 2 Comments

My good friend Jen, blogger and artist/creator at Bliss Home Goods, is joining us today to share her experience with eating healthfully. She and her husband Erick have two ADORABLE boys (and I do not exaggerate…I wish they lived closer so I could see their antics in person!) and are two of the smartest people I know. Well, I don’t know Erick very well, but he married Jen, so…you know. He’s got to be pretty bright. Their only flaw is that they live quite far away from me. So sad. Without further ado…

…

I love food. I’m particularly fond of carbs (bread, pasta, potatoes) and sugar (dessert? who, me? Yes! of course!) Oh, and I can’t forget cheese. Of almost any sort. I also truly love fruits and veggies, although I can guarantee you I don’t get enough of them in my diet…so lately I’m trying to whip myself into shape and have discovered a few meals that I’m absolutely crazy about, fruit and veggies included.

Breakfast:
We have a waffle iron and put it to good use around this place. Butter and syrup are standard toppings, but recently we thawed out the remainder of our strawberries that we picked last summer, and combined that deliciousness with a dollop of Stonyfield Yogurt as well. Skip the standard fare! Yogurt and berries piled atop a steaming waffle? I don’t think I can go back! Makes for an excellent Saturday morning treat.

Lunch:
Friday nights are pizza nights around this household, most often of the homemade variety. Although I’m a sucker for good ol’ pepperoni (I can out eat my husband in pizza), we went half and half last time. Half sauce/cheese/pepperoni, and half cauliflower/spinach/feta.
I’m a convert! I couldn’t believe how much I appreciated the veggie side. It was incredibly simple; we used frozen spinach and let it thaw before sprinkling it over the dough. cauliflower came next (rubbed in a bit of olive oil…you don’t have to cook it ahead of time), and then the feta. The feta makes it. (Told you I was a lover of cheese!) Anyway, this might be a mommy-special. Good lunch while the boys are at their grandma’s house and the hubby is at work. (Don’t believe the male side of the household is too inclined to convert like myself just yet.)

Supper:
Everyone loves this meal, and it’s another easy one to throw together. Cooked pasta (we’ve used every variety and they all work), doused in a cup or so of cream that has simmered for about 6 minutes. I used to use whole cream, but started using half, and it’s just as good for us! Throw in around a pound of roasted1 asparagus, cut into bite-sized pieces, and dice up some good ol’ sliced Virginia baked ham to toss in as well. Add some parmesan cheese to taste, and voila! The “fresh” of the asparagus and the salty ham makes for a fantastic combo.

There you have it! Change things bit by bit and I’ll get ever-closer to the recommended 5 a day…

  1. We have begun to roast ALL of our veggies. A bit of olive oil, a sprinkle of salt, and roast in the oven until tender! Better taste, and you don’t lose as many nutrients. [↩]

Friday Favorites

Published by Sarah Bray on April 11, 2008 in Favorite Things. 1 Comment

I finally have a little time to get back to my beloved good-stuff-hunting today. Whew! This week has been an absolute whirlwind! Must sleep this weekend. Here are a few of my favorite things this week:

  • Garbage Pickers by Amanda at Every Little Thing. Amanda finds some of the cutest stuff on her thrifting expeditions. It’s inspiring me to do a little hunting myself…should I get a moment to myself!
  • Inspiration ezine: Issue 3 by Erin at Design for Mankind. I’m a bit late posting this, but I had to nonetheless. I love Erin’s ezine, and I can’t believe she’s published the third one already. This is an incredible ode to all things inspiring.
  • Recycled Catalog Notebooks by Marichelle at Heart Handmade. I’ve really been enjoy Marichelle’s spotlights on terrific etsy sellers, and now she does DIY projects, too? Good stuff. I love the idea of using gorgeous catalog pages for little idea books.
  • Fun DIY Project by Jennifer at Welcome Home. I love Jen’s sense of style and her knack for finding good stuff, like Martha’s make-your-own-chalkboard-paint tutorial. And don’t you just love that little bird?
  • Paper Teaser by Susan at heysusy. Okay kill me, but honestly, a lot of designs I see all over the place are just that…all over the place. There are pros and cons to “design for the masses.” Susan’s original designs are trendy without being same old, same old. I so look forward to seeing the final products. And her paper is “really” eco-friendly to boot!
  • Fashion Friday: Frocks! by Victoria at sfgirlbybay. These dresses are absolutely scrumptious! There is not one that I do not adore! Now could somebody please come up with sources for similar items? Please???
  • Oh Money, My Story by Marisa at Creative Thursday. Marisa shares her very inspirational story in a podcast about how she dealt with money when she first started her venture into become a self-supporting artist.

    • Have a good weekend everyone!

WordPress upgrades…so what else is new?

Published by Sarah Bray on April 10, 2008 in Site Updates. 2 Comments

I love WordPress. Really, I do. And I love the idea of making things better. But I do get tired of going to all the trouble to be good and upgrade, and then discovering that my theme AND plugins are not entirely happy with me for doing so. I’ll get it figured out, but for now, I’m just happy that you can read this!

Twitter Me

Published by Sarah Bray on April 10, 2008 in Site Updates. 0 Comments

I have been going back and forth over whether or not to continue doing the daily challenges. I know you love them, so I definitely want to keep them, but with the new posting schedule, it makes for a lot of posts every day. I am the slowest writer on the planet, perhaps due to my perfectionist tendencies, so more than one post every day can take up to three hours!

So I’ve come up with a solution…I will keep doing the challenges, but they’re going to be twitterpated. You can follow me here or just look on the sidebar below the BlogHer ads at the top under the search box. Every day, I will post what I’ll be doing that day, and if it requires more explanation, then I can post about it. Brilliant, huh?

That will give me more time to focus on the meat of this site — the inspirational stuff that I find and share. And hopefully I’ll get more time to photograph the stuff that actually goes on in THIS house. I’ve gotten a lot of requests for that, so I’ll have to roll up my sleeves and perhaps invest in a new digital camera.

My camera currently requires me to hold the battery in while using it. As soon as I let go, it pops out, and no more camera. I’ve tried electrical tape, but it’s not strong enough. That battery desperately wants out. Since the door that holds it closed is broken, it has finally found a way.

Thanks for all of your suggestions and feedback! Next week, we’ll be fully underway, I promise. :)

Low-key blogging week

Published by Sarah Bray on April 9, 2008 in Site Updates. 2 Comments

I stayed up until 6:30am last night. 6:30AM! What in the world?

When you have deadlines for work, it’s one thing when the office is 10 miles away. You just don’t even think about it. You’re done, you go home, and that’s it. You’ll work on it tomorrow. When your office is 10 STEPS away…it’s a little different. You think about it. A lot. And when it’s 1 in the morning, and you still can’t sleep, you figure, “Why not? My kids are asleep. I can really get some work done.” And then the adrenaline and excitement you get from your work keeps you up. When you finally go to bed at 5:30, you still can’t sleep. It takes an hour.

I’m not complaining, however! I absolutely love my work. But when you’ve got deadlines to meet and you’re kids keep you guessing as to how much time you’ll have available, you make it work, sometimes sacrificing “normalcy” in the process.

But it’s all worth it when your client looks at your work and has the same “YES!” response that you had when creating it. It makes right all of the concepts that you tossed because they didn’t quite work, exactly.

I was blessed to have not one, but two such experiences in a row. One yesterday when presenting my ideas to a client, and one today via email. Ahhh! Right about now, I don’t even care that I’m barely functioning on two hours of sleep!

I know I need to back off of some things to make room for my deadlines, so for the rest of this week you’ll enjoy a “lite” version of the blog. I’ve still got so much I want to post about (yes, I know, you’re missing your gardening delightfulness), but it will have to wait until things slow down a bit. Right now I need to go chill out with my kids…and then back to work. :)

Tuesday’s challenge: Deep clean the living room

Published by Sarah Bray on April 8, 2008 in Cleaning and Organization. 0 Comments

So did I get everything done yesterday? No. No, I did not. I had some unexpected work come up, and that was that. But I got more done than I would have had I not had some sort of plan, so I’m pretty proud of myself.

So today’s plan is to go do the living room. For me, the living room is a much easier task to clean, but it’s much harder to KEEP clean. First of all, our couches are made entirely out of pillows. Guess how much fun it is for a three year old to stack up all the pillows and make forts and dog houses (yes, dog houses. That’s his favorite.)? A lot. And who am I to say that it’s not a good use of them?

So I make do. My plan for today is as follows:

  • Pick up the toys and clutter
  • Find a new place for the pile of shoes
  • Dust the ceiling fan, window sills, and furniture
  • Wipe down the furniture with pledge
  • Vacuum the couches
  • Vacuum the floor

Not too hard, really. And maybe I’ll clean up the playroom so they’ll want to play in there instead of the living room! Not much of a chance of that, but it’s worth the effort!

Food, glorious food: Cow-free, kid-friendly edition

Published by Sarah Bray on April 7, 2008 in Food, Glorious Food. 3 Comments

When I rounded up my most delicious-sounding food finds last week, Victoria left a comment mentioning that her son has a milk protein allergy and was wondering what kinds of things to fix for him. So today I’ve made it my mission to find yummy, kid-friendly recipes that include absolutely no cow-derived products.

Famous Chocolate Muffins

Cheeseburger Macaroni

Chicken Parmesan

Baked Oatmeal

Pizza Dough

French Toast

Pasta Fagioli

Macaroni and Cheese

Vegan Stuffed Shells

Apple and Caramel Bread Pudding

Carrot Cake

I’ve made myself a strict 11pm bedtime, so I’m off the computer for now1. I hoped to get more recipes posted for you, but you know…I have to set limits for myself if I’m going to have balance in my life. That’s my number one goal right now. Feel free to post your favorite milk-protein-free recipes and links below. :)

  1. Yes, I wrote this yesterday [↩]