sunday suppers granola

one of my favorite blogs to pop in on is sunday suppers. their photos and styling (by karen mordechai) are phenomenal and make me want to jump thru the screen, grab that antique fork, and help myself to the fig crostata.these photos almost had me running out to buy brussel sprouts. almost. boy do i hate brussel sprouts. but the photos are that good.... they can make you eat things you don't like to eat. almost.

images via sunday suppers

recently they shared this recipe. i put it on my to-do list and made it last night. so simple.

start with oats and chopped nuts. i used almonds only.
melt butter and honey.
mix and spread on cookie sheet. bake.
and you have this. i added raisins.

yummy. so incredibly yummy.

tennis anyone?

pixel here, everyone. this is the glazed over look you get when you've been watching too much tennis. like 5 or 6 hours every night. mommy and daddy are sooo into it. they finally agree on something to watch on tv. mommy used to play a lot of tennis growing up. she claims she was really good. i'll need to see video to believe that. some of her fondest childhood memories were apparently riding her bike to the local courts with her sister and neighbor every summer night and playing til the lights went off. hmmm. hard to believe her doing THAT much physical activity.

here i'm trying really hard to stay awake and watch this 5th set, but it's after midnight here. past my bedtime. not that i need my beauty sleep. i'm cute enough as is.
what? federer beat davydenko.
ok, great, let me go back to sleep.
we've seen a lot of fist pumping too. like, a lot. seriously. a lot.
so much fist pumping that i won't be surprised when mommy fist pumps after mopping the floor.

(tennis images via here)

wordless wednesday - celebrating pink

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1 from here
2 from here
3 from here
4 from here
5 from here

sunday dinner

sunday afternoon. guest coming for dinner. what should we make? we have filet mignon (for me) and lamb (for steve and guest). sides? i remembered seeing this post recently. and drooling. i showed it to steve. he drooled.

steve made the potatoes. the crash hot potatoes. very simple. very very very yummy. and they're healthy! bonus. steve hasn't stopped talking about them.
i even had the leftover ones for breakfast this morning. don't tell steve, but they're all gone. this'll be the scene at 530 today. steve comes home from work, opens fridge. looks, looks. searches, searches. "honey, where are the leftover potatoes?" he'll say. and i'll do what any good wife would do to preserve the peace in our marriage. lie. tell him the dog ate them.

i made the sauce to go with our grilled meat. onion-blue cheese sauce. this is to die for. seriously. not quite as healthy as the potatoes. far from it. but oh-so-tasty. the perfect accompaniment to the meat.
thank you pioneer woman.

(all images via the pioneer woman).

must watch

you must watch this. you will be fixated for 8 and a half minutes. thanks to my father-in-law for passing it along.

small world

images via treehouse point

sometimes you have to read a blog post written by a newlywed (and soon-to-be-mom) from new york , recapping a blog post written by an internationally acclaimed stylist, photographer and author who resides in sydney, paris and amsterdam to discover something in your own backyard.

this is treehouse point, which is, according to their site, "an intimate alternative for individuals and groups who seek comfort and style in friendly and natural surroundings. all accommodations are well designed and artfully decorated, with touches like handmade beds, original art and charming vintage furnishings. we offer a main lodge with two suites and two overflow rooms, two treehouses, and a deluxe cabin tent."

image via treehouse point

treehouse point is within 5 miles of our house. who knew. jasmine from show+tell recently honeymooned there. these are some of her images.

images from jasfritz

beautiful, huh? peaceful, serene too.

i want this in my own backyard.

image via treehouse point

next time we can't accomodate all our houseguests, we'll send them here. or better yet, give them our bedroom and we'll go stay at treehouse point.

valentine invite

my sister's having a valentine's day social. she's inviting 10 couples to her house for dinner and cocktails. i wanna go (*whine*). but i live 3000 miles away. i did print her invites though. here they are. they have a very subtle tile pattern in the background. (click photo to enlarge). they're in the mail now. hope she (and her guests) like them!

globe fashion

what's the best way to deal with this?
park yourself at the kitchen table and watch the golden globes at the same time. by the way, i consider myself an extremely, ok, more-than-somewhat, organized person. i'm not sure where this stack of receipts came from. it started with 2 and bred. and bred. and bred.

but let's talk about golden globe fashion. here were some of the highlights from last night's show.

different, but totally like it.
skip the dress. let's talk about that adorable pixie haircut. love.
love the color.
felicity looks great. if only my arms were as toned.
this is my favorite of the night.
love this one too.

and glenn close. can't help but think of fatal attraction everytime i see her. it is, after all, my favorite movie. toni colette. i thought she looked simply stunning.
and who doesn't love girl-next-door sandra bullock. must see the blind side.

rain, rain, go away

can ya see the dancing raindrops on my outdoor table?
we've had nothing but rain, and wind, for the last few weeks. or so it seems. i'm sure there were a few days with sun, but i honestly can't remember them. all i remember is the rain and the grey skies. i'm depressed. time to gulp my liquid vitamin d drops.

the weekend doesn't look much more promising. maybe a hint of sun tomorrow. but i'm not gonna hold my breath.
instead i'll just plan on indoor activites. like household organization. i've been meaning to play along with lauren over at pure style home. every week (or almost every week) she's posting a household organization project. and inviting her readers to follow along and send in their photos of the completed project. fun!

week 1 was this.

image from pure style home

pour small samples of paint in jars, label, and place with brush in room where that color is. then it's sooo simple to reach for that jar when you need to do a quick paint touch up. brilliant! and i've been going to the garage, searching thru 47 paint cans, digging for a paint brush each time i needed to retouch the paint. silly me! this i will do this weekend. promise.

week 2 was this. organize your coat closet. i'm feeling pretty good about my coat closet. so i'm gonna pass on this one. (although i may take her up on her suggestion of matching wooden hangers.) but check out what lauren did. this is her coat closet before.

and ta-da, after. what a makeover! from aqua paint to the door hanging caddy to shoe shelves. awesome.

images from pure style home

head over here to follow along with lauren and her readers.

and hopefully i'll squeeze in some sofa time with a book or a movie.

what are your plans for the weekend?

no country for old men

i've been watching this movie a lot recently. seems like the encore channel plays it every other day. and i get sucked in. (remember, it's seattle, it's rainy season, it's grey season, laying on the sofa under a blanket is sooo enticing.)

this is totally creepy. so creepy you can't help but watch and then have bad dreams later.
the pale skin, the haircut, the low voice. makes me shiver.

can you even imagine it's him?i can't. he did that good of a job in the movie.

happy birthday pixel!

pixel overload coming up. but it's ok. it's her birthday. she's 2 today. i thought i'd share some photos that our friends jared and sarah* took for us. this was our christmas card photo shoot. we ended up choosing this photo, which i absolutely love.

here's pixel in the car on the way to our photo shoot location. even the back of her head is supercute.
we started out with the mountain behind us and steve holding pixel.
but i really wanted pixel to be the star of the shoot. so we became a backdrop.and our little model turned out the poses.which worked until she tumbled down the slope.
then we let pixel have some solo time in the tall grass. we moved onto more photos with pixel as the star, steve and i just backdrop.
then we changed locations. aw, our little girl looks up to us sooo much. or is it because steve's about to retrieve a treat from his pocket.
here we are. her idols.
i had to have a little alone time with pixel. can't you tell she's thrilled.
see, thrilled.
then we lined ourselves up for the final shot. hold on, jared, let me get my wrinkly hands out of there.

a little photo editing to give that old timey feel and here it is. good job, pixel.
*sarah and jared are photographers who recently relocated to seattle. if you're in the area and in need of wonderful photographers for weddings, engagement sessions or family portraits, let me know, i'll pass along their info.