Happy New Year!

If I were having a New Years Eve party, it would like something like this....








Sadly I will have to wait until New Years Eve 2010 to try these ideas out. What will your New Years Eve be like?

Photos Martha Stewart

Happy Howlidays

I'm sure all you dog lovers out there get your furry friends some kind of Christmas goodies. I stumbled upon this easy recipe from Paula Deen...I have already made a ton for my two hounds and they LOVE them! I'll be baking up more for all my family and friends with dogs. Bone appetite!




Found this cute bone shaped tin at Traget for $2.99

Watch out Martha

I enjoy cooking, but I love baking. Cookies however, are my weakness. I can do slice and bake like no other...but making cookies from scratch has never turned out well. Last year I saw Martha make these on her show....


This year I decided to tackle her recipe for cut out cookies and royal icing. This is what I ended up with...


Not to shabby, and even my husband agreed they were delicious. You can find Martha's recipe here. Happy baking to you!

Puppy Love

This week I received a flyer in my mailbox from Four Legged Creative. They offer adorable and sylish tote bags, t-shirts, and other items for the "stylish dog owner". And the best part....a portion of your purchase is donated to animal rescues and causes. What a stylish way to show your love for dogs and give something back!

My personal fave.....

New Inspiration

Have you checked out House Beautiful lately? They have featured 20 new interior designers to watch. Some of my faves....

Lisa McDennon:Love this room! Can I please have a guest room like this?


Melissa Warner, Julie Massucco, Carrie Miller: I am in Pink heaven!!!


Gary Spain

Turkey Day

This year I am hosting mine and my husband's family for Thanksgiving. I will be making this yummy pie....



And thanks to Martha Stewart....these place cards....



How will you celebrate Turkey Day?

Wino

I spent the weekend with some old friends and some new in the N. Georgia Mountains. Saturday was a day filled with winery hopping. We visited 3 wineries...


Frogtown might have been my fave. Unfortunately there was a wedding that day so I couldn't go in the gorgeous house. The view was breathtaking and the wine was excellent.

Three Sisters was also excellent

If you can manage to get away, head to Blue Ridge, GA. We used this rental company, and our cabin was amazing. Overall a much needed break before the holidays come.

Pumpkin...Yum!!!!

This recipe is for all you pumpkin junkies out there like me. These Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins are easy to make and I am sure they would go wonderful with Darby's Pumpkin Butter recipe. I paired mine with the store bought variety. Sorry no photo...it was early this morning when I was baking. :)

1 can pumpkin
1 1/2 cups vegetable oil
3 cups flour
4 eggs
s tsp. baking soda
2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. salt
2 cups chocolate chips

Beat eggs, sugar, pumpkin, & oil until smooth. Combine flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon and salt; add to pumpkin mixture & mix well. Fold in chocolate chips. Fill greased muffin pan 3/4 full. Bake at 400 for 16-20 minutes. Makes 24 muffins.

*You can also use a mini muffin pan for bite size treats (I use mini choc chips instead).

Rainy Day

It is raining yet again in Atlanta. At this rate I may need to invest in some stylish rain gear. I think these from Kate Spade are a definite possibility. Have you ever seen rain boots with a heel?

Am I too late?

I realize that it is only 1 week into October, but by now I usually have my Halloween decorations up in full force. I have so much going on this month I may have to only do some Fall decorating around my front door and make it last through Thanksgiving. In searching for inspiration this is what I found.....


Photo Tatertots & Jello


Photo Country Living

I love this front door!!So chic and festive. You can the find the directions here


Photo The Party Dress

And something yummy.....

Photo & Recipe Better Homes & Gardens

Off to the beach...

I am heading out tomorrow for a MUCH needed vacation. We are driving down to Pensacola, FL for an annual golf tournament my hubby plays in. We will be staying with some of our good friends and their 3 precious children. Hope you all enjoy your weekend!!

Catching up......

Lots of craziness last week. As if the flood rains we had here in Atlanta weren't bad enough-then the car decided not to start one morning. Ended the week on a good note though. Had all my girlfriends from work over for dinner on Saturday. Had I taken pictures I would have posted them (for nothing else but proof that my house CAN be clean). The dinner was combined with a "mini" baby celebrataion for one of the girls whose preggers. Had I been able to do a full on shower it would have looked something like this....

Back in the swing of things

I know I've been gone for awhile. Life gets crazy and kind of gets in the way of things sometimes doesn't it? Here is what has been happening in our lives....

Last March we started to remodel our master bath. By "we" I mean me and my husband. Had ever tiled before? no. Were we confidant we could do it? yes. Did it turn out well? no. The floor came out well, but the shower....that's another story. I won't even post pictures b/c it was too shameful. The shower was unusable since the floor was not sloped properly. When we tried to use it there were puddles of water on the shower floor. We had to use a wet vac in order to drain it. Needless to say I wasn't prepared to do that every morning. We were so sick of the whole project we pretty much shut the door on the bathroom and tried to forget about it. A few weeks ago I decided it was time to reconcile with the shower. Here is what our contractor has done so far.



He says it is so waterproof we could shower in it now without tile. (We won't be trying that). More pics to come of the finished product.

Windsor Smith

Have you seen the feature on her over at House Beautiful? Her home is to die for!!!








I love the wingback chair at the dining table. It just begs for long leisurly
dinners. Check out the detail on the ceiling.




This black family room is fabulous. It's so dramatic....hard to belive she has a ping pong table in there!

Can I be a Teenager?

I stumbled across this light fixture at Pottery Barn Teen today. It is on sale for an incredible $59.99! They have some really fun things over there at PB Teen. Makes me wish I could be a teenager again.


They also have these glavanized tiles. They would be perfect in my mudroom for keeping up with all the notes I am always leaving around. They are on back order right now, but will be available in September so the web site says.

Closet Envy

My closet is in desperate need of a little TLC. I keep telling my hubby that we need to re-do out little walk-in closet to make it more "efficient". The problem is that the previous owners attempted to do their own "custom closet". The result is not so good. My purses and shoes are spilling over (they need room to breath)and I have stacks of clothes everywhere. It needs some immediate help, so I went in search of inspiration.....



Naturally this is my fave....this fab closet belong to Jenna Lyons over at J. Crew. Who wouldn't want a fireplace in their closet? And all those windows!!!


Love the shoes on the wall.

Photo Courtesy of This is Glamorous

Healthy Hounds

Allow me to introduce Buster.....



and Hester.......



These are my adorable hounds. They are rescue dogs (the best kind) and they bring a lot of joy to our lives. Yesterday we took our hounds to the Pet Supermarket near our Atlanta, GA home for their vaccinations. Once a month they offer discounted vaccinations for your dogs and cats. You will pay about 1/2 of what you might pay at the vet. We were in and out in about 45 minutes. Our dogs were a lot less stressed then they usually are when we take them to the vet. I think they only offer it in Florida and Georgia....so if you live in these states check it out!!

Dining in?

I am in search of some new chairs for my kitchen. So far I like these from Ikea. The price is perfect - $50 each and I want something with removable slip covers. Not crazy about the light wood legs, so I am thinking about painting them chocolate. I plan to go to Ikea this weekend (which is always a nightmare) to test out the comfort level. Anyone out there have these?

I painted my kitchen table black last year, but seriously underestimated the dust that shows on it. So the solution: paint it again! (I do a lot of double painting)I tend to be somewhat fickle on paint colors. I think I've settled on Martha Stewart's Soapstone Gray. Pictures are to come as I work on the table!

I'm Back

Ever feel like this picture? It's about how my office looks right now. Thanks to computer drama I have been out of comission in the blog world for several weeks now. Well, my computer is back in action and so am I. So I promise to make up for lost time and bring you some fun, inspiring things this week!

Happy Fourth of July!

Happy fourth of July everyone! I would like to say that I will be throwing a fabulous party complete the following.....however, more then likely I will spend it by the pool. Still not a bad way to celebrate though! How do you plan to spend your Fourth of July?





Photos courtesy of Martha Stewart

It's just not the same

I received this in my mail box today.....


Photo courtesy of Glamour

It came with a letter stating that I would now receive Glamour instead of Domino. While I'm pleased to be getting another magazine, it just isn't even close to being as good as Domino. Will there ever be another magazine that comes close to replacing Domino?

Picture Perfect

When I hang pictures on the wall is usually take 3 holes in the wall before I get it right. It's not that I don't have the right tools to do it right the first time.....I just lack the patience. The Perfect Picture Wall found a way to do it right. All you do is tape the template to the wall and then mark where the hooks should go. And poof! your pictures are perfectly spaced and hang evenly. So for $349 you can have a picture perfect wall!


Photo courtesy of The Perfect Picture Wall

Of course if you are on a budget (like me) you can still achieve a similar look. I apologize for not taking step-by-step pictures, but I will try my best to walk you through what I did. I taped off a large rectangle with 2 inch tape for the white border. After gathering a variety of frames I laid them out on the floor to figure out placement. Then I just hung them one by one on the wall. It's a little bit of trial and error when you don't have a template, but it worked really well for me. And the best part...it didn't cost me $349!

We all Scream for Ice Cream!

I have been lusting after this for weeks. This Cuisinart Ice Cream maker is almost 50% off at William-Sonoma right now. Something about the hot, hot, heat in the summer makes me crave ice cream. I may have to take the plunge and pick one up this weekend. Any other Williams-Sonoma junkies out there?


Photo Courtesy of Williams-Sonoma

And I would serve my homemade Ice Cream in these......

Photo Courtesy of Wrapables

Sleeping under a canopy

Photo courtesy of Elle Decor




Photo Coutesy of Decor Pad

I have wanted a canopy bed ever since I was a little girl. Of course my tastes have somewhat changed since then(thank goodness!). I imagine if I had had a bed like this when I was younger....I never would have gotten out of bed. Unfortunately, my current bedroom (and husband) will not allow one, so for now I will settle on daydreaming about sleeping in one of these beds.

Louisiana Living!

Prepare yourself...this is going to be a long one......I was fortunate enough to spend last weekend with my amazing friend Kellye. She was sweet enough to show me all around her home state of Lousiana (I've never been), and if you have never been-I encourage you to go and have an awesome time! If you have been, I hope you have visited the following places. I know I'm going back with a u-haul as soon as possible!




I would happily live in any of these homes!




This is a fantastic place called Circa....full of awesome finds like farm house sinks and old doors and windows.


One shop used these pans (that were once used to bake hamburger buns) on their ceiling. Gives it a funkier pressed tin vibe.