A touch of Southern charm...

A long time ago, in a land far away my husband was a bachelor....

Not the sleaze-bucket kind featured on TV, (am I the only one in the world that finds that whole concept disgusting?!) but rather the my-house-has-hand-me-down-furniture-from-college-and-I-don't-know-what-to-do-with-it kind of bachelor... The answer to that question the majority of the time was burn it! Seriously... Any furniture that was upholstered in any way, shape, or form did not survive our union... With good reason! Anything laminate, we said adios to. What remained from his bachelor days were solid wood pieces, with good bones that needed some TLC. 

Presenting exhibit A... 

My wonderful husband loved this nightstand, and the matching dresser.

They were substantial, traditional, solid pieces. They were also in dire need of a face lift, so after much begging I finally got the go ahead to paint them.

First thing I did was remove the old hardware, and fill in the old holes with wood filler. I let the filler dry over night.

The next day, I sanded the crap out of the drawers and the tops of the dresser, and nightstand. I didn't sand the sides of the pieces because they were in pretty decent shape, and that's the beauty of chalk paint... There's not a whole lot of prep!

I used a home-made chalk paint, because I am not going to pay a bazillion dollars for something that will give me the same result (sorry Annie Sloan)

I went to Lowes and picked out a flat, indoor paint that tickled my fancy, and some plaster of Paris. 

When I got home I mixed one part plaster of Paris with warm water, and then 3 parts paint. It is important to mix the Plaster of Paris with the water first, otherwise you end up with a globby mess.

After I mixed my chalk paint I got to painting. I left the tops unpainted. I love the contrast of wood with paint. I only did one coat on these pieces because I liked how the blue from the old stain came through. 

FYI- this paint dries super quick... Like 30-45 minutes quick.

After the paint dried I took my trusty palm sander, and skimmed over the areas I wanted to distress.

 

Once I got the pieces distressed I stained the tops of the pieces. I picked a dark chestnut stain that contrasted the cream paint nicely.

Last, but certainly not least was new hardware! When I was getting the paint I saw these knobs that were everything I wanted for this piece. Classic. Southern. Whimsical. 

The pulls reminded me of the antique glass doorknobs, and I think they are perfect!

Actually, I lied... There was one more important step... Preserving the pieces.

To do this I used a plain and simple finishing wax by Minwax, and I got my inner karate kid on. Wax on, wax off....

All in all, I could not be more pleased with the transformations.

Until next time... À tout à l'houre!

So, I have a 1 year old...

It happened.

He's one.

This bundle of laughs and snuggles is one year old now. 

Sunday we had his birthday, and it was a big, wonderful, exhausting blur. It is a lot of work throwing a party with a baby! (Excuse me- toddler. Lukas is very sensitive about the "B" word now that he is one)

Lukas had a fishing birthday, complete with magnetic fishing poles for the kids to take home. 

 Word of advice- if you plan on giving out fishing poles, keep them away from little hands or you will spend hours untangling them. 

We had a fantastic BBQ. So much food! 

In keeping with the fishing theme we had cupcakes complete with fishing poles.

I loved how they turned out!

I made a cake too, and it was super yummy. Vanilla with an apple compote and whipped cream.

All in all, everything was pretty yummy. Lukas loved his cake! 

My only complaint would be that Lukas was exhausted during presents. I rushed through them in order to avoid a total meltdown. 

All in all we had a wonderful day, but I am thankful we only have to do it once a year... I'll probably need a full year to recuperate. :)

Until next time- love to all!

Summer salmon pasta

Confession- 90% of the cooking in our house is done by Patrick. It's not that I can't cook, (I'm actually quite proud of the culinary skill I possess.) but I work, and Patrick is a far better cook than I am. (Ladies, word of advice- Marry a man who can cook. And can cook well!) Patrick cooks with things like truffle oil, and saffron. I cook with love. No comparison.

All self-deprecating humor aside, we enjoy cooking together. I enjoy taking on the role of sous chef and letting him shine in the kitchen, but this recipe is not about him. This is my recipe, and it is knock your socks off yummy, and the reason that I could never give up fish. The best part is it is so simple. The way food should be.

To start you need:

*2 cups fusilli pasta

2- 4oz. Salmon fillets

1 bunch of asparagus

1 cup cremini mushrooms

1 cup sundried tomatoes (drained)

3 oz. of goat cheese

*You can use whatever pasta you prefer. I prefer fusilli or rotini because the cheese incorporates well into it.

Start your pasta water. Make sure you salt the water well to flavor the pasta.

Heat a sauté pan with oil (I use coconut, but olive works just fine too) to medium heat. 

Chop your asparagus into 1" slices. Slice your creminis, and chop the sundried tomatoes.

Season your salmon filets with a rub of salt and pepper. (And if you are feeling adventurous a tiny bit of cayenne gives a nice little kick)

When your water comes to a boil pour in your pasta. About halfway to al dente add the asparagus.

While the pasta is cooking start sautéing the creminis. Once the creminis are browned set aside in a large mixing bowl. 

In the same sauté pan, sauté your salmon filets until cooked through. Set aside.  I like to soak up the excess oil with a paper towel, but that's totally optional. Give the filets a rough chop and put in the bowl with the creminis.

When the pasta is al dente, drain the pasta and asparagus. Mix in with the salmon cremini mix. Immediately mix in the goat cheese. You want the pasta to still be hot so the cheese melts and incorporates well into the dish.

Salt to taste.

Next, the most controversial ingredient, the sun-dried tomato. Personally, I love them. I think they bring a great brightness to any dish, but not everybody feels the same way I do. My husband does not share my love for sun-dried tomatoes. So I put them in last. You could roast cherry tomatoes, and put them in as a substitute. Whatever you choose the dish is still delish!

This is by far my favorite summer dish. It is good hot, or cold, or here, or there, or in a house, or with a mouse... Or with a glass of sangria.

Wherever or however you choose to eat it it is delicious. I brought it last year to a potluck when we had our childbirth classes, and a room full of pregnant ladies and their husbands all concurred.

Happy meals (not the gross kind) lovebugs!

Dear Lukas- 2

Dear Lukas,

  I'm reflecting a lot right now. 

This is the last week before we celebrate your first lap around the sun, and as thrilled as I am watching you grow, I'm also a little sad at how quickly it goes by.

Today you stood unassisted for an extended time. You've been able to do this for some time now, but you just haven't trusted in yourself enough to do it. Your dad and I haven't pushed it. We knew that it would happen when you were good and ready, and not a moment sooner. So we waited. And today you stood. You stood tall. You stood proud. And then you fell to your bottom. And you did something wonderful. You clapped for yourself. You knew that you had done something great, and greatness deserves praise. I love that about you. 

Later today I was watching you crawl, and it hit me. You won't be crawling for much longer. Pretty soon you'll be walking, and I'll no longer hear the slap of your hands on the floor as you crawl from room to room. I'll no longer see your little butt wiggle from side to side when you are trying to crawl in a hurry. And with that thought as I happy as I was for your milestone today, I was sad that we are going to have to say goodbye to this phase in your life.

You have taught your dad and I so much in your short time on this planet. You have taught us what it really means to love whole-heartedly. You have taught us to see the greatness in the small things. You have taught us that life goes by in the blink of an eye, so live big. You did that. Just by being you.

Thank you.

You are loved. You are loved. You are loved. Always.

Skin smoothing scrub

When I found out I was pregnant with Lukas the first thing I did was went out and bought vitamin e capsules, and Palmer's cocoa butter. I applied both liberally daily, and yet my stomach was still covered in stretch marks. 

I don't care what your cousin's sister's best friend says, that stuff doesn't work. If you are one of the lucky ones who have the genetic predisposition to get stretch marks it is probably going to happen. If your cousin's sister's best friend did it every day and didn't get stretch marks, all that means is she probably wouldn't have gotten them if she didn't do that stuff either. 

Stretch marks happen. It's a fact. But they don't have to be forever.

See those deep reddish purple stretch marks? Those stayed around for a while.

Then I remembered I had used an under eye serum by Murad that had caffeine in it. It was one of those miracle serums that removed the red puffiness from my eyes, so I got to thinking.

If caffeine could do that for my eyes, maybe it could do the same for my stretch marks?

So I started experimenting, and I came up with a scrub that actually helps! I still have stretch marks, but they are now the same color as my skin... Huge improvement!

To start you need:

Coconut oil (extra-virgin whole kernel)

2 Tbsp Coffee grounds

2 Tbsp Sea salt

4 Tbsp Raw honey

Mason jar

Pour the coffee, sea salt, and raw honey in the mason jar. Fill the rest of the jar with coconut oil and mix thoroughly. Voila! That's it!

The ingredients in the scrub were thought out, and put in for a reason.

Coconut oil is extremely moisturizing, and healing. I'm not going to go into all the benefits of coconut oil, but I can't sing its praises enough! It is a wonderful product. Make sure that you are buying a high quality coconut oil. Some of the cheaper brands dilute the coconut oil with olive oil.

The coffee grounds really are the magic ingredient in this stuff. The caffeine in the grounds stimulates blood flow when rubbed on the skin. This blood flow starts the healing process, and this is when those scars start to heal. This is great for stretch marks, scars, even cellulite!

Sea salt draws excess fluid out and helps tighten the skin. This process is why people lose so much water weight when they get wraps.

Lastly, raw honey is super moisturizing, and contains tons of antioxidants. These antioxidants help neutralize free radicals that are responsible for the aging process. There's a reason Cleopatra bathed in milk and honey!

Not only does this scrub help, but you smell delicious too!

Happy scrubbing ladybugs!

Made in the USA- Week 1

After my last blog I quickly realized how I picked a particularly hard month to do this.

This month I have Mother's Day, my little brother's graduation, my birthday, (which technically won't be a challenge for me, but rather, for Patrick) and Lukas' first birthday. (Although, due to my psychotic need to plan a memorable first birthday, I've had most of the necessary party supplies for over a month) 

Patrick informed me he wasn't going to be able to get me a birthday present because it would be all too hard to find something American-made that I will like. (Someone help him!) L-A-Z-Y

Also, a friend pointed out another pro to the American-made project. By purchasing closer to home, I am doing my part to reduce our carbon footprint. Yay!

Per the same conversation I also made a decision as to how I was going to approach this project. Patrick and I do a lot of shopping at our local co-op. They have several more obscure, more green brands- some of which are made in America. While I prefer to buy from "greener" companies, I realize a lot of people don't have access to these same brands- be it because of geographic, or financial limitations. The goal of this project is to identify mainstream, American-made brands that are easily accessible to the masses. I realize not everyone shops at the co-op, and in order for any changes to be made, American-made has to be accessible to everyone.

So week 1 was not too terribly difficult.

We found out that Quilted Northern, and Bounty, are both American-made brands. Both are manufactured by the parent company Georgia-Pacific, and their manufacturing facilities are in Green Bay, Wisconsin. I was kind of disappointed because I'm really a Charmin ultra soft kind of girl, so boo. 

I also found out that the laundry detergent (Charlie's Soap) we use to launder Lukas' cloth diapers is made in the USA. It's also environmentally friendly. We will probably use it for all of our laundry for the time being, but I know Charlie's soap is not accessible to everyone, so I am on the hunt for a "mainstream" alternative.

We use the Walgreens baby wipes, which thankfully, are made in the US. One less product to worry about switching!

I'm noticing companies that do put out American-made products are not shy about letting you know. They put it right out there in big, bold letters for all to see. 

All of our other purchases thus far were food. 

Saturday, we shopped at the farmer's market. This is a fairly typical Saturday morning for me- Patrick; however, is another story. 

I got lots of local goodies, and after a conversation with my friend Ashlie, who has started a locavore project I'm thinking that solely local foods are in our near future! You can check out the details on Ashlie's locavore endeavors here.

I will say this. Buying American-made has cut out our impulse spending. My bank account is thankful!

I'm trying to update on a more regular basis, but Lukas doesn't always make that easy... I'm doing what I can. He's teething so I'm seeing more and more of this face...

Oh what fun! Until next time!

Made in America- it matters.

I work with a lot of American manufacturers. Companies that are still making it in the USA.

That may not seem that important to the average, everyday person, but manufacturing is vital for the health and future of our community, and the surrounding communities. For every 10 manufacturing jobs 16 new jobs are created to service the manufacturer. That's major.

I handle several accounts that have outsourced some of their production to Mexico. They shut down their operations in American cities, laid off American workers, and shipped operations south of the border. You can bet that the factory closing was reported on the news. You can bet that the number of layoffs were reported. What I would also bet, is that the number of jobs that were lost servicing said manufacturer were not reported. Why? Those job losses were not all at once, but they happened. Guaranteed. Families were left struggling. Wondering how they were going to cover their mortgage payment. Or their car note. Or their grocery bill. 

This is happening all the time, and it's my fault. It's your fault. We are all at fault. It's not okay.

It's not okay that in the chase for instant gratification (because, after all, that's what it is when you are chasing down the cheapest price, that you can instantly afford, rather than suck it up, save and pay the premium for quality.) families are losing their homes. Men and women are coming home, having to tell their families that they have to file for unemployment. 

We are a community. We are tightly intertwined. What you do, and where you purchase matters. It affects your neighbor, whether you know it or not. Where that label says that item is manufactured matters. That item stands for jobs. That item stands for homes. That item stands for community. 

With all that being said, I have to put my money where my mouth is. I see the value in "Made in the USA." I value quality items. I value American manufacturing. I value local artisans. 

So because change starts in the hearts of individuals, I'm starting a project. Made in America.

 30 days. After thirty days, it should theoretically be habit. This means I won't be able to instantly gratify those wants or needs. This means I'll have to research items. This means I won't be able to make thoughtless purchases. This means I may have to save to be able to afford the premium for American made. This means I am contributing to American job growth. This means I am keeping American manufacturing in America. This means I'm ensuring the safety of my own job. 

I'll update regularly. We'll see how it goes! 

Wish me luck!