A Yummy Summer Treat: Popsicles

Yesterday we made the best popsicles!  We each enjoyed one, Presley two!

First you need to have a fabulous sister in law and two brothers to buy your daughter (you) a Zoku.

I keep mine in the freezer, so it is always accessible.

You'll need:

about 2 cups strawberries cut in half

2 Tbsp sugar

half a lemon lightly squeezed

vanilla yogurt 

Oh, and a trusty little assistant!

 

Put the strawberries, sugar, and lemon juice in the blender.

Blend completely.

Layer vanilla yogurt and strawberry puree in your Zoku or popsicle molds.

Insert stick and freeze.

Place popsicles on parchment paper until you eat or put in freezer bags in the freezer.

Enjoy outside!

all photos courtesy of my iphone.

Exciting News For Our Family of Three!

We have some very exciting news for our family of three ... 

We are expecting a baby this December!  

I am 14 weeks tomorrow and couldn't be happier about our little addition.

This baby already has a special place in my heart as it was a long journey to get pregnant again.  I want to give a special thanks to all of our family and friends that were so loving and supportive along the way.

And I will apologize to all of you that my posting has been so few and far between the past few months. It was all I could do to get out of bed some days so I am hoping to feel like myself again soon! (With Presley, I felt shiny and new at 14 weeks ... fingers crossed it's the same in this pregnancy!)

Here is the little video we, mainly Dan, put together to tell our family early on.
**My due date was moved to December 24th.  Santa is really pulling through this year!**

above photo by the talented Ashlee Raubach

Home Office: Sneak Peek

 I am about ready to take photos of this home office I styled.  

The client wanted to use mostly what she already had, but make it beautiful.

We bought a few accessories and re positioned every book, travel souvenir, keepsake and pile of papers, making the room workable, useful and visually appealing!

Here is a little sneak peek.

One of my watercolors that always look much prettier once professionally matted and framed!

My Favorite Million Dollar Decorator

Are any of you tuning in to Million Dollar Decorators?

I am completely obsessed with this show!

My favorite is for sure Martyn Lawrence Bullard.

I love his aesthetic and he is so indulgent and entertaining I find myself wanting to work for him.

Who is your favorite?  Do you like the show?

Kitchen Door Blue

I have quite the sweet treat for a lot of you this Tuesday morning.

By far the most commonly asked question from this blog is "what is the color on your kitchen door??"

I am so sorry it has taken me this long to respond to you all, but I finally made the trip to Home Depot to get the answer.

(I chose a Martha Stewart color and had it matched by Glidden paint...)

The color is TIDEWATER MSL121 by Martha Stewart at The Home Depot

I always paint doors and trim in HIGH GLOSS.  I love the contrast it creates against the walls, and the high gloss really pumps up the color which is fun on a door or the like!

see more photos here

Happy Monday!

I thought I'd share a couple videos with you all today to start off the week.  First, is a little teaser of our trip to Italy video that Dan put together last minute for a fun Father's Day gift to my dad (and to put some pressure on my little brother to get started on the video!)  Please excuse me, Dan loves to embarrass me - and I asked my family that I not be in the photos and videos with how sick I felt the whole time.  I just wanted to remember the trip through memories, but they won't have it ...

Italy video song:  The Golden Age by The Astroid Galaxy Tour

This second one is just a quick iphone video of Presley on our trip to Utah that we just got back from.  No words, I love this girl!  She is too much fun to be around, and in honor of Father's Day I love that she has such a fun relationship with her Daddy on their daddy daughter date.

West Elm: Early Autumn Arrivals

discord vases

 I'm loving the new autumn arrival accessories from West Elm.

I want all of these in my home please!

raw edge ceramics

cityscape ceramic vases

horse bookends

Happy Shopping!

Felt Party Hats

Have you guys seen this tutorial floating around the blog world??  I am dying over how sweet and perfect these felt party hats are.  With Presley's birthday right around the corner I am starting to brainstorm and definitely want to make a special hat for my birthday girl.  I usually just add felt and embellishments to traditional party hats bought at the craft store.  I love the look of all felt.

As for now Presley wants a "butterfly baking bubble party" .... so we'll see what we end up going with.

Love this party animal of mine.

She can't stop telling everyone when her birthday is and about said birthday party.

Last year we made flower headbands for her garden party

And for her first birthday she wore a party hat for her circles party

Wedding Guest Book

 I posted a few weeks back about the wedding I helped style for Mikelle and Jud here.  I haven't gotten my hands on any of the wedding photos yet, but I thought I'd share one of the details of the wedding.

(Please excuse the lovely iphone photos!)

We wanted to create something different than the usual sign in book, something that the bride and groom would love looking back at and reading through.  When we saw this genius idea from Martha Stewart Weddings, I knew we had to use it!

The templates are only for the brighter colors and the bride was wanting the wedding dinner to be very romantic and timeless so I created books with ivory covers and espresso type in Illustrator.

The books were a hit at the party and everyone enjoyed finding a question they wanted to answer for the bride and groom.  I love that this will be a treasured keepsake - and added bonus - it will always look great on their shelves!

(The recommended blank notebooks from Start Here link together.)

Side note:  We had so many tables for dinner that we decided to have eight books that circulated during the greeting/appetizer hour at the beginning and the dessert/dancing hour at the end.

Each book has 160 pages, twenty of those would have been too much.

** A few of you have asked about the printing.  I printed my files onto waterproof paper and then glued them on to the covers/bindings of the books. **

Happy Monday and Shop For Ruby Jane

I hope you all had a great weekend!   I am hoping to be much better with posts this week ...

A friend of mine is going through more than I can imagine right now with her baby girl Ruby Jane.  My heart is so heavy for their family.  I have wanted to help and sometimes when things are this hard you just don't know how.  I have such admiration for Ani and the fight and strength she is showing for Ruby and her family.  I thought I would help spread the word about a fundraiser that Stella & Dot is doing for sweet Ruby this week only.  Head over and purchase a great piece of jewelry for summer knowing you are helping a family in need now through Friday June 10th. (Make sure it says Julie Krueger is your stylist.)  You can also donate here.  Any little bit helps!

Thanks everyone!

Million Dollar Decorators

Bravo has gone and done it again!

I was able to watch Tuesday night's premiere last night and was obsessed!

The offices, the homes, the behind the scenes, the million dollar budgets, the drama!

I can not get enough.

If you haven't already, set your Tivo!