HOME...be inspired everyday

iphone in the house!

I'm really always the last to be with the latest gadget....my kids seem to have the latest {except we do not have an Xbox or Wii} they first had ipod nanos in green and pink which got passed down to me so I can listen to music while on walks.  First the pink one {Kenzie's} then the green nano {Madisons} when they each got the Ipod touch either for a birthday or Christmas. 

So how did I come to own an iphone{after years and years saying I wanted one?} About two weeks ago I asked my "handy dandy" Mr. Incredible to hang a shelf in our entryway hallway so I can hang my purse up when I walk in from the front door.  This is my purse...

Yes from Anthro a few Christmases ago and boy does this baby hold a lot...lots of pockets and nooks and crannies.  I usually carry my camera in there too.  Mr. Incredible hangs the shelf  but "his" side of the garage is so unorganized  and just plan messed up he can't even find the proper nail.  I don't dare go clean up because I don't know a wrench from a ratchet and I would end up throwing away something that is worth something.  He decides to take the easy way out and find the easiest to find nail to hang the shelft to shut me up, it barely had a head on it.  A few days later after he hung the shelf, I was repositioning some knick knacks on top of it and about 20 minutes later Snickers Barbara takes off after the cat and the shelf went kaboom!   I did not realize it at that time it wasn't until the next day at lunch when I went to get my phone out of my purse but the screen was cracked.  I tried switching my daughters screen out since she washed hers a few months ago and she got a new phone for Christmas.  Nope that did not work.  So I had to get another one, {insert happy face here} After much pleading with my "non"techie-lazy-ass husband Mr. Incredible we decided we would use my allowance to pay for my new iphone, it wasn't so much as the price of the phone it was the added data plan that was killing Mr. Incredible.  Yes, I do get an allowance and I'm almost 50!  My "non"techie-lazy-ass husband Mr. Incredibles' parents have done this for years, they each get an allowance each week and it works great. No guilt on whatever you want to spend your money on.  This has worked for us fabulously. I was having a problem with "guilty" spending and now I don't have that monkey on my back anymore.  So Mr. Non-techie-lazy-ass husband Mr. Incredible relented to my wish and now I'm the proud owner of a White iphone.  

Let's just say "I'm LOVING IT!"  Now I can't decide what kind of protective case I want.  This one is calling my name... 

this one is really up my ally...ya?  so cottagy cute..or this one from zazzle.com

this one in pretty aqua damask....

 

or getting it personalized might be kind of neat.  My co-worker ordered hers from zazzle.com  and she loves it, it is a soft cover and she has dropped it a few times and it did not break to bits.  Or should I be a "do it yourselfer" and use up some of my scrapbook paper that is just sitting in my closet?  

 Here at Nest for Less she shows you how to customize them to suit your mood, your wardrobe or make it seasonal.  Choices, choices, what is a girl to do?  What would you do?

Happy Chinese New Year! It's the Year of the Dragon!

Today is Chinese New Year and the Year of the Dragon, both myself and my youngest were born in the Year of the Dragon.

                                          {this is Pearl the Dragon}

 I love reading about Astrology and find that the Chinese Astrology holds very true to my personality.  Here is a description of people who are born in the year of the dragon.

The Dragon of mythology was a creature of inaccessible places, high mountains or underground caves, breathing fire and ready for battle. The Dragon has been a symbol of deep desire, of wisdom and of luck, and has often been used to ward off evil spirits. Powerful, brave, obstinate, enthusiastic and always lucky, if you were born in the Year of the Dragon you can accomplish things that others consider impossible. Nothing is beyond you, but you're not easy to live with. You can be cranky and demanding, and upset others with your blunt way of speaking, but you're scrupulously honest, and genuinely very charming.

If you were born in the Year of the Dragon, you enjoy the company of those born in the Years of the Rat, Snake, and Rooster, but there could be problems with those born in the Year of the Dog, as well as other Dragons!

This is a pretty accurate of my personality characteristics.   I can be difficult to live with sometimes, you can ask my family.  I'm very enthusiastic and when I was younger quite relentless in getting my way, this has mellowed out a bit now that I'm older.  In the Chinese culture because the Dragon is a symbol of power and optimism there is a baby boom during the years when it was the "year of the dragon". I also posted here and here  about Chinese New Year in the past post if you'd like to check them out. What do you do to celebrate with your family? Do you order out for Chinese Food or do you cook something at home?  I've always wanted to make my own homemade fortune cookies and put my own fortunes in them. This recipe looks doable I think we will give it a whirl.  Speaking of fortunes....

About a year ago when we ordered out and MacKenzie opened up her Fortune cookie this was her fortune how cool was that?  And within that year we found our Cottage on Cullen St.  It was meant to be, as they say.

In honor of Chinese New Year I thought I'd post one of my favorite recipes...

         ~~~~~~~~~~~Chinese Chicken Salad~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Ingredients:

5-6 chicken breasts

1 medium head of Nappa Cabbage

8 green onions

1 cup of slivered almonds

2 pkg. of chicken Ramen noodles

2TBsp peanut oil

 

Dressing:

1/2 cup sugar

1 cup of peanut oil

12TBsp rice vinegar

1 flavor pkg. Ramen noodles

Directions:

Cook chicken and cut into bite-size pieces. Mix dressing ingredients  and add chicken pieces to dressing. Saute Ramen noodles and almonds in 2 tablespoons peanut oil. Cut cabbage and mix with onions.  Just prior to serving combine almonds, noodles, chicken, and dressing.  Then toss.

*You can also marinate chicken in wishbone oriental dressing for 3-4 hours then grill.

This recipe is from one of my Mom's club ladies who made it for every potluck we have, it was a winner everyone looked forward to her salad.

 

A few things you may or may not know....about Li'l ol me...

Over at My Sweet Savannah she was interviewed by another blogger and answered a few questions about herself. so I thought I would do that on this post about me.  I haven't done this in awhile, so here goes.  If you have any questions about me...go ahead and ask them in the comment section and I'll be glad to answer in a future post of Q and A's. Not that I'm all that exciting but you may be curious I see I get a lot of visitors from all over and this is your chance to delurk..I promise I don't bite.  :)

                                         1-what is my favorite season?

Summer, I must say I love all the seasons but I love sleeping in and going to the beach all day and not being on a schedule

{from Pinterest}

  

 

2-what is my favorite food?

Ice cream, without a doubt

Name 3 things on my bucket list.

Go scuba diving in the Great Barrier Reef, drive up the Pacific Coast and stay in quaint Bed and Breakfast places with my husband, travel Europe.

4-my favorite quality about myself.

  

that I'm not shy

5-least favorite quality about myself.

That I don't always think before I talk

6-favorite thing to do on a lazy day.

Staying in my pajamas, putter in my cottage and watch movies with the family and play board games

7-my favorite brainless tv show.

Modern Family

8-favorite quality in a friend.

Being there when needed

9-What are three things I love about my spouse?

Hardworker, his love of his family, loving me still when I was hairless

10-What is the hardest part of parenting for me?

When others are mean to my girls and knowing that you have to let them fight their own battles 

 

 

 

Citrus....

Our citrus trees are "going off"!  We have an orange tree and a grafted Lemon/Orange tree.

Here is the grafted one, meaning it is half orange tree and half lemon tree. The oranges are soooo very sweet and the lemons so juicy. 

Last week our temps have been in the mid 70's, my li'l one decided to have a Lemonade stand with one of the her girlfriends.  They didn't do too bad for a couple of hours, they made about $10.00 dollars.  This weekend the weather man is calling for rain so I think we will be swinging the other way and sparking up the fireplace.  That is one of the wonderful things about living in California, that we can be enjoying the warm weather in the winter and the next minute br snuggled up on the couch listening to a crackling fire.  

In other news the demo of the front yard is happening as I type....yep.  By summer we should have a nice green, healthy lawn and a new landscaped yard with beautiful coastal, tropical feel to it.   Post to follow on what we might be thinking....

 

Sloppy Joe Pasta and Pioneer Woman

Have you ever heard of Pioneer Woman?  I'm sure you have that fun-loving, city- born-transplanted- to- a-ranch lady, Ree Drummond well she has a new Food Cookin' show on the Food Network this Saturday.  10 am in my side of the world.  I love her blog and have been following it for several years now, it is over on the left side under Good Eats.  Speaking of good eats I have a winner of a recipe for ya...called Sloppy Joe Pasta.  My WHOLE family give this a 2 thumbs up!  

In Pioneer Woman style her is the "cast of characters".

1 pound ground beef

1 envelope of sloppy joe mix or Manwhich

1 cup water

1 can {8oz.} tomato sauce

1 can {6oz.} tomatoe paste

1 package of shell pasta {7 oz} cooked by package directions

1 cup {8 oz.} cottage cheese

1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese

Directions:

In large saucepan, cook beef over medium heat until no longer pink, drain..  Stir in sloppy joe mix, water, sauce and paste. Bring to a boil.  Reduce heat; simmer uncovered for 5-8 minutes or until heated through.  Remove from heat, stir in pasta.

Spoon half into a greased baking dish, top with cottage cheese and the rest of pasta mixture.  

Sprinkle with cheddar cheese and bake uncovered @350 degrees for about 3o minutes and that cheese is all gooey!  

Does that not look good!?    I yes it does!  Serve with your favorite green salad.  My friend T makes the best salad dressing and she sent me home after visiting her new Grandchild last week.  More to come on that....in future posts.  Now go start dinner!   

Essie...I'm a collector

When I was in my teens I began to be" beauty conscious", {like my tween and teen are doing now}.  I started reading Teen Magazine, I would read the article on how to give myself a facial. It told me to put water to boil and then steam my face over a towel. In this article they asked certain models what was there beauty advice and I remember Christie Brinkley answer was WATER!  Drinking it and steaming your face over it.   Then along came my twenties and I started reading Cosmopolitan along with all the "how to be in touch with your inner Sexy" articles I would read the beauty articles. One in particular was  how to give yourself a manicure on a budget.  So after I "steamed" my face I would but on a mask and add a bit of cold water to the hot water to the big pot and soak my feet and hands. I then would rinse my hands and feet and use a cuticle stick to push them back and cut any hang nails.  Then I would paint my toenails and fingernails, usually a bright hot pink or red.

                                                             DIY Manicure

I did this every Sunday afternoon for the longest time up until I had kids!!  My beauty regime went out the window.  Fast forward to this fall and I read an article  in Better, Homes and Gardens on Essie Weingarten

 and Essie Nail Polish.  So I seeked out her Nail Polish at Target and low and behold I got my first bottle of Essie.

I bought East Hampton Cottage, I was looking for Ballet Slippers because Essie in the article suggested it but they were sold out.  East Hampton Cottage is very similiar and who wouldn't love that name?  ah yea, me!

 I went home and gave myself a DIY manicure following the article directions and boy did that manicure  last quite along time so I became hooked on Essie Nail Polish.  Being that this was September I wanted a Fall color so I picked up Chinchilly the next time I went to Target.  

So slowly began my collection of Essie's Nail polish.  This year my stocking was loaded with nail care products.  My "elves" picked out Sugar Daddy and Bahama Mama.   

I then have been "pinning" to my Fashionista Board and here are some of my faves I would like to add to my stash.

                                                   Marshmallow for winter

                            Size Matters {got to Love that name} for Valentines Day

                                                     Watermelon for Summer

 

                                                      Saint Tropez for Summer too 

 and my favorite of all name and would love this in summer too..Going Topless and Barefoot, well it actually called Topless and Barefoot but I added the "going" part. I used to have VW Cabiolet Covertible and on my license plate it would say "I love going topless", Yes..my twenties...cRaZy times for me!  I think this color would be great looking on a tan skin in the summertime, ya?

                                                       Pale blue for anytime!

This is my medicine cabinet and from left to right we have;

East Hampton Cottage, Sugar Daddy, Nice is Nice, Chinchilly, Carry On and Bahama Mama.  And as one of my New Year Resolutions I would like to declare a Beauty Hour for me. I'm a very LOW maintence I have only had one facial in my almost 50 years of living on this earth and only one professional Mani/Pedi.  I told the girls that we will get Manicures and Pedicures on Mother's Day as a treat and we will start this coming Mother's Day.  Now to keep my nails suffiently groomed in the mean time I vow to reenstate my "beauty regime" again.  And its no time like the present....

Ok...I'm off to go give myself a manicure , hope those dang curtains I need to start don't veer me off track....

Something to look forward to in 2012! French General

French General is coming out with a Paper Crafts Line through EK Success!  I used to be an avid scrapper back in the day.  I still make my own cards and I craft gifts, some of the time.  So when I heard about this I had to head on over to Kaari Meng's blog to check it out for myself.  Michaels will be carrying the line ...I'm so excited.   It has been along time since I've been excited about Crafty stuff.... I've gone to French General a couple of times, what a neat store.  I love the notions and and Textiles.  I have a few of Kaari's books, would love to take a "field trip with her to France"...would that not be the trip of a lifetime!  A girl can dream so I guess going to FG is like the next best thing..well not really but it is a fun little shop to go to, in the heart of Los Angeles.

Here is a Scrapbook Page done years ago with my Scrapano buddies when we went.   I think another trip is in order.....

New Years Eve inspiration and photos

    {image from Martha}

                                     {above two images from My Pinterest}

As I was browsing Pinterest I came across some simple, festive ideas for New Years Eve.  We stay home and celebrate with the girls, we barely make it to midnight and this was no exception this year. I planned a simple dinner of Tri-tip, baked potatoes and cranberry spinach salad with sparkly cuppcakes for dessert.  The above photos are pinned to my boards on all things food related board and the photos below are the photos of my dining room/table as inspired on my boards.

I moved the table long-wise because I think it fits better this way but the jury is still out on that.  I think I like the black round table better in there.

I thought this was a neat idea but I only had two sets of white lights, lots of green-corded white lights so I'll head out this week and see if there are any left after" the after the Christmas sales". I think it would look pretty on Valentines day or Our Anniversary in March.

All of the items on the table I have had foreva!  The only think I got was the Smith and Hawken silver Bell Ornaments at Target at the after Christmas sales last week. I bought the only 3 I could find, had to dig and dig to the bottom of the shelves and I only came up with 3.  I need one more.  I thought "Ringing" in the New year was a fun theme idea to go with.  

Wine glasses waiting to be filled up with Bubbly or Sparkling Wine, I bought a Moscato for tonight, a bit sweet for my taste..so I used mini silver ornaments as a filler until the wine was popped open.

The Sparkling cupcakes.  There is a recipe I wanted to try for Champagne cupcakes but since this a party to be shared with 3 non-drinkers in the household {Mr. Incredible doesn't drink}  I'm the lone alchy.  I went with a standard white cupcake with buttercream frosting and added the dragees for a festive look.  Here is the recipe if you want to try the Champage one...I'd like to try it for a Girlfriends Birthday.....

                                        {photo from SprinkleBakes.com }

She has beautiful cupcakes and her recipe for the these sound soooo Yummy!