scenes

As 2010 draws to an end, I find myself wondering where the year went?  It flew by so fast.  I haven't even made any resolutions yet...and I haven't even fully processed this past year.  I do know, however, that this upcoming year I want to slow down.  Enjoy the little things around me.

My hubs and I bought ourselves a joint Christmas gift - a sweet grown-up camera.  He went and played with it yesterday and I found some of the images he captured to be rather lovely. 

easy as pie

I was going through some of my pictures on my camera and came across these little beauties.  Tommy and I made an apple pie this past fall with apples we plucked from the local orchards.  Neither of us had ever made a pie before, and we couldn't BELIEVE how easy it was.  It literally took us 10 minutes to put it all together.  And.  It.  Was.  Yum.

I should have made one for the holidays...but I didn't.  Maybe next year.

Mom's Easy Apple Pie (from cooks.com)
7-8 baking apples, peeled and sliced
3/4 c. sugar
1 tsp. cinnamon
1 tbsp. flour
1/4 tsp. nutmeg

Mix in bowl the cinnamon, flour and nutmeg. Place crust in pan, add apples and sugar mixture. Dot with butter. Cover with top pie crust. Bake at 375 degrees for 50 minutes or until done.

german pancakes

I'm embarrassed...I couldn't even contain myself and took a bite BEFORE I snapped the picture.  I'm ridiculous.  Oh, and you are suppose to eat this in a civilized manor...with a knife and fork and such...not like piece of pizza like I did.

When the weather would turn a little chilly, my mom would start making oven baked German pancakes at our house.  They always made the start to a Sunday a little more special.  Now, I associate these yummy dessert-like breakfasts with winter, with the holidays, and with my family.

I had never made them before, but was excited to try out my special German pancake pan (my baby sister gave it to me for a bridal shower gift!)  Trying new recipes intimidates me a little bit - I've suffered many a "fail" - so I tend to hesitate a tad more than is necessary.

Needless to say...my German pancakes rocked.  Well, the edges might have been a little tooooo brown...perhaps charred in places...but I just ate around that *smile* 

German Pancakes

1/2 c. sifted flour
3 slightly beaten eggs
1/2 c. milk
2 Tbsp. butter, melted
1/4 tsp. salt

Gradually add flour to eggs while beating.  Stir in milk, melted butter and salt.  Throughly grease a 9 or 10 inche oven proof skillet.  Pour batter into cold skillet; bake in a very hot oven (450 degrees) for about 20 minutes.  Loosen pancake from skilled with a wide spatula; cut into wedges with a sharp knife.  As it bakes, the pancake rises into golden bubbles.  Makes 3-4 servings.

Serve with a dusting of powdered sugar, lemon wedges or syrup.

high chairs

Little Bug Lounge - $530 - a lil wild for us...but super fun for baby, right?!

We've been browsing baby gear a LOT lately.  Mostly to see what's out there - and to see what would work in our world....ummm....and what we can afford.  We want to be minimal in baby stuff - we live in such a small space that baby gear has the ability to take over...we want to avoid that.  Or try.

So...I found a few fab high chairs...who knew there was such a thing as a fab looking high chair?  Well there are.  We have a pub size kitchen table...where counter height stools are appropriate height...but typical high chairs aren't quite high enough.   Regardless, here are some fun designs I found at CSN.com.... that mega-shopping experience of over 200 specialty shops online.

(This is probably the one we will get - even though it's not so "stylish" - it's super functional and affordable..so it's a win win)

bloom - $499

Oxo - $249

Joovy Nook - $109

Valco - $159

baby blanky

Sunshine day crochet pattern - Posie Gets Cozy

I had a soft yellow baby blanket that I affectionately called, "blanky" - I took it everywhere, and HAD to sleep with it.  Did I mention it was so super soft?   Did you have one too?

If I had any extra time...umm...or energy for that matter...I'd love to make my little girl a pretty baby blanket.  They are so many fantastic (and simple!) designs out there!  Maybe I will...someday.

 check out these baby blanket kits from Purl Soho - they are BEAUTIFUL and remind me of Rotho.

 or squiggles!!  free knitting directions for this blanket at Pickles

 Sugar Hill Baby Throw knit kit  - Lion Brand

I'm thinking about renaming my blog "Someday" - I feel like I'm always blogging about the things that are just out of my reach...a wish list of things I want to do.  Hopefully.

prettiest recipes

Well, not an actual RECIPE...but how lovely are these letterpress recipe cards?!  My goodness.  So charming!  I want to win them - you can try to win them too - over at A Glimpse of the Girl Next Door.

bright triangles

via here

Ooooooo, I change my mind.  

I'm smitten with these triangles.  

Yes.  The triangles are amazing.

This will be my next project.   

I will have to wait and start it in 2035.

When I retire.

row of squares

via here


I want this to be my next project.... the quilt.  A quilt of squares.
I have to finish my crazy quilt first.
Ugh - am I ever going to finish it!??

a whole bunch of worlds

via unruly things

This. Is. Amazing.

food coma

 Tommy's twice baked potatoes.  ohmygod.

I was oncall the night before Thanksgiving and was up allllllllllllllllllllllllllll night - stumbled in around 4am-ish.  My husband let me sleep as long as I wanted on Thanksgiving Day and he did all the cooking.  He made us a mini feast...everything from scratch...everything delicious.  Since it's only the two of us, we have loads of left-overs...we will be in food comas for the next few days.

Lil magnificent pumpkin pie idea: we made our pumpkin pie this year - it was the first time either of us ever made a pumpkin pie  (I helped!)  Tommy suggested we sprinkle the top of the pie with chopped honey roasted pecans.  I tend to be a pumpkin pie purest, but decided to go with his fun idea...and it ROCKED.  We just sprinkled them on with 15 minutes left of baking time and it was a glorious addition.

 Tommy's famous mac 'n cheese

 Our cute lil turkey with a orange cranberry glaze Tommy whipped up.  delish.

I grew up eating the cranberry sauce out of the can (and I love it!) but Tommy makes it from real cranberries...and it's way better :-)

Can you tell I'm wicked thankful for my husband?

shutterfly christmas cards

Bright Merry Cheer Christmas 5x7 folded card

Make a statement with Shutterfly Christmas photo cards.

View the entire collection of cards.

I made these Christmas cards for my mom to send out this Christmas.  Collectively my sisters and I had to select a picture that we approved up (that's hard with three girls...so last year my mom ended up selecting one that only a mother could love - my sisters and I all looked like garbage.)  I LOVE this picture...all of our smiles are genuine...this is how I think of my family...big bright smiles :-)

I miss them this time of year.

seeing stars

Saw these somewhere on a blog - but I keep looking at them because they are sooooo lovely! Handcrafted glass star ornaments...pretty for a Christmas tree or perfect for a windowsill... by Kurt Knudsun.

tall tall boots

I love boots in the fall and winter.  I think these knee high boots are super sexy!!  Go enter to win $100 towards sweet shoewear at Chic 'n Cheap Living!

alphabet art

The Alphabet Garden - sugarfresh

I posted a couple days ago about a world map print that I was nutso over...but at roughly $200, it's a serious no-go for us.   Found these sweet lil finds on Etsy and now I'm thinking maybe something celebrating letters would be nice too!  Like alphabet art.  Oh...and nothing is over $30.  Sa-weet.

 Letterpress ABC poster - starshapedpress

  sugarfresh

Ode to Helvetica - ModernPop

tree toppers

Mosaic Star of Lights Christmas Tree Topper - Glass Gallery Girls

Would you believe me if I told you that we started decorating for Christmas?  I'm not kidding.  Not crazy decorating yet...no ornaments are hung, no stockings, no twinkle lights....yet.  But we busted out some of my little Christmas trees and placed them next to some of our autumn decorations...all while sipping hot cocoa and watching our fave Christmas flicks.

While sifting through my lil box of Christmas cheer, it has become clear that there are holiday items we will eventually need - this comes from being a newlywed and never having a "real" Christmas tree before!

1.  Christmas tree topper
2.  Christmas tree skirt
3.  holiday linens (like a table runner or placemats or napkins or something!)
4.  holiday dishes (though I think I may be inheriting a set!!)
5.  advent calender
6.  ornaments!! (yes I have a few from my travels and adventures...but we need some more actually decorate a tree!!)

I'll explore these over the next couple of weeks...see what I can find :-)  Obviously, this search isn't about finding one right now... this year we will certainly make due with sparkly cheap dollar store finds.

 lovin' on this Frank Lloyd Wright Luxfur Plated topper

yea - if money wasn't an object, I'm pretty sure I would snatch this up right now.

Moravian Star - Old Salem Museum & Gardens

Red Paper Christmas Tree Topper - kissadesign
this is so uber cool...(however...what happens if a red star doesn't "work" with the decor that year?)

thought this one was classic and beautiful...even though rather fancy...

and then I saw the $118 price tag... and I didn't like it anymore.
by Baldwin

Decor to Adore

what about this pretty bird/nesting/wreath topper?  Very pretty, and unusual...but not quite the classic look I'd want for our family tree topper.

cutest world map

I saw this posted on DesignMom last week and found it entirely charming.  What a great addition to a baby nursery...it would transition so beautifully to a toddler, and a growing child...it could be used and adored for so long!!  I can just imagine looking at it with our little girl - pointing out the different places, animals, and adventures that our glorious planet contains. 

The price was kinda steep so I did some additional searches for charming world map art and didn't come up with anything quite so lovely.  Is 99 pounds (how much IS that in American money!?) too much for child-room art?? I don't know these things yet. 

baby bedding

Now that we are nearly all settled and moved into our new apartment, we've realized that our furniture choices aren't exactly baby friendly....kinda like the hip and cool extra tall bar stools at our kitchen table.  That's what high chairs are for I suppose. 

But now we can have some real fun.  Nesting.  Decorating and preparing a space for our baby.  I've been browsing around on CSN.com, the online shopping source of over 200 stores - which has an enormous baby bedding selection.

Tommy and I have already decided that a hyper pink motif isn't in the cards for our little girl - as her room will clearly be a space that we will be spending lots of time in too and neither of us are big pink fans.  Thankfully there are a few sweet sweet choices that aren't Barbie inspired!  Now.  How do we pick!!??

Well - and then I saw the pink ruffles and I melted a little bit inside.  This is probably the definition of Barbie-esque bedding.  It's so pretty for a little baby girl.  Oh man.  This is going to be harder than I thought.