TOMATO ~ TOMATO

You say Tomato, I say Tomato....when you have an abundance you get creative!

I created a great appetizer with my cherry tomatoes!

After pre-heating the oven to 350 degrees, I roasted them with garlic, fresh thyme sprigs, olive oil, freshly ground salt and pepper.  They were in the oven about 1-1/2 hours.

Next, I toasted a sliced baguette in the same oven after drizzling it with olive oil for about 10 minutes, turning after 5 minutes.  When they are removed from the oven, I rubbed sliced fresh garlic over the hot baguette slices.

I topped the baguette slices with goat cheese, added a few of the roasted tomatoes and sprinkled with fresh basil.

Can I hear a YUMMY?

It is delicious!

What is your favorite tomato recipe?  I would love to know, because I have tons of tomatoes!

Welcome Home,

Penny



Some delicious eyecandy from 3 beautiful blogs

It was design blogs that inspired me in the first place to start blogging, but between running my web design business, and running Decorology, I never have time to peruse my favorite blogs the way I once did. Therefore I decided to make myself make time by publishing occasional posts featuring images from other awesome design blogs. Enjoy!

{featured in no particular order}

Images below from  "Live Creating Yourself."

so pretty

the charming The Marion Housebook had this delicious eyecandy

 

The two bedrooms above are so simple and peaceful

On Pure Style Home  I was loving these...

gorgeous

the house of windsor

A couple weeks ago my daughter-in-law, Sara and I took a tour of Veranda Magazine's newest showhouse in the LA area, the House of Windsor.  It is absolutely unreal.  Every single detail was mesmerizing.  And the stables?  Just plant me there, please.  I especially loved the gray and white marble floors in the main entry.  I am still trying to figure out a way to work them into my own home...  master bedroom, maybe?  We'll see.  Anyway, the home will be featured in Veranda magazines October issue, so you really must get yourself a copy.  I can pretty much guarantee you will sit and drool over each and every picture of the House of Windsor for hours.  Days even, maybe.

(pictures from here)

I'm Back!

Hi!  I am back from Florida.  Did you miss me?  I missed all of you too!

I just spent the last week in Florida, helping my niece paint her kitchen cabinets and visiting with my sisters.

It wasn't all work.  There was a little bit of play too.  I went to the beach the first day there.

I saw a school of dolphins swimming.  I tried to get a picture but as soon as I raised my camera, they would go back under water.  Here are two photos of them.

Now on to the cabinet photos.  The cabinets were a light maple color and they were Formica.  So first we applied a bonding primer.  And then two coats of paint.

In the picture below, if you look close you can see a mocha glaze in the insets and around the edges of the cabinets and drawers.

I can't show you a finished picture, because all of the doors were not hung up when I left, and the new cabinet knobs were not on yet.

As soon as I get a picture from my niece, I will do an update.  The cabinet color is not showing true in my pictures.  It is really a lovely sagey grayish green in person.

I will be around to visit you all soon!

Welcome Home,

Penny



Reveal 1 - our new apartment

So last week boyfriend and I looked far and wide for an apartment in DC, because he's starting his masters program at GWU in the fall. We searched in multiple DC neighborhoods - Georgetown, The Hill around Eastern Market, Dupont Circle, Foggy BOttom, Shaw, Cleavland Park, Glover Park, etc. We also scoped out Arlington and Alexandria in Virginia, and Silver Spring and Bethesda in Maryland. While there were areas of DC we really liked - we couldn't get the space we needed with our budget. I work from home and therefore require more space than if I left the house for an office each day. We also really fell in love with old town Alexandria, but the only thing we could find in our budget was a good 20 min walk from old town. In the end, we decided on an awesome Bethesda apartment. I'm from Maryland but had actually never been to Bethesda, and was really impressed. Where our apartment is situated is only a 7 minute walk from the subway, and we can walk to shops and restaurants. In DC we just didn't have the budget to live close to shops and the subway.

We also have around 750 sq ft and 2 huge closets! That's unheard of in NYC and Brooklyn where I was living before. Anyway, I have to decide on paint choices. We want to keep the colors somewhat neutral because unless colors are "extreme," we aren't required to repaint when we move out.

I took some pics of the place and did some photoshop magic to show you the 2 colors we are thinking of. I'm really loving gray lately - so I'm thinking gray for the bedroom, and a nice, creamy light aqua for the large living/dining space.

So, these 4 pics are the bedroom

These are the living room - which includes a dining nook

Let me know what you think? Has anyone painted a room gray? I've been seeing it a lot, and I'm really liking it.

Things I am loving Thursdays and house updates!!

Good morning....forewarning this is a long post, lots of writing, lots of pictures, lots of things I am loving this week, so sit down, relax, pour yourself another cup of coffee or wine. Hope you are having a great week. With the weather finally calming down from temperatures I felt like I was melting in, things have gotten better and more tolerable. Something sad happened yesterday, I was out doing errands and the huge neon yellow "going out of business" signs draped over Borders caught my eye. I was due for a fresh supply of magazines so figured I would pop in. I walked into utter madness, people buzzing all over the place and I spied a line with at least two or three dozen impatient customers, not the usual "happy to be a chilling in a bookstore" customers I am used to seeing. I saw the tape sectioning off the now closed cafe/coffee shop while rejected books and magazines lay disheveled and all over the place. I looked at the store in this disarray, a place that had welcomed me many an afternoon or evening with open and cozy arms with its orderly shelves brimming with endless reading possibilities. It made me sad because I had a darn good relationship with Borders and it was often my sanctuary to where I escaped to my special place, to decompress, unwind and broaden my mind with a cup of hot java in hand. I have so many great memories there and my first reaction when I walked into all the activity was "this is what it used to be like during regular business hours" now its only this way because things are being sold for 40%.
 I felt a pang of nostalgia and true sadness at what this represents, things are changing so fast, moving in such a progressive lightning fast direction that I feel like the things that we relied upon to calm and slow us down are practically non existent! Tell me whats more relaxing than going into a book store, to me not much, except maybe being on a beach alone with an IV drip of Pina Coladas or Pinot Grigio and a juicy book, but not much else. Now I hear Barnes and Nobles is in trouble too. I for one, am not ready to surrender myself and give up the feel and smell of a brand new book to a techy gadget meant to replace buying books forever. Long live the book store!!!!!!!! 
I am sorry I got carried away in my venting but seriously this has/had me really bummed. So I mourn for yet another past favorite, first Southern Accents and now Borders. RIP, Borders. You will be sorely missed.This week I start with my usual updates. Things are really moving and shaking over at the house. I finally can envision living there which admittedly is a first. Exciting, overwhelming and loads of work, but it is a wonderful thing and its so fantastic to be in the home stretch! So here we go.....
HOUSE UPDATES. Lots going on even if it seems like its going slowly. The details can be a long drawn out process but rest assured, things are moving along quite swiftly. Painters are busy finishing first coat upstairs, carpet has been ordered, trim is getting downstairs, gutters are being put in, driveway being put in, electrical and plumbing doing their finishing touches, we will have AC within a few days..woo hoo! This is very important as the finisher starts staining the breakfast room and for the kitchen cabinets...so plenty going on. The porch is done all except for one small section, its ready to stain the ceiling and have floors put in...so here is a recap on all that's happened this week........

Porch basically done!

Mock ups of spindles, this is the one we are going with....

A few different ones we were experimenting with...Don and Co. are masters!!

The cardboard version and then you have.....

The real deal, in wood

Then the living room Versailles Parquet floor started getting put in, (not stained yet)

Trim work moving along on first floor hallway

They finished this doorway from family room looking into kitchen..love it! Thanks Don

In family room looking out....

Kitchen moving along....slowly but surely we are getting there!

I like this detail....where the sinks will go

Back mudroom woodworking moving along....

The back stairs in the works

Four of the carpets for the boys room and guest room......

Vanity for sons bath, its a very very dark mahogany

Bow shaped vanity getting installed in guest room

Shower getting the plumbing

Close up with mirror

Sons bath getting vanity installed....

First official door knob was put on...yippee!!

Love the door knob, I wanted ant. brass, hubs wanted polished, gotta pick your battles, its still a beautiful knob

Hubby's shower almost done

Mud room wood working in progress

Going into living room from porch

Side door

Driveway Belgian block was just completed...

MY NEW FAVORITE HAND SOAP. Best part is its 3.99 for a big bottle at Target! And they must get some kind of special discont because when I looked this up online, saw its selling for between $5-8 online. Actually the truly best part is this is darn good hand soap, it lathers nicely, smells wonderfully with a scent that lingers as much as a nice hand lotion and I am a sucker for anything that makes me feel nostalgic for something old fashioned looking!

anything. I was thinking recently how I will of course, want to send out moving cards and found this wonderful line from Duet which features letter pressed stationary..and its all drool worthy gorgeous! Take a look! Click here to see more....

They also make adorable and beautiful baby announcements!

CHIC SUMMER CLOTHING. I love tunics, light sundresses in fun prints for the summer, throw on a piece of turquoise or coral and you are good to go. Amongst many of the lines I like for summer, I discovered Gretchen Scott about five years ago and add to my collection every summer. The price point is fair, her things are all cotton, silk or linen and she features so many great tropical summery prints...love her eye. I think of her line as one part southern belle meets one part island chic. See what you think and click here to see her line.

And then she makes these adorable pareos....love the prints! (sorry for getting carried away but its such a fun line) But these are as great as a beach/pool coverup as they are wrapped around your neck on a cool summer evening, think white pants, white top and gold sandals with one of these goodies....tres chic!

A GREAT BOOK. I am a bit behind in my summer reading, normally I get through five or six solid books, but this summer I have just completed a second. But it is one worth recommending.....Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese, is a riveting and spellbinding story. Its his first book and is highly acclaimed, already winning all kinds of awards. I had a hard time putting it down. Have you read it? Click here to find out more......

A TOTALLY RANDOM SITE. OK I know this venturing a bit off my normal "area of expertise" (whatever that may be) but I found this and couldnt' believe how cute and imaginative these were!! I mean seriously these are pancakes...as hard as that is to believe! And this Jim dude has an entire blog all about the incredible pancakes he turns into works of art.....I kid you not. Man, my kids would be pea green with envy over the kinds of breakfasts his kids are treated to every morning! Check these out....I mean seriously don't you have an extra hour every morning to make caterpillar and T-Rex pancakes? LOL.....really amazing though! Just in case you want to follow this pancake master, click here to go to his blog.

She looks happy!

How can I top bee hive pancakes? Think I am going to stop now while I ahead.....best to end on a high ( and delicious note) I am suddenly craving pancakes and will settle for my always crooked, barely a circle somewhat very unprofessional looking (Jim would be appalled) BUT DELICIOUS pancakes.....enjoy your Thursday and you know I always love to know if there is anything you are loving this Thursday....do tell!