love & affection...

after my super depressing rant about life not being perfect...

via style me pretty

...this is what i would like my life to be like at the moment... a stroll in the park with my arms wrapped around the love of my life...wouldn't it be nice if it were that simple & easy to make your heart swell like that?

outside looking in...

it's no secret i like to read a lot of blogs; i like to know what people are doing, saying, thinking, eating, creating, etc. it's the curious voyeur in me. when i lived in the back bay my favorite thing to do was walk the dogs at night and look into people's windows, into their lives. none of that peeping tom shit, just simply viewing them at home, in the privacy of them selves, being real. blogs are no different...but i do have one major gripe about them...is everyone's life really as perfect as they seem to make it on their blog?

i know the answer is no, but doesn't is seem like people's lives are perfect when you read their blog? for instance, i read this one blog, which really is great so i'm not crapping on it (well, i am, but only to make this point)...but this girls life appears to be nothing but perfection; a cute home, a handsome & attentive husband (do those even exists?), pregnant with her first child (a daughter), seems to have endless amounts of money to spend on said pregnancy, loves her job...it all makes me want to gag at the current moment. yes, i could stop reading her blog, that would help. and no, i don't write nasty comments on her blog, it's her life & her blog, who am i to comment? but it makes me acutely aware of just how imperfect my own life is.

not that anyone wants to air their dirty laundry, or be judged, i get that. but why is it that rarely does anyone's blog address the hard shit in life? i mean, yes, i've read a few blogs about women struggling with infertility, those are real feelings, those are women putting it out there. i'm no different i suppose.

currently it feels like my life is unraveling at the seams...but you would never know that from my blog posts. you would never know that i feel like i'm at the bottom of the barrel right now. why, because i'm too afraid to admit it myself. so, does that make my blog as fake as everyone else's? probably. my point is, my blog may appear that my life is perfect, i have endless amounts of money to shop & decorate with, that i'm super creative and have lots of time on my hands to whip out projects, my job is amazing, that i've got my shit together, that life is bubble gum & rainbows all the time, that i have sunshine rays coming out of my rear end...but i don't. right now i'm going through some of the hardest stuff i've ever had to deal with...and yes, i have friends and family members who love me and are supportive, yet i have never felt more alone and more like i have no one to tell things to in my entire life. and if i'm not honest in what i consider an 'online diary' of sorts, then i'm just as bad as all the blogs i read that make people think being perfect comes easy.

no, this is not a pity party for myself. and no, it's not to say that i don't have a lot of great things to be thankful for. it's just an honest post, for voyeurs like me, who's lives aren't as perfect as they might appear from the outside.

quotable...

via imgfave

for dinner tonight...

something about actually having a nice kitchen now makes me want to cook. this is what we're having tonight for dinner (along with some garlic green beans and cous cous)...

yolanda's famous chicken

ingredients:
2 (1 1/2-ounce) bread slices
4 (6-ounce) skinless, boneless chicken breast halves
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup (1 ounce) finely grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese
1 1/2 teaspoons dried rosemary, crushed
1 1/2 teaspoons dried marjoram
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 tablespoon 2% reduced-fat milk
1 large egg
Cooking spray
4 teaspoons olive oil, divided
4 lemon wedges

directions:
1. preheat oven to 375°. tear bread into pieces. place bread in a food processor; pulse until breadcrumbs measure about 1 3/4 cups. (fyi, i'm not doing this step, i'm using already made breadcrumbs)

2. place each chicken breast half between 2 sheets of heavy-duty plastic wrap, and pound chicken to 1/2-inch thickness using a meat mallet or small heavy skillet.

3. place flour in a shallow dish. combine breadcrumbs, cheese, and next 4 ingredients (through pepper) in a second shallow dish. combine milk and egg in a third shallow dish, stirring with a whisk.

4. working with 1 breast half at a time, dredge chicken in flour, shaking off excess. dip into egg mixture; dredge in breadcrumb mixture, pressing to coat evenly on both sides. place chicken on a large plate. repeat procedure with remaining breast halves, flour, egg mixture, and breadcrumb mixture; refrigerate for 30 minutes.

5. heat a 12-inch nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. coat pan with cooking spray; add 2 teaspoons olive oil, swirling to coat. add 2 breast halves to pan; cook 3 minutes on each side or until browned. place on a broiler pan coated with cooking spray. lightly coat chicken with cooking spray. repeat procedure with remaining 2 teaspoons olive oil and remaining breast halves.

6. bake at 375° for 12 minutes or until a thermometer registers 165°. serve with lemon wedges.

warm weather= exterior painting

i need a distraction these days... and warmer weather is upon us...which has me thinking about painting the exterior of the house. the green & yellow just ain't cutting it for me anymore, it sticks out like a soar thumb on my street of all white houses. not likely to blend in, i have the colors all picked out and they are fun, very bungalowish i suppose...but they don't look the same on my computer screen as they do in my color wheel??? if you click on the house image you can see where the colors will be going (sorry it's so small on the screen)...

body: benjamin moore horizon gray 2141-50
despite it's name (or the ugly tan color it looks on my screen), it's a gray with very subtle green undertone, very neutral. once i figure out what plants/shrubs i actually have surrounding the house (and what i'd like to add) i think this will be a nice back drop for the plantings to 'pop' against. side note, my mother hates that word 'pop', as well as 'punch', 'splash', and anything relating to an accent color usually. ha!

trim & windows: benjamin moore navajo white oc-95
this looks very pinky on my screen, but i assure you it's not, it's just a softer version of a white to go with the body color. i think it'll look gorgeous on the square tapered columns with oil rubbed bronze house numbers on them, don't you?

front & rear door: benjamin moore plum royal 2070-20
originally i was thinking about a red door, but i have a client who has a deep purple door and i LOVE it. it's unexpected and fun.

that hideous metal stair rail will be painted out black and i'm going to add a new oil rubbed bronze wall mounted mail box and house numbers...accessorizing your house is as important as accessorizing your outfits, right?

playing in my head and in my heart...

all i can do is keep breathing...

for dinner tonight...

over the weekend i read this recipe for shrimp scampi in coastal living magazine, so we're having it for dinner tonight... along with some texas toast...do you love texas toast like i do?..

Ingredients

• 8 ounces linguine
• 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil, divided
• 1 pound large shrimp, peeled and deveined
• 6 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 6 garlic cloves, minced
• 1/4 teaspoon dried crushed red pepper
• 1/4 cup coarsely chopped fresh parsley
• 2 teaspoons lemon zest
• 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
• 3/4 teaspoon salt

Directions

1. cook pasta in boiling salt water according to package; drain.

2. heat 1 tablespoon oil in large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. add half the shrimp, and cook 1 minute on each side or until opaque. transfer the shrimp to a plate, cover and keep warm. repeat with remaining shrimp.

3. melt butter over medium heat in smae skillet. add remaining oil, garlic, red pepper; sautee 3 minutes or until garlic starts to brown. stir in cooked shrimp, parsley, lemon zest & juice, and salt. cook 1 minute.

4. add pasta. and cook 1 minute or until hot, tossing constantly, serve immediately.

the basement door transformation...

this is my basement door, kind of boring right? so i decided to take on a little weekend project of turning it into a magnetic chalkboard. it's the perfect location to write my 'to do' lists to remind me as i walk out the back door. i went to lowes and purchased these suplies...


first step: prepping the door... sanding it down with fine grit sandpaper, wipe it down with water and taping it off. i'm not a big fan of taping things off, but trust me, it's so worth taking the time to do it...


steps two & three: paint on the magnetic paint. the can says 2-3 coats, but i'm not going to lie, i did 6 coats. i let the third coat dry and then tested a magnet on it and it fell off immediately, not cool. then paint 2 coats of the chalkboard paint...


done... the finished product...


i will say this, even though it looks nice, i'm a little less than thrilled with it. the magnetic paint ain't all it's cracked up to be, it only holds my lighter weight magnets, boooo. but it does the trick, more or less, and at least the chalkboard part works well.

halstatt here i come...

i have a new travel destination in mind...hallstatt, austria. yup, as i was curled up on the couch for almost the entire afternoon sunday i watched steve rick's hidden europe on pbs and have now become obsessed with this quintessential mountain town, the home of the first known salt mine...

quotable...

via jonathan holmes

dining in...

the dining room is more or less finished being decorated so i took a few photos this weekend...

making a formal entrance...

another thing on my ever- growing list of things i need/want/must have for the house, a console table for the front entrance. it's mainly for decoration since we use the back door for our daily ins & outs. but the front entrance is certainly missing some formality that i want. i've never had a formal entrance before and these ones are so inspiring...

via steve gambrel

via style at home

via ivory lux

via cote de texas

via herd of black

via unknown

sooooo, do i go light & delicate?..

oly studio jonathan console

worlds away plank top console

pia console table from crate & barrel

grand marque console from ballard

or dark & substantial (which would probably fit with the rest of the decor in my house since it is a bungalow)?...

industrial console from home decorators collection

holbrook console from home decorators collection

xola hall table from target

manor console from jayson home & garden

kitchen dilemma...

still working on the kitchen table & chairs portion of the house right now, mainly because i'm waiting for either my birthday or my tax return check- whichever comes first! i'm a little torn between these two chairs...which do you prefer?

sandra side chair

garden side chair

i originally thought i wanted a rectangular table, possibly this inexpensive ikea one that i could paint the legs white and stain the top a little darker to match the cabinets a little bit more...
my master seamstress mother has made me a red ticking strip cushion for the bay window bench which will be installed next week...


i'd like to sew a few pillows to against the back of various fabrics next. very similar to this image below. but now i'm rethinking the rectangular table, should i go round? will it be easier for me to access the doors/cabinets on either side of the bench seating?...

via small space style

i'm loving the variety of pillows on all these built-in banquettes...

via vineet kaur

via be mine interior design

via caitlin creer interiors

via houzz

via the kitchn

via houzz