Friends,
I just packed away my Christmas cards this year using this stolen idea. It was a favorite post of last year. Don’t forget to pack up those cards this year for enjoyment year-over-year!
And Valentine’s Day is coming up. Got anyone you can shower with a Tree of Hearts? It’s an excuse to get together with friends and have some fun while showing someone that you care. I’ve got a tree of hearts recipient in mind … can you think of anyone deserving to show some love this year?
XO,
Julia
Well I’ve just got to brag a bit today. My friend Jay Qualls is becoming a big, bright star right under my nose. I met Jay when he did our wedding cake in 2008. Now, he’s one of 5 remaining contestants on The Next Great Baker hosted by Cake Boss, Buddy Valastro.
Isn’t he the cutest? You’ve got to watch the show. TLC on Monday nights at 8CST/9EST.
Here’s a photo of our wedding cake. This is totally a stolen idea and gosh I wish I still had the tear-out! I found it in a wedding magazine and loved the simplicity of it. Plus, the caption said it had fondant ribbons on buttercream. For me, that was PERFECT since I think fondant is beautiful but buttercream is delicious. Jay called up the cake designer at a fancy boutique in New York to learn how she attached the fondant ribbons to the buttercream cake. He told me that he could not be held responsible if those ribbons slid right off that cake but OF COURSE they didn’t. And now Jay is teaching cake decorating classes that include fondant applique for buttercream. AND he’s a national television star. Um, shouldn’t I at least get a free orange dreamsicle cake out of this (Jay, are you reading)??! Come to think of it, this makes Jay an accomplice in idea thievery. I knew I liked Jay the moment I met him!
My florist, Chase Rivers, added the dahlias and berries to the design. And we used a cake topper from the 40′s that belonged to my husband’s grandparents.
If you are in a wedding kind of mood, check out the slideshows of our wedding from our totally hip photographer, Keoni K. The day was planned by the fabulous Angela Proffitt of Elegant Weddings by Angela. We had a photo booth, did the tw0-step for our first dance, had an excellent country band. Man, that was a really great day.
Plus, check out the hottie that I get to call mine from that day until forever. Dimples to die for – swoon!
In case you hadn’t noticed, I’ve taken a major blogging hiatus. It’s been an wild 4 months or so. After we put our home on the Whitland Home Tour in September, I barely enjoyed flipping through the pages of a Pottery Barn catalog. I guess I was just all tired out on stealing ideas.
Plus, right around then, I changed jobs and I threw myself into that.
And at that same time we started announcing that we were pregnant. But my pregnancy wasn’t an easy one and ultimately, our baby daughter arrived stillborn on December 14 at 21 weeks gestation.
I’ve had a break from that new job for a couple of weeks as a result of our loss and the holidays. If there’s one thing that’s become incredibly obvious to me during these 17 days of rest, reflection, and healing, it’s that is that I only have one life and I better fill it with things I love. Until I met my husband, I spent lots of time loving my career. And the truth is, I can’t think of a career I’d rather have.
But on the day I die, I’m sure I won’t be looking back on my career wishing I had given it more of my attention. So on New Year’s Eve 2010, there are a few things I resolve …
1.) To love and adore my husband as the precious gift he is and give him my time and attention.
2.) To make memories with my awesome friends and family and record them.
3.) To foster my creativity.
4.) To move my body.
5.) To spend more time in prayer.
This blog helps me accomplish #3. So I’m back. If there’s anyone still reading, I hope you enjoy. I know I will!
We have just agreed to put our home on our neighborhood home tour. It’s exactly 1 month from today! WHAT are we thinking?
http://www.whitlandhometour.org
The projects list is getting longer and longer and longer … and it starts this weekend.
We interrupt this regularly scheduled 3-part houseplant series to bring you this weekend’s flea market finds. Stay tuned for finished projects:
Although I love my job and I love seeing my awesome co-workers (hi guys!), at this particular moment I am terribly sad that I am in LA for work. Because if I were home, I would gather up some Nashville friends and host a Tree of Hearts party straight away!
How beautiful is this!?
I’ve got to credit the photo and the backstory to one of my favorite blogs, Style Blueprint.
But before I go there, let me tell you how crazy the blogosphere can be. The tree pictured above is just around the corner from my house. Notice the sweet little twinkle lights? Across the neighborhood and through the leafless branches, these twinklers had been taunting me. Why? We’ve joked in our house that we are cruising for a red neck ticket because our white icicle lights are still hanging from the gutters of our house, as if it were December 24. Obviously, it’s February 10 and WAY past the acceptable time frame for Christmas lights. But it has just been so cold in Nashville that the idea of heading down to our neighbor’s house to borrow the ladder, dragging it back to our yard, and pulling down those lights has been just way too much of a chore to even consider. So when my hubby saw those twinkles from across the neighborhood and through the leafless branches, he decided we were in the clear. If they can do it, so can we.
But a few days later when I drove down Leonard and saw how this home owner had augmented her white Christmas lights with hearts I understood that they were indeed not cruising for a red neck ticket as we are. I thought it was super cute and my thief’s brain immediately got to chewing on how I could hang hearts from my gutter line to get some more mileage out of the white lights ritual. As my mind’s eye shuffled through all of the store-bought heart options I could dream up, nothing really looked fabulous to me. Considering that this idea would most likely send my husband up the ladder once again, I decided I should take a pass.
Until today.
Because now I understand that the heart decor is about so much more than just looking fabulous. It is about being a fabulous friend and sharing love on Valentine’s day. How do I know? Enter Style Blueprint. My neighbor’s blog featured this awesome post with the so sweet back story of a Tree of Hearts ritual that started in the northeast to cheer a friend who had breast cancer. In the middle of the night, a woman snuck into her dear friend’s yard and hung hand-made hearts all over the tree to cheer her when she saw it in the morning. The tradition caught on and now it’s an annual ritual there. The house around the corner with the darling heart tree is a transplant from that very neck of the woods!
Style Blueprint is calling for this to become a Nashville tradition and I have to agree that it is fantastic and absolutely should. They are even suggesting that a non-profit should take on the preparation of Tree of Hearts kits as a fundraiser. Genius! So in the spirit of blogosphere stealing, I mean sharing, I’m posting it right here even though my work schedule this week prevents me from participating. But 2011 will be the year for my first annual Tree of Hearts party and you’ll have to tune in here to see the results. Nashville readers, if you want to be on the invite list, let me know in the comments below! For those of you who are in town right now, there’s still time to make it happen!
For those that don’t know me, you might assume I’m on some kind of controlled substance. Not so! I just got some new lights and it makes me want to dance a little jig.
Check out these gorgeous crystal morsels given to me as birthday gifts by my parents, mother-in-law, grandmother-in-law and husband. It’s all I can do not to just stand in the hallway and gaze at them. I loved them last year when a decorator friend suggested they might be just the thing for our 1930′s Cape Cod home. And now that I see them installed, well, it’s love all over again. Sigh. Let me know what you think in the comments!
This one is in our downstairs hallway. See how the crystals make patterns all over our original textured plaster walls?
I had to get a close-up of the downstairs one. See how it has some extra little droplets of crystal around the sides? The upstairs one doesn’t have that extra little touch but I thought the formality of it was too good to pass up.
And then here’s the one at the top of the stairs that’s hung on just plain old drywall ceiling. A little smaller than the first one. Still gorgeous.
I love these in our hallways. These spaces instantly feel more special – especially when considered against the builder-grade flush mount that was downstairs and the pink (yes, pink), mini (yes, mini) ceiling fan with light kit that was upstairs. But I do think they would be gorgeous in a bedroom or entry way too. We thought they were a good investment because they could be used in so many different places in our home when it one day gets renovated or expanded.
We found these for substantial discount over local lighting galleries on lightingcatalog.com. I really do try to support local companies and retailers whenever I can but sometimes when the price differential is substantial, I gotta go with the online. I found my husband online for heaven’s sake; sometimes online is the ticket. Send me an email (look to the right under stay connected) if you want specifics on theses fixtures.
I have at least 3 more projects that would be easy for anyone to replicate so I’ll be posting heavily through the rest of this week and weekend. Be sure to check back for more stolen ideas!
Happy New Year, everyone!
Our family got an exciting Christmas present this year. My mom and dad bought some property on a lake about an hour away from Nashville and they are planning on building a house there sometime in 2010! What does this mean for this idea thief?? More projects!
We’ll definitely be doing lots of thrifting, yard sale-ing, and discount shopping to put this place together. I’ve got something summery, cottage-y, and casual in mind and I’ll be posting all ideas ripe for the stealing right here. Hopefully Mom and Dad like what they see and these ideas can come to life in time for summer water skiing!!
So I’ve got another idea for you to steal. I can’t take credit for this one. This is totally my hubby’s creation – a Will Original! Will’s got a skill that I’ve never had – just making up total deliciousness as he goes in the kitchen. And, seeing has he’s the Head Chef in our house with my playing moderate Sous Chef role, I probably won’t be honing that skill anytime soon. But how can I care? I’m constantly spoiled with tasty goodness.
Since Will and I have epitomized the phrase “fat and happy” here during our first year of marriage, we resolved to curb our caloric intake and boost our caloric burn in 2010. We started early and have kept daily calories way down from our norms AND we’ve been to the gym for 5 consecutive days in a row!! WOOTS all around!
Here’s what Will whipped up for our lunch today (plus the kitchen notes he took as he worked) … Potato Leek Soup with Turkey Meatballs. It was warm and comforting on a cold day without being fattening.
Per serving this soup lays down just 210 calories, 2.25g fat (0g saturated fat), 19.75g carbohydrates, and a whopping 31.75g protein. Say hello to a soon-to-be-skinny idea thief.
Will’s Potato Leek Soup with Turkey Meatballs
1 lb. 99% fat free ground turkey
4 cups chicken stock (one 32 oz. container)
1 leek, chopped
1 onion, diced & divided in half
2 potatoes, peeled & diced
3 cloves garlic, chopped
1 Tbsp olive oil, divided
1 tsp curry powder
1 tsp onion powder
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp garlic salt
1/2 tsp dried oregano
cracked pepper, to taste
Combine 1/2 the olive oil, 1/2 the onion, 2 cloves of garlic, curry powder, onion powder, garlic salt, salt and pepper in a saute pan. Heat over medium heat until onions become translucent. Remove from heat and combine with ground turkey in a mixing bowl. Meanwhile, add remaining olive oil, leeks, potatoes, remaining garlic, and the other half of the onion to a dutch oven. Saute until onions and leeks are tender. Add chicken stock and simmer until potatoes become tender. Form into meatballs and drop into the soup mixture. Continue to simmer until meatballs are cooked through, about 10 minutes. Makes 4 servings.
Delicious! Way to go, smart hubby of mine!
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