Month: November 2006

Blogging From NYC

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Rockefeller Center

Even though I am away on vacation with my husband, I was so excited to post today!

My husband & I decided to go away for a few days & spend some time together, since we are not able to do that very often. My parents came up to be with our children, so we don’t have any worries while we’re gone.

We decided to go away “last” minute, since we were both feeling a little “under the weather”, but because my parents were kind enough to come up & be with the children, we decided to pack up and go.

We wanted to do something that we’ve never done before, so we decided to head down to NYC for the annual Christmas lights, and store front displays.

As we were walking down 5th Ave., we saw the wonderful New York Library (that’s were I’m sitting right now :), and I thought that would be the perfect place to catch up with all of you! You would love it here! The ceilings are so high & very ornate, the walls & floors are marble, there are murals on the walls, lots of nice lighting, and moldings as well. Dan & I have gotten some nice ideas to use in our library back at the cottage. We especially liked the darker colors with the spotlights that highlight the books & artwork.

There are so many wonderful things to see here in the city!

Lots of people (so diverse), wonderful smells of food on every corner, and glitz & glitter everywhere. We’re looking forward to seeing everything tonight as the sun goes down & the lights come on!

Well, it’s almost 4pm & we still haven’t stopped to eat, so I’d better go for now.

I’m looking forward to sharing lots of pictures from our trip, as well as piles of holiday ideas with you in a few days! Tomorrow we’re off to visit Sturbridge, MA & celebrate Christmas in the early 1800-1900s.

Writing from the city that never sleeps,
Pearl

How to Organize Your Kitchen Drawers

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Organizing Your Kitchen Drawers

Organizing the drawers in your kitchen is a wonderful feeling! Have you ever gone to the drawer to find something and spent several minutes and had to sift through all of the little goodies that you’ve collected & added to the drawer over the years just to find that 1 item that you’re looking for?

There is one thing that I have learned over the last few months, cooking in the kitchen goes much smother when you can go right to the location of the tool that you need – and actually find it right away! The holiday season means much more time in the kitchen, so there’s no great time than the present to tidy up your creative cooking space!

Here are a few helpful tips for organizing your drawers:

1. Empty the drawer of all contents
2. Thoroughly clean the drawer
3. Go through the items one at a time
4. Put the items into different boxes – 1 to keep, 1 to pass, 1 for trash
5. Line drawer with non-slip material (I’ve purchased this in rolls at the $1 store)
6. Place clean items in drawer in a tidy organized way
7. Rinse & repeat on all of your drawers 🙂

I love having nicely organized drawers in our new kitchen!

Color Inspiration For Whole House Decorating

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Here is the color inspiration the we’ve used for the whole cottage! This set of boxes was a gift from my husband, and I love them so much, that I am using them as a color jumping point for the whole cottage decorating scheme.

Do you have something that you love such as; a vintage quilt, a set of dishes, an old post card, a set of stationary, a children’s book?

If you take a look at these boxes, they are made up of many colors, but somehow they all go together beautifully!

So I can look at the boxes & pull one or more of the colors out to use in each room of the house. I could decide to accent any particular room with all of the colors if I wish, because I can already see how nicely they all go together by having this “mental picture” to go by.

Having trouble deciding what colors to use in your home? Go find something that really “speaks” to you & use it to wash your home with color!

Happy Thanksgiving!

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This morning my husband & I woke up early to pray & give God thanks for everything He has done in our lives. As we were sharing all of the things we were thankful for, the sun starting waking up as well. We’ve had quite a long season of rain, so you can imagine the joy of seeing the sun – especially on this joyous occasion of giving thanks.

I decided to put on my coat & shoes and go out to save a few memories with my camera.

This is one of the beautiful views from my office window. I love the way the sun was sparkling like thousands of tiny dancing crystals as it kissed the frosty blanket that the forest woke up with this morning.

As I was walking through the woods with our 2 little dogs, I could hear the church bells playing Thanksgiving hymns such as “Great is Thy Faithfulness”, and “Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing” down in the little village below. I love to hear the bells, especially on holiday mornings such as this.

It has been our tradition for the last several years to come together as a family at my brother’s house to celebrate Thanksgiving. This year we will bring, sauteed green beans, candied carrots, and apple crisp. It is always such a wonderful day.

I tend to cook a lot like my great grandmother Pearl. I usually go by how something feels & tastes more often than what the recipe says 🙂 My family really enjoys these carrots, so I wanted to share them with you. They are so easy – but so yummy!

Candied Carrots:

– Peel & chop carrots (I like to use baby carrots)
– Cook in a pot with water until tender – but not to soft
– Drain water
– Mix equal amounts of maple syrup & brown sugar enough to coat carrots.
– Add to the pot
– Add 1/2 stick of butter and salt/pepper/garlic to taste
– Heat through

A few thoughts for the day…

No matter what happens, always be thankful, for this is God’s will for you who belong to Christ Jesus.
~ 1 Thessalonians 5:18

“For each new morning with its light, For rest and shelter of the night, For health and food, for love and friends, For everything Thy goodness sends.”
~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

“The Pilgrims made seven times more graves than huts. No Americans have been more impoverished than these who, nevertheless, set aside a day of thanksgiving.”
~ H. U. Westermayer

Items From the Garden Make Nice Indoor Displays

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I like to bring garden items inside to enjoy. That way, no matter what the temps are like outside, you can enjoy the garden feeling all year round! I’ve paired up a vintage watering can ($1 at yard sale), a cast iron bunny ($4), and some clay pots (a few cents each at the end of the year sale in the garden centers!)

What do you have in the garden that you could bring inside to add some “life” to your winter decor? Plants, clay pots, watering cans, benches, bird bath, fountain, topiary, or grapevine wreaths are all good examples of things that you could bring in.

A simple decorating idea that goes a long way is…

Take one of your clay pots where the flowers have finished blooming & the plant is gone. Remove the spent stems, add a nice piece of moss from the woods to the top of the pot. You can display several of these (could choose different sizes if you wish) along a window sill or down the center of the table just as they are, or you could add different things to jazz them up a little. Here are a few examples of some things that you could add on top of the moss; a piece of fruit, a candle, ribbon, pine cone, acorn, small twig with lots of branches to hang things on, a single rosebud, a small vegetable, etc.

Just a few ideas for no cost seasonal decorating – my favorite kind 🙂

Sitting Area With Grapevine Garland

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I Love this sitting area in the dining room – lots of light & big windows! When trying to decide what to do about the window coverings, I decided to leave them open. At the end of the season, I went outside & gathered some vines from the cottage garden. Then, I simply took some small gage wire & hung the garland up on some small nails that were placed every few feet near the ceiling. You can see the little white birds that I added. They clip on & add a nice natural feel. During the Christmas season, I hang our Christmas cards along the garland using an opened paperclip place in a hole in the corner of each card.

Here’s a picture of one of the birds close up, although this one is on the primitive Christmas tree on the side of the room.
It’s so easy to add a natural feel to a room. Here, I’ve used a harvest basket, plants, vintage watering can, clay pots, birds, and a cast iron bunny.