Summer is for the Birds

Thursday, a seemingly ordinary day. We spiffed ours up a bit with some watercolor pencil fun,

 watching select episodes of Gilmore Girls, reading a couple of chapters of Little Women,

and capping it off with a brightly hued Margarita and dinner out at a Mexican restaurant to kick off our 4 day staycation.

After spending a good part of the summer feeling like I was coasting through, I am now doing my best to make the most of every moment. I'd like to be able to harness this make-the-most-of-it feeling every day.

School Supplies

I keep checking the 10 day forecast hoping it will change. My heart craves Autumn. School supplies.
We have 3 weeks until school starts and the back-to-school shopping has commenced. Back-to-school is some of my favorite shopping. But honestly, I'm a little envious. I want new supplies too. I never outgrew the thrill that comes with a sheaf of fresh paper so I've made a list of must haves for this girl.

Bouquets of sharpened pencils from here:

My version of a book bag from Boden:

New shoes like these from Target:

Extracurricular reading from Amazon:

In case you aren't up for sharpening your own pencils from here:

To get me up on time from LLBean:

A Cath Kidston agenda from Amazon:

And in case you think I'm kidding, I will tell share with you that I have already ordered at least 3 of these items.

Questions and Answers

To answer a couple of quick questions, the Sunshine sign in this picture is from here and the paint color in our family room is Benjamin Moore Natural Cream. I love this color. I used it in my studio in our last house and several rooms of the new house and I'm pleased with how it looks under all lighting conditions. 

Now on to the important issues at hand, recipes. I've never known you guys to be quite so demanding. All I can figure is you must have been hungry when you were reading that last post. I hope these pictures don't make it worse for you...

These biscuits are made using the Barefoot Contessa's recipe. I can't even count the number of times I've made them. They are a go to recipe. 

You'd like the recipe for the Gorgonzola Bacon Compound Butter, you say? Well, it must be your lucky day!
1 stick softened butter
2 heaping tablespoons softened gorgonzola or other blue cheese
3 slices bacon, cooked until crisp and broken into small bits
Put all ingredients into a bowl and mix with a fork until well blended. Chill for at least 1 hour and bring to room temp before serving.

And now we come to the meat loaf. This is a recipe I've never shared before. You see, I have it in my mind that one day I will write a book that will not strictly be a cookbook, but more of a lifestyle book with recipes in it. This is one of those recipes. So. If I share it with you now, will you promise to buy the book anyway? Also, don't tell anyone. We will just keep this top secret recipe between you and me.

Jen's Italian Meatloaf

1 1/2 pounds ground beef (I use a fairly lean beef)

1 pound mild Italian sausage

4 slices bread, edges removed and ground into bread crumbs in the food processor

3 cloves garlic, minced (I just throw it into the food processor with the bread)

1/4 cup dry bread crumbs

1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese (plus more for top of meatloaf)

1/2 tsp black pepper

2 tsp kosher salt

1/4 tsp ground nutmeg

2 tsp Italian seasoning

3 eggs, lightly beaten

3-4 slices pancetta or bacon

Water

Preheat oven to 375°. In a large bowl mix together all ingredients except water and pancetta and mix with a fork until well blended. Do not over mix. Add enough water to moisten mixture. Form into a loaf on a cookie sheet with sides. I shape mine about 2 inches high and rather wide. Cover top of loaf with pancetta or bacon and bake for 45 minutes or until cooked through. Add extra Parmesan cheese on top about 10 minutes before it's finished. I sometimes like to broil it for a few minutes at the end because I love to get that crispy crust on there.

I hope you guys enjoy the recipe. Let me know if you make it.

So that's it for the Q & A today. Let me know if you have any more burning questions like...what size shoes do I wear or what time do I get up in the morning. I'm an open book people!

18

103°. That is a record for Miss Maddie's milestone 18th birthday. We did our best to stay cool.

I have very mixed feelings about this birthday. First off, I'm old enough to have an 18 year old. I don't approve. I'm thinking about telling people she is really 12 and just suffers from a rare glandular disease.

Also, unlike most 18 year old grown up children, she is not ready to leave the nest yet. I have a love/hate relationship with this fact. I was ready. There were times when I was counting down the months. I kid you not. But. She has decided to stick close to home for her first year of college and apparently she loves us so much she can scarcely stand the thought of leaving us.

I'm glad she is so fond of us. I can think of times over the last 4 years when that was not always the case. I hope she will come to her senses and leave the nest some time before her 30th birthday. Or 20th. I had an epiphany the other day as I brought her homemade cinnamon rolls in bed. It occurred to me that I should maybe not make her life so comfortable? I'm going to start working on that.

For today we celebrated our girl with her favorite Birthday dinner: Italian meatloaf, mashed potatoes with gorgonzola bacon compound butter, southern style green beans, cheddar buttermilk biscuits and S'more pie. Yum.

Finally

There can be a negative side effect to blogging. The feeling of dissatisfaction with what you have and the feeling that you need to strive for perfection. A perfection you will never attain, no less.

I think this might be the reason I have been slow in sharing pictures of our new cottage with you. This is not one of those blogs where the budget is endless and the projects come together in what seems like days. I have been working my back-side off since we moved in, but I'll be honest, I've just scratched the surface. I'm just focusing on the bones of the place right now. And my budget? Well, there's not much of it left right now. But you know what? It's okay. We love our cottage. It's cozy and homey and it's ours. The projects will get done as we can manage them and that's okay too because we plan to stay here for the rest of our lives.

To thank you (or punish you, depending on your opinion) all for being so patient in your wait, I'm going to saturate this post with pictures. You've been warned.

These are the before pictures:

This room is very narrow. Our cottage was originally 1 story and when they added the 2nd floor the stairs took up a lot of real estate in this room. It is also long which can give you that bowling alley effect if you aren't careful. We plan on getting a slipcovered sectional in the not so distant future which will help this area work better. The rug is from Dash and Albert. LOVE it.

This is the media console formerly known as a dining room hutch. I'm going to paint it a medium grey. I'm thinking about trying that new chalk paint that I'm hearing so much about.

The as-of-yet still unfinished stairs. I have high hopes of getting them done soon but I have to say, even like this they are a big improvement.

This is Sweet Hubby's drafting table which is to the right of the sofa. I love this piece and all it's industrial beauty.

To the right of that is my time out corner which you have seen before. It's where I am likely sitting whenever you and I are talking. My feet are up on that soon to be slipcovered ottoman right this moment. Also, someone asked me about the fabric I have thrown on here. I know nothing of its origins. I purchased it recently at a favorite shop.

This is to the right of my corner. It's not much of an entry by suburban standards but for an old house it ain't too shabby. I still want to get an antique dresser to replace the table so I can organize and hide all our scarves and mittens for the cold months. I also have a rug on the shopping list.

An overview from the opposite side of the room.  The room to the right of the entry area is my studio. You can see one of our 2 ugly ceiling fans. I look forward to seeing them gone.

This is the view from the sofa. The door on the left is Maddie's room and the door on the right is the downstairs bathroom. The doorway to the right leads to the kitchen and dining room. That is a rip it all out to the studs project that will not be happening in the near future. The print helps me to remember to choose joy before I walk in that room. I often need the reminder.


We've made good progress but still have a way to go. I'm starting to work on window treatments for this room and I'd love to hear what you picture there. I feel like the room is telling me it doesn't want full length panels. It's a bossy house. Originally I thought cafe curtains 3/4 of the way up the window but now I'm having doubts and thinking about other options. What do you think?

Winning

 

(pic source) 

Congrats to Amy at A Little Piece of Heaven who just won herself the Shabby Apple dress giveaway. Lucky girl!

I plan to be back tomorrow with pictures of our family room. I know right. So soon?

Not So Shabby- A Giveaway

 I hope this Friday finds you looking forward to a leisurely Summer weekend. After 6 weekends of company and traveling, we are looking forward to just that. I thought I'd start your weekend off with a giveaway from Shabby Apple. They are an online boutique of Women's dresses that I find myself daydreaming about fairly often. I'm more than a little envious that one of you will win this dress that I covet. I think it looks like the perfect Summer evening dress so if you leave me a comment telling me where you would wear it, you will be entered to win. Also if you Like Shabby Apple on Facebook you can come back here and leave another comment for a 2nd chance to win.

The giveaway is for the Daisy dress only and ends Tuesday July 12th at midnight. If you are interested in another dress you can use the coupon code cottagenest10off for a 10% discount. It will expire  8/9/11.

Ponderings

Millie and I are pondering lots of things these days. She's wondering if I will look away from her long enough for her to pick the kitten's toy mouse up again. She's also wondering if she can get it before the kitten does. I'm pondering things less life changing but still important to me.

-Do you know where I can find a not-too-expensive fun silver necklace for every day wear? My default is always Etsy but I'm overwhelmed by the choices.

-If you had accidentally planted way more tomatoes than you could eat, what would you do with all the extras?

-Anyone know how to get rid of a sudden case of razor rash on the legs?

Okay. Your turn. Any ponderings for me? I'll get you started.

I know several of you want to know where my sunshine sign from the last post came from. You can find it here.