happy birthday peter

happy birthday to my peter!

{ladder golf on the beach}


We have spent the past weekend celebrating Peter's birthday.

Moo Creamery with friends.
Frugattis with family.
Matterhorn cake from Sweet Surrender.
Dodger-themed gifts.
Orange zest waffles for breakfast.

{freezer mugs, book by favorite Dodger blogger/writer, under armor shirt}


He seems to like the book....

Peter is my best friend. I am so blessed to have him as my husband.

I have a feeling 26 is going to be a good year.

winter citrus

We eat a ton of fruit in out house. And I try to eat mainly fruit that is in season. Summer, obviously, is the best with all the fresh peaches from the farm. September - November lags on, with only apples from the grocery store.

But December brings anticipation of the Frantz oranges and lemons.

Thanks again to my father-in-law for growing absolutely delicious citrus.

We mainly eat the oranges plain (with lunch and dinner), but I have also been enjoying this favorite snack. Thanks Katie!

{plain yogurt, oranges, granola}

Here are a few of my other favorite citrus recipes:
spicy orange chicken
lemon buttermilk cookies
baked lemon pasta
lemon poppy seed loaf

best of my days

So this is a little late, but I wanted to share this simple, sweet idea for remembering moments in 2011.

...like I said, this is a little late and I didnt start on Janurary 1. I obviously have more than two days by now


This daily calendar notepad is meant for you to record the best moment of your day. Every day.
I am not good at keeping a journal, so this is an easy way for me to reflect on my day and simply write down a great moment, or something I am thankful for.

Things like, trying a new recipe, or spending time with my mom, or a great conversation with Peter, or, most recently, the effectiveness of neti pots.
{I am currently dying from sinus congestion}

No promises I will keep this up everyday, all year. But I am going to try.

I think it will be fun to look back and see all of my simple, daily blessings throuhout the year.

I discovered this free template on a cute blog. (where else?)
You can have one too!

project: bookshelf

During my stay-cation a couple weeks ago, I tackled a couple projects around the house. The largest and most time-consuming was definitely painting the built-in bookshelf in our front room.

{Most of the other projects revolved around laundry.
As in, actually doing some.
And taming the clean clothes mountain. I loathe folding.}

The bookshelf is something that we have talked about painting since we bought our house. It used to match our kitchen cabinets, but those got a major makeover a couple years ago, and this built-in has been neglected ever since.

Not to say that I have not used it, I have. It does not hold books, but rather my collection of white serving pieces. Partly because I love white ware, but mainly because I have no where else to put them.

Here are some before and after shots:

when we first looked at the house...

week we moved in...obviously I had nothing to put up there

Ahh!! that shine. scary. wood should not look like that


Much better...

We used the same paint as our cabinets, installed beadboard in a gray shade to the back, and added new knobs and molding.

I really like the way it turned out!

stay-cation

I am lucky to work for a great company that gives their employees a week vacation after Christmas. It makes this looong stretch to Memorial Day (my next paid day off, sigh) that much more bearable.

We are soon embarking upon tax season (shudder...) around here, so this week off to refresh, organize my house, clean, and work on a couple projects has been so, so nice. And yes, I stayed home the entire week (with the exception of going snowboarding one day) and it suited me just fine. I have embraced the fact that being home is my favorite place to be. I can keep myself occupied all day, while still feeling relaxed.

I dont really have any pictures for this post (project pictures coming soon...hopefully) except for this:

{good earth tea}

Have you tried it? I love it. Its sweet and full of spices. It has been a staple of mine for the past few weeks (thanks to my co-worker) and I have thoroughly enjoyed my mug of tea every morning during my week at home.

Drinking it at my desk in my office is just not quite the same...