A Morning at the Lumber Yard

I recently discovered that we live near a lumber yard that specializes in reclaimed wood . Paul and I decided to check it out earlier this week .

They had some really great stuff. The sales guy we talked to was really nice but I don't think he could quite understand that I wanted raw, rough, gray wood . He kept pulling out these samples of reclaimed wood that had been sanded, stained and polished so that it looked brand new. They were beautiful samples, but I want something that looks like it came straight from the barn to my ceiling. Although he didn't understand exactly what I want, I was excited to see that they have what I want sitting out in the lumber yard.

Unfortunately, we are still working on the guest room in our house so that has to be finished before I can move on to the wood ceiling project. The rest of the morning was spent at the paint store.

But not before I talked Paul into stopping by my new favorite antique store. As I figured, I haven't had as much luck with that store since my first visit. But I did get this cute little wire basket to store Riley's books.

 Time to watch Flipping Out. Good night!

Boxwood Love

As you can see from these pictures, we have a lot of boxwoods in our yard. At least 30 of them. I love the look of boxwoods and I really love that they are fairly low-maintenance. Lately, I have been seeing a lot of potted boxwoods.

Image via g studio

Relais Christine Hotel 

Southern Living

I wonder if you could grow a boxwood indoors? I don't exactly have a green thumb, but maybe I will give it a shot anyway. If it starts to die, I can always drag it back outside! 

Last Days of Summer

Yesterday it hit me that summer is almost over. So, Riley and I spent some time outside blowing bubbles and swinging. It was a lot of fun. But then it got hot. So, we went back inside :)

I had such a productive day yesterday - don't you love those days? I went to the gym, finished the laundry, hung curtains, finished a silhouette of my cousin's sweet baby, worked on some birthday invitations for a friend's adorable soon-to-be 1 year old, cleaned the house, played outside with Riley and had dinner with good friends. Let's hope the productivity keeps going today! First, I have to get out of bed and get to the gym...

Sunday Supper - Citrus Shrimp Tacos and Confetti Corn

Tonight's Sunday Supper was citrus shrimp tacos and confetti corn. Am I the only person out there that had never had confetti corn before? It was so good! I got lazy and Riley was tearing the kitchen apart so I didn't get any photos, but trust me - the tacos were really good and both recipes are pretty easy. Here they are:

Citrus Shrimp Tacos (Southern Living 2008 + a few modifications by me)

2 lbs  large raw shrimp

2 TBSP southwest seasoning*

3 garlic cloves, minced

1/3 C fresh lime juice

3 TBSP lemon juice

Flour tortillas

1 head iceberg lettuce, shredded

1 head raddichio, shredded

Southwest Cream Sauce

1 16 oz. container sour cream

1 garlic clove, minced

2 TBSP finely chopped red onion

1 tsp chili powder

1/2 tsp ground cumin

1/2 tsp ground red pepper

1/4 tsp salt

2 TBSP chopped cilantro

2 TBSP fresh lime juice

In a small bowl, mix together all ingredients for the Southwest Cream Sauce. Cover and chill until ready to serve.

Peel shrimp if needed. Combine southwest seasoning and garlic in a shallow dish. Add lime juice, lemon juice and shrimp, turning to coat. Cover and chill 10 minutes. Remove shrimp from marinade and discard marinade.

Grill shrimp on skewers (or saute in frying pan) 2 minutes on each side or just until shrimp turn pink. Warm tortillas. Place a spoonful of southwest cream sauce in the bottom of a tortilla, fill with shrimp, lettuce and radicchio. Garnish with extra sauce or cilantro if desired. 

*I could not find southwest seasoning, so I used Old Bay and it tasted great. 

Confetti Corn 

8 bacon slices

4 C fresh sweet corn kernals (about 8 ears)

1 medium-size white onion, chopped

1/3 C chopped red bell pepper

1/3 C chopped green bell pepper

1 (8 oz) package cream cheese, cubed

1/2 C half-and-half

1 tsp sugar

1 tsp salt

1 tsp pepper

Cook chopped bacon in a large skillet until crisp. Remove bacon and drain on paper towels. Reserve bacon drippings in skillet. Saute corn, onion, and bell peppers in hot drippings in skillet over medium-high heat about 6 minutes or until tender. Add cream cheese and half-and-half, stirring until cream cheese melts. Stir in sugar, salt and pepper. Top with bacon.

These recipes are meant to serve 6-8 people, so tonight I cut both of these recipes in half and it was enough for the three of us. But we ate every bite so there were not any leftovers! The confetti corn is very rich, so a little goes a long way. I hope you guys are enjoying some of these recipes - let me know what you think!

Fabric Overload

I used to think that if I was a stay at home mom, it wouldn't matter what day of the week it is because I wouldn't have to "go" to work anymore. So, I wouldn't have that sense of dread on a Sunday night knowing that the work week is about to start but I also wouldn't have the sense of relief on Friday knowing that the week was over. For the most part, that is true. But some weeks, I am so ready for it to be Friday and this is one of them. 

Chiang Mai Dragon by Schumacher

I have been so busy this week that I just want to drop everything and relax this weekend! I feel like I have been running all over town and going non-stop ever since we got back from vacation. One of the things that has been taking up so much of my time this week is fabric shopping. I have been looking at fabric for about 5 different projects in my head and it is exhausting and overwhelming. I love looking at fabric and I get really excited whenever I come across a good fabric store. However, there are so many choices and so many factors involved in choosing fabric - the color, the pattern, the weight, the material, the yardage, the price. And it is usually not an area where I can afford to make a mistake. So, while I really love fabric, I am really sick of it this week! Is anyone else out there overwhelmed by fabric? 

Duralee

Twizzler in Spa by Richloom

  Florian Leaf by P. Kaufman

High Voltage by Schumacher

Square Pegs Sterling by Robert Allen

Hello IKEA

On the way to and from Charleston, we decided to stop in Charlotte, NC, to give us all a chance to get out of the car for a little while. On the way down, we stopped at the Apple store so my husband could get a new laptop. On the way home, we stopped at IKEA because I have never been to one. I have heard about IKEA for years and everyone always posts about IKEA finds, but I have never lived near a store so I have not had the chance to see what all of the fuss is about.

Now that I have been I am still not even sure how I feel about the experience. The Charlotte store is fairly new and I don't know if all IKEAs are like this or if it is just because the novelty hasn't worn off yet, but it felt sort of like we were stuck in an amusement park and in a herd of sheep and in a furniture store all at the same time. I think every single person that lives in Charlotte was at IKEA with us. The parking lot is HUGE but people were still parking on the street, across the street, in fields, etc. Once we finally got inside, there were escalators, elevators, food (we are talking a full-on cafeteria!), kiddie play areas, and lines of people as far as the eye could see. I think the only thing that outnumbered the amount of shoppers was the amount of employees - they were everywhere! (Good for you, IKEA - way to provide jobs in a tough economy!) Because of the layout of the store, we were pretty much forced to go through every single department to finally get to the exit. We discovered shortcuts after we had been there a while, but they are definitely hidden. We were pushing Riley in her stroller so that hindered our ability to maneuver around the masses of people standing dumbly in the middle of the walkways staring off into IKEA space. Eventually, Paul took Riley to go eat and I was left to browse on my own with the shopping cart. That presented a whole host of other problems - all four wheels on the carts swivel which I guess is supposed to give you more mobility. I could never seem to master driving the cart and most of the time I would end up pushing the cart sideways through the crowds when I was trying to push it straight ahead of me! I eventually abandoned my cart and went to find Paul. I figured if the cart and my stuff was still there when I got back, then I would buy it. If not, it was a sign that I didn't need it anyway. 

This is turning into a long post - are you even still reading???

Well, we found our cart and our stuff was still there so I actually did get some good things. We bought new pillows for our bed. Of course there were hundreds of choices, but we both went with the GOSA RAPS pillow for side sleepers. I have to say, so far we are impressed - they are not too soft, not too firm and they fluff up in a way that fills up the pillowcase so they look good too. I also got some aluminum RIBBA picture frames, some white ceramic flower pots and some other little finds. When it came to the furniture I just couldn't get the idea of "dorm room" out of my head. A lot of the stuff was cute and if I was still in college or right out of college I would have been in heaven! But I am trying to slowly weed out all of the MDF furniture from my college days so I just didn't find anything that I was dying to have except for this little guy:

His name is ALEX. I have been looking for a cabinet or shelving unit to put inside of a closet in our sunroom to hold art supplies, fabric, paper, etc. This cabinet is great because it is pretty deep and wide so it holds large flat objects and it is on castors so I can wheel it out if I need to. It fits perfectly! It took my closet from this:

To this:

It was very easy to put together and came with all of its parts so I am pretty happy with it. Despite the madness of the crowds and the overwhelming size of the store, I am so glad I finally got to check IKEA out and I would definitely go back again. Even though the furniture isn't exactly what I am looking for, I think IKEA would be great for basic staples - white dishes, pillows, frames, fabric, kitchen utensils, etc. However, I think it is the type of place where I need to go in with a list - it is too massive for me to just browse. What do y'all think? Do you love or hate IKEA? 

Sunday Supper - Shrimp & Grits

Tonight's Sunday Supper was salt & pepper shrimp with cheddar cheese grits casserole and fresh steamed asparagus. I hate to admit this because it is very un-Southern of me, but I have never really liked grits. I know, I know...that is almost as bad as being Southern and not liking sweet tea! I have tried a lot of different kinds of grits with a lot of different ingredients and no matter how hard I try, I just never like them. Until I had these at my cousin Amanda's bridal luncheon. They are so rich, creamy and cheesy and they are great for dinner or brunch. Finally, I like grits!!! I promise not every recipe I share with y'all will be cheese-based. But those of you that know me, should really not be surprised. Here is the recipe:

Cheddar Cheese Grits Casserole

1 1/2 C. grits (4 cups salted water, 2 cups milk. Bring to a boil and add 1 1/2 C. grits)

1 stick butter

1 lb sharp shredded cheddar (You can use store bought, but freshly shredded always tastes better!)

2 tsp. seasoning salt (I use Lowry's but any seasoning salt will do.)

1-2 tsp. hot sauce (Optional)

3 eggs

Preheat to 350. Lightly grease a 2qt. baking dish. Cook grits according to package directions. Place 3 eggs in a large bowl. Temper the eggs with the grits and combine all ingredients in the bowl. Mix well and pour into baking dish. Bake for 40 minutes. 

It was such a nice night that we decided to take our Sunday Supper outside. 

Riley loved it all - thankfully she is a fan of grits of any kind!

Do you notice the conflict going on in this photo? UNC or UVA? It will be a constant question in poor Riley's life :) I am sure when she is older she will know which school to pull for (TARHEELS)!

It's good to be home!

Although we had a great week with family at IOP, there is nothing like sleeping in your own bed. Especially after a long day in the car!

As much as I like laying on the beach, I think my favorite part of every day was waking up and drinking coffee on the screened-in porch every morning. While sitting in the rocking chair sipping my coffee and watching Riley open and close the screen door 1,000,000,000 times, I would sit and think about how nice it would be to own a beach house. Usually when I have this daydream, I always seem to picture a traditional, Southern-style beach house in my mind. 

Screened-in porches and picket fences,

floor to ceiling windows,

rooftop balconies,

metal roofs and ceiling fans on the porch.

This is probably one of my favorite houses in the area. It sits on the sound side of the island and it is really beautiful. I love the contrast of materials and colors.

And I LOVE the shutters on this house. They look like they are made from reclaimed wood and they go all the way down to the floor on the porch. I love their scale and their weathered look.

However, as we were driving around we saw some unexpected architecture on the islands. This is a beachfront home that is rather unusual - it reminds me of the Jetsons. I would love to see the interior of this house. I bet it is the safest place on the island in the event of a hurricane!

There were also a couple of modern homes that stood out against the more traditional style homes.

Even the Sullivans Island lighthouse has a modern feel. 

I am always surprised by how much I am drawn to modern architecture when I see it in person. I think my beach house daydream is starting to be conflicted - cedarshake shingles or sleek, smooth concrete? Curved balconies and widow's walks or strong, clean lines and sharp angles? Picket fences or stainless steel railings? Maybe I need to start daydreaming about owning two beach houses...and winning the lottery.

Isle of Palms 2009

We made it to Charleston in one piece. The ride down was actually not too traumatic other than the fact that I spent 8 hours twisted in an unnatural position feeding/entertaining/playing with Riley in the back seat which resulted in an unbelievably painful crick in my neck the morning after we arrived. Nothing that laying on the beach, drinking alcohol and eating good food can't fix :) 

Riley is a much bigger fan of the ocean this trip. Isle of Palms has wide, flat beaches and the ocean is really calm. She has been running around chasing sea gulls, splashing in tidal pools, and digging in the sand. I think she is definitely going to be a beach girl when she grows up!

So far the guys have been fishing while the girls lay out. Paul claims he has caught lots of fish, but he doesn't have any evidence.

Tomorrow we are heading into Charleston to do some shopping so I will post an update if I have any good finds. I am just hoping I can survive the heat that far inland!

Riley can't wait - can you tell???

We're Off!

Despite Riley's best efforts to unpack not only every suitcase, but also every drawer, shelf and cabinet in our house, we are finally loaded up and ready to go. Now we have an 8 hour car ride to look forward to - wish us luck!