More St. Patrick's Day Cheer!

In case you were wondering about my other nephew, here's Brooks wishing you all a Happy St. Patrick's Day!  He turns 6 months old today!

Even though he's wearing green, I still want to pinch him...he's just SO cute!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

These pictures made my heart melt when my sister sent them to me.  Remember my post last week on the St. Patrick's Day books I sent to my nephews?  This is why I LOVE giving them books.  Look at their imagination run wild!  Here's my oldest nephew, Chase, reading the book, The Night Before St. Patrick's Day:

 

Chase - 2.5 years old

He is intently looking at the page in the book where the kids set several traps for the leprechaun!  

Check out the trap he made to catch a leprechaun on St. Patrick's Day!  Notice the shiny cookie cutter on top of the box to attract the leprechaun?  Apparently leprechauns like shiny objects.

He made a set of stairs with some of his blocks and he even used small ladders because leprechauns are small.  Is this kid smart or what?  (OK, I'm a little biased.)

Here Chase shows us what happens to the leprechaun when it tries to get the shiny object...

He falls in the box!

I hope that all of you are able to capture your own leprechaun and that you have a great St. Patrick's Day too!

Going Green!

I can't believe that it's already March.  We all know what happens in March...St. Patrick's Day!  My days of drinking green beer are LONG over.  Now that I have 2 adorable nephews in my life, I love to get them excited about fun holidays like this.

The other day I picked up a few books for them to help them learn more about St. Patrick's Day:

I was surprised at how many choices there were when it came to St. Patrick's Day books in the children's section at my local bookstore.  The two I picked were The Night Before St. Patrick's Day by Natasha Wing and Jamie O'Rourke and the Big Potato by Tomie dePaola, one of my favorite illustrators.  

In The Night Before St. Patrick's Day, my nephews will read about a brother and sister who are trying to catch a leprechaun.  In the photo below, the mom has made them green eggs for the holiday.  My mom used to make us green eggs, green milk and send us to school with sandwiches made on green bread!

They decide to make traps to catch the leprechaun and to lure the him into the trap, they make sure to use shiny objects (which leprechauns apparently like).

Since receiving the book, my almost 3 year old nephew has called me to talk all about leprechauns and how he wants to catch one!  He even made a trap this weekend including a shiny object!  I love watching his imagination and vocabulary grow with each new book.

In the second book, Jamie O'Rourke and the Big Potato, we read about Jamie and how he grows a GIANT potato.  It's big enough to feed his whole town!

Tomie dePaola has always been one of my favorite children's author and illustrator.  His stories are always classics!

So if you have some little ones in your life, run out and get them some fun treats for this fun, green holiday!

Design Goals 2010

Sorry for falling off the face of the earth!  Life got busy and things got in the way which meant that blogging was put on the back burner.  I'm back and hope to be writing a little more regularly now.  I hope you missed me!

I love to decorate and I am always moving things around in my house - furniture, accessories, you name it.  Something I've been wanting to get better at in 2010 is accessorizing and in particular layering and creating small vignettes around my house to complete the look.  So, this has become one of my deign goals in 2010.

These vignettes or tablescapes can be created almost anywhere - on an entry table, a mantle, bedside table, bookshelf, dresser....the possibilities are endless.

Here are a few examples.  I hope they get your creative juices flowing too!

Dan Marty, photo courtesy of SF Examiner

 

Annsley McAleer, Domino, April 2007

Dan Marty, Western Interiors, April/May 2009

 Anette Joseph, Decorating, Winter 2008

Domino, June 2008, photograph by Matt Albiani

 

Canadian House & Home

 

 Dan Marty, photo courtesy of SF Examiner

The Countdown

The countdown has begun!  Only 2 more days until the 3rd issue of Lonny hits your virtual newsstand!  If you have been trying to find a magazine to fill the void that was left when Domino went under and you haven't discovered Lonny yet, you're in for a treat!

Lonny December 2009 Cover

I can't tell you how many times I wished that my computer was handy while I am flipping through a great magazine so I can check out the sources online.  I usually put the magazine down and forget about researching the items I liked.  Well with Lonny, if you see an item you like, you can click on it and it takes you directly to where you can find it!  Genius!  For instance, the Iomoi bag in the top right corner caught my eye in the December Gift Guide:

If you rolled your mouse over the bag and clicked on it, you were directed right to the Iomoi page where you could buy the bag!  I only wish this feature had existed sooner.

Vanessa De Vargas' Home, Lonny December 2009

So, on February 10th, be sure to check out the latest issue of Lonny magazine.  They've been tweeting that it will feature some West Coast homes so I am really excited about that.  I hope you like it as much as I do!

More Love For Trader Joe's!

Like I said before, I am not someone who likes to celebrate Valentine's Day by going out to a fancy, overpriced dinner.  Instead, we like to cook at home or get together with friends and celebrate.  

Well this year, I can tell you what I'll be cooking for dessert!  Who doesn't love molten chocolate cakes?  They are so ooey and gooey, warm and yummy all in one little cake!  I am sure I could make them from scratch, but why would I want to when I can buy them at Trader Joe's and pop them in the oven!

I discovered them when I read this feature in the Jan./Feb. issue of the Food Network Magazine.  

They are now sitting in my freezer waiting for Valentine's Day to roll around!  You can find them at your local Trader Joe's in the freezer aisle for $2.99!  I plan to serve mine with a little vanilla ice cream.  YUM!

When I shop at Trader Joe's, I always love to check out the shelf where they feature their new products.  Look what I found this week - another treat to send to work with hubby!  

Now I don't want you all thinking that I send treats with him year round.  This is only a Valentine's Day thing.  A good excuse to send him to work with some love that will hopefully brighten his day!

Do you have anything fun planned for your Valentine's Day?  Do you like to eat in or out?  I'd love to hear what other people do!

Got 5?

Minutes that is!  If you have FIVE minutes, you can whip up the easiest dinner EVER.  I'm not kidding - FIVE minutes.  Did you ever think you'd be able to cook a dinner for your entire family that fast?  I bet the answer is NO!  You can't even microwave a meal for more than one person in under 5 minutes, let alone cook a meal!  OK, I'll let you in on my little secret:

Trader Joe's "Just Pasta" can be found in the freezer section at your local Trader Joe's.  You can get either Penne or Spaghetti noodles and each bag costs ONLY $2.49.  Pop it in the microwave for 2-3 minutes, and your pasta is cooked!  YOU DON'T EVEN HAVE TO BOIL WATER.  It's a miracle!  You don't have to wash your pasta pot or colander afterward either!  Having to wash fewer dishes after a meal is a great thing in my book.

Inside the bag there are two 8 oz. bags of pre-cooked spaghetti.  I cook both bags for the two of us and there are usually enough leftovers for one person the next day.  I think they must measure the pasta once it's been cooked because even thought it's 16 oz. of pasta, it makes a lot less than 1 pound of dry noodles would make.  Either way, it's still the fastest dinner you will EVER make.

Just as I put the noodles in the microwave, I pour a can of sauce in a sauce pan to heat it up on the stove.  My favorite sauce is the Organic Tomato Basil Marinara ($2.29) from Trader Joe's.  I find that it has more flavor than other sauces you can find at the grocery store.  And if we're going to eat sauce from the jar, then it should at least taste good right?

If you don't like to use sauce from a jar, then you can use the sauce from this post which I like to make and freeze so I have it handy when I need it.

A group of women from my neighborhood were getting together on Saturday night for drinks a few doors down so I wanted something easy to cook before I headed out.  This time I browned some ground beef and added it to the pasta.  I prefer to use the organic ground beef you can find at Costco that comes in convenient 1 pound packages:

I store the individual packages in the freezer and they keep well.  So all you have to do for this entire dinner is brown the meat, heat the sauce and microwave the noodles.  It's as simple as that and you have dinner in FIVE minutes!  YUM!

Wondering about that garlic bread there?  That's the Barefoot Contessa's garlic ciabatta bread.  It was the best home made garlic bread I've ever made so I'll definitely write a post on that later!

I'd love to hear what your favorites are from Trader Joe's too!  I hope you'll share so we can all try them out!