Cooking Lessons

This weekend I received a very special cooking lesson with my Mema. She taught me and my cousin Kayla how to make one of her specialties. It is called a cinnamon something, but it taste like a honey bun only 10 times better!

So we whipped up the dough...

Mixed up some sugary filling...

Rolled the dough, added filling, and made it twirl...

And then we ate!

Maybe one day some of you will be lucky enough to have another that I make as I am under strict instructions that no one get this recipe, top secret. And maybe one day I will have the opportunity to pass it along to a granddaughter of my own because it was good, it was really really good but the day and the experience shared with my grandmother was better and I will always cherish that memory.

Guilty

My thighs feel guilty, or maybe they just feel heavier. I love these...

I picked up the movie theater size box of mini Charleston Chews today and I ate the WHOLE box!

I had my first Charleston Chew on my first trip to Charleston. The hotel me and my hubby stayed at had these in the lobby for guest and I had to have one every time we entered or left the building. So they have good memories and make me happy. They also make my thighs beg for forgiveness!

Set Dining Table

I never set a table or even leave place mats out full time, but now that I actually have a dining room table that we won't use daily, I thought it would make it look a little more formal. Never mind that this room looks like a jungle with all my plants inside for the winter and the GIANT dog kennel that is excluded from all the pictures.

I picked up the place mats, napkins, napkin rings, white plates and white bowls at World Market. The napkins are an exact match to a color in the chair fabric and I like the subtle color.

Easter themed for the center of the table. The mean looking bunny I've had for a while, HomeGoods find. He usually goes on the floor in front of the fireplace but I'm pretty sure my dog would try to eat him if he goes there this year.

These are 2 of my apothecary jars, one filled with the remaining napkins, the other with filled with fake eggs.

I recently picked up this basket at Suzanna's Antiques, Suzanna's Antiques
(Great place, I could spend hours there). I believe it is an old grocery basket. I have seen several of these, but this one had good character, the paint is chippy and metal rusted, which gives it nice coloring. The chicken wire weaving is what I like most, perfect for Easter eggs.

Now if I could just choose a paint color! What do you think?

My Love for PB

Not Peanut Butter, Pottery Barn!!! I get more excited when the Pottery Barn catalog comes than I do when I receive magazines with actual reading material. If I ever win the lottery, I'm buying it all!

I get tons of decorating advice and ideas just by scanning the pages. I usually look through the current issue 5-10 times. I know, it sounds a little lot crazy but I spot things I didn't see the first glance.

I look at placement of items on shelves and tables to see the scale of things and the way items are placed.  I look at colors for walls and furniture.  I look at the way pictures are hung.  I  look at vase fillers the most, as I've mentioned I have a lot of apothecary jars to fill around here.  A lot of the things I see are everyday items that I already have but find new uses for them.

Everyone has different styles and it takes a while to learn yours but I am a Pottery Barn girl, I could just climb into one of those beds or curl up with a good book in one of their living rooms.  Take time to look at these magazines for ideas before you discard them, you don't always have to buy the actual product to get the look.

p.s. The new Easter collection is adorable!!!! www.potterybarn.com

Side Tables

After Christmas I had three side tables that needed refinishing. Two are almost identical matches and I wanted to use those as side tables in the living room, the other is just a small catch all table for our foyer. This was an easy redo, light sanding and then painted white for a clean look.

Before Photos

I am pretty happy with the way they turned out. I like having two tables in our living room now (I was previously using the lighter one on one side of the couch). It balances the room a little better. I also really like the one in the foyer, it is a good spot for me to place items needing to go upstairs. I would like to find a few baskets to put on the shelves for storing things like dog toys.

Here are the after photos....