no, really, try the tacos

If you haven't made the Shredded Beef Tacos that I mentioned on Monday yet (what? you don't immediately try out every recipe I suggest?!?), run, do not walk, to your kitchen to see if you have all the ingredients. And if it happens that you are missing something (like a 2 1/2 pound chuck roast), head on out to the grocery store.  I promise they are worth the trip.  

Then, once you have made and enjoyed these amazing tacos, go ahead and make soup with the leftover broth and feel like a rock star who saves money and doesn't waste food and eats delicious things.  You're welcome. 

This really will be my last post for this month, but I wanted to be clear about it since I get really paranoid when bloggers go missing for weeks at a time.  Maybe that's just me.  My precious "morning hour" has all but disappeared and nap time hasn't been anything to write home about either.  I'm still navigating the work/life/mom balance and trying to make wise decisions about how to allot my time.  

We're super excited that my sister is coming tomorrow.  Although after I read her the list of things we need to accomplish while she's here, I was a little surprised she didn't cancel her trip.  So hopefully I'll meet you back here in October with lots of fun pictures to share and a much shorter to-do list!  Happy Fall!

a quick hello and what to make for dinner

Hi Friends!  Happy Monday!  I've been feeling overwhelmed lately and when I have too much to do, blogging is one of the first things to go.  I actually just stopped in today to share a few pictures from Steve's birthday celebration (oddly, neither of them are of Steve), and maybe a recipe.  We are preparing for a visitor marathon that begins later this week and runs through the end of the month.  So... see you in October? Deal.  

Last week I tried a new recipe for Honey Soy Chicken Breasts and it was so, so good.  And really easy. We ate these with salad and leftover cornbread and it felt like a gourmet meal.  This week, I'm trying Shredded Beef Tacos and I'm already excited about it.  I just finished the fish tacos from last week for lunch today.  Um, so we eat a lot of tacos.  But with different fillings!  Also, who cares?  I like tacos.  

Today, I am cutting leather for a big round of zipper pouches, catching up on the laundry, and refreshing my stock of world map bow ties- we keep selling out, which is a great problem to have!

the long awaited mantle switch

Remember how I used to switch out the items on our mantle seasonally?  And by "seasonally", I really mean about every other month.  Well, gone are the days of leisurly mantle decorating, but I still managed to take down the flowers and such that had been up since, oh, March, and put up some pumpkins.  

If you recall, I won these pumpkins last year and it was one of the highlights of the fall for me.  So I was super excited to pull them out of the closet and admire them again.  Arthur was also quite taken with them and helped me set everything up.  Then he stood back and suggested that we take pictures of the whole thing and I thought to myself, "you fit in here quite well, little buddy."

The white lights never actually made it down after last Christmas and I have decided that I'm okay with that.  It's been quite a year.  And I love strands of white lights, so, win-win.  

In other news, today during lunch, Arthur wanted to pretend that I was him and he was me.  He's just started doing this and I find it fascinating to see how I am portrayed by a two year old.  The first thing he wanted to do, as me, was give me a hug.  I inwardly patted myself on the back for being such a good mom- that's what stands out to my kid!  I give hugs!  

The second thing he wanted to do, as me?  Pretend to wax his eyebrows by putting slices of deli meat across his eyes and then pulling them off really fast.  

You win some, you lose some.  

nobody else

Today we are celebrating my favorite person in the world!  Every fall, Steve gets a little bit closer in age to me and then every spring, I have to ruin things by getting older.  He hasn't quite been able to catch up yet, but I still have hope for our 40s.  

Every year that I spend with Steve is a gift, but the past year has been extra special.  I always knew there was nobody else I'd rather spend time with than Steve, but now I know that there's nobody I'd rather see all day, every day for sixteen straight weeks.  

I always knew that there was nobody else I'd rather be a parent with, but now I can safely say that there is nobody else I'd rather fly across the world with to pick up a toddler.  

There's nobody else I'd rather run a business with, nobody else I'd rather go through job uncertainty with, nobody else I'd rather see when I'm awake with a crying child at 2am.  And 3am.  And 5am.  

Happy, happy birthday, darling.  I'm so glad you were born.  

friday, in list form

- Last weekend, we filled the urns on our front porch with sweet potato vine and orange mums.  They make me happy every time I see them out the front door.  Also, watering them every day is at least ten minutes of fun.

- I think out loud a lot.  Now, there is someone here to hear me when I do.  Which means that today when I said to myself, "I wonder what I can take pictures of for my blog today...", somebody went and found a fabric scrap and put it on like a tie and then started making camera clicking noises.  So here you go.  

- This monster of a salad was my lunch and I feel more than fit to tackle the afternoon.  

- It's Friday again.  Thank goodness.  Let's all hope this weekend feels like fall, shall we?  I'm ready. 

banana blueberry muffins

When we end up with a rare and precious Saturday morning that we don't have anywhere to be, we like to make a big breakfast.  Steve will poach eggs and we'll have tea or lattes and sometimes I'll get a hankering for something sweet. (This doesn't just happen in the morning... does anyone remember the great pound cake of 2011?)

Last Saturday was just such a morning and I decided to make muffins with whatever we had on hand.  I also decided to make up the recipe, after not finding a suitable one online. So here it is, you know, in case you find yourself in a similar situation one Saturday morning. 

Banana Blueberry Cream Cheese Almond Muffins (because when I make up the recipe, I can make the name as long as I like)

2 eggs

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup melted butter

1/4 cup plain yogurt

2 cups almond flour 

pinch of salt

1 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. baking soda

3 ripe bananas, mashed

1/2 cup blueberries

Beat eggs and sugar until pale in color.  Stir in melted butter and yogurt.  Combine dry ingredients in another bowl, then stir into egg mixture until just combined.  Add bananas and blueberries and mix gently.  

At some point during this muffin-making extravaganza, I saw that we had cream cheese in the refrigerator and started dreaming about those pumpkin muffins at Starbucks with the cream cheese baked right into the middles.  In the interest of science, I wanted to see if it was just as simple as putting some cream cheese into the middle of your muffin, so I tried and it is.  Great news.  Also, somebody loved licking the beaters.  

Beat 4 oz. cream cheese, 1/4 cup sour cream, and 1/4 cup confectioners sugar until smooth.  Put one big spoonful of muffin batter in each muffin cup.  Then put a smaller spoonful of cream cheese filling on the batter and top with another big spoonful of batter.  

Bake at 350 for 30 minutes.  Makes 12 muffins.  

I'm sure you could make these with wheat flour.  So how about somebody try it and report back here how it went?  Baked goods with almond flour tend to be dry, but all the fruit and cream cheese took care of that and these were delicious.  

Today I am making more bow ties, (do you feel like that's all I ever do?  me too.) and working on photographing more of our fall line.  All the men's scarves are in the shop and the rest of the items will be popping up over the next week or so.  

Awhile back, I was interviewed for a piece in the British online magazine The Upcoming- you can read the article here.  I just saw it for the first time today and it's always so exciting to see pictures of my work other places around the internet!  

the long weekend

Happy September, friends!  This is one of my favorite months and we started it off with a bang this weekend! 

We did some shopping, hung around the house, caught up on some chores, and just generally enjoyed being together.  On Sunday, we got super bold and squeezed in three very different outings.  

We headed over to one of our favorite photo spots and shot a bunch of scarf pictures.  I'll be posting new scarves in the shop all week and am so excited about the colors we chose this year!

Then, we tried out a new park, which is always a good time.  

They even had a splash park, which took Arthur a few minutes to warm up to, but he ended up loving.  After changing his clothes in the trunk of the car (which was thrilling, obviously), we tried out a new restaurant for dinner.  It was not the kind of place we usually go with a kid, but Arthur was so good and we all loved the food and I was glad we risked it.  

Sunday's photo shoot was actually our second one of the weekend.  I had both boys in the yard at 9am on Saturday so we could get some pictures before it got too hot.  I'm pretty sure Arthur's face says it all here.  

We cooked a big breakfast yesterday to celebrate Steve's extra day off and I made up a new muffin recipe, which I'll be sharing later this week!