a promising start to the week

You guys, I woke up giddy with excitement this morning.  Part of it was due to the fact that we had such a productive weekend and part of it was due to our post-dinner Target trip last night. 

We've been searching for a clock for my office and the search is over!  I had been looking at much smaller clocks, but Steve thought it would look cool if we really filled up the space.  He was totally right!  We bought this huge wooden clock and came right home to hang it.  Then we sat on the sofa to admire it for a bit.  I don't know- probably you had to be here to grasp the excitement. 

We went to Target specifically to pick up the clock, but ended up hitting the jackpot on a few other items while we were there as well.  I found this awesome planner than I am going to use as a business calendar.  Right now, I have small planner that I use for both personal and business and it's a little crowded.  The planner was 70% off and since we're only 18% into 2013, I think it was a great deal. 

As for our productive weekend, we took hundreds of pictures and I will be posting new items in the shop all day today (and possibly into tomorrow!).  We managed to pull off our big photo shoot with very few props, but we've been on the hunt for some lovely wooden pieces for bow tie display.  We found this one on our shopping trip last night and it's almost exactly what I'd pictured. 

In order to make room for all the new products, I've put some more items on sale, like all the men's scarves.  Be sure to check out the sale section of the shop for some great deals!

less than half an hour away

Last week, I made chocolate chip cookies.  If you recall, I rarely make cookies.  This was, by far, my best cooking-making experience yet because of what happened after I made the cookies. 

I froze them.  Well, to be precise, I baked six of them and froze the other two dozen.  I placed all the dough balls on cookie sheets, as usual, but put the cookie sheets in the freezer for a couple of hours.  Then I tossed the frozen dough balls in a gallon plastic bag and put it back in the freezer. 

We've had hot, freshly baked cookies four nights this week.  It's been amazing. 

 

I used a gluten free cookie recipe that you can find here.  The almond flour gives the cookies a lovely, nutty chewiness.  And I can pretend they are healthy. 

 

You could, of course, employ the freezing method with any old kind of cookie.  They take about sixteen minutes to bake.  The oven takes about ten minutes to preheat.  That means that at any given time, I am less than half an hour away from fresh cookies.  I don't mind confessing, this makes me feel quite secure. 

The super cute dish towel under the cookies was a gift from Steve last night.  He came home from work with a bag of treats for me which included my favorite chap stick, two tea towels, and the email address of someone who might want to purchase some of my Charlotte totes for sale in her store.  One of my favorite things about Steve is how thoughtful and observant he is and I'm so thankful to have a husband who knows that it's not flowers, but tea towels and sales leads that really woo me. 

We're gearing up for a huge photo shoot weekend and took a few practice shots last night.  I absolutely can't wait to have everything listed in the shop next week!

Today I'm sewing up a few final products, tackling the laundry situation, and switching out the papers on our big silver frame wall from winter to spring.  Happy March!

perfect winter beef stew

Every year, as spring approaches, I find myself trying to squeeze in as many "winter" meals as I can to our weekly menu.  Things that I would never make in the warm months.  Things like beef stew. 

I've been using this beef stew recipe for years now and it is super easy, so I thought I'd share it. 

 

Perfect Winter Beef Stew

 

Ingredients

 

3/4 cup Italian dressing

2 lb. beef chunks

3 cups sliced mushrooms

1 cup chopped onions

3 cups sliced carrots

1 1/2 lbs potatoes, cut into large chunks

1 14 oz. can stewed tomatoes, undrained

1 14 oz. can beef broth

Instructions

Pour dressing over meat and marinate for at least 30 minutes.  Remove meat from marinade and discard marinade.

 

Saute mushrooms and onions in a large soup pot over medium high heat 10 minutes until tender. 

 

Add meat, carrots, potatoes, tomatoes, and broth to pot. 

 

Bring to boil, stirring occasionally.  Reduce heat to low, cover and simmer 1 hour 15 minutes.  Uncover and simmer an additional 15 minutes or until sauce is thickened. 

As with all soups, this recipe is super flexible.  Today, I'm adding celery, because I happen to have some.  Sometimes I also whisk in some corn starch towards the end to thicken the broth a bit. 

We've only got a few more weeks of winter left, so enjoy this while you can!

the best parts of the weekend

Our weekend was kind of rainy, kind of sniffle-y (it's cold season!), but also several kinds of good.  We had a rare chance to meet up with a whole slew of my extended family and we took it.  I hadn't seen some of them in a year, four years, eight years, nineteen years.  This was a visit long overdue. 

One of my favorite parts was seeing so many of my cousins, who I spent lots of time with as a child, but not so much time with since then.  I love getting to know them now, as adults.  They're even cooler than they were when we were kids. 

The other highlight of the weekend?  Our new slippers arrived in the mail.  If you recall, we're kind of serious about slippers around here. 

 

I chose these sweater bootie slippers from Land's End for optimal warmth.  My current slippers are clogs and the back of my foot and ankle get way too cold.  Land's End has their slippers on sale right now, plus I found a coupon online, but I'm telling you these things would have totally been worth full price.  I'm trying not to brag about them too much right now, because Steve's new slippers didn't fit and we have to exchange them.  It seems cruel to gloat over how toasty my feet are when he's still scuffing along in his six year old slippers. 

So today (while my feet are nice and warm) I am working on bow ties again.  We've got a lot of fun new things planned for the shop this spring and, with some luck, the first items will be rolling out early next week!  Stay tuned for more details!

sneak peak: bow ties

This week, I made my very first bow tie.  It is reversible.  I had never ever thought of reversible bow ties until this week, when I saw one and my world bow tie views were rocked. 

The coolest thing about a reversible bow tie is that if you want- and only if you want- the middle of the knot can show up as the contrasting color.  Or you could just tie it regular and have the whole bow be one color.  With reversible, you've got options. 

Steve and I have both been practicing how to make a great bow.  We found an awesome, illustrated tutorial here, plus some helpful YouTube videos.  It is not nearly as difficult as I thought it would be. 

 

I've got a mile-long list of new products to try out over the next few weeks and you'd better believe that a big stack of bow ties in a rainbow of colors is at the top of the list.  Along with matching pocket squares, of course. 

 

Hope your weekend is bow tie-fancy!

if it's going to be cold, it had better be snowing

We went outside early Sunday before church to enjoy the snow before it was gone.  I'm so glad we did, because by the time we arrived home later, the only snow left was in the shady spots. 

I love how snow makes all the other colors outside appear more vibrant.  We snapped picture after picture of snowy branches against the blue sky. 

Despite the fact that all the snow is gone, this week has been super chilly.  Today, I'm thankful for my layers to keep me warm as I do some organizing and work on business plans. 

Yesterday, I spent a chunk of the afternoon creating a sale section in my shop.  We are in need of some extra closet space and have way too many tote bags hanging around, so I have marked them all down 40%!  Not only are the original market totes on sale, but all the local totes as well.  Quantities are very limited, so be sure to pop over soon and see which ones you want- I think they'd make great graduation/teacher gifts to have on hand this spring!

painting success story

Just as I had hoped, I have great news to report today about our successful weekend of painting.  It would be almost impossible for me to describe to you how much I dislike painting, so for me to call the weekend successful is a pretty big deal.  After mulling over what makes painting less miserable, here's what I came up with:

The Right Painting Partner.  And no, I'm sorry, but you cannot borrow mine.  Steve did way  more than half the work and kept on painting while I did stuff like get lunch together and put away laundry.  It was great to have a few small breaks, while knowing that we were still making progress!

The Right Tools.  We picked up a few new brushes on Friday night, made sure we had more than enough paint (don't you hate running out when you're almost done?!) and cut out part of a vinegar jug to make the perfect paint holder.  We also brought in plenty of lamps so we could see what we were doing and a CD player to keep things peppy. 

Impromptu Snow Storm.  I guess this is only a good thing if you love snow.  We haven't seen any all winter, so I was thrilled when it started snowing really hard on Saturday afternoon.  It looked so beautiful and made it seem like just the right thing to be cozy inside, painting away. 

Meat Picnic.  That's right- meat picnic.  We finished up for the day right before dinner time and ran out to pick up food from our favorite barbecue place.  We ordered the biggest thing on the menu, which included pulled pork, beer can chicken, beef brisket, and ribs, among other things.  It was like heaven. 

We sat on the floor and watched a movie while we ate and it was so much fun that I almost forgot that we'd been painting all day.  And that we still had more to do. 

But now the brushes have all been washed and we are done for reals and that is the best part of any painting project.