A sneak peek...

I got to spend last night helping my friend Kristin get ready for the grand opening of her new store FOUND. It's going to be AMAZING! Sooo many treasures new and old. If you're around this weekend you've got to check it out!!

FOUND

166 West Main Street

Mesa, Arizona 85201

The lazy days of almost summer... :)

These are my brothers and sisters and their spouses. I love spending time with them, seriously my favorite thing ever :)

From left to right: Kelly and David (brothers), Rod and Michele (sister), Bob and Marlene (sister), Hot hubby and Me, Caroline (married to David), and Allison (married to Kelly). Whew!



This weekend Michele and Rod,and Kelly and Allison and their sweet girls joined us in Dana Point for a some good 'ole hanging out. Michele and I sang hymns (come on! grew up baptist! you know the drill!) Broadway style. We sing 2 part harmony really loud and sometimes add jazz hands :) the hubbys rolled their eyes (although I know they secretly love it, cause it's SO entertaining) and the girls just stared and giggled.


We ate so much yummy food! This appetizer rocked with a drink of Prosecco and white grape juice. Yum!


We watched this and got completely grossed out...

Then ate some of these!! The originals, none of that low fat, no fat nonsense!!

My niece loves to fashion wigs out of this tree in the backyard.

Even Wallace got one :)

Theeeeen, when all our guests went back to AZ....I tackled the guest house :) Remember the before?

Well here's the after!! With a sweet linen couch from an oh so generous friend (thank you K!) I went to town moving things around. Took out the brown beast that held a TV that no one watched, (I mean, come one! you're at the beach for heaven sakes!) and did a lot of decluttering.

I bought this lovely little dresser at The Salvation Army and will soon be painting it for the new house, but for now it holds a cute little lamp and an ipod docking station for music - cause THAT'S what you should be doing at the beach!!! :)

Backyard envy :(

This is my sis in law Caroline. I'm so blessed to have 2 sisters in law that I love like sisters :) Carrie and I can spend hours talking about fabric, paint samples, furniture and thrift shopping. She has a talent for design that I LOVE. We spent Sunday together at her house and I just thought I'd share her uh-mazing back yard with you.

Carrie and my brother David spend their evenings in these beautiful chairs, I know- I WANT them too!!

But the piece de resistance?? Her beautiful chicken coop. David made it out of an old rusty shed that wasn't being used and Carrie put her touch on it. Them are some lucky chickens I'll say!!

Their coop is featured in the April 2010 issue of Phoenix Home & Garden. Check it out! :)

What's for dinner??

I usually know by 9am what I'm cooking for dinner. But there are the times when life gets so busy and I forget to think about it until about 5:00! Last night was one of those nights. I'm one of those who can usually make something out of whatever I have in the fridge. I had grilled chicken breasts leftover from the night before that I warmed up and shredded and put on top of some spinach.

I cooked the quinoa pasta (cause we're all gluten free over here) and added it to the chicken and spinach. The hot pasta wilted the spinach just perfectly.

Then I made a simple lemon sauce to pour over the top.

And here's the finished dinner! Soooo easy and soooo delish! I think start to finish was all of 20 minutes!

I thought we'd have our dinner out on the newly framed porch and admire the progress. Yes, that's our chicken. She thinks she's a dog. She spends her days hanging out with whoever is working on the house and begging for food.

Here's the wonderful view from my chair. I know! Right? The house is coming along and we are enjoying it every step of the way :)
Yep, that's my handsome date :) and I know, I KNOW! I totally broke the white wine/pasta rule! Whatevs- I wear white after labor day too !

And of course, he begged the ENTIRE time :)

UPDATE:

Like I said, I'm just kind of a make it up as I go kind of cook. But since you asked, here's how I made the lemon sauce:

Started with a roux. About 2tbsp of butter and 2tbsp of flour. Added about 1 cup or so of chicken broth and 3/4 c or so of heavy whipping creme and 1 bullion cube. Cooked it over med low heat till it thickened and squeezed the juice of about half a lemon and the zest of a whole lemon in at the end. Salt and pepper to taste.

And SERIOUSLY, these measurements are all guesstimates!

Mea Culpa.. :(

Yeah, I KNOW !!!! It's now Wednesday, and I've done the unthinkable... I forgot to post :( I wish I had a really cool excuse, like I've been busy campaigning for world peace , or helping out in Haiti, or saving dolphins. But no. Just completely forgot. I blame the spring blossoms for clogging my senses. I'll be back next week peeps! For all 4 of you who actually read this :)

Oh hello kettle, my names pot...

This is my street, and where I start out my walk every morning.
Our historic district is filled with bungalows and tudors and the occasional ranch style home. This cutie is right across the street and it's what I get to look at every time I'm on my front porch :)
This tudor is sooo cool. Wish someone who loves old houses and wants the coolest neighbors ever would buy it ;)

And check out this little dollhouse :)

This is my neighbor Jeory's (rhymes with Dorie) house. It's a beaut :) And I must mention that on my side of the street there is a Dorie, Tory, Lorie and Jeory!!

Theeeeeen, at the end of my street sits this:

The Women's Club of Mesa. WHAT???? There is nothing "woman" about it!!

Oh yes, please check out that HIDEOUS metal screen door!!!

Oh how I wish Margaret Wheeler Ross could see it now :( :( It truly breaks my heart. It's clearly BEGGING for someone or some "club" to love it.

This is the back of the club. Those door are I'm sure original, and soooo in need of a paint job!
I picture it looking a little more like this:

And this:

But what am I talking about? My house is clearly the "ugly" on the street :(

But not for long! Framers start tomorrow :) and after this project? I'm going to tackle that Women's Club!!!