"I know, let's play school!"

3.26.10-

This is a typical conversation I hear often from my 2 "Turtle Twins" Audrey & Emily. They love to play school, read books & pretend to be the teacher. They even have official lunch cards to play with thanks to Grandma Hall who brings them all sorts of goodies, that would have just been thrown out, at the end of each school year. I LOVED playing school & pretending to be the teacher when I was younger I think they get it from me. I guess that's why I grew up & got my degree in teaching, sometimes I wish I was still teaching. I always get a little excited in the Fall when all the new packs of crayons are on the store shelves & tall stacks of crisp clean notebooks sit just begging to be filled but then I realize that home is really where I want to be. So back to the Twins, they would get a piece of paper out of a notebook write a # on it & then tape it above their playroom window 1-10. Then they would point at each number, with their official red plastic school pointer thing that they just had to get at the book fair last year, to recite them.

One day it occurred to me, as I was looking at the 10 paper pages taped onto the wall with blue painters tape, that I should do something to help their creativity & play along & something that would look a little nicer. I went into my studio & painted the numbers 0-9 in different colors & then had my Schmoopy put them up on the wall. Ta-da it looks so much better & my kids have loved using them as they play with their friends.

Just wanted to share the story behind a happy little spot in our home. I LOVE the big H&H #'s- so many possibilities. {check back more ideas to come}

{M}

Twenty-Ten

3.25.10-

How's your twenty-ten going? {isn't that better than saying two thousand & ten? I think so} I can't believe it is almost April, Peter Cottontail will be hopping down the bunny trail before we know it! :)

These fun numbers were up on our mantle from New Year's Eve through the end of January. It was a great way to celebrate the start of a New Year & all that goes along with that- new goals, a fresh start & looking forward to so many possibilities with the year ahead. I'm also thrilled to say that Hollyhocks & Honeybees will turn 10 this year!! That's an exciting milestone for me. My little business has grown over the years & brought lots of enjoyment & many wonderful people into my life & I'm so grateful for that.

Hope yours has been a good year so far!

{M}

1,2,3,4... & so much more!

3.23.10-

I'm so happy to see Spring getting closer & closer every day {I even have little purple Iris' poking up in my backyard & that is almost unheard of in Mt. Green this time of year!} So before Winter is completely a thing of the past I wanted to post a picture of my 3 girls in a snowy scene. I thought it would be fun to have each of them {twins can share} holding #'s representing how old they are so we would always remember the moment as well as show off some H&H goods! :) These #'s can be ordered individually or as a set {0-9} & can come in a variety of colors, if you are interested leave a comment.

This was taken by my very talented friend, Haley Miller. To see more of her wonderful work & some other H&H #'s being put to use go here. {She is amazing!!}

Can't believe these cute girls will soon be 12, 8&8 this summer-where does the time go? I guess we'll have to take another picture with new #'s. I am going to post more numbers & how I use them for H&H & in my home this week. Excited to share so check back each day!

** just an idea how cute would these #'s be for all you new Mom's out there to lay a cute colored # next to your tiny one & take a picture of them each month during their first year-darling! Another use to jot down!

{M}

A Junky Bistro Gourmet!

3.19.10-

I can't believe it has been a month since this yummy, delightful dinner took place in my home. I had such a great time planning, decorating & cooking for this with my friend Nicole. We hosted a Junky Bistro Gourmet dinner for 10 of our friends. It had been weeks of planning & preparing & it all paid off when my Schmoopy walked in from work, saw everything set up, & said to me, "This looks like it should be a magazine, call Country Living!" I did the next best thing & called my friend Courtney to come over & take some pictures. So thank you, thank you Courtney!!

I love to entertain, it's one of my favorite things to do. I enjoy looking through magazines for inspiration, gathering ideas, picking the colors & choosing a theme. That's always the best place to start. We got our color inspiration from some fabric that Nicole had that she made a brooch for me with. {Some of you may have seen me wearing it if you came to The Hive} So we went from there. We choose turquoise, greens & yellows & threw in some coffee filter garlands, flowers & some newspaper little touches here & there.

I have searched hi & low at D.I.'s & antique stores for some old dominoes to make place cards & finally found some at The General Store in Layton. If you haven't been there yet you need to go, it's on the corner of Main Street & Gentile. Lots of old, vintage, yummy goods for sale! Evey time I go in there I always leave with something, even if it's just a fireball for Miss Mace :) So I was happy to finally be able to make these, I have wanted to for a long time.


The best part was Nicole & I just used things that we had {we both love junk & antiques} to decorate & serve the food in. We didn't really have to buy anything {flowers, dominoes, plumbing things for the napkin rings, some material & the food} it was fun to just use things we had around & figure out how to use it in a different way. For example old graters & strainers as candle votives, so pretty, & serving bottles of Creme Soda's in an old Chicken feeder that I bought years ago-Loved that!! Here is the menu & some of the food that we served. We used an old 12-month Calender of maps for the place mats, cheap & very easy! We gave everyone a choice of soups, sandwiches & salads {just like at a real Bistro} every ones plate came with crispy homemade potato chips & for dessert a fruit sorbet. Everyone got to take home a slice of made from scratch Devils Food Cake all wrapped pretty & ready to go for a late night snack. The perfect ending to a perfect night I think :)

Just wanted to share. Looking at all these pictures makes me want to host another one!

Enjoy today, make something yummy & serve it pretty!

M

I love a new accessory from Pottery Barn!

3.10.10-

Can I just tell you how happy this new pillow makes me? Silly I know, but when I saw it in the Pottery Barn catalog I feel in love with it. The #3 is for my 3 funny, sweet cute girls. Seeing it on my couch today just brightened my day & watching my girls try to figure out why I got the 3 made it that much better. {Plus I love when the big brown truck pulls up your street & stops in front of your house to deliver something. It's always exciting! }

Fresh new look

I think Spring is finally almost here. The snow is slowing but surely melting up at my house, I still have about a foot & 1/2 of snow in my front yard, but it is finally starting to melt away. Yeah! It makes me so happy :)

I have always been amazed at my Grandma Hall & how long she can keep her poinsettias, that she gets around Christmas time, to stay alive. Every year when I go to visit her for Valentines' Day she still has some in her house & even longer than that sometimes. Well this year I am proud to say that I have done it!! I still have 3 beautiful red poinsettias alive in my house. I have really enjoyed them but I think it is time to say good-bye to them. I need to "lighten" up my house & get some fresh bright colors in here. I replaced one with a vase of vibrant orange tulips today & it makes me feel so much happier! What do you think?

I can't wait until I see the tops of daffodils popping up through the ground outside. Something to look forward too :)

M

Trying to find my "blog" voice

3.2.10-
I am just sitting here thinking I should post something but wondering what to write about. I'm just wondering what I want this blog to be. Do I want to include any of my personal everyday little happens of my life, home & family or just stick to the business side of things, & then I wonder if there is even anyone out there checking in & what they would like to see. Augh! I'm trying to sort all this out so if you are checking in I hope you will be patient with me as I figure it out. I need to find my little niche in the blogging world :) I am inspired by so many that I see & read & want mine to be a place people go to check in & stay a while. Just have alot of questions about this little blog & what I want it to be-stay tuned!
For now I'll share this quote that I saw on some one's blog that I liked-

-"When I stand before God at the end of my life, I would hope that I would not have a single bit of talent left & could say,

I used everything you gave me"-

Erma Bombeck

{something to think about :) }

Happy March!

M