A couple of delightful days!

8.31.10-

I have just had the pleasure of sharing the last couple of days with some of my wonderful friends. I'm grateful to have so many people around me daily that inspire me, lift me up & are a delight to be around. What we would do in life without wonderful friends?

On Monday some friends came over to chat, share ideas & look at a wide variety of magazines together. We call it "Magazine Monday!" I love to get magazines in the mail {some of my favorites include- Martha {of coarse} Pottery Barn catalogs, Restoration Hardware catalogs & Country Living} Everyone brings a few of their favorites with them & we all sit around looking through the pages for ideas & inspiration while eating some tasty treats.

It's a great way to spend an afternoon!

Today I had the pleasure of meeting 2 of dear friends at Vintage Cupcake Co. in Ogden. {on 24th Street, one block past Washington} We all loved the decor & atmosphere inside the little shop. So vintage & charming! Just all the eye candy was enough to satisfy us without a cupcake.

{but we still had to buy one!}

After the cupcake shop my friend & I went to Bath & Body in the mall {another one of my favorites} I love to go there, especially when I have some good coupons, to stock up on soap, fragrances & the yummy peppermint lip glosses.

{they are addictive, I think I have at least 8 pairs here & there}

My FAVORITE scent is -Leaves. It's the perfect scent for Fall.

I even ran into one of my clients there & it was fun to talk to her for a bit. Since I talked my friend into going with me I was going to let her use my coupons & she would pay me back but the super, helpful, nice cashier let her use all my coupons too. I love it when someone offers great customer service, it made my day. So I got all of this stuff for only $40!! Plus she gave me 3- 20% off coupons to use next month!

Oh, the joy this gave me :)

To top it all off I went to yoga tonight, taught by another sweet friend of mine, it was a great day start to finish with everything in between.

{walking my girls to the bus stop in the morning & seeing other parents there, meeting Ty & his friend at his pumpkin patch today, talking to friends in my backyard, phone call from a friend, jumping on the tramp with a little buddy, having a friend bring me a batch of tasty gazpacho, seeing my girls playing outside with all their friends & having my Sis around too}

So grateful for wonderful people that fill my life with joy!

{M}

The day in a Nut {Tortilla} Shell

8.25.10-

Fall is in the air & another school year is beginning-yeah! I love getting back to having a schedule & set routines but not all the homework that comes home each & every day. All of this means we are up early around here now, 6:00 a.m. to be exact for Miss Mace to ready. She has to be on the bus at 6:50 a.m. {early} but I only remember too well riding the bus from Lewiston to Smithfield & picking up everyone in between, it was a looong bus ride.

So off to 7th grade for Miss Mace but not before our traditional Quigley 1st day of school breakfast. Yummy homemade whole-wheat pancakes, bacon & OJ to start the day. {I shared the recipe for the pancakes in an older post if you're interested.

Next up the "Turtle Twins" A&E. They are as opposite as opposite can be. One was jumping at the bit to go back to school & the other one was wondering why Summer isn't as long as the school year & wishing the school year was only 3 months long like Summer :) We actually almost missed the bus- they had to run for it! But they made it on just in time for me to take a couple of quick pictures on the bus before they were off to start the 3rd grade.

While they were all gone to school & I got an idea from here & wanted to start our own kind of tradition to celebrate the start of a new school year. So I planned out the 1st day of Back to School dinner. I have been wanting to make some of the delicious food from one of our Gourmet Clubs for a while now & thought this would be a good time to do it. So I decorated the table with some school themed items & started cooking.
-The 1st day of Back to School Menu-

Rib-eye Steak with Cilantro Pesto {this was a HIT, my kids LOVED it!}

Pasta Mexican

Cantaloupe

Corn on the cob {fresh from Lewiston}

and for dessert.....

Fiesta Coconut Sundae w/ Mexican Chocolate sauce

{Scrumptious!}

you can get all of the recipes from the Delish my Dish blog

When you cook like this it does take a little bit more preparation & effort {not to mention the clean-up after but it's all worth it} So we did get sat down to eat a little late, which means tired & hungry girls, but they loved the meal. I even put little notes under each of their chairs with some scripture references to look up that talk about learning, understanding & gaining wisdom. It was a nice way to end the meal {although I wish the girls would have paid a little bit more attention than they did, but oh, well I tried}

Then we made the dessert, which is amazing by the way! The chocolate sauce is a great sweet, spicy & cinnamony {is that even a word?} concoction. Miss Mace, our little Top Chef, was bound & determined to make us all fried tortilla bowls to put the ice cream in & they turned out great.

So there you go, our day in a nut {tortilla} shell. I love having traditions in our family. It was nice to start the day off with an established one & ending it with a new one & something to look forward to every year.

{M}

This & That

8.25.10-

I wanted to post this picture of my newly "seasonly updated" decorated mantle.

I love changing things up & going along with the season just seems the right time to do it. Time to take down all the bird nests, robin blue eggs & flowery summer stuff & leap into Fall {absolutely my FaVoRiTe season, by the way}

When I did it & stepped back I noticed that it included many of the things I love to collect & had just talked about in my {Collections} post. I wanted to share it with you all.

I'm calling it my little bit of This & That mantle.

I adore all the mix of colors & textures. Glass, wood, candles, leather & metal items with the reds, greens, oranges, browns & blues. Ahhh..... Fall & it's many colors.

This is my favorite spot, I love this little guy. I found him while in Florida at the TJ Max & just knew he had to fly home to roost at our house. Which by the way whenever I go to TJ Max closer to home I can never find anything but I found ToNS of stuff in Florida! I brought home some stuff but had to leave alot behind too.

There is just something about updating & changing things that gives everything a fresh new life!Love it!!

{M}

{Collections}

8.24.10-

-I love to collect things!-

Here are a few things I'm loving right now

old {well worn leather} footballs & baseballs

{I get these thanks to my Dad}

Wire baskets of any size or shape

Owls- glass, wax, wood. I keep my eyes peeled for these little guys. I just love these fine feathered creatures.

Children's books with wonderful vintage pictures

bird nests {that aren't being used anymore}

& bottle, jars of sand.

Ty & I have a sand collection in his office {16 bottles strong} We started collecting on our honeymoon in San Diego 15 years ago. Whenever we get the chance to go to a warm place & walk along a sandy beach we pick up a scoop to bring home. We have rocky, dark sands to the finest whitest sands of the Caribbean. We label each bottle & date it. It is fun to look at them all & remember the time we spent there. Some just have shells, sea glass or little rocks anything to help us remember our vacation there.

We got to add another bottle this week from a little trip we took to Florida. We went to Pelican Beach, with Ty's cousin & his wife, at dusk & walked along the beach. I thought the sand was really soft & we grabbed some shells to. We found a great old mason jar, w/the perfect metal lid, at a little antique shop outside of Orlando to put the sand & shells in.

Another fun memory {preserved}

What do you collect & treasure?

Leave a comment & share, I'd love to know

FYI- I'm working on my H&H Halloween/Fall collections. {Coming in October- so excited!!}

{M}

My first trip to {Sprinkles}

8.12.10-

Oh, what a charming, creative & yummy place this is!

We were on Vacation in Laguna Beach last month & were given a gift certificate to go get some cupcakes at Sprinkles in Newport Beach & we're so glad we did.

The first time I ever heard about Sprinkles was on Martha {where I get most of my info.} She had the owner, Candace Nelson, on making cupcakes, talking about her company & how she got started. I remember being so impressed with her story, drive & business savvy to start something like this. I also LOVE their signature detail they put on the top of every cupcake. Each flavor is colored coded so you know what you are getting-CLeVeR!

When we got to the store the line was out the door! The girls couldn't believe we had to wait to get a cupcake, but it was so worth the wait. It was fun to walk into the store & see the selection to choose from-

I went for- Red Velvet

Ty got- Dark Chocolate

Miss Mace- Lemon

Turtle Twin #1- Vanilla Milk Chocolate

Turtle Twin #2- Cherry

{my personal favorite}

The inside of the store was very clean & simple in it's design, not cluttered or messy. It had a real sophistication to it. I also loved the little wooden knifes & forks they had with their logo printed on it. So many fun little details to go along with scrumptious cupcakes.

We will for sure being going back to {Sprinkles} next time we are in California.

{M}

My happy place.....

8-10-10-

Today has been a looooong day for me!

One of those days when my feet ache, I'm exhausted & I just want everything to slow down for a second. To top everything off my kids & husband came in, ate dinner & were all out the door within 8 minutes. WHeW!! They all had some kind of activity to be at or go to.

When did life get so crazy??

I finally have a quiet moment to myself & wanted to share with you one of my happy places I like to go to {style me pretty blog}

I love, LOVE, LoVE it! If I ever get around to putting up a list of my favorite blogs this will be at the top!

Loved the colors & flowers in this bouquet! {it makes me wish I still had some peonies blooming in my yard & that I could grow rose bushes like we used to be able to at our old house, I miss them so much} These are my favorite flowers, I love the smell of them.

I am always inspired by something & creative ideas just start popping around in my head & I feel a little happier! So many fun, fresh ideas {not just for weddings} but entertaining, floral arrangements & decorating.

{it also makes me wish that I could re-do my wedding reception from 15 years ago- how times have changed!} At least it gives me lots of ideas for down the road when my 3 girls get married.

So true, cupcakes always make me feel better :) I especially enjoyed this wedding that was featured because it had everything to do with bees & honey {so sweet!} I thought their colors were so fun, just orange & yellow {the turtle twins favorite colors by the way}

Just wanted to share something that made me happy!

{M}

Just a few thoughts

8.5.10-

I love this phone & wish I had one for my studio.

{I'm really liking the color orange lately maybe I'm just getting ready for Fall my FaVoRiTe time of year!!}

I'm so glad I got up & went to yoga this morning. I wanted to stay curled up in bed, when the alarm went off at 6:35, but I listened to what my body needed & went, ahhhh.

{Namaste}

I'm looking forward to taking a trip with Ty in a couple of weeks. It will be a good little quick getaway to the Sunshine State.

My girls are so great! I'm glad I get to be their Mom.

I'm looking forward to going here in 36 days. I can't wait to see what *Sparks* my creativity.

Loves adding a new song to my playlist & mixing it all around. Change is good :)

Excited to go to the D.I. today & unload bags of baby clothes I have been hanging onto for years & also look to see if I find any little treasures to bring home {I hope, I hope, keeping my fingers crossed}

Looking forward to going out to lunch with my girls today.

When I get home I think I will make a Zucchini Chocolate Cake, it's so yummy!

I need to put a date on the calender for the next Hollyhocks & Honeybees show. {I love, love love to make Halloween & Fall things- I'm excited!! } LoTS of ideas in my head right now of things to design & NeW things to make. Stay tuned!

{M}