honey-do list

This weekend I'm going home before wedding season kicks up again. Charlotte isn't too far from my home town, and we are in serious need of storage in our bedroom. I saw this Ikea makeover and thought that with a little tweaking it could work in our bedroom for bedside tables. The honey-do list is going to epic lengths after this weekend.

Here is the inspiration

This is what we are buying from Ikea. You get what you pay for in quality, but I can't afford to pay $5,000 for bedside tables and can't find anything in our price range that I remotely like, so this will be a good sub until then. 

And this is similar to what the final product will hopefully look like, found here.  It wont' be the same colors, but more of a monochromatic palate of creams and beige, which I think will look really fab. I'll post pictures when the project is due, but it may be awhile. The husband's honey-do list is several pages long. 

Another project that we are buying this weekend is the lighting for the nursery. I have always loved this chandelier, but really fell for it when I saw how Jenny from Little Green Notebook turned it into a sputnik chandelier and sprayed it gold. We will just stick to spray painting it gold, but look at this transformation!

I hope you all have a great weekend!

xoxo

I have the fabbest friends....

Do you know My Cup of Te? Well, Roxy and I became fast friends two years ago when our mutual bff introduced us in Charlotte. Roxy's new company, Society Social, and Mrs. Lilien are collaborating and creating a fab bar cart line. Take a look here for a sneak peak. 

Found here

Details

ASOS Maternity

I know I promised I wouldn't turn this into a baby/maternity blog, but this news is just too good not to share. Asos, a favorite online fashion website, now has maternity. Maybe it has had it forever, but it's news to me and today is the day when I finally got excited about maternity clothes. OK, maybe not excited, but they aren't as heinous as most maternity clothes out there and they are affordable. Asos also has some killer dresses right now that aren't maternity that make my heart swoon. 

Thanks to reader Danielle for sending me the news!

Purchased Items:

A simple dress in a bold color

I'm obsessed with white cotton shirts. I love the eyelet details!

Red jeans!? What do you think? I'm going to give these a try.

A silk caftan can go casual to dressy with the right accessories.

Thanks again Danielle for the fashion tip! You can check out her fab blog here. 

Happy Monday!

xoxo

Sweet Southern Summer Time Tomato Pie

This is what the husband and I had for dinner last night and it was supreme. My neighbors had given me a ton of garden grown tomatoes and I had fresh basil in my little herb garden, and all of the other ingredients I had in the pantry! It was super easy to make and Grayson asked for it to be on the permanent rotation of our favorite dinners!

Photo and Recipe by Ezra Pound Cake

Makes 6 servings

• 1 (9-INCH) PREBAKED DEEP-DISH PIE SHELL
• 3 TO 4 TOMATOES, PEELED, CORED, AND CUT INTO 1/4-INCH SLICES
• 1/4 CUP CHOPPED FRESH BASIL
• 1/2 TO 3/4 CUP THINLY SLICED VIDALIA ONION
• KERNELS FROM 1 EAR OF CORN
• 1/2 CUP GRATED MOZZARELLA
• 1/2 CUP GRATED CHEDDAR
• 1/2 CUP MAYONNAISE
• SALT AND PEPPER
• PINCH OF OREGANO

1. Prebake your pie shell.
2. To Peel Your Tomatoes: Bring a pot of water to a boil over high heat. Have a bowl of ice water ready. Using a knife, gently score a small “X” at the base of each tomato, cutting just through the peel. With a slotted spoon or tongs, add the tomatoes to the pot of boiling water for 1 minute. Then transfer them to the ice water for a few seconds. Remove them from the water, and peel the loosened skin.
3. Core the tomatoes, and slice them horizontally into 1/4-inch slices. Place them in a colander, and lightly sprinkle them with salt. Let them drain in the colander for 10 to 15 minutes.
4. If you haven’t done this already, prepare your basil, Vidalia onion and corn. Set aside.
5. When your pie shell comes out of the oven, set the oven temperature to 350 degrees F.
6. Place your drained tomato slices on a few paper towels or a large tea towel. Set aside.
7. In a medium bowl, combine the mozzarella and the cheddar. Stir in the mayonnaise. Set aside.
8. Arrange the tomato slices in the crust. Season them with salt, pepper and a pinch of oregano.
9. Layer half of the basil on top of the tomatoes, followed by the onion, corn and the remaining basil. Season with a little more salt and pepper.
10. Place the cheese and mayo mixture on top of the corn in large spoonfuls. Using a spatula or the back of your spoon, spread the mixture to cover the top of the pie, all the way to the inside rim of the pie shell. Bake for 30 minutes or until lightly browned.

If you have a BBQ or a pot luck dinner that you are going to this weekend, this will be a crowd pleaser for sure! It's hot as Hades here, so pair it with icy watermelon, skewered shrimp, and some frothy  beer and you will be one happy camper this weekend!

New Blog Love

I found this blog and was delighted to find that she also has a little shop in Charlotte with tons of treasures. 

I think I may just need these gold birds to put on my bookshelf. Anything gold and bird goes well there. 

My love affair with stripes continues. This chair melts my heart.

PS: I am the last person on earth to be on Pinterest, so pretty please someone invite me.
Thank you for inviiting me to Pinterest. It's totally addicting and I LOVE it!

Saving my pennies for

Missoni for Target. I know this isn't new news, but it makes my heart a flutter when I know that Missoni is designing over 400 items for Target come September. Since I won't be able to and shouldn't try to fit my large pregnant body in those zig zags in September, I can promise you that I will buy them anyway to wear next year.

This month's Vogue toured Margherita Missoni's new apartment that is full of the new items that Target will carry. I love that these trays are ceramic, not plastic, and are only $20.00!

I'll take a few of those rugs and that bicycle please! 

Charleston Re-Cap

The husband and I just got back from a four night babymoon in Charleston, SC and it was beyond fabulous. We ate and walked our way around the city and then spent the afternoons sitting by the rooftop pool of our hotel, eating nachos and sipping on Perrier with mint and strawberries (me) and really good IPA beers (husband). Here are some the highlights from our trip:

If you ever make it to Charleston in the summer time, you have to stay at the Market Pavilion Hotel. It's just too hot in that city not to stay somewhere that has a pool. You can only walk around Charleston for so long until it becomes unbearable. 

This is the only hotel in Charleston that has a roof top pool with a bar and a really good place to eat. Believe me, that's at the top of my priority list these days.  We were able to swim and watch the women's World Cup at the same time while sipping cold drinks and eating nachos. Life just doesn't get too much better than that. 

We ate at some really, really good restaurants. We ate at 82 Queen and were able to sit in their courtyard outside. I had the best salad of my life. Grilled peaches with arugula and lavender balsamic. Seriously good.

We also ate at the new "IT" spot, Husk. We took at pedicab there because it was so hot and I was braving out a new pair of clogs. The pedicab form of transportation is the way to go. 

If you ever have a chance to go to Husk, you better go starving, because they give you a ton of food.  I think everything they serve is cooked with bacon and fat back and I'm not complaining one bit. 

 Our reservation wasn't until 9pm, so I was starving, and we ordered their bacon cornbread, heirloom tomato salad, fried catfish, and then really splurged on dessert. It was a chocolate peanut butter truffle something that was insane. Don't let the small size fool you, I was having a hard time breathing after I split this with the husband. He got the bourbon pairing and loved every ounce. 

Husk is proud of their southern ingredients and have where each of them are from displayed on a huge chalkboard at the entrance of the restaurant.  

Other than eating our way around the city, Charleston has a brewery that made the husband especially happy. He loves beer so this just made his day. 

A tasting that we could both enjoy was a honey tasting at the adorable Savannah Bee Company located on King Street. As soon as I walked by the store front, I instantly wanted to go in just because it was so beautiful! My background is in merchandising and I have to say that this may take the cake for the best way to display honey. They have all kinds of products made from bees and we were able to sample all of their honey. 

So, what else do you do in Charleston when you are there for 5 days? Well, we took a carriage tour around the city and we both enjoyed it so much than we thought we would. We were able to learn about the history of not only the city, but were also told details about a lot of the homes in the Battery. 100% touristy, but also a lot of fun. 

Back at the barn, they had baby mules and a feisty chicken that chased me and the husband. 

We also ventured out of Charleston into Mt. Pleasant and went paddle boarding on the Shem Creek. I'm not much of a creek girl, so I made sure not to fall off my paddle board. It was beautiful and we were able to see a lot of different wildlife including dolphins!

Charleston was the perfect get away but it's always great to come back home. We missed Polly Anna's birthday, so our friend/dog sitter made sure to send us pictures of her on her birthday with her birthday present. 

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Happy Bastille Day!

On July 14th, 1789, crowds stormed the Bastille fortress-prison in Paris to release prisoners who had been unfairly locked away by Louis XVI. In honor of France’s La Fête Nationale (Bastille Day), here are a few of my favorite French things:

Saint James Sailor Shirts

French Macaroons, they make me weak at the knees 

French cheese, another guilty pleasure. I could make an entire dinner out of just French cheese! 

Hermes scarves. What's not to love. They make any outfit look great, they come in gorgeous boxes, and can you wear them a thousand different ways. Voila, as the French girls say, so chic.

After a sleepless night and a day full of cleaning and packing for Charleston, I think I'll make a dinner of wine (for the husband), cheese, fruit, olives, nuts, and good bread for dinner in honor of Bastille Day. (and a great excuse not to cook!) 


Happy Bastille Day!