Wednesday, December 28, 2011

I Confess... I'm Addicted!

It's only a couple days since Christmas and I must confess, I'm addicted to this one gift my husband received - a Perplexus Epic. At first it seems like a child's game, foolish and pointless. And then, you try it. It's the world greatest puzzle in a ball. It has a tiny silver ball that must make it through the twists, turns and slides of a 125 level maze. There's no other word for it, other than addictive. If you're looking for that perfect gift to get a friend or loved one - look no further.

If I have it right, this is the hardest of three different ones you can buy. I'm telling you, you must go and get yourself one of these, the whole family will love it! I give it five stars and two thumbs up!!! Anyways, I must get back to my challenge, I have over 60 levels to go. Goodnight! :o)



Tuesday, December 27, 2011

A Lynda Reeves Kitchen Renovation

Another holiday came and gone. While I'm still on vacation, I've been doing a lot of house searching, especially kitchen designs. And today, I was drawn into one of Lynda Reeves' Kitchen Renovations and thought I'd share. When I can't catch Lynda on t.v., I turn to House & Home for a little inspiration from her and others. Here's a kitchen I found today:





Be sure to go and check out more pictures of the renovation.

And, I hope you all had a great Christmas! I know I was certainly spoiled with gifts, but more importantly great family, friends, love, health and happiness.

Talk soon,



Friday, December 23, 2011

Dallas Gets An Early Christmas Present!

What a quick week, but we're all ready for Christmas now!! I know I missed a few posts and I'm not going to do my "Favorites Friday" posts, but I am going to share some family moments with you. Dallas, our dog, received an early Christmas present tonight and I'd thought you'd get joy in seeing the pics!! Here you go...








And because I'm probably not going to be back on here for a few days, happy holidays out there - Merry Christmas!! Enjoy your time with your friends and family. I wish you all the best for the New Year... And hopefully I'll be back before 2012!!!

Cheers!



Tuesday, December 20, 2011

Mmm... Pita Bread Recipe


Okay, so I'm going to confess right now, this is going to be a really bad week for posting.... the holiday season is almost here, Christmas concerts are on, parties are planned, gift wrapping is being done, you get the point! I'm sure you are doing the exact same thing and scrambling to finish up the last minute details. So, while you have a minute, I'm going to share this pita bread recipe that I desperately want to try over the holidays. There's nothing better than sitting down at a restaurant and ordering some fresh pita and dip for an appetizer. So, while I keep scrambling with last minute musts - be sure to pin this recipe and take a time out to enjoy it very soon!!

Pita Bread
Makes 8 Pitas

Ingredients:

3 cups flour
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 tbsp sugar or honey
1 packet yeast (or 2 tsp from bulk)
1 1/4 to 1 1/2 cups water, room temperature
2 tbsp olive oil, vegetable oil, butter or shortening

If needed, activate yeast. Otherwise, mix the yeast in with the flour, salt and sugar. Add the olive oil and water and stir together. All of the ingredients should form a ball. If some of the flour will not stick to the ball, add more water. Once all ingredients form a ball, place it on a work surface and knead or mix it at low for 10 minutes. When you are done, place the doug in a bowl that is lightly coated with oil and roll it around to coat all sides. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap or a damp kitchen towel and set aside to rise until it has doubles - approximately 90 minutes.

When it has doubled in size, punch the dough to release trapped gases and divide into 8 pieces. Roll each piece into a ball, cover with a damp kitchen towel and let them rest for 20 minutes. While the dough is resting, preheat the over to 400 degrees. If you have a baking stone, preheat it as well. If not, place a baking sheet upside down on the middle rack. When the dough is ready, spread a light coating of flour on your work surface and place one of the balls. Sprinkle a little bit of flour on top of the dough and stretch/flatten the dough. You should be able to roll it out to 1/8 and 1/4 inch thick. If the dough still doesn't stretch sufficiently, cover it with a damp towel for another 5 to 10 minutes.

Open the over and place as many pitas as you can fit on the hot baking surface. They should be baked through and puffy after 3 minutes. If you want your pitas to be crispy and brown you can bake them for an additional 3 to 5 minutes.

Get the original recipe here.

That's it! Enjoy your pitas and be sure to take a moment to relax over the holiday season!





Monday, December 19, 2011

Me and My Pins

Hello Monday!
 
With a very exciting week ahead of us, here's a quick note to say hi and let you know that I'm getting super hyper for Christmas!!! We still don't have a tree up but I did put my homemade quilted tree skirt around the dresser leg in our living room and hung two stockings from the knobs. I also pulled out a few of my favorite decorations and set them up around the main rooms of the house!! hehe I may have cheated!! :o)

Anyways, I'm sure you guys are just as excited as I am right now... so I'm just going to give you a quick time out with a link to my Pinterest account! Go ahead, follow me, like me, obsess over my obsessions... do as you please! It's just me and my pins. In the meantime, I'm outta here!



Friday, December 16, 2011

It's "Favorites Friday"!

With Christmas fast approaching, there is no better time to tell you my five favorite appetizers to put together for the festivities. There is nothing like a nice night out with great friends, family, food and laughter. So, if you're looking for that perfect recipe for your next social gathering - make sure you put one of these recipes at the top of your list.











Don't blame me when your tummy hurts from the overload of amazing food! But do enjoy and make sure to enjoy your holiday parties!

Have a great weekend out there!!


Wednesday, December 14, 2011

Modular Home Additions.... Love this Website!

As we continue our quest for a house, I stumbled across this Modular Home Additions website and fell in love. Their work is absolutely amazing that I wish I lived in Toronto and I wish I could hire them now! Here are a few of my favorite designs, I want it all right now:


While my husband sits here and says the pictures look like a doctor's office, I'm sitting here in heaven, dreaming of just visiting one of these homes. Go take a peek.

Have a Great Night!




Tuesday, December 13, 2011

Fabulous Free Fonts!

Being in the design world and having my own company, I love to find new and inspiring fonts. Recently, well I lied, about a month or two ago while I was building this blog and a new logo for martha.anne, I stumbled across kevin & amanda's website. It is full of awesome fonts and they can be used by anyone - just make sure you read their terms! Here's a few of my favorites!





Go on over and stock up - they're awesome!



Monday, December 12, 2011

My Houzz Idea Book

It's Monday again. For some reason we can't just skip them and head on over to Tuesday. And while it was a pretty productive day at work, I caught myself day dreaming again - of course, about houses. So… I thought I'd share a little obsession with you. It's called Houzz.com. If you haven't been, you must! It's addictive like Pinterest, only you can explore houses for hours on end. Forget the $40 subscription fee to House & Home - this website will inspire, encourage and have you dreaming about the most amazing house in no time! Here's a sneak peak at my idea book:

 Amazing Laundry Room
1512 Dolphin Terrace traditional laundry room

Love this Master - Look at that Ceiling
1512 Dolphin Terrace traditional bedroom

Hideaway Nook with French Doors
Ana Williamson Architect traditional living room

I Love Tray Ceilings
Family Room contemporary family room

Okay, that's it for now. Now, stop day dreaming and get back to work! I swear I was meant to have a career in houses… maybe someday! :o)

Happy Monday!



Sunday, December 11, 2011

Mmm... Cheesy Vegetable Chowder

Before I get this recipe started, I apologize for being so behind on my posts. It's been a busy week, with two more coming before the holidays. Parties, parties and more parties have been keeping me out late at night and from posting for you. 'Tis the season to be jolly! Anyways, a busy Sunday running around, I managed to squeeze in this soup I found on Pinterest. Let's just say I'll be eating it all week for lunch and it's delicious!


Whatever you do, wait for the last minute to add the cheese - like the recipe says. I am not patient and I burnt the cheese to the bottom of my pan... now it's soaking away in the kitchen sink, hopefully forgiving me for overcooking in it!!

Cheesy Vegetable Chowder

Ingredients:

2 tbsp chopped onion
1/2 cup chopped carrot
2 stalks celery finely chopped
1 tbsp minced garlic
4 cups chicken broth
2 large baking potatoes, peeled and chopped
1 tbsp flour
1/2 cup water
2/3 cup milk
2 cups chopped broccoli
2 heaping cups shredded cheddar cheese

Melt butter in a large soup pot. Add onions, carrots and celery and saute until tender. Add garlic and cook for an additional 2 minutes. Add chicken broth and potatoes, bring to a boil and cook until potatoes are tender. Mix flour with water and add to soup, simmer until soup starts to thicken. Add milk and broccoli and cook until the broccoli until it is tender. Stir in cheese until melted and serve.

Here's to another weekend over and spent with family! Have a great week out there - I'll try and be more tentative on here! :o)



Wednesday, December 7, 2011

Our Christmas Tree

Ba-humbug! So, it's just over two weeks until Christmas and we still haven't put up our Christmas Tree. We sat and thought about it tonight and discussed that we're just going to skip decorating this year! I know, it sounds as if though my husband and I have a case of the Scrooge but the truth is the lack of snow, the time flying by and the mid house renovations have left us feeling as though it's not even Christmas. So, now that we're this close to the day that the Jolly Old Man comes down the chimney, I might just pull out a couple of stockings and put on my Christmas cheer... I really do love Christmas, but this year we're just not feeling it. I hope we don't regret it. I guess I'll just post my tree on here, I hope you like it - I've been shopping for it all afternoon!


Okay, let's see if we stick to our word about no tree. In the meantime, I'm in love with this completely adorable tree, it feels so beach-y and fun - something I definitely can't pull off in the great Canadian weather!

Feel free to link to your Christmas Tree - I'd love to see what you've done out there!


Monday, December 5, 2011

What's in that Stocking?

 

Today at work I received an email from a coworker that said, okay ladies I'm stuck, what's the top five things you put in your husband's stocking? Quickly I wrote down my list:

1. Gift Card (Timmies, iTunes, his fave store)
2. Lottery Tickets
3. Cologne
4. Magazines
5. Candy

And then I thought about it, this is my list of faves, well with perfume instead - haha. Okay, so just a quick post, we're babysitting the niece tonight... so tell me, what's the top five things you want in your stocking? Hope you had a great Monday out there!



Friday, December 2, 2011

It's "Favorites Friday"!

It's time for another Favorites Friday. This week, I decided to go with my five favorite websites for furniture, nothing accessorizes a great room and design better than some great furniture. It may not be as great as spending a Saturday browsing through a fantastic store and discovering all of the great items that will fit in your house, but it's the next best thing to help you get away. Go ahead, take a peek and perhaps redesign a room or two.













Have a great weekend everyone and Happy Shopping!