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Wednesday, July 30th, 2008
Pimp
my breakfast nook!
Our contractor just dropped off our custom built table for the breakfast area
and it fits perfectly into the window seat he built for us last month.
I love it so much!
I really
think my son will enjoy his breakfast and lunch here.
He is starting to communicate the feeling that high
chairs at mealtime are for babies!
Across from the table is our butlers pantry with a mini flat screen TV on top.
As with most 2 year
olds, our son tends to eat better while watching the Wiggles or Animal Planet.
The wine cooler
is also new, although after we brought it home we realized it was not made to be a built-in cooler. It requiries space
between the cooler and the cabinets for venting.
Oh well, the wine and champagne stays nicely chilled!
Wed, July 30, 2008 | link
Monday, July 28th, 2008
Pink!
Sadly my old laptop died last weekend after years of good service through many countries
and countless airports.
The good news.....I got a cool new one!
It's
a Song Vaio, and the color is cosmopolitan PINK!
It's so sleek and fast....like the geek equivalent to
the latest new sports car.
Sun, July 27, 2008 | link
Friday, July 24th, 2008
Before
and After
I finally got around to taking some before and after pictures of the house renovations...
The living room is the first room you enter from the front door. The bookcases were
in really bad shape. The fireplace brick was dark and the windows were covered with dark blinds.
Now the whole room is brighter and larger looking.
The crisp white trim and
light walls really make a difference.
I've always wanted a
breakfast area with a window seat built in with
storage underneath. Luckily for us our painter is also a carpenter and built this for us. He is now working
on a custom table to fit.
As you may remember our yard was a real mess. The plants were overgrown and the grass was full of weeds mixed
with dirt.
After much work and diligent watering, it is now a beautiful green place
for my son to play.
The other side of the yard is our new BBQ patio where the fish pond (newly restored) is located.
You can
still see the old gas grill leaning against the wall.
Another trip to the Pottery Barn outlets resulted in this
great outdoor furniture for 50% off the retail price.
We love the space so much, some days we have breakfast, lunch
and dinner out here!
The first thing I noticed when I saw the house was all the brass fixtures throughout every room.
It
looked like Donald Trump had just moved out!
So I set about replacing all the brass with oil rubbed bronze.
We changed the bathroom fixtures to Asian inspired bamboo faucets for the sinks, tub and shower.
We also replaced the brass moulding around the steam shower and added bronze towels bars and chocolate brown towels.
In the kitchen we replaced the appliances with stainless steel, painted the walls and added fancy
lighting.
The dining room had the worst plaster walls in the house. Every white spot was a piece of plaster that was falling
down.
The entire room had to be scraped, skimmed and sanded down before we could even start the painting.
This room was the most dramatic transformation in the house.
There is a beautiful fireplace in the master bedroom that just needed a little TLC.
The walls were
also re-plastered, lightened and the trim painted white.
My son's playroom needed new carpet and some small touch-up.
He is finally able to play with all his
toys in one room instead of little bits here and there.
Last but not least, my son's room: Again the plaster walls were falling down and inside one
of the closet was an old Murphy bed. So we removed the doors on the closet, took out the Murphy bed and made the closet
a little hideaway for my sons sleigh crib.
I'm still working on the downstairs office and
the upstairs studio so more on those areas next month.
Thu, July 24, 2008 | link
Tuesday, July 22, 2008
WIP
 I know I missed Mosaic Monday, so here's a WIP Mosaic.
The first one
is a super large rabbit from a book called Knits, Knots, Buttons and Bows. I saw this rabbit at my LYS and just had to give it a go.
The second picture is a pair of pants
that I want to make for my son to run around the house in this winter. I might just add a cute graphic to the bum too!
Next is my Baby Bobbi Bear pattern that I have been struggling to pick back up again. Unless it gets easier
to manage, I will never knit another toy in the round!
The bottom left picture is a super cute jacket from the
new Debbie Bliss book Essential Baby. The pattern only goes up to size 18mths so I've had to up-size it a bit. If it turns out as cute as the
picture, I might just make two!
The last picture is from Zoe Mellor's Adorable Knits for Tots. I think I'm going to change the color scheme to brown with red and white and eliminate the stripes on the arms.
Tue, July 22, 2008 | link
Monday, July 21st, 2008
Yes...more
baking!
It's baklava!
I've loved this Greek treat since I was a kid.
My Dad used to take us kids to the Greek festival in Washington D.C. and I can still remember being stuffed from all the baklava.
I found the recipe from Sandra Lee. It's super simple...I know, Baklava simple...well it really was. The hardest part was waiting for the phyllo
pastry to defrost before I could get started. I did leave them in the oven a tad too long, but they were still
so yummy.
Sunday, July 20th, 2008
Donuts!
This morning I surprised my hubby and son with homemade donuts!
I know
it sounds like alot of work, but it was really easy thanks to this recipe from Giada De Laurentis.
I made chocolate covered, cinnamon sugar and dusted the donut holes in powdered sugar....so good!
They are made using pizza dough you can get from the grocery store or from your local pizza shop (yes, they will really
sell it to you).
**Some tips to make it easier and faster:
1) Cut all your donuts first while you
wait for the oil to heat up, this will make the frying process very fast....less than 5 minutes.
2) Prepare your toppings
on separate plates so your can immediately dip the hot donuts as they come out of the oil.
3) Be ready to eat twice
as many as you planned!
Sun, July 20, 2008 | link
Wednesday, July 16th, 2008
Blueberry
treat
 I just love the cooking show Barefoot Contessa. Every single recipe I've made has turned out perfect. I've been so obsessed with it, I've recorded
almost all her shows (125 episodes!) on DVD. When I lived oversees I used to watch them for inspiration....and when
you live in Asia, good American food is hard to find!
So with a little help from Ina
Garten and her recipe for THIS...
I finally got to use my new KitchenAid mixer. Don't you just love the color, it's called Persimmon. It's
a little smaller than the professional version I had in London, but I found the power and quality was just as good.
And presto, in just under an hour I got to eat some of this.....Blueberry coffee cake with the best crunchy sweet
topping!
Wed, July 16, 2008 | link
Monday, July 14th, 2008
Mosaic
Monday
I can't remember where I first saw the "Mosaic Monday" idea, but
I think I might just adopt it on my blog.
Here's my LCR (Little Cotton Rabbits) gang, created by the super
duper talented Julie.
She has become so popular that winning one of her creations is down right impossible these
days.
I feel so lucky to have FOUR, although it took me one year of trying to get my first!
P.S.
For the 176 people who have signed up for my knitting pattern mailing list, I'm working on my frog knitting patterns
again, trying to downsize the finished pattern, while making it easier to knit.
I promise to email everyone once
the pattens are in a workable format.
Thanks for waiting!
Sun, July 13, 2008 | link
Monday, July 7th, 2008
Technical delays
Wondering where I've been? Well
I've been trying to find my camera battery charger for the last 4 days!
No camera equals no pictures equals
no blog entries in 7 days!
I'm sure it's in a box somewhere in the office,
I think, although it could be in another box in the bedroom or up in the attic studio, or in the kitchen or........?
I guess what I'm trying to say is.....we still have about 30 boxes that have not
been unpacked and now that I really need something in one of them...I guess I have to finally finish the unpacking
once and for all....YUK!
I'll be back in a couple days or maybe even tomorrow with pictures of the house.
Thanks for waiting.
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