Decorate with Paper Whites

Time to trade in your regular orchids for paper whites. I picked up a nice pot of paper whites today for an easy wintertime decoration, and I'm loving all the tall green stems and little white blooms peaking out. You can plant your own bulbs but do it really soon so you can enjoy for the holiday season.

{images from BHG, Life in the Fun Lane, Country Living & Martha Stewart & Real Simple via Pure Style Home}

Edible Tree

If my kitchen was bigger I'd love to start this family tradition--putting up an edible Christmas tree. Decorated with strings of popcorn and cranberry, gumdrops, ribbon candy, sugar cookies, candy canes and other old-fashioned candy that people could eat right off the tree. A sweet homemade treat!

{via House Beautiful}

Free Shipping!!

Take advantage of free shipping on all orders until Sunday, November 28th in the shop. Use coupon code: FREESHIP. And sign up on the guest list if you'd like to receive promotions/news on jewelry. Sometimes I post promos on the blog and sometimes I don't. Happy Black Friday!

Frozen Homemade Pies

When we went apple picking in September, I made a bunch of apple pies and froze them for future use. I'm so glad I did! I'm going to be using one of my frozen homemade apple pies for Thanksgiving. A couple of weeks ago we tried one of them and I actually liked it better frozen/cooked then when I make it fresh. The crust was flakier and moist.

Here are my suggestions--Make the pies but do not bake (works best for recipes that don't use dairy products--for instance pumpkin pie). Wrap with a couple of layers of Saran Wrap then put in freezer zip lock bags. Use aluminum pie pans. Then store in a pie box so you can stack one on top of another in freezer. I got my pie boxes from BRP Box Shop. When ready to use, let it thaw in fridge. Then cook.

Homemade pies also are great gifts! We just had new neighbors move in next door and as a welcome gift, we gave them one of these homemade apple pies.

Happy Thanksgiving!!

Hard Copy

Did you know that you can order Lonny magazine in a hard copy? It's expensive, but to some it might be worth it. I kept all my Domino magazine and still refer to them for decorating ideas. I love hard copies of magazines--sitting on my sofa with a hot cup of tea and flipping through a magazine. A favorite past time.


{image via Absolutely Beautiful Things}

Felt Garland

Check out this great tutorial from Purl Bee on this festive twisted felt garland. Supposedly, there is minimal sewing and really easy to make. I love garland--so many fun things to do with it.

Mutze

If you are in the Utah area, check out Mutze hats at the Bijou Market this weekend. She's got a lot of new knitted items and will get your entire family set to keep warm during winter. I've already put in an order for the knitted cocoon for the newborn.

What's in the Medicine Cabinet?

Besides all my herbs that have taken over the top shelf, I finally reordered my favorite anti-aging face product, and they now have a special spot in the cabinet. For the last couple of months I've been neglecting the care of my face. Things like that happen during the last stage of pregnancy--ugliness starts to creep in, at least for me! I have been washing my face, but with not the greatest products and a part of my face kept breaking out. Finally I got up off my butt and made the order. My face can't thank me enough.

Do you have a favorite face product?

Mine is Arbonne RE9 Advanced Set. Expensive, but a small amount goes a long way. I usually can make mine last 2-3 months.

Opaque Tights

After scanning the fashion magazines, opaque tights are on my Christmas list. With the right kind of skirt, they look so great! It actually brings some excitement to cool weather. I still love the look of tights with open-toe heels. Is that "in" still? And I do love the look of tights with booties.

J.Crew's wool ribbed tights. And those shoes! I want. And they are open-toed!

Anthropologie's opaque tights comes in a variety of colors. And as you can tell they are worn with a heavier skirt than one that is made out of a light-weight fabric.

Eco-friendly Diapers

This time around I'm making a huge change in my babycare skills and switching my brand of conventional disposable diapers over to eco-friendly diapers. This is what happens when you read up on the chemicals and plastics used in disposable diapers, and the long-term harm they can have to your baby. Fingers crossed that my other three children will be okay (*wink*). Like most moms, I always like to try and give the best to my children and protect them from any harm so it's worth a try to me.

I'm not expert in eco-friendly diapers and have only done minimal research on what is the best. But I just bought a newborn size of Nature Babycare biodigradable diapers--recommended by a friend. I read that there are no plastics, dioxins or gel absorbents and use corn-base materials. I'll keep you posted on how they work!

Another biodegradable diaper that is more easy access (whole foods, trader joes and some grocery stores) is Seventh Generation. I've heard they do contain chemical gel absorbents and tend to leak. But these might be good when traveling.

The G Diaper is a hybrid diaper (cloth and disposable). Such a cool concept! Cloth on the outside and liner inserts that are flushable. But I also read that they contain chemical gel absorbents and are the worst to hold in the leaks and very expensive.

Cloth diapers, of course, are the best--easy on the wallet, earth friendly, good-bye diaper rashes, free of chemicals. Drawback--time consuming and who has time these days! But it doesn't mean you can't have a few around the house. I think I'm going to buy some for my 72-hour kits and the numerous times that I realized I just used my last diaper.

My girlfriend Katie, who is having her first baby,told me about GroVia cloth diapers. I think I'm going to pick up a few of these because the reviews were good and they are adjustable.

Another cloth diaper that has the adjustable snaps is Fuzzi Bunz. They come in a bunch of cute colors.

What's your take on Eco-friendly diapers? Or got any diaper recommendations?

Julia

Miss Julia looking so gorgeous with her beautiful hair that I've always coveted since Pretty Woman.

{via Elle}

Pattern Book

Love Orla Kiely's patterns, and I just found out she has a book all about them.

{images via Decor8}

Chrysanthemums

Did I spell it right? Chrysanthemums...that is.

We went to the New York Botanical Gardens this weekend to enjoy the perfect Fall weather and to help induce labor from all the trail walking (an unsuccessful attempt). On the way there, Stella tells us about a story read in her class about this little mouse named Chrysanthemum and how she is made fun of by the other mice in her school because her name is so long and hard to say. Her feelings get hurt and she wants to change her name to something short and plain. Anyway, I thought it was a really cute story and Stella retold it very well. The funny thing is while we were walking around the garden, we came across an exhibit in one of the greenhouses of chrysanthemums varieties. We had no idea it was there. Stella was quite amused.

Classic Birthday

We celebrated Jackson's 2nd birthday yesterday with a last-minute impromtu party. On Monday this week, I looked at the weather report to find out what day was going to be nice outside. Then I sent an email out to friends for a backyard birthday party. Surprisingly, most everyone could attend, since it was during the weekday. Little thought and planning went into the party. It was nice to have a good 'ol classic birthday party. You know...the kind your parents would throw for you when you were a child. At least that's how it was for me. No theme, a few friends, cupcakes, balloons, pin-the-tail on the donkey, musical chairs. You get the idea. I do think some childrens' birthday parties can get over the top with a theme and the pressure is on for the parent to out-do last year's party or someone else's birthday party. I admit. I'm guilty of it. But this time around, it was nice to pull out old stuff from the craft closet and pick up a few items at the local party store. Make cupcakes and then call it good.

Tablecloth, colorful paper plates, paper hats (dressed up with tissue paper I had in the craft closet), confetti and party blowers--simple things to make it feel like a birthday party. We didn't do any games. I just pulled out backyard toys for all the kids to play with.

Balloons scream birthday. Kids love them too!

Yum--homemade cupcakes. Add food coloring for some color.

Buy paper hats at the party store.

Pinatas are always a hit at a party, especially when all the goodies come out.

Happy Birthday my little Jack Jack. Can't believe you are already two!

Need Some Help

I'm on the countdown for when this baby arrives. But I could use some help. We have NO idea what to name this child. We've tossed around some names but nothing is grabbing us. And I thought girl names were easy. Care to share with me some of your favorite baby girl names?

{image via flickr}

Holiday Crewcuts

If I wasn't right in the middle of having a baby during the holidays, I'd try to recreate the photos in Crewcuts holiday catalog for our family Christmas card. Seriously I was tempted to place a bulk order of large lollipops when I got the catalog.

Shop Sweet Lulu

Another cute party supply spot.