Big Restaurant More...is right!

These cupcakes are the heart and soul of the latest entry from chefs and brothers Hartwell and Beckett Pollard. These superstar restauranteurs have turned the restaurant concept on its head by serving delicacies such as Egg Sauce and Cheese and Butter Tacos with Salt. Eating either is like eating delicious air.

The service by maitre d'hotel Hartwell Pollard was exceptional! He added the perfect amount of sugar sprinkles to my diet coke. And my square beignet was tasty.

I look forward to more envelope pushing by these incredible gastronomists.

Casual Dining (Chefs are shirtless)
Reservations are now being accepted. Visa/MC, No out of state checks accepted
$$$$$$$$$$*

Secret Diner Video available here.

*Cheese and Butter Tacos with Salt run a hefty $2,000,000

Tim.Ber.

Yesterday I charged up the reciprocating saw and chopped down some trees. See that thing in front of the window? That's the boys room and it blocks all sunlight that could peek through. Making their bedroom like a cave.

Also to the left of that is an overgrown oleander. Which I hate. So that came down too. Plants shouldn't mess with my lighting plans.

I wasn't sure John would be with me on the foliage removal. I told him and he didn't sound convinced. Usually it's because he can't picture it. So I just did it. I went to find the saw and  it took me awhile to find the battery and I thought, "John doesn't want to leave me alone with power tools!"

But, look!

Much better! My plan is to fill that little bed in with aloe vera plants. The green of the plant looks really pretty against the grey that will soon cover the house. And it's very architectural. And don't forget low maintenance.

You can also see the house numbers I painted,...which I will have to paint over soon.

Housing Projects

Since I am neither subtle nor subdued, I had to do something about these paint colors. Taupe and Sage? What was I thinking.

So I thought aqua would work. (See how I waited until air conditioner time?)

It does not work. There's something off.

So I added the grey from Cameron's fabric:

Hey! I did pretty good!

So. What do you think? I love it, Autumn loves it, Amanda loves it...John hates it.

 Hmmm...

The A's have it!

He's only gonna break-break your break-break your mug...

That's all he's gonna do, woman.

Flowers, chocolates, promises you don't intend to keep...

I didn't think this cup could get more Disney-fied. If it comes to life, it still has to sleep in the cupboard.

Women Be Shoppin'

I have a new store on etsy! It's more like this place as it likes vintage and is called musebootsi!

After perusing my own collection, which needed thinning out, and trying to come up with a new project in my spare time (ha!) I decided to get a little crazy and sell some vintage delights!

So I squeezed all the info I could out of my friend, who has her own successful eBay shop. She's a genius! I'm going to see how it goes on etsy for now. 

My favorite part? I get to go shopping. All the time. Yay! Okay, not all the time. But enough.

I decided to only sell things I would put in my house, things I may not be able to part with. It'll be a lesson in letting go, fer sure.

Click over and check it out!

I'm calling this an alien, a big headed aloe vera...

I've always loved succulents, mostly because they are so architecturally beautiful. A little because I think they are aliens from another planet. How else do you explain ice plant and it's ability to take over any landscape?

Trust me, they're just biding their time until the invasion. Hopefully, since I take such good care of them, they express their love for me in flowers, I will not be one of the many taken into slavery and then cracked open to help soothe their sunburns.

Summer Colors

 

I'm sure I need to repaint this. But I just can't do it.

Kolor Kismet

There I was, pinning away, looking for color inspiration for my house. My neighbor loves my colorful garage and when I showed her the taupe and sage window on the side of the house, I could tell I had let her down. Sad face. I had similar feelings about it, but this was the simplest solution. And I didn't want to start from scratch. And yet,...So I went looking for something else. Something perfect for our cottage bungalow.

I searched "aqua and gray" and found a few houses with gray and white and aqua. And then I found this fabric:

Instant love. The beige instead of white makes it less "NEW HOUSE COLORS" and more like it's always been that way. Like the khaki kind of grounds it and makes it less "fresh" and more "vintage," which is all I've ever wanted. And I won't have to clean as much.

I was showing John, who said, "I thought it was too good to be true," referring to the sage and beige that I painted one window.  He thought I had finally chosen and it wasn't obnoxious. As I stared at the fabric I had a feeling that I knew it.  But I could have just pinned it before, a common problem with Pinterest.  So I traced the original post and...AMAZING!

It was designed by Cameron Blazer. My cottage-industrialist friend who used to live UPSTAIRS from me when we lived in the valley. Like, I could knock on her door and watch the food network with her. And sometimes she had dinner parties where she made sushi from scratch. And we shopped together and inspired each other in many, many ways.

Of all the pins on pinterest, I pinned her fabric as an inspiration for my home. Looks like we can still inspire each other even with all those bloody states between us.

Swim Lessons!

One of my favorite parts of swim lessons is when the boys jump in the pool.  Hartwell usually belly flops and Bee looks like a superhero!

Going down the slide also good.

But I could never get Hartwell's timing. He was too fast!

Here they are with their swim teacher:

I still can't figure out how he could hold them up.

Fireworks!

My friend has the best Fourth of July Parties! Here are the boys watching the fireworks. The first year no one cried!