Mmm....

The Pony family eats some darn good eats. A few weeks ago Mr. Pony made a fabulous lemon tart {yes, that is candied lemon peel and homemade whipped cream you see on top- be jealous}.

Then I made knock-off Samoa Girl Scout cookies (Caramel Delights for you young 'uns) using this recipe and they were FABULOUS. We ate the entire pan of bars in less than 3 days {Mr. Pony- "But I don't like coconut. Whaaaa"}. We didn't put any chocolate on the bottom- just an extra heavy drizzle on top and it worked out well {i.e. we were lazy}.

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Then tonight, I decided to surprise Mr. Pony. You see, he went gallivanting to the frozen North. Without me. To Chicago. One of my favorite U.S. cities. {runs away crying} I'm not bitter.

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So to make sure that he never, ever again chooses to leave me behind while he goes to visit the Windy City {and gorges on fabulous noms that are out of my reach}, I'm schmoozing him with madeleines. To be exact, I made a lemon-glazed madeleine recipe from a fabulous chef David Lebovitz {he lives in Paris now. *le sigh*}.

Ok, so the truth is I've owed these cookies to Mr. Pony for the last several months. Since October. Ok, 6 months. High time to give him a mini taste of Paris. And to make sure that he takes me there again as well.

Some might say that I'm actually rewarding him for having been gone, but I prefer my way of thinking. Seriously- this way I get cookies. Duh. To all you naysayers, here- have a cookie!

Project Complete!! {ish}

Have you ever had a piece of furniture (or clothing, or whatever) that was just off? I have.

Well made, quality wood, excellent detailing. Plus he was free- he had a couple dents on him, so his previous owners gave him away. Despite all his obvious attractions, I have never been sold on this unfortunate sofa table. At one point, I made him a suit to make him prettier, but that really only works for about 1.5 months out of the year {I am that serious about Halloween, thank you very much}. The solution?

Spray paint!

Rust-Oleum Painter's Touch semi-gloss black, to be exact. I highly recommend it for home projects. The only issues I had using it came from my inexperience using spray paint, not any issues with the paint itself. But I digress.

Several coats of paint later, and following a lovely innovation from Mr. Pony {shelves are amazing!}, we now have this in our entryway!!

Much better! And quite a bit more functional, once I find some nice baskets for shoes and such. And remember those details I told you about? The spray paint covered them just fine!

I'm much happier walking into our home now- it looks more grown-up with this chic piece of furniture:) {not to toot my own horn or anything;)}. Added bonus is that this completes #37 on my 101 in 1001 list- refinish or repaint furniture we already own or used furniture. Huzzah!

And another one gone
And another one gone
Another one bites the dust
Hey, I'm gonna get you too
Another one bites the dust 
- Queen

This is a vase, right?

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Ok, so it isn't a vase. Yet. But it will be once I find the perfect {fake} flower to put in it. Until then, it is just a double old fashioned glass {which makes it sound adorable}. World Market has a plethora of cute trinkets right now {always} and this lovely oddment called to me- I see a white peony or 2 in her future! I also bought the clear highball version (never mind that the picture is green- World Market doesn't carry everything on their site, apparently).

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I think that this too shall make a beautiful vase. Actually, I nearly bought 8 of each- our daily use cups are dwindling {no, I didn't break all of them- just 4 of the original 16}, and with these showing up in clear, green and blue right when I need an injection of elegant and pretty in my life, it seems almost like it was meant to be.

But Mr. Pony probably wouldn't understand the need to suddenly replace perfectly good cups just because these are more romantic. Oh well.

*shatter* Oops- there goes another one ;)

Luck O' the Irish!

Ah... Ireland. I spent a semester abroad there a few years ago and loved it- the constant green (even in winter), the rain, the accents, the scenery. The scenery is the most amazing part- on that tiny island there are many 100 non-photogenic spots {mostly in the cities, and I'm sure a good photographer could work them up to look good}. These are just from my boring old point and shoot {this was well before I found out that a DSLR wasn't a computer component}, but I hope you enjoy!

Oh, and BTW- St. Patrick's Day enjoys a much greater acclaim here in the USA than it does in Ireland. Most of the people I knew over there didn't understand what all the fuss was about St. Patty's, but oh well- we've made it our own and every year it makes me want to follow the rainbow to the land of green {and beer... and whiskey... hehe}. 


St. Patrick's Day is an enchanted time - a day to begin transforming winter's dreams into summer's magic.  - Adrienne Cook

Fun with family:)

My brother came to visit, and by way of entertaining him, we wandered Central Nowhere. I decided that my camera should come with us {I really need to name her}, and these are some of our random pictures.

As part of the day, we visited a local winery, and I must admit that some of the romance of  wine, for me, lies in thinking about wine making like this:

Instead, we saw machines like these,

which diminished the allure of vinting somewhat.

Otherwise, the weather weather was lovely and a good time was had by all!

Midorita- midorlicious!

Yes, I know its Tuesday. Work was rough- I deserved a drink! Recently I picked up a small bottle of Midori (a melon liquor, for those not in the know:), and since I hadn't opened it yet, I thought I'd mix up my regular favorite {Marge and I are good friends} and make a Midori Margarita. I'd love to say I looked this fabulous drinking it

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but I suspect that dress costs more than my wedding dress did, so I had to content myself with feeling fabulous after drinking my concoction:). The Midori provided recipe is:

1 oz Midori melon liqueur
2 oz tequila
1 oz margarita mix
Blend with crushed ice and pour into margarita glass. Garnish with lime wheel.

I don't own margarita mix- they aren't hard to make without it. Really. So I just use equal parts lime juice and tequila (the Pony bar currently stocks 1800), 1/2 that amount of the Midori and sugar to taste, and thoroughly enjoyed my Midorita. 

Mr. Pony had a dirty martini. He and Mr. Bond can keep those things on their side of the cocktail table- blech. 

I hope everyone had a good night, alcohol related or otherwise!

They speak of my drinking, but never think of my thirst.  - Scottish Proverb

Lots of Give-Aways!

Who doesn't like free stuff? Anyone? Anyone? That's what I figured. So today when I stopped by SITS to do some blog surfing and found an amazing post with hundreds of give away links, I was completely amazed with all the awesome and generous giveaways on the interwebz!
Start out at the SITS Blog Contest Link-Up and from there pick the entries that interest you- there are a lot, so you should find something that interests you! These women are all VERY serious about their giveaways, so for some of them there is a quite a large list of entry possibilities- you don't have to do all the entries, but I did at least a few of the different options. When there are 700+ entries, you have to up your chances!

A few of the freebie gems that caught my eye-

From Misery to Happiness is giving away a 6-qt Le Creuset stock pot. Le Creuset has beautiful dishes, with vivid enamel colors that make me love looking at them. Pretty, oui? Ends March 18.

Leslie Loves Veggies is giving away a Juara Skincare Glow-on-the-go Travel Kit. I've never heard of this brand before, but the concept of the company sounds eco-friendly and body friendly {always a plus} and lets face it- I love 'kits'. It always seems like a better deal {and this one is even free;)}. Ends 3/10.

Guessing All The Way has a fabulous apron from Flirty Aprons to give to a lucky winner. Not that I spend a HUGE amount of time in the kitchen {baking 2x a month counts, right?}, but when I am in there, it would be nice to only have 1/2 of me covered in flour {instead of the normal 100% of me, plus the floor, plus the counters, plus the ceiling- don't ask}. Ends 3/16.

Strangely enough, another blog is hosting a giveaway from the same vendor! The Adventures of Paul and Natalie is also giving away one of these aprons, so look around and you will have several chances to win one of these! Ends 3/16.

A Few of My Favorite Things is giving away a SPECTACULAR handbag from Etsy seller Charm Design. With good weather starting, I'm looking forward to dressing up and going out on the town, and getting a new clutch will complete {one} of my new outfits! Ends 3/10.

In another strange twist of fate, within 10 minutes I found 2 different blogs giving away sets of Le Creuset baking dishes, and as you may understand, I was excited (combine that with the stock pot above and I.Am.Done.). The giveaways feature a 9" and a 5" baking dish in a glowing turquoise. I'm Just Your Average Mom has a giveaway ending 3/21 and I'm A Sleeper Baker has pretty much the same giveaway ending 3/12.

So head out there and try your luck on the free-web!

Out with the old

and in with the... redone? Ok, so it isn't a major change, but this weekend I was finally able to finish a project I've been battling with for a while- repainting our bookshelves! Mr. Pony and I each bought one of these during our college days ($50 each), and they've served us well in that time.

I will admit that from afar, they didn't look that bad. However, once you got a bit closer, you noticed the scratches, dents and wobbliness. The shelves are hooked in at only the 2 points on each side, and that means that they would perform a +/- 10 degree tilt, depending on where you put books on them. Not exactly what one looks for in a daily use bookshelf.

So I added some L brackets to each shelf and a reinforcement bracket to the long sides (the bookcase actually separates in the 3rd and 4th shelf), and then Mr. Pony and I built a paint booth in the garage and went paint happy!

We had several projects going at a time, so we've gone through 12 bottles of semi-gloss black spray paint {and nearly passed out once- open the garage at least 1/2 way for these projects- any less than that and you may start seeing purple elephants}. Long story short, now my bookcases are painted black and they look great!

I have one more project that I'm almost done with and then I'll share pictures of that too:)

Give-away heads up!

Mr. Pony and I have several projects around the house that could use a coat of paint (the master bath and guest bath, to name off just 2). In either case, High-Heeled Foot in the Door is giving you a chance to win 2 gallons of Olympic paint in the color of your choice PLUS a gallon of primer- fabulousness!!

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Now if only I could just use a coat of paint to turn my bathroom into this beauty, I'd be set!

Librarious-ness

Deep down, I want to be a librarian. Not so much for the helping people find stuff part {use the computer, jack-ass}. More for the part where I control an entire building of books. Better yet, keep everyone else out of the library and just let me play with the stacks of literary treasure!

No?

Ok, well at least let me create my own little library nook. Crate & Barrel and I have an understanding- they purposefully create the perfect items I've been dreaming of and price them out of my price range. They do this to encourage me {or Mr. Pony} to expand our creativity to find affordable solutions, thusly making us feel far superior to those schmucks who pay the C&B prices.

Or that is what I tell myself. {Really they just make me drool about the pretty things and save up, because my creativity has, once again, gone on holiday without me}

My library includes the following beauties-

In a perfect world, right? But a girl can dream:)

To add a library to a house is to give that house a soul. -Cicero