Halloween

I get nostalgic around Halloween time thinking about my Mom's house.  You really have never met anyone who loves Halloween as much as my Mom.  I am getting really excited for Halloween this year and am planning to start/carry on Halloween traditions at my house.  We are starting with a traditional Halloween Chili Party (it is a staple for my Mom's neighborhood now), and we will get out our orange lights and decorations for our Halloween tree.  These are two of my favorite Halloween traditions.  Here are some other fun decorating ideas I found.

I am totally sold on this DIY from Martha Stewart.  I also love this idea from Pottery Barn, a black feather garland.

Halloween Countdown Calendar and Halloween Countdown House both from Pottery Barn Kids.  

The Office

If you haven't already watched last nights new episode of The Office, you should.  Jim and Pam, welcome back, re-runs are just not the same.

If I were picking new glasses today, I would probably pick one of these from Pottery Barn or Sur La Table.  They are classic.

The latest...

I spent the weekend making a lot of jewelry. I sent most of it with my Mom before I got to take pictures (Camille if you have time I would love some pictures) but here are a few of my favorites still in my possesion.

Foxpaws Shoes

I found out about this brand new company over at Life Frosting. Foxpaws just debuted a line of baby shoes at Baby Babinski's (a favorite of mine.) They come in four sizes that cover 0-24 months. The best part is that they donate money to Orphanage Support Services Organization with each order they get. These shoes are so darling, I can't wait to see what else Foxpaws comes up with!

Tarts

Lately I have had a mild obsession with tarts, particularly fresh fruit tarts. I tried making one a while ago with homemade lemon curd, but the lemon curd never thickened. I have scoured the internet for different recipes and here are some that I have found, not tried, but they do look delicious. I found a bunch of recipes from Williams Sonoma. The Strawberry Tart and Mixed Berry Tart both looked so good. Some others that I thought looked good and/or useful were the Asparagus-Goat Cheese Tart and the Basic Tart Dough.

I have also been looking for a good tart pan. Quite frankly I think Sur La Table has the best selection, but Williams Sonoma has a couple too. I like the ones with the removable bottom but I really want one of the ceramic ones.

Feature: Ethington Park Jewelry

It has been a while since I have featured an Etsy seller on this blog.  This week a new Etsy store opened, Ethington Park Jewelry.  Catherine is a good friend of mine and as you can tell from the pictures she is really talented!  She uses great stones and Hill Tribe silver (a personal favorite of mine) in many of her pieces.  Check out her new store here.

Back to work

Now that my husband is back in school I have time to kill.  Thus I have started making lots of jewelry as of late.  Today I ordered some more glass so that I can get working on some more soldered pendants... after I get a new tip for my soldering iron.  Thank you Ranger Ink for cutting glass so that I don't have to.

Winner, Winner Chicken Dinner

Tonight I made chicken salad and put it in pitas. It was delicious. I really can't claim much of the credit though, I just combined parts of a food network recipe with parts of my friend Lindsey's recipe.




4 cups diced chicken (I used canned chicken because that is what Lindsey uses, it is good for this)
1 stalk celery, cut into 1/4-inch dice
4 scallions, trimmed and thinly sliced (I used chives instead)
Handful or two of red grapes, quartered
1/4 cup slivered almonds, browned
2 tablespoons finely chopped parsley
1 cup mayonnaise
2 teaspoons strained freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
2 teaspoons kosher salt
Freshly ground black pepper
Pocket Pitas for serving

In a mixing bowl, toss together the chicken, celery, scallions and herbs. Set aside. In a small bowl, whisk together the mayonnaise, lemon juice, mustard, salt and pepper to taste. Add to the chicken and mix gently until combined. Refrigerate until ready to serve.

Reading List

These five books are the books I have on my reading list right now. Pride and Prejudice is a classic, I am rereading it. Georgette Heyer is on the docket for book club next month, she is supposed to be Jane Austenesque. If you haven't read any books by Shannon Hale yet I highly recommend her. The goose girl is a new favorite of mine. Well behaved women seldom make history is for this months book club (thanks for the recommendation Molly!)

Just made...

This post is for my sisters so they can see what is headed their way...

My little sister needs orange accessories for an event next week.

This watch has is almost a year in the making (mostly because of my procrastination.)