These are a few of my favorite pins...

I don't get on Pinterest as often as I used to, but I LOVE the escape it provides and the wonderful ideas for decorating, cooking and STYLE.  I can actually tell which things you and Emma have pinned just at a glance!  You both have very unique styles.  I believe I do too...lots of my pins resemble one another.  Here are some of my pins from this week....LOVE them all!













The end.  xoxo, H.

pin it wednesday

I love this idea for Lily's bedroom. It is gold contact paper cut into circles. I need to get rid of her hot pink walls and make it more...teenagerish! 

Not sure what color to paint the walls...she wants a Paris room! Maybe a lighter pink with these circles?

love, k :)

pin it wednesday...a little late

This is actually a pin of mine! I have been trying to do a little makeover on Evan's room after he went off to college. I painted the walls navy and trim back to white. I also took everything off the walls, that was left, and spruced things up a bit. 

These are large picture frames I got years ago, and that he has had in his room for a few years. The closet one used to house High School awards. I decided to gather his  pictures he took in his Photo class senior year and made a collage with them. The other one is full of autographs and ticket stubs of favorite games over the years.

I want Evan to feel like this is still his room, but just trying to make it look a little more grown up. 

I hope he likes it!
love, k :)

just funny...move in day

Emma and I are organizing and if there were a bubble above Peter, it would read "omg, when can we get going?!"  xoxo, H.

pin it wednesday!

My pin it Wednesday is my start (again) to my exercise routine! Today starts 100 days of some kind of exercise. Walking tonight for an hour. A couple friends are doing it with me, not excited to start again, but it's time. 100 days gets me at December 20th. Just in time for Florida. Maybe I can fit in my shorts again??

love, k :)

Speaking of weiners...

Thank God NYC was smart enough to say no to this one.  H

Pinning it Tuesday - yum!

http://tastykitchen.com/recipes/appetizers-and-snacks/bacon-wrapped-smokies-with-brown-sugar-and-butter/



This is not my photo, but I made these on football Saturday and they were amazing!  I did use turkey weiners instead of beef and I only used one cup of brown sugar.  They were DELICIOUS.  Perfect football food!  xo, H.

I'm pinning it Wednesday!! And college kids...

I liked your post of gold jewelry...I'm still a gold girl and probably always will be.  I like silver too, and sometimes I mix and match, but I love gold.  Pinterest has endless gorgeous jewelry ideas.  I'm actually thinking of having my engagement re-set on a thin, gold band instead of the thick band it's now on...I would wear it more often with my stack of other important rings...my anniversary band, the ruby and diamond ring I won in a raffle at the Madison Club and Grandpa Milo's wedding band from Grandma Bea that is engraved with "For Milo - With love, Beatrice"

Evan is going to excel...he will flourish in college!  He's got all of the tools and he's ready.  I do miss Emma a lot, but as my friend Sally and I were saying, we do have some self respect...we're not going to boo hoo about them if they are not boo hooing~they are SO HAPPY where they are!  And of course, them being happy makes us happy.  Emma's got her groove on and is handling her life well.  Freshman year can have some hiccups, but they quickly learn how they want their college experience to pan out..  They're smart. 

And honestly, after a summer of family fun, my house needs to get back in order!  Got the crumbs out of the silverware drawer yesterday and am finally caught up with laundry for the first time since May!!!

Oooooh and autumn is coming....THE BEST SEASON OF THE YEAR!!!  I will pontificate on that later this week.  First apple picking this Saturday!  Football, mums, leaves, sweaters...all the good stuff! 

xo, H.

Pin it Wednesday!

This is on my list to make this fall. Yummy Creamy White Bean and Bacon Soup! 

Ingredients:

2 cups of dried cannellini beans
5 strips of bacon, cut into tiny pieces
1 medium onion, diced
2 garlic cloves, minced
4 carrots, peeled and chopped
1 tbsp. (or more) of fresh rosemary, chopped
4 cups chicken stock
1 tbsp. tomato paste

Directions:

1. Soak your beans overnight covered in water. Drain the next day and set aside.
2. In a large stockpot, add the bacon to the pan and cook until bacon pieces are brown and crispy. Remove and let drain on a paper towel.
3. If there’s a lot of bacon grease in the pan, dump out all but 3 tbsp. of it.
4. Saute onion, garlic, and carrots in the bacon grease until vegetables start to get tender, about 5 minutes. Stir in the rosemary and cook for an addition 1 minute.
5. Gently pour in the chicken stock and add the drained beans. Whisk the tomato paste in until all has dispersed and incorporated into the soup.
6. Bring mixture up to a boil then cover and let simmer gently for 45 minutes, stirring occasionally.
7. When the soup is ready, carefully use your immersion blender and gently pulse the bean mixture until a desired creamy texture is achieved. You see whole beans in my picture – that’s because I gently pulsed and left some beans whole because I wanted texture in my soup. You’re more than welcome to blend the entire mixture to be more of a puree consistency. If you’re worried about blending too much, you can always ladle out a few scoopfuls of beans, blend the soup, then add the beans back in. Really, it’s all up to preference! 
8. Serve hot with bacon pieces on top.
9. Store leftovers in an airtight container in the refrigerator.

love, k :)

it's official, he's a freshman!

Good bye to my Evan. It has been only a week since we moved him in, but it seems longer. I can honestly I say it was too hot to shed tears, we were looking forward to getting back to the car to blast the A/C. 100 degrees...so hot!!! Everything went so smoothly though. He was excited and so were his roommates. I am very excited for him to experience new things!

He finally started classes today, or that's what he thought. He had one class today, a lab for Science. He called and said, I was 10 minutes early ready to go, got to the door and it said the Lab does not start until next Tuesday. Rats! First, it was nice to get a call from him wanting me to know his funny story, and second that he was all set to go. 

I am not worried about him. I know he will figure things out. But, I can't help every morning thinking about him and what he should be doing. Hoping he remembers this, hoping he doesn't forget to eat, hoping he will get sleep. I know with time that will go away, it's too fresh still. Right now I just missing seeing his face and giving him a hug.

It is "emptier" in the house. There is a something missing feeling. Lily said she is lonely. He was such an easy kid. So, memories are mostly sweet with Evan. Like we always say...we like our kids, we hate to see them go. (tears) I know he is close, which makes it much easier than you have it with Emma. I try not to bug him too much. Most days I try to call or text, just to say hi. His schedule is going to get really busy in the next couple of weeks. He has school, his new job, ROTC and he is going to playing rec soccer. 

I hope he and Emma have a great year. It will go by so fast...then who knows what will happen!! Wishing Peter a rock star Senior year!!!

love, k:)

**and yes, life is short, days, weeks and years are coming faster and faster the older we get--so make it count...everyday!

I do believe it is short...

xo, H.

supporting another family...

Based on the taxes we self supporting people pay (only 60% of Americans), we're supporting at least another family of four and providing support for schools that we've never used as well.

Happy Labor Day!  H.