Blogging and baking

There are professionals who do this blogging thing and then there is me. Grammatically incorrect, less than perfect pictures, unoriginal recipes... the list goes on and on. I love following the professional blogs. They give me a lot of great ideas and the motivation to do things like whip up a cake on a Thursday evening.

Example #1 - The Pioneer Woman

She may be the "Godmother" of blogging. More than anything I love her sense of humor and how incredibly witty she is. Not to mention the woman can cook. I've tried a number of her recipes and everything has been good so far. The best thing about her recipes is how detailed she is and how she shows you step-by-step how to make things. I attempted her Perfect Pound Cake.

Behold...

I mean, really? Who makes cakes that pretty?

She also does this great up close and personal "cast of characters" pictures of the ingredients.

Here's my try...

I think I need to work on my staging.

The cake however was exceptionally easy. My handy, dandy mixer was a must for this recipe. She suggested mixing after every ingredient... after each egg, each cup of flower, etc. That's a lot of mixing!

And more mixing...

In the end I think it was a success... The cake tasted great! Her cake ended up more aesthetically pleasing than mine did. Although it looked pretty darn great in the cake pan, but that whole turn-me-upside-down-and-let-gravity-do-its-thing took a wrong turn and half of my cake dropped out and the other half needed some help. Here's proof I did grease the heck out of my pan!

I'll give myself an 9.5 on taste and a 3.5 on plating. It wasn't nearly as pretty or picture worthy as hers. So, I'll just leave you with what I aspire to...

(courtesy of The Pioneer Woman - her cake, not mine)

Swings and summer time

Everyone has a swing, except me. This makes me want one even more.

Darby has done it again and posted pictures of her most recent vacation that make me want to move to the Midwest, have a twin sister and start calling my father "Daddy Boy". I am perfectly happy in my own life but sometimes she can take a picture good enough to make you want to change things up a bit.

She also reminded me about how bad I want a big porch... and a SWING! How great does this look?

(Fly Through Our Window)

Then, I stumbled upon Rachel's blog and her rendition of a swing. This has to look like the most comfortable swing on the planet. 

I haven't been following her blog long enough to have seen her first post about how she created this for a customer, but I'm so glad she mentioned it again. I think I see a project for my dad in his very near future. I just have to figure out how you get those knots tied in that rope!

Decorating terms...I'm learning

On my last trip to Printers Alley I fell in love with this patio set they had sitting by the front door. It's by Brown Jordan. They have gorgeous outdoor furniture and their website is like looking at something straight out of Hollywood. They take pictures that makes furniture look sexy. Is that possible?

I think my heart stopped beating momentarily when I saw the price tag. I can't even remember how much the entire set cost. I was too scared to look once I saw one chair was $759. Ouch! But that doesn't mean I can't still be in love with it. I've just got to find it elsewhere. Let me know if anyone sees some of these sitting out there at thrift store or on Craigslist.

The style of chair triggered a memory for me, I just couldn't remember where I had seen it before. Until the other night, lying in bed and flipping through the channels. And then, one of my all-time, most favorite TV shows came on and it hit me. The Golden Girls!

Yep, those 4 classy ladies were fashionable before their time. I'm not feeling the tablecloth so much but the chairs are gorgeous! I'm not an educated designer/decorator but I'm learning as I go. I didn't even know what to call these chairs so I could start my search. And so, in my research I learned the term "Chippendale". Who knew? (Probably 95% of the rest of the world, except  for me, but I'm getting there). You can really find out more than you care to know if you go to the Wikipedia site for Thomas Chippendale. He was a famous cabinet and furniture maker way back when. I'm not sure that I see the direct relation but I'll leave that to the professionals.

So instead of posting all about my latest find I just tell you all about my newest wish - Chippendale patio furniture. Until then...

Starting back with a bang...

It was June and now it's almost August. I'm not sure how I missed July but I did. Actually, I know what happened. My wonderful grandfather passed away, we had our annual convention at work, I had knee surgery, and then I moved to the new condo - all within the past few weeks. I was doing good to remember to the dog and myself and so the blog fell victim to my life. Oh well... onward.

So, I'm in. I've got most of the boxes unpacked and the cable was installed today. I've been so excited about the move for so many reasons but mostly because it was going to give me a new slate to work from. It's easy to get complacent and I had at the old apartment. But, the condo has so much potential and I was ready for some projects. And so the search began...

Wanted: Vintage Gossip Bench - preferably one that's cheap and wants a new coat of paint.
Found: Vintage Gossip Bench - Craigslist, $25

I've wanted a gossip bench for a while and I knew that the entryway into the new place was the perfect spot for it. I was so excited when I found this one, but it happened to be in High Point which is a bit further than I cared to travel. So, thankfully, my best friend who lives nearby agreed to save the day and retrieve my new find. She even delivered it to me in Raleigh! Such service...

Here's where the project hits its first hurdle and where you'll have to use your imagination. I was so excited about my first project for the house that I took tons of before, during and after pictures. I wanted to put up one of those posts that show off their skill and impress me everyday (see this one). So, you can imagine my surprise when I went to upload them to my computer and NONE of them were there! Luckily, I can still take the after shots... but there's nothing to show my work or prove that I didn't buy it this way. I did find it's twin brother on Craigslist tonight and will use it only to show you how it looked when I got it.

Not mine, but very similar!

Just know that I had laid out the drop cloth, sanded (even though I hate sanding), primed, painted, painted some more, stapled, and repaired. But you can't see all of that because my pictures are gone... so we'll just go with the big reveal. Wait for it... wait for it...

Ta-da..

Isn't it cute? I'm in love with it already and I don't have a thing on it or around it. I found the fabric at Printer's Alley. It was the perfect shade of blue with the white chair. I despise that green wall and how it throws my gossip bench all off, but I've been painting all week and as I type it's now in front of my gorgeous, newly painted (SW Sand Dune) walls. But, we'll save that for another post when I get my camera working right!

I'm really into all of these patterns and shapes that they have out now. I bought extra fabric and intend to make some pillows for my couch out of it. For now, my new white couch and my recondition gossip bench are all I have to show for my creative projects, but I'm working on it. I'm hitting the beach this weekend in search for those white oyster shells for my mirror that belongs above my  fireplace. Here's hoping August isn't nearly as eventful as June-July and I can get on some of this stuff.