dining chairs

I am a big fan of bentwood chairs, and I would love to have a set of 6 or 8 for my dining room someday. I fell in love because of these chairs from Pottery Barn, which I sadly discovered are no longer available. I would have loved to mix the 2 styles shown here (in mahogany color).


I've searched online for a good (affordable) alternative, and the best I've found is this chair from a restaurant supplier, kpeterson. I like them pretty well, but I don't want to buy something too flimsy, either. It's hard to buy blind from a place like this. The price is right...


I have also searched the classifieds and ebay, but it would be a miracle to find a full set in good condition. I'm surprised there aren't more good replicas out there, considering the popularity of this style. (I see them all over interior design blogs.) So... please think of me if you ever come across a set of these in good condition. You would be my BFF!

I also like this set from West Elm. They are a bit of an investment, like the Pottery Barn chairs, so most likely I'll put off buying anything until they are discontinued, like the Pottery Barn set. But what do you think of these?

My hangup on these is they are a little more modern looking. I love modern, but with a vintage/traditional twist. Also, I should mention I have a great little set of 5 antique bentwood chairs that came with a table we inherited from Tom's grandmother. They are a bit more rough looking than I'd like to use for my primary dining room chairs, but they would be great to add in when I need extras.

My ideal dining chair is smaller than most chairs you see in traditional furniture stores. I don't like how bulky many of them are. It is nice to be able to fit more chairs around/under your table.

Do tell me what you think of my choices!

a day in the life of the girls

Brynn (our awesome babysitter) shared these pictures she took of the girls while I was at work. Yesterday she took the kids to the tulip gardens at Thanksgiving Point. They look so beautiful!





May flowers

This weekend I declared war on these:

via
On their side, a very large army. On our side:


Our neighbor's Weed Hound. A great warrior. Worked like a gem. Also on our side: beautiful weather.

After a war comes peace and prosperity. Time to plant. Here are a few things I planted this weekend:

Cowhorn and Mexibell peppers; lemon basil, cilantro, and oregano; Early Girl, Grape, and Patio tomatoes; Spaghetti squash

Annuals: Snapdragons, Viola, Petunias, and Sweet Alyssum

This beautiful rose bush . . .

. . . which produces the most beautiful lavender roses. We had lavender roses at our wedding. Aaawww.

A few tulips standing tall among the daffodils:


Sarah planted a little Chia pet at her babysitters a few weeks ago. He reminds us of Grandpa Rog 'cause he's a little bald on top. Except for the spiky hair.

life at home


So, it's 10:26 PM. I'm lying in bed about to drift off when I hear the telltale pitter patter of Sarah's little feet across the tile floor. We always know it is Sarah coming by the speed of her patter. I'm not really surprised to hear her coming even though she has been in bed for over an hour and a half.

She comes in to my room with a bright smile on her face and says "Igot sirsis on my fed." Huh? "I got sirsus on my fed". Huh? When I make her repeat herself over an over again to try to decipher what she is saying, she get's more quiet each time until I say, "Sarah, speak up. I can't hear you". Then she yells. "I got circles on my feet!" Oooohhh. Perfectly logical.

I pick her up to examine her "circles". On her toenails? The bottom of her feet? I don't get it. Then I find them. Two identical little puffy circles, one on each big toe. "Ouch, Sarah, those are blisters! "No", she says with a giggle, "they're circles. I go down slide". I ask, "How did you get them? She says "They're really awesome."

Apparently she is really proud of her "circles". But now I'm thinking it might be time to buy her some new shoes.

another organizing project

I like to organize. Or, rather, I like things to be organized. Sometimes the process is a chore. So it took me quite a while to get my office organized, but I finally tackled the project last weekend.

{ before }


{ after }


I got my ribbon and punches nicely organized with this rod and basket system from IKEA. The baskets were too small for my grosgrain spools, however, so I found these racks (meant for CDs) that worked perfectly.


Tom worked on his side of the office too. It looks great but needs a few finishing touches. Maybe I'll show you his side another day...

birthday fun

My family spoiled me on my birthday. Abby greeted me in the morning with present.

In it was an invitation and ticket for a room party she was throwing for me.

And a birthday poem.


And some things she made out of Perler beads. She wanted to make something that I liked so she asked, "Mom, what are some things you like to do?" I listed a few things off. She said "You like to crochet, right?" "Sure, Abby".

So, this is a ball of yarn with a needle. The "C" stands for "Crochet". I was very impressed with her thoughtfulness.

After some yummy Thai food at Pawit, we enjoyed this Red Velvet cake from Nothing Bundt Cakes.


Thanks for making my birthday special!

spring soccer

Abby has started spring soccer again. This is her fourth time playing, and she is playing up a level this time with the First and Second Graders. This is the first time she has played positions with a goalie and referees.


This is Abby's friends Bethany. She is great at tearing up the field.

Sarah leaves the game looking pretty rough from playground dirt and chocolate (from after-game treats meant for the players.)

Abby leaves the game looking fresh. Go figure?!

signs of spring

One of the great things about living in Utah is the climate. The winters are mild, and Spring and Fall are so beautiful. I am a big fan of Spring. People here love to complain about the weather as well as anyone, but having grown up in Montana, I know how good we have it. A couple of weeks ago I was telling Mom how beautiful the blooms were on the plum trees they bought us for our backyard. She said her trees weren't yet showing any signs of life.

I have perennials popping up all over. Among them, these hyacinths. Hopefully soon I'll be planting tomato plants. But as I look out the window today, it is snowing. Ahhh, April.

Grandpa turns 90!

It's high time I posted about the privilege we had last weekend of going to Fort Benton for Grandpa's 90th birthday. What an amazing milestone!

Happy Birthday Grandpa!

It was a long afternoon for Grandpa, but they had a cozy chair set up for him to relax in. It was a memorable moment when Sarah thought it looked like a pretty good spot to curl up too. She asked for her blanket and climbed up onto his lap, looking pretty pleased with herself.

I snapped this photo before she was fast asleep. It reminds me of another photo when Grandpa was a fair bit younger...

Now who could that little girl be?

Many of the tribe of Benjamins were able to come for the occasion, but we missed those who couldn't make it. We enjoyed the trip and a several days afterward with Kerin, Brenna, and Molly.

Abby sure misses her playmate (Molly)! And Sarah misses hers (dog Gracie)!
If you would like to see more photos from the party, click here.

amazing roasted asparagus

This recipe is a winner. I could eat it every night. Try it while asparagus is in season!

Recipe from Cooking Light

Yield

8 servings (serving size: 5 spears)

Ingredients

  • 40 asparagus spears, trimmed (about 2 pounds)
  • Cooking spray
  • 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
  • 1/8 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
  • 2 tablespoons butter
  • 2 teaspoons low-sodium soy sauce
  • 1 teaspoon balsamic vinegar
  • Cracked black pepper (optional)
  • Grated lemon rind (optional)

Preparation

Preheat oven to 400°.

Arrange asparagus in a single layer on a baking sheet; coat with cooking spray. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Bake at 400° for 12 minutes or until tender.

Melt butter in a small skillet over medium heat; cook 3 minutes or until lightly browned, shaking pan occasionally. Remove from heat; stir in soy sauce and balsamic vinegar. Drizzle over asparagus, tossing well to coat. Garnish with cracked pepper and rind, if desired.

Nutritional Information

Calories: 45 (60% from fat)
Fat:3g (sat 1.8g,mono 0.9g,poly 0.2g)
Protein: 1.9g
Carbohydrate: 3.9g
Fiber: 1.7g
Cholesterol: 8mg
Iron: 0.7mg
Sodium: 134mg
Calcium: 18mg

a few things

First off, this post totally made my day.

Secondly, if you are a blog-reading novice, read this post about using Google Reader and other such aggregators to make your blog reading life easier. You may think this is for you, but really its for me because I want to make it easier for you to follow my blog :).

And finally, I've gotten a few great recipes from other bloggers, so I thought I'd share a few more of my own favorites. These are regulars in our household.

{ Chicken and Rice }
The first meal I'd like to share is a favorite of Abby's.


{ Garlic Chicken and Pasta }
The next meal in my repertoire is very quick and easy.


{ Lasagna }
I highly recommend the Sausage variety.

Remarkably, the recipes for these dishes are all the same:
1. Purchase at Costco
2. Microwave as required.
3. Serve

And finally, a favorite that we try to work into our diet regularly. Have you heard of Wendy's? This meal is very easy because she cooks it for you. I've managed to reduce this recipe to 2 simple steps.
1. Order food at Wendy's
2. Serve


Happy April Fools Day!
(Sadly, this is no fool. These really are regular meals in our household...)

organizing recipes


In my quest to pretend I can actually cook (imposter!) I am thinking about embarking on an effort to organize my recipes. My current system (if you can call it that) of clipping and stuffing into a binder pocket does nothing to get me excited about cooking.

I would like to store my recipes online. I'm looking for a site that:
• is free
• is nicely designed (very important!) and intuitive
• allows me to categorize my recipes in different ways
• allows me to print them out
• lets me upload photos
• lets me make a cookbook out of them
• prints a grocery list from selected recipes
• lets me put in an ingredient and pulls recipe recommendations
• has a rating system
• can track nutrition information

A tall order, I admit. A few I have found in my quick search are Taste Book, Epicurious, and MyRecipes. I want to pick the right one before I go to the effort of typing in all of my favorite recipes.

So, I'm curious. Have any of you tried a site like this? Do you have an recommendations?

photo shoot

My super-talented friend Darla recently needed a couple of girls to shoot for a project. Of course, I was happy to volunteer Abby and Sarah for the job! The shoot was fun and she did a great job. This one is probably my favorite.

You can see more of this sugary sweetness over on her blog. Leave a comment and tell me which is your favorite. Thanks, Darla!

Shooting in RAW

I recently decided to make an attempt at shooting my photos in RAW. If you just said "huh?", this site provides a very detailed explanation of what this means. But in a nutshell:

"A raw file is essentially the data that the camera's chip recorded along with some additional information tagged on. A JPG file is one that has had the camera apply linear conversion, matrix conversion, white balance, contrast, and saturation, and then has had some level of potentially destructive compression applied."

In other words, you can buy cookies already made at the grocery store. They have probably been sitting there for 2 days and are starting to get a bit stale. OR, you can buy all of the ingredients, take them home, combine the ingredients just as you prefer, and bake them fresh.
There are some downsides to shooting in RAW. Namely, the file sizes are about 4 times larger (at least). It takes a lot more space to store the photos when you've uploaded them, longer to process them, and you can't fit as many on a card when you are shooting. (There is a price to pay for freshly baked cookies—mostly your time).

I decided to do a test to see if I could tell a big difference. Below is a photo I took on a tripod. It isn't a great shot, I confess, but that isn't the point of this test. I shot this image in ƒ/4.5, ISO 400, at 1/40 shutter speed.

There seems to be just a bit more detail in the RAW image (left), and the colors are are subtly warmer.

Next, I overexposed the image.


Then, I opened both in Photoshop Camera RAW and applied the same exposure adjustments.

This is where you can see the most obvious impact. You can recover information more easily if you shot in RAW and your image is overexposed. (Notice the detail in the pot).

Next, I underexposed the image. (Actually, the exposure on the plant is quite good, but the background is really dark).

Again, I opened both images in Camera RAW and lightened them.

Here the difference is more subtle, but you might be able to see that the shadowy areas lightened up with more detail in the RAW version.

I have to admit the jury is still out on whether RAW is the way to go for a hobby photography like me. Maybe another test is in order. Your thoughts?

Saturday news

The day is no longer gray. And I remembered I have something to say.

ITS A GIRL! Baby Sofia is my newest niece, born on February 27 at 7lb,10oz and 21.75 inches. Healthy as can be and beautiful. I stole (borrowed) these photos from Tim's Facebook page. Congratulations Tim and Petra and Elijah! We are excited to meet her.



gray day

I should post today.

I don't know what to say.

The day is gray.

(and snowy).

an account of our trip

Family blogs can be much like family Christmas letters. I mean, who (except the family in question) really cares if their prize pink poodle won best of show and their super-smart first grader is about to go to college? A post such as this about a trip such as this could quickly become a brag-fest, so rather than bore you with all the details, I'll tell you about the disappointments. That is more fun, right? Then you can say "I'm glad I didn't have a vacation in Mexico" and there won't be any jealousy.

1) The worst part of the whole trip was that we had to come home after 5 days. I mean, what kind of vacation ends like that? A real vacation would go on forever.

2) The pool was so big that you just couldn't possibly enjoy the whole thing. What a bummer.

3) We got really tired of tipping everyone who served us our food, made our beds everyday, and brought us piña coladas by the pool.

4) A person could also get very tired of authentic Mexican Chips and Pico (I didn't, but you could) since they serve it at every meal.

5) Cancun has been in the news lately. Did you know half the cops in Cancun are crooked? Really. It was a terribly dangerous place. We, and the other 5 million tourists around us, feared for our lives the entire time.

6) It actually sprinkled one afternoon and got a little cloudy. Terrible thing for the weather to do. And every now and then, we just couldn't bare to sit in the sun any longer. A person can get too much sun, you know.

7) Mom and Dad wouldn't stop talking about how they should sell the farm and disappear in Mexico for the rest of their lives. I mean, invite them on one trip and they go all crazy on ya.

8) My cards filled up from all the pictures I took. I had way too many pictures to sort through to post here, which I why it took me so long. So, without further adieu, I'll share a few of my favorites. Try to look past the disappointment that is just radiating from our faces.









If you remember this post and this post about which dresses I should buy the girls for the wedding, you might be interested to see these were the winners. (Not because I was sensible about spending all that money on the other ones, but because the other ones were actually back-ordered and I couldn't get them in time!) It probably worked out for the best, since there was no wedding to attend, but we still dressed them up for dinner at night.



I got up one morning to find Dad out playing beach volleyball. Doesn't he just fit right in with the speedos and bikinis?




The best part about vacations is the sleeping in (oops... I mean... I hated that part!)

There was a pool-side vendor that sold these little ceramic items that you could paint. She would then fire them and give them back to you the next day. Our little crafter Abby had to do one about every day so we came home with several colorful sourvenirs.

We almost worked up the guts to go para-sailing, but we just had too hard of a time getting off our beach chairs long enough to go sign up. I love this shot with the cruise ship in the background.

Mom and Dad vacation like pros. I think they might have been doing it behind our backs for years.

Dad was Sarah's favorite playmate.

One thing I wish we could have brought home with us was Sarah's curls that sprung up in the humid air.

If you would like to see more, you will need to click here. Otherwise, I'll just warn you that I'm about to say something really terrible.

I hope someday that you can have a vacation as awful as this so you can write about all the disappointing things that happened to you on your trip.