Everyday Beauty

May Musings

May is wrapping up today and summer is beginning! May, the month of Mother's Day, is also of course the month of Mary for Catholics. This beautiful statue is on my dresser and reminds me daily to try and be the best mother I can be. 

We celebrated Sofia's 2nd birthday last weekend (so hard to believe!) and had a big party with all of our family. She had so much fun being the bella of the ball, playing with her cousins, eating cupcakes and opening gifts. She knew exactly what was going on and that it was all for her. I ordered this dress on etsy from the most adorable shop, Lover Dovers Clothing. I stumbled across the shop by chance and am glad I did. You must go take a peek at all of the adorable designs for children and grown-ups alike!

Isn't this a great time of year as school winds up, and plans are made for the hot days and lazy afternoons of summer? I'm a summer girl and am looking forward to being outside with the kids. We've already broken in the swings at the park.

...and spent many a May day at the baseball field.

I can't wait to head to the beach, the zoo, the amusement park, farmer's markets and flea markets. Naturally, we have to make time to indulge in ice cream cones and frozen treats (with a little help from this book), which I don't think will be a problem.

We've been eating dinners outside under our striped umbrella. Black and cream stripes remind me of Italian cafes, so I close my eyes and pretend I'm there sometimes. It works for a few seconds!

April showers did indeed bring May flowers. These were some of the ones in our yard.

Many a blossom got cut and brought inside.

I think that about sums up the beautiful month of May around here. All of these pictures were taken with my iphone and uploaded to Instagram. It's quick and easy, and I think it's a great way to see what your friends are up to through their photos. I've been using it daily and love it. You can add filters to your photos to make them look old, and quite cool I think. A pile of dirty dishes would probably even look good with Instagram! If you have Instagram and want to follow along with my photo stream, my user name is andreasingarella.

See you in June!

Retreat. Refresh. Rediscover. Remember.

{photo by Tiffany Kirchner-Dixon}

Last week I returned from a trip to California, where I attended Kim Caldwell's fantastic event, An Affaire at Tiffany's. (The gracious Kim doesn't leave out a single beautiful detail at her famous art events!) Art retreats are special and powerful. I came home recharged, refreshed, and inspired. So happy to spend fun times with some of my dearest girlfriends, and to meet new friends as well. There's nothing like surrounding yourself with 70 creative women to give your own creativity a boost and help you reconnect with your artistic spirit. It was almost a rediscovery for me. Made me want to come home and journal and paint and fill my shop up again with trinkety treasures, baubles and bookmarks. Most importantly, on those days when my to do list is a mile long and I'm feeling uninspired, I need to remember how this feels... this wonderful feeling of friendship and connection and creativity. It can change one's whole perspective.

I already have some jewelry in the works and bookmarks nearly finished. Now, if I could only remember the log-in to my website. I know it's written down here somewhere!

Also, I finally created a page on Facebook for my shop. You can "like" it if you want by clicking here. I'll let you know when my shopette gets updated and hopefully I can keep the momentum going!

Marshmallow Madness

I will not order this book.

I will not order this book.

I will not order this book.

 

That's what I keep reminding myself every time I stop by Amazon, and Marshmallow Madness, reappears as a recommendation. See, the people at Amazon know me, and they know I buy ridiculous amounts of cookbooks, and books on confections and the like. They know this book is right up my alley, and it will be hard to resist. And, oh, those pastel puffs on the cover are just so pretty!

However, my husband says I tend to romanticize every single situation in life, including toilet scrubbing.

So, my version of marshmallow making goes something like this: I picture myself in the (clean) kitchen, with a beautiful, figure-flattering apron tied around my waist, hair tied up like Sofia Loren, effortlessly whipping up every flavor and shape of pillowy pastel marshmallow known to man, delivering boxes of my homemade confections to friends and family, perhaps a box to the school. Oh how lovely it would be!

But I'm afraid the reality would probably look more like this: I am in the (messy) kitchen, sticky gooey fluff stuck on every surface, spoon, bowl, pan and of course on me, fingertips to elbows, hair twisted like a rat's nest, cursing under my breath at the mess I've created, wishing the marshmallows would have actually turned out like the ones in the picture. Realizing they look like lumps of rubber and deciding that I love my family and friends far too much to deliver them such ugly treats. Since I can't give them away, I am standing there in my bare feet, eating more than my fair share and telling the kids their teeth will fall out so, no, honey, you cannot eat 15 marshmallows in 30 seconds like Mama just did. Do as I say, not as I do, right?

But, honestly, I do NOT need a book about marshmallows. Or do I? This is the dilemma I face every time the sugary-sweet cover image appears on my screen.

I will not order this book.
I will not order this book.
I will not....

P.S. If you have this book, let me know how it is, won't you?

P.P.S. Thank you so much for the birthday wishes!

Birthday Bunting & a Bit of Reflection

This weekend I'll be celebrating 36 years of life. Gosh, I remember typing a very similar post talking about turning 32. That seems like yesterday, which is a bit scary. This past year has been all about change for me, in good ways. There was a time not too long ago, where I'd walk past a mirror and hardly recognize myself. Bags under my eyes, a neglected self with no spark, no twinkle in my eye. I wasn't sure how I got there, but I was darn sure I needed to get back to the me I loved, nurtured and recognized. We are all who we are, eternally, aren't we? Deep down, that ember never dies, we don't really change, but we can get so caught up in other things, feelings and routines that cloak us in a frightful foggy mess.

 Balance, balance, balance they say. I do believe "they" are right, whoever they are.

All this babbling and carrying on to say only this: remember who you are, who you love, who loves you, what you love, what you stand for, and what you believe in. Don't forget the little treats that make your heart sing. And don't forget to love yourself first. You will have even more love to give everyone else!

Happy Birthday to me.
xo

p.s. Oh, and the bunting was just a little something I stitched for Sofia's 2nd birthday party coming up in May. I think I should hang it up for my own birthday this weekend, what do you think? And George, I would love to order the window treatments for the kitchen windows and banish the old lace panels. Wink, wink. ;-)

Easter Snapshots

I know it's been a week now, but I hope you had a beautiful and happy Easter! It's a holiday I always love, but it seemed especially nice this year, being here with all of our family. We took the kids to the town park for an Easter egg hunt on Saturday, and then to Grandma & Grandpa's on Sunday for dinner and another egg hunt.

The house was fluffed up and decorated for the holiday, which is just enough but not too much that I dread taking it all down.

I love the playful Easter egg colors of this dress I found at Target....(even if it had to be layered with a shirt, leggings and a cardigan to keep the Spring chill away!)



My older son had his game face on with a strategy to get lots of eggs in the park when they blew the whistle. Luckily it was arranged by age group....

3...2...1...go!



And this little man was just so happy to be there, he couldn't stop smiling.





Kisses for Papa.

Easter morning in the playroom, photo courtesy of my 7-year old son. Ha ha...

The day wouldn't be complete without the annual Easter Day family photograph. I remember Easters in the past with snow flurries. This one was a gorgeous welcome to Spring!

Simple Pink

I love this simple jar of branches snipped from the Flowering Crab tree outside the kitchen windows. It took me about 30 seconds to do this and it was free. I can't take much credit for the yard at our new house since I didn't plant any of the flowers, but what a pleasant surprise to see 2 peonies, a couple of roses, lots of flowering trees, Lily of the Valley and tons of spring bulbs blooming. Can't wait to see what summer will bring!

Easter Mallow Kabobs

Easter really snuck up on me this year. I can't believe it's nearly here! We have been so busy with the house, focused on renovations and decorating, which is part of the reason I've been away from this blog for a while. That, and just the usual busy-ness that goes along with keeping three small children fed, clean, happy and healthy! 

But I found a few spare minutes today and took these pictures. I just can't resist cute marshmallows, and few bags found their way into my shopping cart a month ago, with plans for Easter Mallow Kabobs.

One little tip I will share with you about the kabob.....wet the wooden skewer before you try to pierce the marshmallows or you will have a sticky mess that looks terrible. Trust me on this one.

I placed each finished kabob in a plastic bag (the slim ones intended for pretzel rods) and with a few turns of a twistie they were finished.

Found these cute twisties on etsy:

So easy and fun. I am a kid at heart, so I'll admit these are as much for me as for the kids!

My Girl

We were getting ready to head out and run some errands today, and I quickly snapped some pictures of Sofia. (some are blurry!) Sometimes it's these little moments that make life sweet.

More Hanging Hearts

Hello! I wanted to show you the pretty hearts I received in the exchange last week. The neutral colors couldn't have been softer or lovlier. It's always interesting how each person creates her version of the same type of thing so uniquely. This one (above) was made by Kerry Lynn Yearly , and each bugle bead was sewn on by hand. Isn't it beautiful? The one below, made by Michele Witchell, has some hand beadwork as well. Love the old pearls spelling out beloved, and that pretty cotton flower!



And this darling puffy eyelet one was completely hand stitched by Letty Worley. Though I don't know any of these women, I am happy to have one of their creations!

Hanging Hearts

Remember the hearts I was making a few posts back? Here they are all finished and hanging in the back yard for a little photo shoot. (What my new neighbors must think of me in a hat and scarf taking pictures of hearts on a tree in the middle of winter!)

I made three for the exchange, plus one as a gift for the hostess. And I received three lovely hearts in return. I'll show you later this week how pretty they are!

Happy (belated) Valentine's Day!