You Lookin' At Me?

Chloe, my 11-year old daughter, and I were riding in the car and she snapped this self-portrait. I think she is so dope with the big neon pink floppy hat and oversized glasses {of course just one eye showing}. She wants to be a large animal vet and go to vet school at NC State later in life so I guess the Tarheel t-shirt will bite the dust.

Confession...every time I do a self-portrait I get a weird crop, like the top of my forehead with some odd piece of hair sticking up on the top of my head. Not a good look, certainly nothing to publish. As a matter of fact, I don't even want to talk about it anymore. Anyway, good job Coco!

image courtesy of Coco

Diamond In The Rough

She shoots and she scores! Coco and I headed to Concord on Memorial Day to check out the The Depot at Gibson Mill, a HUGE antique mall. The mid-century stars were all aligned and I scored a vintage...and authentic... Bertoia Diamond Chair! It still makes my heart race thinking about it. They retail around $1100 new and the vintage ones go for $500 minimum, but I scored this one for $186! O-M-G! Vintage is always the way to go when you are talking about mid-mod furniture, well that's my two cents anyway.

It's in super great condition and it is surprisingly really comfortable - doesn't feel at all like a torture chamber. Harry Bertoia designed this chair in 1952 and was a master when it came to space, form, and function. Now I just need to order a new Diamond Chair pad from Knoll so you don't get those weird marks that make the back of your legs look like a hopscotch board {whoa}!

The Depot at Gibson Mill was so much fun - it literally takes all day to go through there but they have fantastic vintage pieces crying out for a new home. They have everything from sign letters, to mason jars, to furniture, to vintage yarn spools. The Mill was a former textile mill and it's gorgeous inside with beautiful old wood floors and huge windows. They have a diner in the mill where {yes!} you can even buy beer or wine while perusing the aisles. I will be visiting again real soon as I had my eyes on several other items.

Diamonds really are a girl's best friend.

image courtesy of me

Little Miss Muffet...

...knew what she was talking about when eating her curds and whey. The new love of my life is homemade ricotta. I never knew...never dreamed...never imagined the difference in homemade ricotta and that store bought stuff that doubles as spackle. Making ricotta is like a delicious science experiment that results in the creamiest, most delicious concoction imaginable. There are several methods of making ricotta as far as the milks and creams you can use. One word of caution, stay away from the ultra-pasteurized stuff, pasteurized is ok, but not ultra! Ultra...bad!

My favorite way of making ricotta (with store bought ingredients - yet another reason I regret not living on a farm)...is using a whole milk/heavy cream combo with a bit of kosher salt and an acid like white vinegar or lemon juice. The easiest and best recipe I've come across is from the Barefoot Contessa herself and you can find it here...Homemade Ricotta.

I'm telling you, this homemade delight will single-handedly transform lasagna, stuffed shells, parfait, etc. It's so much fun to make and see the curds develop right before your very eyes and there are no crazy weird chemicals or preservatives like that off the shelf stuff. I've died and gone to curd heaven. Make it...and then thank me!

P.S. How about a big shout out to the super cute vintage Pyrex dot bowl. I love you just as much as ricotta, I promise.

image courtesy of me

Mary, Mary, Quite Contrary...

...how does my garden grow?  Pretty damn good at the moment.  The sun and rain have made the garden explode!  The potatoes, corn, and garlic are doing so well - now if I can only keep the crows and rabbits out, I'll be doing good!  You know how they say, "no pain, no gain" - I swear a farmer must have coined that phrase.  I am the proud new owner of a Honda tiller which will literally dig down to China.  However, while tilling and gardening all day last weekend, I successfully threw my back out and walked around like the Hunchback of Notre Dame until yesterday.  Yep, no pain, no gain {but vicodin, ice, yoga and BioFreeze sure do help}!  I do have a new favorite garden accoutrement...wait for it...wait for it...yes, bird netting {applause}.  The first row of pole beans and lima beans I planted were just about obliterated thanks to ground squirrels, birds and other devil varmints that were eating on them.  Only a few survived from the first planting so I just replanted and covered the whole area with bird netting.  So far, the devil varmints have not been munching on them or digging up the seeds...yea, bird netting baby!

Chloe has a small strawberry patch and the first two berries just turned red overnight - don't you love it when that happens?

images courtesy of me

Buried Treasure

 

*there is some rust on this super cool folding music dept desk but a little sanding and oiling of the wood and some touching up of the paint will do wonders!

 *omg, i got this vintage mid-mod stool for $6! i would have paid that just for the legs with the brass caps. i'm debating on possibly recovering but the brown is actually better in person than in the pic.

 *i love this little card catalog turned side table with the hairpin legs. i have great plans for this one - painting the wood a high gloss white, giving the brass pulls a good scrubbing but leaving them just as they are and painting the legs white as well but maybe dipping the bottom 1/4 of the legs in a cherry red paint or kelly green. rad.

 *this was the first vintage piece i bought {i think}. it's in great condition with the original glass sliding doors. definitely needs some light sanding, a good cleaning and polishing but maybe a vintage wallpaper for the back panel behind the shelves. hhhmmm...

*a vintage cosco cart on casters - the paint is actually in really good condition except for the rust spot you can see on the bottom shelf but I'm sure it will likely be covered with something - maybe a cool homemade band-aid.


In the past few months, I've been collecting {ok shopping} for vintage pieces that will one day make their new home in the mid-century modern house that I'm patiently searching for. I must find just the right mid-mod to evoke the feeling of cool, vintage, clean, homey, and modern {what a list}, but it's all the things that I think of and want to feel in my new old home.

Anyway, after picking up a few more pieces this weekend around the shabby-chic shops in town, I thought I'd post a listing of my finds. Most are in great shape but certainly need some cleaning and a little work but they are diamonds in the rough for sure. I love digging around for these old finds...they just don't make 'em like this anymore!

images courtesy of me

528 Square Feet...What Was I Thinking?

It was plowing day today - oh what fun! It finally dried up enough here to plow the garden without having a mud cake mess. Nothing like having a good ol' country boy driving a John Deere tractor around your yard tilling half way to China. I love having a garden space where you are forced to wear tall boots to work in it...step into the garden and dirt comes 9" up your leg {I LOVE DIRT}! After the plowing was done, I had the wonderful privilege of hauling 320 lbs. of bagged compost to be spread in the garden along with a good helping of cow manure and chicken poop...it was smelling RIPE in the backyard today!

As you can see in the pic, there is one lonely garlic bed hoping to have some friends soon. I did actually threaten the good ol' country boy to not hit the garlic bed...I've been nursing that garlic for months now and so far so good! I went to {beautiful} Reynolda Gardens yesterday to check on their garlic to do a little comparison. I fully expected to be so disappointed and unworthy when comparing their professionally grown garlic to mine but luck was on my side and looked very similar in size, color, leaves, etc. So all is well in my garlic world.

Anyway, more work on the 528 square foot garden tomorrow - corn and potatoes going in. Earlier this week, Coco planted a small strawberry patch and when I checked on it this morning, a pesky ground squirrel had dug under one of the plants so I had to do a bit of repair work - if it happens again, I guess I'll have to sleep out there for the next two months to make sure those little varmints don't tear it up! Also, we are waiting on pole beans and lima beans to sprout - so exciting! Yep, I'm not joking around here...my goal is to grow 90% of the produce my family eats. On second thought - what was I thinking?!?

P.S. On the agenda for the next several months - weeding, weeding, weeding, and more weeding. Like every day...for real.

image courtesy of me

Let Go of My Egg-o

Hope everyone had a great Easter! After cooking for two days, all of my family got together and we stuffed ourselves like it was our last meal. Mistake. It was so good - a regular ol' southern feast. The weather was kind of yucky today, still wet from the overnight rain so the annual Easter egg hunt took place indoors. The rules were...there were no rules...climb on the furniture, teeter on your tip toes to reach those precious eggs up in the light fixtures, swing from the chandeliers, practice the infamous "figure four" on your siblings, sell your first born...what ever you have to do to find the most eggs. It's all in the spirit of the holiday right...duh.

Anyway, looking forward to an extra long workout at the gym tomorrow {desperately needed, I'm just sayin'}.

image courtesy of me

Gougères Délicieux...aka Cheese Puffs

My copy of The Little Paris Kitchen by Rachel Khoo arrived and I made the most delectable and scrumptious recipe today. Gougères...these little cheese puffs are as light as a cloud, and wash down so smoothly with a cold pinot grigio {ok a bottle, a bottle of pinot - there, I said it}. I {heart, heart, heart} this book so much - from the photography right down to the soft white stock of the book - il est magnifique!

Want a little mid-day getaway? Check out Rachel's blog for some lovely inspiration...

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Just For Me?

Coco picked a perfect bunch of daffodils for me today.  Left a nice bare spot in the flower patch but that's beside the point!  I'm so glad to see flowers starting to bloom {smile} and warm weather is just around the corner {smile even bigger}.  Thanks Coco, these posies made my day!

image courtesy of me

I {Heart} DIY

FINALLY!!!...Thank you Lord for letting me finish these projects, AND, they actually aren't half bad. First off, my weapon of a cutting board - this thing has more glue than all of the elementary schools in town put together. It's beautiful, delightfully heavy, and the contrast of the walnut and purple heart woods came out better than I thought. I cannot wait to take out all my vegetable aggressions on this thing. And, it can always double as a self-defense device in a pinch.

Lastly, my little 50's table with hair pin legs - oh, how I love you. I didn't love you when I was making you...um, and cussing at you...but the end result, sweet! Definitely a labor of love as many times as I had to redo cuts on this table but worth it...I guess. OK, yes...worth it!

images courtesy of me