Pinning Into 2013

Happy New Year!

Have you started on those New Years resolutions yet?

Getting organized is at the top of my list. It's part of our " Work Smarter not Harder" goal for 2013.

Sister and I are both under the weather.. she and her husband definitley have the flu. We are nursing coughs and sore throats over here and feel pretty lousy too...  Yesterday was spent in my office cleaning out files and catching up on emails.

A lot of time was spent organizing our Pinterest boards.  We have 137 boards and over 11,000 pins...and they were in no particular order.  Ugh!

Many needing editing. I grouped and alphabetized and moved content...and after several hours it feels really good to have this behind me.

We refer to these boards a lot for inspiration...It will be so much easier now to find exactly what we are looking for..

It was tiring work but also interesting looking back at some of my favorite pins...

Here's a peek at a few...

Our interests are all over the map...food and entertaining...garden and home...jewelry and fashion...

DIY projects and just plain fun.  

Come play with us on Pinterest...you'll have a lot of fun.

Click here.

It's your turn.  Let's talk!

Happy New Year!

The end of 2012 has been a whirl wind...After all of the preparations and excitement leading up to Christmas...Mother Nature dumped almost a foot of snow mixed with ice on Little Rock...and all thoughts of Christmas quickly passed.

We always head over to Sister's for brunch and gift opening early Christmas morning. My niece and her family go to her in-laws for lunch...so we either hang out or go to a movie and start cooking late afternoon for an early family dinner. About the time we all took our seats, it started sleeting...We probably should have left then...but hey it was Christmas, and we had beef tenderloin,hearts of palm salad, potatoes and Croissant bread pudding with Caramel sauce to eat...

By the time we got to the pudding we were eating as fast as we could and literally jumped up from the table, threw on our coats and headed out the door. It was a blizzard...the snow was coming down so hard and the wind blowing where we could barely see the roads...We had to cross bridges over the river to get home...It was scary....But Don did a great job, and got us home safely.

We dropped Mother and Daddy off and headed on to our house to find we had no power. We got back in the car and slid back to Mother and Daddy's. All was well, we were warm and cozy.

We hung out together the next day and enjoyed a nice dinner. Daddy has prostate cancer that is now in the bone and has been taking chemo for quite some time. He didn't feel very well all day and by dinner he felt pretty lousy. When we all went in to watch television he had the chills and had to put his coat on....He decided to go to bed, and within 30 minutes we were taking his temperature which was very high and calling 911.

Because of the snow they couldn't even get a gurney in the house so they carried him out in a sling... a sight that will break your heart. It was 29 degrees and very icy. We slid behind the ambulance to the hospital...to find that he has pneumonia.

We left Mother and Daddy around 12:30 AM thinking that they would get them in a room any minute...At 3:00 the next afternoon they were still in the ER. There were no beds...so they finally but him in Intensive Care just for a bed. The hospital has been running on a generator because of loss of power as well. Thankfully after one night in ICU and Mother sleeping in the waiting room he has a private room...

Needless to say, we are looking very forward to 2013, but are still thankful for so many things...

Our readers and blog friends are very near the top of the list...We appreciate each and every one of you. You encourage and inspire, and make us better at what we do.

We have a lot of plans for the new year...our new website and online store will launch by the end of January. I can't tell you how excited we are about this. You will see a bit of a change in our focus in literally every aspect of our business.  This will be our new creed...

To get things right we'll introduce one change at a time, do some tweaking and keep moving forward.

We hope you'll like what you see, and will depend on you for honest feedback.

It's going to be a very exciting 2013.

The Sister's hope you will join us as we share our adventures...

 

Happy New Year!

It's your turn.  Let's Talk!

Five Days Till Christmas...These Elves Are Ready

These precious little elves are Sister's grand babies.

 It's pajama days at school today.  They are definitely ready for Christmas.

 Are you?

It's your turn.  Let's talk.

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To inquire about our design services either in home or online...click here.

To visit our online store...click here. (New site launching soon)

Seven Days Till Christmas...It's Time To Set The Table

Only seven days till Christmas...Have you thought about your dining table yet?...

Here are a few simple but lovely ideas...nothing difficult...you still have time to pull these off.

Images via Pinterest...for more inspiration follow us there. 

To follow our blog...click here.

To follow us on Pinterest...click here...

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To inquire about our design services either in home or online...click here.

To visit our online store...click here. (New site launching soon)

Sunday Supper...BLT Pasta

9 days till Christmas...

Can you believe it?

This weekend has been filled with shopping and wrapping gifts...Love the shopping ...the wrapping, not so much. Bah hum bug!!!

Pasta is pure comfort food around our house so we are going to love trying this new recipe from Cuisine at Home Magazine... BLT Pasta

Ingredients

Pasta:

2 strips thick-sliced bacon, diced

1 cup grape tomatoes, halved

1/2 tsp sugar

1/2 cup leeks, thinly sliced

1/4 cup dry white wine

1/2 cup chicken broth

1 tsp red wine vinegar

1/4 tsp red pepper flakes

4 oz dry bucatini or spaghetti

1 clove garlic

1 cup French bread, cubed (about one 1/2 inch thick slice)

1 Tbsp olive oil

Salt, to taste

Directions:

Bring a pot of salted water to a boil for the pasta.

Mince the garlic for the bread crumbs in a food processor, add the cubed bread, and process until coarse.

Heat oil in a nonstick skillet over medium: add crumbs and toast until golden, 3-4 minutes, stirring often. Season with salt and set aside.

Saute the bacon in a large skillet over medium heat.  Cook until crisp, then drain on paper-towel. Pour off all but 1 Tbsp drippings.

Caramelize the tomatoes and sugar in the drippings over medium heat.  Cook until beginning to brown, about 5 minutes.  Add the leeks, saute until wilted, 3-4 minutes.

Deglaze with wine; simmer until liquid is nearly evaporated.  Add the broth, vinegar, and pepper flakes and simmer until reduced by 1/3, about 5 minutes.

Cook the pasta in boiling water according to package directions.

Add the spinach, thyme, and bacon pieces to the sauce.

Transfer the cooked pasta from the pot to the pan using tongs.  Toss to coat.  Season with salt, then transfer to large serving platter or individual plates.

Sprinkle with garlic bread crumbs before serving.

The table is all set...

Maybe after dinner, we can take a drive and look at the Christmas lights...

It's your turn.  Let's talk!

To follow our blog...click here.

To follow us on Pinterest...click here...

To follow us on Facebook ...Click here.

To inquire about our design services either in home or online...click here.

To visit our online store...click here. (New site launching soon)