Ladies Lounge Updates

I've been focusing my home efforts lately on the "ladies lounge."

Current state:

I wanted to add a piece with some height and something that could serve as part display / part storage.  I found a piece I fell in love with at Studio123.  I think I may be addicted to chicken wire...

Before and after...

The piece needed a little TLC and these products became my best friends.

Then I decided to lighten up the inside of the cabinet.  (I guess I'm actually addicted to wallpapering cabinets and chicken wire...)  The dining room had wallpaper that I bet was gorgeous in its day, but after years had started fading and falling off (you can see in the pic the floral wallpaper below it showing through).  During the renovation process lots of neighbors stopped by asking if they could come in to see the dining room wallpaper because they'd loved looking in at night and thought it was beautiful.  My mother-in-law and I both made trips to the house trying to salvage as big of scraps as we could (mold and all!).  I knew there could be a future project where it would come in handy and would make a good conversation piece.

Since the colors are kind of greenish and gold I decided to try to use the scraps on this piece.  The pictures with my flash make it look so much more metallic and shiny than it actually appears in person-- it's much more subdued.  

BUT I still can't decide if I like it, but now I've cut it all up so I really couldn't do anything else with it.  I'm thinking if I have accessories that are a bit more unified and younger it will help.  Thinks all blue and white or all cream & gold, etc.  Right now it looks like a treasure hunt in a grandma's basement!

Thoughts?

(I do love the little silhouette of yours truly that I snagged from my parents' house recently)

I am still working on getting the brass keyholes to match and fix the one on the right.  (It does show up more than the pic below - somewhere in the middle of the two)

Olivia literally sits & sleeps in this chair all.day.long while I'm working.  Tough life.

I'm thrilled with out the little green dot velvet pillows turned out, but still saving up to have the chairs recovered.  Although seeing how much time Olivia spends in there is making me rethink cream velvet!

I finally had my new couch pillows made too.

Still need to work on the mantle.  Can't decide what style mirror and if I want to do sconces on either side or leave space for urns (or something decorative with height & color).

In other news, I forgot how happy $17 orchids from Costco can make me and how long they last!  Love the pink double stems.  I spruced them up with a little moss, twigs & my favorite Homegoods mercury glass urns.  They should last me another few months - definitely the most efficient way to have living flowers.

XO,

Whit

A few summer recipes

1st of all....happy belated 4th anniversary to my sweet husband and favorite person in the world. 

How has it been 4 years since this day?  I thank God every day that we ended up together on this crazy adventure of life.

Josh was actually off in VT for a guys trip on our anniversary AND I sent a round of shots to he & his friends, so I think I get the wife of the week award.  I was glad to have him home last night -- it hadn't been just us at home in about 10+ nights.

A few recipes we have been eating around the Otto household:

"Raw" Chocolate Truffle Bites

When my sisters, Bailey & Allie, were in town last Sunday we made these and I couldn't get over how good they were.  We didn't make them quite as "raw" and healthy as the original recipe calls for, but still healthier than some alternative sweet treats.  They call them brownies, but we rolled them into little balls and I don't think I'd ever make them another way now.

Original recipe here.

How we did it:

Ingredients:

1 c. pecans (could also use walnuts)

1/4 c. + 2 T. raw cocoa (I cheated and used Hershey's)

Dash of vanilla

1 T. brown sugar (we added this)

1/8 - 1/4 t. sea salt (+ more to taste if you want the sweet / salty combo)

2 T. almond or peanut butter (we used natural peanut because it's what we had on hand)

10-12 pitted & chopped dates

In a food processor blend the nuts - careful not to blend too long or it will turn into pecan butter.  Add cocoa, sea salt, brown sugar & vanilla and blend until it's all combined.  Add peanut butter and blend well.  Begin adding the dates (roughly chopped) a little at a time.  You may have to scrape down the sides to make sure it's all blending together.  At this point the mixture will be sticking and clumping together.  If it is too crumbly and not holding together, add a few more dates.

We then rolled in little bite sized balls and put in a mini muffin tin in the refrigerator for about 20-30 minutes.  So good!

We then put a tiny bit of powdered sugar on them just to make them a tiny bit sweeter.  I'd recommend adding the powdered sugar right before serving.

Baked Bacon with Honey & Cracked Black Pepper

1 lb. bacon (we used the thickly sliced kind)

Honey

Cracked pepper

Again, something Bailey and Brandon have enjoyed when they needed a little treat on their paleo diet.  Line cookie sheet with aluminum foil.  Spread one layer of bacon - drizzle bacon with honey & lots of freshly ground pepper.  Put in oven and set to 375 degrees (Bailey advised you don't preheat the oven when cooking bacon this way...who knew?).  Since we purchased the thickly sliced bacon it took a while so we ended up turning up the temperature at the end to crisp it up a bit.  I am a pork lover and was in heaven!

Oven "fried" Squash

Squash

Egg whites

Lots of S & P

Cracker meal

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Line cookie sheet with aluminum foil.  Spray well with olive oil cooking spray.  Slice squash into round pieces.  Season well with S & P, dunk in egg whites and make sure they are wet on both sides, then dredge in cracker meal.  Place squash in single layer spread out on cookie sheet.  Spray tops with the olive oil cooking spray.  Keep checking every 10-15 minutes - if looking dried out spray more of the olive oil spray.  Flip a few times so they brown nicely on both sides.  This usually takes about 45 minutes - 1 hour.  Add more S & P to taste.

My mom and I made this last Saturday night when I was home in Charlotte.  We served with a watermelon & mint salad (made champagne vinaigrette  and bourbon glazed grilled chicken.  It was the perfect summer meal.

Grilled Peaches with Blackberry Butter & Mint

After the above summer dinner, we finished it off with this dessert.  Another one I had to share.  

Peaches, pitted & halved

Blackberrys

1 stick butter, softened

Pinch of sugar

A few T. chopped mint, plus a few pieces to garnish (optional)

Peach non-fat yogurt (optional)

I softened about 3/4 stick of butter and then added a few handfuls of blackberrys to the food processor and blended it together.  I then added just a pinch of sugar.

We "grilled" them inside on a grill pan so they wouldn't taste like our chicken.  We sprayed the flat side with a little olive oil spray and put on the grill pan on medium heat until they browned nicely.  

Immediately when they come off put a spoonful of the blackberry putter in the pit hole.  We then sprinkled some chopped mint on top and garnished with a mint leaf.  We served ours with non-fat peach yogurt.

 

On of my husband's aunts passed away on Friday at the young age of 55.  We are off to the funeral tomorrow and I'm praying her family (including 3 sons and 5 sisters) and friends can find peace.  Thinking of all of you during this difficult time!

XO,

Whit

Weekend with Gertie

I met my new "niece" last weekend and she is the cutest piglet I have ever laid eyes on.  I was also so happy to see my middle sister, Bailey, and her boyfriend -- I cannot believe it had been 6 whole months!  Move back to the South please.

Warning: If you aren't interested in dog pictures, you should go ahead and stop reading now. :)

Gertie in the ladies lounge with my new pillows (post to come).

My favorite bulldog mama, April, came over to meet her too.

Can a family get much cuter than this? (their cocker spaniel was back in Boston)

We tried Olivia's flower dog accessories on tiny Gertrude -- looks like someone is ready for her parents to get married!

She is only 14 weeks, but we are already talking about her having puppies.  Get on the list now -- it doesn't get cuter than this.

XO,

Whit

UK Trip Recap

I don't know what happened, but I somehow skipped the full month of May.  I guess because I didn't think there was anything too noteworthy to share.  We've been doing things around the house, but not to much we've done ourselves so didn't seem fair to share.  Cooking has been a lot of the same, etc.  Life is good for us though and we are very thankful for God's blessings.

Anywho, we went on a trip to the UK and spent time in London, Cotswolds, Turnberry, St. Andrews, Highlands & Edinburgh so I thought I'd share a few photos for friends & family.  I will try to get back to more regular posting if anyone is still reading along!

A great much needed trip and it was nice for it to be just the two of us (although we missed that little dog to death!).

I'll be back much sooner with another post!

XO,

Whit