Ken Paves

Isn't that a celebrity hairstylist or something? Fortunately this post has nothing to do with him, Jessica Simpson, ugly high-waisted pants or hair.

It has to do with Ken, one of the lovely pleasant competent men who took our driveway from this: to this:

Isn't it great? As someone who wears 3" heels on a very regular basis, let me tell you...it' a Godsend for the ankle! No more pebbles, stones and debris to trip over, stumble on or sink into.

(And yes, I drive a '97 Buick Skylark...she's a beaut)

Between the grass coming in beautifully, the driveway being paved, and my green thumb becoming slightly less black into a more dark chocolate brown shade, the outside of our house ain't all that bad I don't think. Certainly better than 5 months ago! Egads.

Are you wondering how I know the name of one of our pavers? (I say our like we hired them. Really they're the builder's pavers. Had we hired them, I'd hope we'd know their name!) There's some unspoken comraderie between tradesmen where there's a mutual respect and understanding no matter what their trade. Married to an electrician, I've come to really appreciate this bond they have. A pair of work boots and Carhartt's equals buddies. So last week when they were out there tramping (or something...flattening in preparation for the paving), hubs came home and struck up a conversation with the guys. Throw a can of beer in there and they were chatting like long lost buds.

(As another note, have you ever tried to type without the letter s? My keyboard's been funky all morning and my s key hasn't been working. Let me tell you...it's a pain in the a**!)

It's starting...

Yeah, I'm officially obsessed with the cake decorating lessons. I can't even pretend I'm not.

Last night my sister and I met up now that we were armed with our 40% off Michael's coupons courtesy of flyer land. (As an aisde, how was I not aware of this site's existence until Wednesday night??? This could have come in handy when I was planning an entirely DIY wedding).

So with the class receipt, you get 10% off all Wilton products. This is great, but some of the stuff is just darn expensive, so I'll need to make a couple trips with the larger coupons. So here's what I got on trip #1: Which is more or less the basics.

I got the 50-pc tool caddy set (which replaces the course 1 kit for more or less the same price with the coupon) where I got a whack of stuff all handy in a little caboodle. I liked the idea of the case and I thought the 101 piece larger kit was a bit overkill for my aspirations. I'm interested, yeah, but I still haven't started and I'm not going to make a career out of it or anything.

I also got some meringue powder for the buttercream as well as some butter and vanilla flavouring. I need to hit up some grocery stores to find some clear lemon flavouring...yum!

I still have to decide what I'm going to decorate on my first cake next week though, and our options are:
1-character cake (i.e. shaped pan and lots of those star dollop things)
2-rainbow cake (round cake with a template painted on of a rainbow)
3-cookie cutter cake (instructor's option-choose a cookie cutter to use as the template and then star dollop the shape)

I'm thinking of option 3 as it requires fewer purchases and could be more personalized and less childish. I'm also thinking of making it a quasi-black forest cake. OMG--delicious!

Has anyone else taken these classes? Any tips, tricks or ideas I should know about? Or online sources for cheaper goods?

New Obsession: my cake classes

So, I think it's safe to say that August goal # 9 will NOT be a problem.

We had our first cake decorating class last night at Michael's and the instructor was extremely sucessful in achieving her goal for class 1: to inspire us to want to go home that night and bake & decorate a cake. Mission accomplished for at least myself and my sister & brother's GF.

We got our books, learned the recipe for their buttercream icing, and how to ice our cake for next week (dirty ice it if you're the Cake boss, crumb ice it if you're Wilton). Then she gave us a teaser of some of the things we'll learn in the next 3 weeks and then gave a quick tour of the cake section as well as what we'll need for this class.

She offered to let us taste the icing-only me and 1 other person went for it. Weirdos! It was delicious, so I'm excited, but my waistline is quivering for what's to come in the next month.

My sister's already created a spreadsheet of all the items she'd like to purchase for the class. Some of them are necessary, some aren't, but all are helpful. And I'm pretty much in complete agreement with her list (with 1 exception).

Her list:

-course kit (agreed, but I think I'm going to get the 50-pc caddy instead)

-bake even strips (the exception, I just don't really care if there's a bump-I'll just cut it off)

-coloring (included in the 50-pc kit)

-meringue powder

-baking pan (I already have several, but may spring for a new one)

-spatula (that angled one looks too perfect to pass up)

-easy release goop (or spray) (meh-we'll see)

-footed plate with lid (this will be the turntable to make icing it that much easier. If there's one available with a lid so it doubles as a carrying case, that's wonderful)

My additions:

-flavouring (some included in the 50-pc kit, but I'd like to find lemon)

-slicer-saw thing. (this guy)

And then hopefully (although doubtfully), I'll be able to make these in no time:

OK, I started getting a little overboard saving inspiration photos considering I've never even decorated a single cake (well, not well anyways), and clearly I need to take the fondant class.

Can't wait to try it all out!

Ikea Home Planner

OK, seriously cool!

Has anyone ever tried this? It's Ikea's home planning program and I just tried it for a theoretical kitchen re-do and it's fantastical!

Hubs and I are entertaining some ideas...several of which include some completely redone rooms. Having the one-track mind that I do, I had to act on it immediately, so I was looking at ways to roughly price it out before further consideration.

Enter Ikea.

I downloaded the program and got to work on familiarizing myself with the program with a space I know quite well-our current kitchen.

It's super easy to use and in about 30 minutes, I'd created this:Although, the coolest part came with a little press of the 3D button at the top, which resulted in:

Come on...that's just straight up neat.

And although the 3D view was the coolest part, the absolute best part was when I hit the button that looked like a calculator. Sure enough-it gives you the cost of your choices...and mine? $3,604.83 +tax.

Are you serious??? That's insane. I have no idea what I was picking...as I said, it was just a trial run to familiarize myself, but there's a pretty sick gooseneck faucet, some walnut countertops and mucho pot drawers. I was expecting about 3-4 times that...clearly I'm horribly uninformed.

Anyway, this little exercise (/time waster) was a very valuable one and opens up a couple more possibilities to the ideas we've been entertaining.

Seriously-try it.

August Goals

Here they are:

1. Send cards for every birthday & event
2. Have a real date night with hubs
3. Ugh-Organize the basement
4. Seriously! Work on Bedroom drapes
5. Get creative with my birthday parteh
6. Look for new desk for office
7. Art for Front entrance...a little DIY
8. Hit up at least 1 antique store
9. Enjoy cake decorating classes (they start tomorrow!)
10. Enjoy summer and stop stressing about the house!

Clearly, the main goal is the basement, which is a disaster. So I'll be focusing on that and trying not to take on too much so that I actually have a hope of completing it. Otherwise, I think I'm taking it pretty easy on myself. But so what?

Good luck to anyone with their own August goals!!

July Goals-Judgement Day

1. Send cards for every birthday/significant event Failed I'm totally slacking on this one.
2. Have a real date night with hubs Completed! It was great, even though we left it until Friday July 31st!!!
3. Make or bake 1 new dessert each week Completed
4. Make a care basket for our friends going through a very hard time Completed (and seen here)
5. Spend more time with my girls! Failed Miserably. In fact, I saw them less in July than in several months..boo! But I saw my sisters a lot...so different girls.
6. Work out at least 5x per week Completed. This one was a challenge.
7. Make or buy window coverings for family room (let's hope 2nd time's a charm) Failed. Seriously, I need to get it together!
8. Surprise goal Partially Completed. I've started and just have a few more things to submit before it's official. Hopefully I stop procrastinating and get it done soon.
9. Decorate at least 3 walls/areas...it's just silly that there's a stack of art & hangings sitting in our house and so many empty walls Completed and loving it!
10. Hanging plants: Hang 'em somehow...our front porch looks lonely Failed-didn't even think about it.

So...all in all, not an incredibly successful month. 50% completed only...

In my defense, it's summer though. And who wants to actually do this kind of stuff in the summer? Anyone? Anyone?

Here's hoping August's a bit more successful.

How'd you do???

Stolen Simple Projects

First of all, although it may seem like I sing their praises a little too much, I assure you, Style at Home has never heard of this little blog, me, or that I post on here and talk in real life about them a little too much.

With that said, here are some totally stolen simple ideas from my Style at Home newsletter:

Button Lampshades : I love this idea, and it really is that simple. You never think to dress up a lampshade, pillow, or even top with buttons or ribbon, but, done right, it could make it a totally new piece.

Covered Canisters : Again, totally obvious, and I've actually tried something similar with a cylinder piggy bank before. A great way to reuse and to inject colour or pattern into a room on the cheap!

Framed Papers : Admittedly, this display isn't all that nice. For my taste anyways. But some nice craft paper or even gift wrap (because you can never find something to wrap with the scraps) framed in a bathroom, nook or even in the kitchen could be really nice. And...yep-cheap.

Covered Stools : A nice way to pick up plain jane stools (or even homemade) and give 'em some pizzazz (or flare if you're into Office Space...yes please)

Paint Can Candles : Totally cute homemade gift, hostess gift or favour if you're an avid painter, or can get some friends to save some up for you. And cheap as can be.