Etsy Love

It's that time again where I share some of the darling things I've found on Etsy lately!

Let's start with this adorable plush cactus from SleepyKing.  Love it!

I pretty much need this Twin Peaks waitress dress by Biantika!

I adore this lovely pillow from EstherSandler.

This green tourmaline ring from Opal and Gold is swoon-worthy.

I've already ordered this beautiful print by ybryksenkova for our house.  Dreamy.

As always, if you'd like to leave some of your favorite shops in the comments, I'd love to take a peek!
Have a wonderful day, friends!

Living Room Progress

House progress is chugging along!  One of the biggest things that has gone unfinished since we moved in was our living room shelves.  I new I wanted to back them in wallpaper, but the paper I had originally decided on was going to end up being WAY out of our budget.  After a couple months of searching and some serious indecisiveness, I finally found this one!


I was also delusional enough in the beginning to think I was going to tackle this project myself.  I'm SO GLAD we hired a professional for this.  It looks so good and I'm pretty sure I would have either ruined a bunch of the paper, or I never would have actually gotten around to it.


I have big plans for this space.  We have a carpenter building a window seat for our bay window and I'm still hunting for the perfect chairs to finish up our seating.  For now, I'm off to find my boxes of knick-knacks so I can style these shelves properly!

Happy Monday, friends!

Poesy vs. The Giant Bear

It was well before Christmas, when one day we stopped at Walgreens to pick up stockings.  Poesy spotted this insanely huge bear and it was love at first sight.  We visited Walgreens a few other times after their initial meeting, and each time we were in the store you could over-hear her talking to the bear: "Giant Bear, one day I'm going to save all my dollars and I'll come back for you and you can live with me forever.  It's a promise.  I love you so much."

Let's fast forward to January 10th.  We had invited her friends over the day before for her karaoke party, but decided to save her gift from us until her real birthday.  It went something like this:


As you can imagine, there was quite a bit of screaming and jumping and "thank you, thank you, thank you" happening.  Being parents can be hard or weird or whatever sometimes, but geez... being able to bring someone so much joy from a great, big teddy bear, well that's just the greatest.

Oh, and in case you were wondering, she named him Giant Bear.  ;)

Weekly Wears: Wake Me When It's Warm

Cold weather has finally hit MO, so outfit posts have been a little more sparse than normal.  Also, I haven't totally conquered my closet room yet, so those two things combined have me in a lot of slipper socks and borrowed husband sweaters... which is actually what I'm wearing right now... annnnddddd I'm not mad about it.  ;)

dress: Gypsy Warrior;  tights: Target;  knee socks: UO;  booties: bday present from Johnny;  glasses: BonLook;  skunk pin: vintage

Thank you guys for all of your sweet, touching comments on my birthday post.  Sometimes it's nice to share bigger pieces of yourself with others.  I hope to respond to each comment in the coming weeks.

Happy Monday, friends!

Baking Calzones With Blue Apron

Calzones.  We all know what they are.  I'm actually pretty fond of them, though I laugh heartily when Ben gets taunted about them on Parks and Recreation.  Though I've ordered these delicious pizza pockets at restaurants many times, I've never tried my hand at making them at home.  We got our latest Blue Apron shipment last week, and I have to say, I picked this package solely for the calzone making experience.  Just in case you're staring at your screen like "whaaaaaaat are you talking about exactly, Katie?"...

Blue Apron is a service that sends recipes (+ all the fresh, sustainable ingredients for said recipes) straight to your door in a refrigerated box (though, with as cold as MO has been, the outside feels like a refrigerator).  Johnny and I typically choose the 2 person plan, but they also offer a family plan.  My family is terrible about eating out once we run out of groceries, just because we get super busy and don't make the time for grocery shopping.  Blue Apron helps me to slow down and get back to cooking, because all my excuses fly out the window.  Which is good.  Sometimes I need that.


(*Sigh*  Have I mentioned I love this kitchen?  Oh.  Yeah.  A lot of times.)


So, back to the calzones:  these were really fun to make.  Actually, the girls were out with their Aunt and Uncle while I was prepping and baking, and Johnny and I had way too much fun throwing pizza dough in the air like goons.  It was one of those moments where I thought, "why don't we cook together more.  This is really fun."  So, we're going to do just that.
Also, the green stuff you see in the pictures above is kale.  When Hope got home, she tried the calzones and liked them.  I got a very picky child to eat kale.  What?!


I can officially say:  Ben Wyatt, I stand in solidarity with your love of calzones.  They are kind of wonderful.

We've been using the Blue Apron service for about 1 and a half years now, and I still enjoy it every time.  I really love cooking, and they help me slow down and branch out with my meals.  Actually, I'm cooking cauliflower steaks tomorrow night and I'm super curious about what they will taste like!

If you are interested in trying out Blue Apron for the first time, click here to receive 2 free meals with your first order!  This offer is only good for the first 25 readers that sign up, so get it if you want it, friends!

**Also, you can click right here to see my other Blue Apron posts!

*This is a sponsored post, and I'm so grateful for the opportunity to work with companies I love and trust.  Thanks for reading, friends.

Poesy's 5th Birthday!

The crazy month and a half of thanksgiving/anniversary/birthday/christmas/new year's/birthday/birthday has finally come to an end.  We celebrated Poesy's 5th birthday this Saturday, and it was a success.  She requested a karaoke party with a stage and a rock star girl holding a microphone on top of her cake (the girl has opinions).  I was particularly excited for this party, because I knew I could pull it off like a champ!


The girls helped me get the decorations up and the snacks out.  As many of you probably know, January birthdays can be on the dark and gloomy side.  I'm pretty sure I wouldn't have been able to snag ANY action shots if it weren't for the lighting in our beautiful new home.  I love catching my rock star in action.  The girl is going to be an entertainer FOR SURE.


We ended the party by bundling up and going outside with sacks of glitter for a GLITTER FIGHT!  The kids had SO MUCH fun with this part, and by doing it at the end, not too much glitter was tracked back inside-- a win for everyone!  ;)


Happiest birthday to my little firecracker.  I love this kid's spirit more than I can ever say.  Also, here was my favorite part of the party:


Being serenaded by the girl of the hour.  Priceless.