It's official. This blog is getting a makeover starting with a new name, a new location, and a new design.
Visit me over at fifty-five 18.
Sunday, August 5, 2012
Thursday, August 2, 2012
This Lil' Birde Loves: Baby Della Grace
I have a precious friend named Kandy. She has two beautiful daughters named Keilah & Karrah that have become my adopted family. And a few weeks ago, Karrah had a sweet little girl named Della Grace! Kandy is just fabulous, so as a grandmother, her name is "Yetta" like on The Nanny. Love it!
But when I found out Karrah was having a girl, there was a pause of about 3 days before I started working on baby clothes. And I keep adding projects! I can't help it. They're just so cute & itty bitty!
This onesie day gown was one of my first Della Grace projects.
It's a little blurry thanks to the iPhone camera, but I just love this fabric for baby things. This gown is very similar to the one I made for my friend Kelli a while back.
See, isn't she just beautiful?!
And such a beautiful mommy, too! Thanks for letting me dress your little love, Karrah. Now I just need to hold her and love her and get my baby fix before we get back to sewing!
But when I found out Karrah was having a girl, there was a pause of about 3 days before I started working on baby clothes. And I keep adding projects! I can't help it. They're just so cute & itty bitty!
This onesie day gown was one of my first Della Grace projects.
Saturday, July 28, 2012
This Lil' Birdie's Kitchen Makeover
I love my house. Really, I do. But I hate the ugly colors the builder chose, so DH and I have slowly but surely been painting everything we can. I use "DH and I" loosely because I have yet to pick up a brush or roller. My sweet father-in-law has been the official painter which leaves me to be the color picker. I'm totally fine with this arrangement.
But we have finally made it to the kitchen which was honestly pretty boring (this room was never actually painted by the builder, just primed).
Here's the before... Blah.
And the after... The color is Benjamin Moore's Kingsport Grey & I love it!
But we have finally made it to the kitchen which was honestly pretty boring (this room was never actually painted by the builder, just primed).
Here's the before... Blah.
And the after... The color is Benjamin Moore's Kingsport Grey & I love it!
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| (See the table & chairs? Stay tuned for a major update in the next few weeks!) |
Monday, June 11, 2012
This Lil' Birdie Cooks: Shrimp & Grits
It's not very often that I cook dinner and am wowed by my own food. It's normally a general feeling of "meh" and being underwhelmed that I followed the recipe to the tiniest pinch of spice and it didn't work out like I wanted. But Friday night was a whole different story.
I found this recipe in Southern Living for grilled shrimp & cheesy corn grits and let's be honest, give me cheese, grits, corn & shrimp and I'm a happy happy girl.
But that seemed like a LOT of work for some silly ol' corn and shrimp, so I improvised.
And this is how it turned out...
YUM! I actually boiled my corn & then made the grits the same way listed in the recipe. But thanks to Pinterest, I found this shrimp recipe and ooooh it was good!
So go on. Try it. I promise you'll like it!
I found this recipe in Southern Living for grilled shrimp & cheesy corn grits and let's be honest, give me cheese, grits, corn & shrimp and I'm a happy happy girl.
But that seemed like a LOT of work for some silly ol' corn and shrimp, so I improvised.
And this is how it turned out...
So go on. Try it. I promise you'll like it!
Sunday, June 10, 2012
This Lil' Birdie Got Married!
It's true! I got married! It's almost been one month since I officially became Mrs. Newman (actually, according to the US government, as of June 4, 2012, I became Mrs. Newman since it took FOREVER to actually change my name... but that's neither here nor there!).
I wanted to share a few of my favorite pictures with you (without going overboard, I promise)...
A big thank you to the American Village for offering us such a wonderful venue and being so sweet to tote us around on golf carts when it was raining. And to Barb's Cakes for the best strawberry bride's cake and cutest groom's cake ever!
I wanted to share a few of my favorite pictures with you (without going overboard, I promise)...
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A big thank you to the American Village for offering us such a wonderful venue and being so sweet to tote us around on golf carts when it was raining. And to Barb's Cakes for the best strawberry bride's cake and cutest groom's cake ever!
Sunday, March 4, 2012
This Lil' Birdie's Weekend Projects
I have an entire list of projects that need to be done both around the house and for the wedding.
Instead, this weekend, I...
...updated my Twitter profile background! (Yep, I've been super productive!). It's lovely, though, isn't it? I found it HERE. Do NOT judge me on the amount of tabs I keep open in my browser window. I've been known to cry if someone exits the window.
If you follow me on Twitter, you'll notice that I also changed my profile picture! Here's the picture I very obviously cropped to exclude the FH (love you, though!)...
It's one of our engagement pictures that our amazing photographer Tommy Coleman took back in November. That old rickety building we're in front of is actually less than a half mile from our house! (and just so we're clear, I'm 99% sure someone was living in there because there were blankets & old rags hanging out inside one of the holes in the wood *shudder*).
What else did I do this weekend? In no way, shape, or form was this a productive weekend because most of it was spent watching this on repeat....
Did you not know of my love for Despicable Me and the minions? Oh, but they're my favorite! Haven't seen it? Then I insist you stop what you are doing right now, go watch it, and get back to me. I've yet to meet someone who doesn't like this movie, and now they're giving us a Part 2?! Oh, I cannot WAIT!
A lazy weekend of Twitter, YouTube, and Photoshop, and absolutely nothing checked off of my to-do list? Fabulous!
P.s. A very large amount of my time was also spent on Pinterest. Again, don't judge me.
Instead, this weekend, I...
...updated my Twitter profile background! (Yep, I've been super productive!). It's lovely, though, isn't it? I found it HERE. Do NOT judge me on the amount of tabs I keep open in my browser window. I've been known to cry if someone exits the window.
If you follow me on Twitter, you'll notice that I also changed my profile picture! Here's the picture I very obviously cropped to exclude the FH (love you, though!)...
It's one of our engagement pictures that our amazing photographer Tommy Coleman took back in November. That old rickety building we're in front of is actually less than a half mile from our house! (and just so we're clear, I'm 99% sure someone was living in there because there were blankets & old rags hanging out inside one of the holes in the wood *shudder*).
What else did I do this weekend? In no way, shape, or form was this a productive weekend because most of it was spent watching this on repeat....
Did you not know of my love for Despicable Me and the minions? Oh, but they're my favorite! Haven't seen it? Then I insist you stop what you are doing right now, go watch it, and get back to me. I've yet to meet someone who doesn't like this movie, and now they're giving us a Part 2?! Oh, I cannot WAIT!
A lazy weekend of Twitter, YouTube, and Photoshop, and absolutely nothing checked off of my to-do list? Fabulous!
P.s. A very large amount of my time was also spent on Pinterest. Again, don't judge me.
Sunday, December 18, 2011
This Lil' Birdie Gingerbread Cookies
It's Christmastime, and I am absolutely addicted to these gingerbread cookies!
My sister made them back in October for her Stella & Dot show, and I couldn't stop eating them! She was sweet enough to send over the recipe, but I've waited until the holiday season to make them so that I can fully appreciate how truly yummy they are! (And so I can share the yum with friends and family!)
The recipe is easily doubled, but I got 33 small-ish cookies out of this batch (and a couple of big ones that I'm already calling dibs on)! Here's what you'll need:
2 3/4 c. all purpose flour
2 tsp. ground ginger
1 tsp. baking soda
3/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground cloves
1/8 tsp (what I call a "pinch") salt
3/4 c. shortening (seriously, just get the Crisco. It MAKES these cookies!)
1 c. sugar
1 egg
1/4 c molasses
extra sugar for rolling cookies before baking
optional: hershey kisses (for a little extra something sweet, but only if you want)
To make these:
In a large mixing bow, beat the shortening on low for 30 seconds. Then add in sugar and beat until combined (be sure to scrape the sides of the bowl!).
Add in the eggs and molasses and beat until combined. {BTW, am I the only person that thinks molasses smells absolutely horrible? Oh, I'm not? Glad to know we all agree that molasses stinks!}
In a separate mixing bowl, combine flour, ginger, baking soda, cinnamon, cloves, and salt. Beat the flour mixture into the egg/shortening mixture until combined.
Next, shape dough into 1 inch balls, and roll them in the extra sugar. {P.s. I have a problem with washing my hands while I cook in that I do it WAY too much. So the process for taking this picture went a little like this: wash hands; shape dough; roll dough in sugar; wash hands; take picture of dough ball in sugar bowl; wash hands; put dough ball on cookie sheet. *WHEW* And this is why there aren't a ton of "during" pictures when I share what I cook}
Put them on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper or a silpat mat and bake at 350*F for about 8 to 9 minutes (my first dozen went in for 9 minutes; the last batch went in for 8 minutes).
Ahhh, fresh out of the oven! {Just so we're all clear on this, these cookies smell a LOT better once they're cooked! It's that durn molasses that makes the dough stink!}
These are perfectly yummy just as they are, but I just happen to think everything is better with chocolate. So I did this...
The chocolate kiss is the perfectly sweet way to balance to the more savory taste of these cookies.
If you so choose, while your cookies are in the oven, get out that bag of Halloween Hershey kisses you found on clearance at Publix for $.72 (no, really! I bought them this morning!), and take the wrappers off a dozen or so.
Once the cookies come out of the oven, and while they're still hot, press a kiss into the top of each cookie.
Cool on a cookie rack, or be lazy like me, and spread out some wax paper on the counter and slide the cookies off the cookie sheet and onto the wax paper.
These are great Christmas gifts for teachers and neighbors.
I tied four little guys up with a little leftover polkadot Christms ribbon.
I found these adorable Christmas boxes at TJ Maxx for $2.99 for 3, and I think that with a big lime green bow, these will make great gifts for my neighbors.
Next time I make these, I want to try rolling the dough into gingerbread man shapes and decorating them. But I think I'm going to lack the patience to put that much time and effort into these yummy little bites!
Let me know if you make these gingerbread cookies! I promise you'll love them!
P.s. I'm so excited that Petite Hermine featured my Brown Sugar Body Scrub on her Sunday Linky Party today! Linking up again this week!
My sister made them back in October for her Stella & Dot show, and I couldn't stop eating them! She was sweet enough to send over the recipe, but I've waited until the holiday season to make them so that I can fully appreciate how truly yummy they are! (And so I can share the yum with friends and family!)
The recipe is easily doubled, but I got 33 small-ish cookies out of this batch (and a couple of big ones that I'm already calling dibs on)! Here's what you'll need:
2 3/4 c. all purpose flour
2 tsp. ground ginger
1 tsp. baking soda
3/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground cloves
1/8 tsp (what I call a "pinch") salt
3/4 c. shortening (seriously, just get the Crisco. It MAKES these cookies!)
1 c. sugar
1 egg
1/4 c molasses
extra sugar for rolling cookies before baking
optional: hershey kisses (for a little extra something sweet, but only if you want)
To make these:
In a large mixing bow, beat the shortening on low for 30 seconds. Then add in sugar and beat until combined (be sure to scrape the sides of the bowl!).
Add in the eggs and molasses and beat until combined. {BTW, am I the only person that thinks molasses smells absolutely horrible? Oh, I'm not? Glad to know we all agree that molasses stinks!}
In a separate mixing bowl, combine flour, ginger, baking soda, cinnamon, cloves, and salt. Beat the flour mixture into the egg/shortening mixture until combined.
Next, shape dough into 1 inch balls, and roll them in the extra sugar. {P.s. I have a problem with washing my hands while I cook in that I do it WAY too much. So the process for taking this picture went a little like this: wash hands; shape dough; roll dough in sugar; wash hands; take picture of dough ball in sugar bowl; wash hands; put dough ball on cookie sheet. *WHEW* And this is why there aren't a ton of "during" pictures when I share what I cook}
Put them on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper or a silpat mat and bake at 350*F for about 8 to 9 minutes (my first dozen went in for 9 minutes; the last batch went in for 8 minutes).
Ahhh, fresh out of the oven! {Just so we're all clear on this, these cookies smell a LOT better once they're cooked! It's that durn molasses that makes the dough stink!}
These are perfectly yummy just as they are, but I just happen to think everything is better with chocolate. So I did this...
The chocolate kiss is the perfectly sweet way to balance to the more savory taste of these cookies.
If you so choose, while your cookies are in the oven, get out that bag of Halloween Hershey kisses you found on clearance at Publix for $.72 (no, really! I bought them this morning!), and take the wrappers off a dozen or so.
Once the cookies come out of the oven, and while they're still hot, press a kiss into the top of each cookie.
Cool on a cookie rack, or be lazy like me, and spread out some wax paper on the counter and slide the cookies off the cookie sheet and onto the wax paper.
These are great Christmas gifts for teachers and neighbors.
I tied four little guys up with a little leftover polkadot Christms ribbon.
I found these adorable Christmas boxes at TJ Maxx for $2.99 for 3, and I think that with a big lime green bow, these will make great gifts for my neighbors.
Next time I make these, I want to try rolling the dough into gingerbread man shapes and decorating them. But I think I'm going to lack the patience to put that much time and effort into these yummy little bites!
Let me know if you make these gingerbread cookies! I promise you'll love them!
P.s. I'm so excited that Petite Hermine featured my Brown Sugar Body Scrub on her Sunday Linky Party today! Linking up again this week!
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