Lavender is my favorite.  Hands down, nine times out of ten, I will choose lavender in whatever I'm buying.  It just smells so fresh and clean and slightly sweet without being cloying.  It's delightful.  I know some people don't like it...

Hello, dear readers!  Dana here with some exciting news!  Do you like books and reading and going on adventures without leaving the comfort of your favorite chair?  Well, that's great because I have started an author blog that appeals to all those things.  You can find my website {HERE} or just plug www.wordsbydana.com into your address bar.  My blog is there, in which I discuss life as an independent author and review books I'm currently reading.  The site also shares news about upcoming books, like this one:

^^^ Shameless plug ^^^ Coming in October 2016!

Traditional madeleines.  Cute, aren't they?

Here they are!  Not the prettiest, little maddies, but lovely and soft!

...Is what my last blog post should have ended with given my recipe for today.  You remember my last blog post, right.  With the topless sandwiches and pandas and everything.  It's here if you don't know what I'm talking about.  Bread, plant matter, and cheese is something Heather and I both love.  I'm continuing the theme this week with one of my favorite quick and easy meals.

Hello, all!  Dana here.  If you know me at all, you know I have a very curious mind.  You may also know that I often will venture out on my own to discover my own answers.  What's that you say?  The answers for why or how to do pretty much anything probably already exists on that amazing place we call the Internet?  Super-duper!  I will now ignore all that and embark on my own journey of discovery.  That's just how my brain works.  I have to see it for myself, much to the chagrin of those around me.

Or Ilvermorny for that matter. ;p Bonus points if you've been keeping up with your HP lore and know what that is.  So what's one of the most famous edibles to come out of the Harry Potter universe?

 Anyone?

 Correct!  Butterbeer!

10 points to Hufflepuff!  Let's be honest; you know the Hufflepuffs are cooking for one another all day.

 And what is the latest Starbucks promotional drink?  Excellent!  15 points to Ravenclaw!

That would be the so-called smoked butterscotch latte and frappucino.

Final question...through what date was that promotion supposed to run?  That's right!  March 21st.  15 more points to Hufflepuff house!

According to the Internet, which never lies and is my font of fandom-y entertainment, the smoked butterscotch drink is supposed to be a real life version of butterbeer.  So exciting for an ardent fan like me!

Why is it that some of the simplest updates we can do around our house take the most time?

Not because they're difficult or will take a lot of time, but because they're so easy.

You keep putting them off, because one day you'll "get to it." It's on the list.

Today, I knocked one of those "get to it"s off the list.

I finally updated the kids' pictures on the picture wall.

This project shouldn't have taken as long as it did. It did, though, because I was taking my time and rationing my time between a lot of projects this last week.

This is the only one I've gotten done. I'm so close on the others.

When we found out our family was expanding, there were a lot of emotions. There were even more emotions when we found out our newest addition was going to be a girl.

Now don't get me wrong, I love my boys more than life itself, but a girl was new and a little bit daunting. Boys are easy, comparatively.

Either way, one of of the first projects I completed that included our updated family names was this plaque.

So I've rebooted my blogs. Now what?

Obviously, I should post, but what to post?

After mulling over my quandary, and then talking to the husband about said quandary, he gave me some direction.

Don't just fly by the seat of your pants. You're a planner. Have a plan.

So then the brainstorming began, and after batting some ideas around, I'd like to welcome you to the very first What to Eat Wednesday!

The plan is to share recipes that I like, and that have been family-approved.

The approval may not be unanimous though. We do have a picky eater in the house. If he could, I think he'd try and survive off of PBJs and Mac 'N Cheese.

I am super excited to share the recipe for today. Its one of my favorites and is the 2nd best way to eat up the ricotta I made yesterday.

So baby Rae is 3 weeks old and things are getting into a pretty workable routine here. The boys still argue; they just do it a little more quietly. They shut the door to their bedroom when they play up there.

HAPPY HEART DAY EVERYONE!!!!!

I made you all some cookies!!!!
See??!?!? Aren't I sweet? Yea.....they're not really for you guys. They're for my boys, the little ones, because they asked nicely and now the small one is asleep on the floor. Its going to make working out interesting. He's right next to where I usually get my work out on. Fun times.

So anyways, on to the real post. I've had this project done for a little bit, and I'm still lovin' on it. :)
 I made a gigantic ruler!!!! Love it!!!

The best part was the it was stupid simple to make. Just take an 8' board and stain, paint, do whatever you want to it, and then stencil on some numbers, make your hash marks and then let dry! I used Rustoleum's Sun Bleached stain and just some black acrylic paint.

Believe  it or not, but the ruler is actually hung just about right. Its like 1/4" off or something like that, which is perfect for getting a fairly good idea of measurements for the boys!
 There are my two sweeties' measurements! Its only a small gap. :)

I decided to hang the ruler right near our front door and two-story foyer, because, well, there was room, and it showcases just how tall our ceilings are. I am really loving the stain color too! I may need to find more things to use this stain on.

I hope you guys having a rockin' V-day and come back to see what Dana's whipping up this week!


Linking up to:

So hearts aren't something my boys wear a lot of, which is ok because I'm not a 'heart' person.

But then I saw some super cute boy valentine skull shirts so I decided that my boys needed some too!

Here's what I came up with!!!
Harrison's shirt just has some white knit fabric stitched down in a cute skull pattern.  The eye patch was drawn on with a red sharpie (the 'stained' kind)

Dev's shirt is another take on the skull and crossbones.
I wish I had made his skull larger, but oh well. He likes it. :) His image was just drawn on with some of the Stained Sharpie markers.

So there are my boys' valentine's day shirts. :)



Linking up to:

Have you ever bought something like 2 years ahead of schedule?

I have! I have!

Of course, when I bought these items I knew what I was going to do with them, it just took me two years to get to them. I have a really long list of things to do.

Guess how surprised I was to find something so very similar on Pottery Barn's site?

Super surprised. I guess it was a good idea.

So here's what I made....

Here's what they have.......

Pottery Barn's Fluted Glass Tealight Holder

Theirs has a pretty finial on the bottom, but really.....who cares?

Here's mine again.....

I got my tea light holders from AC Moore for about .50 on clearance two years back. The copper wire, well I don't know when I acquired that.  Just a couple of simple loops and VOILA! You've got yourself a knock-off. :)

I'll show off the tree these cute little guys are on after the house is put together, but for now, look how simple and sweet they are.



Linking up to:

What do you get when you combine $2 ball garland, a styrofoam ball and some hot glue?

This!!!!
Isn't she pretty?!?! I love how simple and quick she was to make too! I have some more ideas for the wrapping of beaded garland around styrofoam balls, but this is the only one I've made so far!

Knots are everywhere it seems. They're cute and chic as long as you're not talking about knotted thread or yarn or your headphones when you want to go for a run.

Anyways, the knots I'm talking about are definitely not the latter set of knots. These are good knots.
 See? Good knots. They're also a good reuse of toilet paper cardboard rolls.  They're also super simple to make. I will now refer you to this {POST} about the knot used on these napkin rings.  Instead of yarn, I used jute and then just hot glued these babies to my quartered toilet paper roll. You can't get much simpler than that!

Small fry wanted to get in on the picture taking action, but apparently only wanted to give you a sneak peak. Can you believe that he's 3 already! One of these days I'll have to share what I did for his  birthday party. :)



Linking up to:

So a while back I pinned some cute decor balls that had been done from styrofoam balls and push pins, and some faux capiz shell decor balls.

I made these a few months ago and just never shared them, but I'm rectifying  that now!


Aren't they pretty?

The pushpin ones were super easy. I bought some pushpins from the $1 store and just put them around the styrofoam. I did  end up gluing some of them down, but I just used some white glue for that.

 I love the texture of them!

So for the faux capiz shell ones, I got some bubble wrap from the $1 store and then ironed a  bunch of sheets together and then cut them into strips and then cut those strips into squares and then cut circles out of those squares. Then the glue gun was busted out!

I'm thinking I may have to go get some more bubble wrap because I have a lot of ideas for the faux capiz shell look!

So that's my share for today!

Have a great day guys!

Did you know that my little guy is 2.75 years old? I started this blog when he was 4 months old. Can you believe it? I can't.

Now that he's getting older though, I'm starting to get the itch to change up his room from nursery to kid room. Not that the safari theme we have in there is overly baby, but I still want something a bit more grown up for him.

I haven't picked out new paint  colors yet, other than to decide that I want to go with blue, yellow or orange, and gray, but I have decided that I'd like to go with an urban theme.

You see, small fry, is always asking to go. I wanna go, is a very common phrase from him.

We recently switched up beds in the boys' rooms so Harrison got Dev's old full bed, up from his toddler bed, and along with that came Dev's dresser and nightstand. Harrison had the bigger dressers and night stand so we gave those to Devlin since his clothes are all bigger and he's started to acquire more 'stuff'.

Once we got the furniture switched around, Harrison's room needed more light. I have crap tons of lamps and lampshades lying around. I know I have a problem, but I just  don't really care. So I found a lamp with a cute pull chain so Harrison can turn it on and off as he pleases. It's also got a nice long drum shade on it, and that shade just happens to be white! Blank canvas!

So here's what I came up with!

I did a google search for postmark collages, and then sorted by images. I found one that I  like and then printed off a full size image of it. I then just traced those postmarks onto the lampshade with my sharpie fabric markers. I love how the whole thing came out and I think that the colors on the lamp shade will work perfectly with the theme and a pop of color when I get his room done. :)

Now to start thinking  about Dev's room and the dining room, and then, and then, and then. :)