Waking Wednesday #2

Yea, it's Wednesday!  I am so excited to be hosting my very first, second link party!   I'm very thankful to Shantel Price at It's a Priceless Life for linking up her two great creations.  True, she was the only participant, but that just happened to be the case as she shared some bang-up ideas!

Check out these really cute and easy to make fall hurricanes!    The totally look like something out of a Pottery Barn mag.  

She also shared a few yummy recipes her sons loved growing up.   A mom's famous recipes are always the best recipes!

Thanks so much Shantel; keep 'em comin!

Alright, let's get this party started!  Show us what your workin' with ladies! 

Remember:

1.  Link up anything your proud of, just be sure to link back to your specific post so it's easy to find!
2.  If you see something you like on someone's blog, leave them an encouraging comment.  We need to support and edify each other!
3.  If you do decide to link up to Waking Wednesday, I'd appreciate it if you became a follower.  A girl's gotta eat.
4.  Check back the following Wednesday after posting to see if you've been featured.  If you have, grab a button!

Thanks so much for stopping by.  Now, link away!

Save Time and Eat Well!

I can't say that I love cooking, but I do it because I want my family to eat healthy.  And let's face it, when you love eating as much as I do, it's doubly important that it's not all junk.  But eating healthy requires using fresh vegetables.  Using fresh vegetables requires chopping.  Chopping requires time.  Do you see where I'm going with this?  It seems to me that most women (and the oh so rare breed of cooking males) desire to serve their family good ingredients but just don't have the time.  So I thought I'd share my itty bitty prep tip that saves me time and frustration and helps me not waste the whole bag of carrots (even though the recipe only called for two!).  Maybe it's something you already do and that everyone knows about (that's quite possible), but it seemed revolutionary to me, and we wives (and husbands) need to help each other out as much as possible.  

Once you pick out your recipes for the week and get the groceries, I spend a little time one evening (I like Sundays) pre-chopping all of the vegetables needed for the week.  Then I bag them up by recipe in a freezer bag, label and, you guessed it, freeze.  When you're ready to cook just pull out your bag and you're rearin' to go!

Important note!  Be sure to read through the whole recipe to see at what point you need the different vegetables.  There's nothing like having to pick tiny carrots out of a big bag of vegetables because you didn't realize you don't add them until the end of the recipe... all the while your baby is crying...and your chicken is over cooking...and your dog is whining to go out.  I'm just assuming of course, that's never, ehem, happened to me.  At any rate, just bag the carrots separate.  


And since many vegetables come in bulk (like carrots and celery), and you often only use a little of it in one week, I go ahead and cut them up and freeze them too so they don't spoil.  Waste not, want not! 


So there it is, it's not that mind-blowing, I know, but it is useful!  Do you have any time-saving cooking tips?  I'm all ears!


Don't forget to link up your projects to Waking Wednesday!

It's Waking Wednesday!

Hello friends!  Welcome to the very first Waking Wednesday link party!  I know you've been busily crafting away because that's what you do, and I can't wait to see the results.  I'm sure you know the ropes of linking, but just for fun, here they are again.


1.  Link up anything your proud of, just be sure to link back to your specific post so it's easy to find!


2.  If you see something you like on someone's blog, leave them an encouraging comment.  We need to support and edify each other!


3.  If you do decide to link up to Waking Wednesday, I'd appreciate it if you became a follower.  A girl's gotta eat.


4.  Check back the following Wednesday after posting to see if you've been featured.  If you have, grab a button!

Thanks so much for stopping by.  Now, link away!

Ciao,
Lucia

A Happy Weekend and a Blog that Rocks.

Well, there are dishes in the sink, diapers that need washed, clothes that need to be picked up,  and dogs that need to be walked... I think I'll blog!  I had a great weekend, I hope you did too!  Garage sale-ing  with my friend and her son proved to be a success.  Exersaucer in perfect condition for $1.  Yup, a dollar!  And a cute wooden, soon to be play table, for $1.50.  Well anyway, enough about that.  How about a great new blog?! 

It's called Bleubirdvintage.  Aren't they the cutest family? 

If you're looking for some style inspiration (for the whole family!), this is your blog.  All I can say is I hope I look like that after having 3 kids!

Have fun perusing, and don't forget to come and link up with me on Wednesday!

Ciao,
Lucia

Save the Date!

I am quite excited to announce that starting next Wednesday you can link up your creations to the Waking Wednesday Link Party!  This has been something I've been wanting to do for a while now because I love the idea of sharing, encouraging, and inspiring each other.  So come stop by and link up! 

Here's the skinny:

1.  Link up anything your proud of, just be sure to link back to your specific post so it's easy to find!

2.  If you see something you like on someone's blog, leave them an encouraging comment.  We need to support and edify each other!

3.  If you do decide to link up to Waking Wednesday, I'd appreciate it if you became a follower.  A girl's gotta eat.

4.  Check back the following Wednesday after posting to see if you've been featured.  If you have, grab a button:

5.  Also, if you link up, It'd be cool if you posted my button or a link to the party.  Thanks!

Well, I hope to see you next Wednesday.  I can't wait to see what you've been working on!

Ciao,
Lucia

must. screenprint.

...or tattoo.

via

Clive, you are a giant.

Initial Art and Big Plans

So I bought wooden letters of my son's name to hang up in his room before he was born.  I still haven't hung them because they seem so blah to me.  No color, just white.  I've been looking around for some inspiration and came across these decorated initials.  Love them!  Now I want to create some for our living room! But which one to choose...

Via Lily Cakes

Via Girl.Inspired.

 

 

Via Crazy Domestic

Via I am Momma

In other news, I've arrived at the point where I can't sleep because my head is bursting with new ideas for Lucia!  It's wonderful and exciting and a little exhausting.  But I'm gonna roll with it!   So hang in there with me and stay tuned to Waking Lucia because I have some great things in store! 

Ciao,
Lucia

The Lovely and the Clever

a lovely room

a lovely wall

 

a lovely kissing checklist

 

a clever oven

 

a clever website

 

Ciao,

Lucia

Halloween-y Things

Well, Halloween has come and gone and so has our little shindig.   We had such a blast I could see it becoming an annual thing.  Here's a recap...

My version of a cut out sparrow

Fun with a dry-erase marker

I'm quite proud of my bat wall...

It was so easy.  I did it in like 30 minutes.

I'm also very pleased with my wreath.  I made it based off of this tutorial.  I used a linen look-alike, although I'm dying to make one with some of the linen I found at Joann's.  They have the most beautiful mustard and turquoise colors!  Anyways, I made it and added a spider cut-out to make it Halloween-y. 

We had cute babies (my little zebra and his bff the monkey)...

 ...Games

...Staches on a stick

...and a cute little family!  (Ok, I know.  The popeye arms aren't great, but they seemed like a good idea in my head!)

We love our family and friends.  It was a great night. 

Ciao,
Lucia

Hello Friends...

Taken by my sister with mad skills.

 

How was your weekend?  Mine was lovely as it tends to be when you have a wonderful husband and sweet baby.   So, I've been looking for some good cooking blogs to follow to help awaken my culinary side.  I thought I'd share three that I've really been enjoying:

Smitten Kitchen

Cooking with my Kid

WhipperBerry 

Do you have any you really enjoy?  

Lucia's Hair Clips

I've been working on creating a hair accessory line: Lucia.  It's still very new, but I wanted to share a couple of my most recent clips.  Next week I'll be showing them to the owners of this adorable coffee shop in Lutz, Felicitous, to see if they'll allow me to sell them there.  If you live in the area you should definitely stop in and check them out! 

So here they are (don't mind the frizzy hair)... what do you think?

 

One of my many projects that I'm also working on is getting an etsy store up and running.  These will be available along with some screen printed doodads.   It may be a while yet before that's in full swing, so if you'd like one now just drop me a line.

Ciao,

Lucia 

On My Nightstand

I love to read.  I don't.  But I love it.  I love the act of it.  Curling up in a big comfy chair with a hot cup of coffee and a book I can't put down.  Heaven.  But this is planet earth; who has time to read?  Who has time to sit down?  And who in the world has time to drink coffee out of a cup and not a to-go mug?  Not I.  But alas, we make time for what is important.  And I've decided there are two important things I need to start making time for:  prayer and reading.  I confess I am a big fat cheese-ball when it comes to books.  I want to get caught up in a sweet story where people are kind and dialogue is eloquent.  In a world where there is so much icky-ness, one needs a private utopia.  Well, I have found mine in the Mitford series.  My sweet aunt and grandmother introduced me to these books and, although I am only on page 38, I am hooked.  It follows (to what I've gathered so far) the life of a pastor in the small town of Mitford.  It's sweet and lovely and makes me want to move to a quaint little town pronto.

I hope you'll make time for prayer and reading too.  They're both important: the exercise of the mind and renewing of the spirit.  What's on your nightstand?  

Ciao,

Lucia