Pesto Sausage Flatbreads

One of the perks of being a stay at home mom is that I get to make myself lunches like this. Warm, melty, delicious sandwiches...(really, the only kind of sandwiches worth eating...!) I started making a version of this a couple years ago, shortly after my life as a stay at home mom began. Lunchtime quickly became my refuge in the midst of crazy, chaotic days...and it felt important to make myself something delicious and satisfying - a reward for making it through another morning!

St. Patrick's Day Striped Wreath

Before we moved into our Lemon Tree Dwelling, I had owned just two wreaths in my lifetime. Both were for Christmas, and both were Target clearance purchases made just after I finished college. For whatever reason, I was just not much of a wreath person. But then we moved....into a house with 2 front doors.....and I couldn't help but become one!

Bacon Blue Cheese Gnocchi

As with so many things in life, I blame this one on my sister Carrie. She is just two years older than I am, and, growing up, was always the first to introduce me to the good things in life - things like coffee, candles, New Kids On The Block, fancy note folding, McDonald's french fries, and.......gnocchi. Strange list, I know....but my love of all these things can clearly be traced back to her "big sister" influence on me. (To be clear, her influence on me extends far beyond this short list...also, for the record, I am no longer in love with NKOTB.....or fancy note folding, for that matter.....but I have to admit I am fascinated by the NKOTB reunion tour...!?)

Lucky Mugs

One of the things I love about St. Patrick's Day is that it's a holiday free from the expectation of gifts. And yet...since it's a holiday, and we love to give gifts on holidays, we decided to make these for a few "lucky" people in our lives!

Lucky mugs! Actually, I tend to think that all mugs are lucky.

St. Patty's Vignette

I have never ever decorated for St. Patrick's Day. But as I looked around my house this week, all done up in red and white, I was faced with 2 options: either find where I stored the "everyday" decorations before Thanksgiving (!) or skip the search process and just put up some new ones! So.... I guess I blame laziness for the fact that my house is beginning to look a little...green....

Grandma's Banana Cake

Today is my Grandma's birthday. If she were still alive, she would be turning 89. But my grandma died 14 years ago on Valentine's Day... 3 days before her 75th birthday. When I called my grandpa today, he reminded me of this (he's a numbers guy) and joked that if my grandma hadn't had a birthday, they probably never would have gotten married. So yes, today was an important day, after all. Even at the ripe old age of 94, my grandpa is witty.

Lucky is a State of Mind

Have I mentioned my hellish week? Yeah, I thought so. (If you really want, you can read all about it here.) It's been a doozy. But at the end of it, you know how I feel...? Lucky.

The Best Gift of All

I had a little bit of a hellish week. Between a sick Nora and a huge argument with Jorden and some hard news from a friend and a bunch of little things that built up into something that felt much bigger, I kind of had a meltdown yesterday. On the phone. With Jorden. While he was driving home from work. I accused him of not being supportive of my blog...and broke down crying....and hung up before things could get worse. And then he came home with this: