what the cuteness- May fav

I took this picture of Ellie while we were at Lake Anna.  My sisters are always great photo assistants so were able to hold up a bed cover for a background, and McKay gave her a comb over.  I just love her little tank top onesie.

Guest Post: chocolate bowls DIY review

We had a family reunion in Virginia this weekend and got hungry for treats so we attempted to make these chocolate ice cream bowls.  You have probably seen them floating around Pinterest.  My sister Heather was the head hancho of the operation and she learned a lot of things about making these bowls.  So she is going to be writing this article from here on out.  Take it away Heather!

Hello People, Heather here! Let's get down to the niitygriiity.

Here are the instructions that we are given online.  It seems so simple huh?


1 Melt chocolate let it cool, 
2 Dip in low filled balloon, 
3 Pour Chocolate onto pan for base, 
4 Let harden, 
5 Pop balloon, 
6 Load up with your favorite treats, 
7 EAT THE BOWL!!


Well, let me tell you, it's not so simple.

It’s a cute idea that I’ve wanted to try for a long time, but it’s not as easy as it looks! You actually have to be a certified bona fied Swiss Chocolatier. The danger of this project, for me, and hundreds of others, is that the balloons keep exploding like landmines with chocolate shrapnel. Though I was wounded I was determined to bring honor to my chocolatier ancestors.   It took me about a half hour to finally get it right. Now that I’ve figured out the secret, I will share it with you so that you don’t have to make the same mistakes everyone else has made.

Tip 1) Wait till the chocolate is cool.. SERIOUSLY.

One of the biggest problems is, you are like, “Oh the chocolate isn’t hot anymore, I can dip it now.” NO! YOU CAN’T! It needs to be COOL. Cool to the point where in another few minutes it is going to be hard again.

Tip 2) Blow the balloon up just a TINY bit.

We originally blew water balloons up all the way. This was a mistake, you only need to blow them up a tiny bit. Think in terms of only two spoonfuls of ice cream fitting in the cup. Very small cups. You see in the picture above that only two of the big ones worked. That was a miracle after about a million big ones exploding. Just don’t do it. You don’t want them anything but tiny anyway. The chocolate cups are so rich that even the biggest chocolate lover couldn’t finish it. We had the smallest bowls ever and no one could even finish theirs.

Tip 3) ONE BALLON AT A TIME!

The problem here is once you get three or four dipped balloons on your tray and then they suddenly all explode and you have nothing (except a big mess). You need to do one at a time, and as SOON as you get that chocolate on, throw it in the freezer ASAP!!! Don’t let anything distract you, this time is critical! Then let it cool, pull out the tray and do the next balloon/layer.

 Tip 4) Small protective layer.

This was also a big (if not the biggest) help in my success. If you can manage to get a quick tiny, thin layer of chocolate on and freeze it ASAP, then you are more likely to have success with the rest of the dipping. Because the thin layer of chocolate helps prevent the balloons exposure to the melted chocolate. And the balloon doesn’t have to support the weight of the chocolate, the layer is there as a hard shell to give it extra support. So if you do layer by layer it won’t put so much stress on your balloon. If you try to do it too thick too fast the balloon will pop. So at the beginning, the smaller the better.

**I used water balloons. I was thinking it would be smarter to use birthday balloons and just blow them up a tiny bit. That would make them thicker plastic and would help them not pop as easy, but after doing some research I found out that the thicker balloons are tougher, so they will often pull tight and collapse your cup when they pop. I didn’t use non-stick spray for my water balloons or anything and they came off great.

I hope that this post offered some help. I know that a half hour into the process I sure could have used some advice! Good luck, don’t wear nice clothing, remove anything important from the kitchen area, and enjoy!


Have you tried this?  Do you have any tips that you have found helpful?

Greek Festival

Oh hey people!  Last week I was technology free, I had no cell phone, no landline, no internet, no tv, no nothing.  It was really nice I felt like I escaped the world.  It's very strange when you start something like that because you have a lot more free time and meditation/reflection time.  You should try it, it's pretty refreshing.  

I went to a Greek Festival with my family at the Greek Orthodox church.  They served lots of yummy food and there was a lot of dancing. My little sister Amanda joined in with the dancers

We waited in line for 45 mins to get food.  The gyros were the best, and they put a half cup of tzatziki sauce on one sandwich! YUM. I could put tzatziki on everything and maybe even drink it. MMMmm, and thinking about it now, I want another one.

 And another good thing was McKay ate a gyro too so he had garlic breath just like I did, so I didn't hear about it later! YES! Double score!  

Below are some greek dancers and this girl would not smile at all.  In fact it was more of a wanttoshootmyself look.  I wonder if her parents forced her against her will to do this.

 Ellie enjoyed her time there and she still has those baby blues!

New name

I have been picking up Saturdays at the hospital and sometime I end up sitting at my desk with not really  much to do, just waiting for someone to come up to me and ask for something or for the phone to ring.  So I have been trying to brainstorm and be creative so I'm not just sitting there.  I was trying to come up with a really cool blog name because honestly I'm not sold on "sillywilleys". I just thought of the first thing that rhymed with Willey.  I really struggle with this type of thing.  

So I started picking out random words out of the Washington Post and putting them together.  That didn't really work.

And then I kept thinking "just do that formula to find out your stripper name and use that."  The formula is... name of your first pet+the street you live on= stripper name.  So that means my stripper name would be Nutmeg Middleton.  But I'm not really sure if that is good material or if I would just get sick of that too.  I would probably get sick of it. 

(Random sidenote: I love this pic)

So I need your input.  I covet some of your creative blog names and I need help changing mine.  Maybe your stripper name is good.

in the dark

Good morning

Every morning I get Ellie out of her crib she is always sleeping in a new position.  A couple of days ago it was this.  The feet out of the bars position.  She wasn't crying or anything, just snoozing away and the occasional baby twitch.  She can easily find her thumb now and I'm not sure if that's why she sleeps so long or what. She sleeps all night (12hrs+ i have to wake her up) and is so happy in the mornings just like her dad. And I am one happy mama too.

Inbread Cat

Breading cats have gotten quite the publicity lately as was brought to my attention by my friends Michelle and Brian.  I decided to get my sister to help me bread my moms cat.  haha.  

Pride goes before the fall, my feline friend.  MUAHHAHAHAHA!!

 What? Are you embarrassed?

Ellie's extracurricular

Ellie enjoys many things like Bumbo sitting,

 Elliephant wrestling

 tummy time

 dress up 

reaching for toys

and thumb sucking

crib redo/nursery project

so ellie is growing like a weed and she has outgrown the bassinet.  So my mom pulled out an old crib she had so we could use it.  It was covered in a sticky film, spiderwebs, and had some slats missing.  She said that she was going to throw it away if I didn't take it so I decided to fix it.

 I chose a turquoise color for the crib because I love the color and if I end up not liking it my baby will grow out of it and I'll hide it forever.  But so far so good. 

Do you like this pic below?   I love it! This has been my main source of inspiration for my nursery decor plan.  I really want a light grey and white sheet for the crib but Joann's Fabric didn't have any besides a houndstooth design which I didn't want.  I think it would offer more contrast between the bedding and crib just like in this pic. But we will stick to the green/aqua/pink fabric that is on it for now because I can't find anything else and we are trying to pinch pennies.

(not very contrast-y)

 Notice the crib skirt? Oh yeah.

 it just so happens that the quilt I made goes perfectly with everything.

Tada! and that chest I am using for toys and blankets

And now that I have finished with the crib part I will want to accessorize with stuff like this.  But this will probably have to wait until we get our own space.

 And yeah that's it.  Wouldn't it look great with either a white or pewter dresser?????? and one of those cool wordy signs that awesome graphic designers make that would tie all the colors together????   oh yeah!   But thats's another project for another day.

I love this

I love my husband and my baby!  And I love this pic.  I was going to save it for Fathers Day but I just love it so much I can't keep it in.

Flamenco awesome

For a while now I have coveted this awesome shower curtain from Anthropology pretty much just like everyone else.  But I'm not really sure how well it would stand up to humidity because I am worried about it being so heavy that it will mildew and be ruined. So I decided to use the layered ruffles in a different way.

In a crib skirt! Wooop Woop! So I followed THIS LADY's directions and it was super easy.  

I just had to do my own measurements because the crib that I have is a foldy kind.  And I wanted the skirt to "gently brush the ground" and as you know there is a big difference bettween that and just dragging on the ground.  

 After the measurements I made it!  It took me like 3 yards of fabric to make the whole thing.  And I just used white muslin.

 It adds just the right amount of fru fru don't you think? I'm one proud mama

Maxi dress-first fashion post

Yep, that pretty much summarizes my style.  But sometimes I don't feel lazy and want to put some effort into how i look.  Enter Emily...

 My super cute friend Emily put together this outfit and I was and am still in love with it.  She always dresses so cute and inspires me to be cute too!  (and so does my sis-in-law Sharon)

 So I went shopping.  I got this chunky beaded necklace and it goes great with the dress I got too.  (well technically my mom got it for me.) Thanks mom!

Here are the colors of the dress and I think they go pretty nicely with the necklace

 So here is the dress.  It is super comfy and I feel stylish when I wear it.  I had the white cardigan already. I was supposed to be wearing the necklace in this picture but I forgot to put it on before I took the pic.  (I took it off when I was changing Ellie's diaper) (long necklaces are not good while changing diapers) (because you bend over, swing, swing, splat!)  (Not pretty)

So there you go... my first fashion post.

what the...?!

Martha's Vineyard Jewelry Box Brainstorming

I went to an enormous yard sale and found this little beauty for $2.  My plan is to refinish it in a really creative way, a way that I am wayyy too scared to do on actual furniture but have always wanted to do.  Don't you love those little lion dudes?  they are pretty nice!

Here's the inside.  I plan on removing that red stuff on the inside and put in something more cute.  Is it a jewery box? or will it be a box for me to put pens, markers, and paintbrushes in... i don't know we will see.

 While I was doing a Google search for some quick inspiration I found this lady who  did this stuff in the picture below.  I think they are pretty creative  

They are like jewelry boxes Martha's Vineyard Gingerbread style.  

So I have decided that this is going to be my inspiration for my project.  Now i need to decide what color paint I am going to use and what other techniques I want to use as well.  I have that medium toned turquoise paint already.  So I could save money if I used it, it is pretty, and it looks great with other jewel tones (which I also really love.) 

 As far as techniques go, I know how to distress, crackle paint, modgepodge, stencil, antique, and probably some more things but I can't remember.  I like how this damask pattern fades in and out of the walls... so it's more subtle and not so "in-your-face"

I'm not sure what I am doing still but what do you think?