nursery inspiration

big + exciting news: we're expecting baby #2 in the springtime!

so, along with the my usual OCD and organizing plus the typical organizing you do when you move and are trying to settle into a new house, are now both being trumped by a severe case of nesting. hand in hand with nesting is planning for the new nursery. i have a zillion ideas leftover from nia's room or new things i've seen out + about. 

we don't know if we are having a boy or a girl, so we're thinking grey paint, white crib and i plan on refinishing one of the awesome dressers we just scored in either a mint or lavender color and the room having lots of warm wood tomes. 

here are some of my favorite looks from pinterest...

p.s. DIY dresser

just realized i didn't include a picture of one of the actual dressers we bought in my last post. here is the white french provincial style dresser for nia's room.

i've been slowly de-stickering with goo gone and razor blades when i get a chance during nia's nap times. afterwards i'll just need to narrow down my color choice and give it a quick sanding so the paint will stick.

it's in great shape and a perfect size. i'm so excited to get this project done.

DIY dresser

since we just moved from a small 1 bedroom apartment in queens to our new spacious house, we realized we didn't have much furniture at all (especially since our IKEA dresser and armoire not-so-shockingly both broke in  transit)

i've been hunting for some great pieces and found these 2 awesome dressers on craigslist. one will be for nia's room and the lower we are thinking will be in the nursery to act as a changing table double for the first year or so.

i have so many ideas for these two dressers, i feel like we need 10 more just to do all the sweet ideas rolling around in my head.

here are a few of my favorite color ideas from pinterest...

for nia's french provincial style dresser i was thinking all solid light pink

or solid pink with the pretty handles white

or a light mint green or faint, warm blue...

and for the nursery dresser, because it's a bit less detailed than nia's desser, it could carry ombre (as you can tell, i'm slightly obsessed with) in yellow or green or mint or blue shades.

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 i also love the lavender color and would just have to be sure the room as a whole wouldn't be too feminine if we have a boy. then if it's a girl i would totally want to attempt this awesome faux inlay look or a gorgeous stenciling/hand painted design.

or just stick with more gender neutral mint/grey color and switch out the knobs? 

then i also like something bolder and fun that this dresser could totally carry and could perk up the room. 

*(all images were from pinterest by searching "dresser")

perfect winter chili (with orange zest!)

i love chili! i obviously love a good classic beef version, but in trying to incorporate healthier recipes in the everyday i made a super healthy ground turkey version that was mild, hearty and beyond delicious. the orange zest is what really makes the recipe - it's a perfect addition.

ingredients
1 onion, chopped

6 cloves garlic, minced

3 carrots, chopped

2 tsp. olive oil
1 lb. fat free ground turkey
14 oz can of black beans
14 oz can dark kidney beans
14 oz can pink beans
28 oz can crushed tomatoes
1 cup red wine
3 Tbsp cumin
3 Tbsp chili powder (use more if you like it spicy)
salt & pepper to taste
2 tsp. orange zest 
1 avocado, chopped, for garnish
1 cup cheddar cheese, for garnish
sour cream, for garnish

steps
heat oil in large saucepan and saute onion, garlic and carrots. approx. 3 minutes. 

add ground turkey and saute until cooked through. 

rinse beans from can. always!

add beans, tomatoes, wine and spices. (also, if you have one of those chili packets of spices, you can just use that instead of the cumin & chili powder)

cook for 30+ minutes. serve hot and garnish with avocado, sour cream and cheddar cheese. enjoy!

* if it looks like it's too dry you can add more wine, fresh tomatoes or a small can of tomato sauce

suburbia update

happy new year!

i'll start from this week and go backwards...

still recovering from a weird chest cough/cold that seemed to come out of nowhere and thankfully has not spread to stuart or nia. stuart went back to work for the first time in weeks today leaving us ladies home. we've been in fancy dresses and ballerina costumes all day whipping up fruit smoothies and watching sesame street

NYE was super boring. we huddled up on the couch, the 3 of us watching "mulan", only intensifying nia's princess obsession and then i passed out at 9:30PM, completely bored by jenny mccarthy and ryan seacrest. 

christmas was awesome! we had to cancel our planned trip back to Wales for christmas due to ridiculous ticket prices. it's like the tickets knew how much, almost to the penny, we had in our savings account and wanted to play a joke. but we had a stellar time at home, just the 3 of us. nia's favorite presents: a tie between minnie light up high heel shoes and princess chapstick. 

i had a week of freelancing back at martha stewart. it was awesome!!!! i didn't realize how much i missed working. and an added bonus of seeing a bunch of sweet, familiar faces. thankfully, the subway map was still in tact in the back of my brain along with old favorite lunch spots on my old stomping ground. best lunch of the week: friedman's pulled pork sandwich with pickled red onion on a perfect brioche bun. 

           

we had nia's 2nd birthday bash the first weekend in december. she was thrilled at the idea of being 2 and loves a good party. plus, her birthday party was the first real event we've had at our new house. we'd be lying if we said we didn't love giving all of our guests tours.

we've had a bunch of fun events sprinkled in between too; our annual friends faux thanksgiving, which was down right delicious and so much fun hosting in our new house, a traditional pre-christmas date with our best buds that was chock full of cuteness, christmas cookie baking date with nia that resulted in 4+ dozen pink sprinkle clad tree and snowflakes cookies, and impromptu shopping trip to bryant park + columbus circle christmas markets to soak in the season. 

updates on the house...

1) we ordered a grown up couch. our very first grown up couch. EVER. big upgrade from our black velvet (horrendous is an understatenent) hand-me-down settes from wales, quintessential NYC apt IKEA futon, and the current pink tootsie roll couches. we're pretty excited. it was delivered yesterday and we are super happy with it!!!!

2) majority of our gutters and drain pipes are full of leaves and debris and are now almost all broken and about to burst due to expanding ice. lovely. stuart was hard at work yesterday tending to them with the help of A LOT of tools, a rickety old ladder that looked totally unsafe, hot water buckets and positive thinking. 

3) while stuarts been home for a bit he has done a zillion little projects around the house. awesome! includes but not limited to: creating shelves in old coat closet to convert to a linen closet, building shelves in bedroom closet to covert to a filing closet, painted the office (a kick ass chartreuse color - martha stewart "mimosa") and patched giant hole in the kitchen wall.  in short, things are really moving along! (pictures to follow soon!)

as a tease, it's pretty much these awesome shelves from the container store meets martha stewart mimosa paint color

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4) we bought not one, not two, but three (amazing) dressers we found at consignment shops and on craigslist. one is gorgeous, refinished wood with pretty little carved handles. it's perfect and needs no updating. it feels so amazing to finally have the last box in our bedroom unpacked. the other two dressers just need a little tlc so i have a growing painting section in the basement that needs tending to this winter. one of the other two dressers is a tall, white french provincial dresser that just needs some serious de-stickering and a fresh coast of white. and the other i have a whole dresser design file to filter through of ideas. i'm thinking pink outside with light pink drawers and natural wood bead strand pulls? or maybe all lilac or mint? or covered head to toe in zigzags? (again, pictures to follow soon)

5) we had/have bat in the attic. well, i heard it one night when stuart was away at work and then the next night it had a repeat performance. we stayed up in bed for over an hour on our phones; stuart googling home remedies for bat repellant and me for bat noises on youtube to confirm our suspicions. suspicions confirmed, however,  UPDATE: we haven't heard it since. do bats hibernate?

6) we picked out a paint color for the wood paneled guest room and once the office is done (this week!!!) that is next on our project list. although, the painted wood paneling is really just a way to put a serious, more in-depth update on this room on hold for a few years. 

love and 58 degrees, 

L

(paint color source)