Friday, November 30, 2012

high five for friday!

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we're linking up with lauren today, as usual!  tgif!  i am so ready for the weekend!

here are some of my most favorite things from the week:


1) this has to be one of my all-time favorite pictures.  my granddaddy and my baby at thanksgiving.  my grandparents are definitely one of the many things i am thankful for.

2) is this not the cutest wreath of all time?  lindsey at the pleated poppy posted this on instagram the other day.  i am going to attempt this weekend, so you are sure to be seeing my version soon. :)

3) my little boy is growing up and we are turning his nursery into a big boy room.  this is a picture of his new bedding.  this girl is excited.

4) braxton's "baby tiny chrisam tree" as he calls it.  i think he's got the spirit like his mama.

5) the picture on our christmas cards.  my sister is a photographer and she always takes our card pictures.  this one has got to be my favorite.  how hilarious.  now it is time to sit and watch clark and eddie. :)

hope you all have a fabulous weekend!

Monday, November 26, 2012

knock-off: pottery barn skull plaque

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deer heads & antlers.  they are everywhere right now in home decor.  have you noticed? 


i ran across this faux skull plaque at pottery barn and had to have one.  instead of buying it i figured i could recreate my own.  all i needed was a plaque and skull.

luckily my family deer hunts so i have plenty of antlers and skulls lying around.  i used a piece of scrap pine that i had and cut out the plaque shape, routered the edges, and stained it.  the skull that i wanted to use was old.  the antlers were faded and the skull was yellow.  i used the same stain that i used on the plaque to stain the antlers to make them darker.  then i used some white paint for the skull.


i cut out a scrap piece of pine to fit inside of the skull and glued it so i would have a way of attaching it to the plaque.  once it was dry i predrilled holes on the back of the plaque and screwed the skull to place.  since i already had the wood, skull, and paint the only cost i had in this project was the stain.  not bad, huh?  :)

i hope everyone had a wonderful thanksgiving and have a great week!

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Monday, November 19, 2012

in the kitchen: slab pie

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happy monday, y’all!  my family had thanksgiving dinner yesterday.  i love the holidays.  i look forward to them every year and i get so sad when it’s over!  i love spending time with my family and trading recipes and laughs.  i’ve become the dessert lady at my family dinners.  the ladies on my side are some fabulous cooks…i mean like mouth-watering, gain twenty pounds, extraordinary cooks.  it’s a hard name to live up to.  but this recipe seems to be a hit.  i’ve adapted it a couple times depending on what fruit is in season, so for thanksgiving this year, i used apples.  it’s originally from the taste of home magazine.  and, if you’ve never tried rhubarb, it’s worth it.  it’s tart and wonderful.

raspberry rhubarb slab pie

 Ingredients

  • 3-1/4 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1 cup butter
  • 3/4 cup plus 1 to 2 tablespoons 2% milk
  • 1 egg yolk
  • 2 cups sugar
  • 1/3 cup cornstarch
  • 5 cups fresh or frozen unsweetened raspberries, thawed and drained
  • 3 cups sliced fresh or frozen rhubarb, thawed and drained
  • VANILLA ICING:
  • 1-1/4 cups confectioners' sugar
  • 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 5 to 6 teaspoons 2% milk

Directions

  • In a large bowl, combine flour and salt; cut in butter until crumbly. Whisk 3/4 cup milk and egg yolk; gradually add to flour mixture, tossing with a fork until dough forms a ball. Add additional milk, 1 tablespoon at a time, if necessary.
  • Divide dough in half so that one portion is slightly larger than the other; wrap each in plastic wrap. Refrigerate for 1 hour or until easy to handle.
  • Roll out larger portion of dough between two large sheets of lightly floured waxed paper into an 18-in. x 13-in. rectangle. Transfer to an ungreased 15-in. x 10-in. x 1-in. baking pan. Press onto the bottom and up the sides of pan; trim pastry to edges of pan.
  • In a large bowl, combine sugar and cornstarch. Add raspberries and rhubarb; toss to coat. Spoon into pastry.
  • Roll out remaining dough; place over filling. Fold bottom pastry over edge of top pastry; seal with a fork. Prick top with a fork.
  • Bake at 375° for 45-55 minutes or until golden brown. Cool completely on a wire rack.
  • For icing, combine confectioners' sugar, vanilla and enough milk to achieve a drizzling consistency; drizzle over pie. Cut pie into squares. Yield: 2 dozen.
*my personal side notes*
- it takes more than a couple tablespoons of milk to get the dough to “workable” form.
- rolling out the dough is not an easy feat.  get it somewhat rectangular and then just try to manipulate it in the pan. 
- when you “cut in” the butter, use a mix ‘n masher from pampered chef, or just a plain potato masher if you have one. 

this stuff is crazy good.  and trust me, it will be a hit wherever you decide to take it!



today we’re also featuring a few projects from some other lovely bloggers!  here are a few of the simple with a big punch projects that you shared with us last week:



stacey from embracing change re-did this fabulous sideboard.  if you need furniture ideas, her blog is the place to be!



lauren at the thinking closet. made a wedding invitation ornament.  how cute is that?  what a simple gift idea!



pj at planned in pencil. made this adorable banner for her front door.  i can’t wait to try this!  check out her blog to see why she plans in pencil.

hope you have a fabulous week!  enjoy the holiday and soak up all that food and family time!




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Thursday, November 15, 2012

liebster award!

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well, we are pretty much in shock.  we got two liebster award nominations.  i repeat, two nominations!  we are so grateful and so excited!  if you don’t know what the liebster award is, let me explain.  in the blogging world, the liebster award is given by seasoned bloggers to a new-ish blog with 200 followers or less.  we were nominated by jen at the js chronicles and jessica at the only ten i see.  thank you so much to both of these ladies!  ok, so here are the liebster rules:

1) you must post 11 random things about yourself
2)  you must answer the questions that the nominator set for you
3) you must create 11 questions for the people that you nominate
4) you must choose 11 blogs that you love (w/ less than 200 followers) and link them to your post and let them know they were nominated.
5) no tag back

since we were nominated twice, we did one set of random facts and then answered the questions by both jen and jessica.  here goes: J

random facts by katie:

1) my brother is 6’1” and my sister is 5’11”.  i’m 5’3”.  makes for some funny family photos.
2) i had no imagination as a child, and still find myself struggling to imagine with my toddler.  thankfully, he got my brother’s imagination, which is enough for 10 people.
3) i secretly still want to be a country music singer.
4) i can’t stand the nails on a chalkboard sound.  makes me cringe and i think about it long after it’s over.
5) my parents took us on historical vacations every year.  i have been to more presidents’ graves than i can count.
6)  if i had a super power i would be invisible. 
7) i would make an awesome private investigator.  i can find out anything about anybody.  try me.  *side note: this is not necessarily an admirable quality.*
8) sadly, i am addicted to my iphone.  my husband would be on cloud nine if he heard me admit this.
9) my idea of a perfect date is hanging out on the back of a farm somewhere, sitting on a tailgate and talking about everything and nothing.  in my pearls of course. J
10) my longest relationship (other than my family) has been my friendship with casey.  we became friends at 2 years old and have been inseparable ever since.  not many people are blessed with that and i am very fortunate.
11) i would be completely content with a house full of boys.  being a mother of a girl scares me to death.  i would not have wanted to be my mother when i was between the ages of 12 and 17.

random facts by leshia:

1)  i've been married for 8 years and it was my husband that wanted the big wedding, not me.  i would've been happy running to vegas and getting married.  vegas is actually where we went on our honeymoon.
2)  speaking of the honeymoon, my next random fact is i am a homebody.  i even got homesick on my honeymoon!  like dorothy from the wizard of oz, there's no place like home.
3) my two favorite colors: purple and camoflauge. J
4) i have two boys, caleb is 11 and nickolas is 7.  they are my world.  nothing like having two mama’s boys. J
5) i do not like clutter.  i am not a neat freak, but i can’t stand clutter everywhere.
6)  i am a major daddy’s girl.
7) i like to deer hunt.  this past weekend was opening gun season here and i wasn’t able to go because i’m down and out and scheduled to have surgery in a couple weeks.  bummer. L
8) i love music!  from metallica to luke bryan, merle haggard to drake.  i love it all.
9) fast cars and big trucks.  enough said. J
10) if i could travel anywhere in the world it would be to europe.  i’d love to see all the landscapes and old buildings.
11) and on a totally random note, i think my dog lily is pregnant…..


questions from the only ten i see:

1. What is your fav nail polish color?
2. How did you come up with the name of your blog??
3. What do you love most about blogging?
4. Do you prefer coffe or tea? 5. What are you most excited for in 2013?
6. If you could only eat one thing for the rest of your life, what would it be?
7. What's your favorite place to shop?
8. What's the last thing you bought at Target?
9. What's your go-to hairstyle?
10. What's the nicest thing anyone has ever done for you?
11. What is your go-to beauty product? 

katie:

1)      my favorite nail polish color is navy.  i’m pretty obsessed.
2)      the name of our blog was born after many attempts at names that were already taken.  we think southern chic love is a great fit, though. J
3)      i think my favorite thing about blogging is being able to ramble about whatever i want to ramble about.  if a person wants to read it, great!  if not, i still got to spill my guts.
4)      coffee.  definitely.
5)      i think for 2013 i’m most excited to see what my little boy becomes in the next year.  this is such a fun age.
6)      if i could only eat one thing it would be pizza.  love love love it.
7)      my favorite place to shop would be target.  duh.
8)      last thing i bought at target was some eyebrow gel.  exciting, i know.
9)      my go-to hairstyle would probably be curled and half up.  can’t mess up a half-up do.
10)   probably the nicest thing ever done for me would be something from my parents.  they are the most giving people ever.  it would be hard to narrow that down.
11)   my go-to beauty product would have to be concealer by amazing cosmetics.  it can mask some serious dark circles.

leshia:

1)      I usually just go with what i'm feeling at that moment when i'm getting a manicure.  but, i can almost promise you that it will not be a shade of pink.  
2)      after trying several different blog names and them all being taken, katie came up with southern chic love.  we knew we wanted something southern and chic which explains our decor and fashion style.
3)      i love the comments and meeting new friends.  The bloggy world is so nice and welcoming.  
4)      tea.  i’m not really a coffee or tea drinker, but if i had to choose it would be tea.  sweet, of course. J
5)      most excited to see our blog grow.  it’s fun and challenging.
6)      if i had to pick it would be totino’s frozen pizzas.  i could eat these every day of the week and have loved them since i was a kid.
7)      target!  enough said.
8)      probably my white sheers for the master bedroom
9)      ponytail of course.  humidity plus crazy frizzy, curly hair makes the ponytail and must in kentucky.
10)   oh my, this is a hard one.  i would just have to say that i have some amazing friends who have done so many special things for me.
11)   covergirl lash blast mascara.  even if i’m no going all out with the makeup, you won’t catch me without mascara on!

questions from js chronicles:

1) If you had to be on a reality show,which one would it be & why?
 2) What are the color of the socks you are wearing right now?
 3) What is your dream job if you could do anything?
 4) What is your biggest pet peeve in public?
 5) Have you ever played a sport? If so which ones?
 6) What was the last movie you saw in a theater?
 7) What was the worst present you ever received?
 8) Do you have any pets? If so what are they & what are their names?
 9) What is your favorite restaurant?
 10) What was your very first job?
11) What is your zodiac sign?

katie:

1)  i would be on the voice.  told you i still want to be a country singer!
2) black
3) see question one. J
4)  i cannot stand when someone blows their nose in public.  it grosses me out.  find a bathroom and have at it.
5) i played soccer in school.  that’s about the extent of my athletic ability.
6) oh wow.  seriously i think it’s been a year since i’ve been to the movies.  but i’m going this weekend. J
7) the worst present i’ve ever received was a john deere pillow case.  i re-gifted it at a white elephant exchange…mwa ha ha.
8) we have a blue heeler named jess, but she lives at the farm with my father-in-law.
9) my favorite restaurant…hmm...i love seafood, so i think i’d have to go with the old oyster factory in hilton head.
10) my very first job was at a tea room as the kitchen help. 
11) i am on the line of a cancer and a gemini.  i tend to be more of a gemini. J

leshia:

1) oh goodness, this is kind of embarrassing. I would be on dallas cowboys cheerleaders: making the team.  Haha!  there are no greater cheerleaders than the dcc girls!
2)  i'm not wearing any socks!  at home in the bed J
3) my dream job would be to be a forensic scientist.  
4) my biggest pet peeve in public would be non-drivers!  i don't have as much road rage as some people i know, but the roads would be a lot better if people would just get out of my way! J
5) sports. a big no unless you count cheer leading as a sport.  i cannot throw/catch anything.
6) i think it was the woman in black.  my son and i love scary movies.
7) this one has got to be a griddle for my birthday.  yes, i wanted a griddle but i do not like things cooking related for my birthday.  i want something for me!
8) i have a cockapoo named lily.  With a house full of boys she is my only little girl.  i love her.
9) my favorite restaurant is johnny carino’s.  spicy shrimp and chicken please.
10) my first job was at wendy's.  
11) i am a libra in every sense of the word.  

so here are our questions for our nominees:
1) who is your favorite musician?
2) if you could only read one book for the rest of your life, what would it be?
3) if you could time travel to another decade or century, what would it be and why?
4) what is your favorite lip product?
5) do you have a favorite recipe?  feel free to share! :)
6) what's your guilty pleasure?
7) how many pairs of shoes do you own?
8) what album could be the soundtrack for your life?
9) what advice would you give a new blogger?
10) who is your style icon?
11) what is the one thing you would like to instill in your kids? (present or future)

and the nominees are...... (drumroll please)
1) ellora @ creatively southern
2) lisa @ wannabe domisetic diva
3) samaa @ honey sweey home
4) amy @ casablanca transformation
5) lisa @ create inspire
6) tuula @ thrity rebel
7) claire @ the rustic pig
8) julie @ being home
9) katie @ loverly she
10) kate @ something ivory
11) beverly @ la la love, learn & laugh