homemaking

Home. On Purpose

April 30, 2013 by Edie Wadsworth 32 Comments

This indeed, was a home, – home, -a word that George had never yet known a meaning for; and a belief in God, and trust in His providence, began to encircle his heart, as, with a golden cloud of protection and confidence, dark, misanthropic, pining, atheistic doubts, and fierce despair, melted away before the light of a living Gospel, breathed in living faces, preached by a thousand unconscious acts of love and good-will, which, like the cup of cold water given in the name of a disciple, shall never lose their reward.”
― Harriet Beecher Stowe, Uncle Tom’s Cabin

This year, I made a goal to live with more intention-—to find ways to spend my time, my money, and my gifts more wisely. This month our focus is home. I’ve told you all about my latest home projects and even gave you my favorite homemade pizza recipe.

Now, it’s your turn. Whatever you’ve done recently to live more intentionally in your home, whether that’s an organizing, cleaning or decorating project, or whether it’s a recipe or just some thoughts on what “home” means, we’d love to see what you’ve been up to. Link up your blog post or if you don’t have a blog, share your thoughts at my facebook page today! Please link back to my original post and feel free to share with your Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram friends.

Also, follow our LIFE. {On Purpose} community board (brand new) on Pinterest!

Homemade Pizza, {how to make the perfect pizza crust}

April 23, 2013 by Edie Wadsworth 222 Comments

I LOVE making homemade pizza. It’s not just a meal, it’s an event. Everyone participates and adds their own flair. And don’t be afraid of homemade crust. It’s just a blob of dough. There’s nothing to fear! I will show you step by step how to make the perfect pizza crust, everytime. It’s an art, though, so you get better with it as you practice.

We do ‘Homemade Pizza Fridays’ about twice a month. Truth is, I could eat it everyday. And if you’ve been a little skittish about homemade pizza crust, this is the post for you. Please tell me you’ll try it. It’s so much more fun than ordering pizza. I promise, it is. I’m also gonna introduce you to my new favorite pizza, honey garlic! If you’ve never heard of it or tried it, you’re about to be blessed, my friend. It is AMAZING! So, without further adieu, let’s make pizza.

1. Prep your ingredients

One of the keys to pizza making night is to have all your ingredients prepped and ready. I often go to the extra trouble to put the ingredients we’re using in bowls and plates so that whoever wants to help can help. Sometimes, we add carmelized onions or sauteed mushrooms, so I get all those prepped before we start assembling. I also like to grate my own cheese, so I try to find a youngster or husband willing to help with that thankless job. Cheese has its own numbered category below but suffice it to say, I’m a cheese connoisseur.

2. How to Make the Perfect Pizza Crust

Also, start your dough early in the day, so it has plenty of time to rise. If you work away from home, you might want to make pizza on Saturday, so that you’re home for the dough rising festivities. The dough recipe and method we use is a combination of two pizza bianca recipes I’ve used in the past. Pizza bianca is just pizza crust slathered with olive oil and rosemary (usually), which is baked and served with soup. We used to do have it ALL the time, when we lived in the house with the turquoise kitchen. I don’t know why we ever got out of the habit, but I’m so glad we’ve renewed our love for homemade pizza crust. This recipe makes 2 medium crusts, so you could double it, or better yet, make two batches. One recipe is enough to feed our family of 5, but we currently have no teenage boys living at home!

Dough Recipe

3 1/2 cups of flour (I usually start with 3 cups and then add more flour as needed to make a dough that isn’t sticky)

1/3 cup olive oil

1 tsp. salt

1 T. sugar

1 cup of cold water

1 package of yeast

In a standard mixer (fitted with a dough hook if possible), (preferably a kitchen aid standing mixer so it can do all the work), add 3 cups of flour, the yeast, oil, salt, and sugar. Slowly add the water, until all the flour is incorporated. Mix the dough for 2-3 minutes or until the flour all pulls away from the side of the bowl. The dough will most likely be sticky to the touch. Slowly add more flour, (probably another 1/2 cup but potentially up to 3/4 cup) and continue to mix, until the flour is all incorporated and the dough is no longer sticky at all. Mix for a total of 8 minutes. Place the dough in a well oiled bowl and let rise until it doubles in size. My oven has a proofing setting (about 170 degrees) so I always proof my breads in the oven. It significantly shortens the rising time but at least find the warmest spot in your kitchen, free from drafts, and let rise a couple of hours. I cover my dough bowl with a damp flour sac and then it rise for a couple of hours. Yesterday, I let it rise most of the day and it was just fine but it’s better to not let it ‘over rise’, meaning you don’t want it spilling over the side of your bowl.

My dough looked like this when I first mixed it up.

Two to three hours later, it looked like this:

Then, you divide the dough in half and form each dough ball into a crust. This is a little tricky, in my humble opinion. If you use a rolling pin to roll it out, then you don’t get the taller outer edges. So, I take my time and do this part by hand, leaving the outer lip a little higher, so that honey and other ingredients aren’t spilling over the edge. I use a liberal amount of flour to roll it out and then make sure you use a very liberal amount of corn meal underneath the crust so that it doesn’t stick to the pizza peel or to the grill or to the stone or pan you’re cooking it on. Use more than you see in the picture below because that pizza stuck to the peel and my husband was not a happy camper.

After we get the dough to the right size, with plenty of corn meal underneath, we add the rest of the toppings and then slide the pizza from the peel onto the pizza stone that sits on our grill.

I love any night that the grill is being used because that means the boys are cooking!! I can’t say enough good things about the Big Green Egg. It’s amazing and cooks pizza like a brick oven would!

3. Use good marinara

(And don’t use too much!)

You can make your own but we usually use the Trader Joe’s brand. If I don’t have marinara, I’ve made due with spaghetti sauce before. I do find that the higher the quality of the marinara, the better the pizza. I guess because there are so few ingredients. Don’t add too much. Did I say that already? Here’s a pic of our marinara. Also, a pizza peel, (Norpro 5683 Bamboo Pizza Paddle) could change your life. Especially if you’re grilling your pizza, which is what we usually do.

4. Add Your Toppings

We add pepperoni and salami both under and over the cheese. We’re meat lovers like that. But technically, you’re supposed to put them under the cheese. So, add away, to your heart’s delight. Sometimes, we add mushrooms and onions. Sometimes, we add olives. Often, it’s just pepperoni and salami.

5. Use good cheese

We always have a variety of good cheeses on hand. I buy cheese from Sam’s because it’s cheaper and they usually have a great selection. I also love fresh mozzarella but Trader Joe’s has a great preshredded mozzarella that saves time and the inevitable cursing that ensues when trying to shred fresh mozzarella. Which is a little like trying to shred jello. We use a host of cheese, including but not limited to gruyere, fontina, gouda, muenster, swiss, and last but not least, Parmigiano-Reggiano, which instantly raising your pizza-making street cred.

6. Bake or Grill

Grill at a high temperature (450-500 ish) for ten minutes or so, until the cheese begins to brown. If you cook it in the oven, cook at 450.

7. Please, for the love of all things eye-talian, try making honey garlic pizza.

You will thank me for this later. This is best pizza I’ve ever had. Pepperonis are dead to me, after eating this pizza. Nick introduced us to it and now I want it for every meal.

Here’s how we do it.

Once your crust is ready and rolled out, add a thin layer of olive oil. Sprinkle the olive oil with 3-4 cloves of finely chopped fresh garlic. It’ll look something like this.

Then sprinkle liberally with the cheese of your choice. No matter what other cheeses I add, I always use some mozzarella and some parmesan. After the cheese, drizzle with honey. How much honey, you ask? You’ll just have to play with it, but here’s what ours looked like before baking. I would estimate that we used a couple tablespoons of honey.

Bake or grill and then go ahead and send me an email me or tweet me or facebook me and tell me how it rocked your world. Because it will rock your world. You may invite me to the Baptism of your baby or to your daughter’s wedding. You may even bequeath me the contents of your library. It could happen. This pizza may seal us as BFF’s forever.

Let me show it to you one more time. In case you don’t like scrolling back.

Okay, now go forth and make pizza. This Friday. C’mon, you know you want to!!

Living with Open Shelving, the pros and cons

April 18, 2013 by Edie Wadsworth 84 Comments

I’ve been singing the praises of open shelving for years. When I remodeled my first kitchen and painted my lower cabinets turquoise, I took off upper doors to give my kitchen the look of open shelving, without having to start from scratch.

Then, I remodeled the original lake kitchen and added a plethora of open shelves.

But with our rebuild after the fire, I took open shelving to all new level. There are open shelves everywhere.

They allow a lot of your personality to come through, or so I was told by a few folks from the Better Homes and Gardens photo shoot.

Two of my favorite inspiration kitchens for open shelving were Lauren’s kitchen, from Pure Style Home, who wrote a great post about open shelving,

and Sara’s kitchen, from August Fields, who took her inspiration from Sally Wheat’s kitchen.

Sara’s kitchen

Sally’s kitchen

Inspiration from a Martha Stewart kitchen even led me to incorporating a two-sided open island into our kitchen. And while I LOVE having easy access to everything while I cook and work in the kitchen, these lower shelves are ALWAYS dusty. And the dust is easy to see. It’s not bothersome enough to me to make me enclose it (at least not yet) but it’s pretty dusty, especially in spring with a layer of pollen covering the entire free world. I keep saying that if someone drops off a baby in a Moses basket on my front doorstep, I’ll have to enclose these cabinets. (Are there some people that NEVER get over babies?)

When I got home from girl’s weekend, I was inspired to rearrange/redecorate my cupboards. In other words, they needed to be cleaned. But merely cleaning them doesn’t inspire me, so I need to turn the project into an all-day dust fest—kinda like switching out your winter clothes for summer ones, only with dishes, instead of clothes. I wanted to move all the white dishes from the green hutch into the island and vice versa. Because clearly, white is spring-like. And as much as I love every pattern of color of dishes ever made (almost), I adore white dishes the most.

It took a long time but I got the shelves clean and it gave me a chance to think about what I would do different.

Turns out, I’m not sure an open island is that practical. But I love not having to open and close cabinet doors 8,000 times a day.

I LOVE my green hutch with its leaded glass doors. (The one I copied the design from Polly’s house.) It’s the perfect blend of open-ish but closed cabinets. Since we moved in eighteen months ago, I’ve had all my white dishes in this cabinet, while the blue and white dishes were in the black island. So, it was a fun change to switch them all out and clean as I went along.

In a nutshell, here are my thoughts:

Pro’s for open shelving

1. In general, more open shelving makes the room look and feel bigger. This is especially true if your cabinets are dark.

2. Open upper shelves has a very European/industrial feel to it and adds an element of design that is both functional and interesting.

3. I LOVE being able to see what I have and easily get to it without the constant opening and closing of doors. It’s probably the ADD in me but fewer steps is better in my world.

4. I will always have some open shelves. I LOVE them. Truly, I do. And most of the dishes on my open shelves don’t get dusty because we’re home 24/7 and use them all the time.

Cons for open shelving

1. Open lower shelving should be used sparingly, in my humble opinion. All the dust floating in the air will land on the lower open shelves and threaten to drive you to the brink of insanity. For some of us, it’s a short ride.

2. Some people don’t like the visual clutter that open shelving can create. What you might call clutter, I call art. So, know thyself. If stacks of bowls and pretty dishes are not your idea of art on display, then you might not want open shelves.

As for me, I’m pretty happy with the all the open shelves.

And it’s a good thing, because I’ve got lots of them!!

What about you? Do you hate them/love them? Would you incorporate them into your next kitchen?

Would this many of them drive you crazy?

******************

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Closet Organizing Tips, {and my favorite clothes}, part 2

April 10, 2013 by Edie Wadsworth 165 Comments

(This is re-adapted from a chapter in my ebook on Hospitality called The Well-Appointed Hostess.)

over40dressing

Also, join my ‘fashion’ board on Pinterest for ideas and amusement!

So, now that we’ve all cleaned out our closets and made peace with our inner hoarders, here’s a few of my favorite tips for dressing yourself.

Y’all listen close. Lean in. (I defy all personal space rules and I always have. My apologies.) There is no amount of makeup or clothing or hair products that can ever make up for the beauty that lives within you. You are beautiful! Did you hear me? God has made you in His image and He has poured Himself into you and you are unique and special and lovely in all the ways that matter.

But there are a few principles I follow when dressing myself that might help you too. Take it all with a grain of salt because I’ve always been a little eclectic and risky with my wardrobe. And? I’ve been looking high and low for a red fitted jumpsuit, something akin to the one Sally O’Malley wears—you know, for those nights when my girls like to see me do my best rendition of her kick and stretch routine. So, maybe my advice on clothing is completely worthless. But that’s never stopped me before.

1. Find clothes that are ‘yank and tuck and hitch free’.

And by that I mean, who’s got time to keep readjusting clothes that don’t fit properly? No one, in the history of ever. So as much as you and I both hate it, try things on to make sure you’re not gonna be hitching and tucking and yanking and in general driving yourself to the brink of insanity. And we all may have gone too far in rebelling against mom jeans. It may be time to give up the teeny bopper jeans that won’t stay up. Which brings me to my next point.

2. Invest in some good jeans.

Okay, I want you to go right now to your closet and count how many pairs of jeans you have. Go on, I’ll wait. How many was it? 10? 15? More than 20? Don’t lie to me. Do any of them really fit? If you’re like most women, the answer is no.

Now, if you could sell or trade in all those ill-fitting jeans for one pair of amazing, butt-lifting, perfect fitting jeans, wouldn’t you do it? How much would you pay for one pair of awesome jeans? Well, it’s gonna cost you. But save your pennies and put it on your ‘list of things I must do’. My favorite pair is from True Religion and they were VERY expensive. I like Seven jeans and Hudson’s and Paige jeans. Go to a high-end department store and try on some good jeans. Just do it. You won’t regret it, I promise.

Buying one pair good jeans will stop you from buying 20 pairs of mediocre jeans. It’ll save you hundreds of dollars in the end.

Let me break it down for you.

—Stitched jeans make you look thinner. See that stitching on the inner thigh? It’s your friend. It makes your inner thighs play nice and also makes you look like you’re from Texas, getting ready to go to a honky tonk. Win-Win, in my book. Add a trendy, flowing, silky top and you’re ready for almost anything, which in my world would be going to a square dance or feeding the chickens.

Top: Belk

Jeans: True Religion Women’s Becky Bootcut Jean, Lonestar, 25 (not my exact jeans)

Shoes: Gold wedges, Micheal Kors

Chan Luu Turquoise Wrap Bracelet

—Trouser Jeans make you look taller and look so cute with summer wedges or sandals or cowboy boots, of course. Last season, American Eagle even had trouser jeans in white, which were super cute.

Jeans: Trouser jeans from CABI

Top: from T.J. Maxx

Wedges: Miz Mooz Women’s Lucie Wedge Sandal,Tobacco/Yellow,7.5 M US (not mine, but I like them!)

Woven Belt from CABi

—Skinny Jeans make you look, er, ummm, skinny? This has never been true in my case, so I just tuck them into my boots. I can’t think of another good reason to own skinny jeans, y’all. Unless you’re 22 and skinny or are in a hipster band or are Justin Beiber. But they’re good for tucking into boots. So, yeah, I’ve highjacked the skinny jeans for my own 43 year old purposes.

Jeans: Hudson Women’s Tilda Straight Cuffed Crop, Whitcomb, 31

Top: T.J. Maxx

Boots: Frye, tall, jackie riding boots

Okay, so I’m passionate about denim. Sell a bunch of the stuff you don’t wear and buy some good denim. It’s the 11th commandment.

3. Buy every color of Sugar Lips tank top you think you’ll use.

These tank tops (Sugar Lips Seamless Rib Tank Top 409 (Ivory)) fit amazingly well and have a lot of ‘stretch’ in them. They stay put and help you feel all tucked in. I wear one every single day. I don’t ever want to talk to you about any other tank top, ever! These are amazing and pretty cheap. Buy yours today. Don’t delay. You’ll be singing my praises. And all your ‘situations’ around the midsection will be put in their place. They are ‘one size fit most’ so I’ve found that most people can wear them with great satisfaction.

4. Dress like a woman.

Do not underestimate the power of a good wrap dress. Dresses are beautiful and feminine and can hide a lot of buttercream icing indiscretion. I LOVE dresses and wear them all the time. They’re not just for Sunday. Dress them down with cowboy boots or flip flops. I love this wrap dress and wear it in the summer by itself with flip flops or in the winter with a shirt, sweater and boots.

5. Do not buy ‘outfits’ or fall for every trend.

Never, ever, {like ever} buy something that comes in a set. Except maybe for china and false teeth. Buy individual pieces that you love but resist buying things as ‘outfits’. Buy some good jeans, a few great sweaters, some girly blouses and a few great wrap dresses. Outfits were outlawed in 1985. I have such bad memories of outfits. Remember, in high school, when everything you owned was in outfit form? I almost always had matching shoes to go with my outfits back then. Clothes shouldn’t be married to each other. They are free agents, to date around, with whomever they choose.

That said, don’t throw out the baby with the bathwater. Trends are there for a reason. They give us something to laugh about in ten years. And, there are some trends that seem to work with those of us no longer 25. The new trend of the colored pants, aka ‘hot pants’ from 1960? I love them. You can get them in every conceivable color. I love these army green ones from American Eagle. But be choosy with the trends you fall for. I tend to LOVE them all and then live to regret it. Buy them cheap. The’ll be like track suits before you know it.

6. Learn what looks good on you and what doesn’t.

Why did this take me 37 years to learn? I do not know. But I’ve finally figured out a few things about what I can and can’t wear. I can’t wear flat shoes or peasant blouses or empire dresses. I don’t look good in boxy sweaters or long skirts or high waisted anything. I have a boyish shape, with strong thighs and narrow hips, so I have to do things to give the illusion of a more feminine figure. I look good in blouses but not so good in turtlenecks.

The bottom line is—-you need to find your lists of do’s and don’t and abide by it. Stop trying to force things that aren’t good for you just because they’re on sale. Think of the things you feel great in and try to deconstruct what it is about those pieces that you love.

7. Buy fewer things but better things.

We all have way too many clothes. We buy things because they’re on sale but then complain that we don’t have things to wear that we really like. Be patient. If there’s nothing this season that thrills you, just wait and save your money. Invest in a few really awesome classic pieces and then try out a few trendy things when they’re on sale. Buy less, but better.

8. Remember why you should care

We should take some pride in our appearance because beauty is God given and should not be despised or neglected. And our husbands appreciate it. They are visual creatures and they are drawn to beauty. We love and serve them by taking care of ourselves and trying to be the best we can be. We aren’t trying to win beauty contests, nor are we trying to be 20 years younger. But we are trying. It’s important. And trust me, they notice.

I spend 90% of my time in good jeans with colorful, girly shirts. Add some cowboy boots and it’s an easy, comfortable way to spend the day and feel good about myself. I want to be pleasing for my husband so that to the best of my ability, the outside represents the beauty that God is cultivating in me on the inside. My goal is to be comfortable enough about what I’m wearing and how I look so that I don’t have to worry about it. It really frees you up to focus on others, when you aren’t so self-conscious about what you have on.

But the inside is where all the hard work happens. And it’s way more important than all the rest of it.

In real life, I do a lot of layering, but someday, it needs its own post.

I’m also now OBSESSED with Stitch Fix and have nearly quit shopping altogether since they’ve been sending 5 pieces to my door every month!

And tell me your favorite clothing items. What is that one piece you can’t live without?

Also, does anybody have that red jumpsuit I mentioned?

Closet Organizing Tips {and my favorite clothes}, part 1

April 2, 2013 by Edie Wadsworth 169 Comments

This post could also be titled, “Closet Organizing, for the Ruth in all of us.” Or, “How I Finally Learned to Clean Out My Closet, at age 43.”

Also? Don’t forget to check out Part 2 of this post, where I share all my favorite clothes!
closet organizing tips
Organizing is not my love language, as my mother and sister can gladly attest. But I’ve learned a few things over the years of watching my sainted mother clean out my closet.

She’s a pro. And I can at least pay attention. It’s almost as ironic as my post on making peace with your papers. It’s been almost a month since I did this project and I’m happy to report, it’s still looking mighty fine.

It’s been a year and half since we moved in from our fresh, new rebuild after the house fire. In other words, long enough for my closet to be a mess. Last month, when we were all sick and thought we were gonna die, I stumbled into the living room in my bronchitis, viral, fever-y stupor and said, “Girls, turn on the t.v. and find a documentary.” They nearly fainted and scurried to find the 47 remotes to try to figure out how to turn the t.v. on. (As a side note, I NEVER turn the t.v. on at our house, partly because our home is our school and secondly, because there are 47 remotes and turning our tv on reminds me of a pilot trying to initiate take-off.) After that documentary, I told them to turn on another one. They looked at each other, looked at me, shrugged their shoulders and watched three more. After a few hours of this, my little one said she was bored and wanted to organize something. I had just enough medication in me to think this might be a good idea. So, off to land of clothes we went. Here are some tips for how we did it.

1. Purge

Even after a short time living here, there are things I could purge. (Mostly clothing people gave me after the fire that was ill-fitting but even a few things I bought myself that I never wear.) I have a much smaller closet than I had in our old house, so that forces me to be choosier about what I buy and keep. And don’t we all wear the same clothes over and over again? Try to figure out from those things you love what it is you love about them. Is it the way they fit? The color? And be brutally honest about the things you haven’t worn and are likely not gonna wear. Donate it to someone who will or decide if you can repurpose it into something you will wear and use. I got rid of 3 bags of clothing and could probably have purged a little more ruthlessly.

2. Stop Buying (as much)

I’m getting SO MUCH better at being very picky about what I buy. I used to buy things on sale, just because they were on sale. I buy WAY fewer clothes these days but probably spend more per item than I did before. There are certain styles that don’t look good on me and no matter how cheap they are, it’s not worth it if they sit in my closet and take up valuable real estate. So be picky. Be fewer things but invest in some pieces that are a good fit for you. And come back this week for part 2, where I list a few of my favorite pieces.

3. Take everything out.

And wear a mask. It’s a dusty proposition. BUT, I’m so glad I took the time to take everything out and really clean the shelves and floors. This is obviously time consuming but if you’re like me and only doing this less than once per year, you owe to yourself to do it right. And trust me, I had a lot of shelving to dust. I just mixed a little vinegar with water and used a microfiber cloth to really clean all the surfaces.

closet organizing tips

4. Invest in good hangers.

closet organizing tips
Even before the house fire, I had made the switch to good hangers. Just do it slowly over time and eventually, you can replace all your white plastic hangers with felt or wooden ones. I use wooden skirt hangers but for everything else, I use the felt/velvet covered ones. Your clothes don’t slip off and your clothes are less prone to wrinkle. I bought mine at T.J. Maxx for pretty cheap but I saw that Walmart has them, too.

5. Hang like things together by color

I love the rainbow closet. It’s so PRETTY!! And it helps you see whether or not you have a predilection for all things tan and black. Apparently, I like white shirts and blue jeans. I like to say ‘blue jeans’ because that reminds me of Leann Morgan’s trip to ‘The Ga-up’ to buy some low risin’ blue jeans.

But, I digress. More on clothing in part two of this dazzling series.

6. Don’t let you ten year old talk into cleaning out your closet when you’re sick……

Or have her sign an affidavit that she’ll stay until the last shirt is hung. Because she’ll get a better offer. And abandon you half way through to make duct tape crafts or read or some other such nonsense.

Amen. And amen.

You’ll find yourself sitting in a pile of tissues and tylenol and chloraseptic, drowning in a room full of trinkets and stray belts that you don’t know what to do with, cursing the very fact that you wear clothes at all. You know that *point* you get to in every project where you just want to be done with it already? That’s when you have dig down deep and find the eye of the tiger. Put on some good music. Watch an episode of hoarders. Do whatever it takes. But finish strong and don’t forget to display some cute things, like purses and cowboy boots, to make you space all the more inviting and fun. Then, walk in there every 5 minutes for the next three hours to make sure everything still looks dandy.

closet organizing tips
Also, if you’re building a house soon or want to add some architectural interest to your closets, try adding crown molding to the top and to the front of shelves. It’s a fairly inexpensive way to make your closet have a boutique feel. I also chose a very inexpensive crystal light fixture to add some glam!

Now, all you organizing pros, tell us your favorite tips. Or at least tell how often you clean out your closet and if you keep it tidy. Inquiring minds want to know. Or at least this one does.

Weekend Links (Easter Edition)

March 30, 2013 by Edie Wadsworth 21 Comments

Greetings, friends!

Here’s some last minute inspiration for your Easter celebration, in case you fly by the seat of your yoga pants, like me. Otherwise, pin for next year!

1. Gilded eggs

My girls loved this new take on an old tradition. We saw this idea on Pinterest and just figured it out for ourselves. (The pin led to a spam site). We colored the eggs and then used liquid gilding to add some bling. We painted the gilding on with a brush by dabbing it and then wiped off some of the gold with a paper towel. Golden eggs. It’s a beautiful thing. (Gilding is toxic and should only be used by adults or very mature young ones who can be very careful and follow directions. This is grown-up egg decorating! I barely qualify.)

gilded eggs

2. Cabbages and Hydrangeas

So, we planted cabbage last fall and we only harvested one small cabbage. The plants were gorgeous though, and have hung on all winter. I dug a few up today and put them in pots and added them to my Easter table. Cabbages are very underutilized in decorating, don’t you agree? I bought small potted hydrangeas from my grocery store and cut off the stems and used them to decorate each individual place setting.

3. He is Risen! placecards

The very talented Emily collaborated with the very talented Lindsey to create this beautiful collection of Easter printables. And they’re free. This is something you can definitely do before tomorrow, if you need to add some joy to your Easter table. Thank you, Emily!!

4. Food, for the foodie in all of us.

Here’s part of what’s on the menu:

Smoked ham (smoked today by Stevie, on the Big Green Egg)

Roasted Turkey Breast (Cait doesn’t like ham)

Scalloped Potatoes (I do half sweet potatoes)

Corn salad (thank you Miss Amy!) Yes, it has Chili Cheese Fritos. Don’t judge me.

Cowboy {Boots} Beans (my own special version) (they didn’t make me an honorary Texan for nothin’)

Roasted Asparagus

Bedeviled eggs (courtesy of my chickens and my sisters’ recipe)

Homemade Rolls

Chocolate Banana Cream Pie (I’m doing something like this but kinda different!)

Carrot Sheet Cake

5. Hair do’s by Kate
Okay, remember last week when I was yammering on and on about how young and adorable the new generation of bloggers were? Well, meet Kate, from The Small Things Blog. And stalk all her hair tutorials. She’s fantastic and I love her. By the way, I saw her hair at Blissdom and it is bayou-tee-full.

You might like the triple topsy tail or the pretty and simple undo . My girls did the double side twist on me last night.

It was super cute. I was all dolled up with no where to go. Unless you count the chicken coop as somewhere to go. Which you should. Chickens like cute hair, too.

So, basically, I have my own stylists. And you better believe I’m gonna abuse the privilege! I was the same way when I was young, having grown up in my mom’s beauty salon, styling everybody’s hair that would sit still. It’s in the genes.

This is my version of the double bun, which adds a little wa-wa to my signature bun. Go forth and style. And be prepared to buy some new product.

And last but not least, for those hurting, who feel like Easter is a world away, here are some words of comfort.

Love y’all.

He is Risen!