What I Heart Today: Photo Friday

I'm trying something new on Fridays, I'm joining photo Friday with deliciousbaby.com. What a great idea!  This photo is from a 2009 trip to Sitka, Alaska.

What I Heart Today: For Your Party

I am absolutely obsessed with planning my daughter's first birthday party in January.  I can't tell you how many hours I've spent pouring over design ideas online.  As some of you know I am formerly a stationery designer and I did more than my fair share of weddings.  Looking over party ideas reminded me of one of my favorite sites foryourparty.com for personalized paper products.  Right now I'm still refining my theme idea (I'll give you a hint, I'm basing it off of the fabric from my earlier post), but once I get it finalized I am for sure ordering some of these great stir sticks to use as both stir sticks and skewers for fruit kebabs!

What I Heart Today: Location Central

Check out this great blog I found called Location Central.  It's a way to locate and connect with other bloggers in your state.  You simply find your state and post a comment with your location and blog.  I found some great new local blogs today!  I think my favorite is Design Delights.  Happy reading!

What I Heart Today: Pumpkin Carving!

I love this time of year. The beautiful crisp fall days leading up to Halloween which kicks off the holiday season. Holiday decorating is one of my favorite activities and this weekend we got in the Halloween spirit by carving pumpkins! We even saved the seeds and roasted them with this great recipe I found on foodnetwork.com by Emeril. Buon appetito!

What I Heart Today: Pizza Friday!

Pizza Friday is one of our favorite family traditions.  We've been having homemade pizza every Friday for about the last two years.  Today was a special Friday, it was the first Friday that we allowed our 9 1/2 month old daughter to eat pizza with us (don't worry, she didn't get any pieces with jalapenos).

The first thing I have to do in honoring pizza Friday is give a shout out to Gabe & Jen Ingram who perfected the homemade pizza dough recipe we use every week, there is no other pizza dough like it!

Every Friday at 11am I start the yeast and water.  One hour later I add the yeast to the rest of the pizza dough ingredients, mix it up in my handy Kitchenaid mixer, and let rise in the microwave.  Two hours later I pull it out of the microwave, give it another quick spin in the Kitchenaid, and then back in the microwave to finish rising.  Two hours later the dough is ready to go.  I used to make my own pizza sauce every week but these days, with a little one, it's much easier to just buy it at Trader Joe's.  At our house our favorite toppings are a goat cheese cheddar, also from Trader Joe's, turkey pepperoni, jalapenos, and mushrooms.  Have I made your mouth water yet?  For even more drooling check out our pizza below.

Happy Friday!

What I Heart Today: Oliver + S

Have you seen anything as cute as the site over at Oliver + S?  This is one of my top 5 sites for sewing patterns and tips, their blog is a great place to find tips, tricks, and tutorials.  I'm excited to announce that I am taking on the task of making a dress for my daughter's first birthday in January.  It's one of their most simple patterns but it has button holes which has got me a little scared.  Going to start this dress tomorrow in an adorable butterfly print fabric by Ann Kelle, will share pics when done!

 

What I Heart Today: Sponge Language School

Have you heard of the Sponge school?  It's a language school for kids with classrooms in Redmond, Seattle, and Issaquah.  My nine month old daughter is taking the Mandarin class at the Issaquah school.  Yes, I know she can't even speak English yet but the Sponge school gives her a great start to learning a second language along with her first.  Why a second language this early? Four reasons:  1) the brain is primed to acquire language by the age of 4.  2) Learning a second language has been shown to be good for the brain.  3) Around the age of 10, children go through a developmental stage where they accept what is familiar and turn away from what is different. By making other language and culture a part of your child's life from a young age, you're more likely to get a teenager who embraces it, too.  4) My daughter loves it!

What I Heart Today: Gorgeous Fall Days

It was another beautiful fall day here in the Pacific Northwest, sunny with a bite in the air.  I always dread summer ending because I love the sun and the warmth so much, but when October rolls around I always remember that I love the fall too.  It was an especially perfect day for the pumpkin patch, thanks to Nicole T. for recommending Bob's Corn where we enjoyed a hay ride, corn maze, apple cider, and kettle corn!  If you're on the East side and don't mind taking a drive out to Snohomish I highly recommend it, but be forewarned it's crowded.  Enjoy this beautiful weather!

What I Heart Today: Emoms Consignment Sale

Well I'd have to say it was a successful day at the emoms consignment sale held at the Bellevue College gym.  Doors opened at 10am but I've been told the line started forming at 8am.  Even better, for those moms that are emoms members and had items to consign, there were about 100 moms that consigned, they were able to shop the night before!  The moms I spoke to that shopped the night before said you wouldn't believe how much went out the door.  I  didn't arrive until 12:30, I asked if things were pretty much picked over and they said yes, they said when the doors opened at 10am the gym was so packed you couldn't even move.  I'm not too sad I missed that, I still got some great deals.  I spent $54.50 and got 16 items.  My 4 favorite are these adorable Hanna Anderson shoes I paid $2.00 for, these cute brand new with tags Gymboree overalls I paid $7.50 for, this sweet sundress I paid $3.50 for which was never worn, and lastly this Boon faucet cover that retails for $14.00, and has been on my list of things to buy for the last month, that I got for $3.00.  I also snapped a quick pic of my daughter Gracie trying on some of her new things!  Not too shabby.

Sad you missed it?  The next sale is March 12th at the same location, Bellevue College gym, from 10am-2pm.  See you there!

What I Heart Tomorrow: Emoms Consignment Sale

For those of you who've heard of or been to this uber popular sale you know what I'm talking about.  Emoms stands for "Eastside Moms of Multiples" and they host a consignment sale every year.  The emoms consignment sale is being held tomorrow, the 16th, at the Bellevue College gym.  I've never been but am looking forward to (and preparing for) my first trip.  Their site says "If you arrive before noon, please be prepared to stand or sit in line."  All those moms are sure to be a force to be reckoned with!  Hope to see some of you there and will let you know how I do tomorrow...

What I Heart Today: Etsy.com

If you haven't heard of etsy.com what rock have you been hiding under?  I absolutely go ga ga for etsy! Etsy is an online marketplace for handmade items, vintage items, and crafting supplies.  Etsy allows sellers to open up their own etsy stores and then charges a nominal fee for each item the seller lists.  You can find things on etsy that you would never imagine you could find.  For instance when I was putting together a nursery for my daughter I wanted a slipcover for a glider that had been handed down to me.  I went to etsy and in just a few minutes found a seller custom making glider covers, I was able to tell her exactly what fabric I wanted and it turned out to work perfectly with our nursery.

Etsy is also a great place to buy gifts.  I'm an early Christmas shopper and already have my eye on an etsy store called Charm School who's got these great neck warmers and is currently offering buy one item get one free!  What better way to start my holiday shopping.  If you're a first timer to etsy I have just one warning, you can get sucked in for hours looking at everything so make sure you have plenty of time!

What are some of your favorite items on etsy?

What I Heart Today: Pinwheels by Rule42 on Etsy

My daughter is turning 1 year on January 6th and you can bet your bottom I'm already planning her party.  I live for parties, planning them, going to them, blogging about them.  I've got a few ideas swirling around in my head and one of them is these big top vintage birthday pinwheels by Rule42 on etsy.com.

And if this is your first time hearing about etsy.com, well then that's a whole different story.  I think tomorrow I'll heart etsy.com so we can talk more about it.

What I Heart Today: Sewn Stash Baskets from the Purl Bee

What is The Purl Bee you ask?  Only one of the best sewing and crocheting blogs around.  Born from Purl Soho it's where to be in the sewing world.  One of my favorite projects that I'm dying to try is the sewn stash baskets, aren't they fabu!  I'm printing this out and putting it on my to do list, will share photos when I finish.

What I Heart Today: Turtleneck Booties from Anthropologie

OMG, the perfect boots for the changing October weather.  Check these boots out at anthropologie.com.

What I Heart Today: Purple Cafe and Wine Bar - Bellevue

I just came back from an absolutely fantastic dinner at Purple Cafe and Wine Bar in downtown Bellevue.  Sunday is a great day to go because you can enjoy 1/2 price bottles of wine, any wine that they serve by the glass.  Let me tell you we enjoyed a few bottles while we were there.  I went to dinner with 4 of my best friends in the world which makes everything taste better. 

Dinner was wonderful and I have to admit the last few times I was at Purple I wouldn't have said that.  Tonight I had the $25 for 3 courses special.  I started with half the Purple chopped salad which was great if not a little salty.  Next I had the 6 oz. burger with cheese and french fries, it was juicy and delicious.  Lastly, I had the salted caramels which just melted in my mouth, they were so rich that they serve you 3 but you can really only finish 1 maybe 2.  The food was delicious and the service was good.  A great tip is to swing by Costco before you go and grab $50 gift certificates for $40.  I give it 3 stars and recommend it for a special occasion.

Purple Cafe and Wine Bar

What I Heart Today: Date Night the Movie

Saturday night is date night for a lot of couples.  If you're like me and live in the Northwest you're probably going to be sitting inside tonight all warm and cozy while the rain pounds down outside.  As long as you're going to be inside why not throw in a movie for date night?  We'll be adding homemade pizza as well.  My recommendation for a Saturday night movie is "Date Night" with Steve Carell, Tina Fey and a sexy cameo by Mark Wahlberg.  It was hilarious, I give it 4 stars, watch it tonight!

What I Heart Today: Oliebollen.com

Thank you Daily Candy Kids for introducing me to what I heart today, oliebollen.com.  This is now one of my favorite sites for shopping for my daughter.  They have the cutest leggings and socks from Japan by Dobutsu, I just ordered this pair of leggings for my daughter:

and this pair of socks:

I also ordered this pair as a baby shower gift, I'm certain no one else will have found the same thing:

If you are in need of a unique baby shower gift I would definitely recommend oliebollen.com.