Wednesday, June 29, 2011

Happy Birthday America. Let's Eat!

Photo: Country Living



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Happy Birthday America. Let's eat!





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Treat the gang to easy cocktails, perfect grilled dishes,
our best sides, and star-spangled dessert...




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Americana dessert goes well beyond apple pie. From Red Velvet Cake to White Balsamic Custard Tart—and of course Blueberry Hill Cupcakes— these recipes are all-American and all delicious.


Southern Living Party Tips and Ideas

Monday, June 27, 2011

The Wow Factor: Window Boxes









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Don't let shade get you down. Create window boxes that beautify your landscape
 with our easy plant-by-number ideas...






Add a splash of color and visual interest to your home with a traditional wooden window box. These charming wood boxes have been used for centuries the world over to dress up plain, somber windows. And now you can install one in just an hour or so with a minimal amount of effort or expense....





There are a lot of great reasons to garden in containers, in addition to the fun. Compared to fighting tight, heavy clay in the landscape, it's also easier to provide a good environment when it comes to soil or planting mixes for your plants...


Friday, June 24, 2011

So, How's It Taste?




Blog: So, How's It Taste?  

It’s delightful. It hits every note of flavor with just a few ingredients.
This pasta is so easy to whip together....

Perfect Summer Salad

 Eight Layer Salad

Blog: The Meaning of Pie  

While cleverly plated salads have never died, the cleverly assembled salads seem to be trapped in the era of the first color cookbooks. Ah, but they are around. This example is merely a layered salad, frosted generously with a creamy dressing...





Blog: MY BEST days EVER

This is a salad I have lived on every Summer since I discovered it. The flavours are simple, fresh and beautiful, and with its milky orbs of buffalo mozzarella and segments of drippy golden peaches, it is quite possibly the sexiest Summer salad I have ever eaten...



No swimming upstream required....


Blog: One Vanilla Bean

Sometimes I leave work exhausted with no desire to cook anything for dinner. I just want to pick up something on my way home. And there is one thing that I love, something that never disappoints me and always leaves me satisfied: the smoked salmon pasta salad...

Thursday, June 23, 2011

Dreams are Nature's Answering Service




Dreams are nature's answering service -
don't forget to pick up your messages once in a while. 
~Sarah Crestinn



God's gifts put man's best dreams to shame.
Elizabeth Barret Browning





We are not only less reasonable and less decent in our dreams...
we are also more intelligent, wiser and capable of
 better judgment when we are asleep than when we are awake. 
~Erich Fromm




Dream as if you'll live forever,
live as if you'll die today.
James Dean






Shattered dreams often lead to a world-impacting destiny.
But getting there is often a process where we must work through
honest feelings before we can see the God who redeems even the
most devastating shattered dream.



Be careful what you wear to bed at night,
you never know who you'll meet in your dreams.



Our heart oft times wakes when we sleep
and God can speak to that, either by words,
by proverbs, by signs and similitude's,
as well as if one was awake. 
John Bunyan



The River of Dreams
Billy Joel



In the middle of the night
I go walking in my sleep
From the mountains of faith
To the river so deep
I must be lookin' for something
Something sacred i lost
But the river is wide
And it's too hard to cross
even though I know the river is wide
I walk down every evening and stand on the shore
I try to cross to the opposite side
So I can finally find what I've been looking for
In the middle of the night
I go walking in my sleep
Through the valley of fear
To a river so deep
I've been searching for something
Taken out of my soul
Something I'd never lose
Something somebody stole
I don't know why I go walking at night
But now I'm tired and I don't want to walk anymore
I hope it doesn't take the rest of my life
Until I find what it is I've been looking for
In the middle of the night
I go walking in my sleep
Through the jungle of doubt
To the river so deep
I know I'm searching for something
Something so undefined
That it can only be seen
By the eyes of the blind
In the middle of the night


In the middle of the night
I go walking in my sleep
Through the desert of truth
To the river so deep
We all end in the ocean
We all start in the streams
We're all carried along
By the river of dreams
In the middle of the night

Tuesday, June 21, 2011

Stars and Stripes Forever!



Pledge allegiance to this festive flag stand. We put it on top of a two-tiered cake stand to create a mini cupcake monument




Use these templates to make these adhesive stars, which transform a basic enamel bucket into a fun picnic beverage station...






Martha Stewart


Fashioned from red, white, and blue paper stars, this festive garland adds a patriotic touch to a doorway or mantel. Easy and inexpensive to make, it's a great holiday project for both children and adults.





Inspired by turn-of-the-century celebrations, the following joyful tributes to red, white, and blue harken to a time when impromptu hats were folded from leftover newspapers, and marching bands, firecrackers, and lawn games marked the day. These projects by Melissa Neufeld can be made ahead of time to decorate for the holiday, or assembled with the help of family and young friends at the party itself.




 

 



Friday, June 17, 2011

Summer Homes with Visual Oomph



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Ken Wyse’s East Hampton summer home resembles a bespoke suit, but without the buttoned-up attitude. Impeccably constructed, elegantly tailored, and tweaked to display handsome lines, the Georgian-style house is dressed for summer and weekend living





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Pastels are often passed over in the world of design. These pale beauties can be soft in their commitment to color and can lose the visual oomph needed to make a dynamic statement...






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Painted in white, the kitchen reads clean but not sterile, with folk art finds peeking from every corner....





What a wonderful room with a view!


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Welcome to the fun house! With a restaurant-worthy kitchen, room to sleep 16—and a deck perched above Georgia’s Lake Burton—Robin and Archie Lowe’s home is always up for a party





Have a lovely Father's Day weekend!

Thursday, June 16, 2011

Sizzling Summer Appetizers + Cool Cottage Charm



This stir-together treat delivers big peanut flavor with a hint of heat.
The dip takes just minutes to prepare.




Make these appetizers yourself or put out all the fixings
and have everyone create their own.




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The bounties of spring and summer star in these refreshing appetizers
-- tomatoes, zucchini, eggplant, and more.





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When you think outside the box, the possibilities are endless. That's the philosophy proven in this stylish and colorful cottage home, which taps into the charm of vintage goods and repurposed pieces for a look that is as comfortable as it is chic.