Cheesy poufs!

I was quoted in this month's issue of Signature Brandywine. An old colleague of mine was writing about dinner clubs, and she included the one my friends and I have. It's a great article that would be really helpful if you're trying to get your own dinner club up and off the ground. Check it out!

And in the spirit of dinner clubs, I dug out this really exceptional recipe for cheddar shortbread biscuits. I made these the other night, and I've been thinking about them ever since. They're light, and flaky and they disintegrate once they hit your tongue. Deeeelish! And if you do make them for a supper party, make and freeze the dough ahead of time, and pop 'em in the oven for 10 minutes. Then you'll have hot, freshly made appetizers without all of the clean up and prep.

Plus, how can you not love something that Cartman is so obsessive about?

Cheese shortbread from How to Cook Everything Vegetarian


8 T butter, cubed
2 c grated cheese
1/5 c all-purpose flour
1 egg, lightly beaten
1/2 t cayenne
1 T paprika

Preheat the oven to 400. Put the butter, cheese,flour, egg, salt and cayenne into a food processor and pulse until the mixture resembles coarse meal. Wrap in plastic and refrigerate until you're ready to bake.

Roll dough into balls, and place on a greased baking sheet about 2 inches apart. Bake 10 minutes. Cool on a wire rack and serve.

Bathroom, meet Seafoam

I have a big announcement. Amid my frantic wedding planning, last minute DIY projects, and commitments in real life, I managed to pick a color for the guest bathroom.

Drumroll, please!

I proudly present Benjamin Moore's Seafoam.

On my screen, the color is showing a touch more grey than in real life, so you might have to trust me on the color, but it's a super mild mix of green and grey that says: "I like the beach, and all it has to offer, but I don't need a starfish to prove it." Plus, it plays really nicely with the tile in the room, which is extremely important.

As of now we have a lot of brown accents (a copper mirror, brown towels, deeply hued picture frames), so those might have to find a new home. I'm thinking silvers and brighter teals will make the room pop more.

I like how these colors, from a palate by Design Seeds, work together. They keep things cool, but still work in a pop of pink and orange, which makes for a delicious combination.

Actually, the more I look at that, the more I think the mirror and towels could stay, if I can find the right item to pull it all together. Maybe a good shower curtain? A funky photo? We'll see.

Have you ever pulled together an unusual color combo and made it work? Tell me about it below.

Things to try:

The other day someone asked me how I cope with stress, especially in this super stressful time before the wedding. My answer: I make lists. I kid you not, I caught myself making this little guy this morning, and I figured I'd share. These are recipes I'd like to try in the next couple of weeks--hopefully before we take off for Peru.

If you can't read that, it says: funky waffles (cornmeal?); DIY pizzas (b. sprouts?); shellfish and potatoes a la Marinier; carrots with dates and raisins; tomato cobbler.

Yeah, those sound amazing, don't they? I can't wait until I get a little free time to whip some of these up.

Color for the bathroom

I'm still toying with the color for the guest bathroom. I know I don't want something as bold as the master bath, but I still want something in the cool color families. Other than that, my mind is NOT made up. Here are some pictures that capture what I'd like to achieve:

seafoam green bathroom

sea glass blue bathroom

Green tile, source unknown

barely there color

Blue!

Bathroom business

I'm proud of how far the master bathroom has come. The blue walls are vibrant, and a welcome dash of color. The ikat art mellows out the room, and helps bounce around light in a window-less room. The accessories are gorgeous with their crackled glass and polished chrome. All in all, I would say that room is d-o-n-e, and it came out extremely close to the inspiration page.

So that means it's on to the guest room. Everything in our apartment was painted this horrific yellow beige--Monroe Bisque. I've had lots and lots and lots of people tell me how nice the color is, but frankly when I look at the walls, regardless of the amount of light at the time, I want to take the closest thing that will leave color--markers, pens, nail polish--and go crazy. I've exerted restraint so far, but no more.

The master and guest bathrooms are nearly identical in finishes--large, cream colored tiles, an off-white base cabinet and nickel hardware. I see that as a chance to see how different I can make the twins. I'm thinking the answer to the high-end glam of the master bath is a light hue that feels a little more earthy. I love blues and greens, so it'll definitely be a cool color.

The truth is, I've already been trying a paint out, unfortunately, it's also one that I hate in the space.

See? No good! That teal is way too peacock for me. And definitely too dark. So I've been working my brain on overtime. I want to stay in that color family, because I think it plays well with the other hues in the room. But daaaang. I really need something more muted.

So it's back to the paint drawing board (the painting board?) for me...

What do you think? Do you have any suggestions--any paint colors you love? Let me know in the comments below.

Here comes the bride!

I'm 21 days away from the wedding, if you can believe that. (I can't!) So I've been on wedding crunch mode. I finished up the ring bearer book the other day, and last night I wrapped up the latest project.

We're having two ring bearers, and I wanted to give them both some pretty cool jobs. One is going to carry the ring book. His brother is going to carry this sign:

This is about the easiest wedding project you can do. And one of the cheapest, too. I bought a wood plaque (about $4) and painted it with the white trim paint we have sitting around the house. Then I printed a template for the words, which I've attached below for you. Then I put it on the board while the paint was still just a teeny bit tacky and rubbed the ink. It left an outline of the words like this:

I took the photo at night, so the white paint doesn't look white, but trust me, it is. Next, I used a deep royal blue paint to define the letters. This took several coats and attempts with multiple brushes, but I finally got the font the way I wanted it.

Then I pulled out a stencil I had sitting around the house, and some silver paint. I mixed the blue and silver to get a color I liked, and then used it in the stencils.

And that, my friends, gave us the finished project. All in all, it takes maybe two hours with set up and drying time. And it cost me about $9 in total. (I already had the white and silver paint, as well as the brushes, so I only had to buy the wood plaque and the blue paint.)

Not a bad project considering it was done between commercials on The Office and Parks and Rec, huh?

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DIY Ring bearer book

This, my friends, is how my ring is going to be carried down the aisle--inside a book. I've never been a fan of the standard issue satin pillow, so I knew I wanted something different. And after I received a bizarre book from a friend at my bachelorette party, I knew I had exactly the thing. A girlfriend gave me an ancient copy of "1,000 Ways to Please a Husband" as a gag gift. It's basically a cookbook written into vignettes from the 1950s. (As in: Dick came home hungry from work again. Jane fretted about how to keep her new husband happy. But with this recipe, she'll never have to worry again.)

And while I'm not too concerned with having enough recipes to keep my man happy, I did get a kick out of the book. It's kitsch--and a reminder of what I don't want our relationship to be.

So I did the most natural thing in the world. I gave it a new cover and turned it into a ring bearer pillow. Obviously.

To make your own, you'll need:
A book
A linen napkin
Scissors
Ribbon
Hot glue
Fancy paper punch
Mod Podge

It's a pretty simple plan, but please learn from my mistakes. I saved covering the book for last. That really needs to be your first step. What I did was cut down an old linen napkin I'd found at a thrift store and use hot glue to attach it to the book. Unfortunately, because I did it last, I didn't get a good tuck on the corners, which you can see in the photo above. Another very important element: Make sure you can close the book once the fabric is pulled taut.

Once the glue dries, you'll need a fancy paper punch. I used a 1.25 inch scalloped circle punch, which I picked up at A. C. Moore. You only need to punch through enough pages to create an enclosure for the ring. For me, that was about half the book.

At the last page, use hot glue to afix some ribbon so that it threads through the hole. This is what you'll use to hold the ring and tie up the book.

Next, flip through the pages and add some hot glue periodically. It doesn't have to be on a lot of pages, because next you'll run a layer of Mod Podge on the edge of the pages. This seals things up, and creates  almost a box of sorts.

Lastly, grab the cutest kid you can find and send him down the aisle with your ring and ring-box-book.

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New bedroom linens!

With yesterday being the holiday of love, I thought I'd share the latest news from the bedroom-our linen swap. We had some very cute linens already, dark grey with teal and red accents. But it's a quilt, which meant that our Philadelphia winters were a touch too cold for the light-weight bedding. It's perfect for spring, summer and even fall. But when it's cold here, it's cold.

As you know from my bedroom inspiration board, I've been loving hard core on the Ophelia Waterford bedding. But we're not big spenders, so the purchase was put off, and put off and put off. But after my bridal shower, which was a couple weeks ago, we decided to use all of our gift cards on the bedding. Best decision ever.

It's big. It's fluffy. It's warm. It's also sparkly and textured, which is a double bonus. I feel like I'm sleeping in a hotel every night.

We still use the quilt at the foot of the bed to visually break things up (and offer extra protection against a genuinely frigid night). But we did have to get new curtains. The old ones are red, which work with the quilt. We'll definitely swap those in seasonally, but they don't work right now.

Please ignore the state of the cane chair. I haven't made much more progress (read: any more progress) since I first told you about it.

And that, my friends, is the current state of the bedroom. Actually, when I compare it to the pinboard, I'm not too far off. I still need to finish work on the chair, which will be a big project. But I've already painted. We had the bed delivered. We swapped out the curtains. And now I have the linens. The only thing I'm missing is the grey ikat pattern, which I have plans for.

I'll let you know how it comes together!

Happy Valentine's day!

Hope you're spending the day with whomever has your heart!

Why GardenKitchenHome will never be a TV show

The pre-hubs and I caught this clip over the weekend of Zooey Deschanel on SNL. If you haven't already watched it, stop right now and click play.

Hilarious!

The pre-hubs immediately decided I needed my own running segment. The conversation went something like this:

Pre-hubs: That could be you--it'd be called "Being Insane with Kaytie" and it would run at 2 a.m. You would do things like break into graveyards and take pictures.

Me: I didn't break into the graveyard. It's open to the public. And that was one time! What would I fill the rest of the show with?

PH: Hi! I'm Kaytie, and today we're whittling a hair comb out of these left over milk jugs. Then, we're painting the whole world bright pink and orange.

Me: That's ridiculous. I almost always choose pastel paint colors.

PH: And when we're done, we'll sew a different set of curtains for every day of the week! White for Mondays. Grey for Tuesdays.

Me: Chevrons for Wednesdays?

PH: Unicorns for Thursdays, because Thursdays are magical.

Me: What? Everyone knows Sundays are magical--not Thursdays. Sunday you can sit around and wear PJs all day, and eat cereal and call it dinner. You can't do that on a Thursday. No, on Thursdays, you have to put on actual clothes and cook an actual meal like chicken rollatini.

PH: Chicken rollatini? When have you ever made that?

Me: Well, I would on my show, obviously. There's a live studio audience. You have to feed those people! Think of the audience!

PH: Wait--why do they get to eat better than we do?

Me: Because they're our guests, and you never feed your guests what you actually eat. If we did, no one would visit us. They'd be so sick of Honey Nut Cheerios. Do you want us to have no friends and a failed TV show? If that happened, do you know what we would have to eat every single night?

PH: Honey Nut Cheerios?

Me: Exactly! But not because we like it--because it's all we could afford after the TV debt.

PH: You're right. You can never have a show.

Me: For the chicken rollatini.

PH: For so many reasons...

Valentine's day printable

The pre-hubs and I really, really wanted "Home" to be our first dance at our wedding. Do you know what song I'm talking about? It's a funky, sweet love ditty, and we dance around to it at home.

Buuut, it's a little too fast for a slow dance, and the lyrics don't work for our crowd. Still, that song rocks our collective socks off. So I made a little sumpin' sumpin' "Home" inspired for Valentine's day. And cuz I'm that kind of girl, I decided to share with you. You can print these cards for your sweetie. The top one is a 4x6 flat card. The bottom is a single-fold card. Just click on the image you want, download and print. (If you want the 4x6 version, you'll have to change your printer settings.) Both are perfect for reminding your sugar how great he/she is.

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The fifth wall

The guest bedroom has come a loooong way from this to this, but it's still at least a hop, skip and a long jump away from being done. Right now, I'm obsessed with doing something on the fifth wall.

I figure life isn't hard enough already, so why not tackle the project of painting the ceiling? That's GOT to be rewarding, right? Right?

I mean, you have to assume there's going to be a few pinched necks and strained shoulders. But look at these pictures:

from Pinterest

from Apartment Therapy

from WeHeartIt

from TraditionalHome

from Pinterest

from SusieHarris

DIY coffee scrub

Yesterday, I shared the chocolate spoons that I sent to my blog party partner, Heather. Today, I'm giving you the recipe to my coffee body scrub.

Let me be clear when I say that this thing is fantastic. I had a bit left over after I packaged hers up, and I went crazy. I started scrubbing my hands, and when I realized how wickedly smooth they were, I moved on to my feet, legs and arms (shoulders, knees and toes, knees and toes).

If there's anything that I inspire you to do, it should be this. It's great for gifting or getting yourself ready for that hawt Valentine's date.

The ingredients are pretty straight forward. You'll need coffee grounds, sugar and grapeseed oil. If you want to change the scent up, go wild with vanilla extract or an essential oil. But if you're gonna do without, that's OK too, you crazy lynx, you.

Ingredients:

1 c coffee grounds

2 T granulated sugar

3 T grapeseed oil

a few drops of scented oil

Put 'em all in a bowl and mix away. My proportions are just a general guideline. If you think you need more oil, g'head and add some--but do it a drop at a time. You can also try upping the sugar content, which will help the coffee move more smoothly, and make for a sweeter scent. If you make it as directed, there's a pretty strong coffee scent, so more sugar might be right for some people.

I scrub once a week, but everyone's skin is different, so use a little common sense. If your legs are already red or you just shaved, wait a day. 

Oh, and if you're curious about the container, it's something I grabbed at my local thrift store. Obviously you may not be so lucky at your Goodwill, but most craft or restaurant supply shops sell plastic containers that can work.

And that, my friends, is my favorite project ever. Yes, I said "ever," and I meant it.

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DIY chocolate spoons

Yesterday, I told you about what my blog party partner Heather sent me. Now I owe you a rundown of what I gave her.

I found out that she's got a bit of a coffee habit, which makes her a woman after my own heart. Since she's in Norfolk and I'm in Philly, I couldn't very well take her out for a cuppa. But I could send her something to savor. So I came up with this:

A coffee care package. I included a few recipe cards, with one filled out for a recipe of affogato. Then I made a body scrub out of coffee. And to top it off, I also made some chocolate spoons.

What's a chocolate spoon, you ask. Why, it's a spoon dipped in the sweet, smooth goodness of cocoa--perfect for dunking into a coffee or a cup of steaming milk. It's a great project because it doesn't cost much, and while it takes a little finesse, you can eat the ones that aren't good enough to give away. No waste, and no proof of any mistakes. That's my kind of project.

First, I had to find a few funky, mismatching spoons. My local thrift store sells them for a quarter each, so it was nearly nothing to pick up a few. I went for the ones with the most character, which left me with these:

 Then I melted some chocolate in a double boiler, and stirred until the consistence looked right. The chocolate pieces won't change their shape when the melt, so you've got to keep mixing, but you've got to keep any water from splashing into your pot. It's a little tricky. Clearly I didn't get it right on my first try, because this is what they looked like:

Yeah, I wasn't about to put my name on those lumpy little nuggets of chocolate, but I wasn't above eating them. All of them. So I did. And believe me, they were far more delicious than they look. 

The next day, I gave it another whirl. This time, I kept the heat lower, and I made sure to keep the chocolate dry. This seemed to do the trick, because I had much much much better results. I also found that using a second spoon to smooth the tops and sides made a big difference. Then I let them cool on some parchment paper. Once they had solidified fully, I slid them into favor bags and tied them off with some gingham ribbon.

Finally, I had something I could be proud of:

These things really perk up a cup of a coffee, and you can make a bunch all in one sitting. It is, however, up to you not to eat them all immediately. 

Tomorrow I'll share how I made the coffee scrub--definitely my favorite part of the care package.

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The after-party

I mentioned a while ago that I was taking part in a blog party, but I don't think I told you how freaking awesome it really was. I got to know a truly fantastic blogger named Heather, and I got a little surprise in the mail.

An air plant! Who doesn't love an air plant?! The pre-hubs and I have been eyeballin' these for a while, but never really knew what we'd do with one. And as much as I love gardening, exotic species scare me a little. So I kept putting it off--which is too ridiculously bad, because they are AMAZING.

My cute little plant made it to me all the way from Colorado in a hand-blown glass orb. And when it got here, all the spikes were green and firm and way more healthy that you should be able to expect for a plant that spent days in a dark shipping box. 

 Otis, that's the plant's name, lives with cute ceramic monkey in a sunny window. So far, they get along famously.

It's given me all kinds of ideas of what to do with air plants. For example, wouldn't an entire window of them be all kinds of amazing? I'm envisioning dozens of them hanging from filament, or you could do them like this:

Or what about a display made from reclaimed wood:

There are so many ways to work these funky plants into my decor, it's hard to choose. Thanks for inspiring me, Heather!

Top 5: Beer

On this, the most raucous and indulgent of Sundays, I bring you my Top 5 of beer. I don't know much about football (or beer, really), but I do know what I like. Here's a tasting for you:

Peche Lambic
Dogfish Head 90 Minute IPA
Vanilla Cinnamon Mead
Ommegang ale
Delirium Tremens

---

Update: Charlize Theron apparently celebrated the Super Bowl with Dogfish Head, too. (Yea, it's a little bit of a leap that since she was carrying the beer that she was drinking it, but I'm going there.) I knew she and I were kindred spirits.

Easy indoor garden comes to life

I mentioned on Monday that I'd made a pretty fun find at a vintage shop. Well, folks, here's how I've put 'er to use.

The before photo:

And drum roll, please....

The after photo:

I picked up a few mini terracotta pots, two small house plants, and a bag of moss. All in all, it cost me $11 for the planting supplies. (I have a seemingly unending supply of potting soil.) I split apart the two small plants so that they would fit in the mini pots, and then I topped them with soil and a layer of moss. That left me with one extra pot, which was calling out for a simple covering of moss. 

I have the mini garden sitting on my coffee table next to a cement hurricane vase and candle. It feels like a little oasis in my living room. It complete springs things up, which feels so right on a bizarre 60-degree January day.

What can I say? I'm in love with my indoor garden!

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