Wednesday, September 21, 2011

CIRCULAR DINNING ROOM DILEMMA



I've been thinking about my dinning room a lot lately.
I'm planning to add a whole wall of industrial shelving in the back there, so try to picture that.
That old door will be gone.
But what about a rug?
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Even though the room is technically square, doesn't it feel like the room has a circular theme with my dandelion chandelier and circular table?
I think a rectangular rug would just look silly.
I could maybe do a circular rug, but would it be too many circles and just be overwhelming?
Or, I could have no rug....
Or, maybe this?


The raw hide seems like a good option to me because its not circular, but it still has lots of sexy curves.
I think it might keep the room soft and still play with the idea of the industrial shelving in the back.

What do you think?
Rug or no rug?



"Beep Beep!" from The Little Road

Monday, September 19, 2011

NEW MUSIC MONDAYS ~ THE HEAD AND THE HEART



Well it's back to Seattle for me.  I made the 11 hour trek back to the Emerald City in my little green mini coop.  It's been a loooooooong day to say the least!  It's always so heard to say good-bye.
I'm already missing the old brown carpet in my Dad's house, the smell of sourdough bread.  The smiles on my Mom and Dad's faces.  I miss waking up to baby dear looking in my window.  I miss seeing my best friends beautiful pregnant belly.  If only there was a way to combine the two places I love so much.
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That's why I find it fitting to have a song from The Head And The Heart today.
They are a local Seattle band, and I am so in love with this song.
The line they sing at the beginning of the song fits today so well.
"Mama once told me, you're already home where you feel loved."



"Beep Beep!" from The Little Road

Sunday, September 18, 2011

SUNDAY BRUNCH ~ SIN OF CORTEZ ~



One place I always make a point to hit up when I'm home in California is Sin Of Cortez, located in Chico California.  Trust me, I love an all American breakfast... but, sometimes I just want something a little out of the box, and that is why I love to come here.  This place is normally really busy and it takes a while to get a seat but, good things are worth waiting for, and everyone here is very nice.
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Sin Of Cortez offers a variety of healthy breakfast choices featuring local and fresh produce from the Chico area.  Many dishes have a Latin twist but not all of them.  I think of it more as a bohemian gypsy style breakfast.  Most dishes can come with a side of brown rice or a whole wheat tortilla. I LOVE scrambled eggs and rice!  I honestly feel like its one of the best parings, and you rarely see them accompanying each other!  When Curtis and I honeymooned in Costa Rica, the national breakfast dish there was called Gallo Pinto, which was scrambled eggs, fried white rice mixed with black beans and covered in a coconut sauce... ooohhh I miss it!


Anyway, at Sin Of Cortez I love to order there blueberry cornmeal pancakes.  They are so light and have a little crispness to them.  Maple syrup is on every table in old Jorito soda bottles.  I'm also a huge fan of there scrambles.  You can get anything from spinach to pesto to tofu to jalapeno, and every scramble is served with a side of lightly sprinkled rosemary potatoes.  Each dish is carefully crafted and arranged so beautifully, its hard to actually eat!......... Actually no, no it's not hard to eat at all.




Sin Of Cortez makes everything "In Kitchen" which I actually had to research, because shouldn't everything be made "in kitchen?"  By that they mean, everything is made fresh daily.  The beans don't come out of a can, they are soaked and cooked fresh.  Everything from the salsa to the whipped cream is made fresh daily.  They actually quote themselves, "If we had more room, we'd raise our own beef."
There coffee is some of the best you can find, and they hold a very high standard to what they use to make it.
There motto is; "Make the best coffee possible, damn the cost!"
They're coffee is made from Single Origin beans, meaning they come from the same plant, or group of plants.  They will never be blended or dark roasted to save cost.  Single Origin beans are the only way to ensure consistent flavor and texture, no after taste and balanced acidity.



Of course the love of my life is there Mexican Hot Chocolate!
It is perfectly sweet and spicy at the same time. With fresh REAL whipped cream (Not from any can or tub!) and sprinkled with cinnamon and sugar and chocolate syrup.
Oh my heart starts palpitating just thinking about it.


So if you live any where near or are passing through Chico California, absolutely stop and grab yourself a cup o' Cortez Joe and some seriously good eats!
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If you would like to visit Sin Of Cortez on the web just click HERE


"Beep Beep!" from The Little Road!

Saturday, September 17, 2011

HOME FOR THE WEEKEND: THUNDERHILL SPORTING CLAYS



The best part about this particular weekend, is that I'm home in California spending time with my family and friends.   There isn't much more that encompasses home than this!  One little tradition I have when I come home to visit is to take a trip out to Thunderhill Pheasant Club, and shoot a round of sporting clays with my dad and his buddy's. 


I always enjoy the how pretty it is out on the ranch, golden rolling hills as far as you can see.   Wild life roaming around all over, and big huge dragonflies zipping about. I get to spend some good quality time with my Dad, and I get to join in on a little poking fun with my Dad's crazy friends.
Over the years I've adopted a new nick name out here.
Liiiizzzarrd
What does it mean?  Can't tell ya, or I'd have to kill ya.  :O)


My Dad taught me how to shoot a gun when I was about 12, which is actually a skill that I'm really thankful to have.  When I was younger we would shoot target practice, but today we have a lot more fun shooting sporting clays.  You normally have 10 to 12 stations that you shoot at, each one sporting 2 clay discs that are set up to fly out in any formation imaginable... some of them even roll on the ground.  The idea is to simulate a hunting experience, but of coarse with shot guns and clay discs.  There are rules, and you keep score, and by the end of the game, you've shot about 100 shells.  I normally leave with a stiff shoulder and sometimes a bruise, but it's all part of the fun.





Even Curtis joins in when he gets the chance!


If you're ever out this way, Thunderhill is a great place to check out.
Tell them Liiiizzzaarrdd sent ya.


"Beep Beep!" from The Little Road!

Friday, September 16, 2011

HAVE A GREAT WEEKEND!



Happy Friday!

What is everyone doing for the weekend?
Hopefully getting a little R&R.



Image from my Pinterest Board

"Beep Beep" from The Little Road!

FASHION FRIDAY: PROOF WOODEN SUNGLASSES

Since I'm hanging out here in the little town of Paradise California,
there really isn't much news going on.  So, it makes watching the news moderately entertaining because they have to come up with some kind of content.  It winds up being all kinds of random activity.
Anyway, the other night I was watching the news and they had this article about a guy living in Chico CA, hand making sunglasses out of different kinds of wood.  I thought they were so flippin awesome, unique, original!
So I jumped online to see if I could find out more about them.
Turns out, I couldn't find anything on this guy, but, there are tons of other company's out there doing the same exact thing. So yeah... guess they weren't quite as original as I thought, but non the less, still cool!

Check these puppies out!





Ooohh I so love them!  They range between $70 to $150 a pair.
They have about 5 different styles to choose from and multiple kinds of wood, but I'm loving the "Boise" glasses, though I just can't decide what kind of wood I like best.  The 3 below are my faves.





So, what do y'all think?  Would you sport a pair of wooden sunglasses?

You can check them out on the web HERE.


"Beep Beep" from The Little Road

Thursday, September 15, 2011

FARM FRESH THURSDAY: GOOD OL' PARADISE BLACKBERRY'S



Since I'm currently taking a little vacation down in my home town of sunny Paradise California, I figure that I really need to talk about what kind of fresh goodies I love to get while I'm here!
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I've always had this tender love for blackberries.  All the berry vender's in Washington seem to sell flat after flat of raspberry's and blueberry's and strawberry's!  Me, all I really love in this world is a big, juicy, bubbly, dye your hands purple blackberry.  You will never see this girl put grape jelly on a PB&J!  It's blackberry all the way!
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So it just so happens that I got my grubby little hands on a batch of fresh, home made blackberry syrup the other day, and I thought I would tell you a little bit about the woman I got it from.


My dad introduced me to a friend of his named Pat Anthony the other day.  Pat is a cheerful and delightful woman who is confined to a wheel chair.  She managed to keep such an infectious smile during our visit, and she had been feeling under the weather the entire day!  Before we left, Pat handed me a jar of blackberry syrup, which I almost opened immediately and started guzzling... but I refrained.
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After leaving her house, Dad told me her story.
During the 1940's Polio was a huge pandemic.  Many children died from the deseese or were seriously handicap for the rest of their lives. In fact, my Dad was lucky enough to be a survivor of Polio with minimal long term issues to deal with, though Polio did steal several good years of his life. 
For Pat, though she was also lucky to be a survivor of Polio, she was restricted to a wheel chair for the rest of her life.  
Thinking about it today, there are still so many opportunities for people who are handicap like Pat.  Its moderately easy to get around and in and out of buildings, but back then, if you were in a wheel chair, living an active normal life was pretty much impossible, and society didn't really think much of it.   Pat, was never one to settle.  She fought for her right to finish High School in a public school system, requiring her school to accommodate her needs.   She then went on to get a college degree to practice law, and eventually became a judge.  She had a passion for animals and raised horses as well as dogs and other animals.
To me, she's quite the commendable gal!
And, even on a day when shes feeling under the weather, she still manages to whip up a jar of blackberry syrup for us.  So special!
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My dad and I have been making milkshakes and poring it over ice cream all week long.
There is something about the blackberry's here in Paradise.  It must be the sun and heat that make them so good.  I remember when I was a kid scavenging ours and neighbors yards for blackberry bushes.  We'd just pick and eat them all day long.  We would come home with purple fingers and all kinds of cuts and scratches from the bushes thorns.  The best berries are always up high in the middle of the bush.
Of course, just like Pat, that never stopped us from getting to them........



"Beep Beep!" from The Little Road!

Wednesday, September 14, 2011

Tuesday, September 13, 2011

REVAMP TUESDAY: VINTAGE SILVER TRAY GOES CHALKBOARD



Lot's of people are having fun with chalk boards these days.  With the abundance of chalk board paint options, you can seriously go crazy with it.  Actually, I'm pretty sure my husband has lost his marbles over chalk board paint...  Every time I say "I'm thinking about painting that." He chimes in with "Chalkboard?!   
If Picasso had his blue period, my husband is definitely in his chalk board period.  :O)
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So here is a fun idea for yall.
Turn a vintage tray into a chalkboard!


Its super easy to find an abundance of vintage silver serving ware at your local thrift stores.  Any time we see something a little unique, we try to snag it up.  There are lots of fun DIY things to do with vintage silver.
Some people love to collect it, and some people like to repurpose it!
And that would be us, so for all of you out there who are avid silver collectors.... I apologize for this...  really I do. 
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First, find a silver tray that you like!  I forgot to take a before photo of my tray so I had to hack this one off the Internet.


Get yourself a container of chalkboard paint.  Don't try to be clever and buy the chalkboard spray paint, it will make a HUGE mess and won't look good!  You can ether tape the edges if you like or paint free hand with a small foam wedge brush.  I find that its just easier to do everything freehand, if you have a hard time keeping your had steady, keep some Clorox wipes close by, you can pull up any little mistakes by wrapping it around your finger nail.


Paint the entire inner area of the tray, and let dry.  Repeat this process at least 3 times.  If you only put one coat of paint on, the paint will chip off the silver when you rub any chalk off.  Also, the more coats you use the less you will see the decorative stamping on the inner part of the try... though, its still really pretty to be able to see it, it just wont let the chalk write as smooth.


That's all there is to it!  You can hang or place your tray anywhere and write away!
I would like to have a cheese party and use my try to label different cheeses.
Wouldn't cheese look so pretty against the black too?
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You can clean your tray with just a damp cloth. Easy Peasey!



"Beep Beep!" From The Little Road!

Monday, September 12, 2011

NEW MUSIC MONDAY: THE SUZAN

This band actually took some time to find!
My Dad keeps yelling at me to rush out to the TV room to listen to this song on a current Verizon commercial.
He says;  "Who is this and what the heck are they saying?"
It took some time to track them down and find that they are called "The Suzan"
An all girl punk/pop/surfer band from Japan.
Though I'm still not sure exactly everything they are saying, you can get the gist of it.
"Come to me now, come, come.  Come to me now, come."


This is a pretty catchy little tune really and I love the Afro/Brazilian/Caribbean feel!
It makes me want to lay on a white sandy beach and listen to steel drums all day long.




"Beep Beep!" From the Little Road

Sunday, September 11, 2011

A LITTLE MAKE OVER FOR ME AND THE LITTLE ROAD!

Well friends, much has been going on around here!


The beginning of the month was my last day as Liam's nanny.
It was definitely a bitter sweet day with lots of hugs and kisses and cuddles and fun.  I've had so much fun taking care of him these last few years, but I am so proud of him for becoming such a big boy and starting all day pre-school!  Which he is LOVING!


  He grew up way to fast!



So on to new adventures!  The future is full of lots of farming, good music and of coarse....
MORE LITTLE ROAD!!

Curt and I have started game planning some new goals for the little road, and I'm feeling very positive about them.  Were expecting big and fun things for the next 6 months to a year!

One of our biggest goals is to acquire "The Shop"


We've got our families and friends searching high and low for us for an old junker 1950's travel trailer, and we have our eyes on a few!  Were hoping that by next Summer we will be able to make appearances not only at our local markets and craft fairs... but all around the Seattle area!
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Also,
Its really time to get professional on the web!  We're slowly going to be making improvements and updates to the blog as well as put together thelittleroadsaidgo.com, which will have much more Little Road goodness! 
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We also plan to start filling up our ETSY SHOP!
Lots more vintage and original items coming your way shortly!



So friends!  Lets here some input!
What more would you like to see?  Where should we go?  What more would you like to see in the shop?

The Little Road Blog is going to start having a theme for each day of the week, but I would love to hear what you think!
So far we have come up with this......

*New Music Mondays 
(Kick start the week with some new tunes in your pocket!)
*Tuesday Revamps
(Catch DIY projects and Before and Afters)
*Sweet Life Wednesdays
(A little sneak peek into our daily lives and activities)
*Farm Fresh Thursdays
(Get fun facts and photos of your local Washington farms and markets!)
*Fashion Fridays
(A day of fun girly stuff.......and a few fun boy stuff too)
*Saturday Home For The Weekend
(Tutorials on all our ongoing remodeling projects)
*Sunday Brunch
(Yep, its coming back.  Reviews on local and not so local breakfast eats!)


So what do you think?  Do yall have any other fun ideas we could maybe add to the pot?!
Leave a comment and lets hear them!


"Beep, Beep!" From The Little Road!