HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD!

I love my father as I love the stars.  He is a happy twinkling in my heart.

xoxoxo

BE SURE YOUR SEATS ARE IN AN UPRIGHT LOCKED POSITION

I spent today at the Museum of Flight with my little 2 year old friend Liam.  I nanny for him during the week, and visiting the "Airplane Museum" is one of our favorite ways to spend a day!

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On display today was a series of vintage flight attendant uniforms.  Let's just say I LOVE them!  I quickly tried to take a few snaps with my phone camera while Liam was pulling me with all his might to the picture display of Chimpanzees that have been sent to space! So alas, I didn't get great photos, but, who cares.  I think Im going to try and make some of these jackets for myself one of these days.

I love this Jacket!  I love the TWA inlay on the lapel and the hat is just flippin rad!

"I'm telling you baby, its not my bag!"  Amazing!  Feels like I just walked into an Austin Powers movie.



I'm also loving this Jacket!  When doe's JoAnn's have another 99 cent pattern sale?!

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Also, I try very hard to stay out of the gift shop at the Museum of Flight.  I try really hard not to even look through the window, but all this cute Pan Am luggage gear kept starring me every time I passed by.  I may need to save up for some new luggage soon. 

Cheers!

SUNDAY BRUNCH ~ THE ORIGINAL PANCAKE HOUSE

America is probably riddled with pancake houses!  What American doesn't appreciate cake of the pan variety?!  We have hundreds of choices when it comes to pancakes, buckwheat, sourdough, cornmeal, chocolate chip, blueberry...... DUTCH BABY!!

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I have this lovely friend Arnica, that I have been friends with since High School.  Back in our school days, I used to spend the night at her house all the time and her fun, lovely, hippy mother would cook us dutch babies for breakfast.  That light puffed up doughy delight has been one of my all time favorite breakfasts ever since then!  A dutch baby is considered a German pancake, and its similar to a souffle or maybe a little like a popover?...... actually its a little like nothing you've ever had!  Its a simple batter that is poured into a cast iron pan and baked in the oven.  While baking it will puff up to ENORMOUS proportion.  It loses a little of its puff once it comes out, but it still keeps that airy fluffy texture.   It can be served numerous ways, with fruit and syrup, powdered sugar or simple butter and lemon juice.

When I first moved here to Seattle, the Original Pancake House was one of the first places I visited.  When you move to a new place, sometimes you just have to cling to the little things that you feel familiar and at home with.  A pancake house was just the ticket, and I could hardly miss the neon sign on top of the building of an actual chef flipping pancakes.  Yes, the pancakes actually flip!  On my first visit there I was so extremely happy to see dutch babies flying out the kitchen to all the tables around me!  WoooHooo... JACKPOT!  These dutch babies are nothing to scoff at either.  They are big enough to feed an army and they are filled with tons of roasted apples.  YUM!

Oh, I'll just stop talking and let you look at the pictures!

Tempted yet? 

Now you need a recipe right?!

Well here ya go!

~ Ingredients ~

2 eggs

1/2 cup milk

1/2 cup sifted all-purpose flour

1 pinch ground nutmeg

1 pinch salt

2 Tbs. butter

2 Tbs. confectioners' sugar for dusting

~ Directions ~

1. Place a 10 inch cast iron skillet inside oven and preheat oven to 475 degrees F (245 degrees C).
2. In a medium bowl, beat eggs with a whisk until light. Add milk and stir. Gradually whisk in flour, nutmeg and salt.
3. Remove skillet from oven and reduce oven heat to 425 degrees F (220 degrees C). Melt butter in hot skillet so that inside of skillet is completely coated with butter. Pour all the batter in the skillet and return skillet to oven.
4. Bake until puffed and lightly browned, about 12 minutes. Remove promptly and sprinkle with powdered sugar.

CHEERS!

FLOORS FLOORS....... SUB FLOORS?

Hello my lovely friends! I've been missing everyone!

I have to admit that I have been a little MIA lately, because I've been spending several nights a week sneaking over to our friends house to watch American Idol.   Curt and I don't have cable, and we've formed a long lasting tradition of watching every season with 2 of our amazing friends!

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Anyway, so the issue of the floor has been a long one.  When I first purchased our little beach condo 10 years ago, you could say it had been remodeled.....  Just, only in the sense that everything was replaced and updated with the absolute cheapest Home Depot products.  (Not that I have any issues with Home Depot products, but really, I think my kitchen cabinets were actually made to go in a garage.)  The floors, the cheapest cream colored carpet you could find.  Its not a huge deal, it looked nice enough when I first moved in, and its given me the opportunity to replace things the way I personally like it, and not feel bad about throwing out someone else's personal taste and expense. 

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Recently I've been pretty adamant about replacing the flooring with a white wood looking laminate.  I've been standing in the Ikea floor section, swooning over a beautiful $1.15 a square foot white pannels.   Alas, even at $1.15 a square foot, I really can't afford it right now.  Yet, on the other hand, I don't think I can live much longer with my ugly dirt and cat pee stained carpet.  BLEK!

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Well the other day I found these!

Would you believe these are sub floors?!

These amazing pictures above are from the lovely and talented Ashley Ann from ashleyannphotography.com.

She has an amazing blog with tons of fun DIY projects for your home and for our smaller little friends.  She is also a monthly DIY contributor to Design Sponge and Design Aglow.

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She just recently refurbished her sub floors in her bedroom and I am totally IN LOVE with them! She spent some time prepping the floor, painted it with some porch paint from Lowes and then created a unique stencil to lay horizontally across the room.  I think it just turned out lovely.  She finished it off by rubbing a wood varnish over the top and rubbing it off to give it an older look. 

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So my friends.....  What are your thoughts?  Should Curtis and I start ripping up the carpet and break out the Bondo and Porch Paint?!!

If you would like to see Ashley's full tutorial on how she stenciled her sub floors click HERE

She also has some more amazing photos of those rockin floors!

SUNDAY BRUNCH ~ LOWELL'S

One of Seattle's most historical land marks as well as a beloved fixture to our rainy city culture is Pikes Place Market.  Before I moved here to the great emerald city my dad used to travel here on business, and I was lucky to be his little tag along travel companion.  I remember the first time I visited Seattle, I was only 11 years old and I remember falling head over heals in love with it.  No surprise, that I later followed my great love and transplanted myself here for the long gray skyed haul away from my home town in sunny California.

I can remember back to my first visit to Seattle.  We ate breakfast every morning at this quaint 3 storied diner with one amazing view, inside the market.  Every morning, the same little seagull with a missing foot (later to be named Henry) would sit on the building ledge, just outside our table window.  I would drop bits of my breakfast out the window to Henry.  Over the years, Lowell's has become an iconic figure in my personal Seattle history.

Lowell's has been labeled the "Living Room" to Pikes Place Market.  It opened in the early 1900's as a coffee and peanut roaster as well as a cafeteria to the local workers.  It's current name "Lowell's" came into play in 1957.  Lowell's has classic all American breakfasts. Eggs, bacon, toast and hash browns always cooked to perfection.  Its a tried and true representation of the classic breakfast we all love, but the best part about Lowell's is the atmosphier.  The hustle and bustle of the market life, combined with peaceful nooks and crannies with picturesque views of the Seattle Harbor, Elliot Bay and the majestic Olympic Mountains.

Magic can always be found at Pikes market.  The vibrant colors, strange fishy smells, and musical sounds of street performing musicians with their unique and unusual instruments.  Spending a day at the market to me, means fresh hot miniature doughnuts from the mini doughnut machine, visiting Rachelle the bronze pig, flying fish and the wall of gum! Then later grabbing something warm to drink from the original Starbucks before taking my tickled and delighted self home in a complete and utter state of bliss. 

Cheers to you Lowell's for continuing to make Pikes Market that much more magical in my eyes from 11 years of age till now.

This Blog is dedicated to Rachelle, who was recently hit by a taxi driver on her way home from the market.

Here's hoping for a speedy recovery!

And to Henry.

xoxo

DANDELION WISHES

I've always had a thing for dandelions.  When I was a little girl, there used to be tons of yellow dandelions in our front yard.  My parents always thought of them as pesky weeds, but I would spend entire days collecting them into little yellow bouquets, skipping around the yard with bundles of them in my hands. The white ones were always the best.  I'd close my eyes and think of what I wanted most of all, and then blow!  Then twirl around while all the little seeds danced around me in the wind. 

(Yes that is actually a picture of me!)

I love this new chandelier my husband and I just bought from Ikea!  Its a BIG, FLUFFY, GIANT DANDELION!!

I think like most people, I have a love/hate relationship with Ikea, and this was definitely one of those projects that make you hate it!  Though it wasn't too difficult assembling the light, It was a bare to get up on the ceiling and then after all is said and done, you still have to attach 180 of those little poofs to every end of wire.  Wooh!  I actually think this light is bigger then my dining table... lol

We hung it from a rosette on the ceiling, much like this one above and it looks great!

Though I still haven't figured out what were going to have to do to change the light bulb.............

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I guess I shall blow really hard and wish that thought away. 

CHEERS!

SNOW DAY AND NEW MARKET UPDATES

Hello friends!

Well today was a snow day here in beautiful Des Moines Washington.  Every time it snows at our little beach condo, we all get stuck inside our parking lot.  It really was a blessing in disguise, since I've been trying to kick this bout of Pneumonia now for over a month, it forced me to take a day and stay in bed.  Staying in bed is really hard for me to do by the way.  I did manage to get outside for a few minutes today and take some pictures of the snowy beach.

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I'm also happy to announce new vintage kitchen items in my Etsy store.
Go visit MY SHOP and take a look!

CHEERS!

SUNDAY BRUNCH ~ WILD WHEAT BAKERY

Getting your hands on a good Sunday brunch here in Seattle a lot of the time means waiting, sometimes lengthy periods of time to get a table at your favorite spot.  Though personally I am more then happy to wait a while to eat a fabulous afternoon brunch where I know the food is delicious and the people are nice.  But, on the other hand, there are those times when you really don't want to mess with that at all.

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Welcome to the Wild Wheat Bakery located in old town Kent Washington.  Might as well spend your wait driving a short distance in your car to get an amazing meal in an atmosphere that has A LOT of character and movement!  For those of you who are familiar with Old Town Kent Washington, you will know that the railway runs straight through it.  Wonderful Wild Wheat perches its self quaintly along side the tracks. 

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While you're enjoying one of their specialty breakfasts, you suddenly feel your feet a rumblin, and all the glasses start a clankin.......... Then......... TOOOT TOOOT!  Wild Wheat's large picturesque windows allow you to view the trains rolling by up close and personal, as well as frequently!

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Since Curtis and I live south of the Big City in beautiful Des Moines, Wild Wheat is just a hop skip and a jump from our house, and its one of my favorite haunts on a lazy Sunday.  Today I devoured yet again another Eggs Benedict, smothered in their house made lemon infused hollandaise sauce.  Perched oh so happily upon 2 slices of their divine hazel nut current bread and lots of little bacon crumbles.  It normally comes with a side of home fries, but I always opt for a bowl of fruit instead.  Mmmmmm.   Though I'm a huge fan of their Chai Latte, I took a picture of Curtis' Caramel Macchiato.  It was much prettier then my cup of Non-Joe.

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Take a look at some pictures of our brunch today.  For those of you who attended our wedding last August, this is where we bought all our fancy bread for our bread and jam table.

What are your favorite Sunday brunch hang outs?

Cheers!