2012 - Here we come!

Just wanted to wish all of you a happy new year and look forward to seeing what's in store for 2012! 



~ Kelly ~

How much do I love thee?

Let me count the ways..............

Now that Christmas is over and the house is back in order, I am having a  love affair with my new pine chest.

I now have a place to put a lamp in the foyer and light a candle too. 

I love her even more with the soft glow of candlelight at night.

She's the first thing I see when I enter my home and the last thing I see before heading upstairs to bed at night.

In fact, we're still getting acquainted.  I haven't yet decided what to fill the drawers with yet. I am just waiting for a storage need to come along and I'll be set.  In the meantime, I'm enjoying her new look and so thankful I brought her home! 

However, I hope she doesn't get too jealous, because now she has some stiff competition in the kitchen.  I'll be showing that to you soon.

Have you had a love affair with anything in your home lately?

Thanks for stopping by!

~ Kelly ~ 

Linking to the following:

Vintage Inspiration Friday

Feathered Nest Friday



A Sweet Muffin Recipe

Hello Everyone!

Yesterday, I had such a good day.  I started out making these delicious muffins in the morning. 

I will give you the recipe, don't worry! 

Then, we got dressed and went to see the movie, Mission Impossible.  What a fun movie!!  I highly recommend it if you haven't already seen it.  It was jam packed with action, cool spy tricks and beautiful scenery from around the world. Go see it on the big screen before it comes out on video!  Then we went out to eat at one of our favorite Mexican restaurants.  We came home and collapsed.  It was a long fun day.

However, it all changed this morning, when my youngest son woke up with a fever!  So....looks like we'll be spending a different kind of day at home today. 

The recipe is for Blueberry Muffins with Lemon-Cream Cheese Glaze. I found it in this magazine.

I knew as soon as I saw it, that I was going to have to make them!

I did alter the recipe just a bit.  I cheated and used a muffin mix instead of making them from scratch.  The part of the recipe that I made was the glaze.  So, I'm only including the recipe for the glaze.

Here is what I did:

I made muffins from this mix.

 Then I got out my glaze ingredients.

powdered sugar, cream cheese, lemon, vanilla

I beat the cream cheese with lemon zest, lemon juice and vanilla.

Then I added the powdered sugar.

Once your muffins are baked, you can spread the glaze on them like a frosting.

The recipe made a lot more glaze than I needed.  I have refrigerated it to use on muffins in the future. 

Here is the official recipe from the magazine:

Lemon-Cream Cheese Glaze

1 (3 oz) pkg cream cheese, softened

1 tsp lemon zest

1 tbsp fresh lemon juice

1/4 tsp vanilla extract

1 1/2 cups sifted powdered sugar

Beat cream cheese at med. speed with an electric mixer until creamy.  Add lemon zest and next 2 ingredients; beat until smooth.  Gradually add powdered sugar, beating until smooth.

Thanks for stopping by!

 

~ Kelly ~

 

Linking to the following:

 

Open House Party

Post Christmas Message

Hello Everyone!

Ah yes!  Christmas is over.

The presents have been opened.

Just look at their smiling faces.

Even our dog, Max, got his favorite toy!

Let me just tell you what a joy it has been having him roll that football all over the house in a panting frenzy!  Ha!

The stockings have been emptied.

The cookies have been eaten.

But now.........what I really need is this:

And what I really want is this:

But, what I'm really going to get is this:

How was your Christmas?

Thanks for stopping by!

~ Kelly ~



Happy Holidays!

I hope all of you have a wonderful Christmas and a very happy new year!

I am looking forward to 2012.  Who knows what it will hold, but I'm anxious to find out.  Hope you are too!

Also, I wanted to let you know how much I appreciate your visits to my blog and all your sweet comments. I feel blessed to be in the company of so many with such great talent and inspiration.  Getting to know all of you has been a gift to me this year.

Thanks for stopping by!

~ Kelly ~ 

A Christmas Open House

Hello everyone!

Earlier in the month, I went to a Christmas open house at a cute home interior store, called Magnolia Interior Designs.  They have an interior design business as well as a store for home furnishings and accents.  It's family owned.  The mother and her daughters run it.  They were even featured in Southern Living Magazine a few years ago!  They're located in Free Home, GA near Canton.  If you love traditional decor with a french twist and lots of color, you'll love this store! 

It's located in a cute house.

Come on in and let's take a look around.  I'm going to just let the pretty pictures speak for themselves.

Did you see anything that you liked?   I didn't buy anything, but always enjoy looking at their latest Christmas creations.

Thanks for stopping by!

~ Kelly~