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style watch: olivia palermo

Published on August 24, 2011September 16, 2011 by cara.b.b.2 Comments

i’ve seen her before, but have started to see more of her via lots of pins on pinterest. it seems that the girl cannot come up with a bad outfit. she wears a lot of classic pieces, but gives them her own spin with great accessories. here are a few of my favorite ensembles…

i’m seeing a recurring theme of the statement necklace, which i am loving. you’re wearing shorts? statement necklace! you’re wearing a t-shirt? statement necklace! it just brings whatever you’re wearing to a new level. i think i’ll be shopping my jewelry cabinet a little more in the coming weeks.

and i need to try these braids, stat.

also loving this done, but not too done, hair-do and light sweep of make-up. again with the statement necklace!

happy hump day!

espresso caramel bars

Published on August 17, 2011September 16, 2011 by cara.b.b.2 Comments

last week, i decided i would make an extra special treat for no particular reason – because sometimes you just have to do that. i followed this recipe, and i’ve gotta say, these little suckers were pretty amazing – and great-looking too. there are a lot of steps, but it’s totally worth every bit of work. the only change i made was substituting fleur de sel for the smoked sea salt (because that’s what i already had), and that little bite of salt tempers the super sweet caramel. make sure you cut them pretty small – they’re very rich – and that way you’ll have more to share.

{graham cracker crust – step one, done!}

{making the caramel – almost there!}

{the finished product}

monica’s house

Published on August 15, 2011August 17, 2011 by cara.b.b.Leave a comment

courteney cox’s home in malibu was featured in the july/august elle decor. this place is a total wowzer in my book. i love how airy all the spaces feel, and the views are incredible!! do you think she’ll adopt me? or at least let me come out for the summer? i’ll let the pictures do the talking…

{all photos via elle decor}

5 years…

Published on August 12, 2011 by cara.b.b.Leave a comment

…of wedded bliss. happy anniversary to my dear sweet husband. i love you, jb.

i would do our wedding over in a heart beat, and i’m not even sure i would change anything. we had an amazing ceremony and reception with one of the best bands i’ve ever heard. our favorite people were around us, and we had the most fun we’ve ever had. can we do it all again, please?

we danced our faces off that night, and at the end, everyone chanted ‘encore’ until the band finally gave in and played one more song.

tired, but so so happy…

before and after: side table

Published on August 11, 2011August 17, 2011 by cara.b.b.Leave a comment

we have this nightstand – it’s a hand-me-down. it was originally a very ugly ‘fake’ wood finish, so we painted it black a few years ago, but i’ve never really loved it. but not too long ago, i saw similar pieces popping up all over blog land, painted in great colors, and with the hardware all shined up. i thought i’d try to give it a freshening and try to breathe some new life into it. i used some comet and shined that hardware up. i think it’s brass plated, but there was an ugly ‘antique’ finish on it that came off…with a lot of elbow grease. i had a quart of red paint left over from when i painted our front door, ad i slapped a on few (4!) coats. that old nightstand now has a new life as a side table for our front room.

the finish before was this – bad.

and after…

a few of the inspiration pieces…

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pasta with butternut squash

Published on August 9, 2011August 17, 2011 by cara.b.b.Leave a comment

a friend of mine gave me a few butternut squash (thank you jennifer!). she has a friend who grows them and she had had all the squash she wanted, so she donated a few to our house. i haven’t cooked a ton with squash – mostly because i’ve always been intimidated by them – but let me tell you, they are super easy to work with and delicious! i followed this recipe from my girl, giada, and it yielded awesome results.

splish splash

Published on August 4, 2011August 17, 2011 by cara.b.b.1 Comment

as previously mentioned, beckett really likes the bath. he is one happy camper to get out all his toys and chase them around the tub. miller likes to drink the water simultaneously, and some might scoff at us, but if you have a dog, you know you have to just get over their slobber, hair, and desire to be rightnexttoyou all the time. we really tried to keep him from licking beckett, and we still keep it to a minimum, but sometimes you just have to let it go. we’re just happy they like each other.

home by novogratz

Published on August 2, 2011 by cara.b.b.Leave a comment

have you seen cortney and robert novogratz’ new show on hgtv? they are a husband and wife team of interior designers, and they have done some pretty brilliant stuff. they are big on mixing – vintage with new, ethnic with simple. they also have seven – yes, i said SEVEN – kids. wowza. you can tell they’ve got a good sense of humor about what they do as you’ll notice lots of quirky little touches. i’ll let their work speak for itself.

odds and ends

Published on July 29, 2011 by cara.b.b.5 Comments

if you read my last post, you know i’m trying to get more on the ball about creating a ‘system’ for this house to get it running more smoothly. well, two things popped up in the last couple days that are related, and thought i’d share. first, after reading my post, my sweet mother in law suggested that i read sidetracked home executives, a book she read when she was at this very same stage in life. mr. amazon was kind enough to deliver it today, so i’m going to see what these ladies have to say. the first few pages are pretty funny, so i think it’ll be a pretty entertaining read. second related note is that emily over at jones design company has started a new offering, a monthly printable collection. well, one of her printables is a ‘house duties’ grid for both adults and kiddos. if you’re like me, having it printed out on something pretty will make it more bearable to look at.

so, enough housekeeping talk, and on to something more fun. the short guy’s favorite new activity is to climb the stairs and make a b-line for the bathtub. whether or not there’s water, he wants to get in and play with his toys. too funny. that sweet little outfit is one that jared’s aunt deb made when he was a wee one – that means it’s 30 years old – totally vintage. i had to get him in it for a few photos.

one last thing – a hot tip for parents of kids eating mush. i really can’t claim that this is my own hot tip. i’ve watched a few other mamas (meredith and regan, i’m lookin’ at you) do this and thought ‘what a great idea’, so thought i’d share with you. if you’re trying to feed your little one on the go, i think these are the best. you can just squirt a ‘bite’ at a time straight from the bottle into your little one’s mouth, and there’s no clean-up…well, other than that sweet face. the ella brand comes in some unique flavors (i mean, when was the last time you had parsnips or rutabaga?), and b-man loves them.

getting a hold on the house

Published on July 27, 2011 by cara.b.b.6 Comments

i really thought that when i decided to be a stay at home mama that i would be able to maintain a clean house, put a great meal on the table every night, and have some free time. i misjudged. life with a kiddo is busy – everything takes longer than you think, and i find myself leaving little piles of papers or toys or shoes that i’ll come back to later – and later turns into a few days.

i like to think i’m a pretty organized person, a big time list-maker who also likes to check things off – sometimes i write down something i’ve already done just so i can put a nice little check beside it. the mister might say that i have a few ‘monica’ tendencies when i go on a cleaning rampage. so why can’t i keep this house consistently under control!?! i’ve come to the realization that i just feel a bit overwhelmed.

with more kids in the future (no, not right now), i’ve decided i need to create a system for myself. so, i’m going to institute a ‘chore of the day’ to (hopefully) help me feel less overwhelmed by it all. i’ll assign myself a section of the house, or a certain task for each day, meaning we should consistently have a pretty clean abode – i can use beckett’s nap time for this. i’m also, at the end of the day, going to do a 10 minute pick-up. my mom put this into action when we were kids, and i hope to do it with beckett too. you can do more than you think in 10 minutes, especially with help – “many hands make short work”, as my mom would say.

this is what i’m thinking:

monday: bathrooms, grocery shop

tuesday: living room

wednesday: errands, vacuum

thursday: kitchen – clean out frig and mop floor

friday: dining room and family room

Saturday: bedrooms

Sunday: free day

here are a few helpful tools: martha’s six things to do every day and weekly checklist. another example of a chore lis for adults and a customizable chore chart for kids.

i think this will put me on the road to creating a little more order around here and not feeling consumed by it. do you have any secrets to keeping your house a well-oiled machine? do share!

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