Things I’m Loving

Posted on December 17, 2015 by hildagotrocks

It has been a while since I posted about things I’m loving. In an effort to take a break from the holiday hustle, I’ve rounded up some small but mighty moments and things I’m just loving.

First of all– this hilarious collection of gifts might almost completely reflect my choice of language. I’m basically Sharon Osborne’s long lost daughter.

Copper. Have you heard? Apparently its the next big home decor trend. And I don’t hate it. Give me copper! Here is a peek at Crate & Barrel’s metal trend inspirations.

Paying it forward. The other day I went to the coffee shop for a coffee. Totally normal, right? But then when the cashier ran my card it didn’t work. She apologized and ran it again. And again. No dice. Mortifying… I promise I had enough money for a latte (which my now had already been made and was sitting just beside her). She explained that their credit card system had been wonky lately and asked if I had cash or another card. My only other card in my coat was for work and I had zero cash. By now I’m so embarrassed. Then she shrugs it off and tells me she has a Pay-It-Forward for a latte already. You guys, people prepay for coffee, muffins and sandwiches for others and the store tracks them on the cardboard sleeves. When you need one, you just grab the appropriate sleeve and hand it to the cashier. I accepted and promised to pay it forward. The next day I returned (while an IT guy was there setting up a new card reader by the way) and bought 10 coffees and got to write on the sleeves. Above is my handiwork.

O’s artwork. O loves anything crafty. She’s been all about watercolors lately. She painted this the other day.. Of course I tell her it looks fantastic and that I can tell she worked very hard on it. She tells me “Its Blueberry (our Beta fish)!” Can you see it?

Krohn Conservatory’s Holiday Show. Cincinnati people: you don’t want to miss this! Not only is the botanical exhibit incredible, the gift shop irresistible and the trains impressive… they have the most insanely beautiful replicas of Cincinnati landmarks made out of bark, acorns, pine cones and branches. I found a replica of my childhood home, a painted lady Victorian of Tusculum (above).

Coozies. In my former life coozies were strictly for adult beverages. But O found this at Walgreens right before Halloween and has been using it for her Almond milk. Just slide your hand in and it makes you look like you have a monster hand. Never gets old. Its almost Christmas and this bad boy is in the daily rotation.

Balsamic anything. I brunched with a dear friend the other day at Taste of Belgium. You all KNOW how much I love that place. This time I paired my Mimosa (below) with a spinach, red pepper, goat cheese crepe topped with balsamic reduction (above). I need another trip to ToB already!

And as if you need more reasons to drink Champagne- I’ve heard it may prevent Dementia and Alzheimers. Article here.

This killer wall stencil. My cousin Megan just did this stencil on one wall in her dining room. I believe the wall is one color and the stencil is done in the next lightest color on the swatch and in the next highest sheen.

I died when I saw it. I must find a place for this technique! Also, Megan chalk painted and gel stained the table and chairs herself! Go girl! Looks sharp!Can a wall be sexy? Because this one just might be.

Union Terminal. Another Cincinnati treasure and architectural dream.
The dome shaped ceiling screams art deco and has some amazing acoustics.

I actually took these in selfie mode on my iphone. Not bad, eh?

Redeeming myself. Yup, totally loving that. I once really over baked some brownies for my boss’s dinner party. Like, so bad. That night she sent me a video of everyone trying to cut the brownies and soaking them with ice cream to attempt to soften them. All in good fun and we’ve been laughing about it for a year. The other day they asked if I would want to bake for a dinner party again. We joked about not making brownies and that hopefully nobody would choke or anything. I told them I had a family recipe for a carrot cake that promised to impress. It took me about 3 hours to make and it was perfect. Isn’t she purdy?

That night I received videos of guests eating the cake and raving about it’s decadence. Totally made up for the brownie incident of 2014.

Oreo truffles. Three ingredients, 20 minutes of your time and people think you’ve saved the world. Recipe here.

O’s selfies. She’s been filling my phone with photos and videos of herself, sometimes the dog and even myself. She’s snapped a few great ones and I’m obsessed wit h this one. She can fill my phone with her precious face absolutely any day.

Stitch Fix! I tried Stitch Fix over the summer and I’m hooked. I have posted some of my scores on Instagram. If you want to try it out be sure to use my referral link (this is not an affiliate link but I would get a credit via Stitch Fix for sending you).

So what are you loving lately? A song? Your new haircut? The weather? Spill it… I wanna know.

Adventures in Ophthalmology

Posted on December 8, 2015 by hildagotrocks

Yesterday O had a check up with her Ophthalmologist to assess how she is progressing with her newest prescription (updated in September to R+4.50 and L +7.00 and a new diagnosis of slight astigmatism).

O is usually well behaved at appointments. She was particularly cooperative yesterday and it makes it so much easier on me, as my emotions are always running high at the Ophthalmologist’s office. Since she’s older and so communicative (I wonder where she gets that?) they now have her identify shapes and letters projected onto a mirror from a screen on the back wall (as shown below). O is seeing much better with her new prescription and is closer to 20/20 vision than ever! The doc says her muscles are responding appropriately and that she can see even further down the chart to smaller lines she’s never seen before! He looked at me and told me it was “the absolute best case scenario for her.”

O does need to patch 4 hours each day again. Her left eye is crossing minimally and we need to keep things balanced for her. The good news is that her brain is using both eyes almost evenly! Hubby and I are thrilled and very proud of our girl!

Holiday Centerpieces [on a budget]

Posted on November 30, 2014 by hildagotrocks

I had the pleasure of hosting a casual family get together over Thanksgiving. Nothing too fancy- chili, macaroni and cheese and some spirits. No need for place settings but I wanted to have the house feel like the holidays without having to decorate for Christmas just yet. I’m like Nordstrom: you will not see Christmas here until Thanksgiving. Obviously due to the holiday I had time restrictions and I’m always looking to be budget friendly. So I scoured the grocery store earlier in the week for a little inspiration.

What I got:

4 bags of cranberries at $1.50 each

2 large naval oranges at 99 cents a pound

I started by finding some of my favorite vases with broad or straight sides. And of course my favorite mason jar. Then I thinly sliced the oranges (a mandolin is helpful here if you aren’t a great slicer) and discarded the smaller slices and the ones without the star burst pattern. I set them aside to make a little pot of stove top scent (Psst: Toss orange slices, 5 whole cloves, a splash of vanilla and a couple of cinnamon sticks in with 2 cups of water and simmer for a holiday scent that fills the house and lasts all day!).

I lined the sides of my vases with the orange slices and filled them with cranberries. Then I filled each vase with water until the cranberries were just slightly afloat.

I placed each vase around the house and had intended to run to get fresh white flowers (hydrangeas? roses?) to completely the centerpiece vibe. But I really liked how simple and cheery they were without flowers so I saved myself the trip and left them as they were. I grabbed a little beverage chalkboard I had and made a quick “Give Thanks” sign.

These were complimented all night! I especially like that they are appropriate for Thanksgiving as well as Christmas and New Years. Oh, and the fact that I made 5 centerpieces for less than $8 is pretty awesome too.

Easy, inexpensive and quite darling if I may say.

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Per family tradition, we spent some of the weekend decorating for Christmas, putting up the tree, making gingerbread houses, baking blue berry muffins and listening to the Michael Buble Holiday Pandora station. Here’s a peak:

We rearranged the family room to accommodate for a tree in the window. O had a ball hanging ornaments all over however she pleased. She would occasionally step back and say “It looks beautiful!”

We made a batch of my famous “Real Blueberry Muffins” from scratch. O has become quite enthusiastic about baking and insists on helping in almost every kitchen activity. Aprons are her new favorite “dress up”.

I got a Wilton Gingerbread house on sale at Michael’s the other day for $9. Total impulse purchase but O has been asking to make it every single day since we bought it. I finally caved… she was so excited (below is her actual “excited” face). Mom note: this was a great excuse to use extra Halloween candy or undesirable candies left over.

While I’m at it… I have to tell you a life changing secret that I only discovered a few years ago. Bold and italic there, friends. Truly a life saver. It saves tons of time and even more stress if you assemble the gingerbread house frame using hot glue rather than the icing provided in the kit.

I use mine on high but I think any setting will do. I just put hot glue on the seams that I want to attach and hold in place for a few seconds. Repeat for all the sides and do the roof pieces last. Hot glue… what can’t it do?

Then O and I developed a little rhythm. I’d make a “blob”, she’d choose a candy to place there. Almost all of the design choices here are hers. I did make the door, windows, wreath and bow. But she made the roof with me, sidewalk, sides of the house and all. I just kept piping icing and she kept sticking candy there. You know, between stuffing her face with m&m’s. I cheated and did the bow and Dum Dum trees with hot glue as well.