peanut butter cookies...

After a string of many sleepless (up with little baby) nights, I decided to make cookies yesterday. It was the sort of day when I wouldn't even trust myself to drive. And now I'm not really sure how or when I made them? It seemed to take all day: mix the dry ingredients together, go change a diaper...crack an egg, feed baby some lunch...scoop out peanut butter, chop some nuts, and play with baby a little while...get baby down for nap, start baking them and baby wakes up 20 minutes later...get baby back to sleep and bake some more...etc, etc and on it went! Needless to say I didn't make a good home-cooked dinner. But cookies are important. And I wanted to make them mainly to please Hub. I heard him rummaging in the freezer the other night in search of some homemade cookies, a place where we often keep extras...but we'd been out for quite awhile. I decided I wanted to make peanut butter cookies and surprisingly realized I've never baked this basic cookie before. So in search of a good recipe (I wanted them chewy and thick, not thin and crispy) I scanned many of my cookbooks/test kitchen magazines but couldn't come up with one good basic recipe. So I turned to the google and my search led me to this wonderfully written, make-me-hungry food blog. I pretty closely followed the recipe except I omitted the peanut butter chips (didn't have any) and the chocolate chips (because I just wanted a straight up pb cookie). I did add a 1/2 cup or so chopped peanuts too because I wanted some chunks (I used a creamy pb). So there you have it. And in the midst of all this very slow/scattered cookie-making, I decided to pretend I was an amateur food-stylist as well. I had to have a little fun too, oui?

P.S. Oh, and the cookies are delicious too. I lost count of how many I alone consumed. But they were little...tiny in fact! ;)
P.P.S. And I don't know why you are supposed to flatten them a bit with a fork? Anyone? I only remembered to do this about 50% of the time and I think I actually like the fluffier, un-flattened versions better. :)

in the studio {jarring order}

Lately my desk has become a total disaster. After completing some recent projects I decided I better get some order to things again. So I stayed up ridiculously late (ridiculous when you have a baby who doesn't sleep much or very well, I should say) working on the frivolous (yet fun to me) task of organizing my "studio". I already had many things in old apothecary jars but I decided to jar up some more things and do a little cleaning/rearranging/labeling. Besides having an abundance of baby food jars now, I also realized that many of the cute open dishes and such that I had things housed in were getting very dusty, very quickly since they are not in use as often any more. Plus, I like being able to easily see what's what in glass jars. I also did some organizing in my cubby cabinet too and made some little labels for boxes full of things. There now! That feels a little better!

P.S. It's a very foggy, gray day here (see?) so my untouched pictures are gray and a bit dreary as well!

mishmash lunch...

Last week I had lunch at my house for mum and a friend who were up for a little visit. It was a little bit impromptu (which is actually how I operate best anyways) and I thought it would be rather uncomplicated. We had chicken salad on croissants with some mixed greens and an asparagus jarlsberg tart (inspired by this gorgeous one...but with jarlsberg instead of ricotta) and lemon bars from the bakery for dessert. I thought I was giving myself a break by buying the dessert...but I'm slowly learning that what I once could do without a whole lot of effort now takes a TON of effort for me with a little nine-month old baby hanging on my leg (who is also going through a little bit of the stranger/separation anxiety stage too). It was fun to be with them and enjoy some adult conversation. And I loved using some of my vintage flowery dishes and girly things like teacups and doilies that haven't made it out of the cupboard in awhile lately...but I think my brain is finally starting to connect that things I used to do pre-baby are just not going to be same right now...which is all good and fine...I just need to learn that...and I think I finally am!

Spring dreams...

Just using the word "Spring" in my post title makes me a little happy! It has been warm and pleasant here lately and all the things that go along with Spring are surging through my head...warmer & longer days, flowers budding, grass greening up, birds chirping away, eating al fresco... The other day when it was sunny and 65 degrees out, I brought little baby bub outside and set him down on the grass for the very first time. He seemed so content, so happy, so calm and a little uncertain! He very gently pulled at the still brownish-green grass and held tightly to a rock I had given him, flipping it over and over in his hands...examining it as if he were on a new planet. I'm so excited for a whole spring (and then summer) ahead of us with new little outdoor discoveries like this with my new little explorer. Especially after being cooped up in the house during the long winter months...one can't help but be a bit antsy and excited. Yet in the meantime, I'm still conjuring up Spring inside...like this new pair of foxes I just recently completed for a wedding cake topper order. They feel very spring-like and cheerful to me. She requested teal blue and yellow details...I'm always surprised at all the different color combinations brides choose for their weddings...I don't think I've ever had the same 2 or 3 color combinations requested...the possibilities are almost infinite! Just like my dreams about a new Spring with my still-new baby...infinite possibilities!

peppermint and buttercream birds...

Some new birdies, now in the shop...
It's been awhile since I've made any bird toppers and its been fun to work with some pretty Spring colors while Winter white is all I'm seeing outside lately!

leap day blizzard...

Yesterday we had a big snowstorm here. The wind was rattling the house and swirling up drifts of snow everywhere...one of our upstairs windows is almost completely covered by a snowdrift now. Hub worked from home which was nice yet a little bit of a tease...I so wanted to ask him to help change some diapers but I knew I shouldn't. ;) I did wait until 5:00 pm to ask him and I did perhaps maybe save one diaper that had been verging on quite wet for just a bit...no harm done to baby, I assure you! My orchids (above) are crying out to be re-potted and I'm wishing I could drop them off at the greenhouse for them to properly do this for me...oh well! I will get around to it one of these days I'm sure.
So long February!

the greenhouse

A few photos from a recent outing to our local nursery...for me it was like the tiniest snippet of a tropical vacation. Being inside the greenhouse in the warm, moist air, surrounded by so much green and brilliant color was like a breath of fresh air in the midst of a drab February day. I needed that!

a Valentine-y lunch...

I wasn’t necessarily going to do much of anything for Valentine’s Day this year. I usually at least make some cards or a little something...but I just wasn’t really in the mood.

I haven’t really been in the mood to do a whole lot of anything lately, except the basics…taking care of my family. I’d have these big crafting ideas, but then come evening, once little baby was finally tucked into bed, I’d find myself quickly crawling into my own bed soon after with a good book and the heating blanket turned on high. I guess its best to listen to your body. Sometimes I think that whenever little bub is napping or sleeping at night, I need to be doing something very productive with my time. And I’m slowly learning (now that he is becoming a better napper) that there will always be another nap, another moment to myself. So I can relax a little bit and give myself a break once in awhile, which I’ve been trying to do... But then Mum and Dad decided to come up for a visit this past Saturday. And since it was close to Valentine's Day I decided it'd be fun to turn an ordinary meal together into a little V-Day lunch/celebration. Of course we’d eat something together, so why not make it into something a little extra special, since we don’t often see each other anyways? I love having my parents in my home and treating them like special guests, because they are! And it was a good excuse to use some dishes and things that I don't often use. So it all spiraled from there…a few days beforehand I had taken little baby outside for some fresh air, to watch the Chickadees at the feeder. And I plucked off some tiny pinecones from a nearby tree. Suddenly some “Pining for you, Valentine” place cards popped into my head. Perfect for our special Valentine lunch. (Doesn’t all inspiration happen randomly like that? At least it does for me!) Then sometime soon after a butterfly mobile hanging from the light fixture popped into my head as well and I just had to make it...even if it meant staying up late the night before.

I was planning on making Chicken a la King for lunch, something warm and comforting on a very cold, blustery winter afternoon...

...and suddenly I had to make the biscuits from scratch and in the shape of hearts no less! Then, somewhere in the midst of sleep the night before, I had the idea for us to write down one thing we love about our spouse on a heart doily, so I had to go dig those out from my craft stuff......but as I announced this little plan during our lunch, someone else came up with an even more brilliant idea to write our little love note inside the "Pining for You, Valentine" place cards. This made far more sense as we had much more room to write and we all easily came up with more than just one thing we love about our spouse. We read them aloud after our meal and it all ended on a very love-y, Valentine-y note...which made me so pleased indeed...and I do think did all of our hearts just a bit of good!
Happy Valentine's Day! :)