not a total betty, but a vast improvement

I have been spending way too much time at I heart organizing lately. Not only have I started a household management binder, complete with budgets, accounts, passwords, and cleaning schedule and a meal planning/recipe binder, but I also started an overhaul of the kitchen cabinets. Because really, how else would I spend a Saturday night?

Here is the before. Now just hold your judgement and be happy that I am indulging your voyueristic fantasies, mmkay?

Basically a disaster. In shambles if you will. Here is the after, the product of 2 hours and 2 glasses of late harvest Riesling.

It is kind of hard to tell, but one of the main tasks was setting up a work lunch zone. There is a spot for our lunch bags and containers. The snacks are able to be on a high (to me) shelf because of an awesome folding stool that I got from my mom that really should have been featured on my favorite things list, but I digress.

This little pantry project set several other mini projects into action. If you have a lazy susan you should store pots and pans in it instead of food. We made this change about a year ago and never looked back. I added the colander and boil over stopper (that's the technical term) to my large stockpot because they are rarely used without each other. Remember, like with like and one home for everything.

I moved rarely used small appliances to the top shelf in the pantry which freed up quite a bit of space in the island.

The cabinet that houses my pans, bowls, and cutting boards was also looking good. The removal of the colander made a huge difference.

I was repeating my "like with like and one home for everything mantra" and had the brilliant idea to put my bread pans, measuring spoons, and cooling rack with the flour and kosher salt. We've been eating exclusively homemade bread for the past couple of months, and the only time I use my measuring spoons is for baking (I just wing it when I cook) so it just made sense.

I decided to go through my utensil drawer next. There are several items I only use a handful of times a year, so it didn't make sense for them to take up premium real estate. I relocated them to a basket in the island:

Which left the utensil drawer looking like this:

The best part of this project is that it cost $0. I had the storage basket on hand, and everything else was simply relocated.  Be ruthless when you tackle your kitchen- if you hang on to something you don't use you are paying twice, once for the item itself and again in wasted real estate.

Next up are the kitchen counters. I am in awe of people that have miles of uncluttered counter space.

favorite things

I haven't posted about my favorite products since the Nordstrom Anniversary sale. I already have all of my Christmas shopping done, but for those of you who aren't quite as Type A you might get a few ideas. I'm blogging from my phone, so I don't have any links, but everything is quite Googleable.

1. Benefit Hoola bronzer. I had been devoted to Nars Laguna for years, but since joining the over 30 set I made the switch to a matte bronzer. This might be my favorite bronzer yet. Although I need to try Tarte's park avenue princess before making a final decision.

2. Cerave hydrating cleanser. This is my favorite wintertime cleanser. It reminds me of purity made simple, but is about half the price.

3. Fleece leggings. They are so stinking cozy, I may never take them off. I just picked up a cheap pair from Target, butay invest in a nicer pair. They aren't near as nice as my zella live in leggings. Zella makes fleece leggings, but they definitely have an athletic look to them. Athleta had a few nice options though.

4. The blog un-fancy. It has made me rethink my shopping strategy and my two best friends and I are officially hooked. Although we seem to want to order her entire wardrobe...

5. Madewell and Aritzia. I love pretty much everything from both of these stores. I have an oversized buffalo plaid shirt that should be arriving tomorrow. If it is as amazing as I hope, I may never wear anything but my fleece leggings and buffalo plaid.

6. Express scuba leggings. I missed out on these, but my cousin has them and they are amazing. Of course now that the 50% off sale is over they are back in stock.

7. Wooden blocks. The girls and I play with these for hours- they are a huge hit! We have the Alex Jr. brand- I love them because there are all sorts of fun colors and shapes.

8. Hanna Anderssen pajamas- these are Audreys most favorite pjs. They wash incredibly well and do not fade. They are on sale for about half off right now, so if you need pjs stock up! Im going to have  to remember this sale for next year!

9. Tea collection- one of my other favorite brands for the girls. I ordered a couple of dresses and one pair of leggings during their Black Friday sale. I was going to save them for this summer, but they are so cute I think I will let the girls wear them now. Audrey tried on one of the dresses as soon as it arrived and threw a huge fit when I made her take it off. What can I say, that girl has style.

10. Kitchenaid mixer- I've already discussed this at length, but it is amazing. Plus it seemed awkward to leave the list at 9 items.

toddler transitions

The girls moved into their toddler beds about a week ago. They have been doing great overnight. The girls often choose to sleep in the same bed.

On the first night in their toddler bed, Claire woke up overnight got out of bed. Audrey stayed in bed and patted the space next to her, calling out for "sissy". Audrey has also tucked Claire in- it is really sweet.

Surprisingly, the move to the toddler beds seem to be the catalyst for sleeping through the night. The girls have gotten up once or twice since the transition. It is really strange too- they no longer want milk overnight, they tend to want cheese (pepperjack is their favorite). 

All of this awesome news comes with a downside though, we are in the midst of a nap strike. They have been terrible at napping since the transition- there are too many fun activities to partake in, like trapping your sister in the closet, emptying out the contents of your drawers, and putting on your winter boots and bashing your feet against the door. I'm hoping that once the novelty of freedom wears off they will choose to nap again. 

They have taken 2 naps since the strike- one on Friday (we went to visit some friends on Thursday night and stayed out past their bedtime) and one today. They had been playing for about 90 minutes and then got worn out decided to sleep on the floor in front of their door. 

I'm ok with them having quiet time instead of nap time, but they are incredibly irritable by 4:00 if they don't nap. 

toy organization

I have recently made some efforts to keep the toysplosion in this house to a minimum (or at least somewhat contained). The best thing I did was separate the toys into super simple categories via an algorithm into upstairs, downstairs, bedroom, bathroom, and in storage.

 I found the awesome chalkboard storage bins at Joann's to house the girls' train collection. One of the best ways to keep things under control is through storing like with like and having one place for everything, so I further categorized their collection to tracks, trains, and tchotckes. I try to keep their collections in their designated bin, but if a wayward tchotcke ends up with the trains, so be it. My parents and I are also creating some super awesome seating for the train area, so stay tuned...

The family room is still a work in progress. I want to create a gallery wall (the girls looove looking at photographs) and do a few more updates. Extra blankets are stored in the basket next to their chair. Toys that we only play with on occasion (blocks, bowling balls, and wooden toys that could be used for bludgeoning) are stored behind the chair. The shopping carts get parked and the food goes back in the play kitchen. It not pictured, but they also have an indoor bike that lives on the wall across from the play kitchen.

They play kitchen is one of our favorite toys. Unfortunately, one of the girls broke off the faucet, but so it looks a little wonky, but once they are a little older and past the twin-nado stage we will be able to reattach it. 

I need to find a storage system for within the unit- they food just goes in their all willy nilly and it drives me bonkers. I want to find some cute little storage bins so I can separate produce, breads, etc. There are some cute storage bins at ikea, but Justin has swore off that place, so we will see what I can come up with. I also want some sort of decor above the set- I'm thinking a cute fabric banner, perhaps with mint, blue, orange, chevron, and polka dot (are you listening mom?) would be perfect. I also need to snag and spray paint a bookcase from my parents and repurpose it into a pantry (although my dad is the master spray painter...)

Another Joann's find was this utensil bin that I turned into an art caddy. I used to throw mega tantrums when my mom wanted to go to Joann's, now I actually really like going there! In the caddy I store crayons, markers (not sure what I was thinking with that purchase) and play-doh. The girls love play-doh! They call it "balls" so whenever they want to play with it they run over and say "balls! balls! balls!" until I dig it out. 

The toy dungeon. Where toys live until they are rotated in. I have big plans for this room long-term (think custom shelving) but for the short term I want to pick up a few more small totes so I can further categorize the little people (i.e. princesses, farm animals, airplane people, bus people, etc.)

The upstairs toys. The downstairs collection tends to be the most fixed- it is the upstairs toys that get rotated the most often. I try have themes- right now we are playing with tools and cars. The girls always have books, shoes, and dress up clothes in their bin as well. Next to their basket is their instruments. I had to confiscate the drum sticks (see bludgeoning, above) but they have a nice variety of percussion tools in their. 

Another standard is that we always have a little people play set upstairs. Several more farm animals are hiding out in the silo. The girls love opening the silo door and taking the animals in and out. This week, I have been living on the edge and allowed them to have not one, but two play set upstairs #YOLO.

And to touch on my shoe organization solutions. The girls have more shoes than most some adults. I have 2 larger totes on their closet shelf that keeps out of season and special occasion shoes. The two smaller totes are on a storage unit in the closet within their reach. Most days they proudly bring them over to me, exclaiming "shoes! shoes!" and we pick out the pairs they feel like wearing together.

The girls are very particular about shoes and pajamas. In fact some of their biggest tantrums have been surrounding shoes (I have no clue where they would have gotten that from...). Claire has had full on meltdowns when I have had the audacity to put her in something other than her first choice shoe selection. And yesterday when we were in Scheel's Audrey freaked out because I had her try on a pair of shoes and didn't let her keep them (don't worry, we bought them... I just wasn't going to let her hold them until they were paid for). A sales associate came over and was all "oh no, you should like shopping..." I laughed and told her that disliking shopping wasn't the problem. Anyway, I'll have to pick up another pair of shoes for poor Audrey because Claire has claimed the Sperrys as her on. She spotted them on the kitchen table right away this morning and insisted on  putting them on first thing. When I got home from work, she still had the Sperrys on (she usually goes through 5 pairs a day, so she must really really like them). As for pajamas, that is Audrey's thing. She picks out the jammies that she and Claire wear each night (lately she has been going for Christmas jammies... so much for respecting the turkey...). I have tried a couple of times to put her in my choice instead of hers, and that does not fly.

Ooh, but back to they toys. The other categories are bathroom (pretty self explanatory) and bedroom. I keep their babies and stuffed animals in a 3 sprouts bin in the bedroom. Although, their babies are allowed to be played with in any room in the house (and sometimes even spend the night in the shopping cart, or if Audrey is feeling particularly mischievous,  the oven).

At any rate, my best tips for toy organization are categorize, categorize, categorize, and rotate them out. Also- don't be afraid to donate or sell toys they don't play with often. I have toy purgatory in the closet, where I put things that the girls are starting to outgrow. I'll bring it out after a few weeks vacation and if they are interested it lives to see another day in our home, if not it goes on to the next home.

recent outfits

Audrey is showing promise as a fashion blogger (check out her poses!) so I felt it was fitting to share a few of the girls' recent outfits.

When I ask them to go to their picture spot, Audrey happily obliges and stands in the living room. If I am quick, I can get a picture of Claire, but more often than not she runs off with her maniacal laugh and hides in her room. Luckily, when she is boxed in with the crib I can usually get a decent picture.

best early christmas gift ever

Christmas came early this year! I have been pining over a stand mixer for quite some time. My mom delivered big time- not only did I get a Kitchenaid stand mixer, but it is the fancy schmacy professional model with the bowl lift. I wasn't sure if I would prefer the bowl lift or tilt head model, but I'm really liking the bowl lift- it fits perfectly under the kitchen cabinets! 

I've had the mixer just under a week and have used it to make blueberry muffins, banana muffins, and salted carmel blondies. I have a nice hand mixer, but there is not comparison between the two- the stand mixer whips up the batter in no time! I'm excited to try it on bread next- I have made a few batches of home made bread with my hand mixer, patiently holding it for 20 minutes as I kneaded the dough. Making dough now should be a breeze!

My mom also ordered The Homemade Pantry for me. I am definitely excited to try the recipe for granola bars and instant oatmeal (who knew that could be a diy project?)  There is a whole chapter on dairy products, which kind of skeeves me out, but I am intrigued by the butter recipe... basically you just whip heavy cream in the stand mixer until you have a liquid and solid- the solid is your butter and the liquid is buttermilk that can be used in baking recipes. 

With all this cooking I am also on the hunt for the perfect recipe box. I love using pinterest, but for those recipes that I use time and time again I think it will be handy to have a more permanent spot for them. Plus I did a spice cabinet overhaul (more on that later) so I have the space. I found an absolutely gorgeous specimen from sugar paper but the price is somewhat obscene. Paper source has a cute vintage inspired model for a quarter of the price, so I think that might just make its way onto my wish list.

20 months

The girls are at such a fun age- they continue to learn new words everyday! The really seem to understand a lot too. They are great at helping pick up- I'll ask them to put things back, then they will start putting things away while saying "back" the whole time, it is super cute!

They also will "pet" each other during diaper changes- they will rub each others' shoulder/tummy and say "nice sissy". They also know not to touch their dirty diapers and  say "icky" after their soiled diaper has been taken off.

In order to cut down on laundry, we tend to take the girls' shirts off when we are having messy meals. I can see this backfiring sometime when we are out to eat. When they are hungry, they walk over to their highchairs and start pulling off their shirts.

The girls are starting to show their opinions- especially with shoes! There have been days when they have flat out refused to wear the shoes I have selected. Thankfully we don't need to leave the house that often so they can wear whatever they want.

They love playing with their kitchens, trains, and play doh. My mom bought them a set of play doh about a month ago- I was worried that they would try eat it, so I held off from giving it to them. I recently let them have it and they absolutely love it! Trains are another huge favorite- often times the first thing they do in the morning is say "choo choo" and run downstairs to play with their train set.

the most wonderful time of the year

Ah, the annual country tea, one of my favorite events of the year... second only to Christmas. The anticipation started when we received the lovely invitations in the mail. If you want a recap of last year's tea, check out this post.

The beautiful place setting. Notice the champagne saucer? This tea is complete with champagne. This year Pannier Brut was served, I must say this ranks right up there with my beloved Veuve Cliquot. Would it be blasphemous to say that I may have even preferred it? I would need to do a side by side taste test to be sure, but I will happily sip Pannier  Brut any day. 

The girls had their own selections which included cherry tomatoes and pane cioccolata with raspberry jam. 

The adults started with roasted vegetable soup- it was heavenly. And this is coming from a girl who until recently would only eat broth-based chicken soups. 

Next up was assorted tea sandwiches and savories. This year's selection included: pane cioccolata with goat cheese and raspberry jam, caramelized shallot and blue cheese honeyed swirl, curried egg salad with mango chutney, oven-roasted kalua pig with shoyu sauce, and delta chicken salad with spiced pecans.

My favorites included the caramelized shallot and blue cheese honeyed swirl and oven-roasted kalua pig with shoyu sauce. 

We then enjoyed ginger scones, Welsh scones, and crumpets with huckleberry jam, lemon curd, and double Devon cream. The ginger scone was the stand out this year- I tend to reserve second helpings for desserts only, but I needed seconds of this one! Last year we had key lime curd, which was phenomenal and the lemon curd is just as delicious. Donna sent some lemon curd home with my mom, which she kindly shared with me. I have big plans for it (aside from eating it by the spoonful) including parfaits, lemon-blueberry muffins, and pain perdu. 

Then on to the desserts. Chocolate cheesecake with chocolate ganache, South African melktert, carrot cake bouchon, and chocolate madeleine. The cheesecake and carrot cake were the standouts this year. 

Then the Dom Pedro. Nothing like a delicious alcohol-infused milkshake to cap off an evening of gluttony. I will definitely be making this again, forget eggnog, this will be a must have this Christmas! I suspect I could throw in some nutmeg to amp up the festiveness of the drink. And I must learn how to create those chocolate swirls within the glass...

Best goody bag ever. 

Audrey enjoying her cherry tomatoes.

We were up a few hours past the girls' bedtime. They did well, but got tired towards the end of the evening. 

Audrey loved the pane cioccolata.

Cameron had fun at the tea party too. 

I had been planning on taking the girls to tea at the American Girl store once they got a bit older, but I suspect that Donna's teas would make the event much less appealing. I could envision them turning their noses up at some of the selections (a sample menu includes pigs in a blanket and jello jigglers, there is definitely nothing special about that!).

My mom mentioned that my grandparents used to participate in the Country Tea- that would have been something to see! Apparently my grandpa would have coffee, but they happily dined on all of the offerings. I remember my grandparents wondering what on earth I was feeding them when I made them quesadillas, so I have a hard time envisioning them eating a few of the more adventurous selections.

There are a few things left in Justin's my goody bag, so I will enjoy them over the next day or so and anxiously wait until next fall.

choo choo!

I picked up some new toys for the girls at our MOM rummage sale last night. My top finds included a Pottery Barn Kids dollhouse, wooden train set, and automoblox.

I have been on the hunt for a dollhouse for the girls for months now- in fact I even tried to order one from amazon when it was an amazing deal, but it never shipped. The PBK was on my radar, but to fully outfit it would cost a small fortune. Thankfully I was able to score a gently used one at the sale for a steal! We still need a few accessories for it (bathroom, living room, master bedroom, dining room chairs) but it will be another year until the girls play with it, so I will keep my eyes peeled for sales.

Next up was the wooden train set- this is the biggest hit of all! I think Justin and I will both have lots of fun playing trains. It is so adorable, the girls will both say "choo choo" as they push the train along the tracks. When it goes down the hill, they say "weee". I'm all about toys that can be added to- a few organizational tips I have read say to limit your kids' toys to a few really fun sets (i.e. kitchen, legos, trains, dollhouse, little people etc.) that you can build on vs buying lots of random smaller toys. I think this is a great idea! (The organizational gurus probably recommended only having 1-2 big sets versus all of the above, but I digress). I need to find some sort of train storage solution- we have an awesome play table that the girls received as a gift that is the perfect base for train tracks. I want to find some sort of baskets/bins that can be housed underneath the table.

The automoblox are super cool too- I hadn't heard of them before last night, but if you have kids you need them!

oh, thomas...

I am obsessed with Thomas Keller. I first heard of him about a decade ago (wow, that makes me feel old!) when researching things to do in Napa Valley (for those who don't know, the thing to do is go to The French Laundry in Yountville). Sadly, we did not make it to TFL, being college students and all (the prixe fix option would have likely exceeded my monthly income at the time).

Fast forward several years to cruising around Pinterest and I came across a few recipes. I pinned, but never got around to making them. 

I recently got my hands on 2 of his cookbooks from the local library- The French Laundry and ad hoc at home. I haven't attempted any of the TFL recipes yet, but as I type am working in recipe #6 from ad hoc (when Justin is away, I play. Better cooking than shopping).

My first creation was the roast chicken. It was delicious. And only required a handful of ingredients- stuff you should always have on hand!

First the chicken rests at room temp for 1.5. Don't skip this step. Then pay the chicken dry- both inside and out ( ps don't rinse the chicken, trust me on this one). Once you think the chicken is dry give it one more good pat down. Season the bird liberally with salt and pepper, both inside and outside the cavity. Throw in a few sprigs of thyme and truss that baby up. Rub a little oil on the bird ) use your hands) and top with 4 tablespoons of butter. While you are at it, throw on some more salt and pepper for good measure.

Gorgeous bird with minimal effort. I usually don't eat chicken skin, but I couldn't resist a few nibbles.

Next up I made chicken stock- a boring and straight forward recipe- worth the effort though.

I also made chicken pot pie- so delicious! I almost cheated and used store bought pie crust but you do not cheat on Thonad Keller! Spend the extra 15 minutes and make your own pie crust- my grandma always told me that things that are worth doing are worth doing well (not really, but that sounded like good grandmotherly advice I could pass down to the girls one day).

I even blanched the celery. True story.

Look at that golden goodness.

No cream of soup in this recipe- the sauce is a delicious bechamel. 

Today's meal was chicken soup with dumplings. The dumplings were made with pate a choux (cream puff dough). Right about now I'm wishing I took French in college.

The soup was straight forward, but time consuming. Simmer the broth and mirepoix for a good 20 minutes. Discard mirepoix (a mixture of carrots, celery, etc.). Apparently the veggies give all their flavor to the stock and are just a mushy mess not suitable for human consumption after that much simmering. Then a roux is added to thicken the soup and add a silky texture. Whilst the soup is simmering, make and cook the dumplings (not in the soup pot). The secret ingredient is stone ground dijon, don't skip this- I've spent years omitting ingredients from recipes if I didn't have it on hand (this is a trick I actually did learn from my grandma) but seriously, the mustard makes the dish. Chop up some carrots, season with a crushed garlic clove (whole), thyme, salt, pepper, and honey. Cover with cold water and simmer for 14 minutes. I didn't even think I liked cook carrots, but these are good! They get infused with garlicky goodness. Audrey couldn't get enough. I'm going to make these carrots as a side dish on the regular (one of the best parts of Keller's recipes is that they can be deconstructed and you can use portions). Full Disclosure: I did skip the step of peeling and blanching the celery for this dish. I ran out of pots. Keller says to clean up as you go, lesson learned. 

I also made his chocolate chip cookies. I think it is pretty impossible to mess up a chocolate chip cookie, but what sets these apart is using bars of chocolate (cut into chip sized pieces) and dark brown sugar. It does not call for vanilla, which is validating, as I spent most of my cookie making years omitting the vanilla. My cookies spread out a bit more than I would like- I will have to do some experimenting- the next batch I will cook directly on the baking sheet vs. on the silpat (silpats are amazing and have several applications though, so don't hesitate to buy one). 

Right now I am working on some brioche. Apparently brioche is a hybrid of bread and cake. It has 2.5 sticks of butter and 6 eggs. I've never made bread from scratch before, so I guess I couldn't tell you if that is a lot of product, but it seems like a copious amount of butter and eggs. The dough has 30 more minutes to rise, then it gets pounded a bit and goes back in its floured bowl to rest in the fridge overnight. My cousin and her little guy are coming to visit tomorrow, so after her arrival the dough can go in loaf pans (I only have one. Oops) and hang out for 3 more hours before baking. Then we are going to make the worlds most fabulous grilled cheese, with Gruyere. If I have enough butter (I've gone through 10 sticks in the past 3 days) I'll make some buttermilk biscuits too (to go with the leftover soup and for brunch). 

One of these days I will get around to making his buttermilk fried chicken- it just seems a bit intense, so I will build my cooking prowess with a few more beginner friendly recipes. Now back to his restaurants, I hope to make it to The French Laundry someday, but he owns several more pocketbook friendly restaurants (ad hoc, bouchon, addendum). I've told Justin that the next time we go to Las Vegas we are going to Bouchon and I am ordering the fried chicken and waffles. Not that we have a Vegas trip planned or anything... but I know what I am going to eat! Addendum is connected to ad hoc (just down the road from TFL)- it's not so much a full service restaurant, but more of a grab and go for lunch, so visit a local winery ahead of time and then save on corkage fees and have your wine and chicken al fresco. Hmm, I think it might be time to book that flight to California...

audrey's big news

Audrey has had some potty training success! A few weeks ago I tried the 3 day potty training method, but gave up on day 2 after Audrey came down with a cold and approximately 574 accidents (ok, maybe it was just 30 pairs of undies in 2 days but that adds a lot of laundry!) we put potty training on hiatus. Audrey loves to sit on the potty though, so I have given her ample opportunities to hang out there.

I've kept her in diapers for the most part, but have also been using her blueberry trainers. They are expensive, but are so nice!

I picked up an extra potty chair to keep at my moms house. The girls were fighting over who got to sit on it. You really can't tell from the picture, but they were both shrieking and quite upset.

I ordered a fancy potty from amazon for us to use at home and in the go- I'll give a review once it arrives (I'm sure you are just waiting with bated breath).