Soma round sconce by Neidhart

. . . LOVING this studio glass sconce from Neidhart. If i had $495 (x2!) to spare, these would SO be going up on our fireplace. But alas, not so much.

These are almost as good as the lights we spotted at Delancey last night. You can read more about their restaurant design here. Or go see for yourself. Great atmosphere, greater pizza and vino and delightful decor.

Vintage Cider Jug Pendants. Image via Apartment Therapy.

By the way – we’re taking suggestions for the fireplace. New mantle? old mantle? color? tile? lighting? no lighting? so many choices! The old candle sconces have already come down. We know we for sure want to remove the diamond tile medallions, and likely will paint the whole thing white, but other than that, not positive. thoughts? commentss?

Fireplace at inspection. It looks a little different than this today, but not much. Mostly, everything else around it looks nicer and its still waiting, crummy.

everything in this post makes me happy.

Ready for it?

Birthdays.

Etsy and handmade craft.

Wood.

Friends and their adorable babies.

Our friend Jo has a son who just  turned one.  Now, when invites went out to his birthday party, I was not the first to gasp, “wait, wasn’t Jo just telling us she was pregnant like two days ago?  Didn’t I just go meet this lil brown haired baby in the hospital?”

Evidently this year has gone by quickly.

Because now — That kiddo is one and all blonde and covered in blue frosting here.

Thanks to the whole family for such fun at his party!

Now lets get down to it…. You go to parties for two reasons {mostly} — cake and presents. 

What did we get the birthday boy?

B picked out the cutest book.  Its wooden, so it can deal with the toddler hands that will read it.  Plus the pictures are amazing!

It’s called Things that Go by Kid O.   I love the bulldozer!  If you investigate around that site you can see another book called Animal Homes.  Architecture for animals?  Yes please!

D has had her eye on one etsy shop for a while now… This designer makes great wooden toys of all types of things, but most memorably, all kinds of figures that you love as a kid!   (D might really want a set of Moomin figures for herself even!)  She asked Mamakopp to make the birthday boy a very special wooden toy…. his favorite…..

NEMO!

Thanks, birthday boy {and mom and dad} for a great part-ay!

…but despite that I can’t use the sink.

I feel like this is my house lately.

I am getting deja vu this week, seriously!  This week next year I am not going anywhere near water, because doing so seems to equal disaster.

Anyway …  here is how it happened…. 

Ya know how it was the birthday b’s part-ay this weekend? 

Ya know how usually a part-ay involves people, usually with somewhere to congregate?

yeah.

welllll…..  I awoke early that day to get a few dinner ingredients in order and cupycakes made.   All was going well until about 30 minutes before part-ay take-off.    We were getting dressed to attend mini golfing with some friends for the first activity.  I decided to just do one more thing while waiting for the dishwasher to finish.   I leave the kitchen faucet running to fill a water pitcher for some pre part-ay chilling.  I turn around to check the stove where something is cooking. 

And I am like  – what is that noise? And wait, I just put on these socks and they are wet! And, wait, i look right and there is a river running in my living room.

that noise.  It’s coming from the sink.  It’s gushing out of the under cabinet below the sink.

Yelling, then towels, then more towels, then what is going on??

We clean up, lightly investigate, then need to leave.  You really should not be late for a part-ay you are throwing….

….post golf… We come back with a few guests.  After investigating several things, I discover a tube that is not connected where i think it should be underneath the sink… and instead of water coming out, ya know the faucet, it comes out underneath.  But we cannot get it reconnected…

So, dinner is left to finish prepping without a sink, which was hard for me, the girl who washes her hands a zillion times while cooking.  And likes to use a sponge to do silly things, like clean up my pizza doughed flour work surface…..  [yes, i still washed my hands... in the bathroom, but it was a pain!]

The night eventually comes to an end, and the guests depart.  B’s bf Erik goes to investigate some more.  After a few attempts and us “trying” the faucet and spraying him in the eye [oops]  he removes a broken tube from the sink.  It is strange looking… two plastic tubes with plastic connections and a T shapped connection in the middle.  One of these connections had simply broke with a plastic piece still inside.    

Our faucet is the type with a pull down sprayer.  We later learn that this special tube part is something very specific to our faucet.    Thanks to B calling Moen… we have a new part on the way since they do not sell it at retail stores, and there is nothing else out there with the special connections it has.

Then last night, post our trip to home depot to figure this out…. We are working on some projects on the couch… when we hear a water sound again. 

Hm, is that the neighbors watering at 10 pm?

I don’t think so.

Kitchen is dry, no… the sound is from downstairs.  In the basement, where the washer is going.

You have got to be kidding..

The overflow for the washer is into the utility sink.  It must have gotten slightly clogged because it was draining slllllowlllllly.   The water had to go somewhere, why not the floor?

Luckilly that problem was solved rather quickly by unclogging the sink and bailing it out with a bucket …. but still.

I am sick of water.

Me to B:  What other water related problems do you think can go wrong this week??

B to Me:  Well, we were going to install the new toilet this weekend.

Me to B:  oh. no.  maybe i will wear my swimsuit.

stay tuned….

One of our thoughtful birthday guests was happy to share with us at the party that the 18th of August {the birthday b’s actual birthday} is also national cupcake day.

how fitting for the birthday b, lover of cupcukes!

For the festivus this year we had:

Tequila Nectarine Cakes

(yes yum!)

1 box of yellow cake mix and its ingredients

two large ripe nectarines

1 cup powdered sugar

the juice of one lime

the zest of one lime

1-2 shots of tequila

First, cut your nectarines into small pieces.  Tiny pieces.  Put them in a bowl with the lime juice, zest and tequila.  Stir and cover.  Refridgerate for 2 hours.

After that, prepare the cake batter as the instructions on the box call for. 

In cupcake dishes lined with pink parchment cups, put one spoonful of the batter in each one.  Then put one spoonful of the nectarine mixture in the cup.  (some fruit and some of the tequila too!)  Finally place two more spoonfuls of batter in each of the cups.  Now bake according  to the time and temperature on the box.

After they are done, let them cool completely.  While cooling, take the remainder of the nectarine mixture and mix it with powdered sugar until it desolves and is a thick glaze.  Add a little more lime juice  if it is too thick. 

After completely cooled, spoon on the glaze, making sure a few nectarine pieces remain on top of eat cake.

feed to the birthday girl and her party guests.

b, here, back from my birthday hiatus. all the talk about me has made me blush!

i had a TERRRRIFIC birthday. First, those delish cupcakes you saw. then, a good day at work, complete with my crown and some birthday BBQ. after work met up with my parents for dinner at a new Ballard french bistro, Bastille. Has moules frites, but of course. then, came home to open prezzies. After parentals left, i was settling in to watch some gilmore girls and drift off to birthday dreamland when the front door opened again, and it was none other than Joelle! and then Dana and Jackie showed up soon after! These sweet girls had arranged a late-night pajama party rendevous so i could open my gift from them and have some girly ice cream time. So sweet!

I got so many great gifts, and i am so thankful for all the wonderful people who thought of me. Here are the highlights.

1. Wonderful bright and cheery citronella candles from Heather. She postied about them on her blog here.

2. Paris: Made by Hand, the Pia Jane Bijkerk book that has been all over the blogosphere and i have been covoting. The next unfortunate soul who goes to Paris with me is getting dragged to alllll of these shops (watch out, Erik!)

3. (500) Days of Summer Soundtrack. More She + Him. Swoon.

4.  this BEAUTIFUL New Orleans Canal Street scene depicted by none other than the wonderful artist Matte Stephens. The colors of this print are going to go SO wonderfully in our new house, and i just love the whimsy of it all. Its so nola Thank you, ladies!

Last but not least, this bright green watering can that will make all our new plants sooo peppy

Thanks to everyone for making my birthday so terrific. I still get my gift from Erik this weekend, so there may be even MORE to share then. FuN!

Jackie also brought me the bounty from her pea patch! yum, Kale!