The ACKLINS take Manhattan...

Well, not all of the Acklins, just Natalie, but she is representing all of us and she is rocking it!  She moved to New York several months ago and started working for BRIDES magazine in January.  If you turn to page 56 you will find her name, right there, in print.  Woohoo!!! 

 NannyKate, so proud of you!  

Now I have an excuse to buy bride magazine every month! Love it. You can never get enough wedding fun... just need a sister or friend to get married so I can put it all to use.

This is a view looking up at Natalie's office, the second tall building on the left.

The view I have from work. Oh, what different lives we have! 

And no post would be complete without a little Hudson lovin'!

Let there be light!

Canning jars from your in-laws attic = free

Cool old wood = free

Chain and wiring from HD = $7

Light bulbs = $5

A husband who willingly & patiently works to makes all your ideas come to life  = PRICELESS!

Thanks to Colin my amazing handyman/electrician husband we now have diningroom lights!  I had seen these fun canning jar lights on Anthropolgie months ago and thought they would be super easy and fun to make (well, have Colin make).  I showed him, I think he was skeptical at first, but then he found these antique-ish canning jars in his parents attic this summer, and, well, we all know how Colin loves anything FREE, so he was on board! Once we actually sat down to do make them it was super quick and easy, we used some cool old wood we had laying around, bought chain, wiring, and light bulbs and put it all together (there might have been a little more to it than that but Colin will have to explain those details!). I think they turned out really fun!

This isn't the best picture of the lights but I had to include it because look at Hudson!!! So darn cute just  sitting there, hanging out, eating his oatmeal like 3 year old or something!

DIY picture frame window

Sooooo we still haven't made much headway on the window seat (so much for that January goal!) but we did frame in the windows and I LOVE them!  They are well worth all my hesitating and debating!  I knew I wanted something different and I had a vision of what I wanted "a picture frame window" but I had never seen quite what I wanted before and I wasn't exactly sure how it would turn out (I have a lot of visions and they don't always translate well into reality!).  Originally, I want to find and use old picture frames, however, I realized that living in a small town and in winter (i.e. no garage sales) finding enough cool old frames was going to be near impossible.  That combined with the fact that every now and then, I get in a bit of a dither and have to finish something right NOW!  Fortunately,  Homedepot has everything and I found exactly what I was looking for in the molding section, it's technically not window trim, it's a chair rail, but it worked perfectly. 

Trim - House of Fara 8 ft. Basswood Chair Rail 

Paint - Martha Steward Plumage

TOOLS -

Paint

Trim, chair rail, or whatever material you are using (*make sure you measure enough to cute the angle on the corners, if your trim is 2 in. thick you need to add 2 in. to each length for the cuts. I learned this the hard way)

Chop saw

Caulk

Finish nails

Brad nailer

Spackling - to fill the nail holes if you are looking for perfectiont

A very handy Grandpa and a super cute assistant

 Does it get any cuter than this?!

 Hudson adores his Grandpa, he is not nearly as compliant or interested when mom is working on projects. 

The finished product!

Our windows are inset into the walls,  so I painted the inside drywall trim to match the picture frame trim.

Thanks for the help, mom, dad, Colin and of course, Hudson!  Now I just need to get cracking on the window seat and we will have a finished room!

Step 1- Measure all four sides of your window. Hopefully, they are close in length, if you want all your angles to be perfect, pick the shortest length and cut all four sides to this length.

Step 2 - Use a chop saw to cut your trim at a 45 degree angle.

Step 3 - Paint your wood.

Step 4 - Use your brad nailer to nail to wall

Step 5 - Caulk the areas your trim touches the wall or where you want a smooth surface.

Step 6 - Spackle your nail holes and touch up the paint

Ringing in 30 with a kick in the eye :(

Last Saturday was Colin's 30th Birthday, I had plans for a special, adventurous,  yet low-key and  memorable Birthday celebration (exactly what Colin would want, I know right? no party? no huge cake, no big celebration?!).

Hudson had different plans, he thought they should wrestle, he gets rowdy when they wrestle, he doesn't know his own strength, or perhaps, more accurately, he hasn't master his strength or sporadic body movements and he is sort of spastic like his mama.  Needless to say, somehow in all the rolling around, he kicked Colin in the cornea.  Yes, the actual cornea, not just the eye, the cornea, and yes colin has a history with his cornea...remember this???!

Anyway, the kick resulted in an abrasion to the cornea, light sensitivity, pain, and an abrupt end to the Birthday fun :(

The day started out just as I had planned with an amazing breakfast (not in bed because that's messy and potential sticky) with fruit, fresh juice and perhaps the worlds best caramel rolls, thanks to the helping hands of Sharlyn Peterson, Hudson's surrogate Grandmother and baker extraordinaire.

Thanks Sharlyn, they were quite possibly the only successful part of the day.  Since Colin didn't want a big celebration for his birthday and since we live so far away from many of our dearest and closest friends.  I thought we should celebrate in different way so I asked our family and friends to send notes, stories, antidotes, memories and/or pictures of Colin.  I hid them through out the house for a Birthday surprise, unfortunately due to his injury he was not able to find or read the majority or the messages. (p.s. if I missed asking any of you I am so sorry! I was not the best sleuth at secretly getting all Colin's friends emails and I had a lot return undeliverable :(

He was able to read a few notes before the injury. This one from his old buddy, Tyler Hartanov, included pictures. It was hilarious, I laughed out loud when I read it but as you can tell from the photo Hudson is not laughing and I think I detect a hint of embarrassment.  I didn't get pictures of the rest of the notes, I think I took the kick to the eye the hardest in the family and was super frustrated with "my" Birthday plans begin ruined and didn't roll with the punches very well.  Obviously, he wasn't able to read the notes or really enjoy them that day but he did over the next few days and he LOVED, LOVED, LOVED them!! THANK YOU so much to everyone who participated.

Hudson didn't quite understand what was wrong with his dad, he kept bringing him his shoes and books and toys and trying to play with him.  He even brought him his presents to open and then proceeded to open them for him.

 Hudson finally gave in and resigned to napping with dad.  If that doesn't melt your heart I don't know what will. 

Raw Bok Choy Salad (and vegan and gluten free too!)

This recipe is so good, I just had to share!  

We order bountiful baskets almost weekly (if I remember to order and pick it up!).  If you don't know what bountiful baskets is check it out, it is awesome http://bountifulbaskets.org/  I must have been a little trigger happy when I was ordering last week because I ordered an absurd amount of produce.  I have been trying to find ways to eat all this goodness before it goes bad.  In addition to the regular basket, I also ordered the asian bag, which included lots of exotic goodies that I have no idea what to do with.  

I remember my mom making a bok choy salad when I was growing up so I thought I would try something along those lines.  After looking at the recipes, I realized they were not quite my style anymore...sorry ramon noodles, you were awesome in college but I just couldn't do that to my beautiful greens.  Here is a raw, vegan, gluten free, super tasty version of the salad.  I recommend it with grilled salmon (ops not vegan  anymore)  and adding soy beans to the left overs for lunch!

Ingredients:

    1/4 cup olive oil

    1/4 cup white vinegar

     3 tbls. agave nectar (or brown sugar)

     3 tbls. Braggs Liquid Amino Acids or soy sauce

     1 tbls. Sesame oil

           

      1/2 bunch bok choy, chopped

      1/2 asian cabbage

      1-2 cups shredded carrots

      ½ cup snow peas, chopped

      4-5 green onions, chopped

      1/4 cp sesame seeds

           

1.              Mix together oils, white vinegar, agave/sugar, and braggs/soy sauce.

2.              Combine all ingredients, toss with dressing, and eat. 

*Connoisseur Colin thought adding candied almonds would make the dish. I am sure you can make with whatever veggies you have on hand and in different proportions.  

Enjoy!!!!