My Cat = Superstar

Take a look-see at this video. It is a lineup of Jaq's tricks:

-Sit pretty
-Sit
-Give me your paw
-Other paw
-High Five
-Lay down
-Roll over

Dear Driver in front of me-
It is not necessary to slam on your brakes and go 20-25 MPH through the 30 MPH speed camera. 30-34 or so will do just fine.

Sincerely,
Samantha


Dear Driver behind me-
It is not necessary for you to furiously flash your high beams at me prior to the speed camera. I drive this way twice a day every day and am well aware of it. This is as welcome as the other type of flashing... and both leave me temporarily blinded.

Yours truly.
Samantha

How cute... one of our (elderly) neighbors just came by to invite John and I to supper on Thursday night with a bunch of other neighbors. I'm glad I was planning on making a cookie plate for her- now I don't have to get a gift or anything :)

Let there Be Light!

For the past 3 months, we have been living with lightbulbs hanging from the ceiling in the kitchen/dining area, the hallway and the office. The dining area will get a pendant, but for the hall and office I wanted a flush mount fixture.



There are TONS of these things around and for relatively cheap, so you would think that it would be easy for me to just order some and get them up, right?



...Not so much. You see just about every model of this type of light looks like a boob. Really.. it is all I see when I look at those things! Literally every shape and color.. all boobs.

Nickel..

Bronze..

Nice and rounded, eh?



Long and pointy...

Finally I found one on Overstock that will work for me. It is not 100% my most favorite thing, but it

a) does not resemble a boob, as much

b) is clean lined and more modern

c) is brushed nickel, not old-school brass

and

d) only $40

The hallway (excuse the blurriness)

And the office (even more blurry than the hall)

So there you go.. we are one step closer to looking like we aren't in a construction zone. With all of the trim painting that John has done today we are even closer!

Happening...

...but not this week (or next). I am (once again) overloaded at work. Yaaay.

Menu Plan Monday

Monday
Doritos Casserole

Tuesday
Parmesan crusted tilapia
Garlic oven roasted broccoli

Wednesday
Leftovers from Sunday (potatoes au gratin w/ham)

Thursday
Leftovers from Monday

Friday
Cheesy chili
Cornbread?

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas!

I am from upstate NY.. I am used to SNOW. I've since moved to Maryland.. where they freak out at the thought of 1/4" of snow and then it doesn't even come. Oi.

Yesterday it did! They were forecasting it all week and I didn't want to get my hopes up, but we woke up to snow! John was so pumped.. bouncing around the house all day. We were planning on going to a farm to cut down our tree and the snow made it perfect!

We went to a farm about 15 minutes away from our house. It was actually the second one that we stopped at because the first one was a little difficult for our little car to get to in the snow.


The farm had pre-cut trees and "U-Cuts" a little cheaper for $35. I was all about the "U-cut"... John not so much. We grabbed a saw and headed out into the field. We had to walk all of the way to the end to get trees that we big enough. It was pretty clear that they had already cut all of the good ones for them to sell for more money. It was the experience that counted...

Looking back toward the entry and barn.

Finally, we found one!

Hey, he is a little hole-y but we can turn it to the wall, right? We had better be able to since this was about the only one that was the right size.

There is a tush cutting down my tree!

Success! (I must mention that he was like, "Hey! Take my picture like this! Take it!"

After a trip into the barn to pay and get hot chocolates, we (John) rigged the tree to the car. This was followed by a random sighting and awkward conversation with a co-worker, and then we were on our way home. Slowly.

Yes, that IS John's Power Rangers sheet on top of the car, under the tree.

We arrived home to about 4" of snow on the ground. It was a Christmas miracle.

This is what our house looks like with "snow". Remember it because this will probably be the last time we ever see this much snow around these parts.

Our backyard.

The front yard and cars. Lucky that we got that new driveway, eh?

The front yard.

Some more front yard.

We spent today decorating the tree, so I will have to get some pictures of that...

Caramel Apple Pie Cheesecake

This is another awesome recipe from Annie at Annie's Eats. I made this for John's Halloween party at work and it ended up winnin the best tasting prize! Woo hoo. I won us a $5 gift card to Dunkin Donuts :)


Caramel Apple Cheesecake Pie
from Annie @ Annie's Eats

Ingredients:
For the crust:
1½ cups graham cracker crumbs
3 tbsp. sugar
½ tsp. cinnamon
5 1/3 tbsp. unsalted butter, melted
½-¾ cup caramel
1 cup chopped pecans

For the apple filling:
5 tbsp. unsalted butter
½ cup light brown sugar, tightly packed
¼ tsp. salt
1 tsp. cinnamon
5-6 Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored and thinly sliced

For the cheesecake:
8 oz. cream cheese
¼ cup sugar
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 large egg
1 tbsp. freshly squeezed lemon juice

For the topping:
¾ cup heavy cream
3-4 tbsp. confectioners’ sugar
¼-½ cup caramel
Chopped pecans

Directions:
To make the crust, preheat the oven to 375° F. Line the bottom of a 9-inch round springform pan with parchment paper. In a medium mixing bowl, combine the graham cracker crumbs, sugar, cinnamon and melted butter. Toss with a fork until all the crumbs are moistened and the ingredients are evenly mixed. Transfer the mixture to the prepared springform pan and press the crumbs in an even layer over the pan bottom and about half to two-thirds of the way up the sides of the pan. Bake for 6-8 minutes, until golden in color. Let cool for about 10 minutes. Pour a layer of caramel into the bottom of the crust and sprinkle evenly with the chopped pecans. Refrigerate the crust while you prepare the filling.

To make the apple filling, melt the butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Mix in the brown sugar, salt and cinnamon and cook for 1 minute, until bubbling. Mix in the apple slices and toss well to coat. Cook over medium to medium-high heat until tender and most of the liquid has been reduced, about 15-20 minutes. Let cool for a few minutes and pour into the prepared pie shell. Set aside.

Reduce the heat of the oven to 350° F. To make the cheesecake layer, combine the cream cheese and sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer and beat on medium speed until smooth, about 1 minute. Mix in the vanilla, egg and lemon juice until fully incorporated and smooth, 1-2 minutes. Spread the cheesecake filling into an even layer over the top of the cooked apples in the crust. Bake until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean, about 30 minutes. Remove from the oven, transfer to a wire rack and let cool to room temperature. Refrigerate for at least 4 hours.

To serve, carefully remove the sides of the springform pan. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, beat the heavy cream and confectioners’ sugar on medium-high speed until stiff peaks form (being careful not to overbeat.) Spread gently over the top of the chilled cheesecake layer. Top with dollops of caramel sauce and swirl with a knife to create a marbled effect. Sprinkle with a handful of chopped pecans if desired. Slice with a long, thin knife to serve.

Source: adapted from Ezra Pound Cake, originally from Mimi Hodges, the winner of Good Morning, America’s “Pie of Emeril’s Eye” Contest, 2000

Back to the Naming...

Thanks for all your inputs!!

It seems as though the consensus is to avoid i-design, which is too bad since it is kind of fun. I never thought about the copyright issue either. Boo.

Currently I can get s-humphreys.com. Does this make sense? Sound weird? Would you go with s-humphreys large logo, or just s-h interiors. s-humphreys makes more sense with the url, but it makes me nervous that it doesn't say anything about interiors.

Ideas?

The Buiness of Naming.. a Business

I went to school for 4.5 years to become an interior designer (B.S. in Interior Design from Virginia Tech and a year in architecture from a school to remain nameless).

I know when many of you hear "interior design" you think of what HGTV calls "interior design"- decorating. What I do is above and beyond decorating- as a matter of fact, I have never done a furniture package for a project. Interior design is much more about space planning (making sure everything fits well and works efficiently), codes, life safety, construction documents (what the contractor needs in order to BUILD the project) and a tiny bit of architectural finish selection.

So, I have always wanted to work from home and have planned on starting my own residential interior design business. I plan on doing space planning, finish selections, 3-D renderings, CAD plans/elevations/construcion documents... pretty much anything someone would need if they were to do an addition or renovation in their home. On a smaller scale, I will also offer design consulatations- quick and cheap computer renderings with ideas for furniture layout and color schemes (more like decorating).

I never want to be one of those floofy designers who design drapery and specify furniture that is extraordinarily expensive and needs custom upholstery. I am all about design that works for families, is comfortable and affordable! Expect to see furniture from Crate & Barrel, Room & Board, CB2, Ikea, etc.

This spring I will take the exam that will allow me to become a license/certified interior designer. With my increasing antsy-ness at my current job combined with my future certification, I am thinking that this is the perfect time to start my business so that before too long I can leave my full time job to become independent.

I need your help though. I have always wanted to name my business i-design (as in interior design). However; now that ipod and imac and all of those products are so popular, I am afraid that i-design will become too trendy and people will associate it with mac. My other idea for the name is s-h interiors (from my initials). I feel like this is kind of boring and standard, but I am drawing a blank on anything else.

The logo for each name is similar and I've shown them below. Each logo has a large version and two small versions (shown and an inverted one).

i-design:

s-h interiors:

Which of the s-h large logos do you prefer?

And, the inverted logo:

Take this into consideration-

Currently on Go Daddy, the best URL that I can get for i-design is i-designonline.com.

The best URLs available for s-h interiors is shinteriors.net or s-hinteriors.com (looks weird to me with the h connected to interiors).

So friends, do you have an opinion on naming my business?