A bird in hand...

A cute little bird has been a regular visitor to my front porch this week and last. He comes along in the afternoon, perches on my door-wreath, and pecks on the glass window in my door. No kidding! I have to think of name for him, but until I do, I have rounded up bird-inspired products in his honor. Here's to you, birdie!
Adorable plates, to feast upon (Pier 1)

These clocks, specifically the one on the right, so you can always arrive on time for your friendly window-pecking (Pier 1)

This beautiful piece of art, so I can remember you when you no longer visit (Target)


And lastly, this delightful bird book, so I can figure out what type of bird you are, and why you're pecking on my window.

'tis the season...

...To dress up.

*DISCLAIMER: this post has nothing to do with home decorating, home improvement, and has only a tiny bit of DIY*

Although Mr. C and I don't celebrate Halloween, I have always thought it was fun to dress up in costumes -as a kid especially. It's hard to find a store that doesn't have costumes for sale right now, but costume cost a small fortune, and honestly, the cheapo costumes don't look fun to wear anyway. But that didn't stop me from virtually dressing up Mr. C and myself...


You can dress up too, at faceinhole.com.

Pillow Talk

See that pretty green pillow? it's new. There's another one on the other side of the couch. Guess how much they cost? they were full priced when I purchased them. Would you believe they were just $7.99? For both!

I've had my eye on green pillows lately, wanting to emulate this family room mood board in our living room (since it's lively, contemporary, and we have several of the pieces already).

Unfortunately, I've been practically broke for that last couple of weeks, due to our current bathroom renovation (which is being finished tonight!). What's a girl to do?
Well, while perusing Target the other day, I stumbled upon a beautiful green tablecloth, and decided I must add it to my Fall decor. Loving the color, the weight of the fabric, and the machine-wash-ability, I began to scheme and ponder the versatility of tablecloths and cloth napkins. They are, after all, just fabric. So I grabbed a package of 4 20"x20" green fabric napkins for $7.99. I sewed my own pillow covers with those napkins, covered 2 pillows I already owned, and voila! new, inexpensive -but nice- pillows!

Albion Manor Scones

love scones. I have never eaten a scone I didn't love, and I've eaten lots.
But this scone recipe is by far my favorite. The resulting bit of heaven is light, delicately tangy, and takes to butter, cream, or jam as though they were made for one another (and indeed, they are!). Of course, it doesn't hurt that the B&B that developed this recipe (Albion Manor), shares my name. There is an obvious bias because of that, but still, -believe me! these are excellent scones.
Here is the recipe, which I originally found on this website, quite by accident. I took the liberty of re-writing it, because I found the original version to be less than straightforward.
Enjoy!

Albion Manor Scones

3 cups sifted flour
1/2 cup sugar
3 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup chilled butter

1 cup butter milk (I use ¾ cup milk + ¼ cup lemon juice)
1 egg

Beat together milk and egg.

Mix the dry things together. Add butter and rub in with your fingers (as you would when making pie crust).

Add wet ingredients to the dry ingredients. If the dough is way too sticky, mix in a bit more flour. Carefully- the dough will be a bit sticky, but you should be able to get it out of the bowl. You can't add more liquid and you musn't overwork the dough. Sprinkle a bit of flour onto a surface and press out the dough. Don’t work it too much. Use your cooker cutter, any shape, or a glass with straight sides, dipping it into flour between each use and put the scones on a baking tray. Brush with a beaten egg.

Bake at 400 degrees for 12 – 16 minutes (should be cooked through and golden brown in colour).

You may add whatever you want to add to the scones: pecans, currents, cranberries, ginger, lemon or orange zest, etc. A fun addition is to dip sugar cubes into orange juice and press them into the top just before putting them in the oven.

Neglect

I am properly ashamed at my lack of blog updating. I have been busy decorating/painting/working, but haven't blogged a bit about it! I've also neglected to take pictures of the "befores" of these projects! I will though, post the completed projects soon... most of them aren't quite finished yet.

If Only In My Dreams

Above is a picture of a fun chest my dad and I refinished. I love it, want to keep it in my living room, but have to admit, it is dwarfed by the huge bay window it resides in front of. I have visions of a built-in window seat dancing through my head. Something like this:

Yummy! and the best thing? there are instructions for building it right here.

Bath Remodel -Update

Today Mr. Chrisman and I went shopping with Mr. Chrisman Sr. (aka Dad, aka contractor-remodeling-our-bathroom), to pick up supplies for the Master Bath remodel (heretofore known as the M. Bath). A few posts previous I presented a mood board for the M. Bath, which due to some good advice from Dad Chrisman has changed a little.

Another reason for the change was an issue we had with the tile -the type we previously decided upon wouldn't work as well as believed. It turned out to be in our benefit though, when we went shopping for different kinds and found very good deals on porcelain tile for the floor and tud surround (with matching quarter round for trimming), and beautiful marble for the vanity top. Both were on clearance and we snatched them up.

Another thing that has changed is the shower curtain. We've been using a very nice striped shower curtain (on previous post's mood board) in our M. Bath. Due to a very fortunate clearance find at Bed, Bath and Beyond, we will be able to hang a lovely white and extra long (so we can follow these wonderful blogger's example) shower curtain in our renovated bathroom.
Here is the revised mood board for those of you who are as nosy as I am.