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American Kitchen Stories
When I think back on my childhood, then to my college years, and now to my adult life (I use the term adult loosely), many of my happiest and most vivid memories took place in a kitchen. When I think of family gatherings, I’m always transported to a kitchen. When I was a teenager, we had a phone with a long white cord in our kitchen – and I spent many nights laying on my kitchen floor talking to my now husband. On Sundays, all…
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Taking a Moment for Myself
Today’s post is a little bit off topic – I’m not going to share a recipe but instead am taking an opportunity to slow things down. You all know by now that I am a bit of a worker-bee…I am at my best when I’m busy, when I have a project, when I have a to-do list. I don’t like to be idle. I do my best work under a deadline, and I crave the intensity and activity that a busy, planned-out day brings. …
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A Playroom Makeover: Part 1
I am so excited to be back with another Lemon Sugar remodel project, and especially excited to be working with my friends at Organized Living again! If you remember, we teamed up several months ago to tackle my pantry remodel, and it turned out SO good that we’ve decided to take on a bigger and more challenging space – a playroom for my girls! This project is a little bit bigger and more involved because we didn’t have an existing space to work with. Instead,…
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A Spa Party & Funfetti Cupcakes
Welcome to the most disorganized party I’ve ever, ever put together. Good news is, it worked. The girls had a great time and they don’t know that I threw it all together in just a few hours. Bad news is, I knew. I could’ve done so much more with this awesome concept, but I just didn’t have the time. You may have seen my daughter’s 8th birthday party here last week, and this week, we followed up with her “friend” party. My Lindsey friend owns an…
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A Beach Birthday Party
Well, I survived. I survived my first party since I’ve gone back to work in an office environment, and it was a success. Now, I didn’t cook – it was catered, I just did the baking, and I had a little help from the candy aisle at the grocery store, but somehow I pulled off a cute little beach party in the middle of November and lived to talk about it. My Madeline turned eight years old this week, and as much work as it…
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Five Layer Celebration Cake
It’s my birthday! Yay me! I survived another year of this crazy life and I do believe we should celebrate. It really was a crazy year. I found myself working from home, which has really been a blessing and a period in my life that I will always cherish. I’ve spent more time with my kids, my husband and my family. It was a happy year for my family; my youngest brother got married, my closest cousin got married, and I welcomed a new niece…
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Out and About: Wine and Sunflowers
I am fortunate to live with a quick drive of two local gems: Holy-Field Winery & Vineyard and Grinter’s Sunflower Farm. Since we have the first week of school behind us now, and since the sunflowers are in their prime this week, a visit to our local winery and sunflower field were definitely in order. Holy-Field Winery & Vineyard is an award-winning Kansas winery. They grow about ten different varieties of grapes, and offer about 18 different wines – from semi-sweet to dry. It’s a…
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A Pantry Makeover Part 4: Glidden Paint
Several weeks ago, we took on the daunting task of updating and renovating our walk-in pantry. When we built our house five years ago, pantry functionality and design was, unfortunately, not high on our priority list. Given how frequently we use that little room, it’s really a shame we put it off so long. My friends over at Glidden® paint made the process so much easier. After submitting a few of my inspiration photos to their online My Image Inspiration tool , I was actually able…
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Out and About: Road Trip to Omaha
This past week was a fun one for my little family. We opted for a stay-cation this year, and spent the week pretty close to home. We took our girls to Worlds of Fun, our local amusement park one day, spent a day lounging around and doing not much of anything, and then spent a couple of days road-tripping it. Destination: Omaha. Omaha is just about a 3-hour drive from our home near Kansas City, so it really made an ideal, quick road trip. Since…
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Out and About: It’s Fair Time!
I’ve been attending our local county fair most of my life. My hometown hosts the fair, so watching the parade and spending a few nights with the whole town at the fairgrounds has become a bit of a tradition for me. I remember riding in the parade with my ball teams when I was a kid, marching in the parade with the cheerleaders in high school, and now we spend it on the sidelines, helping our kids collect candy and goodies from the floats. The…
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A Pantry Makeover Part 3: Glidden Paint
When we built our house just over five years ago, I was so overwhelmed with decisions that I just took the easy road when it came to our paint colors. With the exception of my daughter’s room, I went all-out subdivision beige. I just couldn’t make another decision. Floors, appliances, windows, furniture, lighting, faucets…I couldn’t do it. So, subdivision beige it was. Over the years, we’ve slowly been updating rooms to fit our taste and decor style. It’s been a slow, arduous process and I…
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A Pantry Makeover with Organized Living™ (Part 2: After)
(This is part two of a two-part series. To see part one, click {here}.) This post has been so long in the making that I really can’t believe I’m actually finally typing it. I’ve been working with the folks at Organized Living for a few months now, working out the details of this project, getting it installed and working out a giveaway for you guys, and now it’s all done – and I am in LOVE with my new pantry. In. Love. Over the past…
