Cookie Bites and Ottoman Covers, Oh My!

I posted this picture on Instagram recently, and a number of people asked me what exactly it was and if they could have the recipe.

I figured it would be easiest to share the recipe here, so here ya go!

Cookie Dough Pretzel Bites*

1/2 c. unsalted butter
1/2 c. brown sugar
1/4 c. sugar
2 Tbsp milk
1 tsp. vanilla
1 1/4 c. all purpose flour
1/8 tsp. salt
1/2 c. mini chocolate chips
pretzels
8 oz. chocolate chips (about 1 c.)
1 tsp. coconut oil or shortening (for thinning the chocolate)

1. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper and set aside.

2. In a large bowl, beat the butter, brown sugar, and sugar together on medium speed until light and creamy.  Add the milk and vanilla.  Mix.  Add the flour and salt all at once and slowly mix until everything is moist.  Add the mini chocolate chips and mix.

3. Roll the dough into balls, about 1 1/2-2 tsp. of dough per sandwich, depending on desired cookie size.  Sandwich balls between two pretzels and place on baking sheet.  Freeze for 20 mins.

4.  While the pretzel bites are chilling, melt the chocolate and the coconut oil or shortening in microwave for about 1 minute, stopping to stir every 20 seconds.  Dip the pretzel bites halfway into the melted chocolate and place back on the baking sheet.  Refrigerate the dipped bites for at least 15 minutes to allow the chocolate to set.  Cover and store pretzel bites in the fridge for up to five days.

*recipe found under my "Sweet Treats" Pinterest board.

It's an added bonus that this recipe is egg-free, which allows Wade to enjoy them!  And enjoy them he did.  I can't say that I blame him; they are quite tasty.

Switching gears, I just have to share a fun little project I just completed.  Remember when I shared pictures of our entryway last year?

I'd always planned to come up with some sort of slipcover for those ottomans because I knew that some fresh fabric could go a long way with their nice shape.  (I was originally inspired by what Emily A. Clark did with a similar pair of ottomans.) I finally did it, and I have to say, I am so proud of myself!

Seriously, it is a minor miracle that I somehow managed to pull this off.  I mean, I sewed these babies with minimal mistakes along the way and very little frustration.  I can hardly believe it.  I honestly find it challenging to even sew a straight line, so I really don't know how this happened.

After I completed the first one, I was so tickled with myself, I may have giggled out loud with delight.  (Let me be clear--I was also quite tired because I stayed up way too late getting these done.  But I say, sometimes all a mama needs is to enjoy a finished project in the midst of the chaos, and the satisfaction that is found makes up for some of that lost sleep!)

The fabric I used is by Nate Berkus.  I had pinned it and then quite fortuitously found it for a very discounted price on eBay.  I ordered it through this seller.

Gosh, I love the feeling when my vision for a project comes to fruition!

Our Entryway

Thanks for all of your kind words about Mary Graham's birth story!  I am so happy to know that you all enjoyed reading it and that my experience can be an encouragement to others.  I love to talk about birth, so if anyone ever wants to chat, please let me know! :)

Moving on from one topic I feel passionately about (birth) to another--decorating!

I've been wanting to share some of the updates I've made around the house with you all for a while now.  Problem is I can hardly find the time to clean up around here, much less take photographs before my cleaning and organizing efforts quickly come undone.  If you're anything like me, you appreciate seeing photos of people's homes that look less than perfectly clean and organized.  I'm all for that kind of transparency (trust me, I've got lots of dust and laundry and dishes, etc.!), but for the sake of memorializing my little attempts at creating beauty amidst the chaos, I'd like to at least tidy up the space that's being photographed :)

When I last showed you our entryway, this is what it looked like:

And here it is now:

The term 'entryway' is a bit of a misnomer because this is simply the back wall of our living room.  However, in our little place, you can practically touch both the sofa and the kitchen counter from the front door, so entryway it is!

If you recall, I was inspired by this image I saw in a recent House Beautiful issue.

My parsons table is West Elm.

The lamps and shades are from JCPenny.  Ever since Paula posted pictures from Lindsey Ellis Beatty's house in Birmingham, I was set on finding a pair of lamps similar to the ones I spied in her living room.  She has the same West Elm table, but her lamps look like they could be Johnathan Adler maybe?  Anyway, I thought the curved shape was a nice complement to the angular lines of the parsons table.  At less than $60 for the JCPenny lamp and shade combined (I got them on sale), I was sold.

Do you spy her parsons table and lamps in the background?  ps. I'm obsessed with her whole house! (Source)

The storage ottomans are from Target.  We use them for stashing the kids' toys!  You can actually fit a lot of junk in them! :) I looked at lots of different styles, but found that most affordable ones were not the cutest.  I have plans to do something like Emily A. Clark did with hers, but in the meantime these were the least offensive fabric (they're actually a neutral herringbone pattern and nice looking as is, but I'd like to bring in a little more color with a different fabric), so I figured I wouldn't mind them till I can find the time to make new covers for them.

The woven basket is from HomeGoods and it's always filled with shoes.

The bamboo blinds are from Overstock.  We (and by we, I mean Philip.  must give credit where credit is due!) mounted them high above our windows, which I think does wonders for our moulding-less windows.

Here's a picture from before we moved in which I think highlights the need to mount the blinds high.  The windows feel choppy and your eye just kind of gets stuck.  It seemed to me that the ceiling seemed lower than it actually was or something.

Mounting the blinds high draws your eye up and disguises the fact that there is no charming moulding to enjoy around our windows without blocking the light.

Hooray for a pretty, welcoming spot to drop your keys, your sunglasses and your shoes.  And perhaps stash a toy or two as well :)

I love a good vignette

First, thanks to all of you who shared your skincare feedback!  I really appreciate it! I will keep you posted on what changes I end up making... Now, it's back to design.

We have this joke in our house that I'm always rearranging things with Philip remaining pretty oblivious to it all.  If he wasn't so good at staying on top of our credit card statement and keeping track of our budget, I could probably get away with making some pretty big time changes.  Often times a conversation between us will go something like this:

Anne:  "Sooo, notice anything different around here?"
Philip:  "uuhhh, I don't know.  Did you create a new vignette or something?"

My witty husband has heard me speak fondly of artfully arranged items, and while his comments are typically delivered somewhat tongue-in-cheek, the fact still remains:  I love a good vignette.

Some of you may find this sentiment to be a bit extreme, but I'm telling you, when things are arranged in a beautiful way, I feel something.  And I'm fascinated, really, by the creative process this entails.  It feels sort of like working a puzzle, only there are a myriad of different ways the finished puzzle could look--each different, yet really lovely.

Ok, I feel like this is getting a little heady.  How about I just share some of my favorite vignettes?

Source: room-polish.blogspot.com via Anne on Pinterest

Source: theglitterguide.com via Anne on Pinterest

Source: littlegreennotebook.blogspot.com via Anne on Pinterest

Source: emilyaclark.blogspot.com via Anne on Pinterest

Source: housebeautiful.com via Anne on Pinterest

source: newlyweddiaries via pinterest

Source: twoellie.blogspot.com via Anne on Pinterest

Our entry table has perplexed me for a while now.  We are using a skirted table that was used in our dining room in our old house, and it's a pretty big surface.  There's also the cut-out for the staircase behind it to consider.  Oh, and the walls are pretty ho-hum (which I probably would have painted were we going to live here for more than a year and if the entire first floor wasn't basically open, making it very difficult to paint just one area) and there's bluish-gray carpeting happening underfoot.  Neither of these things excites me too much, but I'm dealing with it.

I didn't set out and go buy a bunch of things that I thought I should place on my entry table.  I've tried to accumulate things (over time) that I like and that have meaning to me, and then find places to put them in my house.  In this case, after I arranged our entry table, I realized for the first time since living in this house that it felt pleasing to my little eye.  I thought it could be interesting (really for myself, if for no one else!) to sort of pick it apart and think through why I feel like it works.

When I look at my own arrangement, I think that many of the same basic principles that exist in some of the images I posted above are also present, in some degree or another.

• Objects of varying heights are included (vase of flowers and plant are both taller yet not the exact same height, picture frames are lower).  
• The power of three is at play--on both sides, there are three objects of varying heights/shapes.  This wasn't intentional, but analyzing it now, I can see it.  
• Different textures are present (iron/metal lamp base, fabric table skirt, greenery from plant).  
• The color scheme is kept pretty neutral (with the exception of the painting and the tulips), which in the case of a larger collection of items like this keeps the entire arrangement from feeling cluttered and chaotic.  
• While the palette is neutral, the shades vary, so it still feels interesting (and not flat) to my eye.  
• Tones and colors are repeated so things feel intentional and connected to one another (matting in the frame matches color of urn, color of tulips comes from painting, colors in all three picture frames are repeated in each other)

And because I always think it's fun to know the sources, I'll share mine with you.

-lamp: HomeGoods (years ago)

-painting: gift from my brother, Taylor, who is quite the world traveler.  He bought it in Cartagena 

 Colombia!  {Matting and framing done by me at The Pottery in Williamsburg, VA....hands down the 

 most inexpensive place to get custom framing done!  It's worth the drive if you're relatively close!}

-plant: fern in urn given to me by mother in law many years ago

-tulips:  Trader Joes (I love Trader Joes and I love tulips!) in a milk glass vase I found at Goodwill.  

-silver tray: wedding gift, Pottery Barn

-china dish (on tray): Estate Specialists in Lynchburg, Va

-artichoke candle-Christmas gift from my hubby, from High Street Market

-picture frames:TJMaxx, HomeGoods, and/or Marshalls.

-fabric for table:Barbara Barry for Kravet Poetical, purchased at U-Fab in Richmond (at a major 

 discount!)

-umbrella holder: basically free, got it from Craigslist (I was buying something else and they were getting rid of this :)