WATER DETOX

Haven't you all seen this water detox recipe popping up everywhere on Pinterest? Well, it spurred my (and 2 co-workers') interest so much that we decided to try it! I mean, why not? It is all simple ingredients, you can eat normal, and Jillian Michaels created it -  so we figured we would be the guinea pigs! We ordered the dandelion root from Amazon (I think you can probably find it at Whole Foods too) and got started!

I am on day 3 and the drink is delicious (if you like lemon water) and it truly flushes you out. The color of the mixture is deceiving, but don't be scared! I did some research and most articles say this drink helps with digestion and detoxification - both help with weight loss.

I'll report back next Thursday after my full week of detoxing and tell you how many pounds/inches were lost so you can determine if you want to try it too!

Have any of you all ready tried this water detox?

BOOK REVIEW: farm anatomy

My wonderful Dad turned 55 last weekend and to celebrate I got him this beautifully illustrated book, Farm Anatomy by Julia Rothman. I knew he would enjoy it because of his love for cooking and raising chickens. I have seen reviews of this book floating around blog land, so if you have seen some inside pages all ready - my apologies, and if not, enjoy because this book is amazing!

Here is a brief description Julia wrote on her blog about the release of Farm Anatomy:

It’s 224 pages of paintings, mostly diagrams and charts, with some writing about all the parts of a farm. For example, there are illustrations that show the parts of a pig, kinds of tractors, varieties of barns, all the different squash, bugs that are good and bad for your garden, and a chart of all the tools you can find on a farm. There’s also recipes, a few craft projects and lots of how-tos (how to make cheese, split wood, cut up a chicken, make a rag rug, can tomatoes…).

I love the way she created this book. You can definitely tell it was a labor of love and so worth the time. Design*Sponge recently had a great review (and giveaway!) of the book where Julia explained her designed process:

While the artwork looks like each illustration is a complete painting, in actuality, it is made up of many pieces. A book goes through many rounds of editing, so it didn’t make sense to make final paintings until everything was reviewed. Instead, I made the layouts through a series of steps. This way, anything could be easily revised. I started the artwork in ink, doing just the lines of the drawings in large sketchbooks. All of the titles and a lot of the text were written out by hand, so that had to be drawn, as well.

I really love her style and enjoyed seeing how she used several techniques to layer to create her book. Check out these images of her hand lettering, illustrations, watercolor, and layouts she used while creating the book:

above images from Design*Sponge

After a year of editing, the book was complete and hit the market October 1st. I pre-ordered mine through Amazon so it arrived shortly after the release date. After looking through my Dad's copy, I really want my own! How many times do you find yourself in the grocery store standing at the meat counter with no clue on whose shoulder is whose and where that roast came from and what are you supposed to do with those tips!?!? I love to cook and try new recipes so I think this book could really help solve those questions. Here are some more pictures of the final interior of the book:

all images from book by its cover

Does this book interest you?

MELROSE'S FALL DECOR

Pulled together from leftover wedding decor, recent wedding presents,  and the garden shop in Homewood - here is Melrose's updated fall decor! Mom had this beautiful wreath made for me with cotton bolls and dried seed pods from the wedding along with several other fall items. I think all the colors look great against the red door.

I found these cute metal spiders at last year's Country Living Fair - which by the way, the 2012 fair is this upcoming weekend in Stone Mountain, GA if you want to attend. I won't be there, but I have my Mom on the hunt for some fun items!

And for the inside ... just a simple tablescape of extra burlap, pine cones, and popcorn berries to get the job done. And of course - pumpkins galore!

The table looks similar to my styling last year but my new Pottery Barn "Emma" china makes it all look so much more refined and classic. I found these gold hammered napkin rings at At Home in Homewood and they are a new favorite on the dining table.

I love seeing all holiday decor so if you have a blog with photos, please share the address below! Before we know it we will be decorating for Christmas! (my favorite time of the year - I am all ready begging my co-worker to listen to Christmas music!)

PUMPKINS GALORE

I love finding new and creative ways to decorate for the holidays - especially decor items that involve gold! Pumpkins are an obvious favorite for ringing in the cooler weather and the warm tones of orange, yellow, and red, so when I saw these takes on the classic pumpkin I had to share. 

 Check out this awesome gold splatter painted pumpkin ... such an easy DIY craft!

I don't have the time or patience to illustrate these detailed ones, but I could handle the puffy paint dotted one! What do you think?

 Mums are another "must have" for fall so combining the classic pumpkin + frilly flower is perfect, and makes for a great alternative vase.

Instead of a vase, hollow out the pumpkin to serve bottled drinks. LOVE this idea!

 More spray painted gold and copper pumpkins! [please notice the chevron pumpkin too!]

all sources on my holiday pinterest board

I am really loving all the uses of the white pumpkins this year! Check back in tomorrow for Melrose's fall decor of pumpkin galore! It isn't as fancy as these images, but never-the-less it gets us in the mood for fall.

PINTEREST SECRET

This was the most fascinating discovery to me, so I thought I would share it in hopes that it makes your day too - before you "pin" something, use your cursor to highlight a description of the item on that site, then click the pin icon in your tool bar, and wa-lah! Automatically that highlighted description will appear in the pop up box!

Try it out - it is very neat and convenient! Do you know any other pinterest secrets? [besides that it is fabulous!]

DESIGN*SPONGE TOUR: birmingham

Did ya'll see this? Get excited because ... 

Grace Bonney and the Design*Sponge team are coming to the 'ham in 3 weeks! They will be doing a craft demo of -

 how to make a great cupcake/cake display stand and how to customize it in several ways (new techniques we didn’t show in the book or online) for the holidays.

I am super excited and a group of girls are going if you are interested too! Will you be attending? For full details and how to register click here. 

BLURB BOOKS

Since we received our final disc of pictures from Heidi back in March, I have been slowly working on designing our wedding albums. I have been really excited about designing this book for several reasons ...
• I get to choose which pictures are in it
• It is a great way to have all your pictures in one place rather than individually printing them all
• Blurb now has an amazing InDesign plug-in that allows designers to customize their book any way imaginable


The books arrived a month ago and they are gorgeous. No, not because it is millions of pictures of Brandon and I, but because of the quality. I chose image wrapping for the hard cover, their new pro-line uncoated paper for the interior, and the largest square size available - 12"x12". The large size was quite surprising, but amazing. I love how vibrant and bold the pictures are. 


I would definitely recommend Blurb to everyone - it is not just for weddings. There are so many choices and templates (for the non-designer) to choose from that it makes the process really fun, and straight forward. Here are a few pictures of my blurb book:

you can see the rest of the book here

For the parents I chose a smaller size, 7"x7", and it turned out just as cute, and much easier to handle! I think they have really enjoyed having all the pictures in one place for easy browsing. You can tell the proportion differences in both sets of pictures.