Another Blog You Must See

I absolutely love to cook and before I had my second and third babies, my husband and I would hang out in the kitchen and cook together.  If it was after a certain time of day(which I will not specify here) we would share a bottle of wine or two and talk for hours.  With three kids I find it a little more difficult to spend a great deal of time in there, but I do get inspiration from some fabulous blogs pretty regularly.

I knew I would feature Kathie's blog from the minute I decided to do "Feature Blogs".  Just last year, she started culinary school and I would venture a guess that she is at the top of her class.  She is crazy talented and the recipes there are even great for normal people, like me.  She manages to always make yummies with her two beautiful babies around, but I always find her blog makes me WANT to cook more and that makes me happy.

Pop on over to http://www.kathiecooks.blogspot.com/ and get some inspiration for yourself!  Today she posted the recipe for this delicious Chicken and Dumplings!

Thanks Kathie!!!




PS - I know that I am supposed to do Feature TUESDAYS... but since we had a holiday on Monday, this is my Tuesday.  At least that is my rationale for being a day behind!

First Feature Tuesday

One of the things that keeps me from my own blog, is my total fascination with other peoples blogs.  So why not try to put that to good use?

Every Tuesday I am going to feature a blog that I have read recently or one that I read often/every day.  There are so many fantastic blogs out there that I could blog on this subject every single day for a year and not run out of places to visit.  Some people make money at blogging - I am not in danger of that happening here.

My first feature is going to be my ULTRA blog-tastic friend Kimberlee at http://k-hangingonbyathread.blogspot.com/  She has great blog posts and she blogs just about every day.  My favs are Mondays, for Make Over Your Monday.  Some days are inspirational and some are fun or crafty.  It is always fun to see what is going on and you never know what you will learn.
(Yes, I am aware that most people who read MY blog already read hers, but we all want more people to read our blogs, so tell your friends!)

My "New Year" thoughts...

I am not, nor have I ever been, prone to making New Years resolutions.  I did it twice and ended up feeling like a failure for not accomplishing them.  I should probably add that one resolution had something to do with losing baby weight and my son was 18 DAYS old at the time.  The other had something to do with my grades in college the semester that I joined my sorority.  You get the idea!

I do, however, very much like to set goals for myself when I have a birthday.  Technically, that is my "new year", right?  Lucky me - I had one just yesterday and I spent a lot of the day thinking about the next year and what I wanted the year to be like.  

Since most people who read this have kids of their own, they will understand that it is also important to be realistic in your expectations.  It's not that you can't accomplish your goals.  It's just that you have to do it with tiny humans hanging off of you OR while they are sleeping.  When I started to think about all the goals I would set for myself, I found myself saying that I couldn't do "such-and-such" with my schedule, 3 kids, my husbands totally wonky schedule.... basically excuses.

WELL - I am bucking that trend and refusing to limit myself out of fear that I will fail.  I really don't like to be wrong and I have a stubborn streak a mile wide(just ask my close friends).  I also really hate to fail at anything and I really don't want others to know about my failures when they happen.  So what better way to push myself than to put my goals out there for everyone to see and judge.  

Goal #1 - to blog between 3 and 5 times a week.  I really love the blog world and I as I said about a year ago(HAHAHA), I really do have some fun things to share.  At least I think so.  I have some blog-tastic friends and I am sure to refer to them often.  With places like FB, Pinterest and Etsy - the cool finds and ideas are endless.  Let's see how I do?!?!  I had to stop 2/3 of the way thru this one to get my little one out of her room since she refused to nap today.  There is at least some irony in that, but alas, this blog post is done!

How about you.... what are your goals?  Even small ones count!

A good reason to look to the past...

A MONTH OF "UP-CYCLING" AND RECYCLING!

I am dedicating the month of August to all things up-cycled and recycled and there will even be a fun giveaway at the end of the month to celebrate!

I have always had a love for antiques and things from the past that have true character.  Yet, for some strange reason, I still went shopping for all of my clothing and home dec stuff at the mall and local shops that sold everything "NEW".  But, when I released my inner crafty I knew that it wasn't limited to just the pretty things for girls.

There is nothing more fun than finding an old treasure and turning it into a new treasure.  Sometimes that old treasure is in your own basement and sometimes it is in someone else's and just waiting for a new home and a new owner who will help "it" realize it's full potential.  I have been inspired by several wonderful friends over the last year to go look in places that I hadn't tried before.  I love Goodwill and I will admit that last weekend I bought this really cool antique barometer from some adorable little old ladies having a garage sale and Craigslist just downright ROCKS!

Here are a few things we are going to be using:

A MOUNTAIN OF SCRAPS (I am sure this will cover more than one project)

SOME OLD EMBROIDERY HOOPS

A FEW BLANK CANVAS'

Please come back and visit and see what we create!

Disclaimer:  This is the part where I tell you that this has a very selfish purpose.  Since we move WAY too often, this house is still in desperate need of being decorated and I am really looking forward to making big strides this month.

Countdown to sunshine and warm weather!

A friend of mine has a great blog, SewSassySweetpeas, and she had a great idea last week for a vacation chain.  What better way to count down the days until vacation that with a fun, brightly colored paper chain.  Being stuck in the frozen tundra, as I like to call it, has been rough this year.  The cold and snow have been plenty and the sun scarce.

I checked my crafty stash for the brightest colored construction paper and went to work with the little people.  It didn't dawn on me how close vacation was until we started putting the paper chain together.  I have to admit that I am 50% SUPER excited and 50% overwhelmed.  I had no idea how little time I had to get ready.  I am a planner when it comes to taking trips and I like to have lists and lists for those lists.  So, besides the fact that the paper chain was a reminder to get my "planning butt" in gear, it was a lot of fun to see how excited the kids were.  We are all ready for the beach, Disney World, the sun and warm weather and especially seeing family.

The kids loved pulling off the first ring and tossing it in the garbage and then counting them again.  I even numbered ours so that the next ring tells us exactly how many days we have left!  The kids requested that we hang the chain up in the kitchen so that we can look at it 100 times a day.  If you don't have a vacation planned, well I wish you did!  If you DO - then make a paper chain and do the countdown!

Hide and Go Seek!

It's an oldie, but a goodie!  I don't know anybody who didn't love to play Hide and Go Seek when they were little and my kids are no exception.  The problem - it's a little chilly for an outside game of hide and seek.  SO, we have adapted.  We started this game around Christmas and there hasn't been a weekend since then that my children haven't badgered us to play.

The game - Flashlight Hide and Go Seek!  It's pretty simple, but I will review the rules for us old folks.  This is a game for evening/night time.  I should add that this is convenient in the winter months since it is dark around here by 5PM.

1)Everybody gets a flashlight.
2)We have a multi-level home and an "almost" 2 year-old playing, so we limit our game to one floor for safety.  I recommend it if you have stairs.
3)Then pick a person to count and then everyone else hides.  That covers the rules!

We take turns counting and hiding.  We have even suckered out house guests into playing and I am pretty sure they had a great time!

A few funny moments that I will share with you:
- Aidan actually hid in a drawer and it took quite a while to find him - there are only 4 bedrooms and 2 baths up there!
- Nicholas can't stop giggling long enough to stay hidden.
- Emma will totally rat you out if she knows where you are OR if she is hiding with you and when YOU find HER she hops and says "I pound youuuu"!
- Last, but not least - it took a few tries for the kids to realize that they should turn OFF the flashlights once they found a hiding place!

I would love to share photos with you, but, well.... it's DARK!  It would just be photos of darkness and some lights in the hallway.  We do have one fear.  We are pretty sure that one day the neighbors will see the lights and think that someone has broken into the house and they will end up calling the police.  That will be in this blog one day!

Gooooo... give it a try!  It's really fun and it's something new to do while it is cold outside!  Let me know if you play.  I am sure you will all have some great stories to share.

It's all in my head...

Welcome to my blog and my first post here.  I say here, because I had another blog that I worked very hard to make perfect and I did "something" to it.  I use the word "something" loosely since I can't pinpoint one thing.  Mostly because there wasn't just one "thing".  I only know that one of those "things" was that I changed the blog name and when I went to fix that "thing", bad things happened.  Very bad things!  I did not even had the chance to share it with people before I messed it up.  Sometimes it is best to start from scratch and just LET IT GO!

So alas, here we are.  Midtown Chic is a little line of boutique clothing and misc. stuff I make.  But really, this blog is about the things that I love.  Which is to say that one day you might read about my love of all things crafty and the next you may read about my crazy kiddos.  This blog has been a goal of mine for quite some time, but I have an issue with things not being perfect when people see them for the first time.  That didn't work out so well last time.  I am trying to relax my control and share more.  I also have to give credit to some wonderful friends who have really inspired me since the beginning of the year.  Thank you K and E!  You set the bar pretty high, but I'll try.

I have so many things going on and I always have these great ideas and thoughts(at least I think so) that I would love to share.  The problem - IT'S ALL IN MY HEAD!  I need to get it out.  It's getting crowded in there with all this stuff.

I have no idea what tomorrow will bring, but I hope you will check back and see what's going on!