May 10, 2012

House Tour: The Guest Bedroom

Some of you may already know that we’re moving! When I started showing you parts of my house, I never imagined that we would be packing everything up. If things work as planned, Casey & I will be buying the house I grew up in from my parents in Marin County. We’re excited because there are so many great features to the house; I know it well. The light there is beautiful and I know Cooper will have a wonderful childhood there because I did.

So having said that, I’m going to show you the rest of our current house. I tried to take as many pictures of the rooms as possible before we took things down. I am sad because it took us almost 6 years to feel 100% at home here. We truly poured our hearts into this house and in the end it was all worth it. It was our first house! I’m really proud at how things turned out and I am excited for many new design challenges to come!

Uncategorized

May 9, 2012

Mother’s Day Brunch Ideas!

I’m a mom, so I can say this with authority: Moms Love Brunch!

Let me tell you why!

Mother’s Day Brunch means:

We don’t have to cook and we’d BETTER NOT have to clean up.
For the love of God! Someone finally let us sleep in. That’s all we ever want, am I right? Well.. that and a day alone with a good book and a box of chocolates.
YOU get to decide if we want savory OR sweet for brunch. That’s usually the hardest decision EVER. But whatever you feed us must be something WE like. It’s our day after all!

If you’re a mother and you want brunch time awesomeness this Sunday, please direct this post to your family. If you want to make brunch for your mother, ask her her thoughts on eating in bed and then take it from there. Breakfast in bed is kind of a tricky thing…especially when there’s maple syrup involved. I remember it being a bit awkward when I brought my mom french toast in bed one Mother’s day…

Maybe you just wanna take Mom on a spa day and then share three plates of fries afteward? You hear that, Cooper??!

recipes

May 7, 2012

Cilantro Limeade

There was a time in my life when I didn’t really care for cilantro. WHAT?! Fortunately I made it through the dark ages and found an affinity for the leafy goodness. Yes, it totally is possible to overcome food aversions. Just don’t get me to try mayo. That might take me at least 3 decades to figure out.

If you want to make a fancy beverage, add this one to your repertoire. It would be great at parties, lovely at a Mexican themed baby shower (we had one!) and just plain refreshing if you’re sitting outside on a hot day. The cilantro isn’t too pungent, so I’m pretty sure you could fool a few cilantro haters into drinking some. And who knows…you might convert a few people to Team Cilantro.

Try it and report back!

my everyday life, Photography

May 6, 2012

My Everyday Life: Week 18

Here’s what this past week looked like:

NEED CREATIVE SPACE. Always & forever.

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May 4, 2012

I love lists, Friday!

This cake. I want to get drunk off this cake.
I love Dana’s riff on my Angel Hair Pasta with Lemon & Arugula. YUM.
These tacos totally intrigue me! Check out this quesadilla too!
The Bloggess interviewed on the Happiness Project. I like: “Pretend you’re good at it!”
Vermont looks so pretty & I’m so excited for Aran’s new book! Can’t wait to see the trailer.
10 Great Crafty Sheet Ideas. I love #4 & 8.
Yosemite. I will see you one day. Promise. Also! I’ve never camped with a kid…
I luv anything that AB Chao writes. Great tips & OMG you should check out her bedroom!
Sometimes when I need a good laugh I look at the HUMOR section on Pinterest.
DIY decal tutorial. I want those jars. Imagine what you could do…
Speaking of jars…Why jars are great for bringing food to cookouts!
A very thoughtful & honest post by one of my best blog buddies!
ACE Hotel in Palm Springs. I want to go to there.
The State of the Web Right Now. This cracked me up. Seriously.

This week on the Joy the Baker podcast we get Boozy! Take 5 bars, Gin, Bourbon, T-Flo update. Cinco de Quatro?! Hilarity as per usual!

On High Straightenence this week, I tell you what’s up! My life is absolute chaos right now..for a good reason.

Psssst!!!

This picture is from my instagram. Are you on instagram? I’m @tracyshutterbean. Oh! Btw…I’m totally and utterly addicted. It’s soo good, it’s bad.

recipes

May 2, 2012

Caramel Brioche Croutons

When I’m working in the kitchen and I’ve made something particularly good I do this thing….this thing that I wasn’t aware I did until Casey started working from home. When something blows me away, I do fist pumps and shout out “MMMM. IT’S SO GOOD. MMM. OH MY GOD MMM.” Then I proceed to walk through the house while eating…shouting how good it is. I didn’t realize I do it until I saw the peculiar look on my husband’s face.

Yeah dude, your wife does this weird thing.

So… that happened with these Caramel Brioche Croutons. Fist pumps, moans, angels sang, and Oprah shouted in my head.

THE WORKS.

People! This is so good. I want you to make something that will produce FIST PUMPS and weird noises.

Then and only then will my work done. It’s caramel. It’s bread. It’s crunchy sweet Caramel Brioche Crouton time.

recipes

April 30, 2012

Simple Greek Salad

Let’s start the week with a simple recipe. Mondays are hard!

Say hello to my favorite standby, my big fat simple GREEK SALAD. It may not be the most authentic Greek salad but is sure is good. When I’m grocery shopping, I almost always make sure to have these salad ingredients so I can easily whip it up on a week night. It’s a no brainer and it’s healthy. I love that in a salad.

I’m also kind of addicted to it. I think it’s the sumac. Do you know about sumac? It’s a Middle Eastern spice that adds a lemony tang to salads & meat. It MAKES this salad one of my favorite salads ever. It’s absolutely delicious.

If you feel like you need to add a lil somethin’ somethin’ to the salad, you could top it with grilled shrimp, sausage, chicken or steak. Marinated artichoke hearts or sun-dried tomatoes are a good additions too but don’t forget to serve it with some grilled PITA. Pita in all caps. CARBS deserve capital letters. I shouldn’t have to explain that to you.