Why I Love Blogs

"There's something sacred about reading a blog post on someone else's site. It's like visiting a friend's house for a quick meal 'round the breakfast table. It's personal — you're in their space, and the environment is uniquely suited for idea exchange and uninterrupted conversation. In many ways, we should be treating our blogs like our breakfast tables. Be welcoming & gracious when you host, and kind & respectful when visiting." - Trent Walton

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Happy Weekend

Now go and live....get off the computer and go!

Kitchen Lust

Lately, I have been lusting over white kitchens with dark floors but then I saw this kitchen and my heart skipped a beat. This kitchen is warm with modern touches. I can picture myself cooking and entertaining here, with all the family gathered around that great farm house table. Plus the wall of windows is perfect.

http://paloma81.blogspot.com/search?max-results=5&updated-max=2011-02-17T09%3A37%3A00-06%3A00

View From My Window

FRONT

BACK

Life

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Today Sucks

Ever have one of those days when all of sudden you realize the person you thought really loved just doesn't anymore? It's heart breaking and sad and I feel like I have had a few to many of those days lately. It's like you know they have fallen out of love with you but you don't accept it until one day you wake and say "the signs have been there for so long, I guess today I will actually accept it". So I am accepting and I am going to live in the sadness today and then move on. I am going to listen to every heart-breaking version of this song I can find, be grateful for what we had, sad for what we lost and hope that someday I will find someone who would rather be home with me then travelling the world without me ..... maybe that is a lot to ask for?

There is nothing she can't sing.....







Beautiful...







So soulful....



The Queen...

I Can't Stop Listening.......

Happy St. Patrick's Day

Since I had to be at work today at some God forsaken hour, I was pleasantly surprised to see this waiting by my desk.....without the bite taken out of course.

Paula's Donuts is one of the best local donut shops here in Western NY.

Happy ╥ Day

Chocolate Chip Muffins

My children love Wegmans big, fresh baked muffins because they are moist and have a crunchy, sugary coating on top, but they aren't cheap. So I decided to try this recipe from AllRecipe.com to see if I could come up with something similiar at home. It was so easy and muffins where moist and delicious. I added 1 cup of milk and 1 cup of chocolate chips which is a bit more then the recipe calls for.

Ingredients
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup white sugar
3 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup milk
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 egg
1 cup mini semi-sweet chocolate chips (I used choclate morsels because that is all I had)
3 tablespoons white sugar
2 tablespoons brown sugar

Directions
Heat oven to 400 degrees F (205 degrees C). Grease bottoms only of 12 muffin cups or line with baking cups.
In a medium bowl, combine flour, 1/2 cup sugar, baking powder, chocolate chips, and salt; mix well. In a small bowl, combine milk, oil and egg; blend well. Add dry ingredients all at once; stir just until dry ingredients are moistened (batter will be lumpy.)
Fill cups 2/3 full. Sprinkle tops of muffins before baking with a combination of 3 tablespoons sugar and 2 tablespoon brown sugar.
Bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 1 minute before removing from pan. Serve warm.

Mast Brothers

Bought in NYC, Mast Brothers Chocolate. So delicious, but the paper wrapping is amazing, it is thick and beautiful.

THE SOURCE from Mast Brothers Chocolate on Vimeo.

Gorgeous Video

Source: vimeo.com via Valentina on Pinterest

Thrift Store Finds

I found these chairs at AmVets and I had to get them right away. I really liked the shape and they in good condition. I wanted to paint them white but a guy at the store, who seemed to know what he was talking about, said to make sure I didn't paint them because he thought they were Danish. So I decided to just recover them for know and think about it.