Happy New Year!!!

I know it's been forever since I posted here, but I really do hope to be better in the future. Happy New Year! A time for a great, new beginning. I love that. So here goes my attempt to keep up better. So far, so good...

I have written a ton of new year's resolutions. I really want to improve myself, my family and my business. I think goal setting is a great way to keep up with the things you want. Balancing a family and a business is tricky, but I know I can be better. There's always room for improvement, right? Life is surprising, and keeping up can be a challenge. One of my goals is to get super organized. I'm one of those people who really envy people who have that gift of organization. I try sincerely hard, but it does not come naturally to me. For those of you that are, consider yourself blessed. How about sharing your favorite organizing tip? I'm sure the class would love to hear...
On a completely off the subject side note, I just glanced at the tv and saw there is a city with my maiden name on the weather channel(I didn't even know it existed) -weird..
So, anyway, I think I'll go watch the ball drop and kiss and hug everyone. It's a great way to start a new year. Hope you've had a lovely year and a Happy New Year too.

~xo

Trash to Treasure Lamps

(the base isn't attached yet. I just have it sitting on my iron Eiffel tower for the pic)
I inherited these sad lamps from our neighbors while we helped them move. We were taking a load of stuff to Goodwill for them, and they offered for us to keep anything we could use. I really needed some more lighting in my living room, so I decided to take the lamps with the plan of buying new shades. There was nothing wrong with them except the shades. One was a floor lamp with an attached side table. Somehow, they had gotten too hot and the shade itself had shrunk. After several trips to Lowe's and other stores, I could never decide on what look I wanted. I really liked the handmade, boutique style shades I had just seen in Milton while shopping with Bill on our Anniversary. Only problem was, a.) they weren't exactly what I was looking for. They were close, but not quite there. And b.) expensive as all get out!...Fast forward to today, I'm sitting on my couch thinking about how necessity is indeed the mother of invention. I went and dug out my stash of vintage lace my Aunt gave me last year and some silk roses that could easily be replaced. Hmmmmm.... I see the wheels turning faster and faster....Where's my glue gun??!? ...........


What do you think? Should I paint the base? I don't know what color I'd want it though. Suggestions?

So, there you have it! I love them now!! Today was very satisfying. Not only did I get my "Boutique-quality" handmade shades, it didn't cost me a cent! Yep, I'm a happy girl.

hugs!
Lori

Pizza Post!

This is my all-time favorite pizza recipe. My Mom always wants this when they come over. I found it off my favorite "foodie" blog, Food Wishes. I love that guy! Everything he makes turns out fabulous and he does video classes making it so much easier. Now, on to the recipe...

Start with 1 pkg. yeast
1 tsp. honey
3 cups all-purp. flour
1 tsp. kosher salt
1 tbsp. evoo (olive oil)
1/2 cup very warm water

Step 1. Put yeast, honey and water(very warm) in a med. bowl and let it dissolve for 10 min.
Step 2. Add salt, olive oil, and another 1/2 cup of really warm water, and 1 cup flour.
Step 3. Stir, then add another cup of flour, stir, then add another cup of flour. (3 total)
Step 4. Turn onto floured board, will be slightly sticky, knead until smooth and fairly firm..
Step 5.Put a little olive oil in bowl, put dough in and cover with cloth. Turn the oven on 250, then TURN OFF, and put the bowl in the oven to rise for 30-40 min.
Step 6. Turn dough out on floured board, make 4 even quarters, and fold sides underneath itself until you have a smooth, round dough ball.
Step. 7 Put the four pizza dough balls on a lightly floured board and let rest, covered, for 20 min.
Step 8. Press with your fingers to flatten to the size you'd like, or use a rolling pin for very thin crust(my fav). This makes 4 small-med. size pizzas. (I usually double the recipe and have 4 large)
Step. 9. Lightly flour a pizza pan or stone with cornmeal,brush with olive oil, then add 2-3 tbsp. sauce and spread around. Add whatever ingredients you prefer.
Step 10. Preheat oven to 450. Place the first pizza on the bottom rack for 5 min. Then, move to top rack for 5 more minutes. I normally keep 2 pizzas cooking at the same time and keep rotating them.

My favorite toppings are kalamato olives, beef sauteed with garlic and italian seasoning, chopped tomatoes, mozzarella,parmesano/romano cheese, pepperoni, fresh basil,(added after it comes out of the oven) pineapple and pepperoni, chicken alfredo and spinach... What are some of your favorite combinations?

Hope you try this homemade pizza if you have never made it before. I promise, it's so much better than delivery, you'll want to make your own from now on. Not to mention all the options you have. We let each one of our kids create their own pizzas. It's a lot of fun in the kitchen together, and everybody gets their favorite.

Have fun and enjoy!

Sugarbelle's Boutique

My little sugar pie and I had a bright idea to start making our own boutique-style hair bows. After countless "where are your hair bows young lady!!???" I got fed up. I figured this is one business venture that will kill two birds with one stone. Not only can we make all the bows we want, we know where we can easily get more if they don't make it home! (not that I'm encouraging that, mind you) I think the straw for me was when I bought a gorgeous, black rose, linen headband, and she lost it the second time she wore it. If I didn't know better, I'd think there was a Bermuda triangle for bows that aimed for her head every time she left the house. So, here we are...Bow makers extraordinaire. Well, not really, but we are going to try some new looks in the near future. For now, we have sweet, little clippy type bows. We'd love it if you'd stop by the blog and drop us a quick note on what you think of them. There will be many more and several new styles soon. Also, we'll be having a giveaway to promote our new venture. Hope to see you there! Click here to jump to the blog.

Hugs~
Lori

Alyssa's Antiques- One of my favorite things..

So I got to go shopping yesterday at Alyssa's. Fun! I found some totally cool things that I'll be using for decor at my shows this year. They need a little fixing up, but they are sooo great! I'll post those when they're ready. Anyway, I highly recommend going to Alyssa's in Milton, Fl. There are 2 shops, one around the corner from the other. The first one is a good size, but the other one is huge! You will find something for sure! The best part is, I got to drag, I mean go with my sweetie! He doesn't care about that sort of thing, but he was a good sport anyway. :) It was a lot of fun.

Oh My! I've finally learned to "FLY"

I'm not going to even start telling you about all my organizing troubles. It would bore you to death as well as embarrass me, so let's just not go there, K? But, I will say, I must have adult ADD or some other problem because I can never seem to finish anything. I go from one thing to the next, leaving the remnants of whatever project I'm working on wondering if I'll ever come back. I do, eventually, but everyone else has had to stare at my project until that finally happens. Needless to say, "if it's not fun for all, it's not fun at all". Well, here's where my story begins. A new chapter is here, and hopefully, will be my forever story as a new inproved, organized freak. Allow me to introduce you to my new best friend, The Fly Lady. You heard it here folks. My friend is a fly. Not really, but she is unique. Fly means "Finally loving yourself." This is because when we are not organized and things are not where they should be, you are unhappy with yourself. Possibly, it's even made you a little depressed and having self-loathing. I know because I did that. Flylady.net is a service (free) that you can join that puts a little routine and daily activities to help you stay focused on what needs to get done. Having such a simple helper has really changed the way I look at things. I'm calmer, and feel much more in control of my day. Check it out and see what you think. By the way, the shoes habit, wearing lace up shoes everyday is never gonna happen for me. I wear flip flops everyday. I live in Florida. It's in our rule book somewhere that we have to wear them. I go to Old Navy and buy them in every color. Love them, love them, don't even try to take them away from me. Besides that, I agree with her 100%.

Happy "FLYing" girls!
Lori

p.s. These are the best things ever invinted! If you've never tried them, you're gonna love them!!! They clean just about everything. I have a huge stash of these.

You keep me in stitches...

Ok, so here's my newest obsession....knitting! It's great, and I really love doing it. I find it's very relaxing, and fun to create something out of otherwise wasted time. My very favorite needles are my bamboo ones. They make no noise and they aren't cold like the metal ones. They really make my hands freeze. Whether or not I'm the only weird one that has that problem, I don't know, but it happens to me. You see the white scarf? It's my first "big" project and has several, shall we say, "issues" wink wink. That's ok though, I'm just a beginner, and I'm sure it's all part of the learning what not to do process. The two washcloths, I'm pretty proud of as they are mistake-free. I plan on making matching ones for each bathroom as well as kitchen towels. Yay! This is fun. So, if you're a knitter, feel free to share what you're working on, any great tips, websites etc. I'd appreciate any knitting info. I do plan on going to Unwind the Yarn Shop in Ft.Walton Beach soon. They have classes and lots of cool projects.

Happy knitting!
Lori