Happy Anniversary Tom and Thierry!

This February marks the 5 year anniversary for Tom Douglas' and Thierry Rautureau's radio show In The Kitchen with Tom and Thierry on Kiro 710 AM or 97.3 FM. Tom Douglas is a famous Northwest chef who owns several great restaurants. Thierry Rautureau is the owner of Rovers and is also known as the Chef in the Hat. Thierry also has several episodes showcasing other local chefs on Comcast On Demand for those of you who subscribe to Comcast. My husband and I love their radio show and look forward to listening to it on Saturday afternoons while running errands.

On a side note, Kiro's entire weekend line up is pretty great! On Saturdays, we wake up to Gardening with Ciscoe hosted by Ciscoe Morris, ooo lala! At 1pm Bob Brinker gives great investment and money advice on the Moneytalk. In the Kitchen, our favorite, starts at 4pm with Tom and Thierry. Ending with re-runs of Luke Burbank's, Too Beautiful to Live or TBTL for those of us in the know. On Sundays we crack up to Bill Handel's Handel on the Law. I don't think there is a talk show host who has less patience with his guests than Bill! If you are ever running around on the weekend, turn your dial to Kiro and check out these great shows! Click on http://www.mynorthwest.com/ for more information.

Back to Tom and Thierry! As I said earlier, my husband and I love listening to the show. One of my favorite segments is Ask the Chef. This is when listeners call in to get advice on what to cook for dinner. Tom and Thierry always give great ideas and make it all sound yummy. The wine pairing segment with Michael Teer of Pike and Western Wine Shop is always great too. Nothings better than listening to the three of them argue over the best wine to serve with the dish of the week.

The show is celebrating their anniversary with an event held at the Palace Ballroom on Saturday February 7th from 4 to 8pm. Listeners have until January 31st to submit dishes that Tom and Thierry will judge at the event. Tickets are $20 dollars for admission and include a taste of the winners dishes, a glass of wine, anniversary cake, prizes and festivities galore! Here is a link for more information.

It might just have to be an early Valentines celebration for my husband and me! Cheers to Tom and Thierry and here is to 5 more years!

Book Plates

I saw these on my friend Colleen's blog, overcocktails, and had to post about it myself. I come from a long line of avid readers and book lovers and I just know that every person in my family would love these book plates from Ex Libris over at Felix Doolittle.

What a beautiful way to personalize your book collection. If your family is like mine the best books are often shuffled between family members who want to share a good read. These book plates can help everyone in the family remember the rightful owner. I personally would buy the birds nest plates, as pictured above, since I am a lover of birds nest as mentioned in my previous post on January 17th.

They also have book plates for your children's books. Your child's favorite book could become the next family heirloom as it is passed down from generation to generation. What a wonderful way to encourage young readers.

Another great find are the Bakers Label, From the Kitchen of All About O! As an avid reader and lover of home baked goods, I may have to snatch up a few of these not only for gifts but also for myself!

Thunder Thighs, Cankles and Barney Rubble Toes

I am currently obsessed with my son's legs. I find myself staring at them for hours on end. He honestly has thunder thighs with folds of fat at the knee, cankles at the end of his chicken legs that he inherited from his father and the flattest Barney Rubble toes I've ever seen. His legs are so cute and chubby that I almost want to bite them. Of course I'm biased because I think every inch of little Ozzie is adorable but right now I can't get enough of those chubby legs!

Missing My Hubby

My dear sweet hubby is out of town on business. This is day four and I am missing him terribly! That's all today...

Custom Nest Eggs

Now that the holidays are over I am anxiously awaiting the arrival of Spring. Spring is one of my favorite seasons because of blooming flowers, fresh grass, birds nests, butterflies, hummingbirds, raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens (I couldn't pass up the opportunity to reference The Sound of Music). In all seriousness cherry blossom trees alone have me day dreaming of Spring days.

When I ran across these Custom Nest Eggs by Rae Dunn on Poppytalk Handmade my heart skipped a beat. I L.O.V.E birds nests but my husband hates them. He made fun of a nest with eggs and feathers that I bought one year so sadly I put it away. Never the less, birds nests with custom printed words on the eggs is almost too much for me to handle. Husband or not I will get these this Spring! Now my only dilemma is picking the10 perfect words to print on the eggs.

Save a Tree and Cancel a Catalog

If you are like me and dread going to your mailbox for fear of all the junk mail and catalogs you receive, you will love this website, www.catalogchoice.org.

Catalog Choice is a free online service that allows you to search for catalogs that you receive and choose the frequency of mailings that you prefer. How great is that?!

There are definitely some catalogs that I do not know how I got on the mailing list to begin with and no longer want to receive. There are many others that I enjoy receiving but may only want seasonal updates.

Two other great features:

• You can add as many names to your account as you need. This is great for those of us who were recently married and changed our last names. I receive at least three catalogs addressed to both my maiden and married last name.
• You can add as many addresses to your account as you need. I definitely receive catalogs at the office that I also receive at home. How does this happen?!?

Catalog Choice is not paying me for this advertisement, I simply love the service and want to shout it from the rooftops, er umm... I mean share it with others!

Hand Painted Tote Bags

This Christmas I wanted to give family and friends handmade gifts because I love a good craft project and after being home alone with a baby for the last five months I needed to indulge my creative side.

I previously mentioned how much I love Martha Stewart On Demand for recipes and craft projects. So when it came time for handmade Christmas gifts, I turned to Martha.

I saw the project for a Leaf Print Tablecloth and applied the same technique to organic canvas grocery totes. Since reusable grocery totes are all the rage, I thought it would be a fun gift. In keeping with the Christmas theme I used poinsettia leaves.

I think they turned out lovely myself and my family and friends appreciated the handmade, green gift this Christmas.

Do You Know Etsy?

While reading jackaroolove's blog, I recently found out about www.etsy.com. Etsy is a website devoted to buying and selling all things handmade. They also allow users to buy and sell vintage products.

What a fantastic idea! It's like an online craft bazaar slash flea market slash antique store. Why didn't I think of this? It combines my love for handmade crafts, unique gifts and antiques.

Yet another reason why blogging has become my favorite past time. Read a blog, learn something new, pass on the great news. Thank you jackaroolove!

I'm creating my account now, look for itsallabouto coming soon to Etsy! Oh the possibilites...

Martha's Chicken and Dumplings

Okay I'll admit it, I love Martha Stewart. Recently I found a Martha Stewart channel on Comcast On Demand. If you like Martha, it's great- loaded with recipes, fun crafts and decorating tips.

One of her episodes featured executive chef and owner of Martha's on the Plantation from the Belle Meade Plantation in Nashville. They made a hearty Chicken and Dumpling Soup that looked so yummy.

The recent rainy weather had me craving warm, comfort food so I decided to try the recipe. In my opinion it is one of the best chicken soup recipes and it's definitely going in my recipe box. The only substitution I made was chicken stock for water because I love cooking with chicken stock.

Although her version calls for dumplings, which by the way are easier to make than most people think, you really can add anything you like. It would taste great with egg noodles, matzo balls or dumplings. I also love that it is a one pot recipe. Makes cleaning up so much easier!

So the next time you are craving homemade chicken soup, give this one a try. You won't be disappointed!

Black and White Room

When I was pregnant and didn't know Ozzie's gender, I was seriously considering a black and white nursery for a little girl. I would have used the wall paper above (although I'm secretly scared of wall paper).

I'm still day dreaming of my black and white room, hence the black and white blog layout. I just love the look but I must admit I don't really have the guts or the style to pull it off. Maybe when I get my dream house? Until then here's to dreaming...

Vintage Postcards

Ever since I decorated Ozzie's room with vintage football posters, I've been obsessed with vintage art, especially vintage postcards. They are so cute and you can do anything with them. I want to frame them, create a collage on my wall, pin one on a memory board, use them in a scrapbook. Not that I have a scrapbook, I barely have time to blog let alone create a scrapbook.

Anyway you can imagine my delight when I received my Williams-Sonoma catalog and saw the vintage postcard wreath for Valentines Day. Oh the joy!!

It's too cute- I need two!

Organic Dirty Dozen

I just spent $140 for a week's worth of groceries and thought I have to blog about the cost of organic food. Feeding my family organic food is truly giving them the gift of health but really does it always have to be double the cost of the pesticide and hormone filled food?!

When I'm really watching our budget, I at least shop with the Organic Dirty Dozen in mind. The Organic Dirty Dozen is the list of the 12 foods most contaminated with pesticide residue.

Although my list is really a bakers dozen plus one for good measure because I also include dairy and meat. Organic Dirty Dozen- Learn it, love it, live by it!

New Year, New Blog, New Fun!

I've been inspired by so many great blogs, I had to start one of my own. I figure it will be a good creative outlet for me and there isn't a better time to start than the New Year. Plus I like the idea of sharing all the crazy thoughts that swirl around in my head.

Since Ozzie is the inspiration for this blog, he will be the main focus. But this new mommy may just throw caution to the wind and add a post or two of my favorite things.

We had a wonderful first Christmas with Ozzie. Oscar helped him unwrap his presents and Ozzie loved tearing the wrapping paper. Of course he enjoyed eating the wrapping paper too! In fact he loved eating everything that morning since everything he touched made it to his mouth. What an amazing feeling it is watching your baby experience his first Christmas.

Ozzie learns something new and grows so much everyday, we never want to be away from him for fear of missing something. His latest skill is growling, which he does day and night. His personality is starting to show and I think he will be quite the ham. He loves making us laugh and we happily oblige.

Parenthood is still the hardest thing I've ever done but it's also the most rewarding and amazing experience. Looking at Ozzie and knowing he's a little piece of Oscar and a little piece of me is surreal. To steal a quote from one of my favorite movies, Steel Magnolias, "He's a little piece of immortality with Oscar's good looks and my sense of style!"

Here are some of my favorite pictures from Ozzie's first Christmas. Hope you enjoy reading my blog as much as I'll enjoy writing it!