Na-Da Farm Barn Sale

On Saturday, my friend Amber and I headed out into the country to visit the Na-Da Farm Barn Sale. These kind of events are always a lot of fun. Even better without the kids and with a friend you don't see nearly often enough. And nothing beats a beautiful day in the country.

Anne Marie at Na-Da Farm puts together barn sales a few times a year. The vendors are a combination of local businesses, local artisans, and crafters/creators/collectors of all kind. At this sale there were over twenty-five vendors. There are some outdoor booths, while others are set up in the barn (what else?).

There was such a great variety of items for sale. Like some larger markets, you didn't feel like you were seeing the same things over and over again. My favorite thing about going to these types of events is the inspiration I collect. It would be hard to not be inspired when so many creative people are pulled together. Different styles are represented so there's something for just about everyone.

There's shabby chic/garden decor,

country,

antiques and rustic/industrial pieces,

vintage/retro,

and my personal favorite, "eclectic".

Before leavning Na-Da Farm we posed for a shot together.

Then we headed into DeKalb, just fifteen minutes away, and hit a few shops there and enjoyed lunch at The House Cafe. Had we had more time, we could have spent longer in downtown DeKalb, but now we have a destination for another girls' day out.

As for the next Na-Da Farm Barn Sale, I'm anxiously awaiting the date so I can put it on my calendar. It's well worth the trip. Be sure to check out the vendor list from the sale to find out what talented people were there and where else you can find them and their things.

If you'd like more information on Na-Da Farm's upcoming barn sales, please visit their website http://www.nadafamevents.com/.

Fresh Rhubarb Cake

When my mom came to visit me earlier this month, I asked her to bring me some rhubarb. She brought the little bit she had and I had almost forgotten about it in my fridge. Luckily, it was still good so I decided to make up a Fresh Rhubarb Cake. It's a recipe I had gotten from a friend of my mom's last summer.

I didn't quite have enough rhubarb to make a full recipe of the cake, so I halved it and put it in a round cake pan instead. It turned our moist and delicious. As with all the best rhubarb recipes, it has the perfect balance of sweet and tart. It's great by itself or you can top it with whipped cream or ice cream.

Fresh Rhubarb Cake
Cake:
1/2 C. margarine or shortening
1 1/2 C. brown sugar
1 egg
1 C.buttermilk
1 tsp. baking soda (add to buttermilk)
1 tsp. vanilla
1/4 tsp. salt
2 C. flour
2 1/2 to 3 C. chopped fresh rhubarb

Cream brown sugar and shortening together. Add egg, salt, vanilla, and buttermilk to which soda has been added. Mix well. Then add flour and rhubarb and combine. Pour batter into greased 9x13 in. pan and sprinkle with topping (see below).

Topping:
3/4 C. white sugar
1 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 C. chopped walnuts

Bake for 40-45 min. in 350 degree oven. (For a round cake, bake 25 to 30 minutes.)
If you're looking for other ways to use your rhubarb, try Strawberry Rhubarb Bars or The Farm Chicks' Strawberry Rhubarb Pie.

Happy 1st Birthday Lillian!

The past year has sure flown by. I can't believe my little girl is already one!

This weekend we celebrated her birthday with a party for family and friends.

Lillian with Grandma K and Grandma Sue

She had a lot of fun playing and entertaining everyone with her usual silliness.

Unlike her brother, she had no problem digging into her cake with an audience watching.

First she was lady-like--just dipping a finger in the frosting.

Soon enough she was diving in head-first and picking the whole thing up. She loved it!

Later she opened gifts, including lots of cute clothes for the summer.

I'm so happy to have friends and family to share the milestones of life with. And I'm so thankful to be blessed with a sweet little girl. She's full of personality and can always makes us smile.

This is her latest "trick". How fun it is to hear your own voice inside a bucket!

A Birthday Treat For Me!

In my family, we always had the cake or dessert of our choice when it was our birthday. There are so many yummy things, it can be hard to choose. This year, I took myself back to Daisy Cupcakery in Madison, WI. I was there last spring and brought home a variety of cupcakes, all of which were DELICIOUS! The one I didn't bring home was the chai cupcake, but my friend did and said it was equally awesome.

So, for my birthday treat yesterday, I looked up a recipe for vanilla chai cupcakes. Awesome!

Happy Birthday to Me!

Coat Closet Organizing

Back in January, I shared some organizing goals I had for the year. I tackled one pretty quick, but the others got pushed lower on my 'to do' list. After all, I have all of 2012, right?

Well, considering that it is now April...almost May, I thought I needed to get going on some more organization. A few weeks back, I tackled the coat closet. Here's how it turned out:

This is the large closet at the end of our laundry room. Our laundry room is also the entryway to and from the garage. So,this closet holds coats, shoes, and all the other weather-related gear. It also holds our vacuum, mop, and broom. Like closets often do, it also became a home for random items that don't really have a place. Here's a reminder of what it looked like before:

I started by deciding what things needed to be stored in this closet. Based on the location, it has to function as our coat and shoe closet, but also needs to hold reusable shopping bags, small outdoor toys and our large cleaning tools. Anything that didn't belong there got relocated. For example, I used to keep extra rolls of paper towels in this closet, but found a spot for them in the bottom of my pantry.

Next, I went through our shoes. I took some of my dress shoes to my bedroom closet since I wear them less often. Then, I grouped my shoes on one side and John's on the other.

I purchased a rolling plastic box from IKEA to hold our sandals and Levi's shoes. This makes it easy for him to get his shoes out and put them away. (Please look past the scuffed up walls. I could have earned bonus points had I painted inside the closet, but I didn't want to tackle that.)

I decided to move my vacuum and cleaning things to the other end of the closet. That allowed the other end of the closet to be coat and shoe space only. They are a little more "out of the way" when not in use than they were before.

Then I went through our tubs of hats, scarves, mittens, and gloves. I weeded out any that we don't use anymore and organized them by who they belong to. I added labels that I downloaded from Better Homes & Gardens for free.

I corralled our reusable shopping inside one of them. Now it's easy to grab a bag or two on the way out the door if we need to. I used a basket from IKEA to house the smaller outside toys: bubbles, velcro catch game, frisbee, etc. A box of chalk is also on the shelf. Again, as we're going outside, it's easy to grab something to take out with us and everything's not falling down on us. I also labeled it by tying on a label with a ribbon.

Our umbrellas used to sit on the shelf, but they'd often fall down and get lost under shoes. To solve this problem I mounted removable hooks just inside the door of the closet. There was an unutilized few inches and it's the perfect spot to hang our umbrellas.

Finally, I straightened our coats a little. I'd like to say we got rid of some coats, but we are coat hoarders. I will admit that we've had many of our coats for a long time and we have a hard time letting them go. Truthfully we should each have just a few hard-working multi-purpose coats, but we don't. We have more than we need. But, I do promise that neither one of us is buying a new coat anytime soon.

We have lived with our newly organized coat closet for about three weeks now and it seems to be working well for us. It is staying pretty neat with just a few reminders about putting one's shoes away. And it's nice to not feel like you're leaving or coming home to a mess when you walk out of or into the house.

So, that's another organizing goal I can check off. What about you? Have you organized anything lately?

Embroidered Pillow

Recently I made a new cover for a throw pillow. I had a pillow that was wintery and I wanted to lighten it up for the spring and summer.

I chose to make a pillow cover out of muslin with a simple embroidered design. I used navy and pale blue embroidery floss and created a simple sunburst pattern. It is just a subtle design, but adds some lightness to my dark chair.

My Girl

I can't believe that in less than a month Lillian will be turning one. It seems to have gone by so fast. This week I took pictures of her for her party invitations and thought I'd share them. I got some good shots and some great smiles. What a happy girl she is.

When I was her age I wrinkled my nose up like this too.

Showing off some of her teeth