fabric friday: 08-19-11: KnollTextiles Mill Footage

Pretty cool quick video of some footage of fabrics being made at a KnollTextiles mill!

nail polish winner @ Joy the Baker

OH MY GOSH. I can't even tell you how excited I am. I won 4 nail polishes courtesy of Joy the Baker from her blog post giveaway last week. Somehow, out of almost 2,000 comments...I won!! I can't even believe it. Funny too, because I just spent another hour tonight taking off my nail polish just to reapply the same color right back on.

Wow. I'm so excited, I just had to share my excitement with you all! Especially because I may be doing my own nail polish giveaway next week! (Check back early next week for details)

Yay! Winning!

we made it: one year!

I can't believe it's been a year since our wedding week. At this time last year, my best friend from Florida was in Erie, helping me with whatever I needed. I had just picked up my dress, my family, friends and I were going crazy with last minute details. I was back living with my parents. My niece could barely sit up on her own, now she's a full-fledged walking toddler.

If you're a more recent follower, you can catch up on my wedding using the "my wedding" labels, though that will take you back a year of planning! I didn't put too many of our pictures up after we got them back, so here are a few favorites in honor of this special week:

Ah - my family :)

We took almost all of the bride + bridesmaid pictures at my aunt + uncle's house before the wedding. They recently sold their house, so I'm even more honored to have so many gorgeous pictures on their beautiful property.

Where Josh and I attend church together. One Sunday a month, we are on stage helping to lead worship to this beautiful church. I have gone here all of my life. Though the building is new (built in 2007), the people are the church, and we were so blessed to have so many family, friends and church family there with us.

This bridal party was the best. I mean, look at all those gorgeous girls! And all those super cool dudes!

Our pictures were done by my long-time, very good friend and at one point, mentor, Danielle Hartland. She did an amazing job and I couldn't be more pleased with everything she did for us.

Kimberly of Make Way for Cupcakes did our gorgeous and delicious cupcakes. They turned out exactly how I had envisioned and my family was happily stuffing our faces with leftover cuppies for days after the wedding.

Our first dance song was written by my cousin Paul, who Josh was friends with in high school. It was so awesome having so many family and friends doing things for our wedding day.

Tell me about your wedding experiences! What was the best part of your day or a friend's wedding you attended? Other than walking down the aisle to meet my hubby and say our vows, our off-site picture time and reception were both a blast. I can't really pick - I loved the whole day!!

If you're interested in viewing more pics (my gosh, there are so many pics), look me up on Facebook - I have three albums!!

basic basil risotto

It saddens me a little that one of my favorite dishes - risotto - is not one that my husband and I share. Though he is a big fan of pasta and likes rice when it's in a creamy and flavorful sauce, he does not seem to be a fan of risotto.

So, that won't stop me. When I make risotto, I make him other sides (pierogies, sweet potatoes...) or I'll make risotto on days I know or schedules don't allow for dinner together.

I've tried several risotto dishes - basic risotto, lemon + rosemary risotto (my favorite), sunshine risotto (with sun-dried tomatoes) and now this basic basil risotto.

This recipe is straight from the book I bought several years ago. Only one change was made - I didn't have green beans so I used peas. The book is by Clive Tring, and though I've not seen it in stores since I purchased it several years ago, it looks like you can get it, and several other risotto books by Tring, on Amazon and Barnes and Noble.

Basic Basil Risotto

~ingredients~
5 cups vegetable or chicken stock
1 tbsp olive oil
3 tbsp butter
1 small onion, chopped
10 fresh basil leaves, chopped or shredded (plus extra whole leaves for garnish)
4 tomatoes, seeded and diced
4 oz green beans, cut into 1 inch lengths and cooked (or 3/4 cup peas, fresh or frozen)
generous 1 3/8 cups risotto rice
2 tbsp pine nuts
3/4 cup Parmesan or Grana Padano cheese
S+P

~instructions~

1. Bring stock to boil in a pan, reduce heat and keep simmering gently over low heat.
2. Heat the oil with 2 T of the butter over medium heat until butter is melted. Stir in the onion, 3/4 of the basil, the chopped tomatoes and beans and cook gently for 2-3 minutes for the flavors to blend.
3. Reduce heat, add rice and mix to coat in oil and butter. Cook for 2-3 minutes, stirring constantly, until the grains are translucent.
4. Gradually add the hot stock, ladleful at a time. Stir constantly and add more liquid as the rice absorbs each addition. Increase the heat to medium so the liquid bubbles. Cook about 20 minutes until the liquid is absorbed and rice is creamy. Season with S+P to tasted. 
5. While the risotto is cooking, toast the pine nuts until they brown.
6. Add the remaining butter to the risotto and fold in the remaining basil. Add the Parmesan cheese and pine nuts. Garnish with the whole basil leaves.

fun find: Jewelry Storage

I have been wanting a new way to store my jewelry for quite some time now. I have an Ikea Malm dresser w/ flip up top for jewelery storage, but I'm running out of room and have some necklaces that get way too tangled when lying down and really need to be hung up.

I have loved the idea of shadow boxes or picture-frame jewelry storage every since I saw it a while ago, can't remember where I first spotted it though.

This post from Apartment Therapy reminded me again how I would love something like this.

image from Better Homes and Gardens

It was rumored that my friend Katie might have had something for me like this for my birthday, but that someone...might have damaged it...so I never got it. I want to make my own but I'm wondering if I should just hold out. Katie? Thoughts?

window frame jewelry display from The Borrowed Abode

frame + old radiator grill - love this! from i could so make that

these are gorgeous. originally from Pottery Barn, but no longer available. you can totally DIY these!

another awesome tutorial. vintage picture frame + hardwire mesh = funky, functional storage. from Julie Ann Art. seriously, this is just cutting wire and stapling it to a frame. how easy is that!?

How do you store your jewelry? Box? Hanging on a wall? Hidden in your closet?