In case you missed it…

I always love when Apartment Therapy’s The Kitchn does kitchen tours. Seeing a sneak peak of how someone else functions in their kitchen is always interesting to me, because a kitchen really is an intensely personal thing.

This past week they featured the author of one of my favorite blogs, Smitten Kitchen, and gave us a look inside how this popular writer makes the best of a super tiny kitchen.

It’s so refreshing to see a kitchen that doesn’t look like it walked straight out of a magazine. Is it terrible that I find her “mess” inspirational?

Check it out here. Love it.

Turkey Leftover Throwback

Since we’re fortunate enough to have two Thanksgivings this year, I revisited one of my very first posts (holy bad photos Batman!) to use up the leftovers of the first turkey this week.

Hellooo Turkey Tetrazzini. You are so delicious. And easy. I’m glad we’re friends.

Apple Vinaigrette

I feel that it is my moral obligation to share with you a vinaigrette I discovered this past week when I made it for Thanksgiving #1.

It’s a simple recipe, modified from the recipe I found here.

Mix up all the ingredients, and drizzle them over a bed of baby spinach, fresh apples, and pecans.

You’ll die.

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup apple cider vinegar
• 2 tsp finely chopped red onion
• 1 tsp Dijon mustard
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/4 cup vegetable oil
• 3/4 cup finely chopped apple

And if you feel that it is your moral obligation to have seconds, well, I certainly won’t judge you. After all, we’re having it at Thanksgiving #2. Again.

Bag Love

I usually don’t get caught up in those special offers stores do, where if you buy $50 of merchandise you get a free bag, or some such thing.

However, I was at Barnes & Noble the other day, and spotted this bag which made every fiber of my year-long-Christmas-obsessed-self tingle with happiness.

Requirement? Buy any two items, get the bag for $10.

And heaven help me if I didn’t buy a greeting card and a magnet so that I could have my discounted bag.

I’m still trying to figure out who is the winner here.

Before & After: Studio!

My friends, I promise my absence between posts has been well justified, as I’ve been deeply in progress of settling into our new house.

I finally have a few rooms set up and situated, but I thought it’d be appropriate to start off my Before & After series with my studio!

I will admit, this is my most very favorite room in our entire house so far. Not that I’m biased or anything.

Before, it was our guest bedroom. Here’s a very sad little photo of what the room was previously. We hadn’t bought a guest bed yet so our air mattress was filling in.

My original studio had been upstairs in our finished attic space, but the lack of natural light and wall space for my eccentric art collection had me pretty depressed.

And so, because I can’t leave anything the same for more than 15 minutes at a time, I decided to swap rooms.

Pinterest of course gave me the inspiration I needed.

Source: livecreatingyourself.com via Megan on Pinterest

And in three days, I had the room painted, and swapped out with the guest room.

Aren’t you impressed?

I’m pretty much a beast. I know. You don’t have to tell me twice.

The only thing I haven’t completed (or started) is hanging frames on the walls. I need to ponder on that a bit more before I started gouging holes in our plaster walls. But my goal is to have it very much like this photo, with a giant bulletin board for inspiration pieces and a wall for framed artwork.

So, without further ado, here is my office. In all its messy glory. Because we’re all about honesty here, right? Also, Brinkley has to be an active part of every little thing I do, which means you will see his big pointy ears poking their way into photos that they don’t belong in.

I also feel the need to explain my abundance of plants. I do have a small herb garden, and in an act of desperation to keep a supply of fresh herbs through the winter, I’ve moved them up to my studio, which is the sunniest room in the house on a regular basis. Whether or not they live is to be determined, however, it certainly does smell amazing in here. Although I will appreciate the extra space once I move the survivors back outside in the spring.

And we’re all about small details aren’t we here at Little Stirrings?

Here are my small details that make me extra smile-y about my new studio.

And that’s that. I hope you love my new space as much as I do. And yes, I will post photos of my walls once I hang my artwork. Never fear!

What?

It starts.

First it was a cool breeze on a hot day that caught my attention.

Then the nights got chilly.

A few leaves started turning a brilliant shade of red.

And before I knew it, it seemed that fall had just about arrived in our neighborhood.

Which means I am the happiest person on the face of the planet.

Brinkley doesn’t mind either, because the switch in the weather has brought on a new wave of stinkbugs that are infiltrating our house. He’s currently stalking the ones on the ceiling in my studio with reckless abandon.

Since we’re in a new house, decorating for autumn presents a bit more of a challenge this year, and I’m taking it a few steps at a time.

Wreaths were where I decided to begin. I’ve never been much of a wreath-maker, but fall colors make it pretty easy to throw something together.

Here are mine this year. I should note that including the cost of the grapevine wreaths, I didn’t spend more than $8 on either of these, including the ribbon. Not too shabby!

 

How are your autumn decorations coming along?