Lemon Thyme Lollipops!

Ooooo so much is going I and I can't wait to share it all with you! The two biggies are that I'm back in the design business officially with my own company, hooray! If you'd like to check out Tiny Bungalow Design, please look HERE.

And the next tidbit of happiness is that I'm opening a thrift & vintage store in The Camphouse called Mission Exchange. All proceeds will benefit The Mission Chattanooga, so I'm super excited! Plus it's a really tiny space so I've had a blast designing the shop interior. Think lots of white on white with layers of texture from found objects as well as modern elements - Anthropologie meets CB2. It's going to feel like shopping in an insanely hip closet without the awkwardness of feeling like you're robbing a friend of their best goodies. Finally stages are happening... I'll have photos up soon.

As for the yummy lollipops, well MG and I made them today while McB napped. They were yummy! Here's a quick lollipop tutorial if you're interested. I added lemon oil and fresh lemon thyme from my garden. If I were getting married again (which I'm definitely not!), I would totally make these as fun, cheap, easy wedding favors. Wouldn't you love to get a gourmet lollipop as a wedding favor? So happy making!

- HAPPY NEXT STEPS -

Happy Exits!

If you're anything like me, you have at least one spot in your home that bugs you. You know, it just doesn't feel right or maybe it seems a bit unfinished. Well, one of my so-called "waiting to be glorious" spots is the next to the front door. Every time I leave the house I think, "hmmm, not so great". So I decided to give it about 4 minutes thought yesterday - if it couldn't be helped quickly, it wasn't going to happen. You know McB was running around with the hammer, so speed was of the essence...

Anyway, I did a quick dig in the attic for some antique letters (they were in my living room up north for ages) and grabbed one of MG's "real" paintings (painted on proper canvas) and grouped them with a painting that my dad made me for Christmas a while back. Hammer, hammer, hammer and ta-da! It's bright, cheery and very colorful. Plus all the pieces remind me of what's most important every time I leave the house to tackle the world - imagination, creation, family, friends and love!

So pick a spot, any spot, that bothers you and give it about 4 minutes. It's just enough time to get things done without over-thinking it. I know that's the biggest challenge for some of you, so give it a try. You'll be amazed at what can happen! And if you change your mind in a weeks time, give it a change again. Nothing is final and it's just walls! Happy arranging!
-HAPPY GLORIOUS SPOTS-

Confessions of a Cluttered Desktop

Well, those of you that have had the pleasure (or pain) of seeing my computer desktop, know exactly what this post is all about... I have issues with severe creative "idea" clutter! Yup, every single time I spy something fun to make, buy or look at, I drag the photo to my desktop. As you can imagine, this creates a bit of a visual disaster. But to be perfectly honest, the shear overload of color actually makes me happy, not stressed (though others have reacted quite differently!). And I know exactly where everything is. Honest!! So I thought I'd share a tidbit of the hundreds of images plaguing my desktop - they're from the bottom right hand corner. I'd really love to give credit to the original creators but they are long lost due to excessive dragging... I'm sure you could look them up on either Etsy or Instructables. Hope you find a bit of happy inspiration like I did - the tree bed is super awesome, right?!

A Little Something on a Rainy Day

Happy Pez Day!

We have a brand new weekly holiday at our house. Yes, weekly. It's specially designed to combat "Manic Mondays" and so far it's been a huge success. Instead of grumbling into another week after a long weekend of events, we celebrate Pez Day. Silly I know, but lots of fun for very little money. There's something so simple and happy about the brightly colored dispensers. Each one is like a little slice of pop culture. And the candies taste just like childhood in a rectangle - you can't help but smile when you eat them.

So each week, we go on a field trip to find new Pez and both kids get to pick their very own. Trust me, the selection process is painstaking! And after they eat their 1 roll of candies (yeah, yeah... I know they come with 3 rolls, shhh...), we add the new Pez "friends" to our collection. I think we're up to over 80 dispensers last time I counted - thanks to a ton that I had from high school. I'm thinking the kids are going to have to have a "Pez" themed bedroom...

Anyway, I encourage you to start a silly holiday of your own. Why not, life is short?! Happy, happy Pez Day to you and yours!
-HAPPY NEW HOLIDAYS-

Yo happy TWO!

I can hardly believe it but McB turned two yesterday! It seems like not very long ago that I was blogging about going to the hospital to have him and thinking he was a girl... whoa was I wrong!! So we celebrated my little man with his one and only favorite show of all time - Yo Gabba Gabba (Buzie, you're probably cracking up right now at the irony!). For those of you who don't know about "having a party in your tummy", let me introduce you.

I baked my buns off so that we'd have 75 Yo Gabba Gabba brilliantly colored cupcakes with Muno, Brobee, Plex and Toodee toppers along with a very green Brobee cake for the celebration. Once again, Betty Crocker Gel Food Coloring saved the day, thanks Betty! And I tried a new type of fondant for the cake - homemade marshmallow fondant. It was really cheap to make and tasted way better than proper fondant. Definitely give it a try if you're making a cake any time soon.

A huge thanks to everyone that helped us celebrate and especially to Satoya and Jason for singing really, really loud. You guys are the bestest!! McB was a very happy birthday boy!!

Happy Ten Years!

Ten years married to my best friend - lucky, lucky me!!!