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I'm not going to lie, I think I may have a serious problem. Hi, I'm Heidi, and I have a serious issue with the sun. This is a long time thing, not something that has turned up overnight or in the past year or so. This may possibly be a genetic thing inherited from my mother. It is the problem of burning your butt.

It stems from many summers going to Lake Michigan for some beach time with my mom and sister. It also is harvested in the 14 summers spent camping on Lake Superior in Ontario at Pancake Bay. (Seriously, even if you are not the camping type, just suck it up and go camping there for a week sometime in your life and you will thank me. Most peaceful, gorgeous, and uncrowded beach on this earth.)
 See, I would not lie. Even Lilah loves camping there.
Anyway, I got a little off track with my Pancake Bay sales pitch, which probably wasn't a good idea because now all of you will flock there and it will no longer be peaceful and uncrowded. Back to the original issue at hand.

This is what happens. You go to the beach with your mom. You are determined to work on that nice suntan. It is a bit cloudy in the morning when you set up your spot on the beach so you say to each other, "I'm going to wait a bit and then I'll put my sunscreen on." Then about half an hour later, you say to each other, "Okay, we should probably put on some sunscreen." And by this, I mean you must bust out the SPF 4. Many of you may question this and ask yourselves, you mean they make SPF 4?

It doesn't end there, my friends. About an hour and a half later it is time to get out of the sun for some lunch. You admire how tan you are looking, but you clearly both agree that you could get a bit darker. So for safety's sake, you say to each other, "I think we should go back to the beach yet this afternoon, but maybe we should use SPF 8 this time." See how we did that? We were ratcheting up the SPF from 4 to 8. Brilliant plan!

Oh yes, this is true. This is exactly how it goes down every single time. And when you return from a late afternoon suntanning session on the beach, you tell each other, "No, you don't look red at all. You look tan." As you cook dinner, lounge around the campsite (or lounge around the house as it is after returning from a Lake Michigan outing) you don't think about your relaxation in the sun one bit.

Five hours later as you move in some strange position in a chair, it hits you. You have gone and burned your butt yet again. A quick look in the mirror confirms that this is true. There is a tell-tale line that separates bright white and deep red on each of your butt cheeks.

Well friends, I did it again. I was up on the roof deck the other day and I burned my butt. Inevitably, I spend the next three days recuperating from burning my butt by freaking out that I have developed melanoma. Then I start to google melanoma and look at gross pictures to confirm that yes, that is just a sunspot and not a cancerous growth. (Please don't google images of melanoma. It is gross. I have spared you by not posting a photo here. Now I warned you, so as you immediately go to google it, don't blame me.)
After I get over the fact that I did not develop melanoma from burning my butt, I put that swimsuit back on and head to the roof deck armed with my SPF 4 tanning oil. And I'm sure in a few days I will think once again that it is a good idea to stay out a little too long in the sun and I will burn my butt. Yes, I have a problem, as I had previously stated.

Anyone else have a similar issue or am I alone here?

P.S. I am sure some of you will be concerned for my health and think I am not taking this seriously. I can assure you in reality I do as I have known people that dealt with melanoma. I just had to write this P.S. as a little disclaimer for those that may freak out.

I'm back with another Year of the House installment. I mentioned yesterday that we painted our bedroom this past weekend, so I am sure you have been on the edge of your seats waiting to see what it looks like. This is the first step in turning this room into something that we like. It was one of the last rooms in the house that needed paint. We definitely like color in our home. We also like wood finishes, so we needed to choose a color that would compliment wood. Our plan is to eventually put in wood trim and baseboards in place of the plain white trim. And we also hope to get some furniture to replace our mismatched IKEA pieces. One of our goals for the total make over of this house is that we stray from cheap IKEA-type furniture and invest in pieces that will last much longer and don't contain particle board. Basically, it it has particle board, it's not an option (snobby, snobby, I know).

Here are the before photos of our room that I snapped while prepping for paint.
After two coats of paint, the room now looks like this--
Rest assured that the aqua on the walls is much softer than some of the photos lead you to believe. After taking a look at that last shot it looks like we painted our room bright teal. Nope. Not the case. I already had to live in a room like that for a semester while in Australia and I don't think I could do it again!

See, I told you. The walls wouldn't stop glowing when you turned the light out to go to sleep.

Anyway. Next on the list is finding some furniture. We've been looking at nightstands and have found a few that we like.

via Crate & Barrel

via Smart Furniture

via DIGS

All are very mid-century modern. Our favorite is the Crate & Barrel one which has some rustic appeal to it as well. Andrew pretty much has his heart set on getting two of those. Then he thought we should get the matching bed and dresser as well. And now is when I should let you know that you need to buy some of my cards so that I can afford this furniture. Just kidding. Actually, maybe not.

Sigh. Guess we better start saving...

What sorts of home improvement projects have you been working on lately? Any room redesigns?

I have something to admit. It may or may not be something you have or have not noticed. I've fallen way behind on my Design a Day Challenge thingy-ma-jiggy. It sort of started when Andrew's parents were in town, and then I never really got back on track. I'm ok with it though. I've still designed a lot of stuff, and to be quite honest, I have been enjoying summer break too much to update you every single day. I haven't even had the chance to get everything in my shop yet.

It was another busy weekend. Andrew and I painted our bedroom, and we had important errands to run like going to the home brew store to get more supplies for our home brewing adventures. I had a little bit of time while Andrew was doing paint prep to list my new line of recipe cards that I had been working on this past week.

While I was brainstorming a few weeks ago with Andrew for design ideas, he had suggested a summer theme of some sort. I think his exact words were, "Draw a lemonade pitcher and a lemon and put it on a note card." In fact I have something sorta like that written down on my ridiculously long brainstorm list.

I thought it made more sense to put a lemonade pitcher on a recipe card, so I started with that idea in mind. When I drew my lemon, I decided to turn it into a lime because I like limes better than lemons. Maybe it was the fact that it was 107 degrees outside and a mojito with some fresh squeezed lime sounded really good at that moment. I don't know. But regardless, I decided that the lemon should be a lime. End result? A lime on a recipe card.

No lemonade pitcher. Ooops. I guess that's why "lemonade pitcher card" is not scratched out yet. Anyway, this recipe card got my juices flowing (pun TOTALLY intended... I'm cheesy like that) and I rehashed an old avocado design I'd used a couple years back and slapped that on a recipe card.
Dear old avocado then gave me the brilliant idea of creating a few more fruits or veggies to complete the scene. So in came Mr. Peach.
A juicy red tomato.
And clearly, summer wouldn't be summer without some cute little peas in a pod.
And now I have a cute little family of fruit and veggies on some recipe cards.
And in case you feel like investing in a few of these guys, you can click through the photos to be taken to the listings. I have to say, I'm quite content with my little fruit and veggie medley. I like the summer crispness of the cards if that makes any sense. Bright and simple and perfect for summer if I must say so myself.

What sorts of projects or designs have you been working on lately?

Just two quick things for a Saturday morning read while you're being lazy in your yoga pants and drinking a coffee (at least that's what I'm doing).

One. I've probably asked this question before, but how in the world does Finn find this to be his favorite and most comfortable sleeping position? I am pretty sure that if I attempted such gymnastics I would need to head to the nearest chiropractor to get my back adjusted.
Thinking that he would eventually get tired of it, I come back 20 minutes later to find him in the same position. Only this time, he has such a contented look on his face. Weird cat.


Two. This amazingly awesome video is courtesy of a college friend of ours that had emailed me the link this week. I cannot take any credit for finding it, but it seemed completely necessary to share it. I present to you a history of rock and roll in 100 guitar riffs.

Whaaaaat? That's what I was thinking. Then I thought that clearly my guitar skills have been lacking lately as I might be able to remember how to play only seven of those. Good thing I have an entire wall full of these on which I can practice.


Clearly I've been putting them to good use lately.

Happy weekend my friends!

With the recent never ending heat wave, I needed to find a snack that was refreshing and light. I resorted to one of my favorites that I've been making for quite some time now-- hummus. It is the perfect compliment to some refreshing carrots, peppers, or celery. Munch on the veggies, throw in a few pita chips, and add some hummus and I've got the perfect light lunch or afternoon snack.

These pita chips are super quick and easy to make and are just a bit spicy. And the hummus is fresh, light, and fluffy. I like to make a big batch of pita chips and then store them in a tupperware container. They usually last about a week and a half without starting to get a bit stale. In addition to being a great snack, it is also a favorite that I like to make for parties and other gatherings.

Garlic Hummus

• 2 cans of garbanzo beans, rinsed and drained
• 4 minced garlic cloves
• 1/2 cup of water
• 1/4 cup of tahini
• 3 Tablespoons of freshly squeezed lemon juice
• 2 Tablespoons of olive oil
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper

Put all of the ingredients in a food processor and chop. Stir as needed. Once ingredients have been incorporated, use the puree setting (or the fastest setting) on your food processor to bring the hummus to a smooth and fluffy consistency, blending for about a minute or two. Store in the refrigerator up to a week.

Spicy Pita Chips

• 6 pitas (six inch in size)
• cooking spray
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1/4 teaspoon ground red pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Cut each pita into 8 wedges, separating the layers from each wedge. Place the wedges evenly in one layer on two baking sheets that have been sprayed with cooking spray. Lightly spray the pita wedges with cooking spray. In a small bowl, mix the spices. Sprinkle the spices over the pita wedges. Bake at 350 degrees for about 12 minutes. I usually check the pita chips every few minutes to make sure they aren't baked too long. They will be done when they are a nice, crispy, golden brown.

Hope you enjoy this quick and easy recipe and that you all are finding ways to stay cool!