Easy as Pie

I love Alicia Paulson's blog. It's one of my favorite blogs. She's a great inspiration to me. I don't read many blogs regularly these days because my time is limited and there are just so many lovely blogs. But hers has stuck with me. It's the sort of blog I read and always feel inspired by afterwards. She just has a special, and very consistent, way of capturing ordinary everyday life in a beautiful way. Every once in a while I'll read about something she cooks and I get the urge to make it right away. Like Tuesday, right after I read her blog post, I had to make this apple pie asap!

Postcards from Amsterdam

We're back from Amsterdam and had a great time. I loved that city. The people were friendly, the city was easy to navigate, and well, it just has so many things I like--charming little streets, great shops, creative people, beautiful architecture, and it really just felt like a big cozy neighborhood, the kind where you could pull up a chair and have a nice chat with anyone. Here are a few pictures from our Amsterdam weekend getaway. We started our first day with a Dutch pancake from Pancakes!, which Pia Jane Bijkerk mentioned in her book. 

Then I hunted down a few shops in the book, and found quite a few great other shops as well. 

On Saturday we went to the Noordermarkt and found some great things, including this bag on the right made by Anne Van Dijk made from recycled army surplus supplies and men's suits (one of the things I especially liked in the Amsterdam: Made by hand book were her bags, which at 27 euros, are very reasonably priced, I think). 

We mainly spent our time in two areas, the 9 Streets and the Jordaan. Those two areas alone could have kept us busy for days. And those parts of the city are just so charming. Little narrow street after little narrow street, canal after canal. 

We stayed on a houseboat, which was really fun. The houseboat studio we stayed in was adorable but has suffered a bit of wear and tear and could use some TLC. It was still a really nice way to stay in Amsterdam, and it was in a great area for getting out and seeing the city. 

Lois liked to watch the boats and ducks go by. 

We liked checking out the other houseboats along the canals. 

I loved seeing the sheets on the line of this houseboat. So homey with the sheets and the potted garden. 

We also went to a few museums. The Rijksmusem pictured below. Museum of Dutch masters like Vermeer and Rembrandt. They also had a really great exhibit of doll houses--not the kind little girls play with, but serious, and expensive replica's of one's actual house. Check it out here. 

We bought Lois a new umbrella at a fun place called Kitsch Kitchen. She loves it. 

The weather was chilly and a bit grey the last two days, but it still looked beautiful. I really love the roofline of the canal houses. 

People love their bikes in Amsterdam. Soooo many bikes. I have never seen so many bikes. 

And sometimes entire families can be seen cruising on one bike, like this one in the center with 3 child seats on it. Wow. That would make me nervous! 

We also loved looking into peoples houses. It seemed like most people either didn't have window treatments or their window treatments were open. Both of these places below were split level, where behind the dining area was a floor above and one below, both of which you could see through to the other side. I wish you could see better. The houses were so pretty inside. 

This house below was really pretty too. It had a spiral staircase that went all 4 floors, which you could see through the windows. 

And of course we had to have Dutch apple pie. It was soooo good. Our trip was short but sweet, and I'd love to go back one day and explore the city some more. Amsterdam is now one of my favorite places I've been.

Thanksgiving At Lisa's

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving at Lisa's house. The company was great, the food delicious, and the decorations festive and warm. And of course Lisa's place is amazing (why wouldn't it be, she owns an antique shop after all)! Here are a few pictures. I was loosing the natural light so I didn't get a whole lot of pictures, but hopefully Lisa will let me come over and take more pictures sometime soon.

Lisa needs no lesson in setting a table--she does it all the time at the shop.

Everything was white and blue with dashes of silver and burgundy.

The new bright look in Lisa's dining room, which used to be a rust color with dark furniture.

Andrew made apple pie, which looked really pretty with all the blue accents.

Lois had her first Thanksgiving!

Lisa always decorates with something unexpected. In her bedroom, which is otherwise all black and ivory, she has this vibrant green painting that takes up one whole wall. I'm not sure if she considers this the unexpected thing in this room, but I did!

Lisa might be the queen of great lighting, from sconces to lamps to chandeliers . . . here are just a few (she has a beautiful chandelier in every room, not just these shown).




Here is Lisa carving the turkey. Thanks, Lisa, for a great Thanksgiving!

Giving Thanks

We had a great Thanksgiving, and I've been having so much fun with my mom and sister and nephews that I didn't even realize it's been a week since I've posted anything. Here's the apple pie Andrew made from scratch on Thanksgiving. It was delicious! So was the turkey, ham, stuffing, sweet potato soufflé, mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, orange cranberry sauce, brussels sprouts, rolls, gravy, and bacon wrapped dates (thanks to William's Sonoma for those and to Andrew's mom who brought them--they were unbelievably yummy). You'd think with a feast like that that we had 20 people over, but it was just 6 of us. Still, we don't skimp on Thanksgiving. My sister took this picture of the apple pie. I tried a bunch of times to get a good picture, but mine were terrible compared to hers. I think she's a natural photographer. I felt like I was at a Gourmet magazine photo shoot. It took a while to get this great picture, but it was really fun. She was standing on her tippy toes here and then there, then standing on a chair, then sitting on the counter, then this prop then that, then this light then that . . . . Thanks sis for the great picture.