maple sweet potato muffins

I made these muffins yesterday for a playdate…they are just delicious!

The recipe is from Gwyneth’s book, ‘IT’S ALL GOOD'. The focus of this book is focused on eating heathier whether it be to “detoxify” our bodies from all the junk we’ve been eating or just a way of life.  These muffins also happen to be GF and vegan but I assure you that you won’t even miss the dairy, egg or wheat, they are that yummy! I am always skeptical when trying a new GF recipe on how the baked goods are going to turn out, the texture of white flour is always a challenge to replicate. But these have hit it spot on!

We ate them last night for dessert and then again today for breakfast. Baked goods NEVER last long in this house. I will be making another batch this weekend for sure! School starts Tuesday so I am always looking for new ideas for quick and wholesome breakfast foods for Reed on school days. They also would make a great school snack or addition to the lunch box.


Have a great holiday weekend!

natural relief for seasonal allergies

{original picture from Williams Sonoma}

How have your allergies been this summer? Mine are awful !!! It’s so draining. I don’t know if it’s this climate here in Georgia or the allergies are just worse this year, but I need some relief.  Since I always prefer a homeopathic approach, I have been researching ways to calm allergies, naturally. I kept seeing local {it has to be local since you want the bees to pollinate on the triggers in your area} honey come up again and again on giving amazing results in a teaspoon a day to seasonal allergies.
I was able to finally get over to our town’s Saturday morning farmer’s market this past weekend. It’s a small little market, but it had just what I needed for that evening’s dinner and local honey. I chose the sourwood honey. Wow, I have never had honey that was so flavorful. So, I have been taking a teaspoon a day since Saturday{and attempting to get Reed & Jeff to take it as well}. The farmer I spoke with told me he couldn’t believe the repeat customers who swear by the results even after a month. Wouldn’t that be wonderful!I sure am hopeful. :)
I will keep you posted.

french farmhouse bedding {in the making}

I spent some time this past weekend starting to decorate. Up until this point, furniture is in its respective rooms, but there was no personality. I am working on our master bedroom right now. I couldn’t stand it’s state any longer {that’s where we go at the end of the day to unwind for goodness sakes}…we finally put the furniture exactly where it should be {it was still off-kilter from when the painters were here} and I started putting together the bedding. My overall goal is to evoke a bit of a french farmhouse feel to the house. We don’t quite live in a farmhouse, but the exterior does have a nod to french architecture and we sit up high on a hill with lots of surrounding trees so it almost feels like we could be out in the country. {I have been known to sometimes run outside in my nightgown to throw out the trash, so to me, that’s something you could do in the country with no one around, ha ha}. But frankly, it's just a look that I am drawn to.







So, this is where I am at. Still lots more to do both short and long term. The rest of the bedding still needs to be decided, I need to hang art, add accessories, hang drapes and add some lamps but I feel good about the direction it’s headed.
Long term, we need to add interior shutters. Our windows are original and charming but very shallow so I can see why the previous owners opted to do exterior mount shutters in a couple of the other rooms. This will also keep all the front windows cohesive. We also have beams on our tray ceiling that are just painted a dreadful flat chocolate brown. We have an Annie Sloane retailer {where I recently took a class} in our cute little downtown. I asked the owner if she could paint them to look like old french reclaimed wood beams. We will see what that quote comes back at, white may be good, too. ha! And lastly, I have coveted this bed forever….see, I panicked when our bedroom set was being discontinued in our stain color years and years ago and instead of trusting my instincts {and my husband telling me to go with my instincts} to not match, I sure did get the bed anyway. It was a rather expensive bed so I have “lived” with it all these years, kicking myself that I didn’t get something like this instead. So, I continue to put it on the someday list…

{iron & brass with chippy white paint-gorgeous}

Paint ~ Benjamin Moore Wickham Gray

Quilt ~ Kane County Flea Market, 2008

Crochet-inset Sheets ~ Ikea {I know, seriously}

Linen Euro Shams ~ Pottery Barn