See the Light

It's Memorial Day Weekend, the official home improvement weekend!  Our big project right now is improving the house's curb appeal.  We bought new house numbers this weekend to that end.  But, since that is an on-going project, I'll post later on the finished product.

For now, we have a small project to share with you.  In an earlier post, I wondered about what would look good as a replacement to our bedroom sconce.  It's a sort of strange light fixture because there is only one sconce, and it is right next to the light switch in the entrance.

So, on the day we went to Home Depot in search of new house numbers, we figured we would check out the light fixtures they had.  We found one we liked and had a nice, little project to do.  First we had to take down the old fixture and do some painting around the edges.

Ah, the old paneling rises again

After that, I called in our handy maintenance man (aka my fiance, John) to hit the circuit breaker and hook up the wiring.

Handsome AND handy!

And, presto!  We have our new wall sconce!

It works, too

Before

After!

What do you think?  An improvement, no?

Another Page

Duck Goes to Paris!  And on his trip, he goes to the Louvre.

This was a tricky one to draw - very detailed!  What do you think?  After Duck gets done waiting in line, he'll get to see the Mona Lisa and Winged Victory.

I had thought about including Venus de Milo, but that didn't seem very . . . kid friendly.  Does anyone have any other Louvre favorites that he should see? 

(Also, this does not mean that Duck isn't also going to London... he might even get there first!  I just happened to draw the Louvre first)

Wedding Jewelry

In case you all were dying for a wedding update, I'm figuring out what jewelry to wear for the wedding.  I have my grandma's wedding jewelry that I'm planning to wear with a purple dress for the rehearsal:

Isn't it great??  I would take a page from the Man Repeller and do an edition of "Who Wore It Best?" but my grandma would win, hands down.

But this still leaves to be decided what jewelry I'll wear for the wedding.  I have a fairly simple dress (with straps) and a pair of simple, small, cubic zirconia drop earrings, so I'm thinking of doing something a little over the top for a necklace.  Now, "over the top" for me is still pretty conservative.  With that in mind this is what I've found so far:

On Etsy

From Kohl's

What do you think??  I also have a very simple aquamarine necklace (from John at Christmas) that I could wear, but it's much smaller than these choices.

Per Lynn's request :)

What do you like best?

The Art of the Cookie

Among my other hobbies, I also enjoy baking.  At a recent bridal shower, I was given The Art of the Cookie.  It has the most fabulous pictures inside of what your cookies could look like if only you follow their simple directions.  My heart said "fabulous!" but my mind said "yeah.... right."

Despite my doubts of success, I decided to put my baking skills to the test this weekend by attempting an ambitiously pretty batch of cookies out of my new book.  After paging through it, I settled on Polka Dot decorated lemon-buttermilk cookies.  (Truth be told, this page had the fewest directions which *may* have colored my decision)  But before I could decorate, I had to make the cookies.  My supplies:

Yes, my supplies included a butter pecan scone and an almond puff pastry from A Baker's Wife.  It's a little know fact that you bake better if you are eating baked goods while you work. :) 

Yummy!

After the cookies were baked, I made a batch of royal icing.  This was a bit of an adventure because the recipe called for meringue powder which I could not find.  So, I decided to make meringue myself which meant I needed to pasteurize some eggs...

...and then whip the whites into a frenzy with lemon juice and powdered sugar.  Finally, it was time to decorate!  Unfortunately, I didn't buy the right food coloring.  I was looking for gel food coloring but accidentally bought gel icing instead.  Whoops.  I tried to add the colored icing to the royal icing, but I ended up with pale pastel polka dots instead of the bright, vibrant ones I wanted.

When I realized that they weren't going to turn out as planned, I was one sad cookie.

But then I figured I could just ice the cookies however I wanted to - great idea, right?

In the end, the cookies tasted great.  Next time, though, I'll read the labels in the baking isle a bit more closely.

Getting the Impression

I have been reading about and inspired by impressionist paintings lately - Monet, especially.  Something about the spring time and the finally emerging colors (spring is a slow arrival in Minnesota) makes impressionism especially appealing to me right now.  Impressionists were known for using bright colors and in particular eschewing the use of traditional neutrals for shading.  Instead, they used bright colors to portray where the light hit rather than white, dark colors instead of black for shadows.

Landscapes were common subjects of impressionist paintings.  Most people are familiar with Monet's various Water Lillies.  Like these paintings, many of the paintings in this era used a lot of blues and greens (partly because new synthetic pigments had been developed to broaden the blue-green spectrum), but my very most favorites make heavy or notable use of warmer colors. 

I decided to do my own quasi-impressionist painting:

Sorry for the glare...

It's a little different take on impressionism.  I like to think that there is a little bit of Van Gogh in the street and a little bit of Degas in the dresses . . . but I was also inspired by my recent readings of Emma by Jane Austen.  I imagine Emma and Harriet getting caught in the rain in Highbury.  Anyway, it's not full of cute little ducks, but I hope you like it!  It's now hanging in the dining room :)

Calling All Bloggers!

Just a quick little post to get some ideas from fellow bloggers or blog aficionados. 

I like to follow my friends' blogs, but I also have a few fashion blogs that I follow as well (you can see them all on my list to the right!).  But here is where I could use some help.  I would really like to find a great interior design blog or two to follow.  As John and I work on putting together the house, it would be great to get some outside inspiration.  I'm also looking for a landscaping/gardener's blog that you like.  We're fixing up the outside of the house as well, so finding some fun ideas on that front would be great too.

Of course, I will always follow more fashion blogs, so if you know a few good ones...

Feel free to post a comment or shoot me an email: Holly@GoesLightly.com if you have some suggestions.  The more the merrier!

Me and My Green Thumb

This past week or two, John and I have been working over time on our yard.  The flower beds had been over taken by grass the last three years, so we've worked on getting it out of the beds (it's been a LONG process).

Before...

After!

My dad also removed a completely overgrown bush from the front lawn and we replaced it with three smaller bushes, a bunch of begonias, and some creeping phlox.  (Here is where I smack my forehead for not taking before and after pictures)

Yes, I know, I need to water- but it really has only been one day!

And during the long (LONG!) winter, the corner in the back yard became a resting place for all sorts of items: an old doormat, several shovels, a rake (really?), sidewalk salt containers . . . and the list goes on.  Again, I wish I had taken before and after photos.

I also put some potted plants on the steps in the front of the house.  So happy it's finally spring!