I recently made some custom book ledges for my daughter’s room and both she and I couldn’t be more thrilled! Best of all? They couldn’t have been any easier. Read on to see what a couple of craft boards and some wood glue can get you!
Here is an update on how the nursery came together, with all the linkable sources in one place!
We are into Week 3 of the One Room Challenge where we are turning our guest room into a nursery for our baby girl due in January!
Before we started this Nursery adventure, I had already planned on this week being a bit of an easy one, because we snuck in a little babymoon in Los Angeles! We relaxed, saw some sites, and ate very well! Now, back to the Nursery ORC! Knowing that we were going to be out of town this week, we planned to spend this week placing orders. This way, we could be sure that nothing arrived while we were out of town!
Week 2 of the One Room Challenge is upon us and I’ve been getting. stuff. done. (Or at least as much as my 6-month-pregnant body will allow!
My mind has been on overdrive recently, and as a result, I’ve been revising my original nursery design plan and truly diving into exactly how I envision each piece functioning. First, let’s talk about this pivot in design…
This fall I am transforming one of our guest rooms into a nursery, as Baby Girl is due in January! The overall mood I’m going for in here is elevated neutral with pops of soft color. I’m not looking for an overly baby-themed room…let’s be honest, the baby won’t care what this room looks like! But if I’m going to possibly be spending late nights rocking her to sleep in there, I want it to be pleasing to me and my overall aesthetic! As she gets older and develops her own little personality, I’m sure this room will transform along with her evolving tastes, so I’ll be making design changes with that in mind.
Word about the best sandwich in all of Florence is out.
I’m writing this while drooling in line with about 518,491,153 of my closest friends (give or take a few million…)
It’s been about 20 minutes. Am I any closer to the door? Questionable. Is it ridiculous that I’m waiting this long for a sandwich at 8pm on a Saturday? Probably.
Is it worth it? Why yes, yes it is.
We set off from our downtown Florence apartment around 9:15 am for a day of wine touring. We crossed the Orno River, got a snap or two of the Ponte Vecchio, and in no time arrived at the Grape Tours storefront. We checked in, grabbed some coffee, and soon met our tour guide, Katherine.
We got in our big white van and headed South, into Tuscany! Our first stop was Corzano e Paterno, a fully-operational farm, that is a 40 minute drive from Florence. They make their own wine, olive oil, and sheep cheese, all of which are exquisite! The farm's name comes from the two surrounding hills — Corzano, where the grapes are grown, and Paterno, where the sheep graze.
Of all the culinary magic that Italy does well, I’m going to go ahead and say that breakfast isn’t one of them. Don’t get me wrong — Italian food is multo multo bene, and a large part of the reason we return to Italy year after year. I swear that I dream about the paper thin pizza and Chianti Classicos on the regular. But you know what foods aren’t particularly memorable? The breakfast foods. And because of that, I encourage you to conserve your caloric intake for all the glorious Italian food and drink that come later in the day! Those Italians know how to do lunch and dinner.
It’s official! We have convinced some of our family to travel to Italy with us next year, and we are psyched! Paul’s parents, as well as his brother and girlfriend, are joining us for a couple weeks in Italy this spring.
While we are really excited, we are also realistic about how difficult it can be to wrangle six adults into making decisions sometimes. We all have different schedules, interests, and communication preferences. But since we started the planning, we have figured out a few tips to make it a bit easier. Are you planning a trip with a bunch of people? Read on, as this may just save your sanity...
While we were traveling in Italy, we fell in love with the Italian coffee culture. It is refreshing to step up to any coffee bar anywhere in the country, knowing that the espresso served to you will be of the highest quality.
There are two very different ways to enjoy the coffee in Italy. The fast way is to step on up to the bar and order an espresso. You drink it while standing, throw down your euro or two, and you're on your way, delightfully caffeinated.
Truth be told, we came to La Pizzeria Sud last year the day after some intense (and amazing) Tuscan wine tasting. At that time, we devoured pizza at this restaurant on the second floor of Mercato Centrale, thinking it was the best thing ever.
Upon our return this year, we decided to try it again, wondering if our, ahem, hangovers skewed our view last year.
Well folks, the results are in: this pizza is amazing no matter your previous day's activities!
I asked our chef and teacher, Michele, if he could suggest any good, authentic Italian cookbooks in English. This has been a struggle of mine — I love collecting cookbooks, but when it comes to selecting Italian cookbooks, I look at all the options and often get overwhelmed.
Without hesitation, he suggested The Silver Spoon. He told us it had been written years ago and was considered the bible of Italian cooking. He said it was recently updated and would likely be available in the States.
When we were in Italy we took part in the most fantastic cooking class at a place called Mama in Florence. We made pizza, focaccia, gelato, and oh my goodness, all the delicious things that still make my mouth water! Since we love to cook (and eat), it was an adventure right up our alley.
We cooked in a gorgeous, yet cozy kitchen and our chef and instructor for the day was Michele. He walked us all through the basics of Italian cooking, and helped correct any erroneous assumptions we previously had about Italian food. We snapped a ton of pictures throughout our 4 hour long cooking class, and what lies below are some of the highlights that we learned along the way!
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