Heather Bullard

Mon Anniversaire

Thanks so much for the birthday wishes everyone! So very sweet of you to send little bundles of happiness my way. I did indeed spend the day away from home. We left in the morning to head to our first stop Rogers Gardens.

Have you ever been? It's such an amazing place. There are acres of lush plants, garden rooms, a gourmet gift shop, urns and planters of every size, and dozens of ideas to display and pot your plants when you get home. Every single one of my birthday gifts came from here. Little Ollie topiaries, gorgeous succulents and fresh herbs and veggies. I can't wait to get them all planted!

Their use and variety of potted plants are unbelievable. I'll save some of my favorites for a later post. Next we headed to lunch at Brasserie Pascal in Newport Beach for the most delicious French food.

We dined on Halibut with Beurre Blanc Sauce, Croque Monsieur and Spinach and Artichoke Crêpes. If you are ever near here be sure to plan a visit to this authentic brasserie, you will love it!

After lunch we stopped in Barnes & Noble to browse and headed to Balboa Island to walk around and grab a coffee at Starbucks. Then my favorite thing to do on the island...drive through the neighborhoods.

This was my favorite house. I absolutely love the stone, and the windows, and the door which I cut off because I was driving. But trust me, it was a wonderful dutch door. I am obsessed with dutch doors. I took about 30 photos of them but I won't bore you with my paparazzi door shots.

We ended the day at the movies to see Sherlock Holmes. It was very entertaining, surprisingly funny and everyone liked it. So if you have some free time I'd recommend it!

Now it's back to reality and time to take down the Christmas and clean all the dust. Our doors are still not installed and another "door guy" is coming to look at them tonight. So far, it looks like they are defective and the manufacturer has offered a replacement set in 3 weeks. Ahh, good times.

Merry Christmas

Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas! We'll be baking, cooking, ice skating, present wrapping and hosting a Christmas Eve dinner and hope that you'll be doing the same wonderful things with your family and friends.

To view my Winter Wishes for you on Flickr just click here!

The Homemade Gifts Continue...

I was trying to think of another homemade gift to give with my Cinnamon Honey Butter and although I know it's delicious on bagels there's no way I was going to learn how to make bagels. Or English Muffins. And the thought of store bought bread just didn't seem right. So...I came across a recipe for Classic Pound Cake via Martha herself and thought...perfect!

I made 3 batches of the recipe, separately of course and each batch made four loaves which I baked in these beautiful Paper Loaf Pans from Sur La Table. Oh, and I did have one disaster batch because I thought it was a smart idea to microwave the butter, which made it too soft. The Man seemed sorta happy about my fiasco. He's snacking downstairs as I type this.

But with my successful ones cooled and ready to wrap, I gathered my stash of supplies and had fun!

After I finished embellishing them I went out to the potting bench to get a wooden crate to tote them in. I lined it with an antique French hand towel and tucked them all inside.

Now that my first batch is packed up and ready to be delivered, I sure wish I was coming to your house. Because if I was I would surely bring you some of my goodies. And we would sit and talk about the holidays and how much shopping we have or don't have left and our favorite Christmas memories and why people drink Egg Nog. And it would be the perfect afternoon. Just perfect.

Homemade Gifts: Cinnamon Honey Butter

I found a fantastic recipe for a quick, easy and delicious gift on this fun blog. Which I found by way of her twin sister's wonderful design blog. Quite a pair those two! Always sharing such incredible creativity and their love of faith and family. Be sure to pay them a visit...I know you'll enjoy them as much as I do!

Cinnamon Honey Butter

2 Sticks Softened Butter
1 Cup Powdered Sugar
1 Cup Honey
2 Teaspoons Ground Cinnamon

Using the whisk attachment in your mixer, blend all ingredients until it is smooth and has an even consistency. Occasionaly scrape down the sides of the mixer with a rubber spatula to ensure even mixing. Scoop all of it into a Ziploc bag and pipe it into the small quilted Ball jars. You don't have to use the plastic bag but it helped me from getting it all over the place and seemed to make clean up a cinch.

I actually doubled the recipe and it made 9 jars. I highly recommend doubling it because it's so tasty and everyone will love it. And it only took about 20 minutes from start to finish, easy peasy!

My Holiday Home

   

After day of Christmas shopping and lunch with The Man, it's so nice to come home and see holiday decorations. Funny how simple things can add such joy to my Christmas spirit. Hope you're taking some time to celebrate the season too. I'm off to wrap presents!

Simple Holiday Decorating

Oh dear friends, how can I thank you? Your warm, funny and encouraging comments on my last post made my predicament so much more enjoyable. Thanks for your support and understanding. It seems I'm not alone in making ridiculous decisions and somehow that very thought made me feel better. The painting is half finished and we've decided to do the landing and hallways after the holidays. Yippee!

 

I'm sure you won't be surprised to hear that I'm keeping my Christmas decor on the simple side. Learned my lesson like an honors student. For the front door I purchased a fresh wreath and some new evergreens along with the most beautiful pale rose colored poinsettias and I carried the color theme into the house.

I'll be posting more of my vignettes in the next few days. I need to make a tree topper (or buy one). Can't seem to find our angel anywhere in the Christmas boxes. And I've got a few handmade projects to show you too. Just need to finish them up and take some pics for you. Thanks again for lifting my spirits. It was like an early and much needed Christmas present!

What Was I Thinking??

Why in the world did I think that painting nearly half of my downstairs the first week of December was a good idea? Was I insane? Seriously, who does this to themselves?

Did I not realize that I would have to unload every nook and cranny? Did I not remember that every square inch of trim would have to be taped off and cut in?

Was I aware that instead of decorating for Christmas I was going to be up to my elbows in clutter? Or that every flat surface in the house would be occupied by some sort of "treasure"?

How about the fact that as soon as I'm done cleaning up this mess I got myself into I would then have to unload 10 boxes of Christmas decor and get into the holiday spirit, huh Heather? How about that?

Sheesh. I guess that about does it for the kicking myself in the you know what. Thanks for listening. I feel much better venting. Now I'm going to scrub paint drippings off the floors. And maybe by the end of the weekend I will have made some Christmas progress.

Christmas Collections

 

Do you have a special Christmas collection? Maybe it's reindeer, santas or snowglobes? For me, it seems the only Christmas item I can hardly resist are vintage ornaments. Everything else has been pared down over the years and my ornament collection is the only one that has grown. I bought a box of vintage ornaments at the flea market a few weeks ago and thought I'd show you a few of my favorites.

Some are a bit tarnished or chipped or even slightly broken but I still find beauty in them. And don't you just love the old shapes? It's like they say...they don't make 'em like they used to. This little mushroom was my absolute favorite find in the box.

Notice the ombre top? I love how the color fades from dark to light. It's surprising how many vintage and antique ornaments have survived over the years. They are still readily available at antique stores, flea markets, garage sales and online thanks to Ebay and Etsy.

This is the exact box they came in. It was sitting under a table with the lid still on. I'm so glad I didn't pass it up and was curious enough to wonder what was hidden in it. They were destined to come home with me. So tell me...what do you collect for the holidays?

Shop Update

Just a quick note to let you know the Majestic Coronet Crowns and the Petite Santos Hands have been restocked. They have been on national back order since August 26th! I know many of you have been waiting and waiting so I'm thrilled to have them back in the shop!