July 16, 2013 by gn0mel0ver

West Elm Throw Winner

The Winner of the West Elm throw is Debbie. Congratulations! I am very excited for you. I sent it out to you yesterday. I hope it gets to you soon!

This is how I have styled mine.

For everyone else, thank you so much for entering! There will be another giveaway next month. I very much hope you will enter! You can review and check the results of the drawing here. It is case sensitive. The drawing was conducted with the exact spelling of the commenters who entered.

Thank you all for continuing to support me and for stopping by my blog. For those of you that comment, thank you so much. It means the world to me. I realize that every single view I receive on my blog is time spent in your busy day. I want you to know that I do not take that lightly. I very much appreciate your time and your encouragement. It makes me so happy.

Thank you!

July 14, 2013 by gn0mel0ver

Salted Caramel Oatmeal Cookies

I LOVE the Salted Caramel cookies at Great Harvest. They only have them once a week at our location. Sometimes I want them on a different day. So, I decided to try making my own. I took Betty Crocker’s Oatmeal cookie recipe and Pioneer Woman’s Oatmeal Cookie recipe and combined them to my liking to make a giant oatmeal cookie. Then, I added the caramel and sea salt.

This recipe makes 13 GIANT cookies

Ingredients:

10 caramels quartered & chopped into small pieces
1 stick unsalted butter softened
1/2 cup shortening
2 cups brown sugar packed
2 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
1/4 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
2 1/3 cup flour
1 1/2 cups oats
Coarse sea salt to sprinkle on top (I just used the sea salt grinder from Costco and ground it two times over each cookie)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees or 325 degrees on convect bake (if you have this type of oven).

Cream butter, shortening, brown sugar in a mixer or with a mixer in a bowl, whichever you have. Scrape sides, add vanilla, beat on high for one minute until light and incorporated.
Add eggs, one at a time, beat until light and fluffy, about 30 seconds an egg.

Change attachments (if you are using a stand mixer) to the paddle attachment. If using a hand mixer, set aside and mix in the following by hand. Mix cinnamon, salt, and baking soda.

Mix in flour, one cup at a time, adding the 1/3 cup at the end.

Mix in oats.

Use giant cookie scoop to scoop out cookies onto cookie sheet. Flatten with palm. Score with fork.

Cook 11 minutes. Take out of the oven and quickly push the caramels into cookie, about 10 pieces into each one. Put back in oven for 3-4 minutes (these are giant cookies. Keep checking. Your time may vary depending on your oven) until light brown. (I also tried putting the caramel in at five minutes and then baking an additional ten. This resulted in a messy, ugly cookie. But if you want the caramel more incorporated, this worked. You will just have to clean up the caramel off of your baking sheet). Take out of oven. Wait one minute. Transfer to cooling rack. Sprinkle sea salt on each hot cookie. Repeat with second batch. Then turn off your oven (hey, a little reminder is always nice).

Wait five minutes before eating, because molten caramel would be no fun stuck to the roof of your mouth. And then indulge!

Edited to add on August 25, 2013: Please cover these cookies. If you do not, they get hard. And that is not good! If you do forget, you can add a piece of bread to the container. The bread will reverse some of the effects. Remove bread after keeping in container overnight. And then cover the cookies.

*If you like this recipe, you might also like:

“Let’s Make Whoopie…”

And my Chocolate Chip Cookies.

July 13, 2013 by gn0mel0ver

Moonshine

“Moonshine”

Isn’t that a lovely name? That is the name of the paint color I chose to paint our house with. It is by Benjamin Moore. I paint matched at Home Depot, so your color may vary.

When I was younger, I watched Kim Basinger in “I Dreamed of Africa.” I do not remember anything about the movie, except it was sad. But it inspired me. My inspiration came from the grey walls in her house, in the movie.

I longed for grey walls in my own home. This was the year 2000. I just wanted it noted I wanted grey walls long before grey walls were trendy.

And now they are everywhere. It kind of breaks my heart, but I went with my dream. The twenty-something-year-old in me would not be denied. She is pretty persistent. Have you seen all of my horse print clothing?

I scoured the internet for the perfect grey. I really liked Benjamin Moore’s Grey Owl. But my husband had wanted to keep the walls white. I knew this color would be too much for him.

I ended up seeing Moonshine on Young House Love. Their house looked amazing. We tried it. We loved it. Sold.

So, our kitchen, family room, hallway and laundry room all got this color.

Our “formal” living room, AKA book storage room, stayed the same, Ralph Lauren Forde Abbey. We just repainted it the same color, for a fresh update. You cannot imagine the nicks and scuffs that were on the walls after ten years of two adults, two kids, and two dogs.

Let’s take a moment and admire the “moonshine.” It is beautiful during the day.

What are the color of your walls? Are you obsessed with grey? You can see more of our grey walls in our post about our baseboards.

* Peacock painting by Ginette Callaway.

Lakshmi painting by Gloria Muriel

Cyclops in the hallway by Shawn Smith of Shawnimals

I shared this on Savvy Southern Style

And My Romantic Home

July 12, 2013 by gn0mel0ver

Fourth of July Recap

We have had a Fourth of July party every year. Every year. For years. But this year, my husband could not get out of working. The night shift. Which brought a swift end to our tradition. My friend, who I have spent the last ten Fourth of July’s with, up and went on a family vacation.

So, it was just me and the kids. The kids and myself. A lonesome trio on the Fourth.

My husband went to work and I went outside with the kids. I saw a decimated potato at the bottom of my pool.

Quick backstory: my neighbors have built themselves a little illegal contraption (in California) called a potato gun. They like to bring it out every Fourth of July.

Ah. Memories. I’ll never forget having company over five years ago. Hearing the blast of the potato gun. A scream. “You shot me with the potato gun in the face,” we heard from yonder. My company looked at me. I shrugged.

They really are good neighbors 364 days of the year. We even exchange Christmas presents. The Fourth brings out something in them.

Of course, I realized it could hurt my children. I marched over to my fence and yelled down at them. “There are children in the pool. I all ready have a potato in my pool. DO NOT SHOOT YOUR POTATO GUN THIS WAY!”

They muttered. They were good for two hours.

My daughter looked at me and chuckled. “You said, ‘I all ready have a potato in my pool.'”

She found this very funny.

I did not.

This kids went swimming.

I messed around with profile shots.

When we were done swimming, I decided to join my neighbors in some classy celebrating.

I made us tuna sandwiches. Tuna. Our favorite.

I made it fancy and patriotic by dying some of it blue. I thought about doing red, but figured it would look too much like another red substance found in animals.

We also added some barbecue. In the way of chips. Fancy.

But seriously, if you have never dipped a barbecue chip in tuna salad, you do not know what you are missing. Fireworks.

Amazing.

From our house, we have a perfect view of the city’s fireworks display. Hence, our annual party.

Let’s just sit back and enjoy the show. Beautiful.

How was your Fourth of July? Did you do anything fun? Was your food as fancy as mine?

Gnome Lover

Stumbling through life while still having fun

Month: July 2013

West Elm Throw Winner

Salted Caramel Oatmeal Cookies

Moonshine

Fourth of July Recap