Ashley English's Blog, page 14

Love Letters

Hi, friends! I don't know about where you are, but it's raining something fierce here. Intense, driving, just-watch-as-it-washes-out-the-driveway-again rain. Coupled with the bursts of wind sending leaves, wind chimes, and small birds aloft, today is definitely one for staying indoors.

You might recall the post I made a few weeks back about Huxley's "H". Several of our friends recently had

What I'm Digging

Happy Friday, everyone! Hope your holiday was wonderful. Ours was the definition of the word feast! Oh my!

Here's a round-up of a few things that tickled my fancy, piqued my curiosity, and made my stomach rumble this week:
*Totally smitten with Designerica, especially the honeycomb ring.
*Garden Betty's brand http://www.gardenbetty.com/2011/11/al... is gorgeous!
*

Apple Bourbon Pan Meatloaf

Oh, man. I don't know about you, but we're busy as squirrels chez English, gathering up items from the market, prepping dishes to try to get a leg up on things, sprucing up the house, and getting ready for a big day of feasting tomorrow.

We'll be hosting 8 adults and 2 children (well, 3, technically, if you consider the few bites that Huxley will munch on), including Lynne Harty (the

Shelf Life

When you live in a house with two adults that love to cook, kitchen space is always at a premium. We entertain a lot, so our pantry is stocked not only with edibles, but with all manner of platters, serving bowls, cake stands, coffee makers, ice cream makers, pie pans, ramekins, pastry bags & tips, fancy beverage glasses, portable hot plates (great for both canning demos out and about and in-home

What I'm Digging

Hi friends! Happy Friday!

I'm experimenting with a new weekly feature here on small measure. All week long, a good chunk of my work time is spent online, reading blogs, discovering new websites, and getting inspired by images found there. I thought it might be fun to gather up some of my findings and corral them into a weekly round-up here, entitled "What I'm Digging."

Here's what left me

For the Love of Soup

The seed for my lifelong love affair with soup was planted at age 5. I was a kindergartner at Kempsville Elementary in Virginia Beach, VA. Along with reading the beloved children's classic Stone Soup (which is a wonderful lesson in cooperation), my teacher decided it would be fun to have the class actually cook the eponymous soup as well.

Every student was instructed to bring an ingredient. I

Better With Butter (+Giveaway!!!)

I used to be an incredibly frugal butter-spreader. In other words, sure, I'd put butter on my toast or my baked potato, but only in the tiniest, slightest, skimpiest amount imaginable. Once I discovered, though, that whole, full, nutritious, all-natural animal fats made me feel and look better, I started slathering it on, thickly.
Now I use butter in almost everything I bake, spread it liberally

Gettin' Stitched

Local yokels, my friend Sarabeth Lattimore (the fashion designer and seamstress extraordinaire I profiled back here) will be hosting a discussion on all things sewing related tomorrow at Waechter's Fine Fabrics.

Here's the information she forwarded to me:

10am-1pm Meet and Greet with Sarahbeth Larrimore of Unabashed apparel - Meet our designer-in-residence and learn about her up and

Cradle of Love

The simplest things make me so happy these days. A mug of hot coffee. Baby giggles. A maple tree clad in golden leaves. And firewood. Well-seasoned, cut-to-length, tightly stacked firewood.

Hubs has tried out a variety of firewood cradles since purchasing the property back in 2004. While they've all worked, each had a number of design issues. Until now.

He built this hefty cradle in an ideal

My Two Guys

Oh, how I love them so. Crazy to think they looked like this just over a year ago!

Sorry for the radio silence, friends. Hubs' folks have been staying with us since Thursday and we've been busy with all sorts of grandparently activities the past few days.

I'll be back tomorrow with a fresh, new, exciting, riveting (one can hope, right???) post!!!