Saturday, December 31, 2011

The Great 2012 Organization Challenge!

I'm always optimistic about the ability for people to change and better themselves! It's so much more fun to believe you can change and become a better version of yourself then wallow in the thought that you are stuck in your flaws and weaknesses. I'm forever wanting to change the things I don't like about myself. I could bore you with what that long list is but I won't you're welcome.

The other day I saw a friend posted as their Facebook status that they are going to read 100 pages a day for 100 days and that got me thinking that it would be fun to also take on something for 100 days. Somehow 100 days seems manageable to me in a way that New Year's Resolutions don't, there is just something totally overwhelming about an entire year for a "can't follow through" girl like me. With all that being said you are just going to have to wait to hear about my 100 day challenge since I picked up this book today :)

"One Year to an Organized Life" by Regina Leeds

And while I don't intend to make this a New Year's resolution (I just don't like the label) I do intend to follow through with this book and see if I can finally achieve what I so desperately crave, a clean organized home and a zen like life.

Looking forward to starting tomorrow!


Update { I went on to the Apartment Therapy site just now (ps. must visit more often, love it!) and saw this post...


it must be on everybody's mind! :) 

Tuesday, November 15, 2011

Little Blue Box(es)


I've been a connoisseur of Tiffany's since I was 3 years old and even though my 'grown up' aesthetics range to a more modern bold look (think David Yurman, Ippolita and a hundred other lines I'm obsessed with!), I can' deny the pull of the robin eggs blue of the classic box. I took a little peak in a local Tiffany's store yesterday and picked up some small gifts for myself.




Left ~ Right 

I hope you are having a fabulous Tuesday! 


Monday, September 26, 2011

Why Read Vogue When You Can Wear It!

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I just came across this amazing line 

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How incredible are her creations? I could stare at them all day. And since I don't ever throw away my magazines (I could re-read them forever!) this seems like the perfect way for me to recycle them! 


One new(ish) ball gown coming up. I guess I just need a place to wear one now.... :) 

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As hard as it is to choose, I think this one is my favorite! I love the colors and the silhouette!

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The detailing is perfection! 


Run and check out Ecoterre who tipped me off to this paper fairy! 


~ xo Ruthie 



Sunday, September 25, 2011

Images that Inspire

via
Even though it's not my personal taste (the dark paneled walls & boat chandelier) I'm finding this living room of designer Nanett Lepore totally inspiring. Maybe it's the bold use of color & combination of styles or just the very fact that it's not a look I would think of for my own home but regardless of the why, I'm completely inspired...and I hope you are too! 

Here are some more shots from her home: 


I think I'm in love with the use of the citron color in both images! And the perfection she achieved with the drapes! 

Friday, September 2, 2011

Pretty Partyness




Besides for it being green I'm just loving this party scene. Wouldn't you love to to receive an invitation? 

Thursday, September 1, 2011

NYC!

We're visiting NYC for a few weeks and I can't get over how much I love this city! Every day I take my little guy and we walk some city streets. I pause when the inspiration hits and snap a few pictures of things I love.

Wednesday, August 10, 2011

Darn You, Epicurious App!

Yes, I am shifting the blame to someone else. Otherwise it would be highly embarrassing that I'm sitting in my kitchen with a freshly baked batch of fudgy brownies and a flourless chocolate cake. Who am I kidding, blaming Epicurious.com doesn't make this any less embarrassing :). 
Before you ask, no I was not expecting company over nor it is it a special occasion.

I've never made a flourless chocolate cake before but have always been tempted. As well I should be, it was super easy, few ingredients, and hard to mess up.


The brownies came out kind of funny so I won't share the recipe but I'll tweak it and get back to ya. 

I'll just leave you with a word of warning be careful what apps you download as you just might find yourself using them.... :) 


The brownies
 
 

Monday, August 8, 2011

In Case You Missed It...


I'm changing some things up with the look of the blog. (insert, duh - for those of you who aren't just dropping by for the first time, this is obvious) for some reason I can't leave well enough alone and the fact that Blogger was doing something funny to my layout was all the incentive I needed. Also the fact that we haven't yet moved into our 'forever' home so reading all my design blogs leaves me wanting to re-do something :) and until I have a home I guess this lil ol' blog is it (sorry in advance blog.)

I have multiple personalities when it comes to design. One moment I'm loving sleek and modern and the next I'm loving country luxe (this is also painfully evident if you follow my Pinterest boards) so just in the past few days that I've been playing around with the look of LLL (my nickname for said blog) I've gone in many different directions with everything from the layout & template to the colors and design. I also want to try going the route of DIY. Don't get me wrong I've been coveting Faboulous K Creative's new site and blog design work sprinkled all over blog land but until I can justify the price tag for a blog design I'm going to try it myself. Don't misunderstand, I think that's very reasonable for the work she does, it's just until I commit myself more seriously to this blog (ie: posting every day, quality of posts (ahem) I don't want to spend that kind of money. Anyways there are shoes to be bought :) 

Hope to be back with a Blog mood board of sorts. 

See ya then!
 xoxo Ruthie 

ps - How ironic that Made By Girl mentioned my blog, right as I went into re-do mood on my site! For all you visitors, I promise it usually looks a little better over here, please excuse the mess from construction :) 


Sunday, August 7, 2011

Organize My....iPhone



Yes, I know that probably wasn't what you were expecting me to tackle this week but after going crazy and downloading every cool app out there I want to clear up my phone and make it a productive tool. I find that if I have multiple apps in the same 'genre' ie: to do list apps then I end up alternating between them and effectively doing the same thing as scribbling post it notes all over the house just in a virtual setting. So no more! I will be choosing one app for each genre and committing to using that one.


Maybe if you're lucky I'll share with you my favorite apps that made the cut to stay on my phone :)


Ps - don't you love my leopard skin background? Tres chic! 


xoxo Ruthie 

Saturday, August 6, 2011

Gray Great Room

I'm really loving the use of gray in this great room/living room. It's not my typical style but something about it is beckoning me. It definitely has achieved the 'homey' feel every living room should have!


xoxo Ruthie 

Happy Weekend!

Even though it's still the weekend, I'm gearing up for my week. 
This week's goal: is to get ahead! 
In everything...I know easy shmeasy, why don't I ever challenge myself, hehe :) 






xoxo Ruthie

Friday, August 5, 2011

I'm Dreaming of a White...

pair of booties! 
Seriously, these are gorgeous and I need them. 










xoxo Ruthie 

Thursday, July 28, 2011

Lovin This!


Love this image! 





                                        

Wednesday, June 22, 2011

What a face!

This picture was hanging out on my computer, I couldn't resist sharing. As you you can tell by the attire (can I use that word when speaking about baby clothing??) this picture is from the winter when the babes was still a baby. Oh yes my lil guy of 10 months is now a man :)


Oh how fast they grow! 

Friday, June 3, 2011

Peachy Keen

With peach and nude colors seeming to be THE color of now! I doodled a little doodle for you :) 

(What are doodles called anyways?) 

Anything special you're doodling? Please do tell! 



Monday, May 30, 2011

Google Mania

Google

I recently signed my life away to Google. Haven't we all? 

That's right I have started using almost every Google product available. First of all let it be said that their products services software (help! What are they called? You know, Google mail, Google reader, Google Docs etc..) are pretty ridiculously amazing! 

In today's world there are hundreds of thousands of apps, programs, softwares, etc.. promising to make you more efficient, more organized, connect with more people and on and on. I get so distracted by it all and I'm such a sucker for marketing that I believe each of the claims and instantly feel like I must get it as it will change my life!  

Google has everything I need, does the job so well and has clean & neat aesthetics - always important! Also a fantastic 'help' section that always gives me the answers I'm seeking well at least when I ask questions related to their products, so far they haven't been able to help me sleep train my son. 
I have moved my life over into Google. I no longer even get tempted by all that's available out there since it would be more trouble then it's worth to start over transferring all my information. 

I definitely feel more organized feeling like my 'stuff' is all in one place, so to speak and it's calming to be able to ignore the siren call of the latest 'it' thingy. 


What I Use & For What: 

For my email obviously, I've played around with and gotten to know the labels and filters and it's changed the way I do email, I'm much more efficient with getting to the important stuff but still seeing the all the emails that I subscribe too such as my Daily Candy newsletters, Rachel Zoe's and notice from Net-a-Porter and The Outnet.com when new items come in. All important but sometimes actual emails from family, friends or work get lost amongst all that :) 


Google reader organizes the blogs I follow. I have to admit I just started using Reader so I'm still learning the ins and outs and how to best use it for my needs. 
I love Picasa! I use it to store all my photos. Period. They also recently added this amazing photo editor Picnik, it's seems like child's play but actually creates very professional results. 

 
Oh G-chat, how I love thee. My sisters and I chat every day, all day on this. Some of the best moments in our relationship happened here :) 



                    
  Google Calendar is great, I can access it from my iPhone's calendar app and anything I add     to it there will show up in Google calendar and visa versa. 


   I'm also fairly new to Google docs but I have very quickly managed to scan most of my important documents. I love how I can access it from anywhere and share stuff with people. I'm using it to create a virtual 'household management book' that my husband and I can both see, edit and use. 



-- Are you a Google lover, user, expert, all three? I'd love to hear! 

Disclaimer - I do use one other program that I'm in love with that is not a Google product. But that's for another day :) - Also I wasn't paid to say any of this, I just am so happy that I've finally found a system I couldn't resist not sharing :) 

Wednesday, May 25, 2011

Weddings on My Mind

With my little sister's upcoming wedding on my mind I couldn't help but share this beautiful bold but delicate cake. My favorite part is the perfect shade of seafoam green! 

Looking at cakes is easier then trying to find the perfect dress to wear :) 



If you have any suggestions on the dress front, please share! 



Monday, May 9, 2011

What's Cooking?

- Lentil Soup -
I always try to have a nice big pot of soup in the fridge during the week.
It makes a wonderful light dinner when paired with a salad and some warm toasty bread.

As you know from my 'tweet's' I recently confessed that I have trouble following recipes but I have some good amateur pictures to compensate for that :) 

The onions sauteing in my huge 6 quart soup pot

I didn't add the called for carrots because I decided to add.....
wait for it.....

CAULIFLOWER :) 
(and I didn't think they would play off of each other well in this particular soup)
I'm on a cauliflower kick lately, especially for soups it creates such a great base both of flavor and texture

Here I added the dry lentils to the pot


Filled the pot with water, added herbs (thyme & some fresh rosemary, salt & pepper) 


Let it boil and then simmer and after some cleanup and a few dishes 

voila! 

Delicious lentil soup for dinner. 

not the prettiest soup to photograph, hehehe :) but it tasted amazing! 

Serving Suggestion: 
With some of the heartier soups I like adding a scoop of cooked rice to the bowl. 

Delish!