Feb 28, 2010

Lookbook-Jail Bird


I loved this photo so I just had to create a fun Jail Bird Lookbook to go along with it. Enjoy!

Arden B at ShopStyle

xoxo- Kimberly

Feb 27, 2010

A little bit of interior design fun

Want to know what your design style is? Go take this fun quiz at Sproost and find out!!

They got me right on!
67% Rustic Revival
33% Country Chic

Oh yes! That's me, alright. I made Andy take the quiz too and guess what! His number one design style is Rustic Revival as well. Nice!

So what is Rustic Revival and Country Chic you ask?

Rustic Revival

"....you are one of the unique individuals who loves a mix of modern and country. The clean lines of the modern softened by rustic/vintage elements is the perfect mix in your mind... "

Here's some examples of Rustic Revival:

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Country Chic

"...who says that cottages can't be modern and chic? Who says that they have to be floral and cheese? You love the carefree spirit that the cottage interior inspires, but you are also serious about your appreciation for modern art and hip treasures. You love old and new alike, and love to highlight them all to expose the uniqueness of each... "

Yes! Yes! That's a perfect description of my style.

Here's some examples of Country Chic:


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This last picture is my absolute fav! I love the artwork on the wall and that coffee table is killer!

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I love, love neutral backgrounds of tan, white, black and brown. However, I would make just one change to this room. I'd add a few colorful modern and quirky touches here and there. I like a splash of color that catches the eye.

Having a monochromatic palate to work with and then layering in small colorful elements is the smart way to go for me. That way, if I get tired of the color teal, I only have to worry about switching out couch pillows rather than repainting or redesigning an entire room.

You can even change your colorful elements to match with the seasons, adding bright yellows during the summer and subtle blue's in the fall.

So what colorful, modern and quirky touches would I add? Glad you asked. Here's some examples:


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Items found at Z Gallerie, Hobby Lobby, Chiasso, Etsy

So head on over to
Sproost and discover your design style.

xoxo- Kimberly

Feb 26, 2010

Gimme me this house- now plz!

I am swooning over this house renovated by Stephen Ellwood and Todd Carr!! Spotted on Apartment Therapy.

The house is in Cornwallville, New York. For more information on it's history as well as the town of Cornwallville visit his blog. Very cool stuff!

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Doesn't that screened in porch just look heavenly!

xoxo-Kimberly

Feb 25, 2010

Favorites-skirts and dresses

Can you tell that I'm just itching to shop for spring clothes? When the warm weather hits, the first thing I do when I get home from work is throw on a skirt or a sun dress.

Andy likes to tease me because I pretty much refuse to wear shoes in the summer unless I have to. I just skip around in my skirts and dresses enjoying the grass under my bare feet. Ha! I'm such a girlie girl sometimes.

It's so freeing being out from under all those winter layers, isn't it?


Here are some of my spring time picks.

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xoxo- Kimberly

ps- Go Away Snow!!

Feb 24, 2010

last night's eats...

After I got two thumbs up from Corey and Andy had seconds, I thought I'd share with you our dinner from last night.

The main course was a new recipe that I thought looked good so I gave it a whirl.

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Chicken Bundles


4 oz softened cream cheese
13oz can chicken
1 1/2 tsp Worchestershire sauce
1/4 tsp parsely
1 Tbs finely chopped onion or dried minced onion
2 cans Pillsbury Crescent Rolls, thawed

Combine all ingredients listed above minus the crescent rolls. Make sure you drain the chicken completely or your bundles will be soggy.

Open package of crescent rolls. DO NOT divide into triangles. Keep every 2 triangles together, forming 4 rectangles. Pinch the seams closed and pat each rectangle out to form a larger square.

Spoon some of the chicken mixture into the middle of each square of dough and fold the edges of the dough over to form a bundle. Repeat with the rest of the dough.

This doesn't have to be perfect. You can put as little or as much filling into each one as you want. You can also add veggies to your filling. Andy and I plan to try carrots, celery, or broccoli next time.

Spray cookie sheet with Pam and line your bundles up on the pan. Bake in the oven 375 degrees until golden brown. This takes about 15-2o minutes.

I made a package of chicken gravy and poured that into the bottom of my serving dish. Then I layed the bundles over the top. I also sprinkled the top of my bundles with some more parsley to make them pretty. They were delicious, easy, and fast!

PS- If you have left over filling you can eat it cold on two slices of bread and it makes a great chicken salad sandwich.

For dessert:

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Fruit Trifle

1st layer- cubes of angel food cake
2nd layer- 1 package of prepared instant vanilla pudding
3rd layer- fruit (I used strawberries, bananas, and raspberries)
4th layer- thin layer of Cool Whip

Repeat all layers one more time and garnish with the remaining fruit. You don't have to have a trifle bowl to make this dessert but it's kind of a fun thing to have. I also make a chocolate lovers trifle that is layers of brownies, chocolate pudding, Cool Whip and something crunchy like toffee or crumbled Snickers bars. Yum!!

xoxo- Kimberly

sometimes i really really miss it...

Sometimes it makes me cry that I'm not dancing, teaching, coaching or judging anymore.

I miss my students. I miss the movement. I miss the feeling. I miss the floor under my Cats Paws.

I miss the pain of my arches and the pain of my lower back. I miss the sweat. I miss the smiles and facials.


I miss the art of creating, synchronizing, failing and triumphing.

I miss the sequins. I miss mixing music with Tracy in his studio and drooling over the new fabric choices with Teresa at Doolittles.


I miss pumping my girls up before they take the floor and screaming for them while they're out there.

I miss unloading props at 6 am, music check at 7am, coaches meeting at 8am, and awards at 10 pm.

I miss the frantic dancer who comes to me praying that I brought an extra hairpiece and the other dancer who just wants a hug.


I miss the parent complaining to me that the costume is $60 this year instead of $58. I miss telling 4 year olds to hold their taps still and stop touching their neighbor in the tumbling line.

I miss Windexing wall after wall of mirrors and stressing over how I'll pay the studio rent this month.

I miss the recitals and the flowers and the pictures.

I miss wearing a judges badge and getting cramps in my hand after 8 hours of scribbling pointers and scores onto judging sheets.

I miss watching my students succeed and building them up again after they fall.

I miss hearing "Teacher, can you fix my bun?"
and "Teacher, I love you"

I miss being needed. I miss being looked up to. I miss being really really good at what I do.

I miss it all. The good. The bad. The ugly. The beautiful world of dance.

Sometimes it hurts real bad not to be in that world. Especially when I run across videos like this:


But no matter how much I miss it sometimes. I can recognize that it's not the world I'm supposed to be in right now.
xoxo-Kimberly

Cure for a long day-lookbook

Thank you all so much for you emails and comments regarding my last post. It was so refreshing to read everyone else's point of view on this subject. It was kinda nice to feel a little validated in what I wrote as well.

Whenever I start thinking about stuff like that, I get all emotional, so I decided to post this relaxing lookbook for today. I think I need it.




UGG at ShopStyle


xoxo-Kimberly

Feb 23, 2010

some thoughts on the way i feel

Do you know when you just have that feeling that you don't belong here? The feeling that something's just not right. The feeling that the air doesn't breath right. The feeling that there's something more for you out there?

I have that feeling all the time. I have the strongest feeling that I don't belong in Utah. I've just never felt the vibe. I have a yearning for a place that matches my personality. I don't know how to explain it.

Maybe I can explain it this way: I have a different kind of feeling about Andy and I. The feeling that we're a perfect fit. It's just right and I feel it in my soul. I don't have that feeling about Utah and never have. It doesn't matter if its Park City, St. George, SLC, or Ogden. Utah and I are not a perfect fit, or a fit at all for that matter. I constantly feel like an outsider looking in. A visitor just waiting for my train out. There's just something about It and Me-together- that just isn't.......right.

Does that make me ungrateful? or snobbish? If it does, I'm sorry. I can't help the way I feel inside. I've felt this way since I was a teenager. When you're a teenager you start to become aware of your surroundings. I did and it just didn't feel right. I grew up in a small town on the outside of a slightly bigger town. A lot of the kids that lived in that small town have fond memories of it. Their hometown. Can I just be honest and say I've never thought twice about my hometown. I'm not connected to it or endeared by it. It never felt like me.

I want to experience something different. I've always wanted that. Always. For as long as I can remember I've been studying maps and wishing for something different. Different culture. Different climate. Different geography. Different mentality. I have a great interest in people- sociology. I want to experience a different type of sociology.

I just want to experience it for one period of my lifetime. That's all I'm asking. If Utah ends up being the final resting point, I think I could live with that. But living with that would be impossible for me if I never got to experience difference for awhile, if that makes any sense.

My mother used to say that if I moved somewhere else, I would find out real quick that everywhere is just the same. I'm sorry, but I just don't buy that. Some people would say 'why would you want to live far away from your family?' But that's not it. That's not it at all. There's just some force inside me that is dying for me to see something different for awhile.

I know there's a place out there somewhere that is a perfect fit for me. A place that will feel like home. A place that will feel like Andy's arms around me. A place that will make me smile every day when I wake up and look out the window. A place that will excite and inspire me rather than depress and suppress me.

I believe it's out there. Getting to it? Well, that's another story. Cause it's not just about me anymore. It's about us. And I'm not quite sure the other half of 'Us' feels the way I do about this subject. I think the other half of 'Us' is content. It scares me that I'm not content because I don't want to take away someone else's contentedness and I don't want to give up on mine. Because eventually unrest turns into bitterness and resentment.

When I say I want to go to school out of state, it's not because I'm against online classes. It's mostly because I'm afraid that will be my only opportunity-my last chance-to get out. It's like my ticket and I'm holding on to it for dear life.

These feelings were one of the major reasons why I resisted, so fiercely, falling for someone again. I just knew that I would fall for someone who was settled here in Utah. Someone with a house and a career and a life built up in Utah. Someone with no room in their life and no time for my need to experience something outside of Utah.

But I did fall for someone. I fell for the most unselfish human being in the world, who supports my desire to experience the outside. But when it comes right down to it, I could never ask him to just pick up his life and start over. I couldn't live with my selfish self if I did that.

I feel guilty feeling like this and I try to ignore it. I think things like, "Ogden's a decent place...you'd have hiking trails. SLC's okay, there's a little bit of culture and the library. You like that bookshop in Park City, right? You'd be happy there." It's like I'm forcing myself to settle because I feel like a selfish brat wanting to 'get out.'

I keep thinking that maybe these feelings will pass and that good old Utah will start to feel a little more like 'the place.' Maybe it will someday. But I'm pretty sure that for that to happen, I'd need to first get a taste of the outside.

That's why I say that all I need is a taste. Because I think once I got that taste, I'd be perfectly content living in Ogden or SLC or Logan. I really don't want to be far away from family.

But I don't want to never experience or see anything different. That feels like such a waste of life to me.

Anyway, just had to get that out cause it pretty much is constantly on my mind.

Feb 22, 2010

yes, please

I'll take one of these, and one of these, and one of these, thx!

Items I've been coveting:

Vintage Porcelain Lotus Bowls, 2, 3

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Aren't they just perfect? I love them!


Pyrex, 2, 3, 4

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Bet you didn't know that I had a huge crush on vintage Pyrex. Last week, I was cleaning out the basement and found a rectangular Pyrex casserole dish left by the previous owners! It's the same print as the above pieces.

Can you imagine my delight?? You would have thought I'd found a pot of gold. I was alone in the house so I let out a loud "Score!!" And then I did a little dance.

When Andy got home I showed him my find. He looked at me like "um, cool?"

Then he said with a grin, "This makes you really happy doesn't it?"

"You have no idea," I said, with my new casserole dish hugged tightly to my chest. Now I simply must have the matching set!

Prints, 2, 3, 4

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Been loving each of those for awhile now.

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This favorite is still on my list of books to add to my collection.

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Ruche has their spring line out and it's just okay this year, but I love love these slip ons!

xoxo- Kimberly

music monday

I'm a happy girl! Andy's home. Need I say more?

How about a little Music Monday to kick this week off right? Some of my favorites both old and new:

"Just Say Yes" by Snow Patrol


"Girl Talk" by TLC - Had a hard time picking a TLC favorite!


"Bulletproof" by La Roux


"Wrong" by Depeche Mode- You guys never do me wrong!


"The Fixer" by Pearl Jam- Sorry no official video but don't these guys just keep getting better and better?


"The Devil's Dancefloor" by Flogging Molly- One of the craziest and most fun concerts I've ever been to. So much fun!


"Beautiful Disaster" by 311- Also one of the most amazing concerts I've been to. Insane fun! Seriously hard to pick a 311 favorite.


And last but certainly not least- just for old times sake ;)
"The Right Stuff" by New Kids On The Block


Ahh Joey, I'll never forget what we had. haha
PS- you're dancing is H.O.T!!


Happy Monday luvers!

xoxo- Kimberly

Feb 18, 2010

scheming, wishing, planning, dreaming

Oh gosh. I just love flowers!! This is one of the reasons that I hate living in Utah. Because I can't look out my window every. single. day. of the year and see flowers. It's so depressing! But Spring is coming. I can feel it. It has to come or I'll go crazy!

We have lofty goals for our yard this year. Hopefully, we'll get to all of them. Those goals include a garden four times the size of the little box gardens we had last year (to be mostly manned by Andrew) and lots and lots of new flowers (to be manned by me- under Andrew's supervision, of course, so I don't kill anything.)

Currently we have a few varities of Lilies, Coneflower, Daisies, Snapdragons, and one lone Peony, as well as some Hostas, Iris's and Holyhock's gifted by Andy's parents.

So what am I dying to have in the yard this year?

More Hostas!! I love Hostas- they're green, ya know.


Dahlia's- I discovered these beauties last year on one of our bike rides and now Andy can't get me to shut up about them!


Sunflowers- I want tall sunflowers running along the fence in the backyard to frame the side of the garden.


Columbine- my grandmother had Columbine in her backyard and I always loved them. As kids we pretended they were fairy food and would bite off the ends and suck out the sweet liquid inside.


Black Eyed Susan- truly a favorite- they're so bright and happy


Bleeding Heart- I've always loved these and they add such a pretty color to a shaded area.


That's what is at the top of my list right now. Of course there are several more that I'd love to try, but Andy and I have to find a home with a couple of acres first to accommodate it all!

xoxo- Kimberly


ps- I survived Andy being gone last night by turning it into the perfect 'me' night. First, I played a little Super Mario Bros. on my laptop, then I gave myself a pedicure in the bathroom that I've now claimed as the 'girlie spa bathroom.'

I followed that up with a little solo crossword action and a Lord of the Rings marathon accompanied by some Ramen Noodle, a Smirnoff Mango something or other, and a couple of hairy beasts snuggling up against me on the bed.

Yeah, I slept pretty good.

this weekend

I'm not looking forward to this weekend at all.

But Andy is.

And truthfully, I don't blame him. He's going on a ski/snowboard trip with the guys from work.

This is going to be a great weekend for him. He needs this vacation time. He's been busting his butt with school and work the last couple of weeks and still finding time to wine and dine his girlfriend in the evenings.

He had a lot going on this week and even pulled a 12 hour day at work to get everything completed for his project. It's been busy, hectic and stressful and I'm glad he gets this opportunity to go chillax and have a little guy time.

While I'm happy for him. I'm sad for me. This little trip means I won't get my 'Andy fix' for three whole days!! This seems almost unbearable after all the attention he's been showering me with. I mean, he spoils me constantly! Now I have to go the weekend without him.

It sounds silly, but I really don't like it when Andy's not around. I can't get enough of his company and I want to be with him all the time. So this weekend might be a bit of a challenge for me.

If I didn't have to work, I'd haul my butt up to Logan and beg some attention (and food) off of our parents. I'd just skip back and forth between my mom's and Andy's parents house and have a grand old time. But I guess working this weekend won't be so bad. It'll give me something to do and before I know it, Sunday will be here and Andy will be back.

I guess Henry's in for some serious snuggle time this weekend. He's my back up man. My filler man, you know. And he does a pretty good job at keeping me company when my main man is gone. But still, it's just not the same.

xoxo- Kimberly

Feb 17, 2010

Lookbook- Determination


Clinique at ShopStyle

can't wait

Guess what's getting released in time for my birthday? Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland.

I can't wait!! Definitely a must see in the theater. I am not waiting on Redbox for this one!




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xoxo-Kimberly

Feb 16, 2010

lighting love

One of my favorite design elements to shop for is lighting. There are thousands of options out there.

Honestly, a light fixture could be one of the first things you choose when you're redoing a room and the rest of the room's features can be designed around it.

Here's some of my favorites:


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Aren't they so much more fun than just your typical, boring ceiling fan?

xoxo-Kimberly



Lighting Universe, Lighting Direct, Lamps Plus

Feb 15, 2010

Valentines Day Weekend Fabulousness

I wasn't able to get work off for the big V-Day but I did manage to get Friday off. So Andy and I decided to go to dinner at one of our favorite sushi restaurants - Imperial.

We got their early enough to beat the crowds. Sorry, no pictures of our sushi but the meal was fantastic! Sushi is so filling and we always get too full before we've had a chance to try everything we want to try. So we like to get out to Imperial as often as possible.

This was my fortune.

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I was disappointed, but Andy thought it was hilarious, so he graciously traded with me. Haha.

After dinner we came home and settled in for some homework and study time. Sometimes Andy's engineering homework is confusing. Henry likes to help him decipher it.

"Now, let's see...Was it E=MC2 or.....?"

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"Hey! I'm working here!"

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"What!? This stuff is cake!"

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"You're gonna get tickled, Mister!"

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"Meh. You guys are boring and it's time for my nap anyway."

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"Smell ya later!"

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That little turd was on one this weekend. On Saturday I caught him rummaging around in my purse.

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Before I took the picture, he had his head in there sniffing around. Later, I found incriminating teeth and claw marks on the new wallet that Andy had given me for Christmas. Little stinker could have just asked if he needed to borrow some money for his hot Valentine's date with the jingle kitty from next door!

Anyway...look at these cute Valentine's we each got in the mail from Andy's mom.

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Mine was in a pink envelope and by far, the cutest. But I'm pretty sure that's just cause she likes me the best. :) Just Kidding!

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On Sunday morning Andy made me a yummy breakfast before I had to jet off to work. It was eggs, sausage and cheese all rolled up into a breakfast burrito. Very delicious.

I was so sad that I had to spend the day at work but Andy had said I'd have a surprise waiting for me when I got home.

As luck would have it, we weren't very busy so I ended up being able to leave early. I got home around 4:30 just as Andy was about to leave to pick up his surprise for me.

He had planned to make me dinner! Not only that, but he was going to make my favorite- salmon!! I was quite impressed at his ambitious choice of recipes.

So we ended up going shopping for all the ingredients together and then cooking everything together which was a bonus because cooking together is one of our favorite things to do.

Check it out! We even took time to set the table all fancy.

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Okay, my man is freaking amazing. Look what he did for me!!

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Asparagus dipped in olive oil and sprinkled with sea salt and pepper

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Salmon marinading in sesame seed oil with ginger, garlic, and green onions

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He cooked everything on the grill. The salmon is cooking on planks of cedar!! (I highly recommend this btw- the flavor was incredible.)

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I made some teryaki rice and there you have it!

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Absolutely delicious! And seriously, the best salmon I've ever tasted.

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He also gave me a card that he'd written the sweetest message in. It got me a little teary eyed.

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Then we settled down to watch Ghostbusters II on Hulu. I love it!

The End!

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Hope you all had as great a Valentine's weekend as I did!

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