love and staying warm

Hello, friends from brrr cold Illinois! Fresh snow greeted us yesterday and then the temps dropped to -6F with the wind chill this morning.

We've actually had a mild winter up until today, so guess I can't complain. In the meantime, we'll just keep warm in our own ways.

Making warm, comfort food such as chicken pot pie helps on cold evenings.

Or, a pot of black bean and sweet potato chili.

I found a cute shelf for my kitchen wall at Hobby Lobby. I've tried various pieces of artwork here over the years and nothing really worked. Sometimes it takes awhile to find just the right thing.

And I added this sweet paper banner to my kitchen window for a little cheer. It's from Susan Branch (I'm a huge fan of hers!), handmade by one of her staff. 

 Today is Valentine's Day ~ do you have any special plans? Brian and I don't make a big deal out of this day, but we'll have a nice dinner at home with a glass of wine and then perhaps watch a movie. It's too cold to go out, anyway! That's an old photo of us in the frame below. It was taken when we were in Cancun, Mexico 16 years ago.

LOVE TO YOU ALL!

💓

a little something for the kitchen wall

I think that spring is finally on its way! It did snow a bit overnight, but the sun is finally shining once again this morning. And looking at the extended forecast, I see temperatures in the 50's and low 60's. No more 30's or threats of snow - hooray!

(Sun on pachysandra this morning)

You might remember that back in January 2017, we had a pass-thru cut out in the wall between our living room and kitchen. To this day, on the kitchen side of the pass-thru, the wall has remained blank. I didn't want to hang just anything; I was waiting until I found exactly what I wanted. I tried various art work and even played with some plate arrangements (having Brian hold things up on the wall so I could stand back and see how it looked), but nothing ever looked "just right". I'm always amazed at those who can put together a room immediately.

I saw this wooden sign at Hobby Lobby and was immediately drawn to it. I thought this might finally be The One. I've also been wanting to incorporate this vintage iron shelf into the wall decor, so when I put the two of them together...

I think we have a winner!

You can see how this wall needs more though. And with the severe angles of the cut-out plus the rectangular wooden sign, it needs some softening up. So, my next step is going to put putting some plates - probably only three - above the cut-out.

Oh, hello Miss Clementine on the heat vent. By next week, she won't be doing that anymore. 🐱

~ Happy Thursday ~