Sunday Morning Coffee 3

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Sunday Morning Coffee
Volume 3

Today I am pleased to share with you Sunday Morning Coffee. This is a place to share, learn, explain, dream, and have fun.

Thanks for joining me for Sunday morning coffee. Today I am sharing my weekly thoughts about entertaining, decor, crafts, and recipes and my slight obsession with a gal named Martha.

A Little Bit About Me

White-Kitchen-with-Pink-Accents

I Think I Might Be Martha’s Biggest Fan

As you already know, I have always loved to decorate and entertain. If you asked my friends to describe me in a few words they would respond with one word.

“Martha”.

Martha-Stewart

Although most of my friends and followers refer to me as “the other Martha” (as in Stewart), I am really just a gal who loves to create. If I can make or bake or build something myself, then I will. Every single time.

In addition to having a nickname “Martha”, I have spent my entire life admiring Martha Stewart. In fact, she is my mentor.

The reason I made Martha my “mentor who doesn’t know she is my mentor” is that she is the person who inspired me to create. And entertain.

Martha-Stewart-Entertaining

Back in 1982, Martha Stewart released her book, Entertaining, it changed my life. Now I realize many of you who are reading this weren’t even born yet in 1982! But trust me, it was the most beautiful and creative book I had ever seen. It was full of photos, parties, creative ideas, and amazing recipes.

I used to sit and read and reread the book, staring at the photos for ideas.

frozen-vodka

One of my favorite ideas she had in the book was freezing vodka in milk cartons. And since 1982 I have been freezing vodka every Christmas.

The book Entertaining, is also now in it’s 30th printing. Wow.

It shouldn’t be a surprise that I am kind of an expert on “things related to Martha” and I actually spent two years of my life answering questions about Martha Stewart.

It was 1994 and Martha Stewart had a best-selling magazine, Martha Stewart Living (1990), a lot of books, and a very popular TV show (1992).

What she didn’t have was a website. It was certainly in the works but it didn’t exist in 1994.

Without a cell phone and social media, I spent all of my free time reading my Martha Stewart magazines. Her first magazine was published in the winter of 1990. In 1991, it became a quarterly magazine. Of course, I had a copy of every single one of her magazines.

Somehow I found a blog online called “The Unofficial Martha Stewart Blog”. It was started by a gal in Colorado who was answering questions about Martha Stewart. One night, when I was reading a full page of questions that I knew every answer to, I reached out to volunteer my time to help.

I was hired (for free) immediately. Go figure.

My son Michael was born in 1994 and Matt was one year old and Andrew was two years old. It’s probably not a surprise that the only time I could find to answer blog questions was late at night. It’s funny because I don’t ever remember working on the blog when it was light outside!

Martha Stewart Magazine

I would sit at a table in Matt and Andrew’s room, with a huge stack of magazines piled next to me, and answer questions on the blog. Occasionally, and I mean occasionally, when I didn’t know an answer, I would look up in the index of a magazine the specific answer or recipe. I did this while my toddlers were sleeping and remember it as a very relaxing and soothing experience.

For the next two years, I spent my late evenings answering questions like “In which issue can I find the feature on Lustreware?”. I would answer, “February 1995”. Or “Which issue features Martha’s Hawaiian Cocktail Party?”. Of course, the answer was “July/August 1995”.

In 1997 Martha Stewart sold housewares at K-Mart and I used to drive across town every week just to see the new merchandise. I remember being embarrassed at the cashier because I never bought anything other than Martha Stewart products.

I did meet Martha Stewart twice. Both times were at a book signing. I got tickets by purchasing them online. I remember setting two alarms and having three friends try at the same time to get me my tickets.

At one of the book signings I shared my story with Martha her about my early Martha Stewart blogging experience. She laughed and thanked me for helping her out.

Basically, I think that means that I kind of worked for Martha Stewart and she was very thankful for my work.

Ok, that is stretching it a bit.

I guess I am sounding a bit obsessed with Martha. But I am!

Her creativity has influenced my blog every month. Here are some of the projects that were inspired by Martha.

I do get a lot of comments comparing me to Martha Stewart. I want you to know that I treasure each and every one of them. To even be compared to her is such an honor.

If you would like to see the amazing history of Martha Stewart and everything she has done, click here.

My Martha Favorites

My Favorite Martha Book

Martha Stewart Entertaining Book

As I mentioned earlier, Martha’s book Entertaining was my favorite book for two decades. It’s the reason I am the way I am. It inspired me to enjoy entertaining, recipes, crafts, and more.

My Favorite Martha Magazine Covers

Back in the days before you could get everything online, I used to mark my calendar for the day I thought my Martha Stewart Living magazine would arrive. On that day, my boys knew that a home cooked meal was out of the question. Mom was going to enjoy her magazine instead.

My Favorite Martha Stewart Cookbook

Martha Stewart Cookbook Collection

I own a gazillion of her cookbooks but my favorite is The Martha Stewart Cookbook: Collected recipes for Every Day.

This cookbook is a collection of most of her recipes (1400+) and it is the cookbook I always reach for.

My Favorite Martha Recipe

Martha Stewart Cookie Recipe

Martha’s Soft and Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies.

These are the best ever.

There are about twenty of her recipes that I make all of the time. But this is a favorite for sure.


Around Our Home

In the Dining Room

Updated-Dining-Room

I love that our dining room looks so festive with all of the pink. And copper.

There is a big change happening next week in our dining room and we are ready!

Dinng-Room-Changes

Can you guess what I am up to?

I promise to keep you updated.


A Decor Tip

Copper Goes With Every Color

I love copper.

In case you didn’t believe me, look at these photos from my blog posts!

I seem to use copper a lot. I used it in the fall, during the holidays, and in the New Year.

I am guessing copper is here to stay in our home.

Do you have a “metal” like you like? Perhaps gold, silver or bronze?

Have you thought about copper?

There is no doubt that copper looks great with pink. It also looks good with green (especially sage green) and aqua. Which probably means it works with blue and red.

If you want to add a metallic accent to your home, start out with a few accessories.

Here are my favorites.

Ready to add some copper accents to your home? Here are some of my favorite copper items that I purchased from Amazon.

In the Craft Room

I went a bit crazy this week in my craft room and shared four crafts on my blog! I will share them in a bit but until then, here are some amazing fun craft ideas that I found this week.

origami-hearts

I love these Origami Hearts from Martha Stewart.

Click here to see the DIY.

valentines-day-wreath

I love this DIY Heart Wreath Tutorial. My friend Janine at Happy Happy Nester made it.

Click here to see how to make this adorable wreath

Valentine's Day Crafts

My friend Karianne from Thistlewood Farms has four, yes four!, awesome Valentine’s Gift ideas on her blog.

Click here for the DIYs.


Reflections on the Week

It felt good to get back to regular blogging this week. I was in a very crafty mood (which was awesome) and made a pink and white floral crate, a wreath for our front door, rose gold leaf candlesticks, and colored glass bottles for our living room.

Here are my blog posts from last week.

My Favorite Things

You have no idea how hard it is for me to narrow down all of the things that I love. But I am going to try! Every week I will share a few of the things I have found that I think you might love too.

Gluten Free Cranberry Orange Scones

An article popped up on my phone last week called “36 Little Cooking Habits You Should Actually Ditch ASAP“. I decided to read it because I was confident that I probably only did a few, if any, of them.

After going six for the first six, I decided I needed to take the article seriously. I learned so much!

Yikes. I hope you did better than me!

Dining-Room-in-Waco

I got an email from Martha Stewart (not her personal email, haha) titled The Right Way to Clean Your Windows—Plus, How to Make Your Own Window Cleaner.

This was great information as ALL of our windows need cleaning.

Many of you might need this info after the bad weather. Enjoy!

If you want to spruce up your living room, you might enjoy Free Designer Living Room Decorating Hacks.

Here are Some Instagram Accounts You Might Want to Check Out

One Healthy Habit

Coffee-Creamer-Alternative

Many of you were very enthusiastic about my story last Sunday about my new healthy eating habits. I don’t think you need to go gluten-free, dairy-free, and meat-free at once.

Rather, why not try one healthy habit a week? I will share one of my healthy habits every week and you can try it or not. It’s up to you,

Let’s start with the item I fought and fought not to change. For ever.

My coffee creamer.

It’s a long story, but in a nutshell, I do not like black coffee. I love coffee but I really like it with flavored cream. I tried every possible healthy flavored creamer but the ones without sugar, were terrible. And then my awesome doctor suggested I try Laird’s Superfood Creamer. It contains Coconut Milk Powder, Aquamin (calcium from marine algea), and Organic Extra Virgin Coconut Oil.

Based on the ingredient list, it sounded disgusting. But guess what?

I love it.

You just need this battery operated amazing frother to make sure it’s not lumpy in your coffee.

Once step at a time, right?


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Things I Love for Under $25

Good Things from Martha

Yep, each week I will feature one of the gazillion Good Things tips that Martha Stewart has shared with all of us over the years.

Good Things Tip

Today I am sharing one of Martha’s top Good Things tips and this dish packing idea is brilliant.

Thanks Martha for this inspiration.

Click here to see more.


What’s Ahead

Next week is all about organization and I am joining the most talented blogger ever and my dear friend Karianne Wood from Thistlewood. We will be sharing five days of organizing rooms and tomorrow we start with our kitchens!

You might be pleased to know that my definition of organization includes both Function and Fashion. So plan to see some smart organization and some fun new decor changes in every room!

Kitchen-Organization

Pin the Sunday Morning Coffee image below to your Pinterest Boards (just click the Pin button in the top left corner). You can also follow along with me on Pinterest!

For real-time updates, follow me on Instagram or Facebook.

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36 Comments

  1. Fun fact! My son and daughter-in-love’s wedding was posted on Martha’s Instagram account!!!!! Very exciting. It was a lovely day!

  2. I did the iced vodka thing for Christmas this year! Looked so pretty, I put it in a glass ice bucket so that when the ice melted I didn’t have to worry, unfortunately it cracked the ice bucket. Years ago when I was following Martha, I put the dish detergent in a pretty glass bottle. Would love to hear more about your eating/lifestyle changes. My mom also had Alzheimers. My daughter is vegan, I am trying, but I’m curious about gluten free.

    1. Thank you for reaching out Joan. I’m so glad that you made the iced vodka blocks! I will definitely be sharing more about my new lifestyle changes, so stay tuned! Thanks again for your comment and have a great weekend!

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