Liberty Brunch

Last week we headed out for a lovely brunch at The Liberty.  I am on their email list and they sent a lovely invitation for a FREE brunch!  Hello – they are talking my language!  Don’t have to ask me twice!  Their brunch menu includes an appetizer, entree and dessert buffet.  I chose the Crispy Crab Cake salad and Joe started with a Melon and Heirloom Tomato Salad.  They were both very light and crisp with a fresh bite – the perfect size portion to start your meal. 

 

For our entrees I went with the Table side carved Prime Rib with grilled asparagus potatoes and mushrooms with a side of mushroom demi-glaze and Yorkshire Pudding. Joe had the North Carolina Grilled Trout with fingerling potatoes, baby green beans and arugula. 
The prime rib was seasoned very well and cooked to medium – although they didn’t ask what temperature I preferred which was a little strange.  The meat was tender and delicious.  The demi-glaze was actually not needed and thank goodness for that because it was extremely thick and was overly sweet – more syrupy than jus.  The asparagus and mushroom were perfectly seasoned and a great compliment to the beef.  I was so excited about having Yorkshire Pudding after seeing it made many times on TV but never trying for myself.  Well…  I was disappointed.  It was thick & dense; unlike what they should be.  It should be almost like a cloud light and fully but crispy and buttery on the outside.  So my search continues to taste a yummy Yorkshire Pudding - maybe one day.

The trout was prepared lovely with the skin still on.  Light and fresh great combination of elements, perfect for a Sunday lunch.

After our main course, we were off to the dessert buffet.  They have it set up in the dining room for you to help yourself.  A good selection:  pecan pie, chocolate chip cookies, brownies, lemon bars, and lemon coconut cake.  We sampled a little of almost everything…  what?  We had to try it.  The pecan pie was my favorite but I can’t say that any of them were amazing.  But at that point we had plenty of food so just a bite of sweet is all you really need but for y’all I had more than just a bite.  I know, you can thank me later.
We’ve been to The Liberty multiple times and for the most part always enjoy it.  But there does seem to be one or two things that keep it from being a full four stars.

Have you been there?  What did you think?  If not go and do tell!  Are you big fan of Tom Condron formerly with the Harper group?

Artsy Folk

Last weekend a group of us girls headed up to NoDa for a little afternoon of “Art Shopping.”  This was a really cool way to see all kinds of artist selling their wares.  I would love the opportunity to be a part of this next year – and the cool thing…  booths are on $50 bucks! 

Check out some of the different vendors we saw:

This is a really cool artist that does paintings of Charlotte.  A cool way to experience our Queen City on your walls.  My favorite piece was probably the one of the “Smelly Cat Coffee house.”

A dear friend of ours opened The Smelly Cat years ago before I even lived in Charlotte.  They were some of the first pioneers of the NoDa area.  The painting brought back sweet memories for me!

Then we saw this sweet booth:

Emma’s work was super sweet!  She has filled these lovelies with lavender and other herbs.  She had some uber cute note cards too!  You can check her out via her blog…  www.emmacwallace.wordpress.com   

Check out these artists we saw on Saturday as well:

Studio – e	intenyears
olive o. home	Jeva Art
Papyrus Passions	Howelling Moon Artworks

Don’t ya just love some fun arts & crafts!!  Well if you’re in Greenville this weekend you should totally check out the Indi Craft Parade @ Highland Mill.  Looks like a great time with all kinds of fun artists!  I really wish I was in Greenville this Saturday!

Butterflies & Purple Snakes

This past weekend I had a fun outing with Ellie & Emily.  We went out to the Hummingbird Festival at Reedy Creek Nature Preserve.  It was a fun time with lots of activities for the kiddies.  But our favorite had to be the face painting.  The sweet lady that was doing the face painting was super talented.

Check out the process…

Ms Emily wasn’t feeling the full face painting but a purple snake crawling up her arm she was all about! 

 

And then she had another little guy crawling up her arm.

What a fun day with my sweet sweet girls!

Crafting Night Out

Yes that’s right here in the cool Queen City, we have a lovely group, Crown Town Homemade, that gathers on the last Thursday of the month to hang and do some craftin’!  Pretty cool, huh!

Shannon and I ventured out last week to check this event out.  Rachel Taliaferro of Rachel Taliaferro Art Jewelry led a class on making mobiles.  While her main craft is art jewelry she took her knowledge of working with metals to the skies, well maybe not the actual skies but at least to the air. 

Mobiles are such a cool way to decorate – they’re not just for hanging over the crib.  They provide visual interest in a spot that is some times hard to address.  For example Shannon uses a mobile in her living room over her coffee table /ottoman to add some interesting dimension in the center of the room. 

  

We are all listening intently to Ms Rachel.  And then we got to work…

Look at some of the handy work:

Rachel gave some really cool ideas from using easy Origami to hanging Christmas ornaments with found objects inside.  We weren’t  able to finish ours that evening but once we do – I’ll be sure to share!

If you’re in the Charlotte area on the last Thursday of the month, be sure to check out Crown Town Homemade at the Patchwork Playhaus.

Where do you blog?

Kate over at Centsational Girl is having an impromptu Linky Party asking, “Where Do You Blog?”

I have recently added a little office space to the living room. Once we moved our rooms around a while back, I lost my desk and have been missing it. So I looked around the house searching for spot where I could house an office. I don’t need a whole room for this but just a corner. I felt like the living room was the best option. So once I decided on the space it was time to figure out what kind of desk.

To figure out what size/shape the desk needed to be, I set up a mock table…

So I liked the way the taller piece would work with the sofa. Oh and check out the lamp I scored from my Mom – that used to be my grandparents. I remember it being in their bedroom for YEARS!

So after a few measurements – I’m off to IKEA! Have I said before how much I LOVE the fact we have an IKEA fifteen minutes away – ahhh Life is Good!

So after a little assembly I had a super sleek cool desk!

Now for some accessories and my laptop = instant workspace!

I really like the way it turned out. I’m still in search of a shade for the lamp. But boy oh boy lampshades aren’t that easy to come by! Also still thinking about adding some kind of artwork or bulletin board behind the desk - nice and low. But still on the fence. What do you think?

So that’s the official blog spot – ha! blogspot that was funny. But to keep it real you will most likely find us like this when blogging.

So where do you blog, pay bills, write notes, etc? Go link up with Centsational Girl.

Make the blog “yours”

Do you have blog envy??  I know I do!  I look at these amazing designs and hem and haw about should I pay for someone to make my blog pretty???  I am limited when it comes to graphic designing skills.  I would love to have Photoshop and actually know how to use it!  I’ve looked into taking courses and buying the software but I think I would need a part time job to pay for that!  So I have been searching for tutorials on how to make my own blog pretty for FREE.
I found this great tutorial on making your own header, with software I already had!  Sarah at Clover Lane guest posts on Blissfully Domestic and did a post a while back on using Picasa to make your own header.  YEAH!  Finally!  She completely breaks it down for you – super simple! 
As you may have noticed (if you aren’t reading this in Google reader) that I figured it out a while back and used my own photos to create the header for our blog.  I played around with a couple different ideas…
  





This was before I cropped them and added text.  But the options are limitless!  My mind is spinning with all the different creations I could come up with!!  I worked on one for my good friend Julie for her blog Three Queens and a King.

You have to hop over to her site to see how it all came together!

Along with making a new header I changed the background, text, colors etc.  If you haven’t played with bloggers new layout design, you must!  So many cool background options!! 

I am still wanting to work on the sidebar and figure out how to make the pictures with links so if anyone knows of a good tutorial for that let me know!  But you must go check out Sarah’s tutorial and try it!  And if you don’t have Picasa yet I highly recommend it!  Great tool for editing and sharing your photos as well!

So what do you think of the new design?  Any suggestions?   

Dropping back in…

Earlier this week, we stopped by Rhonda’s and saw the lovely facade of her home. It’s very interesting how similar our homes are: built in 1950’s, Ranch, hardwoods, 3 bedrooms, etc. Her nieces asked her one time, “where are you stairs, Aunt Rhonda?” Cracked me up!

So anyhoo… now we are moving into the Master Bedroom. This is the only before shot we have – and yes I do think that’s a person under those covers.

And the now…

Isn’t that great! Light - airy – refreshing – tranquil. Love it!

Check out that amazing mirror she made! She found the project on Remodelaholic and they found it from Straight Stitches. Whoever it came from it’s awesome – A LOT of work Rhonda says but totally worth it!!

I love her collage of artwork. And the addition of the antique dresser in the space is such a nice touch. Adds sweet character! I also want to point out how she used the drapery panels behind her headboard. This serves multiple purposes. There is a window back there but it’s in an awkward location that doesn’t allow you to center the bed on the wall – but she cleverly made the rod longer and used the panels to her advantage! Adding softness and height to the focal point in the room – nice work!

And you must see the before on the dresser she re –did for this room as well. She still wants to add a little more drama to this piece – some glass knobs and maybe a little decoupage here or there.

I have to say I love the clean lines of what she’s got going on now. But she’s got a vision and I look forward to seeing how it turns out! I’m sure she’ll share it with us when she’s done.

I can’t wait for the next installment of Dropping In with Rhonda!