PINK+RED TOP 5

I had a fab time with the Pink+Red collaborative pin board. There were so many pins I never would have seen if it wasn't for the great collaborators. Check the board out if you haven't seen it.

Here are my top five favorites from this board.

pinned by Teresa

I love the array of colors in the abstract picture.

pinned by Katie

There is something about the pink, red and coral that I love together. Then throw in the glittery golden top and it's over for me. Wish I dressed like this.

pinned by me

I have a thing for water color and calligraphy right now. These cards are so sweet.

pinned by Laura

Color blocking is cool, in case you didn't get the memo. I love this shift dress with sleeves.

pinned by Sara

Wouldn't it be so fun to do a little girl photo shoot in this garden. I know my Tess would want to set up a tent here.

THE LAST OF FEBRUARY

some of Davis' rock collection

Today the big kids went back to school after a week long break. I can't believe it was one year ago we were vacationing here. This year, instead of swimming and gorging ourselves on chilaquiles, we played games, watched movies, and potty trained the baby. Well, the baby is three and it's time for him to man up and pee in the toilet.

Oh, and if you follow me on twitter, you would know that I watched some So You Think You Can Dance auditions here in Salt Lake. Yeah, it was totally fun, and I met Ringo Star. Ringo was wearing his classic pink suit, looking all professional.

Today it is back to life, back to reality (sing it in your head like this). More potty training, which consequently includes loads of laundry. Eating left over Sunday dinner, milk and semi sweet chocolate chip cookies. Thinking about taking a shower, if the couch let's me get up. All around awesomeness.
I really do love my life.

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FABRIC COVERED TABLE

The top of the kid's table has seen better days. There has been more room switching and I needed this table to have a white top. It is too cold to spray paint at my house, and it would have taken me forever to cover the splotchy black. 

The easiest and quickest way for me to turn the black to white was to cover it with vinyl fabric. With the help of my beloved staple gun, it took no time at all.

A fabric backed tablecloth would work for the project, but I couldn't find an all white one. So, I stopped at Jo-Ann's and picked up two yards of this white vinyl in the sale section. 

1. Lay your table on top of the wrong side of your fabric, and cut a piece large enough to wrap under by a couple of inches. *If your fabric is wrinkled, iron the fabric side on a low setting.

2. Use your staple gun to attach the fabric to the table. Start with one long side. Pull tight and staple the opposite side. Repeat until all four sides of your fabric are stapled to the table.

3. Corners can be tricky. Our table had round corners and I didn't do anything fancy. Just pull the corner a little at a time and staple it down.

4. Grab a box cutter and trim up the edges of the fabric around the table. You don't want it to hang down when the table is right side up.

Here is our table in action. No sign of the ugly black top that is there and a snap to wipe off.

ART WALL

Tess changed rooms before I even posted pictures of her room makeover. We have all three kids on one room. What did we do with the extra bedroom? It has now become the library, or quiet play room.

The room has been collecting all the extra toys and odds and ends for a few months. It was time to put my vision into action.

I love displaying the kids pictures and drawings. For the art gallery I wanted frames and clip boards. Frames for pictures that we would leave up for a while, and clip boards for the ever growing pile of day to day coloring and painting.

All of the white frames are from Ikea, and the large clip boards were found at the dollar store. I tend to rearrange the house a lot, and I hate patching nail holes. We opted to use 3M Command strips to hang our gallery.

Mike is always so patient with me, and I appreciate it. I tell him what I want, then let him do all the measuring and math. He is an engineer and always thinks things through. On the other hand, I tend to me a little hasty and just start throwing things together. Both ways work. One just looks a little more polished.

The command strips are really easy to apply. It's all about the peel and stick.

Here is the finished wall in all its glory! Pretty fun little area for the kiddos, ya?

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MEET UP

Have your heard about this awesome meet up tomorrow night?

It's not just for bloggers, it's for all of us who are readers too! I will be there, and would love to meet you. The first 50 will receive some lovely goodies, and everyone gets 20% off an item from Soel. Woot Woot!

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THREE YEARS AND COUNTING

image from Noelle Reynolds

Last Saturday was my third Blog Birthday. I totally forgot. You too? No Biggie. I spent the day sledding and eating the donuts with the family.

I spent Sunday afternoon reading posts from my first year. It's fun to look back and see how things have changed and progressed in the last few years.

This makes me wonder what is in store for the next few years? I love having a place to share and connect with others from all over the world. I am so flattered to have people, that are not related to me, reading this blog. Don't get me wrong, Mom and Joe, I am grateful for you.

What would you readers like to see in the future? I would love to have other like minded people contribute on this space too. Over the last year I have really thought about how much time I spend creating versus the time I spend enjoying my family. A lot of things over lap, but it would be nice to for me to find a better balance.

Interested in collaborating, or contributing here on The Salty Pineapple? Send me an email! saltypineapple at gmail dot com. This third year is going to be great.

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A FEW THINGS

This week I realized how much I love my peanut butter Cap'n Crunch. As I searched the storage room for another box of cereal, my heart broke when I realized there was none. A true ache people.

As soon as school is finished today, we start a week long holiday. I can't wait. Before I send you off for a fabulous weekend, I wanted to share a few things I liked this week:

Danyelle's simple tutorial on how to add your email to your comments, so I can reply back to you.
This d.i.y. confetti tablecloth on Oh Happy Day. I'm totally making this sooner than later.
A couple of weekends ago we ate at a caribbean grill. I devoured the Cuban Ropa Vieja. I think this recipe from Real Simple is going to recreate that at home for me.
Oh, and I can't stop thinking about finding the perfect midi/tea length skirt.

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TESS' SELF PORTRAITS

If you gave your five year old and ipod, what would they take pictures of? Out of 753 photos, yes you read that right, only seven were self portraits.

The remaining 746 photos were of toys, screen shots of her games, and playing with her brothers and friends. Pretty fun to see life through your kids eyes.

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LOVE DAY DINNER

Did you have any parties this morning to attend? I'm Tess' room mom. We had her class party at ten this morning, and I stopped at three stores before the party. It was my own fault for watching too much t.v. and not focusing on the party planning.

Valentine gifts Tess passed out to her class mates.

All went well. One little boy even said it was the best day ever. That made me feel pretty good.

It is our tradition to give our kids a book, instead of a card, for Valentine's Day. On the inside cover we write a little love note and date the year. The kids look forward to it and start asking about it as soon as February hits. Oh, and this year the kids are getting the hand made jump ropes too.

At the last minute I decided we needed some neon with our dessert. It took all of five minutes to add washi tape to some wooden spoons. Ta-da pretty spoons with spunk.

The table is set and I am debating if we should dress up for our roast dinner. I'm pretty beat after all my running around. Maybe we should just wear our jammies?

Growing up, my Mom always made Valentine's Day exciting. I loved waking up and seeing the candies, balloons and cards on the kitchen table. In junior high, and high school, Valentine's Day was the day girls with boyfriends showed off. Can you tell I was boyfriend less? Whatever...

Now that I am a mom, I want today to be a day we show love to our friends and family. We need to make sure we show love all year round, but it's fun to have one super duper lovey dovey day.

So friends, Happy Valentine's Day!
Hugs and Kisses

LOTS OF LOVE

Good morning lovers. Today is one crazy jam packed day for me. I'm about to run last minute errands for my daughter's class party that starts in one hour. Aghh. I hope to back this after noon to share a few more things. 

Have a great day!

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WITH A HEART ON THE SIDE

I love cooking for my family. I love making desserts for my family. I show love with food.

These two desserts are some of the easiest ways to show love through food. You can make this as fancy or simple as you like.

Dessert No. 1

Simple:
Pick up soft baked cookies at the store and use cookie cutter to turn them into hearts. Cut a small slit out of the bottom of the cookie so it will fit on the rim of your glass. Set aside.
More time:
Make a batch of your favorite cookies and shape them into hearts.  Cut a small slit out of the bottom of the cookie so it will fit on the rim of your glass. Set aside.

Simple: 

Layer a glass with hot fudge, caramel or chocolate sauce. Scoop favorite ice cream. Top with more yummy sauce.

More time:

Whip you your finest chocolate, caramel or hot fudge sauce. Make Grandma's classic ice cream recipe. Top with more of your delicious sauce.

Set cookie on place on the rim of you glass. Doesn't that look fabulous?

Do you want another one?

Dessert No. 2

Simple:

Layer brownie, pudding, and whipped cream in a glass. Top with something crunchy.

More time:

Make this brownie recipe. Whip up your favorite homemade chocolate mousse or pudding. Gather the fresh cream from your dairy cow and whip it. Top with imported chocolate crunch biscuits.

Two desserts that will show your family your love them. Which one are your going to make for Valentine's dinner?

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HEART NAPKINS

I was inspired by the origami heart garland Jessica posted a few weeks ago. With my magazine banners everywhere, I needed another way to incorporate the origami heart. 

Introducing my neon heart napkins!

Reusable or disposable napkins can both be folded into hearts. The trick is getting the right size rectangle to begin with. Here are three different napkin sizes that I was able to fold into hearts.

1. Open up your napkins and assess the size of your rectangle.

2. Make necessary folds to get a long skinny rectangle. The red napkin was fine, and for the other two, I just folded them down in half.

3. Find your center point of the rectangle and fold each short end towards the top. Align the bottom edge with the center line like in picture three.

4. Repeat step number three to the opposite side. Your napkin should have a nice point like an arrow.
5. Following picture number five, fold down your two center corners to create the V of the heart.

If you like yourself and angular heart you could be finished here. Want a little more? Fold the out side corners in just a little bit.

You should now have an origami heart napkin ready to wipe your cute little face.

The fabric store had some nice neon quilting cotton that I couldn't pass up. I serged up some big square napkins and folded them into hearts. The fabric napkins don't crease and stay as easily as paper napkins. Iron your folds as you go along. The fabric hearts will be nice and flat.

I'm pretty excited about the pop of color these napkins are going to bring to our Valentine table.

Alright friends. Have a great Friday. My kids are home from school today, so I'm dragging them to day care while I treat myself to a facial. Oh, lucky me!

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ITALIAN SODA POP

Back in the day I spent my freshman year of college at a school in Washington. There was a Starbucks cart in the Union Building. Now I'm not a coffee drinker, but my friends that worked there would make me all sorts of Italian soda concoctions. I wish I could remember all the syrup flavor combinations! Peach and grape sound familiar, but I'm not sure it's worth a test.

Italian sodas are a fun drink to make at home. This is what I am serving my family to drink at our Valentine's dinner.

You should make some too.

Sparkling water, tonic water, club soda... it's all the same. I don't recommend Sprite or 7-Up because they already have syrup in them.
Flavored syrups come in lot of different flavors. Some are even sugar free. I picked up raspberry and vanilla from my grocery store next to the coffee. My Target and Walmart didn't carry any that I could see.
Half & Half is optional. You could use regular milk or cream too. I like the soda with and without cream. Make it how you like it. You can also top with whipped cream.

The process is easy. Pour chilled soda water in to a glass. Add ice cubes if you desire.

Next pour your flavored syrup into the glass. I like a few tablespoons per glass. (This makes you realize how much syrup is in every soda you drink.)

Now is the time you add the half and half, or whipped cream for a creamy drink.

Drink up and repeat. It's really that easy!

SWEETS FOR ME AND YOU

Have you gone out to eat on Valentine's Day? Wait times for a table can be ridiculous. Why not stay in and enjoy a nice meal at home? 

This year I am putting together a fancy dinner for Mike and the kids. Place cards are the first thing you need to make any dinner go from normal to fancy. Okay, probably not, but it is fun all the same.

Here's what I used for our place cards:

Small glass jars from the craft store
Various candies
Crochet string
Chalkboard contact paper and chalk
Tiny hole punch

1. Wash and dry your jars. 2. Fill jars with yummy candies.

 See how cute they already are?

3. I used a scalloped heart punch to cut the chalkboard hearts. You really could use black cardstock too.  If you're using chalkboard paper, chalk it up a little. I used initials for our cards. If you have nice penmanship writing names out would look nice.

4. Punch holes on the right and left side of the heart.

5. Thread string through the holes and tie heart around the little jar.

If I'm quick enough, I can save these jars and tags to reuse for another time! We'll see how that goes.