I’m riding 130 feet in the air at the top of the world’s only solar-powered Ferris wheel. From my vantage point, above the Santa Monica Pier at Pacific Park, I have a panoramic view of the surrounding Southern California coastline. … Read More...
The post Sun, Surf, Sand, and Snow: Weekend Getaways in Southern California appeared first on Urban Gardens.
Hey friends! It’s been over a month since I did my last Caught My Attention post, and these posts were supposed to be bi-monthly…..so it’s about time for round 2! For any newbies here, welcome!, this new blog series is...
We’ve all strolled through garden centers stocked with hundreds of ubiquitous terra cotta nursery flower pots in the usual shapes and sizes. But did you know that this simple pottery is descended from ancestors that played a significant role in … Read More...
The post The Storied History and Enduring Life of Terra Cotta appeared first on Urban Gardens.
I have to admit I don’t have a green thumb, but even though faux or fake plants seem to be making a pretty significant comeback (um, does every home blogger now have a fake fiddle leaf fig in their home?) I just can’t. But I promise...
I’d always been turned off by those French Toast recipes that had to sit overnight, and so when I discovered this recipe, that was an overnight recipe but worked sitting in the French Toast mixture for only three hours I was sold. It’s delicious and doesn’t require quite as much forethought. You can make it at 6am and be eating it at 9am. I can’t wait to hear what you think of it!
Here’s how you do it:
1 loaf of French bread, cut into bite-sized pieces
1/2 cup butter
1 cup plus one tablespoon brown sugar
2 cups of milk
6 eggs
2 tsp vanilla
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
Mix all ingredients together (except for the bread and 1 tbs of brown sugar). Butter / grease a 9×13 pan (this one is my absolute favorite, I found it at Marshalls). Cover the bottom of the pan with the bread and then pour the liquid mixture over the bread. Let sit in the refrigerator for 3-8 hours.
Sprinkle remaining brown sugar over the French Toast and bake at 375 for 30 minutes.
Recipe found via All Recipes.
The post Baked French Toast (the quick version) appeared first on Migonis Home.
This past week was a great one for us… the court hearing for the twins’ birth parents was scheduled to start on Monday but the twins’ parents came to an agreement with the state that they would willingly release their rights for the twins, and their older siblings, in exchange for no trial and three visits a year with the twins (the older siblings have more frequent visits because they aren’t in a pre-adoptive home yet). If you are wondering how parents could willingly give up their rights it’s most likely because their attorneys told them they didn’t stand a chance in court and that if they settled they would be guaranteed three visits a year as opposed to two (or whatever the judge may decide). This means that there is no chance of an appeal and that the adoption will happen, if all paperwork is completed by the state, in about three months. I’m already brainstorming a party…
Not Elle’s best picture… 
| Coat: Zara (this was my Paris purchase!) | Dress: J. Crew via ThredUp
My brain just feels so much lighter and I’m having far fewer moments of anxiety now that the Salem condo renovation is done and now that we have a decision on the babies. As a reward for tackling the final task of the condo renovation (submitting all the final receipts to the home owner) I ordered this book off of Amazon after reading the back of it at Barnes & Noble ($6 cheaper on Amazon) while we were away on our Boston getaway. I had to force myself to put it down to write a blog post (I’m one of those people that lose themselves to good books).
This past week I made a little bit larger purchase than just a book. We purchased the tile for our kids bath renovation. This project seems to be one of our longest lasting ones but we’ve been doing it in stages while we figured out what we wanted this space to look like long term. We got these gorgeous basket weave tiles from Wayfair. One of the perks of being a blogger is that I was able to approach Wayfair and ask if they wanted to partner on this project so they are covering about a third of the cost of the tiles. We purposely chose this tile for the affordability and ease of laying it. I figured we could choose something a little more expensive in the smaller master bath (I adore these) for when we redo that space. (This tile we ordered is out of stock till mid-April but THIS ONE is almost identical and will ship by Friday!)
Ours will look very similar to this but with gray squares as opposed to black.
DEAL ALERTS
World Market has Free Shipping off of any purchase over $150. The console table behind our couch is from there and we love it! Also, if you join EBates (a way I save money all the time on online purchases, it’s legit, I’ve received checks every quarter with my cash back) you get 4% back when purchasing from World Market. Join EBates HERE and get an additional $10 back with your first purchase over $25.
EBates has 10% back at WalMart right now. One of my favorite benches (now in our living room) would be $85.99 with 10% back (some catagories are only 5% cash back now but home items are 10%).
My favorite chair is priced at $253 now with free two day shipping. Keep in mind it’ll feel hard for the first few days you own it but then will become more comfy. We’ve had ours in our office and living room for about a year and they’ve held up really well.
This bed is the closest one I could find to ours (our color is in between the gray and charcoal) but it’s on sale and ships by March 1!
I hope you have an amazing day today! The kids are on school vacation so they are off learning to ski with AJ while I’m home with sleeping babies! I’m so grateful to have such amazing readers who send me the sweetest notes about our life and generally care about our family and in particular how things are going with the twins’ adoption process.
The post Life Lately: Some BIG News (plus some great deals) appeared first on Migonis Home.
As you might already know I’m currently in the midst of giving my teenage son’s small bathroom a little makeover. I know a lot of home design bloggers wait until a makeover project is completely done before they share any pictures of...
Here’s a civilized idea for getting away from civilization…or for hunkering down right in your own backyard. Escape off-grid (or not) with ...
