28 October, 2010

lost & found

today's 
lost & found
features 
a set of chairs i redeemed
for a dear friend.

remember what they looked like, lost?


well, with new stuffing, fabric & paint
{and a bit of sanding & scrubbing}
 they are beauties.

and very found.





these are the three different styles
she has incorporated around her dining table.
7 chairs total. 
3 of them found on the side of the road.
in disgusting shape.
the other four weren't too bad. 
just needing some life. 
and these beauties are now catered to the style
my sweet friend wanted. 
a patina of a rustic off-white 
with gold showing through.
and the fun green paisley 
fabric combined with burlap.
perfect.

now onto the next project. 
sigh. 

i hope you enjoy your lovely & 
crisp thursday  
dear friends. 
i am. 
i get to spend time with my
dearest friend caitlyn, 
who moved out to england  
once she and her husband married.
they are not visiting too long but 
i get to see her & hug her. 
yipee!!

                          .jessnicole.






26 October, 2010

poor man's gard[en]

our garden has loved loved loved the rain.
unfortunately, the rain has made it quite impossible
to work much on our garden.

excuses excuses

but, mr. amazing did get a chance to 
transfer his seedlings 
{that are fully sprouted}
into pots. and clean up our lawn a bit.

here are some photos of our
progress. 
our very slow progress.

jonathan's amazing work.





i mean, seriously?! these were all seeds!
jonathan is truly cultivating
a mini vegetable garden. and it is so much fun
to watch the progress.

seeing the growth of these baby seedlings
makes gardening worth it. 
we have a ridiculous amount of crabgrass
growing in our front yard and neither of us
are at all excited with the fact that one day,
in order to truly get rid of it, we have to 
shovel & dig it out. entirely. 
here is a photo of our hated crab grass.

it may not look like an annoyance
but it is. it takes over the grass.
so that is our next major feat. 
and it will happen. 
our goal is the end of november.
i think we can do it.

and in order to overcome our crab grass
plague, we'll just have to
remind ourselves why we have a garden.
by eating & cooking with our fresh herbs.
perfect.  

speaking of which, we have been making
freshly homemade pesto with our fresh basil
{well, mostly mr. amazing}
 sage to sautee with, and 
our oregano and rosemary to season with.
divine. i love walking out onto this
moss covered brick path


to gather our fresh herbs.
it is so enchanting.

so although we don't have any exciting
transformations in our garden,
we are simply enjoying the beauty of having one.
even if it is always in process and a bit of work.
the joys of life. 

hope you are enjoying your gloriously crisp 
october evening, wherever you are.

love love love

                     .jessnicole.

oh, and just to get a glimpse of the joys in having a garden 
{and why you should start your own if you haven't already}
this past sunday
we made cheese fondue, butternut squash risotto, 
grilled rib eye with roquefort butter, 
fresh vegetables & almond macaroons.
from scratch.
using fresh herbs. 
it was divine.
i have convinced you it is worth it, haven't i?!

22 October, 2010

[free]day

my favorite feature is back.
[free]day

today's [free]day 
features
miss adelaide
or
addie 
for short

addie is a true friend
to all who enjoy
hosting parties 
consisting of fine beverage, food
and cards {she is an old card table}
jonathan found her on the side of the
road. a man was getting rid of her
and of course mr. amazing knows
good finds when he sees one.

addie is going to be a favorite.
i know it.

here is a photo of today's
[free]day feature, miss adelaide


i know, right?!
thank you jonathan.

she needs quite a bit of work 
but mostly in the finish and not the structure

have a great weekend
sweet friends.
cannot wait to see you tuesday!!

               .jessnicole.


21 October, 2010

a quick post....

because i miss you all.
and because i wanted to at least give
you an update and explain why i haven't
been around for almost two weeks. sad.

the wedding last weekend
was absolutely stunning.
the bride was beyond gorgeous,
decor, flowers, atmosphere, friendship,
weather, food, & music were perfect.
it was great great great.
and mr. amazing and i 
even got to head into 
san francisco on sunday.
can you say fun?
we stayed with our sweet friend, kyle
{thank you kyle} & explored the northeast
part of the city. eating great food along the way.
and it rained. sigh.

i have had quite a few inquiries about pieces
and am trying to keep up with those
as well as working the first few days 
back from northern california.
yesterday was my first day off 
{meaning i had nothing scheduled} 
in over a week...
and it was wonderful. 
and i work today. 
but tomorrow is dedicated to painting
and blogging. 
and i'm excited to work on some new
pieces this weekend.

phew. all that to say. i miss you all.
and i cannot wait be 100% back.
and back with some exciting things.

here are some photos of the last week.
i will make sure i post actual wedding photos
when they are finished...



 these first three photos are of julie's
bachelorette party. natalie {the beauty pictured}
hosted the party and did a phenomenal job. 

my favorite flower we used for the wedding.
this was taken while we were arranging them...

 san fran. 
only photo i took all day.
the rain. that's my excuse.
{it was actually the fact that i was eating
more than half the day.}

i hope you are enjoying your week.
love love love

                  .jessnicole.


08 October, 2010

[free]day

today's [free]day
is going to be a fun
project. well, actually, projects.

i am adding two pieces
to my 'merchandise'
collection. 
aka small & simply decorative 
collection.

here they are.
trudy 
{& her cousin}
jay

trudy is the ladder.
jay is going to be made 
up of the two small pieces on the ground.

they will both become shelves
of some sort. 
you ask 'how?'
i shall show you.
fairly simple & easy for anyone 
to do. 
with the right materials.
you don't even have
to be familiar with big tools
to do this job.

and, please forgive me dear friends.
this week has been surprisingly crazy
for me & i did not get around to 
my 'lost & found' feature 
{in case you had noticed}
i am going to have to ask for grace
in this next week as i am 
helping a sweet friend 
with decor & flowers for her wedding 
next weekend.

so you will be hearing less from
me in this next week but i promise
i will return with some fun projects 
and new ideas.
really.

and to make up for my lack of blogging
yesterday, i will share some wedding photos
of me & mr. amazing. 
since our one year anniversary 
is this sunday,
october 10th, 2010. 
and because we already spent 
last weekend in mexico celebrating
we are just going to enjoy the day locally.
flea market, relaxing 
and then going to ruth's chris 
in pasadena for dinner.
{thank you phil & debbi!!!} 

here are some great photos, courtesy of






the absolute best day of my life.
i love you jonathan david.
i am amazed when i think
of how beautiful our lives are, together.
such a gift.
though marriage & life following
our wedding has not been easy 
by any means, it has been so rewarding
and satisfying in the best ways.
happy almost one year anniversary to us!!!

and i'll be posting a wedding album 
on my facebook page
sometime in the next day or so.
you can see more of our 
wedding photos there.

have a great weekend dear friends.
i will see you scattered throughout next week.
and be back the following!!

                         .jessnicole.

05 October, 2010

poor man's gard[en]

i love mornings that follow rain.
and i love that it finally feels
like autumn.
finally.
dear weather, please stay that way.

our little garden survived
the triple digit heat.
and is, of course, loving this weather.
we did not work on our garden
this past weekend 
{since we were in
mexico celebrating our anniversary!}
but the amazing thing about gardens
is you can leave them for a few days
{obviously with someone watering while 
you are gone...}
and they do just fine.
our little garden is going to town.

i thought i'd share some photos 
of our garden with you.
please take note that mr. amazing
has done a majority of the planting
of our new seedlings.
because, well, he is amazing.
thank you jonathan.

if you haven't seen the photos
of our garden when we first planted,
you can go here and here.
it is so fun to see the transformation
and growth.

and here is where our garden is now.
she is beautiful.
 
our basil is going crazy.
we had to transplant the tiny seedlings
into bigger pots. and a lot of them.
   
 chives & mint
salvia

 our dill. 
this is our very
first plant we started from
our own seeds. meaning, our old dill
gave off seeds & we took those seeds
and planted them. 
{& by we, i mean jonathan}

our thyme. it started as seeds buried
beneath the soil. i'm so proud.




and the seedlings jonathan recently planted.
look at them sprouting!
we'll have peppers & tomatoes in no time!!

and jonathan researched natural sweeteners
and purchased this stevia.
it is actually sweet. honestly.
i might not use it for baking 
but putting in smoothies would be refreshing...

amidst the amazing growth in our little
garden, we have come across two
pests: mold & caterpillars.
the mold loves our zinnia, the caterpillars 
love our basil & mint 
{surprisingly not our tomatoes}
so we have had to cut back our zinnia to 
prevent the spreading of mold & captured
caterpillars to prevent them from eating our plants.
but don't worry. the caterpillars are being
loved by the cutest red headed children we know, who, 
are really hoping to have butterflies soon.
what was once a pest, is now a pet.
perfect.

i hope you all enjoyed your weekend.
jonathan and i had the most romantic weekend.
it felt like our honeymoon.
only a year later.
sigh.
mexico was stunning, the ocean breeze was refreshing,
the food was satisfying and our time to recap
our whole first year of marriage & set goals for
the next year was so good.
here are a few photos of our view.



i know.

have an amazing tuesday sweet friends.
it is supposed to rain this afternoon.
hopefully it will.
this weather is perfect.

                .jessnicole.