fancying.

i love mismatched chairs.

and all the little bits of color in this room.

and the fireplace next to the dining table.

just move me in.

{from design sponge}

happy tape and the organization of a cute calendar?

yes and yes.

{from decor8}

i love these custom gift boxes.

what a perfect little package to give or to be given.

and this one in particular made me giggle.

{from you are my fave}

next time i am anywhere near los angeles, 

i am finding this food truck.  

it just looks too delicious.

{from oh, joy}

everything in this house is like a kids' wonderland.  

you should look at every single picture.  

they are all fantastic.

{from vogue}

a good start.

even just ten minutes of quiet with a magazine and a coffee offers a mighty fine start to the week.

thanks to leftovers from our visit to the union yesterday my day is off to a very good start, indeed.

eating chili.

a neighbor gave me this recipe for supposedly

"the best chili you have ever tasted."

my family was not so convinced.

i guess they are just creatures of habit.

they like what they know.

if you give that recipe a try, 

let me know how it goes over in your house.

(i did switch out the meat for turkey and chicken)

otherwise, here is the best chili 

the burch kids ever tasted...

turkey chili with black eye peas

24 oz ground turkey

2 onions

2 green bell peppers

4 cloves garlic

2- 14 1/2 oz cans diced tomatoes

2- 15 oz cans black eye peas

2- 8 oz cans tomato sauce

1 tsp cumin

season with tony's (or seasoning of choice)

in a large saucepan, cook turkey, onion, pepper and garlic.

stir in tomatoes, drained peas, tomato sauce, cumin and tony's and bring to a boil.

reduce heat and cover for 20 minutes.

done.

super easy and always a crowd pleaser.

in emma this march.

christine's adorable historic home

and even more adorable family 

are featured in this month's issue of emma magazine!

check out the full issue here!

fancying.

i love hidden compartment books.

finn's gg gave him one for his birthday a couple years back and it was his prized possession for quite some time... until it fell apart.

be warned: don't use a really old book.

{from drifter and the gypsy}

i love all the simple little corners of this home.

white, clean and seemingly clutter free.

{from design sponge}

this book sounds fascinating.

it certainly begs the question, 

what would be on my ideal bookshelf?

{from amazon}

i love this picture.

kids wild in the woods.

i often dream of living somewhere that would allows my kids to have adventures in the forest...

{from julie ansiau via la la lovely}

ten year olds love burgers.

this weekend we had a little party for our very sweet about to be ten year old.

he has a ridiculous obsession with burgers, so he and his friends went on a taste-test around phoenix to find what they determined to be the "best burger" in town.

thanks to smeeks, i found the perfect "burger themed" erasers that we added to the gummy burgers from the balboa candy store.

it was quite the burger-themed extravaganza.

here and there.

the weather just keeps dropping right when we think it's getting nice again...

oh, well.

we spent some time outdoors nonetheless, playing with friends and going to soccer.

took some pictures for handmade riot.

played a whole lot of sorry.

came across some hilarious cake-toppers.

had a few dance parties.

and just enjoyed some quieter days amidst the crazy.