pumpkins and red velvet

i was chatting with my friend jessica today about favorite recipes. i thought with the holidays coming up, this would be a good time to post my 2 favorite dessert recipes.

the first is a 4 layer pumpkin cake from kraft. this is so easy to make and the frosting is so light that you don't feel like you are slipping into a sugar coma with your first bite. it is quickly becoming a holiday tradition. i have never been a fan of pumpkin pie and this is the perfect replacement. even my cynical brother (wink wink) approves.

the second dessert is a party table favorite. red velvet cake balls from bakerella. i have never had anything like these little balls, they are so delicious. plus their size is reminiscent of candy bar mini bites. for the holidays, you could use white chocolate and then drizzle red or green colored chocolate over the top. they are time consuming and messy, but are truly easy to make.

enjoy!

blue sky

here is my latest chandelier. i recently rummaged through a friend's old barn filled with long forgotten treasures and this is one of my finds. luckily, i bought a few on the same day, so more are coming your way. i absolutely love this color. i can see it in either a chocolate brown room or a bright white room. the shades are made out of amy butler fabric and cast a great blue glow when the light is on.

i just finished a great festival in newnan, ga at their monthly market days. it was wonderful hanging out around the town square and meeting a ton of new people. i hope everyone loves their purchases from Linwood Avenue.

i received a lot of requests for chandeliers of another color than the blue and cream i had. if you could dream up the best color for a chandelier, what would it be? red, brown, hot pink????? if you haven't noticed yet, i like to be different :)

anyone, anyone?

i recently helped my friend move out of her circa 1960-70 ranch and i came across this bizarre piece of ceramic. now, i know i watch too much antiques roadshow, but i just have a feeling that this piece is important. but, what it is, i don't know. i am hoping someone out there can help me figure it out. only one other woman owned the house and she left a strange curled elephant foot sculpture on the front porch and a gazillion arts and crafts magazines among other things. all which lead me to believe that the previous owner had a history with art.

the artist stamp is on the top and resembles a figure eight, or a squared off letter "B". there is a hole that goes through the entire piece. it is roughly 7 inches wide by 3 inches high. it has a brown glaze that reminds me of the trim color on my childhood dishes.

please help!

(don't worry jaime, i will remember you when the cash starts rolling in)

athens, ohio

this past weekend, i went back to my youth - back to athens, ohio / ohio univeristy. i have been a southern transplant for over 10 years now. there are some things i love about atlanta, like not having to own a scarf, outdoor restaurants and dogwood trees in the spring. however, with the first step off the plane in ohio, i can smell my youth, i can smell the crumpled fall leaves, i can smell the chill of fall. can someone please bottle this smell? things seem simpler here, the sky is closer to you here. i want to go back to the days where it has snowed too much to leave your house, and you don't feel one bit guilty about doing nothing. i want to see the amazing colors of the turning leaves. i want to wear sweatpants to the grocery store, because people definitely do not do that in atlanta! somehow this old life is embedded into my DNA, i can't escape it and i never want to forget it or how it makes me feel.