Clippings of inspiration.

You know what I love about magazines? The surprise of finding a new one in the mail, eagerly waiting to be read. Each month I find myself carefully scanning through pages upon glossy pages in an effort to spot my new favorite tidbit of information or idea. Once finished, my brand new glossy gets added to the ever-growing stack of all my other well-read, inspirational glossies. And then, some day in the not-so-distant future, a cleaning frenzy will strike and I inevitably decide that the stack must go... and so go the beautiful pages of inspiration. Into the trash.

The perfect solution: Why of course, it must be a pretty accent notebook which beckons guests to take a peak!  Because, really, what's the point of bending page corners or placing bookmarks in a magazine you know you'll eventually be tossing? The end result? A book full of well-loved favorites!

ROSYRILLI.COM magazine clippings of inspiration

Sunny Sundays.

I'm going to keep this short because I am e.x.h.a.u.s.t.e.d. But the good kind of exhausted. The kind that I know my abs and arms will thank me for later.  Last Spring, planning a wedding trumped my grand plans of renovating our backyard. This year, I'm determined to show our little plot of earth a lot more lovin'. Today I proudly took my very first baby step - removing the layers upon layers of leaves, branches and pine needles. 

The photos below don't do my effort justice. I managed to fill my garbage can 8 times full of these yard droppings. Sadly, the newly formed blisters on my hand got the best of me and forced an early end to my excavation efforts. 


ROSYRILLI.COM Yard clearing after photo
ROSYRILLI.COM Yard clearing after photo
I'll have to wait until the next sunny day to finish. I'll get you yard! More (prettier) postings on the beautifying of my backyard to come!


The blue bottle.

Olive's original companion in a martini was gin, before vodka came in and stole the show. I, however, don't mind gin. In fact, I actually enjoy the unique flavor.  So last night when my sister came to visit for an evening of girly movies and pizza, I took the opportunity to purchase one of those fancy blue bottles of gin and try my hand at a new drink.
                     
Meet Tom Collins himself....
ROSYRILLI.COM Tom Collins recipe
To make two, you'll need...
2 oz. fresh lemon juice
4 tsp. sugar
4 oz. gin
Club soda
An orange and maraschino cherries, to garnish

Add lemon juice, sugar, and gin to shaker filled 2/3 with ice. Shake well 15-20 seconds. Fill collins glass with ice and add contents of shaker. Lastly, pour in club soda and garnish with an orange slice and cherries. Stir with swizzle stick. 
Enjoy!

My personal adjustments to make this recipe better - less lemon juice, more sugar and cherries. Sweet always wins over sour in my world :) 



A berry breakfast.

This morning I decided to spoil my husband. Yes, that's right. I used the key to his heart. Sadly we all know what an unfortunate event it is to have to hear the sound of your alarm buzzing on a Saturday morning. And more unfortunate yet, is that it's quite inevitable if you're planning to meet your friends early to hit the slopes for the day, as he was. Sooo, to ease the pain, I snuck out of bed to prepare an early bird special for him. 

On today's menu: 
Waffles topped with warm maple syrup, berries, berries and more berries*
A glass of cold milk
Hot cinnamon flavored coffee, conveniently prepared to go
*Of the berry variety included were delicious blueberries, raspberries and blackberries. 


ROSYRILLI.COM A berry breakfast.
It made for a great start to both of our days. And lucky for him, I even resisted the urge to eat the entire container of blueberries before adding them to the mix!




Disclaimer:  I would type this in very fine print for full effect, but I worry you wouldn't be able to read it! So, here goes. My very first confession of my newly created blog: I rarely ever (and by that, I really mean never) make breakfast for my husband. To be honest, I was ever so tempted to stay snuggled up with my little Teacup (who you'll meet soon!), under the warmth and coziness of my blankets this morning. BUT, I was inspired by the idea of my yet-to-be-created blog and forced myself up out of bed. And that, my friends, is what I want this blog to be... inspiration for creativity in my life and, who knows, maybe even a little motivation for you too!