pretty little {kitchen} things

Good morning!

I'm going on my third cup of coffee this morning.  Not really because I love coffee all that much {usually one cup gives me a pretty decent case of the jitters}, but because I really like sipping it from this coffee mug.

It's cute, huh?

Just a little fyi--Anthropologie carries the cutest stuff to pretty up your kitchen.  When I stopped in there the other day & laid eyes on this one of a kind coffee cup, it was love at first sight!

I also got these little lovelies

My kitchen is sprinkled with all kinds of little odds & ends things that I have found here & there & everywhere, or that friends have given me as gifts through the years.   I absolutely love it when I stumble across something that screams "me" & is the perfect fit for the kitchen I use so much of.

Now, I realize that not everyone shares my enthusiasm for spending lots of time in the kitchen.  But me?  I absolutely love getting my cook on.  I love trying new recipes, baking sugary treats, & learning little tricks from the tried & true "chefs" in my life {aka: Grandma, Mom, Aunt Elaine, Deb, Stacy-- just to name a few}.

Maybe I enjoy cooking so much because I've learned from watching my own grandmother & mother whip up homemade goodness right in their own kitchens. The feeling as though I'm carrying part of who they are & all that they brought to my life through their cooking, & sharing that with my own little family.

Maybe I enjoy it because it has become another avenue in which I can release some of my creativity.  I can add my own little spins on an already amazing recipe, or I can start from scratch & see what I come up with.  Either way, at the end I can stand back proudly as I observe the masterpiece I've created {or sometimes throw it in the trash & start all over}.

Maybe it's because it's a way I get to show my love to the people I care about.  I can bake up cupcakes for friends, a meal for a new mom who needs a night off from cooking, or simply dinner every single night, where I get to watch my boys gobble up whatever dish I just spent time preparing for them.

Or maybe, just maybe the reason I like cooking so much, is because I have a kitchen that feels pretty.

I love my kitchen.  I love the vibrant color that it is.  I love the light that pours through the window above the sink.

But mostly, I love all of the little details-- the beautiful little dishes I have collected,  the detailed dish towels I hesitate to use because I feel like they're just too darn pretty to get dirty, the many aprons that I get to dress up in & have a hard time choosing from, the custom recipe book that I use almost daily, the fun mixing bowls, colanders, & cooking utensils that are housed in drawers & shelves & canisters.

It's all of these pretty little {kitchen} things that make my kitchen a place I love to use.  A place that is all my own!