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Organize All The Everythings

I have historically been a performatively neat person, as opposed to a legitimately neat one. My throw pillows are always in the right place (having been repositioned approximately 1,302 times per day because to my dog, they are a pile of glorious autumn leaves that must be leapt upon regularly), my counter is (almost) always wiped down, and my dust bunnies are Roomba-ed multiple times a day...but should you open a drawer of any kind: Oh dear.

Basically: If I can't see it...is it really a problem?

Like everyone else, though, I have spent the past year being confronted with my most slovenly tendencies, because I cannot get away from them without defying, you know, federal orders. A few weeks ago, after an especially frustrating hunt through my kitchen in search of the third pair of AirPods I have lost this year (AUGH), I finally broke, and bought All The Organizing Things.

SWEETS

Fudgy Chocolate-Cherry Cookies For Your Valentine

These cookies are fudgy (almost brownie-esque), just the tiniest bit fruity, and crowd-pleasers for all ages (I almost had to call them "Chocolate Cookies" instead of "Chocolate-Cherry Cookies" because OMG, six-year-old, STEP AWAY FROM THE MARASCHINOS).

CHOCOLATE CHERRY VALENTINE'S COOKIES 

What you need:

DIY

My 10 All-Time Favorite DIY Projects

Remember back in 2009, when I decided that I was the kind of person who should write a website about cooking, DIY, and home decor, and that it should be called “Domestic Bliss”?

Yeah, I have no idea what I was thinking either – other than, perhaps, “fake it ’til you make it” – because for the first few years, “faking it” is exactly what I did. At the time, my idea of a homemade meal was store-bought pasta with jarred tomato sauce (to which I’d added onions and mushrooms – you know, to make it fancy), and was wildly impressed with myself for completing “DIYs” such as…swapping out drawer pulls. Putting up a sticker decal was a feat worthy of a full video tutorial (OMG WE WERE BABIES), and I thought that my idea of using teacups to serve soup during parties was the height of inspired entertaining.

I still think that serving soup in teacups is pretty neat, but a lot has changed since the halcyon days of wallpaper-wrapped lampshades and green chalkboard refrigerators. I’m still no Ty Pennington, but after renovating two homes and working on a home construction and design show, I now know about 20,000 times more than I ever thought I’d know about all things DIY. Below are ten of my all-time favorite projects, all of which I promise you are more than capable of taking on yourself.

Lifestyle

Five Right-This-Moment Favorites

I'm currently recovering from eye surgery while parked in the guest bedroom of my extremely tolerant BFF, Erin, who is at this very moment making us coffee. I haven't had anyone bring me coffee in bed in three years, so even though the situation on my face is rather uncomfortable, I have to say: For a parent of two small children, coffee in bed is some next-level relaxation. (Also, last night I dreamed that I styled Kylie Jenner - "GIRL, that dress is hitting at the exact wrong spot; here, try this one!" - so...I don't know what that means, but I did not dream that I was in the middle of one apocalypse or another, and that's new, so I'll take it.)

Related Read: Erin teaches me how to do a "German Smear" 

Related Read: A Full Bathroom Renovation...For Less Than $700

Decor

How To: Layer Your Area Rugs

Gorgeous layered rugs in my friend Elise's mountain home (full tour here)

You know the layered-rug trend that's been all over Pinterest these past few years? I always liked the way it looked, but never really thought of doing it myself, because rugs (or at least the ones I usually like) tend to be expensive, and if I'm buying a fancy rug I'd like to see...well, all of it. But lately, my fancy rug is having a rough go of it. Since life has been more than a little exhausting lately, by the time dinner rolls around I am ZONKED, and usually just plonk all three of us down in front of the TV to eat.

I know, I know, TV during dinner = bad, but what-EVER. I grew up with two parents who worked full-time in office jobs, so dinnertime was usually our first chance to actually see each other; had we all zoned out in front of the TV while we ate we would have cut down the time available to actually interact with each other by half. But I interact with my children a lot these days. And I also really, really love watching TV while I eat dinner, and I am the boss, and so TV during dinner it is.

DIY Projects

I Do Not Need These Things (And You Don’t, Either)

I spent the entirety of New Year's weekend living my very best life, by which I mean I watched all seven episodes of The Queen's Gambit while Marie Kondo-ing every inch of this house. You guys, my Tupperware is organized. WHAT. (Related: How is it that I have reached the age of nearly forty years old, and have only just realized that the tops of Tupperwares click together for easier storage?)

One of my favorite things about being single (and there are many, starting with shared custody that permits the aforementioned living of one's best life) is that I have total and complete control over what comes into this house, and what goes out of it. In non-toy-related categories, at least. K is a lot more sentimental about possessions than I am, so there was a constant push-pull over what could and couldn't be tossed. As an example, I do not keep my children's artwork. I keep *some* of it, sure - the really special pieces, to the tune of, say, ten per year per kid - but anyone who has ever had a preschooler knows that they regularly get sent home with foot-high stacks of "artwork" that mostly consists of paint splotches in varying shades of purplish-brown, which is the result you get when you're thinking less about color theory and more about mushing your brush into the paper as hard as possible.

Eat

Caviar, To Celebrate

I'll be alone this New Year's Eve, for the first time I can remember. I think for the first time ever, actually. I'm okay with that; I swear - Kendrick has always cared way more about New Year's than I do, and I never want to stay up until midnight anyway, so it just makes sense for the kids to go to his place for the weekend. Besides, even in "normal" years, oh my god do I ever not want to go out on New Year's - just the thought of it makes me want to nap.

But there's another reason I'm not only "okay" with being on my own, but rather actively looking forward to it.

When Kendrick and I divorced, I realized very quickly that I did not know how to be single. I’d moved fairly seamlessly from relationship to relationship my entire adult life (with a year-long foray into casual dating in my mid-twenties that I somehow survived, but probably shouldn’t have), so when my marriage ended I found myself completely at sea, and wanted someone – anyone – to save me. I wasn't sure I knew how to make myself feel better all on my own, because I’d never really had to do it.

Lifestyle

Ramshackle Glam’s Most-Read Posts Of 2020

Most importantly, 2020 brought us Opal, the Mormon Church rescue kitten.

I already told you what the 10 most-shopped products of 2020 were...so here are the 10 most-loved (or most hate-read, whatevs) posts of 2020. Turns out what you were most interested in this year (in Ramshackle Glam world, at least - I have a feeling what you were *actually* most interested in was whatever Steve Kornacki had to say) was beauty experimentation, homeschooling updates, and personal dramatics (always a hit).

Scroll down to find out what the Number One Most-Read Post of 2020 was. You'll be floored.

Video

The 10 Products You Loved the Most In 2020

At the end of each year, I like to check in with my affiliate link analytics to see which of the products I recommended you ended up being the most interested in. It's especially fascinating to me because I'm not a "shopping" site, per se, so I feel like this gives me a lot of insight into *why* you come to Ramshackle Glam, and what kind of content you're looking for.

In 2020, it turns out, what you were looking for was exactly the same stuff I was looking for: Really, really boring shit that for various reasons ended up sparking genuine joy in this dumpster fire of a year. It's the single most 2020 shopping roundup I've ever seen, and I was DYING laughing looking through this.

Links to all the products I mention in the video are below.


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