Let’s Mix Work and Fun

Posted on May 18, 2012 by

After yesterday’s post about all of the no fun we have planned for this weekend, I figured I should find some good and fun in all of it. So I’m going to refinish these patio chairs that we got for free from my grandma’s house! I know for sure that I want to spray paint the arms, legs and frame ORB, but I can’t decide what color to paint the seat! Any thoughts? The back door is a shade of green and the house itself is tan, so I want something pretty neutral but still fun. Maybe gray… or black… or green… I can’t decide!

Any ideas are beyond welcome! And happy Friday! I hope you have wonderful plans :)

Posted in D to the I to the Y, For Our Home | Tagged , , , , | 11 Comments

The A List

Posted on May 17, 2012 by

Despite how exciting it sounds, the A list is not fun. It’s where all the fun in home improvement goes to die. (Too melodramatic?) Allow me to explain, when Jesse and I first moved in to our house we made a list of all the things that needed to be done and all the things we wanted to do. Then we divided the list into A, B, C, D by importance. Jesse wanted to make sure that we fixed everything on the inspection report before we started buying new furniture and hanging up a lot of art.

The first half of the A List was pretty fun, like painting all the bedrooms and getting new carpet. I also had a “fun house fund” (say that 5 times fast) for things like my painted chair, thrift store finds and new curtains. But the fun house fund is empty and so I’m stuck, with no money for projects and a house I’m dying to paint! What’s keeping me from all the fun stuff you ask? All of this boring-ness (hi stands for home inspection):

  • Replace light in master shower (it’s kind of a cave at night)
  • Seal area under the laundry room
  • Drain garden area away from the house (hi)
  • Add a downspout to the gutters (hi)
  • Clean the gutters (no we still haven’t done this)
  • Replace insulation around heat pipe outside and clear away debris
  • Fix rubber boots in the kitchen sink
  • Get steel-jacked water hose for washer (hi)
  • Weed and mulch all the flower beds and gardens (the have like 8 total)
  • Get a carbon monoxide detector (not sure why we havent done this yet)
  • Paint ALL of the exterior trim and porches (while we’re at it I’d like to do the exterior doors too, but we’ll see)

I know I can blog about all of those things, they just aren’t fun! And with the exception of mulching and painting the exterior, I wont be able to tell a difference, which is frustrating! The most frustrating part is that these super fun activities are waiting for me on the B list:

  • Painting all the bathrooms
  • Building a super awesome faux built-in desk for the office
  • Bath rugs, curtains and accessories for the bathrooms
  • Painting (including a fun stencil!) the upstairs hall

Sigh… looks like we better get to work on that A List this weekend. We finally have a weekend with ZERO plans so there is lots to get done!

How do you prioritize what needs to be done and when to do it?

Posted in For Our Home, Life | Tagged , , | 16 Comments

Cookout Cookin’ #4

Posted on May 16, 2012 by

Last week Jesse and I tried our hand at a new dish that would be perfect for a summer party, hummus. Jesse is addicted to hummus, and I like it too. We wanted to make some for our party, but didn’t want to go too overboard with all the food. Also sorry for the pictures being crappy my camera is not getting along with my computer so I took these with my phone. Plus hummus isn’t really that pretty. ;)

Ingredients
-1 16 oz can of chickpeas or garbanzo beans
-1/4 cup of juice from the can
-3-5 tablespoons of lemon juice (or more if you like it tangy!)
-1 1/2 tablespoons of tahini (Jesse read somewhere that in place of the tahini (which we dont have at our grocery store) you can use a dab of peanut butter DO NOT DO THIS. The taste is too strong and no matter how much garlic or lemon you use to cover it up it will still be an after taste!)
-2 cloves garlic, crushed (I probably used 4 cloves, but we LOVE garlic at our house)
-1/2 teaspoon salt
-1 tablespoons olive oil
*I also added about a teaspoon or 2 of dill for added tang. We like a tangy hummus!*

Let’s Get Cookin’!
- Drain chickpeas, or beans, and set aside the liquid from the can.
- Add all ingredients to your food processor or blender and blend until smooth. If you’re using a blender this may take awhile because it’s hard to push all the peas/beans down into the blades.
- If things start looking a little dry while you’re blending add more of the juice or oil.
- Put it in a bowl and serve with pita chips, bread, veggies or tortilla chips. Jesse also made a hummus sandwich for work the next day.

Do you have a favorite recipe that’s just right for summer? I’d love to hear about it and share it here on the blog! If you’re interested in guest posting for Cookout Cookin’ send me an email!

Posted in Yummy Food = Happy Husband | Tagged , , , , | 12 Comments

Do Life

Posted on May 15, 2012 by

I’m the type of person that gets obsessive about my responsibilities, at work, as a wife, as a homeowner and even my hobbies, this blog. Sometimes it’s hard for me to take the time to step back and not doing anything all day but lay on the couch or just relax in general. The only time I’m not thinking about all the things I have to do are when I’m hanging out with friends outside of my house. I’m 100% extroverted and I LOVE being around people, so in a crowd at a restaurant or at a party is my relaxation time. It’s where I feel most comfortable and have the most fun. All of that being said, I’ll have a Cookout Cookin’ post for you guys tomorrow because last night I was recharging with some of our very good friends over Mexican food, margaritas and tequila shots. Two of our very close friends are moving today, so last night we had to send them off in style. And now you know why there is no post today ;)

Posted in Uncategorized | 11 Comments

Survived.

Posted on May 14, 2012 by

Good news guys! I survived the 5k! And I want to thank all of you for your encouragement! I had my phone with me and whenever I would stop to walk it would alert me of a new tweet or email of encouragement. It made me want to keep running, so thank you for being such awesome people! It was both harder and not as hard as I thought it was going to be. I wanted to die about half way through, but felt energized and determined by the last quarter. Overall, I ran less than half of the race (my longest running time was 6 minutes haha) and finished in 45.22 minutes. It’s definitely not a great time, but now at least I have something to work towards next time I run a 5k! 

A few hours after the race Jesse and I were STARVING so we went and picked up a pizza from our favorite pizza place, Chanello’s! We both ate half of a large pizza! I was so hungry I didn’t even take a picture until we were half done. :)  Saturday was also prom night for our local high school and my little sisters both went. It’s so hard to believe that they are already upper class-men and the oldest is graduating next month! Where does the time go!?!While I was at my mom’s house taking pictures of my gorgeous little sisters I fell in love with these cuties: They are only about 2 weeks old and oh so precious! I don’t think Jesse and I really want the responsibility of a pet, but it’s so hard to remember that when you pet them and see their their cute little faces!

The rest of the weekend was spent lounging and not really doing anything else, we saw Avengers (which was pretty awesome) and went to a party, but it was all in all a laid back kind of weekend. We, of course, got nothing done around the house like we wanted to, but we have ZERO plans for next weekend so I really want to start knocking some of that stuff out.

How was your weekend? Do anything fun?

Posted in Life | Tagged , , , , , | 23 Comments

Friday Fun Day

Posted on May 11, 2012 by

After a crazy, stressful week I am really looking forward to this weekend! We have plenty of stuff to do, but hopefully not too much to the point I wont get to relax in my pjs and do nothing for a few hours. Since it’s Friday I figured I’d have some fun with this post and show you our plans for the weekend via mostly pictures.

Tonight, we have to go pick up our race day packets for tomorrow, which is near the mall, and we’re going to the movies. 

Saturday is race day and our friend’s birthday.And of course, Sunday is Mother’s Day (the most recent pictures we have with our mothers are a year old, is that bad?)

Have a great weekend! Any big plans for your momma this weekend?

*Photos from here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here and here.*
Posted in Life | Tagged , , , , | 14 Comments

T-Minus 2 Days

Posted on May 10, 2012 by
*Before I get into today’s post I just want to apologize for my crazy posting schedule the past few weeks. I used to do most of my blogging from work in the morning and throughout the day, then do nothing but my projects and photos at home, but my responsibilities at work have increased and changed a bit. I’ve been trying, and am still working on hammering out a schedule for writing most of my posts at home. It’s been a fail lately, but it’ll get better! And I still read all of your blogs (even if I dont always get a chance to comment)! Thanks for reading and supporting me and my blog! :) *

Speaking of support, I could really use some! The 5k I’ve been training for is on Saturday, as in 2 DAYS AWAY!! I’ve been keeping up with running pretty much every other day, but I’ve hit a bit of a wall… Week 4 is killing me!

I just can’t seem to get through that second 5 minute run! And as you’ve probably gathered, there is no way in h-e-double hockey sticks that I’ll be running a 5k in 5 minutes ;) I’m kind of disappointed that I wont be able to run the whole race, but I’m also kind of proud of myself for even trying this whole running thing. I’m starting to feel a lot better about myself and I just feel healthier in general.

To keep that healthy kick going I also downloaded a  calorie counting app called My Fitness Pal. You enter in all of the food you eat and it calculates your calories. I almost always go over my calories, but the app encourages me to eat better so that I’m not eating as much super caloric foods. 

You can also enter your exercise as a way to earn more calories, at least that’s how I see it. If I want to eat Mexican food for dinner then I’ll do a little extra exercise so I don’t totally blow my calorie count! ;)

After the 5k on Saturday (if I dont die) I also plan on starting to work out at home with my soon to be frenemy Jillian Michaels! I’m really excited about this one because one of my health goals (more on that here) was to tone my body and I’ve heard she is the way! 

I’m doing well with most of my other goals too!

  • Cut out all meat 1 day a week. (We’ve been doing great with this one, though we are kind of skipping this week)
  • Keep the drinking and eating out for the weekend, or hanging out with friends. This is kind of what we do now, but I occasionally go out for lunch and I always want to go to dinner. No more. (I haven’t been getting fast food for lunch, but I do get sushi occasionally, I dont feel too bad about that though. And I only drink on the weekends and at the occasional girl’s night and last night because this week sucks.)
  • Exercise (cardio) at least 3 days a week and stretch/do yoga everyday. The stretching and yoga is supposed to help with my sciatica. (I’ve definitely been stretching, but not so much the yoga.)
  • Tone what I’ve got. Not looking to lose weight necessarily, just to tone what I’ve got and carry it better. (Starting Jillian next week)
  • Run a 10k with my husband. (Working on it! I run almost every other day and will keep up with the C25k program until I can run a full 5k and go up from there.)
I’m really excited for Saturday! I just hope I dont die… Has anyone else ran a 5k (or more) before? Any tips for me?
Posted in Uncategorized | 17 Comments

Cookout Cookin’ #3

Posted on May 8, 2012 by

This dish was the star of the show at our big party! I’ve been obsessed since a friend of ours first brought it to a Christmas party last year. What is this amazing dish you ask? It’s Buffalo Chicken Dip! It’s wings, in dip form! What could be better?

The recipe I used originally came from here :)

Ingredients
-2 8oz. packages of cream cheese
-1 cup Ranch dressing
-1 cup Buffalo sauce
-2 cans chicken (drained)
-1 bag of shredded cheese (I like to use the Mexican blend)

Let’s Get Cookin’!
-Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.
-Once your oven is preheated place the cream cheese in your pan and melt it in the oven for 5-10 minutes.
-Spread the cream cheese around to coat your pan, then add the chicken, Ranch dressing and Buffalo sauce and stir.
-Once everything is good and coated mix in 1/2 of your bag of cheese.
-Bake for 20 minutes, add the remaining cheese and bake for another 5.
-Serve with crackers, chips or celery sticks. (My vote is for the celery sticks, it’s amazing!)
-Enjoy!

Look at this cheesy goodness! How could you resist?!Our party was almost 3 weeks ago and I’m still getting compliments on this one, so you definitely need to try it!

Anybody got any good summer dishes they want to share? I want to keep this series up for a few more weeks and would love to do a few guest posts if anyone is interested! :)

Posted in Yummy Food = Happy Husband | Tagged , , , , , | 19 Comments

Busy de Mayo

Posted on May 7, 2012 by

I dont know about you guys, but for us May is off to a super busy, but fun, start! We took Jesse’s truck out to Hampton on Saturday morning to get some furniture and tools from my grandparents’ house. They are both in a nursing home now and my aunt is trying to clear things out to get the house ready for selling, eventually. Jesse got a lot of awesome tools (which I didn’t take pictures of) like a circular saw, clamps, and a wheel barrow and I got some fun stuff too!

Like this beautiful bowl! 

I’ve been buying a lot of green glass lately and when I saw this I had to have it! Look at that detail!

I also snagged these 2 milk glass bowls! I’m not sure what I’ll use them for, but they were too pretty to pass up!

The main reason we went was for my grandmother’s rocker. I’m pretty sentimental and would love to have something of hers to put in my [future] children’s nursery. 

I’ll definitely be reupholstering it and probably painting it in the future.

These patio chairs are a little dirty and banged up, but that’s nothing a little spray paint can’t cover up, after all they were free!

I’ll probably ORB the chair itself, but I haven’t decided on a color for the mesh seat part yet. Any suggestions??

After hauling furniture all day we went home and hung out with friends and celebrated Cinco de Mayo. Us ladies made ourselves feel healthier by drinking Skinny Girl margaritas, but I think the tequila shots made up for the low-cal margs ;) Better get to work with my new workout DVD that came on Saturday!

What did you do this weekend? Any tequila in celebration of Cinco de Mayo? 

PS – What do you think of the blog’s new look?! Jesse designed my new background and helped me with the new color scheme. I also added a Projects page and a button to the sidebar so you can follow me on Instagram! I’ll be updating the house tour page over the course of the week!

Shameless plug: If you don’t already you should like me on Facebook and follow me on Twitter and Pinterest! :)

Posted in Around the Blog, For Our Home, Life | Tagged , , , | 19 Comments

Teal-tastic

Posted on May 4, 2012 by

Last week I shared with you guys my new-ish obsession with the color teal and a mood board for our living room that included this new favorite color (more on that here). And if you follow me on Instagram then you may have seen this picture where I revealed that I already have some teal and red on display in our living room and I LOVE the combination!

So much so that I bought some teal paint and got started on transforming our living room! Meet my grandmother’s old shadow box coffee table. It’s pretty beat up and outdated, but I remember it holding all of my grandfather’s old train stuff in their living room, so I’ll be hanging on to it for awhile. Plus the shadow box is pretty cool and definitely a conversation starter when we have guests. 

It was really easy to disassemble the table into manageable pieces and tape off the top wood piece that I wouldn’t be painting (I plan on staining that very dark to match the tv stand). Since the table was such a dark green it needed to be primed before I could paint it. I used Kilz Original Primer.

When painting the table I used a mini foam roller, a trick I learned about painting furniture from Young House Love. It worked like a charm and didn’t leave me with any brush strokes or unevenness, I did need two coats of get full coverage though. 

I brought the table in and set everything back inside last night and snapped these photos. Right now I have our wands from The Wizarding World of Harry Potter, a signed Dashboard Confessional cd case, an empty photo album that says Our Wedding Day, an elk head from the top of a Yager bottle (leftover from Jesse’s bachelor party), a copy of one of our wedding programs, a newlywed button from our Honeymoon to Disney World and a silver bowl with a few decorative rocks that belonged to my grandmother. (It was hard to get good pictures because it was sundown and the glass reflects everything).

I love the way the items in the box pop against the teal and how it makes it easier to see them all.

I keep a candle, wedding album, wedding picture and a set of Star Wars coasters on top of the coffee table everyday, so here’s what it’ll look like everyday. Ahh! I can’t get over how much I love the table!

Jesse hates teal and even he doesn’t mind the fun pop of color in our rather bland living room. So I’m one step closer to acheiving the look that I created in my living room mood board.

I’ll be taking some pictures of the living room, and updating our house tour, this weekend. I hope to have pictures and a post about it ready by next week.

Hope you all have a great weekend! Any exciting plans for Cinco de Mayo tomorrow? I know we’re probably going to be drinking margaritas and eating Mexican food! :)

Posted in D to the I to the Y, For Our Home | Tagged , , , , , | 23 Comments