Look at that drippy cheese - mmmmmm!
Yummmmm. Check out my original post here on how to make the calzone filling that became this sandwich. Happy Wednesday, friends!
Wednesday, August 31, 2011
Tuesday's leftovers become...
Wednesday's dinner, of course! I've found that this is the best thing to do if you have leftovers from the stuffing of these calzones... Toast some rosemary bread and plop the calzone filling right on top, add a little cheese and throw it under the broiler until it bubbles, and that's what's for dinner on our kitchen table tonight...
Look at that drippy cheese - mmmmmm!
Yummmmm. Check out my original post here on how to make the calzone filling that became this sandwich. Happy Wednesday, friends!
Look at that drippy cheese - mmmmmm!
Yummmmm. Check out my original post here on how to make the calzone filling that became this sandwich. Happy Wednesday, friends!
Tuesday, August 30, 2011
winning
I'm winning at lists and life! I'm channeling the Charlie Sheen in me and telling you all about my victories. I don't know how many of you caught that I added a little laundry list of projects I needed to work on around the house to my sidebar a bout a month ago? With my new blog desgin I wanted to add it to the "tabs" section across the top of my page, but in reading it over, I discovered that I've done quite a few of the things already!! Total win hiding in plain sight! Are any of you "box checking" kind of people? I LIVE by lists - it's a sickness really. If I could do it without driving my friends and family nuts, I'd "Type A" the crap out of EVERYTHING I lay my hands on. So, posts like this are really cathartic to me. Here was my original list (in really no particular order), and crossed off are the items I've already finished...
all most of them.
#1: De-clutter bedroom
Here we are before...
And after...
Just kidding. Neither of those are my house. You'll get bedroom pics soon enough (<-sounded wrong??), when I update you on our decorating progress in there! Suffice it to say that I sorted, boxed, labeled and stored everything in a neat manner (remember my Type A sickness? It's a real thing, people).
#2: Buy cushions for dining chairs
Before...
After...
We now have these on all 8 - woop woop! Sorry you don't get a real picture. It's nearly impossible to make cheap you-know-what IKEA chairs look classy. They have a hard enough time keeping all 4 legs on the ground at once, lol. On to...
#3: Sew pillows (read more here, here, and here)
Before...
And after...
This was a big one. A ten for me on the "winning" scale of one to awesomeness (otherwise known as ten). You can also see evidence in this last photo of....
#4 & #5: Hang curtain rods and hem curtains (read more here)
Before...
And after...
The curtains have added such a wonderful element to our living space - I LOVE them! And last but certainly not least...
#6: Paint pantry (read more here, here, and here)
Before...
After failed attempt at paint color choosing #1...
And the real after (I decided the fire-hydrant yellow color was burning my corneas)...
I think I'm pretty satisfied with what I've done since mid-July! It's been a month and I think this was a lot to accomplish, along with going back to teaching for the year (can you say exhaustion?!).
I'm hoping to tackle these items next...
- Finish digging out pool
- Add pictures to frames
De-clutter bedroomBuy cushions for dining chairs- Install vent in guest bath
- Replace and paint pantry doors
- Buy new dishwasher
- Buy new refrigerator
Sew pillows- Add trim to curtains
Hem curtainsHang curtain rods- Spray paint wall sconces (<-actually starting to like their color? I'll document this in a post soon)
Paint pantry- Paint laundry room
- Remove popcorn ceiling
- Paint living room
- Paint family room
- Paint hall
- Remove fluorescent kitchen lights & replace with track lighting
#1: De-clutter bedroom
Here we are before...
And after...
Just kidding. Neither of those are my house. You'll get bedroom pics soon enough (<-sounded wrong??), when I update you on our decorating progress in there! Suffice it to say that I sorted, boxed, labeled and stored everything in a neat manner (remember my Type A sickness? It's a real thing, people).
#2: Buy cushions for dining chairs
Before...
After...
#3: Sew pillows (read more here, here, and here)
Before...
And after...
This was a big one. A ten for me on the "winning" scale of one to awesomeness (otherwise known as ten). You can also see evidence in this last photo of....
#4 & #5: Hang curtain rods and hem curtains (read more here)
Before...
And after...
The curtains have added such a wonderful element to our living space - I LOVE them! And last but certainly not least...
#6: Paint pantry (read more here, here, and here)
Before...
After failed attempt at paint color choosing #1...
And the real after (I decided the fire-hydrant yellow color was burning my corneas)...
I think I'm pretty satisfied with what I've done since mid-July! It's been a month and I think this was a lot to accomplish, along with going back to teaching for the year (can you say exhaustion?!).
I'm hoping to tackle these items next...
- Replace and paint pantry doors (<- so, so SUPER EXCITED! It involves chalkboard paint!)
- Add pictures to frames (<-we have lived here for 2.5 years - this is embarrassing, lol)
- Remove fluorescent kitchen lights & replace with track lighting (more IKEA coming our way)
- Make another chevron lazy susan for a giveaway on a friend's blog... Maybe do a giveaway here? Not sure if people would actually want something I made, lol. I'm no Cassie or Natty, after all!
Monday, August 29, 2011
Soooo, whaddya think?
With the expert advice of Michelle mentioned here, I've spent the weekend working on the blog. Michelle designed some new header options for me, and I loved ALL OF THEM. Perhaps I'll have to rotate them out to give them all some love?? Now to you all, how do you like the new look? I absolutely love it, but I'm still open to changes, and obviously the tabs need to be finished. I'd love to hear what you think!
And since I try to have pictures in every post I'll include this: betcha can't guess what we did around here this weekend...
If you guessed, "My husband layed around and scratched our dog with a wooden spoon," you would be correct. Um, what?! Utensils are not for scratching the dog! Oy! Needless to say that spoon has been retired. I hope you had a lovely weekend, and don't forget to let me know your opinion about how the blog is lookin'. Happy Monday, friends!
And since I try to have pictures in every post I'll include this: betcha can't guess what we did around here this weekend...
If you guessed, "My husband layed around and scratched our dog with a wooden spoon," you would be correct. Um, what?! Utensils are not for scratching the dog! Oy! Needless to say that spoon has been retired. I hope you had a lovely weekend, and don't forget to let me know your opinion about how the blog is lookin'. Happy Monday, friends!
Saturday, August 27, 2011
tweaks... and an IKEA disappointment
If you're stopping by this weekend, you might notice some "tweaks" going on - I'm in the process of redesigning my blog with some SERIOUS tutoring from Michelle over at Decor and The Dog. A special thanks to all who gave me blog layout suggestions - I so appreciate your input! So, while I'm in transition, please forgive me if some things disappear and reappear in other places, or if a link gets lost, or the whole thing explodes in a puff of purple smoke, etc. Hopefully soon I'll have a fresh new look, cue the excited squeal!
In other news, I thought I had found the solution to my small kitchen counter top space woes in the form of an island from IKEA. I was SUPER excited to go look at it and then text Eric a picture to see what he thought of it (the internet picture is garbage). After I sent him the picture, he called me immediately to say "Buy it now!" Every woman's dream, right?! I was so super excited, look at how nice it is! (excuse the blurry phone pics)
It has storage space, room for bar-stools, matches my white cabinets and butcher block counters perfectly, and is the right price for only $380. It WOULD'VE been awesome. Except that it is out of stock. Everywhere. Well, almost everywhere... If you live in Palo Alto, CA then by all means, head on over to your neighborhood IKEA and buy it (and-then-ship-it-to-me-immediately!). But the rest of us are stuck. =( The good news is that it is not being discontinued, as I originally thought, but rather so popular that it sold out almost immediately. I'm on a waiting list to be notified as soon as it arrives in the store (hopefully between Sept 6-10 according to the website?). I wasn't even expecting to come home with it tonight because I wasn't sure Eric would like it. But then I got myself all excited and now I feel jipped. =(
However, I am so super excited to bring it home (and make Eric put it together) within the next month!! What do you think of Ikea furniture? Love it or hate it? How do you feel about this or other islands you've seen of theirs? I can still back out if you'd like to share any IKEA island horror stories! Happy Saturday evening, friends!
In other news, I thought I had found the solution to my small kitchen counter top space woes in the form of an island from IKEA. I was SUPER excited to go look at it and then text Eric a picture to see what he thought of it (the internet picture is garbage). After I sent him the picture, he called me immediately to say "Buy it now!" Every woman's dream, right?! I was so super excited, look at how nice it is! (excuse the blurry phone pics)
It has storage space, room for bar-stools, matches my white cabinets and butcher block counters perfectly, and is the right price for only $380. It WOULD'VE been awesome. Except that it is out of stock. Everywhere. Well, almost everywhere... If you live in Palo Alto, CA then by all means, head on over to your neighborhood IKEA and buy it (and-then-ship-it-to-me-immediately!). But the rest of us are stuck. =( The good news is that it is not being discontinued, as I originally thought, but rather so popular that it sold out almost immediately. I'm on a waiting list to be notified as soon as it arrives in the store (hopefully between Sept 6-10 according to the website?). I wasn't even expecting to come home with it tonight because I wasn't sure Eric would like it. But then I got myself all excited and now I feel jipped. =(
However, I am so super excited to bring it home (and make Eric put it together) within the next month!! What do you think of Ikea furniture? Love it or hate it? How do you feel about this or other islands you've seen of theirs? I can still back out if you'd like to share any IKEA island horror stories! Happy Saturday evening, friends!
** And to my friends on the East coast, stay safe and dry!! **
Friday, August 26, 2011
Growing Pains
WARNING: Your input is required!!
My little bloggity-blog has been on my mind a LOT lately. I feel like I've learned SO MUCH about design and decorating in the past few years, and this has been largely from blogs like all of yours that I read every day (does it take everyone else over an hour to catch up on all of the bogs you follow? I think I'm waaaaay too addicted to this thing). And I really feel like my projects are growing and maturing and I'm getting more gutsy with the things I trust myself to tackle.
**Although I must remind myself that the first project I did was to completely repaint my kitchen cabinets, which I suppose was pretty "gutsy"**
I also felt pretty darned pleased with myself this week for being able to fit in time for blogging in my full time work schedule (I blogged one more time than I promised myself I would - success!), as well as learning to edit my photos which has been a longtime goal of mine, not that I have in any way "arrived." This weekend I'm going to learn how to make buttons for my blog (using this tutorial!), which surely catapults me into the big leagues. ;) I will have photo skills, original content, buttons, and 38 (as of today) followers. I can't believe 1 person out there (apart from Eric who is forced by the ring on his left hand) wants to listen to me babble on about decor and food every day, much less 38 of you - so THANK YOU!! You really have no idea how excited I get when I open up my inbox and I see that someone has commented - it makes my day!!
**I usually post a ton of pictures and since you're probably wondering if there will be any pictures in this post, I don't want to disappoint...
It's the best I could do on short notice. Aaaaaanyway...
All of this being said (is this post going somewhere, you ask? She's already posted about a llama in a scarf, what more could there be?), I feel like I can trust myself with blogging, meaning it's not a "fad" for me personally. I've been doing this for over a year now, and I was worried I wouldn't be able to keep it up for even a month. My enthusiasm keeps growing, and the people I've met are alone enough for me to keep continuing this journey.
There's just one little fly in the ointment... One little thing that make me get a bit cringe-y (<- word?) when I look at my blog... my layout. I know, friends... It's been the elephant in the room for a while hasn't it? You read my blog and wonder why I'm still using the standard Blogger templates? (OK, you probably don't notice or care, let's be honest, but I do!)
Strangely Wonderfully, this blog has become something I'm really proud of. I see people I haven't talked to in FOREVER and the first thing they mention is how they read my blog every day and love that I update regularly. First off, I'm INCREDIBLY flattered, and then I start thinking about how I wish the look of my blog was more... me?
It all boils down to this: I need suggestions for blog layouts. And I'm going to get picky here and say that I want a layout that's ORIGINAL. This means that I'm really not very interested in the free downloadable templates, unless they are unavailable to others after I download it. (Is this snotty? I hope not, I just want to be unique...) I am willing to pay a reasonable amount ( < $50-ish) for someone to design one for me, if need be or to download a "limited edition" type thing, if such things exist. I would love to have sections along the top where I could categorize projects (a "Ted" tab is a MUST), and an AMAZING looking header must be part of the deal. Can anyone help? Have you used anyone for your blog, or have you run across a blog designer who is just fantabulous?? I want to know!! Thank you all for your help. With your suggestions, this kitchen table will be a little more classy-looking soon.
But while I can still get away with posting ridiculous oddities (honestly, will I ever NOT post ridiculous oddities??), here's a Texan para-sailing llama:
See, wasn't that undeniably enjoyable? Happy Friday, friends!
My little bloggity-blog has been on my mind a LOT lately. I feel like I've learned SO MUCH about design and decorating in the past few years, and this has been largely from blogs like all of yours that I read every day (does it take everyone else over an hour to catch up on all of the bogs you follow? I think I'm waaaaay too addicted to this thing). And I really feel like my projects are growing and maturing and I'm getting more gutsy with the things I trust myself to tackle.
**Although I must remind myself that the first project I did was to completely repaint my kitchen cabinets, which I suppose was pretty "gutsy"**
I also felt pretty darned pleased with myself this week for being able to fit in time for blogging in my full time work schedule (I blogged one more time than I promised myself I would - success!), as well as learning to edit my photos which has been a longtime goal of mine, not that I have in any way "arrived." This weekend I'm going to learn how to make buttons for my blog (using this tutorial!), which surely catapults me into the big leagues. ;) I will have photo skills, original content, buttons, and 38 (as of today) followers. I can't believe 1 person out there (apart from Eric who is forced by the ring on his left hand) wants to listen to me babble on about decor and food every day, much less 38 of you - so THANK YOU!! You really have no idea how excited I get when I open up my inbox and I see that someone has commented - it makes my day!!
**I usually post a ton of pictures and since you're probably wondering if there will be any pictures in this post, I don't want to disappoint...
All of this being said (is this post going somewhere, you ask? She's already posted about a llama in a scarf, what more could there be?), I feel like I can trust myself with blogging, meaning it's not a "fad" for me personally. I've been doing this for over a year now, and I was worried I wouldn't be able to keep it up for even a month. My enthusiasm keeps growing, and the people I've met are alone enough for me to keep continuing this journey.
There's just one little fly in the ointment... One little thing that make me get a bit cringe-y (<- word?) when I look at my blog... my layout. I know, friends... It's been the elephant in the room for a while hasn't it? You read my blog and wonder why I'm still using the standard Blogger templates? (OK, you probably don't notice or care, let's be honest, but I do!)
It all boils down to this: I need suggestions for blog layouts. And I'm going to get picky here and say that I want a layout that's ORIGINAL. This means that I'm really not very interested in the free downloadable templates, unless they are unavailable to others after I download it. (Is this snotty? I hope not, I just want to be unique...) I am willing to pay a reasonable amount ( < $50-ish) for someone to design one for me, if need be or to download a "limited edition" type thing, if such things exist. I would love to have sections along the top where I could categorize projects (a "Ted" tab is a MUST), and an AMAZING looking header must be part of the deal. Can anyone help? Have you used anyone for your blog, or have you run across a blog designer who is just fantabulous?? I want to know!! Thank you all for your help. With your suggestions, this kitchen table will be a little more classy-looking soon.
But while I can still get away with posting ridiculous oddities (honestly, will I ever NOT post ridiculous oddities??), here's a Texan para-sailing llama:
See, wasn't that undeniably enjoyable? Happy Friday, friends!
Thursday, August 25, 2011
new skillz
Free photo editing software is a beautiful thing! Check out my "after" photo of my mint side table before editing...
Holy yellow! Is my house really that mustard-y colored?! And here's the photo after a little editing...
Yeehaw! Now THAT'S true to life color. It really is that "electric" in person, and I love it!
How about this photo of Mr. Tedlington Bear before...
And after...
Who wouldn't want to make puppy pictures all the more "aaaaawww!"-worthy? =) I'm enjoying Picasa right now, but could see myself wanting to make the transition to a more advanced program down the line. If you're a photo editor, what's your program of choice? I'd love to know! For now, I'm getting back to Picasa - I'm addicted, for sure! Happy Thursday, friends! (It's nearly Friday!)
Linking to:
Dittle Dattle
Keeping It Simple
Holy yellow! Is my house really that mustard-y colored?! And here's the photo after a little editing...
Yeehaw! Now THAT'S true to life color. It really is that "electric" in person, and I love it!
How about this photo of Mr. Tedlington Bear before...
And after...
Who wouldn't want to make puppy pictures all the more "aaaaawww!"-worthy? =) I'm enjoying Picasa right now, but could see myself wanting to make the transition to a more advanced program down the line. If you're a photo editor, what's your program of choice? I'd love to know! For now, I'm getting back to Picasa - I'm addicted, for sure! Happy Thursday, friends! (It's nearly Friday!)
Linking to:
Dittle Dattle
Keeping It Simple
Wednesday, August 24, 2011
DIY Mint Side Table
My sneak peek from yesterday...
Is my most recent Goodwill acquisition for $6...
It's a sweet little side table that I fell in love with as soon as I saw it. I stupidly forgot to take any before pictures, but you can see it here basically before. I wanted it to tape it off so that a bit of the cherry wood finish showed through. I wish I could've left the finish alone, but it had a few very large battle scars...
I filled most of the scratches with wood putty, and taped off the design of my choice, inspired by this Pinterest photo....
And here we are after several minutes of measuring and taping...
And here's the faithful help...
He's always willing to supervise =) After a few coats of primer...
Here we are after!
Eeee! (<- excited squeal!) I love it so much ~ the shade of mint is so fun!
I've been having fun rearranging little things on top of it...
You can see how the cherry shines through in the details...
Isn't it delightful?? I'm loving it in our living room...
I do need a few more mint accents in the room, but I have got these 2 lovely pots that I'm trying to place...
More deep blues and minty greens. I love it! Now they just need the perfect home.
One more look at the before and after...
So, do you like my little side table? I'm completely in love with it! I like it almost as much as my last wood project, the chevron lazy susan. I hope you all are having a happy Wednesday, friends!
Sharing the love with:
Coastal Charm
Primitive & Proper
Is my most recent Goodwill acquisition for $6...
It's a sweet little side table that I fell in love with as soon as I saw it. I stupidly forgot to take any before pictures, but you can see it here basically before. I wanted it to tape it off so that a bit of the cherry wood finish showed through. I wish I could've left the finish alone, but it had a few very large battle scars...
He's always willing to supervise =) After a few coats of primer...
Here we are after!
Eeee! (<- excited squeal!) I love it so much ~ the shade of mint is so fun!
I've been having fun rearranging little things on top of it...
You can see how the cherry shines through in the details...
Isn't it delightful?? I'm loving it in our living room...
I do need a few more mint accents in the room, but I have got these 2 lovely pots that I'm trying to place...
One more look at the before and after...
So, do you like my little side table? I'm completely in love with it! I like it almost as much as my last wood project, the chevron lazy susan. I hope you all are having a happy Wednesday, friends!
Sharing the love with:
Coastal Charm
Primitive & Proper
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