5 Random Things

1.  I am on the hunt for a new refrigerator.  Our fridge has made humming alien noises since the day we moved into our house.  Enough is enough.  It's not efficient, my cat is scratching some sort of foam backing off of it, and I refuse to clean it.  Currently accepting all sorts of opinions and advice on the topic of appliance shopping.

2.    April 29th marks 1 year of homeownership for Hubs and I.  Time sure does fly!  My current obsession is to get the kitchen painted before the 1 year mark.  I started this process by hanging up approximately 35 neutral and light blue paint chips on the wall.  Hubs and I are slowly narrowing down the hues.  We are currently at 21 paint chips still in consideration.  Wish us luck!

3.  I'm in the 8th week of a "weight loss" pre-programmed elliptical workout.  I have 2 more workouts to go until I have completed this workout program.  I am stumped at how I continually only burn 350 calories during each workout session.

4.  It was 80 degrees yesterday.  It is snowing at this very moment.  Winter. Just. Won't. Stop.

5.  Have you every washed the blinds in your house or apartment?  It is so tedious but so necessary.  I recommend jamming to your favorite Pandora station to help you make it through.  My spring cleaning goals are as follows:
April:  Clean the blinds
May:  Clean the windows
June:  Buy some curtains or something

Window Pane Decor

I acquired this old window pane from my mom.

She gave it to me when I was in grad school living in a HUGE apartment all by myself.  At the time, we put some pretty batika fabrics behind each pane of glass and hung it on a wall in my living room.  All of my apartment visitors commented on it and I felt like it was a really unique piece.

I have had aspirations of hanging this window pane in the master bedroom of our house for some time.  It has been residing in our basement collecting dust for almost a year until I recently sprang into action to get this back on the wall!

Our master bedroom is painted a light gray-blue color and our bedspread is a neutral light brown.  I decided that I wanted to pull in coral as my accent color for the room.  Coral is a tough color to come by - but after 2 fabric store trips, some Etsy browsing, and google searching - I found what I needed.

I decided I would select 4 coral based prints and 4 blue based prints to balance all of the color.  I searched for geometric prints and patterns that I thought would look good side-by-side.  The majority of my fabrics were purchased online via Etsy.  One of my fabrics came to me all the way from Australia!  Pretty cool, huh?

I cut my fabrics to size, ironed them, and taped them around cardboard cut to the size of the glass panes.  Next, I taped the cardboard to the wood panes of the frame.

Here is a picture of my final product hanging on the wall opposite of our bed in the master bedroom.  I love it!

I recently picked up coral sheets at Target and light blue nightstand lamps at Homegoods to continue tying the room together.

My next project for this room:  a homemade tufted headboard!  I think that a tufted headboard will really complete this room.  I've been surfing tutorials on how to do this online.  Hubby is up for it - we just need to find some time to get started!

I'm still here!

I'm still here I promise! It's been awhile, eh?  Regular posts to resume soon. :-)

New Year, New Goals

Happy January!  As we enter the new year I’ve been thinking a lot about my personal 30/30 goals.  There are a few goals on my list that seemed ho-hum to me. I don’t think that I should keep items on the list if they don’t excite me. 

With that being said, we’ll be saying goodbye to a few goals I originally identified and welcoming in some new ones:

Visit Barbados

Pay off student loans

There – I said it.  Yes – this is a big deal.  I just want my student loans to be gone and to have the extra dollars in my wallet.  It’s going to be amazing when I send that last payment.  It’s going to be more amazing to have that monthly payment as income every month.  I can’t wait to drink to this. 

This item is replacing my “Visit Barbados” goal.  I still dream of visiting Barbados and I know that I’ll visit someday.  Realistically, I may not get there before I turn 30 and this is okay with me.

Buy a Bicycle

Hold a garage sale

I currently have my little sisters bike on borrow.  Since she’s joining the Peace Corps, the bicycle borrow time is pretty significant.  I think I’ll stick to riding hers around until I have to give it back or I’m able to find a good deal on a bike for myself.

Last summer our neighborhood had a garage sale day.  Unfortunately, Hubs and I didn’t realize what was going on until we walked around and saw all the garage sales.  I plan to be prepared for an upcoming garage sale day.  I am ready to purge some items we have in storage.  I’d also like to see how much extra cash we can bring in by letting go of the old.

Join a book club

Start a craft group

I enjoy reading.  For some time I thought I might enjoy reading with others and other social aspects of a book club.  Sometimes the idea of joining a book club that already exists gives me anxiety. I picture the club as a group of women that already know each other and are friends and I would be the new person and it would be too much pressure to try to assimilate. I’m a bit of an introvert and I think I may just enjoy reading for pleasure on my own.

I do love the idea of doing more crafts and doing them with others that are interested.  I think it would be fun to start a craft group where each member rotates selecting a craft and hosting a craft night.  I didn’t come up with this idea on my own.  Growing up my mom participated in a “Craft Group” with several of her friends in the area. I remember tagging along to a few events with her.  I think this could be a fun “girls night” of sorts and I feel like I have plenty of inspiration from Pinterest to get started.

Learn to play chess

Learn to play a new song on the piano

I don't know how to play chess and this is why I identified it as a goal.  However, the idea of learning chess and playing chess seems like a chore.  Therefore this must go.

 

Hubs and I will soon be acquiring my grandmother’s piano in our home.  I’m very excited to have such a significant item in our house.  It will really help us pull together our second living room which currently is in a state of identity crisis.  When the piano arrives, I’ll be transforming the space into a music and reading room.  I took a few years of piano lessons growing up.  I’d like to brush up on my piano playing and play for fun every now and then.  Once the piano makes the move to our house, I’ll be searching for a fun new song to learn.

 Cheers to new goals!

I dyed my hair!

I did it!  I went into the hair salon, I picked a color and I let it happen.  Was I nervous?  For sure!


I wanted to go brown/red without looking too unnatural/unprofessional.

When I left the salon I thought it was a little dramatic.  However, it turns out that the color is a bit more subtle than originally thought.  In bright lighting it can look very RED.  But in most lighting it looks brown and very similar to my natural color.

Hubs didn't notice the color right away when I returned from the salon.  I believe him when he said it had to do with the lighting.  When I'm near a light - watch out! But when I'm in most environments it doesn't really look too dramatic.

It definitely isn't too unprofessional for work.  Only a handful of people have said anything about it!

What do you think?

Am I happy with the result?  Yes!  I think I'll keep the color for awhile.

2013 Recipe Recaps

It’s been an experimental year in the kitchen.  I am very happy to have seen this 30/30 item through to completion.  I can honestly say that I have a bit more confidence in the kitchen and that I am inspired to continue to try new things.

2013 Recipe Highlight Reel:

Personal Favorites

Shrimp Tacos with Corn Salsa

This meal was very easy to prepare and very tasty.   It’s a summery, light meal that will hit the spot when you are craving tacos with a little flair.

Strawberry Rhubarb Pie

This is my new favorite pie!  I hadn’t had it before, but I’ll have it every chance I get now!

Highly Rated by Hubs

It is safe to say that Hubs benefited significantly from all of the past kitchen experiments.  Below are some of his favorites in no particular order.  
 

Cornbread and Beef Skillet Pie

 Stuffed Zucchini Boats

Fried Green Tomatoes

Strawberry Rhubarb Pie

Scalloped Potatoes

Worst Clean Up

Egg Bites

Although simple to prepare, and easy to eat these little guys were a pain to clean up after.  I soaked my mini muffin tin for a few days, tried a few different scrub pads, and still have dried egg all over my mini muffin tin.

Most Left Overs

Vegetable Soup with Barley

Crock pot meals are so easy to put together.  This one, however, seemed to never end.  I’m pretty sure we ate this for a solid 3 days before we moved the remainder to the freezer where it still resides waiting for the right moment to reheat.

Best Crowd Pleaser

Potato Salad

Although I have yet to blog about it (oops!), I hosted my entire family for a meal to celebrate several family milestones.  Hubs and I grilled up shish kabobs and I prepared my first ever potato salad.  It’s a summer crowd staple.

Most Rewarding

Fried Green Tomatoes & Green Tomato Pizza

There’s something so authentic to eating the food you grow for yourself.  Our little raised veggie bed garden had quite the tomato yield.  We’re already planning to expand our veggie garden next season for more yummy harvest!

Took the Longest

Scalloped Potatoes with Ham

One night after work I decided I would make this for dinner.  Several hours later we sat down to eat dinner.  Plan ahead for this one.  It’s probably more of a weekend meal.  It takes time to bake potatoes!

Biggest Failure

Kaposztas Kocka / Hungarian Noodles with Cabbage

I’m ¼ Hungarian and I have only ever had Hungarian food a handful of times.  I enjoy a particular noodle dish that I thought I would try to recreate.  Unfortunately, this was just all wrong all over.  I think you need to have homemade noodles to start with and a Hungarian native to guide you through the rest.  The recipe sounded so easy.  I think I’ll stick to ordering this out.

The complete list of recipes tried:

1. Chicken Tortilla Soup
2. Cornbread and Beef Skillet Pie
3. Ratatouille
4. Quiche
5. Pasta with Shrimp and Eggplant
6. Salmon with pesto
7. Tortilla & Black Bean Pie
8. Stuffed Zucchini Boats
9. Strawberry Banana Smoothies
10. Egg Bites
11. Crispy Quinoa Burgers
12. Buffalo Chicken Quinoa Salad
13. Tomato and Feta Toasts
14. Spicy Shrimp Sliders
15. Potato Salad
16. Shrimp Tacos with Corn Salsa
17. Fried Green Tomatoes
18. Green Tomato Pizza
19. Strawberry Rhubarb Pie
20. Homemade Spaghetti Sauce
21. Scalloped Potatoes & Ham
22. Vegetable Soup with Barley
23. Kaposztas Kocka / Hungarian Noodles with Cabbage
24. Roasted Shrimp with Spaghetti Squash
25. Summer Squash Casserole
26. Shrimp with Potatoes & Feta
27. Shepherd’s Pie

Cheers to 2014 and continuing to try new things!

December Recipes 1 & 2

I did it! I tried two new recipes already since my last post - woot woot!  I had a glass of wine with my dinner this evening to celebrate.  Both recipes are from my edition of "The Woman's Day Everyday Cookbook"


Recipe 1:  Shrimp with Potatoes & Feta

We had some potatoes kicking around and up to no good.  I was able to use them up before they went bad and turn them into something tasty with this very easy recipe.

Recipe 2:  Shepherd's Pie

The shepherd's pie recipe was on the page next to the shrimp with potatoes & feta recipe.  I call that destiny.  That and the fact that we had almost all of the ingredients already made it a very easy experiment.

Honestly, I have always avoided shepherd's pie since it just looks like a mash up of different things.  Although I am still not a raving fan of this dish, it was pretty easy to compile and covered many essential food groups in one nice swoop.

My December recipes mark the completion of my 30/30 List Item to "Learn to cook 2 new recipes each month for one year."  An upcoming post will be a compilation of my efforts in the kitchen with some reviews from my loving Hubs.


Cheers to trying new things!