amelia grazia

life update

2011-11-10T08:30:00.000-05:00

Well, it's no surprise that I've been MIA on my blog (and probably yours, too) for a few weeks now. I suppose it really hasn't been that long of a span, but it feels like it.

I can't make any guarantees I am back for a normal batch of postings.

My goal is to keep up the Tuesday Readings posts and possibly projects that might come along.

It's been days since I've even been able to get myself to the "new post" page. I'm not sure why, but I'm just not feeling a draw to blogging right now. I can't seem to understand what's on my heart and in my head right now, let alone try to type cohesive sentences about it.

I wish I could keep up to date with you all. My Google reader is over 1000 posts at the moment and I'm a little overwhelmed with life in general. I'm sure I'll hit the "mark all as read" soon and maybe then I can catch back up.

I'm appreciative if you've stuck with me, for those new friends I've met this last year and I apologize for not getting around to reading all of your lovely posts.

I hope to be back...not sure how soon, but I'll be around.

Tuesday Readings - Oct-25 [Recap]

2011-11-08T18:10:00.001-05:00

Whoops...missed two weeks. More on that later.

Reading for October 25 was Isaiah 50-52, 1 Thessalonians 5.

Isaiah 50-52:
Finally - some good news for Israel!

The "Servant Songs" - songs about the listening servant who will comfort the listening people, songs leading to the Messiah and his being beaten for our transgressions. (52 and 53)
The Lord comforts Zion - reminder of the passing of the Red Sea and the exodus, reminds them that He laid the foundation of the earth, that "You are my people," the time has come for the "cup of staggering" to be put into the hands of Israel's tormentors (chapter 51)
The defeat of God's people "has brought shame upon his name," "therefore he will vindicate Himself with unmistakable clarity, for His own glory." (52:5-6 - notes)

1 Thessalonians 5

Starts off speaking about Jesus' second coming - like a thief in the night. In the Bible's notes, it talks about how Paul is probably saying this to comfort the Thessalonians who may be concerned that they will not be ready for the second coming. Though the time may come unknowingly we are not "in darkness," so this should not be a surprise for those of us who know the truth, anticipate it and live in the light.
Paul's final instructions - to respect, speak well of one another, do not let evil become you, help those who are weak, be patient, do not despise prophecy but do not blindly accept it, either. These are good instructions for all Christians, for all of the church.

Reading for November 15, 2011
Jeremiah 43-45, Hebrews 5

current obsessions: October

2011-10-25T09:28:00.003-04:00

Hey folks! I promise to [try to] be back later this evening with a Tuesday readings post. As I discussed yesterday, I've been so busy with so many things my reading got away from me this week. And yesterday we had some students visit the office and I didn't get home till after 8, then we didn't finish dinner till after 9 and I was asleep around 10 and it just slipped my mind.

Anyway...here's what I've been loving this October...

Fall - cider & doughnuts with my hubby @ Fuhrman's
Salted caramel mochas from Starbucks
New nail polishes thanks to Joy the Baker!
New projects! I'm currently working on some design projects for a friend - living room, dining room, family room, basement and laundry room makeovers! Can't wait to share the before and afters!
These chocolate cupcakes. Ah-may-zing.
Halloween times means MONSTER CEREALS ARE BACK. Count Chocula has been a favorite of mine (and Josh's) since I was little. I don't care how old I am, it always will be!
Not having a cracked iPhone screen. YES!!!
Boots and scarves! Actually, I haven't broken out my boots yet - they are too "snowy" - I need some nice fall short boots...I think I hear Marshall's calling me...
My adorable niece learning new words! She can say both "Josh" and "Amy" and she seems to LOVE saying Josh! We watched her at our townhouse the other day and she just kept pointing at him and saying his name! She also was loving watching stuff on the big TV and kept saying "Whoa!!!!" whenever anything crazy was on the screen.

What are you currently loving?

weekend update: Oct 21-23

2011-10-24T13:07:00.000-04:00

I apologize for being a little MIA on the blog-reading-commenting front the past few weeks. Things have been fairly busy at work and the majority of my free time at home has been spent either on the computer working on an [exciting!] interiors project with a friend or staying off the computer doing other things.

Anyway, this weekend I [again] spent a lot of working on this interiors project! On Friday I stopped at Andrea's Kitchens in Erie and Pier 1 for some inspiration for the project. Here's it all summed up in a little mood board for you all:

On Saturday I went with said project friend to look and possibly purchase some of the above items. We went to Padden's paints to look for more options for one of the rooms and searched - and found [we think]! - the drapery fabric for the dining room. I worked more on the project in the evening and hung out with the hubby, of course!

On Sunday after church Josh and I went to Best Buy where I picked up this sweet new case for my phone. I'm a klutz and fear for my poor phone screen's life now that I've cracked it once, so I knew I wanted something heavy duty. Loving it so far!!

In the evening we hung out and I made cupcakes for the Mercyhurst Interior Design student visitors we have coming tonight. Recipe later this week! Spice cupcakes [made with applesauce] and caramel butter cream frosting! They are pretty amazing.

Anyway, hope I'll be able to get back to reading your lovely blogs this week! Thanks for sticking with me and reading and commenting on mine!! Happy Monday! Have a great week, folks!

Tuesday Readings - Oct 18-11 [recap]

2011-10-18T09:00:00.000-04:00

The reading for today was Isaiah 34-36 and Colossians 2. I wasn't as prompt with this reading - I finished it up right before I started this post!

The reading from Isaiah was another weird one and the first two chapters a little hard to get through. I did enjoy the last chapter more though, hearing about how the Israelites were challenged by the Assyrian king on their trust in God. They stood firm and did not respond to the Assyrians, even when they were promised food and their own land (while they were starving, waiting for God to deliver them). One thing the notes in my ESV Bible pointed out was how the Assyrian king continually put God on the same level as the gods of the other nations, saying their gods didn't deliver them, why would your God deliver you? You have to go on to read chapter 37 to know that God does in fact deliver the Israelites by killing almost two hundred Assyrians, and later on the Assyrian king is killed by his own sons!

The reading in Colossians reminded me to always be on guard, even if you are doing well spiritual (probably more so!). The Colossians were being told by some of their leaders that certain rituals, traditions, etc. from before Jesus came were still to be upheld and that they must need to be done to be complete in their spiritual well-being. Paul warns against this that Jesus's death and resurrection was enough for us - we do not need anything else! I also identified with verses 12-13 on baptism - that the rite of baptism is identification w/ Christ's death and resurrection. We had a few people get baptized in church on Sunday who spoke about how they were excited to show everyone they believe in Christ as their Savior and that this baptism was THEIR choice.

I also wanted to share a song that we did on Sunday as a special. We just finished up a series called "Can Smart People Believe in God?" The song is by Sara Groves and is called Maybe There's a Loving God. It resonated with me so hard during the first service that I broke into tears and couldn't finish the last few lines of the song! I held it together more during the second service, but I just love the words the song ends with. Please check out the video.

These were the words that got me - nearly every time I listened to and practiced the song:
    Maybe this was made for me...
    For lying on my back in the middle of a field.
    Maybe that's a selfish thought...
    Maybe there's a loving God.
    Maybe I was made this way -
To think and to reason and to question and to pray
    And I have never prayed a lot
    But maybe there's a loving God.
    And that may be a foolish thought -
    But maybe there is a God.

Let me know if you read this week as well!

Reading for October 25, 2011
Isaiah 50-52, 1 Thessalonians 5

weekend update: Oct 14-16 [in pictures]

2011-10-17T15:24:00.000-04:00

Celebrating Josh's brother Dan's birthday Friday night @ Hibachi

Saturday breakfast

Cupcakes :)

Birthday Cupcakes!

Recipe here: Milk Chocolate Cupcakes by How Sweet Eats

No pics from Sunday. Lazy day and we picked up a filter for the furnace. Happy Monday, folks!

[My] Friday's Fancies #2

2011-10-14T13:00:00.002-04:00

Yeah! Two weeks in a row!

This week's theme is FALL! I love fall! The colors, the smells, the temperature [usually], the recipes!

I think this outfit encompasses fall in Erie, PA perfectly. The last three days have been cooler, rainy and not very bright. This outfit - for me - would be a nice work outfit or out for a night with the girls. It's comfy, cute and you're prepared just in case there is a rainstorm...

Forgot to mention [still new to this] I'm linking up over at Friday's Fancies on Long Distance Loving!

FF #2 - Fall Flavors by amygrace02

Miss Selfridge belted dress, £35
Long sleeve shirt, $20
Vince brown legging, $282
Frye boots, $268
ASOS oversized clutch, $79
Michael Kors bangle bracelet, $150
Stud earrings, £8
Gold Wedding Walker umbrella, £18
Etro plaid scarve, $460

Have a great weekend, friends!

style obsessions: splayed leg furniture

2011-10-12T08:00:00.000-04:00

I suppose this goes along with my love for mid-century modern furniture and anything Knoll, but here are some other favorites around the web of "splayed-leg" furniture. Enjoy!

"Splay-Leg Table and Tray" [coffee table] by George Nakashima for KnollStudio. (image via Knoll.com)

Scissors Chair | Knoll Studio Museum

Mantis Chair | Designed by Craig Bassam for BassamFellows | Design Within Reach

Prouve EM Table | Designed by Jean Prouvé produced by Vitra| Design Within Reach

Eames Plastic Side Chair | Designed by Charles + Ray Eames | Hive Modern

Adams Nightstand | West Elm

Kingstown Bar Stools | Studio Dunn

Studio Desk | Blue Lounge
(this desk is pretty cool - very tech-oriented / cable-friendly! click the link above to see more about it!)

Tuesday Readings - Oct 11-11 [recap]

2011-10-11T08:00:00.000-04:00

This past week's reading was Isaiah 17-19, Ephesians 5:17-33

I'm proud to say I got this week's reading all done by Wednesday!

I love reading from my ESV Study Bible. Half the pages are notes or maps regarding the passages. It really gives you a different look at the scriptures that I often times miss.

The reading from Isaiah was a hard one to get through as is a lot of the Old Testament I find. It always seems difficult to find something to relate to. With the study Bible, there were a few notes that sparked my interest in the passage:

19:12 - "Human expertise, however brilliant, fails before the overruling purpose of God." Something I need to be daily reminded of - whatever intelligence or wisdom I have in life is always surpassed by God's perfect will and purpose for me.

The reading from Ephesians (I'm going to just write these down as bullets like how I had written them in my notes)

5:17 - Understand the "will" of God - is saying we must understand general guidelines, not that we should try to understand his hidden will that we cannot know.
5:20 - Giving thanks always and for everything.
5:22 - Wives submit to your husbands - means submitting to the "ultimate leadership of the husband for the health and harmonious working of the marriage relationship." [From the notes.] This gives a different perspective on the often "sexist" view that some people get from this passage.
5:25 - Husband's love - "husband is bound by love to ensure the wife finds their marriage a source of rich fulfillment and joyful service to the Lord." [From the notes.] I like this perspective! Sometimes I think in this day and age we think it's wrong to believe your husband should be your provider and protector. Although I think that many things in a marriage should be equal - a partnership - I am happy to say my husband is the head of our household - though we are still early in our marriage years, we haven't crossed every mountain yet!
5:26-27 - Husbands cannot sanctify wives (only Christ can), but they should promote holiness.

Hope you did the reading along with me! Let me know if you did! I'm looking forward to next week's reading!

Reading for October 18, 2011
Isaiah 34-36, Colossians 2

Weekend Update: October 7-9, 2011

2011-10-10T08:40:00.000-04:00

I cannot believe how GORGEOUS it was in Erie all weekend! Mid 70's, beautiful breezes and gorgeous colors. Fall has hit Erie hard and the colors are unbelieveable.

Friday on had to drop off some books at the library so I picked up FIVE new ones! I was lucky enough to find five of the books on my Pinterest book club reading list, so that was pretty exciting! In the evening we had a worship team meeting where we talked about the upcoming year - the schedule, new praise & worship and prayer nights and ways to connect our three "venues" together (we currently host two contemporary services on Sunday mornings as well as one traditional service at our McKean location. There is a third contemporary service hosted about 25-30 minutes east in Harbor Creek). We had a great time of food & fellowship with one another and prayed for the new year and over my brother-in-law, who is our worship pastor. It was a fun night!

The last two Saturdays have rocked because I've been able to sleep in past 10 am! Josh heads off to work and I have the house to myself to do whatever...or nothing. Mostly nothing happened this past weekend. Catching up on blogs, enjoying the breeze and just plain old laying around. We hung out after Josh got back from work doing the norm - catching up on the week's TV shows we missed (Fringe, The Office) and just spending time together.

Sunday church involved a life story video by my amazing husband about his coming to Grace Church that had tears in my family's eyes in the end! We hung around for a little watching my adorable niece Chloe run around the church yelling "Josh!" "Mamma!" "Dadda!" and "Oh nooo." Then my parents took us out for lunch at Applebee's!

We finally got to enjoy some of that gorgeous weather as we went up to Fuhrman's Cider Mill for some donuts and cider and a quick scenic drive back to our house.

We spent the rest of the evening lounging around until we went out at 930 pm [past my bedtime] to Josh's friend Katie's to watch the season finale of Breaking Bad. I don't normally watch it - I can't take it! It's too suspenseful! - but I wasn't going to miss out on hanging out!

Hope you all had fantastic weekends! Was the weather as lovely for you as it was for us up here?

Just wanted to point out for any of you who may have been new commenters/viewers last week: I switched back to the standard Blogger comment form as I did not like the one I was previously viewing. If you see your comments are deleted - they really haven't been [by my choice] but that is what happens when you try that stuff out! So I want to make sure you're aware I appreciate your comments and saw them! Thanks!

[My] Friday's Fancies #1

2011-10-07T12:55:00.002-04:00

Oh my gosh! Two posts in one day!! What the what!?

I decided to give it a try and link up with Long Distance Loving for my first Friday's Fancies!

This weekend I'm hoping to hop in the car with the hubby and get out there with this gorgeous fall weather, beautiful colors and yummy cider. I thought I would base my Friday's Fancies today on the perfect outfit for fun fall activities! (It's supposed to be mid 60s - low 70s and sunny this weekend, so we are totally lucking out!) So necessities include: scarf, blazer and sweater to kill the chill, messenger bag so I'm hands free, boots to trek through the woods, sunglasses (since it's supposed to be sunny!) and a camera to capture the memories!

Friday's Fancies #1 - Blazers! by amygrace02

Featuring...

DALIA merino wool top

A P C wool tweed blazer

True Religion boy friend jeans
Lumiani hidden wedge shoes
Alexander Wang studded handbag
By Malene Birger gauze scarf
Ray-Ban wayfare sunglasses

Have fun and safe weekends, friends!

fabric friday: Oct 7, 2011: Duralee Fabrics

2011-10-07T10:07:00.000-04:00

Another feature on to-the-trade fabrics for homes: Duralee Fabrics.

Duralee was founded in 1952 and is a family owned and operated company. They are one of the fastest growing decorative fabrics companies in the interior design industry. In 2001 they introduced a luxury brand - Highland Court - offering the finest in design and quality. Recently they created Trimmings to enhance their fabrics and furniture, and their contract division has earned a high standing in the hospitality market. They are headquartered in Bay Shore, NY

42179-5 from the Classic Prints & Wovens Collection - book #2819

51014-113 from Sheer Encyclopedia Volume IV - book #2768

90861-66 from Raspberry/Strawberry/Pomegranate - book #2800

90870-181 from Raspberry/Strawberry/Pomegranate - book #2800

73016-619 from Oakdale Collection - book #2775

In 2003 they started making furniture!

Tribeca Sofa / comes in three widths: 72W / 84W / 96W

Park Avenue Occasional Chair / 28W x 29D x 34H

Park Ave Sofa / comes in three widths: 72W / 84W / 96W

Soho Round Coffee Table / two sizes: 36Dia / 42Dia

All images and information from www.duralee.com.

chewy chocolate chip oatmeal cookies

2011-10-06T07:30:00.000-04:00

[Check out the recipe from How Sweet Eats.] You think you don't want to add all that cinnamon, but trust me, you do. It's amazing.

They are like granola bars. Chocolate chip, cinnamony granola bars...in cookie form. With more butter.

Totally acceptable (and delicious) for breakfast with your morning coffee.

I'm sad these only made about 20 cookies, because they lasted two days. Well, three days, but one cookie left over thanks to my hubby and brother-in-law doesn't count.

I had been craving chocolate chips and oatmeal in some combination and this satisfied that. Or, I mean, made me want more. These are so good. Make them!!

Tuesday Readings - Oct 4-11

2011-10-04T07:59:00.000-04:00

Okay! So it took weeks, but I've finally figured out how to get this blog + Bible reading thing going. It is going to be called "Tuesday Readings."

I will probably be getting my passages from BibleGateway.com under their "Reading Plans" section. I've chosen the Old/New Testament to pick readings from. They post them daily, sections from both the Old and New Testament, and it's technically a one-year study on the entire Bible. I'm not going to lie - I'm no good at reading and studying the Bible, so we're going to work up slow - one section of a few passages per week.

On Tuesdays I'll post about the past week's passage and I'll post what the next week's reading will be (I'm going to try to be consistent and put this at the end of each Tuesday post). If you want, feel free to follow along with me and link up (except I'm not quite sure how this works - I think you just click the "Links to this Post" on the bottom and enter your info? Someone who knows more about this - HELP!!). You can do whatever you want here - write a whole post dedicated to the reading, link up and mention you're doing this with me, or just stop by my blog on Tuesdays and tell me about your thoughts on the passage!

As there was no reading last week, there is no "about the passage" for this week. Some days the "about the passage" might be a lot. Might be in-depth and hard to work through. Other times it will be quick, short and it might not feel like much.

The point of this study is for me and a few of my blogging fellow lady friends out there to keep ourselves accountable and get reading! As I've explained before, I want this to be geared towards young women bloggers, specifically married without children. Again, I'm not trying to exclude anyone, just trying to reach out to ladies out there like me!

These are the friends of mine who have expressed interest!
Alisun from the In-between
Bethany from lee & bethany
Hannah from Unraveling Perfection
Meg from henning love
Staci from SuperYay!
if I missed you - let me know!

So. Let's do this!

Reading for October 11, 2011
Isaiah 17-19, Ephesians 5:17-33

Weekend Update: Sept 30-Oct 2, 2011

2011-10-03T08:18:00.000-04:00

Really, I don't have much to share about this weekend.

Friday afternoon/night Rachel + I shot our cousin's wedding (well, our mom's cousin's son...) and it was cold, rainy, gorgeous and so much fun. We danced, hung out with our family and stayed for the whole reception (that doesn't always happen). Can't wait to see the pics!

Saturday I slept in, had a horrible headache almost all day and did lots of laundry. Seriously, that's it. Oh and I tried getting caught up on some blog reading and I made chili for dinner. It was yummy. Josh and I finally got to spend more than 40 minutes together that night as well, since we had been pretty busy the rest of the week. It was nice just spending time lounging with him.

Sunday Josh and I were on band duty at church, then we had lunch, took a way long nap, and now it's almost 730 and we're just waiting for our Pizza Hut to get here.

The last three days have been cold (in the 40's - 50's), rainy, gloomy, kinda fall-ish, and fairly lazy (except for Friday). It's supposed to clear up this week in Erie and get warmer again, but I mean, let's face it. It's October. It's fall.

I'm looking forward to a not crazy week at work. No bids due, just time to get caught up on projects and get a lot of stuff out the door!

Hope you had fun and relaxing weekends!!! Next weekend will hopefully have some better weather so maybe we can get some fall fun in!

Blackened Chicken Alfredo

2011-09-29T08:10:00.000-04:00

I planned our weeknight meals this past weekend and chicken w/ pasta in Alfredo Sauce was on the list. But when it came time to make it, I was craving something a little different. I've had "blackened" chicken before, but never knew what it took to make it.

I found a bunch of recipes online, but took my measurements and ideas from this recipe. I used 1 tsp of almost everything but paprika. Then I covered my chicken breast in it. The whole thing. On one breast of chicken. TOO. MUCH. FLAVOR.

It was tasty, but way too much seasoning for the amount of chicken I had. I suggest using enough chicken for 3-4 servings (at least 2 chicken breasts) and don't feel like you need to use up all the seasoning!

Blackened Chicken Seasoning

~ingredients~
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp paprika
1 tsp ground pepper (white or black)
1/2 tsp cayenne or chili powder (or more if you like spicier. we don't)
1 tsp onion powder
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp dried or fresh thyme, chopped fine
1 tsp dried oregano
2-3 chicken breasts

~instructions~

Combine seasoning ingredients.
Pound out chicken breasts, coat with seasoning mixture.
Melt about 1 T butter over medium/low heat, add chicken breasts, cooking 1-2 minutes on each side. Finish off in the oven (5-10 minutes in 350 preheated oven) or keep cooking on the stove (that's what I did), until juices run clear.

current obsessions: September

2011-09-27T12:49:00.000-04:00

Macintosh apples! That's right baby - I love when my faves go back in season!
Even cooler temps than August! I've even brought my slippers out on a few occasions!
Family time - we've seen Josh's family two weekends in a row! I've enjoyed spending time with them. I've also been visiting my parents on the weekends, and it's been fun catching up.
New shows back on! FRINGE was back this past Friday and this past weekend our favorite cartoons were back up (American Dad, Family Guy, The Simpsons).
Leaves changing - I love this time of year! Hopefully I'll be able to get out with Josh to take a walk with all the leaves changing!
WINNING! I've been winning a lot of things this month...nail polish from Joy the Baker (okay, so that was in August but I'm still waiting on the package so it gets thrown into this month too), dress from Shabby Apple via Michelle's giveaway (hoping to get it this week!) and a new office chair from our rep group KMA & Associates in Pittsburgh!

(Dress JUST came in! YAY!)

Side Note: I can't believe September is almost over!!! It feels like just yesterday I was posting about how I couldn't believe it was September 1 and now we're in the last week of it!! Craziness. Holidays will be here before you know it!!!!

weekend update: Sept 23-25, 2011

2011-09-26T08:00:00.000-04:00

This weekend wasn't that busy, but I'm still exhausted from it!

Friday after work I visited my parents who were babysitting my little niece Chloe. I hung out with them for a while then headed home to make dinner for Josh & I, but worked in a quick run (walk) in before he got home. We were excited about the series premiere of FRINGE but remembered 15 minutes after it started that we were going to attempt to watch it live (we only have 5 channels that don't come in very well, no DVR, no cable).

Saturday I slept in late (awesome), caught up on some blogs, made some meal plans for next week, did some quick exercise, went grocery shopping, made lunch for Josh and went out for dinner with Staci, Kristen and Nicole. We went to The Plymouth Tavern (free popcorn and yummy food) then stopped by Sluggers to play some pool. When 11PM hit I immediately said I had to go home and fell asleep almost immediately when my head hit the pillow.

Sunday was another lounge-y day after church. Josh is currently working on another one of his video game theme song recreations on guitar (you can check out his previous ones on his YouTube channel) and I'm laying around because I'm SO SORE from the pathetic amount of exercise I did this weekend.

I've got two bids due for work this week and not much else going on other than that!

Hope you all had fun and (more) exciting weekends! What are you looking forward to this week??

fabric friday: 09-23-11: Clarence House

2011-09-23T07:34:00.000-04:00

Because I work on mainly commercial projects, most of my Fabric Friday posts are filled with the great commercial or healthcare fabrics I get to work with every day. However, residential fabrics should have their spotlight as well!

I'm going to start to highlight a few residential fabric and wallcovering companies that I'm seeing around the web and in magazines.

Today's spotlight is on Clarence House.

Clarence House was founded in 1961 and came up as number 1 in a Google search for "residential textiles." They have been featured in many interior design magazines including, but not limited to, Architectural Digest and Elle Decor. Clarence House is headquartered in New York City and is open to the trade only. Their line includes woven fabrics for indoor and outdoor use, sheers, velvets, tapestries and wallpapers.


Alnus: Sabbia

Sea Thistle / Neisha Crosland collection

Juno (woven fabric)

Cosette / from Fall 2010 Collection

Arboles color #1 / Velvet Collection

Arboles color #2 / Velvet Collection

Vase wallpaper / photo by Michel Arnaud from Elle Decor

Bed and armchairs in Clarence House fabric / photo by Eric Piasecki for Elle Decor

Check out their website for more fun fabrics!

information and images all from www.clarencehouse.com
swatches from Elle Decor design center/Clarence House

Emmy's: Blogger Shout Out!

2011-09-21T11:32:00.000-04:00

Okay - so I won't pretend - I don't watch real/live TV (I watch episodes of shows), so I did not watch the Emmy's. However my very good friend, former roomie and fellow SKANK member KRISTEN over at andthenifound5dollars did, and she has some great comments about her loves and hates on the red carpet.

If you are a fashion fan and love to pick apart what the celebs are wearing, you should definitely check out her post!

***EDIT: Per Hannah's request below - SKANK - "Staci" "Kristen" "Amy" "Nicole" "Katie" - 5 girlfriends from high school - first initial from first name - listed in birth order - happens to spell out that great word!***

Roasted Chicken + Veggies

2011-09-21T09:15:00.000-04:00

I posted on my weekend update that we had homemade chicken soup on Friday. What was great about this soup is that it was so easy since it was leftover chicken that I had roasted two days earlier.

I found the recipe from FoodNetwork and I loved everything listed on the ingredients list. I used split bone-in chicken breasts, garlic + butter + rosemary + oil rubbed over the salted/peppered chicken. Carrots, onions and celery were added plus a splash of white cooking wine, lemon juice and water. Baked for about 40 minutes on 400 degrees. We ended up eating one half for dinner that night and the rest I shredded up for the soup. It was delicious!

I love when you can get two meals (or more - I had even more leftover chicken soup on Saturday!) from one night of cooking!

style obsessions: retro credenzas

2011-09-20T13:00:00.000-04:00

Another style obsession of mine is RETRO CREDENZAS or sideboards. I love them in their original 70's orange-y wood, I love them repainted in fun colors, I love modern, streamlined styles in metal or laminate. I love them all!

Here are some faves:

originally from Apartment Therapy Harper + Caleb House Tour.
(also, can we talk about how awesome that wallpaper and starburst mirror are!?)

originally from Apartment Therapy Vintage Furniture post.

Florence Knoll credenza. Painted with marble top.

Okay, so this is more of an end table/chest, but I still love it!
Florence Knoll Chest 125 from Knoll Museum.

MG-4 Credenza from Luna Lounge Design

Sussex Credenza by Terence Woodgate from Design Within Reach

Design*Sponge Before+After: Mary's Credenza

weekend update: September 16-18, 2011

2011-09-19T09:03:00.005-04:00

Um, how is it half-way through September already!? My gosh, time is just flying by.

I'm sad summer is pretty much over, but I love fall! Except I'd love it even more if I could spend all the money I wanted on boots, scarves, jeans and jackets.
.
After my crazy-busy work week, I finished up things on Friday and was out of there by noon. I had a few errands to run like going to the bank, getting tomatoes from the grocery store and stopping at the post office to mail a package for a certain special nail polish winner. I had a nice, relaxing lunch at home then took a well-deserved nap.

About 30 minutes into the nap I was awakened by my cell phone from an out of town caller, assuming (correctly) that it was from one of our vendors calling to ask me about that bid we won and had been working on this past week. Unfortunately the call was not a good one - saying the vendor product cost was way too high and there was some mistake. This set me into a crazy frenzy - shoes back on, keys, purse and out the door, leaving the room a mess from my blankets and lunch.

I got back into work after the longest 5-minute drive (yes, that's how long it takes me to get to work, I'm so spoiled) of my heart pounding, tears forming, talking to myself saying "There is no way. This could not be. Please God may this be a mistake on their part." I got into the office, explained quickly to Dory through panicked words what was going on. I immediately looked at my order to the vendor - it was way less than the amount they were saying it was. There was no way I could have gotten this wrong.

After several phone calls back and forth to my CSR and asking if they were sure they got all the discounting right, I relaxed a little and finished up a few other things. Then - the power went out. Awesome. No email access for me (like - for good - our server is at our office, so, nothing is coming in or out). I go to tell my boss and it turns out they had just witnessed a transformer blowing. AWESOME. So, I call my CSR, tell her to call my cell, and within 10 min she is calling back saying they didn't discount one line item and everything is now fine.

Holy. Not the way to start a relaxing weekend.

After this fiasco, I stopped off at the library to drop off and pick up more books, then visited my parents for a few hours. Josh and I enjoyed homemade chicken noodle soup and biscuits for dinner and by 10 PM I was falling asleep on the couch.

Saturday was a relaxing morning, Josh off to work and me hanging out and catching up on some blogs. The rest of the day was spent photographing a wedding with my sister - check her blog for pics!

Sunday I sang at church, Josh and I had lunch, I took a nap and we celebrated his Gram's 86th birthday at his aunt's house with all his family!

I'm looking forward to another busy week at work, but with a lot less stress! We have lots more bids to work on this week and an open house with one of our vendors in Pittsburgh on Thursday! Can't wait! Hope you all had great weekends!

busy busy busy

2011-09-14T19:41:00.003-04:00

I've been pretty MIA for the last two weeks - I had blog posts last week but they were all scheduled - and haven't been able to post anything for this week let alone be able to read all of your lovely blogs! I've also got some new readers out there which means expanding my blog reading as well, so I've missed catching up with you all the last few weeks. I've been working late every day this week plus I have wedding to shoot this weekend and I'm singing at church (so that means band tomorrow and a nap on Sunday).

Hope you're all doing well and I'm looking forward to be back next week with some fun things to share!

California BLT's

2011-09-08T08:39:00.000-04:00

I saw this recipe several weeks ago while watching Barefoot Contessa at my parents' house. It's a simple recipe and now that my tastes are expanding as I'm getting older, it's a sandwich I'll finally enjoy.

I've always liked bacon, but only in the last few years have I liked mayo or Miracle Whip, tomatoes or lettuce on sandwiches. Yes my sammies were pretty boring, especially before I liked cheese or even Italian dressing. Bread. Meat. That was it.

This is so much better.

Look how cute this Boston lettuce is!! I bought them because they were adorable. And perfectly sized. I hate throwing out bad lettuce. Well, I hate throwing out any bad food.

Thick, white, country bread toasted (Texas Toast in our case), smear of Miracle Whip on each side, three slices of bacon each, a few pieces of lettuce, some beautiful tomatoes, salt & pepper and a few slices of avocado on top. Yum. Yum. Yum.

We wrapped these sandwiches in foil and packed them for our trip a few weekends ago. They are a great sandwich to take for picnics! We ate these again several times after our trip. And of course you can always use turkey bacon if you prefer it that way.

mid-week update

2011-09-07T21:48:00.000-04:00

Some things I've been thinking about this week:

Tonight I babysat my sweet niece Chloe and got to spend some time chatting with my brother-in-law, Brian. It was nice catching up with him and it's so awesome to be able to get along with my sister and her hubby so well and to call them friends - not just family.
I'm still definitely interested in doing some sort of Bloggers-Bible something. I'm really hoping to focus this for women - specifically young/young-married and currently without children. I'm not trying to squeeze people out, but I'd like to do internet-Bible-study-type thing with like-minded females who are in the same situations as I am. I have three ladies interested so far, so if you are also interested let me know! I've been tossing ideas around in my head on how we can do this. My thoughts are to have passages to read weekly and to encourage one post a week - about the passages, what you learned, what you question, etc. Anyway - more on this when I get my head wrapped around it.
My husband is great. He works hard to provide for us and keeps us in check. He doesn't have the benefit of two days a week off, so spending three days with him this past weekend was just so wonderful.
I've been really feeling like I need to get my eating and health under control recently. I have a hate-hate relationship with exercise and a love-love-love relationship with food, so it's quite a struggle. I wish I could get motivated about exercise and eating healthy, but what excites me is napping and chocolate.
This weekend I have a baby shower for a friend of mine that I worked closely with for 2 1/2 years. I also have plans this weekend to see a friend of mine (and her new baby) that I was close with years, but probably haven't seen in almost 2 years!

So. That's what's been going on in my head this week. What's been going on with you?

Cinnamon Roll Cake w/ Cream Cheese Frosting

2011-09-07T08:14:00.010-04:00

As I mentioned quickly in my last weekend update post, and made - and ruined - a lot of frosting that weekend. I suppose it wasn't actually ruined, but I made a batch of cream cheese frosting that was runny and seemed unusable for a cake. I threw it in the freezer, knowing I would need to figure out some way to use it so it wouldn't get wasted.

The frosting was a brick (8 oz) of cream cheese, 1/4 c of butter, powdered sugar and a few spoonfuls of the other ruined frosting I made (but you could just use milk to loosen it up). The other frosting that got ruined was Whipped Cream Cheese frosting from Joy of Baking. I suggest you attempt making it, but don't add too much powdered sugar...or overwhip...it will just get more runny. I know I had it at the perfect stage and it tasted amazing, but I kept adding and whipping, hoping it would get just a little thicker, but somehow it kept getting RUNNIER. I have no idea what happened and it really hurt my self-esteem! I felt pretty useless in the kitchen after that. Anyway, the addition of that frosting helped smooth out my cream cheese frosting while giving it a nice flavor because of the addition of the marscapone cheese.

Anyway - the cinnamon cake recipe was from ptitchef.com (I did only two layers) and brown-sugar and cinnamon swirled in before baking like the cinnamon roll cake from my baking addiction. I really think the brown sugar-cinnamon swirl gave it an even more cinnamon-roll-esque flavor.

Sorry - didn't get many pictures until I had already half-eaten the cake...but everyone loved it, including me! My dad begged me to whip up another one the other day! I suppose the frosting was still a little runny - but it was perfect for this cake.

weekend update: September 2-5, 2011

2011-09-06T07:42:00.003-04:00

Yeah, I'm lumping Monday in as part of the weekend for this post because we had a nice relaxing day off, so I think it counts!

Friday was girls night - Katie was up from Pittsburgh, so Stace, Kristen and I all met up to hang out. Since I was going to the east side, I stopped and visited my parents, then walked over to Katie's parents (they are neighbors) for dinner and some chill out time. We went back to Kristen's to get ready then hit downtown!

Katie, Kristen and Staci lookin cute!

We slept over at Kristen's and I shared the air mattress with sweet Daisy.

Saturday Josh and I bummed around most of the day and had band practice for Sunday.

Sunday was filled with lots of fun with Josh's family. His dad, aunt and gram surprised us by coming to our church. Later that day we were invited over to his great aunt's house for a family picnic. We had margaritas and lots of yummy food thanks to Josh's mom!

Josh, his dad and his younger sister Alyssa

His great aunt lives right by Lake Erie, so some of us took a walk down the path to check it out!

It was a hot, humid, rainy and gloomy day in Erie on Sunday...

Alyssa and her fiancé Dolan!

Josh's dad practices his balance.

Josh's brother Dan with Alyssa

My in-laws!

My handsome hubby!!

I love him :)

Practicing with Rach's camera.

Goofy :)

After all that fun, we went back over to his aunt's house later that evening to hang out some more!

Monday was another day of relaxation for the most part. Sleeping in, pancakes, then I did some cleaning, laundry and started rearranging a few things at our townhouse. I took away one of the smaller bookcases in the living room and replaced it with a bigger one that was previously in my closet. After that I pulled out, tossed out and reorganized my closet! Pictures to come from that when it's all done.

Before...

After!

So - it doesn't look that much different - and I didn't clean anything up before taking the after picture. Also, you can see Josh's head in the bottom right corner haha. I would like to replace the lamp shade over in the corner still, but for now - I'm happy! I like having my cookbooks more organized and I have a nice pull out canvas box to hold all my (Rachel's) camera equipment.

Oh - and Monday also included homemade pizza (dough and sauce) and breadsticks for dinner!

It was a great weekend. Relaxing, got some stuff done, spent some quality time with my SKAK's (the N was still out of town - boo) and my hubby and his family. Hope you all had a relaxing and fun weekend too!! Anyone else attend any last-summer picnics?

fabric friday: 09-02-11: Giveaway Winner!

2011-09-02T10:04:00.000-04:00

I'm pleased to announce the winner for the KnollTextiles nail polish giveaway!

And the winner is......

Emily! Who had a pretty funny story to tell...

There were 11 entries and I used random.org to generate the winner.

Thanks for all who entered! Congrats, Emily!

weekend update: August 26-28

2011-08-30T09:13:00.000-04:00

Friday my mom, sister, niece (the 18 month old), aunt and cousin celebrated my mom's birthday with dinner and dessert at the Olive Garden.

On Saturday I spent the day baking my mom's birthday cake and ruining frosting. Josh and I stopped off at the grocery store to pick up some whipping cream and my mom finished off her own cake because I just couldn't handle it anymore!

Almond-White Cake (recipe HERE - they call for 1 T almond extract,
I only used 1/2 T and it was perfect in my opinion)
with seedless raspberry jam, whipped cream, raspberries and almonds.

Saturday night I met Kristen and Staci at Molly Brannigan's for some appetizers and then we went over to Coconut Joe's/Boardwalk.

Sunday Josh and I went to church, took a trip to the library, got gelati's at Rita's, took naps, I read my books and we had a yummy dinner of chicken with homemade BBQ sauce.

Erie Blasco Library

Up the stairs to the fiction section

New books: Specials & Extras from The Uglies series
and The Oracle of Stamboul (it looked cool, so I grabbed it!)

Hope you all had great weekends. Yay for Labor Day 3-day weekend coming up!!

Bloggers Bible Club?

2011-08-29T12:42:00.000-04:00

Lately I've been really feeling the effects of not reading my Bible like I should - and feeling the guilt, though not really doing anything to change it. I had a kind of serious break down this weekend over something ridiculous and I've been struggling with envy/jealousy a lot lately as well, not to mention a general lack of guidance for my career path. I know that my lack of Bible-reading isn't the reason these things are happening, but I'm sure it isn't helping.

I know I don't talk a lot about God or my faith on this blog. It's not that I want it to be a secret, it's just that I've tried to keep a focus on this blog, and it has always been an outlet for my other passions - food and design - while I felt like my God-passion was satisfied through church on Sundays, being in the worship/praise band and occasionally attending small group.

I've always had Christian girlfriends, but as I've been growing up I've noticed most of these friends are no longer my age and are at different stages of life - most are my sister's friends or have kids. The small group I attended with my sister went through it's own changes and is full of married friends now with kids. Most of the friends Josh and I have at church that are our age are in small groups already, and due to his more hectic work schedule, it's hard for us to meet regularly with others.

I've been meeting new blogger friends recently across the globe and it got me to thinking. Is there some sort of Blogging-Bible-Club-Study any of you are a part of or is it something you might be interested in? I'm not even sure how it would work, so I'm definitely open to suggestions. Maybe a certain portion to read weekly and it can be posted about (if you want) or discussed via email? Or maybe even a new blog that anyone in the "club" can contribute too and discussed in the comments?

Please let me know your thoughts or if you have any suggestions of reading plans that you may follow. I know as we get into fall and then winter...that seasonal depression is going to kick in and I need to be prepared and motivated before that gets here!

Don't Forget!

2011-08-27T10:24:00.002-04:00

Don't forget to enter the GIVEAWAY! Closes Thursday, September 1! Check the post for more details.

Chocolate Chip Peanut Butter Banana Bread

2011-08-27T09:09:00.006-04:00

Another delicious recipe from How Sweet Eats - Chocolate Peanut Butter Banana Bread.

My favorite breakfast is whole wheat toast, peanut butter, chopped bananas and dark chocolate shavings. Yum. This bread (toast it with some peanut butter) might be my new favorite breakfast food.

Yum.

Chocolate Chip Peanut Butter Banana Bread
(recipe adapted from How Sweet Eats. ingredients below reflect the changes I had to make due to not having all ingredients required on hand)
makes one loaf

~ingredients~

1/2 cup butter, at room temperature (I was out of butter so I used canola oil, though I would suggest not substituting unless necessary)
1/2 cup peanut butter
1/3 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup white sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 large ripe bananas, mashed
2 cups all purpose flour
1 1/4 teaspoons baking powder 1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 cup milk
1 cup chocolate chips
~instructions~

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine flour, baking powder, cinnamon and salt in a bowl and set aside.
Cream butter and peanut butter in the bowl of an electric mixer. Add sugars and beat until fluffy, about 3 minutes.
Add egg and vanilla, mixing until combined. Add bananas and mix.
Add dry ingredients slowly, mixing until just combined.
Stir in milk, adding more one tablespoon at a time if batter is not wet enough.
Fold in chocolate chips.
Spray a loaf pan with non-stick spray and pour in batter. Bake for 50 minutes, or until knife inserted comes out clean. (it took over an hour for my bread)

fabric friday: 08-26-11 / KnollTextiles Nail Polish Giveaway!

2011-08-26T08:06:00.004-04:00

**UPDATE: GIVEAWAY IS CLOSED AND WINNER HAS BEEN ANNOUNCED. CONGRATS EMILY!***

After I won my awesome bottle of CATO PINK nail polish courtesy of KnollTextiles' Facebook giveaway, I knew I had to score another bottle for my boss Dory. Last time we heard about the Knoll Red color coming out, we contacted our sales rep and he sent us each a bottle. I emailed him again and requested one be sent for Dory, since she doesn't have a Facebook.

We received...several bottles.

As far as I know - you can't purchase these, you have to 1) know someone (from Knoll) or 2) win them on Facebook giveaways.

This picture does NOT do the color justice.
I was unable to get a good shot with my camera at 10PM,
so let it be known the color is PINK and it is SHIMMERY!
Check KT online for a better shot of the color.

Since I came across an extra one, I talked to my KnollTextiles rep and she thought giving away a bottle of CATO PINK would be a great idea to spread more awareness of Knoll and KnollTextiles to the architecture and design community and, well, everyone!! So - here we are today - giving one bottle away to a lucky, lucky reader!!

Here's a better representation. Image via KnollTextiles Facebook.

Here are the rules:

*Entry gained by comment below - tell me about your favorite or
what's the most you've splurged on a nail polish.

* One bottle. One winner. One comment per person.
No additional entries gained by other methods.

*Winner must be located in the US.

*Please make sure you leave a way for me to contact you
(email, blog, Twitter, etc.) so I can notify you if you win!

*Giveaway will close at 11:59 PM next Thursday, September 1, 2011
and will be announced on next Friday's Fabric Friday post (on September 2, 2011).

KnollTextiles did not provide me with this for a giveaway, however I am choosing to give an extra bottle because I love Knoll & KnollTextiles, I love my new nail polish and I love all my blog readers! I wanted to share the love with all of you.

Overnight French Toast Casserole

2011-08-25T07:20:00.013-04:00

I've always liked french toast, but there is something about a crispy, sugary, browned french toast that beats any skillet egg-dipped bread in my book.

Ah - this casserole. More delicious than I could have imagined. It has the crispy, sugary taste that I love. I also love that it's an "overnight" recipe - meaning prepare, sit for 3-12 hours, bring to room temperature the next day and bake till crispy.

The original recipe I found was from Ezra Pound Cake. But I made a few changes, other than halving the recipe for just Josh & I.

Overnight French Toast Casserole
adapted from Ezra Pound Cake
serves 2-3

~ingredients~

2 tablespoons (1/4 stick) unsalted butter, melted
1/4 + 1/8 cup firmly packed brown sugar
5 slices Texas Toast, cut into about 1" cubes (alternatives: brioche or challah)
4 large eggs, lightly beaten
1/2 cup milk (I used 1%)
1/2 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon ground ginger
Pinch of salt

topping

1/4 cup chopped pecans
2 T brown sugar
2 T butter, melted

~instructions~

Combine the melted butter and 1/2 the brown sugar in a baking dish.
Toss the cubed bread with the remaining brown sugar, arrange at bottom of baking dish (they will overlap)
In a large bowl, whisk together eggs, milk, vanilla, cinnamon, ginger and salt. Pour the mixture over the bread, and let it soak in
Cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate for 3 to 12 hours
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F while the casserole sits at room temperature for about 20 minutes
While you wait, make the topping - chop the pecans and mix with the brown sugar and melted butter. Top the casserole with the pecan mixture.
Bake the casserole until it’s browned and set, 30 to 45 minutes. Let it cool slightly on a wire rack. Plate the casserole and finish with sifted confectioners’ sugar and maple syrup

I loved how the casserole was crispy on the top and almost bread-pudding-like on the bottom. The pecan-crunchy topping was such a great addition - I would have never thought to add the pecans if it weren't for the original recipe!! Monday morning I microwaved the leftovers then popped them in the toaster oven for about 5 minutes, and it was just as good as when it was freshly made!!

current obsessions: August

2011-08-23T08:31:00.004-04:00

Things I'm digging this month:

cooler temps
weekend getaways with my hubby Josh
celebrating our 1 year anniversary!
taking our cars in to the shop to get fixed (Just kidding, I'm hating this actually. It seems to be happening a lot this month and I don't like it!)
homemade pulled pork sammiches with homemade barbeque sauce
foursquare
Pinterest - of course! But here's my question - do you mostly re-pin other people's pins, or do you pin from websites, blogs, shops, etc. that you frequent?
my new KnollTextiles CATO PINK nail polish
barefoot contessa's California BLT sandwiches (post coming later this week)

weekend update: August 19-21, 2011

2011-08-22T15:38:00.000-04:00

This weekend was wonderful, mostly relaxing and awesome celebrating with Josh our 1 year anniversary! Again, I can't believe it's been a year already!!

Breakfast on Friday - Overnight French Toast Casserole + real maple syrup! (recipe coming this week)

Friday packed lunch/dinner - California BLT Sandwiches


Our hotel for Friday & Saturday

Niagara Falls, NY - the American Rapids

Our comfy room! (I was standing right next to the entry door)

We spent a lot of time site-seeing while riding around on the trolly. It was $2/person for all-day riding, so it was worth it!

Saturday early afternoon we went to the aquarium and spent a good amount of time there.

Josh made friends with the fishies.

This guy was looking right at me!

A swimming turtle!

Another one of Josh's new friends...

We stayed for a 30 minute sea lion show. This was Dina - she was almost 25 years old and very talented!!

Me as a penguin.

Riding the trolly to Goat Island.

Horseshoe Falls from the US side.

Dinner @ Top of the Falls restaurant. Kinda pricey (that was expected), but the food was pretty good, service was quick (we were there for an early dinner) and it was a nice view of the falls.

Anniversary dinner @ Wine on Third. Very cool place - not your every day eatery, you're paying for fresh food, presentation and atmosphere.

Their own sangria. Very tasty and in a HUGE glass.

Bread with dipping sauce of olive oil, balsamic reduction, pesto and asiago cheese. Delicious.

Josh's meal: NY Strip steak, veggies, baked potato and onion rings. A little disappointed they had NO steak sauce - it's not like the steak was cooked with a special sauce...

My meal - Blackened pork tenderloin (done medium well - and perfect), mashed potatoes, veggies and a demi-glaze. Absolutely delicious. I could have licked the plate clean (but used Josh's onion rings to mop the last of that delicious sauce up instead).

Chocolate lava cake with raspberry + white chocolate sauce and whipped cream. Delicious, though I would have liked more melty fudge in the middle.

Breakfast outside Sunday before we headed out. Forgot to get a picture of my food :(

Thanks for sticking through to the end - there were a lot of pictures!! We got back home around 3 on Sunday and spent the rest of the day playing Josh's video game "Heavy Rain." It's like one of those "Choose your own adventure" books where you make choices to dictate where the story goes and your decisions affect the ultimate outcome (people can die...etc).

Oh - and today I've been off! It's been nice lounging around - this weather is gorgeous and screaming jeans, scarves and light jackets (meaning: FALL!!!). Yeah, everyone in Erie is looking forward to fall today!

fabric friday: 08-19-11: KnollTextiles Mill Footage

2011-08-19T08:41:00.001-04:00

Pretty cool quick video of some footage of fabrics being made at a KnollTextiles mill!

nail polish winner @ Joy the Baker

2011-08-18T07:54:00.000-04:00

OH MY GOSH. I can't even tell you how excited I am. I won 4 nail polishes courtesy of Joy the Baker from her blog post giveaway last week. Somehow, out of almost 2,000 comments...I won!! I can't even believe it. Funny too, because I just spent another hour tonight taking off my nail polish just to reapply the same color right back on.

Wow. I'm so excited, I just had to share my excitement with you all! Especially because I may be doing my own nail polish giveaway next week! (Check back early next week for details)

Yay! Winning!

we made it: one year!

2011-08-17T13:53:00.000-04:00

I can't believe it's been a year since our wedding week. At this time last year, my best friend from Florida was in Erie, helping me with whatever I needed. I had just picked up my dress, my family, friends and I were going crazy with last minute details. I was back living with my parents. My niece could barely sit up on her own, now she's a full-fledged walking toddler.

If you're a more recent follower, you can catch up on my wedding using the "my wedding" labels, though that will take you back a year of planning! I didn't put too many of our pictures up after we got them back, so here are a few favorites in honor of this special week:

Ah - my family :)

We took almost all of the bride + bridesmaid pictures at my aunt + uncle's house before the wedding. They recently sold their house, so I'm even more honored to have so many gorgeous pictures on their beautiful property.

Where Josh and I attend church together. One Sunday a month, we are on stage helping to lead worship to this beautiful church. I have gone here all of my life. Though the building is new (built in 2007), the people are the church, and we were so blessed to have so many family, friends and church family there with us.

This bridal party was the best. I mean, look at all those gorgeous girls! And all those super cool dudes!

Our pictures were done by my long-time, very good friend and at one point, mentor, Danielle Hartland. She did an amazing job and I couldn't be more pleased with everything she did for us.

Kimberly of Make Way for Cupcakes did our gorgeous and delicious cupcakes. They turned out exactly how I had envisioned and my family was happily stuffing our faces with leftover cuppies for days after the wedding.

Our first dance song was written by my cousin Paul, who Josh was friends with in high school. It was so awesome having so many family and friends doing things for our wedding day.

Tell me about your wedding experiences! What was the best part of your day or a friend's wedding you attended? Other than walking down the aisle to meet my hubby and say our vows, our off-site picture time and reception were both a blast. I can't really pick - I loved the whole day!!

If you're interested in viewing more pics (my gosh, there are so many pics), look me up on Facebook - I have three albums!!

basic basil risotto

2011-08-17T08:39:00.000-04:00

It saddens me a little that one of my favorite dishes - risotto - is not one that my husband and I share. Though he is a big fan of pasta and likes rice when it's in a creamy and flavorful sauce, he does not seem to be a fan of risotto.

So, that won't stop me. When I make risotto, I make him other sides (pierogies, sweet potatoes...) or I'll make risotto on days I know or schedules don't allow for dinner together.

I've tried several risotto dishes - basic risotto, lemon + rosemary risotto (my favorite), sunshine risotto (with sun-dried tomatoes) and now this basic basil risotto.


This recipe is straight from the book I bought several years ago. Only one change was made - I didn't have green beans so I used peas. The book is by Clive Tring, and though I've not seen it in stores since I purchased it several years ago, it looks like you can get it, and several other risotto books by Tring, on Amazon and Barnes and Noble.

Basic Basil Risotto

~ingredients~
5 cups vegetable or chicken stock
1 tbsp olive oil
3 tbsp butter
1 small onion, chopped
10 fresh basil leaves, chopped or shredded (plus extra whole leaves for garnish)
4 tomatoes, seeded and diced
4 oz green beans, cut into 1 inch lengths and cooked (or 3/4 cup peas, fresh or frozen)
generous 1 3/8 cups risotto rice
2 tbsp pine nuts
3/4 cup Parmesan or Grana Padano cheese
S+P

~instructions~

Bring stock to boil in a pan, reduce heat and keep simmering gently over low heat.
Heat the oil with 2 T of the butter over medium heat until butter is melted. Stir in the onion, 3/4 of the basil, the chopped tomatoes and beans and cook gently for 2-3 minutes for the flavors to blend.
Reduce heat, add rice and mix to coat in oil and butter. Cook for 2-3 minutes, stirring constantly, until the grains are translucent.
Gradually add the hot stock, ladleful at a time. Stir constantly and add more liquid as the rice absorbs each addition. Increase the heat to medium so the liquid bubbles. Cook about 20 minutes until the liquid is absorbed and rice is creamy. Season with S+P to tasted.
While the risotto is cooking, toast the pine nuts until they brown.
Add the remaining butter to the risotto and fold in the remaining basil. Add the Parmesan cheese and pine nuts. Garnish with the whole basil leaves.

fun find: Jewelry Storage

2011-08-16T08:27:00.000-04:00

I have been wanting a new way to store my jewelry for quite some time now. I have an Ikea Malm dresser w/ flip up top for jewelery storage, but I'm running out of room and have some necklaces that get way too tangled when lying down and really need to be hung up.

I have loved the idea of shadow boxes or picture-frame jewelry storage every since I saw it a while ago, can't remember where I first spotted it though.

This post from Apartment Therapy reminded me again how I would love something like this.

image from Better Homes and Gardens

It was rumored that my friend Katie might have had something for me like this for my birthday, but that someone...might have damaged it...so I never got it. I want to make my own but I'm wondering if I should just hold out. Katie? Thoughts?

window frame jewelry display from The Borrowed Abode

frame + old radiator grill - love this! from i could so make that

these are gorgeous. originally from Pottery Barn, but no longer available. you can totally DIY these!

another awesome tutorial. vintage picture frame + hardwire mesh = funky, functional storage. from Julie Ann Art. seriously, this is just cutting wire and stapling it to a frame. how easy is that!?

How do you store your jewelry? Box? Hanging on a wall? Hidden in your closet?

weekend update: August 12-14, 2011

2011-08-15T08:57:00.000-04:00

This weekend was relaxing and fun, just what I needed after a long run of crazy busy (and fun!) weekends.

Originally the weekend was going to start out with some time spent with my cousin, Bekah, but our moms (who are sisters) had been trying to get "the girls" together for dinner for quite some time, so it ended up being a sisters-daughters dinner instead!

We went to Ruby Tuesday, I had a mango mojito (yum!) which had this crazy sugar cane thing that you could chew on but not actually eat...

We had dessert and drinks at Starbucks.

And we spent the evening chasing Chloe around the mall!

I've been loving stove-toasted double marshmallow S'Mores for dessert lately...

Honestly Saturday and Sunday consisted of not much more than lounging around with Josh, though we did spend some time with his family on Saturday, visiting with his cousin Matthew who was home from the army for a few weeks. And I spent some time catching up on blog reading, as I was getting way behind! I've enjoyed catching up with you all this weekend!

I hope you had relaxing weekends as well!

Caramelitas

2011-08-13T08:41:00.002-04:00

I was introduced to caramelitas when Josh and I were dating and I started joining his family for holidays and birthdays. Josh and his sister Alyssa share the same birthday and they would both get their choice of dessert - Josh's choice was always caramelitas.

Josh's gramma gave me the recipe for these after I had tried to recreate them a few times unsuccessfully. Unfortunately it seems that I have misplaced the recipe...again...even though I found it recently and thought to myself, "must put this in a safe place so as not to lose it..." and of course, who knows where that "safe place" is, I sure don't.

I actually grabbed this recipe from cooks.com as the ingredients and instructions were very similar to what I remember Gram's recipe being. I made a very similar recipe almost a year ago now that I adapted to be more like the Caramelitas. This dough varies as it has eggs, whereas Gram's original recipe (and the one below) does not. Not sure which recipe we prefer...I'll have to try making the older recipe again!

Caramelitas
~ingredients~

2 c. flour
2 c. quick cooking rolled oats
1 1/2 c. packed brown sugar
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1 1/4 c. butter, softened

1 c. semi-sweet chocolate chips
1/2 c. chopped nuts (opt.)
12 oz. jar (1 c.) caramel ice cream topping
3 tbsp. flour

~instructions~

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease 13X9 pan.
Blend crust ingredients till crumbly and combined. Press a little more than half of the crust into the pan, reserving the remaining for the topping.
Bake bottom layer for 10 min.
Remove from oven, sprinkle chocolate chips, chopped nuts (I used pecans) and drizzle caramel sauce over. You can make your own caramel sauce or melt down caramels w/ some condensed milk if you don't want to use a jarred sauce. I actually used leftover apple caramel dip! (Though this made for very gooey bars - not necessarily a bad thing.)
Sprinkle remaining crust over the top and bake for 18-22 minutes.
Cut into bars after cooling.

Also, I'm borrowing my sister's D90 camera, fancier flash and our 35mm lens, so I'm hoping for better quality and better looking pics until she makes me give it back :)

fabric friday: 08-12-11 / DesignTex Showroom Tour

2011-08-12T08:13:00.000-04:00

Check out this video for a tour of DesignTex NeoCon 2011 Showroom with Kimberle Frost, Caroline Vaughn, and Tom Hamilton of DesignTex and Cindy Allen, editor in chief at Interior Design Magazine.

strawberry cupcakes + vanilla cream frosting

2011-08-11T08:40:00.003-04:00

It's not that I wanted to make cupcakes tonight. But you see, I had all these gorgeous strawberries and was so afraid they were going to go bad. Something had to be done.

Enter: my newest first-search for recipes. If you don't follow Jessica over at How Sweet Eats, there is seriously something wrong with you. Or maybe you've never heard of her blog, and that makes me sad. I love her funny posts, gorgeous pictures and amazing recipes. I've made several things from her blog including her homemade barbeque sauce, roasted potato salad (ah-ma-zing), and now these amazing strawberry cupcakes. Not to mention I've drooled over and bookmarked some of her beautiful mixed drinks and several desserts.

So, these strawberry cupcakes are pretty darn awesome. I almost ate a whole bunch without even adding the frosting. I think some strawberry jam or strawberries on top would have been really great, but I was afraid they would get all watery over the frosting.

Oh - and I didn't have any more cupcake liners. But that didn't stop me! A few years ago some of the SKANK's decided to make sweet potato cupcakes and follow a recipe online that instructed using parchment paper instead of liners. Of course we had only wax paper...which we didn't realize wasn't the same thing...and that was quite a disaster, pulling out the cupcakes, dumping the half-baked cuppies into real liners. Yikes. Won't make that mistake again.

Anyway, I thought these turned out super cute with the parchment lining. It worked best for me to fit and fold them into the cupcake tins and dollop only a little at a time inside the parchment cradle with a spoon. This allowed for the cuppies to bake around and flatten out the folds.

Awesome! And - I got this fabric from my boss's mom - she was giving away a bunch of random fabrics - and it turns out this is some Ralph Lauren HOME collection fabric! I really want to use it to make some pillows, they would look nice with our couches. Oh...sorry...tangent...

I used a vanilla buttercream for the frosting. I wish it could have been a white chocolate buttercream, but I didn't have any good quality white chocolate to use.

Vanilla Buttercream

~ingredients~
1/2 c butter (I used 1/4 c and 1/4 c shortening - that was all I had)
1 T vanilla (or more - I wanted a lot of vanilla flavoring in the frosting)
1-2 T heavy cream (as needed)
2-3 c powdered sugar

~instructions~

Cream everything together. That's it. Easy, huh?

Anyway, check out How Sweet Eats for the strawberry cupcakes recipe!

Anyone else have a semi-disastrous kitchen or baking episode??

fun find

2011-08-10T08:01:00.000-04:00

A few months ago I spotted these Cereal-on-the-Go containers from The Container Store featured in Real Simple's problem solving products.

I've always enjoyed browsing through the website, but I had never visited a location or bought from The Container Store before. I convinced Josh to let me try out some of these, as well as a few other problem-solving storage solutions, and received them several weeks ago!

I love the Cereal-on-the-Go containers. The bottom half has an outer jelly-like layer that you put in the freezer and keeps your milk cold. The top holds the cereal as well as a spoon. The spoon isn't the sturdiest of utensils, but it gets the job done, and personally the amounts of cereal + milk are perfect for me. You can also use this for granola + yogurt, or any other kind of combination you can think of that might need to be kept cool. It only leaked on me once, and I'm pretty sure it was my fault for not screwing it on tight enough.

I also found and purchased (2 of) these 26 oz Salad Blaster bowls. I've used them a lot and have had no problems with leaking. I find the size to be perfect for my lunches!

Lastly I bought these little snack containers that I haven't used yet. They seem like they would be good for kids and packing nuts, pretzels, goldfish, etc. - which I don't often pack.

Anyway! Those are some fun finds I've found and purchased lately! Anyone else have fun finds from The Container Store or food/lunch packing containers from somewhere else?

weekend update: August 5-7, 2011

2011-08-08T11:08:00.000-04:00

Sigh, another weekend come and gone. This was the last of my crazy-busy weekends until our anniversary trip next weekend (CAN'T WAIT).

Friday we had a delicious dinner of steak + pasta and just hung out and relaxed. Josh played some video games and I kept plowing through our third book in our SKANK book club, The Girl Who Played With Fire.

Saturday Josh and I had breakfast together then I was off to Staci + Shane's and we traveled to Mars, PA to Twelve Oaks Mansion for their friends Nikki + Ryan's wedding. They had asked Staci to take pictures and Staci had asked me to help her out!

Here are a few pics from the wedding:

As it was the first Sunday of the month, Josh and I were on worship band duty. The services were great, other than crazy wireless microphone troubles during the first service which were fixed pretty quick. Never experienced those kind of problems before, but our tech guy Tim said it could have been from someone's cell phone or even having to do with the fact that it was raining out. How bizarre is that?? Josh's Gram also came to our church this weekend, which was pretty great seeing her! I miss my grandmas (and granddads) terribly, but I'm so blessed that Josh's Gramma Julie is so like how my Grandma Betty was - always loving, always praying for her family and praising God in all she did.

Of course Josh and I closed out the weekend spending several hours napping Sunday and relaxing together.

I can't believe it's August and Josh and I are approaching our ONE YEAR wedding anniversary! Life just keeps going faster and faster! Hope you all had fun weekends! Did you do anything exciting?

Steak + Pasta

2011-08-07T13:19:00.000-04:00

So, this dinner was good. I mean, after hours and some brushing, I still have garlic-taste in my mouth and my husband refuses to sit next to me, but...this dinner. Was good.

Rachael Ray's Roasted Garlic Pesto Cream Pasta (altered for two people, used rotini pasta and added some garlic in the pesto) and a sirloin with an Italian marinade based off of this recipe. I did not add soy sauce to the marinade - or salt - and I really think I should have. The steak was good, but could have been better.

And again, the steak was good - however, it does not compare to the beef + pineapple kebabs from last month. No. Not a bit. Those need to go back on the menu plan ASAP.

But this pasta was tasty. I really enjoyed the addition of the pesto on top - definitely gave it a lot more flavor and a great kick! I've only made a pesto-type thing one other time, but I really wanted to utilize my basil plant in some sort of pasta dish this week!

Also - after planning on making this meal, I checked my plants and my basil was wilting. AGAIN. Monday after work I checked and we hadn't watered in a day (I usually water every day)...I thought the plant was dead. It looked awful. Luckily, more water and the next day - back to normal. So, after watering this afternoon, by the time I needed to use the basil, it was quite happy and looking just as good as always!

fabric friday: 08-05-11: DesignTex Blog

2011-08-05T21:51:00.000-04:00

Things have been crazy and busy lately and I've become waaaaaaaay behind on my blog reading. I apologize for slacking people, or commenting on posts that are days...or weeks...old.

DesignTex started up a blog about their fabrics, their company and recycling and sustainability in the furniture industry. If you're into reduce, reuse and recycle, you might want to check out and read some of their posts!

Hope you're all planning for fun weekends. Doesn't look like it will be too relaxing for me, but it should still be fun!

BIRTHDAY GIRL: KATIE!

2011-08-03T08:58:00.001-04:00

Happy birthday to my very dear friend Katie! I wish I could post all the awesome things about Katie, nice, lengthy post, but I really don't have time plus she never reads or writes on her blog anymore (loser), so she probably won't read this either :) BUT - she is very busy and works/freelances a lot, so I guess we can forgive her for slacking...

Katie and I have been friends since 5th grade. She welcomed me in as a new student, my family had just moved next door and we would not fully know until years down the road how much God had ordained that path. Due to our friendship, I convinced Katie to come to church with me. It was there that she met her now husband Mike! And through Mike and Katie, I met my husband Josh!

I had a bunch of fun pictures to include, but Facebook is being silly and won't get to that screen that allows you to upload or save photos, so, maybe later. But - you could check out my post from 2 years ago for some super nerdy pictures of us.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY KATIE! I'm blessed to know you and so appreciative for your friendship!!

Teriyaki Chicken + Noodles

2011-08-02T11:11:00.000-04:00

Josh requested this for dinner the other night and I searched for recipes without much luck. This dinner was pretty much created by me, though I took some ideas from the recipe I found here. I liked that it was simple and that the chicken was cooked on skewers.

Teriyaki Chicken + Noodles
makes 2 servings, measurements are approximate - add as much as you would want!

~ingredients~
two 4 oz chicken breasts (enough for two people), cubed
about two cups broccoli, chopped
one carrot, peeled and chopped into matchsticks
sliced onion, about 1/4 cup
garlic, 2 small cloves
angel hair pasta (or whatever kind of noodles you would like) (enough for two servings)
sesame oil, about 4 T
Teriyaki sauce, about 4 T

~instructions~

Marinate the chicken in about 2 T sesame oil and 2 T teriyaki sauce. Soak your skewers while you wait, preferably for 30 minutes or more. After at least 15 min of marinading, arrange the chicken on skewers and grill for about 5 minutes on each side.
Boil water, cook pasta according to package directions. Add chopped broccoli when there is about 3 min of cooking time left.
Add remaining sesame oil to skillet on medium high heat. Add onions and carrots and cook for a few minutes. Add minced garlic. Cook till veggies are soft, but not browned.
Strain pasta and broccoli and add to skillet. Add remaining Teriyaki sauce and cook till heated through. Serve with additional sauce.

I actually didn't use any salt or pepper for this; since purchased Teriyaki has lots of sodium anyway, I didn't find it necessary to add any extra. Also, I think adding some ginger would be a nice addition to the recipe. And I really enjoyed using the sesame oil - it's the first time I've used it - it gave the dish great flavor!

weekend update: July 29-31, 2011

2011-08-01T21:36:00.000-04:00

Blogger's been KIND-OF ticking me off lately. Doesn't want to upload more than one picture into the blog at a time (I can upload into one box, but have to put in pics individually and click the pick button in editing for every single one). Extremely annoying for this weekend's update because I have a million pictures.

Friday night we attended a wedding reception for Josh's boss's daughter, held at his other boss's house, right on the lake. The wedding had been a small affair on Thursday night and the reception was spread out on the front decks of 4-5 of the row houses.

We got a tour of his boss's house - Mike & Linda - they had totally gutted and redesigned the house around 2000. All the other houses have two floors, theirs has three w/ a flat-topped roof. Bathroom on every floor, decorated with gorgeous artifacts from their travels, it was decorated in bold, bright colors and was just beautiful. I have hopes to revisit with my good camera some day for a house crashing post! It's so worth it.

They even had fireworks! It was a very fun night.

Saturday was a busy day! Nikkie, her hubs Matt, Katie and I headed off to Staci's husband Shane's family cabin. Staci, Shane and Kristen were meeting us there. We had lunch of buffalo chicken tacos (yummo - influenced from HowSweetEats blog post). Katie provided all the toppings, and lunch was great!

Katie had a little mishap with the leftover lettuce...

After lunch we geared up, packed coolers and blasted ourselves with sunscreen and Captain Shane took us out on the pontoon boat!

Here we are exiting the canal and heading into Lake Chautauqua!

Trail Mix snacks, paddle boating, ridiculous-word bananagrams and a massive 10 oz "Rodeo" Burger from Village Casino @ Bemus Point (you order food and eat it on the boat! so awesome)


Katie & Mike, Katie, Peanut Butter Cup Smoothie and boating home during sunset

Fun times getting pooped on by birds, celebrating Katie's birthday with cake and playing Pass the Pigs!

Sunday after returning home, Josh and I ate dinner and pretty much crashed at 9PM. We were exhausted!!

We had a GREAT weekend thanks to Shane for being our Captain and big thanks to Shane's mom Rita & her husband Don for letting us stay at the cabin and take the boat!! Thanks to the girls and their hubs for an amazing and fun time at the cabin!!!! Can't wait for another trip!!

Life List

2011-07-30T08:06:00.003-04:00

I've seen a lot of people with bucket or "life" lists, so I decided to start my own! It's starting out slow...but I'll continue to add things as I think of them. I'm not setting myself any time limit (30 things before I turn 30, for example - I don't think I have a hope of accomplishing that at this point), just things I hope to achieve someday in my life!

(Note: I'm including things on the list that have already been accomplished.)

Visit Museum of Modern Art
Visit a Californian Winery
~~Go to England + Visit British Family~~ (Summer 1998 [I think] + Summer 2006)
Go to Europe (Italy, Greece, France, Spain...)
~~Get married!~~ (August 20, 2010)
Visit New York City
~~Go to Disney World!~~ (April 2009 post here, May 2010 [wait - is that right? was it May?] posts here, here, here and here.)
Have kids!
~~Buy a *new* car~~ (December 2010)
~~Be on TV~~ (Summer 2009 Extreme Home Makeover! post here)

Do you have a bucket list? Do you have a list of things you hope to accomplish within a certain time frame? If you have a life list - leave me a comment with a link to your list, I'd love to check it out and get more ideas!!

fabric friday: 07-29-11: Arc|Com NeoCon Showroom

2011-07-29T08:00:00.000-04:00

Arc|Com is one of my favorite fabric vendors to use at work. They recently posted some pictures of their showroom in Chicago for NeoCon on their Facebook page. Just wanted to share the goodness!

I love how they displayed the fabrics!

Beautiful fabrics!

View from outside the showroom.

Love this!

Beautiful fabrics and beautiful showroom, as always! Wish I could have attended the show, but thanks to Arc|Com for sharing pictures of the space!!

Pictures from Arc|Com: Shutterfly

Honey Mustard Balsamic Vinaigrette

2011-07-26T08:40:00.001-04:00

I know I've posted my love for Apple Crunch Salad back in April, and though my own version was delicious, I didn't think the dressing I created really made this salad the best it can be.

I searched and searched and came upon this Honey Mustard Balsamic Vinaigrette at chaos in the kitchen. Everything she posts looks delicious and the ingredients sounded like the perfect combination for this salad.

Total. Winner. This dressing puts this salad over the top amazing. I love it. It ended up being a mess for me to create (I really need a salad-dressing-vinaigrette-appropriate-bottle-thing) as I somehow sprayed balsamicy oil all over myself and our kitchen when making it, but, it was worth it.

I've also starting using straight spinach in an attempt to recreate the deliciousness found at Jerome Bettis Grille in Pittsburgh last month, as well as using Gorgonzola instead of bleu cheese, and I really like the difference that is made. I use regular pecans - candied are delicious, but I'm attempting to "watch what I eat" (hence the spinach). Oh, and I always use a whole apple for myself and for lunch I eat it w/o any meat, though you could add chicken if you want to make a full dinner out of it.

I suggest you check out this dressing if you're looking for something new and slightly sweet! I think the addition of the shallots and mustard really makes this dressing special! (and the honey, too, I guess!)

weekend update: July 22-24, 2011

2011-07-25T08:33:00.002-04:00

This weekend wasn't very exciting though it was fun for me!

A church in our area held it's first annual volleyball tournament on two sand courts on their church property, so that's what I did with Staci and some other friends Saturday morning. It was hot and good times, but I sure was sore and tired the next day.

Also that evening I assisted my sister in a wedding at Peek N' Peak Resort where it was HOT as all get out, but an absolutely gorgeous wedding. The bridal party was super fun, looked amazing, their flowers were gorgeous and the reception was beautiful.

Exhausting Saturdays result in laid-back Sundays with Josh, though we visited my parents for a few hours which was fun and ate s'mores made with marshmallows toasted over our gas stove.

Here's a favorite pic from the wedding:

Check Rachel's BLOG or FACEBOOK for more pictures later this week.

This upcoming weekend Josh & I have a wedding reception (Friday night) then Saturday & Sunday we're spending the day (Josh is coming up later than night with Katie's hubby) with the SKANK's at Staci's in-law's cabin and boat. So excited! Can't wait!!

Hope you guys had awesome weekends! Anyone do anything fun?

fabric friday: 07-22-11 / KnollTextiles Giveaway

2011-07-22T08:00:00.000-04:00


Image from KnollTextiles on Facebook

KnollTextiles is giving away 30 bottles of this new nail polish - 10 winners a week for 3 weeks - on their Facebook page. Just like them on Facebook and stay tuned next Wednesday for the 2nd week of giveaways. All you have to do is name the textile they post. And guess who won one of 10 bottles for this first giveaway?? That's right. ME! Woo! I love my Knoll Red nail polish. Can't wait for this.

Baked Eggplant w/ Fresh Tomato Sauce

2011-07-21T08:19:00.002-04:00

So. I pretty much made this and knew I had to share it. It was SO GOOD. I think Josh may even like this eggplant.

First you cut open, score and salt the eggplant. Let it sit for 30-45 min, then squeeze out the excess water, rinse and pat dry. Spread olive oil on both sides and add some pepper. Put a few fresh thyme sprigs on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and put the eggplant face down on the thyme sprigs. Bake in 400 degree oven for about 45 minutes.

The tomato sauce was pretty simple. Chopped onion, garlic and one plum tomato (this was for one serving). Cook over medium heat, add about 1/4 cup water, cover and let sit for 10-15 minutes. I used a potato masher after it had cooked and threw in some fresh basil (Yes!! First time cooking with my own homegrown basil!)

The chicken was rolled up with ricotta/garlic powder/pepper mixture inside. Cooked in olive oil, water and cooking wine.

Mmm! That eggplant was so so delicious!! Yum-o!!

EDIT: Hannah reminded me with her comment that I had forgotten to write where I got the info to cook the eggplant this way. I wish I could take the credit, but I found it when searching the internet for "baked eggplant." Recipe/technique found here.

current obsessions: July

2011-07-19T08:00:00.001-04:00

July obsessions + loves:

ice cream inspired nail polish colors (reminds me of mint ice cream)
hand-me-down patio chairs + table thanks to my aunt & uncle
a tomato plant full of (hopefully delicious) still growing green tomatoes!
out of town friends visiting
wedding anniversary trip searching/planning
peep-toe wedges (still looking for a pair to buy...)
a beautifully growing basil plant! (I killed our first two...)

weekend update: July 15-17, 2011

2011-07-18T08:00:00.011-04:00

This past weekend was fun, busy, nostalgic and exhausting!! I actually was off Friday because I had worked so much earlier in the week for a bid that was due, so I took advantage of that time off by sleeping in, lounging around and doing some cleaning and grocery shopping.

My girlfriends Nicole and Carri came up from Pittsburgh Friday night, and I haven't them since (college) graduation in 2006. Nicole and I were interior design majors together and Carri was her roommate-turned-best-friend-turned-totally-inseparable. They moved to Virginia/DC area after college and just within the last year moved back up "north." We met up for dinner/drinks at Texas Roadhouse, then planned our next day festivities.

Other than visiting me, the girls had a few reliving-college-memories staples that had to be accomplished during this trip. These included: a visit/drive around Mercyhurst College, Little Caesar's Hot & Ready pizza, Valerio's pizza, Seawolves Baseball game and The Cellblock Bar/Club.

We started the walk down memory lane Saturday with Little Caesar's at Josh and I's townhouse. Then we drove down to Romolo Chocolates for ice cream and milkshakes and a walk around Frontier Park. Originally we were going to stop at Presque Isle but it was ridiculously busy due to Roar on the Shore bike rally so we rethought our ice cream/walk plans.

Nicole + Carri swinging at Frontier Park

A walk around Mercyhurst College

So, they obviously don't need this fire extinguisher spot anymore (there was one mounted on the wall on the other side of the tree)

Old Main building. We also saw a wedding here that ended up being the one my sister was shooting. Weird!

Carri, Me + Nicole at Jerry Uht Park

Jerry Uht Park

Funnel cake at the game. <3

Cellblock - the girls used to love this place!

Classy club-bathroom-pic

We had so much fun reminiscing about old times, catching up on life since college and laughing together. I'm so glad they live closer now so road trips and visits can happen much more often!!

Josh and I didn't get much time together Friday and Saturday since the girls were in town and we were so busy off doing crazy things, so Sunday we laid low and just hung out in the comfort of our AC-house.

Hope you all had great weekends! I'm looking forward to the next three weekends also being crazy busy as well...but they should be fun!

Senior Project, Mercyhurst College, 2006

2011-07-13T19:05:00.000-04:00

I've been trying to get more of my design work up on this blog. I finally took some more pictures of my Mercyhurst College Senior Project from 2006. Here they are!

Taken at the show.

These next pictures were all taken over five years after graduation. They had been laying in plastic in my parents basement since the show. It was cool looking at them after so much time has past - remembering the time spent doing each board and everything I went through on this project. Looking back on it - I am still proud of what I did for this project, and I think that's a very good thing.

Be warned...there are A LOT of pictures. The overall pics of the boards are great, but the detail shots are necessary!

I think I always envisioned that to be me on the stage...and I think we can safely say that - little did I know then - that is Josh by my side :)

I had these little markers on my boards, to designate which floor the perspectives, finishes or alternate drawings related to.

One of my favorite perspectives - showing the "Outdoor Exhibit/Eating Area." (Note the Knoll Toledo chairs/table. We have these at our office @ AGBI. I've loved them since I first saw them.)

weekend update: july 8-10, 2011

2011-07-11T07:39:00.004-04:00

busy. insane. weekend.

we received an extremely labor intensive bid Wednesday morning so my time has been stretched between that and other events this weekend. Friday was spent at work 8-530 (I haven't worked past 3 on a Friday in a LONG time), followed by a baby shower for a childhood/church friend, then a few more hours doing some bid work at home. Saturday I was shooting a wedding in Jamestown & Warren with my sister from 10AM until 10PM, then pretty much crashing as soon as I got home. Sunday Josh & I went off to Grace Church for some great worship and a great sermon. The rest of my day was spent doing laundry, making & eating lunch, working, more laundry, more bid work, finishing laundry, cooking and eating dinner and then finishing the night off with more bid-work.

And Monday should be the same: more. bid. work.

It will all be over Tuesday...hopefully I'll have some fun posts later this week, but until then, I probably won't be up to doing any posting.

Hope you all had fun weekends!! Mine was exhausting!! I'm ready for next weekend already!

Here's one of my favorite pics from the weekend that Rach edited and posted on her Facebook already (check her page - like her page! - for more pics):

fabric friday: 07-08-11 / Chris Barrett Textiles

2011-07-08T08:00:00.000-04:00

I saw these textiles originally on an Apartment Therapy post.

"Chris Barrett Textiles is a vibrant collection of outdoor soft furnishing fabrics made from 100% solution-dyed acrylic textiles and hand-designed with signature abstract patterns."

BIG SUR in color Suncup

MONTECITO in color Multi-Wildrose

MONTEREY in color Wildrye

I really could use some cute seat-pillows to go on the sweet pink chairs we have on our "patio." (still need to get a picture of the "patio" up!)

All images and information from Chris Barrett website.

Weekend Update: July 4th!

2011-07-06T07:59:00.000-04:00

We had a great, busy and fun weekend. Friday started off with a trip to The Cove for dinner and a walk around the dock at sunset. It was a beautiful night.

Saturday I spent the afternoon with my friend Bethany, lounging at her parents pool and eating picnic food. The evening involved a bridal shower for my cousin's fiancee.

Mum, Rach & me at the shower.

Sunday Josh and I were on for worship band in the AM. The rest of the day we laid low, napped and enjoyed a relaxing night together.

July 4th was spent at our good friends' (and wedding videographer/photographer duo) Dave & Danielle's new home. There was lots of good food, great friends and beautiful sun.

My adorable niece!

Yummy picnic food.

Festive cake pops by Danielle! They looked and tasted awesome!

A little puppykins!

Two of my favorite men! My hubs and my dad!

These lights with pom-poms and lanterns were strung all over their backyard.

Chocolate cupcakes with marshmallow cream frosting made by me!

Strawberry cake pop!

Boat ride thanks to our friend Aaron!!

Oh, yes...the weekend was filled with good times. Except...one...bad...time...

Yep. My iPhone fell (I had it sitting on top of the car while I got my keys out)...face-down...onto gravel. Ugh. I would have probably screamed and let some bad words fly out had we not been in public or had my great-aunt not been in the car with us. But. I cried. Expressed my concern of telling Josh (he's been pretty easy going about the whole thing). But man. I'm so sick about it. There's like, no way to fix the iPhone 4 front damage easily, either. And if there was any chance of this being covered by the one year warranty...well, it's been one year and one month. So, yeah, not looking good.

Anyway. The weekend was great other than the iPhone incident. Hope you all had great times with family and friends. I'm ready for another day off and more picnicking!

Chocolate Whoopie Pies

2011-07-05T08:30:00.000-04:00

Okay, if you're dieting...please just don't read this post. These Whoopie Pies are great, but they are definitely not low in the calorie department.

But they are so good! And so fun to make! They took a few hours and made quite a mess in the kitchen, but they were worth it.

The recipe is from The Novice Chef. I made mine using about 2 tablespoons of batter, resulting in Whoopie Pies that are about 4" in diameter. It made 13 pies and the exact amount of filling needed.

Also, we got this cute round table and pink metal chairs (2) for our outside "patio" area from my aunt & uncle. I love them! Can't wait to have some breakfast or dinner out there and enjoy the weather!

BEEF POPS AKA STEAK + PINEAPPLE KEBABS

2011-06-29T08:00:00.000-04:00

Is it just me or is crushing garlic one of the most fun parts of cooking?

Or maybe it's soaking your skewers in a cookie tray because your lasagna pan broke...ugh...

Or perhaps watching people you love enjoying the food you've prepared?

Better yet - those same people telling you how delicious the food is you prepared...

Yes, I witnessed all of these things last week when Josh's mom & dad came over for dinner. I decided to do something a little fancier as this was a Father's Day/Birthday Dinner (Josh saw his dad for Father's Day but I wasn't able). I decided to try these Beef Pops with Pineapple and Parsley Sauce that were recommended by my bosses. And boy did they do a good job recommending.

These were SO amazing. I swear the beef I used said "filet" but they were about $6 - $8 for a 1.12 or so pound package, so it's possible it was sirloin. But can it still be "filet?" Gosh I have no idea. I'm sorry, I just don't remember. BUT THEY WERE DELICIOUS. I was unable to marinate the beef for 3 hours as instructed, I got about an hour in before they were put on skewers and then on the grill. I also forgot to save some of the sauce for dipping, but no one missed it. These were good enough on their own. And grilled pineapple!? COME ON. Amazing. Josh & his mom aren't fans of pineapple, so I just made a few skewers with the steak only. But seriously. Way amazing.

I was afraid the parsley sauce would be a little overwhelming, but let me tell you, IT IS NOT. It was so delicious. So. I'm serious. You HAVE TO TRY THESE. I don't know how I did so amazing on my first try of grilling steak - but these were PERFECT. We all liked them medium-well and they came out just perfect. We served with water with lime in my gorgeous pitcher, salad and sweet potatoes (also done on the grill - oiled and wrapped in foil for under an hour, they were taken off the grill when the skewers were put on).

~ingredients~
parsley sauce
3 cups fresh flat-leaf parsley
2 cloves garlic, peeled
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
1 teaspoon crushed chili flakes (I used a little less as we don't do spicy in this house)
1 teaspoon sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/2 cup olive oil

for the kebabs
1 1/2 pounds beef fillet, cut into 3/4-inch cubes (about 40 cubes) (I used about 2 lbs for four people. there were only a few skewers remaining for delicious leftovers)
1 (2-pound) pineapple, cut into 3/4-inch pieces (about 40 pieces)
20 (8-inch) wooden or bamboo skewers, soaked in water for 30 minutes

~instructions~
Parsley Sauce: In the bowl of a food processor, blend together the parsley, garlic, vinegar, chili flakes, sugar, salt and pepper until smooth. With the machine running, gradually add the olive oil until incorporated. Place half of the mixture in a medium bowl and add beef cubes. Toss well, cover and refrigerate for 3 hours. Place the remaining parsley sauce in a small serving bowl. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate until ready to serve.

Place a grill pan over medium-high heat or preheat a gas or charcoal grill. Thread the skewers alternating the beef and pineapple. I put anywhere from six or more of both the pineapple and beef on each skewer. Continue with the remaining skewers. Grill for 2 to 3 minutes each side (for medium rare) or until desired doneness. (I probably did mine about 4-5 minutes per side)

Drizzle the kebabs with the remaining reserved parsley sauce or serve the sauce on the side for dipping!

Seriously. ENJOY!

Also - how cute do our red chairs look with our red berry plates!??

style obsessions: arc floor lamps

2011-06-28T07:24:00.005-04:00

I've been trying to find information on who started the "arc floor lamp" trend, but have only been able to come up with a few names: George Kovacs and Achille and Pier Giacomo Castiglioni.

The Castiglioni brothers designed the floor lamp with inspiration from a street lamp in 1962. Their arc lamp is considered one of the classics of modern lighting design and is part of the Museum of Modern Art's permanent collection. It is the last image below (Arco Floor Lamp) and link for more information.

Kovacs is a well known name in modern lighting for introducing the first American made halogen torchiere ("lamp on a tall pole with a small head holding a slender quartz bulb") and the "Save Your Marriage" lamp ("twin adjustable lights attached to the same plate above the bed"). Info from here.

Here are some of my favorites:

Possino Euro White Marble Base Floor Lamp from Lamps Plus, $299.99.

George Kovacs Polished Chrome Arc Floor Lamp from Lamps Plus, $360.99

Twiggy Floor Lamp, made in Italy, Hive Modern, $2338.00

Arco Floor Lamp, made in Italy, Design Within Reach, $2,696.00

weekend update: june 24-26, 2011

2011-06-27T08:20:00.001-04:00

This weekend involved a trip to Pittsburgh and an old-fashioned girlie sleepover (Disney movie [Aladdin] and all) with these lovely ladies:

Staci, Katie, Nicole, me and Kristen

to celebrate this lovely lady's birthday:

We got a limo to take us out and bring us home (for $5/person each way!!) which was super fun and made us feel fancy.

We had dinner and drinks at Bettis Grille where we had salads and split a Buffalo Chicken Flatbread and a Mushroom + Goat Cheese Flatbread. Everything was deliciously amazing.

After dinner we walked down to SoHo for more drinks and hanging out, though I think most of us stuck to water at this point...

We somehow convinced Katie and Nikkie to do some PLANKING - which is supposedly the new craze according to some YouTube video Staci sent us all. It was pretty funny that other people recognized it, as none of us had heard of it before the video.

The next morning we slept in, had cinnamon rolls, fruit and mimosas for breakfast and watched Water for Elephants, which we had all just read as our 2nd book for book club. All of us loved the book (maybe Nikkie wasn't too impressed) and though we enjoyed the movie, there were a lot of variances from the book that frustrated all of us.

We stopped at Rivers Casino and Wheelhouse Bar & Grill for lunch then stopped off at Ikea before going back home.

Oh, and also? Escalators. Are. Dangerous. I managed to trip up a down escalator and slice up my toe. Yes, that was stupid of me. But I'm pretty sure the tripping was not because of the escalator, but because of my clumsiness and then just was worse because of the escalator. I was only a few steps down and I tried to get back up to grab my camera from one of the girls. So yeah. Seriously. Don't mess around on those things.

Anyway, great weekend! Sunday I was just happy to lay around with my husband. We relaxed, napped, ate Chinese and watched TV.

I'm hopeful to get some more fun posts up this week - we had Josh's parents over for dinner last week, so that deliciousness will be coming. Also, I swear next time I go to Katie's house I'm going to do a house-crashers post, because I love what she and her hubby have done with the house, and she's too busy to get pics up on her own blog!

Hope you all had an awesome weekend as well!

fabric friday: 06-24-11 / KnollTextiles Behind the Scenes

2011-06-24T08:19:00.001-04:00

Check out this video of KnollTextiles behind the scenes. Pretty awesome shots of the showcase at the Bard Graduate Center as well as some footage of textiles being created.

style obsessions: sectionals

2011-06-20T21:20:00.001-04:00

One thing that has remained consistent in my design style is my love for sectionals. Now I'm not talking cheesy, bulky, leather wrap-around sectionals - but modern, retro, neutral colored chaise + sofa sectionals.

Funny how when I had the opportunity to buy a sofa/sectional I ended up buying a pretty basic, transitional and still-not-broken-in-or-very-comfy-even-after-four-years couch and matching loveseat.

Here are a few of my favorites from the web:

Image from Apartment Therapy. I adore this sofa. Have no clue where it's from though.

Karlstad sofa + chaise from Ikea. I love it in grey.

Cini Boeri Lounge for Knoll Studio (I know these aren't sectionals - but i still love the low, comfy look). Image from Neocon 2011 Showroom Highlights.

Gus Modern Carter Sectional Sofa from All Modern/CSN Stores. I love this style.

Santa Barbara Sectional from Vivavi.


Modern Fabric Sectional Sofa from Tosh Furniture.

Grey Fabric Sectional Sofa from Tosh Furniture.

Modern Grey Fabric Sectional Sofa by Tosh Furniture.

I'm definitely drawn to a few key elements: neutral (mostly grey) colors and textured fabrics, visible metal frame/leg and a medium height back with floppy, loose cushions.

chocolate chip pancakes

2011-06-20T08:11:00.000-04:00

This is a tried and true recipe my dad has been making for us since my sister and I were wee little girlies. Dad usually handled our breakfasts as he had a more flexible schedule and mom was always off bright and early to get to work during the school year. Though she was gone in the early hours of the morning, she was home by the time we were back from school and enjoyed the summers off with us.

Okay, so Dad didn't start putting in the chocolate chips...I think we did that as we got old enough to make these for ourselves. Don't judge these pancakes. This is nothing. Have you seen We Are Not Martha's S'mores Pancakes?? Yeah. Those look amazing. But my pancakes...have fruit.

I had the pleasure of Josh joining me for breakfast this Saturday morning. He usually sleeps in on Saturdays (until he has to get up for work), but he was up earlier and it was nice spending some time over breakfast with him since I would be gone all night shooting a wedding with my sister.

Anyway, here is the recipe! You can find this recipe all over the web, it's pretty well-used and it's the only recipe where I've memorized the measurements.

Chocolate Chip Pancakes
makes 4 large pancakes or 6-7 medium
~ingredients~
1 c flour
1 T sugar
1 1/2 T butter, melted (or veggie/canola oil)
3 tsp baking powder
1 egg
1/2 tsp vanilla (or more if you like)
1/4 tsp/pinch salt
1/2 c - 1 c milk (we use 1%; amount depends on how you prefer the consistency of your pancakes)
1/4 c chocolate chips (or more...)

~instructions~
(In case you don't know how to make pancakes...)
Whisk together all ingredients except chocolate chips. Adjust milk amount as preferred. Add chocolate chips. Heat griddle or skillet to medium heat. Add pancake batter, as much or as little as you want (again, depends on size/consistency of your pancakes). Once pancakes start bubbling on top, flip carefully. Cook a few more minutes until done. Repeat until all the batter is used. Serve with syrup, berries and whipped cream!

Of course you can substitute blueberries, white chocolate chips, peanut butter, etc. for the chocolate chips. If I make them plain, sometimes I'll add a little lemon juice to the batter instead of the vanilla. I also learned from my dad that warmed syrup on pancakes, french toast or waffles is the best. I suggest you try it!

I also love reheating leftover pancakes in the toaster oven the next day!

a father's day (early) post

2011-06-17T17:41:00.000-04:00

My dad is the best dad ever. I know, I know, everyone says that. But really. It's my dad.

My dad is creative, musical, artistic, hilarious and my best friend. We have always had a special bond; me helping him fix things, handing him his tools, playing Legos with him. I've had the privilege of working side by side with him in our Children's Church program (Captain Bill and Volley Galore!) and singing and dancing beside him at various concerts.

We have a sense of humor that engulfs us (and my sister) to tears while the "Americans" (mom, Brian and now Josh) look at us like we're nuts. My dad is supportive of me and is always there when I need him. I know he prays for Josh and I, that we would be happy, successful, blessed and fulfilled in life. He has been a great father and leader of our family.

Happy Fathers Day to my dad! I love you, Daddio! I will always be your little Ame.

homemade pizza

2011-06-15T07:52:00.000-04:00

For my birthday this year, my parents bought me a pizza making set - stone, peel, cutter and silver server for the stone. It's been a fun addition for baking bread and making some frozen pizzas, but it was time to break out all the stops and do fresh dough AND sauce for dinner.

We also always love breadsticks with pizza. I mean - this is a Josh thing that I have now become hooked on. So, I make a big batch of dough, separate it in half (I go a little heavy on the dough for the pizza) and bake it differently. The breadsticks were baked with a spread of garlic, rosemary, salt and pepper mixed with some butter and oil. Parmesan was dusted on the top after baking. Also, I scored the bread before baking, which made it a lot easier when it was done.

The pizza dough recipe is the staple recipe I always go to on foodnetwork.com. I haven't found any problems with it, so I haven't made any changes. I do think next time I'll incorporate the different spices within the dough for the breadsticks. They were good - but they needed to be kicked up a notch to really separate them from the pizza. I mean, the dough recipe is from Emeril, so, I should be kicking it up notches.

The pizza sauce is an Annie's Eats recipe found here. I made a few changes for us, here's my recipe below:

Recipe for pizza sauce:
~ingredients~
14.5 oz. can petite diced tomatoes, undrained
8 oz. can tomato sauce
1 tbsp. olive oil
1 tbsp. dried basil
1 tbsp. dried oregano
1 tbsp. dried marjoram (yeah, I used the same amount for all the spices...you should feel free to add or remove to your tastes!)
1 tsp. crushed red pepper flakes
S+P to taste
3-4 cloves of garlic, finely minced

~instructions~
Combine all ingredients in a small saucepan over medium-high heat. Bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer. Allow to cook for at least 15 minutes. Once finished cooking, remove from the heat. Feel free to mash with a potato masher or blender for a smoother sauce. Store in an air-tight container in the refrigerator.

This was enough for one about 12" pizza plus plenty left for dipping. And there is still some in the fridge...

weekend update

2011-06-13T19:39:00.000-04:00

As always the weekend went by too fast and here we are at another work week. Weekends should always be three-day-weekends. Minimum.

I started out early, leaving work at noon on Friday. Former roomie KC joined me at the townhouse where we chatted about the cable box, Josh's video rocker, our TV stand and other random things that only (late) twenty-somethings like us would discuss. But really. LATE twenty-somethings!? When did this happen???!!!!!!

(MINI RESTAURANT REVIEW)

We decided to try one of those we-only-serve-lunch-close-early places to eat and settled on Gerry's Deli on 8th Street in the Colony Plaza. We were first intrigued by their fun website (I really like that logo/banner on the site!) and secondly by their "CHICKA BOOM BOOM" wrap with chicken, shredded lettuce, tomato, avocado, baked beans, cheese and sour cream. (Okay, I was intrigued by this. So much so that it is what I ordered). Anyway, the food was very good - the above wrap?! AMAZING. Except I'm 99% sure mine didn't have avocado, and if it did, it probably would have been even THAT more amazing. I might have to make this at home. I ordered the potato salad as a side, and even that was amazing. You can pick up food to go or even just deli meats or ox roast (good 'ole Erie ox roast).
(END OF MINI RESTAURANT REVIEW)

After lunch we stopped next door at Dolce Gelato where KC bought me some gelato because I didn't have any cash. Yum. Chocolate Hazelnut and Cheesecake. Amazing combination.

We decided to try a thrift store with the rest of our afternoon and stopped at the City Mission Thrifty Shopper on West 8th & Pittsburgh. We both wanted to own a piece of clothing from a thrift store so we could say "thrifted!" It was the word of the day. More on these adventures in a later post.

So, that was Friday. Only Friday! It was great catching up with Kristen and we had a super fun time! I'm bummed I didn't take any pictures of our adventures, even on my phone would have been good. Oh well. Sometimes you're just enjoying the moments so much, you forget to capture them!!

The rest of my weekend was spent lazing around, making pizza (see post tomorrow), painting chairs, and playing video games with my hubby. After a long work week, all I ever want to do on the weekends is just lounge with Josh! I had hoped for some nice weather to get to the Peninsula, but Mother Nature was not in the summer mood this weekend and it was pretty low, cloudy temps the whole time.

Well. Thanks for sticking through to the end. Hope you all had glorious weekends and a great week to come!

current obsessions: June

2011-06-11T10:23:00.000-04:00

I thought this might be a fun new "series" to post - what I'm loving, obsessing over, craving, etc - monthly post.

Here are my current (JUNE) obsessions + loves:

new DEATH CAB cd - Codes and Keys
spiked orangle creamsicle smoothies
our new red chairs (though I should probably finish up the four in the basement...)
olioboard (you can view my profile + boards here)
the first buds on our tomato plant
thrift stores (more on that later)
freshly cut flowers on our tabletop
rearranging our kitchen (okay, this is probably an ongoing obsession)

fabric friday: 06-10-11: Designtex Privacy Curtains

2011-06-10T08:03:00.009-04:00

I'm back this week with a new addition to the Designtex line of fabrics! I had the pleasure of meeting with our Designtex rep, Duane, this past week. He showed me the brand new healthcare line of upholstery and privacy curtain fabrics.

This new Designtex line is called The Josephine Collection and includes cubicle curtains and coordinating upholstery options. The line is inspired by Empress Josephine Bonaparte’s utopian garden resulting in designs reflecting nature and neoclassic architecture. Info from here.

I love all of the new fabrics, especially the privacy curtains, Blowing Flower (shown left) in particular.

Here are the new privacy curtain fabrics:

[Blowing Flower in Aloe]

[Chic Blossom in Hyacinth]


[Flowering Branch in Labyrinth]

[Greek Trellis in Lambs Ear]


[Sugar Lash in Aubergine]

All images from Designtex website.

Spiked Orange Creamsicle Smoothies

2011-06-09T08:29:00.000-04:00

Last weekend on Twitter I mentioned that spiked orange creamsicle slushies were on our menu for that evening. It all started with Josh's request for the above vodka - whipped cream flavored. (see me in the reflection taking the picture? what a nerd i am)

Although the original creamsicle recipe only included crushed ice, Orange Crush pop and the whipped cream flavored vodka, we have since perfected it.

These were so amazingly delicious. The replacement of (triple) vanilla ice cream for the crushed ice made them go down WAY too easy.

Also, I didn't realize we had these fun glasses to put them in.

A fresh fruit or mint garnish would have been nice, but they didn't last long enough for either of us to really care (I'm sure Josh would have drank it from the blender cup). I don't really have any measurements for this - I did a few scoops of ice cream per person, 1 "shot" of the vodka and enough orange pop to give it a good consistency (helpful, huh?). I also added another splash of the orange pop at the end to make it easier to drink from the glass instead of eat with a spoon.

mood boards: olioboard

2011-06-08T19:44:00.000-04:00

A few months...a year...ago...who knows anymore, I signed up for some mood board type website where you could grab anything you liked (home decor, fashion...) and create a style board of it. Earlier this week I was thinking I wanted to get back to that and create some boards, but I could not remember for the life of me what the website was.

I Googled and I succeeded. Well, sort of.

OlioBoard! I'm not sure if this is what I signed up for before, but I'm signed up now and it is pretty darn cool.

I've done one board so far (I mean, come on - I only just signed up an hour ago). This board's inspiration is our existing comforter - Dwell Studio for Target - that I bought with our shower/wedding money. The rest of the board is future home inspiration and wishes for someday. Who knows, by the time we buy a home or can get all this cool stuff we'll probably have a different bedspread and bedroom color scheme going on! (I tell you one thing though - I will always want one of those circular burst mirrors! I love them!)

You can pick and choose paint, furniture, rugs, bedding, accessories - anything! And arrange it all, change the scale, rotation, and order of images. You can also browse through lots of other boards, comment on them and find more inspiration! You can upload your own images, browse vendor websites after you've made your board and share your board on your blog, Twitter or Facebook. LOVE!! I'm sure there are even more things you can do with it, I just haven't figured them all out yet.

Check them out on Twitter, Facebook and online.

peach scones

2011-06-07T08:43:00.000-04:00

my mum decided to stop by for a "quick" visit on Saturday after her garage sale-ing adventures. i had offered to have a tasty treat for us, but never made anything the night before. i searched online for something quick involving peaches, preferably that wouldn't need to be done with yeast or any fridge/freezer time.

i found this recipe for peach scones from King Arthur Flour. they tasted pretty darn good, though they didn't brown up like they should have and didn't shape up very attractively. i think i mixed them too much after adding the peaches (because i felt like they weren't incorporating), so i had too much peach juice spread throughout. i also meant to brush with milk and add some sugar crystals on top, but totally forgot until it was too late. the flavor of the scones was yummy, though and i suggest you make them. just remember not to over-mix after the peaches go in and to add some pretty sugar on top.

these peaches are seriously amazing. i got them from Mason Farms this past Thursday and they are so tasty. not sure where they are from though, too early for peaches in Erie...

also, we had another batch of crazy clouds, hail and tornado warnings in Erie on Saturday. the tornado warnings weren't very serious as there weren't any touchdowns reported, and all the action was much more south than we were located.

however, this hail was nuts. i mean, crazy-sized chunks of ice being chucked from the sky, bouncing off everything and sounding like someone was pelting rocks at our door. craziest thing i've ever seen. i apologize for the nuts-o pics, mum was in front of me and i was shooting from behind the screen door.

fries on the grill

2011-06-06T08:30:00.000-04:00

i love this recipe for baked oven fries from Annie's Eats, but i had no desire to heat up the place by turning the oven on the other night, so i thought grilling the "fries" would be just as good.

i started by covering my grill so i wouldn't have any fries jump ship into flames below. however i made SO MANY they were spreading everywhere and the best fries ended up being done on the far left side that was open. in the end, only one fry (and one zucchini stick) fell below deck.

the fries were scrubbed, skin on, cut, tossed with olive oil, salt, pepper and a "season-all" seasoning. they were on the grill for about 15 minutes, 1/2 the time with the lid on, 1/2 with the lid off while i rearranged them.

though they weren't extremely crispy, they were delicious. i suggest you try the oven recipe on a cool day; if you follow the instructions exactly you WILL get crispy fries!! also, that cheeseburger over there was pretty good too. mmmm cheeseburgers.

hope you all had some fun grilling times this weekend!

what do to with power cables: embrace them!

2011-06-04T19:43:00.000-04:00

um, i've never even thought of doing something like this. these ideas are so great!!

(fave)

(also a fave)

images from unplggd.com.