It's Just Us

Miss me?

2011-10-18T09:35:00.001-06:00

Don't forget to update your RSS feeds to the new site at www.denverdietrich.wordpress.com.

New updates on the bathroom and some furniture refinishing projects!

Silly Blogger

2011-10-06T11:01:00.001-06:00

We've moved! To see our latest project - hint: it includes a chair, a blister, beautiful navy fabric and LOTS of staples - find us at www.denverdietrich.wordpress.com. And you can find all our photos and posts there too!

Mounting a TV

2011-09-27T11:24:00.000-06:00

We've noticed an odd trend in our neighborhood. While walking the dogs I thoroughly enjoy the act of "neighbor peeping." Come on - I know you do it too. You walk by and take a quick peek through the open windows and doors of your neighbors homes. I love to see how other people decorate and even the layout of the homes around us. But one thing we've noticed lately is how darn high people are mounting their tv's on the walls. It's absolutely ridiculous!

They look kind of like this - sometimes worse.

Ok - this is just silly - who needs that many tv's!?

It's so high - next to the crown molding!

I'm sorry - did you mistake your home for a sports bar?

Dude - my neck hurts just looking at this!

It's not even mounted on the wall - its mounted from the CEILING!

Unless you are prone on that couch, your neck is gonna hurt.

Two of our tv's (don't judge - the mister works in electronics so we tend to have lots by default) are mounted on the wall - but at eye level. The other tv sits on a stand and its even lower.

Is there a rule about how high you should mount your tv? Is having it that high going to lead to neck/eye problems for those poor souls? Am I the only one that thinks about these odd things?

A Productive Weekend

2011-09-26T16:15:00.000-06:00

Wow! Can we start a petition for 3 day weekends all the time? I mean really. Two days just isn't enough. Just when I get the hang of relaxing and being ok with being lazy its time to go on Monday morning!

I can't complain too much, I guess. It was an absolutely gorgeous weekend here in Colorado with clear skies, sunshine and perfect temps. Which meant yard work, projects, volunteering, long walks with the dogs, football with friends and lots of productivity!

Saturday was spent cheering on the Team in Training participants on their Mission Day - longest run of the season. As an alumni of the program and continual supporter, I woke up early and hit the trail to man a cheer station for the runners. We had signs encouraging the runners, snacks, water and gatorade. It was so great to see so many familiar faces and to see the runners looking so strong at miles 6.5 and 13. In fact, it may have been the motivation to get me training for marathon #8. More on that later.

Among other projects I did take some time Sunday morning to make some little yummies - raspberry scones!

I used this recipe off of pinterest (duh) and it turned out pretty well - except that I mis-measured the salt. Oops! But I added extra vanilla extract to compensate and they aren't too bad.

Now I have breakfast-on-the-go all week. And I was so thankful for that this morning! Really - anyone else want to see if we can get 3 day weekends all the time?

In the Mail

2011-09-23T10:37:00.003-06:00

Say hello to my new fabric. I bit the bullet and did some online shopping - with free shipping and a great sale!

Soon this fabric will be adorning my soon to be refinished chair for the living room.

I guess we all know what I'll be up to this weekend!

Chicken Wire and The Love of Navy

2011-09-22T09:02:00.001-06:00

I made this little lovely this weekend. I found the frame at Goodwill during a 50% off sale and picked up the chicken wire from the hardware store. I pulled the backing and the glass off, spray painted the frame white and added the chicken wire.

Now it sits in my bathroom holding my most popular accessories. Such an easy project. I may try to find another frame and add some hooks to make one for my niece as a headband holder.

In other news I have a chair that I picked up from Goodwill months ago sitting in my garage collecting dust. It may become "the project" this weekend.

I'm envisioning it painted white and recovered with fabric like this.

The fabric happens to be on sale right now at Joann's.

Did I mention I'm newly in love with navy?

Here's a little creation I'll call my living room mood board.

I just realized I don't have a very up-to-date photo of our living room. I'll work on that.

But our walls are Kilim Beige from Sherwin Williams, our neutral sofa and chair are from American Furniture Warehouse, our coffee table, side table and shelf are from World Market. I would love to add navy curtains, pillows, new upholstered chair (from goodwill), a bench, and some world map artwork.

I love neutrals. Isn't this beautiful?

I'm also loving this splash of orange with navy.

From my pinterest board.

Let's be Pinterest friends - follow me and I'll follow you!

Fall is (Almost) Here

2011-09-16T12:05:00.001-06:00

Last weekend before running off to work, I was extremely productive! I did some laundry, cleaned up the house, and made a fabulous breakfast. I bought these ramekins a while back and they are perfect for these mini breakfast quiches. A few eggs, some mushrooms, sliced grape tomatoes, chopped spinach, don't forget a bit of garlic or shallot and top it with cheese. Back in the oven for 15-18 minutes and they are ready! Plus, the keep really well and reheat fabulously!

Check out what is finally growing in my little garden! Pumpkins!

This guy is my biggest yet - sadly, I have hundreds of orange blooms but only three little gourds growing. I'm hoping they turn orange soon and that more grow!

And this is a little fall wreath I whipped up thanks to some great sales/coupons at Michael's.

And these two hooligans are our watchdogs for the neighborhood.

Have a great weekend!

Prayers for Anna's Family

2011-09-15T09:11:00.001-06:00

Blogging is an interesting community - but it is, community.

Today I learned of a deep loss for a woman whom I've never met, and yet I feel as if I know her. Blogging allows us to share our lives with people all across the country and around the world. I appreciate those that share their stories, and their families along with the craft project, diy progress or home decorating advice. Anna is an exceptional writer and I've always been drawn to her as she shares real life struggles, adventures and comedy of her everyday life.

Today Anna shared the breathtaking tribute to her son that she read at yesterday's funeral.

Please join me in uplifting Anna and her family.

Tidbits

2011-09-07T20:00:00.001-06:00

I'm tired, but not for the reasons I'd like to be tired.
It's cold here in Colorado - I'm excited for fall but not ready to say goodbye to summer.
I have a feeling the next two months are going to fly by.
Sometimes when i have free time I panic and don't know what I should do - should I relax, blog, craft, diy, sew, read, hang out with friends, etc. This is probably because...
I work two jobs - one full time and the other part time, I play softball on Mondays and I'm taking some graduate courses. Can you say busy?
My biggest pet peeve are people who can't seem to put their grocery carts in the corral or back in the store. My second biggest pet peeve is dumb and/or selfish people. I deal with them on a daily basis unfortunately.
I have an amazing family - I just wish I could see them more often.
Last night I had wine and scrambled eggs for dinner - now that's glamorous.
And maybe I'll start blogging more....

Sister-in-laws are the coolest

2011-08-25T09:42:00.000-06:00

Whoopsies - someone's taken a blogging break! It's been a busy month here for us. I was making great progress on my bathroom remodel (you can read about it here, here and here) and then we had these guys come to visit -

Can you believe how big they are getting?! Look at that sharp kid with his hand on his hip - he actually looks like he's having fun! And the little one in blue is SO TALL! And my man in the middle - what a helper!

So all construction and crafting ceased while we played in the mountains, jumped on trampolines, ate smores, went white water rafting, and goofed off! And it was GREAT! I love it when family comes to visit. And the best part wasn't even that my SIL brought an entire case of wine (yes, an ENTIRE CASE!) It was just hanging out with the people we love.

Speaking of SIL - you should see what this girl can do in just a few short days. Now that the kids are back in school she finished up a few projects around the house, including reorganizing the boys' closet.

Check out the before:

She took everything out, added shelving, primed and painted (and we all know how tedious that can be in a closet!) and put the organized clothes back into their new home.

She plans on getting some storage bins for the floor and lower shelves.

I think something likes these would work well

Credit

and maybe something with a label so the boys can keep their stuff all organized - even if it isn't folded nicely!

Credit

Not bad for a busy mom of three running between multiple schools, multiple sports practices and work!

I wonder if she wants to come back for a visit and help me get organized?!

And in other news

2011-07-26T14:31:00.000-06:00

Oh, let's be honest - there is no other news besides what's happening with the bathroom remodel. My life is nothing but the ordinary - and I love that!

I put in trim on Friday between jobs and installed the toilet during a midday Saturday break between bridal shower and bachelorette party. I'm fancy. I know.

One of these days I'll take a picture with a real camera rather than the phone. But I'm just too lazy lately! And yes, I still have some work to do on the wall patch where the tp holder used to be. Details, details.

This "Little Loo" (yes, she has a nickname already) was no easy thing, either. Although, it should have been. Ladies - do NOT be intimidated by the toilet - it may be nasty to clean, but it's a breeze to install! As long as your bolts are long enough. Which, of course, mine weren't. Had to have some fun with this project - it's no fun if there isn't a little drama involved!

The previous owners apparently decided to "seal the toilet" onto the concrete floor with CONCRETE. Really? So annoying. The old toilet came off just fine - so much for sealing it. But the bolting system was cemented to the floor. When I put our new toilet over the top, the addition of the mastic and tile made it so that the bolts were just a smidge too short to actually do their job of securing the toilet.

A quick trip - with my lovely photo - to Ace Hardware and I had my answer. A few couplings, some nylon washers and two new screws to go into the couplings and I was good to go. Oh, and a new water hose that was long enough, too. I hate projects that take multiple trips to the store - ugh.

I've used Little Loo several times - and I love it! It's so nice to watch a movie in the cool basement and not have to run upstairs in the summer heat and use the restroom.

Yesterday over my lunch hour - I'm nothing if not efficient - I ran to the HD to get some lumber for my vanity. Let me tall ya - these plans by Ana White are so stinking easy. I had everything cut and put together in about an hour. Now I just need to get the wood for the top, sand, sand, and sand, and stain and seal.

No pictures yet - but as soon as I get the top I'll post some.

Oh - and in other other news - I chopped my hair!

All By Myself

2011-07-22T10:55:00.000-06:00

Ahh, Celine. You bring back some memories....

Yes - I'm continuing on the bathroom remodel - all by myself. By choice.

And guess what? I'm loving it. It's so fun!

Here's the update from last night - grout and a window blind.

Sorry for the cell phone picture. In person it looks awesome!

Next up - trim and install the toilet!

Have a lovely weekend all!

The Master Bathroom Wrap-Up

2011-07-21T10:41:00.000-06:00

Remember almost a month ago when I posted here about the near completion about the project? Well I realized that I never did do the final recap - so here it is!

We went from this:

What used to be the shower on the far left and the vanity

The shower

The wall where we ripped out tile around the vanity area

to this:

New paint, new beadboard walls, new mirror and light fixture

We took the doors off the cabinet above the toilet - I love the open spa-like feel of it.

We even have new towel bars! But we reused the sink and toilet to save us some cash!

IN LOVE with my new shower. Love the tile. Love the rain shower head. Love, Love, Love.

Now this is what I like to wake up to!

Patched the wall (left) where the old TP holder was and got a fancy new one!

Yeah - we still have two pieces of trim to put up - as well as one tiny section of beadboard near the shower. But it'll get done eventually - right?! I wish there were little elves that could come over and "finish" all the little projects in my house.

Or maybe I should do all the finish work before starting the next project! ha - silly girl. That would NEVER happen. I'm a remodelaholic - I love starting a new project!

I wish I had the break down of costs - but since the project was almost 11 months long, I have no idea what we spent on stuff. Here's what I do know:

Tile - Rialto Noce from Lowe's ($2.28 sq ft) 12 x 12 in porcelain tile

Accent Tile - I can't seem to find it on Lowe's website, but it was about $11 for a 12 x 12, that we cut in half to get the narrower accent trim in the shower

Grout - Custom Building premixed sanded grout in Sandstone from Home Depot ($20.97 x 2)

Beadboard - Cape Cod MDF Beadboard Planks 3 pck from Home Depot ($17.97 x 6?)

Chair Rail - Knotty Pine Beadboard Trim Pack from Home Depot ($15.98 x 2?)

We scored the shower head from TJ Maxx (of all places!) for $30, and bought the simple replacement shower handle for $32 from Home Depot.

The mirror was a clearance purchase from TJ Maxx - but of course I can't remember what I paid for it - maybe $40 or $50?

And the light fixture was from Lowe's, the Bel Air 3-Light brushed nickel vanity light for $60

We scored the towel bar, hooks and TP holder on clearance at Target

We reused/recycled:

the shower rings and shower curtains
the vanity
the toilet
the cabinets

All in all, not a bad project. And I LOVE my new bathroom - I might even be nice enough to let Seth use it from time to time!

And then there was tile

2011-07-20T12:55:00.000-06:00

I think I work harder on my days off than I do at work. After a day off of work like yesterday, I'm more than happy to come back to work and sit in a chair all day! My back is hurting - but so are other muscles I didn't even know I had.

This is what I did yesterday -

It may not look like much - but it took me almost all day to lay all the tile. Let's just say I have a whole new appreciation for Seth and all the hard work he does for me! (and yes, I told him how awesome he is)

I started at 9am by laying out all the big tiles. I decided to use a staggered row design. I really wanted to do this in our master bath but Seth said no. Since I was in charge of this project, I got to do whatever I wanted. And I wanted staggered rows. Honestly, I think it was easier than straight rows, and definitely gives the floor more interest. I even made sure to check the tiles to ensure they were all level every few rows. Seth will be so proud!

After laying all the big tiles, I took a 30 minute break for snacks - my new favorite green smoothie - courtesy of Laurel at Ducks in a Row.

Then I took on the challenge of cutting all the side pieces. I had never used the tile saw before, but found it fairly simple, and similar to using my table saw. The only difference is that with tile you must be EXACT with your measurements as it is nearly impossible to shave off a smidge if necessary, like you can with wood. In fact, I had a few cuts where I only needed to cut off 1/4 of an inch - these were the hardest to cut! The saw left my tiles with some jagged spots - thankfully these will be up next to the carpet so it will be hard to see.

After a few hours of cutting - I ran out of tile! Go figure - I thought I had bought 10% extra like the experts suggest. Thankfully the store had more (as this was a closeout sale - $0.68 per sq ft. Yeah, baby!) and I welcomed the mid-afternoon break from the tedious work.

So even though I sent my SIL a text message saying "Girls can do anything boys can do - but better!" with a picture of my almost finished tile job, I do have a new found appreciation for the many, many tile jobs that Seth has taken on in the last few years. While I'm proud to say that I did this job all by myself, and I now know that I too can conquer a tile floor - I definitely don't want to do it again any time soon. In fact, I'm not even really looking forward to grouting. ugh. More time spend on my knees bent over the tile - yuck! But it will look soooo good when it's done. And I love a done project!

Over the weekend I also finished the patching, priming and painting. And I even installed two sconce lights and an overhead light. All by myself. Without electrocuting myself or setting the house on fire.

Can you hear my head getting bigger with my little project? I can! I'm pretty proud of myself - just call me Martha Villa! I can cook/clean/craft/bake a la Martha Stewart and I can dominate a remodel job just as good (well maybe not) as Bob Villa.

When you gotta "go"

2011-07-13T11:26:00.000-06:00

You might think that somebody (that would be me) has been on vacation or something. Nope. Just MIA from the blog. Enjoying summer. Being lazy.

But guess what?! I finally showered in my own master bath shower yesterday! Yup, it means the bathroom project started over Labor Day last year is almost done! There are a few pesky little details that still need to be accomplished (caulking, trim on the ceiling of the shower, one little piece of bead board and trim, and hanging the final hooks on the walls) and then we can call it complete.

I failed to take any pictures of the finished project yet - so I'll update those soon - hopefully.

Is any project really ever "complete" though? Maybe if you hire a contractor to do the work, but not in my world!

And while I'm super psyched to have the bathroom done, I've already super-secretly started on the next project - the other bathroom!

I should have entitled this post "how to really tick off your significant other." My super secret project started last night when I decided that when we are hanging out downstairs - which is the coolest location in the house these days - that I don't like having to walk all the way up stairs and through the house to use the facilities or wash my hands, etc.

The room is practically stripped - there are no floors and the walls were primed before we moved in. All that remains are the yellow toilet and the vanity. Simple enough for me to remove and start my own little project.

I say "my" project because I really want to do this one by myself. Partly to see how long it takes me, but also because I want to see if I can do it. The only new skill will be cutting and laying the tile. I already grout, seal, paint and install electrical lighting. What can be so hard, right? (let's hope these aren't famous last words!)

Let's take a look at the before's, shall we.

These pics make it look really yellow in here, but really it's just the toilet and the counter top.

Check out these rocking lights - not.

A very vintage looking vanity, with a yellow sink.

Remember, this is my indoor spray painting station.

Ugh, the tiny shower.

The bathroom has kind of a weird lay out with a wall separating the vanity from the toilet.

Here are some of my inspiration photos:

Loving this light and bright and organic feel - especially the open format vanity with vessel sink.

Specifically this square vessel sink with brushed nickel faucet.

I'm totally loving these colors - the beige tile with gray walls!

I'm thinking this rustic leaning shelf would go great in the large space in front of the toilet - perfect for storing extra tp and towels.

And some great art work!

We already have Behr's Sandstone Cliff in the rest of the basement so I figured I'd use it for consistency - and because it's a great neutral.

Sandstone Cliff - Behr

And I found this tile at the Floor and Decor Outlet for $1.09 sq ft.

My plan is then to custom build an open vanity using plans from Ana White like this one.

All in all I'm hoping to do everything for $500 - (this doesn't include the shower). I just want a nice place that I can "go" without having to go all the way upstairs.

What do you think? Can I do this all without any major catastrophes?

Jars and Numbers

2011-06-29T11:15:00.000-06:00

Lately its all in the details for me. Especially jars and numbers

Remember my dresser re-do with numbers?

Well there are pillows to match. I snagged some sale fabric at Joanns, sew some simple slipcover pillow covers, but they needed a little something-something. So of course, they got numbered.

There's one thing for sure - we'll know if something goes missing in our home since everything is numbered!

I also added this little detail to the bathroom remodel project. Courtesy of Liz Galvan.

Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery!

Now I have storage in my tiny bathroom!

These go nicely with the millions of other jars laying around my house

Summer Lounging

2011-06-28T09:00:00.005-06:00

Last year for my 30th birthday all I wanted was a hammock. And I love my hammock!

It's great for relaxing. I love to read in it. And it fits two people.

But it's not great for sunbathing. So with $40 in supplies and some plans from Ana White, I spent a Saturday morning making my lounger.

It went together fairly quickly - I spent Friday evening making all the cuts, so Saturday morning I woke up and had half of it built before the Mister even woke up!

Note of caution: Pale white skin that hasn't seen the sun in over 9 months should not be exposed to intense sun without sunscreen! Ouch! I learned my lesson with a bright red sunburn on my back.

Now I just need to find an inexpensive cushion.

Linking here.

Grout, Grout, Grout

2011-06-27T11:23:00.000-06:00

Happy Monday - Can you tell what I did this weekend? Yup, the last shower tile was laid late last week, which meant grouting for me this weekend! Three long hours later - and a quick trip to Lowe's for more grout - and the shower is one step closer to being done!

Let's take a stroll down memory lane, shall we?

This is the master bath during our walk through in 2009:

Then this happened one day without warning in September 2010:

You can read about my surprise here.

Then it looked like this after a month:

In late October we laid the floor tile:

In December the beadboard starting going up:

In January 2011, we continued with the beadboard:

And before my sweet niece and nephews came for a February visit, I made sure we had a working toilet and sink!

and this is where the burn out begins. No progress for several months.

Until April when tile began to appear in small increments in the shower.

Until finally this weekend all the tiles were in place and I spent some quality Saturday time with some grout and a sponge.

We're nearing the year mark on this project. Hopefully we can seal the tile, get the fixtures and shower curtain in place before Labor Day!

Five

2011-06-24T11:25:00.000-06:00

Where were you five years ago today?

I was here

I could write some super sappy and romantic stuff about how wonderful our lives have been, and how happy I am. But instead, I think I'll keep those thoughts a bit more personal.

We've come a long way in five years. A long way.

And the beautiful thing is - we still have the journey ahead of us. Life is beautiful.

Dropcloth Draperies

2011-06-22T10:08:00.000-06:00

Pretty sure I never shared my super secret drapery story with you all. So today I'm gonna let you in on a little secret.

When we moved into our house two years ago, the previous owners left the window coverings. Which was sweet, except that they weren't quite our style. the were on the old metal rod with drapery hooks that moved back and forth with the pull of a cord. Very 1980's. Thankfully they were a neutral color so they actually stayed up for a few months until we decided what to do.

You see...our front window is HUGE. Or at least, in terms of finding a decent and inexpensive privacy solution, the window is large.

It measures at just over 90 inches wide and takes up the entire wall of our living room. We originally priced out some blinds, but with the two side windows that open, we weren't sure how to do the blinds - 3 panels? One long wall-to-wall blind set? It was sort of awkward - and pricey. I wanted privacy for the evenings, but the ability to easily allow airflow and sunlight during the day.

This is what we were left with from the previous owners. Not bad, right? But they were thick, and old. And I hate the cord that you had to pull to get them to close. (PS - Notice that awesome iron screen door? Yeah, that's been updated too.)

Here's a better daylight picture of the curtains. not horrible, but not quite right either. But then neither is any of the decor in this room! Looking at these pictures is so funny - it's interesting to see how things have evolved and changed in our decorating style in just a few years!

So somewhere along the line I stumbled across the idea to use the canvas drop cloths from the home improvement store as curtains. One Saturday, while the Mister was at work, I made my way to the store to pick some up. I think they were like $10 for a large size dropcloth. That's way less expensive than what I would have spent at the fabric store for that amount of fabric. And the best part? They were already hemmed on all sides!

I laid out the panels of dropcloth (I used two since our windows are so wide) and measured floor to awesome new curtain rod (aka - not white metal with drapery hooks). Then I hemmed from the top, creating a pocket at the top of the curtains. But instead of using the curtains as a pocket rod curtain, I decided to use rings. I had picked up some curtain rings from the fabric store and spray painted them the same color as my new curtain rod. I traced the cutout on my new "curtains" and cut them out, then inserted the new rings into the fabric.

Wa-la!

Dropcloths to Curtains!

And the part I especially love - is that they blend into our walls.

Instead of sticking out like a sore thumb - like these did:

Now they blend and it's calm and serene.

Linking up here.

Party Decorations

2011-06-21T10:16:00.000-06:00

Even though I still haven't shared the most recent marathon experience with you all, I figured I should share the marathon celebration that happened last weekend.

This celebration was only the second time that we've had friends over to the house for a party - crazy right?! But having seen bright, fun party accessories all over pinterest, I knew I had to do something to add a little pizzaz to our back patio.

I scored some great fabric (with a coupon!) at Joann's and made a great table runner and matching napkins for the main food/serving table. I love this bright striped fabric! Plus it goes perfectly with my tub, cups and pink lemonade!

PS - I made that table with plan's from Ana White. You might remember it from this post. I LOVE this table.

And since I only had enough of the flower fabric for 4 napkins, I used two of them as a table runner here. The napkins have the stripe on one side and floral fabric on the other. (Sorry for the dark pictures, it stormed 20 minutes before the party and rained for the first 15 minutes or so. Thankfully in Colorado the weather changes pretty quickly and the sun came out for the rest of the day!)

With the scraps leftover, I used some ribbon and sewed this fun banner with alternating fabrics in coordinating colors. I used this on the inside of the covered patio.

Some bright colored chinese lanterns and some balloons on the hammock and front of the house finished the party accessories.

The table runner, napkins and banner were quick and easy sewing projects that anyone could do. And now I have a stash of summer party accessories that are reusable for many occasions.

You might also notice that we had colorful swirly straws for the kids - and we recycled some wine bottles and had water available as well.

A closer look at the napkins - and the floral fabric.

All in all it was a great way to relax and celebrate the accomplishments of our team completing the marathon in Steamboat and San Diego. We even continued the celebration - and took full advantage of the decorations - when my brother and sister in law came over for dinner that night!

I am my Father's daughter

2011-06-19T09:00:00.000-06:00

Happy Father's day to all the dad's out there!

My Pops is a pretty special guy. Growing up, he was a pretty strict dad. My curfew was never late than 9pm - EVER. He always expected top grades from us - ALWAYS. We were involved in multiple sports, choir, band and youth group. But we were never over-programmed. We learned the value of hard work. He had VERY STRICT rules about dating (Funny story - I wasn't allowed to drive alone with a boy when I was 16, so on my first "date" the boy had to bring a friend. Now let's think about this - is it safer for me to ride in a car with one boy, or two? We probably should've rethought that idea!) But with all these rules and high expectations I knew my poppa loved me. There's nothing more that a daughter wants than her poppa's love and approval. And it's crazy that at 30 years old the best thing in the world is getting a hug from my pops and hearing "I love you daughter."

Me and my pops - we're a lot alike. My mom likes to say, "Like father, like daughter."

Mother's Day Weekend - 2011

We're both kinda stubborn, but we'll deny it if you ask us
We both like to "putter" in the workshop. I remember my dad always being out in the garage doing something, although we didn't always know what. And today I'm the same way. I love to sweep out the garage, organize, clean the work bench, and use the power tools to make things for my home.
We both like to garden - although my dad is much better at it than I am. You should have seen their yard at their old house in Nebraska - flowers and flowers galore! Now he's doing flowers and blueberries and other fun stuff with my mom's help.
Watching golf on TV puts us to sleep - but for two different reasons
We love to eat good food - but when in doubt, a bowl of cereal always hits the spot
Neither of us likes to shop, but we love a good garage sale
We aren't big fans of talking on the phone - I know, I'm a girl therefore I should love talking on the phone, but I don't.
We both love hammocks (this is genetic, I'm sure of it!)

Apparently in high school we liked to dress alike, too!

My brother's wedding - December 2010

Cheering for the Huskers - Thanksgiving 2008

Cost Rica - December 2010

Little known fact: My dad was a model back in the day. He modeled for a clothing store and had ads in the local newspaper. Mister Suave! That's my pops!

Happy Poppa's Day!

To Distress or Not to Distress

2011-06-17T09:52:00.004-06:00

It must be summer, because I've been super lazy in my posting the past few weeks! And not for lack of material. I still need to share my marathon photos, our recent marathon celebration and all the fun decorations and food that I made, and some other home improvement progress.

But today I have a poll for you all - so scroll down and log in your opinion. I need YOUR vote, today!

Oh - and before I forget, I must mention that we had a miracle in our house the other day. The toilet paper miraculously made it's way to the holder - without any nagging or commenting! And not only that, I came home to a clean floors, clean kitchen and the lawn had been mowed! Read about my toilet training experience of a 30 year old here.

But we have an update on the second dresser refinishing. (Read about the first dresser here.) It's been sanded, primed and painted. At first I used Dove White by Sherwin Williams, but wasn't really digging the yellowy tint to the color. Then I tried using some left over trim paint in white. Still yellowy. Plus it was super gunky. And it was hard to get into the little crevices of the detail pieces. So I broke out the trusty can of spray paint. And wouldn't ya know - it was perfect.

Do you remember what she looked like when I found her at Goodwill?

So here's my dilemma - I don't know if I should distress the piece, leave it solid white, keep the original hardware, or change the hardware, or spray the hardware to more of a tarnished silver. I need your help - what do you think?

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What should I do with the dresser

I would really like to use the piece as our media console in the living room. I'm still trying to convince the Mister of this - but we played with it last night and he seemed ok with the idea. The issue is where to put the components so they are hidden, but accessible.

Sorry for the horrible picture quality - cell phone at night. Bad idea.

Let me know what you think. Tomorrow is the first Saturday in a super long time that I don't have to wake up early and run, or get my house ready for a party. So I have lots of plans, including farmer's market, estate sales and finishing this dresser!

Linking up with these fabulous blogs:

The Funny Thing about Toilet Paper

2011-06-15T09:13:00.001-06:00

So we'll start off today with a funny little story about what is happening in our house.

Apparently I'm toilet training - well, sort of. You see, it seems that Mr. Seth doesn't know how to change the toilet paper roll. And I swear that boy goes through more toilet paper than 4 people combined! So for quite a long time I've noticed that I'm the only one that changes out the empty roll. Which is fine, if I were the one to make the roll empty. But I'm not always that person. Sometimes I'll go to the bathroom only to find that there IS NOT TP on the roll, but the roll is still connected to the wall thingy. How annoying! Thank goodness for my backup of kleenex, otherwise I would be a professional by now at air drying!

So I've mentioned it to him a few times and I even made sure he knows how to use the TP holder and knows where we keep the extra tp in the hall closet. So on Monday when I noticed that the roll was empty again, i did nothing. That's right - I didn't change it out. Afterall, he's an adult and he's the one that emptied it, he should refill it. It's not brain surgery, and it doesn't take a lot of time or effort. (It's not like I'm asking him to mow the lawn - which I do, or fold the laundry and put it away - which I do. Do you see a theme here?)

Wanna take bets on how long the bathroom sits empty without tp? We're going on 2 days with no tp, and last night he finally grabbed a new roll, but instead of putting it on the holder, he left it on top of the clothes hamper. Doesn't count. Seriously, is it that hard?!

Thank goodness I have the master bathroom - so I use that one and have all the tp I need ON THE ROLL like a normal household!

Phew. Thanks for letting me vent.

Busy Week

2011-06-10T11:49:00.000-06:00

Phew! It's been a busy week - and this was the week that I thought things would officially slow down after school got out and I finished the marathon. Ha! Funny how life continues on full speed.

We had our first softball game on Monday night with our team Car Ram Rod (yes, it's a reference to some Sooper Troopers. A movie that I've never seen - much to everyone's dismay. Whatever.)

After we won our game 24-1 (yay, we're gonna get kicked out of this league too), we headed downtown for some food and beers.

We went to Fresh Craft - some dudes from Iowa started this joint that touts fresh food and craft beers. The menu is pretty fantastic with lots of good midwestern comfort foods - including cheese curds, pretzel bites, BBQ pork sandwich and lots of other super yummy items. I had the mac n cheese with proscuitto, roasted red peppers and fancy cheese. And they have these awesome little herb cheese hush puppy thingies - awesome!

I had two days off this week. And I think I worked harder in those two days than ever - I was exhausted after a day at home! We worked on so many projects it was insane!

We got our new door installed

Look at all that light that can come in!

Our fancy handle

Need to paint the trim still - but it looks AWESOME!

Getting the door on the house meant it was off of my sawhorses in the garage. So I put together my new craft table!!!!

I built this a few weekends ago - using plans from Ana White. I love the modifications I made to the top. It's a more rustic feel and I love it. Now I can add some shelves and an inspiration board on the wall and I'm set to be creative in my own little space!

And Seth worked on one of his projects, too! I have tile in the master bath shower - doesn't it look amaazing!?

Check out that shower head! We got a steal of a deal on it at Homegoods!

I CANNOT WAIT to use the new shower - it looks AWESOME. A little more tile, some grout, fixtures, and we're finally done!

Seth got a new toy this week, too. Meet his new favorite buddy, Mr. Dyson.

It's no secret that Seth is a neat-freak. I think his love language is a clean house. And top of that list includes clean floors and a clean countertop. Let's just saw the new Dyson is his new BFF. I forsee these two spending lots of quality time together.

In addition to the front door we also added some bling to the front of the house.

I built a window well cover. Fancy, I know!

And we picked up this sweet little tray for the space between the adirondack chairs. This was Seth's pick - there might be some design sense in him afterall!

Just need to add some small potted flowers and some ice cold beverages!

I officially declared it summer and put up the hammock - a very sweet 30th birthday gift from Seth last year.

And my peonies are in full bloom and I even have rose buds popping up this year!

Some new potted plants and my rosemary plant

Love these giant peonies!

Rosebuds!

Spinach!

Here's to hoping this weekend is RELAXING!

I was FEATURED

2011-06-08T14:08:00.000-06:00

Hey ya'll! I was FEATURED on BADD - Blog Addicts Daily Digest. A huge thanks to the BADD Girls, Lauren and Sara.

Like me, these ladies love anything thrifty, DIY, vintage, and yummy. They share recipes and projects and even have a linky party called Whimsy Wednesday - check it out today!

Look familiar?!

2011-06-08T09:59:00.000-06:00

Today on The Lettered Cottage, Layla and Kevin did a recap of The Breeze Inn on Tybee Island. PS - I'm dying to go there! It looks Ah.maz.ing!

And wouldn't ya know as I scrolled through the photos I came across this little guy:

And I thought to myself, "Self, that looks awfully familiar!"

Remember this guy:

Huh, oddly identical!

Except mine looks like this now

Interesting, no?

Marathoning = Having a Baby (sortof)

2011-06-06T15:10:00.000-06:00

Remember when I compared marathoning to having a baby? Click here to read about me bringing home baby #6. I know, call me crazy. Especially since I've never had a baby. But I found this and had to share.

"It takes months and months of preparation...you spend months and months reading books about the impending event...You are either so famished you are eating everything in sight, or you are so sick you spend most of your time in the bathroom...you're sore in places you never knew you could be sore...And as the day circled on your calendar grows nearer, you begin to stress - if this is your first, about if you are really ready for it and wondering how much it will hurt - and if you've done it before, if you are really ready for it again and knowing how much it will hurt...Finally the day arrives and you start...You think after awhile, "Hey, this isn't so bad," but soo that turns into "Oh, my gosh....I think I'm going to die" which then turns into "Someone, please kill me now" and you think people would have to be insane to do this more than once...but you push through it all somehow, and after you're done you have something so special that you've worked so hard to bring to being...and you have such a feeling of accomplishment and pride that suddenly it all seems worth it...and no matter if it is your first or your fifth every one is special and unique and you will cherish them all...And before you know it you've forgotten the pain and you'll be contemplating the next one!"

credit

Ha - so very true. Especially the part about someone please kill me now.

Marathon update and pictures coming soon! The good news - I survived!

Post Marathon = Ice Pool and Cheetoh's

Preparing

2011-06-06T09:00:00.000-06:00

Getting ready for the steamboat Marathon - poolside.

What-What, Chicken Butt?

2011-06-01T11:02:00.000-06:00

Have you noticed a new/old trend in decorating/crafting?

CHICKEN WIRE.

You know I have a problem when I have a deep need to run to the hardware store in search of chicken wire.

But look at all these gorgeous projects that people are creating with chicken wire. (click on the picture to go to the link)

Chalk board paint & chicken wire - A Diamond in the Stuff

Gorgeous - from Liz Marie

Adore the colors - Lemonad Making Mamma

Recycling - House of Smith's

And I'm thinking a little chicken wire would be perfect for me to make one of these

Capiz Chandelier from Freshly Picked

for the family room near the fireplae.

Who wants to go buy chicken wire with me?

Dresser Reveal

2011-05-31T11:09:00.006-06:00

Wow. This is my first real reveal.

Remember way back when, when I found this little lovely on craigslist?

And remember when I had no idea what I wanted to do with it? And I looked for inspiration here?

I finally figured out my inspiration for the piece and got to work.

It went from this

to this

and then this

and then, gasp!

Isn't she beautiful - especially with the green painters tape on the top.

And the finale!

Here is what I learned along the way:

SANDING: Apparently if you have a good piece of furniture that has a decent surface (aka minimal layers of paint/finish) you DON'T have to sand the whole thing down to the bare wood. This was the secret I wish I would have known from the beginning. Because sanding.was.not.fun. My arms were all tingly and shaky after hours spent with the electric sander.

But - it was good experience and I got to see the original beauty of the wood.

PRIMING AND PAINTING: You will need to exercise your patience or find it for these projects. It takes a lot of patience. Sanding takes patience. Priming and painting take patience. But every step along the way means a greater finished product. Let your primer dry and cure - meaning, let is sit there in the garage for a while. Don't rush to paint as soon as the paint is dry to the touch. It needs to cure. Or you get little spots where it isn't as smooth as you might like - lesson learned.

Again, let each coat of paint sit and cure. Patience. Ugh, this was seriously the worst part for me. Oh, and I used a foam brush - you know, those little crafty spongey brushes - for the prime and paint steps.

MORE SANDING: The last thing you want to do after sanding the entire piece down is spend more time with tingly arms, but I found that a quick sand after the primer (when it's fully cured) and in between coats of paint made a HUGE difference.

I did a dry sand after the primer. But a WET sand after the first coat of paint. Yup, wet sand. It took me a while to figure this out before I was ready to test it on my piece. I watched a few youtube videos, I called a friend, and I thought about it a lot.

Finally I grabbed a fine sand paper block from the store and a bucket of water and a towel and gave it a shot. Yes, the paint will sort of come off, and your bucket of water will be the color of the paint. But it really does make the paint super smooth. I worked on a small section at a time and wiped off all the residue and liquid with a clean towel promptly after finishing a small area.

Then more paint and wait.

DECORATE: I had seen a few fun dressers with numbers on them. I think they are mimicking a version of an anthropologie dresser. But I liked the idea - so I tested it out on a scrap piece of wood painted the same color as the dresser and stenciled on a number. I painted it with some leftover gray acrylic I had laying around the house and loved it.

I found some fun fonts on font space and printed out numbers in a good size for my drawers. Stencil. Paint very carefully. But not perfectly filled in - again, to give it a more real and rustic feel.

FINISH: Finally, when the paint was smooth and had 2-3 coats, I was ready for the finish. I used a water based Verathane as suggested by Holly over at In the Fun Lane. I used a brand new fine bristle brush for the Verathane and did two coats. It dries SO FAST. This was the BEST part for me - considering I had already used all my patience!

I also used some leftover stain for the top of the dresser - just using one coat as I wanted a bit of a rustic/used look to it. This also got two coats of Verathane.

HANDLES: Finally I needed hardware. Have you checked out drawer pulls at the hardware store lately? EXPENSIVE! Yikes - with five drawers and two pulls each I was looking at spending a.lot.of money.

Until I saw the fun idea to use rope as pulls - maybe I saw this on The Lettered Cottage. I can't quite remember.

I found some beautiful natural rope at the store and went to work double knotting and threading through holes that I drilled myself. Let me tell you, drilling holes in my masterpiece was a little scary and sad. But the finish product is totally worth it, I think!

Now the question is - do we find a home for her in our home, or put her up for adoption via craigslist?

Linking to:

On Making It Count

2011-05-27T09:41:00.000-06:00

Yesterday was a dear friends very important birthday. She crossed over from the leisurely, wandering twenties to the shock of being 30.

When I called to say happy birthday - and to ensure her that being 30 actually rocks (considering I've been here for quite a few months!) - she sounded very down. We talked for a while and she is very introspective about this milestone in her life. She feels that now that she is 30 she must now take stock of what she did during her 20's and re-access what she wants to accomplish for her 30's. It's almost as if she feels some standard of accomplishment that she didn't achieve by 30, and now must make sure that she doesn't waste her 30's but has something to show for them. I tried to remind her that she has 4 adorable children who are well-behaved, smart, athletic, obedient and loving. In my mind, that's a pretty huge accomplishment. That's way more than I ever had to show for my 20's!

After some philosophical conversation about aging and living and being the best person we can be, we decided that our 30's need to count for something - putting priorities on families and friends - things that matter to eternity. We declared our motto for our 30's "Make It Count."

I like it. We hope to live more purposeful lives. Lives that count. Making memories. Laughing more. Stopping to enjoy the everyday things that make us smile.

After all these years of talking about a girls weekend - I think we may finally be getting closer to the reality. We did have a lovely family picnic a few years ago - and a quick visit here (minus one of the girls). But we're talking girls trip - reminiscent of the days when we would just hang, just be together. Even if we just go back to the farm and do a slumber party in the barn like we did all through high school. Just so long as we are together and we get some serious girl time.

The thing I miss most about these girls - other than the fact that they have known me since 4th grade and yet they still love me - is how comfortable we are together and can just BE together. No pretense. No expectation. It's so unlike other relationships I've had. We can go weeks or even months without speaking and pick up the phone for a great conversation without any weirdness. Sigh. Miss those girls.

In other news - it's Memorial Weekend! A huge thank you to all the veterans who have served our country for all you've done! My dad, my grandpa, my uncle, my cousin's husband, my friends from high school - thanks veterans!

I think I'll be using the time to build something. Watch out - Erin's using power tools again!

Whipped up a little something-something

2011-05-25T10:46:00.002-06:00

Excuse the crazy hair and tired-no-makeup look. I made myself a cute little apron last night in between folding 6 loads of laundry and a few other projects.
Happy Wednesday!

Getting Crafty

2011-05-24T09:00:00.000-06:00

I've been a little crafting bee lately! Look what I whipped up last weekend

Used some scrap fabrics to make a little pleated pouch

And a little cross body bag

Back pocket - perfect for dropping car keys so they don't get lost.

and some "milk glass" vases out of spaghetti and salsa jars with leftover latex paint

Crafting is my solace lately - my peace and quiet, my outlet and my motivator.

U2

2011-05-23T09:51:00.000-06:00

My running buddy, Daniela, is a sound engineer and has toured with bands like Three Doors Down. When the U2 tour came to Denver this weekend, she had some friends on the crew that hooked her up with some backstage all-access passes - and she asked me to go with her! Can you believe it?! ME!

Daniela, Gail and I outside Invesco Stadium

Look familiar? This is BONO'S guitar. And I'm touching it!

We got a full tour of the stage and behind the scenes engineering of the stage, sound and effects. We even got tours of the buses. And then we got to eat dinner with the crew! It was so cool to see the concert from the production end - and understand everything that went into making the concert a success.

"The Claw" or "The Spaceship"

But the best part of the night - with our fun "working" wrist bands we had access to everything - including a private bathroom. While everyone else in the stadium had to wait in line, we went backstage and used the facilities as needed without a line or any hassle! Silly, I know. But hey, that was pretty awesome!

These passes gave us access to EVERYTHING!

The Fray was the opening band, and that was pretty awesome too. When we were standing in the inner circle and I could literally see the sweat on the guys from The Fray - that's when it hit me how awesome this was! And how lucky I was to be there with Daniela and Gail.

What a great experience!

Building project - finished pictures

2011-05-21T09:00:00.000-06:00

I was going through my blog today and realized I never posted finished pictures of some of my projects!

Remember, when I built this? It now looks like this:

Pretty awesome - huh? Yup - I built it. All without any help. Power tools and all. Plans came from Ana White - and seriously, if you don't know Ana you need to stop by her blog. She. Is. Amazing.

I also did these shelves from Ana's blog plans.

These shelves were a GREAT beginner project. It also taught me the importance of picking out good pieces of wood - nice and straight. And thankfully the guys at HD and Lowes are both great about helping pick out straight pieces of wood. They are usually pretty impressed that a girl is building something. Plus I told them that Seth was not super happy the last time I brought home straight wood - totally my fault of course. But they took pity on me and helped me.

Seriously, check out Ana White.

Word Play

2011-05-20T12:55:00.000-06:00

I've been playing today. Look what I made!

This needs to go in the kitchen

And this one should go in the kitchen/dining room

Maybe on my Ana White shelves

For the Office

Goodwill Jackpot

2011-05-20T09:00:00.001-06:00

After work yesterday, I decided to head on down to my local Goodwill for some rainy afternoon fun. And boy, did I have fun!

Check out all the fun treasures that I stumbled upon. I'll share my goodwill find vs. what was on my wish list from a retailer.

Silver bowl

World Market - turtle tray $8

My Silver flower bowl - $2

Wine Decanter

Pier 1 - $18

My Wine Decanter - $3

Large Trifle Bowl

Pier 1 - $12

My Triffle - $5

White Vase

Z Gallerie - $20

Jonathan Adler - $40

Mine - Shopped at home and added paint!

And the creme de la creme - a bread maker! I'm making dough as I write this. I'll let you know how it goes tomorrow! Nothing beats the smell of rising bread dough.

Oh, what a fun day at Goodwill!

Request

2011-05-20T07:40:00.001-06:00

Keep us in your thoughts today. Seth goes in for an interview in 30 minutes. It could mean more time together and less stress!

Thrifting

2011-05-19T14:39:00.000-06:00

Fellow Coloradan, Emily over at Imperfect shared her home project list today. While I also keep a varying list of projects to do around the house - including things that may never get accomplished - I've also come up with a new "thrifting" list. A list of the things that I need to remember to keep an eye out for whenever I'm thrifting.

Pie Tins so I can make a PB knock-off tiered organizer found here at Mary Janes & Galoshes

Mason Jars so I can make these lovely outdoor lanterns found at Chez Beeper Bebe

Funky frames so I can make a jewelry organizer like the one on Cat on a Limb

An old chair that I can bring back to life to live in my kitchen. Yes, you heard me right - my kitchen. I need a place to sit and read while stuff is cooking, but I need to be close by to monitor. (yes, we have an old house with a non-open floor plan). I like what Michelle did with the yellow chevron at Decor and the Dog.

Varying sized mirrors to make a mirror collage like on Style at Home.

Vintage desk lamps like these on etsy for the living room side tables.

A wire basket so I can make this for our basement near the fireplace - from B.E. Interiors.

That's my thrifting list! Mostly so I can remember what I'm actually looking for when I go thrifting. Half the time I walk in and get so engrossed in all the treasures that I forget what I'm really looking for!

What's on your list for thrifting?

Sneak peek

2011-05-18T08:54:00.001-06:00

Baby #6

2011-05-18T08:00:00.022-06:00

It was a busy weekend - that's why it took me so long to post something this week!

On Saturday, our Team (read more about my team here, here, here, here, and here) did the season's longest run in preparation for upcoming half and full marathons. It was so great to see so many runner's out there running farther than they've ever run before. But what was even better were seeing so many of our patient hero's. From cancer survivors to family members and friends affected by cancer - we conquered 13 miles for the half marathoners and 21 miles for the marathoners.

And where was I? On a bike - biking the course up and down to cheer on our runners and provide supplies and encouragement. Why?

Because I brought home Baby #6 on Sunday! (Yes, I often compare marathoning to babies - even thought I have never experienced birth I can only imagine some similarities)

Birth and Marathon Similarities:

Several months of preparation (4 months for marathoners, 9 months for moms)
Strange eating habits and uncomfortableness prior to birth/race
Labor - hours of contractions for both marathoners (legs) and moms (abdominals and other muscles)
The final push - yep, its pretty painful and hellish in the last four miles, similarly getting that shoulder out can be hellish
The joy and pride - once you see your little baby you almost forget the pain, almost
After some time, you may want to do it again

Colfax Marathon 2011 - Marathon #6

~~Labor~~ the race started at 6am on Sunday in not so ideal weather conditions. With a low temperature of 39 degrees and lots of little raindrops falling from the cloudy gray sky, I embarked on a long labor of 26.2 miles.

~~Labor~~ the race lasted for about 4 hours, in which time I covered 22 miles. Because this race was a "training run" I ran the first 22 miles (like my team the day before) and walked the remaining 4 miles.

And after all those miles and all that time, I got this little bundle of joy to bring home and introduce to her older brothers and sisters.

Isn't she beautiful?

Here's a recap of the family:

Nike Women's Marathon - 2007

Nike Women's Marathon - 2009

San Diego Rock N Roll Marathon - 2008

Colfax Marathon - 2011

Denver Marathon Relay - 2009

Denver Marathon - 2010

San Diego Rock N Roll Marathon - 2010

Project List

2011-05-12T10:23:00.000-06:00

There's been minimal progress in the way of projects this week - other than some laundry, mowing the lawn before the rain hit, and some quick house cleaning. The only other thing I got done was a quick coat of primer on my dresser the other night.

Being so busy with work and work (yeah, still doing the two job thing) and a few marathons right around the corner, means I don't get much time for fun. To get myself a bit more organized so I can take advantage of my few spare moments, I'm creating a projects list. A list of all the things that I want to do/make/create.

To do / make / create:

I think I need to start with this guy, so that I have space to actually make the rest of my fun projects. I like the look of this one - and the whitewash stain that she used on it.

From littlelucylu.com

Or this one:

From Ana White

Once I have some space, I definitely have some sewing projects I want to tackle.

From A Lemon Squeezy Home (Blogspot)

And some new pillows

From Lemon Tree Creations

And some rustic pillows for the man room - monogrammed of course

From Us and Them

Then I'll focus on some craftier things like these felt flowers

From Jessa Jill

And then some lovely decorations for our backyard

From Without A Hitch

What's on your project list?

To find more of my fun wish lists - find me on pinterest. I adore pinterest!

Milk glass

2011-05-10T20:35:00.001-06:00

Before we left for mothers day, I quickly cleaned some jars I'd been saving so I could do this quick project. I poured some leftover latex paint into the jar and swirled it around until it covered all the surface. I let it dry all weekend and now I have a beautiful jar in which to put trimmings from my neighbors fragrant bush.

Prime time

2011-05-10T19:50:00.001-06:00

I've been up to no good tonight.

Momma's Day

2011-05-10T16:33:00.000-06:00

Sorry that I've been MIA. I was spending some quality time with this lady.

Four days just isn't enough. I think I miss her more now that I just got to spend time with her. She's pretty awesome. And I'm pretty sure that we all gained like 10 pounds while there. Not because her food is unhealthy, its just so darn good you can't stop eating! Yummy steak, potatoes, veggies, waffles, mochachino cupcakes, guacamole salad and lots lots more!

We had a fun family surprise this weekend. We didn't tell my mom that my older brother and his wife were coming out too. Here's a quick video of the surprise - sadly, I only caught the tail end of her seeing my brother and SIL. Didn't want to give away the surprise by video taping the whole thing. Although, because she was so excited to give my other brother and SIL a tour of the new house, I'm not sure she would have noticed.

Enjoy!

Here are some more pictures from our fun Mom's weekend.

Runza

2011-05-05T09:00:00.003-06:00

When I think of yummy comfort food - I think of Runza's.

Problem is, lots of people have no idea what I'm talking about. We have Runza restaurants in Nebraska, Kansas and even in Colorado. But no where else to my knowledge. If you know what a Runza is, don't you find it difficult to explain what it is? This is usually how it goes-

Me: I love Runzas!
Friend: A what?
Me: A Runza! They are so great - you should try one!
Friend: What is it?
Me: It's this thing - we make them in Nebraska (where I'm from) and there are even restaurants where all they serve are Runzas!
Friend: (looking serious puzzled because obviously I'm not doing a good job explaining Runzas)
Me: It's like a little bun filled with meat and cabbage and onions and seasonings - and the really good ones put cheese and mushrooms in it. (I start salivating just thinking of the Runza yumminess)
Friend: So, do you make them?
Me: Nope. But my mom and my mother-in-law do.

For a girl who loves runzas so much, I'm surprised at myself that I've never made them before! So guess what? I finally tried it!

Runza Recipe

Dough:
3/4 cup warm water
1/2 cup sweetened condensed milk
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 large egg
3 1/2 cups all purpose flour2 packages rapid-rise or instant yeast
1 teaspoon salt

Filling:
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 1/2 pounds 90% lean ground beef
1 large onion, chopped fine
1/2 small head cabbage, cored and chopped (about 3 cups)
salt and pepper
8 slices American cheese

1. For the dough: Lightly grease a large bowl with cooking spray. Mix the water, condensed milk, oil, sugar and egg in a large measuring cup. Mix the flour, yeast, and salt in the bowl of a standing mixer fitted with the dough hook. With the mixer on low, add he water mixture. After the dough comes together increase the speed to medium and mix until shiny and smooth, 4 to 6 minutes. Turn the dough out onto a heavily floured work surface, shape into a ball, and place in the greased bowl. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let rest in a warm place until doubled in size, about 1 hour.
2. For Filling: Melt 1 tablespoon of the butter in a large skillet over medium high heat. Add the beef and cook until just beginning to brown, about 6 minutes, breaking up any large clumps. Using a dotted spoon, transfer the beef to a paper towel lined plate.
3. Pour off all but 2 tablespoons of fat from the pan. Add the onion and cook until softened, about 3 minutes. Add the cabbage and toss until just beginning to wilt, 2 to 4 minutes. Return the beef to the pan and season with salt and pepper.
4. To assemble and bake: Adjust two oven racks to the upper-middle positions and heat the oven to 350 degrees. Coat two baking sheets with cooking spray. Divide the dough into eight equal parts. Working on a lightly floured work surface, roll each piece of dough into a 7 inch circle. Place one dough round in a deep cereal bowl and top with one slice of cheese. Spoon 3/4 cup filling over the cheese and pinch the edges of the dough together to form a bun. Transfer the bun, seam side down, to prepared baking sheet. Repeat with the remaining dough, cheese, and filling. Cover the buns with plastic wrap until puffed, about 20 minutes
5. Bake the buns until golden brown, about 20 minutes, switching the sheets position in the oven about halfway through.

Yum! Not gonna lie, though, these are a bit labor intensive because of the homemade dough.

I know from experience - I made them, but was too impatient with the dough rising process and dinner turned into an epic fail! But the house smelled great and the filling was amazing!

And that, my friends, is why there are no fun pictures to share. My runzas were a disaster - so please remember, this is a great recipe, but it does require a full cup of patience!

Mom's Day - Part 2

2011-05-04T09:52:00.002-06:00

I've come down with a little illness - it's called the crafting bug! And I'm LOVING it!

So again - mom, if you are reading this - STOP!

For everyone else - please continue on for the second part of my little Mother's Day project.

And a little puppy love to get you through...

Here's a lovely shot of Kahler

Ok - on to today's little project!

I usually make my own cards - nothing fancy, just some craft paper and markers. I love the personalized touch that I can add to something to brighten someone's day. Plus, its that little creative outlet for me after a day at work. And who doesn't love getting real mail?! It's the best - especially when it was handmade!

Our mother's day cards are no different. Instead of reading over all the cheese-ball cards at the store, I would rather just whip up my own with some pretty paper, ribbon, a glue stick and my printer.

I found some fun cardstock on sale and cut it and folded it to make the card, then added some bright colored paper and ribbon on the front to decorate. I sponge painted "MOM" on the front.

The inside has a fun little subway art decal that I made quickly - and presto! We have a Mother's Day card!

"Home is where your Mom is"

Happy Mother's Day - Part 2!

Be sure to check out Mother's Day Part 1 - Homemade Subway Art here.

Mother's Day Gift

2011-05-03T08:47:00.004-06:00

I'm hoping that my mom's internet is still out and that she's not checking in on the blog today - otherwise, it might ruin her Mother's Day surprise.

So Mom, if you are reading this - STOP! Do not pass go, do not collect $200. Just close out of this window now.

You'll see your gift soon enough - and ME TOO! Can't wait to see you in South Carolina in a few days!

If you are no my mom, please scroll down to see the gift idea.

Ok - for the rest of you, I'll share the quick and easy little gift I whipped up in about 30 minutes yesterday.

I've been loving this subway art that keeps popping up everywhere, but never thought I was technically savvy or creative enough to put something together on my own. Guess what? It's SO easy. It literally took me 20 minutes to put this together and print it off.

I started with the word MOTHER as my central focal point in black bold text. Then I thought of all the words that related to moms or best describe moms. These are the words I came up with for my mom:

beautiful
strong
loving
wise
patient
gentle
unconditional love
friend
gourmet chef
prayer warrior
thoughtful

And here is what I came up with

Then I used my 40% off coupon at Michael's to score a couple of big frames, some ribbon, and some big orange flowers.

I went home and matted one of the frames with some pretty paper. The other frame was pre-matted. I put our little Mother's Day creation in the frame and tied a ribbon around it with a little flower for added color.

I hope my mom's like them!

Come back tomorrow to see Part 2 of the Mother's Day gift!

Linking up with the following lovely parties:

Amazing-ness

2011-04-29T15:50:00.000-06:00

Yummy Weekend Breakfast

2011-04-29T09:00:00.001-06:00

Weekends in our home are usually pretty laid back and unstructured. Especially when it comes to meals. Saturdays are especially challenging for us since I usually run with the Team at 7am for our group long run. When I'm done with my run Seth might be home, but he also might already be on his way to work.

I ran across this recipe lately for these fun back-and-take breakfast bites. And they are awesome!

Breakfast Bites

Ingredients:
- pre-made packaged biscuits
- eggs
- bacon
- cheese
- salt and pepper

Preheat oven according to the directions on the biscuit package. Place one (or half) of a biscuit in the muffin tin. Beat 4-6 eggs. Pour eggs into each muffin tin, covering the biscuit. Add bacon pieces, cheese or other garnish according to taste. Bake biscuits until egg is cooked through.

These little breakfast biscuits pop out and are great grab-and-go options or are fabulous as part of a fun breakfast with fruit and orange juice.

I can make these up super quick after a run, and they bake while I'm in the shower. Then Seth and I can both enjoy a lovely breakfast before we begin our busy weekends!

Detailing

2011-04-28T09:00:00.001-06:00

We moved into our home in August 2009. We remodeled the kitchen in November 2009.

Yesterday (April 2011), we finished adding the trim to the cabinets.

Who knew trim could make the kitchen look so much more beautiful! I wish we would have done it sooner.

Maybe some day I'll get under cabinet lighting..... Oh, add it to the never ending list!

Have we met?

2011-04-27T18:11:00.001-06:00

Have you met Miss Priss? Oh, no. Well, allow me to introduce you to her.

Lying on the floor after our run/walk

She's quite the little brat lately. She's high maintenance, obnoxious, whiney, passive aggressive, slightly OCD, and overly persnickety. In fact, this isn't a new behavior, just more pronounced. This is the precious one that sent us to the emergency room one snowy Christmas with spinal meningitis and a whopping $6K vet bill. She's suffered several bee stings and ingested more than her share of chocolate. She's also the naughty little girl that eats full loaves of bread off the counter, as well as a full batch of unfrosted cupcakes, pop tarts and other goodies stolen from the nephews overnight bags, and lots of other items not appropriate for her.

She used to be my favorite training partner. She would motivate me to run every day. She pushed (or pulled, actually) me up the hills around the Boulder flat irons. At her peak she was doing 6 miles a day, 3 to 4 days a week.

But not today. The last few times that I've taken her out for an afternoon run she has protested after 1 mile. She stops dead in her tracks and won't move, no matter what you say or do. You can pull her leash. She doesn't care. She'll just lay down on her side.

It seems that she wants to run where and when she wants to run, in the right temperature, and on the right surface. (apparently the dirt walkway around the park is not what she prefers. The sidewalk is much better.) And she stops when she wants to, sometimes to smell the flowers. But she only stops when she wants to stop, not when others want to stop.

Oh, she's a gem. I think she must have entered into her old lady phase.

Exterior Paint Update

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

I think we may have found our paint color - what do you think?

It's called Pebble Stone.

We plan to leave the window, door, gutter and garage door white, but paint everything else.

And then add a new light fixture and house numbers.

(minus the barred screen door, plus some adirondack chairs)

In other news, we had an independent woodworker/handyman come look at our front door today. Now all I have to do is go order it from the depot over my lunch hour and we'll have a new door soon!

Nothing is Safe

2011-04-26T10:57:00.007-06:00

Nothing in my home is safe from a can of spray paint.

But I've learned to shop my own home, along with the local goodwill, for great new finds that with a little spray paint love turn into something beautiful for my home.

Here's my little "shop of ~~horrors~~ fun" - where the magic of transformation happens.

Yes, its the basement bathroom that is next on the list of remodeling projects. Until then, it's a great space for a little indoor painting when the weather isn't cooperating.

I started out with transforming these items (sorry, I don't have any before's):

The wicker nightstand, lamp base, and frame. I already had each of these items in my home, so the "new" items for the guest bedroom didn't cost me anything!

The mirror. Again, this mirror used to reside in our living room above the sofa, but the proportion was all wrong. Another freebie for the guest room.

These now live in the guest bedroom.

Then more frames - these used to be white and wood, respectively.

That now live in the dining room cabinet.

Then it was a goodwill vase, and gifted D from our wedding.

The vase I purchased for $1 at goodwill.

This used to be a gold toned color - we received it as a gift, so again, free!

The color matches the top trim on our fireplace in the basement living room.

(Still dreaming of a fireplace mantel and artwork)

Then came the White era.

My shelf (built by plans by Ana White) ad spray painted all my frames white.

I built the shelf for around $20, and already had all the frames.

On old red vase finds new life in white.

This vase was sitting in the corner of a storage closet in our home. Free! And I think it looks like those new white vases from Z Gallery - so chic!

And old basket looks crisp with paint. Free!

And even my tomato plant and green pepper plant make homes in goodwill planters painted white. I picked up these planters at goodwill for $3 each.

What will be my next victim? Insert evil laugh here.

Linking up with Christie at These Are a Few of My Favorite Things - because she's the coolest!

And others...

Weekend Recap

2011-04-25T10:47:00.003-06:00

I hope everyone had a lovely Easter weekend.

The weather was "eh" here in Colorado all weekend. In fact, for our group run in South Boulder on Saturday it SNOWED. Yup. It was a chilly little run. But our coaches made it extra fun by turning it into an Easter egg hunt! We ran up through the Flatirons and picked up eggs, in the snow.

Saturday was filled with a trip to Home Depot for me while the mister worked. I was a productive little bee.

I built a new raised dog food thingy - yup, that's a technical term. Of course I didn't take a picture of it, but I will once I stencil it. Right now its just a big grey box with dog bowls on the top. It needs a little spice. *Updated with some pictures!

Speaking of spice - I also made an organizer shelf for my spices out of the scraps from the dog food thingy. My spices have been in need of some desperate organization. And now, they are organized and I can see them all. And of course, I don't have a picture of that either. *Updated with some pictures!

I did attempt to clean up the garage and tool bench a bit more.

I made a moss covered D for our front door (idea courtesy of In the Fun Lane). Seth was thrilled - just kidding. But I like it!

And I also made a few of these - I'll have to get a picture of where they ended up. They are sitting in my empty cake plate with some pretty green (fake) pears. It's very springy looking. *Updated with some pictures!

I also made some amazing chocolate chip cookies and cleaned up the house a bit.

Sunday started off with some sleeping in and then brunch with these kids at our favorite mutual spot, Crepes and Crepes. Doesn't that crepe look phenomenal?!

My brother had just returned from a business trip to Omaha where he got the opportunity to stay an extra day and hang with my other brother and SIL, and two younger nephews. (The oldest nephew is in college, can you believe it?!)

The day was filled more productivity with the completion of some laundry, organizing the cabinet in our dining room that serves as a catch-all for crap, some "planning" of some other projects, and ripping out the "moss-stuff" on the side of our driveway and planting some grass just before the rain started.

In other news, I still don't know exactly what to do with this guy. And we did make another trip to the Depot to triple check the door situation. It's gonna cost us an arm and a leg for a wood door and installation. But I think we're ready to make the plunge. Now if only I can find a coupon....

And we finished the weekend by cuddling with these cuties.

Love them so much!

Weekend Projects

2011-04-22T08:21:00.001-06:00

Our Team has a group run in South Boulder on Saturday morning. Usually this is my favorite run of the season because we get out of the city and get the chance to see some beautiful bluffs and clear skies. But the weather may not cooperate for tomorrow. Forecast calls for mostly cloudy with highs in the low 50's. Perfect running temperature, just wish it was as nice as it is today!

Since it's a short run, it means that I'll have the rest of the day to play! Here's a short list (ha, that was funny!) of the things I want to do.

Realistic:

fold and put away the 3 loads of laundry hanging out in the laundry room (really, how can 2 people make so much laundry?)
continue the garage clean up, organize the work bench
clean out all the potting plants and get them ready for new soil and new plants
turn on the main water valve for the sprinklers
deep clean the floors and baseboards (let's be honest, this isn't going to happen. But it made the list because Seth mentioned that he wanted to do this.)

For Fun:

Decide what to do about this guy
Make some of these
And one of these
Twist Seth's arm so we can order a new front door
Plan out my budget and time so I can make this and this

It's spring and this girl has big plans!

Furniture Refinishing Advice

2011-04-21T21:32:00.000-06:00

You may remember several months ago I found this little gem on craigslist.

After some sanding, this is what she looks like.

Obviously, I need to replace the hardware, as well.

And now I have to decide what to do with her before Seth will let me start on my new acquisition.

So what should I do?

Paint?

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Or Stain?

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I'm so torn! I just look at it and I don't see a clear vision.

Please - lend me some advice - I need it!

Mushroom Galette

2011-04-21T08:00:00.001-06:00

I can't believe I haven't shared this recipe yet. And to be honest, I have no idea where the recipe came from - but I love it!
* I remembered where I got the recipe! My MIL gave me The Dinner Doctor for Christmas - the recipe is in there. Thanks MIL!

It's quick and easy, and the best part is that I usually have all the ingredients in the house!

Aromatic Mushroom Galette

1 package (8 once) refrigerated crescent rolls

2 cups (8 ounces) pre-sliced mushrooms

3 cloves garlic, crushed in a garlic press

2 tablespoons olive oil, or butter, melted

1/2 cup Parmesan cheese, grated

1/4 cup chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley

1 teaspoon dried oregano

salt

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees
unwrap the crescent rolls and unroll the dough; you will have 8 triangles. Place an ungreased baking sheet or pizza stone on a work surface. Arrange the triangles of dough so that they form an 8 pointed star. the pointed tips should face away from the center of the star. Start by placing one triangle in the 12 o'clock position, one in the 6 o'clock position, one at 3 o'clock and one at 9 o'clock. Place the remaining 4 triangles in the remaining empty spaces. The edges of the dough triangles should overlap each other lightly, but there will be a hole in the center of the star. Using your fingertips, press down on the dough to seal the edges where they overlap. To fill the hole, press the base of each triangle toward the center until the hole is evenly covered by dough. Then, using your hand press down on the dough so that it is flat, with no gaps.
Place the mushroom, garlic, olive oil and 1/4 cup of Parmesan cheese an the parsley and oregano in a mixing bowl to stir. Season with salt to taste. Spoon the mushroom filling into the center of the dough, then pull the tips of the dough up, and fold them over the filling to create a bundle. There will be gaps between triangles of dough on top of the filling. Press down slightly on the bundle. Sprinkle the remaining 1/4 cup of Parmesan cheese over the top of the galette.
Bake the galette until the crust is deeply browned and the mushroom filling bubbles, 22 to 25 minutes. Remove the galette from the oven, run a metal spatula underneath to loosen it then slice and serve warm.

I used 1/2 a container of frozen creamed spinach instead of the parsley, and it was wonderful!

And this little quickie was Seth approved!

Linking up with Thrilling Thursdays at Paisley Passions.

Fur Babies

2011-04-20T11:28:00.001-06:00

Because they are just so darn cute

I wish I would have captured Kirby's antics right before this picture. She was going CRAZY jumping around on the bed. As soon as I pulled the camera out she stopped and posed just like this - as if she were the calmest and most pristine pup around!

Nothing says love like smashing your heads together.

And my little princess - gotta love that paw up on the chair as she gazes out the window.

Did someone say treats? She does this little sad face. I'm so cute. I need a treat.

Happy Hump Day!

Fabulous Gift Idea

2011-04-19T16:25:00.003-06:00

I'm linking up for the first time with Elle Belle Creative for Your Way Wednesday.

I've been craving some craft time lately. I dream about crafting during my work day stuck in front of a computer screen. I read beautiful blogs full of beautiful craft ideas. I lust over these crafty projects.

So I finally relented and gave in to my desire for some serious crafting time. I even re-prioritized my weekend so I had time for craft projects. Who needs to clean the floors? Not me. I had crafts to attend to!

Take a look at my recent creations.

These little lovlies come courtesy of 33 Shades of Green - Alissa does a fabulous job with her tutorial. I had seen these over the Christmas holiday but never had the opportunity to try it out.

I made two for my friend Lindsay and other friends raved about them! And tomorrow I'll be gifting three more to friends who have birthdays this month. And I have plans to gift others very soon! They are so fun and fast to make - and SO INEXPENSIVE!

Literally - if you have any scrap fabric around the house these are so easy and inexpensive. Felt squares are $0.29 at Joann's and Michael's. If you have a coupon or get them on sale it's even less. Each sleeve requires just three felt squares, and you can purchase the custom buttons for less than $1 each if you buy the big value pack.

Best project ever! You must try it!

I'm linking up to Christie for her How-To Tuesday. This is a "how to feed your creative desires and have amazing gifts for friends."

Laundry Inspiration

2011-04-18T09:44:00.001-06:00

After seeing great laundry remodels over at Tell'er All About It and In The Fun Lane, I've had the hankering to finish off our laundry room. Who needs a fancy shmancy laundry room, you ask? Everyone! That's who! If we're gonna be stuck doing the laundry, at least it can be a pleasant room with loads (pardon the pun) of counter space, storage and access to all the laundry supplies in a fun and clean environment.

Check out these laundry rooms for some drool worthy inspiration:

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Photo by Velvet and Linen

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2009 HGTV Dream Home

Essential items for my laundry room makeover:

we'll skip the obvious walls and floor, as our current laundry room is bare studs, brick and concrete floors
counters! And lots of counters - for folding, sorting and having a place to set my laundry detergent
cupboards - for concealing all the "other" supplies that go along with laundry and laundry rooms
lights - it's a dark space, lights would brighten it up and make it so much more welcoming
these fun little canisters - because laundry detergent should have a beautiful place to call home too!

Pottery Barn Bird Canisters

A girl can dream, right?!

Oh, Nelly!

2011-04-15T19:37:00.001-06:00

As if I don't have enough on my plate already. I cruised through some thrift stores tonight for fun, and found this little gem.

And I just HAD to have it!

So even though I still have a few other projects to finish up, I was a rebel and took on another little furniture project.

And now the fun begins - what to do with it.....

What about these inspiring pieces from Whiteberry Reinvented?

Do you like?

Repurposed Glass Doors into Chalkboard Art

2011-04-05T09:18:00.009-06:00

It's another edition of How-To Tuesday with Christie over at These are a Few of My Favorite Things. I have to admit, I was really looking forward to today and even spent some time on Sunday doing a bunch of small projects so I would have a plethora of ideas to choose from for today's little session.

But as in all things in my life, it is not perfect, it is not complete and it is not super pretty. Give me another hour of free time and the supplies I need, and it would be. But life sometimes is a bit imperfect. And I'm learning to embrace those imperfections.

A while back we removed the glass front doors from this little nook in our dining room.

It looks MUCH better without the doors.

But those doors have been sitting in the laundry room/storage area for a few months.

I knew better than to throw them away, I just hadn't yet come up with a grand idea of what do do with them. And then....chalkboard paint!

Yeppers - I caved to the trend of painting things with chalkboard paint. And it was so fun!

Not exactly sure where they will find their place in our home - but I'm loving them already! Even Seth seemed to like them - although he initially scoffed at the idea. Once he saw them he actually liked them and wants to put one up in the laundry room so we can leave notes for each other.

How cute is that? Little laundry love notes!

So that's how you turn an unused glass door into a totally rocking laundry love note message board.

PS please don't look too closely because yes there is a black smudge on the white frame that I need to touch up. Not to mention the holes from the knobs that I need to fill in or cover up. Imperfections are beautiful. Say it with me: Imperfections are beautiful. Now if I can just convince Seth of this!

Paint Predicament

2011-03-23T10:00:00.001-06:00

We are horrible at making decisions. Horrible. Typically decisions just don't happen - that's how we end up deciding - by NOT deciding.

We'd like to paint our house - or what little house there is to paint.

Here's what we are working with:

I'm assuming we can't paint the window trim, so we are stuck with keeping our "accent" or "trim" color white. (PS we have a new screen door - one without bars! and it is white, also) I also assumed that if the window and door trim was white that we would keep the gutters white as well.

So the question is...what color to paint the limited amount of space remaining that will go with our red brick color?

Here are some options I played around with on Sherwin Williams Visualizer tool.

Yeah - I know. They all look identical - but really, they are different colors!

What do you think? Too greige? Any suggestions on colors?

How-To Tuesday

2011-03-22T10:43:00.011-06:00

I'm participating in my first ever Linky Party, courtesy of Christie over at These are a few of my favorite things -so bear with me if this post totally stinks. I'm claiming ignorance as to how this all works!

This post should be entitled "How to give your husband a heart attack"or "How to make aheadboard out of an old door."

We moved into our house almost two years ago, and this was a project that I did shortly after being in the house. Granted - our house needed some work. But we also needed some furniture. We already had a queen size mattress set and metal bedframe for our guest room, but we didn't have any other furniture for the guest room. Not even a headboard.

This is what the room looked like before - notice the stellar use of monochromatic colors! Just kidding!

One of our first projects was replacing the old wood doors with newer white six panel doors all throughout the interior.

We had these ugly old wood doors stacked up in our garage forever - there were so many! Bathroom doors, closet doors, bedroom doors!

See that old ugly wood door in the corner of this horrible photo - yep, those are the doors I'm talking about.

Well - I had a template to use for building my new guest bedroom headboard. And it looked like this:

So I started by measuring out the current and store bought headboard used in our Master bedroom. Then I went to the hardware store and bought some 1x2's and a 1 x4.

Then the dangerous stuff that gives Seth a heartattack happened. I got out the table saw and I cut those 1x2's and 1x4 into the dimensions I needed to attach to the main body - which was the door! I cut the door down to size, too, added some 1x2's on the sides, top and bottom, and then added a 1x4 to to the top to create a small ledge. Then I added some 1x4's to the back to use as supports that Seth would eventually secure to the metal frame.

I painted it black - and this is what Seth came home to after work one day. He panicked and thought I had removed the headboard from the Master bed and thought I was painting it black.

After he recovered from his mild stroke - he realized what an amazing job I had done and he secured it to the bed so that our guest room looks like this now:

And that is how you recycle a door into a headboard!

Penny Pinchin'

2011-03-04T10:25:00.003-07:00

I'm always amazed at how women are able to budget so well. I find that I think that I'm a good budgeter - until I find out that people like Emily over at Imperfect are able to budget $250 a month on grocery and not cheat! How is this possible, I ask?!

Better question - How do I spend SO MUCH every month for two people and it still seems like we never have any food in the house?! It's like feast or famine around here. I either go all out and make an amazing meal - or there's never anything to eat.

For the last few months I've been contemplating how to decrease our food budget, while stillmaking it seem like we have food-a-plenty in the cupboards and fridge. Here's my firstweeks attempt at not spending half my salary at the grocery store - check it out.

This is my receipt from last night - I saved $23.55! Boo-yah!

And check this out

All those "bold" lines - yup, that's where I saved either by using a coupon, or buying at a discount. Oh, yay!

I think the milk and the kleenex were the only things not on sale - not too shabby.

Now let's see how long we can last on what I purchased! We may be having some inventive meals in the next few weeks.

Thankful Tuesday

2011-03-01T09:33:00.003-07:00

Today I am super thankful for my family - each and every one of them!

New Tables

2011-02-28T11:31:00.004-07:00

Without really planning it we've have some recent table renovation in our home. Within just a few weeks we've acquired new living room tables (side tables and coffee table) and then just recently a new dining room table.

For Valentine's Day, S surprised me with these magnificent tables from World Market. With a 20% off in store sale and our 10% coupon, we scored with this purchase!

The smaller and lighter coffee table really opens up the space in contrast to our previous larger and much darker table.

And we finally have a real side table, rather than our previous cabinet remnant pieces that we used as side tables.

And this lovely little shelf adds some height and interest to the side of the room.

Then we posted our old dining room table (purchased new from Furniture Row in 2006) on Craigslist, and sold it to a super nice family from NEBRASKA! (yes, we gave them a discount from our asking price simply because they were from our home state!)

The sale of our bar height table (with 8 chairs) gave us the cash to pick up this beauty from a local consignment shop that we've been keeping an eye on since Christmas.

We love the new lower profile, the long and narrow design that allows for more seating without taking up space in our narrow dining area. Plus the chairs are padded and super comfortable. Plus, there's a leaf that we can add for even more seating potential!

It's like a whole new space!

Etsy Finds

2011-02-23T14:50:00.002-07:00

These may soon be making a home in my living room as side lamps. What do you think?

Joy Suckers

2011-02-04T11:27:00.002-07:00

You know what I'm talking about - or in some cases "who" I'm talking about. Those people that just SUCK the joy right out of life. I call them, Joy Suckers - also known as Life Suckers.

If you know me you might think that I'm overly optimistic, incessantly happy, often goofy, and thriving on the random. Or at least, if you REALLY know me, that's who I am.

However, there are people who seem to be the complete opposite. And when they are around people like me (fun, awesome, light hearted and did I mention fun) they bring out the extra big wet blanket and try to smother me with it. I think they secretly are jealous of my effervescence and awesome state of mind. But it can really be a joy sucker. And no one likes a joy sucker - especially me! There's so much joy to be had, and so much to share! There's enough joy to go around so everyone can have their fill - so why do these joy suckers suck all the joy? It really perturbs me, and even makes me angry. Mostly because after a joy sucker has entered the vicinity I feel like crap. I feel empty, sad, depressed. It then takes me some time before I can get my joy barometer back to an acceptable reading. It takes energy, and it takes effort. And it can be draining to deal with this on a consistent basis.

Do you know what I mean? Or am I the only one that has to deal with joy suckers on the reg?

So I make it my new goal to add to the Joy Sharers in my life, and say no to the Joy Suckers. I want to surround myself with people who share my joy, who lift me up, who support me, laugh with me, engage with me and share with me. And for the Joy Suckers - sorry, but I won't let you take my joy. I'm super duper happy to share mine with you, but if you try to take we're gonna have a little chat about the basic principle of sharing - even a 2 year old can understand that principle.

Who's with me?! Let's be Joy Sharers!

Adventures in refinishing

2011-02-03T09:00:00.000-07:00

Remember this:

It now looks like this:

And the work continues...

I built it

2011-02-02T09:00:00.001-07:00

I had a busy weekend!

Friday afternoon I hit up the big orange box and met a fabulous man named Jason who helped me pick out some straight wood. I told him that S wouldkill me if I came home with crooked wood. I've done it before, and I won't do it again.

Here's my pile of supplies - approximately $40.

After some fun with the table saw and using my fabulous new drill bit, I had this!

And then I had this!

And after a total of three hours - from the store to the finish - I had this.

And the next day I sanded andpainted till I had this.

Thanks to Ana for the plans at Knock Off Wood.

Hopefully I can have the real finished pictures soon!

An Indecisive Woman Who Loves to Paint

2011-02-01T09:00:00.001-07:00

I may be crazy (most likely) but I actually like to paint. In all of our home renovating days, the one task that I am happy to take on and S is happy to pass along is painting! I love the sense of accomplishment that I get after painting. It's such a quick way to make a significant impact on a room. A new coat of pretty paint makes my heart flutter.

And even though our home was professtionally painted - with colors that I picked out - just over 18 months ago, I'm ready for some new color. Shameful, I know. But I think I'm over the beige monotony that is our house.

PS - Don't say anything to S about me wanting to paint. I like to "surprise" him - hee, hee, hee!

I'm loving this new gray that seems to be hitting several other bloggers out there. Like over at NewlyWoodwards:

I love how the gray POPS with the white moldings. It has a sense of cool chic-ness to it that I love. Sophisticated, yet understated. (They used Martha Stewart Bedford Gray color matched in Behr paint.)

And check out Bryn's master bedroom done in Benjamin Moore's Gunmetal Gray:

And these from Decorpad make me want to run home and change into my painting clothes and go crazy!

From beige to gray - sounds tantilizing, doesn't it!? Now which room to start with? The master, the living room or the bathroom?

Friends

2011-01-31T09:35:00.000-07:00

I've been thinking about my friendships a lot lately. I have some girlfriends who I consider to be my close friends - even though we're all residing in different states and we are all at very different junctures in our lives. But the common denominator is that we KNOW each other. I mean - We really know each other. Since the 5th grade kind of know each other. We know why we are the way we are, we know what shaped us into the women we are today, we know who we are at our core. And while we were REALLYCLOSE in high school, our friendships have changed as we became adults, got married and started families. And yet, we can still call after 2 or 3 months and talk as if no time has passed at all. This works for me. Sometimes I wish we all still lived close and that we could talk more frequently, but I understand the demands that families place on a woman. And I would never want my friendship to demand the same level of attention.

But my friendships that I've developed since then with other women don't always feel that easy. It seems like I'm failing in friendships, partly because I'm not giving enough care and attention to those relationships as my friends apparently expect. I guess I'm so used to the easiness and undemanding friendship with my core girls that i fail to realize that these newer friendships need care and feeding.

On a side note - I'm reading The Girls From Ames by Jeffrey Zaslow. Good read so far.

So I took a silly friendship personality quiz and found out that:

My Friendship Style is Independent

You love your friends, but you don't always need them as much as they need you.
You like to do your own thing. Sometimes this means taking a break from your friends and carving your own path.

As long as your friends give you the space you need, you are happy to be there for them whenever you can.
Your friends lean on you for advice and problem solving. You tend to be "the rock."

So where is this post going? I'm not sure - maybe I just needed to find the space to say to myself "It's okay to be independent. You don't have to feel bad because other people put expectations on you that don't fit who you are. Be true to yourself, and be the best friend that you can be - but don't try to be something that you are not."

PS - Being a grown up sometimes isn't fun - but it's still better than being a pre-teen girl!

Craigslist Find

2011-01-30T09:00:00.000-07:00

Looky what I found this weekend - on Craigslist! For $40!

And the best part was the lovely woman that I bought it from. She lived in this amaze-balls home on the side of the mountain in Morrison, Colorado. You know - where Red Rocks is? Yeah, awesome. Her house was gorgeous. And this little diddy was in her "guest house" which is the size of our "for reals" house! And this lovely woman was gorgeous and super friendly - very Paula Deen without the crazy southern accent and loud voice.

Now I have my work cut out for me - refinishing! To paint, or to stain? That is the question!

Goals: New Recipe

2011-01-29T09:00:00.000-07:00

One of my goals for 2011 was to try some new recipes. And I've already tried two that I love!

Catalan Sauteed Polenta and Butter Beans (from Eating Well Oct/Nov 2006)

4 teaspoons EVOO, divided

1 16 ounce tube prepared plain polenta (I made mine) cut into 1/2 in cubes

1 clove garlic, minced

1 small onion, halved and thinly sliced

1 red bell pepper, diced

1/2 teaspoon paprika, preferably smoked, plus more for garnish

1 15 ounce can butter beans, rinsed

4 cups packed baby spinach

3/4 cup vegetable broth

1/2 cup shredded Manchego or Monterey Jack cheese

2 teaspoons sherry vinegar (i did without since we didn't have any)

1. heat 2 teaspoons oil in large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add polenta and cook in a single layer, stirring occassionally, until beginning to brown, 8 to 10 minutes. Transfer to a plate

2. Reduce the heat to medium, add the remaining 2 teaspoons oil and garlic to the pan, and cook, stirring, until fragrant, 30 seconds. Stir in beans, spinach and broth; cook, stirring, until the beans are heated through and the spinach is wilted, 2 to 3 minutes. Remove from the heat; stir in cheese and vinegar. Serve vegetables over polenta. Sprinkle with paprika, if desired.

Makes 4 servings, 1 1/2 cups each

Per serving: 207 calories, 8 G fat, 7 mg cholesterol, 28 g carbs, 10 g protein, 5 g fiber

Yum!

Birthday

2011-01-28T09:00:00.001-07:00

S's birthday is coming up soon - and it's a big one. He's finally turning 30! I rejoice in his old age because it means he can no longer rib me about being an "old lady", or how he's married to an "older woman" or how he's so young at still in his twenties. Dear lord - I'm so over that! Although I always laugh and it is kinda funny - especially when people are shocked (whether real or fake, I'll take it!) that I'm 30. Must be the SPF moisturizer and strict skin care regime that I follow. NOT.

Anyhoo- I was brainstorming some ideas for the birthday boy the other day, but sadly I can only come up with things that I would want to do. Like:

a sushi making class at our fav restaurant Sushi Den
a photography session - we never had engagement or wedding photos and we're lacking in the non-self-photo category
yay, and that's about as far as I got

Lame. I know.

Anyone got any great ideas for a 30th birthday for my man?

Oh, la la

2011-01-27T09:32:00.002-07:00

I want this...>

found on Craigslist for $100.

But S says I have to finish our two other furniture refinishing projects first. Oh, if only I could be home sanding right now.....

Let's Get Hacking

2011-01-12T09:00:00.000-07:00

Here's a short wish-list of things I want to hack.

Crate & Barrel's spotlight white desk ($499)

Crate & Barrel's Addison storage bench ($399)

Crate & Barrel's Paterson shelves ($299)

Thrifting

2011-01-11T09:00:00.000-07:00

On Saturday I went thrifting. I keep seeing amazing furniture finds on other blogs and I've been frustrated by what we're finding - or not finding - at regular furniture stores, not to mention the outrageous prices. So I thought I would give thrifting a try.

First I made my list of what I was looking for:

mirror for the bathroom project
entry way table
end tables
tall dresser

Then I made my route of places to check out for Saturday. This included about 5 different places, located all around Denver. I checked out everything from an estate sale, goodwill, and some furniture consignment shops.

And here's what I found -

A mirror for $54 at a consignment shop

Tray top end tables in perfect condition for $60 each at consignment shop

Danish style dresser and mirror for $44 at thrift store - in really great condition

Chairs for $100 at consignment store (not that we need any more chairs...)

Small server with fold out top for $100 at consignment shop (S actually gets credit for this find)

Server for $92 at consignment shop (had a matching buffet and hutch, too)

Tall dresser for $125 at consignment shop (had 3 other matching pieces, too)

Long dresser at different consignment shop for $150

And guess what I came home with?

4 books from goodwill, and two gold artichoke candle holders that I will be painting white.

Lesson learned: Thrifting is hard work, and not good for the girl who is incredibly indecisive.

So sleepy

2011-01-10T09:58:00.002-07:00

I don't know what my deal is lately, but I am TIRED. And I love to SLEEP. Especially in the mornings when I'm supposed to be at work. Oops!

It was 9 am before I made it to the office today, and I can honestly tell you, I haven't been very productive since getting here!

I think one of my new years goals should be to make it to work before 8:30 am consistently!

Bathroom Progress

2011-01-07T09:00:00.000-07:00

You can read more about this endeavor here and here.

But Monday more progress was made! Can you tell from the picture what we did?

More beadboard. And it's complete now.

And base boards!

Yippee, yay! Now chair rail, painting, re-installing the sink and toilet, finding a mirror, installing the light, new fixtures (tp holder, towel rack, etc), and tiling the shower. Phew! Seems like a long list.

But the deadline has been finalized. We have to be done by February 9th for my SIL's visit!

Travel Goals for 2011

2011-01-06T09:00:00.000-07:00

It's no secret that S and I are not much for traveling. Yes, we travel occasionally for work, and I travel for the non-profit I volunteer with, but rarely do we travel for fun. This year one of our goals is to "plan more" and "make an effort to go places."

So here's our short list of upcoming travels/adventures:

January - we plan to take a long weekend in the mountains for some skiing just the two of us, but of course bring along the furry girlies

February - my SIL and her 3 gorgeous kiddos are visiting and we want to take them to the Denver Mint and sledding in the mountains (maybe do a snowboard lesson if the kids get really brave)

March - happens to be Mr. S's big 30th birthday month, so we are playing with the idea of getting away to someplace warm, like Mexico (but cross your fingers, cuz we had the same idea for my 30th and we know how that turned out....)
April - hitting the slopes again with a few other couple friends and their furry kiddos for a spring snow vacation
May - FINALLY, a trip to South Carolina to see the 'rents! Do a little golfing, hiking, check out some water falls, eat some heal-the-soul kind of food from my momma's kitchen, and just relax.

Maybe it doesn't sound like much, but for us - this is amazing that we are tentatively planning all of this! Let's see how it all pans out....

Looking for...

2011-01-05T09:00:00.001-07:00

We need a mirror for our bathroom remodel project. I know what I want in my mind, but I can't find it anywhere.

Have you seen this, lately? And if so, could you send me a message on where to get one?!

Preferably for less than $835.

HomeGoods

2011-01-05T09:00:00.000-07:00

I know we aren't the only ones with major infatuations with HomeGoods. It's a weekly tradition to visit at least two of the local TJ Maxx/HomeGoods stores. We have a steady rotation of at least 3 that we frequent regularly.

This past weekend was no different, and we started our new year off with a trip to Mecca - aka the giant HomeGoods. This store is just HomeGoods - no TJ Maxx. Just home stuff. And requires lots of patience when being visited with S. He LOVES to look through EVERYTHING. And I'm not sure if it was the "after holiday adrenaline let-down" or what, but he acted like he had money burning a hole in his little pocket. And I guess he did - his mom got him a TJ Maxx gift card. Perfect gift for my savvy, deal-loving man. (I know, most girls would love to have an S.O. that loves to shop. Problem is...I hate shopping - especially the way S does it!)

Items that made the short list of things he had to have:

butcher block and 18 piece knife set
20 piece plastic food storage (aka tupperware-esque items) set
lamps
entry-way floor rugs (front door, back door and sliding glass door areas)
drapes for the living room
side tables (for living room)
entry-way table or buffet for dining room

He was obsessed with the knives - and this isn't the first time. Now for a little bit of history, we were gifted a beautiful knife set and cutting board when we got married, but he returned the knives. Why? I have no idea. When his parents came to visit about 6 months ago, he bought another knife set. But guess what? Returned them - because he didn't think they were sharp.

At this point, we should visit the notion that S doesn't cook. His idea of making a meal doesn't even include macaroni and cheese from a box, because boiling water is too work intensive. He puts Tyson chicken nuggets on a plate and pops them in the microwave. That's a meal.

So should he really be all panties-in-a-bunch about finding the perfect knife set?

The same could be said for the food storage set. I can't remember the last time we had many leftovers, let alone that S would actually eat them! It's me that brings little plastic containers to work with food in them to reheat.

Oh, boys - I still don't quite understand how they think.

So we ended up with:

a lovely Kitchen Aid 18 piece knife set that is awe-inspiring
3 lovely new entry rugs for all the entry points to our home
some lovely new white undershirts made with premium cotton and the guaranteed lay flat collars

Costa Rica Recap

2011-01-04T08:56:00.005-07:00

Aside from celebrating my brother and his beautiful bride's wedding, I got to see mi familia for the holidays! Yippee!

Mi Padre

Y Mi Madre

Mi bonito hermano y hermana

Are you amazed at my espanol? Si? Cuz you should be! I haven't taken Spanish since 1998!

We danced, we played, we got all cleaned up and

we partied like crazy Costa Ricans!

It was a blast!

And we're back

2011-01-04T08:54:00.001-07:00

Two cups of black coffee today was probably not a good idea. I think I have the "Coffee sweats." Yuck!

Holy, what a fast holiday break, eh?! I feel like we were busy - but manageable. But yet still had time to get very accustomed to sleeping in everyday - ah, the joys of no kiddos yet!

Christmas was quiet - we both worked Christmas Eve day, had the evening off, made the usual tradition of bunches of appetizers and curled up in front of the tv and the fireplace (with my new fleece blanket). We watched a few movies, had a little wine and called it an early night. Christmas day instead of snowboarding we slept in (ahhh, how I love sleeping in!), were bad people and visited starbucks on Christmas (I know! But it was just SO GOOD!), and again made some yummy food and sat on the couch watching all of Season 5 of Dexter. Nothing says Christmas like a TV series dedicated to a serial killer! We didn't even shower all day - it was awesomely gross. Emphasis on the awesome.

Then it was back to work for a few days, then off to Vegas for a quick 36 hour visit with a bestie from high school to celebrate her 30th on the strip. We played with the kids, then headed to a fancy-schmancy dinner at the all new Cosmopolitan. Then we got real crazy and hit up the club for a few cocktails and some swaying back and forth - not really dancing, just sorta moving while standing still. But we did see some booty-shaking thanks to the "go-go" dancers. Is that even what they are called? Who knows! But it was fun - and made me want to take private lessons on how to shake my kudunk-a-dunk like that!

NYE - again, worked at my fabulous part time/seasonal job then had my bro and SIL over for appetizers, beer and poker to ring in the new year. I think we were in bed by 12:30. Yeah, such party animals!

And then today I had to face reality and return to my real job - the one that allows me to hate working with students and still get paid to support my lavish lifestyle - just kidding. I hope you can sense the sarcasm.

I have not run. I'm afraid to run. I don't really have the motivation yet to run. And yet, I need to run. Guess what my new year's goals include? (yes, goals, not resolutions. Resolutions just set me up for failure.) Yeah, so one of my goals (feel free to laugh) is to run 400 miles this year. I figured in 52 weeks that an average of 7.6 miles per week. I can do that, right? maybe. might be a stretch. but a stretch is good.

So kudos to you, my running friends, for running. Cuz I'm enjoying my laziness. But I suppose I need to kick myself into gear sooner rather than later!

How was your holiday?

Merry Christmas!

2010-12-23T10:38:00.002-07:00

I can't believe its already here - I mean, where did December go?!

While I was just able to spend time with my parents and brother, it will still be a somber Christmas as we won't be seeing any family. But, S will finally have a day off of work (yay, for retail - sarcasm). And so will I. And here's our plan:

Christmas Eve

7pm Christmas Eve service at church

9pm Yummy, yummy appetizers and goodies

Christmas Day

sleep in (Yay!)

maybe go snowboarding - depending on our energy level

cuddle with the pups

more yummies by the fireplace and a Dexter marathon (yippee-yay!)

Now to make me list of all the yummies to make, grocery shopping and preparation. Yikes! Better get busy.

I'm thinking fondue - which S will hate - but I will love....hmmm, yup, we're having fondue for sure!

Merry Christmas!

Gregorito Practicing His Vows

2010-12-21T11:56:00.002-07:00

Lots of pictures

2010-12-21T11:43:00.004-07:00

The happy couple at the pre-wedding party

Day of the wedding

Carnival

Party On

2010-12-17T09:46:00.002-07:00

Buenas!

We made it! We're in Costa Rica and the weather is beautiful and the people are amazing. Maria's family is FANTASTIC. And boy, can they party! I wish I could upload pictures, but I forgot to bring my cord for the computer. Her cousins all look identical and they can dance and party like nobody else I've seen! So much fun! We had a two live bands at the party last night which was held in Maria's mom's house and backyard. You HAVE to see the views from this house - AMAZING! And while we couldn't always understand what was going on, or the songs, etc, it was an awesome experience. I'm so happy that my brother found someone like Maria, and that we can be here to experience this wedding weekend.

Here are some key things that come to mind after last nights EPIC party:

Gregorito (loved it when they all chanted this)
Two live bands - one Nicaraguan calipso-type band and a Mariachi band
Lots of kisses from Maria's family and friends - everyone greets each other with a air-kiss on the right side
Maria's crazy aunt dancing with the grill cover to the firepit
Fireworks
Beso, Beso, Beso
Amazing food
Cousins that look 14, but end up being 23 years old
Crazy driving on the way back to the hotel - thankful for Maria's uncle (VP of Delmonte) for ushering us back through San Jose safely
and I just can't get over the friendliness of everyone here - from the hotel staff to Maria's family and neighbors

It's truly a blessing to see Greg and Maria surrounded by so much love and support. This is what memories are made of.

And I feel like I can't even do the events of the past 12 hours justice because we are still in the midst of all that is occurring. I need time to process everything so that I can write coherently about it all.

After the events of last night, I can forsee that we need to get as much rest as possible for tomorrow's wedding and reception, and work on some dance moves!