Wednesday, February 29, 2012

Wreath-er or Not!

Whether it's Spring, Summer, Fall or Winter...
I think there is always room for a cute WREATH to brighten up a room,
a door,
or an outside wall!

I know that wreaths are associated with Christmas and the holidays, 
but I'm on a new mission to make wreaths for every season!


Before Christmas, I stumbled upon my new love for wreath making on A Beautiful Mess (One of my FAVORITE blogs..she's so cute and talented!) She inspired me to use different materials and different colors to brighten up any season! 

This was the product of the tutorial:


After I saw how EASY this was, I went straight to the fabric store.
Follow the directions on the link above or follow me to the directions here!

This was my product:



My colors weren't as Fall-like as the original picture but this has allowed me to keep my wreath up all winter and now into (hopefully *fingers crossed*) SPRING!

Over the next few weeks, I plan on making a new one with more bright colors! Maybe a Spring garland?!
So many possibilities! 




Monday, February 27, 2012

Playing Catch Up

It has been waaaaay too long since I updated last.
Life has been ridiculously busy, full of good times, working hard, and visiting new places with old friends.
I think the only appropriate thing to do is tell the story in pictures!


For Valentine's Day, Jake took me to Newport, Rhode Island. We toured the mansions out there. The history was spectacular! Plus, Newport is super cute in itself. This was my favorite.


I want to come home to this gate!

My best friend, Joanna, came for a visit from Oregon! I have never felt so happy since I've been on the East Coast! We explored New York City and then she came and saw my new home in New Haven, Connecticut. It was so nice having her here yet so difficult to let her go home.

Delicious lunch the first day at Planet Hollywood in Times Square!

Chocolate Souffle at Hells Kitchen Lounge. The best I've ever had! 

The new World Trade Centers.

NYC is just so beautiful.

Empire.

Who needs the country when you can have this?!

Jake made steak the night before I went to NYC. It was so amazing!

The Tick Tock Diner.

Meatloaf.


It has been such a great past few weeks. But I'm excited to get back into the swing of normal life.

I'm looking for some new crafts to explore...any ideas??

Till next time!

Wednesday, February 15, 2012

My New Obsession

SO! I hope everyone have a wonderful Valentine's Day. I know I did! I made cupcakes for Jake then went to work. We've postponed our day together until this Saturday. Don't fret. You'll get an update ;)


Pasta and rice and almonds, oh my!
But I have this new obsession. With glass jars. Glass organizing jars. I've now decided that I want everything in my cabinets to be in glass jars, all different sizes, so I can see everything!! 


My next step is to use the chalk board paint that Jake bought, paint a big strip across the front of the jar. Then I can write in chalk what's in the jar! (I know it'll be obvious what's in the jar but it'll be cute!)


So in honor of me FINALLY finding my home organization bug (believe me, I was never this clean or organized when I was a kid), I've decided to share some of my favorite ideas. I've gathered these ideas from other blogs and from Pinterest (one of my new favorite websites!)


What a freakin GREAT idea!

A Beautiful Mess has so many great ideas in general BUT under the "Decor" tab, there's an idea for a spice organizer! Some day I hope to have enough space to do so!!



Camille Styles is such a beautiful blog. I could spend HOURS on here just looking at pictures and getting ideas. I've wanted a garden since I moved here to Connecticut but since I don't have the space, I thought THIS was a great idea! 




Lastly is a new blog I started following, While He Was Napping. So many cute ideas!!!!! I loved the bathroom mason jar organizer. I am so going to do THIS when we get a new place! 


Alright, lovelies, that's all I have for the day!! I want to post what I did for Valentine's Day SO BADLY but since we aren't having our day until Saturday, I don't want to risk Jake actually reading this thing ;)

Till next time!



Monday, February 13, 2012

Weekend in Pictures

This weekend past, I had one of the best weekends I've had in a while.
Usually, I spend most of Saturday on the couch, watching bad Netflix and drinking tea.
But we decided it was time to go out and about for the weekend.

Saturday we spent a good portion of the afternoon wandering around New Haven, drinking bubble tea and getting new books at The Book Trader.

Sunday was a home cooking day. Soft pretzels,  chili, homemade pizza. So many yummy things! Here are what photographs I took.


Fried Chicken dumplings and coconut bubble tea at York Street Noodle House.

Wall of fiction at The Book Trader, Chapel Street.

The 2nd book in The Hunger Games and my favorite pilsner, Bavik, at Rudy's.

Jake looking at a display at Ikea. I love the HUGE wine rack on the right.

Love this display.

Sunday morning, first time using the new coffee press! Delicious. 

Onions caramelizing in butter for BBQ Chicken Pizza!


Pot roast cooking away in the crock pot. 

Shredded BBQ chicken. Oh. Man.

Homemade soft pretzels! So easy and worth doing. Find the recipe HERE.

Alright my lovelies, have a great Monday!! I'm going to find a new craft this week, I'm feeling a little bit neglected creatively. It's time to feed the craft monster! So keep your eyes out!



Thursday, February 9, 2012

Red Lights

Good morning!
Last night I took some cool pictures with my phone.
I'm looking into getting a really sweet camera, one I should have for serious blogging, but for now, my camera will do.

BAR
But last night my boyfriend and I met up with some friends at BAR in New Haven. 
We were there to see the band Ha Ha Tonka, a band that I am growing to super LOVE!
WATCH THIS.

It was so much fun! We had to leave short into their set because I had to get up early today, but I'm listening to them nonstop on youtube and Lastfm. Check them out!

Listen to this too.
Damn Good Stout. Yes, that's what it's called.

BAR

Sparkle.


Ha Ha Tonka.

Wednesday, February 8, 2012

The Red Pepper Incident.

Oh my! It's been a while since I updated my blog! I do so apologize! The past week has been crazy busy! My teaching job is slowly becoming more demanding and I'm putting in all the effort I can! I love my students so much :) Today we made greeting cards that focused on the characteristics of a healthy relationship and they all turned out so good!


On the up side, I made a yummy dinner for Jake Monday night in celebration of FINALLY getting all the work done on the car! Now it's all up to date with fresh oil change and new tags! How wonderful :)


As a surprise, I made him STUFFED RED PEPPERS! I have made stuffed squash in the past, something I <3 <3 <3, but turns out he does NOT <3 <3 <3...but he does love stuffed peppers!! 


So let's see what I did here:


2-4 Big red peppers (I use three so he would have left overs for work lunch)
Ground beef, however much you want really. I used the left overs we had, about half of a pack.
1 cup rice, already cooked
1 yellow onion
3 cloves of garlic
Cheddar cheese
bread crumbs
1 can diced tomatoes
Herbs and Spices




To start, I preheated the over to 350 degrees. 
Beef, red pepper, onion and garlic
Then I chopped up the onion and the garlic and added it to a hot pan with a bit of olive oil. Add the ground beef.


While that was all stewing together, I cut the tops off the peppers and clean the insides out. I then used what little red pepper was still on the tops, chopped it up and added it to the meat. Place the peppers in a dish and drizzle with olive oil. I added a dash of salt and pepper too.


Peppers ready to be stuffed!
As the beef concoction was cooking, I started the rice. Bring 2 cups of water and 1 cup of rice to a boil. Once it's boiling, turn the burner off, cover and let sit. Don't open the lid too often, however, try and keep all the heat and steam in!


By this time, the meat and veggies should be pretty far along. Add the can of tomatoes, juice and all! I used diced tomatoes with garlic and herbs that I had left over from chili last week. Turn down the heat a tad and let simmer for a while, until the rice is done. Once the rice is done, add it to the meat and let it all simmer together, absorbing all those wonderful flavors!
Beef, onion, garlic, peppers, spices and tomatoes!





Going into the oven!

This is the point where you can add what spices you want. I am OBSESSED with garlic powder (yes, even though there is garlic IN it too). I like garlic powder, chili powder, basil, oregano, salt and pepper and a bit of cayenne pepper (because Jake likes it HOT, HOT, HOT!). 


Bake the peppers at 350 for about half an hour. You can bake them for more if you'd like but I like my peppers a little on the crispy side. I topped mine with a slice of cheddar cheese and bread crumbs towards the end to give it that little extra OOMPH! 


ENJOY!


The final product! Coupled by mashed potatoes!






I'm hoping on making some delicious treats soon, so I will be posting all about those!