Here comes the bride

April 20, 2012

Happy Wedding to Miss Ayers!

source

I hope your wedding day tomorrow is perfect and everything you always dreamed it would be.

You got lucky on this one, as I am pregnant and unable to drink alcoholic beverages at the occasion.

Thus sparing you a drunken, slurred, embarrassing speech.

At your our next wedding, you might not be so lucky!

Did anyone try the fish!?

Mazel Tov!

Us in High School

As California Roomies

And beyond!

The happy couple!

cheese please

April 9, 2012

It occurred my friends and me that we needed to have a get together that involved cheese.

So we planned a cheese day.

Each person was required to bring two cheeses to the party.

One of their favorites and one they haven’t tried before.

Along with an array of wines and champagnes (and pear cider for me)

we spent a few hours in the middle of a Saturday stuffing our faces with cheese.

This was pretty much the best idea ever.

Ethel’s Rhodie in full bloom

The spread

What’s a girl’s day without glamour shots?!

There’s a baby in there

Oh yeah and we decided to all wear Easter hats.

Because when you are eating fine curds and whey you need to look your best.

Marinated fresh Mozzarella

The healthier stuff

Prego photo

The whirling durvish

Crackers and chocolate covers fruits

I even got out the glass plates and linen napkins!

This Truffle Cheese was delicious….but I’m not suppose to eat soft cheeses while pregnant.

I had to try it though, and it was sooooo good.

Jamaican Jerk & Roasted Garlic Cheddar

Prosciutto & Mozzarella

Smoked Monterrey,Cougar Gold, Wasabi Horseradish

I finally got to use my huge slab of marble for something!

What’s better than fried cheese?!

All the girls

Chive Cheesy Beer Dip,Goat Brie, and Triple cream

We need to do this biweekly.

The prayer factory

April 5, 2012

You might remember this vintage metal shrine that I bought a few months ago at Ruffles & Rust.

I had great things planned for it.
It just took me a while to get around to them all.

Some inspiration:

First it needed some paint.

Then some accessories.

Then the perfect picture in the frame.

A few crystals.

Lastly, some little statues to fill the shelves.

The best part?

It lights up.

I had to make a compromise with Steve in order to hang it up though,
since it is really not his style at all.
(Believe it or not, he doesn’t like tacky stuff!)
Or so he thinks…
He acquired an old German light up beer sign that he thought needed to be hung up as well.
That’s pretty tacky in my opinion.
But, bring on the black velvet paintings, I love it all!

Here is the finished wall in the stairway
(to Heaven)

Now I have a night light for the 4 times I get up to pee in the middle of the night too!
Fashion AND function!

The Vanity Makeover – Eat your heart out Pinterest

April 5, 2012

Let’s start at the beginning.

Flash back to 6th grade:

I had been begging my parents to buy me a vanity for my bedroom and desperately wanted to get rid of my “kid” desk.

Kid desk

I wanted something girly like this

But my parents argued there wasn’t enough storage or space for things like….homework.

And since I was like 10 years old, I wasn’t exactly wearing make up.

They had a valid point, but I continued looking for the perfect vanity at every garage sale my dad drug me to.

Finally I found this treasure.

A nice big desk, full of drawers and a huge mirror.

It was the best of both words.

Plus it was old.

I have always had a thing for antiques.

It lived in my bedroom all my life and was painted white.

I sat at it every morning and did my hair and make up before high school.

Until I started college and decided it would look better painted hot pink.

Not sure what I was thinking…

Since moving into my house with only one, yes, one bathroom in it, this vanity has been a life saver.

I have been able to always have a place to get ready for my day and avoided the fight over the sink.

Now that the upstairs is ready for furniture, we moved my vanity up there.

I had planed to paint it back to its neutral white to match the bed.

Steve suggested we paint it something brighter.

“We need a POP of color” he said.

Well, dear husband, be careful what you wish for!

My inspiration

With a touch of this

And we ended up with this!

We used Glidden in Grecian Green High Gloss Trim paint.

And one of Ethel’s old lace curtains I found in the basement and a high gloss charcoal spray paint on the sides.

It was super easy to do.

After painting the green and letting it set for a day, we taped off the edges around the sides and then I cut out a section of lace to lay flat in the center area.

We stood the desk on it’s side so I could spray directly down onto it and the lace layed flatter that way.

I did one good solid coat of spray at a 90 degree angle and let it dry completely for about 10 min.

Then pulled off the painters tape and lifted off the lace!

Easy as Pie!

I ordered this little acrylic beauty to set on top of it to hold all my makeup too!

Can’t wait for it to get here.

It will look much better than my old Rubbermaid storage I had everything in.

Source

shepards pie…kinda

April 3, 2012

What to do with the leftovers from last weeks dinner?!

They have been hanging in the fridge and they are too dry to eat.

Mix them up with some other junk in the pantry and bake it into a pie of course!

I started off with a Rice & Chicken dish my mom made for me and some friends who came over to help paint the house last week.

Then I ended up with a delicious dish that lasted us many a meal and tasted really awesome…especially for something I made up.

I know it looks like a lot of steps… and for you non cookers, it is.

But the whole prep took me maybe 30-40 min?

If you can multitask, it’s all simple stuff.

Starting with the mixed rice leftovers that were in a casserole dish and on their last leg… or grain, I suppose.

I took the left over rice and mixed it up in a bowl

with:

2 cans cream of mushroom soup

1 can of corn (drained)

1/4 C Sour Cream

Sea Salt, lemon Pepper, Italian Seasoning

1/2 cup steamed carrots & broccoli

Set aside

Then I Pulled out 1 package of Marie Calendar ready made frozen pie crusts.

I always have a stash on hand.

Let those thaw while you are doing the rest.

NEXT

I got out some ground beef & just browned it.

(It’s going back in the oven, so you don’t want to over cook)

Added salt, pepper and Liquid Aminos

( I add that to almost all my meat, it’s delicious and has tons of supplements your body likes!)

Meanwhile I boiled about 6-7 peeled small potatoes

Drained the beef.

Set aside.

Drained cooked taters and threw them in the Kitchen Aid.

Whipped those up with some butter, milk & garlic salt.

Set aside.

Turn the oven to 400

Kneed the 2 pie crusts together & roll out on floured surface.

Line 9″ x 3 deep Spring form cake pan

( Or whatever works for you)

This particular scenario was too much food for a pie tin.

Press dough up the sides to the edges of the pan.

Add your rice veggie mixture (or whatever your leftovers are, pasta maybe?)

Then add the ground beef

Top with mashed potatoes

Sprinkle with grated Parmesan cheese

Bake 25 min.

Boom.

Done.

It’s like potpie, but better.

Your hubs will be impressed

AND I made this all with food I had on hand already!

Breakfast at A Terrible Beauty

April 2, 2012

While my friend Amy was in town visiting, we had a delightful breakfast Sunday morning at…

This is a place we frequent a lot for dinner and trivia but I hadn’t yet been there for brunch.

I must say, I will return.

I got french toast with a Bailey’s sauce.

YUM.

They almost tasted like Burger king french toast sticks ( my weakness) but better.

Since it wasn’t fast food and was made with actual bread.

Steve’s crab Benedict & taters

Amy and her eggs Benedict

If you haven’t been, go.

Any meal, any time.

Their food is always on the mark!

Week 26 & finally showing!

March 30, 2012

Well, here it is…. the belly.

I’m told there is a baby inside there.

Not quite convinced though, I leaning more toward Red Robin french fries and cereal.

No crazy cravings to report.

No stretch marks, knock on wood.

This week in ” What to Expect” I read that I might be experiencing hemorrhoids…. really?

Hemorrhoids?!

Why did no one warn me about this?

Thankfully I have not encountered this …..er, side effect, if you will, but it’s something like 80% of woman get them from pregnancy or giving birth.

Awesome.

This is apparently motherhood’s best kept secret that I never heard about.

All I heard was “You should have a baby, it’s God’s greatest gift.”

Not the truth, which is more like:

“You can’t eat goat cheese, your varicose veins will take over your legs like a road map, you could get hemorrhoids from the pressure of your own uterus and stretch marks are hereditary so you can’t actually do anything to prevent them.”

And it’s all down hill from here.

The walk in closet, er…. uh, I mean “nursery” in progress

March 29, 2012

Check out my new glider and ottoman I found on… you guessed it, Craigslist.

It should be renamed Gracieslist.

After we got the carpet in, we moved all the furniture that has been collecting in our living room up there.

I still need to paint the trim for the baseboards and windows and frame a few prints.

Besides that, this room is close to done!

Steve putting things together

Me…..a hot mess on a Sunday afternoon

It was a long day

Neat retro light Steve brought home for me a couple years ago.

It came out of his Oma’s farm house from back in the day.

Glad I kept it!

This is the perfect place for it!

ZZZZZ….

(Steve after practicing his nursing skills, should I tell him he probably won’t be successful?!)

Hope future fetus likes his new room,

because mama doesn’t have anywhere to hang her clothes now!

Weekend Warriors; Carpet and (most) furniture is in!

March 28, 2012

We are finally down to the final stages of finishing the upstairs!

I can’t believe it has been a year since we moved in and made plans to make this wasted space liveable.

I am beyond excited to have it done and be able to decorate and unpack items that have been boxed and waiting for a place since we moved in!

I have been feeling like I was living in transition this whole time.

Not able to fully unpack and make the house my own.

Not to mention my current nesting instincts.

I can’t hardly wait to put together the nursery.

All the baby stuff has just been piling up in the corner of the living room .

Two weekends ago we finished up the dry wall and sanding every square inch of the rooms.

Monday my mom and I primered all the walls and ceilings.

The rest of the week we had a few great friends over to help us paint everything!!

Friday the carpets were installed.

Saturday the new bed & mattress came!

Here are the new stairs with lovely carpet on them.

The replaced wall with bead board and the exposed chimney.

Not quite finished with the wall on the left side yet.

My new light over the stairs

Looking into the nursery with my leaning mirror in the corner.

Looking into the mast bedroom.

(no trim is up yet, that’s why the window looks a little strange & ghetto)

My lovely king frame that I have been storing away for the last 2 years!

The hallway

We painted the ceiling and angled walls white,

lower half walls light grey

and the accent wall behind the bad dark grey.

The light over the bed

Still a short list of things to get done, but it looks pretty great so far!

What do ya think?!

Dad’s 60th Birthday

March 28, 2012

Remember my dad’s leap year birthday!?

I forgot to post pics from the party and show you the cake I made for him!

As I have mentioned before, he is a Trivial Pursuit fanatic, so I had to pay homage to the game.

The rest is pretty self explanatory, cars, Simpsons beer can and Chevrolet.

It was a chocolate cake with chocolate mousse filling and fresh raspberries.

Finished with vanilla Swiss butter cream icing!

Me, Amy & my sister

Dad blowing out the candles

A few gifts

And a mini fridge for his garage.

Happy Birthday Dad!!