Tidbits.

Saturday in iPhone pictures.

Sweet gesture. Nap in the sun. So studious. New obsession. Fueled my nail polish obsession. And my Scentsy obsession. Went to dinner (with the most handsome man alive). But came home to watch a movie... and eat Thin Mint ice cream.

Happy Saturday.

(Seriously if you guys have never played Unblock Me and have an iPhone, do yourself a favor and download it!)

Blog love.

You guys - I am SO excited. Tomorrow (Friday) our Silverware Silhouettes are going to be featured on one of my most favorite blogs, Knock Off Decor! If you guys don't already know about it, you NEED to go check it out. Pronto.




Thank you so much Beckie for featuring our project!

And for anyone who popped over here from Knock Off Decor, House of Hepworths, or Tip Junkie, welcome!! We are so thrilled to have you here! I just started a new job so things have been slow on the decorating front, but this weekend I'll have a desk and some St. Patrick's Day goodies to share with you so I hope you'll stick around!

Why slamming doors is never a good idea.

When I get mad I like to slam doors. I'll admit it. But today I learned my lesson because the gorgeous vintage frame I had next to the door fell off the wall and broke. Maybe this should be a lesson in secure picture frame hanging instead. But either way, I'm pretty bummed.

It was a really awkward oblong shape and I found it at a thrift store and all it came with was the frame and the glass. There was no back. As soon as I saw it I knew that I wanted it to be a chalkboard frame. I just painted the wall directly behind the frame with chalkboard paint and hung the frame without the glass on the wall.

Well when the frame fell off this is what I had (after I washed it off):

And I was totally inspired by the frame in this picture from Rue:

But I learned that it is nearly impossible to draw that much detail with plain old chalk, especially on the textured walls in our base housing.

So this is what it looks like now:

I had to draw something on it because I could NOT stare at the seemingly random black square in the middle of the wall every time I came in or left the house. But I don't like it like this at all.

It will be nearly impossible to ever find a frame that specific size again, so I suppose I could just find a new frame and repaint green where the frame doesn't cover. Or cover it up with something else. Or get a chalk pen and try to draw a detailed frame like the inspiration photo. I'd build a frame myself but I don't want just a plain old frame around it, I want something with more character. I'm so bummed about this. Does anyone have any suggestions?

Tidbits.

Saturday in iPhone pictures.

Early morning naps. Taco dip for a baby shower. Kisses while cruising. The best new candy. Another complete set, finally. New scarves. What we watched all day. The creepiest magazine addressed to me that had us laughing for a good hour. Evening snuggles.

We spent the majority of the day lying on the couch with the windows open relaxing and napping to the sound of the rain. Sometimes there's nothing better than an insignificant Saturday.

Can we please discuss what just came in the mail?

This past Valentine's Day was the first Valentine's Day me and Matt have spent together in four years thanks to training and deployments. Rather than worrying about gifts, we decided our fancy dinner date would just be our gift to each other. After all, as cheesy as it sounds, we were happy just to be together (and we love food, duh).

Well I got home today and found a package on my doorstep. I was kind of mad at first because I knew it was a gift, but then I opened it, and found THIS:

I'm sure 99.9% of you can't identify this band by the picture, but this is a special edition double LP of City and Colour's album Bring Me Your Love. If we had to pick one album to be the soundtrack to our lives, this would be it. And this is the band we snagged tickets to see next month to celebrate my new job.

The fun part about this is that I don't have a record player. I have wanted a record player for a really, REALLY long time. So getting this record leads me to believe that a) there is a record player hiding somewhere in my house right now or b) Matt has a plan to take me shopping for one. I can't reach him right now because he's busy with his students at work, but I cannot wait till he walks in the door tonight to find out his plan (but not before laying a big juicy wet one on him)!! Andddd I can't wait to make over a perfect little table to rest this bad larry on!

Assuming Matt didn't go out and buy a record player without my input - does anyone have record player recommendations?

Aren't husbands just the best!?

Prosperous.

Eek! I am so so excited about all my new followers from today's feature on Welcome Wednesday! I am so beyond thrilled to have all of you here! But I'm also embarrassed because my blog is a mess - half my links don't work and the post I planned to welcome you all over here with... well, I just didn't have time to complete the project!

I started a new job last week working on the mental health staff at a school for children with mental, emotional, and behavioral problems. I am absolutely in LOVE with my job - the students, my co-workers, the program itself and everything it offers, and especially the feeling of self-worth I leave work with every day.  Buuuuuuut, needless to say, the job comes with LOTS of challenges and I'm still adjusting... and by adjusting I mean coming home every day after work and crashing on the couch for a few hours like a zombie so I don't internalize the stresses of the day. I haven't even been really cooking lately, which is why you haven't seen any recipes either. Today I spent the day in training instead of with my class, and I thought I would be able to come home stress-free and get some cleaning and crafting done. But today was just doubly stressful trying to participate in training and trying NOT to worry about my students. Anyway, I hope you all understand and I promise I'll have some great things to share with you this weekend!

I did want to post a little personal post though. We celebrated Valentine's Day on Saturday, but on Monday night we got Chinese food (yeah, that's Chinese food twice in three days - clearly we're off track on our diets!) and snuggled on the couch. I got this fortune in a fortune cookie:

Sure fortune cookies are trivial little things (although we do save all of ours), but no fortune cookie fortune has ever rung so true. And I don't mean financially prosperous - I mean flourishing as an individual in a career that I love, putting my creativity to use and getting to share it here, making new friends through this blog, and just growing as a person in general. Life has been so good to me lately and I feel so blessed.

So I just want to reiterate how thrilled I am to have all of you new readers here! I promise to get my projects done this weekend and not make excuses ;) Now I'm off to do my nails, eat Cadbury eggs (I was so excited when I saw the Easter candy in the store!), and watch Modern Family! 

Silverware silhouettes.

Pottery Barn had these metal silverware silhouettes a while ago. Some of you might remember them? I've never stopped thinking about them - I'm a sucker for kitchen related art. When I realized we needed something to decorate the wall opposite our hutch, I knew I had to try and recreate these on the cheap.

We went to Lowe's and picked up an $8 piece of 1/4" thick 4x8 birch plywood. We had them cut it into four 1x2 boards.

I sketched out a fork, spoon, and knife on plain paper. Using some carbon paper Matt snagged from work, I transferred them onto the boards. If you don't have carbon paper, you could cut out the shapes and trace them like a stencil, or scribble with a pencil on the back of the sketch to make some makeshift carbon paper. Either way should work great!





We don't have a jigsaw, but we do have a multisaw attachment for the Dremel, so that's what we used. Matt cut out the shapes of the silverware, and then used a sanding attachment to smooth the edges. I also sanded by hand around the edges of the cut out and the edges of the board for a smooth finish.





I knew I wanted the silhouettes to be black, but I didn't want them to have even a hint of shine. I had some chalkboard paint on hand from another project, so I used that. I love the matte almost metallic finish. It only took one coat and some touch ups.



And the finished product:





Don't mind how off the fork looks in the last picture - the patio door is right next to the table and is casting a weird shadow in the picture.

What do you think!? Not bad for $8 buckaroos right!?

I'm linking up to The DIY Showoff, Craftomaniac, C.R.A.F.T., Dittle Dattle, Metamorphosis Monday, Hope Studios, and Saavy Southern Style, and The Shabby Nest!

We went back to the ranch.

I knew we wouldn't be able to wait more than a week to go back to Daley Ranch. There's just toooo much awesomeness to explore.

This time we hiked the Jack Creek Meadow Loop and our trail looked more like this:

The views weren't so scenic but we made some discoveries along the way:

Awesome right?

Since this morning I've been working on a project that I can't wait to share with you later! But first, some of our friends are from New Orleans and they're having a seafood boil and I'm super excited to eat what I expect to be some dee-licious shrimp! But I'm also equally excited to get home and veg on the couch for a couple hours before bed. What can I say? I'm an old soul.

P.S. What do you think of my new layout? Have any suggestions for me?

I hope everyone is having a lovely Sunday!

Tidbits.

Saturday in iPhone pictures.

Good morning puppylove. Getting lost in Lowe's. Girl Scout cookies FINALLY. Devoured Chinese food. His favorite hiding spot. A project. A fancy V-Day dinner. Post-dinner flowers. Ice cream on the couch.

Yup, we consumed way too many calories today.

Avocado pasta.

My guess is that this probably sounds either REALLY good or REALLY gross to you. Avocado seems to be one of those things that people either love or hate. I found this recipe at Oh She Glows and I had to try it. Immediately. And I suggest you do too if you're an avocado lover. It's a super refreshing twist on pasta!

What you need:
1 ripe avocado
juice of 1/2 a lemon
2-3 garlic cloves (use less if you're not a garlic lover)
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 cup fresh basil
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
6 oz pasta of your choice
fresh ground black pepper

What to do:
1. Boil water and add pasta. Cook 8-10 minutes.
2. Make the sauce by placing garlic cloves, lemon juice, and olive oil in a food processor and process until smooth. Add the avocado, basil, and salt, and process again until smooth.
3. Drain the pasta and place in a large bowl. Pour on sauce and mix until combined. Add lemon zest and black pepper on top. Serve immediately as this will not reheat well.

Let me know if you try it!

26 Before 26: Goal Completion #1.

I have so many new followers - hi everyone! I am so thrilled that you want to follow our little blog! I know most of you follow to see my DIY and decor posts or recipe posts, but I also use this as our personal blog and to share with our friends and family across the country so I hope you'll stick around when I do personal posts!

I set some goals for myself a couple months ago - some things I wanted to complete before I turn 26. One of them was to find a job I love. Of all my goals, this was the one I was most afraid of not achieving. But I already did. And I am in complete and utter shock.

I got my undergrad degree in Social and Behavioral Sciences with every intention of going to grad school for Social Work. But I could. not. find. an entry level job that didn't require me to be bilingual (thank you California!). So I took an office job in November. I wasn't happy AT ALL. I cried after work most days because I felt like I was stuck and would never be able to find the kind of job I wanted and therefore would never have a REAL career. And I feared that having no experience would prevent me from getting into grad school.

The last week of January, a position opened up at a school nearby for children with mental, emotional, and behavioral problems. I applied thinking I would NEVER get the job, but if I did, I could quit the job I had. My first interview was on a Friday, and by that Friday, I had also decided that I needed to put in my two weeks notice and if I didn't get this job, I would take the pay cut, live on a tight budget for a few months, and do extensive volunteer work to get some legitimate experience under my belt. So I gave my two weeks notice and went to my first interview, which went really REALLY well. My second interview went even better. But I knew the other candidates had experience and I did not. Yet somehow, I got the job.

I feel like taking that leap of faith was exactly what I needed to do and that now I am exactly where I'm supposed to be. I've already had huge successes at work and I love love love the kids. I didn't even think about getting paid until my boss gave me my time card to fill out, and I would honestly go to this job every single day even if I didn't get paid. This is not to say the job doesn't come with many, MANY challenges. But I am so looking forward to Monday and I've NEVER had that feeling before. I am beyond thrilled (and totally surprised) I'm able to cross this goal off the list!

Etsy love.

Sorry I haven't posted in a couple days! I started a new job and my schedule has been pretty hectic. I'm so behind on everything I wanted to post this week. But I got a few packages from Etsy sellers and I really wanted to share these awesome shops with you guys! This is some of the best money I ever spent. And let me apologize in advance for the poor quality pictures - I don't have good lighting in my house AT ALL. And getting home at 4:30 doesn't make getting good shots any easier!

I just love this print. I've had it in my favorites for a long time. Even though the saying is so simple, the typography and the colors make it super cheery. It's in my dining room hutch and I love it seeing it in there. Please do yourself and favor and check out Farouche.

I have had my eye on these prints FOREVER. I grew up in New England, so I miss the four seasons dearly. I don't think there's a better way to bring the four seasons to California than with these gorgeous tree prints. Check out erinjaneshop - this picture does NOT do the prints justice. And she has tons of other gorgeous and inspirational prints!

Seriously? Like SERIOUSLY? I got this and tears welled up in my eyes. This is the original picture.

The picture is a little overexposed and somehow she knew how to change it to look even more like Jack, without ever meeting him. If you have a pet you absolutely love and want a super fun portrait of, check out Smithacus. I will cherish this little canvas of my puppylove forever.

Seriously is there anyone out there that doesn't LOVE Etsy? Please share - what's your favorite Etsy shop or Etsy purchase?

A filing cabinet beautified.

I'm super excited to share this with you guys today!

We've needed a bigger filing cabinet for a while. I saw this one on craigslist and snagged it for $30 buckaroos. I was pretty stoked because I looked it up and it retails for $199 at Staples - pretty awesome deal right?

Well it's definitely functional, but not so aesthetically pleasing. So I took care of that with some wallpaper and a little Modge Podge!

I wanted to take pictures of my process but I needed two hands for most of it and Matt wasn't home while I worked on it. So I'll do my best to write out the steps I took in case any of you want to try it yourselves!

First, I took all the hardware off (duh). I'd give more details instructions but it will differ depending on how your filing cabinet is built. Then I measured the drawers and cut pieces of wallpaper about 1 inch larger than the drawer all the way around. I put Modge Podge right on the drawer with a foam brush and stuck the paper on using a credit card to smooth it and get rid of any bubbles. Once it dried, I used an exacto knife to cut off the excess. I just held the knife right up against the side of the drawer and slid it right down (or across for the top and bottom) and the edge was almost perfect. I thought this was easier than trying to cut a piece to the perfect size and center it perfectly, etc etc.

There's only one spot on the bottom right of the bottom drawer where it tugged a little resulting in an uneven edge, but this pattern is pretty forgiving so I'm okay with it! If your drawers can actually come out (mine don't), I would recommend laying them face down once they're dry and cutting the excess from behind. It's safer and will probably come out cleaner!

Then I just added another coat of Modge Podge and let it dry before adding on the new hardware. The absolutely gorgeous wallpaper was a FREE SAMPLE! I knew you could get free 4x6 wallpaper samples from big box stores, but I never knew higher end wallpaper distributors would send you LARGE samples for free or just the cost of shipping. It's a pretty awesome resource to know about! (And for those of you asking, the patterns in the Saturday Tidbits post were free wallpaper samples as well!) The new cup pulls cost a total of $8 at Home Depot and I had the Modge Podge on hand so this whole project cost me a whopping $38 bucks.

It's one of my favorite projects yet. I'd love to hear what you think!

Tomorrow I'll show you where this bad boy and my new desk are going to go!



I linked up to the Shabby Nest, Funky Junk Interiors and Chic on a Shoestring Budget!

10 things we love about Sunday.

1. Hikes
2. Snuggle time
3. Trashy reality TV marathons
4. Long showers
5. Long naps
6. Long uninterrupted conversations
7. More snuggle time
8. Calls from a certain 3 year old in Massachusetts
9. Endless kisses
10. Early bedtime

Nighty night!

P.S. This particular Sunday was especially nice because of a beautified filing cabinet and a delicious avocado pasta - I'll be sharing both tomorrow!

Tidbits.

Saturday in iPhone pictures.





Snuggle time. Gold sparkly nails. A project. An exciting delivery. More snuggle time. Photobooth fun. Chocolate chip cookies. Boyfriend. Cherry limeade.

A perfect Saturday.

Just 'cause I love 'em.

Dear Husband,
I am so happy it's the weekend.
I can't wait to laugh for two straight days with you.
I'm not even mad you didn't stop playing Call of Duty when I came home from babysitting.
Or that you're now asleep.
I'm just glad I'll be able to curl up next to you because there is a risk of frostbite to my extremities whenever you have to stay at work no matter how high I turn up the heat.
No, this isn't me trying to remind you how much I miss Hawaii.
I just think you provide the perfect amount of body heat.

Dear Jack,
Thank you for always enthusiastically greeting me at the door even when I don't give you enough love and attention. And when I forget to walk you. Or feed you.

Dear iPhone,
Thank you for making this picture possible and for staying loyal even though I have dropped you several thousand times which has resulted in severe injury to your face. You da bomb.

Chicken Tostadas

These were sooooo deliciously good. And easy. And they're low-cal too.



What you need:
3 cups shredded chicken
1 14 oz can of diced tomatoes with chiles
1 medium onion diced
1 avocado
1/4 cup salsa
2 tbsp sour cream
2 tbsp fresh cilantro chopped
1 cup shredded lettuce
1/2 cup Monterey Jack cheese (which we left out to save even more calories)
8 tostada shells or 8 corn tortillas*

*It's healthier to make your own tostada shells. Coat both sides with cooking spray and put on a cookie sheet in the oven at 375 for 10 minutes, turning once during cooking to brown both sides.

What to do:
1. Bring tomatoes to a boil over medium heat. Add onion and cook for 15ish minutes until the onions are soft. Add chicken and heat through, 1 to 2 minutes.
2. Mash avocado in a bowl. Stir in cilantro, salsa, and sour cream.
3. To assemble the tostadas, spread each crisped tortilla with some of the avocado mixture. Top with lettuce, chicken mixture, and cheese.

Enjoy!

Resolutions.

I'm a month late in posting these. Oops. I know lots of people think resolutions are dumb. But I think the New Year brings such an overwhelming feeling of a fresh start it's easy for me to start fresh with new habits too. I'm happy to say I've stuck to all of my resolutions so far. I have my 26 Before 26 goals to work on, so my resolutions are just a few small changes I want to make. I keep them framed on my nightstand so I see them every morning and every night to remind myself.

Here they are:

1. Drink more water. Self-explanatory.

2. Give up Diet Coke. Forever. And I'm happy to say I haven't had my beloved DC at all this year! I haven't even craved it. Well, okay, maybe once or twice. But I had no desire to actually drink it. I've surprised myself for sure.

3. Be more green. I have never recycled unless it would somehow benefit me. Like we save all our bottles and cans and cash them in. But I never recycle paper or aluminum cans or plastic from the house. And I still use plastic grocery bags. I set up a little recycling station. It's nothing fancy since they don't require us to separate things really besides plastic, metal, and glass from paper, but it's something. And it was actually free. And this is embarrassing to admit, but these were all left at my house when we moved in. So I was really just THAT lazy that I didn't bother to use them.



Also, every time we go to the commissary we have been purchasing a few reusable grocery bags at a time. Hopefully I'll have a big enough stash soon! There's lots of other things I'd like to do but I'm starting small for now.

4. Finish this house. I don't think a house can ever be "done," since I think your house will always change and evolve with you, but decorating this house literally consumes my mind! I obsess about it! I'm a freak! We don't own this place (we live in base housing) so I can only do so much. But I just want to get it to a point I'm happy with so I'm not sitting on the couch staring at everything I want to change. And I want to document it all right here!

5. Stay up to date with current events. I think it's really important to stay informed about what's going on in the world around you. And I usually don't, I usually lead my little life of oblivion unless something pops up on Facebook or someone brings something to my attention. Sad right? So basically I'm just aiming to read the top headlines every day.

6. Be more grateful. Sometimes - okay, a lot of the time - I just need to focus on how fortunate I am and not what I don't have, don't like, wish was different, etc.

I'm sure everyone is sick of reading about resolutions and no one cares about mine but I wanted to post to keep myself accountable! How are your New Years' Resolutions coming? I can't believe I've kept mine into February!

I guess I like sentimental art.

So I've been looking for a piece of art to put above the back of my stove for a while. I know most people just put like spices and such up there, but I'm at the stove a lot so just like my gallery wall, I wanted something pretty to look at. I haven't found anything I've loved that was the right proportions for the spot - until I saw this post on Pure and Lovely and was totally inspired. I love the meaningful way she separated the words, but as for font, I wanted something a little sweeter.

So I nervously attempted to make my version of it. This is my result:





I used cradle board and acrylic paint. The font is "Lobster" from Google font preview which I traced and transferred onto the cradle board. I just free-handed the flowers. I also sprayed them with polyacrylic spray to protect them from all the food and yucky-ness that goes on around the stove. What do you think? I wish I had made the flower on the right hand side lower, but oh well. This is the first time I've ever attempted something like this, so you live and learn!

I've also been working on this desk. $40 from Craigslist and it's exactly what I'm looking for - antique but not too ornate or bulky because I'm going BOLD with it. Can't wait to share the final result!

Daley Ranch.

I feel like I've said this a bunch of times, but this might be our favorite hike ever. That's saying a lot for us, since these are the views we're used to:



But we went to Daley Ranch on Sunday, and it was totally hidden away in the most unexpected place. And it was beautiful! I totally felt like we were somewhere else entirely. We started on the Farm House Trail which is really easy and pleasant. There's a historic ranch house and little ponds and creeks and it's so peaceful.







Then we decided to hike Boulder Loop for a workout. That trail is no joke! I don't know if I wasn't prepared for it or what, but it kicked my butt!

This is why it's called Boulder Loop.





So maybe the view from the top isn't quite as dramatic as our Hawaii hikes, but it's still gorgeous nonetheless.





We liked it so much, we took the trail map and we plan on hiking all the trails and highlighting and dating what we've completed so far... and we plan to complete them all! If you're local, we definitely recommend this hike too. We already have a hiking spot picked out for this weekend but I can't wait to go back!