January Loves

I love getting recommendations for almost anything; I think that you have to feel strongly about something to recommend it to your best friend or mother.  That's how I've found some of my favorite books, restaurants, stores, products and so many other things.  At the end of every month I'll be posting my "loves of the month", my favorite books, music, movies, food, and anything else I think you just shouldn't live without knowing about.

I spent a lot of January reading and I was trying to get away from the young adult books (since I'm about 10 years out of that age bracket), but I read some great reviews about the book Divergent by Veronica Roth so I decided to give it a try.  I had that book and the sequel, Insurgent, done in less than a week and found myself sad that I'd have to wait months for the third book.  The book has a very Hunger Games feel and similarly has a dystopian setting.  For me, the book was an insightful look into community, finding oneself, and an ultimate choice between right and wrong and it was a nice change from some of the other young adult books that have one main focus.

If you're looking for something a bit more serious, I Couldn't Love You More by Jillian Medoff is also a great read.  I was sucked into this book as well and found myself on the couch reading whenever I had a free minute.  This book ultimately dealt with the impossible choice when a parent must pick which child to save.  Entertwined through the book are stories of family relationships, dealing with the past, and moments that change lives forever.

Lastly I have some amazing music to recommend.  I downloaded The Lumineers album for my flight home over Christmas and I fell in love with it instantly.  The Lumineers are a folk rock band although most people would probably label them alternative.  Once mainstream music picks up alt songs that's usually about the time I become sick of them, but I'm still in love with this album, even the very overplayed song Ho Hey.  This has quickly become the playlist I throw on when I'm cooking and I seem to find a way to play it almost daily even when I'm not cooking.  The songs are catchy but soulful and the album has a very unique feel; going from sweet with the cello playing the background to a rockish feel that always seems to lead to me dancing in the kitchen with Coconut or a spatula (Coconut gets sick of dancing with me sometimes).  

If you have any books, music, unknown movie, amazing website, or anything else you'd like to recommend, I'd love to hear about it!  You can always share your recommendations in the comments section or on my blog facebook page and I'd love to hear your thoughts on the books or album if you give them a shot :)

Happy 2013!

2012 was full of small joys, new experiences, some sad and trying times, some friendships made deeper and some that didn't stand up, the familiar presence of family and friends, and a lot of the everyday routine that comes from working, cooking, cleaning, and sleeping like any normal human being.  As I was reading friends' posts on facebook, I realized that 2012 was a slightly uneventful year for me.  We had some celebrations and milestones, but if I'm being honest, I'd say I was a bit lazy/comfortable in 2012 actually.  

Mr. C and I spent the afternoon of January 1, 2013 being lazy so I certainly hope that's not an indication of the year to come.  I don't really believe in resolutions because they seem to just be set to be broken.  They're overdone and every year it seems that the same resolutions come up, proving that not much came of them the year before.  However, every year around January 1 I get a burst of energy and decide I want to organize everything, eat super healthy, take walks daily, do my devotions, get plenty of sleep, and spend time focusing on the people I love while maybe making some huge changes like moving to China or saving a million dollars (still working on the lottery for that one...).  I follow that up with thinking, "this year (insert year) is going to be the best EVER!"  Then life kicks in and I find myself driving the same way to work, groggy and eating my not-so-amazing breakfast I grabbed on my way out the door as I power-walked faster than I have in months since I haven't been taking daily walks.  I glance at the calendar, and realize holy cow, it's December 31st and I've forgotten all my resolutions.  This is the relationship between resolutions and I.  It's not that I don't love my life; it's pretty great in so many ways, but we all have things we want to change, and resolutions are the hope that in the new year we'll do just that.  Sometimes life becomes too full of things that we forget to stop and take some time to do something that makes our day extraordinary or just appreciate everything we've been blessed with.  So no matter how I try to give up, I can't stop that excitement that hits me when I realize it's a new year.  This year I'm not writing specific resolutions but I have ideas in my head about things I'd like to work on, and this year I'm going to attempt to do just that.  Without setting myself up for failure, I've decided that this year is going to be the best year ever (I used lowercase letters to show how I wasn't letting myself get caught up in this new year's thing).  I hope the new year holds amazing things for you and I'd like to thank you again for caring enough to let me share a part of my life with you through my blog, even when I've had a lazy year and become a bit of a blogger slacker :)  One of my resolutions is to be a better blogger!

Santa's Chef Picks

There's always someone on everyone's list who is impossible to buy for.  They don't really need anything, they either have no hobbies or have ridiculously expensive ones like collecting jets, or they're super picky.  If you can relate to this, I'm sorry to tell you that I have no solution to that problem.  However, I have made a list of some of my favorite things in the kitchen, so if you have any chefs or bakers you're not sure what to get, I can help you with that!  These are things I use constantly and am constantly thankful for or raving about them.  No one has paid me to recommend anything, but I thought I'd share some of my favs with you because I knew you were just dying for my recommendations.  You might even find yourself wrapping one up for yourself.  Everyone does that, right?  Happy shopping!


Flexible Grip Mats from Crate&Barrel

What I love most about these mats is that you get three in different colors so we designate the white one for meat only.  The boards are flexible which makes them easy to throw chopped up veggies into a pot or a bowl.  I like these so much I ended up buying a second set because my first ones were always dirty.


Parker Nesting Bowl Set from Crate&Barrel

I should begin with saying that I also have two sets of these bowls (I broke the big one and was heartbroken so I got another set because I used the biggest bowl so much).  The colors offered change depending on the time of year.  I love having different sizes and there's always at least one coming out of the dishwasher because I really do use them daily.


Cookbook Stand from Crate&Barrel

If you hadn't noticed, I kinda have a thing for Crate and Barrel.  I've found some unique, reasonably priced things there I love and their products seem to hold up really well, so I'm a big fan.  They also have great customer service which is a really big thing for me.  Anyhow, this was a gift from Mr. C and I never thought I'd be so happy to get a kitchen related item for Christmas.  I love cookbooks and this is perfect for using them and keeping the pages clean.  It works much better than the method I used before which involved laying the cookbook on the counter and piling cans on the corners to keep the book open.


Progressive 19-Piece Measuring Cup and Spoon Set

This was also a gift from Mr. C.  When I said I wanted measuring cups I really wanted some pretty ones....you know, the ones that aren't really functional but look good.  Well, he got these instead and they are amazing.  Instead of having to use 2 measuring cups to get 1 1/4 cup I can just grab one of these.  They are BFF's with my bowls and cutting boards since they hang out in the dishwasher together so often.


Spatula set from Target
Awhile back I bought a mini spatula set from Target and I'm in love with the thing.  I couldn't find it online  but I did find this set that has multiple sizes.  I honestly believe a person can never have too many spatulas and I love the silicone ones.  I've also had great luck at finding some at Home Goods and Marshalls pretty cheap.



Lettuce Knife from Target
You might think a knife just for lettuce sounds stupid, but using a regular knife on your lettuce can cause it to turn brown faster.  I couldn't find one available online, but target always seems to have some available in their kitchen section.



Kitchen Scrub Cloth from Norwex
My wonderful friend Kari sells Norwex and after ordering some things I was hooked.  I now only use Norwex towels to clean and love the dishcloths.  They're all anti-bacterial too.  Once you get one thing you'll be sucked in though, because the stuff is so amazing!


Cookbooks are always great gifts too I think.  I have an addiction to cookbooks but the ones I pull out the most are:
Everyday Food: Fresh Flavor Fast
Eva's Kitchen: Cooking with Love for Family and Friends

Pioneer Woman Cooks: Recipes from an Accidental Country Girl
The Pioneer Woman Cooks: Food from My Frontier

Bride & Groom: First and Forever Cookbook

Good luck with your Christmas shopping!

Oh Christmas Tree

Oh my goodness.  I had half a post written and I really was going to publish it but then I had a surprise party for Mr. C. that sucked up about a month of my time, and then I was in Christmas decorating mode, and then Thanksgiving happened (yes, this is in chronological order and Christmas decorating did occur before Thanksgiving for this year only), and then I geared up for the magicalness of Black Friday, and then I took a weekend to finally clean the house and relax a bit and now here we are and you never got to read the post.  But, I wrote you a new one with Christmasy stuff so you really aren't missing out on anything.

We took advantage of my parents being in town in November and recruited them for some Christmas decorating help.  My dad and Mr. C did the outside of the house with some little lights on the trees and the big ceramic bulbs around the roofline.  it makes me so happy when I get home!  My mom and I did a lot of the inside of the house and it was so nice to decorate with her again.  I was ready to change things up a little bit this year and it was very helpful to have another decorator to try things out I hadn't thought of.  My parents had never been in town when our Christmas stuff was up so it was really nice to be able to enjoy the decorations together for a couple days.

Oh pretty Christmas tree, how we love you!  We have a very large 9 ft. tree which Oreo has claimed as his own.  He also thinks the ornaments are strategically placed toys for him.  He's finally stopped batting at ornaments so much because he's moved onto chewing on my pretty wrapping paper.  Whose idea was it to get a cat anyhow???  Oh that's right....it was mine.  And if you're wondering why we don't put the presents under the tree like normal people, it's because Oreo is training us to do what he wants and apparently it's working.

Above the TV stand is some garland and our nutcracker collection.  We bought our first one when we went to the Nutcracker ballet and it's been a tradition since.  I love how unique they all are and for some reason they don't creep me out the way some nutcrackers do.

I did a little more decorating in our bedroom this year.  I added an extra mistletoe ball over the bed and wove some garland into the headboard.  We switched out our bright pillows and white duvet cover for the thicker, green duvet we use for the winter, and I'm really love looking at the bed all made up now with the decorations.  I also hung the "Merry Christmas" garland I made last year for our photos over the bed.

The tree in our bedroom is much smaller than our main one, but I love it because it holds most of our special ornaments.  Every year I usually get at least one ornament that represents something that happened that year. I love putting the ornaments on this tree because it brings back memories and each one really is so special to me.

I decided to make a new table centerpiece this year and made this for under $15!  

The ornaments in the middle came from Target's $1 section.  I already had the glass containers from our wedding centerpieces.  I found the greenery at Michaels for $1.99 and the snowflake ornaments were .50 each.  I cut off the thin hangers on the snowflakes and used ribbon to make them various heights.  It ties in perfectly with the colors on our tree too which I’m pretty darn excited about.

I hope you have your decorations up and are ready for Christmas!  

Where does the time go?

Today Mr. C and I are celebrating 9 years together.  In some ways it's hard to believe it's been that long, but at the same time it's honestly impossible for me to imagine my life without him.  We've gone through so much together.  He was literally the boy next door in the dorms and once I finally realized that he wasn't hiding something and that nice guys did actually exist, we've been inseparable ever since.  He came to visit me in NE over the first Christmas break and I know my dad (and probably a bunch of other people) thought I was crazy.  Even then I knew that Mr. C filled a part of my heart that no one else could and I didn't care if I sounded crazy; I knew without a doubt he was the one for me.  Since then we've been through so much together; some of it good, and some bad, but always together.  With the busyness of everyday life it's easy to forget to tell those we love how we feel about them or how they fill our lives with joy.  Although we're married and have another anniversary we celebrate, we still celebrate the day we officially became a couple because it really is a day to celebrate and sometimes it's easy to forget how lucky we are to have found someone to share our lives with.  That's all the mushy stuff I'll post for today :)  I hope you have a wonderful thanksgiving tomorrow spent with people you love and spend some time thinking about how blessed you are, because no matter what hardships we have in our lives, we all are really blessed for some reason and have so much to be thankful for.

She's making a list...

I blinked and it’s November already.  I hope no one tries to throw tomatoes at me for mentioning it, but Christmas is right around the corner.  I start my shopping early, sometimes picking up some things in January or March, but I kick it into high gear once November hits.  Because I’ve accumulated some gifts already and this time of year has a tendency to become a bit busy, I made myself a handy dandy excel sheet to track my gifts and today I’m sharing it with you.  Many times I buy items on sale and I like to keep track of the price paid and the actual full price of the item.  I also ship some of my gifts and trying to remember what’s been wrapped and ready to ship and what’s actually been shipped is a job in itself sometimes.   

This spreadsheet keeps it all together for me and has alleviated a bit of the stress this year. You can download the spreadsheet online here. Enjoy!

Halloween Decor

Happy Halloween!  Well, almost.  Halloween isn’t exactly my favorite holiday.  I hate being scared and since I’m a big scaredy cat, a lot of things scare me.  I don’t like the nasty part of Halloween so I try to focus on the cute spiders (which are obviously fictional because spiders in real life scare the crap out of me), happy ghosts, pumpkins, and the colors of the holiday.  Our Disney Halloween tree sums it up perfectly.

I’m one of those people who has pinned over 200 craft projects and can count the ones I've actually done on one hand.  I can count them on half a hand actually.  I'm also one of those people who likes to start projects and not always finish them (remember how I mentioned I was still working on the last pillow for the living room?  I've been working on it for months....).  Anyhow, with that in mind I'd like to share with you the Halloween wreath I made and finished within a couple days of purchasing the supplies. It's a miracle really.

I found some inspiration online through the many fabric wreaths, some feathery ones, and a bunch with cute painted letters. I headed to Jo-Anne's with my stack of coupons and began gathering my supplies.   While doing this, Mr. C pointed to a black feather wreath that was on sale for $20 and asked if we couldn't just buy that instead.   No doubt he was worried about me buying everything and not actually using them.  I was temped to save some time and just buy the wreath but I knew I'd be happier with a homemade one.  Lucky for me I was right :)

I used an 18” wire wreath base.  I thought this would give me a fuller effect than using a foam base and in the end I think it did.  It also was cheaper and I think it’ll stand up over the years better than a foam base.

I cut a yard of black burlap into various strips using a rotary tool and cutting mat.  I had never really worked with burlap before and had no idea how horribly messy it would be.  I love the way the burlap turned out but I had little black furry things all over my arms, clothes, chair, and floor.  I had to lint roll my skin at one point it was so bad.  Based on that, I’d suggest maybe using a black fabric instead of burlap.  I really do love it, but it was quite messy and not the easiest thing to cut.  Knowing what I know now, I think I’ll be staying away from burlap for a very long time.

After tying the burlap in knots on alternating spots throughout the wire base I painted some thin wood letters orange to spell B-O-O.  When they were finished they didn’t really have the look I wanted so I covered them in orange glitter which helped them really stand out against all that black.

I tied the letters onto the wreath using a combo of black, purple, and orange ribbons I had purchased by the yard.  I also used a yard of thick black ribbon to hang the wreath (you could probably skip this but we have a very tall door).  I was able to find a sparkly purple spider at Michael’s to finish off the project.

I really love it and love that it’s unique.  And, with my coupons I came in at about $15 for the whole project.  Not too shabby.

I love seeing the wreath every time I come in the front door.

I also decked out our mantle for the holiday.  The tree was purchased from Hobby Lobby a year or two ago but I think I saw a few for sale there recently.  The spiders and bats were new this year from Pier One.  The BOO sign was made for under $5 by painting some wooden letters orange.  I finished the area off with a black and purple boa on the mantle and some cobwebs on the mirror.

Did you do any Halloween decorating this year?  I’m so excited to see the kids out Wednesday all dressed up in their costumes!