weekend love..

 taking a look at a possible wedding venue

vineyard grapes and peach trees...

impromptu stop for a wine tasting!

lots and lots of Vino!

sunday night dinner, with compliments from our CSA, and a summer shandy...

the beautiful sunday night sky while raining...

why can't we always have 3 day weekends??? Happy Monday...

ciao bellas!

Office Make-over

Our office has been just a giant mess of sorts since we've moved in. We don't utilize the space how we should and need to, but all that is changing now!

I'm going with just the black, white, and gray theme. Very neutral simple and classic.  Possibly adding a pop of color here & there.

I saw this gift wrap/craft solution on Pinterest via Brooklyn Limestone, and knew that it would be perfect, easy, inexpensive and most of all not take up space since the room is fairly small. So I trekked over to one of my fav places ...IKEA and picked up what I needed, although I did get another bar and additional buckets.

We've had this Micke series desk for awhile now, it's perfect corner desk for the again, small room. We also have the matching storage unit as well. And I love the fact that the back has a dry erase boards, so I can leave sweet messages for B , for when he's doing school work!

We also already have this window pane daybed from West Elm. I love it and am making it so that it looks as a sofa within the room, but an extra bed for overnight guests as well.

So, next up we are painting the room this soft gray,  Behr Gentle Rain. We got the paint last weekend, now we just need to get to paintin'!!!

The other thing we are going to do is add these Billy Bookcases from IKEA, on both sides of the daybed and across the top to make it resemble the look of built in's!

We still have a TON of work to do to get this all finished up, but I think we are on the right track... and hopefully we can get our lazy bums in high gear. I'm so ready for this room to not just be a dumping zone anymore!!

Ciao Bellas!

a wonderful thing..

Life lately has been wonderful...  I am blessed....

Monday Night fun with our neighbors at the minor league park

Mascots- Rocko & Louie

Ikea breakfast...yum!

pups loungin

And finally the most wonderful thing ever.....

B & I are officially engaged... I couldn't be any more happier to be able to call him my future Mr. He is my best friend in the world, the one who accepts me for me, he may not be perfect... but he's perfect for me!

gardening love...

I have come to love gardening... I guess it makes sense, I did always love to get dirty. But this year I'm super proud of my pizza pot! you heard correctly... I planted ingredients to be able to make fresh pizza sauce and also a few toppings/garnishes!

Here she is in all her glory!!

We got a large whiskey barrel from the Home Depot (on sale too!) and planted cherry tomatos, green peppers, cilantro, chives, parsley, basil and pepperocini's! I'm so so excited! This is my first real hand at trying to grow vegetables, so I'm hoping they turn out!

We are still planning on framing the mulched area with some border of some sort to make it look more "finished" but I'm loving how it has turned out! And ps: how CUTE is my lil crabby buddy!

Here is the updated front flowerbed... although I cannot take credit for this.... B & his momma did this one day while I was out. There really is nothing like freshly planted flowers to brighten up your home!

Ciao Bellas!

one down...

So I finished a project I'd been procrastinating on for my niece's 7th birthday... just.in.time. Like literally painting the final coat of chalkboard on it the morning of the party... bad auntie! BUT I got it done! and it was a hit!

and the finished product a magnetic chalkboard in the brightest pink! I wish I had the before downloaded... it was an old mirror that was my grandmom's! she loved it!!!

We also spent saturday night at the Nat's/O's game (Go O's!!!). It was gorgeous outside with some great company & an O's win!!!

Now, how is it ALREADY monday?!?! at least it's a 4 day week for me then a 4 day weekend!!! Celebrating a college besties wedding... Can't wait!!!



I feel like I'm watching myself...

Do any of you watch New Girl with Zooey Deschanel? I.am.obsessed. We had DVR'd the first episode, because I so desperately wanted to see it, and we weren't going to be home. We sat down during dinner one night (terrible I know) and with B's reservation turned it on. We both loved it. At one point about halfway through, I turned to B and said... "for some strange reason I feel like"... and before I could finish he jumped in with "you're watching yourself" YES! YES! I did. Although I can be pretty reserved in most public situations, when we are at home... in my comfort... I let loose. I make songs up, I talk weirdly to my pups, I do silly little dances and so on...so which makes me absolutely in love with this hilarious show! And the fact that B loves it to is just a perk. So if you haven't seen it yet, I highly recommend it. We laugh out loud...and recite lines from it...all.the.time.

Here are some of my favorite lines:

Jess: Well I guess I can't hide my crazy

Nick: I don't think you're trying that hard

Jess: I just saw Nick's pipi. And his bubbles

Jess: I have to go out tonight, cause I'm feeling pretty twirly.

Schmidt: Twirly? Is that like horny?

Jess: I've got the dirty twirlies, Schmitdy!

There are so so many others that are hilarious. The one liners are just amazing, and I love Zooey, but Schmidt for reals cracks me up!

tomorrow is often the busiest...

I am terrible at this, or more so at making time for things. You see, I'm a procrastinator... there I said it. I let other things get in the way, and then I'm scrambling to get them done! One of my goals this year, is to get better at that. I figure any bit of improvement is a step in the right direction.  So step one... realizing it...check!

One thing that aids in said procrastination is Pinterest. I could peruse it all day, everyday. For Reals. There is just so much, from fashion inspiration, to party planning, delicious recipes, and so much more.

Here are some things I've recently made:

homemade potato chips & avocado ranch dressing

via

Grape Tomato, Chickpea, & Basil salad

via

Guinness Stout Brownies!

via

 Sweet & Spicy Honey Shrimp

via

Everything has come out amazingly delicious... except for the potato chips... those were tough. but I'll try again. I think I had an issue with the timing in my oven. Since it's new, I'm still trying to get used to it.

The shrimp, I changed up a little bit due to not finding all the ingredients. I get a little leery about doing that, but I'm glad I experimented, they turned out incredible and there wasn't one left after the party.

Next up getting to some of the DIY stuff I've been putting off!!!