Wednesday Wreath

Some weeks are better than others

There are weeks when some things seem to go just right. Last week was that way.

Work was super busy - we are working on the best way to present data for a manuscript, we got the reviewers' comments for our review, and I taught my first class. And, I loved it all.
I managed to go to the gym that week since I now have a membership.
All but one of my meals were from home.
Our trip to Alaska was booked.
I finally worked on the garden, including cleaning the slats of the balcony - the downside of living in a house that's right on the road. Grime and pollen had turned all the railings a very yucky color, and I couldn't take it anymore.
I finally filed all of my documents and purged a lot of old ones. 
I spent Saturday morning looking at ads, and scored some good deals the craft stores. With my finds, I mocked up wedding centerpieces and I really like them! If we go with the new version, no more cutting glass bottles or making paper flowers. I also got dinner napkins for $1.27 total, which should be plenty for the wedding.
I got started on a new frame project. 

For the icing on the cake:

I've been looking for a nice pair of shoes for the wedding with the following criteria:
Comfortable
Not flat but not too tall
A pop of color

DSW didn't have anything. I looked at Nine West, and at one point, the cost didn't matter anymore. Until on Friday night,  a woman walked in the Barking Kudu and I knew it right there. Her shoes were perfect. I went up to her and asked where she had gotten them: Kohl's, on sale this week. I went to Kohl's early Saturday morning, and got myself a pair of these:

Added bonus, these will be my "something blue".

Sunny Sunday

Sunny Sunday is back! But first off, Happy Easter!

Spring has sprung (although it's a bit warm for my taste)! We planted a few seeds last month, and hope that they will continue to do well. Phlox and lavender didn't fare well. I may try again soon. Here are a few pictures. This year I DIYed some planter labels to that I would remember what I planted. We also started jalapenos, tomatoes, phlox, and marigold inside. They were all doing well, so today I moved them outside (and transplanted and rearranged).

Morning Glory

Mixed pot of Zinnia, Johny Jump Up and Wild Flowers

The Oak tree that really wants to be

Lettuce Mix

Ruby Swiss Chard

Strawberry and mint from last year

Mixed pot of Chives and Parsley (from last year), now also with Cilantro

 

 Our two barrels are finally ready. We chose to just water seal them and drill a few holes at the bottom. These will eventually contain flowers. We didn't want to take the risk of growing produce in a chemically treated planter.

Oh April!

For April, I'm
Excited: about our anniversary
Worried: about the lecture that I have to teach (to first year graduate students) on Friday.
Watching: Big Bang Theory re-runs and GCB
Reading: The newspaper? Real Simple magazines
Listening to: NPR's Car Talk, Says You, and other funny shows
Creating: Finishing up home decor projects and wedding crafts; a new wreath for April
Cooking: More salads (technically not cooking, but eating)
Loving: boxed fans. We are not ready for the AC yet, even though it has been in the 80s in the apartment on some days
Hoping: that i can continue to work on my to-do list
Looking forward to: a great April!

March recap

It's been a while since I posted, so it's only fitting to do a recap of March.
In the kitchen: For our St. Patrick's Day and green food lab potluck, I made green mac and cheese:

There was a pork roast in the slow cooker, served with bbq sauce, mashed potatoes, and salad

We found a new Cajun place in Hoover, The Cajun Cleaver. It's a butcher's shop that also sells frozen Cajun dishes. We had their shrimp and corn soup (terrible burnt smell, didn't bother Tom too much), crawfish etouffee (it was spicy rather than flavorful, but overall okay), boudin link (the ratio of rice to other ingredients was off), and Andouille sausage (that was good). Overall verdict, La Crosse still has better Cajun food than Birmingham).

I had one apple and one overripe banana that needed to be used. I also had pie dough in the freezer, so I made mini pies. Banana pie is something from home that I love. Home version: cook banana with sugar until black, use in pie filling. My version, mix banana with lemon juice and brown sugar, use in pie filling. The added bonus, the small pies (there were 6 total) were perfect to pack for lunch.

 St. Patrick's Day: we were out and about that night, which is unusual for us home bodies.

Last weekend, I took a quick trip up to Nashville to visit BFF Susie Beth and her family. This was the first time that I saw their newly bought house, and I loved Julia's (their 19 month old adorable baby) company. It was really nice to catch up with Susie and her hubby. I left Nashville, energized and inspired (we did a lot of brainstorming for the wedding).

Feeding the ducks and the geese with Julia

This past Friday was the defense deadline for students graduating in May, so the week was full of public defense meeting, including Melissa (from Tom's lab), who defended on Thursday. Congratulations! Woot woot!

On Wednesday, I had this stomach bug that made me pretty useless that day. I was tired for the rest of the week, and have been caught falling asleep on the couch every now and then.  I even took a nap on Friday, even though it was Tom's birthday. Being sick meant that I didn't have a gift ready for Tom :( I made it up by being his chauffeur on Friday. We first stopped by the store to get his gift (a very good bottle), then to Best Buy, and finally (after trying several stores that had 20-30 minutes wait time) Buffalo Wild Wings.

I was able to run a few errands this morning. I bought detergent and CVS-brand Pepto for $1.46. I like savings like that. I just clipped all my coupons, something that I hadn't done for a few weeks. After this post, I will be doing our meal plan for the week. I'm also hoping to post our past months budget early next week.

Ooohh! We also got an amazing surprise on Friday!! We can't wait to try it. It's going to be hard to save this Saison for our anniversary. 

Hope y'alls March was great! 






 

Tasty Tuesday

In the past few months, I've been really indulging my cravings for eggplant and Brussels sprouts (not cooked together). So last Thursday I made my version of moussaka, which is layers of boiled potatoes, white sauce, broiled eggplant, and meat sauce. I really liked it. It also made for some tasty leftovers for lunch the next day. Yes, I forgot to take a picture. 
On Friday, Tom said that the leftovers would be great with garlic bread. So as soon as I got home, I put the bread machine on, and made a two pound batch of dough. One for garlic bread for that night and the other for pizza some other night.
I made three variations of the garlic bread. One with just garlic and cheese. The other with garlic, chopped jalapenos, and cheese. And the last one I reworked the dough with chopped jalapenos and cheese inside it. I forgot to take pictures :(
On Sunday I made pizza for brunch, in two varieties: regular pizza (meat sauce, mushrooms, and cheese), and breakfast pizza (egg, green onions, meat sauce, deli meat, and cheese). They both turned out great but I was more impressed with the breakfast one.

 

We're having a pot luck on Friday at lab. The theme is St. Patrick's Day/green food. I wanted to make a potato dish but got vetoed by Chantelle. So I'm going to dye food green - in the form of mac and cheese. I'll try to remember to take pictures of that. 

Oh, I gave in to my Girls Scout cookies craving, and ordered three boxes of Samoas last Friday. I've "hidden" two boxes. We'll see how long they will last.

Life lately

Major event: There was a fire a few blocks away from the house. I was video chatting with Grace (from whom I got a postcard!woot woot!) and kept hearing the fire trucks in our neighborhood. I somehow missed the first hour. Still managed to get a picture from the balcony. Tom and I also went for a stroll in the neighborhood. We went as close as we could before being stopped by the smoke (we maintained a safe distance and complied with authorities on scene). No injuries have been reported. However, this was an apartment complex that students and visiting scholars use (both Americans and foreigners). Sadness.

Shopping: Lately, I have been hitting an average of 6-8 stores every time I go shopping. The thrill of finding the best deal usually keeps me going, and at times I come home without having bought anything. Last weekend though, I bought craft supplies, including a sewing machine. This past Saturday, my 3 hour shopping spree included finding two new pairs of jeans and two dresses. I was a bit surprised by the jeans because both were a size smaller than what I usually get. At first, I thought that the store labels their clothes wrong. There have been news reports about how stores would label a true size to a smaller one, just to make their customers feel good and buy the items. I then remembered that all but one of my current jeans are from this same store. Anyways, at the next store, since dresses run on the smaller size, I picked up the same dress in three different sizes  and tried them in order of bigger than actual, actual, and smaller than actual. To my surprise, I fit in the smallest one. I was very happy.

Sewing machine update: I re-did the downstairs curtain. I will have pics later. I love the machine. Thanks Em for the recommendation. I will have to play with it some more. I have three more curtains to make.

Crafts: Here are a few paper flowers that I made with streamers (for the green and yellow roses, and the pink rose/peony) and coffee filters for the large peony. They were part of the Pinterest Challenge and are crafts that I wanted to try and see how pretty/easy/time consuming/costly they would turn out.These are somewhat arranged in the cut bottles that I made a few weeks back. I am debating putting a decorative wrap on the glasses - ribbon, lace, doily, burlap, or leather twine.
Coffee filter peony are the cheapest and easiest. Takes about 15 minutes to make one. Next level: dye the filters.
Green and yellow piece: comes out at ~$4 a pop including the Styrofoam hemisphere. It took me about 5 hours to make one and there were some ouch! from the hot glue gun. That time also includes me changing the set up at least twice.
Pink flowers: saw this from Scrapbook Etc. magazine from Jen. I did not like the unclear instructions in the magazine and there wasn't much more online to help with those. It took me about 15 minutes to make one, but they are very delicate. I have to find a better way to hold them together.

I also made some wire picture holder from 18 gauge steel bought from Home Depot. Next level up: put picture (I just happened to have this picture on hand, Tom and I in front of Vince Lombardi at Lambeau Field) on cardstock and find a more creative way to stand it up. Maybe using wine corks.

It's been a dream of mine to have a wreath up throughout the year. I finally got to this task, in time for St. Patrick's day. I made a yellow yarn wreath to which I will pin different things as we go through the year. This month, we have felt shamrocks and roses. I've rearranged the roses so they are more open. Yes, those are Mardi Gras beads re-purposed as a handing handle (here is the link to one of the tutorials for the wreath: http://www.danielleburkleo.com/2010/10/diy-yarn-wreath-with-felt-flowers.html)

Tasty Tuesday

And the slow cooker saves the day(s). I had a beef stew with potatoes, carrots, onions, tomatoes, and peas in the crock pot on Sunday. We are also trying some quick cooking brown rice. I plated the rice and stew in containers for a quick grab-and-go lunch. In the morning, I just add lettuce to the bowl, grab pre-bagged grapes, and a yogurt. Lunch and snacks are ready!

Oh March!

For March, I'm
Excited: about my new sewing machine!
Worried: about the weather - we are having 20-30 degree swings
Watching: Big Bang Theory re-runs and Revenge
Reading: The newspaper? Real Simple magazines
Listening to: NPR's Car Talk, Says You, and other funny shows
Creating: Curtains
Cooking: More slow cooker meals
Loving: Quiet early afternoons, drinking coffee and reading
Hoping: my friends and their families are okay after Friday's tornadoes
Looking forward to: my upcoming trip to Nashville (date to be set), booking our trip to Alaska, and planning a trip for our dating anniversary

Finally Friday

A shout out to my high school BFF, Angie, who now lives in Australia. I received this in the mail at the beginning of February, and it made my day!
Thanks Ange! I loved reading from you (follow up from this post) and I realized that you read my blog!