These Are A Few of My Favorite Things, Part 1

I am linking up with April and friends for this three part series.  This week features gifts I would love to receive.   Check back next week for my post on stocking stuffers and the following for friends & family gifts under $100.

Stella & Dot Earrings / Target Gift Card / Stella & Dot Bracelet / Red Rockers / Cards Against Humanity

I think any of these things would make fun gifts for the ladies in your life.  I don't know any ladies who don't love a target shopping spree or some fun new jewelry.  A board game is always something fun to add to our collection.  And I would love some rocking chairs to grace our empty front porch.

Home Improvement Project

Last weekend we did a little home improvement project.  We haven't done too many updates to our home yet because we have a walk through coming up for the builder to do any repairs.  They will only paint drywall back to their standard paint and we have a lot of drywall cracks and nail pops that we want them to fix.  After all their repairs are completed we are looking forward to painting our house and personalizing it a little more.  In the meantime, we got a pot rack as a wedding present adn we installed it last Sunday.  So far we really like it.  It also freed up a lot of cabinet space for us.  We were fortunate to get beautiful new dishes, silverware and knives for our wedding and so have been donating some of our old mismatched items and replacing them with new.  These are just a couple pictures of the new pot rack.  And for all those who are curious...no I cannot reach it.  I am going to be getting a stepping stool because I cannot reach most of the cabinets either.

A Summer Wreath

A few weeks ago a friend of ours gave us a bunch of cocktail umbrellas so I decided to make this summer wreath I had seen on Pinterest.  I didn't follow any tutorial.  I bought a foam wreath form from Walmart.  Then I just opened up the umbrellas and stabbed them in place.

The beginnings:

New Things (to us) & House Updates

We were finally able to make arrangements to get our new (to us) dining room furniture today.  This furniture belonged to Eric's grandparents.

Don't mind that our house is still decorated from a baby shower almost a month ago.  Haha.  One chair is also missing because it is being repaired.  The dining room set also included a china cabinet which was perfect since my parents just gave us my grandmother's china last week.  It also has storage in the bottom where we will be able to store some other serving pieces that we have.

This was just a trial run.  The china needs to all be washed before we actually arrange it in the cabinets. 

Its exciting to be making progress on putting together another room in our house, especially since we didn't spend a dime!  Thanks to both our parents for gifting us these items. 

Making a list, checking it twice

We have been checking things off our wedding to do list left and right.  So far we have a venue, a date, a caterer, a photographer, and a DJ.  We have taken engagement pictures and I got my dress on Friday!  This week we met with someone to sample cupcake flavors...I think we are doing pretty well.  A few minor (ok MAJOR) details are outstanding like someone to marry us, bridesmaid dresses, favors, save the dates, invites, etc. Over the weekend we celebrated our engagement and our new home with a bunch of friends and family.  It was so fun to get together with everyone and welcome them into our new home.  I thought I would share some pictures from the event and then also come back through the week and update with a few recipes that I used for the party.  We had so much fun and now the aftermath -- the cleanup!

JUST SOME OF THE FOOD

OUR RINGBEARER, MY COUSIN ELI AKA BATMAN

MY AUNTS, GRAMMA & MOM

FAMILY & FRIENDS

US

Gallery Wall How To

I thought I'd do a quick post about how we made our gallery wall.  We have a ton of framed pictures so we thought making a gallery wall in our dining room would be a good way to display some of them. 

Step 1: Choose a wall.

Step 2: Measure the wall and make a template. We used plan paper to do this.

Step 3: Come up with a layout.

Step 4: Trace all the frames on the paper.

Step 5: Put the paper up on the designated wall.

Step 6:  Measure where the hooks are on the frames and nail right through the paper.

Step 7:  Remove paper and hang pictures in their designated positions.

As you can see it's not quite finished, a few of the frames are still waiting for pictures but overall we are happy with how it turned out. 

And just an extra, Eric's dad painted us this picture for Christmas. We love it!  It's hard to see from far away but it's a road leading into the mountains with the sun setting above it.  The best part is that Eric, Layla Jane & I are standing on the road.

Here's a closer look...

Meaty Chili

My aunt Norah gave me a chili recipe that she said was the best ever and I've been holding onto it ever since our trip to Savannah.  I had planned to make it on Monday but since we had a snow day Friday chili and cornbread seemed like the perfect dinner. Plus I am working all weekend so it's easy to reheat for weekend meals.  I switched up the recipe a bit too.

Ingredients

1 lb ground beef

1 lb hot Italian sausage 

1 onion

1 green pepper 

3 jalapeños 

2 cloves of garlic

28 oz can whole peeled tomatoes

16 oz can pinto beans

Small can tomato sauce

1 can diced tomatoes with green Chilis

1/4 C ketchup 

1/2 C beer

1.5 tsp sugar

1 tsp chili powder

1/2 tsp cumin 

Black pepper

In a large Dutch oven combine all ingredients beef through garlic and cook until meat is browned.  Then add remaining ingredients, bring to a boil, reduce hear & simmer for 30 minutes. 

This makes a spicy chili, if you do not like the spice you have several options - leave out or reduce the jalapeños or diced tomatoes with green chilis or use another type of Italian sausage other than hot.  We had this with cheddar cheese on top and Jiffy corn muffins.

2013 in Review!

2013 was a good year for us with several big milestone moments.  I wanted to do a quick recap through the year of some fun things that have happened.  The year started off kind of slow but things really picked up as the year went along.    

  January       ~We celebrated the first birthday of sweet HG, our friends' daughter who coincidentally will be the flower girl in our wedding.    

February   ~We went to see the Caps play which was my first ever hockey game.  Even better we had awesome seats and they were free!  

  ~ We celebrated sweet Layla Jane's birthday! She spent the day at daycare which she loves!  

    March ~We went to see Luke Bryan, Florida Georgia Line and Thompson Square at JPJ in Cville with friends.   

    April   ~We started this blog!   ~We planted seeds for what would be our first year of successful gardening and one of our major blog topics for the year.  

May    ~Eric built these awesome planter boxes which we used to garden.  

  ~We blogged away on this little blog with recipes and gardening.   ~We joined a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture)  

  ~We went to Pittsburgh for a long weekend.   

  ~We went to NC to celebrate our friend Alexis receiving her PhD from UNC.  

   ~We celebrated my friend Bethany with a shower for her baby girl to arrive in June.  

  ~We kicked off summer with Memorial Day Weekend at the lake.  

June ~We went to the Kennedy Center to see Shear Madness which was part of my birthday present from Eric.  

  ~We celebrated our friends Marcus & Ashley's wedding.  

    July   ~We saw DMB in concert at Nissan Pavilion.  

  ~We celebrated 4th of July twice, with the Dennee's and at the lake.  

    August   ~We spent 2 weekends at the lake.   ~We saw Jimmy Buffett in concert at Nissan Pavilion.  

September ~We celebrated my friend Terra's baby girl on the way who made her grand appearance later in the month.  

~We went to the OBX with our friends for a week.  

  ~We celebrated my friend Megan's baby due in December.  

October ~We got engaged!  

  ~We put an offer on a house.   ~We put a contract on a house.   ~I headed out on a cruise with my mom, Gramma & cousin Shirley.  

    November   ~I finished up my Caribbean cruise and spent a few days in Florida.   ~I went to see South Pacific with my mom, Gramma & Aunt Patty at the Alhambra Dinner Theater in Jacksonville.   ~I went to Savannah with my mom, Gramma, Aunt Patty & Aunt Norah.  

  ~We closed on our house.  

  ~We celebrated Asher's 1st birthday!  

  December   ~My friend Megan had a sweet little boy.   ~We moved to our new house.  

  ~We decorated it for Christmas.  

  ~We celebrated my cousin Eli's 3rd birthday, who will be the ringbearer for our wedding.  

  ~We set a wedding date!  October 4, 2014   ~We celebrated Christmas with family and friends by hosting a Christmas brunch.