I can haz new project!

I’m baaaaaaack….and I have a new project!  I’m one of those people where I need a book to read, something to shop for, or a new project to work on.  I’m fine just vegging and watching some TV, but my brain needs lots of ‘shiny!’ to keep it going.  If I’m without something to ‘get into’ as DH calls it, I get restless or in bit of a funk. 

But now I have a new project! *clap clap clap*  On Sunday, my BFF Sheg and I had a nice day of shopping on our own.  First, we hit Home Goods.  Two just opened here and I hadn’t made it to either of them yet. I had been dying to check this store out, but the timing never really worked. I was so happy she wanted to go and even happier that I would have someone with me who would want to ‘look at everything in the store’.  This is how DH says I shop and I say so what?---I like to look at it all!!!  At Home Goods, I saw and immediately fell in love with a great grey basket as soon as we walked into the store.  I didn’t get a pic, but I will post one later today.  It’s perfect for storing extra magazines and has a cute fleur-de-lis tile in the middle. 

We also hit up Kirklands (huge sale!) and then were ready for a late lunch at Moe’s.  Mmmmm, I used to hit up Moe’s once a week when there was one near my work.  Now it’s maybe every 2 months! Although I did just order Moe’s catering for work and everyone raved about it!   I wish they would open up a Moe’s closer to me.

After lunch, we hit up Goodwill as Sheg said this particular Goodwill had some great finds, including some brand new stuff from Target with their tags still on!  The first place I always check out at thrift stores is the furniture section.  I’ve been looking for a new table or nightstand to replace the flimsy little table that I have been using.  Something with storage so I can throw some junk into it.  So we push the cart around when I spy this:

Exactly what I am looking for! It was differently shaped piece and had storage.  The best part?  It was $5.99!  I actually didn’t believe it was that cheap and went to ask an employee there.  She confirmed and I asked her to put a SOLD sigh on it while we shopped a bit more.  I ended up with some books, a brand new from Target springform pan (I think DH accidentally threw mine away), and a cute gingham button down.  The only thing we were concerned about was whether this table would fit in the backseat of my car.   It did, with just an inch to spare!

So now that I’ve got it home, I need to decide how I want to redo it.  I know it will involve paint but not sure what color.  Right now I am leaning toward a turquoise-y color, one of my faves but not something DH would want in our bedroom.  Since this little nightstand will be going into my boudoir/dressing room, I can paint her any color I want!!!  Of course Pinterest has all kinds of ideas and here are some of the ones I like (click on pic to link to to source):

I am pretty sure I am going with Annie Sloan Chalk Paint, but not sure to which shade yet.  It will probably be Provence, which I will mix with a bit of Old White to get a lighter shade.  Just have to get it ordered!!!

One of my fave bloggers, Liz Marie, painted a table similar to the one I found.  Except she did hers totally different but with an idea I would never have thought of! Click on the link to find out the little surprise!   Here are some pics from her post: (all pics from her blog)

Amazing!  I hope my little table turns out as well as hers did! 

Did you have any good finds this week? 

Latest Favorites…..

So my latest faves are all over the place…..but here they are!

First up is Pepperidge Farm Pumpernickel bread.  This stuff is so good!  I know pumpernickel has never been that popular, but I guess it’s making a comeback due to the fact that it is very low on the glycemic scale.  I’ve always loved pumpernickel, ever since I was a kid and we went to a German restaurant in Hilton Head on vacation.  Our family must have eaten 8 baskets of that bread!  Anyway, I was looking for some new kind of bread to make my usual sandwich for work with.  I was eating a whole wheat but was sick of it.  I spotted this at Walmart and was excited.  Loaded up my Weight Watchers scan app and it came up at 2 points a slice!  AND—no high fructose corn syrup!  SCORE! 

Another foodie find—Havarti with Dill cheese.  I was at one of our local farmers markets last year when our cheese guy had this and let me try a slice.  OMGyummmmy.  So delicious with a hint of dill for a great flavor.  He gets his from the Amish in Ohio but my link above will take you to a site that you can order from directly.  This goes great with my pumpernickel bread and some buffalo chicken breast from the deli.  All of those flavors make for an amazing sandwich that will keep you full after lunch. 

This dress from Express.  I had first mentioned in this post, and then I went and got it when I had a GC and a coupon to use.   I wasn’t sure how it would look on me or how short it would be.  Luckily I was shopping with my BFF Sheg (waves!) and I knew she would be honest if it looked like crap.  When I put it on, I thought it looked great.  Even the sleeveless, which I normally hate.  She agreed and thought it was really flattering too.  The trick for my shape (which is hourglass), is to have a defined waist.  I just slip a cardi over it and it’s the perfect work dress.  The colors are so pretty and vibrant—you cannot be sad cat in this dress!

This jacket from LC Lauren Conrad from Kohl's.  Doesn’t look that cute from the pic, but I took a chance and ordered.  I thought the colors were great and it had a soft drape.  I find this line to be all over the place with sizing.  Some of the dresses I tries on were really short and some of the tops were too big.  I ordered a medium and hoped for the best.  Well it fit perfectly.  I can see myself wearing this with jeans and a white tank with some cool jewelry on the weekend or for a casual day at work with a pencil skirt.  And of course it was on sale!  I guess I’ve been gravitating more towards florals lately with these purchases.  Probably my love of vintage. 

Wind by Zac Brown Band

Wind by Zac Brown Band.  I heard this song when I was driving home a few weeks ago and used Shazam to find out what it was.  I have a passing fancy for country music but anything that is bluegrass tinged and I’m there! 

That’s it for now---I’ll be back later with an real update on my Ancestry.com finding.

 

Happy Wednesday!

I can haz more space?

If you are reading this now, I appreciate it!  I took a little vacation from my blog for a while and now I’m back.  I could lie and say I was exploring the world or say I was doing some sort of wonderful charitable act, but you otherwise. The truth is my birthday was towards the end of June and before that DH & I went to Lancaster (home of the Pennsylvania Dutch) for a weekend of Celtic music. Then work crept up on me and before I knew it, it was the 4th of July!!!  I couldn’t believe it when I looked at the date at work this morning, realizing how long it had been since I blogged!!!

So after all of the birthday fun (and it was fun thanks to my DH and family and friends!) I took a few days  off after Independence Day.  Thursday I relaxed and worked on ancestry.com stuff and then hit our city’s main library branch for some genealogical research that ancestry.com simply didn’t have, like local newspapers from 100 years ago.  (More on that in an upcoming post!).  Friday was another relaxing day.  I had a long overdue visit with my grandparents and showed my grandfather the information I had gathered on his mother’s family.   Then I visited my aunt and my mom’s BFF (they live next door) and we all played a few very heated games of Phase 10.   No real plans, just taking the days as they come.

Well I came crashing to reality on Saturday.  I am a champion procrastinator when I don’t want to do something even though I know I should.  There is always something ‘more important’ and this drives DH crazy.  My little boudoir (or dressing room/spare room) looked like a Hoarders episode and I am not kidding at all.  I would have taken a pic but even I am too embarrassed to show you.  But I did buckle down and spend a good chunk of time clearing out the mess.  Most of it was just stuff that needed to be put away and organized.  That is one habit I would like to change.  When I get home from work/gym, I just throw everything in a corner ‘for later’.  Then it just builds up.  DH says “If you just put away when you come home, you won’t have that pile.” Easier said than done for me, buddy.  But I am learning to recognize what a waste of time it is to do a big cleanup vs. a small one each day.

With that in mind, I am on the hunt for a new way to organize closet items.  Right now I just have all of my shoes stacked in boxes at the bottom of my closet.  Sounds great, right?  Not for this ADD girl.  I have a real need to ‘see’ everything and have always used visual cues to help remind me.  Basically, if it’s put away, I don’t ‘see’ it and then don’t think about it.  So while some of the shoes were put away, the ones I wore all the time were all over the floor and just made a big mess.  I needed a way to ‘see’ the shoes but still have them organized out of the way.

Enter Pinterest!  Seriously---this site is my go-to for everything lately.  I had seen some good ideas on blogs but most of these people had more space than me.  So how could see my stuff but also make it look neater?  This was the image that jumped out at me the most (source is linked on the pic):

Doesn’t that look great? The shoes are organized and you can see them but they are put away.  It’s like a pretty shoe display!!  So I set out on a search for these types of cubes and found this one from Lowe’s:

I figure I can order 2 of them and put the shoes that I wearing the most often (based on season) into the cubes so I would always be able to see them and put them away quickly.  I can use the top of the cubes to put my little TV and lamp on there and a few photos and such.  Maybe even a few more pairs of shoes?  Either way, I know that if I use this type of visual organization it will stick with me better and I won’t want to throw it all into a big pile ‘for later’. 

I also think that if I move the shoes to the cubes I will free up some space on the bottom so I can maybe hang a 2nd rack to free up space.  Not sure if that will work with the height of the closet, but I am going to try at least. 

Thanks for reading!  Please pass on your closet/shoe organizing tips!  I need all the help I can get.  Check out my dream shoe closet:

I will be back tomorrow with an update on my family history findings! Let’s just say ancestry.com rules! 

Have a wonderful Monday and stay cool! 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

summer berries…mmmmmmm

You know summer is truly underway when summer berries are out!  I just love berries—eaten plain right off of the vine or in pies and scones!  I always think of them as nature’s sweet treats.

From my instagram @vampygirl13

As I’ve said before, DH is the green thumb in our home (except for roses, which I seem to grow very well!).  He has a nice garden that gives us great stuff, except for when the groundhog seems to think it’s HIS garden.  Ugh.  Anyway, his raspberries bushes have started to produce mounds of gorgeous berries.  So many that we have taken to freezing them!  I have started taking them to work with me as a great afternoon snack (see above).  They are so sweet and yummy and help to keep you full for a good while. 

With all of these berries coming up, I was in need of some new recipes to utilize them in a new way.  Enter Martha Stewart.  The day after DH’s berries started arriving by the huge bowlful, Martha’s new issue of Living showed up and guess what was on the cover? Martha’s favorite berry recipes!  Kismet!

I flipped right through to the berries section and found some great recipes.  You can also get a whole bunch more recipes by clicking HERE where you will find all kinds of great berry recipes.  Here are some of the ones I pinned and bookmarked for my use: (pics are from Martha Stewart’s site and there is a link to each one)

Raspberry Cobbler—this one would be great for a crowd. 

Chocolate Raspberry Tart—I haven’t attempted to make a tart yet but it can’t be too much harder than pie right?

Meme’s Blackberry Cobbler—I love that this is made and served in a cast iron skillet!

I also did some searching on Pinterest and found: (links to original sources/pics)

Raspberry Lemon bars—YUM!

Raspberry Chocolate Scones--I’ve made regular raspberry scones, but not any with chocolate yet!

Raspberry Sorbet—I’ve made this before and I have a version printed out at home (VERY old recipe) that has wine it.  How can you go wrong with raspberries and wine?

And the one I am going to make for Father’s Day this Sunday---Raspberry Torte.  This looks sooo good and I cannot wait to try it out.  I will take pics of course to let you know how it turned out.

The weather here has been so beautiful with no humidity.  I have a feeling that will end soon and just in time for Father’s Day!   Since my dad died before I was born, I always make a point to celebrate with my grandfather and will be going to a brunch for himself and all of the other dads in our family.   It’s so hard to buy a gift for him, so I usually just bake chocolate chip cookies with walnuts since he likes them so much.  

Have a wonderful Father’s Day weekend and be on the lookout for pics of the torte!  I will post something, even if it turned out terrible!

 

 

 

 

This weekend was cookin….

Monday shows up again so quickly doesn’t it?  The weekends seem to just fly by!

I got to make 2 great recipes this weekend that I want to share with you!

The first is a much loved dessert in our home—raspberry pie.  DH has been growing raspberries in his garden in this home for a few years, but this was the first year he really got a good amount for me to make some pie.  He would rather have pie over any other dessert!  

After picking all of the sweet raspberries, I had to measure to make sure I had enough for a pie.  The recipe I use calls for 4 cups of raspberries.  We had more than enough!  :)

Though I have a link to the recipe, I am going to post it here as well.  I found it at All Recipes.com, one of my all time fave places to find good things to make. I have used this site for over 10 years and have found some recipes I’ll be making forever!  Below is the recipe taken from their site:

Raspberry Pie III (from All Recipes.com)

Ingredients

• 1 recipe pastry for a 9 inch double crust pie (I normally make my own crust but used Michelina’s since I was short on time)
• 4 cups raspberries
• 1 cup white sugar
• 2 1/2 tablespoons tapioca
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 4 teaspoons butter
• 1 tablespoon half-and-half cream

Directions

1. Mix together the raspberries, sugar, tapioca, lemon juice, cinnamon and salt until raspberries are well covered.
2. Pour into 9 or 10-inch pastry shell. Dot with butter, top with crust.
3. Make slits in the top crust and brush with cream. Bake in a preheated 425 degrees F (220 degrees C) oven for 15 minutes, then at 375 degrees F (190 degrees C) for 25 minutes.

Some notes on this.  I definitely used 4 cups (and maybe a teeny bit more) of raspberries.  The only thing I deviated from was that I used milk instead of cream to brush the top of my crust when baking.  I normally do not have any cream in the house and was told by a pastry chef that milk was an acceptable substitute.   The tapioca is important as it helps to thicken up your pie filling so it’s not too runny.

The only thing I did NOT like about my pie when it was finished was that the bottom layer of crust was slightly dough-y.  I am guessing this is because I baked it on the convection baking setting in my oven rather then regular bake. This was the first time since we got this new oven that I have tried this and I was annoyed how it that turned out.  I think I’ll either bake on regular bake or will read my oven manual on how to adjust.  Normally, you just lessen the bake time when using the convection setting but maybe I missed something?  Oh well.  DH said the rest of the pie was fantastic and the top layer of crust was done perfectly!

I posted the above pic on Facebook and people wanted to know about the bird in the middle It’s called a pie bird and is used to help release steam from the pie while baking.  This prevents the pie from bubbling over.  I got mine at Giant Eagle locally, but I’m sure you can pick these up anywhere!  They have been used since the 16th century!

The next recipe was a long lost but then magically found one.  You know how you are reading a magazine and something looks good so you rip it out?  I did this a few years ago with this recipe.  Made it and DH and I both liked it.  Then is disappeared in to the abyss of my stacks of paper.  DH asked me about it and I thought I had found it but it was a different one.  Lo and behold, a few months ago I was going through a bunch of papers in my room to throw out old stuff and I came across it!  It’s from People magazine in 2010!  Chicken Marbella, which Matt Lauer loves.  DH said “I knew it was in that room somewhere!” Gee thanks.  So I made it on Sunday.   Now that I know the title of the recipe, I was able to find it at msnbc.com! Below is my original scan:

Here is a link to a readable version: Matt Lauer’s Chicken Marbella.

Here is the entire recipe:

Chicken Marbella (from People Magazine 2010)

Ingredients

• 4 chickens, 2 1/2 lbs. each, quartered
• 1 head of garlic, peeled and finely pureed
• 1/4 cup dried oregano
• Coarse salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
• 1/2 cup red wine vinegar
• 1/2 cup olive oil
• 1 cup pitted prunes
• 1/2 cup pitted Spanish green olives
• 1/2 cup capers with a bit of juice
• 6 bay leaves
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1 cup white wine
• 1/4 cup Italian parsley or fresh coriander (cilantro), finely chopped

Preparation

1. In a large bowl combine chicken quarters, garlic, oregano, pepper and coarse salt to taste, vinegar, olive oil, prunes, olives, capers and juice, and bay leaves. Cover and let marinate, refrigerated, overnight.

2. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

3. Arrange chicken in a single layer in one or two large, shallow baking pans and spoon marinade over it evenly. Sprinkle chicken pieces with brown sugar and pour white wine around them.

4. Bake for 50 minutes to one hour, basting frequently with pan juices. Chicken is done when thigh pieces, pricked with a fork at their thickest, yield clear yellow (rather than pink) juice.

5. With a slotted spoon transfer chicken, prunes, olives and capers to a serving platter. Moisten with a few spoonfuls of pan juices and sprinkle generously with parsley or cilantro. Pass remaining juices in a sauceboat.

6. To serve Chicken Marbella cold, cool to room temperature in cooking juices before transferring to a serving platter. If chicken has been covered and refrigerated, allow it to return to room temperature before serving. Spoon some of the reserved juice over chicken.

The only thing I left out in this recipe were the prunes.  I hate them and DH isn’t crazy about them.  But you don’t really miss them or anything.  I also used a 'pick of the chicken’ pack from our grocery store that was just under 4lbs.  The pieces fit perfectly in my glass pan and turned out very tasty and juicy.  And I did not marinate mine overnight, just a few hours.  Still tasted very good.  Don’t forget the sprinkling of brown sugar as it makes a tasty little crust on top.  I baked my chicken for 60 minutes and it was perfect.  Wish I had a pic of how mine turned out but DH put it right on his plate so I couldn’t take a pic!  Here’ a pic from the Today show below:

Doesn’t it look yummy? 

DH will happily take this to work for leftovers.  You can also serve the chicken cold as well but I prefer it hot. 

Do you have any long lost recipes or randomly found recipes that became a part of your go-to dishes?  If so, I’d love to hear them and how you found them!  Whenever I see a good one, I rip it out, Pin it or print it so I have it to try out.  I used to have folder and folders of paper until I got some binders and organized them a bit.   Now I only have one folder of looser paper around.

Random note—I am FINALLY going back to the gym today.  I was supposed to go last week on Thursday and Friday but I was working late and then had to shop with DH for a TV (that he wants to put outside).   No excuses today for me!  I am going to take it slow and work my way back up but I am still going no matter what!

Have a wonderful start to your week!  I’ll be back later to show you some of my finds!

General Random-ness….

 

Hope you all had a wonderful Memorial Day weekend!   DH and I had quite the relaxing weekend.   Well he did after he came home when he was called in to do an emergency liver transplant (he’s a surgical nurse) on Friday.  So he was at work from 6:45-5:15 and then had to go back at 9:30PM! How do they expect someone to function on that little sleep?   Just doesn’t seem right to me!

So now for some stream-of-consciousness a la James Joyce……

Anyhow—I was quiet as could be Saturday morning while DH slept and we hit a cookout where we tried out our adult slushies from Davis & Davis.  They were delicious and a hit! 

Sunday we did nothing but veg around the house and it was heavenly.  It was too hot to really do anything outside anyway. I am reading the 50 shades trilogy and am on book 3 now.  To be honest, I was expecting a bit more but these are a good fun read.   The writing leaves a lot to be desired (especially if you have read Anne Rice’s Beauty series) but E.L. James does capture the chemistry between the 2 main characters well.   I feel for Ana in the book because I’ve been a young 21 year old and know what it’s like to have emotions coming at you from every angle.  I also like the character of Christian too.  He actually evolves through out each book and there are many layers to Mr. Fifty Shades.  I was actually more interested in his story more than anything!

I thought this meme was hilarious! I just didn’t find the book that smutty to be honest.  It was a bit explicit but nothing you can’t read about anywhere in Cosmo.  It’s the content that must freak people out.  Bottom line-don’t read this expecting high brow fiction. Read it for fun and then draw your own conclusions. 

As of today I am officially cleared to go back to the gym!  My doctor said my toe should be fine during workouts!  Yay!  It’s still a little bruised and my toe nail is black (see below) but I am happy to get back to working out.  Being lazy actually helped to get me motivated!

Now I just have to figure out what exactly I want to do in the gym.  I did the Jamie Eason program and could start that from scratch but I’ll be honest, I’m kind of bored with it.  If you have any suggestions for a routine (because that’s what I do best with), please let me know!  I’ll still keep working on Zumba and spinning but I need something for weights.  I’ll be browsing around tonite on the web for a good program that keeps me going for a few months.

How come when you have money to spend you don’t really want anything but when you shouldn’t be spending you want to buy everything??  I recently got an Express gift card and there’s really nothing that jumps out at me right now.  I am sure I can save it for fall or a great sale later in the summer, but it’s burning a hole in my wallet right now.  Although this dress is surely cute for summer!

And this top would look cute with colored jeans or skirt or just about anything!

But considering the amount of clothing I already have (and I can hear DH saying it in my head as we speak LOL), I will wait to see what goes on sale later in the summer.  I’m sure I can find some new fall clothes to covet with no problems!

Stay cool and before I go I will show you my yellow rose bush.  This pic was taken on Thursday evening and now the bush has 28 roses blooming on it!