Okay wow…I know.
It’s been forever. We’ve been unpacking our lives in our new place (which I absolutely LOVE) and things have been crazy busy…more on that later. For today, I wanted to share with you a little DIY project that Jay and I worked on for our new space. Storage is limited in our little condo, so we knew we needed something in the dining room to help me hide all our stuff…enter Sideboard…or dining room Buffet…either would do.
We searched for a couple weeks. I researched online, went to Sleepy Poet and finally we found this gem for $50 at our local Habitat for Humanity ReStore:
it has potential
Now it’s only partially wood…the majority of it is particle board or something like that so painting it would be challenging…or so it would’ve been five years ago! Now we have products like Rust-O-Leum that you can use to paint ANYTHING. Don’t like the look of your cabinets or countertops?? PAINT THEM. This stuff really is super awesome.
So here starts the transformation…photo heavy from here on out:)
first coat...
first coat finished...color is more this than blue
next step...shoe polish:)
use the shoe polish along all creases and edges
the man behind the magic
three coats of paint {all different shades} + shoe polish
the finished product!
and again for good measure...
Take that Sleepy Poet! Now…I’m on the search for fun knobs to replace these, but in the meantime…my husband is totally boss for doing this and it is BEAUTIFUL. Happy Tuesday!
Sorry for the lull…hope you are still around. I had big plans for blogging this summer, but they all got pushed to the wayside by the BIG MOVE. We officially landed in our new nest last Monday. We tried to unpack and move the big furniture to the correct room before Jay had to leave for NYC (so jealous btw) for Teacher’s College at Columbia University. I’ve been unpacking and trying to decorate while he is away.
If you ARE still around, stay tuned for some really fun posts on furniture transformations and crafty fun house DIY (I made my own curtain contraption this week!) projects in the next week or so. Pictures to come soon, I promise:)
Here are some photos of stuff we’ve been into recently:
Sweet Bakery in Oak Island, NC
My Favorite Sister:)
Zoolander!
Beer & BBQ Fest in Plaza Midwood
Finally saw some fireworks:)
Hope you had a wonderful Fourth of July:) See you soon!
for furniture. I know what you’re probably thinking…weren’t you just whining about all the crap you needed to purge and sell at this yard sale?! Yes. Yes I was.
I don’t need just ANY furniture. I need something special…actually three special pieces…and these three pieces need to provide me which some MAJOR storage function-age.
Our kitchen has one wall of cabinets…9 cabinets and 4 drawers to be exact. That’s not even HALF of the cabinet storage I have now. And it’s a small kitchen…no room for an table or anything…so I am on the search for a super cute kitchen cart/shelf unit. It needs to be somewhat slim, but have a couple drawers and/or cabinets and I’m thinking a cutting board top or something like that?
Here are some I’ve been scoping out:
I guess it doesn’t actually need to be a cart, it could be a slim shelving unit…possibly like these DIY kitchen islands:
Another piece I am on the hunt for is a fun sideboard/buffet for our dining room. We will need the storage space {desperately} for all the fun serve-ware I’ve accumulated over the years that I REFUSE to part with.
I found this beauty at Sleepy Poet today and for only $295, it is on my mind heavily…but I’m still looking:
and I found this one too…it’s a little cheaper but not as fun in color…i LOVE ^ that green!!
Here are some others I found on the web…
_full.jpeg "sideboard")
So if you are out and about, will you help me scope out some gems…I’m not opposed to DIY either…might actually be a fun thing to cove on the blog, so just let me know.
I’ll leave you with this photo from design*sponge. This is my ideal pantry…it reminds me of my friend, Nicole, she has the most organized pantry of anyone I know (and always has FUN snacks in there too!). I will probably have to commission her to come help me organize my stuff once we move:)
Emersonmade on design*sponge
Happy Tuesday!
We.are.knee-deep.in.boxes.
Moving is tough business and NOT for the faint of heart. As we are packing up, we are doing a major PURGE of things we haven’t touched, used or even thought about in a year. I totally forgot we had an amazing George Forman Grill/Griddle combo. We had our first yard sale this weekend and my thought on yard sales is…they are way more effort than they are worth.
We definitely made money but the most satisfying part was dropping the remaining items off at Goodwill and Habitat for Humanity…it was a true purging and it was exhaustingly beautiful.
Even though the majority of our house is now in boxes, I’m keeping our cooking stuff out until the last possible minute. I’ve started my summer of recipe experiments already and wanted to share some of the “keepers” I’ve come across so far:
Mediterranean Salad w/Chickpea Patties via Real Simple
This recipe from Real Simple is super easy to make IF you have a food processor. I tried to make it once before sans processor and it was REALLY messy. This time around, with my handy food chopper, it was super simple and really delicious!
Thai Spring Rolls via WrightFood
These are so great because there’s really no cooking involved and you can put whatever you like in them. You soak the rice wrapper in water for 10-15 seconds and then fill it with your choice of fillings…I’ve made them with julienned carrots, shredded purple cabbage, rice wine vinegar soaked cucumber slices, rice vermicelli noodles, basil and cilantro and voila! Dip it in a yummy hoisin sauce or my favorite…thai peanut sauce.
Basil Spaghetti w/Cheesy Broiled Tomatoes
This photo is actually from my cooking experiment this evening. The tomatoes and basil came from my own garden! So exciting and they were DELICIOUS! The recipe came from the June issue of Real Simple Magazine. I have this thing where I don’t like to read a magazine before the actual month of publication, so this weekend was the first time I cracked open the June issue and I LOVE it and the yummy recipes featured this month.
My next experiment this week is to try this Harmony Bowl from the delightful Jessie Mathis. My good friend, Kara, featured this recipe on her blog a couple days ago and I’ve wanted to try it ever since. I bought tempeh for the first time EVER and will give it a whirl this week, I’ll let you know how it goes.
What are you cooking up this summer??
Happy Monday! So it is official…we are moving to Uptown Charlotte…the Myers Park neighborhood to be exact. We are going from a comfy 3bd, 2ba 1300sq. ft. 1970′s ranch-style home with a yard in Rock Hill to a quaint 1000sq. ft. 2bd, 1ba 1920′s condo in historic Charlotte with a shared yard (quadruplex).
The next 3 weeks are going to be a PURGING of sorts. Over the last 5 years of marriage, Mr. M and I have accumulated a LOT of stuff. So for the next few weeks, we are going to go on a journey of purging, organizing and decorating small spaces on the blog. Hope you enjoy.
Today here are some photos of some of the coolest, creative small places from around the world wide web!
A Narrow Victory, Dwell Magazine '09
Our's isn't this small, but WOW
Creative Kitchen Storage
Creative Couple, Small Space from Apartment Therapy
Precious Moses' {Closet} Room via Oh Happy Day
Ikea will be my new best friend. for sure.
Stay tuned on Wednesday for tips on pulling off a Yard Sale. Mine will be THIS Saturday {hopefully!}.
Good morning! So…we found out yesterday that we officially have RENTERS for our house!! We’ve been unable to sell it so this is the next best thing and even better is that it’s not just some random person, we know the couple and they are super cool! So things just got really crazy, really quickly…we have to be out of our house by the end of June and into something new no later than July 1.
I’m on the search for something amazing in Uptown Charlotte or the immediate surrounding areas. I don’t want to just settle for the ho-hum house or apartment, I want it to have some character and to be in a relatively active/safe neighborhood. With three weeks before we need to be out, I’m hoping that is actually possible though.
So the school I work out gets out next Friday and Jay and I are staying local and low key this summer as far as vacations go. I might be heading to NYC again with Jay in July but with the house craziness now, that probably won’t be possible. So low key and local, here are some fun things in and around Charlotte to do this summer:
LOVE Shakespeare
Shakespeare on The Green (in Uptown)
Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday evenings at 8:00 pm
Sundays at 6:30 pm
Admission is FREE!!
for my fellow Charlotte foodies!
Taste of Charlotte
June 10-12, Admission is FREE
the ole' ball game in fort mill, sc
Go see a Charlotte Knights game! Tickets are CHEAP:)
gallery crawls in NoDa & SouthEnd
Gallery Crawls in NoDa & SouthEnd
NoDa is every First and Third Fridays of the Month
SouthEnd is every First Friday of the Month
free in the past, now a minimal charge
POPS in the Park
Mourning the past of free admission, this year’s POPS concerts are $10/adult (kids are free) which is kinda pricey BUT you can get a pass for $25 for all the concerts (5 in all) and that’s not too shabby…musicians gotta eat too:)
daniel stowe botanical gardens, Image by Patrick Schneider
Garden Nights at Daniel Stowe Botanical Gardens
Every Thursday, 5-9pm
Enjoy the cool of the summer evening with music and culinary delights offered by Best Impressions Caterers. Free with Garden Admission.
LOVE the jazz, LOVE the art
Jazz at the Bechtler Museum of Modern Art
First Friday of the Month
Free with Museum Membership OR $8/Adults
FREE Museum Passes, Thanks BoA
I had NO idea this was even going on, but apparently if you have a credit or debit card with Bank of America, you can visit the Mint Museum Uptown, Mint Museum Randolph, Levine Museum of the New South, Bechtler Museum of Modern Art, Harvey B. Gantt Center for African-American Arts + Culture and the NASCAR Hall of Fame all FOR FREE on the first full weekend of the month until December 2011!! How sweet is that?!
food truck festival...sign me up!
Chow Down Uptown, a food truck festival
June 2-July 28 (Every Thursday, 5-9pm)
Seventh Street Parking Lot
A Vineyard, in Charlotte's Backyard!
Who knew we had a vineyard practically in our backyard!? In addition to free vineyard tours, they are hosting free music concerts on Saturdays and Sundays through October. Click here for more information!
I think that might be one of my longest posts to date, but there are so many cool things going on in our city (which I used to think was pretty lame…jury is still out) but I hope to do all or most of these this summer…will you join me?!
I LOVE short weeks! It’s already Wednesday which means we are less than 2 weeks away from summer break. I technically work during the summer but we do have summer hours (9am-4pm) and I can wear shorts and flip flops:)
A lot is going on right now…or potentially going on. We *might* have a renter for our house which means we may be making a move to Charlotte in the next few months. Fingers crossed!
Jay and I took the afternoon on Monday to drive around the City to see what rentals were available. We have a list of 20 or so to call today, so we will see. On our drive, we found ourselves in Fourth Ward in Uptown. There were these quaint townhomes with rooftop terraces! They were so stinkin’ cute. I’ve been daydreaming about terraces now for the past few days so I thought I would feature some of the best terraces around. (Maybe I can add my own to this list one day!)
Rooftop Terrace Restaurant at 230 Fifth, NYC
This resataurant has been on my list every time I visit New York and I haven’t made it yet. It’s okay though…more reason to go back. How beautiful is this in the middle of one of my favorite cities!
LOVE this!
A rooftop renovation in SoHo that is just stunning via Apartment Therapy!
Rooftop Garden Terrace, Seattle
Rooftop in Chicago, Featured by Dwell
Rooftop Garden...wait?! What?!?
Kidding…not quite the “rooftop” terrace I was thinking, but how cool is that?!
So I’m on the search for fun rooftop bars or restaurants in Charlotte…help a girl out! 
Happy Wednesday to you!
I LOVE origami! Remember those little star things you used to make as kids where you start with a square and fold the corners, etc., to make this moveable star? You put colors on the outer triangles, numbers on the inside and then fortunes on the inner triangles. “Pick a color…Pick a number {move star the number of times} then pick another number…You will marry Jordan Knight {NKOTB} and live on a Yacht”
Right?!
Well it is supposed to be a hot, humid 97 degrees here in the Carolinas today and while it’s not the ideal weather for a mid-day picnic, I LOVE the evenings. It stays light later and the temperature cools…like 7-8pm is my favorite time outside right now. Today I wanted to feature some fun picnic origami crafts for you and maybe get you inspired to have some friends over for a late night picnic of sorts:)
speaking of those stars:)
See those stars can do more than just tell fortunes, they can hold fixins’ for a sundae party OR toppings for popcorn if you wanted to host an outdoor movie (see here).
paper flowers = FAVS
I LOVE LOVE LOVE paper flowers and these are super easy to make with random tissue paper. See here for the step-by-step instructions to make these beauties.
must purchase a melon baller...today:)
Click here for the instructions to make these adorable pouches…perfect for outdoor snacks!
martha is a genius. straight up.
Um excuse me, cuteness?! Who knew a beautiful table cloth could double as a picnic basket?! Click here for the details.
Hopefully you’ve got some ideas flowing and you put them into use this week. I’m headed to a pancake party tonight so I might use a couple of these ideas too. Happy folding!
Happy National Strawberry Month!
May is ALMOST over and I just realized that it’s National Strawberry Month! Without even knowing that, we’ve been consuming strawberries at a probably alarming rate…all month. We actually went strawberry pickin’ at a local farm at the beginning of May.
That day we picked 2lbs. of strawberries for $4…and they were divine! Red all the way through, none of that crispy white center crap you get in the grocery stores. Speaking of grocery stores, we did get strawberries from Harris Teeter last week (buy 1, get 1 free!) and they were actually REALLY good…red and juicy…who knew?!
So for today’s Foodie Friday, I wanted to feature some fun strawberry recipes and leave you with one that I am going to try this weekend (perfect for the wilting on-the-way-out berries):
FRUIT PIZZA
This was actually a go-to recipe for me in high school! Anytime our classes would have parties, I would bring this delicious dessert pizza. Don’t let the name gross you out, it really is yummy:
This recipe is SIMPLE!! Sugar Cookie dough, rolled out and cooked according to the package (10-12min). Mix together 1 8oz. package of cream cheese and 8oz. of whipped cream (I try to make homemade whipped cream instead of the cool whip stuff). Let cookie cool and then spread topping evenly on top. Arrange fruit of choice…kiwis, strawberries and blueberries are my favorite and VOILA!
Strawberry Avocado Salsa
from Cooking Light
Photo: Randy Mayor; Styling: Cindy Barr
Strawberry, Pistachio & Goat Cheese Pizza
from Cooking Light {this is another one I am trying THIS week!}
Photo: Randy Mayor; Styling: Cindy Barr
and lastly, for those wilted berries in your refrigerator…this recipe comes from Heidi Swanson of 101 Cookbooks. Remember back when I gave away a copy of her beautiful Super Natural Living Every Day cookbook? Well today’s super special recipe feature comes from that book. I can’t tell you the number of hours I’ve already spent oogling the food photography and delicious in that book…and I think it might be my summer challenge book (still deciding). So enjoy:
Roasted Strawberries
Photo credit: Heidi Swanson © 2011 via design*Sponge
Ingredients
8 ounces / 225 g small to medium strawberries, hulled
2 tablespoons maple syrup
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
1/4 teaspoon fine-grain sea salt
1 tablespoon port wine
A few drops balsamic vinegar
Directions
Preheat the oven to 350F / 180C with a rack in the middle of the oven.
It is important to use a rimmed baking sheet or large baking dish for this recipe—you don’t want the juices running off the sheet onto the floor of your oven. If you are using a baking sheet, line it with parchment paper.
Cut each strawberry in half. If your strawberries are on the large side, cut them into quarters or sixths. Add the berries to a mixing bowl. In a separate small bowl, whisk together the maple syrup, olive oil, and salt. Pour this over the strawberries and very gently toss to coat the berries. Arrange the strawberries in a single layer on the prepared baking sheet.
Roast for about 40 minutes, just long enough for the berry juices to thicken, but not long enough for the juices to burn. Watch the edges of the pan in particular.
While still warm, scrape the berries and juices from the pan into a small bowl. Stir in the port and balsamic vinegar. Use immediately or let cool and store in the refrigerator for up to a week.
makes about 1/2 cup / 5 oz / 140 g
Super Natural Every Day: Well-Loved Recipes from My Natural Foods Kitchen by Heidi Swanson, copyright © 2011. Published by Ten Speed Press, a division of Random House, Inc. via design*sponge.
or tea or whatever you fancy in the mornings. This isn’t really a new post today, it’s more of an addendum to yesterday’s post on Stress {if you missed it, check it out here}.
coffee from a pretty mug makes a HUGE difference:)
Before I even start the madness of the day, I try to literally take a few deep breaths…with eyes closed…and my fresh brewed cup of coffee in hand. I’ve been a coffee drinker since high school and a reformed coffee drinker (no flavored creamer) for only a few months, but goodness…a cup of strong coffee can do a body good…the smell alone is a glorious thing.
So grab some coffee (or hot tea), grab a fun mug and get to breathing…
Now you’re ready…happy Thursday!
Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light. -Matthew 11: 28-31
Leave A Comment