Vida

If there's one thing I wish I would have purchased for myself before I got married and had a registry: it would be nice knives!  Oh wow they make such a difference!  (And a food processor, that's amazing too.) So to all my single friends or those who didn't register for nice knives (or you did and didn't receive them).  Watch the sales (they do go on sale) and purchase some for yourself. We registered for a few and didn't receive them.  I cut myself pretty badly in the fall while cutting pumpkin.  My friend asked why I wasn't using knives we got for our wedding because accidents are much less likely with nice knives.  I started watching sales and we purchased our knives with money people gave us as our gift. The first time I used them I gasped with amazement! Do it.  Get yourself nice knives.  Do knives go on sale for President's Day?  You will not regret it.

The whole point of the super bowl is a good excuse to get together, right?  I don't think I would even watch the game if it wasn't for a gathering.  For the past many many years I've gone to my friend's super bowl party in Chicago.  Since this is the first year we're not there, we decided to host one.  It went a little something like this.  Mike & I chatted of maybe having people over but our TV room was still a disaster.  Tuesday of last week I asked if we actually wanted to do it.  He responded that he already invited people, so that answers that question.  The weekend entailed hosting a social for his masters program Saturday, attending a 1 year old birthday party Sunday, and trying to figure out how to space out preparing food! I made what I could Saturday (cookies and the base for the vegan cheese dip).  Sunday morning we made the chili before the birthday party.  And as soon as we got back we ran around like crazy to pull...

Let's talk about it.  Meal planning.  What's your strategy? I think back to before I moved in with Mike and sometimes wish I could still be so laissez-faire. I ate leftovers a lot.  I had the time to plan ahead.  We are definitely short on time around here these days.  Some weeks I sit down, come up with meals for the week and do all my shopping on the weekend.  And I love it!  The truth is, I'm just not usually that organized. Elephant in the room: Mike does not cook.  He will make himself spaghetti or tuna salad sandwiches.  That is all.  We keep saying I'll teach him, but again there's that issue of time. I ended up getting a free box of Blue Apron a couple weeks ago.  Have any of you tried it or a similar service?   Guys, we really liked it.  We will not be spending $50 on two meals right now because we are on a budget, but it was so nice to have all the ingredients delivered (they sent a garlic head for 2...

Every once in awhile I just get a craving to do something creative.  It's because I'm a Capricorn (one of my friends who is in to such things says). I am able to be creative with our new house, but some things like the shelves that are taking 4 times longer than I thought they would to build, zap it.  And they're not even creative to begin with. I'm not one to give decorative bed pillows much thought.  In fact, when I purchased a comforter 4 years ago, it came with decorative pillows that sat on the floor until I put them in a box to move and they stayed there until we got here.  So yeah...not really in to them.   Mike on the other hand, is.   As we were loading up a moving truck with some things Mike had at his parents' house after Christmas, since we had a truck, they gave us a few other things too.  Some of Mike's mementos, a comforter, and pillows that didn't work out for them, etc.  They weren't really our style, but I cut off the cov...

You have the prints you love and you are ready to find some frames.  Frames are not cheap! Here are some tips I've found to lessen the burden of frame shopping.  1. Check out Michaels/Home Goods/etc. 2. Don't worry about the frame having hanging equipment.  Buy some of these.  It will greatly increase your options for frames and they are easy to add yourself.  Any frame can go on a wall now! Pick out some prints and get to hanging!

Yesterday, December 30, Mike & I decided we would have Black-eyed Pea and Quinoa Croquettes with Mushroom Sauce from “ Vegan with a Vengeance ” by Isa Chandra Moskowitz for dinner.  (It's one of my favorite cookbooks and super delicious.  Do not skip on the sauce, it makes the whole dish.)  We were out running errands and stopped at our first grocery store to find them sold out of black eyed peas.  We both thought it was odd until we remembered some people eat them on New Year's Day for good luck.  Apparently there are many stories behind this tradition: feel free to read some here . We found some at the next grocery store, but there were quite a few people grabbing them and I had to sneak in and grab a can before heading to the register.   We ate them last night, hopefully it's close enough to count for 2018!

Decorating a new to me space was overwhelming when I thought of the big picture and much more achievable when I focused on one room at a time.  For me, I picked the next room based on when I was inspired for the space.  Say what you will, but that's my process. Step 1 that made me feel incredibly better.  Filling in holes with putty and painting over it.  WOW!  The biggest wow for me was this little space in our kitchen (which I think is meant for a TV - we will not be putting a TV there - how many TVs do people expect you to have!).  After I filled in the massive holes there and painted over them I couldn't stop looking at it and smiling.  I did not take a before and after picture because I had no idea how happy it would make me.  Here's the after though! Note: we were very lucky and the previous owner left behind gallons of paint, which isn't too old to still use.  Hooray! I can't even tell you how great it made me feel.   ...