First Garage Sale

After spending the last 7 years of our lives bouncing from apartment to apartment with our respective roomies, we not-so-recently discovered that we have a lot of junk! Too many decorations, gadgets, and items that can be retired now that we've moved into our first home! Two weekends ago was our first garage sale, and we finished up round two this weekend. It was extremely therapeutic to watch literally years of STUFF leave our garage in someone else's hands. It was fun to remember all the spaces that this stuff had occupied and brought back images of nautical themed bathrooms,   life-sized boston terrier magnets, and fat chef kitchens. Good-bye junk! It feels so good to de-clutter!

Creamy Turkey BLT Wraps

We teamed up with our good friends, The Albrights, for our potluck contribution to today's church picnic! Last names A-M, bring a main dish, but something simple (Easter Lake Park is apparently not equipped to handle crockpots, who knew!?). Got it! Creamy Turkey BLT Wraps!

Debbie got to work making the turkey, and Chelle did assembly. This recipe is super simple, and has a lot of room for substitutions! (who doesn't like that!?  Do you really EVER have each ingredient needed for a recipe just laying around your house. We don't..)

This recipe does not come to you with measurements, as you can really load these up however you wish. We will say, though, that our ingredients made 40 wraps, of the smallish variety.

Creamy Turkey BLT Wraps

Ingredient line-up:

• Cooked Bacon
• Hellmans
• Ranch dip
• Roma Tomatoes
• Lettuce
• Shredded Turkey
• Cheese
• Tortilla Shells

We recommend laying out all your shells at once, Assembly line style!

Mix Hellmans & Ranch dip, spread in centers of shells!

Scoop of cheese!

Lettuce, then scoop of tomato!

Bacon and Shredded Turkey!

Wrap and seal in cling wrap!

Kevin & Herky supervised this project from the dining room. One minute we looked and Herky had managed to sneak on to the chair while Kevin was pre-occupied:

And the next minute, well---

Entryway: Check!!

Remember this post?

http://kevinandchelle.blogspot.com/2011/09/welcome-to-entryway.html

 Remember how we were looking for something to fill this space with?
Well, this space is finally how we want it. The blue vase? Well it went.

This went on the wall:

Enter 6.00 rickety goodwill cabinet:

After some major sanding and re-sturdying:

This then sat in our garage all winter, waiting for warmer weather, and wedding madness to subside. Last weekend, we gave this thing a much needed makeover.

New pull:

New paint, and ta-da!

Does this happen to you?

THIS!

Our dresser could very easily be considered the place were pocket contents come to die. It just doesnt matter how many times I clean this off, shove things into the sock drawer below, ect, this junk just will not find a home!! My dilemma is this. I cant keep shoving this stuff into drawers out of sight, because the drawers are full enough as it is (when I actually take the time to do, fold AND put the laundry away! HA!). I cant just put a cute little basket on top of the dresser because all of this junk, although now compacted, will still be able to stare at me while I sleep all night and that just wouldnt work. I have no solution to this, and the REAL junk drawer in our entry armoire is realistically too far away for the before-bed-pocket-emptying ceremony that occurs every night.

#learntolivewithit

Downstairs bathroom makeover (before)

Our downstairs bathroom is the smallest, most boring spot in our home. However, the slate tile floors, vanity, and brushed nickel fixtures give this room great potential. Additionally, the powder blue walls (which we didn't want to go to the trouble of repainting), black vanity top, and mahogany wood hue of the mirror and vanity cupboard make the color palette for this room a tough choice.

Chelle's only rules for this room was that it MUST, absolutely MUST showcase Kevin's football hall of fame picture.

Upon moving into the house and making decor decisions, none of Kevin's "sporty" gear had a real place in the house. It was a struggle because we knew if we weren't careful with the placement of these items, the house would quickly resemble a bachelors dorm room. Duuudddee....

Since the finished basement of our split foyer home is our "main" living space, it also didn't make a real viable candidate as a "Man Cave".

We've found ways to display the vintage whiskey flasks, beer mugs, and Bears pennant; however, this hall of fame picture, Kevin's favorite, needed to find a home.

We decided early on that this would go in the downstairs bathroom, but how to incorporate it into the already decided decor plans without looking like a randomly placed decoration was a challenge.

A year later, we've decided to base our color pallet for the bathroom solely from hues found in the picture.

Projects are THIS CLOSE to being finished, so stay tuned for the reveal next weekend!

Good Morning, Downtown!

This Saturday was Kevin's maiden voyage to our downtown farmer's market. After about 15 minutes of attempting to get him out of bed before 7am on a Saturday morning, and a groggy drive downtown, we set off to explore the eats, the sites, and the great morning weather. Some highlights of our morning:

PB&J & Buffalo chicken rangoons (gooners)
Honey Lemonade
Pella Bakery & all things almond
Breakfast burritos
New leash lead for Herky
Sweet N' Heat pecans
Bumping into Chelle's best friend (her usual farmer's market companion)

After farmer's market, Kevin washed and waxed the cars by hand...about 30 minutes later, the rain came..go figure!

Pinterest: Tried & Loved

Since getting married, we have implemented a new house rule: 1 pinterest recipe a week. It's part of our quest to diversify our pallette, and because Kevin took a peek at Chelle's pinterest board a few months ago and FLIPPED that these goodies had not yet made an appearance in our home.

So far, we've tried something spicy and something sweet, looking to satisfy both of our taste buds!

Something Spicy:

Slow Cooker Jambalaya

• 2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken thighs *I did not add these, and opted for more sausage
• 1 pound smoked sausage, cut into 1/2-inch slices
  

  1 large onion, chopped
• 1 large green bell pepper, seeded and chopped
• 3 stalks celery, chopped
• 1 (28 oz.) can diced tomatoes with juice *I used garlic and olive oil flavored
• 3 cloves garlic, chopped
• 2 cups chicken broth
• 1 tablespoon Cajun or Creole spice mix
• 1 teaspoon dried thyme
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1 pound extralarge shrimp, peeled and deveined
  

  1 3/4 cups long-grain rice *COOKED!!!
• Parsley, optional

1. Combine chicken, sausage, onion, green pepper, celery, tomatoes, garlic, chicken broth, spice mix, thyme and oregano in a large (5-quart) slow cooker. Cook on low for 5 hours.
2. Add shrimp and rice; raise heat to high and cook for 30 minutes more. Sprinkle with chopped parsley, if desired.

Chelle made the rookie mistake of not cooking the rice first (which this recipe doesnt mention doing at all!), and after an hour and a half in the crockpot with no luck, we were left googling "Can I put a crockpot insert in the oven". About 30 minutes in the oven at 425 finally did the trick and it still turned out amazing! We had our good friends, The Smiths, over for dinner, and everyone loved it! Kevin rated it a 9, citing that he would love it if there were more sausage in it next time. NOTED!

Something Sweet:

Energy Bites

1 cup oatmeal

1/2 cup peanut butter (or other nut butter)

1/3 cup honey

1 cup coconut flakes

1/2 cup sunflower seeds (or any other nuts/seeds/flaxseed/wheat germ/chia seeds)

1/2 cup mini chocolate chips (or any other "chip", dried friut, ect)

1 tsp vanilla (or any other extract of choice)

(We add 1 tsp to Almond extract in addition to the vanilla because we are a household of all things almond!)

Mix everything above in a medium bowl until thoroughly incorporated.  Let chill in the refrigerator for half an hour.  Once chilled, roll into balls and enjoy!  Store in an airtight container and keep refrigerated for up to 1 week. These will last in the freezer pretty much indefinately! They dont freeze solid, and we love them SUPER cold, so this is our method.

We've ALL seen/pinned/read blogs about these guys, so there was some initial hesitation about joining the bandwagon, but these things--well, they're game-changers my friends. Chelle made these for a food day at work, and barely made it to the front door before Kevin yelled from the shower "HEY! Will you leave me some of those magic balls!?" Yes, Magic balls. This is the term of endearment these little oatmeal bites have been given in our house, and Kevin has been more than happy to inform our entire friend group anyone within a 10 mile radius that he has a new favorite food. And magic balls are it. He's been eating them every day, and although Chelle is excited to try the ENDLESS possibilities for mix-ins, we're a little apprehensive to stray too far from what's quickly become a house favorite.

Some combos we'd love to try:

• sub cookie butter for peanut butter
• add white choco chips and dried cranberries
• make a smores version using crushed graham's and those little marshmallows you put in your hot cocoa

Our Wedding Cake

I feel SO blessed to have found this bakery for our wedding cake (Thanks Chass!). I was able to completely design my own cake, and it turned out better than I imagined. The cake was some of the best Ive ever had, and Im totally craving more! We had a cake buffet of 5 different flavors: Bridal white, peanut butter fudgey, orange dreamsicle with white chocolate mousse, raspberry almond zinger, & boston creme pie.

Strangers No More!

WOW. I cannot believe it’s been over 6 months since my last post! I have genuinely missed blogging. And this lapse in time offers up a candid look at almost the very moment in time when life, and wedding planning, got CRAZY. I couldn’t BEGIN to give justice to the changes and updates, and photos worth sharing that have occurred during this time, but I will attempt a minor update, and pick things up from there. You see, I have this problem. With order. Do you have it also? The problem is, I get off track with something, and in order to pick it back up, I have to account for any missing pieces (in this case, lost time), so that it continues a flow that makes sense. I cant just IGNORE the fact that my blog has been absent of any content for the past 7 months, NO. I must account for this time, so that you don’t miss a moment!! Well, that’s just not reasonable..or fun. And that’s why I blog. Its FUN for me. And I have been putting off getting back into things because I haven’t quite known how to start. The problem is, life hasn’t waited for me to figure it out and as it goes on, there goes several opportunities that I would have LOVED to forever document in blog form! So, Im biting the bullet, letting go of my need for order, and just getting on with it. I will leave you with some photos of some of our most memorable moments of the past 7 months!

Thanksgiving 2011!

We were given the honor of hosting our dual family’s 2011 Thanksgiving feast, and with it being our first year in the house, it was one of my favorite memories! Since I have a “bug” for holiday décor/entertaining, this was SO fun/therapeutic for me! (And now I’m ready to let the mamma’s take it back over from here!!!). I praise God that our families (mine & Kevin’s) love each other, and that we get to do things as one, big, happy, combined group! It makes life so much easier!







Seating for EIGHTEEN!



Christmas 2011

Our first Christmas in the house with the big orange door was amazing!! With luck, I managed to find TWO Christmas trees on Craigslist for dirt cheap earlier in the summer, which allowed me the chance to put a tree up in both the upstairs and downstairs living rooms. This worked AWESOME, as we have two sets of “décor”: red/black & Blue/gold.

Downstairs:

Upstairs:

*Great use of an upcycled frame mirror painted red, some scrapbook paper in a frame, and some old ornaments snagged from a thrift store!



Loved filling some space with some pine-cones of differing sizes/quantities, and this HUGE stocking! We have some plans for this stocking next Christmas, so stay tuned! I cant believe its only 6 months away again! Time Flies.

And Beyond:

1. 150 Save the Dates: DONE!

2. A root-touchup gone HORRIBLY wrong turns into a new hair color worth keeping around!

3. Friend gets Pregnant!

4. QT with the mamma!

5. Nephew turns 1!!

6. Engagement pics!

7.Twenty-Seven!

8. FINALLY, new table!

9. Bridal Shower!

10. Wedding invites: SENT!

*Image & invitation suite courtesy of Marissa C., PitterPatterClunk 

11. Pre-Wedding Getaway!

12: Bachelorette!

13: MARRIED!

This should leave my mind feeling "caught up". If you're reading this, thanks for sticking it out! . You can most definitely expect shorter and more regular posts from here on out.