beautiful interiors

I must start this post with a disclaimer. What I'm about to write about has much more to do with my own personal interest, and much less to do with the actual idea behind this blog.

I love interior design, more specifically beautiful interiors. I often wonder if I did in fact choose the right major in college, and somehow got only the second word of my career correct...graphic design....interior design. Replace the first words. See what I mean?

Well today I came across a website of a design company, Habachy Designs, whose spaces are the perfect blend of modern, chic and trendy. I was really drawn to the design of this beautiful salon/spa called Polished Beauty Lounge. Well, as I looked more, I realized this spa is in Atlanta, and not only do my sister-in-law and brother-in-law live there, we are also going to visit them in t-minus 23 days!

I immediately e-mailed my sister-in-law to find out if she had ever been there. Well, not only has she been there, her last birthday party was there, and it's only 5 minutes from her house! Guess we have found one order of business while we are there!

If someone opened something like this in Tulsa, it would do amazingly well. I would go there just because of the decor. It's so feminine and chic, and so not the typical black leather massage chair nail salon you find plastered all over the place here.

In other news...I made cookies that actually looked like cookies (pics to come soon) and found the easiest ever dinner to make that's not a frozen pizza and is a total husband pleaser. I'll post more on that later.

Photo credit: Habachy Designs, House of Turquoise

sweet surprises

One of my favorite things about being married so far are the little surprises that come along the way.

A couple months after we got married, I came home on a Friday afternoon knowing Mr. H was taking me out on a date that night. I couldn't wait to get all dolled up for him. Much to my surprise when I walked in the door, a beautiful bouquet of flowers was sitting on the table, along with a card with my name on it. If you know me very well, you know I have a slight obsession with cards, stationery and all things print. I have gobs of blank cards on my desk just waiting for a person to send them to. But when someone else can appreciate my love of them, and give me a card...picked out just for me...I swoon. Especially when it's my man who has spent time on the card aisle (a place I've given hours of my life to.)

So tonight as I was getting ready to go to a meeting and he told me he was going to make me dinner, I melted. And this wasn't a "oh look, we have brats...I'll make these and you can eat some too" kind of a 'make me dinner.' No. This was a "do we have x, y, and z, and if not, I need to go to the store" kind of 'make me dinner.' During the meeting, I declined a wrap, soup and cheesecake dinner, and boasted to everyone my husband was making me dinner.

As soon as I walked in the door, it smelled delicious. Mr. H had made me a delicious Amish breakfast casserole. Very much out of the realm of his usual cooking, and I have to say, my heart melted. The fact that he had put time and effort into making me dinner was so sweet.

I've learned that sometimes it's the smallest things that are the best things about being married. These little surprises make the journey that much better.

Fried Goodness

Well, so far this week, dinners in our household have been anything but healthy. But, I've also been kicking it into high gear and going to the gym every morning...that makes it a little more ok, right?

Last night, we got home a bit later after Nellie graduated from puppy class (oh, we are such proud parents) and were faced with the challenge of what to make for dinner. When I went grocery shopping last month, I had every intention of trying a few new, but simple things, one of which was...drumroll please...Monte Cristo's. That sweet, fried goodness sounded good to both of us, so we put our chef hats on and before we knew it, our apartment spelled like the fair (think corn dogs, funnel cakes...anything fried.) I have to say it turned out great, and just in case you want to take yourself on a trip down memory lane to last fall's fair, I'm going to go ahead and share the recipe I used (which can also be found here.)


Monte Cristo (The REAL one)

• 1 quart oil for frying, or as needed
• 2/3 cup water
• 1 egg
• 2/3 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 3/4 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 8 slices white bread
• 4 slices Swiss cheese
• 4 slices turkey
• 4 slices ham
• 1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1 tablespoon confectioners' sugar for dusting

Directions

1. Heat 5 inches of oil in a deep-fryer to 365 degrees F (180 degrees C). While oil is heating, make the batter: In a medium bowl, whisk together the egg and water. Combine the flour, baking powder, salt and pepper; whisk into the egg mixture until smooth. Set aside in the refrigerator.
2. Assemble sandwiches by placing one slice of turkey on one slice of bread, a slice of ham on another, then sandwich them with the Swiss cheese in the middle. Cut sandwiches into quarters, and secure with toothpicks.
3. Dip each sandwich quarter in the batter so that all sides are coated. Deep fry in the hot oil until golden brown on all sides. Remove toothpicks and arrange on a serving tray. Dust with confectioners' sugar just before serving.