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.

Why, Hello!

My goodness, it's been a while, huh? I'm not sure exactly what happened for me to drop off the face of this blogging world, but I guess if I can pick something to blame it on, I'd pick the craziness that is the time between Christmas and...well, now. But truthfully, I have nothing more to blame than myself and laziness.

So, here I sit on the couch watching a movie and waiting for my Mr. to come home from a little flight to the lovely Springfield, Missouri. Not much has changed since the last time I wrote. I did do some living room updates with a new chair (buh bye big bulky chair) a new coffee table ( no more giant ottoman acting as a coffee table) and a new zebra rug that I'm pretty much in love with. Add two small ottomans to the mix, and it's really started to come together. Domestically, decorating is thankfully not my downfall. Let me tell you, though, exactly what is.

I still can't bake. I've started being able to cook a nice meal or two for Mr., but I still, for the life of me, can not bake. I have tried to bake cookies - we are talking simple, chocolate chip cookies here people - about 5 times in the last two months. Every single time, they come out like a flat piece of charred wood. I promise I followed the directions, and didn't leave out any baking soda, or powder, or flower...or anything. And I just can't make a cookie to save my life! What's a girl to do?

I grew up with my mom baking the sweetest, best treats for us, and my sisters have both inherited that gene. I don't want to someday have kids and only be able to serve the Pillsbury slice and bake ones! I have got to perfect this. And more than that, I WANT to perfect it.

For Valentine's Day, we decided anything we gave had to be hand made. Here's what I put together. Kyle's card was absolutely perfect. It said "I Will Always Love You Even if You..." and then had pictures of the worst looking people and situations. It was the best card I've ever gotten, and the hand made element just added so much more to it. I love knowing he spent time and put thought into it.

I made banana cupcakes (hence that tag that says "you make me go bananas") with hot pink icing, and a little card I designed with hand-stitched edges. It said all the little things I love about him. We spent Valentine's Day following our tradition of eating at Luby's, and our parents and my little sis joined us. It was perfect.

cold, cold go away!

Tuesday night, Kyle and I made our monthly grocery run, so I finally got stuff to try some of the recipes I've been wanting. Yesterday morning, I made iowagirleats's morning oats, and it was delicious! My morning oats were:

• 3/4 cup strawberry yogurt ( I got Dannon Light and Fit yogurt...110 calories pre cup, and no fat! I bought the large container instead of a bunch of small ones.)
• 1/4 cup old fashioned oats
• 1 banana, sliced
• almonds, sprinkled on top
• honey drizzled on top

It was D-E-L-I-C-I-O-U-S! And so filling. Much more than my usual Cream of Wheat or cereal. By lunch, I was hardly hungry, but I had a lunch meeting, so I just got a bowl of soup. I also bought raspberries and blueberries to use as morning oats topping.

Tonight we are getting together with some other couples from church, so I am making a salad I found on the same blog. It consists of:

• Spinach leaves
• Carrots
• Roma tomato
• Feta cheese
• Chopped pecans
• Raspberries 

Sounds so yummy! The recipe actually calls for mixed greens, but I prefer spinach, so I'm mixing it up a little bit. I got sun dried tomato dressing to top it. Probably could have just made a balsamic vinegar dressing, but this will be a little easier.

Last night, we had our friends over for dinner. I stuck to what I knew as far as the meal. I read somewhere that when you have people over, it's not he time to try something new. I don't know that holds true for everyone, but in my case, I think it's best. I made Parmesan chicken topped with lemon vinaigrette spinach salad, and it turned out great! And (bonus!) I didn't set off the fire alarm! The more I make this recipe, the better it turns out. We had our own version of a Christmas Cosmo to go with it. Tasty! After we ate, we braved the brutal cold and went to look at Christmas lights. We lasted about 20 minutes before we came back home to Meredith's black forrest cake (yum!) and hot apple cider. It's becoming a little bit of a tradition for the four of us to look at lights together, so I'm glad we kept it going despite the cold. Afterwards, I asked Kyle if we could move to the Caribbean. I was hardly kidding :)

Our friends!

Me and the Mr. being silly

I've been friends with this girl for half my life! We bonded over purple skittles, and I'm so thankful our friendship has stuck.

getting in the christmas spirit

Look what we did last night! Christmas-ified our apartment with our very first married Christmas tree. We went out to the Owasso Tree Farm and took full advantage of the apple cider and gift shop. Had to buy an ornament to remember our first tree experience, right?

And then I made Kyle take cheesy pictures with me in these wooden trees.

Cute, huh? The nice guys at the farm strapped our 6 footer to the top of our Jeep, and off we went. I so wish I had taken a picture of the tree on top of our car. We felt like the Griswolds going down the highway, and I kept trying to make sure it was still on the car. But, we got it home, and the decorating began!

My family has, for as long as I can remember, had the tradition of drinking Christmas Coca-Cola glass bottles while we put up the tree. So, Kyle and I decided to adopt that into our little family too, and accompany it with a Calzone and Love Actually on the TV (we LOVE that movie.) Kyle got a nice fire going with the help of lighter fluid, and I got all the decorations ready to go.

Nellie was amazed by the tree, and kept trying to eat it. She actually still tries to eat it. I tried to google this issue, and apparently it's pretty common.

The decorating got going, and I have to say. Our plan was to get a real tree this year, and buy a fake, prelit one after the season, on sale. But our tree smells so amazing, I don't know if I could go back to a fake tree! I can't remember what kind we got, but it smells like pine and orange. Yumm. Probably why Nellie tries to eat it.

After it was all decorated we had to attempt a family pic. We seriously love how it turned out (the tree...the family pic could use some tweaking,) and had so much fun putting the tree up. It one of those things you just know you will always remember...your first married Christmas tree experience...and I think it was a great one to start with.

P.S. Like the painting above our fireplace? It was a wedding gift from our incredibly talented sister-in-law. Check her art out at www.melissapaynebaker.com. She's awesome!

behind closed cabinets

Some of my kitchen cabinets are perfectly (almost) organized, and others look like a tornado ripped right through. For example, this one is pretty in white and blue.

Then this one...it's half random bowls and kitchen accessories (I do love my Williams-Sonoma colorful ones,) and half baking items so I can make a disaster of my kitchen (we have a seriously small pantry, so I have to stash things wherever I can.)

So here's a little kitchen inspiration to (hopefully) inspire me to get things a little more organized and pretty. And if not, these photos are still sure to make you drool.

Check out this gorgeous blue light shade.

cotedetexas.blogspot.com

Oh those gorgeous white cabinets with clear panes. Drooling.

decorpad.com

This window shade is so cute! Love having a window over the sink. And check out those exposed shelves!

hookedonhouses.net

White...blue...so pretty!

hookedonhouses.net

I don't think I would ever do blue cabinets, but check out that chandelier! So bold. So pretty.

kitchenisms.com

This looks so very Ikea. Modern. Clean. And glossy cabinets. And that backsplash! Would love to know what that material is.

kitchenisms.com

I LOVE this! White cabinets. Stainless appliances. White, clear and blue. And check out that built in wine rack. Santa, please?

I know I have shown this before, but I had to revisit it. I just love Katie Ukrop's home. Replace the pink with my Martha blue, and it's a kitchen dream come true!

younghouselove.com and Domino Magazine