winner, winner, chicken dinner

Congratulations Katie! You have a been a faithful friend and follower from the beginning and I really appreciate your love and support! Enjoy the box of goodies coming your way. :)

Big thanks to all who entered, I really enjoyed reading all of your favorite things you shared with me.

Stay tuned for more fun giveaways in the future!

the start of a future office

Let's be honest, Pottery Barn knows what's up when it comes to offices and organization.

So, when I think about the future of our office/craft space, this is where my mind goes. This project has a long timeline and I know that, because it is no where near the top of our priority list. But somehow, pottery barn-esque elements keep falling in my lap - so I've actually gotten a little start to this future project!

First, we have this sweet library chair. It was one of those serendipitous thrifting days where someone had just dropped this chair off and it was sitting outside, and I roll up, see the chair as the store owner is about to take it inside, ask him how much it is, to which he replies, "for you, $15". Score.

As you can see, it's similar to the one in the pb's office above.

It's definitely an older chair - but i love the look of the metal parts.

Pottery Barn can keep their $400 chair. I'm not afraid of a little WD-40.

Next up, is this dry-erase wall calendar. Found among the frames at goodwill with a $2 price tag. Originally it had a black frame, but with a coat of white paint, you can definitely see the similarity to pottery barn's version.

This organization piece was a $1 yard sale find. I currently use it to organize my thread, and it will make its way in with the office organization when the transformation takes place.

PB uses wicker to organize their wrapping paper in the picture above, but i prefer wire storage.

Which is why I snagged this cute little trash can for $1 as well.
(yes, i totally staged that piece of trash - i wanted you to get the idea)


So, that's the start to my pottery barn inspired office/craft room on a goodwill budget. More to come.

p.s. you have until 8 p.m. tonight to enter the giveaway - it could be your lucky day!

hawaiian chicken salad

I tried a new recipe. You should try it, too.

Tomatoes Stuffed with Hawaiian Chicken Salad

Serves: 4 | Prep Time: 20 mins | Total Time: 30 minutes

Ingredients

4 large tomatoes

3 C cooked, copped chicken breast

1 1/2 C diced pineapple

3/4 C chopped spinach leaves, plus 4 C whole leaves

1/2 C olive oil

1 1/2 TBS dijon mustard

2 TBS red wine vinegar

2 TSP dried thyme

salt & pepper

( I halved the recipe and just made it for Josh and I, so my proportions will look off).

Slice the top 1/2 inch from each tomato and scoop out pulp.

Drain tomatoes upside down on paper towels while you make the stuffing.

In a medium bowl, combine cooked chicken, pineapple, and chopped spinach.

In a small bowl, make the dressing; whisk together oil, mustard vinegar, and thyme. 

Season with salt and pepper. 

Pour three-quarters of the dressing over the chicken mixture; toss gently.

(My iHome got unplugged and wasn't reset, I promised I wasn't cooking at 9:18 p.m.)

Using a large kitchen spoon, fill each tomato with approximately 1 1/3 C of the chicken mixture (if there is extra stuffing, sprinkle it over the spinach salad).

Place 1 cup of whole spinach leaves on each of four dinner plates; drizzle each portion with the remaining dressing. Place a stuffed tomato on top of each spinach salad and serve.

It tastes as pretty as it looks. Trust.

recipe credit

confession & another craigslist win

I must preface this post with a tidbit of information about me. 

I really don't like to paint.

Which is a tough spot to be in for someone who loves/believes in DIY projects. It all started back when I lived in a townhouse and couldn't paint - throughout these years, I built up this grand notion about how amazing it would be to be able to paint my walls. Well, when we moved into our house and I finally could paint, my grand notion of how amazing and fun it would be was smashed into oblivion. It was not fun. It was long hours, hard work, and tediously taping off edges. It did not live up to my dream of Josh and I painting side by side, smiling and laughing, and flirting by smearing paint on each other. Not even close, my friends. In fact, if you come over, I'll tell you that I only wanted to do accent walls in several rooms of my house, but truth be told: I really don't like painting. 

I am in awe of people who can paint their entire house in a weekend (ahem, Megan). And am enthralled by people who can paint for a living. Okay, glad I got that out there.

Buuut, just because I don't like it - doesn't mean I don't do it. It's one of those necessary evils in life for me. Thus begins the story of my office french doors.

Saving up for french doors was something Josh and I decided we would do since Day 1 of owning our house. It just seemed like the perfect solution to separate the office from the living room. Well, we recently hit one year of homeownership and still no french doors. Why, you ask?

That's why. $329 always seems to find a more necessary home somehow.

Well, I may not be good at painting, but I am good at holding out for something I want for a decent price. Enter: a whim to search for french doors on craigslist leading to the purchase of the same exact french doors as pictured above for $70! Holler. We had to drive 45 minutes to get them, but it was still totally worth it.

The only problem - they were unfinished. Translation: they needed to be painted.

I spent the better portion of the ride home trying to convince Josh to paint them for me. He, in no uncertain terms, informed me that it would be my job to paint them. Sigh. Groan. Pout.

I dreaded the years of my life that taping off those window panes would steal from me. I may or may not have shed a tear thinking about it. 

Then, the heavens opened up, the clouds parted and we brought the doors in the house only to realize that the doors truly were brand new and still had the plastic seal over the window panes!! I think I started singing the hallelujah chorus.

Because it gave me the liberty to paint like this:

Quick, messy, and with no tape! I got the first two coats done the night we got them home! Boo-yah!

Let's just say I haven't been as timely with doing the finishing touches, but I'm almost ready for the final reveal. Get excited.

p.s. don't forget about the giveaway going on until friday!

it's giveaway day!: CLOSED

The Giveaway is now closed. Winner to be announced shortly!

As promised, today I bring you a giveaway in celebration of reaching 100 honeysuckle followers! I know it may not seem like a big deal to some, but I really appreciate the love and support and I want to celebrate it! Plus, I love giving presents. :)

So, without further ado, I present to you:

1. Blue-striped linen runner: a tabletop favorite

2. White ceramic vase, complete with billy-ball inspired sprigs made by yours truly: a decorating favorite

3. World Market Breakfast Blend ground coffee: a favorite beverage 

4. Grey and yellow flower plate: a favorite color-combo

5. Wooden spool with cream rick-rack: a favorite ribbon

6. Five hand-stamped gift tags: a packaging favorite

7. Blue and white striped cards: a favorite game (euchre anyone?)

8. Mustard yellow plaid cupcake liners (in lieu of actual cupcakes): a favorite treat

9. Rimmel Purple Rain nail polish: a favorite trend

10. Soy candle by Glade in Macintosh Apple: a favorite scent

11. A set of four Katie Daisy cards (totally frame-worthy): a favorite stationary

:: GIVEAWAY ENTRY ::

1. You must be a public follower of this blog to enter this giveaway.

2. Leave a comment telling me one of your favorite things - anything in the world.
Additional entries:

3. Share via facebook - and then come back and comment that you did.

4. Share via twitter - and then come back and comment.

5. Share via blog - mention this giveaway on your own blog and then come back and comment.

:: GIVEAWAY DETAILS ::

a) It is possible to have a maximum of 4 entries total per person.
b) Please make sure to leave each entry as its own comment. 

c) The giveaway is open from friday, july 8 @ 8 a.m. EST until friday, july 15 @ 8 p.m. EST.

  d) Using random.org, 1 lucky winner will be chosen on friday, july 15 @ 8 p.m. EST and subsequently announced.

e) Open to contestants worldwide. 
f) Please be sure to leave me an email where i can reach you if your account doesn't link to one. Thanks.

Good luck!!

baby shower: favor idea

for my friend kerry's baby shower, i also volunteered to do the favors to lighten the load of her already-busy mother. so we threw a couple of ideas around, but one day while browsing around on pinterest, i saw this image and i took the concept and ran with it.

Here's what you need:
scrapbook paper squares
cellophane bags
1 inch circle punch
printed tags
staples
rubber cement
candy



The first prep work I did was to decide on what patterns of paper I wanted to use and then cut them all to the same length, which was just a little longer than the cellophane bags I picked out.

This idea could essentially work for any occasion, as it would be easy to change the tag to say whatever you want. For this occasion, I decided on 'sweet baby girl' as a correlation with the event and the candy inside.


I cut the tags into rows and then took my circle craft punch to them.


I ended up with 20 perfect circle tags.


Then I took a little rubber cement and attached each tag to one of the folded squares.


Here, some may say I'm crazy, but I wanted my staples to go with the pink theme, so I colored them in with a pink sharpie. This is totally unnecessary, unless you are a presentation over-achiever like me.


But doesn't it look so nice all color-coordinated?!


The final step is to fill your bags with whatever you're giving out - in our case, assorted pink candy.


Then put them all together as a pretty parting gift for your guests.

Shower outcome: The pink patterns looked beautiful together and everyone appreciated the favors. The whole shower was a huge success!

baby shower: invite idea

Remember how I told you I was moving into the baby phase of my life where all my friends start to have  babies? Well, it's started...and one of my dearest friends is having a baby girl in September. When we first started talking about her shower, she sent me an idea she'd like to do and that is to ask for books instead of cards by including this poem:

Although cards are nice,

they are read once or twice.

A book is a treasure

forever and ever.

So instead of a card to be put aside,

please bring a favorite book which

will stay forever by her side.

I then immediately remembered the Katie Daisy collaboration with Martha Stewart that I'd seen in MS Living magazine (Katie Daisy does the most beautiful illustrations and I'm currently smitten.) It's a free for personal use invite, bookplate and bookmark download. And I knew it'd be perfect to include the bookplate with the poem and the invite. I did a little rearranging of the elements to make it work and added my own touches, but the set came out great.

I think the idea of books instead of cards is a great one, and can you believe she didn't get any duplicates?

I got her this book in memory of Pepper, Kerry's bird, who had to find a new home to make room for Baby Ana. I'm sure she'll love to hear the stories of all the crazy animals her mother has owned.

And I know she'll love her mother reading her lots and lots of books.