Simple Stir-Fry

I've been cooking a lot lately, and figured I'd share a really easy dish I just threw together that was pretty tasty (a rare occurrence for me, but thankfully becoming less rare). Basically, I just put some oil in a pan and stir fried some finely chopped garlic, water chestnuts, thinly sliced carrots, broccoli, and diced onion for about five minutes, adding some salt, pepper, and soy sauce. Then I just served it over some rice. Yum!

Fall Themed Party

So the fall themed party for my church went really well! A lot of people came, and we served some really great food. We had games of cornhole and trackball, beer and wine, fall themed foods, and of course pumpkin pie milkshake! Anyway, it was a lot of fun to design and to attend.

Lentil Soup & Pumpkin Shakes

After a failed attempt at a lentil soup (...I didn't know what lentils were...) I made a second attempt with this Martha Steward recipe. It is fantastic—I used chicken broth, and a little extra garlic. Just figured I'd share it because I tried it and give it two thumbs up! :)

So for the fall party this weekend, I wanted to make something pumpkin themed. I Googled a pumpkin milkshake and this recipe was the first thing that came up. Little did I know I had stumbled upon the best dessert ever. Liquid awesomeness. :P (Pumpkin pie is my favorite dessert.) If you like pumpkin pie, you will love this milkshake. It's quick and simple and so delicious. All you need is canned pumpkin, pumpkin pie spice, milk, vanilla ice cream, brown sugar, and whipped cream.

Fall-ing Into Place

I got really excited when a friend of mine asked me today to help her plan for a fall-themed party at our church. That means leaves, nature, burlap, and pretty colors! :D

The first two photos are of a decoration I want to hang a few strands of from the doorways. I found a wooden leaf at Michael's and used that to trace and cut out the shapes for the leaves on cardstock sheets with the color palette I picked. Then I just punched a small hole at the end of each "stem" and tied a knot so they wouldn't all fall into each other. This might even work with a tree branch hanging above them...if there's a way to get it to stay up there!

Next is a bouquet I picked out as a centerpiece. Michael's is having a 60% off sale for these flowers this week, so they came out to a great price!

The next picture is the container for my edible contribution...I'm going to make some kind of a smoothie or milk shake or something like that and put them in these cute jars! I thought the tag was a good idea so people can write their names and they won't get mixed up!

The next few pictures are of the candle jars I picked out—I really liked the texture on the glasses. I also thought this would be another good idea for a bouquet, which is even cheaper and includes the exact colors from the leaves. It's the same technique I used for the one on my dresser. Basically you just pick out some fallen branches, cut out some circles and string them on.

I also wanted to include a photo of these really cute pumpkin baskets I found. These were also on sale (yay sales!) at Michael's so I bought these for my own fall decorations. I love that they're made of such rustic elements like burlap, branches, and wicker.

For the tablecloths, I'm thinking a brown checkerboard with a burlap table runner. But we will see about that. I'll post more as I go along!

Heavy Metal

Ok, so I figured out what I want to do about my bed! I am quite particular so after much searching, I found this amazing iron bed frame, called Hudson by Benecia Foundry & Iron Works, sold by St. Helena Home. As far as finishes, I'm going with Dark Brass, because I think the brownish color will compliment my walnut colored furniture better than something stark like white, black, or grey. What's really cool is that all of these beds are made by hand from a family owned foundry in North Carolina, and I read that the bed frame itself is made from recycled railroad tracks! That makes each one unique, and finely crafted. I'm really excited, so I'm going to start saving now! As far as bed sheets go, I want to keep my aqua color for the fitted sheet, but I'm going to go with grays to compliment it, so I guess we'll see how it all comes together!

My Space

So here are some more shots of my room. This was really fun to decorate! I'm still trying to figure out what to do with my bed since it doesn't match the rest of my set (the bed is like a more reddish brown, whereas the rest of the set is walnut). I can try to get a matching bedframe or I can just go in a totally different direction and get a metal frame or something like that. I haven't decided yet. I also want to change up my comforter, which is just white right now. I'm thinking gray would go nicely, but I think I have to be careful I don't have too many patterns going on that it gets overwhelming!

For anyone interested in where I got some of these things...

Bedroom set [Kudzu]
Arrow lamp [Dot&Bo - but Walmart has a good deal on a set!]
Frames [Target]
Curtains [Target]
Sheets [Burlington Coat Factory]
Rug [IKEA]

Hello Again!

Hi there—it's been awhile! A lot has happened in a year! I met my current boyfriend not long after my last post and have been kept busy by a long distance relationship as well as several large but fun projects at work. (I'm a graphic designer at a non-profit organization). But the past few days, I've been downsizing a little bit as well as redecorating my room. I decided I would post a few close-up tid-bits, but I'll post more later!

My favorite color is still aqua, but I've toned it down a little bit and use it now more as an accent than an all-over color. It goes well with a palette of browns, grays, blacks and yellows! I found this awesome bedroom set, which upon research I discovered is called Broyhill Brasilia. They were produced in the 1960's and stopped production in 1970. The link I provided is to an organization that collects, restores and sells pieces from that collection. I love the modern qualities, especially the characteristic curves. The thing I like about the interior designs of the 50's-70's is that though it was simple and modern, it was also very cozy (example below), unlike a lot of today's designs that seem too sterile for me. Even IKEA can seem a bit too plain for me at times.

The second picture is of some artwork my boyfriend got me that I recently framed. It's Chihiro and Haku from Studio Ghibli's "Spirited Away". Next to it, I created a "bouquet" based on one that I saw in a community near Atlanta called Serenbe. It's basically a bunch of tree branches in a glass vase with circle cutouts forming the "flowers". While I'm at it, I should probably also explain what Serenbe is. It describes itself as "a progressive community connected to nature on the edge of Atlanta. A neighborhood full of fresh food, fresh air and focused on wellbeing". It's a really amazing place with its own schools, markets, shops, farmland and neighborhoods, and is right outside the big city of Atlanta. 

I have also been trying to learn more about nutrition and healthy foods, so if I learn or cook anything interesting, I will be sure to share it! One thing I've tried recently is quinoa. I heard it was really good for you, and very filling. The only thing is I haven't found a dish I've truly enjoyed yet. (It's more like, I'm eating this just because I know it's good for me, haha) If anyone has good recipes for quinoa, I'd love if you could share them! 

The third picture is just a shot of my jewelry branch. I've shown that on here before, but I just thought it made a pretty artistic shot this morning! Basically I just use mini s-hooks to hang and separate things. It's really cheap and cute solution that not only functions as a jewelry holder but also wall art!

Anyway, that's enough for this post. Until we meet again!