Happy Easter!

Happy Easter to all our family and friends, and our 4 blog readers!

We had an awesome weekend filled with good friends, food and gorgeous weather! On Friday we ran a few errands, and found a couple of goodies for the house. We went down to the West Bottoms, and bought a table at a vintage consignment store. We spent Friday on the best patio in Kansas City. (Gram and Dun)

Saturday we slept in, relaxed, worked out, and worked on the house. A few of our friends came over and we played Cards Against Humanity - which we highly suggest.

Here are some photos of our most recent home decorating. Including the finished lamps that Tom created that I talked about here.

Recent Cooking Adventures...

I tried a few new recipes this week and had success with all of them. I am going to give the credit to the recipes, and not the chef. They were a 6 out of 10 on a difficulty scale.

We are huge lovers of spaghetti squash and the grocery store by our house is always stocked up on them. I am looking for new recipes that have spaghetti squash in them. I tried spaghetti squash pad thai this week and it was delicious. I even made egg drop soup to go with it. Here are a few things that I would change/adjust about the recipe:

• add 2 tablespoons of peanut butter to the sunshine sauce 
• top the dish with cilantro, a few green onions, and chopped walnuts 
• You can substitute soy sauce for coconut aminos if you don't have that
• You can substitute canola oil for coconut oil - that stuff is expensive! 

We made a few frozen crock pot meals earlier this year, to stick in the crock pot on busy days. We tried the vegetable beef soup this week - and it was the best one we had made it. We recommend! The link takes you to all the crock pot meals we tried - we only recommend making the vegetable stew one, the others just aren't that great. You can make this one fresh, or make it and put it in a big zip lock back and freeze a few meals. Perfect for a cold day. Add cheese and your dinner is served! (no photo for this one... sorry!)

I made a kale and Brussels sprout salad tonight. It was perfect for a spring day, and very filling. I also just learned today that you actually have to capitalize the word Brussels. The vegetable was cultivated thousands of years ago in Rome, but were popular in Brussels hence the naming. I like to call them mini lettuce heads. Here are a few things that I would change/adjust about the recipe:

• Use 1/3 cup lemon juice 
• Add a teensy bit more olive oil to the kale mix 
•  I just used 1 head curly kale (what's found in most grocery stores) 
• Add the dressing about 30 minutes prior and refrigerate about 20 minutes prior to serving, so the dressing can soak into the kale 
• You could add chicken or salmon to make this a hearty meal event though it's filling without

Bon Appetit!

Today is also Tom and I's 11 month anniversary. After cooking our veggie soup crock pot meal we had a place clear in our freezer, and now the wedding cake is staring at me every time I open the door. I am so excited to eat it again. It was seriously the best cake ever. Ekkkk can't believe we are almost to our one year anniversary. :) Love married life!

Okay Mother Nature, We Are Ready for Spring... Really.

We got 7 more inches of snow last night in Kansas City. Let me tell you, a snow storm is much more enjoyable when your husband is in town. We went to Ben and Renee Laster's wedding out in Edgerton at the beginning of the storm, and it didn't stop snowing all night.

Ben and Renee's wedding was beautiful, and it was fun to get together with good friends and celebrate. It was in a rustic barn, and all the decor was perfect and the food was amazing. Renee looked gorgeous, and we are so excited for her and Ben! This was Tom and I's 2nd wedding of 2013 - we have 8 more. I think I might need to get a job at Bed Bath and Beyond.

Tom took another trip to New Jersey for a work project. He went 125 feet in the air in a boom truck. I feel really great about this as it sounds so safe. (Photos below)

Tom and I are ready to escape this cold Kansas weather and head to Costa Rica in just a few short weeks. I just bought this great floppy hat from Target. I will be channeling my inner Audrey Hepburn while soaking up the rays on the beach. We can't wait to see Rob, Jenny and Sophia. It will also be fun to meet their family and friends. We fly into San Jose on April 6, then head down south to their house for a couple days, then Tom and I will drive up to Manuel Antonio for 4 days to celebrate our anniversary.

Our actual anniversary isn't until April 28th, but you can't ever celebrate too long, can you? I think year one of the wedding anniversary tradition gift thing is paper. I know Tom will be happy with a nice doily. ;) I think our plane tickets made of paper will be the perfect gift for both of us!  I can't believe Tom and I have almost been married for a year now. Where did the year go?! We have done so much to our house, traveled to lots of fun places, and had the best time being married!

I also can't believe I have been blogging for over a year now. I have been slacking the last month or two. I am going to blame it on the cold weather, and Tom being out of town for work. He is my blogging inspiration, by golly! It's been fun - I would love to get our first year in marriage blog posts printed into a book. Is this a real thing? Does a company do this?

In home remodel news we put some new decor up in our kitchen, and we are 74% down with our living room! We ordered the most wonderful area rug, after weeks of deliberation. We ordered it from Home Decorators on sale along with a matching runner.

I am still in search of these items to complete the room: 

1. Two rustic/vintage windows (think, our wedding guest book)
2. A console table like this. I would love to keep a few bottles of wine, and my turn table on this. I don't really want to pay $300 for a fake industrial table though. Surely there is one in the basement of an antique store waiting for me to find it.
3. A unique coffee table like this, again not a $500 cheaply made wood one.
4. Throw pillows. Why is it that stores sell throw cover pillows and pillows separately? I think Target is my best option here... I just need to find a Target that is not picked over. 
5. Any amazing chandelier or lighting for the room. This one might be the hardest to find... where do you find a huge iron light fixture that doesn't cost 1,000 bones. Ouch.
6. A big, bold beautiful statement for our mantel. There may or may not be a buffalo shoulder mount in the works which is super cool, and creepy to me at the same time. Depends if ol' pappa Tim decides to hang it on his mantel. He might read this and feel sorry for me since ours is bare. Worth a shot?

Any suggestions you have to finding these objects in the KC area is greatly appreciated  Or maybe there is a great website that I am missing out on. (I have tried Ebay and Craigslist)

This is also VERY exciting news on the DIY home remodel front... Tom is MAKING these edison bulb lamps for our living room. We found them on Etsy for $100 a piece plus shipping. Tom found the materials for making them at $40 a piece. These are the materials you would need to make your own.

Want to make your own? This is all you need: 

A glass cloche sold at Hobby Lobby.
A wood base also sold at Hobby Lobby. We plan to rough this piece up a bit to make it look more rustic.
Light socket. Finish color of your choice.
Antique replica plug.
Cord switch.
Black cloth covered cord.
Nostalgic Edison bulb sold at your local Lowe's or Hobby Lobby.

There will be another blog post on how we are going to do this and finished product photos. Keep your fingers crossed.

Our pretty new chair and perfect reading spot. 

Our barn wood house frame that we made. We printed Instagram photos to hang from twine.
They are hanging in our ktichen. 

Tom's dad inspired us, and we started working on a puzzle. Tom is much more patient and skilled than I am. 

Tom took this photo 125 feet in the air in the boom truck. Yowza! 

A view from our upstairs of our new living room furniture and rug. 

Ben and Renee's first dance at their wedding. 

New rugs and furniture! Can't believe this room isn't empty anymore. 

Tom and I at Ben and Renee's wedding.

Tom shoveling our drive. Isn't he cute? I think so too. 

We've Got Cabin Fever

It's been a couple weeks, since I have blogged - which is contradictory because after Kansas City had snowmageddon (times two) and Tom out of town for work, I have had plenty of time in the house to write a blog post.

Here is a quick synopsis on our lives the past two weeks.

1. Tom went to Secaucus, New Jersey for 2+ weeks for a work project. He has been working so so hard!
2. We got two HUGE snow storms totaling in over 15 inches in snow. I have never seen so much snow in my life. My neighbors were awesome and helped me shovel snow. My back has also never been so sore in my life. 
3. I watched 41 episodes of Friday Night Lights. I know, get a life, right? I was trapped inside! Any good book recommendations?
4. I went home and spend some good QT time with my family. My grandma and I had a gin rummy tournament, and she kicked my behind. (she also rubbed that in!) I got to see my brother and his house which was a lot of fun! Proud of him. 
5. Tom went to Sun City for the weekend to spend some good QT time with his family for the weekend. He and his dad finished a 1,000 piece puzzle and solved all of the world's problems while putting it together. 
6. Tom and I missed each other. A lot. We are ready to be in the same house for a long period of time. 
7. We are still working on planning our trip to Costa Rica and working on our rocking hard beach bods. 

That's all I got.. see our photos below.

My dad and grandma are too cute! (minus the KU gear) 

Tom brought me cake from the cake boss store in New Jersey 

This cute box that I found to plant flowers in on the front porch! 

I love this photo of Tom and I. He is my best friend!!!

In the middle of the snow storm. 

Our back porch on the snow storm. 

My neighbors were so nice to me and helped me clean off the driveway while Tom was gone. 

We got a lot of snow. 

At Ale's wedding. It was such a beautiful wedding. She looked so happy!!! 

Our beautiful home covered in snow.