Weekend Wrap-up

I think I made the right decision on not going home last weekend considering this was the scene at our house...

13 inches - C-R-A-Z-Y!! Fayetteville has gotten more snow this year than Columbia, AND more snow than I can ever remember! I think I need to move back to stop these crazy weather patterns. It must all be because I moved away. ;)

I had a nice little weekend to myself while Eric was in Memphis. I battled some snow flurries and rain on Saturday to travel down to the Lake of the Ozarks to do some shopping. It ended quite quickly though after I fell in love with Marshall's/HomeGoods and had a whole cart full and more...so much for making some other stops at antique stores. ;)

These pictures aren't great (I just snapped them running out the door this morning), so please excuse the lack of fabulous photos. I think I'm going to have to have Aunt Cindy teach me more about using my camera at the wedding in a few months!

I picked up a couple of pillows for the couch (gold and blue shown)...

This awesome chair and table set (only $99 and exactly what I've been looking for!). It looks a little "blah", but trust me, I have big plans for our little porch! More photos on that soon.

A couple of framed flowers...

And this little cute sign for the kitchen.

PLUS - 5 new spring blouses! It was amazing - I may just have to make another trip soon. And very affordable, too!! If you have one near you, you're lucky! (Although I'm a little glad I don't have one too close because I'd spend way too much)

I've got a new recipe to share, too...I tested this out over the weekend and it didn't turn out as pretty as that picture, but it's really good. Just make sure to put it back in the freezer if you don't eat it all, otherwise it'll melt a bit. :)

Strawberry Whipped Sensation
4 cups fresh strawberries
1 - 14oz. can Eagle brand sweetened condensed milk (NOT evaporated)
1/4 cup lemon juice
1 - 8oz. Cool Whip (thawed)
8 Oreo cookies
1 TBSP butter (melted)

Line a bread loaf pan with foil. In a large bowl mash 2 cups of the strawberries with a potato masher. Add the Eagle brand milk to the strawberries--stir. Add lemon juice--stir. Add 2 cups of the Cool Whip--stir. Pour the strawberry mixture into the foil lined bread loaf pan. Crush the Oreo cookies finely into a small bowl--add the melted butter--stir. Spread the cookie mixture evenly over the top of the strawberry mixture. Use the back of a spoon to lightly press the Oreo cookie mixture into the strawberry mixture. Cover the top of the loaf pan with foil. Freeze the entire thing overnight. The next day remove it from the freezer, remove the foil from the top, and invert it onto a plate--if any of the foil sticks to it, peel it off. Frost the loaf with the other 2 cups of Cool Whip. Slice the remaining 2 cups of strawberries and arrange them on top of the Cool Whip frosting. Slice like bread to serve.

P.S. - Eric has an internship interview tomorrow! Cross your fingers and say a prayer! :)

P&G Coupon Booklet

Ok, call me a complete nerd, but I got super excited when I heard about this coupon offer:
http://www.pgeverydaysolutions.com/pgeds/pg-brandsaver-samples-coupons.jsp

If you buy $50 worth of P&G products between now and April and save the coupons, they'll send you a $100 coupon book. And I'm sure you buy at least a few of these brands:
http://www.pg.com/en_US/brands/all_brands.shtml

Is that a good deal or what? This week alone I've already spent $10 of P&G products. Piece of cake to spend $50 by April. :) Just don't throw away your receipts!

Weekend Wrap-Up

Another weekend come and gone - I'm jealous of everyone in Arkansas that got either a 3 or 4-day weekend! Thankfully the ice storm wasn't near as bad there as it was last year. I don't think it can get much worse than this:

{Ice Storm 2009}

Let's hope not at least.

Friday night we expanded our Columbia cuisine by trying a local Chinese restaurant that was delicious! I think our count of local restaurants that we've tried is up to about 4 or 5. Pathetic considering we've been here 7 months and go out to eat at least once a week. :) We just can't get away from the Ruby Tuesday coupons, McAlisters, and Panera.

Despite the temperatures in the upper 20's, we went out to the park Saturday afternoon for the first time in months. Thankfully the sun was out so it wasn't too unbearable. I downloaded the "Couch to 5K" iPhone app a few weeks ago so we gave it a try. It's a 3 times a week, 9 week program that trains you up to run a full 5K. (It's been YEARS since I've done that, so I'm definitely out of shape!) Our workout Saturday was a 5 minute warmup, and then 20 minutes of alternating 60 second runs with 90 second walks, followed by a 5 minute cooldown. I was able to do it, but I couldn't walk hardly at all yesterday my legs were so sore! Time to hit the gym again tomorrow I guess!

Eric and Clayton picked up the infamous chair on Friday, so I started to rip it apart on Saturday. Eric jumped in immediately and basically took over the whole project. :) After him giving me such a hard time about the thing, he was actually super excited about it.

It took us 3.5 hours with 2 tool sets to rip apart most of the upholstery.

And the smell wasn't too great once we got to the stuffing. Good thing I just got my new vacuum filters in.

Sunday we set out to town to get fabric and a staple gun. With the two of us going we were able to use double coupons so we saved about $25. It took us forever to find the upholstery fabric section at Joann, and then another 10 minutes for me just to pick something out, but I ended up going with a print of slate blues with a hint of gold. Thankfully, they had some weekly ads at the front of the store that we were able to snatch two 40% off coupons from. Then we took off to Michael's to use their weekly coupons (and Hobby Lobby will be hit tonight!).

We got the back and the sides stapled on last night, and as we were flipping the chair around, out flew 3 pens, a guitar pick, a used bandaid (eww!), and 31 cents. Who knows what else we'll find in there this week. A $100 bill would be nice. :)

I painted the legs a mustard yellow, and I'm going back to get some gray fabric to do the other parts of the chair. I need to find some trim or tubing at some point, too. But here's the progress (hopefully it'll be done next weekend!)

And as if that's not enough going on, I've got 7 canvases to do this week, too! I got a huge order over the weekend thanks to Etsy, so I'll have plenty to keep me busy for the next week and a half. Eric also got my chalkboard and antique frame hung over the weekend in our office, too!

And, as if this entry isn't long enough, I found out on Friday that I've been accepted to join the ASID (American Society of Interior Designers) blogging team on Healthcare Design Magazine's website. So, beginning in March, I'll have an entry every 4-6 weeks on this website! I'm super excited!

Have a great Monday!

Weekend Update

I really wish that weekends would stop flying by! :)

Friday night Eric and I went to a get-together for the health admin students which was a nice little break from staying at home. Unfortunately though, staying out late messed up my sleep schedule and I couldn't fall asleep last night. I've decided I just need to stick to the 10:00 bedtime even on weekends now. :) I'm too old for staying out late. I got to meet some of his friends that I've heard about and it was nice being around people our own age since we don't know many here.

Saturday we took out in the pouring rain to go antique shopping. I was on a mission for a desk or small table and a large picture frame. We checked out a newer place outside of town where I found this amazing "slipper chair":

It was love at first sight (from a designer's standpoint). Only $28 but unfortunately it needs a lot of help. If only I knew how to reupholster! After looking around on Google, I'm afraid it's going to be upwards of $100 to get it professionally done. I didn't buy it {yet}, but I may just have to go back. Surely I can get some tips online to learn how to reupholster it, right?! ;) Any suggestions?! Should I get it?!

I've actually got Eric hooked on antique shopping, too. I was trying to move quickly since I was on the lookout for just large furniture items, but he was wanting to go slower to look at everything. Here are some goofy pictures from the day:

 

Creepy troll doll anyone?

 

Anna-Marie, this one is for you - fake bird and all! :)

Then we went out to Artichoke Annie's antique store which is by far one of the best I've ever been to. The place is HUGE, and there's furniture galore (my favorite thing to shop for!) Unfortunately, it can be quite pricey. Eric however did find a frame for me though (he's getting so good at picking out my style!).

I've got it repainted (here's a sneak peek), but I've still got a little more work to do. Hopefully our trip to Michael's tonight will help me finish it...

I'm in the process of rearranging our office a bit to make a little "studio" area, so that's where it's going when it's all done. More on that later this week!

In other news, my little sister Kim is going on a big college visit this week with my parents. Hopefully we'll have a final decision on where she's going by the weekend. I can't believe she's already that old!
They're going to Steubenville, Ohio (15 hours away from home (11 hours from us in Columbia), just outside of Pittsburgh!) to see the Franciscan University of Steubenville. It would be a wonderful opportunity for her if she ends up liking it. We'll see how it goes! It's between there or Arkansas and she wants to major in social work. I personally think she needs to go to Arkansas since everyone else in the family graduated from there. ;)

And, how could I forget?! I gave in this weekend (I'm probably going to regret posting this later, too)...

Of course, as soon as I got it I wasn't even cold in the apartment all weekend long! I had to settle with the pink because it was pink/blue/or red at Wal-Mart and we had already ran 5 errands on Saturday so we didn't feel like going anywhere else. Now I can handle the thermostat at 65! :)

And lastly, our "Sunday evening fun" was making homemade french bread pizzas. Nothing fancy, but they were really good...

Here's the recipe:
Ingredients:
-1 pack of 2 French bread loaves (we chose Sara Lee, I think)
-3 tablespoons olive oil
-1 small can pizza sauce (Ragu pizza sauce is really good!)
-1 pack of mozarella cheese
-1 pack pepperoni (or whatever toppings you choose)

Directions:
Heat oven to 350. Cut loaves in half and spread olive oil on the top (acts as a barrier so the sauce doesn't soak through the bread). Spread pizza sauce over olive oil. Add cheese and any other desired toppings (don't get the cheese too close to the edges since it will melt). Cook for 15 minutes.

Enjoy! Hope you have a good week!

"Little Red Riding Hood"

So, Eric's been gone the past few days and work has been slow, so the other day I did a little online shopping... :) (But we're not telling Eric how much I spent...*just kidding*)

One of the downsides of moving up here to the Midwest is that I lost a lot of the shops and restaurants I love. No Forever 21, no Qdoba, no Chick-Fil-A! (SERIOUSLY COLUMBIA?!), no TJ Maxx, no Bed Bath and Beyond... etc. Granted, we did gain Macy's and Michaels, but it's still not the same.

Now, I have to say, I love Forever 21. I can't always find something I like, but when I do it's great. It's very affordable and super cute. My sister claims though that she doesn't like it anymore because EVERYONE at her high school wears it all the time, but I don't think that's the case anymore for me since there's not a store around here. :)

Anyway, I continue to get the F21 emails even though I've tried to unsubscribe multiple times so that it won't tempt me to spend $$. But, I gave in and did a little bit of shopping the other day (hey, I found a coupon code for spend $40 get free shipping!). As you may remember, I talked about my super chic yellow fall jacket I got back in September/October. Well, the other day I found a heavier-weight red winter jacket. LOVE! I had to give in since it had a hood and was a more winter-type coat. I only have one other jacket with a hood, my white GapKids winter coat (Yes, GapKids LOL. I worked there freshman year and it was so cute and actually fit!). Aaand...get this. It was $22! Who can beat that?! It even has black plaid lining, too!

It came in the mail yesterday and I was so excited to wear it today. It'll be great for when I go home for hog games, too, and I could even pull off being Little Red Riding Hood next halloween with it! :) Ok, just kidding.



I hope everyone is ready for Christmas! I can't wait to share some of the handmade gifts I've been working on...but that will have to wait until next week. :) We head down to Arkansas tomorrow for the weekend, so I'll have lots of pictures to share when we get back.

Merry Christmas!

Thanksgiving Break in Pictures

Our break has been a BLUR - it's hard to believe we'll be back to work/school in less than 48 hours!

We left Saturday for Fayetteville to see my family for a few days...


Our dog, Drake


We got to go see the lights on the square with Emily, Drew, Anna-Marie, and Michael




And then us girls had an ornament-making party (Robyn was there earlier in the night, too!)



I actually got Eric to go antique shopping again while we stopped in Prairie Grove!




And then Wednesday we hit the road to Memphis!


Thanksgiving lunch was delicious!




And Friday we hit the bargains at the mall (after sleeping in of course - we can't do the 5am stuff! :) I managed to survive my first Black Friday experience, and actually got a lot of my presents taken care of! - I'm usually pretty last-minute :)

Hope your break was great!!

Groceries, Christmas Trees, and Thanksgiving!

It's become our Friday night ritual to go grocery shopping now apparently. I guess that's what happens when you get married. :)

So, Friday we went down the street to our new neighborhood HyVee that just opened last week. I had to take this photo just for my sister - this summer when my family was helping us move, we were driving around town and saw another HyVee store. Since this isn't an Arkansas grocery store, it was new to us and my sister yelled out "it looks like that sign says "WeeWee!". Granted, it's a little bit of a stretch, but from a distance it did kind of look like "weewee". Needless to say, the whole car busted out laughing and my mom probably laughed for 20 minutes straight (I'm cracking up just thinking about it now).

Kim, this is for you:



Unfortunately, our HyVee experience was slightly disappointing due to the fact that we're a newlywed couple on a tight budget. The store was very nice, but after pointing out several items that costed dollars more than it does at Wal-Mart, I don't think this will be our usual Friday night date location. It was a fun experience though!

Our next "adventure" for the weekend was scouting out Christmas decorations. After paroosing around Hobby Lobby, Wal-Mart, and Michael's, we made a few purchases. The first being our first Christmas tree! Wal-Mart had some really great deals (we got 48 ornaments for $10 and wrapping paper there is as low as $1!) so we snatched up our new tree.



We had some difficulty finding the "perfect" angel tree topper, but Michael's had the one we just fell in love with!



Here's the tree in progress. We'll be making some outings this week to get lights, garland, and more ornaments, so I'll keep you updated!



And, the countdown has begun for our "thanksgiving break!" - 5 days and counting. Since Eric is out of school all next week, I was able to ask off with some unpaid vacay days so we can travel to Fayetteville and Memphis! We can't wait!

Why HELLLLO fall

The cold weather caught us by surprise this morning, so "hello fall!"



Walking in the cold wind at 44 degrees isn't fun whenever you're just wearing a light jacket...



It's cute though, right?! I got it to add some "tiger gold" to my wardrobe!
Eric keeps telling me I need to start thinking of function more than fashion... *sigh*

Happy fall!!!