Design and Decorating

How does this happen?  Really.  How?!  That’s broccoli, by the way. File that one under “Another Reason Maggie is Warming Up to Henry.”   I thought I’d share a little home DIY project with you all!  Perhaps you remember this project, in which we spray-painted our dining room chandelier from tacky-awesome 1990s gold to a [...]

Success! After trying my hand at DIY wall art for the bathroom (and failing), you think I’d be scared to try again… but I found this post on New Domestic that described a super easy way to make modern art.  I figured I would give it another shot.   If you can put painter’s tape [...]

So, last night I commented that my attempt at Do-It-Yourself wall art was no better than an elephant painting.  And several people pointed out that some elephants are, actually, really good artists.  (Source)   Hah.   My DIY art is a fail (here’s proof), but the rest of the house is coming along quite nicely!  [...]

Happy Saturday! Here’s what I was up to today: Well, for one, I broke one of My Four Rules of Running and ran back-to-back days.  After yesterday’s awesome 5-mile run, I was feeling extra motivated and decided to attempt to bang out another 4 today, which would’ve brought my weekly total to 15.  I don’t [...]

If you recall, immediately after we moved into our new house, the air conditioning system blew.  Suffice it to say that replacing an AC is extremely expensive.  Three cheers for homeownership, right?  Fixing the AC ate away our fun ‘decorate the house’ money we had diligently been saving for months.  Some rooms of our house [...]

I’m a serious commitmentphobe.  When it comes to rugs, that is. Normally, I’m pretty good at deciding what I want, whether it’s in my price range, and taking out my wallet.  True story:  when I purchased my first car, I found it online, headed to the dealership, opened the car door, looked inside, and said, [...]

The nursery tour!   I must have pregnancy brain because yesterday, I spent the entire day telling people I was three weeks from my due date.  40 weeks minus 36 weeks is 4 weeks, not 3.  Meh.  Well, regardless, Happy 36 Weeks, BabyHTP!   I’m feeling pretty good this week.  I have really bad carpal [...]

I read blogs for many reasons, but #1 is undoubtedly… to learn.  I have learned so much from blogs.  Food blogs taught me to cook, mommy blogs taught me what not to say to a pregnant woman, political blogs confirmed all my pre-existing biases (kidding!), and fashion blogs taught me about color blocking (although I [...]

Yesterday was the obligatory “Help Your Friends Move” day.  Since Isaac and Nicole are ‘legally but not spiritually’ wed (spiritual wedding is in October), they are moving into together.   Specifically, Isaac is moving out of his 1,000 square foot townhouse and into Nicole’s one-bedroom apartment.     Apparently Isaac is sentimental because I think he kept [...]

I had SO much fun reading your cleaning tips on the post about my new Daily Chore Calendar.  Here are just a few of the tips from the comments section: Kristin @ Iowa Girl Eats keeps a Swiffer sweeper behind her bathroom door and quickly cleans up the hair that ends up on the floor after [...]

Last night, the Husband and I spent over an hour laying in bed, talking in the dark about all the apartments we’ve lived in.  In total, we’ve shared 5 spaces over the last 7 years.  We were trying to remember the layout and design of each house (and I use the term “design” extremely loosely [...]

So, if you recall, when we moved from Orlando to Charlotte this June, we sold off all of our furniture and put our entire life in a small trailer: As a result, we went nuts in West Elm (my favorite store, ever) and our apartment is pretty much decorated in that style.   Our couch [...]

Sugar and spice and everything nice! Sweet and Salty Toasted Quinoa   Ingredients:   1/4 cup quinoa, rinsed and drained 1 tablespoon maple syrup 2 huge pinches cinnamon 1 tiny pinch kosher salt 1 tablespoon sunflower seeds (unsalted)   Directions:   Preheat oven to 375 degrees Mix ingredients and spread out on greased cookie sheet [...]