Confessions

I confess...

That this is my first confessions post in a while! I sure do miss doing these things!

I am SOOOO excited because today I'm flying up to Indianapolis to see my sister for the weekend!! She's doing a summer internship up there and I cannot wait to see her again! We're heading over to Chicago for a night so send along your recommendations :)

This is me and my sister

The other fun thing that happened at work a few weeks ago was my boss finally remembered I had a blog (after like 2 years..) and decided it'd be fun to show everyone... so everyone made fun of me for a few weeks. Thankfully it's died down so hopefully I don't have to hear too much about it anymore - the cons of working with such a close-knit group ;)

Stephen and I have been loving throwing the baseball in our backyard during the evening but every once in a while, he'll throw the ball hard and I freak out. I got stitches from a softball in 4th grade so anytime it's thrown too hard to me, I get really scared.

I can't believe JoJo left Chase hanging like she did in the fantasy suite this past week - I feel so bad for Chase. It does look like they set him up to be the next Bachelor with how he came back to say he was sorry...

They really overdid it with Chad on The Men Tell All. Stephen said it looked like a Jerry Springer episode with how they brought Chad out with the security guards. Can't believe he's going to be on Bachelor in Paradise - is anyone going to be watching?

Linking up with Annie.

Our Home: One Year Later | Kitchen

After being in our house for a year now, I've been really happy with our kitchen and all the space we have! Even though we don't have an island, I truly have a ton of storage space and counter space and it's been fantastic, after coming from our apt which had a kitchen about 1/4 of the size of our house. 

Thankfully, we were able to buy all new appliances when we moved in so we haven't had too many updates in the kitchen. Some decorations have been added and re-arranged. I love our lemon theme and every time I find a new lemon thing, I want to get it for the kitchen.

I'm still looking for some book ends for those cook books

Some things we've thrown around doing in the kitchen (in the way future) would be to get under-cabinet lights, redo the cabinets and add a valance to the window.

You can see our original kitchen tour here.

Linking up with Jessi.

Weekending... on a Tuesday

I was laying in bed on Sunday night thinking how I'd gotten everything checked off my list, until I realized I forgot to blog!! Thankfully, Stephen went to bed before the Bachelorette was over and I had some time to myself to get this done :)

Friday morning, my friend and I threw a "Diapers and Donuts" sprinkle for one of our co-workers. It was the perfect little diaper sprinkle for them since they're having their 3rd boy in a few weeks. I can't wait to meet little Deacon!!

After getting home from work we relaxed, threw the baseball and I finally finished watching Catch Me if You Can after I had started it a month ago on the plane to Atlanta. It was a great movie and I can't believe it took me so long to watch it!

Saturday, Stephen had to work (thankfully it was a half day) so I slept in, watched some Gossip Girl and got some things done around the house. Afterwards, I ran some errands - I picked up these flats to replace my beat up pair as well as this shirt for half off from Old Navy. Later that afternoon, we headed over to Orlando for a dinner party my co-worker was throwing. We had a great time and it was so nice to hang out with some of my work friends!

We had to use our new selfie stick for our CO trip

Sunday, we ran to church then came back so Stephen could mow and I worked on some embroidery. I'm still learning and practicing but I had to laugh when I made a mistake on one of my tank tops. Thankfully, I was able to fix it with hand sewing and now it looks perfect! We did some more planning for our CO trip and we are just getting SO excited!! We booked horse back riding in Vail and we decided to do hanging lake, Glenwood Adventure and Iron Mountain in Glenwood Springs - we're getting so tickled with the fun adventures we have lined up :) The rest of the evening, we got things ready for the week while I finished laundry - so fun...

Now something I will need from y'all - what are some of your favorite restaurants in Vail, Aspen, Glenwood Springs & Breckenridge?

I hope everyone had a great weekend! I just finished watching the Bachelorette and can't believe Jojo sent Chase home like that!! I thought it was very noble of him to come back and talk through things before officially leaving. I honestly didn't see Jordan and Chase being the final 2 - my bracket is complete crap now lol

Five on Friday!

One
This week has been crazy busy! At work, we had our annual all employee meeting and this year, management brought it back to the beach which was awesome! Starting after lunch on Monday, we had meetings that ran through lunch on Wednesday and then after our Wednesday meetings, it was time to hit the beach. I feel like our group lives up to the mantra "work hard, play hard". We had such a fun time - if you're on my snapchat, you know what I mean ;) Our director loves to dance so after dinner every year, we have a few hours of dancing and let me tell you, I'm on that dance floor 90% of the time! I love dancing and it's so fun letting loose for a few hours. Now, I'll spare my co-workers and I'll just share a few photos from Wednesday's fun ;) (granted, I should be sharing the videos after how much fun they made of me once they discovered my blog)

From my first trip to Publix - this doesn't even include our 2 carts and 6 coolers worth of stuff from BJ's ;)

Two
Last week, my sweet friend brought me the most adorable birthday gift! She painted a mason jar gold and added a succulent to the top so it looked like a pineapple and then added some Burt's Bees lipstick (which I'm obsessed with), mini pineapple candle and some gift cards! I thought it was the best idea! Thanks for feeding my pineapple addiction, Madison :)

Three
On top of the fun pineapple gift, I had another mini birthday surprise! One of my best friends came into town and I was able to meet up with her after work for some coke floats!! Unfortunately, we don't get to see each other often but when we do, it's like we were never apart :)

Four
I'm so excited because in less than a week, I'll be on a plane headed to see my little sister for the weekend!! She's interning for the summer in Indianapolis and since it's a short car ride away, we're sneaking over to Chicago for a night! I cannot wait to see the Midwest for the first time and I'm dying to meet her new boyfriend :)

We've got a few things on our list like the Lincoln Zoo, the Bean, RPM steak, Magnificent Mile, Wrigley Field and Trump Tower. One of the things we need to decide on is if we want to do 360 Chicago or the Skydeck. I'm leaning towards the Skydeck since you aren't leaning over the glass but I'd love to hear from anyone who's done either or both! Also, send any of your Chicago suggestions my way :)

Five
I am so looking forward to the weekend! Stephen might have to work on Saturday which stinks but might leave me time to get things done around the house... or just watch Gossip Girl all day lol I just finished season 4 and I feel like the show is getting better as time goes on but we'll see. We're also hoping to make it to a dinner party in Orlando but if Stephen's working, I'm not sure if we'll get to go.

I hope everyone has a great weekend!!!

Our Home: One Year Later | Family Room

It's so crazy to look back and see how much our family room has evolved! This is one of our favorite rooms in the house - it's super cozy and we spend way too much time relaxing on the couch watching TV.

You can see the full post from when we first moved in here but for now, below is a quick before shot:

And here are the after pictures:

Some of the big changes that we added were decorating the TV stand, adding the shelf above the TV, buying my favorite foyer table, adding some new pillows to the couch and adding a tray for the coffee table. I'd love to get a chair and lamp for the left side of the TV but I'm having a harder time finding a chair than I thought. I think once I get those two items, the room will be officially done!

If you'd like to know where something is from, leave a comment or email me and I'll let you know!

Linking up with Jessi.

Weekending

We had a great, slower paced weekend which was just what we needed after a few weeks of craziness from our birthdays and anniversaries. Stephen had the day off work on Friday and was able to get a lot of things done around the house so once I got home from work, we ran off to the mall. I had a ton of errands to run and Stephen provided the perfect company :) We swung by Moe's for dinner and enjoyed laughing at people walking around playing Pokemon Go. After we got home, we finished reading our books before calling it a night.

Saturday we woke up and made pancakes before slowly cleaning up the house and getting projects done. That night, we hosted supper club and had a blast!! Stephen made goat cheese pita, ribs, grilled okra and I made roasted broccoli & fruit cookies for dessert. Everything was delicious and after a few hours of eating dinner and chatting on the back porch, we took things inside to play nerts. Our friends re-introduced us to the game at our last supper club and we were dying to play with them again! We had a great night and are so thankful to have such great friends!

I didn't get a picture of dinner but I did get a picture of dessert

Sunday, we went to church and then stopped by Sports Authority since everything was finally marked down to 50%! We found a ton of things - Christmas gifts for my family, some workout gear for ourselves and we broke down and got baseball gloves! I'm excited to get the workout gear out and hopefully get back into working out. After Sports Authority, we ran over to the mall to finally get Stephen his sunglasses - he settled on some wayfarer Ray Bans and I can't wait for him to get them! Then, we stopped by Publix and headed home to get working on my co-workers baby sprinkle decorations, wash all of our things for my work's all employee meeting this week, I cut Stephen's hair and we finished off the night throwing the baseball in the backyard.

The diaper cake isn't complete but we did hide a wine bottle as a core ;) You can find my diaper cake tutorial here - I modified the one above a little bit by not adding the rolled diapers in front

This is going to be a busy week!! Monday-Wednesday I have an all employee meeting with work which will be filled with all-day meetings except for Wednesday, when we go to the beach. Thankfully, next weekend should be pretty low key again! I hope everyone had a great weekend!

Linking up with Biana.

The Perfect Summer Meal

Ever since Stephen got his dual gas and charcoal grill last summer, he's been trying to master the art of grilling with charcoal. He has done an amazing job with that grill and makes the absolute best food! While I was in Tennessee, I stopped by an amazing used book store and snagged Stephen a few grilling cook books. These cook books have been amazing and we tried a few new recipes over the weekend that I wanted to share.

Since it's "Five on Friday", I'll be sharing 5 recipes for this perfect, summer meal

One - Honey-Rosemary Pork Chops
Ingredients:
- 1/4 cup honey
- 4 tbsp olive oil (divided)
- 2 tbsp chopped fresh rosemary
- 4, 6 oz boneless pork chops (each ~3/4 inches thick)
- Salt and pepper

Directions:
1. Preheat a clean grill to med-high with the lid closed for 8-10 minutes (this will all vary depending on if you're using gas or charcoal) and make sure to brush the grates with oil

2. In a small bowl, whisk together the honey, 2 tbsp olive oil and rosemary. Transfer half to a small bowl and use the other half to glaze the pork chops. The remaining glaze will be used to cover the cooked chops.

3. Lightly brush the chops with the remaining olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Then, brush the honey glaze on each side of the pork chops.

4. Place the chops on the grill and cook until golden brown, about 5-6 minutes. Turn the chops over (you can add some more glaze if you want) and cook another 6-8 minutes for medium. Remove from heat and brush with the remaining glaze. Cover and set aside for 5 minutes.

Two - Grilled Lime Sweet Potatoes
Ingredients:
- 2 medium sweet potatoes, peeled and sliced into rounds about 1/4 inches thick
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- salt and pepper
- 1 tbsp lime zest (we didn't use the limes)
- 2 tbsp freshly squeezed lime juice

Directions:
1. Preheat a clean grill to med-high with the lid closed for 8-10 minutes (this will all vary depending on if you're using gas or charcoal) and make sure to brush the grates with oil

2. Toss together the olive oil and sliced sweet potatoes in a large bowl, until well coated. Season with salt and pepper

3. Place the potatoes on the grill screen. Close the lid and cook, turning once, until tender and golden brown - 7-8 min total (ours ended up taking a lot longer than this...). Place in a service bowl and toss with the lime zest and juice

Three - Grilled Romaine
So, I actually saw April blog about her grilled romaine - my interest was sparked but once I saw Annie's recipe, I knew I had to try it out. Turns out, it was so delicious and so easy to make!!

Ingredients:
- Romaine hearts (cut in half)
- Grape tomatoes
- Avocado
- Bacon
- Corn (we grilled this corn)

Directions:
1. Cut your romaine hearts in half, cut off the top portion and coat with olive oil

2. Place on the grill, cut side down, for about 5 minutes or until your liking

3. Add the toppings and enjoy!

Four - Grilled Tomatoes
An item not shown are grilled plumb tomatoes as a side. Stephen loves to make grilled tomatoes and recently, he discovered plumb tomatoes are the best to grill since they're not as juicy.

Ingredients:
- Plumb tomatoes
- Olive oil
- Salt

Directions:
1. Cut the tomatoes in larger pieces and coat with olive oil. Sprinkle salt on top of the tomatoes and throw on the grill

2. Grill for about 5 minutes or until cooked and serve warm

Five - Vanilla Pepsi
Stephen sure loves himself a good vanilla coke - but we really like Pepsi so it's more of a vanilla Pepsi lol We love adding vanilla syrup to Pepsi for the perfect summer drink that's very refreshing!

What are your favorite summer meals?