Five on Friday

I'm so glad things are finally getting back to normal and I've had the time to regularly blog this week. It's been so nice getting to spend (some) nights not constantly working on the house.

I cannot believe today is the last day of July but oddly enough, I'm not sad about it. Usually I get so sad when summer is over but I feel like now that I'm not in school anymore, I'm not dreading starting classes again. Plus, I cannot wait for the fall weather (except it won't get here till Dec), football, all of our fun fall activities, trips and the best thing - our niece being born!! Bring it on, Fall!!

One
I just got done saying how I can't wait for fall to get here, but I will miss all the great fruit that is in season during the summer. I love fruit and lately every time I walk into Publix, there is all sorts of delicious fruits on sale! The only thing that stinks is I can't buy a ton of it because we don't have time to eat it.

via

Two
Ever since I was a kid, I've been known as the lizard catcher (super random, I know). I couldn't stand to pick them up with my hands because I always got bit, but if there was a lizard in the house, I was the one to get it out. Lately, we've had a few lizards in our house so I've been on lizard duty. They're pretty easy to catch by placing a cup on top of them, then sliding a piece of paper under them and then throwing them out the door. Stephen now knows the drill when I yell for him to get a cup and a piece of paper.

Three
Since we don't have cable and utilize Hulu for our TV experience, I've been watching Celebrity Family Feud and it's pretty funny! I've only watched a few but I'm excited to see an upcoming episode with some of the cast of Dancing with the Stars versus the Bachelor/Bachelorette franchise alums. The other night I watched the episode with the Lawrence Brothers and about died when I saw them together again. Does anyone remember their Disney movies Jumping Ship and Horse Sense? I think those might be on my re-watch list this weekend.

Four
To add onto the TV watching, I am so glad that the Bachelorette is over and Bachelor in Paradise is about to start! I couldn't stand watching Kaitlyn's season and I've heard Bachelor in Paradise is nuts (didn't watch any of the previous seasons), so I'm excited to give this new show a shot. Plus, they're bringing back some past greats.

Five

I'm sure some of you have seen by now, but a dear blogger, Leslie Sisti of A Blonde Ambition, passed away earlier this week. I loved following along with Leslie and I am heartbroken to hear this news. She has two precious baby girls and a loving hubby, so please keep them all in your prayers!

Black-eyed Pea Salsa

My mom always makes a delicious black-eyed pea salsa during the summer so when my brother and sister-in-laws were here last weekend, I decided to give it a try. Unfortunately, we were too busy to eat it so Stephen and I were left with a huge bowl of salsa. The recipe is super easy and the perfect summer dip!

Ingredients:

- 1-2 cans of black-eyed peas, drained (I used 2 and should've used once since there wasn't a lot of us)

- 1 can mild Rotel, drained

- 1 can shoe peg corn, drained

- 1 tsp minced garlic

- 1/4 cup Italian dressing
- Optional: green onions

Directions:
1. Combine all the ingredients in a bowl and add chopped green onions on top

(I should've drained the cans a little better than I did because it was a little soupy)

2. Chill and enjoy :)

Linking up with Annie.

Home Tour Tuesday | Kitchen

Ahh the kitchen - one of my favorite places in the house. I spend a lot of time in here and I am obsessed with the amount of space! Our last kitchen was tiny. Stephen and I like to cook dinner together and we were always bumping into each other and our cabinets were just about to overflow. We have so much room to cook together and there is so much cabinet space (we don't even have all of them filled!) I am also very thankful for the little things that a standard home has that our apartment did not like a garbage disposal, a deep sink, an ice maker, purified water (no more filling the Brita!) and a hose on the faucet for easy cleaning.

A few years ago, I found that yellow picture frame above the microwave and just loved it for a kitchen. Ever since then, I've added yellow and black pieces to make our kitchen theme "yellow". 

We don't have an eat-in kitchen so I knew we would need to utilize the bar space for our casual meals. I snagged these bar stools during the Memorial Day sales at Target and we love them! We've gotten to where we eat all of our meals here. 

The kitchen opens right into the family room and has the best view of the house. The view definitely makes cleaning dishes a lot more enjoyable.

This view never gets old

I snagged that Florida cutting board from Kirklands for $4!

After taking the pictures, I added these pictures, the flowers and moved the red canisters to the dining room 

Bar Stools: Target
Yellow Picture, Greenery, Lemons, Basket & Lantern: Homegoods
Picnic Basket: Longaberger

Master Bedroom & Bathroom
Guest Bedroom & Bathroom

Weekending: Our First Guests!

Last week and this weekend have been super busy; I'm going to need another day to recover! I totally missed Five on Friday last week because things were so crazy. I took a quick business trip Mon-Wed to Atlanta and after work I ran to an outlet mall that had a Vinyard Vines store and a Ghirardelli store. I snagged a beautiful dress at Vinyard Vines for $36 (original price was $160) and I had actually eyed the dress while we were in Hilton Head - good thing I didn't get it then! Of course I couldn't leave without getting some ice cream from Ghirardelli's ;)

Don't worry, I didn't eat all of this

Wednesday and Thursday I spent the entire evening cleaning and getting things ready for my brother and sister-in-law, John and Lauren, to come and stay with us Friday night. This was our first time ever hosting anyone since we got married except for my sister who braved our couch and one bathroom at the apartment. I love hosting people so I'm really glad that we have the space to do so now! We also got to see a Delta IV rocket launch from our backyard with a beautiful sunset - it was definitely exciting.

Finally got our monogram hung that Stephen got for my birthday and I love it! (Ignore the messy table)

John and Lauren made it in Friday evening and we headed out to try a local restaurant that's always crowded (crowded = good, right?). It ended up being good food with a fun atmosphere which is exactly what we wanted. After dinner, we came home for birthday presents (John's was in June and Stephen & my birthdays were a few weeks ago), ice cream sundaes and Scattergories.

Saturday morning I made breakfast sandwiches and then we headed over to the mall to do some shopping and meet some friends for lunch. The people we met for lunch have a 3 month old baby so it was great to see them again and meet their little man!

Check out my new plates John and Lauren got me for my birthday!

We finally had someone to take our picture in front of the house

Baby Dylan was so cute and had the blondest hair ever! 

She's a natural! Only 3 more months till baby Hirst is here!

My friend, Amanda, was driving by on her way home from Atlanta and was able to swing by and see the house! I was so glad I got to see her again (she lives in a different state) and I got to show her the house. John and Lauren headed out soon after - we were sad to see them go but after they left, Stephen and I crashed on the couch. We decided to watch Sharknado 3 (we've never even seen the first 2 so I'm not sure why we decided to watch it) and it was the worst movie I've ever seen but it was pretty funny with all the cameos. There were SO many random famous people in that movie and I also died watching Ian Ziering play the hero after seeing his personality on Celebrity Apprentice.

Sunday we were able to relax and take it easy after church, which is really the first time since moving in. We had a great weekend and loved seeing so many friends/family! Hope everyone has a great Monday!

Linking up with Biana.

Home Tour Tuesday | Guest Bedroom & Bathroom

Our guest room is something we worked on to get completely done before this weekend because my brother and sister-in-law are coming to stay with us. The furniture is actually my childhood set that we used once we got married. We are so thankful to be out of that bed since Stephen didn't fit, but it works perfectly as guest bedroom furniture. 

I've really always liked the toile look and after finding this bedding set at At Home, I had to grab it - I was even more excited when Stephen said he really liked it too. I knew that I'd want to get red buffalo check curtains for the room to add some color, so I ended up finding these curtains on Amazon. I could not believe how hard it was to find buffalo check curtains that didn't break the bank. Thankfully the room is pretty much complete except for replacing the awful blinds. 

We tried to carry a little bit of the black and white theme into the bathroom since it's connected with the guest room. We used our shower curtain from our apartment as a starting point and built off of that. There's still some things that we need to get to fill this bathroom and to decorate it with. 

I knew when we bought a house that I'd want to give our guests some soaps to use that were just for them but I also wanted to display them in a cute way. I found this jar at Target and got some sample soaps to fill it with. I really like how it turned out and I hope our guests do too!

Bedding & Pillows: At Home
Curtains: Amazon
Picture Frames Above Bed and Chest: Kirklands
Mirror: Ikea
Bathroom Pictures & Toilet Organizer: Bed, Bath & Beyond
Shower Curtain, Rug, Towels & Glass Jar: Target

Master Bedroom & Bathroom