rosemary beach.

this is where scott and i and our other team members are staying for a couple nights.

one of our friends owns this and is allowing us to stay!

aren’t we lucky?

it’s pretty amazing, i must say.

mojitos and shishkabobs! the perfect summer outdoor meal!

i could get used to this.

goodfinds.

i enjoy thrifting, and i especially enjoy it when the items are reasonably priced. here in tallahassee we have a little hidden gem that i hope continues to remain hidden and it’s called Goodfinds. The owner is really nice and doesn’t mind negotiating prices and he has TONS of stuff. All but one of the things I bought over the weekend were in his 75% off section, and he took more off when we got to the register.

first, here’s maggie and her boyfriend sleeping. cute huh? they lay like this all the time and they kiss each other. i think they’re secretly humans. not really. but maybe.

i think is going to go in our bedroom along with our other french inspired things.

he gave me this fabric for free. i have to figure out what i’m going to make from it but its really cute.

these boots were only $5.50! i’m wearing them now and i love them!

this was tagged “miniature picture”, who would’ve guessed?

this is a painting and i just love the colors and simplicity of it. i think it will go in our room as well.

anyway, all together everything was only $20!

how amazing is that????

goodfinds is the best!!!

strawberry jam is the jam.

strawberries are cheap cheap cheap, and what better way to use them up to make jam for you and friends.

spread it on some toast, or bathe in it or pour some in your hand and just lick it off.

whatever you prefer, me personally, i prefer some toast.

anyway, it’s SUPER simple to make.

here’s a recipe recap:

2 quarts of strawberries, tops cut off and sliced however you like.

3 c of sugar (or however much or little you prefer)

1 box of pectin (found near jell-o in the store)

3/4 c of water

i used a food processor to give my strawberries the smashed look, but you can use whatever method you want.

add your sugar and let your strawberries just sit for a few.

boil 3/4 c of water and the packet of pectin together and stir constantly.

mix the pectin mixture into the strawberries and stir it up.

pour into individual jars and give them away or keep them all for yourself.

let sit in fridge for about 24 hours to give it time to thicken up before you serve or freeze.

see? pretty simple and i say use different fruits too. strawberries are yummy but so are blueberries and blackberries and raspberries! try them all!

weekends should last forever.

don’t i wish sometimes? this weekend was just one of those fun and relaxing ones that you never want to end. the weather was really great, kathleen and i went thrifting and scored big time, had a movie night and then a cookout with friends. it was just so fun and i don’t want it to end. but i suppose it must. life goes on and monday comes without me asking it to, rude.

here’s a recap in pictures:

(sorry, they got all jumbled and i don’t feel like switching them back)

samson, maggies boyfriend.

duncan, the 150lb great dane that sat on scotts lap.

logan!

jackson!

maggie loves the boys.

espresso from our new espresso maker. it was yummy.

church outfit (kathleen wanted to see the ensemble)

the dogs chased each other through this deep puddle for like an hour at least.

such a fun weekend!

friends and bologne.

you know how i really love to remember the good ole days of my youth? well when hanging out with our friends, the insalacos, we all did it together, reminisced that is.

kathleen loved bologne, gross i don’t know how. scott loved little debbies and jeff ate lunch from the cafeteria pretty much everyday. i loved vienna sausages, you know those little hot dogs that come in a can? i know, repulsive if you ask me but hey. i also loved capri sun and nutter bars.

the little things in life that pleases a 7 year old. i guess sometimes you just gotta go with it.

this conversation was sparked by our watching of jamie olivers “Food Revolution” on abc.

have you seen it? what he is doing is pretty incredible if you think about it. he’s taking on quite a task of getting wholesome foods into schools as opposed to processed.

anyway, here’s a recap in photos.

aww.

shish-kabobs!

sangriaaaaa.

delicious vanilla almond pound cake.

my amazing wonderful perfect handsome best friend of a husband.

hahahaha, that’s gross. i do love him though.

a certain toddler took a handful of pound cake when none of the adults were around

perfect spring dinner.

kathleen cut his winter pajamas to make them fit for summer and we kept the scraps and made him dance around haha.

aren’t they cute?

kathleen!

oh yeah, and there was homemade cinnamon whip cream to add on top.

all of this was sugar and calorie free so no worries!

it’s been a fun weekend thus far and it’s only saturday!

kevin and woodfire grille!

scott and i went to atlanta recently for a meeting we had to attend for work so we decided to try Kevin Gillespie from Bravo’s Top Chef famous restaurant in Buckhead, Woodfire Grille.

we almost got to meet him but he was running off to be on a conference call so we were pretty bummed, but he did sign a menu for us! here’s a little photo recap.

here’s a little photo recap of life recently….

sometimes when my anthropologie catalogue comes i get depressed. ha.

scott bought some seeds so we could grow wildflowers and here is the little dirt section they’ll hopefully bloom from. we’ll see. they cost a dollar from the dollar section at Target. My husband is so frugal.

we bought basil and rosemary! aren’t they huge? i was sick of plucking off all the leaves from the $2 ones i was buying from Publix. This one was $12 and it’s like 5 times the size of the little ones I’d been buying!

welcome home, it’s not christmas anymore.

promise you won’t judge me after you see what’s been hanging on my door for the last 5 months.

yeah, we’re those people. i guess you could equate us to the people who take 9 months to take down their christmas lights on their house.

yikes.

when my parents visited last weekend, the first thing my mom said was

“oh, still celebrating christmas are we?”

at least it jingles when you walk in right?

so i found a tutorial on MADE on making a homemade wreath.

so i thought i would try it for myself and change it up a bit.

i will tell you though, this is quite a time consuming project.

you are also liable to get burned 747 times by the glue gun like i did.

(picture of blistered knee below)

and you feel like your eyes are crossing from staring at the pattern for hours.

about halfway through!

i needed a giant sweet tart to spark my brain after a couple hours.

blistered knee! small but painful haha

the final product! i decided to spray paint it blue and that’s an ivory ribbon with it.

i figured this color can take us through spring and summer.

here is the cost of the project:

wreath: $4 from Michaels

lima beans: 2 bags at $2/bag from Publix

ribbon: $4 from Michaels but you can find it cheaper cause i went back today and it was 60% off!

spray paint: ~$6 from Michaels (mine was leftover from a previous project)

…..and you’ll need a hot glue gun!

anyway, if you’re looking to spruce up your door you should try it. just devote a good bit of time and try not to burn any appendages off.

easter and turning 24.

am i really 24 now? how strange. even saying 24 sounds older.

i’m liking it so far.

my family was here for easter weekend which also included my birthday. it was really fun to have them here and to be able to celebrate with them.

we had a breakfast out on the back porch in the morning, a delicious picnic made by kathleen and then some pizza that night. basically the whole day revolved around eating. i liked it though.

we celebrated easter by going to church and then going out to lunch as a family. they left shortly after and scott and i watched movies and did nothing. it was glorious.

my parents did bring both family dogs though, therefore we hosted 3 dogs all weekend. here they are all loving on scott ever so cutely. notice bella behind scotts head. she’s crazy and quite fast. try catching her when you need to put her in the kennel. nearly impossible and a great workout.

all in all, a great weekend. lots of food, family, friends and fun.

this year should be grrrrreat!