Dreaming of Color... on my Front Door

I am really getting the itch to paint my front door. As usual all Aaron can say about color is "I don't care". So I would love y'all's input.

This is the house now besides my pink and green caladiums that have come up (a picture to come). And below are some random front doors that I have found. Let me know if you like any of them or if you think of another color that would look good.

Thanks for the help. Hopefully I will be painting soon!

-Caroline

Its the Big Day!

I am up and ready to go for the ROYAL WEDDING! My station of choice is BBC America because I figure who can do it better and it is commercial free! I hope everyone enjoys it as much as I will!

-Caroline

What A Great Week!!!!!!

There are some really great things happening this week that I am so excited about. First, today is Easter! Happy Easter everyone. I hope everyone had a wonderful day and had great times with family an friends. We went to Church this morning and had a traditional Easter lunch with my family. Mom got a honey baked ham (Aaron made chicken for me), and she made mac and cheese, deviled eggs, broccoli salad, potato salad, rolls,corn, and berry cobbler. It was great and we are not hungry for dinner!

Also, today officially starts ROYAL WEDDING WEEK! Yes, I am just a little excited! There will be tons of programming on the morning shows and on TLC, BBC America, and Lifetime leading up to the big day. The hardest thing will be deciding which things to watch. The wedding is Friday morning at 11 am in England. So I will be up sometime between 3-5am  to watch (depending on how excited I am).

William and Kate's Engagement Portrait taken by Mario Testino

Finally, the NFL draft starts on Thursday! I am so proud that there are so many Auburn Tigers to choose from. I will be excitedly watching to see where they all go! I will also be watching for Gamecock players to since my husband is a big fan.

Us at the Auburn/Carolina game 2010 in Auburn, Al

I hope everyone will enjoy this week as much as I will!

-Caroline

Week Update Including This Weeks New Recipe

Sorry I have not posted in a while. I have been really busy lately. Just wanted to update y'all on my week. Aaron and I started kickball. We are on a team with many of our friends and our team has been together for 2-3 years now. We had 2 games: game one was a 4-4 tie (yes you can tie in kickball) and game 2 was a 16 or 17-1 win (not to be mean but I really lost count after the 5 inning). Kickball season is a lot of fun and will carry us through May.

I have been also doing a some recreational reading and educational reading. I am currently reading Something Borrowed by Emily Griffin. It is a great and light read. I have read it once already but wanted to read it again before the movie comes out.

Also, I am reading Eat What You Love, Love What You Eat by Dr. Michelle May. I have heard her talk at a conference and wanted to learn more so I could use her techniques with my clients. I really love it so far and would recommend it to anyone.

Finally, I have been looking for new recipes. I frequent The Sisters Cafe blog and find tons of good looking recipes. The one I tried this week was the Black Bean and Sweet Corn Quinoa, click here for picture and recipe. It was great with flounder last night and then tonight, I put the leftovers on ground turkey nachos. I have really been wanting to try Quinoa because it is a great source of protein but in a grain form for those of us that do not really "like" most meat options. It was great at both meals and you can eat it cold on a bed of lettuce... that is my next try with the leftovers.

I have some more posts coming soon!

-Caroline

Scrapbook Paper Collage

I have been searching for art work to go above my couch in my living room. At first, I saw a picture at World Market and decided to I could paint it but using this colors in my room. Click here to see the inspiration piece.

This is my version. I hung it up for a while and just decided that it was not working for me. So after seeing the what Jess at Frugal with a Flourish did with a canvas painting I got the idea to make a scrapbook paper collage.

So here is how it came out!

(Sorry that the pictures are not the best quality. I need a new camera.) I am still not sure what I think. I am going to leave it up and live with it for a while before I decide. Please let me know what you think to help me decide.

-Caroline

I Finally Did Some Cooking!

I know this blog is supposed to be about all aspects of me becoming domestic but I have not really gotten on the cooking band waggon until last week. I tried 2 new recipes this last week and have a goal to try 1 a week and share them with you all. Bear with me as I get into it... I forgot to get pictures of them both.

First, I tried Hungry Girl's Sloppy Joe Stir Fry. It was pretty good but Aaron wanted me to make an amendment. He asked for regular coleslaw instead of broccoli slaw. It was so easy to make and really good with chips... kinda like nachos. Oh yeah, one thing, I think everything tastes better with chips.

Here is the recipe with the nutrition facts that she posted but you can also click on the link to see a picture.

PER SERVING (1/4th of recipe, about 1 cup): 140 calories, 4g fat, 455mg sodium, 13g carbs, 3g fiber, 7.5g sugars, 13.5g protein -- PointsPlus™ value 3*
Ingredients:
8 oz. raw lean ground turkey
One 12-oz. bag (about 4 cups) dry broccoli cole slaw
1 cup Hunt's Manwich Original Sloppy Joe Sauce

Directions:Bring a skillet sprayed with nonstick spray to medium-high heat on the stove. Add turkey and use a spatula to break it up. Cook and crumble until browned and fully cooked, about 8 minutes.

Add slaw and sauce to the skillet and stir to mix. Continue to cook for about 6 minutes, stirring occasionally, until sauce is hot and slaw has softened.
Serve and enjoy!

MAKES 4 SERVINGS

The second dish was a Summer Tortellini Salad. It was SSSSOOOO GGGGOOOOOOODDDD! I found it on The Sister's Cafe blog. (I really recommend this blog for TONS of ideas.) I made this on Saturday as a side dish for Aaron's mom's birthday dinner.

Here is the recipe and the picture (that I remembered this time)

1 pkg. (9 oz.) uncooked refrigerated cheese-filled tortellini (You can also use dry tortellini. Barilla has a yummy four cheese and Costco has really good tortellini as well)
1 medium zucchini, thinly sliced
1 large carrot, peeled and chopped (I use the equivalent of baby carrots instead)
1 pint cherry or grape tomatoes, halved
4 green onions with tops, thinly sliced
1/4 cup snipped fresh parsley (or 4 tsp. dried parsley if you don't have fresh...fresh is always best of course, but dried works fine too)
1/2 cup home-made or you're very, very favorite ranch dressing (I tend to skimp a bit on this measurement but 1/2 a cup isn't too much, just trying to be healthy:)
Parmesan Cheese - to taste

*Option - I have added left over Rotisserie chicken to this and really liked it

Cook tortellini according to package directions, drain and rinse under cold running water. Place tortellini in a large colander and set aside. Meanwhile, slice zucchini. chop carrot(s). Cut tomatoes in half and slice green onions. Snip parsley, if using fresh. Add vegetables to tortellini. Pour salad dressing over salad. Grate Parmesan cheese over salad. cover; refrigerate at least 2 hours before serving. Yield: 6 servings

 

- Caroline

 

Loving BBB!

I am loving Bed Bath and Beyond (BBB) right now. They really made my day. Let me start from the begining. I took on the HUGE task of cleaning out my office closet today. That is the place I put EVERYTHING when we moved into the house. It had all my china, all my Food Network serving dishes, silverware and stemware that we got for the wedding. Also any other things that I could fit. As I was going through the closet, I found my serving platter for my china still unopened in the box. I opened it to put it in its new place and it was the wrong pattern. Mine is Kate Spade Bonnabell Place and this was Opals and something (not even a Kate Spade pattern). I had a minor heart attack because I was told the platter in my design was being discontinued around the time of my wedding, almost a year ago. I ran to the nearest BBB and told them my dilemma. Not only did they find the platter and have it shipped to my house but I got $2 and some change back! I wish everyday could be this good/ lucky/ fruitful!

-Caroline

Meet Pearl... or get some updates

I was just thinking that many of you have not met Pearl in person. So I thought I would give you a quick overview of her life and update everyone that know her.

So meet Pearl. She is a full bread white lab that loves running, swimming, napping and eating. Sounds like the perfect dog for me huh! She will be 3 years old in August and was my early birthday present that year. She is a very relaxed, loving, 75 lb dog and only gets excited when we have been gone for 5 minutes are more. Here are some more pictures of her.

Pearl is the one trying to get out of the pool. She was in a litter of 8 puppies. Aaron has raised her since she was born because the mom dog (Lucy) was his roommate's dog and the dad dog (Wallace) was another friends dog.

This is Lucy (mom).

This is Wallace (dad).

 Pearl and Aaron.

 Trying to get up and running.

 Lounging on the bed like normal.

We take her to my parents house a lot to "dock" dive. She loves jumping in the pool and swimming around. We are trying to get her to jump off the diving board.

 Pearl and I having "tummy time" early on. She is still just a big lap dog.

 Sitting like a good girl.

 Snoozing with Aaron at my apartment in Tennessee.

In our house, stretching.

I hope you enjoyed getting to know her. Hopefully, everyone can come meet her soon!

- Caroline

Pretty Plates!

I have been married for 10 months now and until this afternoon my fine china has been packed away in boxes in the office closet. This is a true tragedy because I was so excited about getting it. I have been thinking of different ways I could display it without adding another piece of furniture to my small house. So I searched the web for some inspiration. Here is what I found:

I found this picture on the Nate Berkus Show's website under the Proud House Pictures. This is from Katie Bower's Georgia home. I loved the idea of the shelves but wanted something more substantial. Then I was watching my favorite decorating show, Sarah's House, and found the beautiful shelf in one of the kitches's she designed.

I really loved that they were a unique color and that she used the corbels to make them stand out. So of course I told Aaron that this was my next project. Well little did I know that cool corbels like that cost around $90 so I had to scale back my plans a little. Here is what I found:

I got the wood at and the corbels at Home Depot. Aaron and a friend cut the plate groove into the board so that the dinner plates could stand up. I painted them a light but still kind of bright teal and Aaron screwed them together and hung them on the wall in our kitchen. Here is our finished product.

And because the pictures are a little fuzzy, here is a picture of my china close up. It has the silver banding with embossed pasily pattern between the banding. I am really excited to be able to show them off in my house now!

I hope you like it!

- Caroline